Squeakin’ in in the 11th hour, here is May’s dress, which is actually a romper. Modified a bit from the pattern on Make it, Love it. If I was going to make it again I’d make a few more changes — the shorts I traced for the pattern are a bit wide in the leg and I think I made it a bit too poufy in the top. But I love the spaghetti straps and criss-cross back.
Note to self: don’t try to take pictures of an outfit on a baby 10 minutes before naptime.
Bathin’ beauty.
How did you spend your Memorial Day weekend? Is it too late to ask?
I know I posted this picture on my other blog yesterday, but I had to share Clara’s first little curl here too. A curl! It’s growing!
I don’t always get over-emotional, but when I do, it’s because I’m switching out the sizes. Goodbye, 6month clothes. Wah :(
Sleep Training Follow Up
I am able to write this post right now because my angelface babychild laid her precious head right down and went to sleep without so much as a peep all by herself. Operation: Sleepeasy — major success.
We dealt with only 2 nights of extended crying/fussing. The first night was just under half an hour and the second went for nearly 90 minutes. I attribute the 2nd night’s extra crankiness to my trying to also train her naps (as suggested) with 0 success. So she was completely overtired and looking like she was ready for bed at like 6. Which is way too early.
Honestly I was half-thinking to give it a break after night 2 because I just felt so bad and I was expecting the fuss-time to decrease as we went, not increase by like 100%. But we pushed through.
I chose to skip nap-training until we got nights situated because it seemed to be making it harder for her in general. Fuss-time (I call it this because she was almost never all out screaming. And if she was, it only lasted a few minutes at most) began decreasing drastically over the next few nights with the continued use of a bedtime wind-down routine. From 15 to 5 to 2 minutes, all the way down to tonight where she didn’t make a single peep.
She has also begun sleeping much more soundly and longer through the night. I’m afraid to say it out loud, so’s not to jinx it, but I think she is beginning to prefer her crib to our bed — which is HUGE.
Over the past few days I’ve begun with naps, but we have been busy and sick so many naps have been in the car or with momma. I’ll keep you posted on how that goes.
In short — I give The Sleepeasy Solution two giant thumbs up. It was a lifesaver for my back and my sanity. Now we’re all getting a more restful night’s sleep.
Notes from our experience:
Next time, I’m starting this process before baby can pull up on the bars of the crib. The first few nights I think she got herself so worked up while standing she had a hard time getting back to her bottom + laying down + falling asleep.
I’m still not 100% sure what to do when she gets up at night to nurse and I need to put her back in her crib. She doesn’t really get up at a regular time, and doesn’t get up every night, so setting my alarm probably won’t help me. I think I have to try just feeding her and laying her down awake as I normally would and just see what happens.
My baby doesn’t feel good.
^ When I realized I didn’t make ask Nathan ever-so-sweetly to take my picture with my baby when we were all dressed up for Mother’s Day.
Instead, I’ll treat you to the first pictures we took together, ever:
She was so teenie and I was so swollen :(
I could get very cliché on you about the inexplicable joys of motherhood and how much your heart swells when you make your own little person because it’s all very true but I’m really not all that mushy and sentimental and also I’ve already read like 16 other blogs today that told us all about it.
All I’ll say is that I do like her very much and I think I’m pretty good at this Mom thing.
For 292 nights I rocked my sweet baby girl to sleep in my arms. It’s no wonder people are still amazed at my ever-shrinking figure — my arms are more toned than they were when I was on the high school swim team. But we’re coming up on 10 months and 17+ lbs and borderline severe exhaustion on my part so something had to give.
As much as I’d love to never listen to her cry in her crib, I can think of no other way that she can learn to put herself to sleep. I can’t imagine that there would be zero tears even with a “No Cry” sleep solution. But I cannot bear to just close her up in a dark room, alone, after 292 nights of me gently rocking her to dreamland.
I decided on the “Sleapeasy Solution” as a happy medium and placed my Amazon order on Sunday. Yesterday I became desperate and cancelled the order so I could buy the digital version and read it RIGHT NOW so I could just get this started.
Last night she did so well. We started a nighttime routine and in under 30 minutes she went from awake in her crib to asleep on her own. She slept for almost 9 hours without a peep.
Tonight: not so great. It’s been an hour and a half and though she has calmed down tremendously it was a rough first hour. But we will push though.
