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My little lady LOVES broadway musicals. My poor husband is outnumbered.
Showing posts with label Babies. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Babies. Show all posts
Wednesday, July 17, 2013
Monday, July 15, 2013
Cloth Diapers: Newborns
What a journey this parenting adventure has been! I have to admit up front and honestly that it pretty much consumes my life these days and I'm 100% ok with that fact. That being said, I wouldn't be doing my ex couponing/money saving/renovation blogger duty if I didn't write a post on cloth diapering.
It took a while for Colin and I to decide on cloth diapering, and even longer for us to decide WHICH cloth diapers we were going to go with. I had started researching it in my crazy pregnancy "must make all of the right choices for my baby" haze, but didn't know anyone who used them so I wasn't convinced (and Colin was FAR from convinced). Then, I found out that my cousin Lauren used them, and got to see them in practice and ask questions over winter break. This pretty much solidified my feelings about wanting to use cloth with my baby, too.
Of course I was met with a lot of resistance from our parents generation who has nightmares about diaper pins and plastic pants - the diapers of old. Cloth diapers today can be like that, but they don't have to be. After doing a ton of researching and understanding about 25% of what I was reading, I made the decision to go with cottonbabies brand. They have multiple different diaper lines, and we sampled some from each of them.
A lot of people ask me how on earth I got my husband to agree to this system, so aside from the fact that he's super cheap and saw $$$ in his head once I spelled it all out for him, here's what my argument was - Would you use paper plates, napkins, cups, and plastic silverware every day just so you didn't have to do the dishes (he happens to be a dishes nazi)?? No one in their right mind would say yes to this. It just doesn't make any sense. That's how I felt about disposable diapers after I educated myself on the differences.
I'm going to do a few posts on our chosen system, and why we love love love it now, starting with newborn diapers:
We weren't going to cloth from the start, but did receive some BumGenius newborn cloth diapers as a gift and bought some on clearance, so we figured we would test them out, but not use them full time. After spending nearly $100 on disposables in the first two weeks (we started with 100 that were given to us as shower gifts) and an unbelievably gross diaper blow out in the middle of the night that left me, the bed, the baby, and all of our bedding covered, we quickly ordered a few more of the newborn cloths and switched over!
It took a while for Colin and I to decide on cloth diapering, and even longer for us to decide WHICH cloth diapers we were going to go with. I had started researching it in my crazy pregnancy "must make all of the right choices for my baby" haze, but didn't know anyone who used them so I wasn't convinced (and Colin was FAR from convinced). Then, I found out that my cousin Lauren used them, and got to see them in practice and ask questions over winter break. This pretty much solidified my feelings about wanting to use cloth with my baby, too.
Of course I was met with a lot of resistance from our parents generation who has nightmares about diaper pins and plastic pants - the diapers of old. Cloth diapers today can be like that, but they don't have to be. After doing a ton of researching and understanding about 25% of what I was reading, I made the decision to go with cottonbabies brand. They have multiple different diaper lines, and we sampled some from each of them.
A lot of people ask me how on earth I got my husband to agree to this system, so aside from the fact that he's super cheap and saw $$$ in his head once I spelled it all out for him, here's what my argument was - Would you use paper plates, napkins, cups, and plastic silverware every day just so you didn't have to do the dishes (he happens to be a dishes nazi)?? No one in their right mind would say yes to this. It just doesn't make any sense. That's how I felt about disposable diapers after I educated myself on the differences.
I'm going to do a few posts on our chosen system, and why we love love love it now, starting with newborn diapers:
We weren't going to cloth from the start, but did receive some BumGenius newborn cloth diapers as a gift and bought some on clearance, so we figured we would test them out, but not use them full time. After spending nearly $100 on disposables in the first two weeks (we started with 100 that were given to us as shower gifts) and an unbelievably gross diaper blow out in the middle of the night that left me, the bed, the baby, and all of our bedding covered, we quickly ordered a few more of the newborn cloths and switched over!
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| The outside of a diaper |
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| The inside of a diaper |
This is the all in one diaper that we used for the first 10 weeks. It is exactly like a disposable. You just take it off, put it in a diaper pail or wet bag, and put on a new one. When it's time to clean them you just throw them all in the wash, no extra prep work. Easy peasy! Did I mention that the only real leaks we had from these were when she was too small for them and we first tested, or when we forgot to change her for too long and she leaked out the side? Not a single blow out. Not one. And we still haven't had one. That in itself is enough evidence for Colin.
