of the cloth

Oct 312008
 
Thursday…

This isn’t exactly the great big long update post about our weekend that I had planned.  That will be put off to somewhere beyond folding the laundry and making bread and coming up with something for dinner.  No, this post is a call to all you cloth diapering mommies out there…  Help, where do I start?!

Actually, thanks to my sister-in-law Megan, I’m well on my way to being a cloth diapering mommy.  When we were at her house over the weekend, Megs gave me a big bag with the following:

  • 5 Bummis Super Whisper Wrap (size small)
  • 23 Snug to Fit Diapers (14 with printed fabric)
  • 3 Dri-Line Diapers
  • 2 Bummis Tote Bags (1 purple size medium, 1 blue size large)
There are definitely a lot of stains, but she said she’s washed them and bleached them and to no avail (first question would be, what’s your best trick for getting out stubborn stains?!  I’m thinking of soaking them in bleach first…).  I looked on eBay completed listings, and it doesn’t look like used cloth diapers are a very popular item?  It appeared that they go for somewhere around $2 per diaper, and closer to $4 or $5 for the wraps?  But that was based upon about two listings…  Anyone else ever bought used diapers?  I don’t even know what they go for new…

First question relating to stains, second would be, what’s your favorite wrap/cover/whatever-you-call-it?  Punkin’s bottom is very little, and the diapers are very big.  We snap them on the tightest snap and they work fine, but the small size wraps barely cover the huge thick diaper.  So we’re going to need to buy some bigger wraps very soon, and I’m not positively impressed with these.  What would you recommend?

Question number three, is it okay to use the tote bags as a diaper pail, er, bag?  The diapers are only ever barely wet, but I don’t want to stick them in with the rest of the dry dirty laundry, and don’t have room for a diaper pail (hard to find room for that basket of cloth diapers, whew they take up a lot of space!).

So yes, we’re on Day 2 of cloth diapering.  You wouldn’t believe it, would you, that this all-natural, old-fashioned farmer’s wife has been using disposable diapers for the first 11 months of her daughter’s life?!  Well, it’s for the simple reason that I am actually supposed to be sort of, you know, working part-time at this family business we have, and hubby also thinks he wants dinner and a clean house (imagine that), and he didn’t think I had time to wash diapers constantly on top of everything else.  Besides which, neither of us was going to rinse out a dirty diaper in the toilet.  No way.  Not at all.

But now our little girl almost never has a mess in her pants (and that’s only when she’s somewhere other than home, when we won’t be using cloth anyway), and her wet diapers are only barely wet because we didn’t quite set her on the potty soon enough.  We find ourselves throwing away dozens of barely wet diapers, only because it seems wrong to put a slightly wet diaper back on her little bottom.

Suddenly, it seems feasible to do cloth diapers during the daytime.  Because more often than not, I’ll only have a diaper or two per day that has to go in the wash.  So it won’t be loads and loads of extra laundry.  And we’ll still do disposables at night time and when we’re travelling.  But it will cut way down on the disposable diaper bill (even though they’re cheap as can be at Costco).

In fact, as wet as she gets her diapers, we wouldn’t need half that thickness.  As soon as those training pants we have in the “grow-into bin” fit her, I think I’ll just put those on her with a wrap over it.  Of course, by that time she’ll probably be talking and can tell me she needs to go.  (Our baby has a very small bottom.  You just wouldn’t know it encased in all those layers of cloth as it is these days…  She was in preemie diapers for weeks.  Not newborn, those fell right off.  Premie.  She’s still only in Costco size three!)

So yes…we’re delving into the unknown world of cloth diapers.  Well, not totally unknown.  I did change quite a few on a certain sister and brother of mine.  But that was back in the days when they’d just figured out how to add Velcro to good old-fashioned cloth diapers (the kind I use as burp rags and dust rags now), and when plastic pants were all the rage in baby fashion.  Yup, a lot has changed…  And I have a lot to learn.

But I’m figuring that my goal with Ruth’s future siblings (necessary parenthetical note: no, this is not an announcement) will be to get them potty trained as soon as possible so we can switch to cloth and cut down on the diaper expense.  Of course, if all her siblings have such little bottoms as she does and are trained as fast or faster than she was, I’ll have to buy smaller cloth diapers.  These things are huge!  (Merritt frequently reassures her that yes, they make her bottom look fat.)

