Sleeping like a baby...

Wubbanub--check

Dry diaper  --check

No longer being harassed by big sis  --check

Hangout time in the middle of the floor turns to naptime.

10 minutes earlier:

5 minutes earlier:

New Keens, Happy Girl

Keen H2 Sandals

Waterproof. Rugged. Mini versions of Mommy and Daddy's shoes. Easy for her to take on and off. Protect her little toes. RED. An overwhelming success.

My baby and her baby (and our baby)

I just finished nursing the baby on my bed, with Violet hanging out there with her baby. While I was nursing Gator, big sis kept covering him up with "blankets" (burp cloths and a cloth wipe). Then she'd take them off and use them for HER baby. She tried to burp baby brother while he was nursing, then focused her attention on her baby.

Baby got burped, rocked, shushed, nursed, etc. Violet even told herself to be gentle touching her baby. I wish I'd had a camera in reach to capture the sweet way she was mothering her baby, all bundled up with "blankets" and a burp rag. 

We had a discussion about the baby...the plastic one. Apparently baby's name is "Two" and she's now a boy. Both may change with time. She was calling her toy baby by her brother's name a moment ago.

Toy baby is resting on the bed, snuggled in a receiving blanket, her (his) head on the cloth diaper that used to be under her spit-up-prone brother's head. 

Baby Two and some funky flash lighting

Mothering the real baby

Now both kids are leaning against a pillow. She's watching Clifford. He's watching her. On Clifford, a girl is dealing with her new baby brother getting all the attention. My little girl is captivated by it at the moment. That might not be such a bad thing.  She's winding down, good since she skipped a nap and needed downtime. She has her arm around her baby brother and tries to calm him when he gets fussy. Awwww......

Couch Bed potato

I grabbed my camera and laptop to document this sweet moment before my sleep-deprived mind forgot it. Time for me to go, since Gator isn't finding anything he can nurse off of on his sister, and her well-meaning but slightly misguided soothing attempts are only going so far.

Hopefully rooting around her overalls...

And having no success.

(pictures added 5/31)

Raves: Personal Hygiene Edition

Some raves...

I bought Tom's of Maine Apricot deodorant at Target recently when they have been out of the Lady Speed Stick scent I've been using for years. I'm starting to wonder if it's discontinued. Many fragrances give me a headache, but I sweat enough that I appreciate having a little bit of coverup scent in my deodorant. I was thrilled to find the apricot Tom's deodorant. I'm not sure if it lasts as long as other options (the postpartum period can really tax an antiperspirant, in my personal experience) but it works fairly well and the scent is just light/strong enough to be pleasant and still hide BO. It's also made with different ingredients than your average stick, and I'm hopeful that might mean no more yellow stains on my light shirts.

I'm also really appreciating Always Infinity Pads these days. They are pricier than regular pads, but there have been some coupons for $3 or $4 off in the Proctor & Gamble brandsaver coupon inserts that make them comparable to other choices. These pads are supposed to be super-absorbant while being thin, a feature I appreciate in regular Always. But the thing that really distinguishes them for me is they are so much softer than regular Always. This is really important when you are extra sore after pushing a baby out, especially if you have tears that can be a side effect of spending almost no time pushing. 

The more comfortable pad surface is also really nice when one is forced to wear pads for weeks straight. That's right, women with no children, no tampons allowed during the weeks of bleeding after you have a baby. I'm really hoping that the excrutiating uterine massages my midwife performed will mean I'm done with that a lot sooner this time. In the meantime, I'm happy to have found Always Infinity pads. And did I mention they have wings? Essential for saving panties. 

That concludes this post of raves. I'm looking forward to sharing the toys that are keeping my toddler pleasantly occupied and other faves soon. We'll count this as contact with the outside world while I'm on maternity leave and not leaving the house as much as usual. Newborns can be tiring.

Diapers

I received my Free Sample of Huggies Pure & Natural Diapers this past week. It included three diapers, which the little guy is still a little small for, and a $3 off coupon. There are $3 off coupons for these on coupons.com and newspaper inserts as well. 

So I went to the store to find out just how much one pays for fragrance-free hypoallergenic disposable diapers made with organic cotton. Even with my $3 off coupon, they are kind of pricey if your little one is doing fine with regular Huggies. Until I realized the $3 off coupons on the packages were TARGET coupons and not manufacturer's coupons. Stacking the Target coupon with my manu. coupon saved me $6, so we got a package for my toddler to try.

Now if only Huggies fit my little man better. His sensitive skin could benefit from these diapers right now. But Huggies seem to be made for babies with much larger thighs than he has. He may chunk up as time goes on.  As it is, I can use Huggies Gentle Care newborn sized diapers on him if I'm really careful to overlap the tabs just right so the legs aren't too loose. Which means he only wears them when I feel semi-rested and he's not going to be anywhere that an explosion would be too devastating. 

At Target, they only had larger packs of Pure & Natural Huggies that are about the size of a pack and a half of other diapers. There were 46 in my package of 4s that retailed for $17 something. I'm used to paying around $10 before coupons for around 30...but I ALWAYS have a coupon if I'm buying Huggies. 