Now I have to mention that although we got 10 weeks of use out of these, I've read that this isn't the norm, so really do your research before deciding to buy newborn sized diapers. These were purchased from cottonbabies website during a "seconds sale" for roughly half price at $7.50 each. They sell for around $14 normally and I'm not sure it would be worth it to have a full set of around 20 (we have 23 right now) bought at full price. I also bought some from a local cloth diaper group for even cheaper. A woman bought them for her son and didn't even get to use them all before he grew out of them. I bought 6 brand new from her for $6 each. If you can find deals like these, then I would highly recommend it! I was so sad having to pack these up and see them go. Besides being super cute they worked great, were unreasonably easy, and dried in no time! Cloth diapering made simple.
Final Disclaimer: These diapers didn't fit Emmalyn well until she was close to 8 pounds. It says they fit 6-12 pounds, but there was no way the 6.5 pound baby I brought home from the hospital was going to get a tight seal around her skinny little legs at that point. And realistically although they still fit her now, she probably outgrew the absorbancy around the 10 pound mark.
Have any questions about our newborn cloth diapers? I'll have more posts to come about washing them, and what we do now that she's grown out of these beauties so be on the lookout!
Now I have to mention that although we got 10 weeks of use out of these, I've read that this isn't the norm, so really do your research before deciding to buy newborn sized diapers. These were purchased from cottonbabies website during a "seconds sale" for roughly half price at $7.50 each. They sell for around $14 normally and I'm not sure it would be worth it to have a full set of around 20 (we have 23 right now) bought at full price. I also bought some from a local cloth diaper group for even cheaper. A woman bought them for her son and didn't even get to use them all before he grew out of them. I bought 6 brand new from her for $6 each. If you can find deals like these, then I would highly recommend it! I was so sad having to pack these up and see them go. Besides being super cute they worked great, were unreasonably easy, and dried in no time! Cloth diapering made simple.
Final Disclaimer: These diapers didn't fit Emmalyn well until she was close to 8 pounds. It says they fit 6-12 pounds, but there was no way the 6.5 pound baby I brought home from the hospital was going to get a tight seal around her skinny little legs at that point. And realistically although they still fit her now, she probably outgrew the absorbancy around the 10 pound mark.
Have any questions about our newborn cloth diapers? I'll have more posts to come about washing them, and what we do now that she's grown out of these beauties so be on the lookout!
Sunday, July 14, 2013
Updates from Babyland!
Updates from babyland (10 weeks old): This week I officially packed up the last of her newborn clothes and diapers and we transitioned into full time 0-3 and 3 month clothes wearing! They don't fit her great (mostly because they're too wide), but the added length is nice for her fancy new big girl cloth diapers!
She discovered her tongue this week and sticks it out pretty much all of the time and licks everything. It's pretty funny and we laugh that she learned from Lila :)
We have one week down taking acid reflux medication and it's making a HUGE difference, even if we're not a fan of the weird peppermint flavor. The spitting up, grunting, flailing, and overall fussiness surrounding the constant feedings has all but disappeared. She was even able to put herself to sleep a few times this week while laying down instead of having to be propped! We may be on our way to a self soother soon! I was cooking dinner last night while she was in her bouncer, looked over, and was shocked to see that she had fallen asleep! This is progress people!
I started keeping track and timing her naps throughout the day today, and will continue to do so for the rest of the week. We're hoping she's establishing some kind of sleep pattern on her own that we can try and predict without having to "force" nap times or feel like we have no idea what our day is going to look like. We have a pretty good morning routine down including a nap around 11:30, but honestly I think the rest of the day is a blur for both of us so hopefully this helps.
To close out the week - Has anyone ever taken an infant on a boat? Did you get them a life vest? Emmalyn is only 2.5 months and roughly 11 pounds, but will be taking her maiden voyage soon and we're not sure the best way to keep her safe (in all honesty she would probably be fine just in our arms, but I want to do the right thing here).
We have one week down taking acid reflux medication and it's making a HUGE difference, even if we're not a fan of the weird peppermint flavor. The spitting up, grunting, flailing, and overall fussiness surrounding the constant feedings has all but disappeared. She was even able to put herself to sleep a few times this week while laying down instead of having to be propped! We may be on our way to a self soother soon! I was cooking dinner last night while she was in her bouncer, looked over, and was shocked to see that she had fallen asleep! This is progress people!
I started keeping track and timing her naps throughout the day today, and will continue to do so for the rest of the week. We're hoping she's establishing some kind of sleep pattern on her own that we can try and predict without having to "force" nap times or feel like we have no idea what our day is going to look like. We have a pretty good morning routine down including a nap around 11:30, but honestly I think the rest of the day is a blur for both of us so hopefully this helps.
To close out the week - Has anyone ever taken an infant on a boat? Did you get them a life vest? Emmalyn is only 2.5 months and roughly 11 pounds, but will be taking her maiden voyage soon and we're not sure the best way to keep her safe (in all honesty she would probably be fine just in our arms, but I want to do the right thing here).
Monday, September 5, 2011
I am officially the worst blogger.
