Jon and I put this video together for a class Jon's mom is teaching next week. So it's more informational than cute, but I still love it!
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
Sunday, January 25, 2009
Only Have Eyes for Pooh...and Roo
Caleb has had smiles for his Winnie the Pooh musical toy for several weeks. This week, he just started interacting with his kangaroo toy.
Friday, January 23, 2009
Cushy Tushy
Did you know how much diapers cost? It's insane, really. Jon and I figured up that we'll be spending almost $2,000 just to protect ourselves from baby poo for the next two years. Being the cheap people we are, that really hurt. It caused us to consider something we never had before: cloth diapers. Realizing that an initial investment of less than $250 would get us set for two years of diapering really caused us to think. Then we'd say, "Yeah, but baby poo...I don't want to deal with that." And just looking at cloth diapers made my head swim--there were so many options!
Well then our friend, Stacey, made the switch with her one-year-old. She blogged about and answered many of my questions. Suddenly cloth diapers didn't seem so weird. She found two great things.
One, the diapers. BumGenius 3.0 diapers are adjustable to fit babies from 8lbs until they potty train, so one purchase of diapers will last two years...and will fit two different-sized kiddos if we have another baby while Caleb is still in diapers. Then the same diapers will last through the second kid. That's awesome.
Two, the diaper liner. This is kind of like a dryer sheet, and it can be washed up to three times. But if it gets poo on it, you just take it out of the diaper and flush it. It's biodegradable so perfectly fine to go in the toilet. So no dealing with poo! Actually, it's better than disposables, because the poo is flushed away instead of sitting in the Diaper Genie until trash day.
As we watched our stash of diapers that we'd collected over 9 months dwindle away, and as we considered that our income might be much smaller in the future, we decided to take the plunge. I did minimal research, mostly trusting Stacey's choices. Everyone I asked who used cloth, or every forum I found, rated BumGenius as the best. We bought 12 diapers for about $225. Sure, it sounds like a lot, but we had asked for money for Christmas, plus $200 for diapers that would last through all our children? You're looking at a 90% savings for one kid, and it just gets better with every child. So it was worth the investment.
And yesterday we started cloth diapering!
I've been a little skeptical. I mean, disposables have double elastics around each leg. With just one elastic, I figured we were doomed to leakage. However, Jon reminded me that Caleb leaks through the disposables and we just change his clothes and move on, no big deal, and it would be the same with cloth. Well, we put his first diaper on, took a picture...
...and then I camped out in my usual work spot at my desk with Caleb on my lap, with a lap pad under his bum, because I just didn't trust these crazy diapers. And of course he pooped. Didn't wanna give mama an easy first diaper, evidently. But no leaks!
So now what do I do? With a disposable, you roll and fold and close it all in on itself so it's a tiny ball, then dump it in the Diaper Genie. With this, I was going to have to wash it, so I didn't want to roll it up into a ball. So I folded it as cleanly as I could and put it in the bag for washing. On to the next diaper.
I put him in a disposable last night, since I don't know how much absorbency he needs at night. And today he's had a full day of cloth. I can't tell when it's wet, yet, but I guess that's just something I'll learn. And really, for all the money we're saving, he's got the cushiest tushy around! So far I'm a fan!
Aw, mom, don't take a picture! I'm in my undies!
Well then our friend, Stacey, made the switch with her one-year-old. She blogged about and answered many of my questions. Suddenly cloth diapers didn't seem so weird. She found two great things.
One, the diapers. BumGenius 3.0 diapers are adjustable to fit babies from 8lbs until they potty train, so one purchase of diapers will last two years...and will fit two different-sized kiddos if we have another baby while Caleb is still in diapers. Then the same diapers will last through the second kid. That's awesome.
Two, the diaper liner. This is kind of like a dryer sheet, and it can be washed up to three times. But if it gets poo on it, you just take it out of the diaper and flush it. It's biodegradable so perfectly fine to go in the toilet. So no dealing with poo! Actually, it's better than disposables, because the poo is flushed away instead of sitting in the Diaper Genie until trash day.
As we watched our stash of diapers that we'd collected over 9 months dwindle away, and as we considered that our income might be much smaller in the future, we decided to take the plunge. I did minimal research, mostly trusting Stacey's choices. Everyone I asked who used cloth, or every forum I found, rated BumGenius as the best. We bought 12 diapers for about $225. Sure, it sounds like a lot, but we had asked for money for Christmas, plus $200 for diapers that would last through all our children? You're looking at a 90% savings for one kid, and it just gets better with every child. So it was worth the investment.
And yesterday we started cloth diapering!
I've been a little skeptical. I mean, disposables have double elastics around each leg. With just one elastic, I figured we were doomed to leakage. However, Jon reminded me that Caleb leaks through the disposables and we just change his clothes and move on, no big deal, and it would be the same with cloth. Well, we put his first diaper on, took a picture...
...and then I camped out in my usual work spot at my desk with Caleb on my lap, with a lap pad under his bum, because I just didn't trust these crazy diapers. And of course he pooped. Didn't wanna give mama an easy first diaper, evidently. But no leaks!
So now what do I do? With a disposable, you roll and fold and close it all in on itself so it's a tiny ball, then dump it in the Diaper Genie. With this, I was going to have to wash it, so I didn't want to roll it up into a ball. So I folded it as cleanly as I could and put it in the bag for washing. On to the next diaper.
I put him in a disposable last night, since I don't know how much absorbency he needs at night. And today he's had a full day of cloth. I can't tell when it's wet, yet, but I guess that's just something I'll learn. And really, for all the money we're saving, he's got the cushiest tushy around! So far I'm a fan!
