Today you are 10 months old, Lil! I can hardly believe it.
You are getting to be such a little person, rather than a baby. You have more hair, personality, and smiles every day!
Our days are starting later, now that you are allowing Mommy to sleep in a bit. You wake up at about 7-7:30. Sometimes later... which is awesome. We then change your diaper and head downstairs for cereal and applesauce. This is the only meal of the day that I don't put a bib on you. You've gotten to be really good at keeping the food in your mouth! This is when, a couple of days ago, I realized you had 2 teeth coming in the bottom of your mouth! I was super excited.. I kept wanting to feel them. By the time Daddy got home you wouldn't let anyone touch your teeth!
After breakfast, you play downstairs with the puppies while I check my emails and blogs and eat breakfast. You love to pull EVERYTHING out of my desk drawers. You don't mess too much up, you just like to empty the drawers. I've noticed this in other places, too. For instance, you like to pull every toy, one by one, out of your toy box. You don't like to clean up, yet, though!
We do some cleaning in the kitchen and maybe some laundry before you are ready for your morning nap. This usually happens around 9. I make you an 8 oz. bottle, check your diaper, and we settle in for snuggle time. Depending on how tired you are, I'll read you a book first.
Your naps are still pretty long. Both of them last for at least 2 hours, on average. So, when you wake up, we have another diaper check, then we play for a little. Usually this "play" consists of me trying to fold laundry and you unfolding it.
At 11:30-12, we go downstairs and I get your lunch ready. You are getting a little better at eating healthy foods. You did so well for a while, but then when you were cutting teeth, you got really picky. If I only offer you the healthy stuff first, you will eat it.... eventually.
After lunch, we play more downstairs. I'll let you walk around in your walker and get some energy out. We sometimes go for walks, which you love. I've noticed you talking a lot more during walks. You are really starting to notice things! We hang out and do fun things until it is nap time again. I don't really have a set time for either nap times any more, but even less so for this one. In the afternoon, I assess what we are doing that evening & your mood now to determine what time to put you to bed. You do not get a bottle before this nap time. It didn't take much time for you to adjust to this, either. As long as you have your paci, you're good.
This nap, like the first, lasts for a couple of hours. You are usually awake or just waking up when Daddy gets home around 3:30. You play really hard with him until dinner, usually. He's super good at wearing you out. For dinner, you usually eat what we eat unless it is something you can't have.
Since you are SUCH a messy eater, after dinner is bath time. You LOVE bath time. Daddy usually handles this, but I like to play with you, too. I like to get you hyper and splashing so Dad has to clean you up. When you are done, you reach up to Daddy, which is pretty much the cutest thing ever.
You and Daddy go upstairs while I clean up dinner. I bring up your night time bottle and we all play a little before you take another 8 oz. and go to sleep. While you drink your bottle, Daddy has been reading Alice in Wonderland to you. He usually only gets about 3 pages done before you have sucked the bottle dry and are restless to get to bed. Daddy comes and gets you off my lap, gives you hugs and kisses, then you lean towards me and let me give my hugs and kisses. You are ready to lay down as soon as the last kiss is given. On average, you are in bed asleep by 7:30, sometimes later, but almost never earlier.
Some special things about this month: you climb the entire flight of stairs, really enjoy running while in your walker, have agreed to like your jumperoo again, will play peekaboo all by yourself,
& probably the funniest thing -- you said "cat"
let me elaborate... we were at Grandpa and Grandma's house and you were playing with Annie, Auntie Jessica's cat. Grandpa said, "Aw, Lillian, it's a kitty kitty." You looked at him, and we all swear, with the straightest face ever said, "Cat." Just like a grown up!
You're such a big girl now. Daddy and I are as proud of you as ever!
Love,
Mommy
Monday, May 23, 2011
Friday, May 20, 2011
Cloth Diapers
I know what you are thinking.... I thought the same thing when she was born. Why would anyone put themselves through all that work?! They make disposables pretty darn cheap if you look for the good deals.
Well, our first problem arose when Lil would break out if anything but Luvs brand touched her. So, that narrowed our discount findings A LOT. Luckily, Brandon became an Amazon Mom, which allowed us further discounts and if we did this and did that, made us eligible for AmazonPrime, which is free 2-day shipping. Needless to say, we started ordering in bulk from Amazon.com and were really happy with what we were doing.
