pregnancy weight loss secrets | Is this a baby group or the X Factor

pregnancy weight loss secrets

Ahh the world of parent and baby groups.  Before having a baby, I was aware this world existed, but I have to say, they only existed in my periphery.  But, after having my daughter, I was thrust into the madness of the baby group.  Dont get me wrong, I think parent and baby groups are fantastic and I have met some lovely parents at them.  I do think you have to pick which groups work for you though, because some quite frankly are plain weird.  And just so you know, the majority come with singing. 

Now, I completely understand the benefits of singing to your little one. It promotes their speech, encourages interaction and really strengthens that mother and baby bond.  There is nothing that me and daughter like doing more than putting on Mary Poppins and proceeding to dance and sing around the dog. But, my friends, there is a slight problem with my beautiful singing voice, that being, I havent got a beautiful singing voice. I cant sing.  When my daughter winced and then had a full fit of giggles as I reach my crescendo in a Spoonful of Sugar, I knew right then I had a serious problem (I think the dog howling was a little harsh).  

At some groups, I manage to mime. Ive become a bit of a pro actually.   To the point where I think I could give a good show on Top of the Pops if they gave me a backing track.  At some smaller groups I whisper like a mouse or a very quiet person (which I am not).  At some groups I completely forget and as I join in with the fifth round of Happy Birthday, (theres always about 6 birthdays per week), I frustratingly wonder why it has to go up so bloody high and I hope to God the mum sitting crossed legged next to me didnt hear my rendition (she probably did and wont sit next to me again). 

But then, one fateful day at a baby group, my usual tactics failed me. The lady leading the session, who I shall now refer to as Simon Cowell, went around the circle and asked parents to choose what song the group should sing.  Now this is fine and dandy if you are sat to her right.  Oh yes, this is all bloody well and good if you are sat to her right.  Yes, lets sing, twinkle twinkle, wind the bobbin, baa baa black sheep, and the list goes on.  But, there isnt a infinite amount of nursery rhyme songs.  When the woman next to me suggested Little Miss Muffet, I knew we were scraping the barrel.  And then it was my turn. What song would you like to sing?, Simon asked.  All eyes were on me.  What I would like to have said is, Youre bloody running the group, you pick the next song. But I didnt. Even my little daughter turned to watch what song her mummy would sing with baited breath. 

I wracked my brains.  Ah-ha! Take this Simon I thought!! How about Down in the Jungle I said.  Everyone just continued to look at me.  I had made a fundamental error.  No-one knew the bloody song.  I had got my groups muddled up and it was another group that we sang this song at. And what did Cowell do? Did she say, Oh never mind, lets sing Twinkle Twinkle again?.  No.  No, she did not.  Oooh lets hear it, she said. I cleared my throat and what happened next was the most painful minute and a half of my life and probably everyone elses.  Im sure a few stray cats even wandered into the hall to join in at what they thought was the grand master cat screeching out a cat call.  I have never been so embarrassed or so red in my life.  Why didnt I just pick the Neighbours theme tune? At least people know that. 

Needless to say we have not returned, because quite frankly, if I want to make a t*t out of myself in front of a roomful of people I will just go and audition for the X-Factor.  Take heed, dear readers. These groups are not for the faint hearted.  Either be mentally ready with every nursery rhyme ever written, oh and sit to the leaders right, or you could always just belt out, Neighbours....everybody needs good neighbours....". 

Thanks for reading and I would love to hear any of your baby group disasters to make me feel a little better! 

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baby weight loss in first week | JOB STRESS SHORT MENSTRUAL CYCLES

baby weight loss in first week

Job Stress Leads To Short Menstrual Cycles

Stress, infertility, and miscarriage all seem to be related especially for women who are on the "career track".
 Here is an interesting study that looked at how job stress can affect the length of your menstrual cycle, which, of course, could affect fertility:

RESULTS

Women whose work was classified as stressful were
twice as likely to experience short cycles as those
working in other jobs (table 2). This relation was also
seen when cycle length was examined as a continuous
variable; stressful work was associated with a decrease
in mean cycle length of almost 1 day...

