Shay's 1st Christmas

It's hard to believe that this time last year I was 6+ months pregnant and we had not met Little Miss Shay yet. And this December 25th found her crawling around amidst a huge pile of presents at Jeff's parents' place for her first Christmas. She is one much-loved baby!
 

A happy Shay Bug by Papa & Mimi's Christmas tree

My mom and her boyfriend, Ron, flew in from Minnesota to spend Shay's first Christmas with us. The trip was Ron's gift to my mom (thank you Ron!). We all piled into "Nadia" to drive to New River Fellowship for a candlelight Christmas Eve Service (Yes, we name our cars. Our other one is named "Dominique." Bonus points to whoever can figure out the last names of the people we named them after). I'm not sure if it was the loud music, the dim lights or the crowd of people, but Shay sort of freaked out when we brought her into the main auditorium. So I headed right back out to the lobby with her and proceeded to give her Cheerios (we arrived right around the time she was due for dinner). She muched preferred Cheerios over church! After awhile, we were able to go back into the service where she was wiggly as could be in Daddy's arms but was content to quietly eat her Cheerios and puffs, only flinging them into the aisle once, LOL! When we got home, she was ready for bed so we put her down and then ordered Chinese food, a relatively new Christmas Eve tradition for Jeff & me, and we all watched "Meet the Parents." Not your typical Christmas Eve but fun nonetheless.

2 cars, a ton of gifts and baby gear later, we all arrived at Jeff's parent's house in the afternoon on Christmas Day. We had a beautiful white Christmas in Nashville, the first in 17 years, and the view of his parent's backyard was so pretty. Minnesota friends...trust me, a white Christmas in Tennessee is a big deal!

Jeff & me on Larry & Kay's deck

Shay took a long nap while we ate dinner and woke up in time to "open" her gifts. She was none too impressed and was more interested in crawling all over and exploring. Must have been total sensory overload for her. Dinner and gift opening were topped off by a visit from Santa (Larry) and the Grinch (Jeff) which totally freaked poor Shay out! Maybe next year they'll be more welcome.

Not at all happy about the Grinch honing in on Christmas

 

Santa "Larry" and the Grinch "Jeff" with an unhappy Buggy

 

I can't believe how many toys, clothes & books Shay got! And, since she's a Shay Bug, many were bug-themed. Jeff's Nana got her a set of 4 bug hand puppets. I think Jeff & I have had more fun with them than Shay!  Thank you to everyone for loving on our little girl this Christmas and all throughout the year!

Shay checking out her Christmas bear from Aunt Julie & Uncle Bob

Christmas bow baby!

Also, congratulations go out to our friends Burke & Sarah Snyder on the arrival of their baby girl, Aubrey Caroline, who was born on December 23rd!  She's beautiful!

A December to Remember

Christmas portrait

The Christmas tree is NOT going up this year. If the tree went up, Shay would figure out a way to bring it down. Likely right on top of herself! So, even though the tree won't be up, this will definitely be a December to remember. At this point, all of our Christmas shopping and wrapping is done! Looking forward to my Mom and her boyfriend coming to visit the 24th-26th and going over to Jeff's folk's place on Christmas Day. I can't wait to see Shay amidst all of the gift wrap and bows.

Baby Land continues to be THE best place to be! Shay Bug is learning and growing so fast! She's getting stronger and more coordinated by the hour it seems. She crawls at super speed and is pulling up and cruising around everything she can. We've caught her standing by herself on occasion but only when she's not aware she's doing it on her own (i.e. while busy passing a toy from hand to hand). If we try to get her to stand on her own and she knows it, she'll immediately drop down on the floor.

Squash, sweet potatoes, apples, pears & oatmeal continue to be among her favorite foods, but she also likes her YoBaby yogart, bread, Cheerios, yogart melts (aka "baby crack") and, most recently, chicken. We make roasted chicken and give her very small pieces of it. She really seems to like it and will sit and happily munch away. We call her a little "Chicken Chomper." She's also busy trying to learn how to feed herself finger foods. She has her pincer grasp down and has made the connection that she needs to bring her hand up to her mouth. However, she hasn't quite mastered the art of releasing the food into her mouth. She gets it in about 50% of the time (although, she did manage to snatch one of her organic apple puffs off of the floor and eat it before we could grab it!). It's so fascinating watching her and realizing just how hard some things actually are. We take so much for granted as able-bodied adults.

Trying her hand at eating toast

She also has 6 teeth now! Those little pearly whites just keep popping out. We've been blessed that teething isn't the ordeal for us that we've heard it can be for others. She'll get a little fussy a day or two before a tooth breaks the surface, but that's really it. She doesn't run a fever or anything like that and continues to sleep like a champ (about 11 1/2 hrs. straight at night!

