We Found Our Overnight Diaper Solution!

Of course over-night diapering wasn't an issue when we first brought G home from the hospital. He was up every 2 to 4 hours to nurse, and I changed him each time. Now, at 11 weeks old, he's become quite the nice night sleeper. He usually gives me a 6 or 7 hour stretch of good solid sleep before waking up to eat. But with that extra sleep, came the need for a better diaper. My primary diaper for G is the BumGenius 4.0 (and I am a snaps mama!), so overnights I got to the point where I was stuffing a pocket with 2 of the one-size inserts. I would get up and it would be soaked, and sometimes leaking. My next favorite brand is Thirsties. I am in love with their duo covers. So, when I gave up on my cotton prefolds, I wanted to give their hemp duo prefolds a try, and thought if nothing else, I could trifold them in a cover. As an experiment for their absorbency, I trifolded one into a BG pocket (so I could get that stay-dry effect overnight) and then changed G in disbelief. After a full 7 hours, half of this prefold was still dry! I still can't believe it. I get up with G every morning and have to pull the prefold out just to check again how much is wet lol
Since I started cloth diapering, I've never been so satisfied with a single purchase as I am with the Thirsties Duo Hemp Prefolds. I can honestly say, I think they'll surprise you too!

Baby G is almost 11 weeks old

I've been a little sad because my milk is drying up, but I have a lot to be proud of! At 11 weeks, my little buggie can now:
-hold his head up perfectly
-sit up with support (if I hold his waist or in an exer-saucer)
-eat a full 5 ounce bottle (or more!) at each feeding
-sleep very well through the night (to bed by 9pm, eat at 1am, eat at 5am, and up around 8am)
-takes a nap every day from 1pm to 4pm
-can fall asleep on his own for nap or bed-time
-can entertain himself with toys or chewing on his cute little fingers :)
-is making many different sounds
-smiles back at me, and always gives me a big smile in the morning
-can kick his way around on the floor

I hate to see him grow up so fast, but it makes me feel good to see him healthy, happy and progressing so well.

Wordless Wednesday: Week 1

Weekend Blog Hop!

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Happy St Patricks Day!

From me, momma and the chi's :)

The Flip hybrid diaper system by Cotton Babies

I am now the proud owner of a Flip day pack by Cotton Babies, thanks to a very generous mama I recently met online! For those of you unfamiliar with the system, the stay-dry day pack includes: 2 Flip one-size covers (ion your choice of colors and closures), 6 one-size stay dry inserts and one pack of disposable inserts. Now I will say right off the bat that my favorite diaper so far is the BumGenius 4.0 also by Cotton Babies, so I was anxious to try out this system. I love how stretchy the tabs are, just like the BumGenius pockets, I always get a perfect fit on G. No ebf blowouts so far, so I don't know how they hold up to those yet, but I love how trim they look!

If these continue to impress me, I think these will be come my go-to diaper when I need something that fits better under those "special occasion" outfits. I love that the inserts are super absorbent microfiber with a stay-dry cover, and that they really do cover the whole inside of the cover! I also love how Cotton Babies widened the insert and seems to have thinned it a bit, instead of the narrower and thicker insert with the BumGenius pockets. They work great in the pockets, don't get me wrong! It's just nice to have a wider option to hold up better in just a regular diaper cover, so you can re-use it, unlike a pocket where you have to wash it after one wear. You'll be hearing an update once I know how these hold up to blowouts and with a disposable insert.
Even Venus seems impressed :)

*UPDATE*

We had our first (ah hem...) poopie :) lol
I'm very pleased with these liners. It is wide enough to hold most of the poop, but a little gets in around the gussets. I will say though that it is very easy to wipe up with a wipe and reuse the cover. But I suppose that's why the pack comes with 2 covers lol. I did do a quick load of laundry, and the liners are about the same thickness as the BumGenius one size liners, but when paired with this system they still seem trimmer. I'm very happy with this system, and have a very good feeling that I'll be purchasing more :)

FTC Disclaimer: This product was purchased for me as a gift.I was in no way obligated to provide a review.

Following Friday!

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Thinking about G's first birthday already

I know it's really early, and I hate to think that he's growing up so fast already, but I've been trying to come up with ideas for G's first birthday lately. Before we moved I had a nice simple birthday planned out at our house, but being in this tiny one bedroom apartment now, there is absolutely no way we'll be able to have a birthday party here. There's a lot of nice places to go in our area in Minnesota, but what nice places are there to go to in the middle of January for a one-year old's birthday?
As asking for my first favor from my followers, what would or have you done for a little one's first birthday party when you can't have the party at your home? Just keep in mind, it'll be too cold to have anything outside.

