Our second anniversary rocked. My mom took Alyssa overnight, so Daniel and I had most of the day to spend together, as Ryan went from nursing to his seat to his swing to his cradle, etc.). Mind blowing sex, cuddling, goofing around, watching a movie (Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, w00t!) and a nice dinner out made for a sweet day. ♥
Nursing Ryan and eating dinner.
Mwah. ♥
Are any of you active with FreeCycle? If not, I suggest you check it out. So far I’ve gotten rid of tons of baby clothes, baby toys, a few items of furniture, clothing, household items and about one-hundred romance novels. I love the simplicity of boxing things up, arranging a pick-up time and then letting other people deal with the hassle of hauling it all away.
And I’ve gotten some great things too, the “best” things being a lawnmower (!), a portable dishwasher (!!! OMG I AM IN HEAVEN!), living room chair, dining room table & china hutch set and a 19″ television. Go FreeCycle! :D
Cloth diapering… it’s been almost four weeks now, and I love cloth diapering. There aren’t any marks on Alyssa’s legs or on Ryan’s legs, and I think Alyssa enjoys the extra padding as she’s bouncing and twirling about.
Cloth diapering is also really making an improvement on our garbage output. Before we were throwing out four and give garbage bags a week. Now we’re down to putting out three garbage bags per week. I wish I could get that down to two, but I’m not sure what else I can cut out. We save a few plastic shopping bags to dispose of cat litter with, and the rest we recycle. Unless I potty-train the cat (tempting :P) or slap a diaper on him, I don’t know what else to do. We compress all milk/juice jugs, break down boxes, and squish things as much as possible. Suggestions?
Breastfeeding is still going fantastic. Now that we’re past the soreness from weaning from nipple shields, the omg-I’m-ready-to-slice-my-nipples-off pain from thrush, and then major soreness and tenderness from hormones (I got my period back at eight weeks postpartum), things are rocking along nice and smoothly. Alyssa likes to “help” Ryan nurse – positioning my breast, helping to cradle his head, etc. I also caught her trying to nurse the remote control.
Nursing in public is going just fine too. Off the top of my head we’ve done it at the doctor’s office, the gyno’s office, K-Mart, Wal-Mart, Target (many times!), PetSmart, Burger King, AppleBees, Eat ‘n Park, Old Country Buffet, and many parking lots. Also in front of my mother, grandfather, brothers, their therapists, and Daniel’s brothers (they left the room, lmfao). I’ve had no hassle from anyone – not from employees or other people. Instead I get my mother’s paranoia. “OMG COVER UP WITH A BLANKET SO NOBODY SEEEEEEEEEES!!!111″ Right. Believe it or not, I wind up showing more breast and making more a spectacle of myself by using a blanket. It’s much more discreet to tug aside my top’s neckline, pop out a breast, and latch Ryan on. Between the side of the sling coming up to nearly the top of his head, his big head and my hand, you really don’t see much at all. I’ve actually shown more boobage and cleavage in certain tops. Eesh. And it’s so weird – and annoying! – to listen to my mom squawk. Especially because she’s so liberal and open-minded with other things, and she breastfed all three of us. Go figure?
Oh well. To avoid the whole issue I’ve stopped carrying those lightweight receiving blankets with us when we’re out. Instead I use heavier ones that would most likely suffocate him if he were under it. 
And speaking of nursing and all… I really want this bra!
(I realize that despite my rant on receiving blankets I was using one at the restaurant. This was because it was drafty in there, and I had forgotten Ryan’s hat. Hence the blanket!)
I’ve decided to participate in testing out Windows Vista. The file finished downloading, but I don’t think I’ll mess around with it until tomorrow. I think I’ll slap it on my laptop, as my desktop is the one that has most of my accessories (printer, photo printers, digital camera, web cam, wacom tablet, ipod) hooked up to it. This should be interesting. From everything I’ve read and seen Vista looks pretty spiffy. I hope it’s worth the hype!
Beautiful pics. And it seemed like a beautiful night you spent together. I envy the lovely smile of a happy couple on the last pic.
:D
Yet, I’m happy for you both. Happy anniversary, again.
BTW, you deserve all the things you mentioned on the post. Get them now! :D
Glad you have a wonderful time together. ;) You guys look so happy!
I’m on Freecycle.. joined my local yahoo group on it. Already had someone offer me baby girl clothes. ;) It’s an awesome system!
YAYY Anniversary!! It looks like an awesome time. Today is Dan and I’s 11 month one, lol. I’m glad cloth diapering is going well, it’s reassuring to me that someday I’ll be able to handle it myself.
Newbie to your blog. Love it btw! I’m glad you had a wonderful anniversary it sounds like heaven.
FreeCycle sounds really cool. I’ve never heard of it, but I’ll have to check it out. ;)
what drink is Daniel drinking? the glass is HUGE!!!!
great pictures (as always!!)
So glad you guys had a nice anniversary! Congrats again!
I haven’t really seen anything on FC that I’ve needed yet. I am still keeping the hope alive that there will be some awesome find that I’ll come across before everyone else… so I still get the emails. And, man, do they fill up an inbox quickly.
great pic’s love the way the web site is set up, easy to read -
keep up with the pic’s love them
liking this layout.. not sure how long you’ve had it up..
as for cutting down on your garbage output.. really i dont know why youre throwing away boxes and jugs and such. all that should be recycled.. we have a good recycling program (and i dont have to pay for it in this building) and it’s just insane how much it helps me cut down on trash..