The big switch

Olivia with a delivery of cloth!

Sorry in advance to anyone that reads this and is not a parent or has no interest in what covers Miss O's bottom.
After months, not kidding, of going back and forth and struggling with my convictions over Olivia's well being, the well being of our bank account and the amount of diaper trash we were disposing of on a daily basis we decided to jump disposable ship and dive head first into cloth diapering!! I can honestly say that since we have switched there has not been a moments pause about our choice. Before I get into our experience in cloth so far I'll give the background of why it took us so long to get to this point.
What took us 8 months to get to this point? To be honest the only reason we didn't choose cloth from the very beginning is because I didn't want to burden people with our choices. I, like many people who don't know much about modern cloth, thought that it was a huge burden to child care workers and I didn't want to be the hated mom in O's class who was making their lives even more complicated than they already were. I also didn't want our parents and families to be put out when they were watching Olivia (we're beyond lucky to have so much family in town that we really have minimal need for sitters.) I knew that cloth diapers were gaining popularity but still there is a stigma that some people have a hard time getting past.
I had mentioned cloth diapers to Jake while I was pregnant and when she was having her crazy diaper issues as a newborn but not until a few weeks ago when I brought it up again did he say alright lets go for it! I think it was the plain and simple numbers that got him on board. The savings is huge; we're talking thousands of dollars over multiple kids at the rate we were going through with the little lady. Yes the upfront cost is a bit and I'm kicking myself for not deciding to do this before she was born because we could have registered for them BUT we are slowly building a stash. We have about 12 diapers now and tomorrow I'm going to pick up a few more to have enough to go to washing every other day.
Ok so here are my observations, rants and raves about cloth diapers thus far:
Let's state the obvious we're saving money and saving mama earth!!
No diaper rash! She gets a rash almost immediately now when she's in a disposable (learned this the hard way the week she was still in disp. at school and cloth at home before the big transition)
They are so much easier to clean than I imagined, yes I have to deal with the dirty stuff a bit more intensively but it's really not that big of a deal.
When we were making the choice to switch it was crazy information overload and hard to narrow in on where we should be looking for information. Thank goodness for friends that cloth and Mama Natural!!
We have tried 3 different brands and here are my thoughts
(6) Bumgenius 4.0- I'm in love!! No leaks, easy to adjust, easy to stuff, easy to clean and precious patterns
(2) gdiapers - convenient to fill and good for long outings so I don't have bulky diapers taking up space in the diaper bag, also cute patterns and easy to clean
(4) Fuzzibuns One Size - I so wanted to love them because a lot of my mommy friends love them but I HATE them! They are a pain to adjust with the elastic and buttons at the waist and legs, stuffing is not as easy when compared to the bums, the fabric started piling heavily after just one wash and every time O has worn one it has leaked. The colors are bolder but when I'm having to deal with leaks I don't care what color it is.
Regular products that we would use with disposables for diaper rashes are limited because they will cause build-up in the fabrics luckily the rash cream we have been using lately is cloth friendly, Love love love California Baby Calming line.
So far everything we have experienced with cloth has been a positive and I'm glad we made this choice for our little family. While I know that this is not a choice for every family it was a positive choice for our family and it is doable if your child is in child care. I also know that I am very lucky to have some amazing teachers in Olivia's room that love her and support the decisions we make for her!

Forgotten rant until just now - Why is it that in Austin, of all cities, it's fairly hard to try and find stores that sell cloth diapers? I have found a few stores here and there but they either only sell the velcro closures (I hear the snaps are good for the long haul,) only sell Fuzzibunz or are in Round Rock which is quite a haul from Westlake. We're trying out a new store downtown tomorrow and we'll see how their selection stacks up.

