Monday, August 29, 2011
Whoa.....
Lucy is almost 6 months old. I've been EPing for over 5 months. I've mentioned before that I track all of my pumping through the Total Baby app. So I went back through all of the months and added up how many hours I've spent pumping so far. Are you ready for this? Over 550 hours! That's almost 23 solid days. The first day I EP'd I only managed to get out 14 oz. Now I can get double that. It's been a long uphill road but I'm so glad I stuck with it. I wonder how many more hours I'll rack up in the next 6 months . . .
Tuesday, August 23, 2011
Wrong Link!
I gave everyone the wrong link the other day; instead of linking to Lucy's photo, I just linked to place 487, which she is no longer! Whoops! Here is the correct link. Please vote every day- Lucy's already up to #155!!
Vote for Lucy!
I need your help! Recently I submitted Lucy's photo to Parents.com for their photo contest and now she's in the running to win (I have a feeling the email they sent gets sent to everyone who enters but it was still exciting). So please go vote for her! Right now she's at #487 and she is way cuter than the kid in the #1 position (in my own humble opinion, haha!). You can vote for her here. THANKS!!!!!
Saturday, August 20, 2011
Yes You CAN Cloth Diaper!
Now that I've been doing some version of cloth diapering for over 6 months now, I figure I could show my mommy friends how easy and simple it really is. Before I got into cloth diapering, I had the typical reasons for not doing it: too much time, too expensive, too much work, too messy, and daycare won't allow it. However, those are excuses no more!
Let's start with the expense. Yes, at the start of cloth diapering you might spend a lot of money, but if you're smart about what you buy, the diapers can and will last from birth to potty training. I highly recommend using one size pocket diapers. They are adjustable so that most will fit babies ranging from 8 pounds to 30 pounds. There are oodles of brands of pocket diapers. My two favorites are Bum Genius and Blueberry. I also like Kawaii and Fuzzibunz. These are the diapers that have worked for us. That doesn't necessarily mean they will work for everyone. Now, if you buy these diapers brand new, yeah you'll spend a lot building your stash. However, there are tons of great websites out there in which you can score some amazing deals. By far, my favorite is diaperswappers.com. It's a forum that you register for (free of course) and people buy, sell, and trade their cloth diapers. Maybe the thought of buying someone's used cloth diapers grosses you out but honestly, all the diapers I've gotten have been clean, and in decent condition. You can also get some good deals by shopping the clearance section of cloth diaper websites. Many times the diapers in there are "seconds," meaning they've never been used but there's something aesthetically wrong with them. I've gotten a few of these and I can't ever tell what's wrong with the diapers. They function well and they look good in my opinion. Right now in my stash I have around 40 pocket diapers. I think I probably spent around $350 for all of that....well maybe a little more but probably not much more than $400. Compare that to what I would spend on disposables in a year with two babies: We go through 10-12 diapers a day, and there's about 90 diapers in a box (depending on the size). So I'd need a new box approximately every 9 days. So let's just say 3 boxes a month. I buy the store brand and that's usually $16 a box times 36....$576. In one year. And most babies are in diapers for around 2 years. Plus you can use your cloth diapers again with subsequent children. This is a no brainer; cloth diapers are cheaper.
Next excuse, daycare won't take them. Okay this is true if you use a daycare facility. However, if you're lucky like me and have an in-home daycare provider who doesn't mind doing the cloth diapers, then this is not an excuse. Even if your daycare won't do cloth diapers, you can still do them at home at night and on the weekends.
Okay the big excuse, time and effort. Yes, cloth diapering does take a little extra time, a little extra effort but not that much. We launder the diapers every other day. Honestly, we probably wouldn't need to do it that much but our diaper bin gets full after 2 days and washing them that frequently means I never worry about running out of clean diapers. The laundering part isn't that bad once you get used to it. We do a rinse cycle (to get all the nasties out), regular wash, and then 2 more rinse cycles (to prevent residue build up and prevent smells). Then I usually line dry everything. Now lately, I've been drying the inserts in the dryer until they're just damp and then I'll line dry them. Then, once they're dry, sit in front of the TV and stuff the pockets. That only takes me about 15-20 minutes to do. I'm sure we all veg out in front of the TV for at least 20 minutes every night. And as a bonus for me, my hands are busy so that means I'm not mindlessly snacking (a horrible evening habit of mine!). Really, once you have a system it's very easy. During the summer when neither of us was working, it was super easy. But we've both been back at work for a week now, and the girls wear cloth diapers to daycare, requiring a little more effort on my part after work (not much- just pulling the inserts out of the pockets from the dirty dipes at daycare; takes 5 minutes). So bottom line, if we can make it work, anyone can.
