Research before Review

I'm not sure what about today that it was but Paisley seemed to be on track with her naps. This may not sound unusual but since Daddy left on an underway a while ago her schedule has pretty much gone out the window. So today was the very first day, so far that she has taken all her naps! For some reason I also thought to begin the researching process on our cloth diapers. So let us begin...

When she first woke up I put a disposable on her but after her feeding I gave her a morning bath and decided to start with Bum Genius 4.0 snaps. She went down for her first nap which was 1.5 long and woke up dry and heavy! Bum Genius was soaked! So we changed out of that into Fuzzibunz. From the beginning I loved the Bum Genius because of the way they fit her better. I could never get the fitting right on the Fuzzibunz and she always seemed to leak.

After she was in her Fuzzibunz she played for a little bit then had a bottle and napped again for about an hour or so. Once again she woke up dry and the Fuzzibunz was heavy and soaked. Now that she's grown a bit from first wearing them I've seem to have gotten the fit right around the thighs and they fit pretty well. The adjustments just take a bit longer when you're resizing it than the Bum Genius or the Butterbears. After she woke up from her nap I changed her into Butterbears.

This is the first time I have ever tried butterbears. Aside for the awesome colors I needed to see if it could do the job. Unfortunately pretty colors don't hold in pee, Quality does. So I put them on her, they have snap adjustments like Bum Genius but I noticed they had an extra set of snaps down the front which I liked. I felt like with more snaps down the front I was able get a better fit. Because there were more snaps it took me a little bit longer to get the right size adjusted for her but when I finally figured it out and she was all out of patience with me trying, it fit perfectly. The back of the Butterbears, where the inserts go, resemble Fuzzibunz without a flap covering the opening like the Bum Genius. I don't really have a preference but noticed it. I also noticed the adjustment around her legs were a lot better than the Bum Genius. On the Bum Genius it gets very tight on the top of her thighs and the way I have to adjust it it's either have the top of her legs tight or her stomach loose and I can't seem to win but with Butterbears it was much more proportionate. I think those extra snaps came into play here! Anyway, she went about her business and played a bit and had another bottle and became tired again so she went down for another nap but it was only a quick one because she had pooed in her Butterbears! I could tell by the smell but it did exactly what it should have done, kept it in! I was very happy that the first experience with Butterbears was a successful one. The same happened with the Bum Genius when I first had her wear one. I feel the best test is to have them nap in them and have them poo too. It gives you all the elements you can hit a diaper with and Butterbears definitely succeeded and i'm thrilled!

I changed her out into yet another Bum Genius and then a disposable for bed. Now all the cloth diapers have been washed and are now hanging to dry to hopefully be ready for tomorrow.

I will be doing a video review on my Butterbears experience tomorrow baring the kiddo has a good day and am very excited to put it online.

Our test run with Butterbears! LOVED them!

Paisley seemed to love them too! SCORE!

Hey CA Moms!

Have you decided what you're going to do in four days? Don't know what's happening?

As of December 22nd Califorina will be adding fluoride to everyone's drinking water. Unfortunately there is no way around this despite all the controversy of it. You should definitely research more about fluoride and whether or not you want your child to have that water and whether you should be drinking it and cooking with it yourself! Especially if you're pregnant!

I'm not one to impose things onto people so instead of telling you why you shouldn't be giving your child this water nor drinking it if your pregnant i'm going to let you do your own research and decide what's best for you and your family. I, myself will not be giving it to Paisley. If there were fluoride test strips I could use I'd be weary about it but as of right now it's an absolute no. As soon as I heard about it on the news I went to walmart and bought fluoride free water (gerber pure water) for 1.48 a gallon.

Although fluoride does have it's benefits to adults you should seriously look into the risks it has for your children! I hope you all make conscious decisions and are ready for the change!

Got Onesie Stains?

I did. For the life of me I could not get the stains out of the pure white onesies. Instead of tossing them and buying new ones I decided to go a different route. I tie dyed them and now I have a beautiful collection of clothes stain free! ; ).

Front Side

 

Back Side

Front Side

Back Side

 These photos unfortunately do no justice to what they actually look like. Dang flash. I'm very excited.

