1. Went to visit the school this morning for Taryn, went good. Clean, well organized, great teachers, very positive experience. Taryn did ok. She was shy, wanted me to hold her and hid behind me a few times, but she did ask the teacher if she could see the potty. She was thrilled they had no only one, but two! And each came with a step stool, something else she was worried about. She was fine while we were there but got quite upset on the way home saying she didn’t want me to leave her there alone. So hard. We can do this right? I’ll try and focus on getting her a new backpack, a new lunch box and she needs her own water bottle, of course, she wants that to be pink too.
Thank you for all the warm well wishes, your stories and your comments / emails, they mean the world to me! I have the best blog readers!!!!
2. Little dude, hanging out in Taryn’s room yesterday afternoon. He gets so excited being in there, so much to scoot around and get in to. I just love his funny little face, mohawk, drool….him.
3. I bargained with Ty yesterday. I got to take a few pics of him and if he cooperated, I agreed to take a photo him in his new skull sweatshirt hoodie (insert me rolling my eyes here, all while being a good sport).
His end of the bargain:
And my end of the bargain (hey – I never said I would crop out the skull!!):
4. An out take….normally I wouldn’t process one with his eyes closed like this but holy moly look at those lashes!!! Why oh why don’t I have lashes like that?! Soooo unfair. The worst part is, he hates them, tells me he wants to cut them! He better not. So long we even have to have his lenses curved on his glasses so they don’t hit. Totally unfair.
5. Thank you blog readers for all your advice on Teagan hating his carseat. We made the big switch and now we’re wishing we would have done it much sooner. We opted to buy Taryn a new larger seat and move Teagan into her Britax Roundabout. He’s now upright and happy, no more screaming in the car, happily looks out his window and plays….totally different kid, it’s crazy. Taryn got a new Graco Nautilaus and she hated it for awhile because it really ticked her off she couldn’t get out of it. She still slides the bar up and down, which drives me crazy, but at least she can’t get out of the seat. That was another issue we were having, her constantly taking her straps off. But, the larger seat and the cupholders have won her over with the new one. She’s still griping about it some, but the crying has stopped for the most part. It’s comfy for naps too.
6. Last night, first night in the ducky tub. Yeah, he’s got carrots all over his face and an icky color cast on him, but you would too if you were sitting inside a big yellow duck! Taryn was less than thrilled to pass it on, it was her favorite until she literally couldn’t sit in it anymore because she was just too big.
7. Teagan has had nonstop diaper rash since he outgrew Swaddlers. I’m seriously considering switching to cloth diapers. I need to convince my cute husband though. Our deal is that he does laundry, I do dishes, so he’s gotta be on board…I just feel so bad for Teagan’s tush. Oh yeah, and the effect that disposables has on our environment =) Anyone have any great cloth diapering resources that can help me build my case??
8.Playing peek-a-boo with mommy…
9. We’re having even more family photos taken next month, can’t wait! I’ve been trying to come up with some fun clothes for the kids to wear.
A few ideas for Teagan, I bought it too! He’s gonna look like such a cute little man =)
Here is what I bought for Taryn, I went with the brown shoes…
I’m still working on Ty…as you can probably guess, he’s a bit tougher. If he doesn’t actually like what he’s wearing, it’ll show. We must come to an agreement we can both live with. Wish us luck, we have a few weeks to figure it out. Jase and I will go fairly simple, so we’re easy. It sure was fun shopping for such cute stuff for the kids though! Anyone got any great ideas or links for "cool" clothes for pre-teens???
10. Be sure to stop by tomorrow to check out a new book sample I just ordered for the business – cute stuff and I’ll share some pics!
Love your blog! I quite often read it but don’t usually comment. Your diaper question brought me out of stalker-dom today. *S* We did disposables ourselves but I came across a cool link this morning with super cute diaper covers and lots of options for liners. I don’t know anyone who has used them so no real life reviews but they looked pretty cool to me. Here you go…. http://www.applecheeks.ca/
My oldest had a bad diaper rash once. What it helped was that my peditrician told us that it would help if I would put a lot (I mean I lot) of A+D diaper cream every time I had to change her diaper all over her little tush. Do not use regular baby wipes and if you can wash him with warm water every diaper change and try to change him more often than you usually do.
