A Real Woman

I have been thinking and meditating on Proverbs 31 a lot recently, specifically since the passing of my Mema.  There is something fascinatingly beautiful about that passage of scripture to me.  I don't know if it is the innate home-maker spirit in me looking for self-justification and self-worth, or, more realistically, the reality that some of the most influential, most powerful, most spiritual women I have known have fallen pretty clearly in line with the character sketch laid out in this chapter.

^10-31 A good woman is hard to find,
   and worth far more than diamonds.
Her husband trusts her without reserve,
   and never has reason to regret it.
Never spiteful, she treats him generously
   all her life long.

I hope with all my heart for this to describe me.  I hope to always be worthy of being treasured by my husband.  I hope never to treat him spitefully, but always generously.

She shops around for the best yarns and cottons,
   and enjoys knitting and sewing.

The idea of providing for my family something that I have made with my own hands delights me. 

She's like a trading ship that sails to faraway places
   and brings back exotic surprises.

I like to read this line as, "She experiments with weird ingredients in the kitchen and serves cheeses whose names you cannot pronounce."

She's up before dawn, preparing breakfast
   for her family and organizing her day.

Yep.  While this is a part of my life, I can only hope one day to do it with the kind of hospitality and generosity of my Mema.

She looks over a field and buys it,
   then, with money she's put aside, plants a garden.

While marriage is teamwork, I also strive to have the kind of independence that gives me the boldness to make well-thought-out decisions for the benefit of my family.  And I'm dreaming of the day when the gardening part is a realistic option.

First thing in the morning, she dresses for work,
   rolls up her sleeves, eager to get started.
She senses the worth of her work,
   is in no hurry to call it quits for the day.

I have to work at the "eager" part.  I find that I have to remind myself that the worth is more than monetary.  My work is significant, both for the lives of the students with whom I come into contact, and for my family so that I can help provide for their needs.

She's skilled in the crafts of home and hearth,
   diligent in homemaking.

I'm trying to be.

She's quick to assist anyone in need,
   reaches out to help the poor.

Marriage has been the biggest catalyst for hospitality and generosity for me.  I love that our home is a place of ministry where we can entertain, comfort, feed, counsel.

She doesn't worry about her family when it snows;
   their winter clothes are all mended and ready to wear.
She makes her own clothing,
   and dresses in colorful linens and silks.

Okay, so us Floridians don't have to worry too much about the snow, but I do attempt to stay on top of buttons that need reattaching, hems that need repairing, and old clothes that need repurposing into new clothes.

Her husband is greatly respected
   when he deliberates with the city fathers.

While my husband would be well-respected without me, I certainly hope that I always am an additional cause for respect, rather than shame, to be brought upon him.

She designs gowns and sells them,
   brings the sweaters she knits to the dress shops.
Her clothes are well-made and elegant,
   and she always faces tomorrow with a smile.

One day, I will sell my wares.  For now, I will attempt to face each day with a smile.

When she speaks she has something worthwhile to say,
   and she always says it kindly.

Being an introvert, this comes a bit more naturally to me.  In general, I try to make my words worth-while.  I try to make sure they matter.  That if someone hears something I said, it was because it had value.  I live by the "economy of language" rule: why say in eleven words what can be said in four?

She keeps an eye on everyone in her household,
   and keeps them all busy and productive.

I will not micromanage, but I will keep my household active in the fulfillment of responsibilities.  My daughter will be self-sufficient.  She will not rely on others to complete tasks for which she is capable of completing.

Her children respect and bless her;
   her husband joins in with words of praise:
"Many women have done wonderful things,
   but you've outclassed them all!"

While this statement is lovely, I adore it in the New King James version: Her children rise up and call her blessed; Her husband also, and he praises her: "Many daughters have done well, but you excel them all."

Charm can mislead and beauty soon fades.
   The woman to be admired and praised
   is the woman who lives in the Fear-of-God.
Give her everything she deserves!
   Festoon her life with praises! 

Festoon?  Really, Message translation?  Who says "festoon"?

Head and Shoulders

My daughter likes the song "Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes;" however, she always skips the shoulders part when doing the motions (and often the knees, too, but she's working on that part).  Tonight, as I was rocking her before bed, I was singing "How Deep the Father's Love for Us," as I typically prefer hymns over lullabies.  [Have you ever really thought about the lyrics to the lullabies?  They're disturbing!  Babies falling out of trees, and what-not.]  When singing the second verse to Aubrey, I sang the line that says, "...my guilt upon His shoulders," and Aubrey promptly jumped in with the hand motions: shoulders, knees, toes, and back to the head again.  She cracks me up.

In Good Hands

As November has begun, I have been reminded of the importance of expressing thankfulness on a regular basis.  It should not be just a Thanksgiving Day activity, but rather a habit that is exhibited in my life, day to day.  I have found myself in these past few days being made aware of the enormous blessings that I have been given.  The biggest blessings by far are my loving husband and my amazing daughter.  I can't imagine what my life would be like without them, and I could never fully express how full my heart is because of them.

My daughter, as I mentioned, is amazing.  She really has become the light of my life.  She delights me in ways I never could have imagined.  I am in awe, almost daily, of the new things she is learning and doing, and it reminds me of the wonderfully intricate way in which we are designed by our Creator.  At 15 months old, her language is impressive.  She signs and speaks, sometimes independently or in combination, quite a number of words and concepts.  (sign and verbalize: please, thank you, milk, eat, cereal, Mama, Dada, baby, ball, hat, bye-bye, hi, bath, blanket... verbalize: go, up, door, magnet, Boss [dog's name], rock-rock, diaper, blocks, apple, pumpkin, banana, puppy dog, book, shoe, sock, flower, cheese-toast... sign: friend, kiss, play, bed, sleep...)  She follows many verbal instructions, and, almost more impressively, knows when she is not supposed to do something, indicated by her proceeding to do said-thing while staring at the nearest parent/adult to see what reaction it will get.  As impressive as her intentional behaviors are, the thing that has most struck me has been an almost-involuntary reaction that I have seen in her.  A few days ago, she and I were sitting on the living room floor, playing with toys.  Our dog suddenly began barking loudly at a passing dog on the other side of the window.  My daughter's gut-reaction was to scramble across the two-foot space of floor separating us as quickly as possible so that she could plant herself in my lap and cling tightly to me.  No one taught her what to do when she was scared.  No one sat her down and explained (or demonstrated) how she was to react when startled.  She just knew, through experience, that her mama's arms are safe.  And when circumstances seem unsafe, you get to a safe place.  I understand that this is normal behavior, but for whatever reason, on that particular day, it really stuck with me as significant.  It made my heart fill with joy, knowing that, for all the mistakes I may make as a parent, I have instilled in my daughter at a very young age the knowledge that she is loved and cared for and protected.  I pray that, for years and years to come, I will continue to make this the overriding concept that I communicate to her. 