Now back to that laundry I’m folding.  Which only includes one diaper.  Yep, I can handle that kind of laundry…  Especially considering the money we’re saving!

bytes of Pumpkin Pie

Oct 242008
 
Lil’ Pumpkin,

You are growing and changing so fast these days, Mommy can hardly keep up with you, let alone record it all! 

I was on the phone with your Aunt Natalie Marie an hour ago, when I heard pages turning.  As in, paper pages–and you are only allowed to play with cloth books!  When I went to investigate I found that you had abandoned your full toy basket, and un-noticed by Mommy who stood just a few yards away, crawled to my recipe book shelf, taken down an antique recipe book, and were looking through it.  You were quite upset at being discovered. 

You not only say Daddy now (which sounds like Gah-dee), but you call for Mommy–when I’m not right there.  You say Daddy’s name to his face all day long, but you only call “Maaah Maah Maaah Maaaahm” when I’m not next to you.  And when I was taking down the laundry yesterday, I saw you twisting all the way around in your walker and saying “Keeh, Keeh!”  You’d discovered Oofie the Kitty behind you, and were trying to call to him.  (Unfortunately, he doesn’t really like you.  But Wooster makes up for it with his undying love of attention, even from little Pumpkins like you who pull on ears and tails.)

You have another little second cousin!  Weston James was born to Mommy’s cousin Robert and his wife LeAnn early Thursday morning.  That makes for boys on Mommy’s side this year, with your second cousins Braedon (born in August) and Weston, and girls on Daddy’s side, with your second cousins Abigail (born in February) and Riley.  You’ll have so much fun meeting and playing with them all. 

We can’t decide if you’re going to be a gourmet chef or the owner of the world’s best cleaning service.  You love cooking, you’ve even taken to pulling the yummiest looking book off of Mommy’s recipe shelf.  But you really love vaccuums, brooms, and mops.  So much that you cry the most broken-hearted cry when they are put away.  And you twist your little neck every which way to see where Mommy mops next.  And you really think you should be allowed to do all the sweeping.  You can hold up a broom all by yourself.  It just doesn’t quite sweep the floor, but the air!

We love you so much, baby Pumpkin.  Even if you are inconsolable for hours until we think to set you on the potty at 11 p.m.  I think it’s time to learn a new word: “potty”!

Love,
Your sleepy Mom

last night’s revelation

Oct 242008
 
#1 Reason Not to Potty Train Your Child Until They Can Talk

You might find yourself hanging out in the bathroom at 11 p.m. with a child who has been inconsolable for the past several hours, until you thought to put them on the potty again…

Fifteen minutes of serious concentration and we all slept until 6 a.m.  Why didn’t I think of that before 11 p.m.?!

Okay, she had been on the potty at nine.  But apparently she didn’t have to go then.

Of course, the real revelation of the evening was not to give a toddler “crunchy” yogurt with flax seeds, sunflower seeds, and strawberries…  Even if you attempt to avoid “most” of the seeds!

Pumpkin Notes

Oct 222008
 

  • My baby girl is 11 months old, as of yesterday.  Hard to believe.  And yet, remembering everything I was doing a year ago, I keep thinking I had her along with me.  But then I remember she was in my tummy, not my arms!
  • She’s been semi-crawling ever since my family left.  But more just moving her arms like she should, then falling forward on her belly and scooting.  She had the whole idea of moving her legs, but only in the backwards motion.  Well, last night, that all changed.  She was on the kitchen floor, which is of course nice and slippery, and she started crawling to beat the band.  Using arms and legs in proper sequence and motion.  This morning, she’s all over, even on the carpet.  I think being on the slippery surface helped her finally take off.  And now…watch out!
  • Pumpkin likes Chinese soup.  Not just the egg-flour kind either.  The last batch I made was somewhere in between that and a regular hot and sour soup.  In other words, very soy saucey and vinegary.  She wanted very badly to try a bite of her daddy’s, though, and she proceeded to eat half the bowl.  She wasn’t so wild about his taco meat last night, though…
  • In celebration of being 11 months old, we’re breaking out the whole cow’s milk in small doses and letting mommy’s milk supply dry up.  I was only finding time to express milk about once a day anyway, so it was time.  But it’s still sad.  And it was a great excuse for still eating whatever I wanted, too!
  • Punkin has finally figured out the patty cake thing, too.  Her aunties and grandmas had been working with her on it, I know, but she’s finally figured out how to clap her own little hands together.  So we do patty cake every time we sit on the potty now!
  • Now that she can get anywhere and everywhere she wants to go, Ruth has started getting stuck in tight places.  Yesterday she went after her pink cowboy boots that are between the crib and the couch.  She twisted herself in there, but her shoulders were too broad to get back out.  So Mommy came to the first of many rescues…
  • She’s finally got a bit more of an appetite.  Drinking between 4 and 6 ounces of formula four times a day, and eating more at meals.  (Especially when it’s French toast or yogurt or cheese or homemade custard.)  And according to some of what I’ve been reading, she really shouldn’t be drinking more milk than that or it will spoil her appetite for regular meals.  So I guess we’re doing okay.  And tipping the scale at almost 17 pounds.
  • We love our Pumpkin!