I think G has hit another growth spurt

All the years I thought I'd never be able to have children, and now I have to face the fact that even at 2 months old, my baby boy is starting to grow up. It's almost depressing! He's been sleeping so well, I just shrugged it off when he woke up after 3 hours last night and wanted to be fed again. I say again, because just 3 hours earlier, while at grandpa's, he ate a 5 oz bm bottle, and 8 oz of formula in just 2 hours, which is very unlike him. He usually only eats about 25 to 30 oz a day of bm. I felt bad for giving him formula, but I think everyone knows how things go when grandparents start playing with their grand-babies :D

G woke up last night at 10pm, 1am, 4am, and just a short while ago at almost 7am, each time finishing off a 5 ounce bm bottle! I don't know where it's going, but it's making me sad. Thankfully I'm still making enough milk for him.

I never thought I'd be one of those women who would actually feel guilty just because they couldn't breastfeed. I mean really, as long as your baby is healthy that should be all that matters, right? Well, when I stopped nursing and started exclusively pumping, J could swear it was the end of the world for me. Nursing had gone great right from day one in the hospital. I never thought that closeness I felt with G could get any closer, but with nursing it did. Then a few weeks after we brought G home we had to move and J started a OTR job, and between all of that, nursing was just becoming too stressful, I really think for the both of us. When I stopped nursing I honest to goodness thought that closeness (for some reason) would just disappear. I didn't realize how silly I was being. I had been pumping and freezing milk since we brought G home, and had a pretty decent stash built up already by the time I started exclusively pumping. I have noticed though, since only pumping, that I haven't gotten the opportunity to freeze milk. But I've got about 400 ounces stashed away, and I make plenty to feed him during the day with a bottle or two left over for the next day, so I feel pretty confident in my supply. I just hope now I'm able to keep up with him!

My first experience with Planet Wise

Back in December, I had won a gift card for and made a purchase at Abby's Lane of a Planet Wise pail liner. I was so excited, and once I started using it, my excitement evolved into happiness. Being my first time cloth diapering, I was happy to not notice any smells while the liner was full of diapers, or empty. I had heard rumors of other bags and liners holding smells even after washing, so this was great for me so far. I loved how this one bag held in all those dirty dipes and nothing leaked out!
Now, we recently moved, and even though G is ebf, I hooked up my diaper sprayer and started spraying his dirty dipes anyway, in the hopes of eliminating the first rinse cycle in our now coin operated laundry. My first load of wash after holding these soaking wet diapers, I was startled by a slow leak of yuck-water from the bottom of the liner as I lifted it from the pail. My liner was wicking! I started my wash, and immediately emailed Planet Wise. I knew my warranty had expired, but I was upset by the fact that I (at the time) felt dumb for ordering the liner early, and only getting to use it a month before it stopped working properly. Just a run down, so it's out there, I only use Rockin Green detergent. Not additives, no bleach, and I line dry anything and everything with PUL. So I know I hadn't compromised my liner myself. I received an email back, and after a few questions, I was offered the opportunity to fill out a replacement form, and was told I would receive a new liner, even though my warranty had expired. Now I of course have yet to receive my replacement liner, but I am ecstatic with Planet Wise customer service! I no longer regret purchasing my liner early, and am pleased to see a company stand so strongly behind their products.

Other than the minor issue I encountered, which is now being remedied, I have found nothing I dislike about my Planet Wise liner. I can't wait to try the new one and see how well it holds up to my sprayed-down diapers!

Introducing!

As if I thought my last days of pregnancy couldn’t have gone any faster, I was even more surprised how quickly almost 2 months have gone by afterwards! Yes, 8 weeks later, I want to finally announce
Gabriel Anthony
born on January 10, 2011 at 11:31pm
8 pounds, 8.2 ounces, and 21 inches long

That had been the longest day of my life. I had spent the whole weekend spotting and passing clots, and of course my Braxton Hicks were seeming to only get worse, but not regular enough for the hospital to want me to come in. I ended up making it through the weekend and making it to my doctor appointment on Monday. That was at 9 am, and my contractions were almost unbearable. The dr checked me, and I was 5 cm! She also decided I was in active labor, so I was admitted, given an epi, and my water was broken, since it hadn’t on it’s own yet. Things were moving along quickly, by 1 pm I was at 8 cm, but then everything seemed to stop. I spent the rest of the day moving around in bed trying to get my contractions to dilate me further, but nothing was working. I managed to make it to 9cm by 10pm, but there was talk of needing a c-section. From there, I don’t know how or why, but I managed to open up another half cm, and my dr decided I was stretchy enough to try and deliver. By god I was, and I pushed for all of 20 minutes before our beautiful baby boy was born.
I started breastfeeding, and while it was going well, it was getting frustrating, I think for both of us, and I am now exclusively pumping. I had a slight dip in my supply, but a day or so of Fenugreek fixed that right away! We’re also cloth diapering here. I never thought I could be so excited about diapers lol. I constantly find myself scanning blogs and Facebook for reviews and giveaways so I can try more diapers. But I’ll post more about that later. Someone’s up from his nap!