Monday 31 October 2011

revisiting the 80s

Blue mascara? Oh yeah, it's all the rage.  

I went to put make up on this morning only to discover in my baby brainz state of being I purchased blue. 

Guess we're revisiting the 80s - good thing it's Hallowe'en!

Saturday 29 October 2011

The Great Diaper Experiment

You might remember the post from a couple weeks ago about the secret to a good night's sleep. I have to question whether or not we're using the best cloth diapers out there but the sleep wasn't consistent enough to justify using disposables outside of when we travel. We finished our test (results below) and determined cloth still wins out in the end. For now.

I have been having some serious issues with my wrists because of the snaps on the diapers and sleepers. Some days I feel like I have talons rather than hands. But am determined to stick with cloth and reduce my carbon footprint. Now it might be a different story if the city would take my compost if there's a compostable diaper in it. I'm not sure why. Are there not enough people in the city using them to justify the increased cost to break them down? Is it the human waste issue? Maybe people don't know that it's an option... maybe, just maybe, those who use disposables would switch to compostable diapers if they knew they just had to throw them in the big green bin. I think it's something worth looking into. If you know why, please shed some light. If I can't fix my wrists with physio and stick with cloth like we want to, my back yard is definitely worthy of a big ol' compost bin.

I guess it's just a process, figuring all this out. I know diapers are just the beginning. What a strange path I have ventured down. I can only chuckle and shake my head. I'm doing experiments on freakin' diapers!

The results - for those who want to see how it went in detail:

The first night, the one that started it all, we got a beautiful 6 hours - P woke up, nursed and then slept another 5 hours with just one boob fix during the second stretch.

Night 2 she went back to her routine of  4 hours - wake - 4 hours but then on night 3 - she gave us 7 glorious hours and then another 2 of restless sleep complete with lots of kicking (this kid is a ninja remember?!)

She slept 7 hours on the 4th night too, although we woke up after 4. Good luck getting out of that routine. She slept another 3 hours after that. At this point I'm starting to think that these long stretches of sleep may have nothing to do with diapers at all, but her possibly going through another growth spurt.

Night 5 and 6 - 4 hours - wake - 4 hours - wake - 3 hour; Night 7 - 4 hours, then 6

Back to cloth - first night she slept 7.5 hours, then slept another 4, and on and off all day. Growth spurt? mes thinks so! The next night, I honestly can't remember - it wasn't overly excessive on either end - short or long - trying to remember back a few days is hard ~ hence the name of the blog.

The third night back with cloth, she slept 4 hours with a quick side feeding, then 2.5 more hours... up for diaper change and quick feeding and back to sleep for another 3

Night 4 - 4 hours, 3 hours, and a restless 1.5 before we got up, night 5 - a decent 5.5 hours and then another 3

Night 6 sucked, and had nothing to do with her diaper at all. She slept for 4 hours, when she woke up wanting boob, we went to change her and she was completely dry. She slept another 3 and 3 after that

The final night of back to cloth she conked out for about 4 hours, then another three...

We went back to disposables for a couple nights, just to test my growth spurt theory (she did grow quite a bit that week). She ended up sleeping as (what's become) normal: a 4 or 5 hour chunk and then another 3, and if we were lucky another 2 in the morning.

Friday 21 October 2011

ouch Mama, ouch!

We're told to do it at 2 months, but because we procrastinate, we took Penelope to her first doctor's visit yesterday. Which was a little odd considering she didn't actually see a doctor, but a nurse practitioner named Jenn. 

Nurse Jenn turned out to be a really wonderful woman. She listened to my anxieties over giving P a bunch of shots and took the time to explain the histories behind them, the benefits and how to treat the diseases if she were to come down with something I chose not to vaccinate her for. 

I'm not immunizing her for everything under the sun. Did you know that some of the early stage vaccines have only been around for a few years, and one only a few months? No way. uh uh. not happening. I know I am not alone when it comes to weighing the pros and cons of each shot they want to give our children. The list of immunizations just seems to get longer and longer.

During the hour and a half we were there, Penelope got the usual head to toe. It was interesting to see where she showed up on the baby growth charts. Turns out, I have a huge baby. I already knew this but for those of you who haven't lifted her lately, she's 63.5cms long and 14lbs, 7oz. She's in the 85 percentile for weight. She's bigger than my friend's little girl who is 2 months older! Crazy. But she's super healthy. Which is another reason I don't want to give her a shot for something that hasn't been around long enough that it's a) been proven to work and b) won't mess with her developing immune system. Remember that cold she brought home from Harvest Fest? She fought it off in 2 days. Go breast milk! *fist pump

I am feeling a little regretful for not having taken more time to think about giving her the Prevnar vaccine. I don't want to take the chance at her getting pneumonia or meningitis, but on the flip side... she isn't high risk. Did I just put unnecessary drugs into my daughter? Can I take that decision back? Are there repercussions from getting an initial shot and not following up with boosters? So many questions, so many things to research ~ and I know this is just the beginning. Someone actually mentioned looking in to childcare to me today. eeek. Really? Is this our life now? Endless researching until she's able to make decisions for herself? I suppose so. I'm okay with it in the end. After all, I don't want someone else making them for us. But overwhelming. I guess for now, I'm just going to focus on comforting her when she cries "ouch Mama, ouch"!

