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.