Needle work on my Birthday

I decided I wanted to make baby leg warmers rather than spend the money on them. So I went out to target this morning and bought two pairs of socks that I liked. When I got home I started working on them right away. I had stitched them by hand because my sewing machine is broken but to my surprise it was super quick and easy! SO excited!

What they started as on the left and the finished project on the right.

Santa talks to Paisley

http://www.portablenorthpole.tv/watch/guest/-XsPSnUp1pndeA8GtjkLaA

Have I Told You?

That I LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE Seven Slings? They have brought Peace to my world of whining! Even though Paisley is the perfect Angel she does have her moments when she's extremely tired and is restless and won't lay down to sleep and won't lay down in my arms. So I've been putting my seven sling on and whammo! Instant eye shut. I put her in it when I walk to get the mail so she can walk with me and so when she's having an off day and won't go down for a nap but is tired or she's having a hold me day I put her in this. Although I've found a position that's not on their website, I found one that works for us and she is absolutely comfortable in it. She's in the grabbing her feet and eating them stage so I sink her in the sling and let her feet dangle and she loves to swing them which I think is adorable. If you don't have one already I highly highly suggest you get one. Not only is it comfortable for you but the baby loves being snuggled close to you as well. LOVE IT!

Having a "hold me" day and Loving it!

Hangin out

Sling = Instant sleepy comfort

I think she'd sleep in there for hours if I let her.

Photos and Events

Before Chris left I was able to steal him away from his homework to go get our first family photo together and then a couple weeks after he left I was able to bring Paisley for her photos. They all turned out amazing.

Our Ham!

Our Little Reindeer

Our First Family Photo

We have been very blessed with Chris being gone we were on a waiting list for a free real christmas tree and while he was gone I got an email saying they had some left over first come first serve the next morning. So Paisley and I got there and got the most perfect christmas tree!

Before

 

 

After! :)

Loving the feel of the new REAL Christmas tree. She was afraid of the fake one.

So I was able to take our fake one back to Target. As soon as I got home and set up the christmas tree and took all the decorations of the fake one and put them on the new one I got a phone call saying we won 50 dollars towards the christmas tree farm. Since I was able to get a free tree from trees for troops I told them that they could give it to another family.

THANK YOU!

We also won a chance to go to an event at our housing office that we went to this morning. We received a 20 dollar gift card, a bag of canned goods and boxed goods, a picture with santa and a free toy for Paisley and some other cool stuff.

Her first picture with Santa. Not so bad for being tired and hungry!

Finally home from our fun day at the event with our free toy and goods!

Loving her new toy thanks to donations to Operation Homefront!

Even though Chris has been gone and I've had a meltdown or two from missing it's been good. Paisley's keeping me on my toes and it seems as though she's finally getting back into her sleeping schedule.

Now all we need is Chris to be home and to see the real tree since I've kept him from him that we won and I returned the fake one. I know he'll be excited!

Slings n Things

You can only clean and re-clean the house so many time before you get extremely bored with it and there's nothing left to clean. That's all I seem to do when the Husband is out to sea. Since it's the season for giving I gave myself time on the computer to purchase an new sling for the baby and a Baltic Amber necklace for her. I received them both in the mail this week and I just have to gloat bout them both.The sling is from seven slings. They always seem to be having an awesome sale and I bought the package that comes with some awesome baby legs and a bracelet matching the style of the sling you purchase. I had tried a friend of mine's on and loved how comfortable Paisley felt in it. I ended up ordering a size bigger and when I ripped open the package and tried it on and put her in it, it just felt very big and didn't feel very stable to me. I would like to say I made the decision to throw it in the dryer after washing it but the truth is I totally forgot and it went into the dryer when you're supposed to hang dry it. Whoops. I was a little nervous when I remembered after the dryer was almost done. It had shrunk it down one size so it fit like my friends had. Even though it was a mistake, it was a good one. After putting her in it, it felt perfect. It just so happened she was having a "don't put me down day" and she absolutely enjoyed be carried around she's got quite the personality to her and everyone in a while she'd swing her feet, which was beyond cute. Comfortable fit, Stable with baby, Darn good price. All around awesome product.

After getting it in the mail

Her enjoying it and swinging her feet post dryer. She looks so comfy.

