Timeline PLEASE!

Morgan helping me make eggs for breakfast. That's the butter for her toast (she wants to do everything herself these days).

I'm trying to be positive but I'm having a hard time here lately. As I've mentioned before I'm a "glass half-empty" person and thankfully I've been convicted of this and have made some changes. But this week I'm really struggling with it. The combination of interrupted sleep (by both a two year old and a ten month old), a house that's not ours, hot and a "little bit gross" as MCS would say, a husband who has been in the woods as long as the sun is up (raking pine straw... not playing), uncertainty of what the future holds, and some unmet expectations have put me in a disillusioned state. I'm still trying to convince myself that I don't want to switch places with my husband and go to work or push rewind on our lives and go back to Tallahassee.

I've never have been one to have my life planned out and I can pretty well roll with the punches. However, I seem to be struggling with this very thing. I had these expectations (they're dangerous I know!) of moving to Dothan and spending more time with my husband. I imagined him being a small business owner and being around so that I could have a little bit more time for myself. I imagined us being in a rental house while we build our house. And so far pretty much none of this is happening . And when I say time for myself, I don't mean time to get a pedicure, time to run errands, time to shop, time to sit and read, I really just mean time to go to the grocery store to buy our groceries. Having two young children really ties me to the house, especially when I can't seem to get them to sleep at the same time. I think I'm feeling a little trapped too!

I'm interested in seeing what the Lord will teach me through this. Being in limbo is hard for me and I'm certain His plans are better than mine and since I have none now, I'm really certain His plans are better than mine. I just wish He'd send me an email with a timeline of all the big and small details that I seem to be mulling over. And tell me exactly WHAT is next and WHEN would be nice too! But then what would I need Him for?

Thankful for and reminding myself of His SOVEREIGNTY... Darby

A Wonderful Mother's Day Weekend

Mama and her girls on Mother's Day weekend in one of about 5 outfits I made them last week. I figured if they were going to see my parents they were going to have to look cute and match! I got a little carried away but I was on a kick after those curtains!

We had an absolutely delightful time at the beach this weekend. As I mentioned before we left, I had very high expectations, which can put a lot of pressure on a weekend. Erika and Chance went out of their way to make sure we were all well taken care of. She even rented the neighbors cottage for Justin and I and Raiger to stay in so that everyone could spread out and be comfortable. Morgan, of course, had to stay at MommaSissy's house and sleep with "Mom" (which is what she calls my mom... and my dad is "DaddyBoy").

We arrived Friday night and enjoyed a wonderful dinner with some old friends from Louisville. It was great to see Cara and Matt and Angie and Chris and their precious children. Cara and Matt have a little girl (Lily) who is Morgan's age and it was fun to see them together. Mom and Dad rolled into town late Friday night (a GIANT roach just landed on me for the 2nd time in a week while I sit here and type...argh! Time to call the landlord, AGAIN!).

Saturday morning we headed to the beach. My sweet husband stayed home with Paiger Raiger while she had her morning nap and joined us at the beach later. Erika and Chance know how to go to the beach. I'm not sure I'll ever be able to go to the beach any other way after going with them. They have Walton County beach permits which allow them to drive their vehicles on the beach. We loaded up Chance's truck and Erika's old Bronco full of coolers, chairs, towels, and most importantly Morgan's training potty; you name we had it. And we just pulled right out on the beach with all our stuff and unloaded all our goodies right there.

My brother-in-law is a kid. And this may be one of my most favorite qualities about him. He's over 30 but if you didn't know it and only assessed his age based on his toys and eating habits you may think he was closer to age 12. Which is great for Morgan and those of us who like to pretend to be kids. Chance has devised this rope with handles out of marine rope and pvc and it is intended (by Chance) to be used to pull an individual on a skim board. The kids were flocking to Chance as he spun them around the lake at Grayton Beach. I thought it looked so fun that I needed to try. It was fun. It was SO fun. I honestly didn't care who saw me. It was like skiing (only in 3 inches of water). Well the three inches of water became a problem when my loving husband decided to fling me as fast as he could towards the shore line and I pummeled in the shallow water. I only cried for a few minutes and was able to get up and walk myself to the gulf to see if the salt water would help soothe the giant bruised, sand burned, strawberry that I got on my ham hock as a result of trusting my husband with my life. I still wince when I sit down and tonight may be the first night I can sleep on my left side. Justin (and everyone else) has only heard about 300 x how bad it hurt and still hurts! :)

