Out of Avalon

December 23rd, 2009 by Ascelyn

We’ve been using cloth diapers exclusively for nearly a month now, and while the excitement and newness may have died down a bit, the happiness hasn’t.  I love my BG 3.0s, and hopefully I’ll have found a new home for the other four diapers we tried shortly.  While I was worried for a while that I’d just have to buy all new diapers for any future children if we wore out the one-size diapers on Michael, we’ll still come out ahead unless we have more children than there are diaper sizes.  Besides, it looks like replacing the Aplix and elastic should be easy, and that’s what supposedly wears out.

Suffice it to say that we had several leaky diapers with disposables, even in the brand that fit him best, and that we never have with cloth.  Ever.  Even after going eight or nine hours at night.  And there have been some seriously nasty poosplosions with which these things have had to contend.

After an incident at my parents’ house, he did have a bit of diaper rash.  I used prefolds on him for part of the day after it appeared, since Grandma El’s can be used on those but apparently not on my bumGenius pockets, according to the lady I called at Cotton Babies.  Once J got home and I had some time, I cut up some scrap fleece I had laying around into liners, just strips I can lay inside the diapers so that the rash ointment doesn’t touch the suedecloth.  Works like a charm and costs next to nothing.  It sounds silly, but the same ointment does wonders for his cradle cap, though it’s kind of sticky and I don’t use it when he’s going to have to go out and wear a hat.

Eadric’s mom serged some cloth wipes for me (thankyouthankyouthankyou!), and while I still intend to sew some more after Christmas, they’re doing the job well.  I’m using a spray solution of 1 cup water : 1 tsp. baby wash : 1 tsp. apricot oil, and it seems fine.  The baby wash was the non-Johnson’s only unscented one at the market and is the cream kind, so it takes a while to dissolve.  I’m kind of ticked that my Burt’s Bees apricot baby oil smells so great from fragrance instead of the oil, though.  Our spray doesn’t really smell like anything.  Of course, I guess that’s better than smelling bad, right?

Regarding prefolds:  the reviews are right.  Unbleached Indian prefolds are both softer and less sturdy than bleached Chinese ones.  I think I’ll just run another line of stitching along the serged edges, which are already kind of getting shabby.  We use them mostly as burp rags and occasionally as back-up diapers, though, so it’s no big deal.  I might have went ahead with all prefolds and covers if there was no daycare in our future, J was more willing to learn, and we didn’t have the money for pockets, but they’re just too fussy for me when dealing with a squirmy baby.  I’m thinking of trying to dye some of the ones we did get, just for kicks.  You know, in all my spare time.  I can’t figure out how I can dye the two outer (thinner) parts one color and the thick middle strip another color, though.  That’s my real goal.

Nobody seems to be having any reactions to the Charlie’s Soap we’re using, which is a relief.  I only read that some people had bad reactions to it after we started using it, so I was a bit worried.  The Bac-Out spray really seems to help keep the stains from setting, too, though I’ve never really gone without it, so I don’t know if maybe we’d be stain-free anyway.  It smells awesome, though.  Unfortunately, we’re almost out, and shipping to get a jug of concentrate is going to be a killer.  No one around here carries it that I know of.

Washing remains a piece of cake.  It takes no extra work at all to wash, and maybe ten minutes max to restuff them with the inserts.  Less time than it would take going through the check-out line to buy disposables, and far less than a trip to the landfill (or to my parents’, who keep saying I could just drop off trash there, but who would waylay me and force me into an hour-long conversation while I’m trying to get somewhere).

I think that’s it.  I’ll save my Grand Plan! for later sometime.  Thank goodness I didn’t let people talk me out of using cloth.  Most of them either had done it back in the day by necessity and hadn’t seen the new diapers or were using disposables now without trying cloth, probably because they’ve never seen the new diapers.  A few people around town have already decided after seeing me change Michael that it seems like a good idea for any future children of their own, so I’m laughing inside.  Quietly.

