Our indoor garden.

Now that Ash is older, we are starting to do some fun stuff together. This is our little indoor window garden.

We are 3 weeks in:

It is doing pretty well now that I have figured out that daily watering is NOT what the plants need.
We bought a strawberry plant at the farmer's market, planted tomato, cilantro, basil and strawberry seedlings we got from the Target $1 bins and are attempting regrowing celery, yellow onion and green onions from our own kitchen scraps and seeing if we can get an avocado seed to sprout.

Once it was time to move the seedlings to bigger pots we thought it would be fun to recycle soda bottle to make sub irrigated planters See HERE (actually, I wasn't sure how well it would go and didn't want to spend a bunch of money on pots)

I like babywearing.

For those that don't know it is the buzzword for carrying your baby in a sling, wrap or carrier. 

As with most things in my life, I do not take it all the way. Some will only wear their baby and never buy a stroller. Frankly, I can see why, some of the carriers out there can cost as much as a stroller. We have a stroller and we like it very much, thank you. Yes, it is mostly for carrying all our crap, but it is still useful.

I don't have A constantly attached, she enjoys her bouncy chair an floor mat...

I am happy with 2 ring slings, a moby wrap and an Ella Roo hip carrier. All were given to me, so I cannot speak to cost, but I'd totally suggest checking craigslist, or asking your local baby boutique if they have a lending library. My local one does babies-in-bloom. in Carlsbad. Do these things first, then if you LOVE a style, then go out and spend tons of money on the perfect fabric/print that you want. Or be like me, and just be happy with the ones you have.

I did fall for the free udder cover and seven slings deal. Honestly, the $10 in shipping you pay is about what the product is worth, eh, maybe a little more. I am sure they work just fine, but I gave away my sling because I love the adjustability of my ring sling. 

At 13lbs we are already nearing the end of the moby's life. There are other wraps out there that are not a stretchy fabric that will hold an older child, but I may stick with the slings. Papa wears her occasionally and the plain black sling works for him. We may buy something for her when she is bigger so she can ride on our backs, I'll be checking out the lending library first.

Nursing in public, my new normal...

I try to be somewhat discrete about it, but it doesn't always work out that way, and honestly I am more concerned that my child is getting fed than that some stranger may catch a glimpse of part of my boob.

Nursing covers are nice, but the all prints are SUPER bright, which some consider cute but make me feel like a huge red sign over my head saying HEY LOOK HERE I AM BREASTFEEDING IN PUBLIC. I have a nice cover that is white with a butterfly pattern all over it that my Dear Friend made for me, I prefer that one to the udder cover by far. 

In California I am not overly inclined to cover my child with a blanket, but I will use that or a muslin blanket or just feed her in her sling when I need to. 

Seriously, I need to do it often.. 

My kid apparently loves to eat in public. Actually, what happens is, she gets hungry, I feed her, she gets distracted because we are out in public so she stops before she is full. She falls asleep and wakes up hungry again. So no matter where we are she needs to eat. 

This last weekend, it was in the middle of a lake. 

I. kid. you. not. 

We were on a paddle boat and she decided she was starving, so I had to make it work around her HUGEMONGEOUS life jacket.

Disneyland, the Wild Animal Park, every restaurant we have ever been to, yep, she's nursed in all those places. 

I do feel slightly bad for our friends who spend time with us as they are always having to talk to me over my kid eating but I already pump while I am at work and she takes bottles during the day so the last thing I want to do is make her take more bottles when I am there to feed her.

I have been truly fortunate not to have any real issues with breasteeding, No mastitis, no thrush ( I believe, this is due to me letting the girls air dry after feeding her, and using cloth breast pads instead of disposable ones) no supply issues. I do have tea from my sister that I drank for day or two during one of A's growth spurts. 

http://www.earthmamaangelbaby.com/breastfeeding-support/milkmaid-tea.html

I plan to drink it for a week here soon so we can build up a bigger freezer supply. 

At about 6 weeks A would get super fussy after eating and get gassy, I tried eliminating dairy for 2 weeks and it did nothing. I really believe in most cases mama's diet doesn't really affect baby. There are, of course, exceptions, but usually when I hear a mamma talking about eliminating foods, it is right around a growth spurt time: 2 weeks, 2 months, 4 months... Baby is going to be super fussy and unsatisfied after eating no matter what mamma eliminates.

Holy empty bank account batman!

