Adventures in Cloth Diapering - Day 15

Well... so far so good! Tyler has officially been in cloth diapers now for over 2 weeks. I really wasn't sure how this was going to go, but I really haven't minded cloth diapering. In fact, it really isn't that much different than the disposables for me, except for the fact that I've done a few extra loads of laundry. I think it would be harder if I worked outside the home because the laundry would be harder to keep up with, but being home all day, I can easily throw in another load, and the nice thing about the diapers (compared to regular loads of laundry) is I don't have extra folding :-) I think it also helps that Tyler has only pooped twice in the last 15 days, so I haven't had to deal with that grossness too much. Yes, the poopy diapers were gross. But they are gross in disposables too. And bonus is that the cloth diapers contained the "mess" better than the disposables.

I did have issues with the diapers smelling a bit after they were washed, but I figured out my problem. My washer doesn't have a pre-wash setting (you are supposed to pre-wash in cold water), so I was skipping right to the hot wash and cold rinse, but when you start with the hot wash, that can actually seal in the smell. I read online how others who have washing machines with no pre-wash or pre-soak settings will use a quick wash or run an extra rinse cycle with no detergent prior to running the actual hot/cold cycle. I added this in and that did the trick! No more smell.

So... I think we'll stick with it! Truth be told, it's more like I'll stick with it. Matt has worked 12 of the last 15 days and hasn't changed a cloth diaper yet (I'm putting Tyler in disposable diapers at night, which is when Matt is awake). But he's bound to change a cloth diaper or two very soon! And I honestly don't think he'll mind them much either.

Roll Over! Roll Over!

You know that little kid song that goes "There were ten in the bed and the little one said, 'Roll over! Roll Over!'"

Well that's been going through my head today as my own little one decided it was time for him to roll over! He actually rolled from his stomach to his back yesterday, but I wondered if it was a fluke. Well he did it several times today, so I think he knows what he's doing! I feel bad because I don't give him as much "tummy time" as I know I should... wonder if he would have started doing this earlier if I would have been more consistent. Oh well. Nice work buddy!

Kindergarten Registration

After close to a year of discussions and thousands of dollars in legal fees, an arbitrator determined last month that it was in Kylee's best interest to go to school with us. I won't go into details here, but I can say I'm glad it's over! Now we can move forward and not have to stress about that anymore.

That decision meant we got to take Kylee to Paramount Elementary today for kindergarten registration! She was pretty excited and did awesome.

First was Kylee's eye exam. She passed with flying colors.

Next was the cutting station. She did great with the scissors, cutting on both a straight and a curved line.

Finally, Kylee's was quizzed on her shapes, colors, letters, numbers, and rhyming. The only thing she struggled with was the shape "rectangle". She also had to show how she could write her name. Of course Kylee was a bit of an over-achiever. When being tested about the rhyming, she was asked if certain pairs of words rhymed or not. When asked if "hat" and "cat" rhymed, instead of just saying "yes" she said "bat". Same with when she was asked if "dog" and "log" rhymed, she came up with the word "frog". Smarty pants.

I think Kylee was most excited about the stickers she got. We were the last family through registration, so she got the leftover stickers and the extra bracelet. She said several times on the way home, "I can't believe I got so many stickers!" She was also pretty excited about the workbook she got as homework that she needs to turn in this fall when she starts school. She came straight home and wanted to start working on it!

Dear Tyler - [Four Months!]

Dear Tyler,

You hit four months yesterday! Right now I am holding you as you sleep. I will spoil you today with lots of cuddles because you had four immunizations this morning (one oral, three shots). These immunizations make you sad and needy. We might not get much else done today, but that's okay.

The doctor says you are doing really well (which I already knew!). You weighed in at 11.0 pounds and measured 24" long. You still aren't on the charts for weight (although you're getting closer!), but you are in the 8th percentile in height! That doesn't surprise me. When I look at you laying down all stretched out, you just look so big to me! I might have even used the word gigantic...

Because you're still so little, we need to keep adding Neosure to your milk (extra calories) and giving you daily vitamins. The vitamins turn your milk green - good thing you don't notice! You are now eating between three and four ounces of milk at a time, which means pretty soon we'll have to move to bigger bottles since we're still using the 4 ounce bottles we got in the hospital. I did ask the doctor today about rice cereal. He said that they typically have babies start on rice cereal between four and six months, but he doesn't want you to start on it yet because the Neosure has more calories than rice cereal and you need to keep growing.

