Cloth Diapering 101

Today I'm linking up with Kristin for her Baby Talk Series!

I'm going to talk about our experience (thus far) with cloth diapering, what we use, and accessories to make the experience more enjoyable. Cloth diapering isn't for everyone and its definitely a personal choice. But for those who are considering cloth diapering, this post is for you!

I chose to cloth diaper for several reasons 1) I wanted to keep my carbon footprint to a minimum 2) I wanted to keep the chemicals off my baby as much as possible 3) I heard that babies potty train sooner and have less diaper rash when using cloth diapers 4) I wanted to save money

We use BumGenius cloth diapers. We love them!! They are easy to use, clean well, and we have very few leaks with them. We have both the snap and velcro options, but now that I have a moving child who hates having her diaper changed I wish that I had more of the velcro ones.  We do use disposable diapers at night just because E is such a heavy wetter that I'm afraid she wouldn't make it 10-11 hours without wetting her clothes.

How we wash them:
I usually do a load of cloth diapers about every other day. (We have 25 cloth diapers.) I do a pre-rinse cycle and then wash them for a full cycle in hot water. Then the inserts can go in the dryer and the outer coverings are hung to dry. For any stains that don't come out in the wash you can lie them out in the sun and that will get them out. We use Charlie's Soap to wash them.

Accessories:

- Pail liner (we got ours here)- put this in a regular trash can with a lid and then you have a place to put the dirty diapers. When you are ready to wash the diapers, you take the whole liner and dump the diapers in the washer and then the liner in too. You don't ever have to touch the diapers. Whohoo!

- Wet bag- I use these for when we go out and about. I have several but my favorite is the one that has two pockets. One to place clean diapers and a pair of clothes in and the other where you place the dirty diapers.

-Diaper sprayer - These are definitely nice to have to get the poop off but I don't use it as often as I thought I would.

-Diaper liners - these are great to place in the inside of the diaper. Then you can take the contents of the liner and dump it in the toilet and flush it!

I've loved using cloth diapers and I'm so glad we did it. If you have any other questions, feel free to ask!

 

8 months!

Dear E,
You are 8 months old (as of last Saturday!) You are at such a fun age and you are just growing into your personality. You had such a fun month.

You are crawling everywhere, and you are so fast at doing it. You crawl over, under, around and even try to go through things to get to what you want. It's pretty funny to watch your determination. My favorite though is when you crawl to me or your daddy. It melts my heart. You are pulling to stand fantastically. The couch, the chairs, your toys - everything you see is a place to push up into standing. You started to cruise this month and have even let go from the surface and stood by yourself for 1-2 seconds. You are just ready to be on the go and you are determined to do it. You definitely keep me on my toes every day! Changing your diaper or your clothes is like wrestling a wild animal. You have no time for that stuff.

You still love your toys and now that you can crawl to anything, you go from one thing to another. Favorite toys this month are your step and play piano, einstein piano, click and play remote and the star stacker. You love to take the stars off the star stacker and love standing at your pianos. You now do this dance move when you hear your music and it is the cutest thing ever. It's got a little head shake and rocking of your back to it. Adorable is all I have to say. You still love things that aren't toys - the remote, my phone, Lucye's toys etc. You LOVE your books. You will open them and chew on them and are enjoying us reading to you. You definitely love your touch and feel books.

New foods that you tried this month: broccoli, spinach, mangos, prunes, zucchini, apricots, and oatmeal. You loved them all but you definitely are more of a fruit girl that a vegetable eater. You also tried little puffs and you loved them! I still have to feed them to you because you can't quite figure out how to get the puffs from your hand into your mouth =). You try to grab the spoon when I am feeding you and with a little guidance can actually put the spoon in your mouth with food on it while you hold it. You like to do things for yourself. You are still teething but you have no teeth yet! I keep thinking one is going to pop up any day now but nothing has happened. You chew on everything and your favorite thing is to grab one of mommy or daddy's fingers and put it in your mouth.   You started making consonant sounds this month. A lot of "ma, ma, ma" and some bas and das occasionally thrown in there. I know they don't mean anything yet but I love to hear you say "mama". You still love to do raspberries! We are trying to teach you "more" and "all done" in sign language. I think you have done more a couple of times but it isn't consistent yet.

