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Not Just Pins and Plastic Pants

~I had not intended my kid update posts to post all on the same day, and had the Hope & Aubrey posts scheduled to post on two different days. After I did Luke's, though, I forgot to schedule his and couldn't get it off the main page no matter what I tried.Instead of deleting that one and starting all over again, I just posted them all on the same day. Hopefully I won't make that mistake again! Now, on with the new post!~

I mentioned in my post about Aubrey that we were using cloth diapers this time around. I had tried to use them with Hope, but we didn't last longer than a month. We're in our third month of cloth diapering now and I'm loving it this time around. After reading my post about cloth diapers I made with Hope, I realize now that I received really bad advice regarding washing them and that was the problem we were having and why it ended so badly (bleeding, horrible rashes from ammonia burn and really stinky diapers). I know better now than to wash solely in baking soda. This time around we were successfully using Tide, but they changed their formula and we started getting stinky nighttime diapers from soap build up (that stuff would still be sudsing after 4-5 hot rinses after washing--it was crazy). I've since switched to Ecos to wash and Ecover to help soften and we are having fantastic results from that. Glad I found a solution without too many problems!

I have enough diapers to last us for two days without washing. I could probably go a bit longer, but we would be pushin' it! I just finished selling off a good portion of our prefolds, as I was only using them at naptime and bedtime. 24 was way too many to have for only those times and they take up considerable storage space. So that cut our stash down quite a bit. Here is what we are using now:

Fluffy's One Size covers (from Fluffy's Diapers on Etsy) on the top, and Thirsties Duo size 1 on the bottom. The Thirsties are just for Luke, but we use the Fluffy's on both of them (except for the pink one lol), just on different size settings.

Our fitteds. These requrie a cover, but when we are at home, I let Aubrey run around without a cover and just change her when the outside gets a bit damp. Most of them are one size diapers, but they are still a bit bulky fitting on Luke, so we don't use these on him. A few of them are medium longs or larges. On the top we have Candyland OS Bagshot Row Bamboo (these require a Snappi--more on those later--or pins to close), Guess How Much I Love You OS Tinkle Tushies, a large Mickey Bubble Butt, a velour medium long Green Sprout Baby, premium Summer Fun Meg-A-Roos extended tab prefold (this one requires a Snappi or pins). On the bottom row, we have a Rainbow Brite OS Bagshot Row Bamboo (again, Snappi or pins needed), Mickey OS Snicklefritz (needs Snappi or pins), swirl dyed OS My Diaper Addiction, medium long D&G space Green Sprout Baby, and a borrowed floral OS Muttaqin. In this picture, I'm missing a Dr. Seuss print OS Cutzie Designs....I forgot to put it in the picture.

An example of an extended tab prefold, Snappi'd--to give you an idea of how they work. They have little teeth that snag the fabric to keep the diaper closed.

Since he is still pretty little, these are Luke's fitteds. They also require a cover. This time I'm going to go by columns. The left colum is Meg-A-Roo's infant extended tab prefolds (require Snappi or pins), second column are borrowed small bumGenius fitteds, third column from the top: small Dream-Eze, and two fitteds from Etsy, fourth column from the top: borrowed Ooga OS Muttaqin & a medium (it fits smaller, though) Squeezie Cheeks Scooby Doo.

Luke's pocket diapers. These are waterproof, with a pocket that you can stuff to make them absorbant. I use infant size prefolds, trifolded, to stuff them with. These are borrowed extra small Fuzzi Bunz.

Our pockets. They do not require a cover. Most of these pockets are one size. I can fit the one size diapers on Luke, too. Left to right: Fancy Nancy OS Ebber-Deeber, borrowed Pirate large Painted Patooshies, Cowpoke OS Ebber-Deeber, Mickey OS Ebber-Deeber.

These are our all-in-ones (AIOs) & all-in-twos (AI2s). They are waterproof with the absorbant part either sewn in or a snap in. They do not require a cover. Left to right: borrowed newborn Bagshot Row Bamboo (I don't think these are very waterproof and usually put a cover on them--the waterproof part is fleece, which is supposed to repel any wetness, but he's made them damp frequently.), large Nana's Bottoms, A Salt & Battery OS Pee in the Pod.

