Lanolizing my woolies

Do I have your attention now? For those who don't know "my woolies" is not a euphemism for anything untowards. Really my woolies are technically my sons. I have been having problems with his PUL diaper covers cutting into his pop can thighs. Adding wool and fleece covers to my rotation is my solution for the red marks/bruises the PUL covers leave. I recently purchased a pair of wool longies and a soaker from a local WAHM. Her company name is "The Sleepy Sheep" and buying from her made wool diaper covers fit into my budget. Wool covers can be very, very expensive. The wool I bought was made from an upcycled sweater and works just the same as those expensive covers at a fraction of the cost. In my opinion the upcycles ones are much cuter! But thats enough on that. I will later dedicate a post to reviewing my products from The Sleepy Sheep.

I used The sleepy sheep's instructions and was able to quite easily lanolize my first cover. For those who don't know Lanolin is the oil that you feel whenever you pet a sheep. I used the lansinoh lanolin I bought to help with those first weeks of nursing. The wool item is put in a lanolin bath so that it soaks up the lanolin and becomes water resistant. This water resistance is why wool works as a diaper cover. I was so nervous about lanolizing the covers. It just seemed to easy to ruin my investment. I am so thankful that her blog was available. She had a lot of photos and very clear directions. For the uninitiated, wool can be very, very easily shrunk without much effort at all. Just ask anyone who has ruined their favorite wool sweater. The soaker is currently sitting overnight in my sink and so far it does not look like something that will fit a doll.

I have been using the covers without lanolin all week, but I can't wait to see how they work now that they will be fully prepped to repel pee.

This is my fluffy delivery from "The Sleepy Sheep" :)

My son in his longies

This is the back side of the custom soaker she made for us. She made an orange frog just like my five year old asked for. I am thinking next time I want a monkey for my chunker munkers :)

Daisy and the sleeping princess

Tonight my daughter couldn't find her Daisy before going to bed.  I felt cruel, but I told her she had to go to bed without her.  You see her bed time routine has a few steps in it and one of the steps is locating things you need to sleep like pillow, blanket, and Daisy.   I asked if her routine was complete and she said yes.  More than once loss of Daisy has stalled bedtime by 30 minutes or more.  So tonight we went without her.  My poor baby was so upset and talking about how she wasn't going to go to sleep and she would stay up all night.  I told her it was her choice and shut off the light.  Well of course she fell asleep and I quickly forgot about Daisy.  A few hours later when I finally got Mr. Cranky down for good, I turn down the sheets on my bed and guess who is there.  Daisy.  I snuck into the princess' room and put Daisy up near her chin.  She grabbed that nasty ol' lovey in her sleep and snuggled up with it.  It was so cute :) 

And speaking of Mr. Cranky.  He is sleeping in his new longies from The Sleep Sheep, a local WAHM business.  I see a product review in the near future :)

Update on cloth diapering

I LOVE it!!  I can't believe how much it has improved his skin.  Before his poor tush was always rosy and his little crack was always red and angry :(  I am sad it took me so long to realize he was allergic to disposables.  But I caught it and that's what count.  I am so glad I switched, really wished I had done it all along.  I love how soft and dry his bum is after being in cloth.  I just absolutely adore it <3  I cleaned blow out outfits almost every day while using huggies and switching to another disposable did not improve that.  In fact every time he's pooped in one of the huggies I have left he has blown out.  Today I scrubbed his clothes, the changing table cover and him!!  Bad sposies!  I have only had one poo incident with a cloth diaper.  It was only a tiny leak out the leg and that poop was as bad as the one today.  I would MUCH rather clean a poopy diaper than a poopy outfit.  I prefer my messes contained and not all over the place.  Plus if I can't get the stain out of a diaper it doesn't ruin it.  So all in all I really am pleased with the decision to switch.  Now I've just got to figure out exactly what works the best for us.  Right now I have a few different styles of diapers.  Maybe I'll review them here so I can keep it all straight.  And I might be wrong, but I think baby boy likes his cloth diapers and happy tushy :)

Daddy's leaving!