Then, I read this blog post. First of all, let me just say that Young House Love is my favorite blog of. all. time. I read back to their previous posts like this one to get the full story. Let me tell you, Sherry is one heck of a salesperson. So after research on my own, talking with Brandon over the weekend, re-reading the blog posts, more research, & talking more with Brandon, we decided to get the bumGenius 4.0 snap diapers.
My first thought was to go with the all-in-ones like the Petersik's did. But considering their price difference and whether or not we really knew for sure we wanted to go with cloth all the way, we decided on the cheaper, but still easy, version.
The 4.0s have an insert. They are made of terrycloth, so they absorb really well. Lil is 20 pounds and fits into the medium size snap length but has to leave 3 or so snaps wide. We still have maybe 4 snaps on each side to go when she gets bigger.
So changing a diaper is the same as always. One thing we are considering is going to cloth wipes, too. What I didn't think would be a hassle actually is -- removing the disposable wipes from the diaper after she's changed. You know, you put the wipe in the diaper, roll it up, throw it all away? Well, not anymore. One thing we've been lacking in Lil's room is a trash pail anyway, so yesterday I picked a small, $2 one up at WalMart. Now, I'm trying to get into the habit of wiping, throw in pail. Except for when it's poopy, then I put it in the Diaper Genie (which we still have in her room until we don't need overnight disposable diapers and know a better way to dispose of disposable poopy wipes). If we were to switch to cloth wipes, we could just throw everything in the wash. No separation necessary.
For a wet diaper, right now I'm just taking it to the sink and rinsing it out well. Then I found a little plastic basket I throw it in. I am doing this so that 1. the wet diapers don't get all the dirty laundry wet (gross) & 2. so I can easily find all the diapers that are rinsed and ready for washing. For a poopy diaper, most of her mess just falls off with a little shake into the toilet. Then flush! Here is where I insert that we didn't want to spend the $45.00 on a diaper sprayer when we didn't know if we'd stick with cloth diapering or not.
However, now that we know... We will be soon. This will help a TON to rinse the dirty diapers. Right now I'm getting them as clean as possible at the toilet, then rinsing at sink. It's not as bad as it sounds. Since all the gross stuff is flushed, I'm really just rinsing for a pre-wash.
Now for washing -- as of right now, I'm skipping the pre-wash on cold. I figure since I'm rinsing them as well as I can, that takes care of that job. So I start the load adjusting the water level, checking that the temperature is on hot, then putting the cycle on Normal, with an extra rinse. I am using Purex Free & Clear as of right now.
Sun bleaching is an option for those left over tints and stains. I'm trying that right now. I needed to get something better than hangers to line dry clothes anyway, so I bought a $10 drying rack at WalMart. It seems to be doing it's job, I guess. I mean, how hard can it be? As far as sun bleaching goes, the inserts that weren't that bad are bleached white, but the 2 that were pretty stained are still being worked on.
We ordered 8 to begin with, but will need to order more. One negative thing about cloth diapers is that if you are determined to only line dry, they take much longer to dry. Two nights ago, I did a load, then lined dry overnight. By morning, they were still damp, so I put them in the dryer for 20 minutes. They came out dry and warm. I'm trying to let this load line dry completely just to see how long it will take.
As of right now, I'm holding off on ordering more. We'll probably do upgrade to 12 or 15 sometime next week. But cloth diapering isn't that bad. I think it will come naturally for baby #2.
Well, our first problem arose when Lil would break out if anything but Luvs brand touched her. So, that narrowed our discount findings A LOT. Luckily, Brandon became an Amazon Mom, which allowed us further discounts and if we did this and did that, made us eligible for AmazonPrime, which is free 2-day shipping. Needless to say, we started ordering in bulk from Amazon.com and were really happy with what we were doing.
Then, I read this blog post. First of all, let me just say that Young House Love is my favorite blog of. all. time. I read back to their previous posts like this one to get the full story. Let me tell you, Sherry is one heck of a salesperson. So after research on my own, talking with Brandon over the weekend, re-reading the blog posts, more research, & talking more with Brandon, we decided to get the bumGenius 4.0 snap diapers.
My first thought was to go with the all-in-ones like the Petersik's did. But considering their price difference and whether or not we really knew for sure we wanted to go with cloth all the way, we decided on the cheaper, but still easy, version.
The 4.0s have an insert. They are made of terrycloth, so they absorb really well. Lil is 20 pounds and fits into the medium size snap length but has to leave 3 or so snaps wide. We still have maybe 4 snaps on each side to go when she gets bigger.
