I have been focusing on the negative the last few days and have decided that I have to stop. I have this really great life and to spend my time worrying about the future or complaining about things not going my way does nothing. I want to be a positive person and it's time that I start to focus on all the wonderful things that I have in my life and all the great things that my future holds.
I have this amazing husband who totally gets me! He loves me and cares about me, he calls me on my bullshit and forgives me when I say something insensitive. I could not have asked for anything more in a father for my daughter. He is great with her and loves her with his whole being. He is even more protective of her than I am and she loves him right back.
I have a great home that is perfect for my family. While there are projects that I would like to do around the house to make it better and I sometimes complain (OK, I complain a lot) about them not getting done, my house is great and I love it! It is newer so we don't have to worry about roof repair, furnace, water heater or heat pump crapping out anytime soon. I love the layout and the wall colors and everything about it!
I have a wonderful job that allows me to bring in some income and still spend most of my day being a mother. I have been with my company over 9 years and it is like my home and the people that work here are my family. I have no interest in leaving or finding another job. I honestly believe that I would still work here even if I won the lotto and didn't need the money anymore. Someone asked me if after having earned my MBA I was disappointed to me working as a mail clerk/file clerk, and while my job does involve more than just that, my answer is no, I am not disappointed. This is my dream job, a job that allows me to be a mother. It's not running a company or making six figures, but it is my dream job all the same.
I also have an amazing family. My mom and sister are my best friends and Smug-Hub and I hang out more with my dad and step-mom than we do any other couple. My daughter has 5, count'um 5 uncles! Smug-Hub's brothers, all three of them, are just as amazing as he is and they will all make great husbands and fathers. Smug-Sister's husband is great with my daughter, nephews and my new baby niece and makes my sister happy. My brother will try to tell you that he never wants to marry and have children, but loves kids all the same and has proposed to all three of women he has seriously dated. He too will make a great father one day.
My MIL and extended family are full of so much love and support that its hard to believe they are real! I know that I complain about the crap I get from people about not starting solids, or having natural childbirth, or any of the other things that I am doing differently, but none of that criticism comes from my family. I hear horror stories about people whose MIL's will give the baby formula behind the parents backs or be super critical and none of that is true in the case of my MIL or my extended family.
So, remind me of this post the next time I get upset that someone got the photos in the photo album out of order or forgot to put the toilet seat back down. I have a great life and I totally know it!!
Wednesday, September 15, 2010
Tuesday, September 14, 2010
Good Morning!
I spent a lot of the day yesterday looking for my sunglasses. I knew that I had them on my face when we got home from the Williamsburg trip, and I knew that I normally place them at the top of the stairs, so that I will always be able to find them. Well, since I have been off my routine, anything is possible and I could not find them yesterday morning when I needed to leave for work. I looked around, but needed to leave so thought I would find them later.
I straightened up the whole house, checked under the couch and the bed, searched the car. I started cleaning up all the clutter of mail and dirty dishes and toys until the house is just about as clean as not dusting or running the vacuum can make it. Then I had a thought.
A few months ago, I lost my sunglasses and it turned out that my step-mother had picked them up by accident when she had been visiting as they look similar to hers. So, I remembered this incident and realized that she had been here Sunday night for the Cowboy/Redskins game (yeah, we took it, we won, we rule!!). So, I called her and left a message explaining that I really hoped she had them because I had torn the house apart and they were no where to be found.
She arrived on my doorstep, my sunglasses in hand about an hour later. She said that when she had gotten my message she had been a little insulted that I would think her capable of taking sunglasses not her own again. Then she went to her car and found both pairs. She said she was very sorry she kept stealing from me and we all had a good laugh.
I am dehydrated. I spent most of the day yesterday with my clingy baby. I loved it really, she just wanted her mama and no one else would do. She would cry out if I left her sight and it took a crazy amount of time to unlatch her when she fell asleep nursing so that I could get up and do something else for a bit. Her naps where short all day and when she awoke she only wanted me. I think that these last few weeks of being out of sync are catching up with her... that and her teeth probably are hurting.