Sunday we attempted to go to church. We actually all got dressed and in the cars but then realized it wasn't going to happen so we all got out of the cars and got undressed. This is what happens when you have a 2 year old and a 10 month old. Paige was ready to sleep and we were planning on going straight from church to the boat and those of you who are mothers know that this wouldn't work. So, the guys headed to Destin for the boat and Mom (my mom) decided to stay home and keep Paiger while the rest of us spent the day on the boat. We had a great time and great weather. We saw a ton of dolphins and I was about 2 feet from touching one. They are very playful and like to come up to the boat. They would flap their tails at us and swim along side the boat upside down. It was so much fun and I felt like I was on Flipper. I'll attach a link of pictures! I really was one of the most incredible things I've ever seen. The pictures don't do it justice. It's one of those things when you see those beautiful animals splashing and playing and coming so close to our boat that reminds me we have a Creator with a wild imagination! (Did I just quote Bob Dylan!?)

We stayed the night last night and came back to Dothan this morning! We had so much fun and the girls are both wiped out. Our landlord arranged to have our attic sprayed with insulation while we were gone over the weekend, unfortunately I haven't been able to tell a difference yet... hopefully soon!

My sweet husband treated me to wonderful Mother's Day surprises and I was reminded this Mother's Day what a special blessing it is to have two healthy and loving girls. I feel so very blessed to have my precious children and it was my prayer this Mother's Day to never take a day I have with them for granted. I also felt so blessed to be with my Mom this Mother's Day! It was so special to have her there and my girls all together which is a very rare thing for us! Mom and Dad are hopefully coming back through Dothan on their way home to Illinois.

I better get back to killing roaches and loads of laundry!

http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=b5enhlt.524z8nsp&x=1&y=glyrw7

Great Expectations

Here's the Raiger in her new favorite location!

You can see our bedroom windows behind her. There are 4 along the back and two on either side. You can also see our neighbors house directly behind our bedroom (the house with the pool). They have a dog. She is tied to a fence. She's not allowed in the fence. She barks at us... A LOT. She seems sweet but doesn't like it when we go to our bedroom. She must think our bedroom is her bedroom. We think a lady lives there with 2 kids. I haven't quite figured it all out yet, but I'm working on it. Anyway, due to the extreme heat in our house we sleep with all our windows open. The sun rises a lot earlier here in central time. And apparently so does the dog and her owner. About every other day at 6:15 am the woman will walk out of her house (which is just a few feet beyond those uninsulated and open windows) and in a very loud voice say, "Move cat, move!" This is directed towards "Squash" who apparently doesn't belong to her. She makes it very clear because after she yells "Move cat, move!" about 12 times she says, "I don't know who you belong to, but it's not me. Move cat, move!" I have placed my digital camera on my nightstand in hopes of getting this on video. Justin and I just look at each other and question if what we are hearing is really happening or just a reoccurring nightmare. Thankfully we find it very amusing. So, along with photos of my new curtains (which have turned my children's bedrooms into caves) I hope to have a video clip of "that neighbor" and her 6 am dialog with "Squash".

Ok, about these great expectations I have. My parents are heading south tomorrow and I have very high expectations for a wonderful Mother's Day weekend. It has just been pulled together in the last week and I am so excited to see them and for them to see the girls. The girls have both changed so much since we were home for Christmas. Erika and Chance have been working hard pulling it all together and I know it will be a wonderful weekend. Morgan is so excited to go to the beach. Tomorrow night we'll get to spend some time with some old friends from Louisville that we don't get to see that often and I am really excited about the whole weekend.

Until next time, Darby

Dangerously Close to the DQ

One thing I failed to mention in my previous blog entry is the proximity of our neighborhood to every eating establishment under the shining sun. Especially the DQ! We could walk there if I thought we could cross the circle and make it to the other side. I found myself there yesterday and the day before. My baby has become a big girl and has learned to wear her big girl panties. We had 2 accidents yesterday but about 7 successful trips to the potty... including #2! Bribery with candy and other sweet treats is my main method for potty training. Ironically I have a very large weakness for candy and treats so if mommy uses the potty she gets a treat too! How exciting for me!

I took Morgan in her panties (which is probably one of the scariest things I've done in a while) with me to Hancock's Fabric (which is equally as close as the DQ--- scary, I know!) and she proved herself to be a big girl so on the way home we stopped for a treat! She brought it up and if she hadn't I probably would have!

