A little overdue...extended!

Well, we are overdue on a post for Greta's 5 month information. She has been a bundle of joy this month. Rolling over front to back and back to front! Scooting all over the place ( I can't turn my back for a second). She is so full of life and energy, giggles and laughter! Pictures to be posted soon!

Lately she has been waking up every 2 hours needing comfort (i.e.) to be held throughout the night, fighting to sleep. Yup, it's true, we are being played a little bit. It could have nothing to do with the fact that I find myself more nights than less, bringing her in bed with us (oops- don't tell anyone) and laying down with her during naps to get a good nap in myself. So, I have officially been spoiling her and me (she is only little once, right?).

Last night we decided to let her cry. We are definately not the (let's let her cry for hours type of parents), but you really can tell when she cries because she needs something, or is just crying for attention! (Does putting herself at the corner of the crib on her hands and knees looking into the hallway-stops crying when she sees us--give you any indication as to what I am talking about?) She cried only for a little bit and not consistently, we went in twice (once for each of us)regave her the pacifier, put her on her back and left the room! In only twenty minutes the crying stopped and she soothed herself to sleep with her blanket! Ahhhh! She awoke to nurse and went right back to sleep, then awoke wanting to be held again. We again, comforted her with her blanket and pacifier and she groaned a little, but quickly went to sleep! So she fell asleep about 830pm, nursed at midnight, fussy a bit at 2pm then up again at 530am to nurse, asleep again till she awoke for the day at 730am! SUCCESS in my eyes. As we continue to travel this summer, I know we will have less successful nights, but I will take it for now!

I want this...

My Favorite Pose

From Russia With Love

Hi Everybody

Rainy Day....Rainy Thoughts?

Today was rainy and dark and thunderstormy in Danbury! Greta didn't sleep well last night and it was MUGGY, which meant that Chris and I didn't sleep all that well either. Greta and I took a trip to Darlene's (childcare which will start upon my return to work Aug. 23rd). The visit went well! As long as Greta can move around, put any and every toy in her mouth she is completely happy. So I realized that the only sadness on my return to work will be me leaving her :( But,all in all, the socialization will be fantastic for her (another 3yo and 1yo are there too), and to be honest the socialization will be good for me too!

Greta enjoyed another messy meal of rice cereal tonight. She is actually starting to eat more than she gets on her outfits and ALWAYS enjoys her bath afterwards. Right now she is moving all four limbs up and down, exerting her energy to get ready for bedtime! Hopefully is soon, because Chris and I haven't had dinner yet. Lots to think and talk about in preparation for my return to work next month. In the mean time, planning family visits among those that are already planned are in store for our priority list. This weekend we are headed to Poconos with my mom's family to honor my Grandfather's Birthday who passed away this passed Christmas!

Will post new picture of Greta soon! Her 5 month birthday is Thursday! Be on the look out for an update.

Till then~

Explosion...it happened!

Everyone said the day would come. Actually, our pediatrician had been warning us that over time Greta would have less poops each day, but the ones she will have will be all over, up her back etc. Not very exciting I know. I have felt very lucky, she has kept things "contained" for the most part, and considering she will be 5 months next week, we've done pretty well. Today, as Chris would quote Joey Lawerence "WHOA" (up her back, through her clothes, through the sheet, through the mattress cover); an early bath ensued!

I guess this brings me to bring up laundry as I mentioned yesterday. I may be of a rare breed, I enjoy doing laundry. Something about the instant satisfaction and results just feels good! So when people were nay-saying about cloth diapers "You aren't getting a service?" "We will see how long this lasts...". I knew that laundering was not going to bother me (mind you, her poops are not solid yet so I don't have any "work" to do yet, again time will tell if my view changes).

Cloth diapers are really easy to launder. Stick the velcro on the launder tabs, pull out the insert if you have to (FuzziBunz doesn't require this) and throw them in a wetbag. When it comes time for laundry day (about every 2-3 days), I throw the whole caboodle in the wash with an extra rinse and Voila! clean diapers. When I can I hang them in the sun (natural bleaching agent...who knew!!), most of the time they go in the dryer.

As for laundry soaps, this is frustrating for me! Chris and I have been trying to live with as little chemicals/substances in our lives for as long as I can remember. As we are not perfect, every little bit helps and I don't mind spending a little extra for good ingredients. Many cloth diapers recommend cloth diaper friendly detergent, so I was happy to read that the Ecos brand I had been using was good to use, not the greatest but good to use! (**note: while writing this post, I just checked the chart and they updated it last month with new information that Ecos is not cloth diaper friendly, especially in hard water- THIS EXPLAINS EVERYTHING) Needless to say, I didn't change my detergent and things WERE going great.