She nursed a lot, which was great and nursed or stayed latched on most of last night. When I first started nursing her as an infant I noticed that when my milk let down, I would get really, really thirsty. Like going to die thirsty. Like mouth full of sawdust thirsty. That hasn't happened in a while, but I was really thirsty all day yesterday, all night and thus far this morning.
I think that the fact that I haven't been drinking as much water as I normally do could have something to do with this very dry feeling. Again, being off the routine has messed with everything, even my ability to remember to have water close at hand. I normally have this big cup with a lid and straw they gave me in the hospital and I keep it full all day. I haven't filled it in almost two weeks.
I also feel emotionally dehydrated. I feel as clingy to my baby as she is to me. I know that I talked in my last post about how having my MIL is wearing on me and I will be glad to get my routine back once she leaves. However, I feel like having gotten all that stuff off my chest in yesterday's post, I am able to be more objective and more gracious. I also think that just being home and holding onto Smug-Baby has much as I did helped ease some of that frustration. Now, I just feel drained. I don't feel angry at Smug-Hub anymore, or resentful of my MIL's presence in the house. Like I said before, she is a totally lovely person and I truly love her deeply and getting all that stuff out in a post yesterday really helped.
I am also really looking forward to starting my diet and exercise plan on Friday. I have been making a list of everything that I want to do on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. This includes working out and getting the house clean, along with shopping for healthy foods and doing some cooking and prep work to make sticking to a new clean eating plan easier.
I have been visualizing how thin and healthy I will be in a few months. I have also been visualizing how all our financial worries will be a thing of the past too, but winning the lotto is probably not going to happen since I never buy a ticket :) I am excited to start feeling better and looking better and to have my jeans fall down because they truly are too big for me and not because they are stretched out due to being worn too many times before a washing :)
So, here is to a clean house, a clean body and a clean mind!!
I straightened up the whole house, checked under the couch and the bed, searched the car. I started cleaning up all the clutter of mail and dirty dishes and toys until the house is just about as clean as not dusting or running the vacuum can make it. Then I had a thought.
A few months ago, I lost my sunglasses and it turned out that my step-mother had picked them up by accident when she had been visiting as they look similar to hers. So, I remembered this incident and realized that she had been here Sunday night for the Cowboy/Redskins game (yeah, we took it, we won, we rule!!). So, I called her and left a message explaining that I really hoped she had them because I had torn the house apart and they were no where to be found.
She arrived on my doorstep, my sunglasses in hand about an hour later. She said that when she had gotten my message she had been a little insulted that I would think her capable of taking sunglasses not her own again. Then she went to her car and found both pairs. She said she was very sorry she kept stealing from me and we all had a good laugh.
I am dehydrated. I spent most of the day yesterday with my clingy baby. I loved it really, she just wanted her mama and no one else would do. She would cry out if I left her sight and it took a crazy amount of time to unlatch her when she fell asleep nursing so that I could get up and do something else for a bit. Her naps where short all day and when she awoke she only wanted me. I think that these last few weeks of being out of sync are catching up with her... that and her teeth probably are hurting.
She nursed a lot, which was great and nursed or stayed latched on most of last night. When I first started nursing her as an infant I noticed that when my milk let down, I would get really, really thirsty. Like going to die thirsty. Like mouth full of sawdust thirsty. That hasn't happened in a while, but I was really thirsty all day yesterday, all night and thus far this morning.
I think that the fact that I haven't been drinking as much water as I normally do could have something to do with this very dry feeling. Again, being off the routine has messed with everything, even my ability to remember to have water close at hand. I normally have this big cup with a lid and straw they gave me in the hospital and I keep it full all day. I haven't filled it in almost two weeks.
I also feel emotionally dehydrated. I feel as clingy to my baby as she is to me. I know that I talked in my last post about how having my MIL is wearing on me and I will be glad to get my routine back once she leaves. However, I feel like having gotten all that stuff off my chest in yesterday's post, I am able to be more objective and more gracious. I also think that just being home and holding onto Smug-Baby has much as I did helped ease some of that frustration. Now, I just feel drained. I don't feel angry at Smug-Hub anymore, or resentful of my MIL's presence in the house. Like I said before, she is a totally lovely person and I truly love her deeply and getting all that stuff out in a post yesterday really helped.