last night’s menu

Oct 222008
 
In case you were all just dying to know what we ate for dinner last night… 

I chopped up the ingredients for a cabbage salsa–cabbage, sweet onion, red onion, jalapeno pepper, sugar, salt, pepper, cilantro, all that good stuff (and it turned out to be a pretty hot batch!).  Cabbage salsa and chips was the appetizer. 

Then we had enchiladas “restaurant-style”–I had browned up beef, onion, and jalapeno, and stuck that in fried corn tortillas, folded the tortillas onto our plates, sprinkled them with cheese, drizzled them in green enchilada sauce…and that was the first course! 

Amazing chef hubby got home by that time and fried up the chili rellenos for me (I avoid frying as much as I can, simply because I detest getting all splattered with oil and the mess it makes in my kitchen!).  I usually make a chili relleno casserole, but I decided to go for individual rellenos this time because the peppers were so huge and beautiful.  I think I like the way you can taste the flavor of the chilis better in the casserole, but it was fun to try something different.  And we were stuffed by the time we’d had our third and final course of the peppers!

So there you have it…our Tuesday night dinner.  Your tongue on fire yet?!

sunshine and quiet moments

Oct 212008
 
I took a little walk this afternoon while Ruth napped.  Then I sat in one of our orange Adironack chairs for a while and just soaked up the sunshine.  My fingers may have started out cold when I was hanging up the clothes, but eventually the sunshine warmed me up (as I hope it will the clothes!) and by the time my walk was through I was ready to take off my coat.

We’ve been busy busy around here, and I seem to forget to be still, even when I have quiet moments like my Pumpkin’s naptimes.  I’m still writing or reading or folding clothes or something to keep my mind occupied.  And in the process I spend more time worrying about things I can’t do anything about instead of giving them over to the One Who is in charge and just soaking up His peace.  Forgive me, Father.

The last three nights Baby Girl has been awake much of the night.  What happened to those twelve-hour nights I’m not sure.  She seems to do really well for a long time and suddenly go through a waking up spurt.  We’re wondering if she’s waking up because she has to go potty.  But of course, in the middle of the night, sitting on the potty chair is a minor tragedy unless we’ve had a bottle first (believe us, we’ve tried).  And having a bottle in the middle of the night only seems to contribute to the waking up habit.  So what has this desperately exhausted mom done the last few nights?  Brought her daughter into bed.  Which means I get the stiffest neck and little to no sleep.  But at least I’m laying down and it’s quiet and Ruth and Merritt get some rest.  This morning I was a walking zombie and caught about 30 winks during Ruth’s morning nap.  I didn’t even hear my husband come home and deliver the formula Papa and Nanna bought at Costco last night (and he called my cell phone, too, when I didn’t come to the door to see him).  Needless to say, we’re all hoping for a good night’s sleep tonight, or Pumpkin’s going to be having a slumber party with Aunt Mouse sooner than later!  (Meanwhile, Mommy’s surviving on semi-sweet mini M&M’s, chocolate chips, and Gharadelli dark chocolate squares.)

Yesterday I got nearly nothing done at home, because we spent the morning sighting in my new gun.  Merritt had already sighted it in before hunting season, but after he got his buck it was discovered that the scope was so loose it was rattling…it’s a miracle he got the buck!  We had the gun bore sighted Sunday, and we nearly ran out of shells before getting it right on paper.  It was over two feet high to begin with.  But amazing hubby got it shooting right on before we left our friend’s range.  The he took me to get coffee and I sat in the middle next to him and it was happy.  I love being married to my best friend.  I love that sitting in the middle is still fun after two years and five months.  I love my hubby!

