Adventures in the ER

I am not a medical professional.  Please do not take any of my rambling opinions as sound advice.

I hate how I so often second guess whether it is right to take my son to the ER.  In the past, I have felt like I've waited and waited... tried to treat him at home, use home remedies to bring down the fever, put him in a steam filled bathroom to ease his breathing.  Only when it became painfully obvious that my efforts at nursing were failing did I take him in to the hospital, at which point they give you the "why didn't you bring this kid in three hours ago" look.  I'm sure medical professionals aren't nearly that judgemental, but as a mom, it's easy to feel guilty.

MMM.... Butter

It's official. Peanut is his grandmother's grandson.  His Paternal grandmother is a certified butter addict.  At dinner, the woman can go through multiple packs of butter on a single dinner roll.  Butter on steak, extra butter on the mashed potatoes... you get the idea.  In all fairness, my own family members are strong proponents of the creamy light yellow pats of heavenly delight as well. 
Little Man recently found two ways to express his fondness for this cholesterol inducing miracle food. Last week Jack learned to move and climb chairs.  While I was out of the kitchen, he moved the chair, climbed to the table and acquired a spatula from the counter top.  He proceeded to turn and attack the butter dish left on the table, which here to fore, had been beyond his grasp.  Next thing I know, I return to the kitchen to find Jack licking butter by the spatula full.
Last night Jack and I visited my parents where we partook in some of the first sweet corn of the season, which was surprisingly delightful for being so early in the year.   Anyway, Peanut doesn't do hot foods--so Grandpa gave him a half eaten half cob, that had previously been buttered and salted, while I pulled a hot cob to begin cooling.  Little Man is absolutely mad about his corn--on the cob any way.  He smashes in to the corn.  I'm not sure exactly how much he actually gets in his mouth, but he has the best time using all of his amazing teeth.  Anyway, when the second unflavored cob was cool, I offered it to Jack.  After just a few bites, he handed it back to me--a very odd occurrence, given how much the kid loves his corn.  Apparently his love of corn, is now second only to his love of butter, which he instantly began pointing at.  Once I'd slathered a light coating over the cob, he ferociously attacked his cob with the zest of a true victor.
 Unfortunately, not even butter will make him love broccoli.

Fun in the Fall

I love the fall.  Hands down, it must be my favorite time of the year.  Of all the seasons I missed while living in the South—I missed the fall most of all.  There are just so many great family activities in the fall, it is impossible not to find a great way to spend time with the family. With every sip of locally produced apple cider I am reminded how glad I am to be home.  I especially love how fall festivities are very low key in preparation for the much more stressful holiday season. 

Read for the Record

I hate "borrowing" content from other sites, but this is such a great idea, I couldn't pass up the opportunity to spread the word.

What are you doing on October 6? How does breaking a world reading record while raising awareness about America’s achievement gap sound? 

I strongly encourage you to participate in Jumpstart’s Read for the Record® presented in partnership with Pearson Foundation. Its a national campaign that mobilizes adults and children to close the early education achievement gap by setting a reading world record.

This annual campaign allows Americans to demand that all children receive the quality early education they deserve. On October 6, 2011, more than 2 million voices will call for an end to America’s early education achievement gap by reading Llama Llama Red Pajama by Anna Dewdney – setting a world record in the process!

Get involved at www.readfortherecord.org to help Jumpstart close the early education achievement gap:

1. Pledge to Read: Submit your official pledge and help us reach more than 2.1 MILLION children. 
2. Spread the Word: Use our simple tools to educate your friends and family about America’s early education achievement gap and invite them to read.

Peanut and I will be reading on the 6th and we hope you will join us.

For more information visit www.readfortherecord.org

Bazinga!

Funny Peanut Story:
Tonight we gave Peanut his nightly bath, just as we usually do, and he did something that has prompted more than a few chuckles.
Peanut made a stinky in his bath water. I'm sure this could be funny to you, but it's not to funny for us. And this isn't the first time he's done it--just the first time in a few weeks. But that's not the funny part of the story.
So we remove Peanut from the soiled bath water and are getting him dressed. Rich does his "Peanut speak" voice (I wonder if other parents put words into the mouths of their unspeaking infants or if we're really this ridiculous?) and says "Ha Ha people. You fell for one of my classic practical jokes. Bazinga." To which Peanut responded with his charming, belly shaking giggle. This had the two of us laughing too.
Thank you Sheldon Cooper (Big Bang Theory) for this warm family moment.