The ick factor: well no one likes cleaning out dirty diapers. But you get used to it I guess. Obviously pee diapers are easy to deal with. And if your baby is just on breastmilk, that's easy too. Those can go straight in the hamper. Once your baby is on solids though (or if they drink formula) then it can get a little interesting. Yes, you do need to try and remove the poo before you throw the dipes in the hamper. There are various methods of doing this. A lot of times if you just shake the diaper over the toilet, most of the poo falls off by itself. Occasionally, I have to dunk the diaper and swish it around (and yes I have a strategy for doing this so that my hand doesn't come near the toilet water) and when I'm really desperate, I break out our $1 spatula to scrape the poo off (and that spatula sits in an old wipes container on the floor behind the toilet). Many moms use a diaper sprayer. I actually would like to look into getting one but they're kind of expensive. Of course I don't get all the poo off the dipes before they go in the wash but that's what the rinse cycle is for before you do the regular cycle with soap!
Ahh I thought of another excuse......the added expense of doing extra laundry cycles. I think this one is pretty minimal. Our water bill has gone up but I think that's more due to the fact that Walker's been filling our kiddie pool every other day during the summer. Now that the pool has been put away I think our bill will come back down. I would be very surprised if the extra cycles added more than $5 to our monthly bill. Even if it did at $5 extra per month, that's still cheaper in the long run than doing disposables!
So I've now squashed all excuses. I highly recommend cloth diapering to everyone, even if you've been using disposables for a while. Buy a few and see how you like using them. I bet you'll be hooked. Plus, look at all the cute colors and prints you can get! So go forth, and cloth diaper!
Let's start with the expense. Yes, at the start of cloth diapering you might spend a lot of money, but if you're smart about what you buy, the diapers can and will last from birth to potty training. I highly recommend using one size pocket diapers. They are adjustable so that most will fit babies ranging from 8 pounds to 30 pounds. There are oodles of brands of pocket diapers. My two favorites are Bum Genius and Blueberry. I also like Kawaii and Fuzzibunz. These are the diapers that have worked for us. That doesn't necessarily mean they will work for everyone. Now, if you buy these diapers brand new, yeah you'll spend a lot building your stash. However, there are tons of great websites out there in which you can score some amazing deals. By far, my favorite is diaperswappers.com. It's a forum that you register for (free of course) and people buy, sell, and trade their cloth diapers. Maybe the thought of buying someone's used cloth diapers grosses you out but honestly, all the diapers I've gotten have been clean, and in decent condition. You can also get some good deals by shopping the clearance section of cloth diaper websites. Many times the diapers in there are "seconds," meaning they've never been used but there's something aesthetically wrong with them. I've gotten a few of these and I can't ever tell what's wrong with the diapers. They function well and they look good in my opinion. Right now in my stash I have around 40 pocket diapers. I think I probably spent around $350 for all of that....well maybe a little more but probably not much more than $400. Compare that to what I would spend on disposables in a year with two babies: We go through 10-12 diapers a day, and there's about 90 diapers in a box (depending on the size). So I'd need a new box approximately every 9 days. So let's just say 3 boxes a month. I buy the store brand and that's usually $16 a box times 36....$576. In one year. And most babies are in diapers for around 2 years. Plus you can use your cloth diapers again with subsequent children. This is a no brainer; cloth diapers are cheaper.
Next excuse, daycare won't take them. Okay this is true if you use a daycare facility. However, if you're lucky like me and have an in-home daycare provider who doesn't mind doing the cloth diapers, then this is not an excuse. Even if your daycare won't do cloth diapers, you can still do them at home at night and on the weekends.
