Much Ado Photos

Life in a Snow Globe 1.31.10

Last Day in size 9-12 clothing 2.1.10

Sizing Up! 2.2.10

Dust 2.3.10

I just want to say this weekend was awesome! I felt like it was a real break. I got to sleep in on Saturday AND Sunday! That's a rare treat. My husband also spent a lot of time with Evan giving me a nice break. He's been a bit fussier than normal since his top 4 front teeth are coming through.

Baby Clothing

Here I was thinking that Evan was in 12 month clothing, only 12 month clothing. Grant it Carters ran a bit big, but I figured it was because we got it on Clearance because it was an outlet store. Everything else fit fine in 12 months. Until today. I put on a pair of Osh Kosh overalls and they were a bit short. But this is 12 month clothing, it should fit! It just barely did though. So out of curiosity I pulled out our "Too Big Clothing" box and tried on a pair of 18 month khakis on him and while they were just a tad bit long, they fit. I tried on a pair of 18 month Blues Clues overalls, they fit, and so on. The only outfits that were too big were the 18 month Carters and the future sizes.

Apparently my 6 month old son fits all 12 month and most 18 month clothing. There is something so wrong about that. In fact I think there is something so wrong about baby clothing sizing in general. First off, all baby clothing makers should be in agreement on the sizing. It is beyond annoying to buy a baby outfit at one store then find out it's too small or big when all the other clothing in that size fits fine. My biggest request would be that they have different sizing in one size. For example, 3-6 clothing would have 3-6 petite (especially in pants), then they'd have a small, medium and large. That way if the baby is chunky they'd be able to fit 3-6 medium or large. Or if the baby is very slender they'd have a petite option, that way pants would actually stay up.

Or maybe they could just ditch the whole by age sizing. I don't know how they'd size it though. How many babies actually fit the age range they are in? It's deceiving to inexperienced baby cloth shoppers and gives them the false security of thinking they got the right size. Heck, I thought my son would fit 12 month clothing when he was actually 12 months. I worked in a preschool too with all different ages and changed their clothing. I just didn't pay attention to the size. I wish I had. Maybe they could just have B for baby in front of the size. For example: B0, B1 B2 B3, like they have T1 T2 T3.

That just makes much more sense. Then everyone would ask the mother what size their baby is in instead of assuming they fit the age they are in. I doubt they'll change the system. It's been like this for years. But if they were to while I'm alive I'd be so impressed and happy for the future generations of baby cloth shoppers.

Winter Theme

Semi Sun 1.28.10

Trees and Shadows 1.29.10

Frozen Window 1.30.10

On a side note, lately weekends have not been very fun. It seems like I have twice as much responsibility and cleaning. I suppose that might be because my husbands home more often. Then I start to feel resentment because here he is getting a break and I'm only getting a short one. I then tell myself that he works hard, then my more irrational side says "but I work hard too, I deserve a break." But at the same time it's not irrational, I do deserve a break. After that the full on fight of internal thoughts occur. Those fights especially occur on weekends where I don't get out due to lack of car. That's right, we have no car at the moment because it's in the shop. It slid off the road and was damaged. At least he swore to buy chains and use them from now on.

Anyways. I'm really trying to balance out my irrational thinking. It's hard sometimes though when the only interaction I get is with a baby all week. I get some adult interaction, but Joe usually goes to bed early and that's only 2 hours out of a day. I can't wait to get back to CA and have adult interaction because then I'll have a car during the week. I miss having a car. Although in the perfect world I wouldn't be back in CA because my husband deployed. He'd be there with me.

Diaper Banter!

We use cloth diapers because it saves a ton of money. I'm proud to say that my entire diaper collection cost no more than 650 or so and to diaper a baby with disposables for 2 years it costs over 2000! These are all 1 size diapers too, which means that they grow with the baby. They have snaps that snap down to make it smaller, then medium sized, then the final unsnapped version makes it the large size. Just like below, it shows from large to small size. These generally fit at about 8 pounds and go up until 30 or 35 pounds


We had previously been using Gro Baby diapers, the above diapers and the one to the side. It has a very absorbent cotton insert and a booster for added absorbency. These diapers worked very well for us. We rarely had a leak, like when I didn't go up to the next rise when I needed to. They contained poop, especially explosive poops that would have gone outside the shell had it not had the elastic waist.

My only peeve is that my son is a skinny lean bean and so they fit kind of strange around the waist. It was like they were designed for chubby babies. I've heard that moms of chunky babies had a hard time with them too, so I guess it's the middle babies that they're made for. The front almost always gaped a little showing the insert and that made me nervous because the occasional leak was always out the front of the shell. Evan is also really sensitive to feeling wet so he would wake up at night just for a diaper change. I tried laying a thin fleece strip in his diaper, but then it leaked out the back because it was stuffed too much. He was fine with the diapers during the day but that was because I was changing him every 1.5 hours.

