Tuesday, September 27, 2011
Sleeping Through the Night
I'm a very lucky mom in the fact that Lucy has been sleeping through the night (as in 7+ hours straight) since she was 8 weeks old. The last time I got to sleep more than 7 hours straight? Ummmmm 2nd trimester? Let me tell you I'm literally tired of getting up in the middle of the night to pump. Even though I just recently dropped down to 5 pumps per day (with only a loss of maybe an ounce in production) I think I need to drop my MOTN pump. I will probably end up losing a few more ounces in my production but I just can't worry about that anymore. I have no energy to do anything. I barely make it through work every day. At this point, Lucy eats an average of 20 oz a day (plus 2 meals of solids) and I know I can easily make that. And if it gets to the point where I can't, well I have quite a bit of freezer stash to dip into. I'm hoping that maybe dropping the night pump will be freeing enough for me to keep going with EPing. My goal is still a year.....
Sunday, September 18, 2011
Happy 1/2 Birthday to Lucy!
11 days late but things were crazy around here last week...
Weight: 14 lbs 2.5 oz
Height: 25.25"
Oh my shrimpy girls......but technically she is my "fat" baby considering her growth percentiles are still higher than Taylor's, although not by much. Besides, have you seen the rolls on this child? I can't get over how chunky her legs are; I love it!
What she's doing: sitting up all by herself! She started doing this a few days before she turned 6 months. Now she can sit up for pretty long periods of time. I still think she prefers being on her tummy though. Maybe that's because she seems to be working hard on crawling. So far all she can do is push herself backwards. She has managed to push herself onto all fours a few times but it never lasts long. Lucy also can bring her pacifier to her mouth now which is great. I kinda wish she would hold her bottle better by herself. Not that we don't enjoy feeding her, but it would make our mornings easier when we're all trying to get out the door by 7:15.
What she's saying: a whoooole lot! Lucy is starting to do some syllables like "ma-ma-ma"....well actually it comes out more like "maaaaaaaaa-maaaaaaaaaa-maaaaaaaaaaa" She really seems to enjoy drawing out her voice, and loudly!
What she's eating: breastmilk mostly still. She also eats oatmeal and fruit/veggies at the sitter's every day for lunch. Sometimes at night we'll give her more fruit and veggies but not always. The great thing is now that she doesn't need as much breastmilk I'm outproducing her which means my freezer stash is growing nicely. Could this mean I get to stop pumping early? Oh I can only hope!
No teeth yet which surprises me. Lucy has been drooling a ton and chewing on everything for well over a month now. But I guess Taylor's took a long time to break through as well.
We're still dealing with the eczema unfortunately. And Lucy seems to be in the middle of an outbreak right now. I can't imagine how bad it's going to be this winter when the air gets super dry.
Weight: 14 lbs 2.5 oz
Height: 25.25"
Oh my shrimpy girls......but technically she is my "fat" baby considering her growth percentiles are still higher than Taylor's, although not by much. Besides, have you seen the rolls on this child? I can't get over how chunky her legs are; I love it!
What she's doing: sitting up all by herself! She started doing this a few days before she turned 6 months. Now she can sit up for pretty long periods of time. I still think she prefers being on her tummy though. Maybe that's because she seems to be working hard on crawling. So far all she can do is push herself backwards. She has managed to push herself onto all fours a few times but it never lasts long. Lucy also can bring her pacifier to her mouth now which is great. I kinda wish she would hold her bottle better by herself. Not that we don't enjoy feeding her, but it would make our mornings easier when we're all trying to get out the door by 7:15.
What she's saying: a whoooole lot! Lucy is starting to do some syllables like "ma-ma-ma"....well actually it comes out more like "maaaaaaaaa-maaaaaaaaaa-maaaaaaaaaaa" She really seems to enjoy drawing out her voice, and loudly!
What she's eating: breastmilk mostly still. She also eats oatmeal and fruit/veggies at the sitter's every day for lunch. Sometimes at night we'll give her more fruit and veggies but not always. The great thing is now that she doesn't need as much breastmilk I'm outproducing her which means my freezer stash is growing nicely. Could this mean I get to stop pumping early? Oh I can only hope!
No teeth yet which surprises me. Lucy has been drooling a ton and chewing on everything for well over a month now. But I guess Taylor's took a long time to break through as well.
We're still dealing with the eczema unfortunately. And Lucy seems to be in the middle of an outbreak right now. I can't imagine how bad it's going to be this winter when the air gets super dry.
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....
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