A new year of learning, growing, thriving… especially now that I have TWO boys!
What do you want to do differently this year as a parent?
Be more active. Ok, I have to give myself some slack in this area. Last year I had hyperemsis, a subchorionic bleed, and symphysis pubis dysfunction. Was on bedrest the entire pregnancy, then recovery from the emergency repeat c-section (failed VBAC). Still. Our awesome friend Jennifer, gave us a Brookfield Zoo Membership that I can’t WAIT to take full advantage of.
I also want us to focus on more of a schedule. As it stands now we are all naturally nocturnal, which is fine for the Winter, but when the warmer Spring starts to happen I want us to have a semi-set bedtime so we can spend our days outside in the fresh air, exploring.
We also, especially with our oldest son, will give even more support and guidance. He came back from living with his bio-dad and bio-dad’s girlfriend sickly, unhealthy, afraid, and with night terrors. After only 5 months with them. It’s been a long year of slow healing for him emotionally and physically.
We will be working on stronger reading skills (we homeschool/unschool), more math skills, and anything else he wants to learn! Already we’ve noticed a huge leap in his language since being back home, especially in the past few months, and we really want to encourage him to speak properly, eloquently, etc. I always have a tendency to get a bit upset in general with people who “dumb” themselves down.
With the baby, there isn’t too much I need to do differently. Naturally this year is a big one for development so I do want to expose him to different music, photography, and textures early on.
What do you want to be the same?
With my oldest son, the love and desire to be a family. So many children I know can’t stand to be around their parents and my son loves nothing more than “family time”. Just on Monday night, he sat on the floor in our bedroom and sang to all of us (the boyfriend aka “real daddy” as my son calls him, the baby, and myself) about how much he loved us individually. His little brother LOVED it. Huge smiles, laughs, and squeals!
With the baby, just his enthusiasm. He is always so excited to see me when he wakes up (yay for co-sleeping) and overall is super chill.
What went exceptionally well in 2009?
Having Danny move back home into a safe, secure, well-loved environment. Giving birth to Tristan. Seeing the love between brothers who are almost eight years apart.
What could you use a do-over?
Well obviously, not have Dan live with his bio-dad heh. I also would have started homeschooling him right away instead of having more damage done by the local public school.
So to recap:
Create more of a structure for not only myself but for my oldest son. Make an effort this year to create some amazing experiences.
Visit Hobo Mama and Code Name: Mama to find out how you can participate in the next Carnival of Natural Parenting!I’ve been so excited, it’s finally starting to snow!
I took some photos today when my oldest son, Daniel, and I went outside to play for a bit while baby Tristan chilled with daddy.
It’s finally starting to hit us that Christmas/Yule is coming up shortly. We really are trying to make this an awesome holiday, especially for Danny, since last year he spent the holidays with his biological father and it was utterly miserable for him. We plan on getting the Wii for his massive gift since my twin sister promised us some games and accessories she no longer wants so it really helps us out financially. I would love to do something with holiday cards, but I don’t know what exactly, perhaps a holiday card exchange of some sort? We are going to try and get the tree up in the next week or so, I can’t wait, I am ALL about the pretty lights, can we say upcoming bokeh shots!
In other exciting (for me anyway!) news, I received a brand new ring sling in the mail from my friend Gina of The Feminist Breeder. I LOVE IT! Not to mention the bag she included, she picked out the perfect fabric for me!
Tristan adores the new sling, even more than the Moby Wrap! I think because I tend to put him facing forward in the new sling, so he doesn’t get to miss any of the action! What type of baby carrier do you prefer and why?
Lastly, I’ve been curious, for the photographers out there, what do you do with your prints? I don’t have the money to buy frames so we have them up on the walls around the house with just push pins and I feel like I’m not displaying them properly.
Of course, here’s some photos of Tristan being the uber squish today!
Cloth diapering (aside from breastfeeding!) is one of the best financial and health decisions a parent could make!
Oh yes, that is the face of a happy and healthy attachment baby!
When I was pregnant with my oldest son, Daniel, I wanted to cloth diaper him, sadly I wasn’t able to do so (due to his biological father) until Danny was about a year old. With him I used mainly pre-folds and covers with a few pockets and AIO (all in ones).
This time around I pretty much let Keith know from the start we would be cloth diapering Tristan. Explaining the health benefits, the FINANCIAL benefits, and well the cute factor heh, he was totally on board!
My father purchased us a dozen Bum Genius 3.0 One Size diapers and our friend Jen, purchased us another dozen. How lucky are we!
Here are some of my (and Keith’s) favorite aspects about using cloth diapers!
Keith’s Reasons
My Reasons
Actually Keith listed most of our reasons, go figure!
Financially, with the option we went with, for an initial cost of $400 approx, we have a set of diapers that will last from newborn until toddler. With disposables that cost would be approx $1800! Also Keith had talked to the water company and the woman he spoke to was shocked. Apparently our family of four uses the same water consumption as a one person household. I was so surprised considering how much laundry we do, my long showers, the billions of dishwasher loads, etc.
We wash the diapers every other day and use powdered Tide for the detergent. Honestly, Keith is the one who does ALL the diapering. He changes all the diapers, washes them, and stuffs them.
His method for washing is:
It may sound like a lot of steps, but in reality it’s just moving the dial a few times on the washing machine!
Do you use cloth diapers? What type (pocket, pre-folds, AIO’s, etc)? Do you have a favorite retailer? How did you start using cloth?
