I'm feeling much better today. I know what I think and I'm positive I've come to the right conclusion.
On a different note, cloth diapering is going pretty well. We had one leak and quickly resolved it when I realized I had the "grow with me" style diaper snapped on buttons that made it too big. We tried cloth diaper overnight the first night but Katie could feel when she was wet and she wasn't having it. That night, we used prefolds and they just weren't cutting it. We switched to disposables overnight for a week and tonight we're trying pocket diapers. Hopefully she doesn't feel the wetness and will sleep through the night. I'm going to have another pocket dipe hanging out ready to go for when she wakes up. If she wakes up too soon, though, it will be back to sposies overnight. Luckily, it's not that I'm trying to save the world by using cloth so we'll just have to keep a pack of sposies around for overnights. Won't be bad, though, since the organic, all naturals come with a little more than 30 in a pack so one pack, in theory should last a few weeks. As for what I think of CD, it's not nearly as gross as I'd always thought. It's actually quite easy to thoroughly clean the diapers and, if you get the right style, you can bleach anything that touches poo. HUGE bonus for me. HUGE. It also helps that Luke has no problem helping to clean the cloth diapers. I know I'm incredibly lucky to have a husband that takes such an active role in baby-related chores...
...Unless it's night time. Break for funny story:
Two nights ago, K farted herself awake in the middle of the night. She'd had HORRENDOUS gas and I swear she had lifted off from her cradle due to the strength of her gaseous emissions. I swore she'd pooped her pants (and probably coated the cradle, too) and was not feeling like moving around in the middle of the night to clean her butt when I'd FINALLY fallen asleep after feeding her. I had noticed Luke had sat up to peek at her when she farted so I knew he was awake. I leaned over and asked him to change her diaper but he just laid there acting like he was sleeping. I figured I'd take the chance and accused him of pretending to sleep. He managed to hold a straight "sleeping" face for a minute but as I droned on about how he claimed to be more than willing to get up and help in the middle of the night, the corners of his mouth started to twitch until, finally, he couldn't hold back his laughter anymore and he admitted he was faking sleep so I'd change her butt. Needless to say, I stayed cozy in bed while he tended to Tater's tush.
K has also started "solid" foods. I put solids in quotes since, really, it's more soup than solid. Just a TBS of rice cereal mixed in with a few ounces of breastmilk. We'd been given the advice to add the rice cereal to a bottle since it's so soupy but she won't touch it if it's in a bottle. If it's spoon fed, on the other hand, she acts like I'm feeding her little nuggets of chocolate gold and she can't possibly get enough. Seriously, the only time rice cereal has hit her bib is when I've dropped it out of the spoon or when she got too greedy, tried to grab the spoon to get it to her mouth faster and succeeding only in knocking the spoon from my hand. My little piggy. It's great to know she likes the stuff, though! I won't have to feel guilty for handing her to a sitter or be away and wonder if she'll take a bottle now (PS - my kid finds bottles to be the most repulsive thing ever). All the sitter needs is a spoon, a bowl, some rice cereal mix and some breastmilk. It's been one week on rice cereal. We have one more week before we change it over to oatmeal cereal. After two weeks of oatmeal cereal, we'll go to veggies. Hopefully, we don't come across any more food allergies.
And, hopefully I'll remember to pick up a new SD card for my camera soon here so I can take videos of all her firsts.
Saturday, March 24, 2012
Friday, March 23, 2012
Bubble Gum
Bubble gum chewed up, spat out on the sidewalk and stuck between the pavement and a shoe, at the point where it hasn't yet pulled away from either the shoe or the pavement. The point when it's super sticky between them both and it might stick to one or the other but you aren't yet sure if the bigger glob will be left on the pavement or on your shoe.
Today, I'm the gum. Especially if the gum is like Switzerland and would rather not be pulled or pushed at all because no one wants to see the mess the gum will leave behind when it sticks. Not really anything I want to get into details about. Sorry, I hate cryptic writing but today's my turn to passively discuss my dilemmas with the whole 5 people that read this blog and still not really explain what's crackin in my world.
I'm ready for Luke to get home and make me feel better by listening.
Today, I'm the gum. Especially if the gum is like Switzerland and would rather not be pulled or pushed at all because no one wants to see the mess the gum will leave behind when it sticks. Not really anything I want to get into details about. Sorry, I hate cryptic writing but today's my turn to passively discuss my dilemmas with the whole 5 people that read this blog and still not really explain what's crackin in my world.
I'm ready for Luke to get home and make me feel better by listening.
Monday, March 19, 2012
Stinky Booties!
I am going to be that mom. I'm going to be that mom I said I was never going to be able to be. We're going to the dark side... Though some may argue and say we're going green. I'll be 100% upfront and honest about it. This has absolutely nothing to do with our environment. I'm not that selfless.
