Need a Little Peanut fix?

There you have it!  Pictures of Little Peanut during the last month!  I'll put some new ones up of her eating her new homemade baby food soon!

Little Peanut's first bites...

Little Peanut started eating homemade rice baby cereal last night but first she drank from her sippy cup...

She liked it so much she wouldn't let it go...

Then came the food...

She really enjoyed her food for the first time, I think she would have eaten more if I would have let her.

Our new Softbums cloth diapers

About a month ago, SuperDaddy and I decided it was time to check into some new diapers for Little Peanut!  Her gdiapers were leaking something awful.  I contacted the company and asked what I should do.  They sent me 6 new liners to use while I sent them 6 old liners to "investigate" the problem.  Well, after all was said and done, they told me I was washing them wrong.  I was through with this leaking diaper to say the least!  I love the concept of the gdiapers, but they just didn't work for us.  Gdiapers are a great growing company and have good ideas.  The gdiaper is a very trim fitting cloth diaper with an optional disposable insert.  However, the white liner needs to be replaced every 6 months, for us, they only last 2 months.  They also come in 4 different sizes.  (Newborn, small, medium, and large).  Little Peanut already outgrew the size small by 3 months!  I was shocked to say the least (she is already wearing 6-9 month clothes at 4 months old).  This was costing us more than we wanted to spend on cloth diapering.  I may have even given up on the idea of cloth diapering, however, Peanut seems to be allergic to everything under the sun these days!  Her little bum bleeds when she wears disposable diapers, and she breaks out from disposable wipes.  Hey, I'm not going to complain.  I made some cloth wipes from soft flannel, spray on some water with a dash of baby soap, and viola- reuseable wipes!!  Saving $$$$ to my kind of game!!

So, I was on the search again for some financially savvy cloth diapers with a trim fit that do not leak.  I did research for over a week before deciding to try a new diaper.  I accidentally stumbled upon the softbums web page and was VERY interested...

 

The softbums cloth diaper is a unique one size all in two diapering system.  The outer pants are re-useable if the diaper was not soiled.  The soakers just snap-in and out for your convenience.  And the coolest part about this diaper is that it's a one size diaper from birth to potty training.The diaper soakers have four options. 1)Dry touch snap-in 2) Super Soaker Dry touch 3)Bamboo Dry touch 4) Organic Bamboo Velour. We chose the organic bamboo velour because of the high reviews and its incredible softness. 

The diaper company has also made two closure options 1) aplix (industrial strength velcro) 2) snaps. 

 I personally like the snap version better.  They are cuter, appear to hold up better, and look smaller/trimmer.  However, the company claims that the aplix will go through 2 children.

Moreover, I bought one of these diapers with snaps and the OBV soaker to try it out and see if they work for us.  Well, I fell in love with them!  They are very absorbent and she has been in these diapers at nighttime for 12 plus hours and has not leaked yet!

The uniqueness of this diaper is literally inside the diaper.  It has a pending patent drawstring toggle system making it easy and trimmer to make the diaper literally any size you need.  Here is a picture of four different sizes I made.  They can also go any size in between the four pictured. 

A picture of the toggle system:

One thing I do not like about the diaper is that you have to individually size each diaper on your baby.  There should be some numbering or lettering system on the elastic to easily change each diaper to the appropriate size. And they are a little bit bulkier than I would have hoped for (one thing I really liked about the gdiapers-the very trim fit)  Either way, they are nice diapers.  SuperDaddy and I bought a stash of them from Michelle at Green Diaper Demos.  I highly highly reccomend buying any of your cloth diapering needs from here.  She has wonderful customer service and goes above and beyond any I've seen in a very long time. 

Now drumroll please.................................................................

The famous Little Peanut modeling the powderpuff style softbums drawstring all in two diaper..............

There you have it...our new Softbums cloth diapers!

Parenting is a humbling experience...

 I have worked with children in various ways for the past 10 + years so I thought I had some good experience down for becoming a mother.   I've taken classes, nannied, baby-sat, lived in an in-home day care for 5 years with my aunt while helping her with the children, and I was even a teacher's assitant in the infant room at a local school here.  I thought I was pretty  good at what I did.  I mean it turned out to be my career after all.  Moreover, before three months ago, I used to hold a belief that you can make babies do what you want them to do.  You put them on your schedule and that's it!  It seemed to work when I was watching them.  Little did I know I was in a surprise with this baby...

Little Peanut has quite the personality! She does what she wants when she wants!  Lately, that's the way its been.  I have learned in a very short time to give and take with this peanut.  Choose when to pick my battles so to speak.  She is not the child who takes 3 hour naps daily, sits by herself contented while I do housework, and defintely does not soothe herself like some "experts" say you must make babies do.  Yes, my little Peanut takes 3- 45 minute naps a day (on a good day), She plays by herself on the floor for about 10 minutes at a time, and wants her mommy most of the rest of the day.  Like I said before, I thought I could make her sleep for 3 hours a day, let her cry until she realized she must soothe herself, then I would go about my business.  Yeah right!!!!  Did I hear someone say, "wake up call!!!!!"  This is where humility comes in, I realized I must humble myself, admit that I do not know everything it takes to raise this child.  I need to learn new things and strategies just like the rest of the parents out there.  I came into this role thinking I knew it all, many of you probably would agree that I had such and additude!  For one, I must apolize to those of you who I offended by acting as a "know it all."  And secondly, I am ready to learn from my little Peanut and explore the many options out there for parenting...

