Contributors

Monday, July 21, 2014

Cloth diapering, Best Bottoms

    This will be one of many posts about diaper types and brands we're using (or have used) on Joel.

    Best Bottoms diapers are up first.

(Picture from bestbottomdiapers.com)



   Best Bottom diapers caught my attention with all the prints and colors. I fell in love with the fox patterns, their Christmas colored diaper, and their cow print. (And basically all the others.) We bought a few before Joel was born to try out, and have bought a few more over the months.

   Best Bottoms is an AI2 diaper (All in 2) or a hybrid. The waterproof covers (or shells) are sold separately from the absorbent inserts. While the covers are one sized (they have snap rises and will fit most babies from birth to toddler), the inserts come in sizes small, medium, and large. They also come in overnight, stay dry, and hemp. We have a mixture of all the inserts and personally, the hemp are my favorite (very natural and much thinner.)

   The shells can be used multiple times. If wet, just change the insert, wipe them clean, and put a new insert in them. You can also use prefolds or flats in the covers, and we often use them over fitteds at night. When I change Joel, I most often reach for a flat, a small doubler (an added insert that gives extra absorbency but not too much bulk) and a BB cover. Joel has been wearing them since he was only 2 weeks old, and at the start there is a learning curve to putting one sized diapers on newborns (with all cloth, not just Best Bottom). Despite that, we had no leak issues until Joel was older and simply peed too much for the inserts we were using. (Very simple fix).






   
      I love that when we are out for a few hours, or might be out later than we think, I can grab two covers and some inserts and tuck them into the diaper bag as extra/emergency diapers. They are simple enough for even non cloth diaper people to figure out. The only con I would say, is changing the insert does require you to touch the pee. We use wipes to unsnape the insert from the shell and toss it into the wet bag to avoid that.

Friday, July 18, 2014

Summer adventures

      One thing Aaron and I were most excited about when we had Joel, was summer. Summer in Nevada is hot and dry and generally uncomfortable and unpleasant (for me). But, it is also prime time to fill your free time with fun things "enjoying" the weather. (Or, doing anything to avoid melting in it.) And now that we have Joel, thinking up and planning our activities is almost as fun as actually doing them.

     Recently we have felt a bit of a slump when it comes to thinking up things to do. We are pretty tight on cash, and our usual go-to summer activity of swimming in the Truckee river isn't safe for Joel. With my mind being pretty focused on getting into shape (Almost 1 month of no pop! Woo!) I decided what we needed was a family hike to a nice calm body of water. So we planned a trip to a lake hotspot an hour or so away, surrounded by hiking trails of all difficulty levels. And hours into the planning, we changed our plan and decided to drive up to Lake Tahoe.
And then on our way out, we changed our minds and went with the original plan. (And when I say "we" kept changing our plans, I mean I couldn't decide what I wanted to do.)

     We had no idea how Joel might be with a long day out like this. He has never been to a big body of water, or spent an extended amount of time outdoors. I drenched him in sunblock throughout the day, kept his bottles on ice, and stole an idea from my favorite blog Marriage Confessions. I brought along a dry washcloth in a ziplock baggy and throughout the trip, whenever I thought Joel might be too warm, I took it out, wet it, and wiped him down. And he had more fun than I could have imagined!







     Joel truly is a water baby. Not content to just dip his feet or sit on our laps, he first insisted on standing while I held his hands and the waves lapped over his feet. It wasn't long before he decided that wasn't enough, and plopped right down into the water next to Aaron, trying to catch the waves as they came.
If you only have experiences with oceans, let me clarify waves. These were no surfer waves. They were barely more than ripples caused by boats in the distance, and raised the water by no more than 2 inches.)

     I'd known from the start he was a water baby. But I had never expected him to be so thrilled by nature. Flowers, the water fall, the river under the bridge, all amazed him. He swung his legs and jabbered the entire hike to the waterfall, and back to the car. He laid on a towel longer than I have ever seen him be content to lay, and stared at the trees and sky above him. I can't blame him. It was a beautiful day at a beautiful place.




     I can't wait to take him out again. Nothing beats getting exercise, getting into shape, and getting to have fun with your family at the same time.


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Friday, July 11, 2014

Bragging rights

Okay. I would just like to point out...

I made this.



 Well... I guess WE made this...


And as such... we get to do this...


(You can tell these pictures are old, as they are missing the two pearly whites that are now poking through his lower gums!)



So far we have gotten two sets of professional pictures done. One set was done two months ago by an amazing photographer. I swear he took over 100 pictures and they were all awesome! We got his 6 month pictures done just recently at Jc Penney's, and they did pretty good as well.










    I'm not sure HOW I could have anything to do with such an adorable handsome little guy. But I do. So I get to brag.





Monday, July 7, 2014

Makin Milk

   One day Joel decided he didn't want to nurse. My perfect natural nurser would flip out, screaming and crying hysterically if he was held in any way that was related to nursing. I kept trying to get him to nurse, and continued to pump milk to give him, and my supply dwindled away. So for many months now, Joel has been a formula fed baby.

    There is nothing wrong with feeding formula. It gives him nutrition he needs and I don't judge any woman who chooses to use it over breast feeding. But it really isn't what feels right for our family. So, 5 months after giving up on trying to keep a supply, I decided to try something even harder than that. I've started on the road to relactation.

    This took days of googling and talking to lactation experts. Last week I rented myself a hospital breast pump, baked some lactation cookies, bought some fenugreek and mothers milk tea and began the journey.

  So far, this isn't easy. Taking 20 minutes every couple hours to pump is rough with an 8 month old demanding my attention. It hurts, it costs a bit *though not as much as formula*, and it is tiring physically, mentally, and emotionally.

   Luckily I have support coming from every direction in every way to help me out. I can only cross my fingers and hope that with enough dedication I will be able to get Joel back to at least mostly breast fed.

   So there is that. Hopefully one day I will be able to make a blog about my success with relactation, and offer advice and support to women who are doing it. :)

(As of now hopes are high. Who knew a few drops of milk would be SO exciting?)