Yes my life is that exciting right now that I need to post a diaper update, lol. My original diaper post was all about the various diapers we had tried and which we were using for different times, etc. I'd like to update with a couple of new reviews.
Before I get into the diaper talk, I'd like to talk about wipes for a minute. Since the beginning, we've used Seventh Generation wipes... good for the heiny, good for the environment. I even subscribed to auto-ship from Amazon.com. They are good wipes and we haven't had a problem with them, unless you consider how much we go through. They are a little smaller than other wipes we've tried and I end up using way too many for each diaper change. I bought Huggies Natural Care wipes in a pinch when I ran out one time (and I can't get the Seventh Generation ones in town). They are good-sized, thick and always nice and moist. I've only used them sparingly so I haven't noticed any issues with them and Connor's bum. Then while at Target one day I needed some wipes for the diaper bag and decided to try Target brand's unscented wipes. These are also good-sized, moist and have a texture to them to help clean the bum better, and they're cotton. Yes it'd be better if they were organic cotton (since cotton is the dirtiest crop when it comes to pesticides), but I can let that slide. They're a better value overall...good quality, cheaper price (plus 5% off with my Red Card)... so I'm making a switch and hopefully will save some money. I may even consider doing cloth wipes in the near future...
Ok, diaper time.
Let's talk gDiapers first. We were using these at night and when out and about when Connor was in the size small. Then we moved up to the mediums and Connor would leak at night sometimes. Not to mention I was trying to change him less at night when possible so as to not fully waken him. These no longer work for night time. So we would use them when we left the house or when I was behind on diaper laundry, but I find my self using them less and less now. I would definitely prefer these over disposables, which we have greatly diminished our use of, but the cost of the refills for these are more than I care to spend right now... so I won't be buying anymore refills on these and will just use up what I have. I may use them in the future from time to time if I get a coupon for the refills, as I do prefer these to the disposables.
As for disposables, we still use Huggies Pure & Natural when we use them but I'm happy to say we are using them much more infrequently. Once we could no longer use gDiapers at night, I was using these primarily and only needed to make about 2-3 changes a night (previously I was changing him every time he got up to eat which sometimes was every 2 hours). I don't like the fact that I sometimes find bits of the gel/crystals from the diaper on Connor's skin when I changed him, but it didn't seem to cause any actual skin issues.
I'm so over buying disposable diapers though when I wanted to save money by using cloth diapers.
I really like the Bambino Mio pre-folds & covers and we use these during the day pretty much all the time now, even if we have to leave the house. I bought a couple Planetwise wet bags (which I love) for when we're out and about. The pre-fold are super absorbent and I only recently started having some leakage issues but it was because it was time to move up in size. I like that they'e 100% cotton so they're nice to Connor's sensitive skin. The velcro is super strong and holing up well, and helps make for faster diaper changes. Some things I have learned now that I've been using them...I bought one too many packs of smalls. I thought I'd need three to keep me from doing laundry every day, but two would've been enough. Though I will say that having the extra has come in handy when I can't get the laundry done in time. I'm glad I only got two packs of the bigger ones though since I'm not using the them night. I've decided they wouldn't work at night as Connor doesn't like to be wet (who would?) and he feels the wetness in these (hopefully that'll help with early potty training!), plus I'm not convinced they would last very long at night without leaking and it's harder to double the pre-folds as they're pretty thick already. This is why we were using Huggies at night. Then I was talking to a friend who also uses cloth diapers but got a variety to see which she would like before investing a lot in one brand (almost wish I'd done this instead) and said that she uses BumGenious at night and they work great, no leaks. So I went to diapers.com (one of my new favorite sites and they're sister sites are great too) and ordered a couple BumGenious 4.0 one-size pocket diapers. I originally though I wouldn't like/want pocket diapers and that it'd be cheaper to go with the pre-folds.... but now I realize that's not going to be the case as I have to buy more covers in bigger sizes as Connor grows... oh well, at least they're good quality :). So back to the BumGenious diapers... we gave them a try and turns out, I love them! At least for nighttime. I don't think I'd like to deal with a poopy one but we'll see how it goes. I like that the material close to Connor's skin wicks away the moisture so he doesn't feel it and with doubling the inserts, I can get away with only one diaper change at night while he's still getting up to eat a lot and then they should make it all night once he's up less. It's also a big plus that I won't have to buy bigger sizes as he gets older and right now the larger insert gets folded a little on one end so I put that part in the front where most of the wetness goes for him. I also tried a Charlie Banana pocket diaper since Target is now carrying them in-store. They are softer than BumGenious, the fit is trimmer, but the inserts are so thick you can't really double and I ended up with a leak. So instead of buying that third pack of the larger pre-folds and instead of continuing to buy Huggies, I bought more BumGenious! Hopefully now our disposable use will be only when we take trips away from home and won't have laundry access. As for the the Bambino Mios... I will continue to use them throughout the day. Connor is wearing mediums right now which uses the larger insert and those go up to 21 pounds. When he grows out of them I'll see how many diapers he dirties in a day and see how many of the large covers he'll need. Glad I didn't buy a ton of those already since we may need less :).