I have been doing research, following my God-given motherly instinct, and have tried a few things these past few days.  Like I said before, Little Peanut wanted me for most of the day.  How is a mother suppose to get housework done, devotions, and post on her BLOG if I must tend to this baby all the time!!  Well then I stumbled upon the baby wrap!  What is it you ask?  Well stay tuned in for my next post devoted all to the baby wrap!

The NUK!

Little Peanut has grown to like her nuk.  Or should I say, she loves her nuk, however, she cannot seem to keep it in her mouth.  She has discovered she can take it out of her mouth with her hand, but, she has not figured out how to put it back yet.  At night, she looses it, wakes herself up, and who has to get up to pop the nuk back into her mouth?  Yep, you guessed it, MOMMY! 

As everyone knows, these past three months have been anything but routine for this family, let alone little Peanut. After Peanut was born, we starting looking at homes to buy.  In April, SuperDaddy and I purchased our very first home together. Two days after closing day, we took a two week road trip to Florida to see family.  We returned home and started the move.  Even though, we are not completely moved in yet, Little Peanut and I are ready for a routine.  Today is the beginning of our "trial routine".  It will take a while to work it out, but, I'm ready!

That being said, back to this nuk problem!  The nuk is a very disgusting device.  It's like everytime I look at it, I'm always pulling hair and fuzz off of it.  DISGUSTING!!!  I've done some reading up on nukes and some say there is a link between nukes and repeated ear infections.  Little Peanut was her pediatrician's first ear infection in an infant only being 8 weeks old.  That is not a first one should be proud of, as her pediatrician has been in practice for 15 years.  The constant popping of the nuke back in her mouth for naptime and during the night has got to stop! This mom needs some sleep too! 

So I thought, what am I going to do to slove this nuk issue.  It has become more of an problem that a help these days.  SuperDaddy and I discussed it last night and concluded that today we are going to start a "trial routine" along with taking the nuk!  At first I thought, maybe we shouldn't, she's only 3 months old.  But then I said, she's only 3 months old, it will be easier now than later. In the end, taking the nuk will be the healthiest thing for all of us. 

So far she has been without her nuk all morning.  She played well without it, managed to keep herself busy in her bouncy seat while I showered, without needing her nuk.  Yes, she cried when it was time for nap, but only for a little while.  I rocked her to sleep and now she is sleeping upstairs in her crib. 

We will see how it goes...


UPDATE:  I gave the nuk back to her on Monday, no nuk for three days was a nightmare to say the least!!!!  Plus, maybe the germs on the nuk will boost her immune system!! 

Fun at the Beach

We are at the end of our stay in Florida, tomorrow we leave for home!!!  I have enjoyed it down here, but I sure am glad we are heading back to wausau tomorrow.  It will take 3 days, God-willing.  But in the meantime, here are some photos from the beach...

Jasmine loves her bathtime, so I thought she might enjoy playing in the ocean too!

Then a wave came and I don't have a photo to show it, but she didn't like the wave, so mommy...

picked her up and she was happy again.

Thanks for visitng...I will update more about the Florida trip when we get home...now it's time to make a baby happy.

Contentment?

I must explain the title of my blog... Have I learned the secret of being content?  I know the secret of being content is having faith in Christ for everything, yet I want to be honest with myself and my readers.  I fall short of this often.
Little Peanut has not been doing well these past few weeks.  Last week, she had some virus (GI related-at least that's what the docs thought), this week she has an ear infection, and now after being on antibiotics for 5 days, she is still fussy.  I took her in for her  2 month appointment today and the doc says, "she may have colic."  And is this what I wanted to hear?  Absolutely not!  I didn't even know what colic was, I thought it was a word they used when they couldn't find out what was wrong.  However, the doc explained to me what this colic thing is all about.  Some babies have an "immature" GI system.  If I'm understanding it correctly, her stomach and intestines are not absorbing some proteins very well yet.  Thus causing her to be in pain, fuss most of the time, and like excessive movement (i.e. the bouncy ball-the only way my husband can hold her) It might take a while for her fussiness to subside until her system is "mature" enough to absorb the proteins.  So why am I talking about Peanut's fussiness in a contentment post?  Simply put, it's exhausting...I love children, my inmost desire is to be a mother, I've worked with children for 10+ years and there's just something about children that makes my world go round. And in February, the Gracious Lord granted me the wonderful gift of motherhood.  I tell you this, so that it is known that I love my baby girl so very much, yet at times, I have a desire to be selfish and want my little girl to stop crying, to just take a break from her fussiness. I want my husband to come home to hold her, take care of her, and bounce on the ball-to do it for me!  In theses moments, I find myself un-contented.  (I don't know if that is a word, but it is now!)  I just want what I want...However God has bigger plans for us and the trials we go through.  I've been working on a bible study called "Walking by Faith" by Jennifer Rothschild, and what God is showing me is immeasurable.  Here is a paragraph written by Jennifer...
"I once thought of faith as a recipe for getting what I wanted from God.  If that were true, it would mean that if I could muster enough faith, I would no longer be blind.  But faith is not meant to offer an escape from life's difficulties; its purpose is to give us strength in the midst of them.  God allows hardship because of His great mercy and love for us,"

God taught Jennifer thru her blindness and put it in the right perspective.  It's not about what we can get from God, it's about what God is teaching us through the trials in our lives.  Yes, Peanut's fussiness is a trial, but it is something that the Lord is using for His glory!  It may be difficult at times having a baby, but I love it and wouldn't trade it for anything.  With God's strength,  Peanut and I are doing wonderul! 

Going back to the title of this post and my blog, contentment... It's easy to be discontent, but when you go back to Jesus, He always puts things back into the right perspective! 

Thank you Jesus for everything you do and give us!