Oh, and remember those baby showers I blogged about?  "Big" Shay had her baby on Dec. 3rd!  A beautiful baby boy named Liam Gabriel.  Congrats to the proud new parents!  Comje on Burke & Sarah...Baby S. needds to join the December fun!

"Big Shay" and newborn baby Liam!

We don't really get white Christmases in Tennessee, but we did get some snow the other day.  I had to take some pictures of Shay's first time out in the snow!

 Daddy & Shay

Little Snow Angel

7 Years, 8 Months and 15 Minutes of "Fame"

Monday November 15th marked Shay Bug's 8 month birthday and Tuesday the 16th was Jeff's and my 7 year anniversary. To celebrate, I took Monday off of work and we enjoyed a wonderful long weekend together as a family kick started by a great time hanging out with our friends Tony & Greg on Saturday followed by a fun time with my friend Jen (another friend from Belmont...I love reconnecting with my college friends as of late) and her beautiful family!

Monday also marked the first day the Opryland Hotel re-opened its doors over 6 months after the big flood hit Nashville. We love the hotel. It's absolutely beautiful with all of its amazing tropical garden atriums, especially when its all decked out for Christmas. Whenever friends and family from out of state come to visit, the hotel is one of our favorite places to take them. When the flood devastated the area, it was really sad to see the hotel close, needing 200 million+ for repairs.

So we figured, what better way to celebrate our anniversary but to head over to the hotel. I had told my mom that we planned to do that about a week before and she so thoughtfully arranged to have a gift certificate waiting for us in the newly renovated Cascades Lobby (thank you Mom!). We enjoyed a great lunch together at the Cascades Cafe and a leisurely stroll around the gardens with our Shay Bug. What a beautiful day! Here are some pics of us and a happy Buggy:

 Mmmm...applesauce

 Buggy & me

 A happy Jeff with his favorite guy...Sam Adams!

 Peek-a-boo is funny!

 LOVE this little mug!

 My world (well, and a giant teddy bear)

New blown glass art piece in the Cascades Lobby

As we were heading out, we asked a lady if she would take a family snapshot of all of us in front of this beautiful new blown glass art piece showcased in the middle of the Cascades Lobby. While we was taking the picture, we noticed another guy also taking a photo with a really nice camera. At first I thought it was a little creepy that some stranger was taking my family's picture but then he came up and introduced himself as a photographer for the Associated Press who was doing a story on the hotel's re-opening.

The next day, I found the photo on the Associated Press' image site. Then I typed in "Opryland Hotel Jeff and Jamie Burton" into a Google search articles from news sources all across the country popped up with our picture! Everything from ABC and Yahoo News to the LA Times to a rinky dink newspaper in Idaho. So there you have it...our 15 minutes seconds of fame, LOL!

Photo courtesy of the Associated Press

Best. Anniversary. Yet.

Earth Mama Angel Baby Shampoo & Body Wash Review

Saying that there are a LOT of products out there for babies is like saying water is wet. It can be mind boggling for new parents. Eight months ago, I was pretty much clueless about most of the vast number of baby products on the market. Now, while certainly not an expert by any stretch of the imagination, I have learned a lot and continue to be on the lookout for healthier, safer, all around better products. This time, the hunt was on for new shampoo/body wash for Shay Bug.

After much researching, I decided to go ahead and order Earth Mama Angel Baby Shampoo & Body Wash.  Ever since having her, I've gotten on a more natural kick and am slowly adding to our expanding list of natural products. We still have a mix of traditional consumer products but I just don't want to put unnecessary parabens, sulfates, and a laundry list of other ingredients that I don't recognize, can't pronounce and that can be potentially harmful to any degree. Especially now that Shay is starting to get into things and crawl everywhere, I don't want to use harsh chemicals that can get onto her hands and therefore, into her mouth.

This product comes in a special dispenser that foams the soap. Why would this be necessary? It helps keep the soap from getting into baby's eyes. I opted for this even though it specifically says it's not formulated as a tear-free wash. This is due to the fact that it uses all natural ingredients (listed below) and is free of anesthetizers typically put into tear-free products.

Organic coconut oil, Organic olive oil, Organic aloe leaf juice, Organic vanilla bean extract, Organic orange oil, Kosher vegetable glycerin, Potassium citrate, Organic shea butter, Organic calendula extract

Angel Baby® Shampoo & Body Wash contains no petrochemical, synthetic surfactants, foaming agents or toxins of any kind. That means no sodium laureth sulfate, cocoamidylpropyl betaine, Quaternium-15, 1,4-Dioxane, formaldehyde or phthalates.

• USDA Certified Made With Organic Ingredients
• No 1,4-Dioxane, formaldehyde, or phthalates
• No sodium lauryl sulfate, cocomidopropyl betaine or other synthetic surfactants
• No artificial preservatives (parabens, phenoxyethanol, etc)

Also, we use cloth wipes paired with Thirsties Booty Luster but I thought this video on how to make homemade baby wipes was interesting.