Cloth to Cadillac

            Could we travel for several days using cloth diapers? During a spring break trip to visit family we set out to test our cloth merit.  We’ve never been a staunch cloth family.  We don’t cloth at night, and only recently have we clothed in the afternoon shortly before I return home from work.  Largely due to the overwhelming amount of stuff you already have to pack for a little man we have avoided long travel with cloth up to this point.  I had survived an overnight trip to my sister’s using cloth, but one night supported by my parents is far fewer than three, especially when three results in the need to do laundry.  We packed a bag of disposables just in case.

            Largely we packed hybrids—Flips with stay dry inserts and organic cotton inserts, GroBaby Shells and an Econobum.  In a plastic bag we placed a single load of powdered detergent.  We also traveled with a large home-made wet bag.

            I really loved traveling with the hybrids and believe it was a smart choice compared to the bulk we’d have had with our pocket diapers.  We soon learned a few lessons for next time.  We should have also brought a travel sized wet bag, since we weren’t always at the grandparents house and were separated from a storage container for dirty dipes save spare plastic grocery bags.

            Normally we like to soak soiled dipes.  After our first night, we learned we hadn’t brought a bucket.  The solution was a soak in the washing machine.  We’d brought enough to not need to wash until shortly before our return.  We ended up washing sooner than we’d plan, to ensure we didn’t interfere with our host’s laundry.  Instead of line drying the inserts, we used the dryer.  We don’t usually use the dryer, but oh how soft it makes them—especially the organic cotton.

            As a tangent adventure, we packed our homemade baby food ice cubes.  Our commute to Grandmother’s House took all day, as we were detoured to help move furniture from great-grandmother’s home.  Our cubes were all melted by the time we arrived.  We monopolized grandma’s ice cube trays and refroze an interesting conglomeration of foods.  For the remainder of the trip, peanut dined on veggie surprise and fruit medley.

            In short, we did it.  We’re still not one of those die hard cloth families.  We cheated and left peanut with disposables when he was left with family sitters.  We learned from our mistakes.  No, it wasn’t as easy as it is at home.  But we did survive and are no longer afraid to attempt it again.

Great Cloth Diaper Change

       Saturday marked the inaugural great diaper change (http://greatclothdiaperchange.com/) and peanut and I did our part to get our hometown on the world record map.  We had the opportunity to participate at a local children’s learning center.  Our event was hosted by Tender loving Cloth Diapers LLC.  I was elated by the experience.

            We had committed to cloth diapering while we lived in Savannah.  In Savannah we attended a cloth diapering class at a locally owned boutique which really answered my questions and alleviate my husband’s apprehensions about cloth.  We knew where to go to for cloth and that there were other people in the area who used cloth.  When we moved back home weeks before peanut’s birth, we lost that sense of community support.

            I think that’s what I loved about participating in the Great Diaper Change.  Sure, there were several cliques who obviously knew each other well, but it was a terrific opportunity for a working mom to socialize with other like minded parents.  Suddenly, I no longer felt like we were the only family in town to use cloth.

            I loved seeing the variety of diapers used.  Oh, how charming are all the colors and styles. There are actually two cloth diaper retailers based in the area who hosted events (Sweet Cheeks is the other). I loved that both publicized their events and got the area talking. 

            I also loved to see the variety of children’s ages—all in cloth.  Some held week’s old infants.  Other parents walked along with squeaky shoed toddlers and kids who spoke in full sentences.  It’s amazing how much change our Peanut will go through in two or three years.

            As for Peanut, he had a pretty good time.  There was a ball pit he crawled through.  He tried to keep up with the bigger kids, or at least was very intent to watch other’s playing.  From a dentist vendor, he received his first tooth brush. It’s blue and maize for Michigan, and kept him entertained for most of the event. 

            Approximately 10 minutes before the official record setting time, we filed into the room and found a place on the floor and prepped for the change.  Peanut took his post fairly well and was moderately well behaved with minimal squirming.  Yet, the longer he waited the squirmier he became.  Waiting for the final minutes to pass seemed to take an eternity.  When the whistle was blown and we began the change, he settled long enough to single-handedly complete a quick change. 

            As a bonus, we received a “swag bag” with a free insert and we also won a new diaper to try out.  Although it took a little more of my Saturday than I’d intended, I believe it was time well spent.    