Communication

One of my favorite things about being a mom is watching my daughter learn and discover new things.  It has been clear for some time now that Aubrey's receptive language skills are developing well and she is starting to understand many of the things we say to her.  However, only just recently have we really been able to see a huge step forward in her expressive language.  While she is very verbal, she rarely says anything that could be classified as actual (understandable) verbal communication, but she has started using several signs to communicate her needs.  I am aware that she is by no means the first baby to successfully communicate in this way, but because she is mine, it just delights me!  It started with simple touch-correlation signs, such as me saying "where's your head" or "where's your belly" and her touching the appropriate body part.  (Those are the only two that she accurately identifies right now.  We are working on "toes.")  After that, it was as though a light bulb went off for her, and she started to realize that she could get me to understand what she wanted if she did the right motion.   She now regularly signs "eat/food" and "bed" and "teeth" (when it's time to brush her teeth) and "all done / all gone" (finished).  She will sometimes sign "milk" and I think is starting to pick up on "water."  She will sometimes still identify her head and belly when asked, although that trick is old news now and she isn't always interested in responding.

I really am just delighted when I watch her.  She is so wonderful.

Big Girl

After making it through the birthday weekend, Monday was officially ditch-the-pacifier day.  Baby Girl was only using it during naps and at night anyway, but after talking with the pediatrician about the way it was affecting her teeth, we decided it was time to quit cold-turkey.  A friend mentioned this weekend that my blog would be a great resource for new parents because "the Stone's have it all figured out."  But really, I think the truth of the matter is that the Stone's have a really fantastic baby who makes parenting pretty easy.  All that being said, project Ditch-the-Pacifier has gone surprisingly well and far less painful than I imagined.  Monday's nap started with ten minutes of mad baby, and then she passed out cold.  Bedtime was about the same.  The only down side was that normally when she wakes up in the mornings, she self-soothes and lays in bed for quite a while before insisting that we come get her; today, as soon as she woke up, she needed company.  The early morning wake-up, however, meant that we got two naps in today.  First nap started with only five minutes of crying.  The second nap, there were only about two or three minutes of crying, then she started singing along with her musical toy that she went to bed with.  It was stinking adorable.  (She did manage to find a pacifier that had been missing in her bed, so she had that in her mouth at the end of her nap, but I don't think she had it for long, based on the singing.)  The bedtime reaction could barely even be classified as a cry.  It was more the sound of the last-ditch effort of fighting sleep.  I'm really proud of her for adjusting so quickly.  Part of our plan, other than saving her teeth from further spreading, is to have her weaned from the pacifier prior to starting childcare later this month, and that is looking like it will happen!  All in all, a good day.  (Also got another "Tuesday Craft Day" project done with my pal JL, so it was good all around.)

Parenting, etc. (with a lot of etc.)

Today marks the end of mine and Rob's first full year of parenting.  This year has, by far, been the best year of my life.  Completely and altogether different than any other year, but still, by far, the best.  Our daughter is amazing.  She is beautiful and funny and well-behaved and smart... and she's only a year into this life of hers. 

As for the birthday part of the day, it was relatively uneventful.  I mean, really, what do you do with a one-year-old for her birthday?  We did birthday pancakes this morning and then played around naps.  This evening after she went to bed, I got all the decor in place for the party on Saturday.  I also did some Susie-Homemaker-ish things around the kitchen.  Then, I got sucked into the black hole that is the internet.... and that's when my mental wheels started turning.

So as with all things online, one link led to another, and I found myself reading the archives of a random blog that I came across.  It started off great.  (The information I was actually looking for... slow-cooker recipes that can be prepped and frozen ahead of time.)  Then, I couldn't stop myself from reading all of the back-logged posts with alluring titles, such as "breastfeeding fanatic," "42 days of pumping," "all-natural parenting," etc.  Many of these posts expressed thoughts on parenthood that I myself hold.  Then it got weird.  It wasn't the right-off-the-bat weird.  It was the slowly-ease-into-the-weirdness weird.  It started with some issues where I just thought to myself, "this lady is trying WAAAY too hard."  By that, I mean this woman clearly had certain ideas of the type of parenting she wanted to practice, and she was determined to follow through on these "philosophies" regardless of how much she had to fight and struggle against the way things seemed to flow naturally.  (She even had a post acknowledging this herself.)  Examples of what I mean:
-Mom was determined to breastfeed, despite her daughter's physical limitations to do so.  Her initial solution was to pump and then bottle feed.  Completely reasonable solution.  One that requires an unbelievable amount of personal dedication, but given the dedication, still completely reasonable.  Mom was eventually able to get daughter to nurse some of the time, but still used bottles for the bulk of the feeding.  Enter the trying-way-too-hard part: this wasn't good enough for mom.  Baby, obviously, was getting the nutrition she needed, but mom was determined (at like 10 months old) for baby to start nursing full time.  And she went to extreme lengths to try to make this happen.
-Mom was convinced that co-sleeping was the best option for their family.  (This example will be short because I think it speaks for itself.)  Baby fell out of bed at least 5 times, receiving bruises on several occasions.  Mom has resorted to putting the mattress straight on the floor, moving the night stands clear across the room, and lining the floor with pillows.  Trying too hard (in my humble opinion).

And then it happened.  The this-is-officially-weird-now part.  She decided to eat her placenta.  No, this is not the first time I've heard of this.  The thing that made this weirder than usual was that this was not an early postpartum (read: crazy hormones) decision.  No, this woman had it in her freezer FOR A WHOLE YEAR, planning to bury it in her back yard and plant a tree above it, but she never followed through on the original plan, and it all of a sudden came to her that she should eat it.  WHAT???

