Top 5

I thought I would do a post on my top 5 favorite baby items right now.  These are the things Lydia and I are loving!! :)


5. Target Nursing Bras

You can find them here

I know I'm not nursing anymore, but in those beginning weeks when breastfeeding was horrible these bras were amazing.  They're supportive, but super comfortable.  My favorite thing about them is that you pull the fabric to the side when you want to nurse rather than having a snap to deal with. 

4. BabyLegs

Andrea let me borrow some of her BabyLegs and I am sooo in love!  They are so stinkin' adorable, but they also make diaper changes quick and easy.  Even better, if you cloth diaper you can show off your baby's dipes while still keeping baby's legs warm. :)  I can't wait to buy some really girly ones now that we know we love them!

 3. Video Monitor



We used our video monitor with Chloe and still love it for Lydia.  It's especially great for those times when you're not sure if baby is really awake or just squirming around trying to get comfy to go back to sleep.  You can check in on them without having to open the door (and for sure waking them up!) or even better, get out of bed in the middle of the night! (although Lydia is spoiled rotten and still in our room...haha).

 2. Miracle Blanket

www.miracleblanket.com

 We didn't have the miracle blanket for Chloe, but we could not live without it with Lydia!!  She is definitely a baby who needs to be swaddled and this is the only swaddle she can't Houdini her way out of (most of the time!).  At first I kind of felt bad for putting her in this straight jacket, but this thing really is a miracle because the minute she's all swaddled up her eyes start rolling back in her head and she's ready to sleep.

And my number 1 favorite baby item is.....

1. Cloth Diapers

Cottonbabies.com

I am so in love with cloth diapers I could go on and on about them!

I was extremely nervous to use cloth diapers because it felt very overwhelming at first, but all my friends were using them and loved them so I decided I would give it a shot.  I'm pretty sure my 5th grade teacher who had to give the whole class a lecture on peer pressure because of me would actually approve of me succumbing to this cloth diaper peer pressure. ;)

While I'm not a super "green" person, although I do get called crunchy or a hippie from time to time, I seriously HATED throwing out so many disposable diapers with Chloe.  I knew that those big bags of diapers were going to sit in a landfill somewhere and NEVER decompose.  Gross!  So, it was definitely a bonus to cloth diapers that I would be doing a small bit to help the environment.

Another great thing is the money we're saving!  By using cloth diapers we're saving about $1700!!

BUT the thing I love very most about using cloth diapers is how great of a diaper they are.  Let me explain.  When Lydia was a newborn we did a cloth diaper rental, but with me being a psycho crazy person the first few weeks we resorted to disposables most of the time.  I had forgotten how nasty those things really are.  Lydia leaked through pretty much EVERY diaper (and I was changing her regularly), she reeked of urine the moment she peed in them, and the things just aren't cute -- as if that's mandatory.  She has NEVER leaked or had a blow out in her cloth, they don't stink, AND they're SO cute!!

There are several different types of cloth diapers, but we use the bumGenius 4.0 pocket diapers and I would highly recommend them!  They are super easy and one of the cheaper pockets out there.  With a pocket diaper there is a pocket on the inside of the diaper that you stuff with absorbent inserts.  The nice thing about this is you can stuff as much or as little in there as you need.  Lydia is quite the little pee-er, so at night we definitely double up our inserts.

A lot of people think the laundry would be a lot of extra work, but it's really not.  I actually enjoy doing Lydia's diaper laundry.  With the bumGenius, it's super easy.  When I change Lydia's diaper, I throw the whole thing into the diaper pail (which is just a trash can with a water proof liner in it).  About every other day, I take out the pail liner and dump all the diapers *and* the pail liner into the washer.  Then I do a cold wash, a hot wash with detergent, and one more cold rinse.  During the first cold wash, all the diaper inserts agitate out of the diapers.  When the washing is done I throw the insertss into the dryer and hang the covers and pail liner up to dry.  Sometimes I hang the inserts too.  When they're all dry, I stuff the diapers and put them away ready to be used again.  It's really a very simple process and once you get the hang of it you just do it all without even thinking.

I honestly don't think cloth diapering is any harder than using disposables.  It may take a tiny bit more preparation and of course there's the laundry, but the benefits FAR outweigh those things for me.

Now that I've written a book!  If you have any questions about cloth diapers (or any of the other favorite things) let me know!!

 

Lydia: Birth-3 months

I will be honest. I have not taken NEARLY as many pictures of Lydia as I have Chloe (like...not even close!!). I really need to get better at doing that and am going to commit to that with this post. ;)

Lydia's temperament as a baby is very similar to what Chloe's was. She loves to sleep and was sleeping pretty long streches at just a couple of weeks old. She usually takes one really long nap a day (about 3 hours) and then a couple of shorter naps. She was typically going to bed about 10:30 or 11, but we're slowly moving her to an earlier bedtime and we're at about 8:30 now.

She smiles all the time and is generally just a very happy, easy baby.  I've gotten one little giggle out of her, but nothing since then.  I can't wait for her to giggle all the time!

November & December

One day old

Snugglin' with Poppy

Getting some love from Kailey

Lydia and Andrea

My two sweeties

Meeting her uncle Bob.  I surely hope Lydia's Great Granny Snow White was smiling down from heaven at these two snuggling on my couch.

BIG YAWN!

Snoozin'...

It's her favorite past time. 

Her tiny little hand holding her Poppy's big strong hand.

If Chloe is anywhere in the room, Lydia has her eyes on her.  Of course, who wouldn't with a silly big sister like that!

Mommy and Lyddy

Bath time!

January

Love the Moby!!