I am also really looking forward to starting my diet and exercise plan on Friday. I have been making a list of everything that I want to do on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. This includes working out and getting the house clean, along with shopping for healthy foods and doing some cooking and prep work to make sticking to a new clean eating plan easier.
I have been visualizing how thin and healthy I will be in a few months. I have also been visualizing how all our financial worries will be a thing of the past too, but winning the lotto is probably not going to happen since I never buy a ticket :) I am excited to start feeling better and looking better and to have my jeans fall down because they truly are too big for me and not because they are stretched out due to being worn too many times before a washing :)
So, here is to a clean house, a clean body and a clean mind!!
Monday, September 13, 2010
A Benign Post Becomes a Tangent
I've been visiting Williamsburg and Jamestown last week, thus the lack of posting, but I'm home now and enjoying the thought of being in my own home and in my own bed! Having so much time with my MIL is great and hard at the same time. She is the most wonderful lady and I love her dearly, but having the routine that Smug-Baby and I worked so hard to establish disrupted for so long is really hard on both of us. Not to mention, I am a creature of habit, I like routine and schedule and my husband and his family are not routine or schedule people, so I am feeling stressed a bit. I know that I will be sad to see her leave at the end of this week, but it will be good for my family to get back to our lives.
Visiting the first permanent colony in America was pretty cool and to visit it on the anniversary of 9/11 brought everything together in some way and we were touched. We felt like we stepped back into another place and time and really felt the impact that the day these colonists landed and the very shores we stood upon, had on the whole world and how 9/11 had done the same thing. We were forever changed that day and we will never be able to see that date on a calendar without remembering where we were and what we were doing. I know now how my grandfather feels about the day the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor, it changed him forever and that date is burned into his consciousness in way that just isn't for me. Smug-Baby will know about 9/11, but it will never be a major event in her life, because she wasn't there, didn't live through it.
We drove home today and Smug-Baby slept the whole way! Poor girl is so off of her routine that she has not been sleeping well at night, not getting her diaper changed on her normal schedule and not nursing as well as she does normally. She get so distracted by everything these days that she forgets she is hungry and then is up all night nursing to play catch up. I am getting concerned about my milk supply and now that we are home, I am going to put my foot down on doing anymore drives or day trips. I want to stay home and nurse every 2-3 hours! Even if she is not hungry, I want to at least make the effort to try to get her nursing. She is fine, its not like she is losing weight or anything, but I want to keep my natural birth control (read: no period) in tact as well as make sure I keep producing enough milk to fulfill her needs!
Lastly, I have been talking more and more with Smug-Hub about having another baby and bottom line, I don't think that we are going to have any more. We are unable to come to an agreement on one issue. There is a 50% chance that we would have a boy child and I am unwilling to mutilate his penis and my husband is unwilling to leave him intact. Since we cannot come to a compromise on this issue (I suggested waiting and having it done if and when it became an issue for our boy) and Smug-Hub does not care that there is no medical reason to have it done, I can't take the chance on having another baby.
I am having a really hard time thinking that I have had the only pregnancy I will ever have, the only birth, the only, the only, the only... I keep thinking that he will come around and he may, but there is so much opposition to leaving a boy child intact, especially in our little town that I have a hard time believing he will suddenly have a change of heart. I really felt that he would see that causing unnecessary pain and suffering to our child was unacceptable once we had Smug-Baby, but he remains unmoved. He cites not wanting the baby to look different than daddy, which is the oddest argument I have ever heard! What if his hair is a different color than daddy's? He cites not wanting our son to be made fun of by other kids. So if he has big ears we'll cut them off? If he has a odd shaped nose, we will get him a nose job?
My daughter looks nothing like me. She is the mirror image of my husband. He has dark hair and eyes, while I am blond and have blue eyes. So, I really don't want her to have a hard time because she doesn't look like her mommy, so I think that we should start coloring her hair and get her some colored contacts...