____________________________________________________

See Also "Short Menstrual Cycles and Fertility (www.getpregnantover40.com)

____________________________________________________
 
...Exposure to stress has a number of known physiologic
consequences (1-3). There are plausible mechanisms
through which stress could alter hormonal profiles
and, in turn, menstrual outcomes (2, 3). The
hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis is activated during
stress and can affect the female reproductive system
(2). Stress can increase the levels of corticotropinreleasing
hormone and glucocorticoids (2). The former
suppresses hypothalamic gonadotropin-releasing hormone
secretion, which stimulates the production of
follicle-stimulating hormone and luteinizing hormone,
which activate the ovary to secrete estradiol and progesterone
(3). Glucocorticoids inhibit pituitary luteinizing
hormone and ovarian estrogen and progesterone
secretion (3). High levels of luteinizing hormone and
high peak levels of luteinizing hormone have been
reported to be associated with long menstrual cycles
(30). One possible explanation of work-related stress
and increased risk for short cycle length is that
luteinizing hormone secretion has been inhibited by an
increase in corticotropin-releasing hormone or glucocorticoids.
Menstrual outcomes are important as they may be
intervening mechanisms or markers for other health
outcomes such as fertility, osteoporosis, and breast
cancer (5).
 excerpted from American Journal of Epidemiology

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early pregnancy losing weight no morning sickness | Rimmel WonderFull Mascara Review

early pregnancy losing weight no morning sickness

Whenever I need a new mascara, I always feel really overwhelmed by how much choice there actually is.  All mascaras pretty much promise to give you the lashes you have been dreaming of.  They will volumize, thicken, lengthen, sculpt, even do your ironing (well maybe not, but you get my point).  I can spend a considerable amount of time umming and ahhing over a new mascara purchase.  My go to high end mascara has to be YSLs shocking mascara which is just amazing.  But when my purse wont stretch that far and I need a drug-store version, I always seem to find myself in front of Rimmels counter.  But again, they have such a choice of mascaras that I always feel its a bit of a random decision with whichever mascara I come home with. 

Recently I picked up Rimmels WonderFull mascara with added argan oil. First of all, the promises.  With no mention of doing my ironing, it does state it will leave lashes feeling conditioned and soft, with no clumps, but lots of volume. So does it? 

I have to say this is a really lovely mascara.  It applies really easily, has a large brush which is perfect for adding volume, and it actually feels like it glides onto your lashes.  And the result?  Lengthened and volumized lashes.   

Now Im no fool, it could totally be the placebo effect here, that because Im thinking that there is argan oil in the product, Im convincing myself that my lashes are looking smoother.  But I really think they are.  The consistency of this mascara is really smooth and it does feel almost conditioning. You can build up the mascara for a more dramatic effect and it really stays put once you have applied it.  No panda eyes here. I also found that the mascara was easily removable and I didnt need to rub at my eyes to get it off. 

Im really happy with the results and all for £7.99? Bargain. 

This may not be a ground breaking mascara.  It basically makes your lashes look lovely and Id highly recommend giving it a go if you find yourself becoming hypnotised by the sheer choice of mascaras out there. Oh, and if I do find that mascara that does your ironing, I will be sure to post it here first!!

I hope all of my UK readers are having a lovely bank holiday, 

See you on Wednesday,  

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pregnancy weight loss tumblr | My true love

pregnancy weight loss tumblr

Hello and happy Friday!  Today I thought I would share with you a new piece in my wardrobe that I am deeply in love with.  This jumper hasnt been off my back since I got it and whilst you may think I am over-exaggerating, I think friends and family have questioned if I actually own any other clothes!! Introducing, my new BFF (!), the All Saints Itat Shrug!

First of all, I adore All Saints.  I think the quality of the clothes is just amazing and very long lasting. Items wash well and are true investment pieces. I had completely fallen in love with this top when I saw it back in October, and I finally purchased it during a 20% event just before Christmas (they seem to have a 20% event most months).  I got it in the grey marl shade, but there is a dark grey, black and taupe available too. The fit is loose with quite fitted sleeves, and there is this lovely drape detail at the front where the material overlaps on itself.  But thats not all! 

This is no ordinary jumper.  What I love about this top is that it turns into a cardigan too! You flick the V section behind your head and voila! A cardigan!! (And it actually looks like a lovely cardigan, it doesnt look like you have just wrapped something over your head).  

The Itat shrug is still available at All Saints here and the dark grey version appears to have gone in the sale for £39! Versatile, comfy and stylish...I think my love affair with this piece will be a long one!

Thank you for reading and have a wonderful weekend! 

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weight loss during pregnancy when obese | Babywearing a newborn

weight loss during pregnancy when obese

My newborn is not so new anymore (already 6 weeks old!), but I started wearing him in a sling for the first time when he was just 5 days old.

