Author: The Clarks

Reason 827 of Why We Love Cloth Diapers

~ The Clarks ~ Leave a comment

The coordinating cuteness of a cloth diaper outfit. So cute. So ecofriendly. So stylish. 

I LOVE getting to coordinate outfits around diaper prints. I love pineapples, so naturally, I buy all of the pineapple things. 

This cuteness overload brought to you by cloth diapers. 


Want these styles? Find them here:

Cloth diaper: http://www.liltulips.com

Pineapple hat: https://www.target.com/p/baby-pineapple-print-trucker-hat-cat-jack-153-aqua/-/A-52090467

Pineapple picnic blanket: https://www.target.com/p/yellow-fruit-bed-blanket/-/A-51515081?lnk=rec|slp|search_bought|slp|51515081|0

S’well water bottle: https://www.liltulips.com/products/sip-by-swell?variant=32212247886

Shirt: Sweet Southern Creations on Facebook 

Leggings: Lularoe 

You Are My Sunshine: An Infertility Reality

~ The Clarks ~ Leave a comment

Tonight this little cutie was having a difficult time falling asleep. He wanted to “cuddle with his blanket and mom.” Of course, I obliged even though I had already laid him down 30 minutes prior. These cuddles are not as frequent as they were when he was itty bitty. I find myself taking advantage of every moment like this. Constantly wondering if I will ever get to experience this amazing thing called motherhood again. 

I gently swayed back and forth with his big boy body in my arms. I whispered in his ear, asking him if he wanted me to sing him a song. He smiled and replied with, “yeah, Elmo’s song?”

“Of all the songs in the world he wants that one, really?” I thought to myself, yet I immediately smiled at him and started in with the “lalalas”. We sang another song. Then I started singing “You Are My Sunshine”. He quickly laid his head onto my shoulder and was deep breathing in my ear. 
I got through one verse. Then the tears began to fall. How truer are those words right now?

 “You are my sunshine, my only sunshine.” He is my only sunshine. He is my only. He is the brightest star in my day, in my world. I can’t help but wonder, question, and continue to pray. Will he be my only? Will we be blessed again? When? How? Why has it not happened yet?

“You make me happy when skies are gray.” Gosh, how I, how we have been struggling lately. Struggling to get pregnant, struggling with work, keeping up with life. However, this little boy manages to bring us bountiful joy each and every day. We are always happy to be with him. We are always happy he is ours. 

“You’ll never know dear, how much I love you.” Do children ever understand how deep the love of a parent runs? I know I didn’t. Not until I was a parent myself. 

“Please don’t take my Sunshine away.”

Praying. Praying that God will bless us with another sunshine to make our little sunshine shine even brighter. 

I continued whisper singing to him, with him smiling, and tears in my eyes and cheeks. Many people don’t know this, but we tried for a long time to get this miracle. We have been trying for quite some time for a second one. 

Reason #639 of Why my Kid is Crying

~ The Clarks ~ Leave a comment

This morning, as I was getting this little cutie ready for daycare he started having a meltdown. No, it wasn’t because he didn’t want to go. No, it wasn’t because he just woke up. It was because his pants were “broke”. He was wearing shorts. 

Apparently, he does not remember last summer. Luckily he recovered quickly and had this happy face on as soon as he realized his friends were all wearing broken pants too. 

Top Tub Toys for Toddlers

~ The Clarks ~ Leave a comment

When it comes to toddlers, you really don’t have to spend a ton of money to make bath time fun. However, many of the toys marketed for the bath quickly become moldy, difficult to clean and just plain gross to have around. Here are some simple solutions for fun in the tub without the moldy mess.

#1 The Basic CupDSC_0503

Every single toddler, baby, big kid needs a cup for the tub. This one is quite large and came free with the purchase of a drink! Use it for rinsing, playing, or dumping water all over the floor. No matter how you look at it, a cup is a must have! Our little guy loves filling the cup up and dumping it through other toys.

 

2. A Cup With Holes

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This simple cup with two holes gives my toddler hours of entertainment. He loves to dip it into the water and watch the water come out. Or use it to fill up the bigger cup. This one comes in a set of multi-colored cups, which offers a great opportunity to practice learning colors.

#3 Begin Again Bath Toys

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These things are amazing! They are made of natural rubber and come in many fun shapes. Each one “blows bubbles” when you put it underwater. They easily drain due to larger holes on the underside of each one. We have had these for almost a year and not one has ever had mold on it. If they get dirty you can throw them right in the dishwasher. They also can double as a teether. My little guy LOVES to chew on the blue diver.

Here are some close up photos to better show the features of the Begin Again Bath Toys. They retail for only $4 each. If you are interested in purchasing they are carried at Kelly’s Closet by clicking here.

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#4 Marcus & Marcus Bath Toys

DSC_0519Another fabulous, fun yet easy to clean toy. This toy is made of BPA free and phthalate free silicone. It squirts just like a regular bath squirt toy. What really sets this toy apart is that it has a piece that unscrews allowing the inside to air dry and prevent any mold from forming. I can’t tell you how much money we tossed into bath squirt toys that we had to end up throwing away because of mold. This one is totally worth the money. It can be purchased from Kelly’s Closet by clicking here.

