Cloth Diaper Update

A few commenters (most recently Wendy, who is expecting her little miracle in only 10 weeks!  Hi Wendy!) have asked about the cloth diapers we use and how it's been going, so here's the deets on our dipes.

We've been using cloth on Eliza since she was about a month old.  We started out slowly, only using cloth when we were at home, and using disposables when we were out and about.  Then I bought myself a super cute travel wet bag, and from then on we've used cloth everywhere (well, we did go with 'sposies at the state fair this weekend, but that was a unique situation - limited carrying space and not a lot of diaper changing opportunities).

When she was tiny, we used fitteds and prefolds with covers as well as a handful of all-in-ones (AIOs) made by DryBees.  I LOVED my DryBees (we used the small size until Eliza was about four months old/17 pounds).  I liked the fitteds/prefolds with covers, too, but I was partial to the ease-of-use of the AIOs.  When she grew out of the DryBees small AIOs, we switched her to our stash of One-Sized BumGenius Organic AIOs .  I also had a few sized BG AIOs, so I used those as well at that time because she was already starting to fit into the size Mediums we had (she's a big girl and always has been!!).

Around the same time, I got a great deal on a couple of used DryBees pocket dipes off of eBay.  Oh how I wanted to like these diapers.  They were made by the same company as my beloved small AIOs (I really loved those dipes, can you tell?)... so I wanted to like them.  But, I didn't.  In DryBees' defense, it wasn't their fault - I just never took to pocket dipes.  I just hated the stuffing and unstuffing - OH, the unstuffing.  YUCK.  I just don't understood why people like them given that you have to stick your hand inside the wet/dirty diaper and fish out the liner(s).  To each their own, I guess!  The one thing I *did* like about them was that they dried super fast in the dryer, but in the end it still wasn't worth the ick factor.

Currently, we are still using our BG OS Organic AIOs (how's that for confusing acronyms?), which are still going strong.  They have velcro closures, and after using them for five months straight, I now wish I had bought the snap closure dipes because the velcro is starting to show a bit of wear.  I hope the velcro lasts, but if not I know I can have snaps put on them.  We also purchased two Dream-Eze AIOs on sale recently, and we like those too!

So, as you can see we are now a strictly AIO family.  Though, when they are small, I will happily use fitteds/prefolds and covers on any future child(ren); I liked that system a lot and it was easy when they were teeny and didn't fight diaper changes like SOMEONE I KNOW DOES NOW!

As for washing: we keep dirty dipes in a large wet bag until it is full, and then I wash them - this is usually about every three days or so.  I start a cold cycle, dump in detergent (we're currently using All Free & Clear, but we've also used Charlie's Laundry Powder - I've been happy with both), hold my breath, open the wet bag and dump out the diapers (and the wet bag follows right behind them), and then bolt out of the basement.  EEEEGGHH, the smell of old urine is quite possibly one of the most foul smells in the world to me.  After the cold cycle, I do a hot cycle and then one extra rinse.  Easy peasey!

Oh, and we have a diaper sprayer, which I LOVE, and would highly recommend.  I admit, I miss the breastmilk-only poo -- oh, it was so easy, no spraying needed, just dump it in the wash and go -- but having the diaper sprayer makes things better.  Eliza is still nursing so much that I can't exactly just "plop" out the poo into the toilet yet (it's still more of a "transitional" nature) so the diaper sprayer plays a key role in keeping our dipes from getting stained.

Well, I'm sure I could go on, but baby girl is up from her nap, and it seems like I've droned on long enough about diapers for one day!  Hope this info helps someone out there!

Happy CDing!

My Loves

I caught a sweet moment the other night before bedtime.  Some serious Daddy-Daughter bonding was going on, and I was a grateful, happy, and silent observer behind my lens. 

He loves this girl so much.  There are no words for this kind of love.  Are there?  If there are, I don't have them.  Perhaps poets and writers greater than I...

And this girl?  Oh does she ever love him.  She lights up when he comes home.  She smiles and coos and says "Dadadada".  

There is a peacefulness that comes over this Dad when he's around his girl.  He softens.  And he is happier than I've ever seen him.