My recent undertaking is curtains for all our bedroom windows. Morgan is her mother's daughter and I am certainly my mother's daughter. My mother made curtains for every window she ever owned and perhaps, since I am her daughter, I imagine she probably (like me) made curtains for windows she didn't own. I have spent the better part of the last few days working on these little gems and I am very anxious to get them hung, largely because they will cover our windows which seem to be made of nothing. During the day the temperature in here will not go below 78, even with the thermostat set at 73. (And the air blowing out of the registers is very cold!) During the heat of the afternoon with the sun beating in our windows (that are old aluminum crankouts and not insulated) it's a toasty 82 in here. Making these curtains is kinda like potty training Morgan... kind of a pain to do, but deep down inside it's really exciting and pleasurable to me. I think there's some creative and artistic section of my brain that needs to be exercised at least once or twice a month. Here lately it's only been exercised by using Crayola crayons on Curious George coloring books. Thankfully for Morgan, her mom loves to color. Yesterday we sat down and colored together and she kept saying, "Oooh Mommy, yours looks so pretty! That looks so good Mommy!" (Don't worry I gave myself a little pat on the back!:))

Anyway, the curtains are almost done and I'm so excited about them! I found some really cute fabric for Morgan's on the clearance table at Hancocks and found fabric for ours and Paiger's in my huge bins of fabric that I have toted from house to house and never used. Erika gave me the precious fabric for Paiger's curtains. I was so excited to tell her that I used it. She informed me that I made curtains for a rental house out of fabric that costs about $100 a yard! Oops, but it sure is cute!! Hope Paiger likes them! I have lined all of them with thermal black-out lining. Maybe my children will sleep all day now and not wake up drenched in sweat! :) I even bought velcro to velcro them to the window trim at the bottom; I don't want ANY of my cool air escaping!

Here's a link to some pictures of Morgan and Judson (and a couple of Paiger so everyone knows she's around too). We have 2 great baby pools, 2 sprinklers, and lots of outdoor toys, bikes, trikes, cars, you name it, but Morgan and Judson found the pond they built (with the help of Morgan's cousins) much more entertaining! Watching them play in it was so much fun! Enjoy! Oh, and don't worry... once these curtains are up, I'll send pictures of them too!

http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=b5enhlt.cc0ji0mh&x=1&y=-liwt0t

Camping (with a cat)

She is her mother's daughter!

We are settling in more and more everyday. Morgan has made a new friend. His (or maybe her) name (according to Morgan) is "Squash". Not as in "to smash" but as in the plant you put in your garden. She gave him a tour of our carport and told him about everything that was in the carport that belonged to her. The cat thoroughly enjoyed the tour and was especially fond of Morgan's little tummy that hangs out over her shorts. That tail would twist and turn and wrap itself around her tummy and she would giggle and say, "That tickles kitty!" I couldn't resist taking about 500 pictures. She was pretty gentle with him but I continued to remind her that not all cats are nice. So she told Squash about 20 times that "not all cats are nice"! :) Enjoy the slideshow.

For those of you who may not be familiar with Dothan, we live in an area called the "Garden District". It's absolutely a beautiful area of all older homes. Probably one of Dothan's first neighborhoods. It has mature trees and nice, well cared for lawns and houses. Most of the houses have been updated or completely replaced with a new home leaving just a few "peeling paint rentals" (like the one we're living in). It reminds me a lot of the neighborhood that George Banks and his family live in in Father of the Bride. It's very quaint and just makes you smile to walk up and down the streets. I met a nice man the other day named Mr. Wood while I was walking with the girls. He has a beautiful rose garden and cut Morgan 4 beautiful roses. Yesterday when I was telling Tami how nice he was, she said, "You know who that is don't you? It's Ashley Maddox's father-in-law" Which would be Brett and Maggie Wood's dad. I never put two and two together!

Yesterday, Paiger and I walked over to Tami's and on the way I saw the most meticulous yard I have ever seen. The grass was immaculate, they had a beautiful rose garden, and about 40 of the most beautiful blueberry bushes. Justin and I are in the market for blueberry bushes for the farm so I was drooling over them as I walked by. I noticed the owners were sitting in their carport so I decided we'd drop in and ask them a few questions about their bushes. As I walked up they had their backs to me so I said, "Excuse me, I don't want to startle you, but I want to talk to you about your blueberries." I was rather taken back with, "Oh, hey Darby, how are you!?" they replied. It was the Ganter's. We all laughed because I had no clue I was at their house. I got a quick tour and a brief history of the bushes and I told them I'd be bringing Justin back for a field trip! I was also informed that I'd have to beat Chris to the blueberries when they're ripe... thankfully I'm about 3 hours closer (and 8 doors down)!

