I love cloth diapers!

Cloth diapers are amazing. I must admit that I was a VERY big skeptic in the beginning. Keith had mentioned that he would like to try them when we were pregnant…and I told him I was willing to try them but not to hold his breath that I would use them very long.

We began researching which ones we thought would be best. And so we picked some out called Bum Genius (http://www.bumgenius.com/one-size.php). They are designed to fit newborn to toddler. No need for pins, inserts, or extra covering. These diapers do it all! A big thank you to my parents for purchasing them for us! Very quickly she grew into the diapers and we discovered that twelve would not get us very far. It is amazing how many diapers one so small can go through! Also, to preserve the "life" of the cloth diapers it is recommended that you do not put them in the dryer. It took a good two /three days for the bum genius to dry (if we could not put them outside on the line). So we continued buying paper diapers.

One day my mom came to visit and she suggested using regular cloth diapers, the type of ones that she used on us when we were little. They are the plain white ones where you would need something to hold them together plus a plastic covering over the top. I was still a bit skeptical but the desire to save money overruled my thinking. Thankfully I did not have to use the pins that hold them together. A friend of ours had given us something called a "Snappi." (http://www.snappibaby.com/products/snappidiaperfastener.html). It is pin and pain free and works just as well. My mom easily put the cloth diapers on Constance. When she left however I called her with Specimen A (Constance) and Specimen B (the cloth diaper) because I could not get it on her to save my life. She talked me through it and now I can put the cloth diapers on pretty easily. They are great and can be washed/bleached/and dried easily.

Then we received another type of cloth diaper (15 of them to be exact) called "Kushies by Baby Bebe." (http://www.babybungalow.com/kubaba.html). These diapers are amazing as well! You can not bleach them like you can the plain white ones, and they do take a bit longer to dry but they hold up well. With these I do not have to worry about using a Snappi or plastic cover. It has everything I already need.

In the past three days I have only used 2 paper diapers. It is so exciting and I love the money it saves. For those of you who are still skeptics, it is not as bad as you think it would be, even with a messy diaper!
Go cloth!

P.s. In the second picture of Constance where she looks so happy…she is modeling one of the Bum Genius diapers!

My baby thinks I am funny

Besides the amount of time, energy, and work a baby creates, it is also incredible how much joy someone so little can produce. In spite of the times where she has emotional outburst for no reason, or produces bad diapers right as we are heading out the door, or how I can not just get out and go without having to think about her feeding and nap schedule, or how I do not get as much sleep as I did before she was born, Constance has been a blessing.

Right now, my baby finds me hilarious. She is responding back to certain things and showing her personality more and more. The other day while we were visiting at my parent's house I tried to mimic a noise that my daughter had created. I messed it up and laughed at myself. Constance laughed too. So I tried again to make the noise, paused and then laughed. She laughed again. I did this over and over again getting the same results. It was so awesome.

In some ways I wish they could stay this young and innocent. Stay where they know and feel and receive mom and dad's love without all the attitude that comes later

Ahhh

Constance was so sweet this morning. Until she constantly sleeps through the night we have her in a bassinet in our bedroom (or until she outgrows her bassinet, which ever one comes first). So our daughter woke up at 4a.m. demanding to be fed. I tried to rock her back to sleep but that did not work. My husband woke up and said that he was going to go sleep on the couch since he had his alarm to set for just an hour later at 5a.m.

So I fed my wailing infant and she is as happy as can be. She does not want to go back to sleep. So at first I bundle her and put her in the bassinet and I hop back in bed. After a few minutes of her crying I pick up my bundled baby and put her on Keith's side of the bed, and lightly cover her with our covers. I rarely do this. I put my hand on he chest and she immediately grabs it and starts gnawing on my finger. I talk to her softly and tell her it is time to sleep and I am able to start rubbing her chest. I have my eyes closed but am not asleep and when I look to see what she was doing, I see that she has turned her body and is staring at me. I told her that I loved her and that it was time to sleep and I close my eyes again. A little while after that I open my eyes to see what she was doing and she is still staring at me but this time smiles and then closes her eyes and falls asleep. Ahhhh.

Cereal and sleep

Our daughter keeps waking up in the wee morning hours. Last night she woke up at 3:30a.m. just as happy as can be. Typically we can rock her back to sleep but this morning Constance would not have any of it. My wonderful husband got her up for me, cleaned out her nose and changed her diaper. Then once I was done feeding her, he bundled her for me (he is an excellent bundler).

A few people have suggested we start feeding her cereal at night and that may help her sleep through the night. While we might start that once she turns four months old we will probably hold off on other baby food till she is five months or even 6 months. Part of our reasoning is that we are delaying getting the baby her shots. Since I strictly breastfeed her then she can still remain relatively healthy. I also have no idea how to begin feeding her cereal and other baby food. I am sure I can research it online but I will see if her doctor has any information on it.

I still hold to the fact that we have a great baby. She is laughing so much more now and that is such an awesome sound.

I am so proud!

Since Constance hated "tummy time" so much a friend of ours suggested we place her, tummy down, on her boppy pillow. That way she is not just on her tummy and it will still help get her arms strong when she pushes up. For a few weeks we have been doing that and she enjoys it so much more.

For a few days now, Constance will turn herself on her side but has never turned all the way over. However while I was sorting laundry I looked over and she had turned herself on her side and was trying to flip over. I stopped what I was doing to watch her and sure enough, she went from her back to her belly…twice!! She still has trouble getting that one arm to go out from underneath her. Not only that but when she did flip herself and I got her little hand out from underneath her she stayed raised up for a few minutes on her arms!

It was awesome!! I am so proud of her and a little sad. What happened to my "little" 9 pound 6 ounce baby?