I also went to the Great Cloth Diaper Change event held here in town back in April and one of the freebies in the goody bag was a coupon for Modern Cloth which is a great website for cloth diapers (and they just opened a storefront in Charleston, SC). I wish I knew about them earlier as they offer newborn diaper rentals and cloth diaper trials so you can try different brands to see which fit and which you like best. Oh well, I ordered more BumGenious from them as they were buy 5 get 1 FREE :). They have great customer service too and I highly recommend them!
I think I'm finally in a groove with cloth diapering and am so glad we chose to do it!
Wednesday, May 30, 2012
Monday, May 21, 2012
My First Mother's Day
Last Sunday was my first Mother's Day and I feel so blessed to say that I am now a mom! I got to spend it with my sweet Connor and my mom. My mom was here for the weekend since she just moved to Florida and is now only about 6 hours drive from me! On Friday, we went to the beach. It was beautiful but Connor was not a fan of the wind. I also dipped his feet in the ocean... he was not impressed, lol. Maybe he'll like it when it's warmer :).
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| Grandma & Connor |
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| Mommy & Connor |
On Sunday we wanted to attempt church since I don't get to go much anymore with it being just me and Connor, but he was way too cranky so we didn't end up going anywhere that day. At least we got one good pic together :).
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| My First Mother's Day! |
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| Mr. Cranky Pants |
It was a lovely weekend and I was so happy my mom could be here with us. I still found myself a little sad that Ken couldn't be here to celebrate with us... such is the life of a military spouse. At least he only has 8.5 more years....
Wednesday, May 16, 2012
Four Months
Connor is four months old!
His stats via todays well check are... 15 lbs 7 oz and 26.5 inches long. He's between 50th & 75th percentile for weight and 95th for height... tall and lean like Daddy it is! He was trooper with his shots.. screamed and cried but calmed down quicker than last time since I held him in my lap instead of holding him down on the table. He was already getting cranky from missing his morning nap so I nursed him and he went right to sleep when we got in the car. I'm so glad we don't have to do this every month!
He finally rolled over for the first time on April 23rd... at 2 AM and I missed it! It's a bit of a funny story actually... It was 2 am and I needed to change his diaper so I put him down on his changing pad in my bathroom (it's a flat 1" foam pad) and realized I needed to pee first and while I was on the toilet I heard him wiggling and next thing I know he is face down on the bathroom floor and not happy about it! I quickly wiped and ran to the rescue, lol. Luckily he did it again two nights later and I saw that one! Good thing too, because he hasn't done it since.
We've finally gotten through the clogged/blocked tear duct in his left eye. I guess all that massaging of breast milk in it finally worked!
Connor has been getting very vocal and always has something to say. He's making lots of different sounds and has finally started laughing! He squeals too and is so funny. I love making him laugh! So far he seems to laugh anytime I stick out my tongue, especially if I blow raspberries too.
We've reached the stage where everything goes in his mouth. He likes chewing on my thumb and has been drooling a lot so I wonder if we might be in the early stages of teething, but I don't see any teeth buds. It seems like gnawing on stuff will calm him down a little when all of his other needs are met so
maybe he's going to be really sensitive to teething.... oh joy.
Connor is trying hard to get moving already... he loves standing on my lap and only needs me for balance for the most part now (but I usually support him more because I don't know how much weight he should be putting on his legs right now). He'd rather sit than lay down and we've been practicing lots of assisted sitting. Much of his standing practice is when I'm trying to get him to sit on my lap and he refuses to bend his legs, lol. He has definitely figured out that he can do things with his legs. We can no longer use the boppy for tummy time as he launches himself over it...at least we can use it for sitting practice now! And when he's laying on his back playing on the floor or even in his crib, he uses his legs to push himself all over. Ken was an early walker so I might be in trouble!
Some other cool things I've noticed is how he is starting to pick up on some cues. For instance, when he's fussy and it's time for a nap and nothing is working to settle him down, I put on the Ergo so I can walk him around and get him to fall asleep. I usually set him on the couch while I buckle myself in and as soon as he sees the Ergo he stops fussing! He really loves to be in it and has been taking a lot of naps in it lately (mostly since he won't take them anywhere else!). Then, at night after getting into pi's, we sit and read Goodnight Moon before I nurse him to sleep. Usually, if he is a little fussy while we get pi's on, as soon as I sit in the rocking chair to read, he quiets down. He's even started trying to "help" me turn the pages. It's so cute! I'm hoping to get this on video soon!