So changing a diaper is the same as always. One thing we are considering is going to cloth wipes, too. What I didn't think would be a hassle actually is -- removing the disposable wipes from the diaper after she's changed. You know, you put the wipe in the diaper, roll it up, throw it all away? Well, not anymore. One thing we've been lacking in Lil's room is a trash pail anyway, so yesterday I picked a small, $2 one up at WalMart. Now, I'm trying to get into the habit of wiping, throw in pail. Except for when it's poopy, then I put it in the Diaper Genie (which we still have in her room until we don't need overnight disposable diapers and know a better way to dispose of disposable poopy wipes). If we were to switch to cloth wipes, we could just throw everything in the wash. No separation necessary.
For a wet diaper, right now I'm just taking it to the sink and rinsing it out well. Then I found a little plastic basket I throw it in. I am doing this so that 1. the wet diapers don't get all the dirty laundry wet (gross) & 2. so I can easily find all the diapers that are rinsed and ready for washing. For a poopy diaper, most of her mess just falls off with a little shake into the toilet. Then flush! Here is where I insert that we didn't want to spend the $45.00 on a diaper sprayer when we didn't know if we'd stick with cloth diapering or not.
However, now that we know... We will be soon. This will help a TON to rinse the dirty diapers. Right now I'm getting them as clean as possible at the toilet, then rinsing at sink. It's not as bad as it sounds. Since all the gross stuff is flushed, I'm really just rinsing for a pre-wash.
Now for washing -- as of right now, I'm skipping the pre-wash on cold. I figure since I'm rinsing them as well as I can, that takes care of that job. So I start the load adjusting the water level, checking that the temperature is on hot, then putting the cycle on Normal, with an extra rinse. I am using Purex Free & Clear as of right now.
Sun bleaching is an option for those left over tints and stains. I'm trying that right now. I needed to get something better than hangers to line dry clothes anyway, so I bought a $10 drying rack at WalMart. It seems to be doing it's job, I guess. I mean, how hard can it be? As far as sun bleaching goes, the inserts that weren't that bad are bleached white, but the 2 that were pretty stained are still being worked on.
We ordered 8 to begin with, but will need to order more. One negative thing about cloth diapers is that if you are determined to only line dry, they take much longer to dry. Two nights ago, I did a load, then lined dry overnight. By morning, they were still damp, so I put them in the dryer for 20 minutes. They came out dry and warm. I'm trying to let this load line dry completely just to see how long it will take.
As of right now, I'm holding off on ordering more. We'll probably do upgrade to 12 or 15 sometime next week. But cloth diapering isn't that bad. I think it will come naturally for baby #2.
Monday, May 2, 2011
9 Months (2 weeks late)
Lil,
You are getting so big! I know I say that nearly every month, but FOR REAL. So. Big.
Your personality has really developed over this past month. You know what you want. When you want it. Which is usually -- now. And you know how to get what you want. You also know which people are more likely to give into you (Aunt Jessica, specifically).
You are able to recognize the people you see a lot immediately. For people you don't see as often, it takes you a few minutes, but you warm up. You can get shy and bury your head into my neck, which feels awesome and sweet. But just as you do that, you are looking at someone and giving them a mischievous look and smile. Like you are saying, "Hey, I will warm up to you soon, but I gatta make Mommy feel wanted."
One of the funniest stories from this past month happened a couple weeks ago when I took you to visit Grandma Peg at McDonald's. There was an old man there who said you were cute. (I should say that I know this guy before this gets any creepier) Anyway, you were looking at him and smiling. Then he starts singing this song -- a serious song -- one he sang to his daughter 53 years ago. He sang all 3 verses plus choruses. You did great, just looking at him, until the 2 verse started. Then you got embarrassed and started bawling. It was so cute. And he didn't even care! He just finished the song!
Speaking of McD's... You pretty much eat anything that we eat now. We still don't give you the things you aren't supposed to have, though. Every couple of days I think your teeth hurt and you don't eat much solid food. Although you take more bottles on those days. You still don't have teeth, so you are getting bored with the food I'm giving you, too.
You still take 2 naps a day, but they are getting shorter and more spread apart. You are a very happy baby -- even if you don't get your naps.
Yesterday you were dedicated at church, we went out for brunch, you played at Aunt Jen's, then came home, wanted nothing to do with you supper, took a bottle at 5:00 and then were out for the night! You were so pleasant until we got home. You knew you were able to sleep, so that's all you wanted to do!