I did that and in no time she was better.
I hope this helps.
I think I initially found your blog from thenest.com, so…
The Eco-Friendly Family board on thenest baby has TONS of cloth diapering info. And tons of cloth diapering experts. I’d go there for lots of advice. Still trying to decide if I want to do it or not:)
(LONG time blog reader, I don’t think I’ve ever posted before:)
Just thought I would drop a line for the cloth diapers we use. I came across gDiapers a few months ago when I was searching on how to make our lifes a little more green:) I love these diapers they are supper cute and a great hybrid between cloth and dissposibles. I havent had any rash problems with dis. but I know some who have have not had any problems with gDiapers.. Check them out! gDiapers.com.. Also there is a yahoo group with great answers to questions!
Hey! Long time lurker and thought I would come out of the woodwork since we cloth diaper and my husband does the laundry too:) We use bumgenius (found at cottonbabies.com)…they are one size fits all and all in one with inserts. Super easy to use and haven’t had one complaint from my husband yet!
So thrilled that Taryn did well on her first visit to preschool, I was telling Jason when we got him and Scott enrolled in preschool, Jason loved it right away, Scott, not so much…He cried, screamed and held on to me. The teachers kept reassuring me that he would be fine, but after getting out of the door of the classroom I stood there, just to see if he would quit crying, or if I couldn’t stand it anymore and would go back in and take him home…That first day he did cry for a few minutes, then got preoccupied…the first two weeks were the same, after that he couldn’t get dressed fast enough to get ready to go…Hopefully it will be the same for Taryn.
Seeing you talk about Teagan and his diaper rash reminds me of his daddy…When Jason was born Gary was working for a giant retail company… If the grocery stores had damages, even a slight rip or tear in the package , the rep. could pick them up, and give the store credit…Well before Jason was born we had a bedroom full of diapers, enough to last us at least a year…When Jason was about 6 months old he also developed a rash…after using all the regular creams and whatever everybody told, I finally took him in to his doctor…He told us Jason was allergic to those diapers and to change brands..I told him YOU DON’T UNDERSTAND,,,WE HAVE LOTS OF THOSE DIAPERS…But he didn’t change his mind…We did change brands, and his rash did get better…Another thing he told us was to lay him on a pallet by a window WITHOUT a diaper so the sun could shine on him some..a few times a day…I know that thought will thrill you…All in all it did work….
Long time lurker, big fan of your blog. Rash problems cleared up for us once we switches to Seventh Generation diapers. I buy them through Amazons Subscribe and Save so they are only slightly more than Pampers and are delivered to my door. I do wish we had invested in cloth in the beginning, it’s not cost effective for us now. Cloth is way easier than I had perceived. It is possible to do cloth part time even, it doesn’t have to be one or the other!
I’m a looong time reader (like right after Katrina), and I’ve even emailed you once or twice. Anyway, we use BumGenius and love them. We also use some others. Also try the eco-friendly family nest board for answers to your questions. Diaperpin.com has a good cost calculator and pinstripesandpolkadots.com has some good info. We wish we switched sooner!
Another thing, there are SO many cute diaper covers, you would be in love taking pictures of his tush!
I just ordered that same hat for Simon! – I think you might be my long lost sister!
I am practically have a PHd in cloth diapers as I have tried so many different brands. I second the BumGenius but we use the sized diapers not the pockets, also fuzzi bunz and happy heiny’s are very popular all-in-ones (i.e. only one piece to them) I am pretty sure you will want to go the all-in-one rout.
First you might try ditching the butt paste for a less chemically ladened option. Most contain Boric Acid and/or phthalates which can worsen diaper rash. Try Weleda calendula diaper cream, or California Baby in combination with 7th generation chlorine free diaper wipes, and 7th generation chlorine free diapers or whole foods store brand 365 chlorine free diapers. With the amount of chemicals on their bums it is a wonder that all babies don’t have diaper rashes all the time!
Look at all these lurkers that come out of the woodwork when cloth diapers are mentioned. I love it! I’ll tell you, once you start, you try to convince the rest of the moms of the world to do it, too (I guess peer pressure doesn’t stop in middle school after all).
I can’t believe you got T the brown shoes…does she know this?
Love all the pics, especially the lashes and Sleeping Beauty in her carseat!