After the excitment of getting the sling in the mail and putting it to use I was ready for the Amber Necklace I purchased from Inspiredbyfinn.com to come. I've read into the amber necklace and know and have seen children wearing them. Ever since my husband went to sea Paisley's schedule went right with him. It was perfect, she was napping three times a day, I knew exactly when to feed her, she was super happy and went down around the same time each night with our nightly routine of bath and bed and even slept through the night. Well as soon as he walked out the door so did our perfect little schedule. He's been gone quite a bit since she's been born but the time he's home you can tell she loves her daddy. I feel like this time was definitely different in that she knew he'd be gone for a while and wanted to raise hell. She's been anti nap, not sleeping through the night, moody, her feedings are all over the place and who knows how much she'll drink. A total 180 of what she used to be. So I chalked it up to a growth spurt but that only lasts for so long and when it didn't change I figured maybe she'd be teething which is always a possibility and that's a reason why I just had to get the necklace. I'm looking forward to seeing how the succinic acid of the amber effects her mood, wellness and if she is teething, taking whatever pain she has away or lessening it. Of all the research I've done about it I'm intrigued so I have placed an amber necklace for myself on my Christmas list. So whenever the husband gets home he's got some shopping to do!

Her new Baltic Amber necklace. She loves it even though she doesn't realize it's there! hehe

So with all the cleaning that's been happening and her mood being all over the place we needed some much needed down time, well she did while I continued to pick up, which is the way it usually goes. So she rested and watched sesame street and I couldn't help but snag a picture because it was too cute.

Resting by the Christmas tree watching sesame street

Up to Date

So a slight update on why I haven't posted in a while. Chris was granted leave so we could all go to NY and visit family, although for a sad reason, it was the happiest and most relaxed we have been in a very long time. We were so thankful that we got to see everyone in the family and everyone got to meet Paisley for the first time. Unfortunately it couldn't last forever so we made out way back to crap town.

Paisley sporting her thinking glasses. She loved them.

As soon as we got back Chris went out to sea and back to reality we were. Before we left Paisley wanted to play with all of her toys, you could tell by her eyes but she just couldn't put together that if she used her hands she could do it. By the time we got back She was all over her toys and grabbing at things including my face and pinching my neck and putting her hand in my mouth as I talked to her. This being very amusing to her. It's like a lightbulb switched on when we were home or it could of been all the stimulation for other people she saw while we were home. I don't think Chris or I held her until it was time for her to go to bed.

Uh Oh Daddy's got competition! haha

It was also time for her to go in the bathtub. Her small bath that we set on the counter by the sink in the bathroom just wasn't cutting it anymore and for my small stature she was too heavy to lift out of and bring her safely to the towel because of how high it was and how pathetically short I am. Come on now, was I adopted or what? So I went out and bought an elmo no slide pad for the bottom of the tub and a little thing for her to lay on that raised up in the back to keep her head up. I put her in it the next night after I bleached the tub and made it sparkling for her. She was very unsure of what was going on but wasn't upset by it. She's very interested and I try kicking her feet and splashing but she's still in the figuring things out mode.

Thanks to my wonderful parents they sent us home with a video camera so every little thing I've been videotaping now even though we could do that with our camera this is much more effective and I can keep taping as long as I want and not have to worry about filling the memory card quite as quickly. I had Paisley on the floor, video camera in hand and recording, hoping she would roll over, she kept rolling to her side and wanted too but it ended up being a bust. I wrote Chris an email about it and I received one back informing me I was not allowed to do that anymore until he got home because he wanted to be there too when she rolled over for the first time. So I haven't put her on the floor since. hehe

Her 4 month appt. was when she turned 4 months on the 12th. She was 15lbs and 8oz's and 25.5 inches long. She was perfect. We had the same nurse and Dr. as her 2 month and there still in awe at how easy going and happy she is. They say she's perfect. She got her shots and cried for all of two seconds like last time.

