Cheap ass Cloth and Care 101

Someone asked me the other day how I go about cloth diapering my kiddo for so cheap, so I decided to make a post for it :)

theluvyourbaby.com has 10 covers for around $50, free shipping, stuff those with prefolds you can get from craigslist or a diaper swap page, and you're set. Depending on baby's age, you'll need between 6 and 12 inserts per day, which I got a ton of from CL for $21, I was set for 3 days worth of diapering, and that was when Little was 2 months old. You'll want to wash on or before day 5 to keep the funk from setting in. Rinse first, hot water, then wash in hot water with soap on the 1 line, and two rinses after, one hot, the other whatever you want it to be. If you clean them right, you'll very rarely need to strip them. Rinse, wash, rinse, then 3 drops of dawn in the machine, wash, rinse til the bubbles stop coming back, 1 c vinegar in that cycle, then one last rinse.

And cloth is SOOOOOO easy. It really is.

If you have a heavy wetter at night, you'll need to invest in some hemp inserts, to keep baby dry at night, otherwise you're going to get pissed almost immediately. If you decide not to do cloth overnight for that reason, or you decide not to do cloth in general, sign up for amazon mom, and use the subscribe n save option. You get 30% off diapers and wipes. AND you can stack the amazon coupons you'll find in parents magazine on top of that. My last $40 box of diapers (7th generation, even) cost me $9.

Oh, AND , parents magazine is on sale from barnes and noble for $1 right now

http://www.thriftyandthriving.com/2011/03/barnes-noble-year-subscription-to-parents-magazine-only-1/

Little is 11 months, we go through about 5 or 6 diapers a day, and I use sposies at night because he is a HEAVY wetter.

So what will you need in all? What do you do for messy poopy diaper?

I you buy the ones from luv your baby, the only thing you'll need are the covers and 30 or so prefolds. You fold them and lay them in the diaper, and lay babe on top, then pull the dipe up and snap it or velcro (I got snaps, which I love). Check the YouTube link for video how to :) second one down looks good to me.

http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=prefolds+and+covers&aq=0

Is baby's poo solid? If it is, you just shake the turd into the toilet and flush, then put the insert into storage. If it's still runny, just put the cloth & cover (it will be rare that babe misses the cover if it's runny) into your storage place (separate hamper, bucket, I store mine in the washing machine unless I know I'll be doing laundry every day), and on day 4ish, throw them all into the wash and proceed. Don't dry the covers, hang em, they'll last longer.

And for wipes, you can either continue using store bought, or you can use your gerber baby washrags, wetted with warm water. If you use regular wipes, you've got to keep em separated, pitch the wipes, and throw the dipe in the laundry. With a baby washcloth, you can roll it up in the dipe and forget about it :)

Stain tip: if you have stains, wash them like you normally would, then hang them in the sun to dry one super sunny day. The sun will bleach the poo stains right out (that reminds me...)

Good Luck, and have fun with diapering!

Let's Go Krogering

Now that Mr Daddy is back to work, I've had to change our schedule. Today was the first day I've went grocery shopping on a Sunday since before I had kids. Normally, weekends for me mean clean up and spending time relaxing in house... I hate crowds. I hate having to shop elbow to elbow with the masses of people who 9-5 it Monday through Friday. Monday is my normal grocery day. And Monday is also clearance day at the grocery.  Today is Sunday. And today, I shop.
I decided to leave Bug at home today, so I could just get in, out, and on my way. What should take an hour 45 total, tops, usually works out to about and hour and 15 minutes in Meijer, and an hour in Kroger with a 3 year old. I'm not complaining, but today I really just wanted to get shopping done instead of looky-loo'ing at everything. The time it takes to unload and load children, plus the 20 minutes we spend perusing the toy aisle, and the 15 it takes to get through the checkout, well, let's just say grocery day is a long day for me. And yes, I shop two stores. Price checking makes our grocery bill lower.
I spent a little more than usual this week, since we were literally out of everything. There were a couple boxes of spaghetti, a can of tomatoes, and some green beans left in the pantry, and condiments and a bag of raisins in the fridge. We still had a banana in the fruit bowl, and last nights leftovers for lunch today, but other than that, we were empty.
Surprisingly, Sunday afternoon wasn't too bad for shopping. Both stores netted me front row parking, and I only "ran into" a couple people. That may be due to the fact that I no longer shop the aisles. With our new lifestyle change, the food I buy now is on the outer edge of the store-produce, meats, cheeses, milk products. Aside from the spaghetti aisle (I don't have a pasta maker, but I'm sure if I did, I would be HOOKED on homemade pasta) and the pretzel aisle (with a three year old, you MUST have pretzels on hand at all times), and the baking goods aisle (flour, sugar, salt, etc), I have no use for the other aisles. Occasionally, I am forced to go down the canned goods aisle, and stock up on non perishables, but once I get canning learned, I won't even need that aisle.
So this weeks groceries, with 8 days of dinners, lunch food for Hubs, the big pack of TP, and plenty of chocolate, cost us... $85 at Meijer and $55 at Kroger. Not bad, considering we had nothing left to eat but the cardboard boxes the food came in, and I hadn't shopped in about 10 days.

