The NEW bumGenius Freetime AIO, in Mirror!

I got these a couple days ago from Squishy Tushy. She was one of the few that actually had the BG Freetimes in Mirror in-stock and ready to ship earlier this week. I wanted to take some pictures and give you an early run down of these new AIOs.

FLUFFY MAIL!

The Freetimes attached, overlapping inserts with microfiber on the bottom  and "sueded inner fabric" on top, against the skin

Both attached inserts extended (folded out)

Both attached inserts have a pocket to add extra absorbency in them on the underside of the attached edge

Both attached inserts have a pocket to add extra absorbency in them on the underside of the attached edge

Leg opening/gusset (very similar if not the same as the typical BG 4.0s)

I used Macro to try to get a close shot of the toppers, it's very soft!

The back of the wrap

I am a Prep wash fanatic so here they are

On Noah (14lbs 8oz, almost 3 1/2 months), virtually the same fit as a BG 4.0

Great leg fit on Noah (14lbs 8oz, almost 3 1/2 months), virtually same fit on him as the BG 4.0s

My happy boy

The end...or should I say the bottom! 

Brain update

Have you all see those stupid brain graphics created for the sole purpose of poking fun at the opposite sex? Well, I posted this one on facebook and titled it "That explains it!" last night



I checked my facebook this morning and discovered that Daddy had posted this one and titled it "Right back at ya"

That led me to create this one which I call "Jamie's Brain". I think this is more reflective of a woman's true brain, don't you? Not all of us are all about shoes and making headaches for men. Some of us actually have some substance to us and aren't helpless little creatures waiting for a big and strong [albeit oblivious] man to come rescue us-some of us even do the rescuing while we handle our children and households almost all on our own. Take THAT male brain!

The NEW Thirsties Duo AIO (with pictures)

I purchased a brand spankin' new Thirsties Duo AIO (all in one) in size 2 from Kissed by the Moon the other day, received it yesterday, prepped it and put Noah in it today.

How it came from Kissed by the Moon (rise unsnapped)

Leg opening/gusset. Single gusset, not double like most other Thirsties products
(rise snapped down to the smallest setting)

Leg opening/gusset

I put my arm thru it to show the "tunnel" system. This allows for faster drying time and  ability to stuff if needed

Showing the underside of the absorbent part of the AIO (Microfleece on the bottom)

Size comparison: Snapped down to the smallest rise and smallest waist setting. Comapring size to AppleCheeks size 1 (orange), Thirsties AIO (brown), BG 4.0 OS snapped down to smallest rise (yellow)

Noah is 14lbs 80z at almost 3 1/2 months old. He was born at 38w3d at 6lbs 15oz if you can believe it! He is on the smallest waist and rise settings of the size 2, but I think I'll open the rise one snap setting next time. As you can see the waist kind of, eh, rolls out, for lack of better description. I hope we don't get links because of that. Other than that, it's very soft, there's a little puff in the backside but the elastic is tight without being too tight. Great fit around the legs and waist, besides the inner popping/rolling out. Personally, I think they'd fix that completely if they used double waist snaps. It did take a little more adjustment to prevent "wing droop" and gaping but that's to be expected with a diaper I've never used before.

Great fit around the leg! A little "poofy" in the back (but I love the fluffy butts). It has a very soft inner  and the elastic is tight  enough to keep the mess in and the fit nice without digging into the skin or leave marks.

It dried very quickly, faster than the Knickernappies SuperDos and BG sized AIO. It also held up very well with absorbency, after one prep wash, through nap time and then some. I think it gets the Noah smile of approval! 

I wasn't sure which size to order originally because the sizing for the current duo products we have is kinda funky with Noah right now. He's just about out of the size 1 duo diaper and size 1 duo wraps but the size 2 duo wrap is still too big/baggy on him. I am able to put him in the size 2 even thought it's big but I have to position it very carefully and check for gaping. He still has a little room to grow in the size 1 duo fitteds, but I don't think it'll last him to 18lbs or 9 months. I'm glad I went with the size 2 duo AIO! This seems to fit him very well.