Around 2-3 months old, Greta started getting a diaper rash, Bummer! We had used California Baby Diaper Creme, which I usually buy from Target or BuyBuyBaby with a coupon! The smell is great and is made by a mom in CA. This was great until her rash kept getting worse. I wanted to use stronger rash cremes, but having to be careful with cloth diapers, I didn't know what to do! I had heard about Grandma El's, safe to use for cloth, but had no way to buy it (online or special boutique's) while we were on vacation (Road Trip to Michigan) and her rash was just getting worse. My friend had told me about Triple Paste, which she swore by, and finally I said that the baby's bottom is more important than saving a cloth diaper, this mom was desperate. So I started to use Triple Paste and it was working, yay! Then, I began to think about all the money we spent on cloth and I was scared that I was ruining all the diapers! ughh..So I googled and googled on the road, thanks to Chris's IPhone and found Nell's Natural Baby. Nell had just had a baby and on her website stated that you had to make an appointment to shop her store. I emailed and she was a SAINT, I met her and bought Grandma El's. She also sells EarthMamaAngelBaby, which I have since heard wonderful reviews about but have yet to try. So I tried Grandma El's and used this for the remainder of vacation. Oh boy!

The internet can be our worst enemy at times and this was one of those time. "Diaper Rash is not normal" "You have to determine the cause of the rash"......ugghhh, if I knew the cause I could treat it better! This is when I thought maybe the prefolds weren't working well, because they kept her skin too moist. I later had to admit that I thought it was my detergent, especially since numerous diaper cremes weren't helping completely. The only thing we hadn't considered was the detergent. I started doing research and learned of Rockin'Green, Charlies Soap (mixed reviews so I wasn't going to try this) Allens Naturally. Decisions, I didn't know what to do! While in Rochester, NY for a visit, I stopped at Luvaboos to pick up some backordered items and learned that others had repelling issues with the use of Ecos. I purchased Allens Naturally, switched detergents after stripping my diapers and things have been GREAT! I didn't think of our hard water issue (we purchased a water softener when we bought the house).

All in all, I only have 2 diapers that still have leaking issues at the seam from the use of non-diaper friendly cremes. Not too bad of a loss. (Most diapers, check manufacturer's websites, don't recommend use of diaper cremes at all). The use of strips of fleece against baby's bottom when using cremes can also be helpful to protect the diaper, I had known this, but somehow in the drama of "not knowing what to do", it slipped my mind :(

The only advice I have at this point on laundering is use a cloth diaper friendly detergent up front, the chart listed above, is a great resource and educates the why's not just a list of good detergents.

So, I am certain at this point there will be more explosions in the Colquitt Household's future, but at least I am feeling better about laundering properly!

div>**On my wish list (may be moved to my Christmas list) is Nellies Soda (yes, it is safe for cloth and I fell in LOVE with the retro tin).

Prefolds, AIO and Pockets, Oh MY!!!

When I am asked about why I cloth diaper, it is hard to give a simple answer. The environment, the protection from harsh chemicals on the little bum, the sheer cost savings, the list truly goes on. The bottom line: I am addicted and in love with cloth diapers. It is like another language trying to learn about them and get the scoop from blogs. Women use initials for everything and I have yet to figure it all out! But I will share my experience so far. I think I am going to go broke on maternity leave buying diapers. They are just so cute.

I always knew I wanted to do cloth diapers before getting pregnant. Most of the children I babysat for as a young teen wore cloth (and those were the days of using pins..yikes). My mom used cloth when I was little, and to be honest the thought to use disposables never crossed my mind.

I was lucky and my sister in law, Erin, had a baby first and did a lot of research (Thanks Erin!) and I was able to utilize all of her hard work to learn about what she liked and disliked during her trials. I must have called/emailed her a dozen times wondering what to buy, how much, when, etc? It has been fun to share the excitement and experiment together. Thanks to Erin and Matt, I received my first 2 dozen Chinese prefolds and Thirstie Covers.

Best advice I have is to become a fan of http://www.diapershops.com/ on facebook. They have amazing deals all the time. http://www.kellyscloset.com/ is part of them and one of my favorite purchase sites, they ship fast and you collect points for purchases for little extra deals!