The verdict? I deferred to my husband on this since he's the one who bathes our Shay Bug the most. So far, so good. The foaming dispenser is nice because it is easy to put on your hand and then apply to baby without it running everywhere. It smells good and seems to work well with no adverse skin reactions. The only small complaint was that the foam disappears quickly when applied with a washcloth so it's not as easy to see the soap application...a small price to pay for the benefits of the ingredients. Overall, a good product!

Next on the Mommy agenda is to try out some of the organic baby products from babybaby.

(Disclaimer: I am not paid to review any products on this blog. I just figured I'd share what works (and what doesn't) for us in the hopes that it helps anyone thinking about purchasing these products.)

Staircase Mountain

Where in the world did October go?! Been so busy living out life that I haven't been updating this blog. Shay changes so much in the span of a week, it's hard to keep up with all of the advances in Baby Land but I'll give some highlights:

* Sometime in the last couple of weeks, Shay reached the summit of Staircase Mountain (aka: figured out how to climb up the stairs). She'd been trying for awhile but just didn't have the "oomph" to get her leg up and pull herself up to the next step. Not a problem now! We've had to move Aslan's (our dog's) water and food dishes from the kitchen to the stair landing to our bathroom so Shay doesn't get into them. She doesn't try to eat the dog kibble, but plays with it and splashes around in the water.

Little stair climber

* We've expanded her culinary horizons and, in addition to oatmeal, sweet potatoes & butternut squash, Shay also likes apples, carrots, pears & cantaloupe. She's decided that rice cereal, bananas, sweet peas & avocados are her nemesis. I tried mashing a little bit of banana in with her oatmeal thinking I'd outsmart her. She took one bite and looked at my like I was crazy. Next big step will be getting her to use a sippy cup and self feed. She has her pincer grasp but hasn't figured out how to move food from her fingers to her mouth. Instead she sits and holds it in one clenched fist while opening her mouth really wide and giving us the, "Why aren't you putting food in my mouth?" look.

* Pulling up to standing has become the activity of choice these days. She pulls up on just about anything she can get her hands on which means more baby proofing for Mommy & Daddy. She also likes to "cruise" around our couch and the inside of her crib. A lot of times in the morning I wake up to see her in the video monitor standing up and letting the world know she's awake.

 Cruising around the couch

* Just in the past couple of days, she's said the word "Mama" several times. It's definitely more baby babble and not intentionally directed at me, but, as her mommy, it's still exciting!

Two of my friends from college, Sarah and Shay, are pregnant and expecting their first babies just days apart from each other. Sarah was my roommate freshman year at Belmont Univ. and was also a bridesmaid in Jeff's and my wedding. Shay (aka "Big Shay") was in the dorm room next door to us and is who we named our baby girl after. Sarah, Kristin (another Hail Hall dormmate), Shaybug and I all went to Big Shay's shower which was in town. A couple of weeks later, Big Shay, Kristin & I all piled in my car and drove up to Indianapolis for Sarah's shower. Good times! 

Shay & Sarah - both beautiful & 30 weeks pregnant with new friends for Bug

Buggy & me at Big Shay's baby shower

I'll leave you with a picture I took the other day when Jeff brought Shay to visit me at work for lunch. 

Econobum Diaper Cover | Prefold & Happy Heinys Pocket Diaper Review

I just love the funny names for cloth diapers, Econobum and Happy Heinys being the latest I've tried out after scoring major clearance deals. While my Thirsties are working just fine (especially the Duo Diapers), I figured I'd like to try out some other options since I'll need to get some bigger sizes in the not-too-distant future.

Econobum

Reasons for Purchasing: This is a one-size waterproof cover with all sorts of adjustable snaps so it can be adjusted to fit as your baby grows. It also came with a one-size cotton prefold (something else I wanted to try out). The prefold is rectangular and can be tri-folded the long way or the short way depending on how big your baby is. Plus, I loved the price...I got this on clearance brand new for $5.95 (that's the cover AND the flat) plus free shipping from Cotton Babies!

The Verdict: The cover works great paired with our birdseye weave cotton flats, much like our Thirsties wraps. I like that you can adjust the size to fit. However, I am definitely a velcro girl. When trying to get a flat and cover on a very mobile, very wiggly baby, velcro is my friend. I've heard people who prefer snaps say that they like them because babies can't get them off as easily and they don't stick to anything in the wash. We don't have a problem with Shay taking her diaper off once we put her clothes over them and most cloth diapers with velcro these days come with laundry tabs that you stick the velcro to so they don't stick to anything in the wash. They've worked great for us! I haven't actually tried the prefold paired with the cover. Instead I used it to stuff the Happy Heinys pocket diapers in addition to the insert we got with each diaper since they didn't seem thick enough to hold up overnight...worked great! While I like the convenience of the prefold, I think it was too wide or too long depending on which way you folded it. I much prefer using our flats because I can fold them to custom fit Shay's cute little baby bottom and they're not as bulky. Plus it just seems to me that prefolds are more of a pain to launder since they require a longer dry cycle.