5-day old Little Brother in a woven wrap

I often get asked on what the best way is to wear such a tiny baby. I already wrote previously about how important it is to position your baby in the correct way: with their back arched and their legs spread so their knees are higher than their bottom (froggy legs). This is hard to accomplish in most of the structured carriers (like Ergo), because the babys legs are too small to fit in the carrier properly when they are newborns. The Ergo does have a baby insert, but even there it is quite difficult to get the baby positioned properly. Many people use a Babybjorn for their newborn, but with those it is impossible to attain the recommended position for the baby. So my answer is always that its best to wear your newborn in a wrap. 

Wraps come either stretchy (like the Moby) or woven (like the one Im using in the picture). I like woven wraps better because once you know how to tie them you have more control than with a stretchy wrap. Also, BlueEyes was born in the middle of the summer and where we live a stretchy wrap, with three layers of thick cotton was WAY too hot. Tying a wrap might seem challenging at first, but with a bit of practice its almost like tying your shoe laces. 

Heres a good video (thats not me) of how to do an FWCC (front wrap cross carry) using a woven wrap. I sometimes put a rolled up wash cloth in the top rail of the wrap to add some head support.

And heres a good video (also not me) of how to put your newborn in a stretchy wrap:

 

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weight loss after pregnancy over 41 | An app for pregnancy Preggie Review

weight loss after pregnancy over 41

Theres nothing more helpful than a good old app when you are pregnant to give you the all important information on how baby is progressing, what size of fruit or vegetable he or she is and where you can ask, without looking like a total idiot, if you really can eat that cheesecake (though cheesecake-gate is another blog post entirely which you can catch up on here).  I was asked to take a look at a new app called Preggie, which lets you do all of the above and a little bit more. 

Preggie is a free and simple to use app. You download it to your preferred device, then fill in a few details, such as your name, when is baby due and you set up a profile of yourself. 

After youve filled in your information, you immediately get a feed from other pregnant ladies across the country.  Other users upload pictures, questions, status updates and how their pregnancy is progressing.  You can then interact by liking posts, adding your thoughts to threads, uploading your own thoughts and pictures, sending direct messages and following specific users.  

What immediately struck me is the supportive nature of the ladies on the app and the ability to access the app to chat or vent or share a problem, whatever the time of day or night, and be met with supportive comments.  

By including the are where you live, Preggie also lets you connect with women in your local area. Pregnancy can be quite overwhelming and daunting, and I think to know that others feel the same way as you do is very reassuring. I think the location feature of this app is perfect for any pregnant mums who want to find other pregnant mums in their area, want to make new friends, know what groups might be nearby, or even want to compare bump pictures (Im totally guilty of sneakily comparing bump sizes!!!).

As Preggie is just for pregnant mums to be, you know you arent spamming your Facebook timeline or asking people questions who really arent interested about your pregnancy. Everyone is in the same boat, and thats what is so special about this app.  You also receive updates about your pregnancy, and my baby is the size of a corn today if you are interested! 

With any type of social media, you need to be aware of the information you share and apply common sense.  Preggie is strongly monitored which results in a very supportive community for mums-to-be during their pregnancy. 

To try this lovely free app, click on this link to download: Preggie.  

Thanks for reading, 

Preggie asked me to try their app and the above downloadable link is an affiliate link. All opinions are entirely my own and I think Preggie is a lovely little app that is definitely worth taking a look at. 

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rapid pregnancy weight loss | My Grannys Purse Review

rapid pregnancy weight loss

Toddlers appear to have an affinity for items and objects that they shouldnt really have. When you have to try and keep a toddler amused, say at a restaurant or on an aeroplane, the colouring pencils and book you try and distract them with tend to go flying over your head as they proceed to empty out the contents of your handbag.  There are way too many objects and treasures to pull out and explore in a handbag! 

Our family recently went out for an evening meal and our daughter came too, and, whilst she is very well behaved (most of the time), sitting still at the table is quite a feat.  My mum then pulled out this amazing little book that she had bought, and my daughter thought it was the best thing. Ever. 

My Grannys Purse is a book by Paul Hanson and it is a book that is a purse.  Or a purse that is a book. Its thick cardboard pages are bound together and constructed so it appears as though you are rummaging through Grandmas actual handbag. Amazing. There is lots of detail to each page and lovely little phrases throughout which mirror the relationship between what mums say and what Grandmas say.  But, thats about as much words as you get in this book as its not about the reading. This book / purse is all about imagination and exploring.  You can remove a pair of funky spectacles from their case and try them on, or peer into Grandmas mirror. 

There are places to stick photographs of Grandma and your little one too, to personalise the book. My daughter thought her dreams had come true looking in this book, and it kept her entertained throughout our meal. She even got to try on a selection of diamond rings! The next morning, as soon as my daughter woke up she was asking for her handbag!

