DPoD January 31st

Today is a day once again about the 'C':

Chef


Climber

The gift cards are here, the gift cards are here!!

I am almost positive that this means that I win a bet! After waiting for 3, or maybe it is 4 months. Sears has finally made good on it's promise to send me a gift card for all of the hassle that they have been to my life.

Sears has been living up to it's reputation of having terrible customer service, uninformed and disinterested staff, poor selection and terrible follow through. The original transgression involved a damaged car seat, then the one that they sent to replace it was more damaged. I finally got the car seat manufacturer to replace it for me.

Sears responded to my letter 6 weeks after I sent it. Gosh, they are really sorry and would like to send a $50 gift card to tell me just how sorry they were. We waited, and waited. Finally I emailed them again when after 3 months there was no gift card. They replied 3 weeks later (it must have been windy). They promised that a $75 gift card would soon arrive.

So I waited. Dave called me his eternal optimist and I waited. Well-today $75 worth of Sears gift cards showed up in my mail box. I can't think of any reason that I would want to give that store any business, but I'm sure I'll find something to do with them!

DPoD January 30th

Alright, so Monkey noticed that I went 2-for-2 with the photos being of Big C. In order to be a little more just, today focuses on Monkey. For those of you who are unaware he has long been known as 'the monkey'.

Well, let the photo evidence be added into the public record- here he is with the Gap Monkey that goes

'ee ee aa aa' and makes both of the boys giggle incessantly. What a silly couple of little buddies.May they always stay this way.

Daddy's Photo of the Day (soon to be renamed DPoD)

To understand the story of the photo, it is important to understand that this garage was Monkey's first Christmas present that I just had to get him. As soon as I went through the process of building it for him however, he was far more interested in playing on top of the box (see right side for Saje's favorite photo).

May I present - Big C - the child interested in playing on top of the toy.

Big C's new eating plan

Big C's occupational therapist {finally} called this afternoon. We had a good chat about his current eating patterns and how they can be changed. So, starting today, we have a new eating plan.

She says that part of the issue is that Big C has learned to rely on breast milk as a main food source and is never truly hungry. This is what babies with reflux do. So now he is to get on a schedule. He nurses first thing in the morning. An hour and half later he gets breakfast and liquids from a cup. That goes on through the day. He gets to eat every 1.5-2 hours with no snacking or grazing in between. I get to nurse him after he has eaten solids. The whole point of this is to make sure that he is hungry at mealtimes so that he will see the value in eating solids.

I am reserving judgement on this one. I am hesitant, but willing to give it a try. He has a new sippy cup with a straw and handles that he is quite good at getting fluid out of. He is permitted breast milk in the cup with meals, as long as he isn't relying on it.

She answered some of my questions about the barium swallow. Apparently he is supposed to be really, really hungry when he arrives for the procedure so that he'll eat what they put in front of him. Apparently they hide the barium in his food to get him to eat it. If he is hungry when he gets there, they figure he is more likely to eat it.

Daddy's Photos of the Day

Alright, so I've decided to leap out of the 1990's (though I do miss the old Commodore 64 from my youth) and contribute to the blog. I thought that I would start by keeping things simple. A short introduction - and then a lot of photos of the boys on a regular basis. Since I will be taking a 1/3 leave from my work starting on Wednesday I should have ample opportunity to keep this up.
Since I'm a person of few words - here are the first photos.
Big C and the little fridge farm - this will likely get him standing a lot more and potentially walking soon. If anyone wants to know what a cow-duck is....that's silly!!




For those of you who've doubted this kids ability to eat - he loooooves the ground beef. Way to make the Beef council happy little buddy.

Our Journey with Cloth Diapering

We started off with Kushies AIO Classics and we loved them-at first. Monkey quickly started to leak through them and we were adding layers in there and changing him all the time. We bought the Kushies Ultra AIOs for the next size up, and we loved them, for a time.

They lasted until he learned how to use the potty. For Big C we sold the Kushies Classics from Monkey and bought Kushies Ultra AIOs and loved them fine. He leaked if he peed too much (not hard to do). Overnight was always a struggle, but we thought that was just what Cding was all about. We figured that his skin was meant to always be wet and that was just it.

WE WERE SO WRONG! I took a look at Fuzzi Bunz when Big C was 11 months old and couldn’t believe what I was seeing. They (and many other pocket style diapers) have a layer of waterproof PUL on the outside and a layer of fleece on the inside. The fleece keeps baby’s skin dry by wicking away the moisture as soon as baby pees. The poop just flicks right off of the fleece so clean up is easy. Then there is a pocket that you can stuff with the material of your choosing. Micro fleece absorbs quickly but doesn’t absorb as much as hemp. Hemp absorbs more slowly, but absorbs a lot more. They have a great snap system so you can adjust the tightness around the thigh and the waist separately brilliant!

We switched to the FBs in a size petite toddler for Big C. His skin is always dry and he never leaks. I heart my fuzzi bunz! We bought them at The Cloth Diaper Market. Andrea's store is located in Barrhaven and she is really helpful. I love being able to buy my cloth diaper products in the south of Ottawa. Click on the link to go to her on line store and find out how to see her in person.

Diaper Pails

We started with a wet pail, then moved to a dry pail, then back to a wet pail then finally discovered hanging pails. A hanging pail is a bag made out of PUL, that zips closed and hangs on the door. I like the Wahmmies the best, but there are lots of options out there. When it is time to do the laundry, we turn the bag inside out to get the dipes in the washing machine and then throw the bag in too. Never touch poopy dipes again!!