Happy Heinys

Reasons for Purchasing: The one complaint I have about the Thirsties wraps I have is that they leave red marks around Shay's legs. They don't seem to bother her and disappear fairly quickly after they're off but I wanted to see if there was something else out there that wouldn't leave those marks. These Happy Heinys have custom milled fleece around the legs instead of gussets with elastic bands directly touching baby's legs and claim to not leave red marks. Like our Thirsties Duo Diapers, they also have a very soft fleece lining in the inside of the pocket. Also, can't beat the price on these either...$8.96 each (that's the pocket diaper AND an insert) PLUS 5% off with a coupon code PLUS free shipping from Abby's Lane!

The Verdict: Well, jury's still kind of out on this. I love the colors I got (hot pink & lavendar). The velcro seems good and they're pretty simple to stuff and get on baby. The problem is that I ordered them in size medium which are too big for Shay at the moment. I did put her in one overnight as an experiment and prepared for a wet mess in the morning. However, I was pleasantly surprised that, while too big, it did not leak. And she didn't have any red marks. The thing I wasn't so crazy about is that the diaper is so wide. She was practically doing a straddle after I got her in the diaper. Luckily she didn't seem to mind and slept, well, like a baby all night. For now, they're great back ups for overnight diapers in case we get behind in laundry (we have 4 Duo Diapers for overnight at the moment). It'll be interesting to try them out when Shaybug gets a little bigger.

Disclaimer: I am not paid to review any products on this blog. I just figured I'd share what works (and what doesn't) for us.

Good Eats

Okay so I stole the title from Food Network's Alton Brown. Appropriate I would say because the show is all about teaching about every kind of food possible. I'd definitely say we're on quite the learning curve being first-time parents of a baby who is starting down the road to eating solids.

We're slowly expanding Shay's culinary palette. So far, her faves include pureed sweet potatoes and butternut squash. While I make her fresh, homemade baby food, I wanted to test out some jarred baby food just to see if she'd go for the flavor of different veggies & fruits. She did try 2 small jars of organic baby food I purchased at Whole Foods, one sweet peas and the other pears. The verdict? Loved the pears and tolerated the peas. So I figured I'd try to steam up some sweet peas and puree them. I think this picture sums up how the homemade peas went over:

Peas = Fail!

As with all things baby, I've had to really research the world of introducing solids, what kinds of foods to give at what age, how to prepare & store it, etc. I found a great website, Wholesome Baby Food that has a wealth of information and has some great recipes and answers to FAQ's. Love it! I'll definitely be referring to this site often. I've found that I steaming is my favorite way of preparing her food. It retains a lot of nutrients and I use a little of the water I used to steam the veggies to thin out the puree a little bit. I tried baking but I don't like how it tends to dry out the produce.

It is amazing how individual humans are even from a young age. We were sure that Shay would love banana since it's sweet and she absolutely refuses it! Then Jeff thought she'd hate sweet potatoes (because he does) but she adores them and gobbles them all up. It'll be interesting to see how her tastes change as she gets older.

Shay's pediatrician said that she can start with proteins now. I'll have to research that some more. Typically, a lot of the books and websites say to introduce protein between 7-8 months which Shay will be in a few weeks. I think we'll go with chicken slow cooked in our crock pot to make sure it's well cooked and very tender so we can mash it up for her...this should be an adventure! Wish us luck!

Fun with Aslan

Dogs laugh, but they laugh with their tails. What puts man in a higher state of evolution is that he has got his laugh on the right end. ~Max Eastman

Birthdays, Burton's and Buggy

Happy 6 month birthday Shay Bug!

And, speaking of birthdays, Shay's daddy just turned the big 4-0 on Sept. 10th! In addition to a night out at the Melting Pot (photos in previous post), Jeff's grandmother Louise, affectionately known by everyone as "Nana," flew to Nashville along with her 2nd cousin Barbara to surprise him for his 40th! His sister Julie & her husband Bob showed up at our house along with Nana & Barbara on Sept. 9th. When the doorbell rang, Jeff went to the door expecting to see our neighbor or a salesperson and it took several moments to process what he was actually seeing. I wish I could've seen his face (I was standing behind him with Shay)...everyone said it was complete confusion, then shock, then joy. Mission "Birthday Surprise" accomplished!

We all had a fun-filled few days while they were in town and built some sweet memories. We are so glad that Nana got to meet Shay in person. If pictures are worth a thousand words, then I really don't have to type any more...I'll leave you with some photos of the weekend:

Jeff's ice cream cake.  We thought the image of Father Time holding a baby was appropriete this year!

Bob, Julie, Nana, Jeff & me

Nana, Jeff & Shay Bug

Jeff, Shay & Barbara

Love the expressions!