December 23rd, 2009 by Ascelyn

J has decided that Michael Needs. A. Stocking.  Right now.  This after he had originally agreed that we might as well wait until next year when (a) the kid would actually care and (b) I would have a functional sewing machine on which to make a rockin’ stocking.  Instead, we have to run around town two days before Christmas to find a stocking.  A stocking into which we have no stocking-y gifts to place.

The tree, on the other hand–the first tree we’ve had since we’ve been together–is decorated, and gifts have been placed under the care of its verdant limbs.  Unwrapped gifts, for the most part, since J’s gift is part his new grill and part a framed picture for his desk at work that may or may not be ready in time.  Mikey’s gifts are unwrapped and apparently “boring,” mostly consisting of books, useful items we’d need soon anyway, and three outfits.  We did get him two or three small toys, like a trio of soft stacking blocks, but nothing flashy.  Oh, and the baby signing kit I wanted!  That’s for both of us, I suppose, but I had to keep myself from opening it when it first arrived.

I guess I should eventually get around to putting away the boxes the ornaments were packed in.  The sheet the tree sat on needs washed, and the plastic netting trashed, and needles vacuumed.  Oh, and I need to get a picture of our baby into his first Christmas ornament instead of the default child that comes with it.  Ours is cuter.  Hmmph.

Tomorrow we got to J’s sister’s house for Year 2 of our Christmas Eve extravaganza.  I voted for moving it to our house this year, since C’s is teeny-tiny (as in, meant to be a two-person hunting lodge; you have to step over people constantly) and V’s is so new and shiny that it doesn’t really have anything in it yet.  We have space and stuff, including a twin bed and a crib for my nephew and niece, a nice TV for the movie-watching, and a decent kitchen for making the meal.  Oh, and a place for me to retreat and nurse the baby instead of having to go out to the car, since not only is there nowhere to sit at C’s and no extra rooms, but several people also get squicked out by the idea of breastfeeding and I can’t sew my nursing cover until I get my new machine.  Which will be a day later.

Still, it was a lot of fun last year, and I’m looking forward to continuing our turkey-eating tradition, a tradition which, unlike Thanksgiving, doesn’t involve any form of parents/grandparents or driving from one house to another and is therefore fun instead of stressful.

Merry Christmas, everyone!

December 18th, 2009 by Ascelyn

My first week at work is almost over.  Granted, it was a strange week–a half day Monday and Thursday off because Certain People who had promised to watch the baby ended up backing out for those times.  Still, while work itself isn’t too bad, I hate leaving in the mornings and am so sorry in the evenings that I missed having the time with Michael.

It made spending all day with him yesterday all the sweeter, though.  At least until this morning, when I fed him just before I left.  He finished and was grinning and babbling at me, but by the time I was on my way out the door, he was wailing.  I felt like I was abandoning him.  At home with J, he’ll have one-on-one attention and be held and cuddled.  At daycare, I’m afraid he’ll just be left in his crib alone all day.  I know for certain that he would at most of the places I checked; they told me that very plainly.  I don’t think he will be at the one where he’ll be going, but the prospect still worries me.

If I were to stop working here, I’d probably start watching another baby at home.  Sure, I wouldn’t make as much money as the people who are at full capacity, but I’d know I was taking good care of him or her, and I hope that would make the other parents feel comfortable.  One person can care for–not just have around, but actually care for–two babies.  I just don’t see how they can really take care of two infants and six preschoolers.  Then when the other baby and my own have both turned two or three and are out of diapers and not requiring super-constant hands-on care, I could start watching another child or two.

J’s been working like crazy, usually long into the night after we’ve gone to bed.  I’m really glad he’s getting to spend the next two weeks with his son.  He’s never been alone with him for more than the amount of time it takes me to get a shower before.  Honestly, though, it still worries me immensely that I have three CVD runs in the next three weeks, and that sort of a schedule is only going to get worse.  Who’s going to watch Michael while we’re away…all day, and possibly all night?  I wish I had a better idea of how things were going to go.  He shouldn’t be working that much anyway, and my schedule should have evened out years ago.