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**This post contains affiliate links.

Tips for a Successful Holiday Photoshoot with a Toddler

~ The Clarks ~ Leave a comment

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Taking cute Christmas pictures with a toddler was definitely way more challenging than getting cute pictures of a non-walker last year! Here are some tips to take your own toddler’s pictures at home this holiday season.

 

1. Timing

Toddlers can be so temperamental. Take advantage of their happiest time of the day. For these photos we did them first thing in the morning, right after he had eaten breakfast.

 

2. Lighting

Use as much natural light as possible and avoid using the flash.

 

3. Plan but be flexible.

Plan in a sense that everything is readily available. Be flexible. Let your child guide the photoshoot. In my mind I really wanted pictures with lights, just like the year before. Well, after telling him the lights on the tree are hot, he wanted nothing to do with the lights! Luckily I had a basket filled with ornaments on the table. He loved playing “basketball” with the ornaments.  dsc_0019

4. Use wrapping paper as a backdrop.

Each year at the end of the season I buy wrapping paper when it’s on sale. It is a cheap way to get a festive background.

5. You have a toddler, it won’t go as planned

Here are some outtakes from our little photoshoot. They make me laugh. This is life with a toddler. I was patient and still captured the pictures I was hoping for, I especially love the one with our cat, his little buddy.

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Be patient, make it fun.

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Super Easy Edible Play-Doh

~ The Clarks ~ Leave a comment

We have had an unusually high amount of rainy days this summer. The little monster is becoming more and more challenging to keep entertained indoors all day long so today I decided we would make play-doh.

I love this recipe because it only has a few ingredients, they are cheap ingredients, they are ingredients most people have and my kid can safely eat it. 

I mixed 1 cup of oatmeal, uncooked. 1/2 cup of flour (I used whole wheat because that was the bag that was opened). 1/2 cup of water. Divided it out and mixed in some color. I let it set for about 15 minutes just so it wasn’t as sticky. Oh I also put a dash of cinnamon in.

The dog was excited that the monster was in his seat. She was anticipating meal time. Sure enough, the first thing the monster did was take a bite. He actually liked it. 

He enjoyed exploring by tasting, squishing, squashing, smashing and rolling. 

Again the recipe is 2 parts oatmeal, 1 part flour, 1 part water. Add cinnamon and food coloring if you would like. 

Why I Let Him Fall

~ The Clarks ~ Leave a comment

Did you chuckle, or full on belly laugh too? It makes me chuckle every time. Go ahead and think I am a “bad mom” and then I will explain why I was right there and let him fall. And no, it is not because I was video taping. 

There are a few reasons why I let this happen and let similar things happen on a daily basis. First off, I knew he was safe. I knew he wasn’t going to get hurt. It wasn’t like I was allowing him to fall from the top of the climbing structure. He had also successfully climbed up the same structure unassisted about 27 times before I decided to record him. 

My second reason is that so many kids these days never experience failure or struggle. We seem to always be right there to help them, to swoop in and protect them. But one day they will go to pre-school, kindergarten, high school, college or into the real world on their own where we will not be there. (I know that’s scary and it sucks to realize that our babies will be there in the blink of an eye.) How can we expect them to handle failure and struggle without freaking out if they have never experienced it, even on the small scale? 

Also, I want my child to know that it is OK to make mistakes. I want him to be able to get back up and try again. And ya know what? In this video that is exactly what he did. He looked at me, I smiled back at him, he smiled back, he got up and climbed to the top by himself. At 16 months old my child has learned that fall doesn’t equate cry every time. Fall does equate get up. 

I let him fall and struggle with other things too because babies and toddlers have amazing brain power. They are problem solvers. They can figure out how to do things in ways we wouldn’t have imagined. I want him to be a problem solver. I want him to realize he doesn’t have to solve a problem in the same way as someone else. 

I want my child to grow up to be determined to accomplish whatever he wants to accomplish. I want him to be able to be able to perservere because life isn’t easy. I want him to have the skills to problem solve and be creative when he needs to be. That is why I let him fall. 

5 Good Things About Pokémon Go

~ The Clarks ~ 1 Comment

I’ve read like 37 negative stories in the news about this crazy app called Pokémon Go. Robberies, injuries, accidents, hacking etc. Be aware, don’t go alone, stay in familiar places, exercise the not so common common sense. Let’s take a step back and think about how this might actually be a good thing. 


1. People are actually walking and getting off of their butts and out of the house. In the past 3 nights I have walked over 10 kilometers. I have not exercised this much since before I got pregnant 2 years ago. America has problems with obesity and adults and children not being active. This app has people up off their you know what’s. This may lead to other apps of the sorts motivating people to do the same. People are going outside of their comfort zones, who cares that it is to chase little fictitious pocket monsters around, it’s great that people are up and moving!

