Hemp, Yeah Mon!

We are still trucking along in our cloth diapering journey. Since I have at least one friend that is also starting this journey, and a few friends having babies soon that might be interested, I thought I'd write another post about some particular favorites in my cloth diaper stash.

In this post I'd like to talk about my favorite doubler.

For those of you that don't know, a doubler is an extra insert to put into a pocket diaper. They can be made of various materials: hemp, bamboo, cotton, micro fiber, etc.

- Hemp Babies brand hemp doublers are my favorite doubler for sure. They are very thin, dry really fast (even when I line dry), and are super absorbent.

I guess I should back up a little and explain why these are my new favorite. We started having leaking problems a few weeks ago. It was SO annoying. Putting clothes on a squirmy wormy baby who wants to crawl away is not fun. So when he was leaking around his legs 2-3 times a day I was at my whits end. Now I'm going to be honest here and I'm not entirely sure why the diapers were leaking. First thing I did was do a little stripping of my diapers, which is just washing them over and over with no detergent (to clean any detergent build up out). Then I thought about it and the times that the diapers were leaking, the inserts were TOTALLY soaked. This lead me to think that maybe Bean is just peeing more. I only single stuffed my diapers up until that point; so I started double stuffing.

Double stuffed diapers are pretty bulky if you use the regular micro fiber insert with the new born insert that most pockets come with. This is why I love the Hemp Babies doublers. They are so thin that I don't really notice much of a difference between a double and single stuffed diaper. Also, since I started doing this we haven't had one leak!

Generally we will change Bean about every 1.5-2 hours when we are at home (just to be safe), but sometimes when you are out this isn't so easy. Cue hemp doublers! Bean can go at least 3 hours in one of these diapers with no leaking, maybe more if you feel lucky (I think we once did over 4).

Another thing I love about these doublers is the price! Usually a hemp doubler will run around 5 bucks each, Hemp Babies are only 3 dollars at Kelly's Closet (see link above).

I've also tried the Baby Kicks hemp doublers as well. They are really thick and nice for over nights. The down sides? Very bulky and they take FOREVER to dry. Even the rare occasion when I throw my inserts into the dyer the baby kicks hemp is still slightly damp after a full cycle. It's pretty annoying, and not energy efficient.

Anyway, I hope some of this info helps, and that everybody is having a good week.

Eye Check Up

Just wanted to do a quick post about Bean's ophthalmologist appointment.

To summarize:

We went on Wednesday. The doctor was great. He basically said he thought the neurologist was nuts for suggesting anything was wrong with his eyes because he looked so perfect. He did a bunch of quick tests. No eye muscle problems, no vision problems, no need for glasses, just a cute little boy who was super brave and didn't even cry when he had eye drops to dilate his eyes.

He said we didn't even need to go back or follow up unless I felt there was a need or another problem.

Sigh

It was just so refreshing to actually have a doctor say he was ok and there was nothing to worry about (his eyes at least).

I also enjoyed the fact that he literally said word for word what I've been telling Hubs, "If it was a problem with his vision it wouldn't be intermittent." EXACTLY! Thank you Mr. Doctor. Maybe you don't all stink.

Next week is PT evaluation and his 9 month well visit. I can't wait till all this is over.

Odd Mom

I think I have mentioned this before, but in case you didn't know, I am very lacking in the "mommy friends" department.

Don't get me wrong, I actually have a bunch of friends (IRL and fellow bloggers) with kids, but the problem is they all live far away! Some not so far, I have several that are a 30-60 minute drive away, but that's still far in my opinion. I have thanked my lucky stars for Laura when I found out she was pregnant with her daughter. She is only a 15 minute drive away! But still, even when we hang out we muse about how we wish we were only a few blocks apart so we could just walk to each others houses.

Anyway. . . .in an effort to try and make new friends in town I signed Bean and I up for story time at our local library.

