A Public Service Announcement

 Okay mama's and dada's, the research has been done. The results are in.  I can cure diaper rash.  It may have taken me until Child #2 to figure it out, but that's why we have two.  One of them is kind of a spare we can test things on.  ;)

If you haven't noticed, my little kidlets are on the fair side of the skin-color spectrum.  Bordering very fair.  Fair skin often comes with sensitive skin. My babes are no exception. Luckily diaper rashes are rare around here, but when they come, these white booties are no match.  We lose every time.

Just trying to let that bum air out!  In the past this was the most helpful thing, but it wasn't needed after I learned about Tip #2)

This is Easton's second encounter with the rash.  The first one (about 6months ago) got really out of control and took almost a month to completely heal.  We went through tubes and tubes of diaper cream and Nystatin (perscription antifungal).    So when I saw some of the same signs returning a week ago, I was determined to get it under control asap.

And where do you go for parenting tips? Facebook, of course!  My fellow mama's, dada's, and auntie's (Whit, that's you) did not disappoint.  Are you ready for this???

TIP #1:  LOTRIMIN.  You know when a diaper rash gets really bad and you start to see red spots?  Those spots could be fungus/yeast.  Especially if those spots start to travel in the leg folds or outside the diaper area.   The generic brand is ProEx and is only $0.88 at Wal-mart.  You can also use some Monistat creams, but they may be a little more weak-sauce. If these red spots are still present by day 5, call the Dr, you'll probably be given the perscription anti-fungal:Nystatin (no real side effects and works great) 

    *** Now, this is important to note!  Lotrimin and all anti-fungal creams don't treat contact-rash. That's all the rest of the red skin, not counting the red spots.  So what do we do, Alli???  Don't worry! I got you covered!

TIP #2: COOKED FLOUR.  The first time I found this tip on a website, my exact thought was, "Darn Hippie."  Right??? I thought, "This girl needs to stop clogging my search results and go vaccinate her kids."
Needless to say, I dismissed the post before reading it through.  An hour later, a friend called after seeing my facebook plea.  (Shout out to Linda!)  She said that cooked flour works!  What the?  My sound-minded Linda was turning into a hippie?  That couldn't be, so I gave it a go!
Cooked flour was the best thing for contact-rash I tried.  I tried all the extra-strength zinc oxides (i.e.butt paste, desitin, etc).  I tried a&d which is zinc oxide and dimethicone.  I even mixed diaper cream, Lotrimin, AND maalox (an antacid which helps neutralize the acidity of diarrhea, I assume).  And?  Cooked flour worked faster.  Also, it seemed ANY concoction with diaper cream was making it worse.  Those creams are GREAT at keeping moisture off the skin, so for daily use and small rashes, that's all you need.  But when the skin is already raw, they were just making it more dry and more raw.

Looks a little like kitty-litter, but much more fine in reality

How to cook it?  Pour a half cup of all-purpose flour into a pan on the stove. Heat on medium, stirring occasionally.  Remove when flour has turned a light brown color. Careful not to burn.  Now, it smells just like burnt popcorn.  Exactly like it. Then you sprinkle and pat it on that little hiney.  Only keep for 4 days.

Bubba says "Nice" when I put it on him.  It soothes very quickly.  He went from screaming and legs shaking to completely relaxed saying, "Nice."

*Another important note:  You CAN combline the Lotrimin and flour.  If you suspect yeast or fungus, you really need an anti-fungal.   The flour does work best alone, because the lotrimin creates somewhat of a barrier for the flour, but it still was much better than the zinc oxide combos I tried.  Just do the combo until those spots are healed, then just flour. (although it was almost cured by that point)

So I suppose that lady wasn't crazy and probably does vaccinate her kids.  Or I'm turning into a hippie...either way:
 

Babies of the world, you are welcome!

The Beach

 I am a summer girl.  I like the heat.
I like the changes each season brings, but I am only sad to see summer go.

Obligatory feet and sand pic.    -But the sippy cup and princess blanket let you know it's us

Without a doubt, our favorite thing this year was the BEACH!    I was NOT expecting to find a beach in Minnesota, would you? And THIS beach is the PERFECT beach!  It's half park, half beach.  LOVE.  I'm only sad it took me a month of living here, before I found it.  Next year, we'll fix that!

Hanging out with Matilda and Clara.  This picture doesn't do Clara justice (far right). Those thighs.  As my uncle says, "Makes you hungry for chicken!" 

Little Miss Sadie Rose! Getting to be so brave after her swimming lessons!

They have the water roped off  for the shallow area.  So I'm able to let the kids go!  So fun!

 goodbye beach.

goodbye summer.

