C's fourteenth month

C turned fourteen months old a little over a month ago (February). At this point she was standing and furniture-walking a lot more, but she was kind of between being a baby and being a toddler. No teeth, which is fine with me. She usually nursed four times a day.  Maybe once a day I help her drink a few sips of water or non-dairy milk from a regular cup. She couldn't figure out how to make anything come out of a sippy cup.

During her fourteenth month she tasted these new foods: oranges, ground flax seeds, purple cabbage, edamame (she had had soy products before, though), Enfagrow (just twice -- I think it was the cause of a diaper rash, and rather than this dairy/oil/sugar drink to help her gain weight, I increased the amount of avocado, nuts and seeds I fed her), almond butter, chicken (she rarely has it), celery, and beets.

Oh, speaking of Enfagrow, that is what the pediatrician gave me during the (expensive) weight and height check on February 8th. This was almost six weeks after the twelve month appointment when C was 1st percentile for weight. On February 8th she had gained some weight, but not as much as they would have liked her to. I plan to look at our kids' charts from the doctor to compare our girls to each other, but more importantly I want to see where they are and have been on the WHO charts for breastfed children.

We love it when C will do tricks for us, like putting her arms up. She likes to use her finger to make my lower lip make noise, and she blows to flap her own lips (what do you call that?). Shboogoo helps me out by playing with her, getting a cloth wipe wet in the bathroom sink, or carrying her into another room. It's so fun when our laughing or saying "that's funny" makes her do a little almost fake-sounding "ha ha ha" laugh. One thing I do to play with her is move my forehead from side to side on her belly. She laughs pretty hard at that. Her babbling is fun -- often it's "bob bob." With each of my kids I have joked that she's talking about her boyfriend Bob, not that we even know anyone with that name.

My last post has a few Valentine's Day photos of C, and here are a few others from her fourteenth month.

Sometimes she voluntarily folds her arms for prayers. This was February 18 -- not the first time she did it. It's cuter than the photo can show.

A cute girly outfit. And she randomly puts her hands over her eyes and says a loud "baw!" (her version of "boo!")

Enjoying one of her sisters' Pillow Pet Dream Lites

I don't care that this is upside down. In February I used Swagbucks to help me buy a printed diaper cover (shown below), and I also bought C her first FuzziBunz, to wear at night. RLR is a treatment I used to strip all our cloth diapers of ammonia build up.

Here's the cutie on her 14-month day (as you can see, when she was lying down she was not interested in keeping her legs down):

BYU Spirit shirt ($1.74 at Old Navy!)

The Great Cloth Diaper Change

{man selling affordable diaper sprayers, C and me, Leslie and A}

On April 21st my baby and I helped break a Guinness World Record by participating in The Great Cloth Diaper Change. The website says, 

The new world record shows 8,251 qualifying participants at 189 locations on 4 continents! This far exceeded our 2011 record of 5026 simultaneous cloth diaper changes!

The record is for "the most people changing cloth diapers simultaneously at multiple venues", but Guinness hasn't updated their page with the 2012 numbers yet. 


Each parent had to register (for free) to participate, and there were other things that we had to do just right. I had to give my ticket to one of the people in charge as we came through the entrance to the big diaper-changing area, sit in a rectangle, and of course put our clean reusable diaper on my kiddo when they said "Go."


It was fun to have all my girls at this event with me, but what I liked most of all was talking with Leslie, an old friend of mine. She grew up in the same neighborhood that I lived in from age seven to seventeen. I will always remember how fun my third year of girls' camp was because of her friendship. I'm glad she and her friend drove about an hour and a half just to come to The Great Cloth Diaper Change. Not only was I not expecting to see Leslie there, but I didn't even know she was a cloth diaper user. Her daughter needed cloth diapers because her skin turned bright red whenever she wore a disposable.


I also liked being with lots of cloth diapering parents in one place. I've only known ("in real life") a handful of people who have used cloth during the years that my family has.


After the waiting time and the diaper change, my daughters enjoyed looking at the stuff the vendors had for sale, and we found the corner that had a Signing Time DVD playing. I'm excited to do this again next year!

Dads.

some of the stuff that I resisted buying (also pictured: my kids posing for me) . . . 

Signing Time and cute child-size chairs

"Whoooooooooo loves the planet?"

C's fourth month

Third Girl turned four months old in April. Some of the simplest repetitive things we do make her laugh. One of her favorite activities is when make her hands clap as I recite Pat-a-Cake (no, she does not uncurl her fingers). She loves it when someone holds her, looks at her, and has a conversation with her. She makes the sweetest little "uh" sound. She looks like she's really concentrating on me whenever I slowly ask, "Can you say Mama?" She doesn't do an m, but she can say words like nn-guh and thih. 