2. People are meeting people. I have seen more people out and met more people in our little town in the past 3 days than I have in the past 3 years we have lived here. This is not an exaggeration. It is true. It is crazy. I think we all feel like nerds, but hey, we are enjoying it, making new friendships and building ones that were already there. 

3. Families are spending time together. We spent over an hour out walking together, conversing with one another 2 nights in a row. And I can’t wait to do it again tomorrow. 

4. You have to problem solve and be resourceful. This component is huge. There is no tutorial when you start the app. You have to figure everything out on your own. You have to discover how to do things, where to find things, what everything means. You have to seek out others for help whether face to face or virtually. Pretty cool!

5. It’s good hearted competitive fun. You can compete with your friends and family to see who can catch more, or evolve the most. 

Oh you can also get some pretty funny pictures. I would cry like this if a wild rat was by my feet too!

The Only Reason I Really Want to Pack Lunches Again

~ The Clarks ~ 2 Comments

Since I returned to work from having the baby, well over a year ago, my husband graciously and generously would pack my lunch for me as I took the duty of getting the baby to sleep. Baby stopped needing me to fall asleep, so naturally, husband stopped having he burning desire to pack my lunch. Baby also grew into toddler who eats real food and needed a lunch of his own. Packing lunches wasn’t something I ever looked forward to, until I discovered the awesome thing called a yumbox. 

Let me give you a little overview of the yumbox first. There are two parts to a yumbox. The actual box and the tray. The box is durable, has a large latch that closes it and locks the single silicone lid into place. The other part is the compartmentalized tray which features cute educational pictures of the food groups and also serves as a reminder to whoever packs the lunch as to what should be included.

They come with two options for trays, 6 compartment and 4 compartment. The two different trays are not interchangeable between the different boxes due to the sealing silicone lids. 

Here is what they look like on the outside:

Here is what they look like on the inside:

They offer a variety of fun colors, the outer space one is my favorite!

The 4 compartment yumbox has one 2 cup compartment , two 1/2 cup compartment and a one ounce compartment perfect for dips or a little treat. 

The six compartment yum box has five 1/2 cup sections for the key food groups and one smaller well for dips or treats. 

The yumbox is seriously amazing. And no they did not ask me to write a review. 

The trays pop out of the box for easier cleaning. 

So why do I love these yumboxes so much? 

1. I can pack things like yogurt or ranch dressing easily without having to worry about things tipping, spilling or contaminating other food. 

2. It takes up less space than a billion containers. 

3. Easy to clean. You can even throw it in the top rack of the dishwasher. 

4. Totally portable. I can literally toss it into the diaper bag. We took them traveling on the road with us. 

5. I have a guide of what to pack and how much of it to pack. 

6. They fit into normal sized lunch boxes. 

7. My child can see everything that is being offered at a meal. It’s fun to watch him look and decide on his own what to eat first. He also loves moving things between containers. 

8. I am not having to buy a ton of sandwich bags. Nor are those sandwich bags winding up in landfills. 

9. They really are pretty cute. 

10. The design keeps everything in, it’s virtually leak proof, but due to the large latch are easy enough for a young child to open independently. 

Here’s a look at what my 16 month old and I packed for today. 

If you pack a lunch. If you have kids. If you have a picky eater. You really should look into these. 

Where can you buy this cool product? Well, they are on Amazon. But if you love amazing customer service, supporting a wonderful family and their business, and earning rewards for discounts, you can also buy them at Lil’ Tulips. Be sure to create an account with them before shopping using this link https://goo.gl/cKkhsA to instantly earn  50 reward points. Again here is the link. https://goo.gl/cKkhsA
 

5 Things I’ve Learned as a Cloth Diapering Dad

~ The Clarks ~ Leave a comment
Cloth is not much more difficult than using disposables
Yes you do have to to spray out poopy diapers and wash the diapers. But with disposables you will have to deal with blowouts and extra laundry due to blow outs. Disposables also smell gross, something we hadn’t noticed before until we used cloth for a while and then used disposables on a trip.
Snaps vs. Hook and Loop (velcro)
At first as a cloth diapering dad hook and loop were way more dad friendly when it came to changing diapers. Though with time the snaps became not so scary and just as easy.
The support of dads
In all the social media groups there is great support for dads cloth diapering. If a dad has any questions about anything the women and other dads are very supportive and give great answers and feedback.
It’s not just a mom thing
Diapering a child as well as things like baby wearing, breastfeeding support and other general parenting things are not just the moms job. A dad is fully capable in doing all the things a mom can do and should help equally. As bonus when you help your wife with these things is makes her happy. ( Happy wife, happy life).
Prints, Exclusives and Fast fingers
After becoming a cloth diapering dad I’ve realized that cloth diapering moms can be a little crazy. The hype and then the disappointment when an exclusive print is not acquired is a bit nuts, but entertaining not the less. Bottom line is cloth diapers are reusable poop catchers that are a great alternative to disposables without the chemicals.IMG_20160710_203011_wm
Written by Chris
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