Noah's appointment update

I took Noah in to see Dr. S. first thing this morning. He spent like an hour in the room with us. I gave him all the details, everything the way I noticed/preceived it in as much detail as possible, and originally he said that babies change their breathing, IE they go from breathing heavy and fast to light and slow, etc. I knew in my gut he was wrong and told him I didn't think that was it. After a physical exam and a lot of questions and discussion the doctor determined that Noah is severely congested in his nose. He also noticed that it sounded like Noah had some gunk in his chest which he later diagnosed officially as Bronchiolitis) and an ear infection in his left ear.

Oh and he's 14lbs 8oz (75%) and I think 24 1/2 inches (just about 50%).

Regarding me thinking that Noah had stopped breathing what he ascertained was that his nose was so congested (babies breathe through their nose) and that his mucus was so thick that it was such hard work to breathe through his that that Noah just...didn't breathe. For those that don't know Dr. S. he is very hesitant to say anything that is solid and/or medically or scientifcally backed. For him to say that Noah did stop breathing and why he thinks that happened-holy shit! I mentioned to his nurse and to him that they (general they not the office) beat "SIDS! SIDS! SIDS!" into your head and to notice what I noticed not once, but twice in the spam of a few minutes...he just needed to be checked out. I'm so glad we took him in when we did!

Noah will be on a breathing treatments starting tomorrow, has an antibiotic, saline spray and a nasal aspirator, a cool mist humdidifer, and various other home treatments (Johnson's Vapor bath, etc.). Dr. S also told me to keep doing what I'm doing as far as attached parenting and co-sleeping. I told him I was kind of nervous about coming in there and telling them I co-sleep because of all the negative crap that goes aorund in the U.S. mainstream medical fields about co-sleeping. He told me that while he is not suppose to recommend it that we are probably the lowest risks with co-sleeping (he wasn't premature, no smoking in the home, I don't drink and parent, etc.) and that us co-sleeping, and "keeping him close to me" like with babywearing, especially now, was probably a good idea.

The thing is and I think what threw me for a loop was that he doesn't look sick. Yeah, I knew he was congested and I knew he had green poop but damn! He was much sicker than he was/is leading on. All day today he was pleasant (albeit clingy), smiley, cooing and talking up a storm. The picture to the left I took just a few minutes ago. He doesn't look THAT sick, does he?

I keep hearing "SIDS often occurs in association with relatively minor respiratory (mild cold) and gastrointestinal infections (vomiting and diarrhea) echo in my head. It makes me afraid to go to sleep, even if he is near me but I am so thankful for co-sleeping and attached parenting! Now I truly do feel, thanks to co-sleeping. I was able to know right away that something didn't seem right at the time and follow up on it today. I keep thinking about everything they try to beat into your heads about SIDS And keep thinking about the "What ifs...."

If it wasn't for the face that I woke him up when I put him down in the bouncer and he looked tired you wouldn't there there was anything wrong with him going by these pictures!

Co-sleeping may have saved Noah

On good nights, or should I say not on bad nights, Noah wakes around three in the morning to nurse. This morning, I had woken up at one or so, saw that all was happy and well and went back to sleep. Around four Noah woke up to nurse. I noticed that he sounded very snotty so I grabbed a tissue and wiped his nose here and there. He finished nursing and we started settling back down to sleep, with him in the crook of my arm as usual. He sneezed twice and then I didn't hear his noisy breathing or feel him breathing. I shook him a little bit, he seemed to gasp and then started with the noisy breathing again right away. You don't want to think your baby stopped breathing so my mind automatically thought that he was breathing fine and just so peaceful that I didn't feel or hear it and he gasped because I started him a little bit when I shook him. I started settling back down, he sneezed twice again, and again the same thing-I didn't hear or feel him breathing. I shook him gently again. He gasped again and I started to hear him breathe and feel him move. Once? Eh, weird things happen, things get overlooked because you're tired, it's dark...yada yada. Twice is more than coincidental! I was up and out of bed with Noah so fast making sure he was OK! I headed to the living room so I could turn on the lights to see him better, watch him closely, keep him inclined, take care of his nose, have the phone handy just in case, and run through what I know about CPR for babies. 