I have nursed my babies on demand and after the first month or so I don't write down the start times. I don't really have them on a schedule. We've been really blessed that they've each slept about 7+ hours every night by the time they are two months old. As a four-month-old she typically sleeps more than 10 hours at night. She wakes up for the day after 8 a.m. Her first nap starts between about 10:00 a.m. and noon and it often lasts for at least two hours. She has probably a couple more naps, likes to cluster nurse (have a few feedings closer together) after 6 p.m., and is asleep for the night as early as 8:30 p.m. but usually after 9:30. Sometimes I put her to bed and she wakes up after 10 p.m. just to eat and be changed. I read the information our pediatrician gave me at the four month check-up, and C's temperament is definitely not Slow-to-warm-up or Difficult. It's Easy: "positive, happy, regular patterns to eating and sleeping." She's a little anxious around strangers now (she cried when she saw the pediatrician), but calms down quickly.

At this age she reaches out and grabs items, like the linkables or necklace that someone is wearing, without a person putting it in her hand. My favorite thing is that while she nurses she holds my hand or the top of my shirt. Also, she now brings the linkables and other things to her mouth. She sucks on her fingers or hand -- probably mainly when she is hungry.

I know her eyesight is more developed because she looks way up at light fixtures in our chapel. She's great at following at object with her eyes.

Over a month ago I started bathing her in the regular tub instead of the sink. She likes lying on her back in the shallow water with a washcloth over her torso to keep her warm. She also likes to have her diaper changed promptly; when she's fussy I check the diaper first.

Easter and her blessing (more on that later) took place during her fourth month. Here are the photos I took of her with her pink teddy bear:

14 weeks

15 weeks

16 weeks (I put a sponge curler in her wet hair before taking this picture. My dad bought the dress in Costa Rica, for Second Girl)

17 weeks

4 months!

Her four month stats: 13 pounds 2 ounces (more than double her birth weight, and 38th percentile), height 44th percentile, head 89th percentile. I love the collage below. I adjusted the photos to make the teddy bear the same size; does that mean she's really this much bigger? The head growth amazes me. She's been able to hold her head steady for a few weeks -- she probably could do it by age 3 months.

I was sad when she outgrew her newborn cloth diapers, which I'm guessing was after she turned two months. She wears the size small Very Baby diapers now, and prefolds and covers. We used a few disposable diapers because some were given to us; I think size two would fit her better than size one now. Most 0-3 month clothing still fits her, as well as the Carters 3 month size. Some outfits I remember our older daughter(s) wearing are missing and I want them! But I got out the 3-6 and 6-9 month clothing and there's a cute 6-9 size skirt she's already worn. The outfit shown below, worn by our younger girls, is size 0-3.

I'm glad C's daddy gets to experience her at this age, since he missed all but two and a half weeks of Second Girl's first ten months due to being deployed. It's also really fun to see how helpful and playful five-year-old First Girl is with her baby sister, and how Second Girl softly touches her. We love our chubby little girl so much. 

why I switched to reusable diapers, and why I love them

some of our cloth diapers hanging on our $2 clothes line

L at 17 days old in a prefold cloth diaper
and PUL (polyurethane laminate)
  waterproof cover

For nearly two years, until I started to potty train L, I was a cloth-diapering parent. Our third baby, arriving around the end of December, will also wear cloth.

L almost 4 months old (this is the same cover
as in the first photo -- size small, I think)

My desire to use cloth diapers grew little by little. Before we ever took our first baby swimming I bought her a cloth swim diaper online because the disposable kind are so expensive. We were happy with it. We continued using disposable diapers when Shboogoo was not in a pool. I had heard that there are services people can pay to wash cloth diapers for them. That was the one brief thought I had about cloth diapers. I never imagined that they could be easy for me to wash at home. Plus, disposable diapers were familiar and "normal." Everyone used them.

L at 9 mo. in the reusable swim diaper

I was intrigued by the concept of gDiapers when I saw them on the Ellen show in 2007. I calculated that gDiaper's flushable refills would cost us more than double what were paying for store-brand disposable diapers, so we could not afford them. (gDiapers sells cloth inserts, too, but I'm pretty sure that they didn't at the time.) I think the show mentioned the differences between disposables, gDiapers, and cloth diapers, but I didn't research cloth diapers. I probably assumed they'd be too unpleasant to deal with.