You still love to play peek a boo and will even crawl across the room to pull a blanket off of our heads. You love to do this fake scream and like us to echo it back to you as well as growling which is so cute. You definitely don't like us telling you no or moving you away from something that you can't play with. It has ended in tears or you trying to crawl as fast as you can back to the object. You definitely are stubborn and determined ( I have no idea where you get that from =) ) When we are out and about though, you are pretty quiet and want to observe all that is around you and take it all in. You will smile at people and are now doing this cute thing where you bury your head back into our shoulder after doing it. You still love songs and being sung to.  This month you have started becoming attached to your mommy and want to follow me around and get upset when I leave the room. I'm not going to lie - I love it. You clap your hands together when I sing "If your happy and you know it" but not consistently but it makes me happy every time you do it. You are in love with your dog, Lucye, and love to chase her and you try to pet her all the time. You think she is the best.

You are napping 3 times a day. Your naps can last anywhere from 30-90 minutes. I've learned to just go with the flow and the days that you don't nap as well, we just go to bed earlier. You go to bed between 7-7:30 and are sleeping through the night now!! You still like to wake up between 5 and 6 every morning. I don't know how to fix that. Sometimes you go back to sleep and sometimes you don't but we start your day around 6:15. We have this thing now where daddy goes and gets you and puts you in our bed between us. You play with the video monitor or play with our faces until we all get up at 6:30. I like to think of it as our little family time in the morning. You still nurse every 3 to 3 1/2 hours. We added another solid feeding on April 25 so now you are up to 3 solid feedings a day.

Some firsts this month;
- sleeping in your cribs for naps
-first Easter
- first night without mommy and daddy putting you to bed

You weigh 17 pounds 14 ounces and wear 6-9 month and 9 month clothing. You wear size 3 diapers.

 You are our joy sweet girl. We love you.

Love,
Mommy and Daddy

This weekend

What a fun weekend we had!

Jason and I went to a wedding this weekend of a elementary/high school friend of mine, Joy. It was so fun to see some friends from my hometown and catch up.It was the first time Jason and I were away for E's bedtime routine. She was in perfectly good hands with our babysitter (hi Brandis!) but I will admit I might have a shed a little tear because I wasn't there.

The reception was really beautiful. The centerpieces were really cool. They reminded me of the forest. My immediate thought was it reminded of Twilight which I'm sure was totally the look she was going for...hehe.

Joy is a die hard alumni of UT so this wedding cake was completely fitting for her.

Loved the grooms cake as well. He's a die hard Star Wars fan if you can't tell.

With the beautiful bride and high school friends, not looking at the right camera =).

I have no idea what I was talking about with her but it was obviously dramatic.

We had such a blast and it was good for Jason and I to get away even if was for just a little bit.

Sunday morning, we met up with a friend to take bluebonnet pictures of E. I wish I could say it went well but E was having none of it. Anytime we put her in the flowers, she would cry. Maybe she doesn't like the outdoors. =) Hopefully we got some good shots and there is always next year =). I will share when we get them!

We ended the weekend with some Once Upon A Time and caught up on the Voice. (I am loving Shakira and Usher waaaayyyy better than Christina and CeeLo). Hope your weekend was great!

Life lately in pictures

I know I know - I have failed on keeping up with the blog the past weeks. Don't hate me - that is if I have any readers left... I plan on getting back into the groove of things soon and share some exciting things that are happening in the our household. For now, here are some pics of life lately (most of E - not ashamed about it either)

She loves her dog..

We went to the wedding of one of my sweet friends from high school, Emily. She was such a beautiful bride and it was so fun to see so many people I grew up with.

The bride and groom's first dance

She sat still for two seconds so I snapped a picture

Jason and I had a date night while some friends of ours watched E. We ate at Mellow Mushroom and they make dairy free pizza! It was so good!!

I had to make a make shift block in the living room to keep her somewhat corralled. Ha!

She thought she was helping by trying to feed herself with the spoon. 

Hope you all are having a great week!

Our Easter Weekend

Happy Easter everyone! I hope you had a wonderful holiday and celebrated the true reason of it. Jesus has risen!!!

We had a great weekend spent together as a family. We went to church on Saturday afternoon so that visitors could go to church on Sunday morning. We stopped at the Botanical Gardens near our house to take pictures of our little munchkin in her pretty Easter dress. It was hard to take pictures though because she was so interested in moving. =)

Hello precious!

Her serious face that she has been giving me frequently lately

Staring off in the distance contemplating life

Mommy and E

Daddy's little girl

Easter morning we spent together as a family at home and gave E her Easter basket. 

