Month 8

This month we took our second roadtrip. We had already been up to visit our friends in Nashville for Christmas, but this time was for a pretty special occasion. We were celebrating the newest arrival to our group. Ms. Saddie will be joining us in a few short weeks and we all got together for a couples shower at Kevin and Susan's beautiful new home.

Mckinley and Ellis were really funny playing together. The girls were born almost exactly 2 months apart and it was fun seeing what Ellis can do and what Kinley will be doing very soon. Every toy Kinley picked up Ellis took from her and vise versa and neither of them cared when it happened. I am sure in a few years they will be fighting and biting each other. They just kept touching each other and watching what each other did.

We had such a good time at the party Saturday night. It was so nice having all of our Nashville peeps in the same place and we got to celebrate not 1, but 2 little ones who would be joining us in the near future. You see we had just recently found out that Austin snd Amanda are expecting a little lady this summer.

We not only got to visit all of the Lipscomb friends, but I got to spend a few hours with some of my very dear friends from, UT Chris and Whitney. I was supposed to go to Whitney's baby shower Saturday, but couldn't make it all the way out to Dickson and back in time for the Donegan shower, but getting a few uninterrupted moments with them at their precious home was even better. Whitney will soon be a fellow coth mama so I had to bestow upon her some cute fluff and bottom butter. I think Kinley really liked Chris. She kept rolling all over to him adn trying to take his glasses.

We did not hit up our usual breakfast spot (Pancake Pantry) because we had been craving cheesecake for quite sometime so we headed out to the Factory of Cheesecake for some grub. The girls did a little tandom screaming, we ate soem delicious food, and may have left our pink giraffe blanket. Thank you Russell and Amber for swinging back buy and picking it up for us. Once again you did awesome on the drive home. you slept almost the entire way there and back. We are praying that you do the same in July when we head to the beach. 

Month 8 has been a slow month for us. You are sitting up and rolling, but no forward movement yet. You will try to push yourself up on your little chubby arms, but you just can't seem to hold yourself up. You are still sleeping like a champ, but every now and then you will cry out in the middle of the night, but all you need is a repacying and you are back to sleep.That is a real word I swear and if you look it up in the dictionary it will say what a tired parent does when their child wakes up at 3 a.m. and or sticking a paci back in a child's mouth so you can get a few more hours of sleep. We haven't really tried any chunks of solid food except for puffs and you aren't really eating that much yet. Our meals at home are hit or miss, but you always seem to eat better for Julie at school. I have only had to make 3-4 batches of food so far, but hopefully you will start eating more soon. 

I swear I don't just post the pictures where she is smiling she is just always smiling.

First time swinging.

You think he likes her a little bit?

My girl isn't afraid to get a little dirt under her nails.

I have really enjoyed month 8. Besides another ear infection (I don't think you will ever be 100% well) month 8 has been pretty uneventful. We are just chugging along still trying to figure things out. I don't think we will ever feel like we we have this parenting thing completely figured out, but we haven't screwed you up too much just yet so maybe we aren't doing that bad of a job.

Cutie With A Fluffy Bootie

A few people have asked recently how our diapers work so I thought I would write a little somethin something about what we use and how it works.

I can still remember sitting in my classroom months before even getting pregnant staring at my computer at all of the overwhelming information about cloth diapers. I had no clue what anything was or what any of the terms meant (cd, hemp, insert, aio, fluff, hybrid, etc), but I knew this was something I wanted to try. I also remember telling people we would be using cloth diapers once I got pregnant and I am sure you are thinking how excited everyone was for us and how positive they were and I would laugh in your face because you are funny. Most people (not all, but most people) said we were crazy or that we would only do it for a few weeks and then give up. Well those people don't know me very well because when you tell I can't or won't do something you bet I will put my 190% percent into whatever you said I can't do.

So here we are almost 8 months into our cloth diapering adventure and my baby has super padded fluffy butt (that is what we call our nigh time diaper system) right now as we speak.

We just bought our second pack of disposable diapers (We bought 1 pack of disposables at the very beginning because I did not want to wash meconium off of my liners and I might have forgotten to turn on the dryer after stripping my liners and had no dry diapers the other morning). I had no clue what size to buy, but I did find some that were made from plant based materials and chlorine free which made me very happy.