RochesterFest

  The week we got here happened to be: RochesterFest!  It was a fun way to get to know the town.

Day1:

 

 The fire department had this cute setup & let the kids spray the hose at the little house. Too cute!

 

Sadie was THRILLED she got the pink car.

 

 

A balloon as big as Sadie. She REALLY didn't want it to pop, so when we got home she set it on her rocking chair and would stare at it, but NEVER play with it!

RochesterFest Day 2:

 

PARADE TIME!  

...Okay, I'll be honost, this was no Utah-parade.  The parade had a TON of participants (like close to 100) but almost NO floats!  There were bands, but no floats!  A lot of local companies had trucks  tossing candy. But again, no floats. Odd.

 

Abby & Sadie

Abby came here from Utah too. Her dad was in Cory's med school class, so we've actually known them for a few years. SUPER nice having a familiar face around here!

 

When it rains, it pours! Quite literally. It goes from dry to drenched in seconds. Look at that guy with the chair on his head!   This is us at the parade. Oh, and notice that AWESOME float in the background?  Yeah, that's a bus. See what I mean? No floats. ;)

 We were pretty soaked, so we attempted to make a fort using our strollers and a blanket.  It worked alright. Really the rain made it pretty fun.

 (me, Sadie, Abby, Suzanne-Abby's mom/Utah friend)

 RochesterFest Day3:

 

Bubba was seriously loving the "dars"  (aka cars)

 

The had  a little craft to make a wooden car. 

Bub made one too, just didn't get a clear picture of it.

 

Wonder Woman!

It's a perfect fit, Sadles!

Goodbye & Hello!

Well, we are now residents of Rochester, MN!  Leaving Utah and arriving here was, of course, an adventure.  First there were a lot of goodbye's:

We said goodbye to our friends:

We said goodbye to our kids' friends:

 

 (little Audrey is in the left corner. Visible only by her cute dress and fingers)

We said goodbye to family.

 

(My not-so-little brother 

leaving to Ghana for his mission)

Next we loaded up the truck & sent Cory on his way:

  

(strike a pose)

 A couple days later, we woke up pretty early

And I boarded a plane, 

just me and my kidlets 

(heaven help us! 

 ...and the people sitting around us!)

 

Parts of the plane ride looked like this:

 

(admittedly a very old picture,

but you get the idea!)

And the hour and a half ride home 

from the airport looked like this:

 

A worthy note, saying goodbye is no fun.  No fun at all.   I preferred to not to give much thought to my goodbyes.  I pretend it's the same as saying goodbye like I have my whole life. No more weight given to these.  Let it be known, that I truly wish the most heartfelt goodbyes to my loved ones!  Which is just about everyone!  

There, with that out of the way, it's time to say:

HELLO!

Sadie THRIVES!

No more failure here!  Sadie weighs 29lbs, which I was expecting 27lbs, so I'm THRILLED!   The doctor wanted to make sure that her percentages didn't decrease again.  She actually went up in percentages, so that's great! Thank you, Pediasure!

Bubba Turns 1!

 Despite my pleading, time still passed and Easton turned one.  At least I could distract myself with some party plans.  Here are the highlights:

The cake

 Easton LOVES wheels!  He'll find any toy with wheels and flip it over and start spinning! Since we've never really had an occasion to buy him gifts, he doesn't really have toys of his own. Don't feel sorry for him, Sadie has PLENTY of toys to share.  In fact, when Easton is being really quiet and you're not sure where he is, you'll find him sitting in Sadle's room spinning the wheels on her Barbie car.

Donut Tires, if you can't tell.

Happy Birthday to You!

Yum!

I hope this comes off...

Come on Sadie, we have a weigh in in TWO days!!!

 

Bubba LOVES having his very own toys!!!

He loved every gift! Thanks, family!

My Birthday Boy!

Almost 1

This is the last picture of Easton as 11month old.  Tomorrow he turns ONE!  I'm very much in denial about the whole event.  I didn't don't want it to come.

The year goes by too quickly.  I didn't change much at all. But Bubba certainly did.

Easton is quite possibly the best baby ever. (Sorry Sadie, eat more)  He has not gotten up in the night in over six months.  He eats like a champ, tries all sorts of new things. And he's truly happy almost all the time!  If someone could guarantee that all my babies would be just like Easton, I could probably have 8! (Good thing I know better,  we're not going anywhere NEAR 8)

Before I had Easton, I thought every mom wanted just girls.  I secretly thought that when a mom found out she was having a boy, she was a teeny bit sad.  I was very wrong.  I'm quite obsessed with my boy.  I now understand this woman:

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I'm serious.  Look out, future-Debra.