Tastes like Spring

Spring is officially here.  After a crazy weekend filled with out of town guests, finishing a major home renovation and steaming the carpet, we had a sweet moment to enjoy as a family on Sunday evening.  With a beautiful and sunny evening in store and far too much exhaustion to cook dinner, we splurged and went out.  No, not pizza, or burgers--something far more delightful and far less healthy.  We had ice cream for dinner.  Not just any ice cream--Mel-o-cream--the best soft serve ice cream in town.  We drove past three or five other ice cream stands to get there.  While waiting in line, I wavered on what I'd pick when I finally arrived at the window.  My dad waited with Peanut in the car.  By the time we returned with our delectable loot, Grandpa and peanut were had the trunk open and were "tailgateing."  I had a swirl cone in a cup, with Reese's. Peanut had a taste from just about everyone.  He's a big fan of ice cream and I'm sure if he or his grandmother has their way, Mel-O-Creme will soon be on our regular weekend schedule.

My little comedian

Last night, despite overshooting bedtime by at least an hour, peanut wasn't too convince it was bed time. Needless to say parents weren't in complete agreement with his decision.  It took a long bit of rocking and shushing to change his mind. After listening to his wailing calm to moans, after calmly explaining that he was tired, after going through the litany of whispered what he had done today and what he could do tomorrow when he awoke, I thought we finally had a winner. Peanut was drifting, drifting off to sleep. His eyes had closed and he seemed relaxed. 
Then my little comedian drowsily pulled out his pacifier as I whispered "What do you want to tell mama?"  With perfect comedic timing, peanut let out a loud  raspberry. His eyes then popped open, and we were back to our bed time struggles anew.  At least we got a good laugh about it.

Adventures in Real Food: Part 2

Now pushing 7 months, peanut has gone beyond his first foods.  He's also becoming more particular in his likes and dislikes.  He has a strong preference for fruits.  He really doesn't care for cereals at all any more.  I think this is because it's so bland and he recieved some with every meal for awhile there.  He'll tolerate cereal in the morning, but will throw a fit if you serve it with dinner or more than once a day. 
Since last food post, he's tried butternut and acorn squash.  I like thes because they're easy to cook and puree up very smoothly with just a little extra formula.  The acorn squash worked out exceptionally well, and is relatively thick for homemade squash baby foods.
Peanut has also had carrots, but they were his first strongly disliked food.  He now eats them, but usually makes a face for the first bite.  We learned a valuable lesson durring his first days of carrots--they go through him quickle.  We reguallarly combine his carrots with squash for "squarrots" which he likes better.
Another combo he likes--"guaccabeans" and "quaccapeas."  We tried avaccado since it is a very easy "instant" fresh baby food that I don't have to cook or run through the food processor.  He really didn't care for avacado by itself, as it has so little flavor on it's own. However, if you blend it with another green vegatable, you really have something.  It makes the homemade greenbeans a little bit smoother. I was surprised to discover that the remaining avacado can be frozen in an ice cube tray like our other homemade baby foods and doesn't brown up too bad.  It did begin to look a little discolored after being in the freezer for a few weeks, so I wouldn't recommend doing a large batch in advance.
On to the fruit.  As mentioned, there isn't a fruit he won't eat.  Apples were probably his first fruit.  We picked a bushel in the fall, and made homemade applesauce with no sugar or additives. 
He also eats bannanas--another great no-fuss baby food.  He wasn't crazy about them at first, I think because of the semi-slimmy texture.  However, if you add a little formula to cut the slime, he is less likely to object.  He also likes bannanas blended with other fruits or with cinamon.
His next fruit was slightly tropical--mango.  Wow, does he love mango.  I'm not a huge mango eater myself, but I figured it would blend up smoothly and it does.  He'd eat a whole meal of mango if you let him.
Most recently, we've blended fresh strawberries into an awesome purree.  We all also love blended bluberries. When combined it's a challenge to see who can eat more of them first.  Although they are delicious, the berry purees are also really messy--especially the bluberries.  We find mixing them with cereal or more solid fruits like bananas helps contain the mess.
  