Master of his Domain

Well, it's official. Little runs the homestead now. He's boss, and don't let anyone try to tell you differently. The world revolves around him. Or, at least, our world revolves around him. Fluffy little cute thing that he is.

Yesterday, Bug called me from the kitchen, "Mom! Mom! Come look! Brother is on the stairs!" Now, this isn't the first time that alarm has been raised. The other times, I come rushing in to find Little... On step one, sitting on his duff, smiiiiiiling oh so pretty as you please, like, "hi mom." So I'm standing in the kitchen doing (?) and Bug starts calling me, and I stroll on into the living room to see what he's shouting about, and lo and behold, Little is halfway up the stairs, huffing and puffing, pulling and pushing his little chubby legs as hard as they can go. With each step, I hear him, "hah", or "uh". So what do I do? Well I grab the camera, of course. I have to let him do his thing, I want to see just what he can accomplish, how far he can go. He makes it all the way to the top, up over the top, turns around and just GRINS the biggest grin ever. He *knows* he's done something spectacular.

And now I *know* I've gotta keep a gate up from now on. Ha!

Dad goes to work

Well, it's official. Mr. Daddy is back to work. Making $300 less a week than what he was making, but these days, that's a lot better than what most people are offering, if anyone is offering at all. The next six weeks will be training in the stores around Indy, then once the main man figures out where Mr Daddy fits best and where he needs him, he'll have a permanent place to call work. I'm crossing my fingers that he gets the store that's 10 minutes from us. That's where he's worked this week, and it's been nice. He's been able to take lunch and come home to visit, spend a little time with the boys and eat lunch. Bug isn't handling his return to work too badly, but Thursday evening, he had a meltdown of massive proportions, then eventually told me, "I just miss my daddy, and that's why I'm so upset." I'm glad he can explain to me what's going on in that head of his. At the same time, it saddened me. He's gotten used to Mr Daddy being home for the last 6 months, playing with him daily, and just generally being able to go to him when needed. Now, he has to wait for lunchtime, or evening time to see him or talk to him, and it's understandably hard for him. Thursday was the day Mr Daddy had to work a later shift, and it was close to bedtime, and Bug was tired, it was just a lot to take in for a 3 year old. I explained to him that Daddy would be home soon, and that he had to work so we could pay our bills and afford the things in life that make us happy. (like food! Ha! I really didn't say that!)
We are still going to lose the house. We've already turned the truck in, and we're down to one vehicle. The house phone was turned off about 4 months ago to save money, and we've made cuts here and there to keep from having the electric or gas shut off. And the heat is on 67 at night most nights. Now that spring is arriving, we can turn the heat off during the day completely. We are still trying to figure out what we will do for housing once we move out of the house. For now we're just taking it day by day, that's all you really can do in a situation like ours.
Once we turn in our paperwork stating Mr Daddy has a job making X amount of dollars, we will, of course, lose our food stamps. Little will still be insured, since he's under 1, but Bugs insurance will cost a little money each month. We'll move over to package C for him, and once the case worker calculates the dollar income vs the allowed income, we will know how much we have to pay. It won't be a big dollar amount, when Mr Daddy was making a decent income, we still qualified for package C, and only paid $44 a month. Technically, the only reason we even sign up for insurance is *just in case* of a true emergency visit. The kids are never sick enough to merit a doctors visit. Extended breastfeeding and lots of vitamin D (via the sun) has really built up the boys immune systems. I can count on one hand the amount of illnesses Bug has had, and the same is holding true for Little.
"Back to work", for me, means learning to handle the kids alone again. It's not been easy. The last time I had the kids alone all day was when Little was 4 months old, so I'm learning all over again, how to get things done by myself. And I'm actually doing better than I thought I would. Naps are being taken care of, dinner is getting made every evening, and I've even done a load or three of laundry, which is awesome, because I don't do laundry. Well, ok, yeah, I do, occasionally, but not often, and not very well.
*sigh* We miss Dad.