What We Use

We use 2 different brands of CD's (Cloth Diapers). Our main go to diaper is Best Bottoms. They are a one size (they have different snaps to make the diaper different sizes so baby can wear them from birth to potty training) hybrid diaper system which mean you have a diaper cover

 
That you snap an insert into

When baby pees or poops you remove the soiled insert and snap a new one in. I usually grab a new cover and insert and place the cover removed from babies bottom to the side to use later unless it is soiled.

The dirty liner goes into a wet bag (We use one like this in her room and we have a few smaller sizes for traveling). Depending on how dirty the cover gets we might throw the cover in the wet bag to be washed or we might need to use the diaper sprayer to spray the poo off and then place it in a wet bag to wash later.

We wipe her down with cloth wipes (inexpensive terry baby wash cloths) and a spray solution of warm water, baby oil, and a drop of baby wash) and those get thrown into the wet bag with the soiled diapers to be washed later. We use a special diaper cream on Kinley's booty since most creams are not cloth diaper safe which means they will leave a residue buildup on the cloth insert causing it not to absorb liquids and leak. This can be fixed by stripping (washing diapers in VERY hot water or washing with dish liquid to remove all buildup allowing the diapers to absorb more). We us Organic Coconut Oil.

If you have never heard of it look it up because it is Amazing stuff. It can be use for Anything and Everything! We slap some of that on at each diaper change and we have only used up 1 large jar in 7 months. On the very rare occasion her booty gets red (if she is on antibiotics) we will use a little regular diaper cream and we just slap a piece of fleece fabric on top of the inside of the diaper to keep the cream off of the liner. We will wash these separately later.

Our Nigh time diaper routine is pretty much the same just with a different brand of diaper. We use Fuzzibunz which are a one size or a sized pocket diapering system. This means It is a cloth diaper with a pocket in the middle that you stuff inserts into to make it more absorbent. We normally double stuff (stuff 2 microfiber inserts into the inner pocket) which make the diaper more absorbent for the 10+ hours baby girl sleeps.

Our wash routine has become just that part of our family routine. We wash every other day unless baby girl poops a ton that particular day and we use either E.C.O.S. detergent which can be found at Walmart or Tide Free and Clear (The less brighteners and additives in the detergent the better it is for the life expectancy and absorbency of your diapers). There are other detergents you can use, but these are what I have found work for us. Before Kinley started eating food we did not have to spray the poo off of er diaper because breast milk is water soluble so we just threw everything into the wash together. Now that she is eating 3 meals a day we spray all of her poop diapers off and I usually throw them in the washer and run a rinse/soak cycle. Then I was them on cold/cold. I hang my covers to dry and just throw the liners in the dryer and run it twice since they are so absorbent and hold so much liquid until they completely dry.

Why we decided to use cloth diapers.

I purchased all of our diapers online because sadly there aren't many places that sell cloth in Memphis. I have recently heard that there are a few places that are hit or miss, but may have cloth diapers occasionally. Almost every single one of our diapers and liners were previously owned and before you saw GROSS you should know that most people who use cloth either borrow from friends or buy them used and there is a HUGE resale market. We initially purchased Gdiapers a hybrid diaper system from www.diaperswappers.com, but those turned out to not be our favorite brand to use. They leaked too much and I didn't care for all of the parts you had to put together. After a little more research I found Best Bottoms and we absolutely love the versatility of them. Buying used diapers helped save us even more money then we already would be saving by using cloth. These diapers will last us through potty training Mckinley and then we will reuse them on our next baby adventure. All in all I would say we have spent maybe $400 in diapers and diaper supplies. Including detergent maybe $500. So we are saving thousands on diapers.

One great thing about cloth diapers and cloth diaper companies are diaper giveaways and sales. If you search the internet and sign up for different sites like Zulilly, Baby Half Off, Baby Steals, Green Baby Bargains, Hippo Bargains, or Eco Baby Buys you can get brand new diapers for dirt cheap. As I am typing this I am entering a lifetime giveaway for some fluff and boy could I use a lifetime supply of fluff. I could go days without washing! Booty Buns are super cute one size pocket diapers. I don't currently own this brand, but I LOVE trying new kinds of diapers with different fits and I just love winning stuff and what is better then free diapers.

If you want to know more about using cloth diapers the best place to find information is the Awesome Cloth Diaper Blog written by the lovely Lara. Lara has a way of explaining everything that makes it so easy to understand. If you are considering cloth this is where you need to start to learn about everything. Another place for condensed cloth diaper info is one of my favorite blogs . As I was reading late last night I came across this post about using cloth diapers.