Okay the big excuse, time and effort. Yes, cloth diapering does take a little extra time, a little extra effort but not that much. We launder the diapers every other day. Honestly, we probably wouldn't need to do it that much but our diaper bin gets full after 2 days and washing them that frequently means I never worry about running out of clean diapers. The laundering part isn't that bad once you get used to it. We do a rinse cycle (to get all the nasties out), regular wash, and then 2 more rinse cycles (to prevent residue build up and prevent smells). Then I usually line dry everything. Now lately, I've been drying the inserts in the dryer until they're just damp and then I'll line dry them. Then, once they're dry, sit in front of the TV and stuff the pockets. That only takes me about 15-20 minutes to do. I'm sure we all veg out in front of the TV for at least 20 minutes every night. And as a bonus for me, my hands are busy so that means I'm not mindlessly snacking (a horrible evening habit of mine!). Really, once you have a system it's very easy. During the summer when neither of us was working, it was super easy. But we've both been back at work for a week now, and the girls wear cloth diapers to daycare, requiring a little more effort on my part after work (not much- just pulling the inserts out of the pockets from the dirty dipes at daycare; takes 5 minutes). So bottom line, if we can make it work, anyone can.
The ick factor: well no one likes cleaning out dirty diapers. But you get used to it I guess. Obviously pee diapers are easy to deal with. And if your baby is just on breastmilk, that's easy too. Those can go straight in the hamper. Once your baby is on solids though (or if they drink formula) then it can get a little interesting. Yes, you do need to try and remove the poo before you throw the dipes in the hamper. There are various methods of doing this. A lot of times if you just shake the diaper over the toilet, most of the poo falls off by itself. Occasionally, I have to dunk the diaper and swish it around (and yes I have a strategy for doing this so that my hand doesn't come near the toilet water) and when I'm really desperate, I break out our $1 spatula to scrape the poo off (and that spatula sits in an old wipes container on the floor behind the toilet). Many moms use a diaper sprayer. I actually would like to look into getting one but they're kind of expensive. Of course I don't get all the poo off the dipes before they go in the wash but that's what the rinse cycle is for before you do the regular cycle with soap!
Ahh I thought of another excuse......the added expense of doing extra laundry cycles. I think this one is pretty minimal. Our water bill has gone up but I think that's more due to the fact that Walker's been filling our kiddie pool every other day during the summer. Now that the pool has been put away I think our bill will come back down. I would be very surprised if the extra cycles added more than $5 to our monthly bill. Even if it did at $5 extra per month, that's still cheaper in the long run than doing disposables!
So I've now squashed all excuses. I highly recommend cloth diapering to everyone, even if you've been using disposables for a while. Buy a few and see how you like using them. I bet you'll be hooked. Plus, look at all the cute colors and prints you can get! So go forth, and cloth diaper!
Thursday, August 18, 2011
Our Little Bruiser
Anyone who hangs around Taylor long enough will realize she seems to be prone to accidents. I know part of it is the age she's at but Taylor is particularly good at falling down. And she's got the bruises to prove it.
The black eye is from last weekend. We were at our nephew's birthday party and there was a bouncy house. Taylor went in the bouncy house with some older kids. She was fine at first and seemed content with just sitting on the floor and letting the other kids' movements bounce her. But then she got a little adventurous and tried walking around the bouncehouse....with a cup in her hand. And of course she tripped and the cup circled her eye perfectly. She also busted her lip open and got a nice fat lip for the day. Thankfully the lip has healed.
Now look closely at her ear. See that bruise? That's from the other night when Walker took her to the park. She started going down the stairs of the playground structure and slipped and caught the railing with her ear. Walker was not being negligent. He just couldn't get to her fast enough to catch her.
And like any of her accidents, Taylor cries for a minute and then is over it. Thank goodness kids are resilient! Now if we could just stop her from climbing all over the furniture....