Olivia & Mommy vs Ferber

OK let me start this by saying that I am not responsible for raising any children other than my own therefore what I am about to post is how I stand on doing things for my daughter and not a judgement on anything else anyone chooses to do with their own child. I know many families do whatever works for them and may have drastically different views than we do so I want to be clear that the only opinion that I have on how others raise their children is that they do it with love and what works for them. The reason I'm writing this is because I know everyone is different and does what they need to do but I was recently berated for not just "sucking it up and letting my baby be a big girl" by a friend of a friend who I really have no real connection with. I felt it was highly inappropriate for her to be passing judgement on me and how I choose to raise my child. I was very thankful for Jake, my pediatrician and other mommy friends that stuck by me and encouraged me to do what felt right to us and not what everyone else out there was saying we should do. Yes, I was tired because I wasn't getting as much sleep as I could have been but seriously when your going to have a baby lack of sleep kind of comes with the territory and you have to put your child's needs over your own. Being a mother is the most selfless job out there so I saw it as doing my job. Hopefully after this Olivia will say I'm worthy of a raise ;) With that said here is our experience.

Ever since Olivia was born we haven't had it all that bad with her sleep schedule excluding the random sick nights and expected growth spurts. For the most part she would go to sleep around 8 wake up about 11 to eat then again at 3ish for another feeding. A few months ago she dropped her 11 o'clock feeding so we were down to the the one at 3. I didn't really mind it because it lasted for 15 minutes and then was back to sleep. Plus I've never been a big fan of the "cry it out" method and knew that there was no way I could ever just leave Olivia in her crib to cry for long periods of time. Well it turns out that I had some misinformation on what the Ferber method or "crying it out" really is. After reading Solve Your Child's Sleep Problems by Dr. Ferber and talking things over with our Pediatrician I discovered that when done correctly the method helped your child help themselves and in no way suggested just putting your baby in their crib and wish them the best of luck. For any of those non-mommy readers let me break it down.

Ferber says you can teach your baby to soothe herself to sleep when she's physically and emotionally ready. This is key and why we decided to wait until we did. With Olivia teething and getting sick we waited until she was healthy and happy so that we wouldn't be leaving her in her crib to "cry it out" when she was in pain or sick. By using progressive waiting i.e. put them down and let them cry 5 minutes, go in and talk to her/pat then for 2-3 minutes, then let them cry 10 minutes, go in and talk to her/pat then for 2-3 minutes and so on increasing the cry time by intervals of 5 minutes (the interval we decided to go with) I was reassured that we weren't going to just leave her in there to fend for herself until she was emotionally and physically exhausted.

We decided it would be best to wait until Olivia wasn't sick or teething to start any kind of sleep training, which I'm glad we did. I'm convinced the reason it was such a seamless transition for us is completely due to the fact that she was ready and I was willing to do what I needed to in order to wait until she was ready. The decision to start Ferber-izing her was a game time decision one Monday night. We started with our standard routine of play, dinner, bath, book, then nurse. After she finished nursing I kissed her, said "I love you, goodnight" and laid her in bed fully awake. When I got downstairs Jake asked me about her fussing and I told him well looks like tonight is the night to try the Ferber method and he was on board (he had read all the info and was up to date on the plan as well) She fussed, but never outright cried, for 5 minutes so at the 5 min mark I went in patted her back and told her I loved her again then walked out. 9 more minutes of fussing then she was out like a light. Seriously I had the timer on my phone set and it had 57 seconds left on it when she crashed. She stayed asleep all night and I even had to wake her up the next morning. Every single night since she has gone down without fussing at all and sleeps from 6:45pm-5:45/6:15 every morning. If she fusses in the middle of the night she's able to soothe herself back to sleep and it never lasts very long.

It's been nice to have that time in the evenings for Jake and me. We'll sit down as a family to do dinner and then do her bath and bedtime routine together. Once she is down we have time to pay attention to each other and be a couple. So anyway that is our experience with "sleep training" if you can call it that. I seriously feel like there was no training involved and Miss O was just ready for the next step.