***

Now, switching gears, in relation to all of this, what does my current life look like?  What kind of parenting do I "practice"?  What areas could I be labeled "weird"?  Well, here it goes.

Parenting: I am spoiled.  I have the best baby ever.  I don't just say that because I like her; she really is a good baby.  She is an AMAZING sleeper, she eats well, she is generally happy.  She has made my job pretty much as easy as it gets.  All that being said, I'm sure whatever Rob and I did from day one certainly has had an influence on her being so good, even if we were just winging it as best as we could!  So what did/do we do?  It's hard to summarize a lifestyle, but here's my attempt at condensing the key points.  I breastfed Aubrey from the beginning.  We had a rough start, but I stuck to it.  I did not try to schedule her feedings.  I just fed her when she was hungry, and that always seemed to work out well.  After a while, she pretty much fell into her own schedule.  Sleeping is a similar story.  We never really tried to schedule nap time, and really not even bed time.  It just all started to fall into a rhythm.  We tweaked things here and there to find out what worked best, but it hasn't ever been a fixed schedule kind of thing.  However, getting to sleep is a different aspect than the timing of sleep.  I do not rock my baby to sleep.  She puts herself to sleep.  I really believe this is a huge part of why she is such a good sleeper.  She is not dependent on me (or Rob) to fall asleep because that is not how we have conditioned her.  We have a routine that we follow every night (which includes rocking) that signals that it is time to get sleepy, but her eyes are always open when I put her into her bed.  We do not force her eat a certain amount, or strictly limit how much she eats.  If she doesn't want to eat any more, we stop.  If she is fussing for more food, we usually give it to her.  And like I said, she is a great eater.  I wouldn't consider myself and Rob to be "hands-off" parents, especially considering a recent conversation I had with a friend about what the extreme of this looks like, but we do allow for a lot of freedom.

Home life: There are some things that I do in a non-typical way.  I make my own baby food (which these days is pretty much "normal people" food, just frozen into small portions), I use cloth diapers (which are semi-homemade), and I have just recently started couponing, using dried beans instead of canned, cleaning with baking soda, etc.  Is this "weird"?  Maybe.  Is it eat-your-placenta weird?  No.

I started this post with an all together different idea of where I was going with it.  I was going to talk about how we are in the process of weaning, and how if I didn't work outside of the home, I would probably be one of those moms who kept breastfeeding for a moderately long amount of time (not four years or anything, but probably two).  I'm a little sad that this time is coming to an end, although it isn't completely ending, as I will still nurse morning and evening.  I was going to talk about how I am having some anxiety about the idea of my baby being in full-time child care this coming school year and how many other things that has got me thinking of.  I was going to talk about my latest decision to start putting together a bunch of freezer meals that can be pulled out and cooked with ease.  But all of those ideas sort of morphed into the stuff I babbled on about above this paragraph.  Good night.

Sew Addicted

It's no secret that I'm broke this summer.  (Maternity leave ate up my summer pay checks this school year.)  However, I feel like we here at the Stone home have done a pretty good job of living within our means, and making the most of the down time we currently have.  For me, that has entailed taking on several new sewing projects... sometimes to the neglect of housework!  All that to say, my favorite latest project has been making baby dresses from old t-shirts.  I used this pattern/tutorial.  Some tutorials on blogs are poorly written, and I find myself re-reading them several times to get past the poor grammar and awkwardly phrased sentences.  However, this one is really great and easy to understand/follow.

I've learned several things that make sewing t-shirt material a bit easier.  First, STARCH.  Especially when a narrow strip of material is required, starch the heck out of the material BEFORE you cut it.  It makes life so much easier.  Then you can cut, fold, iron,and/or sew the material without the edges curling up. Speaking of which, you can make your own starch.  Just use one heaping tablespoon full of corn starch mixed with one pint (two cups) of water, mix well, and put into a spray bottle.  You will need to shake the bottle a bit between uses, as the corn starch does settle to the bottom.  The second thing that helps when sewing t-shirt material (also known as jersey knit) is to make use of the stretch stitch patterns on your sewing machine, especially around arm holes and other areas that will receive a lot of stress.  Even the straight stitch on the stretch setting (there's some alliteration for you!) makes a big difference.

Here are some pictures:

This is the first attempt.  I left the arm holes and hem raw, as the jersey knit won't unravel anyway.

This is how you prep the "yoke" for the top of the dress.  2.25" strip, folded in half, ironed, opened up, and then folded in on each edge, ironing as you go.  This is the part where the pre-starching really, REALLY helps.

This is the second dress, prior to adding the yoke.  (I finished the arm holes on this one.)

...and here's the yoke added.

And here's the finished product.  I decided to add a band at the bottom of this one.

I really like the way these have turned out.  There's another t-shirt dress pattern that I want to try out next, but that will probably have to wait until after the birthday bash (which, by the way, is coming up very soon!)

Here are some other recent projects:

This one is a button-down shirt turned baby dress.

And this is baby girl's birthday present!  I'm really happy with the way these turned out!

Baby shoes.  I got the pattern from this blog, but it looks like she has changed some things around, so I can't seem to find the same one any more.  (Lucky for me, I have it on paper.)

Birthday decorations.  Pennants (pictured), as well as fringe garland and fabric "lanterns."  Still planning to make tissue paper pom-poms, also.

A knitting needle "case" for friend Melissa.  It unfolds and has little individual pockets for various pairs of needles.

The Sippy Cup Cunundrum

We have started the weaning process in the Stone home.  If I did not have to go back to work in mid-August, we would not be at this point yet.  I am totally content not to pay for the liquid nourishment that my daughter needs.  However, I will be returning to work, so we need to get her to a place where she is not dependent on me, at least during business hours.  All that being said, we are learning about the world of sippy cups.  I first purchased this one by Munchkin:

I bought it because it was the cheapest one I could find (that looked decent), figuring we could try it first and upgrade later.  This works great for the YoBaby yogurt smoothies that Aubrey likes.  It is a very simple design: no weird valve parts inside to worry about, just the rubber nipple part, the handle-and-ring part, and the cup itself.  And, remarkably, it doesn't leak.