I do think you would grow better if you stopped throwing up though (which you do several times a week). The doctor isn't concerned with you throwing up since you're gaining weight so well. He says he thinks it happens when you get an air bubble in your tummy (even though I burp you every ounce or two). But I would appreciate it if you kept all that yummy food in your tummy instead of getting it all over me, the couch, your clothes, your hair, your face, etc.

The doctor was impressed with how well you hold your head up. Daddy and I have commented on that for months! You love just looking around and checking everything out. The doctor mentioned how in some areas you are in line with two-month-olds (your gestational age) and in some areas you are in line with four-month-olds (your actual age) but by one year there should be no difference.

I think my favorite "milestone" from this last month is your sweet talking and your laugh. I will try to get some video up soon. You are generally a really happy baby, giving us lots of smiles. Recently you've started smiling while you are eating. I love that you are happy when you eat, but when you smile, the milk dribbles out of your mouth and down your cheek!

I know I've mentioned this before, but you love standing up! Look at your smile!

One other change this last month is how you sleep. Instead of sleeping on my chest, you now like to sleep cuddled up next to me on your side or back, using my arm as a pillow. And to tell you the truth, I enjoy the cuddles. But get ready... this is the week. I am going to try putting you in your crib at night starting on Wednesday, so you'd better enjoy these next two nights! I guess I should say the same thing for me :-)

Love,
Mom

Do I Smell Brownies?

I was rushing out the door this morning to try and get Tyler to his doctor's appointment on time. I didn't get a chance to eat breakfast, so I just grabbed something off the counter to eat in the car on the way to the appointment. Before we even got out of our subdivision, Kylee asked from the back seat, "What are you eating?" I responded that I was eating my breakfast. She followed up a second later with, "Do I smell brownies??" Busted.

I Quit My Job... And Started a New One!

On Tuesday, February 11th, I formally submitted my resignation as Director for Student Systems with Boise State University. My two weeks' notice put my last day at February 24th. Then, on February 26th, I started in my new role at BSU - Special Projects Analyst.

It has been no secret that I wanted to stay at home when I had a baby. I have been very open with this to my friends and coworkers for many years (even before I met Matt!). When we brought Tyler home from the hospital, I felt even more strongly about staying home as I got a glimpse of what my days would be like. At the same time, I loved my job, I loved Boise State, and I was a little anxious about not getting a paycheck. I had put together a budget and had gone over the numbers many times. I knew that we would be okay on Matt's paycheck alone, but it would be a little tight for a couple years until he reached his max salary with Ada County (there is a set pay increase for the first several years of employment). As much as I just wanted to be able to sit on the couch and cuddle my baby all day and make dinner and keep a clean house, I was having a hard time thinking I would no longer financially contribute to our family.

Part way through my maternity leave, I approached my boss with an idea. I asked if he would consider keeping me on as a temporary, part-time, hourly, non-benefit eligible employee to work on special projects (project management, business analysis, etc) mostly from home. His response? That he thought that's what I had wanted to talk to him about! He had already run the idea past his boss (the VP of IT) and told me they would love to work with me and keep me on board. He said they couldn't just hire someone off the street with my knowledge and skill set and he told me to think about how many hours a week I would want to work (so he would know the size of projects to give me). He indicated there was never a shortage of work and that he would have 2-3 projects in the queue for me at all times. In fact, he already had some ideas of what he wanted me to start working on! Wow! That wasn't what I was expecting, but I was thrilled and flattered. I got back to him a couple days later telling him I'd like to start off around 10 hours a week, but I might be able to increase that a bit once Kylee started school and Tyler got on more of a schedule.

So that brings us to today! I'm in my third week of work in my new role - I'm wrapping up project management in the eAdvising project that I started last spring, and am picking back up project management for the document imaging upgrade that we started planning last fall. Things are working out well so far. I feel like I'm doing a decent job of balancing everything. My main focus is my family, but I'm also able to give my projects at work the attention they need to be successful. Of course it can be a little stressful sometimes (like the time last week that Tyler started freaking out while I was on a conference call), but I'm learning how to manage and am making adjustments (like passing Tyler off to Matt or dropping him off at my mom's if I have an important call). So cheers to a great boss and a flexible, family-friendly job!

Adventures in Cloth Diapering - Day 1

Several years ago a coworker told me he and his wife cloth diapered their baby and I remember having two thoughts. My first thought was, "I didn't think people did that anymore." And my second thought was, "Disgusting." I never in a million years thought I would ever try cloth diapering.

