The Good Letdown: It's Not a Club!

I happen to follow this breastfeeding blog just for some inside tips and commonalities that we milk mommas share.  Mind you, the majority of the time it deals with things that I am not interested in such as tandem feeding (ie nursing a newborn and an older child at the same time), and the benefits of nursing till the child goes to school.  Not my literal cup of tea, but to each their own.  Yet this past blog has really stuck with me.  Not so much that all of my mommy friends are breastfeeders, but some of the points she makes certainly make sense.  It is easier to relate to someone as a mother when they breastfeed their child as well.  You do not feel awkward pulling out the hooter-hider and feeding your child while having a conversation with this person. Other nursing moms are a wealth of information and support when things can get tricky even months past the early tough days!
 I really like her position on the unspoken guilt that some moms feel when confronted by another mom who did not have good luck with nursing and feels threatened by how well it is going for me. SO TRUE.  Parenthood is full of MANY unknowns and each and every one of us will rightfully question how well they are doing by using their peers as a barometer.  It is only natural for someone who is struggling with breastfeeding or conception, to postpartum weight loss, or organization of life to throw a shady eye your way.  We just need to have those supportive friends to fall back on when you might feel a tad guilty for what you are doing. Because you should never feel guilty when you are doing what is best for you and your child. 
Thanks Megz for the boost of confidence! 
The Good Letdown: It's Not a Club!: "Most of my friends are breast-feeders, it's true, and with the recent relocation to south-central Indiana, I'm seeking out women who breastf..."

"With great power comes great responsibility"

I find that my life is now lived in between napping schedules.  I know, I know, I swore I would NOT be the person who had the rigid nap schedules and that was chained to their house during certain times, but hey what did I know? This has been uncharted territory thus far and what I want and what really happens are two different ballgames.  There are two tiny windows of opportunity in the day. One lies between the morning nap and lunchtime, and the other is from 3 till about 5:30.  Both are small segments in the whole of a day, especially if you are trying to cram in all your days' errands in those tiny time frames.  And as mentioned before, the prep to leave the house takes a chunk of the pie out.  Yet, as I write this I feel that I have become that overzealous parent that I was afraid of!  What really will happen if we miss a nap? Will the world tilt on its axis differently?  Will the locusts take flight once again? No.  The baby will be a crying mess come 5pm but when that is the case, it really doesn't seem like it is the end of the world. 
 Yet there is that dang thing called responsibility.  I am in essence in charge of the way that the day pans out for my son which is wicked amounts of power.  So is it fair to have him become a sobby mess by the end of the day because I needed to drop the books off at the library and go to the store during a time that was convenient for me?  When faced with that dilemma, I feel super guilty about dragging him out of his bed and off of the sacred routine. I love my stroller aerobics class, but it falls at 10 am, right in the middle of nap time.  I used to drag him there 2-3 times a week where he would miss his nap,and literally be thrown off the rest of the day.  Did it really matter to him? Not so much, he was tired and didn't know why.  But there I was, surrounded by this swarming guilt that I caused him to be cranky because I wanted to work out during that certain time. He would seem to look at me come 4:30 with his tired red eyes like why am I so stinkin tired momma? And there she goes, the guilt blanket resides on my shoulders.  As I have watched many a makeover show about women who lose themselves while being a mom, I stoutly told myself that I would not do that.  And to credit myself I do feel that I have done a good job so far as I have fallen back into my other love, running.  Yet, there are times when I am running during the hottest part of the day as it is more conducive to nap time.  We all have to make a compromise when it comes to parenting, I am choosing not to lose myself and to embrace my new role simultaneously. 

I guess lack of bumpers are a good thing..

Summatime

Summer has always been my favorite season. The heat, the sun, the beach, running outside, grilling, the beach.....And along comes baby.  
First, if you know me, you know that if its not raining and above 75 degrees you will find me in my beach chair hunkered down with a good book or trying to catch some flat waves here in the Atlantic. It is almost July 1 and I have been to the beach 5 times thus far. 2 blissful times sans baby and 3 times that did not include a beach chair but a red crab pool and a wayward umbrella.  To those of you that are landlocked or envious of the parenting population, I apologize for my shallowness of this post.
 In order to properly enjoy the beach one must spend at least an hour there in my mind.  It has become such a production to  make it there that I hardly want to bother with it in the first place.  To go to the store it takes me at least 10 minutes of prep to ensure that I have everything that the baby and I need as well as getting everything in the car adds an additional 5 or so mins.  Going to the beach requires much more planning.  You need; the pool, the blanket, the pail and toys, the umbrella (nevermore!), sunscreen, chair (that does not get sat in), towels, cooler with snacks, water for both of us, wagon to haul all this mess, baby carrier to tote baby while hauling mess, etc.  After I puzzle piece each item into the car and load up the little one. We make the trek across the bridge to unload the goods and drag it all to the beach.  We are now about 30 minutes into the whole ordeal and now its time to eat.  Note to self, nursing child under cover in sun is hot and slippery.  Alright, feeding complete! I plop him in the pool to play where he is content for a mere 15 minutes then he is bored.  Cant put him on the sand as he tries to inhale it by the fistful.  My lap is too hot and sweaty from feeding him. And its getting close to nap time.  Sigh...I load all the things back up in the wagon, strap on the baby, and trudge back to my car enviously sneaking peeks at all the single gals sunning it up all day.   After piecing everything back in the car and driving home, almost 2 hours have passed where probably 45 minutes of that were on the actual beach.  Not worth it in my mind.  
Which is why we spend time hanging on our back porch or swinging at the park!