Mega-pee holding Pampers Cruisers are our go-to overnight diaper for the VB, even when we're doing cloth during the day. We've been using Target brand diapers (now called Up & Up) during the day, plus Huggies and other brands when I have a really good coupon or am stacking Target and manufacturer's coupons to make them the same price as generics. She HAD to have Pampers Swaddlers then Cruisers when she was younger, but now that she is firmly into toddlerhood, the diaper brand doesn't seem to make as much difference unless she's going to be in it a long time, like overnight. 

She's been in sposies for a while since Mommy's been busy prepping for baby, exhausted, having a baby, caring for a baby, and did I mention exhausted? She's also showing renewed interest in potty learning at a time when it's honestly easier to have her in a diaper. Hopefully she'll potty train this summer.

In the meantime, sitting on the potty can be fun, but it's more about hanging out than using it for its intended purpose. She's figured out that saying she wants to use the potty is a GREAT way to stall bedtime. Because of course we'll put her on the potty if she asks out of the blue, when she usually refuses to consider it if we bring it up...

Itty bitty cloth diapers

First cloth diaper at 15 days old. Premie prefold under XS Thirsties cover.

I ordered some premie prefolds, thinking they would make good doublers and inserts if they were too small to use as prefold diapers, or if I couldn't get the hang of folding them. When they arrived, I didn't think we could possibly use such tiny prefolds and thought we'd go straight into the infant size. Then I prepped them and they got smaller as they shrank and waffled up. No way would these work. Then I had this 7 lb 6 oz baby with a tiny, tiny bottom. And premie prefolds fit him just fine. And that teeny XS cover is plenty big on him. 

16 days old, wearing a one-size fitted with no cover. Next several frames are of a screaming baby who wondered why Mommy kept pointing the camera and clicking instead of picking him up.

I was pleasantly surprised that some of my one-size fitted diapers fit the little guy in the smallest snap setting. They are a lot bulkier than other options, but are fine for hanging out at home. Especially for hanging out without a cover. Unfortunately, that wasn't enough to cure the nasty diaper rash that had started before I put him in cloth, and he's back in sposies with various creams on his bum until it's cleared up.

Motherhood

I became a mother when my daughter was born, and it rocked my world. In good ways and bad. The adjustment was greater than I'd realized. For better or for worse, it changed me in many ways. 

I'm now mothering twice as many children. I felt like a mother before, but in so many ways I feel like much more of a mother now. There's something about having to juggle the needs and wants of multiple children that requires special skills...and selflessness. 

Overall, things are going fairly well with our expanded family. I picked up some tips and tricks when we had our first needy infant, and while this guy's reflux may be every bit as bad if not worse than his sister's, we're armed with more ways to make him feel better. 

I'd forgotten just how much newborns sleep. Thank goodness. And this little guy is great about sleeping through his sister's tantrums. Maybe because he heard so many of them when he was growing in my belly. Quieter sounds like the clinking of blocks or the click of the walk-through baby gate startle him and wake him up, but a screaming toddler is nothing. 

So far, things are going fairly well...better than I'd expected. Sure, I'm exhausted, but not to the core like I remember last time. Cosleeping is a big part of being better rested. We try to put the baby in his bed for the beginning of the night and a nap or two, but when I want to sleep too, sleeping together makes us both happy. 

I'm fortunate to have my husband here helping me so far. When he goes back to work, and I'm dealing with a newborn and a cranky, nap-refusing toddler, well, it won't be too late to lose my mind. 

Baby is two weeks old today. It doesn't seem like it's been that long already, but time kept marching on while I was feeding him, changing diapers, and sleeping when I could. I'm trying so hard to appreciate him for the tiny little person that he is and not lose track of this special time. I was so tired and overwhelmed with his sister, the time went by in a blur. I know he'll be growing up before I know it.

Twice the love on Mother's Day

This year, I celebrated Mother's Day with two children! That's right, our new addition came two weeks early.

I had a great natural childbirth experience. Well, great as far as something incredibly tiring and painful can be. It was no more painful than my first labor, an induction with a fairly ineffective epidural. In fact, transition was less painful this time.  But I did come to know the ring of fire in all its painful intensity.

The new little one is keeping me busy. I have so many things I want to blog about, but we will see what time allows!

38 weeks

Today I am 38 weeks pregnant. I've now been pregnant for a week longer than last time. I'm uncomfortable but not too bad. My body seems to have adjusted fairly well to the big weight on my belly and I don't have as many back and hip pains as I did earlier. 

I've been feeling contractions and crampy feelings for the past week or two and wondered if labor might be starting a few nights ago when I was contracting every 6 minutes for about 45 minutes. Then it eased up. This baby still has up to 4 weeks to gestate before being forcibly evicted, as long as our health holds up, but I think/hope it won't be THAT long. I'm due in two weeks, but I have a feeling it won't be quite that long.

Now it's back to laundry and other nesting!

Cheap (cheep?) thrills

A birdfeeder is my child's newest obsession. It's amazing how something so inexpensive can provide hours of amusement...not to mention educational opportunities!