Spring has Sprung!

Please excuse my absence. The whole family's been sick for the last 3 weeks, and I am the last one to get catch it. Thankfully my immune system was strong enough to kick it within a few days, and as of today, while I wasn't feeling great, I didn't feel awful, either. Which was nice, because today, the temp reached 70
Spring is officially here! The groundhog was right? I don't get what the groundhog signifies, to be honest. Every year, we pull a groundhog out of a hole and scare the bejesus out of him. He either sees his shadow and runs away to hide, or he doesn't see his shadow, and what? Hangs out with the mayor and tells us spring is just around the corner? How does that work, exactly? *shrugs* Either way, the ground hog didn't see his shadow this year, and here it is, mid March, and 70 degrees. Love it!
So today, 70 degrees. Woo! We have been cooped up in this house for faaaaar too long. I strapped the kids in the stroller and took them for a long walk. We walked to Aldi's, and strolled the aisles. I didn't actually expect to find anything suitable to eat, but on the last aisle, the ice cream aisle, there were these lime pops with no artificial ingredients. No, they weren't organic, but yay! I was able to treat Bug for being so patient on our walk with something that wasn't bad for him. The ingredients in most foods at Aldi's reads like a science experiment, but the lime pops were less than 5 ingredients. And they were delicious, and messy, and Bug was a sticky mess by the time we got back to the house, and Little was fast asleep. He of the screaming car seat, he of the crying stroller walk, he fell asleep without a peep.
After the much needed nap, I took the boys back outside to play. Little got to experience grass again. He hasn't seen that since fall of last year, and he was really unsure of the prickliness on his feet. Actually, it made him cry, he of the crying earth touch. But we soon fixed him up and got him comfortable, and both boys got to enjoy the rest of the afternoon outside. No more cabin fever! Hope this weather sticks, because we love it!

Meatless Monday redeems itself

So, this past week, we tried to do meatless tacos. We took 5 zucchini, two summer squash, half an onion, a can of corn, and about 1/4 of a green pepper, diced, and fried it all up with some taco seasoning. Stuff it all into a taco shell with rice (omit the rice, it didn't get cooked through *facepalm*) and beans, guacamole, and sour cream. Yum, right? They were not a hit. In fact, they were so not a hit, that Bug refused to eat one. This is the kid who will eat anything I put in front of him, and even he didn't like them. I ate a couple, because I was hungry, but I will not be trying this food disaster again.

We had leftovers, as we always do, and even though I was tempted to pitch them, I decided to see if I could maybe use them later in the week, maybe in a spaghetti sauce or something. Tonight I found my something. And it was so delicious, I have to write about it. And this may actually become a regular insert into our rotating menu. Yep, it's that good. What's extra nice is, I got to use up a couple other leftovers that were in my fridge and freezer, such as the last of my Christmas turkey, and real taco meat that we ended up making last night. There were enough leftovers to be able to have this again tomorrow, or get some dogs and do chili cheese dogs.

Chunky Chili

1 T oil
1 1/2 c turkey (+ 1/2 c leftover taco meat)
1/2 onion
1 clove garlic
8 oz mushrooms, sliced
1 1/2 c zucchini-squash mixture
2 T Seasoning mix (recipe follows)
1 beer
1 can diced tomatoes
1 can tomato sauce
1 can kidney beans

In a deep skillet, heat oil. Add turkey, and heat through, then add the onion, garlic, mushroom, zucchini-squash mixture, seasoning mix, and beer. Bring to a boil, the  reduce heat to medium, and cook until the mushrooms are softened (20 minutes or so) While that is cooking, in a crockpot, combine the tomatoes, tomato sauce, and beans. When the meat mixture is done, pour it into the crockpot. Cook on high 3 hours, or low for 6. Enjoy!

Chili seasoning mix

4 teaspoons chili powder
1 tablespoon onion powder
1 tablespoon garlic powder
2 teaspoons white sugar
2 teaspoons ground cumin
2 teaspoons dried parsley
2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon dried basil
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper

Mix all together and store in an airtight container. Use 2 Tbsp for 1 lb ground beef.

Happy Birthday my little Bug!

Thursday evening, I put a two year old to bed, and I awoke Friday morning with a three year old. Wow. Three years. I cannot believe how time has just flown past me. I feel like I could blink and miss all that I am living day by day. Three years old. My little bug is three years old.

I remember his birth like it happened yesterday. I won't lie, the whole ordeal was awful. Not because birth hurts, but because I was inexperienced, thought I had to follow doctors orders, that they wouldn't "let" me go past 41 weeks. I've grown and learned so much since then, and I would never take back his birth experience, for his birth led me to learn more about the body, and all that it can do.