Recently, I decided we definitely were ready to have more than one cup in the house, especially with the weaning process on the horizon, so I went in search of more cups.  The only complaint that I had about the Munchkin cup was that there was no cover or cap for travel purposes.  I found this style cup from Avent:

The ones I bought have a flip cap instead of this style cap, but the rest is the same.  I thought it would be the best option for the diaper bag.  I liked the idea of the flip cap so there would not be a removable cap to lose.  We have used them several times now, and the only down side is the valve inside:

It's hard to see in this picture, but on the under side of the sippy part, there is a clear disc that attaches to the little peg thing in the center.  Number one, you have to take it off for cleaning... and it's clear, so it is invisible in the bottom of a kitchen sink full of soapy water (and fits in the sink drain if you forget it before pulling the plug).  Number two, while it does its job of keeping the cup from leaking (sort of), it also prevents the liquid in the cup from flowing nicely when baby sucks on it.  When the baby sucks on it, it does this weird straw-with-a-hole-in-it thing where too much air gets in.  (Yes, I tried it out to see for myself.)  And while baby is drinking, it tends to leak out the air hole!  Way too complicated for a not-so-impressive result.  And, more importantly, Aubrey gets frustrated with it.

So I plan to stock up on the Munchkin ones, and hopefully I can find some with the same top plus a cap.  If anyone reading this has found another cup that works for your little one, please comment letting me know which one and why you like it.

A Day in the Life of a Stay-At-Home Mom

No, I am technically not a stay-at-home mom for most of the year.  But for the summer, I am.  That's the beauty of teaching.  I get to experience both versions of parenthood.  The have-to-leave-your-baby-all-day-but-get-to-do-something-else version, and the my-whole-day-revolves-around-this-little-person version.  The latter goes something like this, for me:

Wake up when baby wakes up.
Nurse baby.
Play with baby.
Try to eat while baby plays.
Feed baby.
Play with baby.
Put baby down for a nap.
Shower and try to get something done around the house before baby decided nap time is over.
Get baby up when nap has come to an untimely end.
Play with baby.
Nurse baby.
Try to eat while baby plays.
Feed baby.
Play with baby.
Put baby down for another nap.
Pray that baby will stay asleep!
Try to get the thing done that I didn't get done during the first nap.
Get baby up.
Play with baby.
Nurse baby.  (Or recently, replace nursing session with whole milk.)
Try to have family dinner.
Play with baby until bedtime.
Go through bedtime ritual.
Put baby to bed.
Veg out on the couch.
Go to bed later than planned.
Repeat.

It's exhausting, and I completely love it.

Crunchy Granola

No, not the stuff you eat for breakfast.  The new hippie, for lack of a better description.  Prior to having my own child, I had no idea that I would eventually find myself using this phrase to describe my own parenting!  Seriously, when did this happen?!  I breastfeed, I make my own baby food, I sew baby shoes, I have even entered the world of cloth diapering... willingly!  And I love all of it!

The latest in diapers: Yes, I wrote a big, long post about the cloth diaper inserts that I made.  Yes, they work well.  But they are bulky.  Mostly, they stick out kind of awkwardly in the front of the diaper.  Solution: I'm trying the old faithful Gerber pre-fold diapers by themselves, with no added core layer or anything like that.  It's working out well.  I'll still use the ones I sewed for overnight because they are a bit more absorbent.

Baby food: I read a great blog post that pretty much sums up exactly what I do for Aubrey's food.  I don't really have anything particular to say, other than you should read the post yourself.

Final note on the crunchy granola topic:We have started the weaning process.  I gave Aubrey her first bottle (sippy cup) of whole milk today.  I am unexpectedly sad about this.  That being said, people who breastfeed three or four year olds freak me out.  The end.

Birthday In The Works

I can barely believe that my baby girl is coming up on her first year birthday!  But I am fully embracing the idea, and I am enjoying putting together some ideas to make it special.  So far, I've narrowed down my ideas for the cake and some of the decor.  Here's what I've got so far:

Cake desing: something along the lines of this, only with "neater" frosting.  Cake flavor: sugar-free banana cake, with sugar-free cream cheese frosting (sweetened with apple juice concentrate)

Decor, Part One: no-sew fabric lanterns.  Already in the works.

Decor, Part Two: no-sew fabric pennant.

Decor, Part Three: fabric strip fringe garland.  (Can you tell I'm into fabrics right now?)

Decor, Part Four: pom-poms (jumbo, seen here, and possible miniatures as garland) from baby shower tissue paper.

Little Touches: "ONE" letters, and multiple clusters of balloons.

Keepsake: Birth stats (like this) on left side of small poster, one year stats on right side.

Still working on invitation ideas.  Baby girl will (obviously) wear a tutu, made by her lovely aunt, along with a top that I plan to finish off with a cute iron-on.  Converse All-Stars and fake pearls are possible additions for photo opportunities.  I am so looking forward to the utter cuteness of this day!

Special thanks to Pinterest for helping me catalogue all of these nifty ideas!

Speaking of Experimental...

I had a lovely time last Saturday experimenting in the kitchen.  I had visited the farmer's market that morning, where I picked up several enticingly fresh items: local goat cheese (YUM!), spinach, beet (which I had never eaten before), zucchini (yellow and green varieties), and...wait for it...squash blossoms!  I have been dying to use squash blossoms ever since I first saw them used on the Food Network [which Rob and I are addicted to] and I was finally able to find some!  I didn't exactly know what I would do with them, but I could not pass them up.

That afternoon, I decided I had to invite over some friends who would appreciate my finds as much as I did, so two of my favorite ladies --Jessica and Melissa-- came over to cook and eat with me.  The spinach, beet, and goat cheese, along with some sliced almonds and mushrooms, were combined into a delicious salad, which I topped with stuffed squash blossoms.  The blossom filling contained a bit of the goat cheese, some honey, and some egg white to bind/thin it all.  Then, I rolled the blossoms in an egg wash and then in bread crumbs, and I baked them in the oven.  They turned out great!

The remainder of the blossoms were used in a squash blossom soup that the lovely Jessica did the work for.  It was fantastic!  I don't have the time to locate the link to the recipe right now, but I will certainly do that at some point.  It was seriously one of my favorite home-made soups that I've ever had.

Looking forward to my next farmer's market adventure!  I missed it this past weekend, but I'm hoping to make it there again soon.  Happy eating!