Every day my daughter watches her father back the car out of the drive then runs as fast as she can to her room window so she can watch him until he disappears.  It just warms this mother's heart that she cares so much <3

And speaking of my daughter, yesterday she turned 5!  Where has all the time gone?  Hard to believe she starts school next year.

BTW I am LOVING this blogger mobile app.  I finally will be able to blog reguarly :)

My little daredevil

Monday we went to the playground so my oldest could enjoy playing on all the equipment.  I put little guy in the Mei Tai on my back.  While I was watching the princess play in the sand, I noticed the baby kicking and jumping around on my back.  He was watching a little girl enjoying a swing ride.  I debated with the Mr. if putting him in a swing was a good idea at not quite 7 months.  We both agreed he wasn't as skittish as our first and gave it a go.  He was so small in there we put the diaper bag behind him :)  He LOVED it.  No matter how hard we pushed or high he got he enjoyed himself immensely.  Stinker Dinker definitely takes after his father.

Just when I've forgotten

The other night I was washing bottles, and I was moping to myself about how unfair it was that ovulation was yet again making my milk supply drop. I want so desperately to be able to exclusively breastfeed my children and I just don't have the supply. I was getting pretty mired in my self pity, thinking about all the supplements I was using and all the "it worked for me" advice I was following. I angrily squeezed some dish soap onto a scrubber, smacked the bottle down on the counter and dug into my pity party a bit deeper. I then hear giggling and lots of it. Then my oldest starts jumping repeatedly behind me. I turn around to snap at her, but before the tart words leave my mouth I notice why she is jumping. My angry squeezing and slamming down of the soap bottle had created a flurry of tiny bubbles around and behind me. She was jumping up trying to catch them as they floated away from her. She kept jumping up higher and higher trying to capture one of those shiny rainbow colored bubbles. She was so happy to just be jumping at bubbles. It shook me out of my self pity. The burst of bubbles had made her so happy for the brief moments that they were there. She was completely focused on the bubbles and just how much enjoyment she was getting out of them. It made me start think I should be happy for the small things and not worry about the things I cannot fix or really do not matter. I cannot fix my lack of supply and I have decided to just be happy with that. Baby boy still wants to nurse and will take every bit I give him. I have been missing out on some bonding over worrying wether or not he was getting enough from me. Silly mom. I know in the years to come wether I could breastfeed him exclusively is not going to matter. What does is that both of my chldren are alive and healthy. We are blessed and being blessed every day. Both have recieved as much breastmilk as I can give them. I have not given up and I am doing the best I can and I should be happy for that. I guess it took a four year old to remind this woman of almost thirty years to just enjoy what I have been given for the moment and not to focus on what I cannot have.

R.I.P. Grandpa Al

Today my heart is heavy. My Grandpa passed away yesterday. He was in his eighties. His last three years were not pleasant for him. His body was tired and he said he was ready. I know he is no longer suffering but the loss of him still feels horrible. I am glad that I was able to see him before he went. I wasn't sure I would make it in time, but it took him four long days to pass. He endured so many horrific things as his body shut down. I had no clue that a natural death could be so painful and drawn out. I will miss him. May God rest his soul. My children went with me to visit him. I am glad I brought them. They may never remember this, but they were a blessing to Grandpa. My daughter and my niece sang to him and lifted his heart. My mother lifted my 6 month old up over the bed for Grandpa to see him and Grandpa gave him the biggest smile. My son locked eyes with him and grinned ear to ear. It was like for one golden moment no one was sad or dying. Children are such a blessing even the dying cannot resist their charm.

I have a funeral to go this week still. I have explained to my oldest about death. She is not quite five and I don't think she understands. I am not so sure she needs to. She knows that Grandpa Al was sick and now we are going to put him in the ground. And that he wanted to see his wife in heaven so he went there. What do you tell a small child besides that?