Those two are my loves.  How did I get so lucky?

It's not Wordless Wednesday...

...but I needed an excuse to post this pic of me and my sweets:

...so, happy Wordless Saturday!

Weddin' Time!

Last weekend was the wedding of a dear friend of mine, A, and her fiancee, J.  I was the co-matron-of-honor, and was so so so honored to have this role.  I'd only ever been in one wedding before this one, and I'd never been a MOH before, so it was really special.  I loved standing up at the altar supporting her and giving my MOH toast at the reception.  I was sooo nervous, but I think it went well in the end.  I'm such a sap, I - of course - started to cry as I was speaking.

The wedding was beautiful and the reception was so much fun!  We ate fantastic food (and nummmmmmmy cake) and danced the night away.  My parents took Eliza home from the reception and put her to bed so we could stay until the reception ended at midnight.  That's the latest I think I've stayed out since well before Eliza's birth!  It was a memorable night - seeing A&J so incredibly happy, dancing with all our friends, dancing with the hubby... I didn't want the night to end.

I can't wait to see A&J begin their new life - they previously had a bi-coastal relationship and are now finally settled (or will be when they return from their honeymoon) on the same coast as husband and wife!

Anyway, here are a few pics from the day!

9 Months!

My baby girl turned 9 months old on Saturday.  I won't go on about how that's not possible and how I can't believe it and lalala... as I do every month.  I mean, it's obvious that the fact that Eliza is 9 months old is NUTS.  Ha!

What has Eliza been up to this month?

• The BIG news, of course, is that Eliza started crawling at the end of July/beginning of August!  Since then she has explored every cord, stereo button, cabinet and drawer in this house.  She is getting faster at crawling, but still doesn't dart away from me too often; I guess she likes to be by her mama :).  She is also pulling herself up on everything and anything now.  There have been a few 'bonks' lately which have left her a little red and unhappy, but that comes with the territory.

• She waves 'hi' and 'bye', claps, does "so big!", and is learning to blow kisses (the newest in her bag of tricks :).  I told her we are sending her to join the circus soon.

• She started signing "milk"!  She started doing this recently and I couldn't believe my eyes.  I'm still not 100% sure if she is just showing us the sign when someone says milk (imitation...?), or if she truly knows what it means and knows what she'll get when she signs it?  She does sign it spontaneously sometimes, so I nurse her in hopes that she'll see that that means she'll get milk!

• Still only has six teeth (well, I shouldn't say ONLY, that's a lot!). 

• She babbles a lot.  She's very verbal, which people often comment on.  Her favorite sound/word is "Dadadadadadada".  I wish I could know what she means when she says it - because she is definitely saying something!  She also says other sounds "ga", "la", "pa", but her preference is most definitely "da".

• Wearing the same cloth diapers - she hasn't moved up a size in a while.  We're still using mostly one-size AIOs as well as a few size mediums (I've added a few new dipes to our stash recently, and I'm loving them - I got some with snaps, which I now realize is the way to go when you're using OS dipes).  When we use sposies, she's wearing a size 4.

• She is up for the day between 6:15 and 6:30 (though she gave us two mornings of sleeping until SEVEN AM this week, which was heavenly!), and is napping twice a day, once in the morning (usually around 8:30 or 9, depending on what time she wakes up) and once in the afternoon (usually around 1:00 or 1:30).  Each naps lasts about 60-90 minutes on average.

• Bedtime is going well.  We sing, Daddy gives her a bath, and she's usually asleep by 7:30 at the latest (tonight it was 6:45!).  She starts the night out in her crib and sleeps there until the middle of the night sometime when she wakes up to nurse and I bring her into our bed.  I know she'll sleep through the night someday, but for now I am okay with nursing her at night.  I doubt she'll sleep through the night until she is night-weaned, which I don't want to do until she's a bit older.  

• She is just soooo smart.  It's hard to explain... but she is just so with-it, and aware of what's going on; she's focused and very observant of what's going on in her environment.  I can't wait to see her change over the next few months, I think her development just going to take off.  She amazes us every day with what she knows, what she understands, what she can do/"say", etc... 