New Design

Okay, this post really will only tell you about things that are already obvious to you, assuming you've visited my blog before.  And it will be brief.  I had to redesign the blog for two reasons: one, my anal nature was driven crazy by the fact that the old design had a picture that did not extend to the bottom of the blog but did scroll along with the text; and two, the image on the blog now seemed more appropriate to this phase of life that I'm in, although I do really love cooking and hope to have some experimental time in the summer.

The end.

So Far, So Good

The cloth diapering is going well so far.  We even used cloth last night, and we were pleased with the absorption.  Because I'm a bit of a nerd, once a question has entered my mind, I have to research it until it is sufficiently answered, so you good people--the readers of this blog--will benefit from the fruits of my labor.  If you are interested in possibly joining me in cloth diapering, keep reading.  The rest of you can probably stop here.

When I decided to make cloth inserts for the gDiapers that I already had, I read a couple of tutorials online.  They mentioned that you can adjust the design for whatever brand of diaper you have.  I literally didn't know anything about any other brands, and I was curious.  I read about "pocket diapers" and "all-in-one" diapers, and several of the popular brands.  Here's the summary:

All-In-One Diapers: Basically, if you're going to make a big investment in cloth diapering, these seem like the way to go.  (I looked at the BumGenius brand.)  You put them on and take them off all in one piece, just as easy as disposable.  They also have an opening where you can add a "doubler" pad for overnight, etc.  If you buy the "one size" diapers, there are snaps that adjust the size from S, M, and L, so you don't have to replace your diapers when your baby grows.  The down side: they cost $25 each, not including the doubler pad.

Pocket Diapers: (Also BumGenius brand) These are pretty much the same as the All-In-One diapers, except the absorbent pad is a separate part, instead of being built in.  These are cheaper, at  $18 each, but obviously you still have to buy the absorbent pads separately.  And if I am understanding they way they work, it looks like you would still have to wash the pocket diaper each time you change the pad.  (Not totally sure about that part.)

Hybrid Diapers: These are the ones I use... gDiapers.  The difference between these and the pocket diapers is that it's basically a three-part system.  (Don't worry, it's easy.)  There is the outside cotton diaper called the gPant.  There is a snap-in plastic liner that keeps the liquids in.  Then there is the insert, either biodegradable or cloth.  The thing I like about this three-part system is that you don't have to wash the outside layer if it hasn't gotten wet/dirty from a leak, which it usually doesn't.  You can use that part several times before washing.  Also, the plastic liner doesn't have to get washed until it is dirty, as well.  In reality, after the "newborn poop" stage is over, both the liner and the gPant stay clean for quite a while.  So the only part you need to change at each diaper change is the insert.  Also, based on what I could find out about the All In One and Pocket diapers, the gDiapers seem like the easiest ones to load with the insert.  You just pop it in... no pocket to shimmy it into, no snaps, just an elastic edge all the way around that holds on to the edges of the insert.  (Note: gDiapers do come in three specific sizes, so you do have to keep this in mind.  However, the Medium and the Large sizes use the same size inserts, so that's a plus.)

Why did I tell you all of this: If you have any interest in making the cloth inserts like I did, I really do think the gDiaper "gPants" are the way to go.  Here's the breakdown of price, based on what I could find:
-gPants: $18-$20 each on diapers.com depending on the print of the fabric
-gPants: two-pack from target.com for $30 (target.com also sells singles, but the price was basically the same as diapers.com except you have to pay shipping on top of that)
-gPants: six-pack from diapers.com for $70 (works out to $11.67 each)
*All gPants come with the plastic snap-in liner already included.  I know the two-pack comes with one extra liner... not sure about the singles or the six-pack.
-gCloth inserts (for comparison sake to home-made) 6 inserts for $30 (works out to $5 each, in case you're bad at math)
-my home-made cloth inserts (as described in previous post) 24 inserts for $46 (works out to $1.92 each)

It is a bit of an investment up front, any way you look at it, but compared to the high price of disposable diapers that you have to keep buying, it could definitely be worth it.

If you're still reading this, you're probably in one of two camps: you're really seriously considering cloth, or you think I'm a little nuts.  Either way, you are now more informed than you were when you started reading.  You're welcome :)

Going Cloth

So, as mentioned in my last post, I am making the leap to cloth diapers.  (No more newborn poop means this is as good a time as any.)  Our wallets will be needing a break this summer, as my maternity leave has cost me my summer pay checks.  Anyway, I have completed the sewing process for the cloth inserts for the gDiapers (well, half of them anyway... one dozen down, another dozen to go).  Here's the process I went through, for those of you who may be interested.  

Supplies I used:
-Gerber premium prefold 6-ply cloth diapers (this means they are the ones with the thick center section that has a layer of cotton batting)
-microfiber auto towels

*The microfiber towels happened to be on sale at Target, so I wound up paying about as much for supplies altogether as I would have paid for about two boxes of disposable diapers.  Assuming all goes well, I think it's totally worth the price.

*Note to those who sew: the premium diapers, along with the added layer of microfiber, folded into thirds, is rather thick, but because it's all basically cotton and compresses easily, my inexpensive sewing machine did fine with the bulkiness.  However, I do NOT think I could have added another layer of anything.  Several designs I saw online added a layer of fleece on top to whisk moisture away from the skin (supposedly poop also does not stick to fleece very much), but these designs just used regular flannel rather than the premium diapers.  I definitely could not have added the fleece.  My machine would not have been able to handle the added bulk.

This is how I lined up the cloth diaper and the micro-fiber towel.  Luckily, the width was perfect.

I pinned the two layers together just outside each side of the fold lines of the diaper and stitched along these lines.  (I recommend using a small zig-zag stitch for all the stitching.)  Then, I cut off the excess strip of diaper at the end.

Then, I folded the microfiber part into thirds, like this.

Next, I folded the diaper part over the microfiber.  You could probably just fold both layers together, but I didn't want any microfiber hanging out because it's bad for baby's skin.

This is a close-up of one end of the diaper that is now folded into thirds.  I stitched across each end.  It works best to do one line of stitching as close to the edge as possible, and then do another line of stitching about 3/8" further in.