Since that conversation, I've heard of more and more people using cloth diapers. I have several cousins and friends that have gone this route and love it. When I found out I was pregnant, I started looking into cloth diapering more, knowing I was hoping to stay home with my baby and that it would be a difficult transition going from a two-income family to just one income. I was looking for ways I could contribute financially to the family without going into work. I went back and forth and back and forth and back and forth again on the idea of using cloth diapers. I had multiple conversations with my friend Lindsey about her experience cloth diapering her daughter Rosie.  I found out what kind of diapers she uses, how the inserts work, about cloth wipes and wet bags, laundering the diapers, etc. It seemed a bit overwhelming, and still kind of gross, but when quitting my job became a reality (more on this in another post) I decided to bite the bullet.

I purchased:

• 30 BumGenius 4.0 cloth diapers in assorted colors (the picture below shows a few of the colors). I bought them all from CottonBabies - about half of which I purchased at a discount through a "seconds sale" (brand new diapers with some sort of defect like a missed stitch or slight discoloration - none of which I could actually see!) These are the diapers Lindsey recommended because she said they are "most like" disposables.

• 12 bamboo diaper inserts (the seconds sale diapers didn't come with inserts)
• 45 flannel wipes
• 2 large wet bags and one small wet bag - you put the "used" diapers in the wet bag until it's time to do laundry

• Special laundry soap

All of my supplies have been sitting in a basket in Tyler's room for a couple months now. Untouched. Up until recently, the diapers just seemed so big for Tyler. At least that was my excuse. I think I was also still trying to talk myself into this. Finally, this week, I decided to pre-wash all of my seconds sale diapers, the microfiber inserts, and the flannel wipes and give cloth diapering a shot. (All of the "new" diapers are still in their packaging. My thinking was that if I really hate this, I might be able to return the diapers. Or at least get close to the original price selling them on craigslist.)

Tyler only poops about once or maybe twice a week. Since he went yesterday, I decided I would try out the diapers today :-) I figured I would be safe with testing the diapers out for a few days before I had to deal with the yuckier stuff. And... so far so good! Besides the diaper making Tyler's bum look pretty large under his clothes, I haven't had any leaks or other problems, and changing the diapers has been a breeze and not gross at all. I do admit I did google "how often should I change a baby's cloth diaper" - I am missing that little line on the front of the diaper that tells me if he is wet! For now, I am changing his diaper as I normally would - with each feeding. I'm sure I'll get the hang of this more as I go on. 

I don't plan on using cloth diapers 100% of the time. I am thinking I'll use disposable diapers at night, when we go out of town, if I have someone babysit Tyler, etc. But I would consider Day 1 a success, and think we'll try again tomorrow.

Thank Goodness for Insurance!

At almost four months, I think we've gotten about all of Tyler's doctor bills... and all I can say is I am thankful for insurance!  All together, having Tyler cost over $150,000. Sure glad we have a decent max out of pocket for both me and Tyler. Here's a rough breakdown:

• About $102,000 for Tyler's NICU stay, including facility fees and daily doctor visits.
• About $36,000 for my hospital stay - I was there for 6 days! This amount also includes the cost of my epidural ($2472) and fees associated with the x-ray I had because of my breathing problems after Tyler was born.
• Over $10,000 for shots for Tyler. Because Tyler was so premature and was born so close to RSV season, he qualified for Synagis shots - basically a series of antibody shots to help protect his little body from getting RSV. Each shot is over $2500 and he gets one each month for four months.
• About $5000 for my OB care throughout my pregnancy.
• $1375 for Tyler's home health visits, including his physical therapy.
• Almost $150 for the breast pump rental for two months.

When all was said and done, we paid less than 4% of these costs. But even if we had to pay 100% out of pocket, it would all be worth it. I sure love my little boy!

Taste Buds

Tonight Kylee told me she was growing a taste bud and that it was sore. I told her that the taste bud was already there, it was just... I paused trying to think how to explain it. She finished my sentence - "Rotten?" she asked. So cute. Love the mind of my five year old.

Speaking of cute things, I can't remember if I've posted before, but I love how Kylee says that she "bless you'd" instead of saying she sneezed :-)

The Big 10.0!

My baby boy weighed in at 10.0 pounds yesterday! I can't believe how big he's getting. That means at 3.5 months he has tripled his birth weight...crazy! I just read on WebMD that it is typical for a baby to double his birth weight by 4 months, so I'd say Tyler is doing pretty well :-)

I just had to post this picture of Tyler. He loves his baths and I love his fluffy bath hair and his sweet smile.