It’s Nice To See You, Third Trimester!

Part of me is having a hard time believing that I’m in the third trimester but most of me is thrilled!  I’m very much looking forward to holding this little girl in my arms and snuggle her.  I love that this time around it feels like it’s going by much faster. Maybe because with Munchkin there was so much to do, research and buy.  This time there’s not, plus I’m chasing Munchkin around.  It’s nice to not feel as clueless as I did the first time…or rather, I’m just feeling clueless about other stuff, like how to parent two kids!  I think I’m feeling more confident in our ability to handle a newborn as we’ve done it before (though I’m trying not to be too confident since every kid is different!)  I know that breastfeeding might not go as smoothly cause it’s a whole new relationship.  I’m thankful that I have experience and I know where to turn for help if I need it.  Plus, I still have my amazing support system. 

Bullet Point Friday (2)

It’s looking like this Bullet Point Friday might become a thing.  The brain dump is good for me.  I haven’t been writing much because I’ve been focusing on other things, mainly my Gestational Diabetes.  I know I’ve been mentioning it a lot but it has taken over my life.  So here’s a recap of the week:

-My numbers were still high, even on the medication.  So the OB upped the dose but the nurse I talked to said that if that didn’t help the next step was insulin.  Cue panic, especially after talking with the Pedi about how insulin should be avoided to not mess with Punkin’s pancreas.  If/when we get to the insulin stage, we’ll schedule a meeting with the OB to discuss our concerns.  So after a talking too from my husband after my midwife appointment (Punking is doing well, heartbeat was good and she’s measuring a a couple of weeks ahead) where she reminded me that stress is bad and can affect my numbers, I’ve been working on not stresses.  For me this means no worrying about every bite of food I put in my mouth.  With the exception of one meal, my numbers have been better.  Don’t you love it when your husband is right?

-Completely random but I’ve been loving the songs Pandora has been playing.  They’re taking me back to high school and it’s been great to sing along and dance with like a crazy person around the house with Munchkin watching.  She likes to dance along too. 

-I’m excited to get back to cloth diapering.  I’ve been figuring out what I want to keep & what to sell and what I want to buy for Punkin.  I’m going to kick ammonia’s butt to the curb and try to get Munchkin back in cloth in hopes it will help her potty train.  (In case you’re curious, I’m selling 90% of our pockets because I don’t want to stuff them and deal with microfiber.  Punkin will be in prefolds/flats with natural fibers with PUL covers and wool.  I also have some newborn AIO (all in ones) for trips out of the house.  She’ll also be in fitteds once she gets bigger.  I plan to get some natural fiber AIOs as well.  Munchkin will mostly be in fitteds and the few pockets that I’m keeping)

-I managed to create most of the tags for the items I want to sell at the next local Just Between Friends sale.  Hoping to use the money I make towards cloth diapers!  I’m excited and hope it goes well.

-It was overcast and rainy most of the week and I LOVED it.  The 80 & 90 degree temps we were having were draining me.  I’m so ready for fall!

-Speaking of fall, I know three little girls that are just about set for Duck Football!  Tutu’s and onesies for the two littlest ones are complete as is Munchkin’s tutu.  Now to do her top and work of headbands and bows for all of them.  They are going to be so cute!

-Munchkin has a new favorite princess!  I’m super excited about this because as much as I love Ariel, there is such a thing as too much of a good thing.  Munchkin has been asking to watch “Aurora” so Sleeping Beauty has been watched several times!  She also likes Frozen.  It’s nice to mix it up a bit.

-I didn’t take many photos this week, so no photos for you today.  You don’t hate me, right?  I promise to have photos in the next post!

Bullet Point Friday

I have several posts waiting to finished up so I can publish them but my brain is fried and I have no desire to work on them right now.  It’s summer, it’s warm and it’s been a long week.  I think I can handle bullet points, so here we go:

The Diaper Dilemma

*This is a post about diapers.  You should expect to read about bodily functions.*

We started cloth diapering when Munchkin was about 5 weeks old.  We started with disposables because I knew I wouldn’t be up to figuring out cloth with a newborn.  After having the surprise C-section, that was a great choice on our part.  Transitioning to cloth was easy.  I loved cloth for the first year.  It was easy and cheap for us. 

Around the time Munchkin turned one, her urine became more concentrated (which is normal from what I’ve been told.)  This, for us, equals having an ammonia stink in our pocket diapers.  Munchkin’s skin would be red.  I was afraid that she’s get an ammonia burn from it.  After banging my head against the wall for three months, we tested our water.  Our water is hard and that can make it difficult to clean the diapers.  I started using a water softener and while it helped, it didn’t totally eliminate the problem.  I’ve bleached them, used RLR, blue dawn and so many hot rinses and washes that I could fill multiple pools with hot water.  Nothing worked.