My Grannys Purse retails around £10 and there is also a mummys purse book in the series that I will be looking out for. I love this book for its unique idea and because it fits perfectly with that toddler age of intrigue and wanting to explore. Its absolutely perfect for travelling with little ones or when you need to keep them still and entertained. It would make a lovely gift too. 

Have you read this book before? Do you know of any other toddler books that are similar? Comments below please and as always thanks for reading. 

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vegan post pregnancy weight loss | Playgroup Warfare

vegan post pregnancy weight loss

Its happened.  I know this moment was going to happen.  And now it has. A little boy hit my daughter during playgroup last week and oh yeah, it went down.  Well, maybe that is a slight exaggeration. But it did end with me looking worse than the evil witch in Sleeping Beauty.  

Let me set the scene for you.  My daughter is bouncing happily on a trampoline when enter the son of the devil (dum, dum, dumduuuum).   No, only joking (well, not really).  Anyway, this little boy came and, totally unprovoked I may add, whacked my daughter on the head. My mouth dropped to the floor, and I ran over.  Of course, his mum was no where to be seen.  I politely told him that we dont hit, and I told my daughter to move over so she was further away from him. I hoped that was the end of it, but things were about to get worse. 

AS I stepped back, the little devil spawn, sorry boy, then moved closer and actually hit her harder, in the face! In my head, I drop kicked the boy out of the window, but what I actually did was to go up to him again and tell him we dont hit and that hitting wasnt a very nice thing  to do.  I said all this with a big frown on my face, for dramatic emphasis. 

Obviously there wasnt a single witness to his crime.  His mum was nowhere to be seen. And you know what happened next? He turned on the waterworks.  He actually started wailing so loud that the WHOLE of the room turned round to look at the boy crying and then ME standing next to him (GULP). He then ran to his mum, still wailing, and I followed (ran) after.  I explained to her that all I had done was to tell him not to hit my daughter. His mum looked at me and smiled and said that was fine (but I think she said in her head....dont make my son cry, bitch). And I smiled (and secretly thought, you should be watching your son, lady).

But alas, this is me being dramatic.  I mean this stuff happens all the time doesnt it??? The point of the story is that I think I am now known as the pantomime villain at the playgroup.  I have visions of all the children crying when they see me, and the parents huddling over their children so the nasty witch lady wont shout at them. Not that I care too much.  I mean, I only told the boy not to hit. Thats ok isnt it?

I have a feeling this is the start of a long list of incidents, where I ponder whether to get involved or not.  In this case I feel justified as the boy was about to give my daughter a skull fracture. Has this ever happened to you? What did you do? Or has someone told your child not to hit? How did you feel? Please share and comment below!

Thank you for reading...and erm, are you following my blogs? No??? Well, come on now...use any of the lovely links to your right to keep up to date with everything Laura Evelyn Bee! Or the nasty witch lady will come and find you.  Only joking, or maybe Im not :-)

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weight loss during pregnancy is it safe | PCSing in less than a week

weight loss during pregnancy is it safe

"Live a little, be a gypsy get around.
Get your feet up off the ground.
Live a little, get around."
-Paul McCartney, Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey

We are less than a week away from PCSing from North Carolina to South Carolina. I dont know why this move out of all the other moves weve done is so dang stressful. Ive moved from the west coast to the Northeast by myself as a newlywed. Ive moved from the Northeast to Hawaii by myself with a newborn. I even signed our lease for our apartment here in North Carolina by myself with a toddler and a power of attorney. And here we are, three years later moving one state down with my husband to help on both ends and Im having an absolute panic attack.

Every time we are about to move, I envision it going like the last scene in Thirteen Going on Thirty with Jennifer Garner and Mark Ruffalo.

Image courtesy of The Blue Craftsman

?

They are adorable. The pink house, the couch in the lawn, cuddling on it and laughing... Ive never had the movers put my couch on the lawn and give us a moment on it to cuddle and laugh. Even if they did, I would probably be too stressed out about how they were packing our artwork to take advantage of the movie moment anyways.

