Monday, April 30, 2012

Indiana Vacation.

So we took a very last minute trip to Indiana for the past week or so. My husband's unit decided to give them 36 hours notice that they would be allowed to take leave before deployment. So we bought some last minute plane tickets on Thursday! On Saturday, after dropping our dogs off at my friends house, we headed up to Tulsa. We stopped at the Tulsa Aquarium (Boston loves fish tanks), and then headed over to the hotel. Well, the hotel had changed names and was now a Motel 6, so it was gross... but oh well! We stayed over up there because Tulsa is 3 hours away and our flight was at 6am the next morning.




Matt feeding turtles


A big cuddly looking beaver


Boston looking at the moon jellies


Tired at 5am at the airport



So Sunday morning, we get up super early, and head out front to the shuttle. We make it about a mile before the transmission goes out. So we have to wait on the side of the road for his boss to come pick us up in his car. Our stuff BARELY fit in there and I basically had Boston and he stroller laying across my lap. But we finally get to the airport with plenty of time. Boston did fine on the planes, same as last time we flew. We had a 3 or so hour layover in Detroit which sucked. Pretty boring airport, Boston just slept and played on the floor the whole time. Once we got to Indianapolis, Matt's mom was there to pick us up. We went straight to his grandma's house since she has never met Boston before.





That night Matt's MANY aunts came over for dinner and them, their husbands, and his cousins all got to meet him. I think everyone on both sides of the family have met him now! The rest of the week we went out to eat a lot, did some shopping (there's a giant Target there! Stupid Fort Sill for not having one within an hour). We went two a very small zoo, and then Saturday we went to the Indianapolis Zoo. That was still a lot smaller than most zoos I've been too. But they had elephants (my favorite) and giraffes (my husbands favorite) so it was still awesome! We saw a really cool dolphin show too. The baby elephant was SO cute. She is 9 months old, and some zoo keepers came in to clean up and she was chasing them all around! And she even nursed on her mom :) Her mom put her trunk around her middle like a hug. After that we went to Ruby Tuesday's (another thing Fort Sill doesn't have) and then headed back to the hotel. We stayed in a Comfort Suites like usual this time so it was actually a nice hotel.




Heading to the third zoo in a week! It was COLD out




Looking up at the dolphin tank



Baby giraffe laying in the grass :)


Either itchy or giving the other one some love :)




Mom & baby


Hard to see, but baby elephant chasing the zoo keepers


Boston slept HORRIBLY the whole time we were there. He hated being in the car so often and when we would be in the car he'd only take short naps. I don't think he likes the pack n play because he slept like crap at night. Last night when we got home he cried a lot from being overtired, but once he fell asleep he slept fine like he usually does. We had fun but I'm very glad to be home.



Mommy Talk Tuesday {Sleep!}





The Not So Secret Confessions of a Second Time Mom

This week's topic is Sleep! Does your child sleep through the night? If so, when did they start sleeping through the night? Do/Did you sleep train? Tips and/or questions your have for other moms are great too! 
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Okay, yes I know I'm 6 days late... but I was on vacation so oh well! I still really wanted to participate in this topic. 

Boston has never slept through the night. Some might disagree, as some people think sleeping 6 hours in a row is sleeping through the night, but I completely disagree. What good is him sleeping 6 hours during the night to me if he goes to bed at 7:30! It's not like I'll be getting 6 hours in a row, going to bed at 10pm! Haha, but anyway, he has gone 7 hours in a row a couple times, but it hasn't been for awhile. He now (besides the last week, which was horrible because we were on vacation) wakes up twice, usually sometime between 11:30 - 12:30, and then again around 3 - 4, and wakes in the morning at 8. 

I did begin sleep training, but I didn't really stick with it because we were going on vacation and my husband is still here. I don't want him to have to listen to him cry all night his last few weeks before deploying. I will be starting again when he leaves. For now I can deal fine with him waking twice to eat since he goes right back to sleep. I did start solids last night, since he is 6 months this week, so I have no idea if that will help at all with sleeping (I doubt it) but we will see. 