Poop

We started off using the disposable liners but don’t bother anymore. We have some pieces of fleece that I cut out that we call “poop catchers” we use these in the dipes now and then just flick the poop off of them into the toilet. We also, on a fairly regular basis, just throw the poopy diapers right in the bag and leave them to get sorted out in the rinse cycle. It works for us.

Why not use One Size Diapers?

We didn’t know that they existed until Big C was already 20 lbs. I have heard that baby can get “bubble butt” in the beginning and that the rise can be short near the end. It is all personal preference. To do it all over again, knowing what I know now, I would likely have gone with Mommy’s Touch OS all the way.

Laundry

We take the diaper bag and turn it inside out, depositing the soiled diapers inside. Then we run a rinse cycle to get the poop out. Then we run a regular cycle using half the recommended amount of detergent. Often we then throw our clothes in with the diapers and we never have a problem.

We had a top load and now a front load. The top load is easier since there is more water. The front load is fine too, you just have to get used to the amount of soap that you require. You need a lot less soap that the manufacturer recommends. If you use too much soap, or fabric softener or baby bum creams, you are going to get build up and your dipes will start to repel fluids rather than absorb them.

Monkey's Birthday Party

All Abooooooaaaaaaaard!! Monkey turned three and we had a "choo choo" birthday to celebrate the big event.

Our little engineers arrived and donned engineer hats, complete with their name on the back. They rode the rails (played with all of the toys) for a good long go and then retired to the dining car where they luxuriated with hot dogs and french fries. They discussed the world's issues as they ate broccoli dipped in orange juice.

The dessert car came by after their gourmet lunch was done and they ate the yummiest and prettiest birthday cake ever seen this side of a steam locomotive. Thanks to executive baker Brigitte for making the cake for Monkey.

The mornings activities drew to a close with a live musical performance as all 7 children whistled a happy tune on their wooden train whistles.

Thanks to Godfather Jeff and Kelly for coming all the way from London and for Heather and Nick for flying in from India for the big event.

Monkey had an absolutely fabulous time. Thanks to everyone who came out and celebrated with us.

Big C's visit to CHEO

Well, I didn't manage to get a picture of Big C in his little hospital gown so you'll just have to take my word for it that it was really cute! I forgot the camera so I got some with my phone. I have NO IDEA how to get them off of my phone however.

The doctor looked at Big C's height, weight, attitude about the world, blood test results, appetite and gave the overall thought that we are making progress in a positive way. Because he is moving in a positive direction, she does not see any need to do the endoscopy at this time (yay, no surgery!).

So the nitty gritty. He has grown 2.5 cm and gained a *slight* amount of weight (from 8.2 Kg to 8.6 Kg). His blood work all came back normal. His hemoglobin is on the low end of normal so we will introduce some red meats and see if we can't bump that up.

He is still audibly refluxing. It isn't bothering him, but it is still happening. She suggested laying off of the sausages. I guess that means we all need to stop as he will just sit at the table, point at my sausage and yell if I try to eat it in front of him. She was pleased to hear that he would behave that way. His interest in food is a REALLY good sign. Of all of it, I think that it was the most important one of all to her.

He has a barium swallow on March 8 and a food study starting on March 15th. They are trying to wait until mid March to get him seen by the OTs, but I pushed to get it bumped up. If they can't bump it up, we'll hire one privately for him until we can be seen at CHEO.

Eating

Big C likes to eat! He is on his Prevacid and doing well. We can't tell how much weight he is putting on since getting on our scale with him in our arms isn't ovely accurate. We'll know more about that on Tuesday (Jan 16) when he has his next appointment at CHEO.

So far his favorite food is sausage. Yep, mild Italian sausage! When I was pg all I ate for breakfast was breakfast patties on an English muffin with processed cheese and gained 65 lbs! If all CHEO is looking for is weight gain then the sausages should take care of that in short order! He also likes chicken breaded with graham cracker crumbs, apples, and crackers. He'll eat vegetables if we grind them up and bread them with graham cracker crumbs. I was astonished to see the sheer volume of spinach that it takes to make a little "veggie finger". One finger is something like 3 servings of vegetables-excellent!

For the first time ever he let me feed him from a spoon today. That is HUGE!

So why do we use cloth diapers?

Cloth diapering is just one of those things that form a part of our parenting. We choose to use cloth, others don't. We all raise our families the way that works for us.

So, why do I do it? Three reasons, in order 1-I do not like the sounds of the chemicals that they use in single use diapers, 2-there are huge environmental impacts, 3-it is way less expensive.

Single use diapers have been linked to asthma and male infertility to name just a few. They contain Sodium Polyacrylate Gel, (which was removed by the FDA from tampons because of its link to toxic shock syndrome), chlorine, Tributyl tin (a chemical compound which is known to disrupt sex hormones), dioxins. The list goes on. I wont pretend that I know or even understand what it all means. I just know that it sounds scary!

For every baby diapered with single-use diapers for a 2 1/2 year period, over 2 tons of waste is generated. Disposable diapers make up the 3rd largest single consumer item in our waste system – following newspapers and beverage containers. They account for nearly 4% of the total amount of solid waste, and 30% of the non-biodegradable waste. It takes 500 years for one disposable diaper to decompose. (I snagged this from http://www.punkinbutt.com/diaper_dilemma_the_environment.asp)

Well, the cost thing is easy. Even once you calculate the cost of buying the diapers and laundering them yourself (water, detergent, electricity) you are still coming out way ahead. In my case, I have even managed to sell my diapers when I was done with them and get a good chunk of my initial investment back-not bad!

So Big C's bum changes colour day by day! Sometimes he is in orange, then maybe blue...whatever we are in the mood for! I am loving my new dipes I bought them from Andrea at The Cloth Diaper Market. Click on the link to see her on line store and to find out how to see her in person