I did a bit of christmas shopping online for Chris since he's away I figure they'd arrive before he got home and I could wrap them and have him done before thanksgiving. Well so far 3/4 of it have shown up and hoping the rest of it shows up tomorrow. Very excited with what I got and the bargain shopping I did. As well as getting money back for what I bought because I went through ebates. yippee! Still not sure what we're doing for Thanksgiving and the last email I got he wanted to go on a cruise. I can't count how many different things I've looked up to do but i'm done looking. We can have a nice dinner at our place as a family, I already bought the bird just in case we couldn't figure out what to do. So we're covered.

and last but not least. The wrapping up of what's been going on. I've finished steam cleaning the house. Hurray! I just couldn't stand it anymore everytime it rains or the sprinklers go off at night and the sun hasn't hit the back yard yet the dogs track it all over the house and stains the carpet. Well stains no more. I'm pretty sure I shampooed and went over the living room carpet 5-7 times I lost count after 4. It looks awesome. I rearranged the computer room but now quite sure if I like it yet and rearranged the living room which was a big deal when we first moved in and could only find one way to put the furniture that we liked. Well, I've seem to have found another. It needed to be rearranged to fit our christmas tree and by George I think I've got it. Hopefully Chris will like it when he gets home. So now that the carpets are done and the furniture's in place I can focus on cleaning the rest of the house and catching up on laundry which is one load but it needs to be done. Well, I believe that's about it for catching up on what's going on out here in Cali. Finally time for bed!

Paisley playing in her high chair (thanks to Grandma's suggestion) while I steam cleaned.

Productive Chaos

I feel like the last three days have all been a blur. I've just been on the go whether it be doing my workout, cleaning, or going places with friends. Chris actually came home kind of early yesterday around dinner time which was nice. Tonight, not so much. He always calls me on his way home from work but unfortunately I left my new phone in my friends car and won't be getting that awesome phone call so who knows when he'll be here seeing how it's 8:30 already and dinners still in the crock pot. I guess one good thing about today was I bought Paisley a super sweet hat!

It was a "trying my patience" day and she wanted to be held all day and wouldn't let me put her down. This is the first time she's done this and so I carried her throughout the outlet stores unless I had to buy her some cute things then I put her down so I could pay for them. Including the hat above.

I made Paisley another hat but it doesn't quite fit her, it's a little small. Which makes me sad and I might just make the exact same one only bigger. Other than a bunch of craziness things are getting done, the house has stayed clean for a few days now minus whipping the counters down and cleaning the floors but I'm very happy about that.

I've finished making laundry detergent so I can now wash Paisley's first cloth diapers and put them to use. I can't wait to see how she does with them.

Sunday Funday

I recently read in a magazine not to workout before bed because it will give you more energy. I've worked out before bed before and never had a problem. Well, last night I did. I didn't end up going to bed until 5am. making two trips to Paisley's room at 4am and 6:30am to put her pacifier back in. Thankfully, for the first time hubby got up and fed her this morning while I got a few minutes of extra shut eye. More like an hour but I wasn't going to sleep all day. So I ended up getting about 3.5hrs. Chris had homework to do and I knew it was going to take him a while so I put in my workout dvd after breakfast and hit the showers right after to get ready for the day. Paisley decided to study some chemistry with Daddy while I was in the shower.

She felt like studying up on some physics

I then took her back so he could work some more on his assignments and we had some play time in her exersaucer. I see her getting more involved with it every day.

After some play time it was time for lunch and her big nap time. Unfortunately we had to go to Verizon, because I decided I wanted to wash my phone in the washer, so we had to wake her from her nap to put her in the car seat and get to the store before it was too late. Although while we were there I kept her occupied by swinging her in her car seat and making funny faces at her and we got a few giggles and squeals out of her. More than just the half giggle we've been getting. I can't wait until she goes into full blown giggles. We were in and out of Verizon in no time and back home so Chris could finish his work which took most of the evening. Paisley is now sound asleep in bed and it's Mommy Daddy time to hang out even though we've been researching flights home for christmas the past hour. Hopefully he will get approved quickly and we can buy our tickets soon before they get even more expensive.

The Camera adds 20lbs I Swear!

Now that Paisley is on a pretty decent schedule for naps and bedtime I have a good amount of Mommy time where I can work on my hobby among other things. One thing I've noticed is that I'm dying to work out, but you can't exactly bring your baby into the gym. So I've been walking but I still don't feel like I've done enough. I started a couple days ago with finally getting a workout routine during Paisley's nap and am loving it. I went for a run with our awesome jogger stroller during her 10am nap and I bit more than I could chew with that one. I ended up trying to run 2 miles intead of starting with 1 mile. I am certainly not in the shape I used to be in and that run certainly threw that in my face. I don't think i've sweat so much. So yesterday we went for a walk during that time at a fast pace and during her long nap I popped in a workout dvd. Although it wasn't very long and wasn't very hard, it kicked my butt.

