Munchkin is sick! :(

...and my pregnant self is not handling it well.

Having a sick toddler is the worst. It’s always crazy messy, you feel terrible for the poor little kid, and it’s just highly unpleasant. The only thing worse is being pregnant with a superhuman nose and quick gag reflex with a sick toddler.

Poor Andrew has some kind of stomach bug going on right now. Friday I woke him up from his nap to find his bed covered in throw-up. It took all my will power to strip the bed and throw everything in the wash without throwing up myself. Once that was done I threw lavender oil on his bare mattress, changed his clothes, cleaned him off and washed our hands about 5 times. He seemed fine for a few hours after that but then threw up twice in a row about 2 hours after dinner. I immediately held my breath and went to go hold the crying little man and then created a mantra to help me clean up. It was rough.

Thankfully my mom was able to come over and help me with him – she also brought some Pedialyte for him to drink which helped quite a bit, I think. Saturday and Sunday he was perfectly fine – no weirdness, no throwing up, nothing.

Monday morning, I entered his room to find diarrhea everywhere. Thankfully Jesse was home and able to help me. He cleaned up the bed and floor, bathed Andrew and got him dressed as well as doing the laundry and staying up to continue changing Andrew. He is the bestest.

Andrew had some probiotics in his milk this morning and is currently sucking on another bottle of Pedialyte so fingers crossed that whatever this is goes away fast! 

I’m so happy to be pregnant but it’s frustrating to be so “fragile” sometimes. Oh well. This too shall pass :) Just hoping the little guy feels better soon - it sucks big time when your kid is sick and you can't do much about it.

Being sick means cartoons in mommy and daddy's bed

Saturday morning

"Lazy Parenting"

Anybody else immediately panic when you read that kind of a title and wonder if you're going to read on and discover you're the worst parent ever? No? Just me? Okay.

Those were my thoughts when I saw this article on Facebook the other day.

And I feel so much better about life now. It's hard to not feel self-conscious about your parenting skills when you see those perfect Pinterest moms making their own play-doh every day and doing all these activities and stuff.... my kid is an independent soul. I try to play with him but once he's done, he leaves. And it's EXACTLY like I was as a kid. I just wanted to play on my own. I wasn't opposed to playing with others but when I wanted to do something else, I did. 

Andrew plays with his trains and trucks and books and blocks all day long. And while he runs up to me from time to time to show me something or 'talk' or have a cuddle (which I gladly indulge in), he ultimately leaves after a few moments to go do his own thing. It can make me feel like a bad mom but he's a happy, confident little boy. He's growing up to be very strong willed and independent and I kind of love it. So as long as he is happy, we will continue what we are doing :)

Just for giggles ;)

Some days...

Ever have those days when you friggin feel like super mom? Like, it's mid-afternoon... there are no dishes in your sink, dinner is cooking away in the crock pot, the laundry is drying, the house is NOT a disaster area for once, you and your munchkin are dressed - not just in PJs but ACTUAL clothes....

Well, here they are somewhat rare. I LOVE going to bed feeling like a rockstar, enjoying how "easy" the next day is going to be based on everything I got done, etc.

....And then you sleep through your alarm and realize you have 20 minutes to take the dog out, get ready, wake the hubby and make sure he gets ready, get the munchkin ready, get breakfast put together and get out the door so you don't completely miss the pediatrician appointment. 

Managed to scrape together apple slices and milk, jumped in the car and let him eat on the road. He later spilled the remainder on the floor of the doctor's office. Yup, we were that total shit show of a family LOL

That was us the other day. We made it to the office just a few minutes late but ended up doing paperwork for another half hour so don't feel TOO terribly bad about that. And the pediatrician was awesome. So not a terrible day.

Though after we left there we went to get an allergy test for Andrew and to pick up Echinacea against the looming colds we're feeling and ended up getting home late and scrambling to keep up with everything before bedtime. After we put Andrew to bed, looked around and didn't want to do ANYTHING, we just grabbed beers and headed to our bedroom for a FRIENDS marathon.

Can't win 'em all ;)

Cloth Diapering!

For us, the decision was fairly simple. 

We, like a lot of folks we imagined, didn't exactly look forward to having to wash out diapers or scrape poo off them but the savings way outweighed the gross bits in our minds. My husband was a tad bit more resistant about the extra effort but he is now a believer!

Andrew goes through about 3-5 cloth diapers a day at 18 months. We change him between 2 and 4 hours based on need and use a disposable at night because that kid can create a lake in 12 hours.

While about 5% of the time using cloth diapers can be kind of.... for lack of a better word, 'icky'.... it really is better, in our minds, for the kid as well as our wallets. We only have 10 cloth diapers so I do end up doing laundry about every other day but our water bill is only $30. One package of disposable diapers is $28 and even if that includes 98 diapers, that can be gone in about 2 weeks. So paying $30 for all of our water needs monthly and then buying one package of Luvs every few months is really ideal for our family. It save us close to $60 a month.

We didn't shop around honestly. I had heard wonderful things about Fuzzibunz diapers and went ahead and ordered a three pack before the little man came along. We loved them right off the bat-- they are 'One Size Elites' so with all the snaps and the extra elastic they provide, they last forever. We have not changed any elastic but Andrew has been using them now for just about 16 months. And even after the close to 240 washings, they are holding up GREAT. Still have their color, are still soft, still function perfectly, absorb well and aren't stained. 

Though we have not tried other brands, I have heard great things about BumGenius, Little Monster, 'G', etc. We have just never felt the need to try anything different. 

We did have some trouble with leakage when Andrew was very small because his thighs were so thin there was a gap between his leg and the fabric, but pretty soon he plumped up a bit and they fit perfectly. Today he wears the legs on the loosest snap but still has a ways to go on the waist snaps. And if the legs get too snug, we have the extra elastics provided! They also come with two pads per diaper, one short one long. We used to just use the long ones but once he got bigger and started drinking more, we doubled up the pads in each diaper (one short, one long). While it seems a little bulky to the eye, it fits perfectly, is great for absorbing and let's face it, what baby doesn't look adorable with some "junk in the trunk"?!? Also, extra padding for all those falls, haha.

Another great aspect is the lack of chemical burns and diaper rashes. We noticed that Andrew gets diaper rashes very easily in disposables. And other than in extreme cases (like long period of time in the same diaper or sickness) he's never had rashes from the cloth diapers. 

All in all, we're very happy about the upsides for both us and our LO, and will definitely be ordering more Fuzzibunz next time around so we can be washing less, too!

Fuzzibunz are about $20 each, which can seem like a lot but it is a wonderful investment. Here is a breakdown of cost from their website.

Here is a link to buy their One Size Elite diapers if you want to check them out!

Well, that's all for now! TTFN! <3