Your dedication was nice. Grandpa, Grandma Cindy, Grandma Peg, Aunt Jen, Ciso, Aunna, Uncle David, Auntie Em, Auntie Jessica, Uncle Dustin, Grandma Great, Great Grandma Nancy, & Great Grandpa Don all came. Then we had a nice brunch at a restaurant near by the church.
You can say a few words now: Dad, Doggies, & Hi
You wave hi and bye, play peek-a-boo, and dance like no one's business.
Everyday you get closer and closer to walking.
This past weekend you climbed the stairs. You have never tried to even get close to them. Grandpa asked me if you had, I said no. Then you crawled over there like you knew what he was talking about and (with me behind you) climbed the entire flight!!
Your first Easter was a success as well. Friday night we went to the Ruwe's and had a nice time. You got a swing for at Grandpa & Grandma Cindy's house, a blow up pool, & sand toys. Sunday we went to Grandma Peg's for lunch. You and Aunna had a blast playing together. You got a couple of outfits, snacks, bows, & play jewelery. You enjoyed the holiday festivities, for sure.
In a couple of weeks, you'll be 10 months. I'm sure I'll have loads to say then, too, about your accomplishments. You are an amazing baby, Lillian. Daddy and I love you too much!
Love,
Mommy
You are getting so big! I know I say that nearly every month, but FOR REAL. So. Big.
Your personality has really developed over this past month. You know what you want. When you want it. Which is usually -- now. And you know how to get what you want. You also know which people are more likely to give into you (Aunt Jessica, specifically).
You are able to recognize the people you see a lot immediately. For people you don't see as often, it takes you a few minutes, but you warm up. You can get shy and bury your head into my neck, which feels awesome and sweet. But just as you do that, you are looking at someone and giving them a mischievous look and smile. Like you are saying, "Hey, I will warm up to you soon, but I gatta make Mommy feel wanted."
One of the funniest stories from this past month happened a couple weeks ago when I took you to visit Grandma Peg at McDonald's. There was an old man there who said you were cute. (I should say that I know this guy before this gets any creepier) Anyway, you were looking at him and smiling. Then he starts singing this song -- a serious song -- one he sang to his daughter 53 years ago. He sang all 3 verses plus choruses. You did great, just looking at him, until the 2 verse started. Then you got embarrassed and started bawling. It was so cute. And he didn't even care! He just finished the song!
Speaking of McD's... You pretty much eat anything that we eat now. We still don't give you the things you aren't supposed to have, though. Every couple of days I think your teeth hurt and you don't eat much solid food. Although you take more bottles on those days. You still don't have teeth, so you are getting bored with the food I'm giving you, too.
You still take 2 naps a day, but they are getting shorter and more spread apart. You are a very happy baby -- even if you don't get your naps.
Yesterday you were dedicated at church, we went out for brunch, you played at Aunt Jen's, then came home, wanted nothing to do with you supper, took a bottle at 5:00 and then were out for the night! You were so pleasant until we got home. You knew you were able to sleep, so that's all you wanted to do!
Your dedication was nice. Grandpa, Grandma Cindy, Grandma Peg, Aunt Jen, Ciso, Aunna, Uncle David, Auntie Em, Auntie Jessica, Uncle Dustin, Grandma Great, Great Grandma Nancy, & Great Grandpa Don all came. Then we had a nice brunch at a restaurant near by the church.
You can say a few words now: Dad, Doggies, & Hi
You wave hi and bye, play peek-a-boo, and dance like no one's business.
Everyday you get closer and closer to walking.
This past weekend you climbed the stairs. You have never tried to even get close to them. Grandpa asked me if you had, I said no. Then you crawled over there like you knew what he was talking about and (with me behind you) climbed the entire flight!!
Your first Easter was a success as well. Friday night we went to the Ruwe's and had a nice time. You got a swing for at Grandpa & Grandma Cindy's house, a blow up pool, & sand toys. Sunday we went to Grandma Peg's for lunch. You and Aunna had a blast playing together. You got a couple of outfits, snacks, bows, & play jewelery. You enjoyed the holiday festivities, for sure.
In a couple of weeks, you'll be 10 months. I'm sure I'll have loads to say then, too, about your accomplishments. You are an amazing baby, Lillian. Daddy and I love you too much!
Love,
Mommy
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