Baby wearing and cloth diapering fails

So Lucas is a pretty mellow baby unless he's hungry or tired 90% of the time.

There are two things, though, that really piss him off.

#1 is being in the car when it is not moving. This most especially includes brief stops such as red lights and stop signs....traffic and drive thru's make him absolutely irate. (Guess he's impatient like his daddy- there was a time Joe was so impatient we could only eat at places that take reservations/call ahead seating...even now, forget it if there's more than a 15 min. wait.)

#2, which I had an inkling of but really confirmed last night, the kid is absolutely against being 'worn.' I have a sling and Beco carrier, these things:

So we had briefly tried the beco out and Lucas cried so I thought maybe we were doing it wrong or there was a trick I was missing. So we went to a free babywearing class and as it turns out, the kid is strongly opposed (I'd say irate) about being worn in carriers of all kinds and all positions. They suggested we keep "working on it" but I thought the look they gave me was "don't hold your breath on that". So there was a big fat waste of money. I still love the idea of it, the execution, not so much. Guess I'm destined to be lugging around heavy carseats and strollers. I'm going to still try to try it, one lady gave us a good idea to  try it outside, the only problem with that is that it's 200 degrees outside. So, maybe when/if it cools off a little. I won't be too heartbroken if we don't ever use the sling much because the lack of fabric and buckles and straps makes me a little nervous, and I got it for cheap on ebay, but that Beco was expensive and the pattern we got for it is even called the 'Lucas' pattern...so hopefully Lucas will change his mind about being worn.

Cloth diapering has been going relatively well. I found a diaper that I liked and bought a lot of them (Bumgenius pockets and all in ones- they are super easy and not as bulky). So we were using them pretty consistently until I noticed that Lucas's diaper area was a little red and irritated looking, not exactly a diaper rash but not his normal skin tone/color either, Joe even though it might have just been from where the diaper was pressing against his body so I gave it some time to see if it went away...no such luck. I put a disposable diaper on him after his bath and the next morning it was all clear. Apparently some babies are sensitive to the micro-suede fabric (it feels felt like) in those diapers and it looks like my baby is one of them. Too bad it wasn't until after I had built my stash of like 20 of those diapers that I realized it. So now I have a large stash of diapers that I'm afraid to use. Luckily, I can get diapers that are similar (and cheaper even!) which have a different fabric that goes along the baby's bottom. It's just annoying because I thought we finally had a really good "diaper stash" and they were diapers that I liked and Joe likes (Joe has been surprisingly onboard with all aspects of cloth diapering so long as he doesn't have to wash them, he's totally comfortable changing them and putting them on, which shocked me.)  And now it looks like I need to get rid of most of them, I may hang on to a few and use them intermittently, he doesn't seem to get too red after just one diaper, it's just when he's been wearing that diaper all day. So anyway, now I have the hassle of selling them (most of them haven't even been worn yet or just worn once) and trying to figure out what will work that we like. So I'm not liking cloth diapering that much at the moment, although I do like that we've been using the same pack of disposable diapers for a week and a half and probably can make it with this pack for another week (we put him in disposables at night and when out and about and when he looks like he's starting to get a little red because no regular diaper cream in cloth diapers- it ruins them.) Anyway, I'm still going to stick with it,it just got a lot more complicated.

Besides me wasting money on cloth diapers that won't work and carriers that make our baby scream like someone cut his leg off, we are fantastic. Tonight is a daddy and Lucas night while I go to support group, I'm really looking forward to getting out and hanging out with adults for a couple of hours without the baby in tow. Joe's not so much looking forward to it, but I have my mom on standby if he needs help. So it should be fine.

cloth diapers and mostly pictures

So I made my first cloth diaper purchases and am prepping them to try out tomorrow (we're trying out flips and econobums after a ridiculous number of hours of research).  I only bought enough for maybe a full day, just to see how I like them, if it goes well then we'll get more. (I'll buy enough for 2-3 days so I don't have to wash them every day.) I have 4 covers and 8 inserts and really should mainly just need to buy more inserts. Inserts are like the baby cloth diaper equivalent of maxipads, they even make disposable options (which are crazy overpriced), so you usually can use the same cover without washing it every dirty diaper, just change the insert and put in a clean one, put it in the cover, snap the diaper on, and there we go. So far, I'm impressed with them, they seem thick and absorbant and soft, so hopefully it goes well. (Laundry should be easy while he is breastfed only because everything dissolves in water, so you just rinse in washer, wash, and dry, basically. It will get slightly more work when he's eating other food but we'll cross that bridge later.) I'm told that cloth wipes are just as easy but I'm trying to venture into just one thing at a time. The good news is that the resale value is nearly the same price as buying them new, so if this doesn't work out, I can resell them and we won't be out a lot of money, but hopefully it works out.

Now for pictures as promised:

 Unhappy baby 7 weeks old and one of my fave outfits (that we did not buy), too bad I waited so long to put it on him because he probably won't fit in it again.)

He's getting more hair and plenty of baby fat. Also, he looks more like my sister,dad, and brother than Joe or me. Hard to believe this is the same kid who earned us an extra day/night in the hospital for losing too much weight, don't think we have to worry about that anymore. (I'm a little worried that his pedi is going to say he's getting too big and stop feeding him so much, because I don't want to make him obese but I also feel like a hungry baby should be fed, blech.) I think he mainly looks like a healthy chubby baby but I know I'm biased.

I can grab dangly things! (Maybe on accident but it sure looks intentional.)

Another outfit I loved but it was a pain. Collars+neckless babies= annoying

And these would be the 0-24 month sunglasses. At first he was bewildered, then he turned his head and the sunglasses stayed plastered to the side of his head so the strap was across his face and that ticked him off.

And this was tonight:

Please disregard all the crap on the end table. All 3 of the boys in the family napping. Yes, Koda likes to sleep under the recliner when it's reclined, and yes, he's had it shut on him accidentally a couple of times, awhile ago, so he moves pretty fast out of the way when he senses movement. This is Lucas's favorite way to sleep though he's gotten a lot better about sleeping in the rock n play which hopefully won't give him a flat head.

Koda moved but made sure he'd still be in the picture, neither Joe or the baby even stirred (though i did turn off the flash.) Now I'm just hoping I won't be paying for their 3 hour evening nap in the middle of the night.) I did finally take the baby and wake him up with a diaper change (oh did that tick him off, not that I blame him but it was necessary) and fed him for a few minutes before he fell back to sleep.

Anyway, that is all for now. I may not have time to blog for the next couple of weeks because we need to get our house clean for my sister to come stay with our dogs while we are on vacation, plus getting ready to go on vacation is a bit daunting, so I may be MIA for a bit.