On My Way to Being Crunchy Granola...

I made my own nursing pads. Yup, I'm THAT mom. I went almost two weeks without needing any at all, though I did wear them at night just in case, then I needed them again out of nowhere. I had already started the process of making them so it was just motivation to finish. I had bought a box of cloth ones so I already knew that I liked them, but the box only had 3 pairs in it, not anywhere near the number I'd need for as often as we're doing laundry (which is not every day unless Joey makes a big mess of his clothes). I had been given a box of disposables, which lasted me about a month, then I bought a new box. I was determined not to buy anymore and thus, I made my own. I didn't actually spend any of my money at all. I had a gift card and used only $5 of it to buy flannel receiving blankets (a 5 pack!) because we have some but not enough for this project. I used a fleece blanket we already had (we've got several of those in addition to other blankets) and I found a website with instructions on how to make your own. Voila. I even had enough flannel to add an additional layer to the striped ones to make them more absorbent for night time.

So yeah, breastfeeding, on our way to cloth diapering, co-sleeping, and now homemade nursing pads, I'm well on my way to being pretty crunchy granola hippie mom ;)

Why am I awake?

Joey didn't exactly wake up hungry. I was awake because I'm always in some sort of not-quite-awake-not-quite-asleep mode between 2am and 5am (when he typically wakes me up to eat) and I heard what I thought to be a massive diaper in the making. I quickly got up and took the baby to the living room to lay him on the plastic mat to keep what I feared was a blowout as contained as possible. Turns out I was over-reacting. When it comes to poo, I'm ok over-reacting, I'd rather do that than ignore it. There was a diaper that needed to be changed, but not what I feared. I changed him, he ate for a solid 15 minutes or so, and then was sound asleep again. All this in about a half an hour.

That was 2 hours ago. Why am I still awake?

I tried to go back to sleep, I curled up in my comfy bed with my comfy pillows but sleep did not come. My eyelids weren't even heavy--or I would have stayed in bed for sure. So I got up and did what any digitally connected insomniac would do: Facebook. And surf the web. My sister-in-law compares checking Facebook to opening up the fridge to see what's in there, and she's right. But I check anyway. Again and again. My surfing led me to purchase some sunglasses for Joey, I justify the purchase because 1) they were on sale so it was like getting free shipping and 2) he's still too little for hats and the sunglasses we bought him don't stay on when he's in his car seat. These sunglasses will also (supposedly) last him until he's 2, so they may become a diaper bag staple.

That leads me to here. Not sleepy, but knowing that I should sleep because when Joey wakes up again between 5-8am, I'm going to be wishing I had slept when he did. Although if he wakes up at 5, that's only 10 minutes away, but considering how much he ate, I'm thinking it'll be closer to 7ish that he wakes up again. I think he only woke up this last time because I was changing his diaper, he probably would have stayed asleep, but I didn't need more reasons to do laundry (or small loads at least, I feel guilty doing small loads, I feel like I need to save it all up, which is silly because huge loads don't necessarily get everything as clean as they can be). I think I'll turn on the TV and get some knitting done and just plan on taking a nap later (although Joey does do 2-3 hour naps in the mornings, I could sleep during one of those maybe). At this point, I got around 4 hours of sleep and apparently have adapted pretty well to functioning with only that much. I've usually fairly awake and functional when Joey wakes up now. Although, that could be because he only wakes up once in the middle of the night and then gets up again after the sun is up, which means I get a decent amount of sleep total.

I'm hoping this means that I'll be used to sleep deprivation by the time Confirmation Retreat rolls around at the end of September. Last year I was pregnant (but didn't know it until the day after we got back from retreat) and exhausted so I ended up getting the most sleep on retreat that I think I've gotten since my own retreat back in '01. Yes, it's the 10th Anniversary of my own Confirmation Retreat. I'd feel old, but I'm too busy enjoying the fact that I've now got a decade worth of retreats under my belt ;)

Anyways, time to see what's on at 0500 and get some knitting done un-interrupted. Peace.