I guess I should preface this by explaining a little bit about myself. I'm kinda sarcastic. Even though I know it's not nice, I sometimes make fun of people. I honestly don't mean any harm by it! I swear! I just find some things that parents/people do funny! I don't think it's wrong what some parents do, and I'm not judging them, I just can't help but laugh. Combine that with my inexperience with kids and people with kids . . . . yeah. . .do you see where this is going?

I'm not sure what I expected story time to be for "kids two and under".

We sang.

Oye.

Random cute picture of Bean playing with a spoon and bowls. I just hate posts with out pictures.

Have you ever seen the documentary Babies? It's awesome by the way, if you haven't seen it rent it! There is this one part in it where the San Fransisco dad takes his daughter to a class, and they are singing some song about "the earth is our mother" and his daughter takes off and tries to run out of the class room.

It's funny! My husband and I joked about how the baby probably thought the class was ridiculous and that's why she tried to make a break for it.

So there I sat with Bean, in the same type of situation.

It was SO hard to take it seriously. I kept thinking to myself, "Be friendly! You might make new friends." But all I wanted to do was joke about the stuff we were doing, but I didn't know anybody in the class, and I didn't want anybody to be offended.

I found myself saying stupid word vomit to the other moms (Horrible small talk about where they lived. I think one mom thought I was a crazy stalker.) and when I came home I kept thinking they probably think I'm some kind of weirdo.

Even though I was horribly odd, Bean enjoyed it. He smiled at all the kids, bubbles, and scarves. I guess I will have to be brave and take him back next week. Now that I know what to expect hopefully I will fit in better. :-)

That and I can sing my aria before class so my voice is warmed up for "I'm a Little Tea Pot."

Medical Updates

Here are some updates on Bean's head tilting:

Once again he has stopped tilting, of course, but we still took him to the neurologist.

It pretty much went how I expected. She said he looked good, checked all his reflexes and asked a bunch of questions. Honestly I don't think any doctor is going to tell me what I want, which is "stop worrying everything is fine." If they can't stick a specific label on what is going on they will never say it's ok because of liability.

There were two things that Bean is doing that the neurologist didn't like. She had asked us if he was saying mama or dada. Well he had about a week where he was babbling mama a bunch (he didn't know what it meant, but he'd make the noise), and lately he really hasn't been babbling mama (that week he was growling and making raspberries a ton). She said that wasn't normal. I don't really thing it's so odd, he's found other noises he likes to make more? I dunno. . .I'm not the doctor I guess. The second thing she didn't like was she said it looked like maybe he wasn't tracking things evenly with his eyes. In the same breath though she said it could just be he's still developing, so now we have to see ANOTHER specialist. An ophthalmologist. The thing I don't understand is if it was a problem with his vision why would he randomly stop doing it? Wouldn't it be more constant?

She said she would like an "image series" which I'm assuming means MRI, but she said that there really didn't seem like there was enough that was suspicious to merit risking anesthesia to take it. So instead she said she wanted to see us back in 6 weeks. Which I totally think is pointless. For what? Does she really think things will change in 6 weeks?

I guess I'm just frustrated. I want answers and I don't think I'm going to get them, and I feel like the doctors are just going to order tests and keep referring us to specialists.

So we see the ophthalmologist this week, physical therapist next week and his 9 month "well visit" is next week too. Oh yeah, and I'm also seeing the eye doctor this week too.

I hate doctors.

It's going to be a rough two weeks.

8 Months

Late again on this!

8 Months Old!

Ok seriously? Time needs to slllllllllooooooow down! Yup 8 months now. Here we go.

Once again I'm not entirely sure on the whole height/weight thing. I do know about 3-4 weeks ago when we had to take him to the pediatrician for a check on something he was 17lbs 6oz. Quite the growing boy!

- Sleeping - Still same stuff with the sleeping. 10 hours at night, and unpredictable naps during the day. I'm thankful that he doesn't wake at night though!

- Eating - Fruits and veggies, a big variety. We will give him some melon in those mesh feeders that he enjoys. He will also eat a "puff" or two. The past week or so he has been able to get one or two in his mouth by himself! So super cute when he self feeds. No teeth yet! We enjoy those gummy smiles though.

