There's not even a nip in the air yet, but I'm all ready for the upcoming cold now that we're no longer in Houston. I went to the most amazing consignment sale the other day to pick up a bunch of basics for the baby in preparation of the upcoming chill. Here's Maddie all geared up and ready to go:

I'm a huge cloth diaper fanatic. They're adorable, hold leaks better than disposables, and are a much cheaper option in the long term. When Maddie was born, I eagerly checked out all my options, purchased the cute little diapers, and happily went on my merry cloth-diapering way. We did switch to disposables when she was in day care, out of courtesy to the workers there.

Once we moved and I stayed at home with Maddie, I used them full time. We've saved so much on our grocery and toiletries budget by not having to buy diapers.

I originally purchased 18 Baby Kangas, a pocket cloth diaper, which I figured suited me the best. It is a style of diaper with a soft absorbent layer next to baby's skin, and an outer waterproof layer to prevent leaks. In the middle of these two layers goes an insert, which holds all the wetness. As well as the diapers, I purchased 18 inserts, wipes, 1 wetbag for the diaperbag, and 2 big wetbags for holding the diapers while they were waiting for the wash. I must say, that I love them. I had planned on ordering 12 more of the ever so cute Baby Kangas once we had another child. I was going to get some in Robin's Egg and Daisy, 2 colors I have not added to my collection.

I received a coupon this morning from Kelly's Closet, the website in which I purchased my lovely diapers. They were running an end-of-summer clearance, so I thought I'd check it out, just for fun.

They are discontinuing the Baby Kangas at their store.

I know I can probably find them elsewhere, but I never found any comparable price in any other online retailer. Baby Kangas are a bit pricey, and they don't even come with inserts when purchased alone. Once we're expecting the next baby, I'll have to decide whether to try to find a decent price on them, or (banish the thought) switch to something else.

I did see another pocket diaper that closely resembled the Baby Kanga, but it had no zipper. It's called the Smartipants, and it's really pretty cute as well--and they're cheaper than the Baby Kangas are. They even come with an insert! So yeah, major deciding to do someday.

For those of you who haven't seen our Flickr account, here are some more recent pictures of Maddie. These were snapped at the Birmingham Botanical Gardens, a great, free place in which to take pictures. Maddie is definitely small for her ages, but she's developmentally right on target.

She crawls like an old pro now. She pulls up on furniture all the time, but is not yet brave enough to try standing on her own.


She loves to point. She's starting to wave bye-bye more frequently, and she's good at giving high fives. We're working on "Touchdown" for football season. :-)


She has even started saying Da! when Stu gets home from work. It's the most adorable thing ever. Her first tooth came in a few days ago, and I can't wait to see what it looks like once it's done sprouting!

One last shot, just because I love the lighting: