Who needs a nursury anyway??

This morning I woke up to my kitty Mocha being spastic at my door, she came into my room and starred at my ceiling as if something was there.

After my fog of sleepiness lifted, I heard what she was so focused on. It sounds as if a squirrel has decided a nest in our attic to avoid the chilly weather

Times like this, I'm often glad we rent, it isn't REALLY my problem and the property management will deal with it.

So I called George, our super. He said he could come over later in the day and check it out and see if he needed the contractors involved.

When he arrived to peek in our attic with a flashlight to see what he could see. he needed access through Amelia's closet. Now you need to understand Her closet is VERY well stocked with all her cloth diapers, all the medicines, changing creams bathroom stuff, all her clothes toys etc - basically everything a baby might need in their first year. There is not one inch of space wasted in that closet.Also, while I'm not the most neat freak there is - I DO have a deep appreciation for organization in my living space, so I have spent quite sometime making that closet what I need it to be.

While George was up there with his head in the attic, he couldn't see much with his flash light, and in an attempt to be thorough, took one foot off the ladder and meant to rest it on a shelf to give him better leverage to look a wee bit further.

Well he misjudged the weight he should bear and down he came, and so did EVERYTHING in our closet. Every shelf was knocked down and all the brackets warped.

It must have been quite the fall. I was worried about George, George was worried about the mess, and profusley sorry.

In his haste to try to fix some of it- stepped on a bottle of grape seed oil I use for her skin after her baths- and yup- that went all over the floor too.That poor man though is probably going to be pretty sore tomorrow. You can't fall like that and not have some pulled muscles.

Poor George felt so bad and just kept making the mess worse in his haste to fix it, I told him just go home and rest himself.( before he slipped in the oil)

I tried tackling the mess myself, but there was just too much going on, so my mom popped by as back up. An extra adult between 2 kids, dinner being made, the mess and the craziness of the evening goes so much further.I'm glad she was here as the job would have easily taken 3 times as long without her.

So for now, the mess is out of the closet, I need new shelf brackets - they are all twisted and warped.

I won't be putting it all back together until the contractors assess ( they will be in and out of the attic) Yes I'm frustrated I can't really have a functional nursery for hopefully just this week - But I'll survive.

I managed to snap a pic mid way through clean up attempts, I laid newspaper over some of the oil to stop it from spreading about. not that it helped that much Oil is tracked all through the house.

DISASTER!



Someone remind me to post an after pic when it's all cleaned up?

My Flip cloth diaper review

If you care NOTHING about cloth diapers, but want to see a cute picture of Amelia - scroll to the bottom of this post.

This is a post from a cloth diaper forum I'm on that I originally posted my review. I decided to post it here as I begin to resurrect my blog.

Some background information to those who are reading this blog more as part of my story, I Cloth Diapered my son from 11 months until Potty training, before that point we had severe diaper rashes and were constantly using prescription creams.

I also suffered immense guilt knowing the carbon foot print we were leaving on his world, I was debating using G-diapers but before I tried them found some Mother Ease One Size(MEOS) fitted diapers in a consignment store - we bought a few Thirsties Covers to go over them and that was that, My son, rash issues disappeared my guilt was gone, and he was cloth diapered.

This time I'm starting fresh cloth diapering a small infant,( rather than a nearly 30lb 1yo) his old stash doesn't work so great on her small body without tonnes of bulk.

Some good friends have loaned me 36 small prefolds and an army of covers. While they are between babies ( hoping for another!)I'm grateful, they have had heavy use, but I don't like using them like I used my sons fitted diapers, and about %50 of the time have still turned to disposables.

Also, fitted + cover or prefolds + cover, is a 2 part system that has been taking more time at the moment of diapering than I care to invest while I have a 3 year old also craving my attention, so the search is on for the perfect diaper for my small baby. that offers a quick change at an affordable price.

I've had a bit of tunnel vision in that I want to invest in a one size system so it grows with her and hopefully I won't have to buy more.

I did find a seller online who has sold me 10 bum genious diapers for a great deal.... I'm waiting for them to arrive, I have one of those I have purchased already to try. The same distributor, Cotton Babies - has a less expensive All In Two ( AI2 ) diapering system called Flip.

Here begins my review

Flip has the option of having Stay dry inserts made of all man made fabrics like microfiber etc,They have inserts made of all natural fibers, and they even have disposable inserts

I bought a stay dry day pack.


It comes with 2 One Size snap covers and 6 One Size inserts. 8-35lbs


The idea of this diaper is very similar to laying a prefold, trifolded inside a cover.


Except - they have a small ruffle at the front AND the back of the cover to help keep the insert from slipping out. This allows you to also pre-stuff the diaper.

Also the fabric is not natural fabric so it is trimmer and can still holds a lot of wetness. Its also nice not to have trifold, and to lay a stay dry liner on top, Its already sewn on. So it is much faster to use - super convenient if your use to prefolds, you may fall in love with this system- I suggest picking up some inserts to try under your present covers for more convenient changes


I could imagine if I had an older baby, crawling, walking, climbing this system is probably not fool proof, you would be relying on a very well fitting cover, but for my little baby who doesn't even roll over yet, I like it. I'm sure I'll drift away from it in time.


On my almost 2 month old, its one of the trimmest options I have in my house.

I even tried this diaper overnight, the ultimate test of a cloth diaper - not one complaint from her for 11 hours of wear in it being heavily saturated by morning, and she does complain about sposies overnight, so that's pretty good. The stay dry top on these really did still feel dry to the touch and my baby's skin felt dry too.

Out of curiosity, I decided to also try the inserts in my Thirsties Duo size 1 velcro wrap ( won't work in their snap covers) and a small Bummis Super bright cover... the OS insert folded down fit perfect in them both! If I did this again, I'd consider buying inserts only and not the covers - I don't have a complaint about the flip covers, I just like my Thirsties better for the gusset design. The velcro also made it much more convenient and quick over the snap covers. I bought this system to compliment the Bum Genious in hopes of it being a space saving diaper bag system of convince while on the go.


I may be buying 6 more inserts - they are cheap for how well they work, and can act as great doublers down the road even if I fall out of love with this system.


Oh - and she did poop in it, and as I had expected - newborn poop goes everywhere, so yes the cover was soiled and needed to be washed. I could see this system frustrating to moms of super poopers if they didn't have enough covers.


Washing - it didn't hold her poop stains like other systems do, but drying takes FOREVER, I was hoping being more of a AI2 system it might be fast drying, but the microfiber with several layers does not want to give up the moisture.


I would give this system about 4.5 stars out of 5


It Looses points for dry time and potentially needing more covers than is suggested...


It gains points as a good night time system, and the liners being adaptable and the entire system being super affordable.


If your curious about this system, and already have some PUL covers, grab some inserts, they are cheap, you will probably like it, and if you don't, you have some fantastic overnight doublers.


I might try the organic inserts too.



Here are the pics!


First the insert front and back... The rough microfiber side goes down, the smooth stay dry side goes up. It has a running stitch across the insert showing you where to fold, and it does a good job helping the fold stay put.






Here is the Flip beside a BG... you can see the front and back flaps for the insert to go in on the pink flip cover





when closed, they look virtually identical.





Here is the flip with the insert inside a Thirsties Dou wrap size 1 and a Small Bummis Super Bright




And Closed


The reason I bought them - They are trimmer than 3 stuffed diapers, and 3 prefolds in a diaper bag taking up less than half the room.




Then of course - the model shot. My 11lb 2 month old in her flip diaper

My sensitive boy

Aedan is a rather sensitive 2 Year old, His sensitivity to people, animals and the world is something this mom admires in her little boy.

This is one of Aedan's first times watching Dot and the Kangaroo. This is the sad ending when the Kangaroo is hopping away and waving bye to Dot.... and well, Aedan isn't too good with good byes....

Aedan can draw faces now!!!

 

I'm a proud mamma!

Nap time woes.

I’m pretty lucky to have a child who loves to sleep. A comfortable secure sleep is something we have always put importance on and fostered for him with co-sleeping and gentle go to sleep methods, never letting him cry to sleep, it may be something to do with that, or it may just be his temperament, who knows. But I feel lucky for it. I remember fighting bed time and naps, I’ve taken care of enough kids who hated to nap or sleep. This was just something I didn’t want to fight every night with my own child. SO I’ve worked hard at that.

He will wake at night frequently, still at 2 years old (Uhg!) But the wakings are less and less frequent, so I don’t make too much issue of it, and these awakenings are something we have expected when we took on our go to sleep methods.

At night he fusses mostly that he woke up at all and settles back down rather quickly. He loves bed time and nap time and will often declare it so he can go lay down. Nap time and bed time fights are a rarity with him. I can spend 5 or 10 minutes with him in his bed, give his goodnight kisses and leave the room and he puts himself out in five minutes or less.

I know many mothers ( and fathers) have a fight many nights for their kid to go to bed. It could still come to me, I’m not naive, but for now I feel lucky it’s this easy – USUALLY.

Naps are still a huge part of his day; lots of kids will drop naps all together around two years old or take micro naps of 30 minutes Aedan still goes down faithfully for at least 2 hours sometimes three, I’m sure this makes up for the night time waking as I’m able to accomplish many other things for myself and my home in this time.

When something goes right everyday, you get used to it. You don’t even notice how good you’ve got it. That is, until something goes wrong.

That would be today’s nap time.

He hadn’t declared nap time at his usual time today so I waited about 30 minutes and declared it for him.

I took him up to his bed, and he didn’t get that relaxed sleepy look he usually puts on his face. No, not today, he was smiling ear to ear, and making funny noises and funny faces – not a good sign.

I read him an extra book, and tucked him extra tight.

And he called me back up. He wanted his water.

I went back downstairs…. I heard him start jumping on the bed.

Back up I went with my “Mad mommy” face on to show I was serious about nap time and not being impressed with his jumping, which brought him instantly to tears. He was feeling extra touchy today, and he was tired. I tucked him back in and he said he was going to sleep.

I went back downstairs… 5 minutes pass, silence. He must be asleep YES

I pass the monitor by again 10 minutes later and he is counting and singing “ you are my sunshine” to himself… *sigh* At least he’s trying to put himself to sleep.

Another 10 minutes pass and then he’s yelling “Baby-Aedan” need a mommy!”
( Instead of “I” he refers to himself as “Baby-Aedan”)

I march up the steps being sure that my steps sound firm as they fall on each one ( the mean mommy act) I open the door and he’s standing in the middle of the bed with his arms outstretched for a big hug.

It’s hard to deny this attention. He’s so stinking cute… but it’s near an hour since this “nap time” adventure began. I mean business. This child WILL sleep.

I tell him “Time to lay down!”

I scoop him up; lay him down tuck the blanket firm up to his chin. He gets that this was business, closes his eyes so tight and tries to sleep.

I tell him “ No talking, no playing, Keep your eyes closed – GO to SLEEP! Mommy all done coming upstairs”

I leave the room, and go downstairs

I’m silently so frustrated. I worry when our routines get messed up as it can unravel his behavior for a few days. I’m naturally an anxious person so this leads to the “stress” of repairing this nap time gone wrong.

10 minutes pass and I hear him start to sob. We always go to him when he cries. This is very important to us and has never lead us wrong. There is always a reason for tears. I told him I was all done coming upstairs… but I had to go back on that.

I stepped firmly up the stairs again. He stopped crying but I was still going to him.

As I opened the door I asked “ Aedan, Why are you not napping?!?”

… and he is now standing on the bed back to me looking over his shoulder, and sticking out his fluffy cloth diapered bum and pointing to it..

“Mommy , Baby-Aedan got poopy mess in there!”

I suddenly get hit with a familiar stench

Sure enough he must have pooped 4 days of meals all at once.

I know he couldn’t sleep now because his tummy had business. More than an hour to go down to sleep because of POOP! Being a parent, sometimes it feels it’s always about poop.

I changed his bum. And as soon as I opened the bathroom door to let him out, he ran to the bed, crawled in, pulled the sheets to his chin and declared “Nap time!”

He looked sleepy finally.

I kissed his head, closed the door. And he was out in 2 minutes.

- phew, I’m glad there was a REASON to this nap time madness.

Slideshow of pics from January 2009

Chicken

This morning at 6:30 we were all awoken by the sudden and sharp cries of my son screaming “Chickeeeeeeeen NEED CHICKEN!!”

A little disgruntled at it being morning I realized I wouldn’t be going BACK to sleep at this point I told him. “we don’t eat chicken nuggets in the morning, but we can have cereal, or waffles or yogurt”

He continued to wail.

I Hadn’t fed him chicken nuggets in at least 2 weeks, they are a favorite food of his. I got them for him last night for dinner, he had been eating like a horse yesterday, and in times of other growth spurts and eating frenzies, chicken has been requested at 2 in the morning.

Now I was now regretting giving him chicken nuggets for dinner, some of his foods form a one food obsession. My day was starting with the stress of breaking him of his addiction and dealing with the aftermath of a toddler coming detoxing off his favorite food.

He continued to wail … for chicken.

He paused mid wail and coherently stated “ Where chicken go?” I told him “ You ate it for dinner last night, it went in your tummy – He said “ No THAT chicken – NEED . HUG. CHICKEEEEEEEEEEEEN!!!!!” and broke down in sobs again.

It dawned on me – maybe he didn’t wake up hungry for food….. maybe he’s just annoyed he woke from a good dream.

“Aedan, did you dream a chicken?”

“ YES! Where gooooooo??? “ he was now controlling his sobs and wore a huge pout , snotty nose, and his eyes were welled up with big fat tears.

