Big Things, Coming Soon!

I am going to be a guest blogger on Go Graham Go!!! I have written two posts for Felicia. One is all about cloth diapering, and the other is about making your own baby food. They should be up next month. I will post a link once they are published.

Also, I am so happy to announce that I am going to start hosting giveaways soon! I have two of them planned to coincide with my guest posts on GGG. I will be giving away a copy of Blender Baby Food (provided by me) and I will be giving away a cloth diaper sponsored by Christine at Sew Natural Diaper Company!

I Win!

I have been having a bit of a dry spell lately, but I finally won something! I won a Best Bottoms diaper cover and 3 inserts from Dirty Diaper Laundry! I can't wait to get it in the mail and try it out.

I have used the Rockin' Green detergent (I won this a bit ago from another blog) for the past 3 times I have washed diapers. It works really well, and the diapers are super clean! It has even managed to remove a few stains from the diapers.

Yoga Baby

Orlaith has taught herself a version of downward dog while having tummy time. She started doing it on Tuesday evening, and is doing it all of the time now! She pushes herself up on all fours and puts her booty up in the air. After that, she isn't quite sure what she should do, so she just lays back down on her tummy. I am guessing it will not be long until she figures out that a whole new world of movement is possible. Did your baby do the DD yoga pose? How long did it take them to figure out how to crawl after that? I REALLY need to get hopping on the baby proofing!

Also, I won a package of Rockin' Green laundry detergent from Me and My Boys. This is the Holy Grail of cloth diaper detergent. I have heard so many moms swear by it. I can't wait to try it out. I love cloth diapering!

Half a Year... Already!

I can't believe my sweet, baby girl is already 6 months old today! I can't say it enough... time flies! Orlaith passed her 6 month check up with flying colors. She is doing perfectly well. She barely whimpered when she got her shot too. So brave! The paper on the examination table was a heck of a hit. She went to town on it, ripping it to shreds and attempting to eat it at one point. It was very cute! O now weighs 15 lbs 10 oz, is 26 inches long and her head is 43.5 cm.

I started feeding her pureed vegetables at 5 months. So far she has had peas, carrots, green beans, squash and spinach. She has loved all of them! We have also been giving her organic brown rice cereal. Last week, I let her try a tiny taste of Baba Ganoush when we were out to eat. She didn't seem to mind it. I am determined to raise a foodie!

Orlaith can roll both ways, rotate on her belly and scoot around (mostly backwards). She is working on sitting up, but doesn't quite have the hang of that yet. She can stay up for a couple of seconds and then she gets wobbly. Bath time is still her favorite time of day. She loves to splash in the water and laughs at me when I sing her silly, made up songs. I am glad to know she is still too little to know how horribly I sing! She also loves to play in her jumparoo. She is finally big enough to reach the ground!

We read a book every night. She loves looking at the pictures and tries to grab the them. I got her a few touch and feel books so that when she grabs, there is actually something there! We are still cloth diapering and I wouldn't have it any other way. It really is easy, and an extra load of laundry every 2-3 days is no big deal. Plus, we haven't had any blow outs with cloth. They keep everything in, unlike disposables!

Orlaith is still enchanted with the cats. Last night I was laying with her in bed. Noodle walked up to her and sniffed her forehead. Between the cold nose, soft fur and whiskers, it tickled O. She let out the cutest giggle ever, and then reached for the cat. She has been feeling their fur, but hasn't grabbed or been too rough... yet. I am sure that day will come soon enough.

I am enjoying every moment of raising my precious little girl! She always manages to amaze me every day. I love her gummy smile. When she is super happy, she squints her eyes really hard while she smiles. Her personality is wonderful. I couldn't ask for a better daughter!

Poor Sick Baby!