Recently Chopped aired an episode where the contestants had to create dishes using "wasted" ingredients (view episode at FoodNetwork.com). I feel like that has been our breakfasts, lunches, and dinners for the past couple weeks, with a minor interlude when all both our familys came to town for my husbands commissioning. Last night for dinner we had frozen blueberry waffles, a cold tomato salad, and pimento scrambled eggs. We discovered 32 eggs in our garage refrigerator and so tonight we are either having a frittata or omelets, probably with the same pimento, yellow pepper, onion, and tomato filling. Im giving the kids Greek yogurt with nearly all their meals (how did we acquire so much Greek yogurt???). Thankfully we are driving to South Carolina so all our pantry ingredients can be transported in our car instead of thrown out or given away like when we moved from Hawaii. Re-buying all your oils and vinegars is annoying and it feels absolutely wasteful throwing out all your cleaning products and pantry items.

Oh, moving. You are just messing with my head. Our house here in North Carolina was perfect for the kids, considering it is a ranch-style home with a playroom and fenced in backyard. The storage space here was horrible. I feel like our things are shoved in musty closets or jumbled in bins. I keep thinking, "Do I want this room packed this way?" Im so worried we will have small boxes of books and other things from every room. I dont want to get overly OCD, but I want all my books packed together so I can figure out what I want to do with them on the other end. Ive never lived in a home laid out like this where Ive had to put bookcases in every corner of every room. Aside from books, we have often joked about how weve taken advantage of our vertical storage; we now need to have everything on the upper shelves and on top of cabinets taken down to easily be within reach of the movers-- all the coffee cups and rarely used kitchen appliances. We need to have everything that cant be lifted off the walls taken down for the movers (the television, artwork). And have I mentioned we have toddler twins and a five-year old in the mix? They are fascinated with absolutely everything weve taken down.

The to-do list feels like it is never ending, especially when considering all the things we need to do in one day before we turn the keys back over (cleaning the house, carpet cleaning, etc). I know that it isnt. I know we will get it done. I know that we will get through this week and it wont be as bad as Im thinking in my head.

Right now I have bags of our pantry items lining the wall in our family room, a gated area we dont let our toddlers into unsupervised. I have winter jackets hanging in door ways as I sort through long forgotten closets. Our playroom is absolutely trashed, between me combing through toys we no longer need and our toddlers entertaining themselves while I work. Our master bedroom is piled with laundry, to-do lists, and items weve stashed away out of the toddlers reach for one reason or another. I feel like Im constantly stepping over a pile or telling the boys to stop touching something.

I think a lot of things are adding to my stress level, things I need to let go of. I feel like weve had a break from military life these last three years due to the STA-21 program (read "STA-21 Officers Program"). Im nervous about heading back into that with three kids, especially now that weve decided to go career Navy. This has felt like a glimpse into civilian life and it is nice. Im slightly envious of my friends who are settling into these houses that they plan on staying in until their children are grown, who are picking neighborhoods based on school districts all the way up to high school, when currently their oldest is four-years old. It tugs at my heart to see my oldest saying good-bye to friends that he has come to love dearly (read this recent article by Military Spouse Magazine, "Lessons About Saying Good-bye from a Five-Year Old Military Child"). I dont want to say good-bye. I dont want to leave this area. I love my friends. I love this area. I could see us here. I could see my kids grow up here.

But it is time. It is time to say close this chapter. It is time to face the mess in my house and check off my to-do list. It is time to start looking into kids programs in our new area in South Carolina. It is time to start posting in Navy wife forums asking if anyone else will live near us. It is time to spread new roots, to make new friends, to let our friends here in North Carolina know how much we have loved them and our friendships with them. It is time to start the cycle all over again of "Making friends," like the blog I posted in September of 2011. This is a hard thing to do every few years as a military family. A friend asked me at lunch this past week if it is easier now since Ive done it so many times before. The answer is no. It is hard to open your heart at each duty station and let people in. It is hard to connect and love someone and say good-bye. Im determined to embrace each duty station with open arms, knowing there is eventually an end, either with us moving away or our military friends moving away. It is something that I will probably always struggle with because sometimes it feels exhausting (read, "Making the best"). Even with the challenges, right now I love this life. I love living new places. I love settling into a new home and redecorating. I love having a reason to go through all our boxes every couple years and constantly being reminded of our treasures. Who else has a reason to open keepsake boxes every one to three years? I love finding my engagement ring box, baby books, and mementos of our good times. I love the people I meet and exploring new areas. I love feeling like this life is an adventure that Im embarking on with my best friend and our beautiful children.

And duties of this life call. Time to get back to packing! Forget Tuesday afternoon, laundry is never ending...