We've decided to look at our time in this house as a camping experience; trying to get by on the bare essentials! Justin made the term "camping" a little more literal when I could hear him calling for me yesterday morning from the bathroom. I walked in and asked him what he needed, I thought he would ask for a bar of soap, a washcloth, but no, he was asking that I bring him his flip flops before he got out of the shower. I laughed pretty hard at the thought of my very manly archaeologist husband not wanting his clean bare feet to touch the bathroom floor!

I've taken some pictures over the last few days, check the link below if you want to see. The best thing so far about this neighborhood is having our family 3 doors down. Morgan loves her cousins and it's so fun to be just a short walk away. Justin has joined the First Baptist softball team with Ryan and I look forward to watching them play together. Ok, I woke up early to blog and now that Paiger is up it's hard to concentrate!

http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=b5enhlt.77wgn8ex&x=1&y=-6sinuj

What doesn't kill us, makes us stronger!

This Uhaul employee (in the white) was trying to bend the bumper back on this truck that the man on the far left had just bent to a 90 degree angle. He was pulling a Uhaul trailer (apparently for the first time) and made a sharp left turn in front of this truck nearly pulling the bumper clear off the front of the truck. The Uhaul worker didn't seem to mind and just attempted to bend the crimped bumper back. When he wasn't strong enough to do it he called for another worker to get another truck and ram it into the front of this truck until the bumper was fixed. It was quite a sight to be seen. Thankfully this gem wasn't our truck, ours was the one parked behind it with no brake lights. I only almost rearended Justin 3 times on the way home.

Justin with no brake lights, and myself with a haphazardly packed load in the pickup truck nearly caused major mayhem on I-10. I was cruising behind Justin when I noticed a large roll of 1/4" hardware cloth (that stuff archaeologists use) teetering out of the bucket that it was stuffed down in. Before I could pull over it flew out and unfortunately became tangled below the minivan that was traveling behind me. They very quickly slowed down and made their way to the shoulder. By the grace of God it didn't cause an accident and hopefully those folks were able to untangle the mess while calling me every name in the book. I attempted to get Justin's attention to let him know what had happened but when you're driving a Uhaul down the interstate with your windows down at 75 MPH it's hard to hear your cell phone RING!!!! I finally sped up next to him shaking my cell phone (calling him every name in the book). By the time we pulled over they were a good 5 miles behind us and we just prayed they were okay and not too mad at our foolishness!

With all the moving madness behind us, we're trying to get settled in and unpack a few boxes. It makes me laugh to read that my last entry was about "load 1". We thought the movers would get the rest in their 24 ft truck, but unfortunately we (Justin and myself) went back to Tallahassee on Saturday for "load 3". Which filled the 26 ft Uhaul mentioned above. Now we have 3 loads of stuff and no where to put it. We have been frantically unpacking, rearranging, and making trips to storage. Hopefully by the end of this week we'll feel a little more settled.

Thankfully Morgan feels right at home in her "rental house" as she calls it. We have 2 new baby pools and lots of stuff packed into our carport. I'm sure the neighbors are thrilled to see the "renters" are here. So far we have definitely proved ourselves to be typical "renters". We have turned the carport into a porch/patio. It's a sight to be seen! Works for us, not sure how the neighbors feel about it! Oh well! Here's a picture of MCS on her big girl tricycle!

On our Way to "Dofin"

This is exactly what the pediatrician warned me against when moving with toddlers and small children!

Hi Paiger! She waves to you now and it will just about melt your heart!

Load 1 is ready to go! It's Saturday morning and the girls are still sleeping! We loaded up a 6 x 12 trailer last night with boxes and other miscellaneous things. I've scheduled movers to move us (Praise God!); we feared that all our "stuff" wouldn't fit in their 24 foot truck, so hence "load 1"! We're still not sure how we have accumulated so much stuff! But we have and now we have to deal with it this move like we have every other move. We've had garage sales and more garage sales but somehow I have a little bit of my grandmother in me and can't seem to part with a few unused items! Maybe after this move I'll be able to part with more.

Well, it's time to load up on some morning fuel, get the girls up and head to Dofin (as Morgan calls it)! I'll report on "load 1" and Justin's feel for his new house when we return!!

Can't wait to move in!

This picture is old but I do love it. It doesn't necessarily

relate to the post but I thought I'd share it nonetheless!

We are moving in less than 2 weeks and I have a million trillion things to do but I just have to have a little therapy and type a blog entry! So much has been going on, I know there's no way I could possibly summarize it briefly but I'll do my best!