I'm sorry if that seemed heavier than it should be but I just wanted to put it out there that you don't have to do what "everyone else" is doing if it doesn't work for you and your baby. We are so happy with our family and the way Olivia is developing and growing and would not take back a single decision we have made for her. And because I can't post without a picture her is a snapshot of the head of our household keeping it fancy during her morning playtime on mommies day off. Now we're headed to town lake for a run!!

Month 6

Well this may be the end of my blogging journey. I've come to accept that I am only a half hearted blogger and that I need to live my life and soak up the precious moments as they happen rather than trying to capture everything on film to share. This in no way shape or form is a judgement on anyone that blogs, in fact I love reading other people's posts while Olivia naps and I should be doing laundry, but alas it is not for me. Most of what I post here is already on facebook so if we're not friends on there add me and you can stay up to date with our little family. I've enjoyed this little experiment but I'm more than ready to let it go and clear one more thing off my plate.
With that said I'll leave you with the much delayed 6 month post.

Olivia has moved on to pears. She loves them and this week we start adding protein.

Bonding with Aunt and Uncle Reese at Thanksgiving lunch

The whole family, minus the Houston bunch

Our little family

Daddy's Girl

Trying to get a Christmas pic (we went a different route)

Thank you Junior League of Austin for giving me A Christmas Affair.
Reindeer breakfast with mom and gigi, pictures with Santa and lots of shopping

Love those baby blues

OK so I caved and we gave her one of her Christmas presents early.
It was the perfect way to distract her while I was cooking all Thanksgiving day

My first turkey

Life is good at the head of the table

Ho, ho, ho! Olivia's best santa impression

Um yeah she's spoiled rotten and got a gift from Tiffany's from one of her amazing Aunties

Rest easy I think she likes Christmas as much as I do

Her very own milk and cookies set for Santa

Trying to get a 6 month shot

She's so over this and would rather play

Yay there is my beautiful 6 month old!
Wearing size 3 Diapers and 9 month clothes
Still no teeth but she is in plenty of pain because of the 2 trying to break their way out
Olivia still loves her food
She has figured out her walker and will be playing in the living room one minute and then come find me in the kitchen the next.
She was 17lbs 9oz, and 26 inches at her 6 month visit

Squash

This week's new dish for the little lady is squash and man oh man does she love her squash. I thought that the sweet potatoes were a hit but that was apparently nothing compared to the love my daughter has for this mini gourd. It makes me smile of course because I really enjoy squash. This week we had a special guest in the kitchen, Dad! We think that Olivia has hit her 6 month growth spurt early and has been pretty fussy so it was all ergo all evening with all attention going to her and not her veggies so dad stepped in to prepare this weeks dinner treats.

I feel bad laughing in this picture but she was making some pretty pitiful noises and faces

Again just hit up the organic produce section for your veggies. Jake did approximately 1 inch slices and then quartered them

Oh the handy steamer basket, 3 cups of water and 12 minutes
Miss O cheered up enough to put her in her highchair with some toys

It's so yummy, 2 for the fridge and 1 for the freezer
Love at first bite

Ok yes I have a hard time not imitating her without realizing it, and yes she is grabbing for my hand to shove it in her mouth

This is one stuffed and happy baby!

In other news Christmas has arrived in our home and Olivia's room was hit first!

5 Months

*Yet again I'm late but posting none the less!

My sweet little lady you are 5 months old! These posts are always a little harder to write than anything else because as much as I LOVE watching you grow up it's hurts my heart a little that you are doing it so fast. Your 5th month was another very busy month and you made it through like a champ.

You now wear size 3 diapers
Several of your 9 month outfits fit you but for the most part everything you wear is 6 months
You're weighing in at a little over 17 pounds
Sleeping through the night is happening more often than not (last night you slept for 12 hours)
You had your first real cold this month and it was no fun at all but we made it through.
You have been doing great with your reflux meds and seem to be feeling much better
My favorite new development is you sitting up! So many new things are within your reach.