I would consider having it done if there was ONE medical reason out there to have it done. Just ONE!! There isn't ANY good medical reason out there today. NOT ONE!!!!! Parents used to be told that it was a hygienic thing, that the penis could not be properly cleaned unless it was done and parents were told that if it was left intact they needed to do all this major cleaning stuff, which was totally wrong and ended up causing infections that led to having to have it done later in childhood or adulthood. People use this as a reason now that it should be done.
Here are the facts! God made us perfect! God doesn't screw up! Leave the penis alone, and it will be just fine!! An uncircumcised penis does not need to be cleaned on the inside, leave it alone!!
OK, so yeah, I'm having a hard time with this "decision" and maybe we will someday come to a resolution on this issue, but for now I am very sad to think that I have had my first and last child and dealing with that on top of having someone in my home a bit too long is having the effect of a perpetual bad mood... I'm sure that once my home is my own and cleaned and we are all back on our routines, I will feel better and I don't need to tackle the new baby topic for a while, so I choose to try to enjoy the last several days of MIL's visit and not think about it!!
Visiting the first permanent colony in America was pretty cool and to visit it on the anniversary of 9/11 brought everything together in some way and we were touched. We felt like we stepped back into another place and time and really felt the impact that the day these colonists landed and the very shores we stood upon, had on the whole world and how 9/11 had done the same thing. We were forever changed that day and we will never be able to see that date on a calendar without remembering where we were and what we were doing. I know now how my grandfather feels about the day the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor, it changed him forever and that date is burned into his consciousness in way that just isn't for me. Smug-Baby will know about 9/11, but it will never be a major event in her life, because she wasn't there, didn't live through it.
We drove home today and Smug-Baby slept the whole way! Poor girl is so off of her routine that she has not been sleeping well at night, not getting her diaper changed on her normal schedule and not nursing as well as she does normally. She get so distracted by everything these days that she forgets she is hungry and then is up all night nursing to play catch up. I am getting concerned about my milk supply and now that we are home, I am going to put my foot down on doing anymore drives or day trips. I want to stay home and nurse every 2-3 hours! Even if she is not hungry, I want to at least make the effort to try to get her nursing. She is fine, its not like she is losing weight or anything, but I want to keep my natural birth control (read: no period) in tact as well as make sure I keep producing enough milk to fulfill her needs!
Lastly, I have been talking more and more with Smug-Hub about having another baby and bottom line, I don't think that we are going to have any more. We are unable to come to an agreement on one issue. There is a 50% chance that we would have a boy child and I am unwilling to mutilate his penis and my husband is unwilling to leave him intact. Since we cannot come to a compromise on this issue (I suggested waiting and having it done if and when it became an issue for our boy) and Smug-Hub does not care that there is no medical reason to have it done, I can't take the chance on having another baby.
I am having a really hard time thinking that I have had the only pregnancy I will ever have, the only birth, the only, the only, the only... I keep thinking that he will come around and he may, but there is so much opposition to leaving a boy child intact, especially in our little town that I have a hard time believing he will suddenly have a change of heart. I really felt that he would see that causing unnecessary pain and suffering to our child was unacceptable once we had Smug-Baby, but he remains unmoved. He cites not wanting the baby to look different than daddy, which is the oddest argument I have ever heard! What if his hair is a different color than daddy's? He cites not wanting our son to be made fun of by other kids. So if he has big ears we'll cut them off? If he has a odd shaped nose, we will get him a nose job?
My daughter looks nothing like me. She is the mirror image of my husband. He has dark hair and eyes, while I am blond and have blue eyes. So, I really don't want her to have a hard time because she doesn't look like her mommy, so I think that we should start coloring her hair and get her some colored contacts...
I would consider having it done if there was ONE medical reason out there to have it done. Just ONE!! There isn't ANY good medical reason out there today. NOT ONE!!!!! Parents used to be told that it was a hygienic thing, that the penis could not be properly cleaned unless it was done and parents were told that if it was left intact they needed to do all this major cleaning stuff, which was totally wrong and ended up causing infections that led to having to have it done later in childhood or adulthood. People use this as a reason now that it should be done.
