musings from a mom

but I have an excuse…

This sweet boy decided to join us a couple weeks early You can read his birth story here (be sure to read about the week PRIOR to his birth too! We had quite an eager beaver on our hands!)

I must say, I’m rather proud of myself. I’ve really taken the time to REST after his birth. With K, I had my c-section on Sunday, we came home Wednesday, Zach took off work Thursday and returned Friday. With B, he was born on Friday morning, we came home Sunday and Zach may have taken a day or two, but I don’t remember RESTING. This time, I spent hours in bed after feedings, napping or just laying there, Zach took a lot of time off, we arranged for my mom to be in town when he was at work/in class and today is my first day alone (C will be two weeks tomorrow). I am so thankful for these near two weeks of rest!

Speaking of resting – all three boys are napping, so I’m going to rest while they do

(Picture taken by Kaitlin Roten of 2point5d photography)

Shannon at Coupon Mommy of 3 is having a week-long giveaway of cloth diapers! With my addiction to fluff #3 on the way, this is bound to help out if I win! So head on over and check it out!

It became official! I finally signed up to start my doula certification.

It’s been two months…

And I’m approximately halfway done with my training!

So far, I have LOVED my experience with Childbirth International’s Birth Doula Training. Everyone I have had contact with both via phone and internet/email has been great. There’s a fantastic Yahoo group set up for all those in training to send out messages and that has been such a great learning tool! My trainer is awesome and always quick to respond to any questions or concerns I may have.

The first assignment I completed was the Childbirth Class Survey – a simple assignment detailing a birth class in the area. Easy peasy.

Since the day I signed up, I’ve been able to access all the required reading manuals online – I received them in the mail about a week after signing up. I immediately got started on the readings and once I completed it all, dove into the Physiology of Birth exams (8 in total). These were open book/note/internet/etc….

When all was said and done with those exams, I received my final grade for that and it was a fantastic (in my opinion, lol) 94.5%. There was only one complaint I had – the hard copy of the manuals were not exactly what was on the website. I found this out after 2 or 3 exams and getting very frustrated over why I could not find these answers anywhere. Once I figured out that I might have to double check online, the tests went better, but, still a smidge frustrating. I got over it once I got my final grade (I only needed a 50% to pass)

Remaining assignments include:

• Reading 3 books and doing form reviews
• Attending/supporting 2 women through labor (15 hours total support time)
• A communications assignment (written paper)
• Providing feedback on Communications section, Birth section and Doula section (manuals)
• Submit request for Certification (!!!!!)

I wanted to get the “easy” assignments out of the way before baby arrives (I’m still hoping to get the book reviews done in the next month-ish) and then, after the new year start in on the paper and births.

So, yes, so far, I’m loving it! I’ve learned so much and look forward to everything else I learn as I continue throughout the course and career!

I did it!!!!

I finally got around to washing the wool covers! And that’s half the battle, right?

Now, to impatiently wait for them to dry!

The wash routine wasn’t too terribly bad – I will not wait for all 7 to be dirty, that’s for sure!

I’ll report back soon, as I think a couple will fit B

I should really rename this blog, once a month mom, since that’s about as frequent as I post here, but there’s already one of those

Anywho.

We’re going to embark on a new journey when #3 arrives (all too soon!!) Wool Covers. A friend gave me a bag full of wool covers that she was finished with and, months later, still they sit in that bag! I need to get them prepped (and there’s a couple larger ones that I want to try on B before #3 arrives so I’m not so freaked out).

I was most worried about the prepping of them, but I found a great instruction guide on washing wool and just a couple days later, I won some wool wash on a blog I read.

I mean really — I need to just prep the things already!

My goal for this week is to do just that! The instructions sound so easy (minus that 2 days drying time! whew! Not sure if I’m that patient! lol)

So, do you use wool covers?

Do you love them?

Are these the wash instructions you follow?

Tell all about wool!

I’m facing a dilemma, so I’m turning to my cloth diapering mama friends to see what they do.

With K, we didn’t start using cloth until he was about 8 months old, and we were not using cloth wipes.

When B was born, we started cloth immediately, but didn’t switch to cloth wipes until a couple months later.

When we started using cloth wipes, we tried all the spiffy “wipe solutions” but found that water in a spray bottle was just the easiest – and we still agree.

