Six Months Old

Somehow time has rushed by and this little man is six months old!

In the past month, Peyton's personality has started to really show. He's a spunky little guy that loves to watch people and loves to laugh. He also loves to give big, wet, slobbery kisses!

Peyton has become very mobile. He rolls... and rolls...and rolls. He is also starting to figure out how to scoot and can easily get across the room when he wants to. He hasn't stated to crawl yet, but every once in a while he does get up on his hands and knees, so it won't be too long.

Peyton has sit up on his own for a few moments. If he has a toy in his hands, he stays up longer. If he doesn't have a toy, he starts to look for something to play with and falls over pretty quickly.

Peyton is wearing mostly six month clothes, but still has a few 3-6 month outfits that fit him. We recently adjusted all of his diapers to the next size up.

Peyton is very interested in food, but I'm being mean and waiting a little bit longer before we start solids. For the past few days, I have given him a sippy cup with water in it though. He knows it goes in his mouth, but he's really not a fan of the water.

Peyton still loves nursing. He gets all excited when I unhook my tank top and bra.. he knows the good stuff is coming! During the days, he normally nurses every two or three hours. He normally wakes up once in the middle of the night to nurse.
It still amazes me that my body was able to grow and develop another human inside me, and then has been able to provide all the food that little human needs for the first six month or so of life... and that this is the forth little human...

On Sunday, we started trying to cut back on Peyton's use of his pacifier. It's going okay... other than the fact the kid hasn't really taken many good naps. Today I did give him one after he fell asleep nursing and he took a two hour nap. So I think for the next few weeks, he's still going to get a pacifier for naps.

Peyton is loving his toys. He loves to play with anything that makes noise or that he can chew on. His current favorite toy seems to be his blue ball...it's easy to hold on to, makes noise when he shakes it, and he can chew on it.

We switched car seats a few weeks ago and Peyton seems to tolerate being in the car a little better. He does like to poop in his car seat and then get mad about having a dirty diaper. But in general, he's happy when riding in the car with his new seat.

Peyton's schedule, or lack of, is still pretty much the same. He normally is up for the day between 7:00 and 8:00 am. Typically he takes a long morning nap, then two short afternoon naps...but it sort of all depends on what is going on for the day. And he normally goes down for the night around 8:00 pm, having nursing for an hour or so. I've notice he tends to take better naps if I am wearing him or if he is in his crib. So when we are out and about, he's normally in a carrier or a wrap and takes a decent nap. When we are home, I've been trying to put him in his crib when he falls asleep.

Kyle absolutely loves Peyton. He is constantly asking to hold him, kiss him, hug him, play with him... Peyton seems to love Kyle too. He enjoys watching him, playing with him, and smiles and laughs at him often.

If you can't tell from the pictures, Peyton's eyes are for sure going to be brown. They aren't as chocolaty brown as Colby's, but still dark. And he his a little bit of a red tint to his hair.

This kiddo is an amazing little boy and truly a blessing to our family. The past six months have been pretty rough, but God has used this little man to help heal his mommy's heart and to help us all pull through. I love him more than words can express and am so thankful God has blessed me with a fourth little person to call one of my crazies! I'm excited to see what the future holds for the little man and excited to continue to watch him grow and develop and explore the world around him.

Colby is One Month Old!

It's crazy to think that Colby is already a month old. It seems like he was just born... and at the same time, it feel like he's been here for forever!

Sleep.. what is that again? No.. really.. Colby is a wonderful sleeper during the day. He normally takes two good naps in his crib. At night, once we get him sleep, he normally sleeps pretty well until it's time to eat again. Half of the time he wakes me up just before my alarm goes off to feed him, the other half, I have to wake him up. Most the time, as long as I can get a good burp on of him, he goes right back to sleep. He does make a lot of noise in his sleep... hopefully as he moves out of the newborn phase, he'll be a more peaceful sleeper!