The afternoon was spent cutting up Merritt’s deer, running to town to pick up the truck (which had totally died and had to be towed to the mechanic’s–yes, my hubby is a very talented mechanic but something was wrong in the electrical or something and he didn’t want to “learn” on his dad’s truck!), delivering pumpkins to the bank, getting gas while the $ is low (we paid under $3 a gallon on Sunday, it’s a miracle!), etc.

I went out hunting the moment we got back from town, which is when it decided to blow up a storm, literally.  As I was walking towards the big cottonwoods by the creek all of a sudden the wind came up and thousands of leaves started blowing towards me.  I found a low spot in the field and sat down in it until the storm died down a bit.  I wasn’t going any nearer those big trees with the wind blowing the branches out of them the way it was!  It settled down to rain and I moved to our “spot”.  No deer, though.  Just cold hands and feet!!  But Marly had a warm meal of tomato soup and grilled cheese ready when we got in.  She was the cook and babysitter for the day!

Thus Tuesday has been laundry day this week, and we ate leftover stir fry and rice for lunch, along with some beef chunks cooked in soy sauce, minced ginger, and garlic (scrumpdelicious!).  Tonight’s dinner is going to be something with hamburger, tortilla, and peppers.  Stay tuned for the menu.  (Interpreted, I have no clue what I’m making yet and better get out the cookbooks!)

Baby girl should get up here soon, though.  So I better decide on the menu and then do the mad dash of house cleaning and dinner prep before hubby gets home.  Happy Tuesday!  What’s for dinner at your house?

Mostly Pumpkin

Oct 182008
 
Dear Little Pumpkin,

You have just learned to get to a sitting position all by yourself.  Which has opened up all new worlds.  At supper Nanna was telling us all how you were sitting up when she went to get you up from your nap.  I said that would be a first.  Then your Grandma said well she didn’t think about it, but when she went to get you up the other day, it was dark and she had to feel all around for you and she finally found your head–you were sitting up.  We teased her about manufacturing the story to keep up with your other grandma, but we were all soon seeing manifestations of your ability to sit up.  I have yet to see you take more than about one crawling step forward.  But you crawl backwards, change to a sitting position, go back to crawling again, lunge forward, and pretty soon you’ve been all over the place.  I know that when you really start crawling you’re going to be everywhere at once.  But for now, with the backwards crawling and such, you don’t cover too much territory too fast.

With all the visitors, you had lots of help and encouragement in the crawling department.  They also tried to get you to talk, but you waited until everyone was gone to start saying “Daddy.”  It sounds more like Gah-eeh.  But considering the fact that you say it every time Mommy excitedly announces “Daddy’s home!”, I think it’s meant to sound like Daddy.  And yes, you’ve said it for him now, too, and he’s thrilled.  You also say hi, mostly when I’ve just picked up the phone and said hi.  But of course, you don’t understand that your little Fisher Price telephone with the rotary dial is a phone.  So you think Mommy’s nuts when she pretends to talk on it!  But you love saying hi, and you’re finally catching on to waving bye bye, but you do it with both hands. 

We continue to have all sorts of funny potty incidents.  Like when Daddy took you to the potty chair yesterday morning with your burp rag in your hand.  I warned that you’d mop the bathroom floor with it, but Daddy figured that was okay.  After he took you off the potty chair, he discovered a very wet burp rag.  He said he thought you had gone more.  You hadn’t mopped the floor, you’d soaked up your potty in your burp rag.  I think that’s the last time you get your raggy rag on the potty!

And then of course there was the time a couple days ago that Mommy sat down to finish her article for YLCF about potty training.  Not long after I got started, you woke up from your nap, an hour early.  You didn’t fuss much, so I hoped you’d fall back asleep.  You didn’t.  I kept writing.  When you finally got fussy, I went over to get you up, and the smell that greeted my nose told me we’d just flunked in the potty training department.  Silly mommy should have been listening to what she was writing in her article.  Daddy told me you didn’t go much messy that morning!

Yesterday afternoon you got to watch Mommy vaccuum, and as always, you loved it.  For some reason vaccuums and brooms make you so excited.  I guess that must have been why Mommy dropped the newly-refilled cornstarch container that she was trying to close with one hand…  You were fascinated by the white powder everywhere (in fact, I thought I was going to see you take off crawling right then and there, clear across the kitchen floor).  You were even more thrilled when it meant I got out the vaccuum again.

I love you, my little Pumpkin.  Thanks for being Mommy’s good helper.

Love,
Mommy

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