Now for naps, he is a GREAT napper! He usually takes 2 1.5 - 2 hour naps a day, and then one shorter nap later on in the afternoon/early evening that is 45 - 60 minutes. He hardly ever has to CIO before naps, we nap trained MONTHS ago. He would wake at 45 minutes and have to CIO to get back to sleep, but now he doesn't ever do that. We are still swaddling half-way. We were using the Baby Merlin's Magic Sleepsuit, but with his new nighttime diaper combo it's just way too bulky. He had one arm out, so I found a larger velcro swaddler and just have him in that with one arm out. I was hoping to get rid of the swaddle by 6 months... but he's still not ready. I guess I can extend that to 7 months since he was a month early :)

This blog post has been brought to you by j. queen new york bedding

Thursday, April 19, 2012

Last minute trip & photo bomb.

So, with my husband deploying, they weren't sure if they were going to get leave beforehand (considering they don't even know when they are leaving). Well, today he was told that leave starts APRIL 21. Can anyone say last minute? So we will be heading to Indiana Sunday for a week! We are flying out of Tulsa super early, and it's a 3 hour drive, so we will be heading there Saturday afternoon and staying in a hotel with a shuttle to the airport. Boston's last great grandma will get to meet him! And all of my husbands aunts on his moms side. Everyone else already has.

My dad also told me today that he will be flying in to visit from May 21 - 25 which will be nice. Especially since it will most likely be shortly after Matt deploys, so I'll welcome the company. I hope Boston is crawling by then so he can see it! I had planned to drive to Indiana for two weeks in June as well, so we will see what happens with that since we are visiting now. Today I am making a large cupcake cake (I have a little cupcake business as fun), and it's going to be beached themed. It's for a friend we use to live next to before we moved on post. So I have to go to the store and get the supplies and get a few last minute travel items.

And lastly, here's another little BLW photo bomb :) He was eating toast with mashed avocado/banana spread on it, as well as banana slices.


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Getting changed in the bath tub after dinner!


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And an orange for lunch :)

Wednesday, April 18, 2012

Real Diaper Week 2012 Blog Hop: April 18th


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This week is the Real Diaper Week 2o12 Blog Hop, leading up to the Great Diaper Change. First read Cloth Diaper Your Baby for Free, by The Eco Chick, who is running the blog hop. She has a great page!

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Why did you start cloth diapering?  Was it for financial reasons?  Have you made your own cloth diapers?

I started cloth diapering for two main reasons. First, I knew it would be a LOT cheaper than buying disposable each month. And Two, my friends Alva Baby print diapers were so cute I just had to try them! A lot of people worry about the start up cost of cloth diapering. My advice is to find a co-op! I placed my first order and it only cost me about $60 for 10 diapers, 16 inserts, and a wet bag. That's not even what a months worth of disposable costs so I was already saving money from the get-go! Since then I've placed 2 or 3 more co-op orders and even the cute custom diapers I've bough, if I had it all up my total comes to less than 3 months worth of disposable, and they will last until he potty trains. 

I have not made my own cloth diapers. I do plan to get a sewing machine at some point. I won't be making things like pockets or AIOs, but I do plan to make my own fleece soakers and inserts/prefolds. 

Tuesday, April 17, 2012

Mommy Talk Tuesday! {Cloth Diapers!}





The Not So Secret Confessions of a Second Time Mom

This week's topic for Mommy Talk Tuesday is Cloth Diapers! Do you cloth diaper? If not, why not? If so, what convinced you to switch to cloth? What do you love about cloth? What are is your favorite diaper or type of diaper? Any troubleshooting questions? Feel free to ask! 
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Clearly, you know I cloth diaper from my many post about it this week! I didn't start at birth... I never really thought about it before one of my best friends here started doing it. I never had really heard about many people doing it before and didn't know how many options there were out there. All I really knew about were prefolds, and didn't know how easy to wash cloth diapers are, and I thought it would be gross to have to wash instead of just throw the diaper away with disposables. She let me borrow a few Alva Baby pockets for a few days and I immediately loved them! Since I'm still exclusively breastfeeding, I don't even have to spray the diapers out. I just throw them all in the washing machine every 2 days. Once I start solids I'll be buying a diaper sprayer to use before washing, which will make it even easier to keep them clean. 