My dear Little Bug. Happy birthday, love.

Little Bugs Birth story:

I know they say the memories of labor pain will fade with time, but, WOW that hurt.

January 13th, 8 pm

I'm admitted to the hospital for an overnight stay. I'm 6 days overdue, and it's time to get this party started. They hook me up to all kinds of monitors, and I receive a dose of Cervidil (Cervix ripening agent on a string).Then, I'm given a mild sedative to help me sleep (I can never seem to get to sleep in hospitals) I finally fall asleep at midnight.

January 14th, 4 am

I'm woken so I can grab a shower before getting hooked up to the IV for the Pitocin. They put the IV in my hand (which HURTS, I've never gotten one of those before, that needle is HUGE!), and they start my Pitocin at 5 mL an hour, but they come in every 15 minutes and up the dose until I'm at the highest they can go. I start having contractions, but they're mild to medium, and they're irregular. Finally, at 12:30, my doctor decides things aren't moving fast enough, time to pop the sac. Being hormonally emotional, not only did that hurt, it also made me want to cry. So I did.

Shortly afterwards, my contractions started coming every 2-3 minutes, and they were getting fierce. I was given a dose of Nubane, which lasted a bit over an hour, and helped me get a nap in (I was so tired). The pain woke me back up, and I requested more Nubane, but guess what? The second dose was not effective! Apparently, when you are on Nubane, and you go for seconds, it doesn't work.

Time for an epidural!
I was really feeling the contractions now, so I requested an epidural, and they called in the anesthesiologist. I was instructed to sit up on the edge of the bed and lean forward, and when I did, oops, there went my water! I had been lightly leaking amniotic fluid previously, but I guess gravity decided it was time to empty me out.

That made me cry.

After what seemed like an eternity, the epidural kicked in, and the pain was gone.
Then, my blood pressure dropped dangerously low. I mumbled that I felt dizzy, then blacked out. Shortly after, the baby's heart rate dipped to 50 (previously steady at 130-150). I remember asking what was wrong with the baby, but I don't remember much else. I vaguely heard the nurse yell out the door for ephedrine. The nurse said she thought he was laying on his cord.. Uh, babies lay on their cords in utero all the time.. Turns out that‘s probably not it… One of the lovely side effects they don‘t tell you about the epidural is that you can have severe hypo-tension, bad enough, sometimes, that it can kill you…

After that, I dozed off and on for a while.

The doctor had told me that we wouldn't even start laboring until after midnight because I was moving so slow, but at 8 p.m., they checked me, and what do you know, I'm 8 cm dilated!
Suddenly, I realize I can feel the foot of my left leg.
And I'm getting a little back pain in the left side...
Nurse?

This is where the second shift nurses drop the ball.
Half an hour of pain later, they FINALLY check my epidural, and what do you know? IT'S EMPTY. So what do they do? Refill it. Oh, thank you. Now the pain goes away, right?
WRONG!
They may have refilled it, once they let it empty out completely, but they didn't press the button to RESTART the flow.
Where the F*$# do they train these people?
It's time!
I go into full force labor, and I feel EVERYTHING.
It's time to push, and I feel EVERYTHING.

If that old nurse doesn't stop telling me how not to labor, I'm going to kick her in the face...

Since I had such a long day, I ended up getting an episiotomy (which I didn't want... until I DID), and they had to help me with the baby at the end because I couldn't push him anymore, so they vacuumed his head. My little boy came out with a loud scream, just one. With the next push, his body slid out. They placed him on my stomach, and as I looked into his eyes, I forgot about all the pain, the pushing, the annoying old nurse at the foot of the bed who almost got kicked in the face, I forgot about everything but the here and now.

Look at this beautiful baby, I think, Can that possibly be mine?

Mr. Daddy clips his cord, and they take him to weigh him, then settle him back into my arms…

January 14, 2008, 10:10 p.m.
7lb 7.7 oz (they rounded it to 7lb 8oz), 20.5 in long

Let's see how many resolutions I can break

It's that time of year again, ladies and gentlemen. That's right, the time of year when we all resolve to lose a little weight, quit smoking, be nicer to our neighbors, and the like. FranklinCovey, an organization that teaches effectiveness training, productivity tools and assessment services did a study in 2008 about how long most New Year's resolutions last. The group surveyed 15,000 customers, and found that 35 percent break their resolutions by the end of January. The study says that 23 percent actually follow through on the resolutions. Of the ones who break the resolutions, 40 percent said it was because they had too much to do, and 33 percent said they simply weren't committed to changing their ways.