I had to tell him it was a dream, The chicken wasn’t real, it was like playing a video in his head when he sleeps. I told him it looks and feels real, but it was just a dream.

I have to wonder if all those other times he woke screaming for chicken in these past months was for food , or if this chicken is a frequent guest of his in his dreams, but he didn’t have the language to express them.

I comforted him by telling him he can visit his chicken at night time and in naps.

That calmed him right down , and he started to tell me his Chicken was Red, it played trains with him, he hugged it, he pet it, it played in his play kitchen with him, and he cuddled it in bed. He showed me it was as tall as his waist, its name was “Happy” and it said “O buck o buck o buck” ( different from farm chickens that say “Bock bock bock”

I was startled from my bed this morning, but I sit in awe again, of my boy , he dreams, he talks, he loves. I’m amazed at how he has grown.

A Very Good Article

 

The Apple

They say you are what you eat... if that's the case Aedan is a mix of cherrios, grapes, chicken nuggets,goldfish crackers, cheese, yogurt rice and apples.... these are staples in our house and his favorite foods and at least 3 of them make it into his diet daily.

Ever since Aedan started solids, he has always had a bit of a strong gag reflex, and as much as he loves apples, their texture, and especially the skin is hard for him to swallow. I've watched him eat apples with skin and keep making coughing noises as he is irritated by the rough skin... but he loves them so much, he will eat them with those tears you get in your eyes when you feel that sharp irritation in your throat.

I've made a point over the last many months to cut his apples into "apple fries" where I cut away the skin and then cut it into long skinny sticks resembling french fries and he'd eat those down without too much irritation.

Well today Aedan asked for apple and as i pulled it out of the fridge, and grabbed a knife he started to howl as if I were to murder someone.... he immediately fell to the floor pleading me to leave the apple "Big ball stay"

I didn't understand him at first, his words sounded garbled especially through the loud dramatic crying, and I hadn't heard these words in combination before.

It took him to yell at me " No knife, no cut" "Big Apple - Big Boy Aedan"

This is a big deal - my boy will be 2 years old next Sunday. He has still been referring to himself as "Baby Aedan" This is the beginnings of him shedding his own identity as a baby, and becoming a "big boy".

So I sat him down in the highchair, he held his apple, inspected its roundness, commented that it was red, he even smelled it and commented "Mmmmmmmm!"

It took him nearly 5 minutes to take the first bite out of it with his teeth and mouth slipping over the peel and the firm round apple- he was determined. But once he got that first bite, all the others came slowly but easily after.

He sat happily intently gnawing on his big apple for near an hour and almost finished it completely.

My baby is asserting himself as a big boy more and more everyday... I guess it will be only a matter of time before he won't let me call him "my baby".

One of those moments

Aedan didn't stay down for his nap very long today He's still trying to cut through those eye teeth and is very uncomfortable... He also was up too early... so he is running on very little sleep. We have news his friend we visited the other day has the flu or food poisoning - so we could be in line for that too... I hope not.

He's also growing rapidly right now and this is causing him intense leg and foot cramps. I've had to rub down his legs a couple times a day to relieve him of cramps. Some call it the terrible twos I guess.

Pain + no sleep = monster baby.

Its been a tough day tantrum on tantrum crying over everything... and clumsiness that isn't like him so he kept bumping into stuff, and that would just cause him to melt down.

Screaming, whining , crying and sobbing ALL.DAY.

2 words to describe Aedan today

Fragile and Explosive.

Its been so intense there were moments I thought I would cry too... But I wouldn't let myself. I had to keep strong.

Bath time though, is always a release for him. Something about water just calms him right down. Of course bath time was almost an hour early with a day like today... and he didn't quite feel ready to sleep, even though I let him stay in about 30 minutes longer than usual. he was all wrinkled and pruney when I pulled him out of the tub.

I swaddled him in a towel and he melted into me for one of the biggest hugs he's ever given me... he said "love mommy, cuddle mommy"

I needed that.

I couldn't put him to bed right away.

I took my baby all snuggled in a warm towel downstairs. I put on the TV in a dark living room and lay on the couch together we watched "In The Night Garden" He snuggled down onto me, put his head on my chest and I know he was trying to listen to my heartbeat. His body was comfortable, and he was relaxed and happy. That's all I wanted for him all day.

We both fell asleep and I woke up when the show finished.

I carried him upstairs, dressed and diapered him while he was passed out solid - and after some crazy moments today where I just wanted to lock him in another room and plug my ears, at this moment while he was peaceful and warm, happy and quiet, it was hard to leave him.

It's in these moments I feel how in love I really am. I controlled myself earlier in the day... but I couldn't help but weep tears for all the love I have for my boy.