What I love about cloth diapers, first of all, is how many different options there are. I started off with only pockets, and FLIP covers with stay dry inserts. I since have gotten rid of most of the FLIP covers and have branched out into AIO/AI2s, and fleece soakers as well. I have ordered fitteds this week and can't wait to try them out with my new fleece soaker. There are SO many cute prints and options and there are a ton of WAHM's that make really cute diapers on Etsy  and Hyena Cart. I recently got a Very Hungry Caterpillar AIO which is ADORABLE. My favorite type of diaper is the fleece lined Alva Baby pockets. 

A problem I am having, is finding the perfect combination for overnights. He is a HEAVY soaker and nothing I have tried works. I am going to try a fitted, with a bamboo or hemp soaker covered in a fleece soaker this week, my fitteds should be coming in a few days. 

Sleep Training: Update

So, it's been about a week since my post on my plans for sleep training. I didn't really follow what I had planned, but I do have a better sleeper on my hands! I did keep the schedule update and I think that really helped with his sleeping. I'm putting him to sleep a little earlier, and the past two nights I have only fed him 4 times during the day, instead of trying to fit in that short extra feeding right before bed. He's been sleeping 7pm - 1am, eating, then right back to bed until 7am. I'm completely fine with this!

At first last week I was doing CIO, because he was waking at 9 or 930pm for some reason. The first night he cried 10 minutes, the next 10 minutes then back to sleep for 5 (he did this 3 times before I brought him into bed with me), the next night 5 minutes. Not sure what all that was about but it's worked out now. I was bringing him into my bed a lot and I realized he wasn't sleeping as well because of it. The last two nights he hasn't been in my bed at all besides for feeding and he has slept great.

I still need to buy black-out curtains but I haven't had a chance. My father in law was here visiting over the 4 day weekend, so I haven't gone to the store to check them out. I did take the measurements for his windows at least, so when I do get some time to go I will know what I need to buy. The last thing on my list was starting solids... but that's not until next month. I did find someone selling a vegetable steamer though so that's a step in that direction!

Real Diaper Week 2012 Blog Hop: April 17th


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This week is the Real Diaper Week 2o12 Blog Hop, leading up to the Great Diaper Change. First read Save the Landfills, Use Cloth Diapers, by The Eco Chick, who is running the blog hop. She has a great page!

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How do cloth diapers help solve our waste problem? 

Using cloth diapers instead of a disposable is a great way to help solve our waste problem! The average babies uses 12-16 diapers per day at first, which eventually ends up being around 6-8 per day later on in life. You throw all of these diapers in the trash each day, and where do they end up? According to this article, approximately 92% of single use diapers end up in landfills each year. Although it may seem that with cloth diapers you are using more water with washing every other day, but in reality, the manufacture and and use of disposable diapers uses 2.3 times more water than cloth diapers. So not only are you saving the planet by not leaving diapers rotting in a landfill for hundreds of years, you are lessening your water use as well (not to mention saving hundreds of dollars!). Disposable diapers produce at least 70 times more solid waste, than cloth diapers do. This article brings up the fact that more and more people are burning or composting their diapers. While this may sound like a great idea to reduce the amount of waste that ends up with landfills, unfortunately this leads to more air pollution! It seems like there's just no way to win with disposables, so why use them!

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Monday, April 16, 2012

Real Diaper Week 2012 Blog Hop: April 16th

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This week is the Real Diaper Week 2o12 Blog Hop, leading up to the Great Diaper Change. First read 10 Ways You Can Become a Cloth Diaper Advocate, by The Eco Chick, who is running the blog hop. She has a great page!

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How do you promote, educate or advocate to others about the importance of cloth diapers?  

So far, since I've started cloth diapering I think I have managed to convert about 4 moms (in just two months, pretty good to start with!). A lot of people end up asking me about cloth diapering because I have a ton of cute prints and I take my baby out to a ton of playgroups, so a lot of people get to see them. A few of my pregnant mom friends have ordered their new Alva Baby diapers that I gave them the link to, and are just waiting for their babies to arrive to try them out! I have also let two different mom's borrow about a days worth of my diapers to see if they like them. This is how I got started with cloth diapering. My son's "girlfriend" (she's 23.5 hours older than him!) uses cloth diapers, and her mom let me borrow a few alvas for about a week to try them out and I loved them. Now it's an addiction! After reading the above post, I'd definitely like to try out some of the suggestions and host a cloth diapering group for the community to get more people involved! I live on a military post, so it would be great to host something on post, and also another one with WIC if they would let me. I'm so excited for the Great Cloth Diaper Change in Oklahoma City on Saturday. I will be heading up with the mom who got me into cloth diapers and it's going to be so much fun.