I don't understand how cloth diapering can be "better for the environment." Maybe if you use 100% organic and biodegradable detergent (let's not forget organic doesn't always equal good for you or good for the environment) so you aren't polluting the water supply with your additional laundry but most people don't do that. Even then, it's transported by means of vehicle so, unless you're sure the company at least runs hybrids and the factory/buildings run off water/sun/wind energy, pollutants are being dumped into the air.
That's an entirely different blog, though. We've decided to switch to cloth because of the potential health risks for K associated with disposable diapers. From the baby-dry gel leaking out of one brand of diapers and sticking to K's skin (I had to scrape it off with my fingernail) to reports of possible chemical burn-type rashes from another brand using the same technology, possibilities of carcinogenic chemicals and chemicals that may increase the risk of fertility issues later, we decided we'd rather be safe than sorry. Our original thought process had been that K wasn't suffering any rashes (as long as the gel wasn't stuck to her. She did have rashes with that brand) so why fix it if it ain't broke.Then I read more and more studies of the other possible risks. The biggest and scariest, the icing on the cake, was the possibility of fertility issues. If you've known us long enough, you know it took three miscarriages and hormone treatment during pregnancy to finally get our little bundle of joy. I already worry that K will have a hard time starting a family because I did. If there is any chance I can protect her from the heartache we went through, I would do it in a heartbeat. L and I had a long, serious discussion and decided that the extra work will be worth it looking back. I'd rather find in 20 years that this was all bologna and 'sposies are perfectly safe than find in 20 years that it was all true and feel tremendous guilt if my daughter struggles to build her family. Our second thought process was that we could stock up on the all natural, organic diapers each time they went on sale. We bought two packets in different brands to test if they'd work for K. Five soak-throughs later, we figured we were doing just as much work just to throw each diaper away and grab a new one. Not to mention the fact that, not on sale, the packet of 35 diapers costs almost $15 and with the regular diapers we were already spending about $60/month in diapers and only that little because we were buying bulk. The all-natural diapers didn't have the bulk-buy option and a packet of 35 lasts just a few days.
I know cloth diapers are expensive upfront. Trust me, we just made our first purchase and some of them we bought consigned (it's not as gross as you think. I'll explain later). Anyway, they are pricey upfront but, if we are able to have more than one kid, we'll be set for diapers! We might buy a few more shells or a few more inserts but we won't need as many and we won't be spending close to $700/year in disposables. One person told me you have to use all natural soap but I later found the hypo-allergenic detergent (which I have to use anyway) is just fine so that doesn't even have to change. The only area that did change will be how I do my laundry. I am OCD about poopie clothes in my washing machine. I wash my clothing in there, poop is not going in there. I've been told that the way I feel is entirely unnecessary but I can't get passed it. We bought two buckets and will be doing this the old fashioned way. The way my MIL told us because it's what she was told is most sanitary. All the diapers will be cleaned before going through a hot water wash in the washing machine. I'm not cross contaminating dooties with my clothing. No way, no how. They will also be line dried during the summer. We have space for it and it keeps staining to a negative.
Now, on to consigned diapers. The ones we bought have 0, that's right, ZERO difference from the brand-spanking-new ones on the same shelf. We were selective about what was consigned, too. The type of shell where the poo doesn't touch the shell, we bought consigned. You could tell the difference. The ones that poo did touch looked faded, used and some of them were stained. We bought all new inserts. The inserts do the absorbing work. No way in Hell, Michigan was I going to buy used inserts. For the shells where the insert goes under part of the shell, we paid a little extra to buy brand new. Probably unnecessary but I'm OCD about poo. Trust me, anyone who says, "Oh, you might not like poo now but you'll be able to handle it when it's your own child's poo," is a complete liar. K's messiest diapers still make me gag or puke a bit in my mouth. Her poop isn't a magical potion that has transformed the way I handle bathroom business for the rest of my life. It's still poop, it's still disgusting, it's still unsanitary, it still isn't cute. But that's another rabbit trail.
I guess this update is good enough here. I've already talked your brain off with my cloth diapering escapade blog. I'll post pictures of the diapers once they're all cleaned (yep, even the brand new ones are taking a trip through the hot water cycle before touching my kid's tush. I told you, OCD about poop). I'll explain the two kinds we bought. I'll probably tell you the price tag. By the end of the week, we'll have chosen our diapers and will need to get a few more so I'll explain that price tag, too. Which is good because, apparently, you can't use regular butt rash cream with cloth diapers so I need to go back for the special stuff.
Here is one of the many websites that discusses the potential issues with disposable diapers:
http://www.livestrong.com/article/111348-chemicals-disposable-diapers/
A Google search will bring so many more but I figure Livestrong is pretty well-known so I'd start your educational process there.