- Motor - He is getting so strong and independent. In the past month he went from sitting to pulling up and crawling! He is not super fast yet, but he definitely has it down. He LOVES standing. He loves it so much we thought he might skip crawling completely. Sometimes when we try to get him to sit down he will go all rigid and completely refuse to sit because he wants to stand so much.

I have a feeling Bean is going to give me a run for my money. He already manipulates me to get what he wants and he's only 8 months old. He cries if I take a toy away that he wants, or if I don't let him do something that he wants to do. Oye! This parenting is hard work.

End of this month is his 9 month well visit. I'm not looking forward to more vaccines, but it will be fun to see how much he's grown.

The only other thing I guess I can mention is Bean's head tilt. About 5 weeks ago when he started getting mobile I noticed he was always tilting his head to the left. Honestly sometimes it's not really noticable if you aren't looking for it. When I tell people who see him on a regular basis, nobody has a clue what I'm talking about. Anyway, after a few days he didn't stop doing it so we took him to the doctor. She diagnosed him with having torticolis. He had to go for a head/neck x-ray to make sure he had no spinal chord abnormalities. The x-ray came back non specific (normal) which basically meant it was probably a muscle issue. During the week while I was researching a pediactic PT to take him to he stopped tilting! A friend of mine googled head tilting in 7 month olds (I try to stay away from googling baby issues, you alway read freaky stuff) and she said she saw a ton of hits for tilting being related to teething. We figured that's what it was.

I took this photo on the first day I noticed the tilt, he was doing it pretty badly.

Well about a week ago he started doing it again. Granted he still doesn't have his teeth yet, but I called the doctor back and told him that I didn't think he had torticolis because he wouldn't randomly stop doing it if he did. The doctor agreed with me and now we have to take him for the PT evaluation and a neurologist evaluation (he didn't agree with our internet teething theory). The PT appointment I'm not so nervous about, but the neurologist I am. I don't want him having any more x-rays or any big tests like a cat scan or MRI where they might have to sedate him.

This photo was taken when he stopped tilting. Totally straight!

In the past week that he's started doing it again sometimes he seems pretty straight and then other times he seems to tilt more. The baby sitter told me she thinks he tilts more when he's tired, so maybe that means it's just a muscle problem that needs some PT. I'm trying to stay positive.

We go see the neurologist first next week. So say a prayer that she says he's ok and doesn't need any scary tests.

Days Like Today

Being a parent is such hard work. I love Bean more then life itself, but there are days where he is so angry and fussy and I am so exhausted that I count down the seconds till bedtime.

But then there are days like today. . .

He wakes up like this.

After he finishes nursing he's all smiles. We cuddle in bed for a bit while he chews on the remote and I watch the random channels/menus he changes the t.v. to.

Then we go downstairs and I get breakfast ready.

After gobbling up his fruit and oatmeal he sits, smiles and plays with his toys in his high chair while I eat my oatmeal.

Normally after we play for a while he gets super grouchy and is ready for a nap. This morning we decided to push it a little and run some errands with Grandma. I thought for sure he would be a huge grump, but instead he was still all smiles, catching the attention of every passerby. I'm not joking when I tell you we got stopped several times by random strangers telling us how cute he is.

We got to the knife sharpening place before it opened so we went to a restaurant next door for a cup of coffee to wait till it opened. Bean just sat in his highchair like a perfect baby and gnawed away at the spoon I let him have. No fussing, no crying, just contentment.

Bean finally got to go down for his nap after we got home; although it wasn't easy. He didn't cry at all but instead played and laughed (of course) in his crib for 15 minutes before sleep finally took over.

Right now I'm sitting down stairs clicking on the baby monitor every five minutes waiting for him to wake up so we can go have more fun together.

Days like today are so fun and easy, and I am so thankful that I am able to stay home and spend them with my little guy.

I hope he wakes up soon!

A Year Ago Today (ish)

This is maybe a few days early, but knowing how consistently I blog lately I wanted to post it while I had the time.

August 25th 2010

August 18th 2011

What a difference a year can make! Life is so amazing.