I've had some long breaks from blogging before, but I'm pretty sure this one takes the cake. I promise you though, there is good reason! Not only have we been kicking butt on the house during the week, but we've also been spending the weekends with all of the wonderful people that we love and missed over the last two years! (If we haven't spent a weekend with you yet, it's not that we don't love you, or that we didn't miss you, it's that we're saving the best for last!)
I'm going to spend the rest of this post sharing pictures from our fun adventures over the past two months. However, I have to preface this by saying that I wasn't the best at capturing every little detail this summer. Sorry. And most of the pictures are of the new best thing in my life little Lydia Hutchinson (so sue me, she's an adorable baby). Check back for updates on each and every room in the house as the night progresses! Happy Labor Day!
Let the Lydia show commence:
I'm going to spend the rest of this post sharing pictures from our fun adventures over the past two months. However, I have to preface this by saying that I wasn't the best at capturing every little detail this summer. Sorry. And most of the pictures are of the new best thing in my life little Lydia Hutchinson (so sue me, she's an adorable baby). Check back for updates on each and every room in the house as the night progresses! Happy Labor Day!
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| We spent a long weekend with Colin's sister Kristy and her husband Aaron, and the only pictures I came away with were of their adorable little hedgehog Oxford. |
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| Kristy made me this sweet hat. And I'm sorry I made you so jealous wearing it while holding that adorable little animal. |
Let the Lydia show commence:
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| Sure there's a baby now, but we're all still the same crazies. |
Thursday, July 28, 2011
The day we've been waiting for (was yesterday)!
Our floors are here, our floors are here!!! After a ridiculous amount of delivery mishaps and an extra week and a half, our flooring has finally arrived, and it looks great! We couldn't be happier with both the quality and the color. Unfortunately, we had to order so much of it that it nearly takes up both of our spare rooms while still in the box. We decided to take out a few boxes at a time to let it "breathe" since chances are we aren't going to do the whole house at once.
While not moving around about 4600 lbs of floors (including the boxes at the Tellez residence), we've been knee deep in tile work. The fireplace is now grouted and awaits sealant tomorrow (see the fireplace post for updated pictures), and the entryway is cut and laid! Tomorrow, we grout. All in all the entryway went way better than the fireplace. I'm sure it has a little to do with the fact that we had a better idea about what we were doing, but starting with a completely level surface didn't hurt either. Luckily for us, Colin is a whiz with the tile saw, and all of the cuts lined up perfectly! It completely transforms the entryway and will look great with the laminate!
At this point after going non stop nearly every day with the house, my body is slowly breaking down and covered in bruises. Renovating a house is truly the best workout there is. When we're not working our butts off, I like to spend my time hanging out with this guy:
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| Can't I just play with legos and read books all day? |
Saturday, July 16, 2011
New Light Fixtures
After lots of hard work, we decided to take today a little slower (ha). Once we finished a nice long breakfast of waffles, eggs, and bacon, we got to work moving pretty much every box and medium sized piece of furniture into the basement in preparation for pulling up all of the carpet. We then moved on to a gigantic home depot trip for things like light fixtures, smoke alarms, and other items we needed to get the house back up to code (mostly outlet wiring).
Since we were committed to lots of train track building with Rogan for most of the night, we only installed one of our new chandeliers. Let me tell you, it was not as easy as we thought it was going to be! Those suckers are heavy and our ceilings are ridiculously vaulted, but this light just happened to be in an area too low for our ladder. The only way we could conquer it was to put the whole light together, have Colin stand on a stool and mount the hardware/wire the new light, while I held the giant thing on my shoulders until he was done. Here's the final product:
It definitely makes a dramatic difference in the room! Not to mention it's nice to have a light in the living area that wont randomly go out every now and then! Tomorrow, we're tackling the one in the entry way. I'm sure with the heavier light and the higher ceiling it should be a piece of cake!
Since we were committed to lots of train track building with Rogan for most of the night, we only installed one of our new chandeliers. Let me tell you, it was not as easy as we thought it was going to be! Those suckers are heavy and our ceilings are ridiculously vaulted, but this light just happened to be in an area too low for our ladder. The only way we could conquer it was to put the whole light together, have Colin stand on a stool and mount the hardware/wire the new light, while I held the giant thing on my shoulders until he was done. Here's the final product:
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| Old |
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| New |
Saturday, May 21, 2011
Welcome to the world little Lydia May Hutchinson!
Here are a million adorable pictures that I've been drooling over since her mommy sent them to me:
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| Little Lydia all ready to head home! |
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| Lydia and Dad |
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| Lydia and Mom |
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| The happy Hutchinson family |
Congratulations Hutchinsons!! Who would have known that after years of rockin' it on the adventure track, you'd be the first ones to have an adorable little baby! <3
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