We had a great weekend here and got a lot of packing done. Sunday night Justin and I decided we needed to get out of the house. So we took the girls on a car ride and made a quick stop at Target. Justin was craving pizza so he decided to drop Morgan & I off a Target and he and Paiger were going to go pick up pizza. He said he'd feed Paiger while he waited for his pizza. As I was unstrapping Morgan from her car seat she was very excited and stuttered a little (she's been stuttering lately, it's almost like her mouth can't catch up with her brain). Anyway, she said, "Daddy, daddy, you are so silly, you can't feed Paiger because you're boobies aren't big enough!" We laughed so hard. We explained that daddy was going to feed her oatmeal. We all laughed and I took Morgan in Target and Justin "fed" Paiger while waiting for his pizza.

Morgan told GiGi this weekend that "Sometimes, I just call her 'little sis'! (referring to Paiger)" Yesterday, I was explaining to Morgan that the next holiday is Mother's Day (she has this new excitement for holidays and birthdays) and I asked her if she knew who her mother was, she looked at me with a very confident smile and in all seriousness and said, "Yes, GiGi!" I said, "No, try again?" She said, "Paiger?" Finally I gave up and explained that was her mother, she said, "No, you're Mama." :) I guess we'll call it "Mama's Day!"

Ok, back to what else is going on in our lives. The girls and I went to Dothan Monday morning to check on the status of our new rental house! Justin had to work this week and couldn't be with us. The renters were out over the weekend and I was able to get in and evaluate what furniture we would need and not need, etc. I also wanted to see if I wanted to paint any rooms. I know it sounds crazy to paint rooms in a rental house but I'm a "nester" and my color paint on the walls would give me such comfort. So, after Paiger's 9 mo check up we headed to Dothan.

Chance (my BIL (brother-in-law)) was in town and I told him just to meet me at the rental house. My MIL (mother-in-law) and SIL (sister-in-law) were also going to meet me there. They had the keys. So, I pull up with the girls and I'm greeted by my MIL, BIL, and SIL. I said, "well, how is it?" (Keep in mind, Justin and I did go through this house but the people were there, with all their stuff, and we didn't get a very good look!) They all explained that it was "Ok, for a rental house." They were being way too generous with that explanation. I walked through saw some pretty nasty looking rooms and bathrooms and thought, "Oh Lord, please help me!" I shed a few tears in the front yard and called Justin and said, "It's definitely going to need to be cleaned!" But I sucked it up and gave myself a little pep talk and said, "We're going to make it work, I just need to go buy some new carpet, vinyl, and paint".

My very nice and selfless BIL escorted me around town to have the utilities turned on, etc. We spent a fair amount of time at the Dothan Civic Center Utility Dept waiting to be seen to have the utilities turned on. We had to wait with about 20 people who were asking for "extensions" on their power bills. I didn't even know there was such thing and I think we both were in shock of what we saw. Words can't quite describe... one woman was there straight from the hospital with her newborn in her arms, she had her arm bracelets on and her slippers and winced when she sat down... I think the baby was born yesterday; needless to say, we saw some pretty rough folks. Chance said, "Next time you want me to go there with you, let me call my dr first and make sure I'm up on all my shots!" It was rough, sad and a good reality check all in one.

After taking care of the utilities I headed to the Carpet Barn Outlet to buy carpet, padding, and vinyl. The back room of the house is asbestos floor tile and I didn't want Paiger crawling on it. I took it back to the rental house and realized there was no way on this earth I could get the 12x12 carpet and the 12x25 vinyl in the house by myself. (Chance had already headed back to the beach by now). I managed to get it out of the suburban but couldn't lug it inside. Thankfully, Tommy came to my rescue. All he could do was laugh when he saw the house, he said, "You must really love Justin Stickler to live here!" We tried to be positive and figure out how to make it work. He lugged all the new flooring in for me and I gave him the grand tour.

