Another day, another diaper...or something like that?

Every morning starts with a trip to our detached garage so that I can was a load of diapers. We didn't cloth diaper with our first, who is now three, but we decided to take the plunge the second time around. Let me just say, I am so glad that we made the choice to cloth diaper Baby E!

I know that is easy for me to say because we only have a two and a half week old newborn, so the poops aren't smelly yet and she doesn't mess her diaper too often. Yeah, that doesn't describe my daughter at all. 

She poops - all. the. time! If there were a contest between newborns to see who could poop the most in a 24 hour period, I would put money on my kid - and I don't gamble. Granted, I breastfeed, so thankfully I don't have to worry about scraping or using a liner yet, but man oh man, my daughter is a pro-pooper! I'm pretty proud of her actually, only, I have feeling I will change my tune come 6 months. 

But seriously, I couldn't be more thrilled with how easy it really is to cloth diaper a baby. When I first told my co-workers that we had decided to cloth diaper, many of the older women just asked, "why?!", they didn't understand why anyone would want to "go backwards". I then spouted off tons of environmental facts as well as information regarding toxins and skin absorption  but lets face it, cloth diapers are stinking adorable!

It is always easier to make an environmentally friendly decision when that decision is such a cute one! 

I have researched cloth diapering to death, I literally spent 3 months reading every blog under the sun trying to figure out what to expect. I bought some of our cloth diapers used on Craig's List and then several from WAHM's and then a few more from Target (Thirstie's and BumGenius). We were able to do it on the cheap this way and thankfully baby shower gifts helped a ton. 

I still haven't run into issues with stink, although that might take a little longer? I have read some blogs that talk about not ever needing to strip if you have a good routine and then other blogs where moms strip at least once every couple of months. We will see what ends up working best for us. 

So far we use Econuts and wool dryer balls that my sweet friend made me, so far, so good. 

I hope the rest of our experience continues to be this good, I'm very optimistic!

xoxo

Jess

Starting again

It seems like the last two and a half weeks have been one continuous day, broken up by a nap here and there. I forgot how little you sleep when you have a newborn in the house. Ironically, I sleep less because of our three year old who longs to be in the room with mom, dad and baby sister. 

I also forgot how completely and totally a woman has to give her body up to have the baby, and then nurse the baby for at least 6 months, if not longer. I hate that my hormones have been all over the place as of lately and I still feel like I have little to no energy when I need it the most. I am handling the issues of weight much better this time around compared to when I had our first little babe, but I still long to be able to wear a dress that doesn't have to be appropriate for nursing. 

While I know that all sounds pretty selfish, and in some regard it is, I think that I am just at the point where I need one day to feel like I'm "me" again. One day where my boobs aren't leaking milk, where I can wake up at a normal hour and not feel like a zombie, and mostly have the freedom to decide to do something on a whim without worrying about a feeding schedule or carrying a bazillion things. 

Even though I am struggling with all of these thoughts and feelings, I really couldn't be happier. Our two girls bring me so much joy.  In moments when I feel any type of exhaustion or thoughts of needing to get out of the house for a little while, my girls make me laugh or do something so ridiculous I can't help but just smile. 

Now, if I could just convince my three year old that she too will miss all this sleep she insists on missing, I would feel like super mom! 

Being a mom has been the most challenging, difficult, rewarding, fulfilling and joyful thing that I have ever had the pleasure of being. I know that the late night feedings every 2 hours will pass and I will miss them, I know that the tantrums and outright defiance will change as they grow older. I know that each moment I feel like I am about to go crazy is outweighed a million times by the fact that I have two little girls who are utterly dependent on me to be their rock and encourager. 

It is a weighty and awesome responsibility and I wouldn't have my life any other way. 

I will get to feel like "me" again soon enough and will have all the little moments in between to help me get to that place.

I can't wait to see what baby E is going to be like as she grows older, I'm hoping she is a little more calm than her sister ever was. I need one child that looks before leaping. Ha ha!

More imporatnatly, I can't wait to see how they make me a better person. Because of them I am more patient, less tidy and more willing to dance in the rain. That part of me that takes things too seriously is constantly being challenged to enjoy every moment, the good and the bad. We only have one life to live, so why not make sure it is the best life we could ever hope for?!

xoxo

Jess