Symptoms of... Pregnancy?

Over the summer, Evan and I decided that we were ready to make our family bigger. We figured that we'd start trying for baby #2 in November, that way I'd be pregnant over the summer when I could stay in the pool all day with Tristan. And then baby #2 would have an end of summer, beginning of autumn birthday. Perfect!

Skip ahead to November. We started trying. And by the beginning of December, I started having symptoms. The question, were they pregnancy symptoms or something else?

Symptom #1: Fatigue
I was tired. So tired I actually took a nap. For those that know me well, I'll give you a second to pick yourselves up off the floor. OK. Ready? Yeah, I needed a nap multiple days in a row. But at the same time I was fighting a off a cold that Evan had brought home. And Tristan was getting up for the day between 5 and 6:30. So maybe that's why I was so tired? Keep in mind, when I was pregnant with Tristan, I didn't nap, or feel the need to.

Symptom #2: Tighter Shirts
OK, so, yeah, this might be too much info for some, and if so, you should just skip ahead now. Anyway, suddenly my chest seemed larger. Was was I finally getting back my pre-Tristan boobs? I'd heard that 3-6 months after you stop breastfeeding your boobs come back, was it actually happening? Or was the pregnancy-boob fairy here?

Symptom #3: Nausea
While out shopping one day, I stepped into a room where they were serving ham for lunch.  And I immediately ran back out the door, trying not to gag. Was the vegetarian in me revolting? I mean, when I was pregnant with Tristan, I didn't get all-day-sickness until I was 8 weeks along.  At this point, it was only 3 weeks!

Symptom #4: Oh Man, I Gotta Pee!
I wasn't sure, but it seemed that I was needing to go to the bathroom more frequently. But maybe I was just drinking more water lately? Hmmm...

So, with these thoughts in my head, I waited until mid-December. And do you know what the best sign of pregnancy is?

Baby #2 is due August 16!

Crumbs

We took the Xmas tree down Sunday. Before Tristan's nap, he helped undecorate the tree. Though he spent a good deal of time taking the ornaments we'd just gotten off back to the tree to try and put them on again.

After his nap, Tristan came downstairs and said "Where tree go?" We explained it was all gone for the year, that the tree was back outside. Then Evan went and got the vacuum. Tristan looked at the floor.

"Crumbs! Daddy, crumbs here!"

And for the next few minutes, I watched Tristan help his Daddy find and vacuum up all of the 'crumbs' left by the tree.

Holiday Spirit?

I find myself waffling between happy holiday spirit and the bah humbugs. And why?

I remember truly liking the holidays. When I was a kid, Thanksgiving and Christmas were so much fun. And then my parents divorced. Though I don't think it was just then that the holidays became so 'meh' for me. I think it was some years later. When I started feeling like I couldn't be everywhere I wanted to be, or was wanted to be. When I suddenly had 3 or 4 different places I could be for each holiday. And I couldn't be at them all. I started feeling guilty. And it slowly has worked its way into me wanting to skip the whole Christmas thing all together.

I want to make the holidays special again. I want to enjoy them. And I want Tristan to like them just as much as I used to. I just read this great post that my old college roommate wrote. Finally, it seems like I might have found the answer. Heck with guilt. Heck with angst. I'm going to make the holidays about being happy. I'm going to make a calendar of things to do. Everything will be something happy.

And if it doesn't work this year, I'll try again next. And it will work. For Tristan, it will work.

Tristan Through 12 Months

I was going to do through 18 months, but figured 2 parts might be better. So without further ado...

May, just before his birthday, doing one of his favorite activities with Daddy.

11 Months11 Months, Tristan's first shadow puppet. Looks like a lama to this mama.
10 Months - With the new cart Daddy made for him.
9 Months - There's a kitty down there!

Tristan at 8 Months - The last time he was in his bouncer.
8 Months - The start of Tristan's favorite game (still to this day)... Where's Tristan?



A very happy Tristan, 7 months old
7 Months - Tristan opening his first Christmas gift. Yes, he opened it all by himself.
Tristan at 7 Months

Video - Mommie's Sanity Saver

When I was pregnant, I was trying to figure out what to add to my registry for my baby shower. One of the decisions involved what baby monitor to get. I saw that there were video monitors available, and I couldn't for the life of me figure out why you'd need a video monitor. Did you really need to watch your baby sleeping?

Fast forward to the past 2 weeks. When Tristan wasn't napping. Through my audio monitor, I could hear him babbling away in his crib. But I had no idea what he was doing, and why he suddenly wasn't napping. Any time I'd open the door, he'd be up and talking to me in a second.

Yesterday, I installed our new video monitor. And today Tristan finally napped. The only difference between today and the past 2 weeks? I'd been watching the monitor. Tristan was walking around in his crib, waving his bear around, playing with his pacifier, banging on the walls. And he was also laying down, kicking the slats of his crib. He was a bit like a kangaroo, up and down, up and down. When I was thinking maybe I should go in, I looked at the monitor. Tristan was laying in the crib, talking to himself. I figured if he stood up again, I'd go in and get him. Instead, within 5 minutes, he was asleep.