• We are still nursing, and I am proud to be going strong at 9 months!  It is still Eliza's main source of nutrition.  She definitely eats a good amount of solids each day, but it's not her primary source of calories yet.  Eliza is still a great eater, and is loving every new food we offer her.  We've had a lot of nummy ripe peaches, nectarines and plums lately, all of which she loves.  She's also quite the meat eater; it seems that she prefers chicken and pork over almost anything else we put on her tray.  

We have her 9-month check-up in the morning, so I'll report back then with the details.  I don't know how much she weighs exactly... but I can safely say this: IT'S A LOT.  I have the biceps to prove it.  She is a tall, dense girl just like her daddy was when he was a baby!

**Update:  Eliza weighs 24 lbs 3ozs (99th %ile as always!) and is 29" (92nd %ile) tall!  Oh, and her head circumference is 18"  She's our big girl!!! :-)

Here are some recent pics:

Catch Up!

I have so much to catch up on -- photos (I've been really bad about uploading and posting photos lately :-/), Eliza's 9 month post (she turned 9 months old yesterday!) and the wedding of my dear dear friend A, which was yesterday.  It was a beautiful wedding and we had an incredible weekend celebrating.  It was so much fun!

I will get caught up, but right now I'm off to enjoy a glass of wine with my honey!

100 in 269

This is my 100th post since Eliza's birth!  Today, she is 269 days old, so that means I've blogged an average of every 2.69 days since she's been alive.  Not bad!

Eliza is also 38 weeks old this week, which means that in 3 weeks she will have been a part of our world for as long as she was camped out in me, growing strong.  I don't know why, but that's a milestone that feels big to me.  Even though she's not my teeny baby anymore, she has seemed littler somehow knowing that she hasn't yet been living outside in our world as long as she was growing inside me...  I know, I know she's still little... but, it's like she's grown up in some way now that she's going to pass that milestone.

Here's me and my girl - my almost nine-month-old girl!!! - taken with my computer just now.  Oh - and we voted! :)

Forgive me while I ramble.

Everyone in my house is sleeping right now.  Both cats are zonked out; they've turned themselves upside down with their paws in the air and their bodies are bent in odd ways, all cat-like and lazy.  Baby girl is asleep (I can see that cute butt sticking up in the air from where I sit) in her crib  - and we're going on 1.5 hours now, so I better make this quick - and here I sit in the quiet.  It's nice.  I usually keep the radio on or at least the doors and windows open so the daily hum and chatter of the city can filter in, but today I decided not to.  I realized that - besides sleeping - I am rarely surrounded by complete silence.

That's odd, isn't it?  Life can be so noisy, and we don't even realize it.

I'm not used to being awake in the silence.  I'm so unaccustomed to it that it stood out to me today, and I felt the need to share.  I'm kind of enjoying it right now, mostly because I know it will be shorted lived, and soon my girl's beautiful voice will fill the silence with her happy coos.

Speaking of coos.....

Have a great weekend everyone!

"So for God's sake..."

It's World Breastfeeding Week!  In honor of this week devoted to promoting and supporting breastfeeding, I wanted to share an interesting article I read today about yet another benefit of breastfeeding that is being studied at UC Davis - this time it's a protective bacteria that coats the infant's intestines (As one researcher said: "Mothers are recruiting another life-form to baby-sit their baby"! Researcher-humor is always HILARIOUS, OF COURSE.)


I think my favorite quote was the very last line: "So for God’s sake, please breast-feed".  Ha!  Love it.


Go here to read it!

It's Official!

At 8.5 months old, my baby girl is crawling!  She officially took more than two "crawls" on Friday evening (7/30/10), so I had to call it.  We were at the lake and she crawled across the kitchen to me - it was so sweet!  Oh, I almost cried.  This video is from this afternoon.  As you can see, she is still slow and her hips tend to swivel a bit, but she has definitely mastered the movements.  I'm sure by the end of the week she will be fast as lightning!

We went out today and bought a baby gate to put up in the kitchen in front of the back door and the entrance to the basement stairs.  This is the beginning of the craziness, I can tell!