2 Months

Elijah turned 2 months old on Sunday. A lot of people have asked me how it is having 3 kids now, and I have to say that it has been a much easier transition for us to 3 kids than it was to 2. Having the two older kids who are so independent in so many areas and able to entertain each other as well as help me out with small tasks has been huge. It has been quite a different experience than having a newborn and an 18 month old. And Elijah is such an easygoing baby that has made the transition all the easier. I feel like we are in a really good routine and my daily joy is now tripled with my third child :).

Elijah is a very expressive baby, in fact he is probably the most expressive baby verbally I've ever met at this age. Everyone who meets him and hears his "cry" comments on it because you can hear what he is trying to say in his inflections. He doesn't scream or wail, he kind of "talks" like "whaa whaa whaaAAaaa." Ok that isn't so easy to describe in words, so I'll have to get a video of it up soon. It's very sweet and unique.

He had his 2 month check yesterday. He was 10 lbs 14 oz (40th percentile) and 23 inches (60th percentile). He also got his big round of shots, so we had some good cuddle time yesterday. He gave the nurse the biggest pouty lip when it was done and scolded her "whAA whaaaa *pout*" but was a trooper. He sure can work the pouty lip, hehe!

He loves tummy time -- must be the different perspective and the fact that he can hold his head the way he loves --and we are about ready to try him in the bumbo seat because his neck is so strong already from trying to look up all the time since birth. And get ready for this...he is sleeping 9-10 hours through the night for the last 1-2 weeks! He gets his last feeding of the day around 9pm (I nurse him all day and then he gets 4 oz of formula for his last feeding) and he has been sleeping until 7 am!! I am feeling great and the most rested I've felt in months.

And we are still loving the cloth diapers for those of you who are wondering! No leaks - happy baby - easy peasy - I almost feel embarassed I thought it was a big deal to begin with now that I know how easy it is! And I have a few friends who are now going to give it a try too after hearing of our experience so far. Yay!

Other than that it's been lots of sweet, gummy grins around here of which I can't get enough of!

Melts. My. Heart.

Confessions of a Cloth Diaper Convert

Ever since I decided to use cloth diapers with this baby I have had TONS of people ask all kinds of questions about it. It has been a huge conversation piece lately. It is definitely not the "norm" in my personal circles, and I think that it is mostly because people feel exactly the way I did about it...curious, but uneducated, and therefore afraid to try it. Plus, there are so many different options out there it really is hard to know where to even begin! That's totally how I felt! I was all for the "convenience" of disposables - they were just easier to me.

I believe that if I had known someone five years ago who used cloth diapers and could answer questions about it for me and point me in the right direction of getting started, I would have used them way before my third child. So, although I am FAR from being any kind of expert on this, I can share with you what I do know and how I handle cloth diapering so far, and maybe ease the fears someone else may have about it.

What kind of diapers are you using?
I am using the BumGenius 3.0 One Size diapers. There are so many great options out there, with many different "features," but these were specifically what I was looking for in a CD and so far I have been extremely happy with them. They are pocket diapers that come with 2 liners, one newborn size (which can also be used when they are older to double up for added nighttime absorption) and a regular liner that has snaps to adjust to a couple different sizes. The diaper covers have velcro tabs and also come with snaps to adjust to 4 different sizes so it grows with your child. It fits babies from 8lbs up to 35lbs, which I love rather than having to buy several different sizes. Plus, they come in so many fun colors. To learn more about the different types of diapers, in addition to being a great resource on this topic in general, you should go to www.theclothdiaperwhisperer.com. You should definitely research and find the right kind of diaper for you.

How many diapers do you have?
I have 21 diapers and so far that has been plenty for me to do a load of diapers every 3 days, as recommended. I would say 20-24 is a good estimate of how many you would need based on my experience so far with a newborn.

I'd love to try cloth diapers, but can't get past the idea of washing the poop...
That was probably the biggest obstacle for me, but honestly it hasn't been as bad as I expected. I purchased the Bummi's disposable liners, which help a lot. The poo poo gets caught in the liner and can be dumped in the garbage or right in the toilet. I just give the edges a quick rinse if needed. BumGenius also makes a diaper sprayer, which is a hose attachment for the toilet for easy rinsing. We may purchase that in the future, but for now the newborn poo isn't too bad.