SO there it is. Why and how we use cloth diapers. I am by no means a cloth diapering expert, but I have read everything there is out there about cloth and I LOVE showing people how they work and if anyone ever needs any advice I am always up for talking about cloth.
It's super easy, affordable, and who doesn't love a baby with a super fluffy bum!

Mover and a Groover

Lord help us all she is getting mobile!

 

Pray for us!

Bye Bye

Kinley's got a new trick!

I recently started doing a few baby signs with Kinley when she was eating and she seems more entertained by it then actually into it, but I have taught it to other babies and may as well teach it to my baby so we know what she wants. We started with more, please and all done and would like to eventually add yes, no, thank you, eat, water, milk, and of course I Love You (maybe even Mama because she is never going to say it). We have also been working on waving and Baby Love has gotten really good at it and I decided we needed to get it on tape so we could remember when she started doing it.

Everyday when I drop Kinley off at Mrs. Julie's I wave bye bye to her and I have been getting Brent to wave to her when he leaves and I guess after a while she got so tired of it and thought maybe if she did it we would stop and leave her alone. The first time she did it I was so shocked and didn't want to go to work, but of course had to go because Cathy would kill me if I didn't show up.

That has been my main purpose and why I am so glad I started this blog so I can keep up with the day to day of what goes on in our lives. Lord knows I can barely keep up with myself much less 2 other living breathing beings and 2 dogs! I never started doing this so I could make money or get free stuff I just wanted somewhere to collect my thoughts without actually have to write them down because even I can't read my own handwriting and I apologize to anyone who has ever had to read a handwritten note by me. I love having an exact record of when things occurred so I can go back and document them in Mckinley's first year album. I have gotten a few months behind on that, but hopefully over summer I will have a little time to work on that. I think it would be really cute to have that at her first birthday for people to look through and see how she has grown and changed

We Want You

To vote for Mckinley!

I submitted a bunch of pictures of Baby Girl to Parents.com and they chose one of her pictures a month or two ago and so many awesome people voted for her, but sadly we didn't win. I was so excited today when I received another email saying another picture of Kinley had been chosen. I of course am shamelessly begging people all over the internet for votes.

So here it is. If you read my blog and would like to vote for baby girl here is the link

http://photos.parents.com/category/vote/photo/1218068

 You can vote once a day every day until the end of the voting period so click away and help us be #1.

Happy St. Patty's Day

Last St. Patrick's Day we didn't really get to celebrate since I was about 4 months pregnant. So this year we decided we needed a date night out with some great friends. We got a babysitter (my awesome sister Jen) headed to Dan McGuiness, and had some fun. Upside to not drinking for 17 months, it makes you a cheap date. We ate some very unhealthy food and partook in delicious grownup jello. Sadly we are old and parents so we were ready to head home before the clock struck 9, but at least we can say we actually went out sans baby and had a great time with some great friends. And the code word is BOOBS!

Happy 7 Months

Sittin Pretty

So I am about 3 weeks late on this update, but better late then never huh. I have also gotten a little behind on the house, but hopefully over spring break I can regroup and get myself together and more organized (that's really funny!). Needless to say my blogging has fallen to the way side as I try to just keep up with the day to day of keeping everything together. We are just now getting over mama having food poisoning and or a stomach virus and baby girl has her 4th ear infection.  At least this round we did not end up in the emergence room until 1 a.m. This would be your 4th ear infection now and I believe we are well on our way to being the ear tube kid. The Dr. said if these stronger antibiotics don't work and you have another ear infection by 9 months then we will start talking about it. I REALLY don't want my baby to have to get tubes and it makes me sick just thinking about it right now, but if it means you won't have to be in pain over and over again then we will do what we have to do.

Now less mommy gripes and more baby love updates.
Happy 7 Months Baby Girl!!!!!

Each month I like to look back at all of the photos from past months and it still blows my mind how much you have grown and changed. Today I actually looked at your ultrasounds and I literally made me cry and miss you being in my belly. I am still not ready to be pregnant again any time soon, but I do miss feeling you move and kick from inside of my belly. Luckily you kick me and headbutt me at least once a day so we are set for a while.