However, I’m starting to think about what we’ll be doing when #3 arrives later this summer – what will work best, be most time efficient, etc…

I’m definitely still going to just use water, but, I’m trying to figure out the best way to wet said wipes. Our spray bottle works GREAT, B is very content to lie there while we spray a wipe down, but, I know newborns and I know that won’t be the case…

So, CDing mamas – how do you wet your wipes?

FINALLY!!!! I’m officially working towards my certification as a birth doula! I can not even begin to tell you how giddy I am! I am loving CBI for a ton of reasons (another post for another time!)

I’m loving the pregnancy portion of the materials as it’s helping me figure out what I really want/don’t want this time (I thought I knew before, but just about every day I text my doulas with another thought — Sorry, Faye & Shawna, lol!)

One favorite ‘hobby’ of mine is entering giveaways on blogs — and it has DEFINITELY paid off! I have won ALL sorts of things, from coupons to clothing to shoes to jewelry. One of my most favorite things to win though – cloth diapers! Anything that can feed my (expensive) addiction is great!

Diaper Junction, combined with their blog, aptly named, Cloth Diaper Blog, has weekly giveaways and they are AWESOME giveaways! I won a dozen prefolds a couple months ago and last week, I found out I was one of a handful of winners for a Tots Bots Easy Fit Diaper(so giddy for these one-size finds!)

I was able to pick the color I wanted and I chose Blueberry.

The package arrived and I LOVED that hardly any packaging was used – nothing more than a cardboard ‘sleeve’ around the middle of the diaper with the care instructions!

One thing I couldn’t WAIT to see in person was:

The attached liner of the Tots Bots Easy Fit diaper is attached on one end only, making it quick and easy to stuff into the Easy Fit pocket, but then, it easily pulls out for a thorough cleaning in the wash and a fast dry in the dryer.

Really? I HAD to see this! That sounded too good to be true! While I LOVE pocket diapers and I don’t mind matching up inserts to diapers, if someone wants to make my job easier, PLEASE go ahead!

I pulled the liner out and sure enough, it was attached! I thought for a minute the best, easiest way to get it back in the diaper and quickly figured out my ‘stuffing solution’.

So, onto prepping the diaper for use (so anti-climatic! You get this presh diaper in the mail and then you have to prep, prep, prep…and wait for it to dry…and then wait for kiddo to need a diaper change…wait wait wait….)

FINALLY! I got to put it on B!

Again, being a one-size diaper – my worry – is it going to fit my chunky monkey? And the result? A Perfect fit!

My only concern is the velcro tabs (I’m not the world’s biggest hook & loop fan)

As far as the absorbency – perfection. B tested this one to the max, if you catch my drift, and it held all things concerned

Since this is another one-size diaper, I look forward to testing it out on our newborn come the end of summer!

I’m not a huge Twitter user, I’m mostly on it to get extra entries into giveaways (I won’t lie, haha!) But, following people/companies on Twitter pays off! At the beginning of March, I got a direct message saying that because I was the 1,000th follower of Nifty Nappy Diapers, I was getting a discount!! I was offered a generous discount of 35% off my total order! I was GIDDY because these are some diapers that I had been wanting to try for a while!

Zach & I figured out how we could squeeze in buying a diaper and made it work!

Vilate was great to work with and not to mention, she has the CUTEST fabrics to choose from! I thought I was going to have a hard time, but then I saw the Ooga Booga Brown – a fabric I had been drooling over since I first started cloth diapering!

I placed my order, and before I knew it, my diaper had arrived!

Upon opening the package, I was in LOVE. The diaper was SO soft and plush. Though, I was worried! Even though the diaper was ‘one size’, it looked very small!

I help my breath as I snapped it onto Benjamin…

And then…

PERFECTION!

What a PERFECT fit, for even my 30 pounder!!!

The diaper does need a cover (though, I read reviews of babies lasting hours in these diapers w/ some extra liners added for more absorbency). We chose to put a cover on as we were headed on a 2.5 hour trip and didn’t want to take any chances in the carseat. Although, with the amazingly warm temps we’ve been having, I can guarantee that we will have B cover-free most days (especially when we stay at home!)

Thank you, Vilate, for the discount and making an amazing, trustworthy product!!

(sorry for the poor quality of pictures – It’s hard with a non-stop toddler! Also, be on the lookout come August/September when we try this diaper on #3!!)

This is to hold me accountable to posting two diaper reviews ASAP So if in a week, they haven’t been posted, someone call me on it