There are several people in my family who are bottomless pits. Hubby, Big Brother (if it's something he wants to eat) and now... Froggie!
Because sometimes my "mommy brain" is worse than others I frequently forget things. Usually it's something like where I put my phone/keys/kindle/etc. Well, today I left Froggie's wet bag full of today's diapers on the counter at work. Since today isn't a wash night it wouldn't have been an issue if it weren't a Friday because I'd of just used the same bag tomorrow and then brought it all home. However, it IS Friday and I couldn't leave 3 dirty diapers sit all weekend. I couldn't ask any of my coworkers to take them home either, simply because I would have felt horrible for sending them a bag full of smelly diapers.
I also didn't realize that I had left said wet bag until we were getting out of the car at home, 15 miles away from work. Hubby (very awesomely) volunteered to take Big Brother and head back up to pick up the diapers.
While they were out Froggie joined me at the table and enjoyed a snack while watching clips from Disney movies while I pumped. It's been awhile since we had offered her any "snacks" but she's pretty good at picking stuff up. I'm also a big believer in "if you don't let them try they'll never learn" (also you'll never know what they're able to do). So I stuck a couple yogurt bites and some puffs on her tray and let her play away. She concentrated pretty hard but quickly got the hang of picking them up. She didn't get the idea of putting them in her mouth quite as quickly and a bunch ended up all over the table.
I guess this means we will have to buy some more snacks and have them readily available and in the diaper bag. Maybe I'll hunt out some recipes online and see if I can make any of my own.
Recently Hubby's aunt spent the morning texting me questions about cloth diapers for a friend of theirs who was expecting. I'm not really surprised about being asked questions, We're asked A LOT of questions. We also get a lot of looks and some people who just don't get it.
There were a variety of reasons we opted to use cloth - primarily that I thought it was cost effective and limited our waste. We had purchased some cloth diapers when Big Brother as little but didn't follow through with using them. When Froggie was born I had pushed to use them again.
Let me stop here and mention types of cloth diapers. Yes there are different kinds. No, you don't need diaper pins (unless you want to use them) and no they're not just boring and white. We typically use prefolds with a cover (what you think of when you think of cloth diapers), pocket diapers, or all in one (AIO) diapers.
With the prefolds you fold them in thirds and then set them into the cover, velcro/snap around baby, voila! Pockets have a microfiber insert (or 2) that need to be stuffed in between a soft layer and the cover before use but then you just velcro/snap around baby and voila! AIO's are the easiest by far, you just put them on!
Next question, how do you wash them. Answer; in the washing machine. Seriously though, you just stick them in there ever other day with a dye free detergent and run a double rinse and they're clean. We need to strip our diapers soon which means we'll just run them without detergent. We also typically add Oxyclean free and clear to help with the staining as well. We hang the covers and AIO's to dry since they have a plastic-y lining and the rest goes in the dryer. I know a lot of people who hang everything, I think it's just a mater of space and preference.
I should probably also mention that we use cloth wipes. By cloth wipes I mean I found a TON of clearanced out baby wash cloths for like a quarter a package at Wal-Mart and bought them out and now we use those. They work well and since we spent so little on them I'm not heart broken if they go missing or get ruined. I think this was a better idea than buying actual cloth wipes simply because they're expensive. People also make them out of the flannel of extra receiving blankets which are nice but I don't have the equipment to do this and make them last.
Lastly, what happens to the poop? Well this may be the most complicated part of using cloth. As newborns everything really just goes into the wetbag and then into the washer. If you rinse them they probably get a little cleaner in the wash but we never rinsed Froggie's infant diapers. Once you start solid foods you just have to shake the diaper over the toilet. We don't have a diaper sprayer but may invest in one; they attach to the toilet and are like a little hose that you use to rinse the diaper before you put it in the wetbag.
Well that's about the extent of my knowledge regarding cloth diapers. Hope it was helpful for anyone who wanted to know.
Twice a year there is a huge consignment sale at our local convention center and normally we go opening night to have the best opportunity to get what we may be looking for. They let the event volunteers shop an hour and a half before the doors open to the public are able to shop. This year they let military in half an hour before the sale started so we were able to get in and get a jump start on our searching - which is amazing since toting a 6 month old and a 2 year old through that kind of event once EVERYONE is through the doors gets tough!
The sale before the doors opened to everyone
The other side of the room
We went in seeking cloth diapers, a toy for each kid, nursing covers, a few outfits and whatever other good deals we came across. There was a TON of stuff, most of which I would have loved to get for the kids but was not truly necessary. Hubby and Big Brother walked on one side of the table while Froggie and I walked on the other looking through the toys and baby supplies. Big Brother got a bag full of mini Cars (19 of them for $6! He has been carrying them around since we found the bag!). We then snagged a Little Tykes baby doll stroller for froggie to cart her baby dolls around in once she starts walking in a few months. I found a nice "new" nursing cover, a Taggies book and a Cars quilt for Big Brother. We struck out finding any cloth diapers but I think overall we got some great deals and a lot of fun stuff!
It's official, we've entered uncharted territory.