Noah ended up waking up fully in all the commotion. He had good skin color, his breathing was regular, it wasn't as labored as it seemed to be when we were nursing or settling back down, and nothing else seemed abnormal. I ended up waking Daddy up a couple minutes later because I wanted Daddy to hold him upright and watch him while I got the stuff together to take care of his goop. I told Daddy what happened so he watched him and agreed with me that nothing, aside from the goopy nose, seemed to be going on. Noah was moving around as normal, smiling, reacting and interacting with me, and bright eyed.

I thought it would be best for me to take a shower while someone was home to have eyes on Noah at all times, typically I take him in the bathroom with me and he sits in his bouncer, so Daddy held him and watched him for a few minutes then brought him into the bathroom to sit with me and he got the benefits of steam. I have a feeling today is going to be a sicky day. Thankfully I have baby wearing to help me and my favorite baby wrap in my tool belt! Baby wearing him in the wrap will keep him upright, which I think helps the goop drain, as well as keeping him close to me so I can feel, see, and hear him. It is also very comforting to him and I am happy I can provide him with that comfort and closeness. Aside from the goopy nose and the two teeth that I think are getting ready to pop through, it looks like they're sitting right under the gum now, he's fine. We're taking him to the doctor, not sure of time but I'll post an update once we go. Right now they're saying the only thing open is Thursday. I do NOT want to wait that long. I'm going to make sure his doctor knows exactly what happened, get his opinion, and pick his brain about the SIDS/respiratory illness link I mention below.

I have suffered a lot of "Oh my God! You're going to kill your baby!" with a handful of crib sleepers/independent sleepers lately because of bad publicity co-sleeping has received recently and it was wearing on me. I have talked about there being safe and unsafe ways of co-sleeping as well as things that increase risk of SIDS within the home (like smoking, or the parents being intoxicated and sleeping with their child) as well as with the child (prematurity, formula feeding, etc.) but it seems to fall on deaf ears as they reference things like this news article and the infamous baby sleeping with knife anti-cosleeping AD. What they don't seem to understand are two very important things.

• One, not all children that die of SIDS are co-slept and not all co-sleeping children die of SIDS. All of my children have co-slept to some extent and the four other ones in the home are happy, healthy kids.
  
• Two, there are other things besides co-sleeping that increase risk of SIDS. If you go to the American SIDS Institute's site you will see a list of many other things that can reduce the risk of SIDS on the page titled "Reducing the Risk of SIDS" including breastfeeding (Parents number 7), room sharing (Parents number 3), not smoking/not exposing the baby to smoke (Parents-to-be number 2 and Parents number 7). Why do these parents terrified of SIDS choose not to breastfeed-something that has proven benefit- or even room share, and allow people to smoke around their children-something that has proven negative impact of their child-, but focus on co-sleeping as a big factor in SIDS? These are the same parents that go out and spend $200 on an Angelcare Baby Monitor to put under their baby's crib that's in another room to detect movement and sounds. 