So I decided to look for a diaper that kept him feeling dry. A new All in 2 diaper had come out. For those who don't know, All in 2 diapers are where there's a shell and an insert, like gro baby, prefolds, etc. I had been curious about the diaper and after much research determined the the Flip diaper was most affordable. They have the option of an Organic Cotton insert and a Stay Dry insert. I went for the Stay Dry because that was what I wanted, it was also cheaper. I heard the organic one was rather bulky and apparently prefolds worked better.

But anyways, I ordered one day pack and, once I got them and washed them couldn't wait to try them out. I LOVE them. They are so trim, they fit my lean bean really well too around the front. There's no strange gap, they are really thin, and I could get away with just one insert overnight and not have a single leak. Evan stays feeling dry too so he sleeps better! They don't have many color options, but I don't care too much. It would be fun to choose what color diaper shell he wears, but since they only have pink or blue in the day pack options we went with blue.

We do use 2 inserts at night now just so I have peace of mind, but even with 2 inserts they don't look too bulky. I ordered 2 more day packs so that we can use these instead of gro baby. Like all one size diapers, I find they don't really fit good until the baby is around 10 pounds otherwise it looks like they are all diaper. I'd suggest going for newborn diapers for that beginning stage. We ended up not being able to cloth diaper Evan until he was over a month.

Overall I find cloth diapers are easy to care for. I use Crunchy Clean diaper detergent since regular detergent, even when used 1/4 the regular amount took forever to rinse out and so I had build up and Evan developed a rash from it. Crunchy Clean is cheap and works really really well and has nice scents! I use it on regular clothes too. They do have an every day detergent too, maybe when we're past the diaper stage I'll get some. So anyways that's my diaper banter!

Continuation

Sneak Attack 1.24.10

The Trail of Evan 1.25.10

Just Before it was Made 1.26.10

Hmmm....Toast 1.27.10

Project 365

Window Reflections 1.20.10

The Swing 1.21.10

Who Could Resist this Face? 1.23.10

Feet 1.24.10

The Guilt has Started Leaving!

I gave up breastfeeding when my son was only 6 days old. At the hospital I was stressed and exhausted and had a really hard time latching him on. But by the 2nd day it got better for a bit. However once I got home I started having issues with latching him on. He had to do it all by himself so he'd search around screaming trying to latch on. Then when he did latch on he fell asleep. His jaundice that started leaving at the hospital came back even worse. He's was my pumpkin baby. My milk came in on the 4th or 5th day and we still had problems. He wasn't passing enough wet diapers, he was screaming when it came time to eat, and he would stay latched for hours. I mean hours. I had to unlatch him only to have him back on me in a matter of minutes but he always fell asleep.

The depression came around the 4th or 5th day I think. I started tearing up every time he wanted to eat. I didn't want to hold him after because I was tired. I even felt resentment towards him for needing me so much. I was also in pain because every time he latched on he was start to bite my nipples and so they were cracked and bleeding. I swore he had teeth and would check after only to find gums. On the 4th night I fed him for 3 hours straight switching sides when he came off. Then on the 5th night I was heading into 4 hours of feeding, I had no milk left, my nipples hurt like hell, and I was crying along with him because I didn't want to feed him again, it hurt too bad. By that time my mom had come down and the first thing out of my mouth was "I want to give him a bottle, I can't do this anymore." We had gotten formula samples from Similac for free (I hated it at the time but never threw it out) and we made him a bottle. I went to sleep and my mom fed him. According to her he sucked down that bottle like there was no tomorrow.

After that day I didn't look back until he was a month. All that Breast is Best propaganda popped into my now rested mind and I started to feel guilt. They always say that formula fed babies turn out sickly, that it's the worst thing possible to give them, that they won't be as smart and so on. While I knew it couldn't be all true there just wasn't much research being done that showed it could be better despite formula. Sure I had sanity and he was finally passing wet and poopy diapers, but it wasn't breastmilk and that is supposed to be the best.

Well a few days ago I found a blog that talks about that. It's the Fearless Formula Feeder blog spot. She pulls out all the controversial research and breaks it down along with using other research done. It has made me feel immensely better about my decision. You would think having sanity and not being depressed would do that, but there is nothing like mommy guilt, especially in a society that really pushes breastfeeding to the extreme.

I still really want to try again with my next baby. It saves a ton of money and formula is expensive, especially the specialty Lactose Free kind by Similact is literally the only formula he does good on. Even the off brand Lactose Free formula causes problems. I have to say though, it's not because I feel like I haven't bonded with him, that I'm not close to him, or because I feel he's unhealthy and I want better for the next baby, it's just because it's something I would like to try. Evan is a very very healthy boy who is clearly thriving. Sometimes I do miss that closeness that really can only occur when they are skin to skin, but remembering how depressed I was and how I didn't want to hold him after he ate snaps my mind back into the right state.

So really, whether you breastfeed, formula feed, or are not a parent it's a very interesting blog and has links to other research.