Last Wednesday afternoon, O developed a minor cough. I didn't think anything of it until at 5 in the morning she was awake, screaming and running a temperature. Her nose was also all congested. We went to the doctor and they told us she just had a really bad cold. Her lungs and ears were okay. It has been rough since then. Brian rode in the MS 150 last weekend, so I had a sick baby all by myself. It was so hard to see her so miserable, and there was nothing I could do to make her fill better. I did what I could, lots of saline nose drops and bulb syringes, Tylenol (which I find out now was recalled) and the humidifier. We have had lots of waking up in the middle of the night going on, as well as lots of crying for hours on end. When she does fall asleep, she usually has a coughing attack that wakes her up. She wouldn't go to sleep last night, woke up at 3 and cried for almost 2 hours, and then was awake again at 6:15. This was the first night since she was born that I asked Brian to take her for me. Usually she feeds and we go right back to sleep so it is no big deal. But with the crying marathon AND waking up early, I needed help. I still have not caught up on my missed sleep from this weekend. Tomorrow is my day off. Usually I would get to sleep in a bit and/or take a nap with O, but Brian is having surgery in the morning. We all need to be up and out of the house pretty early. I might get a nap tomorrow afternoon, but I am not getting my hopes up. This is the most sleep deprived I have been since she was born. She has always been an easy baby and a great sleeper. Plus in the beginning I didn't have to worry about work the next day. I am hoping that she feels better soon, for her sake and mine.

On another note, we started using cloth diapers last Thursday. Things have been going really well. We are using pre-folds during the day and pocket diapers with a super absorbent insert at night. The second diaper I put on her, she put to the test. I had changed her and within 10 minutes she decided to take care of some serious business! I was just looking at her, hoping that I had put the diaper on correctly... That it was in place well enough to hold everything in. I was scared to find out, but it had to be done. So, I changed her. Much to my surprise, everything had been contained! Whew. Disaster averted. I am pretty sure that this "business" would have caused a blow out if she had been wearing a disposable. All in all I am really happy with our switch to cloth. I have even done a load of diapers already and they turned out just fine... nice and clean! I am happy that she has soft, natural material against her delicate skin and I am happy that we are not filling landfills with diapers that will sit there silently refusing to decompose. It is a win-win!

Cloth Diapers

It is official! We have decided to switch to cloth diapers. My only regret is that it took us so long to make the switch. When I was pregnant, I wanted to use cloth really badly. I quickly became overwhelmed with all of the choices in diaper styles, materials and manufacturers. That said, I let that research go dry and I gave in to disposables. Every time I change Orlaith's diaper, I feel guilty that another diaper is ending up in a landfill. I follow a lot of bloggers, especially those that give away prizes. Eco Cheap Mom is having a giveaway event this month. She is giving away a different cloth diaper every day of the week except Sundays! I started entering her giveaways, hoping to win at least one diaper to try out. Then I came across one of her reviews of Sew Natural Diaper Company. This company is run by a mother of four who has cloth diapered all of her children. She makes quality diapers that have the same quality look and feel as other major diaper makers. She sells on her website Naturally Sewn http://www.mymamamadeit.com/ and she has an Etsy store - http://www.etsy.com/shop/dewdrophandmades?ga_search_query=dewdrop&ga_search_type=seller_usernames. She sells an AIO, a Grow With Me pocket diaper, PUL covers and all kinds of pre-folds and diaper inserts. She spent a lot of time emailing me back and forth, helping me figure out what will best work for our lifestyle and how many of everything we will need. We settled on pre-folds during the day and pocket diapers at night with a super absorbent insert. I ordered 24 pre-folds, 4 waterproof covers (in 4 pretty colors of my choice), 3 pocket diapers (in 3 pretty colors of my choice), 3 Owl inserts, 2 large and 1 small wet bag (I got to choose the fabric) and she even threw in a set of reusable wipes for free! This amount will allow me to go 2-3 days before I need to wash diapers. She had to order the colors of PUL that I chose for the covers and pocket diapers. That will be in this week and then she can make those. She is already working on everything else. Christine, the owner, was amazing at helping me with everything! She really took the time to make the process less daunting. I am amazed at her customer service. I can hardly wait to get my hands on her product and try everything out! I am very confident that I will be happy with my purchase. Once I get a chance to try out the diapers with Orlaith, I will definitely blog to let you all know how cloth diapering is going. I also can't wait to get some cute pics of O in nothing but her cloth diaper!