You know you live in Wisconsin when...

The mercury in the thermometer neared 30 degrees, so we decided it was time for a walk to the park. Heidi Jean loves the park and loves swinging. We've been swinging in the swing in the yard, but we knew she'd love to go to the park and so would her pups.

Bundled to the nines, we set off.

We got to the park and discovered snow drifts a couple of feet deep. It didn't impact the slides though.

The swings were another story. Heidi had to settle for swinging on Mom and Dad's laps because the baby swing was buried.

Surprisingly, we were the only family at the park today. How many days until spring?

My work here is done.

Many hours lately have been spent trying to rectify the grunting/screeching that we often get when Heidi gets frustrated or needs help.

Tonight we mastered a new word: Help.

And then proceeded to say "hep, hep, hep" about 200 times. Mom "hep" my daddy figurine's leg is bent and needs to be straight. Mom "hep" my daddy figurine's leg is straight and needs to be bent. "Hep" my daddy wants to go in the swing. "Hep" my daddy wants to get out of the swing. Hep. Hep. Hep.

Of course it was all worth it when I went back to help her for the 37th time and after I rescued the daddy figurine for her she spontaneously signed "Thank you."

Then I was the one saying "you're welcome" too many times.

M&M Hysterics

I've heard lots of stories over the years about the parents that use one M&M as the reward for their Little One going on the potty during potty training.

All I have to say about this is obviously these parents don't have babies that are as obsessed with M&Ms as Heidi Jean is. The idea, to her, that she can only have 1 or 2 M&Ms when she sits on the potty is like someone trying to eat only one Lays. Not physically possible, I guess.

We're not pushing the potty training, but since she seems to be potty-girl at daycare I felt like slacker mom without at least trying, so I told Heidi if she just sits on the potty at home she can have 2 M&Ms. The girl lives and breathes for M&Ms.

At this point came the point that I first regretted teaching Heidi the sign for "more." I have never seen it signed so perfectly before. And then the hysterics. Matter of fact, we have hysterics anytime we mention the potty now at home. I think we're going to completely remove M&Ms from the situation and go from there.

And several times during all of this did I have the thought "I've created a monster."

For love of cloth...

It's funny that I'm writing this post. I used to be the girl that was anti-cloth-diapering. Didn't really even want to talk about it (because I hate being told what to do). I had lots of flashbacks to the old days with my little sister when we used the white cloth diaper with the too-dull-to-poke-through-the-diaper-but-sharp-enough-to-stab-completely-through-your-finger diaper pins, and the clear plastic pants you pulled over. Let's not forget the stinky diaper pail full of mystery liquid that weighed 20 lbs and sloshed like mad when you tried to carry it to the laundry room. I'm sure we all know someone or cared for someone who used these types of diapers. So I will just say, times have changed.

When Heidi was around 7 months old, I got so sick and tired of the bags and bags of dirty disposable diapers everywhere. There would be a couple in the livingroom, a bag by the backdoor, and the genie full in her room. I felt like everywhere I went, there they were.

That was the impetus for the switch. Now, sure, I care about the environment, I enjoy having extra money, I liked the cute colors and prints, and I liked the idea of having a diaper that is chemical-free next to my babies tush. But really, I just wanted an end to the bags of diapers everywhere.

Luckily, I belong to a fabulous, which shall not be named, message board that includes lots of moms that cloth diaper. I also have a fabulous SIL and BIL that cloth diaper (and have raved about it). So I had some ideas of what I wanted and where to go to get it and where to go to get more information. And I bit the bullet. I ordered 12 BG OS 3.0's.

They came in like two days, went through their pre-wash to get them all absorbanty, and we haven't looked back since. Sure, there are many nights that I forget until late that it's diaper washing night and ugh...have to stay up an extra 40 minutes for the wash cycle to complete so I can throw them in the dryer before bed. There are many mornings I'm frantically stuffing diapers so I have enough to take to daycare (who is wonderful enough to cloth diaper without complaint). And there are certainly some days that I go for a diaper change and think to myself, "Good God, I wish this was throw-away-able."

But the only real regret I've had with cloth diapering is that we didn't start sooner. We won't make that mistake with Baby #2 (I may or may not have already bought covers for future baby so we can even try prefolds!).

And, we've come so far, that we've even ventured into snaps. My newest favorite diaper, the Fuzzibunz Toddler Petite (for those tall skinny kids like mine). Seriously, how cute is this girl?

And as a bonus, they will hold up pants that would otherwise be too big in the waist. This is helpful for a skinny gal in the 90th percentile for height.