Aren't you doing laundry all the time now? Won't the cost of running the washer and dryer so much outweigh the cost benefit?
With a family of five, we are doing quite a lot of laundry to begin with :). But no, I don't feel like I am doing laundry all the time. I do a load of diapers twice a week now in addition to my regular laundry, which is still a ton less money than what we were dishing out for disposables - it certainly isn't adding $10-15 dollars a week to our energy bill. Also, I hung a couple rows of string in my laundry closet, so I line dry the diapers and don't need to run the dryer and they dry surprisingly quicker than you would think. In the summer, hopefully, I can even hang them out in the sun.

Where did you buy your diapers?
I personally bought all my diapers and supplies from babySNAZZ.com. They have frequent promotions, and $5 flat rate shipping or free shipping on orders over $75. And with every purchase you get 10% back in credit off your next purchase. I ended up getting a lot of products for free because of the promotions and credits. They have a nice FAQ section on their site under the help tab that gives a lot of information about cloth diapers and was especially helpful to me about how to launder them.

What other supplies do you need besides the diapers?
Like I mentioned before, I have the Bummi's flushable liners. I also have a large wet bag for my diaper pail, and a small wet bag to keep in my diaper bag when we are out. I throw those in the wash right with the diapers. I also am using the BumGenius laundry detergent because I got some free through a promotion.

How much money are you really saving?
I can't say an exact amount, but disposables were costing us about $50 a month, which over the course of about 4 years (by the time they are fully potty trained) is around $2400, give or take. I only spent about $300 total on about $500 worth of supplies for cloth diapering. Obviously, if you are planning on using them for more than one child the savings would be even greater. And I've learned that they have a pretty good resale value as well which will increase the value of it. Plus, you have the added benefit of helping the environment stay cleaner, and your baby's bottom stay healthier! If startup cost is a big issue, you could easily start with a smaller supply and alternate with disposables, and still end up saving some money.


I know cloth diapers aren't for everyone, but I sure am glad that I took the time to research and ask questions to feel more confident about trying them. If you are on the fence about trying them, but feel lost and unsure about the whole topic, I know exactly how you feel! Hopefully, I have helped someone out there take the first step toward trying them too!

Kiddo Update

Riley - His newest thing is that he started giving out names for things. For example, last week he had a balloon that he had been playing with for a few days and one day he told us he named his balloon "snowflake" because it floats to the ground like a snowflake. This week we discovered that he actually named our thermometer (you can tell we've all been sick way too long)...he named it Motrin! LOL Then, yesterday he came out of his room wearing a bright yellow shirt we had picked up on the clearance rack at Target recently. He struck a pose and said, "Mommy I named my shirt Thunderbolt!" I can't wait to hear what other creative names he comes up with. We also started reliving our childhood by pulling out all our Legos over at mom's house! It is so fun that both Riley and Naomi are old enough to start using them, plus the kits he got from Christmas. Brad and I spent hours helping them build all our old sets from my childhood. So fun!

Naomi - She is looking and acting so grown up lately, even more so than usual. We'll be celebrating her 3rd birthday in a few weeks, which in some ways is unbelievable, and yet in other ways we can't believe she is really still 2 because she is right up there with her 4 year old brother in just about everything. She is quite the little actress/comedian these days. She continues to make the funniest faces and can hold an expression for quite a while without laughing so it's hard to know if she's serious or not! She has fooled me many times! It's been so special to see her "motherly instincts" come out with her baby brother. She is the first one to run to comfort him if he begins to fuss and will say, "It's ok baby, Naomi's here." So precious. She is always there for him, and was even able to help feed him a bottle the other night which she was over the moon about.

She still wants that baby sister though and reminds me quite often. She'll randomly say things like, "mommy, next Christmas I want a girl baby, ok?" We had a little talk and now she says, "When I grow up like a big mommy and have a baby in my tummy, I will have a girl baby and then I will have a sister who will play with me." Well, she almost gets it :).