Here are the facts! God made us perfect! God doesn't screw up! Leave the penis alone, and it will be just fine!! An uncircumcised penis does not need to be cleaned on the inside, leave it alone!!
OK, so yeah, I'm having a hard time with this "decision" and maybe we will someday come to a resolution on this issue, but for now I am very sad to think that I have had my first and last child and dealing with that on top of having someone in my home a bit too long is having the effect of a perpetual bad mood... I'm sure that once my home is my own and cleaned and we are all back on our routines, I will feel better and I don't need to tackle the new baby topic for a while, so I choose to try to enjoy the last several days of MIL's visit and not think about it!!
Wednesday, September 8, 2010
Judgment
I feel judged by people about my parenting choices. I have chosen what I feel or what I have learned through research is best for my daughter and somehow this offends people who may have made different choices.
I want to feel free to chose how I want to parent without having to defend those choices. When I was pregnant and planning a drug-free natural childbirth, people kept telling me how I would take the drugs as soon as they were offered. They would smile at me like they were indulging a child and how they knew better. Well, I had my drug-free childbirth and while it was not the most fun I've had in a day, it really wasn't so bad and I felt like such a super hero when I delivered my girl!
Then I decided to cloth diaper for reasons previously stated (money and the environment mostly), and got the same looks, the same comments about how that wouldn't last long and how silly my choice was. Well, again, cloth diapering has turned out to be really super great! I am totally converted and feel really good that I am not contributing human waste to our landfill system! Smug-Baby has never had diaper rash (besides a little thrush in the beginning) and we are saving a ton of money!
All that being said, I am finding that I am becoming judgmental too. I find that when I hear about someone starting their 3 or 4 month old on cereal, I am compelled to tell them all the reasons that this is so wrong. When I hear a truly appalling reason for not breastfeeding, like you don't want your boobs to get any bigger or to be saggy, it is all I can do to walk away without telling them that they are obviously not ready to be a parent, if they are putting perky before what is best for their child!!!
So, I guess I need to be less harsh on those who judge my choices. I need to recognize that they made the best choices of their babies with the best information they had available at the time. I also need to respect that others may make different choices than I when it comes to having their babies...
Even if they are totally wrong!! :)
I want to feel free to chose how I want to parent without having to defend those choices. When I was pregnant and planning a drug-free natural childbirth, people kept telling me how I would take the drugs as soon as they were offered. They would smile at me like they were indulging a child and how they knew better. Well, I had my drug-free childbirth and while it was not the most fun I've had in a day, it really wasn't so bad and I felt like such a super hero when I delivered my girl!
Then I decided to cloth diaper for reasons previously stated (money and the environment mostly), and got the same looks, the same comments about how that wouldn't last long and how silly my choice was. Well, again, cloth diapering has turned out to be really super great! I am totally converted and feel really good that I am not contributing human waste to our landfill system! Smug-Baby has never had diaper rash (besides a little thrush in the beginning) and we are saving a ton of money!
Now that I have decided to put off starting solids a bit longer, I am getting new looks. Looks of concern, like perhaps I have decided to starve my baby! When people start to question this choice and start pointing out that after 6 months, a baby really NEEDS solids, I just point to Smug-Baby's fat thighs which are hard pressed to fit into 9 and 12 month sized pants and just smile!
All that being said, I am finding that I am becoming judgmental too. I find that when I hear about someone starting their 3 or 4 month old on cereal, I am compelled to tell them all the reasons that this is so wrong. When I hear a truly appalling reason for not breastfeeding, like you don't want your boobs to get any bigger or to be saggy, it is all I can do to walk away without telling them that they are obviously not ready to be a parent, if they are putting perky before what is best for their child!!!
So, I guess I need to be less harsh on those who judge my choices. I need to recognize that they made the best choices of their babies with the best information they had available at the time. I also need to respect that others may make different choices than I when it comes to having their babies...