I was going through the mail and looking at coupons today.
I saw coupons for formula, $2.50 off and $3.50 off.  So I thought I'd look into the cost of formula versus replacing my Medela Pump that retails for almost $300 (fortunately it does not need to be replaced, but just in case)
What I found was that over the course of a year buying the cheapest formula out there, (Parent's Choice from Walmart) you spend about $900 on formula alone, no baby cereal or starter foods in that cost. If you continue giving bottles a few times a day, naps and bed time, until 18 months, you spend $200 more.

What if you have a kid that needs specialized formula? Tack on another $600, holy cow!

I feel bad for the parents that have issues breastfeeding and need to completely use formula or even supplement.

Not judging, but if you choose not to breastfeed, I assume you are accepting that cost and I don't feel as bad for you.

The cheap-o in me will keep breastfeeding and pumping at work for as long as I can. thankyouverymuch.

I'll likely end up steaming and food processing my own baby food too, just because I looked up those cute little packs of pureed veggies and fruit and umm, also not cheap. I am hoarding coupons for those bad boys until A hits 6 months and we introduce her to mushy food.

Strange But True...

I truly am enjoying cloth diapering... The hubby doesn't seem to mind either. :)

We haven't started solids yet, and I hear it is a hard transition. I didn't buy a diaper sprayer when we started because money was a little tight me being on maternity leave and all. It has worked out just fine since currently everything can go straight into the wash. I suspect that soon we will be purchasing a sprayer and I have a good sized stash of both cloth and paper liners to help out with the solid food poo issues when they come.

So, about those diapers:

In the beginning we used Muttaquin baby http://www.muttaqinbaby.com/diapers.html and kissaluvs http://www.kissaluvs.com/ Newborn fitteds with Prorap and Imse Vimse covers, we got these from a friend whose daughter had grown out of them. These diapers truly were life savers, I am not sure I would have kept up cloth diapering if we hadn't had these.I love that they have a snap down so the umbilical cord stump does not get irritated, the Prorap cover also has a scoop in the front for that reason.

 In a Muttaqin Baby fitted, before the cover covered up the cuteness

I had some flats and some pre-folds (aka old fashioned) diapers but they are WAY too bulky on a newborn. I have since found out you can buy newborn sized pre-folds which would have been better. I also had gotten some small gDiapers and small Fuzzibunz pockets but neither of those fit until later.

We like Hybrid diaper systems. 

We do not use them exclusively, as that would be more expensive than disposables and we are primarily cloth diapering to save money. However, we like to have them for trips and outings.

We like gDiapers and love the flushable inserts but she grew out of the smalls so quickly and I couldn't bring myself to buy a whole new set up. We still use the gDiapers cloth inserts as doublers in her bigger fitted diapers, but we wanted another hybrid style diaper for trips so we bought GroVia http://gro-via.com/ since they are one size and there was a great sale on 3 covers and 2 packs of the disposable inserts. The inserts aren't flushable, which is a bummer and the covers have mesh inside them which does not allow for wiping them clean like our flip http://www.flipdiapers.com/ and econobum http://www.econobum.com/ covers. We have some Flip disposable inserts but they are too bulky still, but look like they'd be useful later.

For normal diapering we use both pocket diapers and fitted inserts with covers (or 2 in 1's). 

Pockets are fun and have great colors and prints, but I find myself getting cranky when I put a cute diaper on her and then she poops so I have to change it. Although, I like the fact that I can add more or less to the pocket diaper depending on it being night time or day time (opposed to AIOs or all-in-one diapers) We have Fuzzibunz http://www.fuzzibunz.com/, Charlie Banana http://www.charliebanana.com/, BumGenius http://www.bumgenius.com/ and Swaddlebees pockets. 

in her Fuzzibunz small at 6 weeks

The swaddlebees were given to us, and sadly, the company no longer makes pocket diapers. A shame too, they fit our LO perfectly. The Fuzzibunz and Charlie Banana are size small and seem like they will fit for a while. The Swaddlebees are size medium and also seem like they will fit a while longer. Along with the Swaddlebees, we were given hemp inserts. I am glad too, because hemp is more expensive and the cheap-o in me may not have ever bought them. So much absorbency in such a little package. I love them. Plus, I am finding the microfiber inserts are all smelling icky already and need to be stripped.... Oh Joy! (I'll talk about that when I post about washing). From my reading on mommy blogs and chat boards, BumGenius is the most popular brand followed by Fuzzibunz, I like them both equally, Bumgenius does offer a refresher kit for those that sew, it is new elastic and velcro tabs, the 2 things that go out on diapers after repeated washes. I was able to refresh a diaper from my sister that had been used for over a year in rotation for my nephew. That for me brings BumGenius to the front but I can't bring myself to ever pay full price for a diaper so unless they go on sale, I am not buying any more.

