Day 13: We are ready to go! (and how I started cloth diapering)

Baby Update: So Miss Popcorn will be two weeks old tomorrow!  I can't believe she's been her so long. It feels like she just got here and like she's always been here at the same time.   I just love the little sugarfoot so much!  I think I mentioned that we moved last month so the kids had to change schools.Well, Squirrel's former teacher (who is also a distant cousin of ours) just advised me that I was invited to the volunteer appreciation breakfast.  I used to volunteer/chaperone  field trips a fair bit over the years at their school.  It's tomorrow and I-well, we-are going!  The forecast is 82 so Miss P will be wearing that cute little pink and brown polka dot outfit, since it's one of the few things that fit.  After that, we may swing by Target or buybuyBaby and return the plethora of disposable dipes I got for some gift cards or something else I can really use.  I wanted to get some more little gPants, maybe in Good Morning Sunshine and Goddess Pink, in the next size up.  I got a lot of dipes at the shower.  That's crazy because we cloth diaper. I guess people missed the memo.

Speaking of cloth dipes, I am often asked about cloth.  We went cloth when Side Salad was about 5 months old. It was a purely financial decision.  When we found out I was pregnant, I'd just been laid off. I had money saved, a college refund check, severance, and unemployment. We began prepping immediately, buying a box of diapers each month.  SS went throug them fairly quickly and I was tired of tossing money in the trash can 8 times  day.  Since my unemployment was due to run out, we made the switch.  We stared with prefolds and Bummis Super Whisper Wraps.  I got a couple of bumGenius 3.0s for when we went out, too.  I ended up with a varied stash that included custom fitteds from Orange Diaper Co. nee Scuttlebutts and even a goodmama.

Fresh Oranges (previously known as Scuttlebutts)

I actually just ordered Popcorn 3 Oranges, two of them customs. Pics to come as soon as they get here. Hers will be serged, not turned like his. I digress.

Rockin' a bamboo square and snappi

I got deep in cloth diapering and loved it. I sold the hubby on it.  Initially, he would only use AIOs until one day when Squirrel would only bring him a prefold and a snappi.  He got with the program.  Now, cloth diapering is paying off even more because we get to use the diapers on another kid-SCORE!  The only issue is that Side Salad was 2 pound heavier than Popcorn was at birth, and we didn't cloth diaper him until he was about 5 months old.  He has lots of dipes but they are entirely too big for her. I went ahead and got half a dozen newborn prefolds, 4 small covers (the Thirsties Hoot <3 and Kushies are here now, two more Thirsties will be here Monday), and the three newborn fitteds (they fit up to 15 lbs) that are on the way. Those should hold her over until she can fit what we have.

I <3 owls!

Side Salad NIP at age one

Mama Update: Well, I've pooped 3 times since I had the baby. This is such a good thing. Other than that, I feel pretty good most of the time.  I have been having some leaking. I use the term "some" lightly. When Popcorn nurses on one side, milk floods out of the other.  I should put a bottle or something up to it and save it for a rainy day.  You know, the kind where rain means alcohol....  It's only an issue at night, when I am too sleepy to bother with bras and nursing pads.  I sleep on a towel.  It comes in handy when Lettuce annoys me.  I am not above using these puppies as weapons.   Side Salad finds it amusing. This maybe his first time seeing a baby be breastfed. I wish I'd taken more pics of him nursing. I found a couple on the old blog.


Can I tell you something?  Everyday, I feel like I feel every single emotion that I've ever know. I love Popcorn but she cries an awful lot. It can be really frustrating, even though she's my fifth.  I really get down sometimes. I try to keep things in perspective.  Popcorn is a baby; she can't talk. She can't tell me what she wants. She's in a new environment and it can be overwhelming.  Plus I love her so doggone much.  That surge of love hormones business is serious!  When she cries, I feel bad and overwhelmed but I feel so much for the young mothers because I was young when I had the Astronuat (18 and 4 months out of high school) and the single mamas (Lettuce and I have been together for 8 years. The big kids are 9 and 11. You do the math.) because it's hard.  Sometimes I want to cry.  Then she stops crying and all is well. But if I were to be overwhelmed, I could hand her to Lettuce. Not every one has that luxury.

Breastfeeding can be a double edged sword. I provided food and comfort, which is beautiful and makes me feel like, I don't know, Gaia.  I feel like my body cradled her and created her and nourished her before she was born, and now that she is born I am doing the same. At the same time, I provided food and comfort, which is exhausting  and makes me feel like I am handcuffed to the baby.  She's a needy little sweetie, that's for sure.  It's important to keep things in perspective. I can only do this for a little while, in the grand scheme of things. And she won't always be 2 weeks old.  In a few weeks, she'll even out a bit.  In a few months, she'll be doing other stuff.  Right now, all she does is sleep and grow.

I also remind myself of how much work I'm saving mystuff. You see, she'd still cry and need to be held and fed if I wasn't breastfeeding. But if I used formula, I'd have to make bottles and heat them up and wash them, etc. I'd have to get up at night instead of simply rolling over. I'd have to go to the store. It's just too much on top of what I already have to do. Anyways, this entry is getting a little long in the tooth so I'll stop for now but that's pretty much it, just loving my life and the people in it!