On the left are Sustainablebabyish "flats" (actually prefolds--not sure why they call them flats), with SBish doublers underneath. On the right are the top part of Thirsties stay dry inserts (I HATE microfiber--the bottom part--so I only use the cotton/hemp top layer) and Thirsties hemp doublers. I use the doublers when we need extra absorbancy like during naptimes, bedtime, or when we're out and about.

Prefolds, what people typically think of when they think cloth diapers. These can be trifolded and laid into a cover or stuffed into a pocket, or put on the child with a Snappi or pins. We have premium size on the left, green edge (newborn) in the middle, and yellow edge (infant? small?) on the right. I use the premiums on Aubrey and stuff pockets with the green and yellow edge ones.

(Mostly) borrowed longies, shorties, and soakers. The very bottom one is Aubrey's, I just forgot it in the picture of hers. The only one that is ours is the flag one, but he's outgrown it already. These work as covers. Just put on a prefold or fitted, then put the pants on. While our other covers are lined in PUL (polyurethane laminate), which, like disposables, doesn't breathe and might get hot, the wool/fleece/acrylic is surprisingly breathable, and much more comfortable for a kiddo.

Aubrey's (mostly borrowed) shorties, longies, and soakers. Most of these also have a shirt or dress that match.

Our cloth wipes, sprayer (to wet the wipes), diaper cream (we don't use this kind anymore-we now use CJ's BUTTer), Snappi's, and peepee teepes. I use cloth wipes because, really, who wants to carry poop covered disposable wipes to the trash can to be thrown away? Not me. Just wrap them in the diaper and throw it in the pail with everything else.

Our wet bags. I use these in the diaper bad for wet/dirty diapers.

Where I store all our diapers, and the kids that wear them. Hehe.

Hanging on the wall are the covers that we're using for the day. As long as they don't get any poop on them and they don't stink, I hang them up and we rotate them throughout the day. I can usually get away with two covers for each child. So far in the full two months, we've not had any poop blowouts like we did in disposables, and I've not gotten any poop on any covers.

To the left of the dresser is rolling drawers with a basket on top. In the basket are Aubrey's fitteds. In front of the basket are all our doublers. In the top drawer, our pockets, AIOs and AI2s. The middle drawer holds the premium prefolds.

On top of the dresser, to the right of the changing pad, in the basket, are Luke's fitteds. Then in front of the basket is a Huggies wipe container with the top removed. This holds our cloth wipes, diaper rash cream (CJ's BUTTer), spray bottle with water and peepee teepees. I usually put our Snappi's on top of the wipes until the wipes are needed.

The top dresser drawer holds Luke's fleece and wool soakers/longies/shorties.

The middle left holds our covers, wet bags, and the green/yellow edge prefolds.

The middle right drawer holds all of Aubrey's fleece and wool soakers/longies/shorties.

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Every other day, after putting the kids to bed, I take our pail bag downstairs with the dirty diapers, and run a load of diapers. I run a cold rinse w/ no detergent to help with any residual poop (Aubrey's dirty diapers get shaken out into the toilet and then put in the pail--Luke's wash out easily for now, so I don't worry about his). Then a hot wash with Ecos filled to the 1 line, then two capfuls of Ecover (the only fabric softener safe sor cloth diapers--all others cause repelling), cold rinse, cold rinse. Then a warm quick wash with warm rinse to make sure all the soap is rinsed out. Everything is dried on high, unless it has a stain. If it has a stain, I get it sopping wet and put it outside to sun out. You would be surprised the stains that a sun can get out. It really is amazing!

You would think the extra laundry would be annoying, but, really, (and this is going to sound weird but I don't care) it's the only laundry I LOVE doing. It is completely satisfying to see a laundry basket full of diapers folded and ready to go for the next day. No running out to the store because we're on our last diaper (or already have run out of diapers--had that happen way too many times in the past), and no poopy blow outs like with disposables. Ok, the cuteness factor doesn't hurt, either! Seriously, my kids have the cutest butts on the block.