When I arrived back at my MIL's house (who had the girls) I got a call from Justin saying the power company called our house in Tallahassee and couldn't get the power on at the rental house for some reason. I tried to call but they were closed. Later that night as I laid in bed talking to Justin I just kept telling him I didn't know what to do about this house. I told him that it was just really dirty and the floors were bad, etc. He had called Mr. Frumin (the landlord) earlier that day and told him I was disappointed with the condition of the house and he told us to call a cleaning service. Keep in mind, Mr. Frumin left for a 14 day cruise to Europe just after speaking to Justin. I told Justin I just didn't know what to do... so, he asked me, "Darby, can we make this work?!" I said, "Of couse we can make it work!" So that was that and I went to bed thinking, "the decision has been made and now we're going to stick with it and make this thing work!" I woke up at 6:30 with Paiger and we snuck out early to run to Lowe's to get paint and other carpet materials. I knew if I was going to make this work I'd need some stuff to help make it work. I bought 5 gallons of paint, carpet knife, carpet tape and a vinyl knife. I came back to the Stickler's house and GiGi came out of her bedroom with this lovely piece of paper. She had been in her room writing down all the pros and a few cons to the house on Kent. I told her that was great and that Justin and I had discussed it and that we were going to make it work. I explained that I already went to Lowe's got the paint and that I was going to run over there to drop it all off.

I called the utility company at 8 and was explained that the wires coming into the meter box were melted and not to code. He told me they were sending an inspector to inspect the electrical wiring of the house at 10. I rushed the girls over to Tami's and I met the inspector. The list was rather long and complicated and the repairs didn't seem minor; one said, "Replace and move inside panel to meet code". I know from past experience, moving an interior electrical panel is not a quick task. He also told me I couldn't use a microwave in the house. I was quickly thinking maybe this house wouldn't work after all. I took some photos of the house and went to my SILs house to use her phone book. She said, "there's a house right over there for rent, let's go look at it!" So we did. And it was a dream come true. It's ugly outside but I don't care at all. The inside was clean with brand new carpet and new paint and it had 2 very nice clean bathrooms. So, I proceeded to sign a lease and I've never been so relieved!! I emailed Justin the pictures last night and he couldn't believe that I actually considered living there. And now that I look at them I wonder what I was thinking too. I was just trying to be positive... maybe too positive! Praise the Lord for providing a way out! Here are pictures if you are so inclined to see the disaster. Be sure to see photo comments for the full effect.

http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=b5enhlt.7tbrqoz1&x=1&y=-m858tm

Moving (part I)

I managed to pack up one cabinet in the kitchen, then I turned around and saw this! I guess an empty cabinet was very tempting to a two-year old. Unfortunately I didn't make it much further than this. We plan to kick into high gear this weekend and pack up most of what is in our house (hopefully!). I'm really tired right now but I wanted to share some pictures of the girls. I put Paiger in an outfit that used to be Morgan's. Every time I put Paige in Morgan's clothes I can't help but think that it was yesterday that Morgan was wearing them. I put the pictures together in an album (click link below) just for fun... check it out and see if you can tell who's who!?

http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=b5enhlt.8y04b49p&x=1&y=cormyu

Nappy, Gnarly Highchairs

For the full effect of these pictures I suggest you click on them.

There are some things in life that I think about fairly frequently. Things that are thought provoking but not necessarily of any substantial value or deep meaning. One of these things is the nastiness of highchairs. We have one that is supposedly easy to clean, however, I think that is a huge false marketing scheme. It comes with this large slide-on tray that collects stuff (you know, bits and pieces of chewed up baby food, cheerios, and slobber) and doesn't fit in the dishwasher. It has this "snap-off" tray that fits on top of the "slide on" try but small bits of that chewed up food collect in the cracks where it "snaps on" to the bigger "slide on" tray. I think the only way this highchair would be considered "easy to clean" would be if we had a drive-thru car wash in our backyard that I could throw it in and let it ride through on the tracks. The nastiness of our highchair, thankfully, hasn't seemed to bother Paiger in the least. As you can see by the pictures above she feels right at home in her highchair. Her favorite thing to do is get a mouthful of food and then chew on the highchair where you see those little red buttons (that's where the slide on tray is supposed to go). Perhaps if my child could keep her food in her mouth and not in her hair and all over her body it would no longer be a problem. This highchair also came with a washable seat cover. As you can see by the picture I have chosen not to use the washable cover because I prefer not to wash it after every meal. If anyone knows of a highchair that doesn't have really small nooks and crannies that collect food particles and other bodily fluids please let me know. I'm at a loss for what to do. My child must eat; she's not big enough for the barstools or "big girl" table yet and she's outgrown her Bumbo... so anyone with an idea please let me know.... for now we'll just continue in our nastiness! If you ever happen to drive by 2343 Kilkenny Dr and you're looking for our house you can just look for the highchair that frequently sits on the front sidewalk after being sprayed down with the hose nozzle. Perhaps this very introspective blog entry has brought me to the conclusion that maybe the problem isn't my highchair but the small child that sits in it! :)