Not so little "Little Man"

Weighing in at an impressive 16 pounds 11 and a half ounces and measuring 28 and 1/4  inches--my little man is officially not so little anymore. He isn't this super light little bundle anymore, but rather stretches across my lap. He's eating much more and has started fruits.
Peanut's also a lot more mobile.  He can roll in either direction at will--though cries when he lands on his tummy and is too tired to flip back to his back.  Not yet crawling and not really showing to much inclination to do so, he is a master scooter.  He army crawls and kicks off with his legs.  In a span of a few minutes he went from under his baby gym to the side wall of the room.
 I think he's pretty amazing, but I'm pretty partial.  It is sometimes frustrating how often he is compared to his cousins.  One is two weeks and one is six months older. When speaking with other mom's and all of their bragging, it seems like a contest of one upping.  I know we're all proud of our babies, but there is a tactful way and some not so tactful ways. It sometimes feel like there is a competition about who's kid has the most teeth, weighs the most, has the largest head circumference... I love my peanut for who he is, period.  He's special for who he is, without comparing him to any other babies out there.

Adventures in Real Food: Round 1

Over five months and pushing sixteen pounds, our little peanut is becoming quite the conesuir of non-formula foods.

Food experiment one: Rice Cereal.

Reaction: meh. He wasn’t too impressed. I must admit, I am impressed with neither rice cereal’s appearance nor taste. We add a shake of cinnamon on occasion to spice things up. Peanut is like his dad and loves his cinnamon. After the first two days of cereal dinner, peanut would push his bottle away at dinner time, awaiting his cereal.

Food experiment two: green beans

Reaction: Good at first. Peanut used to scarf down green beans, until he discovered peas. Now he makes a face when he gets green beans, wishing he was having peas instead.

Food experiment three: peas

Did I mention, peanut loves his peas? He would eat peas for every meal if he could. We’ve been making our own baby food purees. We use frozen veggies with a little formula and a whole lot of food processing. We pour the purees in to ice cube trays and freeze. Frozen veggie cubes are stored in freezer bags and thawed as needed. One cube microwaved about 30 seconds makes a pretty good meal.

Food experiment four: Oatmeal
Reaction: No noticeable preference between rice or oatmeal.

Food experiment five: Pumpkin.
Reaction: Yeah, that’s right. Peanut is now on his orange veggies. He’s had two gallon sized bags of pumpkin puree waiting for him for several months. Grandpa bought peanut a very large and very cheap pumpkin near Halloween. Since we didn’t get a chance to carve it, it became baby food. I split the pumpkin and threw out the innards. I steam baked the pumpkin for about an hour. Then let it cool, and purred the pulp.
Pumpkin is actually pretty watery. Normally I add a little formula to his veggies, but not pumpkin. Our doctor said to start with green veggies first, but if she hadn’t so instructed, his first food likely would have been the pumpkin. It pureed so smoothly. Pumpkin likes to blow bubbles in the pumpkin on his spoon. He has also timed a sneeze appropriately and managed to spray pumpkin all over both of us.

It’s pretty silly, but I think dinner time is becoming one of my favorite parts of the day. Despite the mess, I really look forward to it and hope peanut does too. If not, I know he loves the bath that follows—a close second for my favorite time of day.

Peanut's on a Schedule

Let me just say that life has gotten a skagillion times easier now that peanut has found a routine.

Going into parenting, I thought all those books that preached about scheduling your child were hog wash. I figured Peanut would let us know when he's tired, hungry.... No need to force him to eat just because the clock says it's time. I was not going to be one of those Nazi parents who force their kids to nap at 1:00 just because it was "nap time."

Oh how wrong was I. Live and learn. We started with a bedtime routine. Dinner, little play time, bath then bed. Nothing fancy. The more we've done this, the more he wants to bypass playtime for bath time. Peanut is a splashing and slippery baby who lives for bathtime.
He has always had a morning routine, because he needs to be fed before Mommy heads to work. The last trick was hammering down a mid-day habit, but that too has finally fallen in to place.
Sure we don't look at a clock and feed at exactly the same time every day, but we follow his cues too and we're usually within a half hour of the target time.
To be completely honest, it has made such a difference. He goes down for naps without as much struggle when he isn't super tired because he should have been napping an hour earlier. His naps have lasted longer. Most wonderfully, I now have quiet time with my husband before getting to bed so much earlier than I would have imagined myself doing.

Adventures in Cloth Diapering

For the past two weeks we've taken the plunge. Peanut is now large enough to fit his one-size cloth diapers and we're giving this cloth diaper thing a whirl. We bought a variety of diapers before he was born and he's finally gained enough weight that he's not swimming in them.