Any questions? Feel free to leave them in the comment section and I'll address them in my next post. :-)

Luke David William

Luke David William was born April 18. This is his birth story, as posted on a message board.

We went in for the induction and they checked me so they could decide how to induce. I was at a 2/3 and they decided to start pitocin. At 10:15 they got it started. After about an hour the contractions were 3-4 minutes apart and I was feeling them a lot in my pelvis and hips.

By 2, the nurse came in to turn up the pitocin with the comment that "if I felt I couldn't handle it, she could come back in and turn it down". 20 minutes later, the contractions were bringing me to tears and we called her back in, but she made the comment that the monitors weren't registering them, so she couldn't justify turning it down. I wanted to inform her that just because the stupid machine wasn't registering them I was quite positive my body was more accurate than any machine and it needed to be turned down but was beside myself and couldn't get the words out. She went and messed around with the pitocin machine (dropping her clipboard on my IV tubes in the process and leaving it there), but I don't think she turned it down to be honest. The doctor came in and checked me around 2 and I was at a 3, then she broke my water.

20 minutes later I asked for an epidural. By the time the anesthesiologist got there, I was ugly crying but was able to get myself under control to be still for him. He ended up having to try for it twice because the first attempt at putting in the medicine failed. The second time he tried, though, caused the epidural to react as a spinal and I went numb from the breasts down. The nurse told me to swing my legs around onto the bed and I told her I couldn't. I think she thought I was being difficult because she repeated herself and I told her "I don't think you understand, I can't." She finally realized I couldn't move my legs and they helped me roll over. The doctor came in and checked me and in the time it took the anesthesiologist to come, he came, and I went numb, I went from a 3 to a 10 and the doctor couldn't even get her fingers in. His head was so close she couldn't even get her finger in to the first knuckle. I couldn't feel anything to push and we had to wait for the spinal effect to go away (they were poking me with needles and I didn't feel a single thing).

While we were waiting, my blood pressure plummeted into the 60's/30's, then Luke's heart rate plummeted to 59. I couldn't see the monitor so I had no clue why the room filled with people and they started giving me vial after vial of medicine. After about 5 minutes, the anesthesiologist finally noticed that I was crying and asked what was wrong. I told him I knew something was happening, but nobody was telling me and it was scary and he explained it to me. They got it under control and by 3:15 I began to feel the intense pressure/pain in my pelvis again, so we tried pushing. 3 pushes and I almost had him out. Now, DH says that he was watching the monitor for contractions at the same time as the nurse and he thinks the last time I pushed, I actually didn't push with a contraction. He thinks the nurse saw the contraction monitor go up because I moved a little bit because it immediately started going down instead of starting to go up but she had already turned her back by then. So, chances are when I finally did push him out, it was without a contraction. Luke David William was born at 3:38 pm. He weighed 6 pounds 8.6 ounces and 19" long.

Finally! A Lost Tooth!

Today Crafty pulled her first tooth out. She's so excited for her first visit from the tooth fairy!

Down to the Wire, it seems

Ok, so I have been informed it is the policy of the practice I am using that if you have had a late term loss, they will not "let" you go past 39 weeks. There is no sense in me arguing or fighting for anything past that. Golfer agrees with pretty much anything doctor's say, and I will not get support for anyone else on it. I'd be fighting that battle on my own, despite going to 41 weeks with Sassy. SO. With that said, that knocks off two entire weeks of my expected time left. While that's a little relieving in the fact I am so DONE being pregnant (weeks ago, in fact), it's a little disconcerting, as well, because...ummmmm....we haven't really done anything to prepare for his arrival!

He's got *some* clothes, but not a lot. The pack and play is still put away in my closet, his car seat is currently piled high with short sleeve shirts in Golfer's closet, the (admittedly pink but still useable) bouncy seat is still covered in plastic in the basement. I have ZERO meals frozen (Oh but I've got muffins lol), clothes are not washed, space has not really been made for him in Sassy's room, I don't have a diaper bag picked out. We do not have bottles. I do not have any of the supplies a newly post partum mama uses. I know there are other things that need to be done before he gets here. Things that are just not coming into my head at the moment. Things that will make this transition so much easier. My brain just simply isn't processing the fact there's a baby coming. That's a little scary.