I battled it for a little bit longer, trying just about everything.  In December I finally gave up and we switched to disposables.  Munchkin’s bum needed a break and so did mama!  It  helped that Nana watched her while we were on our cruise and disposables were easier for her.  With the craziness of Christmas and our trip to Maine in early January, we kept using disposables. 

I enjoy just throwing the whole diaper away, especially when it was full of poop.  I do not enjoy the disposable smell (they have a distinct odor to me and it is not pleasant.)  I also don’t love the thought of all those chemicals against Munchkin’s skin.  As our stash of disposables dwindled, I had to make a decision…keep doing disposables or go back to cloth?

Most of our cloth diapers are used.  I think the stink issue is coming from the microfiber inserts.  They’ve been stripped and bleached so many times.  I think it’s possible they might be at the end of their life.  The Man has told me that I can buy brand new diapers.  I’m hesitant because I don’t know what kind I want!  Even though disposable diapers are super convenient, I really do prefer cloth.  They work for us and I really do not mind the diaper laundry.

So for now we’re using our fitteds and prefold with covers.  I haven’t had stink issues with these diapers.  The Man doesn’t love them because you have to put two things on the baby.  I don’t mind them at all.  Hopefully these will work just fine until I can decide what pocket diapers I want to get. 

If you cloth diaper, what is your favorite kind of diaper?

Have you dealt with ammonia? How did you get rid of it?

Baby Shower Gift Basket Ideas

Lots of friends having babies = lots of baby showers!  I have a different view of what to buy new moms to be now that I’m a mom.  I’ve brainstormed some ideas of gift baskets that I would have loved to have received. 

If I were going to be giving one of these as a gift, I’d make it up in one of those cloth basket/box things.  I use them to hold Munchkin’s cloth diapers and her toys.  They are so useful. Depending on the size, you could use a receiving blanket to wrap around it and tie at the top with a bow. Super cute and useful!

Breastfeeding Basket

Breastfeeding can be rough in the beginning   Some ideas for it include a breastfeeding pillow (such as a Boppy or My Breastfriend) for help with baby positioning in the early days.  Lanolin & cooling jell pads help with sore nipples that happen early on.  I was always thirsty once Munchkin latched and I found that keeping a full reusable water bottle near where I would nurse was helpful.  I was also ravenously hungry so some granola bars or other snack could be nice addition to add to the basket.  Nursing pads are a must for many women, either disposable or reusable. 

Emergency/Medicine Basket

As a first time mom, I didn’t have all the child medicines and stuff on hand.  A great basket could include a child thermometer, gas drops and/or gripe water, children’s cough & cold medicine (like Dimetapp), infant pain reliever/fever reducer, children’s Benadryl, a nose bulb or nosefrida, teething tablets & gel, ice packs for bumps when they get older or even a Boo Boo Bunny. 

I would have LOVED to get a basket like this because the first time we needed these things we had to run out to get them! It was no fun leaving a sick baby with daddy and having to run to the store to buy baby Tylenol.  I was trying to hurry and it took me awhile to figure out which one to buy.

Teething Basket

I don’t think any parent looks forward to teething! We all know teething is going to happen sooner or later so this basket will get used!  Some ideas for this basket include an authentic Amber teething necklace, Sophie the giraffe, other teething toys (Munchkin really likes these ones!), teething tablets, teething gel and water resistant bibs.  A teething necklace would be a great item to include.  I have a one that Munchkin loves and it’s been helpful for her to chew on when we’re out and about.

The teething necklace in action

Food Basket

It’s so much fun when the baby can start eating “real” food.  Some great items for this basket would be some sippy cups, kid friendly bowls and plates, and some spoons.  You could also add some baby snacks.  Munchkin really likes Ella’s cookies.  Puffed snacks are also good.  Pouches of food are another idea that would be great in a basket.  Another option would be to include the ingredients and the recipe for homemade teething biscuits or you could make them for the mama and tell her they can be frozen until she needs them.  Bibs are also a must! We like ones with pockets on the bottom because they help catch falling food.  You could also add a cute outfit because even with a bib sometimes the baby still get really messy and need an outfit change.

 

Cloth Diaper Basket

For the cloth diapering mama, more fluff is always a great gift! There are cloth diaper available in a range of prices. You can  buy or make some cloth wipes out of flannel. It’s recommended to have 2-3 dozen cloth wipes and really, you can’t have to many. You can also include some coconut oil to be used as butt cream, or some other cloth diaper friendly butt cream, such at CJ’s BUTTer.  A roll of disposable liners are great for when the baby gets older.   Some samples of cloth diaper laundry detergent could be nice too.  I’d include a small toy to help distract the baby during diaper changes when they are bigger and want to wriggle all over the place!  Another idea would be to include a diaper sprayer.  I think this would be cute packaged in a plastic garbage can, as that is what many cloth diapering mamas use to hold the dirty diapers.  Don’t forget the pail liner! Or the hand sanitizer and Lysol (to spray the garbage can with in between liner changes)

If the mama isn’t cloth diapering, you could still still do a diapering basket with a package or two of disposable diapers, wipes, butt cream, hand sanitizer, a toy and a change of clothes (cause you KNOW poop explosions are going to happen!)