We have hit a few more big milestones this past month. It took you a while, but it was like a switch flipped one day and you all of a sudden figured out how to roll. This has made diaper changes oh so much fun! I have started changing you on the floor because I am so afraid you will roll off of the changing table plus it is much easier to keep track of you down there. The instant i set you down now you flip yourself onto your tummy. We never thought you would do this because you always HATED being on your tummy and would scream like someone was killing you, but I guess now that you know that you can get yourself off of your tummy you are ok and now when I try to roll you back onto your back you scream. You have not only started rolling, but you actually barrel roll across the floor to get to what you want. The first time you did it I was so shocked because I took my eyes off of you for 1 second and you had moved yourself from your play mat to the middle of the living room.

A few weeks ago I couldn't wait for you to start rolling, but I could do without the full contact sport diaper changes have become. I know crawling is inevitable, but hopefully we have a few months before that starts and thankfully we don't have that much baby proofing to do in our tiny house.

Besides rolling you have become quite the eater these days, I just recently discovered your favorite thing to eat is of all random things is Asparagus! You love it and I can't get it in your little baby birdie mouth fast enough. You flap your hands (you do this when you get really excited) until I feed you. Downside to asparagus is VERY stinky pee! Your diet now consists of green beans, carrots, sweet potatoes, bread, crackers, ,acorn squash, pears, apples, and fruit veggie puffs (baby crack). I am so happy I bought my 3-tiered steamer I can make so much food at one time. The darn timer turner broke the first time I tried using it, but I have my handy ghetto wrench and hopefully after giving the company a call today they will replace it for me.

You have always been quite the talker and your vocabulary now consists of da-da-da, ba-ba-ba, ahhhhhhhhhhhh, mmmmmm, and you blow out air like you are blowing out a candle. You make all sorts of random noises too. We call them your calling the dolphins and the pterodactyl sounds. I know it won't happen for quite some time because the ma-ma-ma sound comes later, but gosh darn it I am going to repeat ma-ma-ma all day long until you say it.

You are such a funny little lady. You laugh at everything which either means I am really funny or you are laughing because you know you are stuck with us for the rest of your life. I keep seeing all of these funny greeting cards on facebook and pinterest, but this one I reposted today really said it all.

So true. So true.

I am going to go ahead and apologize for any future embarrassments your father and I bestow upon you in the future.

I think the biggest milestone that occured this month was our first trip to the hospital. Your fever went up to over 102 and since your daddy had fevrial seizures as a baby we decided not to take any chances and head in to get you checked out. They checked you out for the flu, but thankfully it was just another ear infection. You were such a trooper and only cried once when they swabbed your nose to check for the flu.

Sick Baby

Snuggling with Mama

Trying to get some rest

Everything you need at the hospital. Carseat-check. Diaper bag-check. Wallet-check. Bottle bag-check. Lock box-check. We didn't have Kinley's SS# so thankfully Carter brought it to us. Only thing was we had the keys to unlock the box on our car keys so he had to bring the entire box.

Carter also had to bring us the diaper bag because me someone forgot it.

So sleepy

Even when she is sick we still get a smile

Noone out driving at 2a.m. on a Sunday night

I am glad we have the first hospital visit under our belts, but I know if anything ever happens again this still won't prepare us. I may have cried just a little after that mean ole nurse had to reswab your nose because she didn't do it right the first time. I am just glad you were ok and hopefully like I said before ew are praying this round of antibiotics works and we won't have to talk about you getting tubes any time soon.

We celebrated your first Valentine's Day and we made daddy a pretty sweet present. We stayed in since you weren't feeling well and we had a nice quiet night with just the 3 of us which is how we like it.

My favorite part of this past month was our photo session with Courtney Young. I still can't believe how AMAZING our pictures turned out (yes I can because the subject is perfectly precious). Courtney really captured Mckinley and all of her personality. I can't wait to DIY some picture canvas' to hang on my very bare walls in the den.

It was so nice to relax at the lake this month with the whole family. All we did was rest and eat yummy food.

All in all this past month was pretty uneventful and yet very eventful. I am already working on your month 8 update because I am so behind completing this one.

Now without further adieu here are your month 7 pictures.

I feel better now that I am caught up with month 7. I will not get behind next month because trying to remember what happened when sure is a pain in the you know what.

The Awesome Cloth Diaper

If you are or are looking into becoming a cloth diaperer then this is the place to go for cloth diapering information.

I have personaly learned everything I know about cloth dipering from this lovely lady. It doesn't hurt that the diaper model is precious.

Go check it out if you are wanting to know more about cloth diapering.