Milestones

It is amazing how much a baby can learn and change in a very short amount of time. In just the past two weeks alone, Shay learned how to sit up, crawl and cut two teeth! She's been trying to crawl for over a month now, falling forward, not moving her hands or trying to get her feet under her. All of a sudden it was like a light bulb went off one day and she just GOT it. Now she speeds around like the Usain Bolt of crawling!

Other accomplishments in Baby Land include eating solids (oatmeal cereal and sweet potatoes being her favorite), pulling up to an almost standing position, laughing/squealing and sharpening her ever-expanding fine motor skills (i.e. grabbing Mommy's earrings, picking up small objects, pulling Aslan's tail, etc.).

My mom & her boyfriend Ron came to visit over Labor Day weekend and we all had a great time. Well, all of us except for Shay who fussed most of their visit. I attribute this to two factors; the first being that Shay is teething and sometime between Friday evening and Saturday morning, her second bottom tooth decided to rear its pearly white head and the second factor being that we think Shay is a shy baby. Both Jeff & I were very shy as kids so we'd be surprised if she isn't. She isn't in daycare and she doesn't have any siblings so we will really have to work on socializing her. I felt bad for my mom who was sooooooo excited to see her only grandhchild. She was a good sport about it though and plans to give Shay a hard time about the picture below when she's a teenager:

Jeff's turning the big 4-0 on September 10th, so I took him to one of his favorite restaurants, The Melting Pot, for an early birthday dinner while Mom & Ron babysat Shay Bug. It was the second time we've gone on a date with just the two of us since Shay was born. We had a great time together and it was a wonderful way to kick off Jeff's birthday week.

Jeff & me ready for a night out

My handsome husband!

Chocolate fondue = happy Jeff

We also decided to paint Shay's room over the weekend.  It used to be the same green color as our bedroom, but we opted for a lavendar with pink undertones to better match her decor and ended up really liking the results.  Here's Buggy hanging in her newly painted digs:

I'll leave you with a video of Shay chasing our cat Stu.  Please ignore the bad video quality as this was shot on Jeff's cell phone.  Shay's having fun...Stu not so much, hehe! 

Sweetest. Sound. Ever!

These videos were taken the evening of Wednesday August 25th...Shay's first big laughs!  Enjoy!

Oh and Shay's stylin' onesie in these videos is courtesy of our friends Laura & Alan Douglas who own The Milkman company:

"The Milkman is a Nashville-based apparel line specializing in baby onesies and toddler tees. Each fluid design is created and screen printed by The Milkman himself! We strive to give every onesie and toddler tee an irresistible retro look and feel."

Adventures in Cloth Diapering, Part 3

More cloth diapering supplies made their way to my house this week! It's really sort of addictive...I want to try so many different products but I think we're well stocked with everything we need at this point. I bought another Planet Wise cloth diaper pail liner (this time in raspberry) so we could rotate that with the other one when we do laundry. Wet, soiled cloth diapers + No place to put them = Bummer! I also ordered some more Thirsties Fab Wipes that really live up to their name. They're really plush and come in a bunch of cute colors. We only use the disposable, pre-moistened wipes for the huge messes (which we don't have to deal with much since we're practicing E.C. with Shay).

The item we got that I was most excited about was an 11oz. bottle of Thirsties Booty Luster!  I'd been wanting to try this for awhile now. I'm a fan of the Bordeaux All Natural Butt Paste which I blogged about in this post.  The only bummer is that you aren't supposed to use any sort of diaper rash cream with cloth diapers as it gets into the natural fibers and blocks absorbancy. So, I finally bought a bottle of the booty luster which is supposed to be cloth diaper friendly. I love the ingredients list:

Aloe Vera, Vitamin E, water-based Extract of Coconut, Honey, Grapeseed Extract, traces of Glycerin, Avocado Oil, Humectant Moisturizers, and other Organic Ingredients.  Thirsties Booty Luster is free of petroleum, alcohols, animal products, parabens, sulfates, DPGs or any dilutants; nor are any of our products ever tested on animals.

So far, so good! Shay seems to like when we spray her with it as she starts cooing. Then you just wipe dry and away you go! She's never had diaper rash, something I hope continues.

While we're on the topic of cloth diapers, I really haven't tried anything other than the products I've blogged about. While I'd love to, my bank account says otherwise! Which is why I try to win free cloth diapers in the hope that I'll be able to try other brands/styles out. Abby's Lane, one of the two online stores I buy most of my cloth diapering supplies from, has a lot of giveaways, the latest, greatest being on the owner's blog, It's the Cloth that Counts. This is a giveaway of 10 sets of Econobum diapers. Incidently, I love all of the funny/cute names they have for cloth diaper brands!

Shay's 1st Solid Food

This video says it all...