People may not go in the restrooms...

Borders is going out of business. That's not news, it's old news. Cheryl and I were in Columbia visiting an awesome baby consignment shop (that carries cloth diapers my new--and expensive--obsession) because they were having a moving sale. We had to wait for Comcast to send a guy out to our house because our internet has been intermittent over the last several days. It started last week just once, but then the last couple of days it's been up and down like a roller coaster. So today the guy stopped by, said it's an outside thing, and someone would be by to fix it and no, we didn't have to be home when they came. That's code for, "we have no idea when they'll be out" and I knew it, but I also knew that I couldn't fix it myself so we have to wait.

Cheryl and I drove out to Columbia to visit the consignment shop. It was easy to see why they are moving, they were about busting at the seams in this location! There wasn't much to pick from in the boy section for clothes and I didn't see any toys that jumped out at me, so that just left the cloth diapers. There's a brand of hybrids (can be used as cloth or disposable depending on the inserts that I'm interested in trying and this store is a place that sells them in store, and I haven't found any other place to buy them besides online. I picked out a dark blue diaper to try with Joey. I like this brand more than Gdiapers (we have 3 that we've been using off and on) already for several reasons 1) they're one size, which means when Joey gets bigger we use different snaps, not spend more money 2) they're about $1 cheaper, not much but I'll take it and 3) they come with an insert, Gdiapers' all come separate.

After what turned out to be a short trip to the shop, we stopped at Borders to check out the liquidation sale. Neither of us found anything we liked enough to stand in the crazy long lines (store closing + weekend = unfavorable worker-to-customer ratio) so that trip was a bust, except for the sign. I needed to change Joey so we headed for the bathrooms and found them closed, so I changed him on the floor because at 100+ degrees (it's not cooling down until Tuesday apparently, yuck), I'm not changing him in the car. We then headed home, because when you're hanging with friends trying to beat the heat, it doesn't matter where you are, as long as you're air conditioned ;)

Love Marshalls

Baby clothes and a lunch bag with included tupperware? Oh yeah, Marshalls rocks.

Demos, Naps, and Takeout

We managed to get out of the house today! Dan's karate school had a demo team performance at the mall today. I was happy for the change of scenery and Joey was actually awake and appeared to be watching as the students performed. I think he was more watching the black, white, and red blurs that were the students' uniforms, but he was definitely watching something.

My mom came over after work, which is just down the street from our house, and she brought take out! Initially I had planned to make dinner when Dan got home, but I never turn down food I don't have to make ;) Mom stayed for a little while after dinner for some cuddle-time with Joey then she had to go run some errands. Dan ended up coming home not long after that because they had plenty of instructors so he came home early. When Mom came over, I planned on still making dinner when Dan got home because it would have been plenty of time and I would have been hungry again. However, with Dan getting home early, I was still full from my dinner and he made something up just for himself. I'll make stir fry tomorrow either for lunch or dinner.

Last Day

Today was Jackie and Jimmy's last day in Maryland. They'll leave early tomorrow morning. Joey and I went over right before Dan left for karate and stayed until after dinner. Jimmy is still curious about Joey, but more jealous than anything else, if Joey is in the bouncy chair then Jimmy wants to be in the bouncy chair. He's especially funny in the bouncy chair because he'll get in it on his knees and bounce that way.

Jimmy dislikes sitting still long enough to have his diaper and outfit changed. He's perfectly happy half-naked and half-dressed ;) What a cutie!

More Cousins

Friday and Saturday I had to work. It was boring, as usual, and I missed Joey. We snuggled a lot when I got home both days :) Today we went over to hang out with Jackie and Jimmy since they're leaving Tuesday.

The boys managed to sit long enough for a couple of pictures together with LaoLao, adorable!

Jackie and me hanging out with the kids :)