Elijah - We had Elijah's second weight check on Friday and at one month old he was up to 10 lbs and 21 inches long, which is exactly the 50th percentile - perfect! I'm glad he was able to gain enough to get over his birth weight and then some so we can relax on the structure of feedings a bit now. With being so sick, by the evening I have a hard time nursing, so I started supplementing with a 2 oz bottle of formula right before we go to sleep and that has been helpful for us both I think. I'm thankful Brad is now done with night shifts for a little while and I have an extra hand at night. It has allowed me to take NyQuill the last two nights, which I was unable to do being home alone with all the kids, so I have had two pretty solid nights of sleep where I'm not waking up with a cough or stuffed nose every hour. Our sweet l'il bear continues to be a great sleeper :).
Since birth, one thing we noticed about him right away that he continues to do is hold his head up so well. Even when you cradle him in your arms he is always looking up and arching his back to see what is above or behind him. Several people have joked that he must be looking at all the angels above him because we never can figure out what exactly he is looking at, but it must be fascinating to him. You can see that even here at a month old he is holding his head up amazingly well. He is very strong!



Also, we started cloth diapers and after 2 full days of use, Brad and I have both said we can't believe we didn't use these before now! It is really so much easier than I originally thought and not any more work than using regular diapers. I am so excited about how much money we will save. We are going to become advocates for converting from disposable to cloth so we can try and help other people know what we didn't sooner!!! If you are on the fence about using them, go for it! I am SO glad we did and I will keep you updated on how it goes. So far, so good!

Brad and I are still fighting off these viruses and trying to get rested after a month of awful long and difficult hours on top of it. We are looking forward to a week off coming up mid-February when we can recalibrate! Brad has also been negotiating his contracts for next year, which is exciting. We are anticipating a much more family-friendly schedule (at least on a "regular" week) and will update when the details come together!

A New Frontier

We are about to venture into a new arena with baby #3. Cloth diapers.

Let me start by saying I feel very uneducated on the subject. When I started looking into this, I had no idea where to even start. My limited knowledge of CDing (cloth diapering) mostly consists of memories from the early 80's of towel-like rags and stretched out rubber covers. But, as we are only 4 weeks away (one month from TODAY!) from baby's arrival and my two older kids have been out of diapers for almost a full year, I cringe every time I go down the baby aisle and eye the price tags on those tiny diapers we will be buying again for the next 3 years or so. In fact, I sat down and added it up and it was in the thousands...each year! In researching the options that are out there now...well let's just say cloth diapering is at a whole, new level!

We aren't going exclusively cloth, in fact we plan on still using disposables quite a bit, especially at first. We know that there are going to be a lot of times when disposable is going to be easier, or even necessary, and we are totally okay with that. But, if using cloth diapers while at home or whenever we can will help cut the costs, we are willing to give it a try. Plus, when I found out you can get disposable diaper liners to help make messy clean-ups easier, I felt a lot better about trying it. That is much less intimidating to me as a beginner.

There are SO many options out there it can be overwhelming. But, we have narrowed it to the bumGenius 3.0 One Size (all the CD brand names are so funny!) that will work best for us and got great reviews. These diapers are made by Cotton Babies, which seems to be a well-esteemed company in the cloth diapering world.

These diapers adjust to 4 different sizes so they grow with the baby which was a big seller to us as well, plus (surprisingly) they are supposed to have a great resale value. I guess if someone else is willing to buy our used diapers I am more than willing to let them :).

Sadly, I decided we would return the Beco Carrier I purchased earlier, and use the credit towards getting started with these diapers. I think this will be a wiser use of our money in the long run, especially since I found a Mei Tai carrier that I LOVE on eBay for only $20. After trying both carriers (as much as I loved the Beco), I am sure I will be using the Mei Tai way more since it fits me so much better.

We are starting out with 6 diapers and will see how it goes. If it seems manageable, we will look into purchasing some more so we can really use them without doing laundry 3 times a day. So, as we start this new adventure I'm sure I will keep track of how it is going! Any CD users out there, feel free to share your advice with this CD newbie! :)