 

Looking for more Baby Shower Gift ideas? Check out this post by my friend Jodi.

*The items mentioned in this post are ones that we really like and the companies have no idea I am sharing them.  I get nothing if you purchase them.  I’m just passing on things that we like!

Is there anything you would add to any basket?

Which one would do you think would be most useful for a new mom?

A Surprising New Love

I have a new love and it’s kinda surprising, at least to me. I know it will be to some family members too!  I’m finding that I LOVE cloth diapering Munchkin.  The dipes are just so cute, from the cow print to the pretty love lace.  Cloth diapers are also called fluff and I love her fluffy butt!  It’s just too cute.  I never knew that diapering your baby could be fun but it is!

I was very overwhelmed in the beginning.  Cloth diapering has it’s own lingo and there are so many options, from pockets to AIO’s to prefolds.  I decided that pockets seemed like a good idea and would be pretty easy.  I stocked up on them when I could.  I have some brand new ones and some used ones.  I joined a cloth swap group on Facebook for my area.  This has been a great resource and I’ve learned so much from those who have experience cloth diapering.  My mom also had some prefolds that they didn’t end up using with me 32 years ago.  I also picked up a few more prefolds, snappis and covers off the swap.  To my surprise I am LOVING using prefolds. 

My friend joycers gave me some cloth diapers as well.  Back in the day she had two in diapers so it’s quite the stash!  They’re fitteds and at first I was unsure about them.  I was really wanting to do pockets and I didn’t know if I would use them.  Well, I’ve broken them out and they are awesome!  Between the prefolds and the fitteds I don’t have to buy any more pockets because they fill out the stash quite nicely.  I’ll probably still get more pockets because they’re fun and I’ll be able to get used ones cheap from the swap group.

I’ve also started dabbling in wool to use with the prefolds and fitteds. Wool is great as a diaper cover because it allows for air flow (helping keep rashes down) and it naturally absorbs liquid well.  I was intimidated by it and the fact that it has to be lanolized.  Once I watched a video on YouTube on how to do it I saw how easy it is I decided to jump in. I’ve made some wool longies and a soakers out of sweaters.  It’s just so much fun!  I love the options that are available.  There really is something for everyone on any budget.

 

I know I can’t be the only one who loves to cloth diaper!  Who else is with me?  What’s your favorite part of cloth diapering?

The Hippie Stuff

I’m coming back soon, I promise!  Just a few more guest posts for you.  I think this is one that I’ll be able to write in a few months…we are wanting to try many of these things with Munchkin!

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Hi, I'm Chantal and I write at Scattered Seashells.  I've been married to Brandon for 4 years, as long as he's been in the Army, and we have a 6 month old, Penny. We're currently stationed at Fort Rucker while he goes to flight school. I love blogging and reading what others have to say! Thanks for letting me guest post!

I’m what you’d describe as a “crunchy mom.” I don’t like labels, though; I just say I’m into all kinds of hippie-stuff!

A few years ago, I wasn’t like this. I was a processed-food-eating, working-mom, send-my-kids-to-public-school kind of girl. Well, things change a lot when you have a baby.  Suddenly, I didn’t want an epidural and took classes to go for that natural birth (which
ended up as a c-section because of a breech baby… but that’s a whole other story). We  weren’t so sure about vaccinations, and so far our baby hasn’t had any shots. We are even doing baby-led weaning and skipping purees altogether! We do some baby-wearing, when she tolerates it!

Those are some of the more extreme “hippie” things we do. Basically, looking at us, we’re your normal family. We just buy all-natural and organic foods, a big switch we made a few years ago for health reasons, and we like to keep everything as natural as possible. We do what feels right for our family.

One of my favorite things to do with babies is diapers. Yep, I’m obsessed. I looooveee cloth diapers and I’m not afraid to tell you about them! If you haven’t messed with them before, they can seem a bit daunting. Who doesn’t want to just roll their diaper up and throw it in the trash?

Let me tell you, cloth diapers are far from difficult. They’re just like disposables but we’re saving so much money! We have spent maybe $350 on diapers and diaper equipment, and that’s it. And we aren’t hippie enough to worry about the environment tons, but just knowing that those chemical-filled poopy diapers won’t be sitting in a landfill is enough for me to feel pretty happy.

Oh, and they’re pretty cute, huh?

I could go on and on, but you could just check out my blog for all the scoop on what we do. This “hippie stuff” really works for our family and I love it. Having a baby can be so fun because of all the opportunities it opens you up to!