What a Difference a Year Makes (Hyperemesis Gravidarum)

One year ago today, just a couple of weeks after discovering I was pregnant, I ended up at Summit Hospital's ER due to complications from hyperemesis gravidarum or HG. I eventually ended up at Centennial Women's Hospital a couple of times until I was able to go home with a medicine pump attached to a subcutaneous needle, then an IV and finally a PICC line. I had a wonderful home care nurse who came several times a week to take care of me. You can read back on this post for a rundown of what happened. It was, hands-down, the sickest I've ever been in my life!

What I didn't elaborate on was exactly what hyperemesis gravidarum really is. There are actually a host of websites dedicated to this condition in pregnant women, with the H.E.R. Foundation (Hyperemesis Education & Research) being one that I learned a lot from which states, "HG is a debilitating and potentially life-threatening pregnancy disease marked by rapid weight loss, malnutrition, and dehydration due to unrelenting nausea and/or vomiting with potential adverse consequences for the newborn(s)...There are no known causes of hyperemesis gravidarum, only theories, but it is likely that HG is caused by a number of interrelated factors that vary by woman and by pregnancy. Treatment thus differs because women will respond differently to medications and other interventions."

Give me a moment to climb aboard my soapbox (oh wait, a blog is just one big soapbox)...

Please do not mistake HG with morning sickness! To do so downplays the severity of the condition. It certainly did not help at all when women would tell me that they understood what I was going through because they had such bad morning sickness. Yet they were still able to go about their days fairly normally. HG is not a condition that causes some discomfort and allows you to continue to be functional. It is a debilitating illness that stops normal life right in its tracks. For a few months, I could barely make it out of bed. Taking a shower was a monumental effort. Friends would ask me if I was bored. I was so sick, boredom was never a factor. I didn't have enough energy to do much of anything even watch T.V. or read.

Dr. Vasquez said that I had the worst case of HG he had ever encountered. I was in the hospital a few extra days because he was trying to research what would be the best means of treatment and then find an infusion company that would provide that much medication to a pregnant woman. At one point, during the course of trying different meds, I passed out in my hospital room when I was trying to get to the bathroom. I remember the room spinning and feeling really dizzy and the next thing I knew I was coming to on the floor. The whole time I was sick with HG, I was so scared I'd lose the baby. After struggling to get pregnant in the first place, I was discouraged that I couldn't just have a healthy pregnancy. But against so many odds, I ended up with a healthy, beautiful, amazing baby girl and I am so very grateful!

Today I am none the worse for the wear and can't believe it's been a year since my experience with HG all started. As I reflect back on it, I am so thankful for my friends, family & co-workers who supported me through it, most especially Jeff who took better care of me than I could've ever hoped for.

I'm taking time to learn more about HG and hearing other women's stories is amazing. Some suffered more so than I did, even to the point of losing babies and sustaining damage to organs due to such severe dehydration and other complications of HG. I had never heard of this before getting pregnant. To read more about it, check out the National Organization for Rare Disorders website and the book "Beyond Morning Sickness."

Adventures in Cloth Diapering, Part 2

Okay, we're sold! Jeff & I are loving the cloth diapering so far. After the initial adjustment period, it seems so easy now. We're sticking with the flat diapers with covers for day and the duo diapers for night.

Because you aren't supposed to use diaper rash cream with cloth diapers, we put Shay in a disposable the other night with her Boudreaux's All Natural Butt-Paste as her little bum appeared to be getting a little red (no rash, but we wanted to take preventative measures). Jeff actually discovered now that he's used to the cloth diapers, he actually finds them easier to put on Shay than a 'sposie.  Incidently, we really like the all natural butt paste. I recognize all of the ingredients and feel better about putting that on her than other stuff with mile long ingredients lists, half of which I cannot pronounce let alone recognize. I want to try the Thirsties Booty Luster which can be used with cloth diapers and is supposed to be a good, all-natural diaper rash preventative, but another time.

Once we decided we were going to commit to the cloth diapering thing, I went ahead and purchased a couple more covers, duos, a Planet Wise cloth diaper pail liner in lilac and Thirsties Fab Wipes. I figure, hey, if we're going to go cloth, might as well go all the way. This way, we can nix the Diaper Genie II Elite bag refills and baby wipes off of our shopping list. We can just toss the flats, covers, duos & wipes all into the Diaper Genie pail lined with the cloth liner and then toss everything into the wash when it's full. We just got our stuff in the mail the other day so haven't had much time to try out the cloth wipes and liner but I'll test 'em out and report back. I do have to say, everything is so cute and in such bright, fun colors! We now have diapers and wipes in orchid, rose, honeydew, mango, meadow, ocean, white, etc.