The black eye is from last weekend. We were at our nephew's birthday party and there was a bouncy house. Taylor went in the bouncy house with some older kids. She was fine at first and seemed content with just sitting on the floor and letting the other kids' movements bounce her. But then she got a little adventurous and tried walking around the bouncehouse....with a cup in her hand. And of course she tripped and the cup circled her eye perfectly. She also busted her lip open and got a nice fat lip for the day. Thankfully the lip has healed.
Now look closely at her ear. See that bruise? That's from the other night when Walker took her to the park. She started going down the stairs of the playground structure and slipped and caught the railing with her ear. Walker was not being negligent. He just couldn't get to her fast enough to catch her.
And like any of her accidents, Taylor cries for a minute and then is over it. Thank goodness kids are resilient! Now if we could just stop her from climbing all over the furniture....
Sunday, August 7, 2011
gDiapers for Sale!
I'm selling my stash of gdiapers! I have 7 size small gpants, 6 size medium gpants, 14 small snap in gpant liners, 11 medium/large snap in gpant liners, 6 small gcloth inserts, 4 medium/large gcloth inserts, and 2 boxes (one opened but barely used) gcloth liners (these are flushable/disposable liners that you lay over the gcloth to catch poop making it VERY easy to clean up poopy diapers!). Prices are listed below with the pictures and include shipping. And sorry the pics are all turned sideways, and are not of good quality- I took them on my phone.
Medium gpants: in GUC, some pilling on waistband, asking $10/pant except the purple one. The purple one has a piece of velcro that came off- the velcro is attached with a safety pin so it's an easy fix for someone who can sew. Asking $9 for that one. All gpants come with a gpant liner that snaps in place.
Small gpants: in GUC. The two light pink, orange, and cream gpants were all bought 2nd hand so I'm asking $8/pant on those. The dark pink and purple were bought new by me and only used for a few months, asking $11/pant. And the yellow one was barely used at all, asking $12 for that one.
For the small gcloth inserts I'd like $20 for all 6. For the medium/large gcloths I'd like $16 for all 4. For the extra snap in liners, let's just say $1.50 each. And for the 2 boxes of flushable liners (which I don't have a picture of...sorry! You can see them here) I'd like $6/box. ORRRR take the EVERYTHING for $175.
If you have any questions let me know. I will entertain offers
But I will say you might need to act quickly because if these don't sell by the time my town has their huge consignment sale (Sept. 20th) I will put them in there. You can learn more about the gdiaper system here.
Medium gpants: in GUC, some pilling on waistband, asking $10/pant except the purple one. The purple one has a piece of velcro that came off- the velcro is attached with a safety pin so it's an easy fix for someone who can sew. Asking $9 for that one. All gpants come with a gpant liner that snaps in place.
Small gpants: in GUC. The two light pink, orange, and cream gpants were all bought 2nd hand so I'm asking $8/pant on those. The dark pink and purple were bought new by me and only used for a few months, asking $11/pant. And the yellow one was barely used at all, asking $12 for that one.
For the small gcloth inserts I'd like $20 for all 6. For the medium/large gcloths I'd like $16 for all 4. For the extra snap in liners, let's just say $1.50 each. And for the 2 boxes of flushable liners (which I don't have a picture of...sorry! You can see them here) I'd like $6/box. ORRRR take the EVERYTHING for $175.
If you have any questions let me know. I will entertain offers
But I will say you might need to act quickly because if these don't sell by the time my town has their huge consignment sale (Sept. 20th) I will put them in there. You can learn more about the gdiaper system here.
Saturday, August 6, 2011
Lucy is (Almost) 5 Months!
Yep, getting this done a day early! Might as well while I'm sitting here thinking about it. =)
No "official" stats this month because I don't feel like dragging Lucy to the doctor's office just to get weighed and measured. I know she's at least 24.5 inches and at least 12 1/2 pounds so we'll just leave it at that. Maybe if I get around to weighing and measuring her myself, I'll post an update.
Development-wise I don't feel a whole lot has changed from last month other than she has gotten better at using her hands. Lucy likes to grab things and bring them to her mouth. Yes, we've entered the chewing/drooling phase. Are teeth in the near-future? Ehhhh, it took Taylor at least 2 months to cut her first tooth when she started chewing on things so I'm not holding my breath. And she's starting to scoot. She knows how to dig her toes into the floor and push herself forward. Yikes, I'm not ready for two mobile children. Thankfully, she doesn't get too far yet.
