merry christmas

love, the eberspachers

.herrold.family.

love this family.
partly because they became my family when i married evan
and partly because they are all just so sweet and awesome and well…
good looking!!

 i love you herrold family.

it's hard

being a mom is hard.

lately i've been struggling with this

when eleanor was first born, for the first few months, things were easy
maybe easy isn't the right word. they were i don't know..
different
newborns sleep so much
all they do is eat and sleep
when she was a few months old i showered every day
i put make up on every day
now i'm doing good to get a shower every 2 days.
it's harder now
she moves, and crawls, and stands, and is so much fun
but i have to watch her at all times so she doesn't eat something or
play with a cord
or fall and crack her head open
my house is a mess
i dont get things done
the days of leaving the house in 15 minutes are gone
it takes so much effort and work to get her ready, then myself
feed the dogs, let them out
load the diaper bag
make sure there is food and diapers and a bib and snacks
and everything you could ever need

its hard.
and thats ok
just because its hard doesn't mean we're doing it wrong.
just because its hard doesn't mean you're a bad mom
or a bad wife
maybe you're a good mom because it's hard
maybe it's hard because you're doing something right

Happy Halloween

happy halloween from eleanor the elephant

so freaking cute i could cry

Logan.Senior

i spent the other friday night with this awesome guy.

it was so fun to get to know him. 

and he made my job pretty easy!!

thanks Logan, for letting me be a part of your senior year!

i suck at blogging

i'm terrible at it.
i try really hard.
and do ok for a few weeks then i fall off the face of the earth for a month.
i don't know how to make myself get better.

i don't do structure.
i don't get up at the same time every day
eleanor doesn't take a nap at a specific time
heck sometimes she doesn't even take a nap at all

maybe i just need a little more discipline and i can figure out this whole blogging once a week.
frick.
wish me luck.

cloth diapers

so most of you know how much i love cloth diapers.

i love them a lot.

more than a lot.

i love them so much i have to ground myself from buying more.

and my husband has asked more than once if "we have enough diapers yet"

we don't. well we do but….

they are so cute and fun and easy and even though we have tons (40ish to be exact… oops)

we are still saving money. and no matter how many diapers i buy that makes evan happy!

when we decided to use cloth diapers, before eleanor was even born i chose a brand i researched, and i thought they were the best option. they were $20 a pop. they're great, and we still use them but since then we (and by we i mean i) have discovered there are way cheaper options. now some people don't like these cheaper diapers…. because, well they're cheap. and made in china and yada yada yada  but i LOVE them.

they work just as great as our $20 diapers. and some i even like better.

and they cost $5 or less!

i mean seriously. they poop in these things so i figure why spend $20 when i can spend $5 and get four times as many :) and they work just as well.

my favorite inexpensive brand is alva.

i've also discovered if you use pocket diapers(which we do) the inserts are the most important part.

A pocket diaper has a waterproof outer layer and a microfleece or suedecloth inner layer. you place an absorbent insert in between the 2 layers(like a pocket) to draw moisture away from baby's skin.

my favorite inserts are blend. microfiber and bamboo.

one of the things about cloth is you can't use regular laundry detergent. you have to use cloth diaper safe detergent. there are things in regular detergent that make the fabrics in cloth diapers waterproof and that leads to leaking which is not good!

so i've done some research and started making my own cloth diaper detergent. i've been using it for a few months now and love it. it works great. is easy to make and way more cost effective. so heres that.

• 1 cup Arm & Hammer Washing Soda
• 1 cup 20 Mule Team Borax
• 1/2 cup of OxiClean Free or “Baby”

you can make a larger batch if you want… i got the recipe here 

i know cloth is a little more work but i truly love it and will do it with all of my children. 

its the best!

if you're on the fence about cloth 

please DO IT!

its so great and good for the environment and your pocket book, not to mention the baby. no chemicals from what ever gels up the disposables and babies in cloth potty train quicker than disposables!! (i've been told, will let you know when we get there)

oh and they're freaking cute.

hope this helps sway you!