Even if they are totally wrong!! :)
Tuesday, September 7, 2010
Issues
I have been having issues. I mean, I think that I may have mental issues! I have been trying to figure it out in my head and the only thing I can come up with is that I have major issues. Here's what I'm talking about...
Smug-Hub's family is in town for a visit. This is the first time his brother has met Smug-Baby and I have no issues what so ever with him or his visiting us. My Mother-in-Law has not seen the baby since she was two weeks old and here is where the issues come into play. I couldn't stop thinking about the NICU and what a rough start Smug-Baby had. I have had dreams about it and been thinking about it all day long while getting ready for my MIL's visit.
It is like I am associating her with that terrible time in our life and somehow thinking about her being here brings all those memories back. Like she is responsible or something. She isn't of course, she was here with us, helping us, helping me through that horrible time. She cooked for us and drove me to the hospital every morning (I was not cleared to drive for two weeks due to my hemorrhaging after delivery). She was supportive and sweet and wonderful! As much as I know she wanted to hold and cuddle and kiss her first grandchild after we finally got home from the hospital, she never pushed me to let her when I was trying to bond and establish nursing. She did everything right and was amazing!! Why then, was I feeling this way? Feeling like she's somehow the bad guy?
As I struggled to think this through, I came to me that it must just be that she was there. She was part of that terrible memory and having her back for a visit, is like bringing back that horrible time. So, I have not been looking forward to her visit. It's terrible to say, but I wasn't. I didn't want to share my baby or have my routine disrupted. I just wanted to think of that NICU time as a bad dream that never really happened.
Here is the thing, now that she is here, everything is totally fine! Smug-Baby has really taken to her uncle and grandma and I haven't thought about the NICU but a few times during this visit. We are making new memories and further burying the old ones. It's not totally gone by any means, and I still get twinges of odd feelings, but for the most part I am totally fine with her being here and not plagued with bad feelings.
This is really a great thing, because I totally won the in-law lottery! My MIL is sweet and kind and loving and I could not have asked for better. To feel like I didn't want her around because she brought back bad memories was/is silly and was hard for me to deal with that as her visit got closer. I knew my feelings had no basis, but they were there. I have these amazing brothers-in-law, who are all just as sweet as their mother. They are fun and kind and variations on Smug-Hub and I love them dearly!
I still think that I have some issues to work through regarding spending two weeks watching my baby struggle to breathe, and my MIL was a big part of that. But, for the most part, I am now able to see my feelings for what they are and not have them directed at a totally innocent person!
Smug-Hub's family is in town for a visit. This is the first time his brother has met Smug-Baby and I have no issues what so ever with him or his visiting us. My Mother-in-Law has not seen the baby since she was two weeks old and here is where the issues come into play. I couldn't stop thinking about the NICU and what a rough start Smug-Baby had. I have had dreams about it and been thinking about it all day long while getting ready for my MIL's visit.
It is like I am associating her with that terrible time in our life and somehow thinking about her being here brings all those memories back. Like she is responsible or something. She isn't of course, she was here with us, helping us, helping me through that horrible time. She cooked for us and drove me to the hospital every morning (I was not cleared to drive for two weeks due to my hemorrhaging after delivery). She was supportive and sweet and wonderful! As much as I know she wanted to hold and cuddle and kiss her first grandchild after we finally got home from the hospital, she never pushed me to let her when I was trying to bond and establish nursing. She did everything right and was amazing!! Why then, was I feeling this way? Feeling like she's somehow the bad guy?
As I struggled to think this through, I came to me that it must just be that she was there. She was part of that terrible memory and having her back for a visit, is like bringing back that horrible time. So, I have not been looking forward to her visit. It's terrible to say, but I wasn't. I didn't want to share my baby or have my routine disrupted. I just wanted to think of that NICU time as a bad dream that never really happened.
Here is the thing, now that she is here, everything is totally fine! Smug-Baby has really taken to her uncle and grandma and I haven't thought about the NICU but a few times during this visit. We are making new memories and further burying the old ones. It's not totally gone by any means, and I still get twinges of odd feelings, but for the most part I am totally fine with her being here and not plagued with bad feelings.