Still working on eating cereal, Lucy's getting better at keeping it in her mouth. And little miss got to eat her first fruit last week. I hadn't planned on introducing fruit/veggies this early but Walker was holding her while he was eating a banana and she followed every move that banana made! So he broke off a tiny piece and she gulped it right down. So we've given her mushed up banana and she loves it. I need to start making baby food again for her. I think we'll do sweet potatoes next since that's an easy food that most babies like and one sweet potato makes a LOT of baby food! Other than oatmeal and the occasional banana, Lucy is still on breastmilk. I'm one month away from my goal of 6 months. Oh I know, I said my goal is a year. And it is. But that's pretty hard to focus on. I figure I can re-evaluate things at 6 months. I have a feeling I won't be ready to quit pumping yet which is definitely good. I just need to figure out how I can get down to less pumps without losing a ton of ounces. I managed to go from 8-9 pumps down to 7 but I'm also able to spend 20-30 min. at each pump session. Now with school starting up, I know I won't have that much time during the day. But I do get to set my own schedule so I'm sure I'll be able to figure something out. If anything I can start doing power pumping again.
And Lucy is still a great sleeper, at night that is. During the day she gets in lots of cat naps between 15-45 minutes. I would complain, but how can I when she easily sleeps 9-10 hours every night? Of course I still have to get up once to pump but I'm very thankful I don't have to feed her at the same time.
And now for the best part....pictures!!!! I have to admit, I love the way this session turned out. I put one of Taylor's tutus around her waist- I figured since she was laying down it didn't matter if it was too big.
No "official" stats this month because I don't feel like dragging Lucy to the doctor's office just to get weighed and measured. I know she's at least 24.5 inches and at least 12 1/2 pounds so we'll just leave it at that. Maybe if I get around to weighing and measuring her myself, I'll post an update.
Development-wise I don't feel a whole lot has changed from last month other than she has gotten better at using her hands. Lucy likes to grab things and bring them to her mouth. Yes, we've entered the chewing/drooling phase. Are teeth in the near-future? Ehhhh, it took Taylor at least 2 months to cut her first tooth when she started chewing on things so I'm not holding my breath. And she's starting to scoot. She knows how to dig her toes into the floor and push herself forward. Yikes, I'm not ready for two mobile children. Thankfully, she doesn't get too far yet.
Still working on eating cereal, Lucy's getting better at keeping it in her mouth. And little miss got to eat her first fruit last week. I hadn't planned on introducing fruit/veggies this early but Walker was holding her while he was eating a banana and she followed every move that banana made! So he broke off a tiny piece and she gulped it right down. So we've given her mushed up banana and she loves it. I need to start making baby food again for her. I think we'll do sweet potatoes next since that's an easy food that most babies like and one sweet potato makes a LOT of baby food! Other than oatmeal and the occasional banana, Lucy is still on breastmilk. I'm one month away from my goal of 6 months. Oh I know, I said my goal is a year. And it is. But that's pretty hard to focus on. I figure I can re-evaluate things at 6 months. I have a feeling I won't be ready to quit pumping yet which is definitely good. I just need to figure out how I can get down to less pumps without losing a ton of ounces. I managed to go from 8-9 pumps down to 7 but I'm also able to spend 20-30 min. at each pump session. Now with school starting up, I know I won't have that much time during the day. But I do get to set my own schedule so I'm sure I'll be able to figure something out. If anything I can start doing power pumping again.
And Lucy is still a great sleeper, at night that is. During the day she gets in lots of cat naps between 15-45 minutes. I would complain, but how can I when she easily sleeps 9-10 hours every night? Of course I still have to get up once to pump but I'm very thankful I don't have to feed her at the same time.
And now for the best part....pictures!!!! I have to admit, I love the way this session turned out. I put one of Taylor's tutus around her waist- I figured since she was laying down it didn't matter if it was too big.
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