9-month check-up, in a one-size
pocket diaper (I bought three
soon after she was born)

In October 2008 I was pregnant with #2. As I read some friends' blogs, I found links to the Real Diaper Association and Very Baby. I started following Jessica of Very Baby via her blog and twitter. For short definitions of prefold, pocket diaper, etc. I suggest that you read Jessica's page on different diaper styles and her FAQs. Also, a college friend had a link on her blog to All About Cloth Diapers. I read a lot there and came across other blogs on the topic, too. Cloth diapers are so much cooler than they used to be! I wanted to give them a try, and maybe make some, too.  

Two of the first Very Basic all-in-one diapers 
that I sewed starting when L was almost 11
months old (the flap-style soaker pad
lets the diaper dry faster)

WHY did I want to switch over from disposable to reusable? There is more than one reason. I hated it when my cousin asked, "Do you do it for the environment or for the cost?" Back in 2008-2009, there were probably three main reasons (not necessarily in this order) that I wanted to use cloth. Cloth diapers are better for the earth, can cost less than disposables, and are better for the baby.

L age 11 months, in a small Very Basic
AIO diaper made by her mama!

The Earth. Just in the United States, people throw away 18 billion disposable diapers every year! That means "82,000 tons of plastic a year and 1.3 million tons of wood pulp -- 250,000 trees," according to Donella Meadows, who was a professor of environmental studies at Dartmouth College. "The main problem is the filling of landfills . . . A secondary problem in political minds, a primary one in the minds of environmentalists, is the waste of resources and the trail of pollution at every stage of the manufacture and disposal of the diapers." 

What about all the water used to wash cloth diapers? "The manufacture and use of disposable diapers amounts to 2.3 times more water wasted than cloth" (quoted here). I really like this from an article called Diaper Debate: Cloth or Disposable?:

“We don’t throw away our clothes or dishes each week. We wash them,” Dupuy says. “This is the same mentality. Using an energy-efficient washer and air-drying the diapers cuts a lot out of the energy cycle. No extra trips to buy diapers over and over again. No packaging waste.”

Additionally, contaminated, dirty water from the washing machine goes into the sewer system. The water is treated at wastewater plants. Ecologists say that treated wastewater is much more environmentally friendly than dumping untreated, soiled disposable diapers into a landfill.

17 months old, sitting by the clean
cloth diapers I was about to fold
(but sometimes I would simply
toss them in a basket instead
of folding).

Cost. I knew we would spend less on diapers if they were cloth. This site has charts comparing the total cost per diaper change, including washing, for different types of diapers. Even if you adjust Jessica's price comparison which is based on 70 diapers a week, using disposables will cost at least $955.50 to $1528. The lower price is for an average of 49 diaper changes per week for 2.5 years if you pay only $0.15 per diaper (a very good deal). The higher price is for an average of 49 diapers changes per week for 2.5 years at $0.24 per diaper.

I estimate that the grand total we have spent on diapering L is $600. We won't have to buy any diapers for our future children! It cost me about $145 for the 29 diapers that lasted us through the newborn stage and until L was over five months old, and we were able to continue to use the pocket diapers longer because they are size-adjustable with snaps. Our laundering cost (using Jessica's price comparison page again) was maybe $270 because I usually did less than three wash cycles, used them for 2 years instead of 2.5, and I hung the diapers to dry (preferably out in the sunlight) whenever possible. The remainder of the $600 was for supplies, mostly for sewing diapers -- pattern, fabric, elastic, etc. -- and wet bags to put the dirty diapers in. We have a large wet bag to line the dry diaper pail; the other zips closed and is small enough to go in a diaper bag. 

The reason I said that reusable diapers can cost less than disposables is that with so many adorable materials and different brands of reusables on the market, some moms buy new diapers for fun, not because their child needs more. However, they can sell their used diapers to get some money back.

L about 20 mo. old; size medium diaper

Better for the Baby. This was a surprise to me and something else to feel good about. Most disposable diapers contain dioxin because it is a by-product of the paper-bleaching process. "Dioxin in various forms has been shown to cause cancer, birth defects, liver damage, and skin diseases" (EPA, "Integrated Risk Assessment for Dioxins and Furans from Chlorine Bleaching in Pulp and Paper Mills" -- referenced here). Unlike disposables, cloth diapers don't contain Tributyl-tin (TBT) - "a toxic pollutant known to cause hormonal problems in humans and animals" (more information here).

Our cloth diaper stash, part 1. Seven of the

9 medium Very Basic AIOs I made (not

everything can be clean all at once). On the

bottom are cloth wipes; a lot of them are

just baby washcloths, and I made others by

serging around 6x8" scraps of old flannel. 