We bought him an exersaucer last month and tried it out... he LOVES it!!! He's getting so good at holding himself up and is fascinated by the octopus on it. He's really reaching out and grabbing things all the time now...which is why I've had to break out the contacts again as I always have smudges on my glasses now and he's been grabbing them off my face. Good thing I saved a couple boxes of contacts :).
Lastly, as Connor never really took a pacifier, it seems he may be turning into a thumb sucker.... oh boy, hope this isn't hard to break him of down the road!
More pictures and videos can be seen on my shutterfly site!
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| 4 months (and not wanting to stay still!) |
His stats via todays well check are... 15 lbs 7 oz and 26.5 inches long. He's between 50th & 75th percentile for weight and 95th for height... tall and lean like Daddy it is! He was trooper with his shots.. screamed and cried but calmed down quicker than last time since I held him in my lap instead of holding him down on the table. He was already getting cranky from missing his morning nap so I nursed him and he went right to sleep when we got in the car. I'm so glad we don't have to do this every month!
He finally rolled over for the first time on April 23rd... at 2 AM and I missed it! It's a bit of a funny story actually... It was 2 am and I needed to change his diaper so I put him down on his changing pad in my bathroom (it's a flat 1" foam pad) and realized I needed to pee first and while I was on the toilet I heard him wiggling and next thing I know he is face down on the bathroom floor and not happy about it! I quickly wiped and ran to the rescue, lol. Luckily he did it again two nights later and I saw that one! Good thing too, because he hasn't done it since.
We've finally gotten through the clogged/blocked tear duct in his left eye. I guess all that massaging of breast milk in it finally worked!
Connor has been getting very vocal and always has something to say. He's making lots of different sounds and has finally started laughing! He squeals too and is so funny. I love making him laugh! So far he seems to laugh anytime I stick out my tongue, especially if I blow raspberries too.
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| Connor & Aedan laughing at me |
We've reached the stage where everything goes in his mouth. He likes chewing on my thumb and has been drooling a lot so I wonder if we might be in the early stages of teething, but I don't see any teeth buds. It seems like gnawing on stuff will calm him down a little when all of his other needs are met so
maybe he's going to be really sensitive to teething.... oh joy.
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| Connor eating a momsicle*...mmmm *aka frozen breast milk |
Connor is trying hard to get moving already... he loves standing on my lap and only needs me for balance for the most part now (but I usually support him more because I don't know how much weight he should be putting on his legs right now). He'd rather sit than lay down and we've been practicing lots of assisted sitting. Much of his standing practice is when I'm trying to get him to sit on my lap and he refuses to bend his legs, lol. He has definitely figured out that he can do things with his legs. We can no longer use the boppy for tummy time as he launches himself over it...at least we can use it for sitting practice now! And when he's laying on his back playing on the floor or even in his crib, he uses his legs to push himself all over. Ken was an early walker so I might be in trouble!
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| Hmmmm... that's not where I put him, lol |
Some other cool things I've noticed is how he is starting to pick up on some cues. For instance, when he's fussy and it's time for a nap and nothing is working to settle him down, I put on the Ergo so I can walk him around and get him to fall asleep. I usually set him on the couch while I buckle myself in and as soon as he sees the Ergo he stops fussing! He really loves to be in it and has been taking a lot of naps in it lately (mostly since he won't take them anywhere else!). Then, at night after getting into pi's, we sit and read Goodnight Moon before I nurse him to sleep. Usually, if he is a little fussy while we get pi's on, as soon as I sit in the rocking chair to read, he quiets down. He's even started trying to "help" me turn the pages. It's so cute! I'm hoping to get this on video soon!
We bought him an exersaucer last month and tried it out... he LOVES it!!! He's getting so good at holding himself up and is fascinated by the octopus on it. He's really reaching out and grabbing things all the time now...which is why I've had to break out the contacts again as I always have smudges on my glasses now and he's been grabbing them off my face. Good thing I saved a couple boxes of contacts :).
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| So much fun! |
Lastly, as Connor never really took a pacifier, it seems he may be turning into a thumb sucker.... oh boy, hope this isn't hard to break him of down the road!
More pictures and videos can be seen on my shutterfly site!
Monday, May 7, 2012
Biopsy Results
So today my ENT's office finally called with the results of my biopsy (I figured no news is good news and kept forgetting to call).... and it turns out it's not a swollen lymph node, it's a lipoma, aka a benign, fatty tumor. Apparently my mom gets them too and the tend to run in families. So unless it's bothersome (they are slow growing but do tend to grow bigger) there's nothing I need to do about it. The woman from the office who called said I should probably follow up every 6 months with it.... I'm assuming that's in case it gets much bigger and I want it to be removed. Right now it's pretty small and feels like it got smaller during my pregnancy so maybe it will just stay small. I'm just so thankful it's nothing to worry about!
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