2nd order of cloth diapering supplies:

Thirsties Covers & Duo Diapers, Fab Wipes & Planet Wise Cloth Diaper Pail Liner

Four Months

Our baby girl is 4 months old today! She's gone from a newborn who couldn't do much but sleep and cry to a bright-eyed infant who is starting to really take in the world around her. Big accomplishments in Baby Land thus far include rolling over both ways, holding head up all the time, holding herself up on arms from belly position, army crawling, smiling, laughing, babbling, grasping hands together and other objects, etc. Some of Shay's favorite things are her Lamaze brand butterfly toy, Bright Starts activity mat and her swing (but only when she's sleepy). Favorite activities include playing with and being held by Mommy & Daddy, rolling around everywhere, bath time, looking around outside, the Hokey Pokey and potty time where we make funny faces at her and she mimics us. Oh and droooooooooling. Lots and lots of drooling!

Shay's outgrown all but one of her newborn size outfits and is mostly wearing her 0-3 month onesies. Since changing over to cloth diapers, she's packing a little more junk in the trunk so some of those clothes are getting too short for her even though they are big enough width wise. I was sad to put some of her cute clothes into the "giveaway" pile. But, God willing, she is just going to continue to get bigger and, while I look forward to watching her learn & grow, part of me will always be sad to be leaving behind some of the baby stages. I tell her that she isn't going to remember these moments but that I'll remember for both of us.

It is so amazing how much she changes in just the span of a month. Jeff & I are loving watching her discover new things and I really cannot think of anything in the world that brings me more joy than seeing her smile or hearing her laugh.

Chicken Quinoa Salad

So I said I would post a few random topics on my blog. I figured I'd start with a recipe I recently tried out. Let me preface this by saying that my husband is a self-proclaimed creature of habit and is not very adventurous when it comes to trying out new foods. He would also live on sugar rich cereal, grilled cheese, pizza & Coca-Cola if left to his own devices. Perhaps the most healthy alternative being a Subway sandwich. The man thinks adding fresh garlic to pasta sauce is stretching the boundries of gourmet cooking, haha!

It has become my goal to try to find healthy foods that he actually likes. Right now the meal of choice is roasted vegetables which he happily eats (and prepares!) at least once or twice a week. I was hoping he'd like this new recipe. While he did gamely eat a couple of helpings, it wasn't a huge hit with him, though I give him credit for at least trying it. I'm posting this recipe because I really liked it. And I want to try to find healthier, yet delicious, meal options for us especially as Shay starts eating solids.

Chicken Quinoa Salad
(Recipe adapted from Whole Foods)
*Sorry, no pretty picture of the finished salad...you'll have to use your imagination

Ingredients:
2 1/2 cups chicken stock
1 1/3 cups quinoa
3 T. apple cider vinegar
3 T. extra virgin olive oil
Salt and pepper to taste
Meat of 1 rotisserie chicken, shredded
1 cup green grapes, quartered
1/2 cup slivered almonds
fat free feta cheese crumbles to taste

Directions:
Heat oven to 350 degrees. Spread slivered almonds in single layer on baking sheet and toast until light to golden brown, Cool. Rinse quinoa under cold running water and drain. Bring chicken stock to a boil. Stir in quinoa and a pinch of salt. Reduce heat, cover and simmer until tender and most of the liquid is absorbed, about 15 minutes. Uncover and set aside to cool. In a large bowl, whisk together vinegar, salt & pepper. Slowly add oil, whisking well. Add quinoa and toss to combine. Stir in chicken, grapes, almonds & feta cheese. Serve at room temp or chilled.

NOTE: The Whole Foods recipe called for water but I had chicken stock on hand and thought it added great flavor. It also called for white wine vinegar but I prefer the taste of apple cider vinegar in most salads. I used less grapes but that is just a matter of preference. The original recipe listed less vinegar and oil but I found that the quinoa absorbed it all so fast that I added a little more in. I also think that the slivered almonds held up better in the salad than sliced which tend to get soggy faster.  The feta cheese was also an addition on my part.

Cloth Diapering, First Impressions

This weekend marked the first time using our new cloth diapers!

I diligently washed and re-washed the cotton flats until they reached so-called maximum absorbancy. Also gave the covers and duo diaper inserts lots of face time with the washer and dryer.  Then proceeded to fold all of them so they were all ready to go like little soldiers armed for battle :)   

Diaper covers/wraps by Thirsties

The verdict? 

The diaper covers came in a bunch of pretty colors and certainly look cuter than disposable diapers. They made some red marks around Shay's legs where the gussets sit (but then, so do disposables). Red marks aside, they seemed comfy enough for her and not too tight around the legs.

While easy to fold, the flats were hard to get on her due to the fact that she has learned how to roll over and immediately wants to do just that the moment you put her on her back which translates into a very wiggly, kicky baby on the changing table.  Not so much of a problem when putting on something with velcro, but the flat has nothing to hold it on until you can pull the cover over it.  Though I know that flats aren't meant to completely wick away moisture from baby like many cloth diapering products on the market, I was hoping for at least a little bit more absorbancy.  Shay's not one to fuss because of a wet diaper so we weren't thrilled that she was just sitting in the wetness, though there was no leakage.