Froggie got to try out the exersaucer at school today. She's tall enough now that she's standing rather than hanging so I think it's safe for her to use. She not putting any more stress on her hips than if I were to hold her in a standing position.
Big girl Froggie in a new toy!
On non-school nights Big Brother is allowed to stay up a little later to spend more time with us/ participate in social things/ watch a movie/ etc. Tonight before his movie was over he asked for his cars, collected them all and headed for his room without anyone even uttering the word "bedtime". It's not every day your two year old sends themselves to bed.
Froggie also laid with Hubby and watched the Pirates game while I stuffed diapers. I came up to a Froggie all prepped for bed in her harness and covered with her blankie.
She's starting to be pretty upset with having to wear the harness since she's out of it more than she wears it. We never really did a count down or anything but she has 8 nights left of sleeping as a Froggied Princess!
As I'm up in the middle of the night feeding Froggie, for the first time in her life ever really, I can hear the rain roll in. It is an amazing sound and the almost instant drop in temperature is very welcome if you ask me. This heat is crazy and to be honest I'm surprised there haven't been more storms.
I'm working on catching up on blog entry's since the internet has been spotty again recently. You may be asking yourself how I gotten through breastfeeding for five and a half months of Froggie's life without having to get up to feed her.
The answer is simple, we co-sleep! From day 2, after a very traumatizing night of being hooked up to leg cuffs and having to send Froggie to the nursery to be cared for, she has slept on me or near me. until we moved from sleeping on the couch she slept on my chest and fed whenever, now she hogs the space next to me and feeds on demand throughout the night. Since she was born tonight is the first night I can recall being awake longer than the time span of a diaper change and getting settled.
This up in the night to feed thing is not for me though, we're heading back to bed! Stay cool everyone!
It's been pretty hot for the last few days and it's all over the news that the East Coast is experiencing a heat wave. So instead of coming straight home after work the kids and I strolled around the mall to enjoy the air conditioning.
We tested out our "new" double jogging stroller and checked out a few stores. I found an amazing deal on shorts for the kids at The Children's Place. All of their clearance was an additional 60% off. This was actually pretty good timing considering how hot it has been and the fact that Froggie has been wearing dresses and onesies for the last few months.
The jogging stroller worked great and will be nice for my next 5K and any others we do in the future. The only downfall to using it at the mall was that it was a little difficult to get through some of the displays in the smaller stores.
After our mini shopping excursion I took the kids to the new Kidz Zone that was funded by a local credit union. It's really a very nice place for the kids to play and everything is padded and made of foam. Big Brother had a lot of fun but some of the kids in there were obviously not accompanied by a parent or were being minimally observed, which would be fine if they weren't almost 10 and running over little kids. Oh well, Big Brother liked to climb on EVERYTHING and then jump off of it. He was pretty well behaved and even played with some of the other kids.
Strolling in style.
Big Brother on a GIANT basketball!
We went out to dinner and came home with enough time to get Big Brother ready for bed and read a few books before bed time. Froggie slept for a little bit in front of one of our fans and then had her squash. Tomorrow we will try a new food. We haven't decided on on carrots or peas but it'll probably be a last minute decision. She got a quick bath and played a little on the floor. She spun herself around and played with her toys for a few minutes before passing out on the floor under the fan.
Well today was our appointment. We checked in and headed back to radiology. Froggie laid on the table while the tech held her still and another tech and I stood behind the wall to take the x-ray. Once they made sure there was a clear image we headed back out to the main waiting room. A few minutes later they took us back and weighed Froggie in. She was 13lb 15oz.
We got settled in the exam room with the fish light and waited. The nurse came in to check on us and see how Froggie was doing with the harness. She left saying that her doctor would be in after reviewing the X-ray. Froggie was being a little grumpy so I nursed her and she fell asleep so I wrapped her up and put her on the exam table to sleep and I continued my wait.
The doctor came in and after saying hello to me said "well, the X-ray is normal". He then offered to show it to me, so the nurse stayed with Froggie while I headed out to the computer to look at the X-ray. He showed me her image from today next to her image from April. Her sockets look noticeably different; more curved rather than straight lines. He was looking for angles near 30°. Her left hip was right at 30° and her right hip is at 29°!
We headed back to the exam room where he unwrapped Froggie and adjusted her harness to ensure a proper fit. He noted that even though he increased the harness' length and allotted her more room she still held her hips at the old setting. He said he wanted us to have her wear it for only bed time for the next month and then discontinue wearing it all together! He took her out of the harness and when he handed it back to me he reminded me that it could be washed as needed. He and the nurse laughed a little when I told them we do clean it. Froggie's doctor went on to say that he can tell which kids wear their harness/braces by how stained they are.
I asked about Froggie's odd habit of turning her foot and after wiggling her around a little he said not to worry about it. He went on to explain that it was essentially her version of sticking her toes in her mouth.
He initially said he wanted to see us again when she was a year old and possibly walking then he changed his mind and said he'd like to see her in 3 months. At our next appointment (in October!) Froggie will have another X-ray done and we'll meet with her doctor to make sure that her angles are still "normal". We then packed up and Froggie got to leave in pants!