Hose and bumbo seat June 11

Best 15 bucks I ever spent! June 11

Loves the swing now.  June 11

  

Cloth Diapers

I must caveat this by saying how much I love my CD.  I complied this info for some friends of mine in an email and thought that much typing and knowledge cannot go to waste! Enjoy!

Cloth Diaper Info

1.       Diapers:  I use Bum Genius 3.0 all in one diapers:  This just means that the diaper is most like your average disposable.  It has little Velcro tabs to close it and a pocket area in the back where you can add additional microfiber inserts for more absorbency.  They came in small, medium, and large sizes where I ordered 12-14 of each size so that I can do diaper laundry every other day. Past the newborn days, we only go through 6-7 diapers a day so that works out for me! The downside to the all in one diaper is that they are pretty thick and take at least 12+ hours to dry. You can dry them in the dryer for time’s sake, but I don’t since the Velcro can fray and I want them to last for another kiddo or two.   I suppose the other downside is that they don’t make the 3.0 anymoreL  but there are tons of other all in ones out there. Kauai and Fuzzibunz are two other great brands to try.

 So I also have a couple of the Bum Genius pocket diapers in one size fits all.  These have a series of what look like intricate snaps for sizing purposes but they are really easy to figure out and this also means that you don’t have to fool with buying small, medium, and larges of a particular diaper.  These guys last the whole time.  They are also like a shell of a diaper with a slit pocket in the back where you can stuff it with 1, 2, or three inserts depending on how much peeing is going on.  What is great is that you have just a thin shell which takes no time to dry, couple hours in the sun and you are golden! Bum Genius has a newer diaper like mine called the Flip that my friend raves about in that you can use the same pocket diaper shell for at least a couple pee diaper changes, you only have to change the inserts! Sweet!

I also have 5 kushies diapers from Babies R Us, which are a little narrow in the crotch on Noah, so I only use them for pee. 

There are also prefold diapers which are the most similar to the diaper that our folks used.  But they are way easier!  I don’t have any of these, another friend of mine uses these and loves them.  I do know they dry the fastest which means the least amount of time doing laundry.

2.        Inserts:  When you get cloth diapers they are going to come with microfiber or terry cloth inserts.  These are little rectangles of cloth you stick in the slit pocket of the cloth diaper.  I usually add one to my all in one diapers and one or two in the pocket diaper depending on if we are close to home or will be out and about for a while.  You wash these with the diapers and I toss mine in the dryer as they can take the daily wear and tear.  I ordered several extra inserts in addition to the ones that came with my diapers.  I highly recommend the g diaper inserts (at babies r us) as they are the most absorbent!  I also have some inserts made with hemp that are supposed to be great when Noah is a little older and drinking liquids. 

3.       Diaper pail and wet bag:  I got the cheapest diaper pail from babies’ r us and got a reusable diaper pail liner off the internet.  I recommend getting two of the pail liners as I am not doing laundry as often and it gets stinky quickly!  Wet bags are little reusable bags that zip or cinch closed that are water and poopy proof, so that when you are not at home you can stick in your dirty diapers, wet clothes, spit up cloths, basically anything that you don’t want stinking up or getting all over your diaper bag.  They are awesome for kids in general, not just CD.

4.       Diaper sprayer:  This is what sold me! I did not want any poop in my washer! Bum genius makes a diaper sprayer that attaches to the water connection of your toilet. (its online or babies r us)  It’s got a nice little silver wand that emits a very high pressure spray (they say you can use it as a bidet, little cold for me!) that will get everything off the diapers.  I have my diaper pail in my bathroom along with the sprayer, so when he gives me a dirty diaper, I strap on my rubber gloves, spray the mess into the toilet, flush the mess and toss the diaper in the pail.  Done.  Really the time difference between this and changing a disposable diaper is like 2 minutes.

5.       Wipes and such:  I do use regular wipes even though there are washable ones out there.   Since you usually stick the wipe in the dirty disposable and toss both, I got a trash can with a pop up lid to stick those in.  I really don’t notice any odor unless the can hasn’t been emptied in a while and I am pretty sure it’s childproof, but we’ll see!