It was such a great weekend. One that I will always remember celebrating together as a family. 

7 months!

Dear E,

Another month has come and gone and it's been a such a fun month of growth and personality. You amaze us every day with who you are and what you are doing.

Your motor skills have taken off. You started getting up into sitting from the floor and from hands and knees within days of each other. I actually caught your first time on camera and you were so proud of yourself. So cute! You started crawling on your hands and knees on March 24. Before that you would get on your hands and knees and move your arms forward and then bring your legs forward together or you would throw yourself forward on to your tummy. You were actually pretty fast with that technique but then you figured out how to crawl on your hands and knees and now you are into everything!! Once you set your eye on something, you are after it - you keep me on my toes that is for sure. Within a day, you were pulling up on into tall kneeling and into standing. You lean really hard onto your arms and then push up which usually means your feet are way far out =). You want to be in standing ALL THE TIME now. You love playing at the edge of your exasaucer with all the toys. You are still pretty unstable in that position and you have hit your head several times trying to get up into standing especially when you are in your crib. I guess we have hit the stages of bumps and bruises but it breaks your momma's heart.

You love playing with your toys and love putting them in your mouth. You like to bang objects and you still like musical toys and things that crinkle. You now take things out of boxes or openings. Balls, books, etc. - it's really fun for you. Now I just need to teach you how to clean up..hehe. You are definitely into things that are not toys too - the remote, my phone, blankets. You found an empty kleenex box on the floor and played with it for an entire day! Who knew that could be so fun?
You have eaten more foods this month and have gotten better about accepting the spoon in your mouth. You have tried butternut squash (loved!), pears, apples, avocados, peas (hated!), bananas (loved!), and plums. You are drooling a lot more so I know you are teething and you bite down on lots of things. We've given you teething tablets several times and that is helped some. I'm sure  having your gums hurt is no fun. Talking is still the same - lots of vowels and lots of "mmmm" all the time.

You like to play peek a boo and will take a blanket off my head and your head. You smile when I say "boo" but don't think I'm too hilarious. I can get you to have belly laughs if I tickle you which might be my favorite thing in the whole world. You are starting to enjoy nursery rhymes and love your books. You still love "My God is so big" but now you love "Rise and shine and give God the glory" and I think I sing it probably 10 times a day =). You still love your daddy. Nobody can make you smile like your daddy. It's so precious how you look at him.

You are napping 3 times a day although that last nap you fight and so some days it doesn't happen. You go to bed at 7:30 and wake up between 6-6:30 and for the last week have not woken up in the night to feed!!! You still on occasion wake up around the 5 o'clock hour but I'm hoping we will get better about waking up later. You still nurse every 3 hours. Your mom completely went off of dairy and soy this month because of a whole body rash you had for an entire month so the doctor suggested to try this. Eating with no dairy is hard because it's in everything but there is nothing that I wouldn't do for you. Your rash is gone now so you may quite possibly have a dairy/soy allergy.

You had lots of firsts this month:

First time in the stroller without being in the carseat,

first time going to the nursery at church (you did great!),

first St. Patty's Day, first time to sleep in the crib at night, and first time to stand in your exasaucer.

You are still around 16 pounds and are 26 inches long. You still wear some 3-6 months clothes and wear 6 months most often. Nine month clothing is still a little baggy on you. You still wear size 3 disposables.

Oh E you are so much fun. You are our sunshine. We love you. Can't wait to see what this next month brings. 

Love, 

Mommy and Daddy

P.S. We couldn't get a lot of 7 month pictures of you because you would not stay still! Ha!

Sorry....

....for the lack of blogging. It's not that I don't want to blog but as of late I have really been convicted with spending time on the computer during E's wake time. She is growing so fast and I want to treasure every moment I have with her. Why don't you just do it while she is sleeping you ask? Well I would but there is thing called laundry, dishes, vacuuming, showering etc that needs to happen then. So just be patient with me as I figure out this rhythm of blogging with my little one. I do love this blog because I love looking back at what has happened in my life and I enjoy all the sweet comments. Until then here are some recent pictures of life:

My friend Jessica and me at her baby shower!

Trying our her new exersaucer...she seems to like it!

Getting doted on by her uncle, aunt and cousins

Nana's shirt had flowers on it and she didn't understand why they didn't come off

We are so close to crawling........agh!