Today we hit a breastfeeding milestone, 6 weeks of Tristan having nothing but my breastmilk to nourish and sustain him. Now keep in mind, I am sleep deprived as I write this.
It’s interesting for me considering I breastfed my oldest son from birth until he self weaned after he turned 4yrs old. I’ve gone back and re-read all my archives, not only did I sound like a typical blogger at the time heh, but even then I was passionate about breastfeeding and the benefits for both me and my son.
With Tristan we did encounter some issues for the first 3 weeks, mainly that he was a very chill/sleepy baby so he would fall asleep at the breast as soon as he would latch, it caused many worries for me as I had zero issues breastfeeding my first son. Thankfully after week 3 and two visits to a lactation consultant (who loved our BumGenius cloth diapers, and said we were the first parents to use cloth diapers in all her 10+ yrs working as a LC!), he has “woken up” if you will, and we’ve had no further issues.
I do feel a large part of my breastfeeding “success” is that formula/bottles were never an option in my mind. As with my first, I made sure we did not have any artificial nipples in the home, did not purchase formula (which NEVER crossed my mind even when I was pregnant with my first son), and I’ve always had a “this will work no matter what I have to do” attitude.
I also did not let anyone’s opinions affect me. I could care less if my family, friends, hell my boyfriend, supported me in my choice. Granted it’s nice to have that emotional support I’m sure, but at the end of the day it’s a relationship between my child and myself. One worth fighting for.
I remember the nurses being judgmental and downright rude to me as I nursed Tristan. I had almost every single nurse act surprised and even angry that I did not have sore nipples or breasts from letting my newborn nurse as much as he wanted/needed to. I had one nurse (that I “fired”) verbally attack me for letting him stay at the breast for 3 hours one afternoon. That it wasn’t “normal”. I had many nurses try to get me to leave him in the nursery… for no reason at all. I of course declined, and after a certain point, not so politely.
When I had Daniel, the nurses made it their personal goal to try and talk me into giving him formula, one even tried to sneak a bottle into my baby without my knowledge or consent, if it wasn’t for my twin sister noticing and stopping it, who knows what could have happened. I had one night nurse try to tell me that it was ok to give formula because it would be given through an oral syringe, so that made it “ok” in her eyes.
In both cases, no one had a valid reason of why they were so disturbed that I was breastfeeding my new baby. In both cases I did not have one single nurse that was happy to see me breastfeeding.
I do realize I tend to judge, and I am harsh, to those who formula feed by CHOICE. Very few people have a valid reason to not breastfeed. Most of the reasons are selfish, misguided, lazy, or they cave into pressure from those around them to give their babies a dead powdered (possibly recalled) substance filled with corn syrup, oils, powdered vitamins, etc.
I also realize some people that make the CHOICE to formula feed, do so out of ignorance. How many times have we all heard mother’s say they chose to feed their infants formula because the baby was “so hungry!” around 2 weeks, 3 months, etc. It hurts me that simply because their baby was going through a growth spurt, instead of RESEARCHING it, instead of reaching out to their local LLL or LC, they instead cram a bottle of potentially harmful material into their babies mouths.
It’s NOT NORMAL that we have to have LAWS in place to be able to nourish our babies the way our bodies are set up to do. We have milk ducts for a reason.
Now granted I may come across a bit harsh and I fully expect that I will offend/upset someone with my thoughts and opinions. I am not going to apologize for that. Generally those who FEEL attacked, are actually feeling guilty or not confident in their parental choice for feeding their child.
On the other hand, those who have a valid medical reason (of course trying to get donated breastmilk first), should have the ability to use formula to feed their child.
I’ve gotten a bit off track here, suffice to say I plan on breastfeeding Tristan until he self-weans, just like his big brother did, there is absolutely no reason why I would do it any differently.
When I was pregnant with my oldest son, Daniel, I always wanted to “wear” him.
I never got the chance due to his bio-father, instead I simply carried him in my arms… EVERYWHERE. I never minded it although at times I wish I had BOTH hands free… to even just type like I’m doing now! I never EVER wanted to be one of those “baby bucket” parents. I feel that car seats are meant for the car, not as a makeshift parent or sleeping area. Besides, babies are meant to be held and snuggled!
With Tristan however, I really wanted a wrap or carrier, after researching it I decided upon the Moby Wrap as my first wrap (I am also interested in woven wraps, would appreciate any suggestions/thoughts in the comments, and yes I am a member of The Baby Wearer lol.)
I sent Keith over to New Mother, New Baby which is a local store that sells the wrap, the owner was kind enough to stay open late for him as traffic was ultra congested at the time. He purchased me the red wrap which is an awesome color.
The learning curve has been a bit difficult for me, the top rail of the cummerbund never seems tight enough, although the wrap is secure, it always bothers me (this is specifically related to the front pocket wrap cross carry hold). I’ve expanded, just as of today even, to teaching myself to breastfeed in the wrap, and to do the front wrap cross carry hold which I find to be a bit easier/faster to do actually.
I am very pleased with our Moby Wrap, not only is the color of the wrap pretty (I was worried when Keith told me he purchased red, that it would be tomato red or tacky red, instead it’s an autumny maple red!), but I like having the ability to do different holds, it’s soft and snuggly for the baby, and it’s one-size fit’s all so it can fit me and also fit Keith (who is over 6ft tall).
So I am curious, do you babywear? Why/why not? If you do, what are/is your favorite type of carrier and why? Where is your favorite store to purchase from?
I am so interested in the responses!!
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