Thursday 20 October 2011

Could this be the secret to a full night's sleep?

Could it really be true? Are disposable diapers the secret to getting a full night's sleep? We are cloth diaper users all the way - to the point where we actually weighed the pros and cons of using them when we went camping. The disposables won out in the end, although I have a feeling if it had been summer, and not quite so cold at night, cloth would have taken the victory lap on that one.

I thought she had been sleeping so well while we were camping because of all the people (a lot of stimulation) and all the fresh air. I know I sleep amazing after a day spent outdoors. Now I am beginning to question whether or not those long stretches of slumber may have had something to do with our babe not being wet. 

While we were in the woods, we missed our diaper drop off/pick up. Yes, we are spoiled and use a diaper service, we saved up the money from our baby showers and got a 10 week trial. Missing our weekly exchange lead to us running out of doubles for nighttime. Since it was only a day until we received a new bag, we decided to dip into our travel diaper stash just to use overnight, saving the last few cloths for during the day. 

What happened? Penelope slept a glorious 6 hours straight! Then, another 5 hours with just one wake up for a quick boob fix.

So, I have decided to experiment: one week using the Seventh Generation diapers overnight and cloth diapers through the day, and one week using the double stuffed cloth diapers.
Our trial for the diaper service runs out afterwards, so it's as good a time as any to test our theory. We're on day 3 of the great diaper experiment and she's sleeping pretty great - we'll let you know how the rest of it goes.



Saturday 15 October 2011

aaaah CHOO!

Looks like we brought home more than a new harp last weekend. (Only we would go to the woods and end up bringing home a freakin' harp, but that's a story for another day.) We also brought home the bug. The inevitable first cold has arrived. As has the never ending river of snot. Maybe I should make that a never ending bubbling brook of snot.

Sorry, I just don't know how to put it any other way. I mean, it really is more like a brook... at first it trickles down just a little at a time, then has a steady consistent stream and is topped of with a bursting white cap. And this just keeps happening over and over again. Who would have thought that "aaaah choo" sound from a tiny babe would end up leading to the most disgusting display of mucus. If we're really lucky we get a thick stream of green.


I never really understood people who talked so incessantly about their children's bodily functions, but now I get it... misery really does enjoy company. :) It's nice to have you along while I'm dealing with my first bout of gross baby oozes.

Dealing with her cold this week has also demonstrated just how deeply I have fallen in love with this creature of mine. Not because my clothes are covered in crusted bits and dried spit up (really what's not to love about that) - but because every time she whimpers to let me know she feels like shit, or sticks out her tongue when she lets out that tiny little cough my chest tightens and all I want to do is make her feel better. Poor little monkey. All I can do is hold her, try to comfort her, and, as many of my friends have recommended, "boob, boob, boob".
Funny, boobs really can make everything all better.

Wednesday 12 October 2011

FU-Haul

Well, we made it! Our first camping adventure was amazing. Although it wasn't looking as though it would go that route; it didn't even look as though we would get to Fest. We had booked an appointment to get our hitch put on with U-Haul a week before. They were aware that we were hoping for an earlier appointment. Hell, we even called every day to see if the hitch had arrived early by chance. 

So what happens? Morning of departure: Phone rings. Jared answers. U-Haul is on the line saying "Hello, Mr. MacKay? We're sorry, your hitch didn't arrive in time for your appointment this morning."

I'm giving them a big thank you in the form of a Johnny Cash one finger salute on Twitter for not telling us that there was a chance it wouldn't get here in time. 


Jared, being the calm, uber chill, relaxed guy that he is, gets on the phone to every Canadian Tire in town, finds a hitch, gets a mechanic to take pity on us and has it installed (for cheaper) within two hours. He always says "everything always works out". I guess I should start believing him. 

Turns out U-Haul follows their customers on Twitter, as I got an "oh no! Is there anyway we can contact you to fix this?" tweet... at 4pm.

uh huh.

Wednesday 5 October 2011

Camping for dummies

The grain is cut, some for bread and nutrition, some to be stored away to use as seeds next spring, creating new life. It's a time for sacrifice, transformation, death and rebirth! We're off to Harvest Fest, an amazing weekend in the woods with tribe, to celebrate and give thanks to our Corn King for an abundant harvest. 


Wondering what's up with the clothing shots? We decided since it's P's first Harvest, we should make onesies to mark the occasion. In the process, I found a new hobby (screen printing is way more fun than I thought it would be) and hopefully ended up with a really great product to sell at Harvest Fest.

 

But it's not just Harvest, and it's not just a festival weekend.


It's also this new family's first camping trip. 

 

Should be easy enough to pack for since Penelope's only a couple months old, right?

 

Right???

 

Yeah, um, no.

 

Today saw two drawers of clothing carpet the nursery floor, me give up on the idea of camping with cloth diapers, and Penelope squirm with every pitiful attempt I made to see if stuff might still fit, or if during her growth spurt she managed to grow into some of the warmer clothes. 

 

Long sleeve onsies, jeans, sweaters, dresses, hats, knitted booties, blankets, receiving blankets... 

 

*arrrrgh*

 

I was lost. What DO you pack when it's going to be 4 degrees at night and 26 through the day? 

 

A wise friend told me, "Pack everything... and a baby carrier".

 

She's done this before. 

 

 

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