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weight loss recipes during pregnancy | Reading a book

weight loss recipes during pregnancy

The other night I wanted to look at a first word book with the toddlers. O wasnt sharing very well and was being a little wild, so I took C by the hand and asked him to help me find the book. I closed all the doors in the hallway before opening the baby gate-- no sneaking in the back bedrooms-- and let C through. As soon as O heard the gate squeak, he threw down the stolen and unshared toys and sprinted after us. C raced to the bookcase and yanked down Ds (their older brother) favorite pop-up book. Knowing that pop-up books and toddlers dont mix, I tried to get C interested in a different book, the one we went down the hallway to get in the first place. C didnt want anything to do with board books, nope, only paper books for him. He pulled out book after book, flinging them on the floor. I kindly told him, "No, thank you!" and set him to work putting them back. O, in the meantime, ran to the other side of the bookcase and was surveying the scene. Mistakenly, I thought he would follow after us. I finished putting the books away with C and ushered him back down the hallway through the baby gate. I called to O, "Come on, baby!" I hear the high-pitched squeal, a thud of books, and the quick toddler steps down the hallway. He careens around the corner with a guilty look on his face, "It wasnt me!" C cant resist and must explore. He abandons my lap and races to the gate, faster than I can get there. The hallway is littered with books. O dives back in as well. He seriously starts rolling in the books. C feels skating on them is a better adventure.

At this point, their older brother feels it high time for him to get involved. He hollers from the other room, "Momma, are you doing okay in there?" I assure him I am (I am, after all, their mother). He replies, "Well, Im almost done, so just let me know if you need me." (He was drawing a picture.) I grab a toddler and nimbly step over the book mess, setting him on the other side of the unlatched baby gate. I turn my back to him and grab the other toddler. When I turn around, the first toddler is not only back through the gate, but reaching out to use my leg to support himself as he makes his way over the books. I abandon the plan of getting the toddlers over the gate and try getting them involved in cleaning up the mess they made. It works for about one or two books. One toddler picks up a book and the other toddler decides that is the very book he wanted to put away-- minor scuffle ensues. I scratch Operation Involve the Toddlers and go back to gating them. I make a path through the books and scoop up one of the toddlers, taking the other by his hand. I put on my best chipper voice, the one that says, "Oh, this is going to be fun!" and encourage them that they want to be on the other side of the gate. "Lets go, little ones! Wee! Lets go! March, march!" They do not fall for it. The toddler in my arms tries to throw himself to the ground. The toddler on the ground goes limp, no bones. I attempt to drag him a step forward, but he is so limp that I am just holding his arm, which I will not use to drag him. Standing in a pile of childrens books with limp wailing toddlers, I wonder, "Do I even have the energy to read them a story after this?" I carry on.

A new plan is needed. I go Nike. I let go of the boneless toddler by my feet and continue to carry the flailing toddler in my arms to the other side of the gate. I set him over the gate and latch it. He screams. I make my way back over the books, grab the toddler who not only has found his bones again, but is now using them to crawl wildly away from me. I set him on the other side of the gate. They scream at the top of their lungs and hang pathetically from the gate. I start putting the books away as quickly as possible. While the scream, they realize that they are sitting next to one of Mommys bookcases. They start ripping the books of the shelves. O sets The Agony and the Ecstasy on the ground and uses it to try to peer over the gate. In doing so, he bends back the cover, ugh. I finish with their books and step over the gate. "All right, little ones, lets read this book!" I look for the first word book. It is nowhere in sight. I brought it out with us on our first book run. Where could it have gone? I move O off the book and clean up my books. "D, do you know where their book is?" I hear him mutter something and ask him to come in and tell me, since I cant hear well over the racket of his brothers. He walks into the doorway holding the very book. "Well, I was just reading my most favorite book ever." I give him a look. "D, you know I got that book out for your brothers to read." He looks right back at me, "Well, this was my book when I was a baby." I felt like I was in Zelda. I finished one quest only to have to negotiate with the towns people. Eventually we establish that, yes, it was his book when he was a baby, but now he is four and he has Spiderman books and other books that are his that are not his brothers, but that will one day be his brothers when they are four, but they arent four yet and he is four, which makes him a big boy and makes them toddlers, and that one day he will be 10 and they will still be babies, which isnt true and I tell him when he is 10 they will be 7 or 8, and he says that 7 or 8 is still a baby, and then I realize that he is still standing on the other side of the gate holding the book and I have yet to read it to the toddlers.

D makes his way over the gate. We sit on the floor and start reading it.