This month was also big because you started your "solid" foods. Every Sunday we hop in the kitchen and whip up a new puree for you. So far the verdict is Sweet Potatoes - Yes, Carrots - Not so much and Squash - We'll find out tonight.

We made our first trip to Dallas to visit Aunt Bethany and had so much fun. While we were there we went to the State Fair.

We also went to the Pumpkin patch at the Dallas Arboretum. On that note it was your first Halloween and you were the cutest peacock eh-ver!!

We played with our friend Jamey and can't believe how big he is getting too! I absolutely love watching you two and can't wait for all the memories to come!
This month we got to celebrate something very special, your Aunt Bethany's wedding! She looked absolutely beautiful and you seemed to have a calming affect on her all weekend. Her you are playing with her just hours before the wedding.

Every day you make me smile and make all of the stress of day to day life disappear. I can't believe your on your way to half a year old. Next month we'll be talking about your first Thanksgiving!!

Week 2: Carrots

Seeing as how sweet potatoes were a glowing success onward to carrots we moved. Olivia once again got familiar with her new food.

Carrot meet Olivia, Olivia meet carrot!

Peeling veggies is fun to me, what can I say
Steam for 10 minutes then puree til smooth All of the above equals 1 very happy baby

At first she was thrown off, I think expecting her sweet potatoes, but quickly started grabbing for the spoon. I also tried the carrots and loved them. You really can't beat fresh organic carrots.
So far I really enjoy making Olivia's food and having her join us at the dinner table every night is (messy at times) so fun.

Wedding Weekend

By now my little sister is sipping on a cocktail with her husband by her side on a beach enjoying her honeymoon. It was an amazing weekend celebrating their wedding and I hope that they are having a much deserved, relaxing trip. The festivities started Thursday with dinner at the Hilltop Cafe. There were about 23 1/2 of us and we had a great time chatting the night away and relaxing before all the festivities began.
Friday morning Olivia woke up early and since we were sharing a B&B with the bride and several other bridesmaids I thought it would be a good time to take a long run so everyone else could sleep. It was freezing, literally, it think the thermometer on the car read 31 when I turned it on to check. I bundled Olivia up with a few extra blankets and her winter hat and headed out. As much as I could bundle her up I was limited in what I had brought and was ill prepared. Because of my lack of gloves we didn't stay out too long. We managed to stop in the square to take a picture of Miss Olivia with this beautiful Christmas decoration (the name is German and I'm not even going to attempt to try and spell it) that has been used for the past couple of years.

We also managed to stop by Fredericksburg Gourmet, my favorite coffee spot, for some South Texas Pecan coffee and a blueberry muffin. My hands started to get pretty numb at this point so we headed back to the B&B. The rest of the day was spent at the bridal party brunch and the rehearsal dinner. Since I wanted Bethany to get a solid nights sleep the night before the wedding Olivia went and stayed at a different B&B with Jake and my in-laws.

Things got started early the next day with hair so Olivia and I headed over to keep Bethany company and watch some football. Most weekends Olivia is sporting her Burnt Orange and White but since Bethany and Robert are Red Raiders we made and exception and put her double T on and got her guns up! It wasn't much help for the Red Raiders but I was excited on the inside to see my Horns come out with the win.

My hair half done, and Olivia in the Tech outfit I made for her

It's not too often that Bethany and I think we look alike but this picture really shows the similarities
Bethany is so great with Olivia and I secretly think baby girl helped calm Bethany all day

My stunningly gorgeous sister taking a few pictures before we head to the wedding.

I was a wreck all day. I know she is only 2 years younger than me but it was so special watching my sister marry Robert. Baby girl went home with my in-laws early so that Jake and I could stay at the reception and have fun with everyone. All in all it was a fabulous weekend, I can't wait to hear all about their trip when they get back.