Aw, mom, don't take a picture! I'm in my undies!Saturday, January 17, 2009
The Blue Bulb of Unhappiness
One day a coworker and I were in a gift shop and came across the Blue Dog of Happiness:
My boss was going through a rough time at work, so my friend bought the Blue Dog of Happiness for his desk.
We have recently implemented a new tool at our house, the Blue Bulb of Unhappiness:
Yep, my boy is a snotty one. And he ain't happy about it.
My boss was going through a rough time at work, so my friend bought the Blue Dog of Happiness for his desk.
We have recently implemented a new tool at our house, the Blue Bulb of Unhappiness:
Yep, my boy is a snotty one. And he ain't happy about it.
Thursday, January 15, 2009
Monday, January 12, 2009
Sunday, January 11, 2009
Grandma's House
Caleb and I took a quick trip to Grandma's and Grandpa's house after Christmas. Grandma loved to play with Caleb!
There's something about grandmothers giving baths. Both have had MUCH better success at keeping a calm baby during bathtime than Jon and I ever have!
And I've decided there's nothing much cuter than a little boy dressed in pants and shoes.
There's something about grandmothers giving baths. Both have had MUCH better success at keeping a calm baby during bathtime than Jon and I ever have!
And I've decided there's nothing much cuter than a little boy dressed in pants and shoes.
Saturday, January 10, 2009
Caleb's Second Week photos
Click the photo above for pics of Caleb when he's in his second week of life. It could be titled: The Many Faces of Little Man. He's grown so much already!
Friday, January 09, 2009
Wednesday, January 07, 2009
Workin' Mom
Today is my first day back! And Aunt Karen has Caleb. I know he's in very capable hands! Yesterday he stayed with a non-family member for the first time, my friend Bekah. She took pics of the occasion. I notice he's sleeping on his tummy at her house! :) But he's oh-s0-cute and now I have pics to look at today so I won't miss him so much.
Tuesday, January 06, 2009
He sleeps!
Jon figured out something big the other day: Caleb will fall asleep when you face him toward you and rest his head on your shoulder. It still takes a lot of jiggling and rocking, but it cuts out the walking around and around and around the house. This is a huge discovery! Now if we could figure out a way to keep him asleep; he tends to wake up about 10 minutes after falling asleep.
In other news, Caleb is starting to make prolonged eye contact! It sounds small, but it's pretty exciting.
And we put up a Winnie the Pooh toy by the changing table. He's all scrunched up, and when you stretch him out, he squeezes back together and plays the "Winnie the Pooh" song. We pull it at every diaper change, and Caleb really likes it! His eyes will fix on it, and he'll wiggle with the music...not that conducive to changing diapers, but still fun. He really likes the changing table. It's a good place to lay him to calm him down sometimes, and he's very good during [most] diaper and wardrobe changes.
In other news, Caleb is starting to make prolonged eye contact! It sounds small, but it's pretty exciting.
And we put up a Winnie the Pooh toy by the changing table. He's all scrunched up, and when you stretch him out, he squeezes back together and plays the "Winnie the Pooh" song. We pull it at every diaper change, and Caleb really likes it! His eyes will fix on it, and he'll wiggle with the music...not that conducive to changing diapers, but still fun. He really likes the changing table. It's a good place to lay him to calm him down sometimes, and he's very good during [most] diaper and wardrobe changes.
Monday, January 05, 2009
Back in the Groove of things
We went to church yesterday. It was our third Sunday to go, but the first time we got to meet with our Sunday School class. They have been our good friends since we moved here 3.5 years ago, and we had been away for 8 weeks! Everyone cheered when we walked in the door--probably not because Jon and I were finally back, but because we brought our little Caleb along with us! He did great, too. Slept the whole way through except for one moment where he woke up and let out a little cry before going back to sleep. Brent was teaching, and he turned and said, "His first amen!" Hopefully he'll do as great every week.
After church we went to lunch with several couples, and it was very nourishing to be with such good friends, and do something we've missed. Yeah, it was a little different with a baby to feed and burp and keep happy, but it was great.
After church we went to lunch with several couples, and it was very nourishing to be with such good friends, and do something we've missed. Yeah, it was a little different with a baby to feed and burp and keep happy, but it was great.
Thursday, January 01, 2009
Growing up
Today I put away all of Caleb's newborn clothes! He only had about 8 outfits, and he'd go through 2 or 3 even 3 on a crazy day, so we'd gotten quite familiar with them all. It will be fun to start on our large collection of 0-3 month clothes!
We also tried upgrading to size 1 diapers, since we'd experienced frequent blowouts and spillages recently in his newborn diapers, but the first size 1 diaper resulted in more spillage, this time because it was too big. So, back to newborn diapers for a bit, and we'll see how long that lasts.
We also tried upgrading to size 1 diapers, since we'd experienced frequent blowouts and spillages recently in his newborn diapers, but the first size 1 diaper resulted in more spillage, this time because it was too big. So, back to newborn diapers for a bit, and we'll see how long that lasts.
Home again, home again
Yesterday, Caleb and I came home from a 3-day stay with Grandma and Grandpa, and Caleb was all smiles the minute he was in Daddy's arms! He slept great last night and even had a few good naps today, so I think he's enjoying being at home. Before that latest trip, we'd just gotten back from a week at Nana and Grandad's. Our visits were so sweet, but it's nice to settle back to normal and see what kind of routine Caleb will set up.
Only one more week and maternity leave is over! I can't believe how quickly it's gone, and I'm so glad I'll be a work-at-home mom. He just seems too tiny to send off to someone else to watch!
Only one more week and maternity leave is over! I can't believe how quickly it's gone, and I'm so glad I'll be a work-at-home mom. He just seems too tiny to send off to someone else to watch!
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