I started using cloth 2-3 weeks after Greta came home, once the jitters of bringing her home and getting up at night were calmed (not saying I am not still jittery...). I started with chinese prefolds (my go-to diapers) and thirsties covers- which I find the best cover (using snappis to fold diaper- so happy to learn there are no more pins). I loved this early on, but Greta has grown to have sensitive skin and these don’t keep moisture away from her skin. Big time booo….
I then found BumGenius Insert Socks for 2.99 a piece which is the same material as the Bum Genius diapers and is like an envelope to put the prefold in, and keeps my little baby’s bottom dry! Great find! Still very economical choice for cloth diapering, even with the use of the insert sock.

I also purchased a dozen Diaper Rite prefolds as they were advertised to fold and fit into certain covers without having extra material, so eh, what they hey, let’s give them a try! I am just starting to use them now, so will let you know what I think in a few weeks.

I bought a sample pack before she was born for about $58 which allowed me to test different brands before deciding which to purchase. I thought this was totally worth it. Let’s be honest, the cost for Cloth Diapering is up front, so I thought it was helpful to try before purchasing in larger quantities. (Those who know me, know that I despise making a decision before “seeing what else is out there”).

This is where I learned about kissaluvs (SOOO CUTE). I used (size 0) for newborns for about 6-8 weeks. I splurged and bought a dozen (loved them). They had a fold down snap for the umbilical cord and were darn cute. I would have been able to use this quite a bit longer but Greta had chubby thighs and they were too tight. These also did not wick away moisture. I would have loved them and used them longer if her thighs were smaller! Very easy (snapped on side) I used these with a thirstie cover. (these had dad seal of approval).

I found some cute Blueberry Minky (I have 3) on crazy sale before Greta was born: LOVE them for overnight! (remember I found these on clearance or I wouldn't own them, they are expensive..but I find really worth it). I want to buy more . These are my go to overnight diaper. Greta is only 5 months old so I have had NO issues with leaking through diapers at this point. She can wear this diaper without a middle of the night change with no issues. We will see if these hold true to my liking as she gets older and needs more absorbency!

Stash of diapers I currently use:
Bum Genius One-Size and AIO. This is terminology that I am still trying to learn! The one-size diapers have an insert to stuff and I think are bulky in an infant. I love the AIO (s, m or l etc.), because the fit is nice and snug. These are Chris's favorite because they velcro close (easy) and no stuffing. I liked these soo much that I bought about 6-8 in small and medium. I hope I still like them as she gets older! Luvaboos in Rochester, NY helped me start my stash.

Fuzzi Bunz Perfect Size (they say you (typically) only need a set of small and medium to get you through potty training). Most sites have the old colors on sale right now, the new colors are GREAT. I like these a lot!!! They are slim, they snap at the waist and around the thigh, perfect for Greta's chubby little thighs. You can customize without bulkiness!! These are really easy to stuff and the insert comes out in the wash on their own! I also bought 6-8 in small and medium because I loved these soo much!

Blueberry Minky (I have 3) and use them at night (remember I found these on clearance or I wouldn't own them, they are expensive..but I find really worth it). I want to buy more of these.

We travel a lot, and I find that my stash suits me well. I find having 2 dozen on hand in rotation at one time great, as you won't be forced to laundry every day. I will have to do another post on laundry for Cloth Diapers, because that has been a whole other experience.

**I am by no means an expert, if I were on the wii, I would have received maybe a novice level for Cloth Diaper. There are so many brands I have never tried, different insert materials, fitted diapers and dozens of things I have never tried. This is just my experience and what works so far for me. As Greta gets older and bathroom habits change, I am sure I will be writing about new nuances with diapers and what works and what doesn't.

New to Cloth or interested, check out this summary which describes the types of diapers and learn the language!

Favorite Websites for CD:

http://www.kellyscloset.com/
http://www.diaperjunction.com/
http://www.nickisdiapers.com/

Additions to the blog....

So... I really want to start contributing more to the blog. I am not a "blogger" I keep telling Chris. Lately, I feel compelled to write and share some of my experiences as a stay at home mom these last 5 months. A sort-of documentary of sorts with all my trials (and errors) as a new mom, new to cloth diapering and other fun things, products and experiences I have had. So stay tuned....I may be starting something (I really think I will enjoy)....only time will tell :)

I really do wanna crawl, I promise!

Mmm I like sweet potatoes!

I Love Swimming!

We Love America!

Hats off to you!