I didn't get into this with the last blog post because, well, I already got one checked off the list. Oh, and I wanted to be a little more specific with what I want from the following year. Without further ado, I present to you:

MY RESOLUTION LIST 2011
Lets see how may of these I can break keep

1: Potty train Get Bug to POOP in the potty (DONE!)
2: Lose weight Starting February 28th, walk one mile every morning. By May 30th, jog half of that.
3: Don't be such a bitch Call my parents and ask them to forgive me for being harshly judgemental. No one is perfect, least of all me, so why do I continually expect them to be?
4: Party more Starting mid-May, have a girls night in or out, a book club, or a dinner club with my closest girlfriends.
5: Make some close girlfriends Let down my guard so that I can be closer with the girlfriends I have.
6: Save money Learn how to can.
7: Cook more Make my own signature pasta sauce and sun dried tomatoes.
8: Make money off Get personal satisfaction from selling said pasta sauce and tomatoes.
9: Write more Try to keep at least a weekly blog going.
10: Defriend a LOT of people Delete all the people off my FB friends list who I, A) didn't like in high school, yet have in the list, B) aren't family, C) ARE family, but like to cause me drama or talk behind my back, and D) don't EVER talk to me or I NEVER talk to, or I have no desire to ever talk to again.
A LOT of you will not make the cut. If you are actually reading this, you're more than likely safe.

There you have it folks. My New Years Resolutions for 2011.

Do you do resolutions? How many of them do you keep?

Who would have thought I'd get so excited about poop? A new move? Oh and happy new year!

Happy New Year! Raise your hand if you were laid out on the couch New Years Day?
*raises hand*
Yep. 6 drinks. Apparently that is more than my limit. I celebrated the new year with good friends and Mr. Daddy, Bug slept right through it, and Little was in the wrap, being worn while momma threw back the girlie drinks. Played a little Wii Just Dance, and I gotta say-love it. I want that game. Oh, and the girlie drinks kicked my ass. It was 4 days later before I could even think about drinking again. And so, I started my new year by throwing up in the sink at 8 that morning, and recovering on the couch. Not exactly the way I pictured day 1.

Day 3, Mr. Daddy comes downstairs all determined looking, pen and paper in hand, "what can we sell?" We have been in limbo since he lost his job. We haven't been able to pay the house payment since September, and unlike a lot of people who just ignore the phone calls and let the bills pile up, Mr. Daddy has been in constant contact with the house company, and that may very well turn around and bite us in the butt. Apparently when you fly low on the radar, and just skip payments, foreclosure usually happen somewhere in 3 years. Since Mr. Daddy has been keeping in contact with them, we're no longer flying under radar. So, as of Monday, he decided that if we have to move, we gotta get rid of half of what we own. We own a lot of crap. The day was spent sorting, posting, and throwing away. Crazy.

Day 4, Mr. Daddy got a call about a job here. All this time, nothing. The day after we decide we're moving, he gets a call. *siiiiiiigh*

And Day 5: Poop! I seriously never thought I'd ever get excited about poop. Who does that?
Bug has been potty trained since July, but has refused to poop in the potty this whole time. Tonight, *drumroll* he pooped in the potty!!!  Woo! Our conversation went something like this:
"Mommy, I gotta poop."
"Bug, I've got something new that we're going to try. I'll get you a diaper afterwards if you want, but first, we're going to sit on the potty for 10 minutes. I'll read you some books, and we'll talk, and you'll sit on the potty while we do it."
"I don't want to poop on the potty, I don't like it."
"Then don't, I'm not asking you to poop on the potty, I just want you to sit on it for me."
"Why?" Ah, the ultimate question.
"Because mommy wants to show you that the potty isn't scary. I don't want you to be afraid of the potty anymore, so we are going to just sit on it and read and talk. You don't have to poop, I just want you to sit, can we try that?"
"OK, mommy."
And that was that. I didn't even get to crack open a book, he had to pee, so I had to show him how to sit without spraying everything in front of him, and he decided to go ahead and give it a try, I guess. And with that, we are done with diapers! Of course right now, he still has a diaper at night, but no more packing an extra diaper for him, waiting in public restrooms for him to finish hanging out in a stall by himself. No more diapers! *happy dance*
When we came downstairs, we had to call his friend, C, and of course, Meemaw. Everyone is so proud of Bug. And tomorrow, we'll just stay the course.

And we'll also buy him that Kung-zhu pet I've been trying to bribe him with for the last 6 months. LOL