I think my milk supply has finally regulated itself and breastfeeding is much easier for the most part. I was producing WAY too much milk and was having to pump to be comfortable. At first I was pumping three times most days. Pumping is bad when you're trying to reduce your supply because it's all supply and demand... but it was very necessary at first. I slowly started to pump less and then for a week or so was only  pumping for about a minute before Colby would eat. As of today, it's been three days since I pumped, and we're still doing good. Colby has been eating well and emptying my boobs when he eats. The only issue I'm having now is leaking... all the time. I have to change at least twice a day! Hopefully this will slow down soon too!
I have over 300 oz of frozen milk at the moment. We really don't have room for all of it in the freezer, so I need to figure out something to do with it... I really don't want to throw it away, but it's a lot of work to be able to donate it. I'm not sure that I was to get all the paperwork and blood work and all that done to only do a one time donation (because I'm really hoping my milk supply will stay under control and I can be done pumping!). Ideas??
Colby normally goes four hours or so at night in between feedings. During the day, he eats every two hours or so when he's awake. If he's sleeping, I let him go three hours in between feedings before I wake him up. Most of the time when he eats, he'll eat for about 10 minutes... sometimes a little more... sometimes a little less.

Brent and I are not fans of pacifiers. If you've been reading this blog long enough... you'll know what we did use them for Emily and Kyle, but we were completely done using pacifiers with them when they were about six months old. We had said from the beginning that we were going to try not to use one with Colby. We made it about three weeks before I broke down and gave him one during the day. The kid loves to suck... and had been sucking on my finger. But you can't help a almost two year old poop on the potty while her baby brother is sucking on your finger... So instead of letting Colby scream for the 10 minutes or so, I gave him a pacifier. We've used it a couple times at night since then. Colby normally eats for 15 minutes or so between 8pm and 9pm and then we put him to bed. The past week, he's just wanted to suck after he's done eating. It's not a big deal to let him suck on my finger... except that I can't go to sleep myself if I let him. So we've been giving him the pacifier and he'll suck on it for a little bit and as soon as he's asleep, he spits it out.
That being said... we've decided we will use one here and there for a couple months...

For the most part, Colby enjoys tummy time! He's able to pick his head up and look the opposite direction. He uses his little arms and has started to sort of do baby push ups! He has amazing next control during tummy time. I've also been nursing him in a "laid back" position to help with slowing down my milk flow. This position also helps build neck control and Colby has done amazing with it. When he's up on someone's shoulder, he'll often push back and look around to see what's going on. Colby will also hold his head up when sitting on someone's lap.

The past week or so, Colby has started to become more interested in his surroundings. He tends to look in the direction that he hears Emily and Kyle playing. He will also follow toys with his eyes.

We've been using cloth diapers since Colby was a week old. I had a hard time with the disposables (because I'm so used to cloth), that it was nice when we made the switch and had all three kiddos in cloth. We have 16 diapers for him and that seems to be just enough right now with doing laundry once a day. The first week or so we were using cloth, we did have to use a couple disposables here and there for Colby depending on how many dirty diapers he was making. He is wearing the BumGenius ones... one their smallest setting with a newborn insert in them. I have a feeling we are going to have to switch to the regular insert soon because we are starting to have some leak issues. Colby is a heavy wetter just like his big brother and sister.

Colby is still wearing all newborn clothes, but won't be much longer. Yesterday and today I've started to notice that the onsies and sleep'n'plays are starting to get a little too short for him. I did pull out a 0-3 month sleep'n'play this morning to just see how much bigger it was... I didn't put it on him, but it appeared to still be too long. I'm guessing in the next week or so though we are going to have to start putting away the newborn clothes. :(

Another Weight Check for Colby

Colby had another appointment today for a weight check. He is now 6 lbs 14 oz.... Almost back up to his birth weight on 6 lbs 15.5 oz!

The doctor was also happy with his color. He said that Colby doesn't need to do any more bili counts unless he starts to look more yellow again.

The doctor also said that we could start trying to let him go four hours at night in between feelings. We've been doing three and I've been having a really hard time getting him to wake up and eat for more than a minute or two at night. Hopefully if I let him go a little bit longer he will be hungry and eat a little bit more.