I don't understand how cloth diapering can be "better for the environment." Maybe if you use 100% organic and biodegradable detergent (let's not forget organic doesn't always equal good for you or good for the environment) so you aren't polluting the water supply with your additional laundry but most people don't do that. Even then, it's transported by means of vehicle so, unless you're sure the company at least runs hybrids and the factory/buildings run off water/sun/wind energy, pollutants are being dumped into the air.
That's an entirely different blog, though. We've decided to switch to cloth because of the potential health risks for K associated with disposable diapers. From the baby-dry gel leaking out of one brand of diapers and sticking to K's skin (I had to scrape it off with my fingernail) to reports of possible chemical burn-type rashes from another brand using the same technology, possibilities of carcinogenic chemicals and chemicals that may increase the risk of fertility issues later, we decided we'd rather be safe than sorry. Our original thought process had been that K wasn't suffering any rashes (as long as the gel wasn't stuck to her. She did have rashes with that brand) so why fix it if it ain't broke.Then I read more and more studies of the other possible risks. The biggest and scariest, the icing on the cake, was the possibility of fertility issues. If you've known us long enough, you know it took three miscarriages and hormone treatment during pregnancy to finally get our little bundle of joy. I already worry that K will have a hard time starting a family because I did. If there is any chance I can protect her from the heartache we went through, I would do it in a heartbeat. L and I had a long, serious discussion and decided that the extra work will be worth it looking back. I'd rather find in 20 years that this was all bologna and 'sposies are perfectly safe than find in 20 years that it was all true and feel tremendous guilt if my daughter struggles to build her family. Our second thought process was that we could stock up on the all natural, organic diapers each time they went on sale. We bought two packets in different brands to test if they'd work for K. Five soak-throughs later, we figured we were doing just as much work just to throw each diaper away and grab a new one. Not to mention the fact that, not on sale, the packet of 35 diapers costs almost $15 and with the regular diapers we were already spending about $60/month in diapers and only that little because we were buying bulk. The all-natural diapers didn't have the bulk-buy option and a packet of 35 lasts just a few days.
I know cloth diapers are expensive upfront. Trust me, we just made our first purchase and some of them we bought consigned (it's not as gross as you think. I'll explain later). Anyway, they are pricey upfront but, if we are able to have more than one kid, we'll be set for diapers! We might buy a few more shells or a few more inserts but we won't need as many and we won't be spending close to $700/year in disposables. One person told me you have to use all natural soap but I later found the hypo-allergenic detergent (which I have to use anyway) is just fine so that doesn't even have to change. The only area that did change will be how I do my laundry. I am OCD about poopie clothes in my washing machine. I wash my clothing in there, poop is not going in there. I've been told that the way I feel is entirely unnecessary but I can't get passed it. We bought two buckets and will be doing this the old fashioned way. The way my MIL told us because it's what she was told is most sanitary. All the diapers will be cleaned before going through a hot water wash in the washing machine. I'm not cross contaminating dooties with my clothing. No way, no how. They will also be line dried during the summer. We have space for it and it keeps staining to a negative.
Now, on to consigned diapers. The ones we bought have 0, that's right, ZERO difference from the brand-spanking-new ones on the same shelf. We were selective about what was consigned, too. The type of shell where the poo doesn't touch the shell, we bought consigned. You could tell the difference. The ones that poo did touch looked faded, used and some of them were stained. We bought all new inserts. The inserts do the absorbing work. No way in Hell, Michigan was I going to buy used inserts. For the shells where the insert goes under part of the shell, we paid a little extra to buy brand new. Probably unnecessary but I'm OCD about poo. Trust me, anyone who says, "Oh, you might not like poo now but you'll be able to handle it when it's your own child's poo," is a complete liar. K's messiest diapers still make me gag or puke a bit in my mouth. Her poop isn't a magical potion that has transformed the way I handle bathroom business for the rest of my life. It's still poop, it's still disgusting, it's still unsanitary, it still isn't cute. But that's another rabbit trail.
I guess this update is good enough here. I've already talked your brain off with my cloth diapering escapade blog. I'll post pictures of the diapers once they're all cleaned (yep, even the brand new ones are taking a trip through the hot water cycle before touching my kid's tush. I told you, OCD about poop). I'll explain the two kinds we bought. I'll probably tell you the price tag. By the end of the week, we'll have chosen our diapers and will need to get a few more so I'll explain that price tag, too. Which is good because, apparently, you can't use regular butt rash cream with cloth diapers so I need to go back for the special stuff.
Here is one of the many websites that discusses the potential issues with disposable diapers:
http://www.livestrong.com/article/111348-chemicals-disposable-diapers/
A Google search will bring so many more but I figure Livestrong is pretty well-known so I'd start your educational process there.
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