This is really a great thing, because I totally won the in-law lottery! My MIL is sweet and kind and loving and I could not have asked for better. To feel like I didn't want her around because she brought back bad memories was/is silly and was hard for me to deal with that as her visit got closer. I knew my feelings had no basis, but they were there. I have these amazing brothers-in-law, who are all just as sweet as their mother. They are fun and kind and variations on Smug-Hub and I love them dearly!
I still think that I have some issues to work through regarding spending two weeks watching my baby struggle to breathe, and my MIL was a big part of that. But, for the most part, I am now able to see my feelings for what they are and not have them directed at a totally innocent person!
Friday, September 3, 2010
Many Babies
I have a large family. I have a really large, loving, crazy family! My sister and I had baby girls 6 months apart, but we have a cousin who's wife had a baby almost 3 months ago as well as another cousin who is due in December and yet another cousin who's girlfriend gave birth to a girl just about a year ago. There is a definite family baby boom!
We were all gathered Wednesday and Thursday for our cousin's funeral and it was odd to see all the people that I played with as a child playing and wrestling and wrangling their own children. I remember us being the ones running up and down the halls, playing hide and seek, sneaking food from the refreshments table and otherwise being a kid.
I would like to think that Tammy is up there, watching all of us gathered in her honor, holding on to each other and loving each other. I hope that she is able to send some comfort to those taking her loss the hardest and I hope that she is at peace and no longer fighting her demons.
I hope that she is looking down at the next generation of our family and bathing them in love and light. All these babies, all this love. It warms my heart!
We were all gathered Wednesday and Thursday for our cousin's funeral and it was odd to see all the people that I played with as a child playing and wrestling and wrangling their own children. I remember us being the ones running up and down the halls, playing hide and seek, sneaking food from the refreshments table and otherwise being a kid.
I would like to think that Tammy is up there, watching all of us gathered in her honor, holding on to each other and loving each other. I hope that she is able to send some comfort to those taking her loss the hardest and I hope that she is at peace and no longer fighting her demons.
I hope that she is looking down at the next generation of our family and bathing them in love and light. All these babies, all this love. It warms my heart!
Wednesday, September 1, 2010
Reduce, Reuse, Recycle
Cotton Babies is having a seconds sale! This is where some of their cloth diapers are sold for much less than normal and I tell you, I can't find anything wrong with the diapers once they arrive. I ordered 5 more Bum Genus in white and think that those 5 will be the last ones I need to purchase. I have been using the Bum Genus exclusively for a while now, after giving Econobums, Flips, and Gro-Baby's all a try. While all the ones I tried are great, I like the Bum Genus the best - of course, they are the most expensive too so the seconds sales really help!
I wash diapers on Tuesdays and Saturdays and I generally am really rushing to get them finished before I need to change the baby, so having a few more will really help ease the pressure to get them all washed before a poo happens!
When I was first considering using cloth, it was mostly a money issue and I suppose still is for the most part. I knew that I was going to be working part time and that money would be tight. I set out to find the most cost effective way to have a baby and found it in cloth diapers, cloth wipes, breastfeeding and hand-me-down clothing and equipment.
1) Cloth diapers: I did the research and even with the increased cost of water, energy used by the washing machine and the cost of soap. The average person will save close to $3,000 during the diaper-wearing years and that cost increases with multiple children, since the same cloth diapers can be used for additional kids. We are saving about $70 a month by not purchasing disposable diapers and our water bill has only increased $6.00 a month and the electric bill by about $4.00. Not to mention the environmental impact of all those diapers! The Bum Genus are just as easy to use as disposables, Smug-Baby has never had a blow out in them and they are so absorbent that she can stay in one all night and not need to be changed!
2) Cloth wipes are nice, I wash them with the diapers twice a week and put the clean ones in a solution of baby was, olive oil and water, with a little orange oil for a nice scent, roll them up and stick them in a wipe warmer. Every diaper change involves a nice warm soft (chemical free) wipe. Smug-Baby likes the warm feeling and will often smile at me while getting her diaper changed. The cost savings is huge. We got the warmer as a baby gift and it included some wipes and I purchased more for $18. Disposable wipes run about $20 a box and you have to keep buying them over and over. Not to mention (again) the chemicals on your little baby's perfect butt, or the environmental impact!!