At first, I thought I would leave the flap open so if I decided to use a "soaker" insert for night use, I could slide it in here.  (I'm new to the whole world of cloth, so I don't know much about this.)  BUT after running the diapers through the washer, I realized this was a bad plan because they get all bunched up and turned inside-out in the wash.

...so I decided to run a line of stitching down the center, length-wise.  This is the finished product.  It's almost exactly the same dimensions as the gDiaper disposable inserts (the M/L size).

Here's my first dozen diapers!  I just finished them, so we haven't used them yet.  I'll let you know how that part goes, as well.

Go Ahead, Call Me Crazy...

So I think it's partly the crafter in me, always looking for something I can do myself instead of buying it...and it's partly the economically-conservative side of me that hates to throw away anything that I don't have to throw away...but whatever the cause, here's the scoop: we're switching to cloth diapers soon.  (Reference the post title, if you feel the need at this point.)

We started about eight months ago (when Aubrey outgrew the newborn size disposable diapers) to use gDiapers, which I love.

  They are a "hybrid" diaper, meaning there is the diaper cover part (like most cloth diapers have), but you then can choose between a cloth insert or a disposable (flushable!) insert, which we went with.

  I really felt a lot better about disposing of something that was completely biodegradable, rather than piles of regular disposable diapers.  We used these exclusively for a while, but after I had been back at work for a bit, and we were starting to leave Aubrey with occasional baby sitters and church nursery workers who would have no clue how these weirdo, new-fangled diapers worked, we began to phase them out and switch back to disposable.  (Also, Aubrey had outgrown the first size of the gDiapers by then, and there is some initial up-front cost to using them, so we never really got around to getting enough of the next size.)  Additionally, while the flushable inserts are eco-friendly, they don't save you any money, as is usually the case with eco-friendly products.

So recently, the thought started to enter my mind that I could handle full-fledged cloth diapering.  My husband would surely not be a fan, but I could handle it.  And I will be home all summer anyway, so I considered the idea of switching to the cloth gDiaper inserts just for the summer.  But again, the price issue... There's a pretty substantial up-front chunk of money that we would have to put out in order to make the switch, and it just wouldn't be cost-effective as a "seasonal" switch rather than a permanent one.  So I dismissed the idea.  for a while.

Enter: Meg's latest hair-brained (yet pretty logical) idea.  Every time I am in the baby department at Target, I somehow find myself looking at the packages of cheap, old-school Gerber cloth diapers and noticing how affordable they are.  No, I am not going to go with old-school cloth diapers.  I haven't totally lost it.  But my thinking was that if people have been using these bad boys for generations, and if they use a diaper cover anyway, why couldn't I just stuff the cloth diaper into the gDiaper cover?  Logical.  We have a few cloth diapers at our house that are used as burp cloths.  I decided to experiment.  I concluded that the straightforward "stuffing" method probably would not be the best plan because of the obvious bunching situation that would inevitably occur.  However, with a few quick stitches and a little trimming, I could create my own cloth insert.  I did a mock-up and it turned out great!  (Self-congratulatory pat on the back... I must be the biggest genius ever!)  "Wait a second," I thought to myself, "surely someone else has done this before."  So rather than reinvent the wheel, I hopped on the trusty interweb and, using the life-saving powers of Google, was quickly able to piece together some more, quite useful knowledge about this process.

The pricy gDiaper cloth inserts are pricy for good reason: they are not just el cheapo cotton diapers trimmed to fit.  They contain a wickedly absorbent core made of bamboo cloth, and they are covered with some kind of quick dry outer layer.  Hmmm.... how to replicate this for cheap???  The solution actually is pretty simple.  The plan (as it is currently laid out in my mind) is to take the same cheap cloth diapers that I already had in mind, but add to them a layer of microfiber that will serve as the absorbent core.  This is a cheap option because you can get a big pack of microfiber towels in the auto department!  This may wind up being all there is to my design.  Or, the other possible addition is a layer (on the top only) of micro-fleece because of its ability to whisk moisture away from the skin.  I know this all sounds like way too much work, but in reality, the design and process are all very simple.  And, truth be told, I'm looking forward to having something to sew that doesn't require dragging out the big cutting board and dealing with brown-tissue-paper pattern pieces (worst part of sewing for me... those dang patterns... always tearing them).

So, as my first mother's day approaches, I prepare to step into my next adventure in motherhood.  Wish me luck.
::As a side note, Rob is more on board with the idea of cloth, now that we are well past the newborn poop stage.  I apologize to all of you who have had to hear us tell those delightful stories.::

2011 Buyer's Guide: Baby Products (according to Meg)

So, there are only like 476,823 different baby products out there (okay, that's probably being conservative).  Some of them are phenomenally ingenious and/or useful, while others are a total waste of money.  (There is always the third category of things that depend on the baby/family, but we won't address those here.)  Here's my top list of world's best baby products.

Soothie pacifiers.  Aubrey came home with one of these from the hospital.  We switched for a brief time to another style/brand, but when she started teething, this was her preference because of the all-rubber design.  One of her favorite things to do is turn it around in odd positions and chew on all sides of it. 

Newborn gowns.  So nice not to have to fuss with any snaps for those middle-of-the-night diaper changes during those first few sleep-depraved weeks.  And they're just comfy.  However, when the legs start to become more active, the gown must be abandoned; otherwise, the feet wind up near the neck hole.

Zip-up sleep-n-play.  After the time of the gown has come to an end, these are perfect.  There are no snaps for little toes to get caught between, and ultimately bust out of.  (I can't tell you how many times my girl has had one leg hanging out of her jammies.)

To wrap up the sleepwear section: the Sleep Sack.  Goofy sounding, but a great product.  After the skill of rolling has been acquired, gone is the hope of keeping the little one under any sort of cover or blanket.  This is the solution, especially if you keep a cold house at night, as we do.

The Boppy.  Genius.  For a breastfeeding mom, it's an arm-saver.  For baby, it's a support system from newborn to sitter. 

Jogging stroller.  Specifically, with a switchable front wheel (changes from swivel to fixed).  The three-wheel (swivel) design is SO easy to maneuver.  The bicycle-style tires make for a very smooth ride.  The fixed wheel is awesome for actual jogging.

Mum-Mum rice crackers.  There are other baby finger food products that we have enjoyed, but none as much as these.  Aubrey can eat them totally independently, which she loves, and the texture is perfect and dissolves quickly.