Our first walk

First smiles

Add caption

Chillin' in her cloth diaper

My happy baby!

February
I can't get the caption function to work correctly for this batch of pictures without completely messing them all up, so these look different. Grrr...

 Hi Baby!! :)

 First time in the Bumbo

She's getting so big!

More Bumbo time...she loves to be sitting up and in the middle of the action.

She's so close to figuring out how to suck her thumb!

My girls

March
 

I don't have very many pictures for March, but I had to post this one.  Look at that hair! 
It's growing so fast and it sticks straight up! So funny!

 

Chloe's 5th Birthday

Chloe turned 5 on January 15th. I know everyone says it, but I seriously can't believe she is 5 already. I was looking back through pictures the other day and it seems just two minutes ago she was a tiny, chubby little thing.

Now she's 5 and there is so much about her that I just love!! She's hilarious and makes me laugh so many times every day. She's so wise and teaches me how to a better mom. She loves to play games and right now UNO is her favorite. We have family UNO night every night these days. She hides from her daddy when he comes home every. single. day. She dances any chance she gets. K-LOVE is her favorite radio station and she knows the words to about 98% of the songs. She can play in the bath for hours with her Barbies. She's slowly coming around to her sister and loves to pinch her chubby cheeks. She has a stuffed hippo (that we got on our "just the 3 of us" trip to St. Louis before Lydia was born) that never leaves her side. She loves to draw and learn new things to draw. She loves deeply. She's extremely sensitive and worries about if people will laugh at her. Her best friend is Loreli and watching them together brings me so much joy. She is my first born and will always have a very special place in my heart.

Moving on from that love fest. ;)

On the morning of Chloe's birthday I hung up balloons in the hallway for her to wake up to.  She thought that was pretty cool.

Pretty much sums her up: a tutu, tights, and attitude!

 For Chloe's birthday we had a Tangled party (her favorite movie). I wanted this year to be a bigger party since she was turning 5 and also because she was a little in the shadows from her sister's recent birth. We had lots of wonderful friends and family there, great food, and great music from our DJ friend, Andrew. :) I think it was a success. Here are some pictures from the day (thanks for taking them, Molly!)

The Tables.  I made the centerpieces and spread Tangled candy on the tables.  We also hung up some of Chloe's Tangled paintings on the walls.

Opening gifts.

Lindsey and I spend a LOOOOONG time (get it...haha) making this braid from yarn.  It turned out really cute and we used it as a decoration

Our own little Tangled.  That hair was a MESS!

We finally braided it to keep in more under control.

She was excited Andrew was playing a certain song.  I'm not sure which one, but my best guess is either Party Rock or something by Justin "Beaver".  Yes, my daughter is in love with the biebs...help me!

Dancing with her bestie.

Everyone joined in the fun!

Get it girrrrl.

My two little loves before the party.

 

Hindsight

They say hindsight is always 20/20 and while I'm not sure I can see completely clearly about our breastfeeding experience with Lydia yet, there are definitely some things I learned and I hope will help other women in the future -- my blog readers and/or my doula clients.

1. Education.  Like I said, I was completely naive about breastfeeding with Chloe, but I don't really feel like I was all that much more prepared when I had Lydia.  I had more knowledge of the benefits and definitely more will to stick with it, but I still didn't know how hard it is.  I did have one friend who had a really hard experience and she pushed through and is still nursing her little one today.  She's pretty much my hero.  But I really honestly thought she was the exception and I did not prepare myself for all the hard work it would be.  Everyone tells you how natural and bonding breastfeeding is.  The truth is, in the beginning (I'm learning for *many* women) it's really hard work. I'm sure there are women out there that have a super easy time, but my guess is most don't.

2. Set your mind to it and don't give up.  I think part of the reason we weren't successful is not because I hadn't set my mind to breastfeeding, but because I had set my mind to the breastfeeding experience I THOUGHT we would have.  Again, I didn't realize how horrible it would be in the beginning and by the time I was so sleep-deprived and depressed, I just could not see the light at the end of the tunnel.  I feel like at least next time (God-willing) I will know beforehand that it's just going to suck (ha!) for a while.

3. Get help! I said that I had a LC that came to the house, but when I look back I probably should have gotten more professional help.  The LC I used was really sweet and tried to help, but she didn't see anything wrong with Lydia's latch (which I can hardly imagine due to the condition of my nipples) and she had no real suggestions about what was causing me so much pain. I should have seen another LC.  I should have gone to a support group -- although I was so scared to look like an idiot because I cried every time I fed her and my nipples were so destroyed that I thought they would take one look and tell me how I had completely screwed up and I just couldn't deal with that.  I realize that's completely ridiculous now, but in the moment I was a complete crazy person.

4. If you know you struggle with breastfeeding, get a postpartum doula (in fact, even if you don't struggle...get one anyway!).  I would have benefited so much from a postpartum doula coming to my house daily/every other day until things got better.  A postpartum doula (from the CAPPA website) "offers breastfeeding support, light household maintenance, family nurturing and instruction to mom and/or other family members in the care of a newborn.  The Postpartum Doula’s job is to make the transition to parenthood easier for new parents, to help mom during her recovery period and to ascertain what the family needs help with and provide the instruction.  The main objective of the Postpartum Doula’s role is not to take over complete care of the newborn, but to educate and support the family so that they will feel empowered to care for their newborn themselves".  Oh how I could have used that!

Hopefully this was helpful to somebody.  And if not, it was helpful for me to just process some of this out. 

Tomorrow I promise a much more light-hearted post with pictures of my girlies!  And possibly a video of Lydia "talking" if she will quit being camera shy! :)