The duo diapers are a huge hit though!  They have a buttery soft microfiber fleece liner on the inside and a multi-layer microfiber terry & hemp insert.  We were afraid that a cloth diaper wouldn't hold up without leaks overnight as Shay really gets a disposable wet but these did an excellent job of keeping her feeling dry while containing all of the wetness.  And, while she may inherit the famous "Burton Bubble Butt" someday, she didn't have a cloth diaper induced bubble butt from these.  Trim, soft, absorbant, cute...an overall winner!  The only downside is that they are much more expensive.

All that said, the flats are very affordable and easy to launder so I'm willing to give them more time. Jeff wasn't so eager at first and wanted to go ahead and get more of the duo diapers right away but this morning he commented that he'd give the flats some more time too. So we'll see how this goes. Wish us luck!

Shay modeling her orchid colored cloth diaper

Diaper by Thirsties, Body by Shay!

Adventures in Cloth Diapering, Part I

Another thing no one ever tells you before becoming a parent is just how obsessed you become both with what goes in your baby and what comes out, not to mention how to best deal with the latter!  Before getting pregnant, I thought it was a simple matter of disposable diapers.  Period.  Of course, as a new parent, I wanted to get the best I could for baby Shay.  We ended up going with Huggies Pure & Natural diapers made with organic cotton (and a higher price tag!) until Shay out grew the newborn size.  Next came the diaper cake and package of Nature Babycare disposable diapers courtesy of friends from baby showers. 

At this point, my mom bought us a big Sam's Club size box of Huggies Little Snugglers.  No organic anything and I worried about whether these would irritate baby's sensitive skin.  However, with the price of diapers, I wasn't about to let these go to waste and Shay did just fine with them.  I attribute no diaper rash or irritation due to the fact that we started practicing elimination communication or E.C. with Shay when she was 5 weeks old.  Check out the book Diaper Free Baby and this blog posting from Angela at healthnutforlife.org for info. on the premise of E.C (which makes perfect sense to us!).  That and we make sure that, after wiping baby clean, we use the new clean diaper first as a fan to dry any moisture on the skin before putting it on her. 

Now, the whole time we've been putting Shay in disposable diapers, I had every intention of trying to go the cloth route.  Jeff & I have gotten big into recycling over the last year, making runs to the local recyle drop off near our home on a weekly basis.  So part of my wanting to try cloth is for environmental reasons.  While I definitely don't consider myself in the hippie tree-hugger category, I do try to make small differences wherever I can whether it's recycling, using more natural cleaning products (my favorite lately being bi-o-kleen), buying organic/local, etc.  I figure trying cloth diapers will be another way we can try to live "greener."   Not gonna lie...another big reason is, while cloth diapers are an investment initially, they are defintiely a cost savings over disposable diapers in the long run.

So with those reasons in mind, why has it taken me so long to finally order cloth diapers?  I started researching, got confused with the sheer amount of choices out there, then got overwhelmed.  BumGenius, Fuzzibuns, Smartipants, Tiny Tush, Gro Baby.  These are just a handful of names of different makers of cloth diapers.  While they certainly sound cute, it was overload for an indecisive individual like myself.  All-in-ones, pocket diapers, flats, pre-folds, fitteds, hemp, jersey, cotton, snaps, velcro...Ahhhhhhh!

Enter another diaper cake, this time from Jeff's parents and this time filled with Pampers.  I gotta admit...I was a little relieved that diaper cake #2 would buy me a little more time to figure out the whole cloth diaper situation. 

So what's an inexperienced new mom to do?  Make like the Beatles and "get by with a little help from my friends" (minus the drug reference!).  Big thanks to Angela (see blog link above), who took the time to message me a whole bunch of info. on her experiences with cloth diapers and even bring a few samples to CMT for us to try. 

Armed with a better understanding of some of the choices and an aresenal of websites, I started price hunting which is a force of habit before ordering anything online.  I ended up purchasing covers from Abby's Lane and birdseye weave flats from Cotton Babies.  Both have free shipping and I ordered everything on Friday morning and already got an email from Cotton Babies with shipment tracking that shows the flats are supposed to arrive tomorrow (Monday).  Pretty impressed with the speed from this company!  I got a couple each of extra small Thirsties covers,  size 1 Thirsties duo wraps, and size 1 Thirsties duo diapers.  They come in a bunch of pretty colors so Shay will have a pretty baby bum :)  That and I won't have Sesame Street characters on her diapers anymore like the ones from aforementioned diaper cake!  I'm hoping Jeff likes the flats because they seem pretty easy to fold and are by far the cheapest liner to pair with the covers.  If not, we'll try some other options.  I'm a little nervous about how this is going to go, but let the experimentation begin!  I'll have more on our cloth diaper adventures in a future blog.  Wish us luck!