Yesterday Colby's belly button started to bleed a little bit. We switched back to disposable diapers because they don't cover his belly button. The doctor looked at it and said it looked okay and suggested putting some rubbing alcohol on it when I change diapers today and keeping him in disposables until it looks better. He said he thinks we should be able to go back to cloth tomorrow.

Three Kiddos in Cloth Diapers

Colby's umblical cord fell off on Satuday.... we had to wait for that to fall off before we could use cloth diapers for him. I was thinking we were going to have to wait another couple weeks until Colby gained some weight as well. But Brent suggested that we try a cloth on him to see how it fits. It's a little big, but does what it's supposed to do. We have 16 diapers for him, so if he has a day that he goes through lots of diapers, then we will have to use some dispoables, but for the most part he's wearing cloth now!

Yesterday when I we went on our adventure, I decided that I probably need a bigger diaper bag to fit enough cloth diapers for all three kids, plus all the other stuff that needs to go with us when we go out. I have a bag that kind of works for now, but think I will watch for one that is big enough... that I like.. that doesn't cost a whole lot of money!

Emily's Diaper Rash

Last Thursday Emily got a really bad diaper rash. We tried changing her more often, using the creams that we could with the cloth diapers (not all diaper rash creams can be used with cloth diapers), and even tried putting her in a disposable diaper so that we could put other creams on her.
Friday, the rash got worse and poor Emily now had blisters. I called the doctor's office and spoke with the nurse. She told us to continue to use Triple Paste (which means using disposable diapers) and to let Emily go diaper-less when we could. She said if it wasn't looking any better in the morning, to give them a call and they would get us in.
On Saturday, Emily's bottom didn't look any better, so I called the doctor's office and we got in to see the doctor on call (yay for Saturday sick visits!). We were told Emily's rash was strep and were given an ointment to use and told to continue to use the Triple Paste with this ointment.
So for the past two days, Emily has worn disposable diapers and had creams and ointments all over her bottom. Now it's pretty much all cleared up!

This afternoon when I was changing Emily and Kyle I grabbed one cloth and one disposable. Emily grabbed the cloth diaper as soon as I put it down and went to the corner to hide under the chair with it. I took it away from her, opened up the cloth diaper and laid it on the floor to put it on Kyle. Emily walked over and sat down next to the diaper and had a big smile on her face. I them laid Kyle on the diaper and started to put it on him... when Emily realized I was putting it on Kyle and not her, she got upset... and when she saw the disposable diaper I had to put on her, she walked to the corner and hide under the chair. I think Emily misses her FuzziBunz (cloth diapers). She'll be happy to know that I am going to put a cloth diaper on her after her bath tonight! :)

I also find it funny that Emily still wears a size 2 diaper...and she's almost a year old!

Some Updates

Illness -
We all seem to be getting better. Brent and I feel back to normal today, with the except of my ears hurting. Kyle and Emily are still full of snot, but seem happy and content (except for when I am trying to suck the snot out of their noses), so I am assuming they are feeling better. Emily did throw up last night, but I think that has more to do with the flu shot she got yesterday...

Separate Cribs -
Emily and Kyle seem to like having their own cribs. They have taken longer naps (might just be because they didn't feel good) and they seem to go to sleep a little bit quicker. I frequently check on them when they are sleeping... and it seems like every time I peek in their room, they are both in different positions. I think they are more comfy sleeping by them selves because they have more room to move around and such.

Cloth Diapers -
I am still loving that we switched to cloth diapers and still really wish we would have made the switch sooner! My only "issue" is that I am having some problems keeping the diapers and inserts white... Any suggestions from other cloth diaper mommys out there? The only thing I've really tried is setting the diapers in the sun, which helped a little bit, so I might try that again and try to leave them in the sun for longer.

Eating -
Emily and Kyle have been eating three meals a day all week. We have been doing fruits and cereal for breakfast, fruits for lunch, and veggies for dinner. Tonight for dinner they will have their first stage two veggie! We still have a couple more stage one fruits; I'm thinking Monday will be the first state two veggie.