That's not even counting the house stuff that needs to be done since my mom will be here the first week of May. I'll confess it's been months since I mopped my floors upstairs. It is excruciatingly painful to mop right now, so I just spot clean where I can and keep it vacuumed. The bottoms of our socks turn black just from walking around my house. Gross. I know...but, really, whoever it bothers the most is more than welcome to come mop my floors for me because the fact of the matter is, my house is otherwise pretty darn clean for a Mama in her third trimester whose pelvis feels like it's going to fall apart at any minute.

Menu Plan Monday....of sorts

Ok, so I'm not "officially" participating in Menu Plan Monday, as I have obviously completely bombed on doing any and all memes I have tried to participate in. For some reason, though, I feel compelled to type up my menu for this week here on my blog. Y'know, the one that is sorely in need of attention. That has been updated only once in a blue moon? Yeah...go figure that one out. LOL I've pretty much given up assigning meals to specific days. Golfer frequently has last minute appointments to go to, leaving the girls and myself on our own for dinner, which means we usually do sandwiches or something and the "planned" meal for that evening gets moved to the next night (if I have meat already thawed) or the next week. Since Golfer is still doing his low carb diet (as far as I am aware, anyway, I do need to touch base with him on that--I'm sooooo tired of the same low carb meals and would LOVE to add back in some of our old favorites into my rotation), all of these meals except for one is a low carb recipe I have found here on the internet, or in one of my cookbooks. The only one that ISN'T is because Golfer has poker and won't be home for dinner that evening. Guess which meal that is? Haha.

Dinner choices for this week are:
Chicken Parmesan
Garlic Lover's Shrimp
Bacon Cheeseburger Casserole
Make Your Own Pizza
Skillet BBQ Chicken
Roast
Chef Salad
Balsamic Turkey w/ Red Peppers

Sunday I discovered that my toaster oven had bit the dust. We got 4 good years out of it with almost daily use. I was sad when I threw it away this morning. I told Golfer that when we replace it, I do not want one as large. It was big enough to fit a 12" round pizza inside of it, so it took up TONS of counter space. My counter looks a lot less cluttered without it now. I mainly use it for small items, anyway, and can't remember ever putting anything large into it, so a large one is completely unnecessary. I've actually even contemplated doing away with a toaster OVEN completely and going with a regular toaster. We mainly used it for waffles, bagels, english muffins, etc anyway. I'll definitely have to think on this one and look around. It's been a long time since I've even bothered to look at what's available!

With that said, it's made planning breakfasts a little more difficult. Crafty has been on this toaster streudel kick, which requires a toaster. So, our breakfast choices this week, for before school, are:
Oatmeal
Eggs
Cereal

Although, I may go ahead and try out these Frozen Blueberry Muffins. Crafty LOVES blueberry muffins (ok, so do I lol) and I have several bags I froze last summer that need to be used before they get freezer burn. It looks like the recipe makes 2 dozen. If that truly is the case, I'll leave out a dozen for eating on this week at breakfast and freeze the other dozen for when The Duke gets here. Actually, that sounds like a good project tonight after the girls go to bed!

As far as lunch choices go? Meh, I'm at a loss. I'm currently searching on the internet to find some ideas. I'm soooo sick of mac and cheese, spaghetti, grilled cheese, and peanut butter & jelly. When I find something and come up with a plan, I'll edit this post.

Spring

Today has me dreaming of spring. It's a wet, dreary, yucky, muddy, chilly day at my house. If nothing else, I'm ready to fling open my windows and let some fresh air in. This spring will be different from any other, simply because of The Duke's arrival. We will also be bringing spring in with ample time spent out of doors since Crafty is playing t-ball. I'm ready to be able to sit outside with Sassy and let her run around outside. Especially now that I have a playset for her to climb on. She could use the energy expender!

Ok, so maybe part of me is also ready for spring BECAUSE it means The Duke will be here. That's not so bad, is it?