The one I got was a freebie from diapershops.com, they often have a coupon code for a free one sized diaper with a purchase of a certain amount. When I got the GroVia set on sale, my freebie was a white BumGenius, in addition to the one I got from my sister, we have 2. The Fuzzibunz and Charlie Banana were on sale with Zulily.com I got 3 smalls and a medium, now I wish I had gotten more.

The fitted diapers we have are several brands:

http://www.totsbots.com/products/range/bamboozle-stretch/

http://www.earthmomandbaby.com/shop/category/bumboo-cloth-diapers/

http://www.etsy.com/shop/sugarplumbabydiapers

http://sosdiapers.wahmweb.com

We use them with Prowrap, Econobum, Flip, Imse Vimse and Bummis covers. My favorite is Flip, they are one size and come in great solid covers. I do love all the cute prints out there, but usually A is wearing a cute outfit already and a brightly patterned cover just clashes.

For emergencies (aka we've been lazy about laundry) we still have the flats and pre-folds to use with the covers that work just dandy but are a little more work.

We did buy some Kushies http://www.kushies.com/ AIOs that I like but she is still not quite fitting them in the leg even though they say from 10-22lbs and she is 13lbs. I REALLY want to like them, especially since they are a Canadian company. I got 2 new from Amazon.com and 12  used from craigslist for $40 so not a big deal if they don't ever fit right. I did have to strip them because the person who owned them before used a very fragrant detergent (possibly a dryer sheet which is a no-no) but they work just fine now aside from the legs being slightly loose. Papa likes the AIOs and the pockets (I stuff them) because there is only 1 thing to do when changing her.

When she migrates to large diapers I have some pockets already bought along with the one-size covers from Econobum, Flip and GroVia, we may just buy more one size fitted diapers and forego the AIO and pockets completely.

in her Snap EZ one size

Another brand I liked but are no longer making baby diapers is SnapEZ, we have 2 nb sized pockets, 2 one sized pockets and 2 pairs of training pants from them that I really like and haven't had any issues with so far. I also got mama cloth and some breast pads from them that are equally great.

OH - I forgot to mention I made a chart... Cause I am weird like that, I wanted to make sure there were no sizes missing... Google Doc Diaper Spreadsheet

I'll write more about washing, we are in a unique situation, an apartment with shared laundry facilities... it is fun let me tell ya.

ahh pumping,so much fun...

I am sitting in the bathroom at my office pumping.
THE BATHROOM!? you say, isn't that illegal?
Well no, not exactly. The law says not a bathroom stall, my HR has very nicely put a comfy chair in our bathroom that has a stall for the toilet. I am in the outer part with the sink and counter. I've been wandering around the office looking for a more suitable place, but cannot find one.  If my pump was quieter I'd ask to sit in one of the unused cubicles in the back away from everyone and put up a curtain... but the pump is relatively noisy and while not loud enough to be disruptive I don't think it is fair to make my young male coworker with no kids sit and listen to the pump going.
There has been talk of letting me sit in the owner's office (he is NEVER in the office) but there is no lock on the door, so we'd have to put up a sign. I am beginning to think that may be the best option. Currently I am using disinfecting wipes and wiping down the bathrom counter every time, it'd be nice to just put the pump together and go without wondering who has sneezed on or touched the counter before washing thier hands.

I shouldn't watch cooking shows...

Tonight it was Cupcake Wars... So at 10pm on a Saturday, what  I do? Make cupcakes...

Dalmatian Cupcakes -

Chocolate with a cream cheese and chocolate chip center...

Peanut Butter Cup Cupcakes

Chocolate with a hidden peanut butter cup inside

Blueberry Cheesecake

Give me a break on these it was almost midnight when it came time to ice them... I wanted to drizzle a blueberry compote over the icing but I got tired...

I also decided that I NEED piping bags and tips... You know for all that baking of fancy desserts I do a few time a year... Maybe I can find some at Goodwill...