The Rest of Our Diapers Are Here

Our six free diapers came this morning! I have them all adjusted to size and in the diaper "pail" to wash tonight :)

Using the cloth diapers is still going well. We've have a couple really nasty ones, but they would have been blow outs in disposable diapers - so we would have been cleaning up poop either way. I am really glad that we made the switch; I actually wish we would have done it sooner...

Now we just need to get rid of the 350 or so unopened disposables we have left....

Cloth Diaper Progress Report

Using cloth diapers is really as easy as I thought it would be!

We've had a couple really poopy diapers from both babies, but the liners have caught most of the poop, so I've been able to just dump it in the toilet and it hasn't been a big deal.

We've gotten in the habit of washing bottles after we put the babies to bed, so at the same time, we are running the diapers through the washer. To wash, I have been doing a cold rinse, a hot wash, and then an extra cold rinse. To dry, we have bought a drying rack, so I just hang the diapers and inserts on the rack and let them dry overnight.

Right now, I am having to throw them in the dryer in the morning for a couple minutes so that they will finish drying in time. We currently only have 18 diapers and that's how many we have been using.... so if the babies want dry diapers when they wake up, I am to speed up the drying process a little bit. Once we get our six free ones, we should be able to not use the dryer. Hopefully those extra six will be here soon - the website says it takes four to six weeks.... I am hoping that it's closer to the four weeks because it would really be nice to have some more diapers now... but I just need to be patient :)

Emily isn't seeming to have any problems adjusting to them.
Kyle has had a little bit of a diaper rash / heat rash. It has been a little bit warmer the past couple days and the cloth diapers are not as "breathable" as the disposables... and the little dude sweats sooooo much! You can't use diaper cream with the cloth diapers, so I have been putting Vaseline on him (thanks for the suggestion Jen!) and that seems to be helping. I did read today though that Aveeno Diaper Cream is okay to use because it's all natural and oatmeal based, so if it's not better in the next day or too, I might try some of that.

No More Disposable Diapers!

The rest of our FuzziBunz that I ordered came today!!! Just in time too - we used the last disposable diapers this morning that were open! (I was really hoping that we didn't have to open another pack!)

So we currently have 18 FuzziBunz, and 6 more will be on their way as soon as I get the proof of purchases mailed in for the free ones!

The last couple days we have been using the cloth diapers we had and then using Pampers rest of the time. It has been pretty easy so far... The last two days, both babies have only pooped in the Pampers (which I was thankful for), but I was waiting for the first poop in the cloth (yeah, I know... I'm crazy). Well... I got what I was waiting for when Emily and Kyle woke up from their nap. Emily had one poopy diaper - I'm pretty sure it would have been a blow out if she would have had a Pamper on. Most of the poop stayed in the liner, so I just dumped it in the toilet and flushed... and the rest I quickly rinsed out in the sink. It was pretty easy - and really not that yucky!

So far, the only thing I really don't like about the cloth diapers is the extra fluff they add to Kyle and Emily's bottoms.... but that's not really a big deal and we'll get used to it. In the long run, it's probably a good thing - it will help keep their pants up :)

28 Weeks Old and New Diapers!

And It Begins!

Yesterday we ordered 12 FuzziBunz diapers, a hanging "pail", and a on the go diaper bag. Right now with FuzziBunz, for ever 6 you buy, you get 2 free by mail in rebate. So once the 12 come, we will mail in the proof of purchases and get 4 free!

After thinking about it and reading about "twin stashes", I came to the conclusion that we will be needing a few more diapers.

Today I found a place about a half an hour from us that carries the diapers. So I went and bough 6 diapers and got a hanging "pail". After I do the whole rebate thing with these, we will get 2 more free.

So, once we get all 6 of our free ones, we will have 24 diapers. I figure we'll have to do a load of diapers a night, which isn't too big of a deal.

I'm excited for Emily and Kyle to start wearing them!

Cloth Diapers

For the past couple weeks I have kind of been thinking about cloth diapers... Brent has been all about it since the very beginning.

I had been doing research and reading up on them... they are soooo different than what I would think of when I thought of cloth diapers. They really don't seem all that hard or like a whole lot of extra work!

And today, we ordered them! They should be here next week!