What we've tried and learned so far:

The Wet factor:
We learned we have taken the super absorbency of disposables for granted. Peanut never cried to complain in his disposables when he was wet. He rarely complained if he was dirty. Not so with the cloth. In cloth, when he's wet he's unhappy and we all know it. Consequently, he gets changed much more frequently in cloth. Lately, he is now also fussier in a wet disposable diapers too. Still, we're thinking this might not be such a bad thing--especially later on for potty training. Besides, it is probably best if he's not sitting in that for longer than he has to.

Overnight leaks
After the first few nights, we decided that cloth was not for overnight for us. I'm sure we could super stuff his pocket diapers, but after a few leaks and restless nights, we're back to disposables. Also, the first week we tried, Peanut seemed so small and the cloth diapers seemed so bulky, I was convinced that more than 1 insert and doubler in there and he'd be miserable.
As an aside, I also didn't pre-wash my dipes, which may also have contributed to the leakage. We've had far fewer leaks since they've been through the laundry.

Snaps vs. velcro
Snaps can be a bit tedious, especially when he's squirming. We can get a much snugger fit with the velcro. However, even in just these first few weeks, the velcro is beginning to show a little wear and I'm curious how long it will last. The snaps will last forever, which is good since I hope to pass some of these down for the next little one.

Cost factor.
I confess--I'm a cheapskate, which is why cloth diapers are so appealing.
There are many cost analysis of cloth diapers out there which will give a much more accurate assessment. We bought our dipes sporadically and on sale, so I couldn't give an accurate start up cost. I'd guestimate that we were in the $200-$300 price range. My husband still isn't sold on the cloth--especially while he's home alone with the peanut. There is a little more organizing and work and he's not comfortable leaving the baby unattended while he tends to the diaper mess. This means we only cloth in the evenings and weekends while I'm home. We're eliminating at least 4-5 diapers daily, maybe 10 or more on the weekends. At this rate, I don't think we're saving a boat load. However, the way I see it, we've already made the investment, we might as well use them. I'm hoping to at least recover the start-up cost.

The stink factor
Yes, collected wet diapers begin to smell ripe after a few days. We do laundry every other day. Wet diapers are gathered in a zippered wet bag. As previously noted, I'm cheap. I made my own hanging wet bag from PUL bought at Jo Ann's. I'd bet it's no where near as nice as a Planetwise or other professionally produced bag, but it gets the job done for far less. I'm not sure it will hold up, but for the $7 invested, I'm not out much if we don't keep up with cloth diapering.
As long as the bag stays closed, the stink really hasn't become an issue yet. We really need a second bag for laundry time, but with a tight budget that is not yet in the cards.

The dirt on dirty dipes
Peanut is formula fed, resulting in one large sticky mess daily. Oh how I want a diaper sprayer for Christmas! I shake the diaper in the toilet, flush and repeat several times to remove the bulk of the solids. I then head down to the utility sink and power wash the remnants. I do a brief soak to help reduce stains and plop the wet mess in my wet bag. So far so good, but a bit more labor intensive than I'd imagined. (I wish I could have stuck to breast feeding). I can understand why my husband would not want to handle this while he's on his own with the baby.

Pockets v. Hybrids: We have several Bum-Genius 3.0, a fuzzi-bunz a knicker-nappies and several pou-ponds (a deal we found on e-bay). We also have 2 flip shells, 3 gro baby shells and 1 econobum shell. We have only flip microfiber inserts. For most occasions, we love our hybrids. They take up so much less space for travel, or even storing wet diapers. Without a diaper sprayer, they are so much easier to shake out the solid messes than messes in pocket diapers. They also dry pretty quick (even line drying). As a negative, however, my husband has more to "think about" with the hybrids. Before he changes the Peanut, he usually asks which way is "the right way." This might also be a factor in why he doesn't cloth diaper during the day. Although we've only had leaks when we first started, I sometimes question their absorbency and if they'll be able to keep up with him as he grows.

For longer periods of time, we trust our pocket diapers. They are easiest for my husband and family to figure out. I'm not crazy about the excess bulk, but think this may diminish as he grows and is no longer on the smallest setting. They also take up tons of space in the small travel wet bag we have.

It's Been

Long time, no posts.

Two month recap: We're back home. Johnny was born early--he's amazingly perfect. I recreated the nursery in a space I envisioned as perfect when I bought the house five years ago. Johnny keeps us up nightly. We love being back in the north for the fall and have had several fall adventures. The job is okay but requires a bit of adjustment. They're sending me on my first ever business trip.

More details on all of the following at some point when I find more time.