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Tuesday, April 10, 2012




The Not So Secret Confessions of a Second Time Mom

This week's topic is Losing the Baby Weight! How much weight did you gain  while you were pregnant? Have you lost the baby weight yet? If so, how did you lose the weight? Do you have any tips for other moms? If you haven't lost the weight yet, do you have any questions for moms who have? 

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I gained a TON of weight while I was pregnant. I started off at 104 (which is a BMI of 17.3 for my height), and I was on medication for ADD for Adderall, which usually makes you have no appetite. Well, I had to stop that when I got pregnant. My body decided since I was eating normally, instead of starving, it was going to holy on to EVERY CALORIE I put in my mouth because it assumed it would stop being fed again in the near future. Yeah that was fun, gained eight-five pounds without over eating even once. I lost 30lbs the first week home from the hospital. I've only lost about 5 more since then. Apparently my body also likes to hold on to weight while I'm breastfeeding which is pretty lame. Guess I just have to deal with it until I'm done when he's a year or so. I don't exercise but I eat healthy. Now that Boston's on a really good schedule I'll start going to the gym and leaving him with a sitter. I'll probably start taking spin and besides that just going on the elliptical and walking the 3 mile track. I don't need to lose the last 50 I still have, only about 30 since I was about 20lbs underweight. 


Beginning - somewhere around 8 - 10 weeks






13 Weeks

36 Weeks - day before I went into labor


Now - 5 months after





Adventures in Mommyhood: 30 Practical Tips for New Moms

This is hilarious and everyone should read it:

Adventures in Mommyhood: 30 Practical Tips for New Moms: One of my friends posted this article from Pajiba.com and I was dying of laughter. I feel like I could have written every single one of thes...

Wish-list.

I have a pretty lengthy wish list on Amazon. But there are a few things that I really want to get in the near future.


1. Padded Lace Underwire Nursing Bra - All of my nursing bras are ugly and wearing out, I'd like to have at least one or two that look nice and aren't from Walmart. 


2. Shark Navigator Lift-Away Professional Vacuum - This vacuum just looks amazing. My vacuum is fine and all, but with the amount of times the dogs like to rub their furry bodies all over my carpet every day, I would love to have a really awesome vacuum like this. 


3. bumGenius Diaper Sprayer - Since Boston is starting solids next month, I won't be able to just throw the cloth diapers into the washer anymore, I'll need to rinse them off first. This would make that a hell of a lot easier, just spray them off into the toilet!


4. Dresses from Target - I sure as hell am not going to be fitting into my old shorts/anything from before I was pregnant this summer, so I'd like to get a few new dresses to wear instead since I'm assuming it's going to be hot as hell again. It was 110 pretty much every day from April - October last year. 


5. Oster 5712 Electronic 2-Tier 6-Quart Food Steamer - This would make steaming Boston's vegetables SO much easier. All I have for a steamer right now is this gigantic pot with an insert that I have to wash  by hand because it's too enormous to fit into the dishwasher. This is definitely at the top of my list. 

6. L'il Squirt Baby Pool - This just looks so adorable and fun. Boston loves the bath & pool already and this looks like something he would like as well. He can sit propping himself up now, so by summer he will definitely be sitting up fine on his own, like the baby in the picture. 

7. Blueberry AIO Basix in Monkey - I want to get a few more AIO diapers now that I've tried one out, and I've had the Blueberry diapers saved in my favorites for quite awhile. There's a few other prints I'd like to get as well. Going to wait until the new Alvas from the co-op I ordered from come in first though. 


8. Eclipse Nursery Day At The Zoo Blackout Window Panel - I need to get some blackout curtains for Boston's room. There are two super bright streetlights right outside our house and I think he would sleep a lot better if it was actually dark in his room. Need to get some for my room too! (Although I probably won't pink baby blue with zoo animals for my room!)