I'll be slim in 6 in no time!

I wanted to track my progress with the dvd so what did I do, I took before pictures of myself. Let's just say gasping was an understatement and I asked my husband "Why didn't you tell me my ass was a wreck?" to which he replied "I wasn't going to tell you that! You just had a baby!" mmhmmm rrriigghttt. Well, I did just have a baby but he still could of told me! Today, I didn't get to the workout dvd until after I put Paisley to bed and fro my knees up it feels like my thighs are dead weight but I did it, with hubby peeking away from his school work on the computer. Talk about a self confidence buster! As silly as I looked in front of him I knew I had to do it. I'm already feeling great and hopefully i'll be looking good by christmas!

The Art of Bread Making

Since we are on...wait...since I am on a saving money kick. The husband thinks i'm getting a little overboard with trying to save money with my latest rant that he couldn't buy his body wash at walmart because we forgot the coupon at home. Anyway, we bought a bread maker. A friend said "prepared to get fat", I say nay! I know this bread is going to be delicious but I'm not going to sit down on the couch and stuff my face full of bread and lay there the rest of the day. I will prove her wrong. So we baked a loaf of oat bread which I found the recipe off line. We did everything according to the directions in the manual and presto our first loaf of bread.

It looked fantastic and smelled fantastic and all there was left to do was wait the agonizing 15 minutes for it to cool before we could cut it up and sink our teeth into it. Even though it was already 11 at night we couldn't resist.

Chris cutting into the warm fluffy goodness

Is that not a beautiful loaf or what

So we're super excited on how this turned out and we cannot wait to make more! Saving money by making our own bread and having it taste fantastic equals SCORE!

Diving into Needlework

I've had my time with knitting needles and making scarf upon scarf and found it quite easy to do but could never get the hang of crocheting. One day, while I was surfing the web I came across a website that I fell in love with, etsy.com. All hand made items from people. I was drawn to the infant crocheted hats and wanted all of them! after looking at the price and actually buying one and not liking the results of it when it finally came in the mail I headed to Michael's craft store and picked myself up a pack of crocheting needles and some yarn. When I had some time I sat down in front of the computer and looked up videos on how to crochet hats. It took me a couple days of playing around with it when I got the time and finally began crochet my first hat for Paisley.

My first crocheted hat for Paisley

A little big but for my first time it wasn't half bad.

After finishing my first hat I was on to the second one and was bound and determined to get the size right because the hat that came in the mail was ginormous. The apple hat I finished fits her perfectly, almost too small so pictures in this hat are a must and have to be soon before in no longer fits.

I guess third time is the charm because the last hat I made was Paisley's pumpkin hat and it fits her perfectly with room to grow, but only a little bit. I absolutely love it and so does she! We got great pictures of it today when we visited the pumpkin patch.

Paisley's pumpkin hat

a passerby said "Hey that pumpkin's moving" so cute!

So i'm in love with making hats now even though I don't have that much time I do it when I can. I love my new hobby.

Converting to Cloth

Even though she's 3 months now we've started the adventure of looking into cloth diapers. I had thought of the idea before but couldn't really wrap my head around it thinking they were still the "wrap your kids up and safety pin 'em" kind. Little did I know that they all changed when a close friend decided to go cloth with her 1 year old. So I began looking into it as well and another friend ended up throwing a cloth diaper party. I must say it was a great time and we got to play with all the cloth diapers the woman brought to show. It was a whole new world for me and my stone age mind. So I took the plunge and ended up buying one of two different kinds. I've heard rave reviews from not only the woman selling them but the two friends that bought a sample pack with four different brands liked the two kinds I bought the best.

FuzziBunz one of the diapers I purchased in Grape! These have elastic straps to help size the diaper to the child. A little weary on this one with the whole elastic straps and everything but we'll see. This was the twenty dollar diaper.