3) Breastfeeding: This is natures perfect baby food (as I have gone into detail on before) and it is totally free. I haven't even looked at what formula costs, or the price of increased doctor visits or the lifelong health benefits of breastfeeding, I just know that if God provided me a free way to feed my child, it would be downright silly to refuse!
4) My family is large and there are several of us cousins who are having children all around the same time frame. Smug-Cuz's daughter is about 3 now and she saved all her baby clothes and equipment for me. It took two large cars packed to bursting to bring it all home!! I had rockers and swings and blankets and clothes and toys and everything you could imagine! Besides that and shower gifts, I have only purchased two new outfits for my daughter. Everything else was given to me!! Smug-Sister is now getting everything, as her baby is the newest addition to the family. Once she is finished with it, Smug-Cuz's second baby will be about due and Smug-Sister can pass everything back to her!
I know that there are lots of costs to having a baby, both monetary and other ways, but those costs can be minimized by being smart, doing the research and keeping in mind that motto "Reduce, Reuse, Recycle" The baby is better off, your wallet is better off and the planet is better off!!!
I wash diapers on Tuesdays and Saturdays and I generally am really rushing to get them finished before I need to change the baby, so having a few more will really help ease the pressure to get them all washed before a poo happens!
When I was first considering using cloth, it was mostly a money issue and I suppose still is for the most part. I knew that I was going to be working part time and that money would be tight. I set out to find the most cost effective way to have a baby and found it in cloth diapers, cloth wipes, breastfeeding and hand-me-down clothing and equipment.
1) Cloth diapers: I did the research and even with the increased cost of water, energy used by the washing machine and the cost of soap. The average person will save close to $3,000 during the diaper-wearing years and that cost increases with multiple children, since the same cloth diapers can be used for additional kids. We are saving about $70 a month by not purchasing disposable diapers and our water bill has only increased $6.00 a month and the electric bill by about $4.00. Not to mention the environmental impact of all those diapers! The Bum Genus are just as easy to use as disposables, Smug-Baby has never had a blow out in them and they are so absorbent that she can stay in one all night and not need to be changed!
2) Cloth wipes are nice, I wash them with the diapers twice a week and put the clean ones in a solution of baby was, olive oil and water, with a little orange oil for a nice scent, roll them up and stick them in a wipe warmer. Every diaper change involves a nice warm soft (chemical free) wipe. Smug-Baby likes the warm feeling and will often smile at me while getting her diaper changed. The cost savings is huge. We got the warmer as a baby gift and it included some wipes and I purchased more for $18. Disposable wipes run about $20 a box and you have to keep buying them over and over. Not to mention (again) the chemicals on your little baby's perfect butt, or the environmental impact!!
3) Breastfeeding: This is natures perfect baby food (as I have gone into detail on before) and it is totally free. I haven't even looked at what formula costs, or the price of increased doctor visits or the lifelong health benefits of breastfeeding, I just know that if God provided me a free way to feed my child, it would be downright silly to refuse!
4) My family is large and there are several of us cousins who are having children all around the same time frame. Smug-Cuz's daughter is about 3 now and she saved all her baby clothes and equipment for me. It took two large cars packed to bursting to bring it all home!! I had rockers and swings and blankets and clothes and toys and everything you could imagine! Besides that and shower gifts, I have only purchased two new outfits for my daughter. Everything else was given to me!! Smug-Sister is now getting everything, as her baby is the newest addition to the family. Once she is finished with it, Smug-Cuz's second baby will be about due and Smug-Sister can pass everything back to her!
I know that there are lots of costs to having a baby, both monetary and other ways, but those costs can be minimized by being smart, doing the research and keeping in mind that motto "Reduce, Reuse, Recycle" The baby is better off, your wallet is better off and the planet is better off!!!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)