Part of our new bedtime routine includes a tubby — which she is not used to but totally loving:
I should also note that I cold turkey cut out caffeine today which is probably not helping my splitting head.
And my God, I never noticed how squeaky my damn floors were until it was absolutely imperative I be silent outside the bedroom door of a baby who has been quiet for 11 minutes.
A practical application.
I mentioned in yesterday’s post that I use 3 brands of diapers: Bum Genius, Rumparooz, and Fuzzibunz. I’ll go over how I feel about each brand:
FUZZIBUNZ
These were the first brand that I purchased and we’ve had a good experience with them. They seem to be one of the most popular brands when it comes to pocket diapers and I can see why.
PROS: The diapers end up being quite large when the elastics are completely expanded. I don’t think we’ll have any issues with these lasting for as long as we need them to. They’re absorbent and soft and not too bulky.
CONS: I have a hard time with the elastic adjustment system, especially the back elastic — I still haven’t been able to figure out how to make them fit right without leaving a mark on her skin. And, purely cosmetic, the colors are very bright and primary and I don’t particularly care for them (Maybe on a boy? I don’t know). The white is great but the others are nms. Also: there isn’t a specific overnight insert; they suggest you just use 2 inserts. I’m sure that would work just fine but we don’t bother. FBs are just for daytime at our house.
RUMPAROOZ
I actually came across this brand by accident — Kelly’s Closet sent one to me as my ‘free diaper’ for a promotion I had taken advantage of when purchasing my first round of Fuzzibunz. I was pleased to see that it was obviously of good quality and that it had some additional features that the FBs did not, most obviously the inner gussets and the snaps for adjusting rise.
When I heard about a deal on RRs I scooped up a few more and they are in regular rotation here at the Racansky’s.
PROS: I prefer the snaps for size adjustment and the inner gussets seem to be a good feature, though I haven’t had issues without. They are shipped with two inserts, one being larger and adjustable which we use for overnights.
CONS: Even as small as she is (currently 17½ lbs and 27½”), I really can’t see Clara fitting into these — at the largest setting — until potty training. I’ve already had to expand them to the largest rise and they seem much more snug than the other brands we use. Also, the gussets make the diaper bulkier than the others we use.
BUM GENIUS
PROS: Oh, the Bum Genius! The outer shell fabric is amazing quality, the inner shell microfiber is so soft and whitens up the best. The inserts are ultra thin but so absorbent, making these the sweetest on CBs little bum — nearly no bulk. The overnight inserts are nice and thick though, making them last until morning. They easily adjust size with the snaps and will certainly make it to potty training. Love Love Love them.
CONS: They are the most expensive of the three brands we own — but who cares really. Look for a deal and you’ll feel better about it.
AND THE WINNER IS:
Bum Genius. Love them.
But to be fair, all three of the brands we use are great. We have next to zero problems with them — and any issues we do have are probably error on my part.
Q&A
How do you prep your diapers?
If you mean what do I do before we use the diapers for the first time: I just run them thru a regular rinse-wash-rise diaper cycle and start diapering. If you mean how do I prep them after each wash, I generally stuff them before they go away, but sometimes I just separate and stack them by brand (if I want Nathan to change I diaper I have to be able to easily direct him).
What are your preferences for Day & Night diapering?
We initially started by using disposables overnight because I was intimidated. But eventually we just started using the Bum Genius or Rumparooz brands with their large, overnight insert and have had zero issues. No, I don’t do a change at anytime between 8pm-8am.
Are they better for Clara’s tush? What about diaper rash?
Never ever has she had diaper rash from her cloth diapers. Diaper rash has, so far, been my #1 sign that there is a tooth coming through but other than that, nothing. I do think they’re better for her hiney — when I bought a pack of disposable diapers for our vacation I was blown away by how much fragrance they use in the diapers. Ugh. That can’t be good for anything, especially delicate baby-privates.
What do you do when you’re out?
I have a zippered wetbag, much like this one, and just keep the diaper with me until I get home. If it’s dirty-dirty I do my best to drop the “goods” in a toilet before lugging it around for the rest of my afternoon. I keep 2 stuffed diapers in the diaper bag and usually that is more than enough.
And that’s that. So, have inspired you to go cloth? Yes?
Q:I love your blog so much.
well, thank you so much :)