Bum Genius, a couple dollars less than Fuzzi Bunz is all snaps which I am totally smitten with. I'm hoping these work out the best because they cost less than the others and i'm lovin the snaps.

 The cost of disposable to the cost of cloth is pretty mind blowing. Spending anywhere from 2500-4000 on disposable diapers in the first year of your child's life to about 600 dollars for the cloth diapers i'm looking at. I asked the woman about how many cloth diapers I'd need and she said anywhere from 24-30. That is what she recommended for washing the diapers every two to three days. If she didn't get to them on the second day she had enough to last her into the third day. I thought that was pretty reasonable for 20 bucks I was packing for a diaper. 

Not only is it about a 600 dollar expense but that's it for diapers to last you through your child's diaper days. and not only one child I might add but for the rest of your children. Which we plan on having three. So that would be 600 dollars for diapers for three little monsters. and the best part is the diapers I got are one size and I can snap and stretch them to fit Paisley's needs. I'm totally smug with these things even though I haven't tried them yet. Unfortunately, regular detergents will ruin the absorbency of the diapers so you can buy a few types of detergents they recommend which I found to be more expensive and if we're trying to save money here why would I do that? So we have made our own detergent before and I asked the woman to see if making my own was Ok. She got in touch with the diaper company for me and instead of using the bar of soap I originally got I had to go get a different kind. Which is no big deal because bars of soap are pennies compared to liquid detergent. Now, to just get the time to make it and wash the cloth diapers and strap em on Paisley and give them a run for there money. I'm hoping it goes over well and we can convert to cloth because having possibly three children in diapers I might go crazy, our wallets will be burning with only the left over residue of cash and having to buy bulk in diapers so I am not running to the store ever day for a box would be insanity. I'll let you know how they work!

and so the fun begins

Now that we have finally settled into quite the routine with our new addition to the family, our daughter, Paisley, I can now sit down and have mommy time and tell you all the craziness of the day. It might be more like venting but since the husband's gone on a submarine most of the time, this might be the most adult interaction I get for the day.

Paisley's first sponge bath at home

We welcomed our beautiful daughter on July, 12, 2010 at 10:15pm and suddenly our once children (dogs) who we let get away with sleeping in the bed and on the couches were immediately revoked of those privileges. I must say they learned rather fast where they weren't a loud anymore but I felt terrible at the same time. I got over that feeling quickly when I pictured our 105 pound lab laying on our poor child. Seeing how he thinks he's a lap dog, Paisley's lap isn't that big yet. It was be horrifying and awkward all at the same time, Poor Bear.

Bear trying to sneak his way into staying in bed by hiding under the covers

  The excitement of having a baby in the house died down after about an hour of Paisley coming home from the hospital, it was more melodramatic than anything. The dogs sniffed her gave her a few licks and went on there way. Ok, I may have exaggerated a bit with a few licks if I am speaking on Lola's behalf. Lola is just more energetic than Bear. By energetic I mean anxiety, she's a pure freak or like my parents like to call her, obnoxious. She just likes to give you more love than you wanted from a dog that can get her tongue in your ear, nostril, mouth, and back to your ear in a matter of seconds and won't stop until you physically push her away. There's something about the word Stop with that dog that just makes her want to lick you more. Oh Lola, and not the "Lola, she was a showgirl" but the "Lola, L.o.l.a, Lola".

Yep, there's Lola, stealing the spotlight.

With the dogs finally understanding they aren't the center of our attention anymore and Paisley being the easiest baby in the world I have to say we are truly blessed. Although we have just started a new chapter in our lives we're soon going to be ending one with the Navy. Being a Submariners wife certainly isn't the easy way to go but I think it has brought my husband and I closer together and has certainly strengthened our relationship. I am looking forward to our new adventure coming this spring/summer when we make the trek back East. I can say I certainly miss working as well but wouldn't give up being a Stay at home Mom for anything. I want to teach Paisley absolutely everything and even though she might not pay attention to my silly home made flash cards I'll continue to put as much information into that little brain of hers as I can. Currently I'm working on getting back into my field from home and have started working on my own website which hopefully i'll finish soon. My business cards are in, now just to get the time to finish that website. Any extra money is always a bonus and saving money as well which is where the fun begins.