6.       Diaper rash: On this note NEVER use a butt paste or destin  Use a disposable with rashes.  Actually, cloth diapered children have less rashes than others; I haven’t seen a rash since he was in the disposables.  If he is looking a little red or its sticky out I just powder him up as that doesn’t hurt the diaper at all. 

7.       Laundry:  It’s like second nature with a kid anyway so what is another load really?!  On a side note, I know that it may not seem as earth or pocket friendly to do so much laundry but the amount of water used is tiny compared to how long a diaper lasts in the landfill or how much you shell out on disposables!  Off my soapbox…. I do diapers about every other day.  When you first get the diapers they need to be washed at least 5 times in HOT water to activate the absorbency properties of them.  To wash them regularly I have been told to only use powder detergent and there are tons of cloth diaper detergents out there.  I use tide free and gentle powder.  I was told NEVER to use baby detergent as they have additives that coat the diapers and make them non absorbent.  I use about a ¼ of the required one load of detergent and wash the diapers in one cycle of cold.  Sometimes I soak them in cold if there is a good dirty one in there.  Second cycle, same ¼ amount of detergent and wash in hot.  Third, I set the dial to rinse one additional time after then hot wash.  I toss the inserts in the dryer and put the diapers on the rack and put them in the sun outside to dry.  The sun is awesome as it will fade the poopy stains right out. 

8.       Where do you get them? I ordered mine from Cotton Babies http://www.cottonbabies.com/ because they had the 3.0s on sale.  I recommend diaperjunction http://www.diaperjunction.com/ because it is local to Virginia Beach and they have great prices and free shipping over 50 bucks. 

Note to Self Pt 2

Purely unmedical diagnosis, but I do think that vaccines affect the quality of my son's nursing.  After both 4 and 6 month shots (rotavirus may be culprit) he eats horribly! Not interested, doesn't eat much, is a bit constipated, overall not a joy to feed. 

States of Matter

In the promising first few days of my son's birth, I had fleeting thoughts about wow, I am going to raise a boy; and man, can boys eat!  Truth be told, he has always been a fantastic nurser, even though I have berated myself for his turtle-like progression on the scary doctor growth charts. All signs point to the fact that this child likes to eat.   I had little qualms when it came to moving into the next stage: solids.  Mind you, I was a wreck when it came to coming to this huge decision.  One school of thought damns you if you give them solids too early that they are destined to a life of eating lunch in solitary confinement due to raging allergies.  On the other hand, I also read that early introduction could benefit a child and ensure that peanut butter, milk, and scrambled eggs are on the menu.  So as a the age range of solid introduction is 4-6 months, I started at 5 months to be sure. 
First, lets clarify the term 'solids'.  We are not moving from a dairy diet to one of straight up turkey sandwiches. No, you take perfectly good food and water it down to a thin liquid so that the baby thinks they are still eating milk but it has a funny flavor.  You could almost stick it in a bottle and call it a day.
Most 'books' tell you to start with rice cereal so I broke down and bought some nasty rice cereal dust that you mix with water or breast milk until it is the same consistency of slightly thickened milk.  He ate it once he realized that there was milk in it and let me tell you that this stuff stains clothes with a quickness.  I am so glad I invested in extra bibs for this one.  Yet, I found that the volume of spit up and filled pants were not worth the sound advice of my mother.  I halted all rice powder and moved on to the healthy stuff.
 In any case, we have been moving through the rainbow of fruits and veggies, me lovingly pureeing them to a liquid texture so that he can slurp them off a spoon.  Each time I introduce a food, I hear my friends in the background telling me how much their breastfed child hates 'insert veggie here' and a fear rises in me that I am going to soon be covered in a slobbery mess of sweet potatoes.  Then I remember that I gave birth to a boy, a boy who has always loved food and has yet to disappoint me on that measure.  The child is infatuated with bananas so much that I had to do an intervention last week and now only give them to him once or twice a week. I keep telling my husband that between the both of them we will be eaten out of house and home!
So far so good: sweet potatoes, butternut squash, green beans, peas, carrots, apples, bananas, papaya, pears and mangoes.



Green Beans are messy!



The apple doesn't fall far

If you know me, then you know that I have a slight immaturity when it comes to flatulence.  I am the one who loves to get inappropriate cards, will stifle giggles in a public restroom, and is known to occasionally 'light one up.' 
Well apparently my son does find farting quite a hoot.
 As my husband was playing with the wee one on the bed and felt the urge.  He let one fly and to his surprise, the baby looked at him and laughed.  Not just a mere giggle, but a belly laugh!  A bit later,  while continuing to play with our son, the urge once again rises in my husband (surprise, surprise..) and he thought he might see if the first giggle was a fluke.  Not so much, more belly laughs ensued and I now know that this child is ours!  We may be eating quantities of beans and taking up stock in air freshener till this phase passes; which as this is my child, may never happen....