"Cow. What noise does a cow make?"
"Ball!"
"The cow goes mooooooo!"
"Actually, the cow goes baa-baa and the dog goes quack-quack and the sheep goes meow-meow..."
"D, how about we let our brothers read this book and you grab your paper airplane book."
"Well, I dont want to make paper airplanes."
"Ball!"
"Very good, C, the dog has a ball. D, please let your brothers see the book."
"Hes in my way."
"D, be respectful and listen to your mom. I want to hear yes, momma."
"Yes, Momma."
"Okay, dog. What noise does the dog make?"
"Quack-quack!"
"D, you need to let your brothers read the story. Were teaching them."
"Ball!"
"Yes, C, a ball."
"Ball!"
"D, you know what a ball is. O, what are you doing? Get down from there!"

Eventually we found a rhythm. D still insisted on saying the wrong animal sounds and shouting out the animal names when I asked what each animal was. He wanted to turn the page right away and kept trying to sit in front of his brothers. I tried to involve him while still reading the first word book-- made for toddlers-- to the toddlers. I worried that the toddlers would never speak, never learn on their own, never get a chance to figure it out for the themselves. I wished D would go read his own book. I wondered why I went through so much trouble to get this book when it was so much trouble to read this book. I got up to get a square of chocolate when we finished. D took the book and laid it out on the floor.

"Okay, sit down C and O. What is this? Dog. Can you say dog? Very good! Dog. What noise does a dog make? Woof-woof! Can you say woof-woof? Very good! Woof-woof! Where is the dog? There is the dog! What does he have? Very good. A ball. Ball. A dog with a ball. Woof-woof said the dog with the ball!"

I almost spit out my chocolate. The same child who wouldnt participate when I read the story was now actively involving his brothers-- who were sitting and participating!-- in the story. He even got them to say woof-woof! Well, gruff sounding noises imitating woof-woof. Why do kids sometimes just make things so, so, so difficult, I wonder? Did he feel that I was leaving him out so acting that way got him attention? Was he just bored and felt this would be a good use of his time? What motivated him to be so contrary while I was reading? I shrug it off. Who cares? Hes reading to them now. While he read, he sounded out letters. The first word book was full of small words with familiar "sounds." He sounded out "cow" and "dog" and wondered why "ball" had "two lines" instead of just one. C eventually lost interest and climbed on the back of the armchair. O sat and watched his older brother and tried to imitate the sounds he was making. For the first time, he said "ball." By the end of the night, both the toddlers were mooing.

Sometimes I wonder if it is really worth it to go through all the trouble for a certain activity, whatever it may be. Was it worth 20 minutes of shenanigans to get that book? Was it worth struggling through a reading with three wild boys? Watching the three of them on the floor, reading together made me feel like it really was worth it.

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baby losing weight during teething | Cloth diapering a newborn logistics

baby losing weight during teething

Baby #4 is now 2 and a half months old. Weve been cloth diapering him since he was 1 or 2 weeks old and it has been going great! I posted when we had been cloth diapering him for 2 weeks and weve made a few changes to our regime. We are still using covers and prefolds, but we had to change our overnight solution and adjust our prefold fold. We also dealt with our first "diaper rash."

Overnights

 

The biggest change has been dealing with overnights. Baby #4 has been an excellent sleeper. I feed him around 9-10 pm and he routinely sleeps until 3-4 am. He has even done a few all nighters, eating at 9-10 pm and going all the way to 5:30-6:30 am. This has been great for me, but not the best for just a cover and prefold! We switched him to a Thirsties Fitted Diaper Size 1 and our same Thirsties Size 1 covers. Again, this worked well for a couple nights until every single morning he was leaking out of the same spot on the front of his diaper, no matter how carefully we adjusted the cover over the fitted diaper. I talked to the gal at our local baby store and she recommended that we switch to a larger size cover, like the one size Flip cover. The Flip cover is larger than our Thirsties Size 1. It has snaps on the front to adjust the size, just like all our other snap covers, and so it easily fit him. It did the trick! Now we have no leaking issues at night.

 

This is what a Thristies Fitted Size 1 diaper looks like. The entire diaper is absorbent, which is ideal for night. You must put a cover over a fitted diaper.?

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We use a Flip cover over our Thristies Fitted diaper. Just like with a prefold and cover, you need to make sure that the entire fitted diaper is covered by the cover or it will leak. We have really liked this solution for night. Baby #4 tends to wet more after his first feed in the morning, not during the night or at his night feed, so I usually change his diaper at the 9-10 pm feeding and after his first morning feed at 5:30-6:30 am, even if I feed him in the night at 3-4 am. When Ive changed him at the middle of the night feed, his diaper was dry. In the mornings, I put him in a cover and prefold after his first feed and then change him about an hour later because that is when he wets the most.