That concludes today's installment of the 2011 buyer's guide according to Meg.  More favorites will be brought to your attention in the future :)

A New Spin on Vacations

So Rob and I are big fans of getting out of town when possible and visiting fun locations, even if we've been there several times before.  Other than Christmas with family, last week was our first vacation as a family of three.  We traveled to one of our favorite destinations: Savannah.  Savannah is where we stayed for our honeymoon, and we have been back once or twice a year ever since.  We have some favorite spots to visit, and we really enjoy exploring to find new spots.  But vacations are different with a baby.  Still fun, but different.  Most of our "exploring" had to be planned out (i.e. explore on the internet and then visit a decided upon location), and EVERYTHING we did revolved around nap times.  In fact, most meals were spent bouncing a fussy baby because we had stretched our time a bit too far.  And then there's the issue of sharing a room with our daughter which we have not done for the past four months.  Luckily, two big things worked in our favor: we were able to have a suite at the hotel, which meant we could put Aubrey down in one room for bed or naps, and we still had another room where we could hang out without having to be super quiet; and the other big plus was that Grandma came along.  This afforded Aubrey adequate "Grandma time" and us several much needed date nights.

Right around vacation time, Aubrey had started a really cute "inchworm" style crawl.

(The Inchworm being mischievous at the hotel.)

Since coming home, she has really perfect the actual on-all-fours style.  I knew she really had it when she zoned in on the floor-length curtains.  I could see it in her eyes: the curtains were her goal.  The next thing I knew, she took off across the room to get them.  Today it was the phone charger that had been left out.  I was in the kitchen putting groceries away.  I knew something was up when everything got really quiet (no battery operated toy noises).  I looked up and again, she had successfully reached her off-limits goal. Our living room is now adorned with the oh so attractive free-standing baby gate to put a division between small exploring hands and the tempting cable box / dvd buttons.  This is such a fun stage of development, but man oh man have the dynamics of our house changed!  I will say, I think crawling is at least giving her a good workout.  She has been exhausted this week!  Most days we're doing three naps and bedtime as early as 7:00 sometimes!

Our other major development has been the leap into finger foods.  Bananas, baby puffs, turkey meatloaf, and pears have been our items of exploration thus far.  My daughter certainly loves food, although she comes by it quite naturally.  I'm excited for Aubrey to be reaching a place where she can start eating some of the same foods that we eat.  I'm a fan of family dinners.  

I can't believe how much has changed in the last two months.  I can't even fathom how much more everything is about to change, as well.

More on Baby Food

There's something about making baby food that just delights me. I still don't know why. There's little to no skill involved (at least in the simple purees that I have done so far), yet I just absolutely love it. I am really looking forward to experimenting with the next phase of foods for my baby girl (finger foods, etc.)

I am in love with www.wholesomebabyfood.com  They are a phenomenal resource for everything to do with making your own baby food.  They have tons of recipes and cooking tips, as well as quite a lot of other helpful information to help you know what your baby is ready for.  They also have a Facebook fan page where other moms post questions and comments that can be very helpful.



One of my favorite pieces of information that they have posted is the food chart.  It is categorized by food group, and for each item, it lists at what age it is most appropriate to introduce that food.  As soon as I get around to replacing my printer ink, this chart is going on my fridge!

I have also purchased a book that I really love called Super Foods for Babies and Children by Annabel Karmel.  This is a neat book because for each main ingredient of a recipe, it has a note in the margin of the page telling you about the key nutrients that this particular ingredient provides.  It's really eye opening, and there are some really fun recipes in there.  I also really appreciate that the recipes for older kids are more like family-friendly recipes, rather than encouraging the idea of cooking something completely separate for your kid than what you are eating.

That's all for now.  Happy cooking.  and eating.

Time Flies

Since Aubrey was born, time has begun to move faster and faster. At first, there was a long period of time where, while our baby was definitely changing bit by bit, it seemed that she was not able to do much by her own choosing. Then, we turned a corner. Since the new year began, I feel like so much has changed in such a short time. At the first of the year, she was barely able to roll over, and even so, only from back to tummy (where she would get stuck, and consequently angry). Sitting up had not yet happened, either. And now, all of a sudden (or so it seems), she is able to do so much more. She is beginning to stay sitting up pretty well when she is put in that position. She is a rolling expert. And most recently, she has decided she will get in a position where crawling is just around the corner. The first six months, while new and exciting, were relatively uneventful compared to the past month-and-a-half. I am becoming more and more aware that this is only the beginning of how fast time will fly by from now on. It's so exciting, but it is also a bit sad to see my baby speeding out of the baby stage. C'est la vie.

crawling position

Our Other Baby

Before our little girl came along, we acquired a 7-year-old little boy named Boss--our now-nine-year-old Rat Terrier. Boss came to us well trained. He slept without complaint in his crate, he knew by the tone of your voice if he needed to stay off the carpet, and he was generally just a well-behaved dog. Over time, we slacked off on a few of his restrictions. The first to go was him sleeping in a crate, mostly due to his aging hips. But from there, it was a downward slope. We managed to get him quite spoiled. All things considered, however, he was still pretty well behaved. Until another little being entered our house. From the time Aubrey arrived, Boss' behavior has lacked significantly. It is so obvious that he is jealous of the attention she gets from us. He is fine while we are all together in the same room: the downstairs part of our house is pretty much all open so as long as we are downstairs, he is good. A bit needy, but still good. When we go upstairs, either to take care of Aubrey or at night, that's when it all falls apart. "Accidents" have become routine. It's as though he thinks we won't bother to come take care of him even if he lets us know he needs something, so he just doesn't even let us know. I'm unbelievably fed up with it. But we are good people, and so because we are his second family already, he will continue to reside at the Stone house. But if any of you happen to be a dog whisperer on the side, please contact us. That is all.