The bottle with the black lid is pail

freshener from Rockin' Green. The wipes

container holds disposable liners, which

make it easier to flush poop.

Cloth diaper stash, part 2. Diapers that need covers.

So, that's how I made the decision to cloth diaper. When L was 9 or 10 days old I ran out of disposables and started using the cloth diapers. What kind did I use? Before she was born I bought newborn prefolds, Thirsties covers, and Snappis in an eBay auction. I enjoyed using those, plus 2 inexpensive fitteds from eBay, and 3 Smartipants pocket diapers. In December
my sweet visiting teacher, who had cloth diapered two of her kids more than a decade ago, gave me three waterproof covers, two cloth changing pads, 8 larger prefolds, and 8 fitted diapers and some cloth wipes she had made. Once I had finally sewn my AIOs I didn't use prefolds and fitteds as much, but they were still useful. I ended up making 14 small diapers and 9 mediums, and I have supplies left over to make more.

Signs like these are irrelevant for a cloth-diapering parent, who always takes dirty diapers home in a wet bag.

A few months ago I wrote this status on Facebook:

"I love cloth diapers."

A friend responded, "Really and truly? . . . Why do you like them so much?"


Really and truly. For lots of reasons, including some that I didn't discover until after I started cloth diapering.

• I love that they are comfortably soft against my daughter's skin.
• They don't go in the landfill.
• They are much cheaper.
• I'll use the ones we already have for future children.
• They don't contain harmful chemicals like disposables do (see http://allaboutclothdiapers.com/are-disposable-diapers-really-that-bad/).
• I can just put them in the washing machine instead of going to the store to buy more.
• "Blowouts" are awful! As long as it fits right and you don't leave it on the baby for too long, a cloth diaper keeps its contents in so nothing gets on anyone's clothing. During L's 20 months we've had maybe three blowouts or leaks.
• The cloth diapering community (online) is wonderful! 
• They don't get squishy like disposables do.
• And they're cute.

I agree with my online friend who wrote this in an email to me before L was born: "I love cloth diapers and even though I used the throwaway kind with my first until potty training, and always thought cloth would be horrible and disgusting, I would never go back!"

twelve months

Our sweet L turned a year old while we were in California. I'm posting this pretty late . . .

 

I had bought the dress before First Girl turned one, and since it was kind of expensive I'm glad we get to use it for another daughter. Shboogoo didn't actually wear it ON her first birthday, but I wanted L to. (I told the child care workers she was dressed up because it was her birthday. They loved her.) After lunch I had to clean part of the dress before putting it back on her.

My husband said when our first kid turned one he thought that was pretty old, like, "I can't believe she's this old already." With L, we think of her as a baby. She's young; she's still a baby.

Probably one reason she seems more babyish is that she doesn't want to walk yet (even now at almost 13 months old). Shboogoo took her first steps at 11 months and one week. L feels she must be holding on to something whenever she stands or walks. A couple of times she has gotten herself from sitting to standing, didn't know what to do, and fussed (this day was a few days after her birthday):

Back to her birthday . . .

  

When she was about 11.5 months old, a top tooth came in. It was her second one, and within 10 days she had two more teeth. I'm not sure when the fifth appeared; it might have been after her birthday. We don't have pictures yet that show the top teeth.

   

Her hair seems to be getting lighter. She could end up with the blond hair and blue eyes that my mom and sister have. I think her eyes will stay blue.

 

I love how easily she lies down for a nap (right now it's two naps a day, sleeping for at least an hour each) or bedtime (about eleven hours). Whether it's her crib or the car seat, you know she's tired when she puts her left thumb in her mouth and rubs her hair with her right hand.

 

I love how she smiles with her mouth open and she completely lights up. Saying "yay" usually makes her start clapping. If someone says "give me five," she does. She can only say mama/mom-mom-mom and dad. But I also love her little voice calling out a non-word like "nah!" when she needs attention. I love how beautiful and loved I feel when this beautiful girl stares at me, her favorite person.

 

At L's 12 month check-up (on July 14, because the pediatrician was out of town and then we were), these were her stats:

• weight: 16 lbs 15 oz (1%)
• height: 28.5 inches (22%)
• head: 17.9 inches (57%)

______________________________________________

Here is First Girl wearing the fancy dress at my sister's wedding reception, at age 13.5 months. She met this boy and grabbed his cookie right out of his hands. She must have taken off the matching headband (which L did, and I didn't want to search for it before going outside).