 

 

The one size Flip cover is much larger than the Thirsties size 1 cover. We only have one Flip cover right now. The Thirsties size 1 covers have still worked great for us during the day with the prefolds.

 

 

 Daytime {Covers and Prefolds}

 

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?We havent had issues with leakage at all during the day... until the poop blowouts. It started becoming a problem around 8 weeks that he would leak slightly in the leg holes after he pooped. So we adjusted the fold of our diaper and it has worked perfectly for us. I know that people use the Snappies for a traditional cloth diaper fold, but I didnt buy the Snappies and so we modified our fold. Now, with this fold he does not leak out of his cover when he poops. However, he does tend to get his cover dirty when he poops, meaning we change the cover. Everything is contained inside the Thirsties diaper cover, we just need to change the cover.

 

With prefolds and covers, you usually just change the prefold when you go to change the diaper. With this fold, we only change the prefold when the diaper is just wet; when he poops, we sometimes have to change the prefold and the cover. This fold has been working for us just great and this hasnt been a problem. We use 2-3 covers during the day and we have no leak issues.

 

We dont do anything crazy or fancy with this fold. All we do is fan the back and bring the prefold to a point in the front, like so.?

 

 

We then fold the front over so it is more absorbent where he needs it to be.

 

 

Bring the prefold up.

 

 

We cover the prefold with the Thirsties size 1 cover, which is still working great for us during the day.

 

Now that baby #4 is 2 and a half months old and 12 lbs 14 oz, we like to make sure we snap the wings down on the side of our cover. It helps keep everything in place.

 

 

And then we snap the cover on the front! Finished! :) It really isnt that different than how we started. The fanning in the back has helped with the blowouts though.

 

 

Diaper Rash

 

So baby #4 has not had diaper rash like how you think: open sores, welt looking areas, etc. Because we use organic cotton prefolds, the moisture is not wicked away from his skin. During the day, we change his diaper every 1-3 hours. The night diaper is microfiber and wicks the moisture away (plus he doesnt wet much at night), so we havent had issues then. It has just been during the day that weve noticed him having some issues. I talked to the gal at our local baby store and she recommended fleece inserts. I wondered how well this would work, but, Im telling you, it is fleece magic. Whenever we notice his diaper area getting red or rosey, we throw a fleece insert into his diaper to help wick that moisture away from his skin and the next diaper change he is back to normal!

 

This is what the fleece insert looks like. I fold it in half before putting it on him.

 

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We just lay the fleece insert over his diaper area.

 

 

Diaper as usual.

 

 

Good to go! For good measure, we usually stick a fleece insert in his overnight diaper just to make sure that the moisture is extra wicked away from his skin at night, though the microfiber really pulls it away.

 

 

 

Laundry

 

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The first response I hear when people ask me about cloth diapering is: "What about all the laundry?" I said it in my last blog post too, but I havent had issues with the laundry. Since that post, I have made some adjustments to our laundry routine.

 

I like to do our diaper laundry first thing in the morning. The fitted diapers are usually dry by the time we need to diaper baby #4 for overnights (if they arent dry by 7 pm, I do toss them in the dryer on low while we bathe his brothers just to be sure they will be completely dry by 9 pm). I was rinsing the diapers with our diaper sprayer before throwing them in the wet pail. Then I had a conversation with the gal at our local baby store. She said breastmilk poop is water soluble, so she does a rinse cycle in her washer before the wash cycle. Now I throw the soiled diaper in our wet pail after changing baby #4. I empty the wet pail in our washer every morning after the morning feed and put the washer on rinse/soak. After the diapers rinse, I wash them on hot with our cloth diaper detergent.

 

I cant seem to find a straight answer on cloth diaper detergents. It seems some people think that having to use a special cloth diaper detergent is baloney. Other people think the regular laundry detergent is best, like original Tide or original Gain. I dont know. I make our laundry detergent, but I have found mixed reviews on using Borax on cloth diapers. Im nervous about ruining all our cloth diapers, so I havent braved washing them in it yet. For now, I use Babyganics laundry detergent on our cloth diapers. After washing the diapers, I then hang everything to dry. Since it is usually a smaller load (especially for our house), Ill hang everything-- the wipes, diapers, covers, fitted diaper... hang it all. I put this outside in the sun to dry most days. On rainy days or when we are out of the house, I leave it in the laundry room (dont want my covers and wipes to blow away!). The sun has also been great for sun bleaching out the breastmilk poop stains on the covers, prefolds, and wipes.

 

 

 

Do you have any great cloth diapering tips?

 

Check out my other cloth diapering posts under Popular Posts. ?

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