Cooking Up the Good Stuff

Hi, my name is Meg, and I'm a foodie. Really, my husband and I both are. We just love food, and particularly, really good food. My latest cooking endeavors, however, have not been for ourselves, but for our little one. She reached the age where I was ready to let her have a go at baby food, but I decided not to go the prepackaged route. Instead, I decided to try my hand at preparing baby food myself. The cost comparison is pretty impressive. The average price per serving of prepackaged baby food is about $0.25-$0.50, for the size serving that we currently need. This does not sound astronomical, and it really isn't, all things considered. But when I prepare it myself, it usually works out to around $0.08-$0.16 per serving. That was my first incentive. The other factor was that I just want to know that I am feeding my baby the freshest things possible. I like knowing exactly what went into her food and exactly what was done in the preparation process. Also, I feel like the texture of prepackaged baby food isn't really doing much to prepare babies for the texture of actual food. (The few that we've tried are around the Elmer's School Glue consistency.)

Over the course of the last month or two, I have made a variety of vegetables and fruits for my little Pebble and now have quite the stock pile! (After cooking and pureeing, the food gets frozen in ice cube trays, and then popped out into freezer bags to be thawed one or two cubes at a time.)

This is our freezer!

Sweet Potato Cubes

Today's endeavor will be rice cereal with banana.


...I have a crying baby looking at me with the most pitiful face. Got to go.

The Pebble: Part 2 (What? We take her home??)

After delivering a baby and being discharged from the hospital, a funny thing happens: they send you home with a baby! If you're not a parent, you're saying, "Well duh." If you are a parent, you're saying, "I know... it's crazy, right?!" When you walk into the place where you have, up until this point, lived as a non-parent, with a new little person in your arms, it's a bit of a bizarre feeling. There's the wonderful feeling of knowing that there is now not just a "couple" but a "whole family" that lives under your roof, but then there are the funny things that no one told you about. Like thinking, "Where do I put her when I'm alone and I have to go pee?" (Of course, by now you own at least a half-dozen little contraptions where baby can sit or lay... More on how much stuff babies come with later.) But after a while, you start to get the hang of it--mostly--and life eases back into feeling normal again, but with a beautiful twist. And somehow you learn to function on minimal amounts of sleep.

---

I'm a breastfeeding mom. (Some segue, right?) I had planned all along to give breastfeeding my very best effort. While I was pregnant, the only dreams I had of my baby were ones where I was nursing her. It's not that I'm a super emotionally-driven person who needs that physical connection to feel like I've appropriately bonded with my child, although there is a definite bonding that takes place. And it's also not that I'm a fanatic who believes that all other forms of feeding a baby are wrong. I just felt that for me, it made the most sense to give it my best shot before turning to other options. The health benefits, both now and later, for mom and baby, have been proven a million times over, and the other reality is that IT IS FREE. Prior to heading into the hospital, I had my ideal situation all laid out in my mind of how things would go after delivery: when Aubrey came out, she would be placed on my chest where she would stay for the next 30-45 minutes, cuddling and nursing, before having to be taken to the nursery to get checked out (I've read all the books... this is what you're "supposed" to do). But because she was early and was having trouble breathing, this situation went very differently. In our childbirth classes, our nurse had us do an activity called "Flipping Your Cards." Each couple was handed a stack of about 8-10 cards that each had two sides with opposing aspects of childbirth printed on them, such as vaginal birth/c-section, or natural pain relief/epidural, and so forth. She had us arrange our cards so that we were viewing the side of the card that we most desired. Then she asked us if we couldn't have exactly our ideal situation, which one would we be most willing to flip. So we flipped one. And then another. And then another. We kept flipping cards until none of them were on the side where we had originally placed them. The only card that was the same on both sides was one that said "healthy baby." The point of the activity was to remind all of us that our delivery day would probably not go exactly how we had planned, but that in the end, no matter how many "cards we had to flip," our goal was still to end up with a healthy baby. Even understanding the point, every couple in the room still struggled with and protested against flipping certain cards. I don't think there was a card pertaining to breastfeeding, but I remember being in the hospital on my delivery day, thinking, "This is the card I really didn't want to flip." I had read everything I could get my hands on about how to have a successful breastfeeding experience from the get-go, and one of the key components (in the opinion of most experts) is getting to nurse as soon as possible after delivery. Instead of having this option, Aubrey was taken to the nursery to have her oxygen levels monitored. It would be another day or so before I could even attempt to nurse her, and a full four days before we were able to do it with any real success. In the mean time, she had breast milk from a bottle and a pacifier --both of which mortified me at the time, but there was no other option.

The first five weeks of nursing were horrendous. There was a lot of crying --mostly from me, but sometimes from Aubrey, too. In my opinion, our hindrances were two-fold: She was early, and she had a bottle first. Early babies often have trouble getting the hang of breastfeeding in the first place, not to mention that they sleep so much it is nearly impossible to keep them awake and alert long enough to get the job done. And most medical experts believe that babies who have bottles/pacifiers before nursing will generally have a harder time getting used to nursing than those that nurse right away. Our saving grace was a magical little invention called a nipple shield. It's exactly what it sounds like, and it is shaped in such a way that the baby can easily get it in her mouth instead of having to work at it so much. There are holes where the milk passes through, and it is really soft silicon, so the texture is as much like the real thing as possible. This is what got us through those first several weeks. The nurses and lactation consultants at the hospital (as well as several things that I read) strongly urged that I wean Aubrey off the shield as soon as possible. The consultant went so far as to say that I needed to have her off it in a week. So naturally, when a week came and went and we were still unsuccessful without the shield, I felt like a terrible mother, like I was ruining my child for life. Another week came and went, and I cried even more. I read and read and read everything I could find about breastfeeding and weaning from a shield. After finally compiling all the information in my mind, and sorting through it as logically as possible, I finally came to the realization that the most important thing was that my baby was eating. At the end of the day, she was getting the food she needed, and that's what mattered. I tried to give myself a break and not feel so stressed out. Eventually, the weaning happened, and life was grand. Truth be told, from what I read, she weaned at about the time that should have been expected anyway: most moms of early babies that have to use a shield, wind up using it until around the baby's due date anyway. As Aubrey was a month early, five weeks on the shield was not a crazy-long amount of time.

As I close this post for the evening and move on to the work that I should actually be doing right now, I just want to say that if you are a mom-to-be who is planning on breastfeeding, please know that it can start off tough, but it CAN work if you are willing to stick with it for long enough. Don't be disheartened when you read about how great it is (and how it shouldn't hurt) but you don't feel that your initial experiences are lining up with that dream scenario. I promise, it will get better. Much better.