Monday, April 13, 2009

Happy 2 months

Claire is two months old (yesterday). She had her check up today. She is 11 pounds , 2 oz, which is the 50 percentile. She is 23 inches long, which is the 75 percentile! And her head is in the 50 percentile. So she is going to be tall and skinny. For now. She also got her first round of vaccines today. (I might be somewhat old fashioned and like cloth diapers and growing my own food, but I do believe in vaccines.) They have made her a little grouchy. I am contemplating going out again just so that she will sleep in the car. She is being very clingy and fussy. Otherwise, she took the shots like a trooper. She only cried a little bit. Of course to get back at them, she peed on the scale, pooped while the doctor was checking her out, and spit on me and herself. Yes that's right, all three body functions in one doctor's visit. You go girl!
I got one set of curtains done, which is all we needed to move Claire into her own room. (The other window is still being covered by a sheet. We are classy people.) I plan to get the other one done sometime this week. It is very close. She is sleeping in her own room very well. Last night, she actually slept all night! She ate at about 8pm, then went down and didn't get up until 7. We will see if that happens again tonight. Of course, I woke up about 5 times last night, expecting her to be awake, but she never was. I checked on her at my last potty trip around 5am, and she was still in the same position I had laid her in. Then this morning, when I went in at 7, she had somehow flipped herself entirely over. Meaning, her head was in the same place basically, but her feet were on the opposite side of the crib. I put her down, her feet were on the left side of the crib, and when I got her up, they were on the right side. I have no idea how she did that, since she was swaddled the whole time. That wiggle worm is really starting to move around. I thought maybe I would have another month or so before I had to worry too much about her rolling off of things, but I have to start worrying now.
Speaking of cloth diapering earlier, it is going pretty well. I finally got the newborn pattern adjusted to where it fits her well, and the brat has grown out of it. So now I have to start working on the bigger diapers. The newborn diaper was supposed to fit up to 15 pounds. Oh well. Baby #2 can wear them, whenever that happens. But at least I know the immediate changes to the larger pattern to make. Like for one, curved wings are a nightmare. Go long and square for maximum fit. And for another- don't bother with fold-over "laundry tabs" for the velcro. They don't hold. I am just going to cut a bunch of velcro, and stick it on before I wash. I don't think it will come off that way.
We bought some covers, so she is in cloth diapers most of the day. I wish I had one or two more covers though. We have 3, and I only REALLY like one. (So if you want to buy me an Easter present, or a mother's day present, I can point you in the right direction.) The other two just don't fit as well as I would like. I think I have accepted the fact that nighttime cloth is not going to work for us, at least not at this moment. And I am OK with that. I like putting a diaper on and not worrying too much about it. (Honestly, the disposables leak as much as the cloth, but at least her bum isn't as wet all night.) What I really like about cloth diapers is this: I don't think about how much they cost. Whenever I put a disposable on, I think about how much it cost me, and how long it will last. And when we have mornings like today at the doctor's office, where she went through THREE diapers in an hour, it really upsets me. (I am like this with a lot of things, not just diapers. I always try to stretch out the lifetime on products. I don't know why, I just do.) But when she goes through 3 cloth diapers in an hour, I just smile. I don't have to pay to replace them. Yes, I have to wash them, but I don't have to leave the house and money doesn't immediately leave my hand to get new ones. I haven't noticed the power usage go up too much since I have been home. I wish I could report on the water usage, but our water company stops reading meters in the winter, and does one big adjustment read in April. We have a credit on our account, but it is less than it was last year, but at the same time, they changed how much they were charging us during the winter from 10k gallons to 8k. And I can't compare next month's water to last year's water, because last year we put in the lawn, so it was way high too. I guess I will never really know how much water is being used, and if it is a big increase. I know I do a lot more laundry, but for a while, when she was in 90% disposables, I was doing her clothes and diapers together. Now that it is more 50-50, I think I do just as much wash as before. (So yes, I am rambling. I've been thinking about diapers a lot lately. And Claire is taking a nap. So I should be doing other stuff, but I am taking care of my mental needs to blog first.) As for washing the diapers, I have a pretty good system down. There is a waterproof bag in the diaper bin. All cloth diapers and wipes go in there. (Have I mentioned I use cloth wipes? I LOVE them! They are super easy, save me money, and hold up better than the disposables, which makes big messes a lot easier to clean.) When the bin is full, which is roughly every 3 days or so, I empty the bag into the washer. My washer has an "extra rinse" feature. So I turn that on, and leave the lid open. The washer fills, then agitates for about 2 minutes. I set the oven timer for 7 minutes when I walk away (otherwise I will forget). When the time is up, I close the lid, and the washer spins out all the dirty water. This presoak loosens everything and cleans most of the poop out. Then I run a regular cycle on warm, and everything comes out nice and clean.
So, now that I have talked about my daughter's bodily functions for about 3 paragraphs, I need to go pay some bills.

2 comments:

Shannon said...

I was actually wondering if you were using cloth on her yet. Glad to hear it's working out pretty well. Also, yay for Claire sleeping well in her own bed. That transition can be hard, but I think you are doing it early enough that it won't be as big of a deal. Good luck finishing the curtains. I need to come over and check out that new nursery. I haven't seen that room since it was blue.

Teene said...

You're cracking me up with your diaper ramblings! But your blog made me laugh and smile on a day where I was feeling stressed so that's a good thing!