Thanks for all the great advice and links you guys – I can’t wait to check it all out! You guys rock and I’m loving all these lurkers posting – woot!
MC – nope, I just bought the brown, but in my own defense, she did just get pink chucks. I’m still cool. 😛
Grandma – it totally made me giggle to hear you talk about Jason’s baby hiney on the blog! hehe!!
Not for sure how I came across your blog, but I love reading it, and I love looking at the pictures of your kidos! They’re too precious, and your work is amazing! We get to do the whole preschool thing again this year, so I’m hoping it goes well. My MacKenzie is just like Taryn, outgoing at home, but shy when it comes to people!
As for the Cloth Diapers, I agree with Emily Weaver Brown, when she says you’ll want to tell all the moms you know to switch!!!! I LOVE THEM, and wish we’d switched sooner. Sure there is the washing them thing, but it’s not that bad…(infact I have mine in the wash right now!). The biggest thing is just the double washes. I don’t remember if you are a SAHM, but you could even wash them during the day! I start mine in the morning, and then just restart the wash a couple times to make sure all the soap is out. Then I either hang them on the line, or throw them in the dryer. Super Easy! Just time consuming….atleast for us.(I just want to make sure all the soap is out!) For us we use the Bum Genius ones, and they’re super easy. But as others have said there are TONS of different covers and such out there, you’d have fun with it!!!
Good luck on whatever you decide!!!!
I love reading your blog. Your stories make me smile daily and I am inspired by your beautiful pictures. I can’t believe it’s taken me this long to leave a comment! And I never would have thought I would write about cloth diapers!
We were in the same boat as you are now with my son. Once we moved out of the Swaddlers we moved into a very nasty rash that would not go away (I could start my own store of diaper rash creams I now own). We switched to cloth diapers as a last resort and I am so happy we did. Love them!!!! And now my baby has the most beautiful little tush…and we don’t use any diaper rash creams. They really are much easier to care for than I envisioned. I found diaperpin.com to be the best resource. We have a mixture of prefolds/covers (I love my Bumkins covers) and pocket diapers (it’s a toss up between the Happy Heinys and Bum Genius…like them both). The pocket diapers are my out and about diapers as well as my night diapers.
Sorry for the novel 🙂
Good luck!
OK, so I’m a little late on this one but I need to tell you how much I LOVE our cloth diapers!!! I thought people who used cloth were crazy before I made the switch with baby #3. Now, I think people who don’t use cloth are . . . well, I won’t say crazy, but crazy for not trying!! 🙂
My 16 month old had been in FuzziBunz since he was 2 months old and he’s still wearing the same diapers! They are super easy and super cute. It’s amazing how the same diaper can really fit so well as he grows!
Give it a try–you’ll be convinced in no time! 🙂
I too use the bumGenuis pocket diapers. They are FANTASTIC. I love them. So much cheaper then disposables. Go for it and try them. I got mine at http://www.cottonbabies.com Great place….Just buy a few and try them…I guarrentee you will be buying more within 2 weeks….=) Plus they are so stinkin cute runnin around with just a bumGenuis on!!! HEHE
Kohl’s has great clothes for Ty. They are very trendy for his age group, have great size selections for that awkward in-between phase and a good selection.
That’s where I take DSS every year for his “cool” clothes.
Long time lurker here coming out of the woodwork! My daughter, Alice, had a horrid diaper rash for almost 7 months when she was your son’s age. We tried EVERYTHING…letting her air out, different diapers, different creams, prescriptions, cut out the wipes and used water and baby washcloths (still do this actually), etc. We tried everything short of cloth mainly because my husband out right refused to change a diaper if it was cloth (insert huge eye roll here).
Every baby is different, but the two things we tried that actually took it away for good was a bit of neosporin and berts bees diaper cream. The neosporin got rid of most of it, and the berts bees took away the lingering redness that lasted long past the actual open rash. Now nearly a year later I still use a bit of berts bees every time I change her and she hasn’t had an outbreak since.
Good luck, I know what it’s like to try everything and end up with zero results. Don’t get discouraged though as every baby is different and react differently (I can’t tell you how many times I was told “Try this!! I swear it works great!” only for it to not work for Alice) to the same things.
Crawling back into anonymity again. 🙂