Thats My Evan

We're headed upstairs for bed. I hear crash! bang! above me. When I get to our room, I ask Evan if he's ok. He says he ran into the baby gate. He forgot it was there. The baby gate he made himself. The baby gate he installed himself. Six months ago. I'm glad the body snatchers haven't gotten him!

Cloth Diapering - How To

This is the second post in my 'Cloth Diapering' series. The first was a diaper review. This is the 'how to' cloth diaper. And I've decided I need to do one more after this: 'Cloth Diapering - Would I do it again?'. Stay tuned...

So, if you're thinking about using cloth diapers, you might ask what does that entail? There are three things you need to think about:

1. Having a diaper supply.
2. Cleaning the diapers.
3. Traveling with diapers.

Each of these has some additional points to ponder, so I'll address them one at a time.

Diaper Supply
Check out my diaper review for my thoughts on which diapers to get. The summary: If cost was no issue, I'd get enough Kawaii One Size Heavy Duty cloth diapers to last me for a wash cycle. However, since cost is an issue, if I had it to do again, I'd got enough Kawaii for night/nap time, and prefolds for day-time.

Tristan is now going through about 8 diapers a day. So what I actually have are 24 prefold (with 4 diaper covers), 11 BumGenius, 1 Kawaii, 6 Thirsties fitted diapers, and 4 FuzzyBunz. With all of these, I can go 4 days between washings. Yes, I know the math doesn't add up, but I need something to put him in on day 4 when the diapers are in the wash, and more accurately, hung out to dry (Ah! Light bulb!). :)

One other thing to think of on the supply side, if you're using cloth diapers, why not use cloth baby wipes? I've got 30 wipes, I use them with a mix of water and baby shampoo. I have a tub of the mix on the changing table and just get the wipe wet when I need to use it. Then it goes in the pail with the dirty diaper. And I also use toilet paper to clean up baby poop from Tristan's bum, then that just goes in the toilet. May sound complicated, but its not, and I'm only using disposable wipes when we are away from the house.

Cleaning Diapers
There are a few things you need for cleaning the diapers. You need a supply that lasts you a how ever many days you decide to do laundry. See the Diaper Supply section above.

You also need some sort of diaper pail. We use 3 kitty liter buckets. Yeah, I'm serious. They work great. They're easy to dump into the washing machine, they hold the odor, and they were easy to get! We started using them because Tristan arrived in our lives a little early and we hadn't gotten a diaper pail. Then when they worked, we just kept using them. The only thing you need for inside the pail (other than the dirty diapers) is baking soda to help with the smell. I sprinkle some into the bottom of the bucket. Then when we do the wash, I put some water into the bucket using the detergent cap, and swish it around, and then dump the water into the machine.

Part of cloth diapering is dealing with baby poop. And until you start feeding your baby solids, baby poop is very liquid-y. I have read that you can just shake out the poop into the toilet and pop the diapers in the washer, but that didn't sit right with me, I really didn't think my old top-load machine would really clean the diapers. Which lead to the Diaper Sprayer. Best invention ever. Really! The diaper sprayer hooks up to the toilet water supply, and when you change a poopy diaper, you just hang it over the side of the toilet, spray the poop off, and put the diaper in the bucket. No fuss, no muss. E will tell you that cleaning the BumGenius diapers with the sprayer is a pain, but I found that you just need to put the diaper inside out over your fist, instead of draping it over the side of the toilet.

So now, onto the actual washing. As I said, I do the laundry every 4 days. I do the diapers at night because I only have 4 diaper covers, and I need at least 1 to be dry to use. So the diapers go in when Tristan goes to bed. I bring the buckets down to the machine, dump them in, rinse them out, and turn them upside down in the shower to dry out. If they smell a bit, I use all purpose cleaner to give them a quick clean. For pre-solids diapers, I used the extra wash cycle. For post-solids diapers, I just use a normal wash. And in both cases, I use Dreft detergent and an extra rinse cycle. When they're done, in the winter or wet weather, I pop them into the dryer, and the rest of the time I hang them out to dry. One great thing about line drying, it gets out the poop stains. The sun is the best bleach alternative ever!

Traveling
So now we come to the travel portion. I keep diapers and a wet bag in my diaper bag. Usually the diapers are the FuzzyBunz because I'm not too fond of them and would rather not use them every day. But they work well when out and about, as long as Tristan doesn't need to go more than an hour and a half in the diaper. The wet bags have a cinch top and when we change Tristan, we just stick the diaper in the wet bag. The wet bags help control the smell and keep the stuff in the diaper bag from getting soiled or damp. If Tristan's got a diaper cover on, I leave it attached to the outside of the diaper bag to air dry a bit before the next use.

For day or overnight trips, we just bring along the diapers and a kitty liter bucket or two, and we're all set.

So, that's it. I think I've gotten everything you might need to know to use cloth diapers. If I think of anything else, I'll be sure to add a post!