Easter, cloth diapers, and product endorsements (!?!)

Easter was great. My mother in law bought Teagan a beautiful little dress and little shoes to match with a cute little pink sweater. She looked beautiful. And, she was wonderful at church. We arrived at church just a few minutes before it started to be confronted by a very full church! We wiggled our way in, lamenting the fact that we couldn't get an end seat in case Teagan decides to wake up and get loud (which is sometimes the case in church, but is rare). Then I spotted all of the pretty bells that people had brought to ring during the Allelujahs and had a panic attack...I totally forgot about the bell ringing. I noticed Brett looking at the bells too...the music started...the bells were rung (loudly and without rythm mostly by kids, lol) and Teagan slept through the whole thing!!! It was wonderful. She woke up a few times to make little grunting noises but then back to nap time!!!

The pink bow is meant to camouflage the St. Francis haircut Teagan is currently sporting. Basically, she is losing her hair is a male-pattern-baldness fashion and looks like the cutest little George Costanza!!!!







After the service, we changed her into a cute little "baby's first easter" outfit that Brett's boss gave us a few weeks ago...it was a "0-3 months" size so still a little big, but it was so cute. It had little bunny feet and a cotton tail on the back!

(Ignore me in the pic, I've lost all the baby weight but now have to work on that IF weight but have also been afraid to lose it too fast in case I lose my milk supply...)



I know I had some people ask about the cloth diapering. I am loving the B.umgeni.us diapers! We had a few bumps on the road though.First, I was using Charlie's soap, which is recommended for cloth diapers and it was doing wonders keeping them shining white...but I think it was giving Teagan a little bit of a rash. After doing some research, I noticed that there were a few complaints about some infants being sensitive to it...so I changed to something called Country Save detergent...and it is heaven. It is pretty cheap and gets them nice and clean and there is no rash at all. Then, cloth diapers are not compatible with most diaper rash creams because the cream impacts the absorbability of the fabrics, so I was using des.itin and a gDiaper (which I had a few boxes of around the house...not a fan, but that is a story for another time, if anyone is interested). Finally I did some research and found out about a diaper rash product called Grandma El's...it is awesome and totally cloth diaper friendly. Her rash cleared up in no time and she is a happy little baby now:-) The cleaning process I follow is from the diaper manufacturer's recommendation and in total, the cloth diapering adds maybe 15 minutes to my day between throwing them in the wash, doing an extra wash and rinse and then hanging the diapers on a drying rack, throwing the inserts in the dryer and then after they dry, putting them together and on the shelf. Overall, I love them and find them even easier than disposables! Plus, Teagan looks so cute with her huge diaper butt!!! Oh, and if anyone is considering this diaper system, I recommend buying the Planet.wise large wet bags that fit in a diaper pail. I bought a cheap First Years diaper pail ($10, I think at BRU) that has a little lid that fits a deodorizer in it and then I fill the bin with the wet bag and when it is full of dirty diapers, I just grab the liner, flip it inside out into the washer and throw it in with the diapers...and its done. I have two so that one is in the bin while the other is being washed and dried. These were on recommendation from someone else and have been a life saver.

Also a necessary that I can't sing the praises enough for (for all you girls who are finally happily blissfully preggo and buying baby stuff like crazy:-)) is something called an itzbeen timer. I got mine from a friend who said it was invaluable. It is, especially if you are breastfeeding since you have to get up every 3 hours at night in the first few weeks to feed...it is an automatic timer that tells you how long it has been since you last fed, or diapered, or etc...I use it mainly just for the feeding schedule and I've been using it less and less lately, but it is an amazingly useful thing! It even has a little dial on the bottom for you to switch to which breast you fed her from last...and don't underestimate the usefulness of that since I can NEVER remember which boob was emptied last and spend countless minutes staring at my cleavage trying to figure out which boob looks bigger or feels more full, lol. So, use this and you won't do what I've done (when I forget to mark it on the timer...which is a lot lately since I'm trying to phase it out). Carol- if you read this, don't buy one for A. since I think we already have plans for this:-)