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).