She really enjoyed her first day harness free and spent a lot of time playing on the floor. She really napped for the first time in 3 months without the harness. She liked having free toes so much that she curled them around the slats on the crib. She also started showing off how flexible she is.
While not harness related this rant is definitely Froggie related. It has to do with breastfeeding. It also has to do with dealing with "the public".
If you keep up with my posts about Froggie you know that we had to re-learn how to breastfeed once we got the harness. You also probably read about the stares we get about the harness and the sometimes brave individuals that do more than stare. If you read the post about diapering you know we use cloth diapers, and I have mentioned in more posts than not that we love our carrier!
Some may call me a hippie, others "crunchy" or "granola", and some will say I'm just flat out weird. I'm ok with all of that, I'm also ok with those who aren't "brave" enough to do anything but stare. One thing I don't think I would handle well is being told I can't meet my daughter's needs because someone else is uncomfortable.
Yes I nurse Froggie in public (usually with a cover) and thankfully I've never been told I can't feed her wherever it is that she decides she's hungry. I've fed her at work, in restaurants, at the park, while walking aisles at the store, at the doctor's office, at church and on occasion in my car. In an effort to keep Froggie's attention I use a cover when feeding her if there are distractions (people or things to look at, grab for, play with, etc.) The use of a cover, in my opinion, is like hanging a sign on yourself saying "my chest is sort of exposed under here, stare at me", not to mention the older Froggie gets the less tolerant she is of the cover and tries to take it off (this could also be due to the fact that it's the middle of summer).
I have people stare at me but it's hard to know when I'm breastfeeding in public if the funny looks are because my daughter is eating or because she's wearing something that is obviously NOT a fashion statement. I typically ignore those around and continue doing what I'm doing whether it's talking to those I'm with, eating, shopping or working. The way I see it I'm caring for my child in the best way I possibly can.
This was not always my opinion. I did not always just "whip them out" and feed my child. When Big Brother was an infant I would pump and tote along bottles of breast milk. I was able to hand him off to be fed by another person and then go lock myself away someplace for the duration of his feeding. He was terribly distracted when I did try to breastfeed him and it was a frustrating experience; primarily because I wanted to nurse him but I was "chicken". So instead I became best friends with my pump and missed out on a lot of conversations and cuddle time with him.
I'm not one for wasting time... So if I can just be confident in the decision I have made I can continue to eat my dinner, do my shopping or whatever it is that I'm in the middle of. I can give Froggie whatever she needs without having to excuse us and hide.
This rant came about not because I was finally approached by someone after 5 months of feeding Froggie wherever (though I'm sure my bubble will burst eventually and someone will get brave enough to say something to me), but because of a video circulating on Facebook.
Holli McNish is a poet who released a video of her take on the shame breastfeeding mothers experience for nursing in public. She's very talented (and british so her experiences come from the UK but I believe they are still relevant)! Her rant was pretty catchy and I listened to it twice while nursing Froggie during Big Brother's nap time.
WAY back when I started the blog I had mentioned doing an entry about diapering. When looking through the blogs "stats" I noticed that I recently got two pageviews from people searching Pavlik Harness and diapering - I guess that's as much of a sign as any to do this entry.
Much like feeding and playing with Froggie changing her diaper around the harness has become routine. It happens numerous times a day and given the fact that I work in a day care I'm a pro at changing diapers, I just needed to change my approach a little.
When Big Brother was an infant I made the push for cloth diapers. I had a whole list of reasons why I wanted to use them. I had little support from Hubby at that time to follow through, so we eventually abandon using them and packed them up in a box. When Froggie was about a week old we went to her first appointment with our family doctor knowing that our first appointment at Shriners Hospital was a week away. At this appointment our family doctor noted that he was glad we had an appointment and said that we may be advised to "double diaper" Froggie in order to hold her hips more openly. (Of course that was not the case but it was nice to have some idea of what to expect.)
Shortly after coming home from that appointment we dragged out the box of cloth diaper covers and inserts and started using them because they were thicker than the disposable diapers. And I started ordering pocket diapers and wet bags to support our continued use of cloth diapers!
Depending on which type of cloth diaper you use getting them on and off is much like using a disposable diaper. All in One and Pocket diapers seem to be the most like disposables but this entry is about inserts/covers. We use Flip covers and Econobum prefolds when we aren't using pocket diapers or All in One diapers.
Here's how we change Froggie's Diapers Step 1. Start with a cute little baby that needs a new diaper. Have on hand an insert and whatever you use as wipes (we just use water in a spray bottle and wash cloths).
Step 2. Take off the dirty diaper and clean baby's bottom.
Step 3. Put on the new diaper. Make sure you aren't pulling their ankles together to get the diaper off and on. I typically place my hand under the small of Froggie's back and lift up her entire bottom half. Then weave the top tab of the diaper underneath the top strap of the harness.
Step 4. Weave the tabs under the bottom and top strap of the harness. ** If you fasten the diaper OVER the straps of the harness the harness can absorb urine and cause rashes on the baby's skin.**