Did you know that "SIDS often occurs in association with relatively minor respiratory (mild cold) and gastrointestinal infections (vomiting and diarrhea). " (Reducing the Risk of SIDS Parents number 8)? Either did I! Like I said above, you don't want to think that your baby stopped breathing but like Daddy and I were discussing neither one of us can say whether he stopped breathing or not for certain. What I do know is how thankful I am for co-sleeping! If I had not been co-sleeping who knows what would have happened. Maybe I would have walked him to another room, put him flat on his back in a crib, and left the room blissfully unaware. Maybe I would have left him in the crib, heard the first set of sneezes over the baby monitor and thought they were cute, or maybe I wouldn't have heard them at all because I was dozing in my baby-free bed already not knowing about the lack of breathing or movement that followed, and not knowing SIDS often occurs with minor colds. As I sit here and type this Noah is snoozing quietly and peacefully, but if I hadn't been near him enough to know that something didn't seem right and something was in fact wrong....I don't even want to think about it! I don't need an Angelcare when I have a Mama cares monitor -there are just some things that you can't detect from another bed in another room.

If you're still unswayed about the benefits of co-sleeping (say hi to a happy Noah) these more scientifically minded articles may be of interest to you:

• Cosleeping and Biological Imperatives: Why Human Babies Do Not and Should Not Sleep Alone
  
• Why babies should never sleep alone: A review of the co-sleeping controversy in relation to SIDS, bedsharing and breast feeding
  
  As may this site: Mother-Baby Behavioral Sleep Laboratory

Noah is THREE months old!

Noah is three months old today! It blows my mind to think that this time three months ago I was in the labor tub at the hospital. We weighed him on the house scale and he's 13lbs. He doesn't really look chunky at all, I think he carries his weight much differently than B and K.

He's wearing one of the outfits I loved on his big brother <3 Don't mind the sad look, he was tired-not sad.




Here's a much happier one after his nap



Chomping, er, trying to chomp, on his hand. He has started to bite down when he's nursing-I really do think he is teething the two middle bottom teeth!



Mr Fuzz Head and I are still breastfeeding! I do not plan to start solids for at least three more months and it really blows my mind that so many people in my mommy groups are starting solids early because THEY feel like it or because they think solids will help their baby sleep through the night and NOT because they're well read or have any real knowledge on why and when solids should be started to benefit their own baby.



Poor guy has baby patterned baldness, like his comb over? HA! His newborn dark hair is falling out and his hair seems to be growing in fuzzy and blonde (like in the above picture)






He's grown out of his newborn stash of prefolds and covers. He's also almost out of the Thirsties duo wraps size 1, Thirsties duo diaper size 1. There is no way on God's green earth those things would last him until 9 months or 18lbs like the company says, unfortunately. He's not an unusually large baby and he's also not chunky like Kadie was when she fit well into the medium fab fitteds and size 2 duo wraps. The Thirsties duo fitteds size 1 still fit him but the rise is shorter than I would prefer on him, even fully extended but they do fit nice around the legs and waist. BUT the size 2 duo wraps are still very big and baggy on him and leak if I'm not very careful and position them just right. I saw that Thirsties has come out with a one size AIO for about $16.00! I think I may order one to try but because of the funkiness with the sizing we're experiencing with our current Thirsties products right now I'm not sure what size to get. They also do not have the double gussets that I love on the other Thirsties products but the BG XS AIOs we used during his newborn days didn't have a double gusset either and they worked very well.

The Sweet Peas OS (one size) cover is fitting him great, has two sets of waist snaps, and double gussets. The Tweedle Bug OS pocket diaper (which also has two sets of waist snaps) seems to fit him very well now as well, he's on the smallest settings on both of those cloth diapers. The esbaby fitteds size small are a great fit on him, as are the Kissaluvs size 1 (Daddy's favorite) which they don't make anymore in that size, boo! I tried him in medium Thirsties fab fitteds, which they don't make anymore but I happened to have from Kadie, and they fit him well on the velcro cross over tabs-great fit around the legs!

We've been using cloth wipes exclusively for quite some time now and use Pure Baby Super Stars exclusively for our wipes solution. She's currently taking a "Baby Moon", thankfully I have enough to last a long time but I hope she comes back eventually!

He's been out of all his newborn clothing for weeks now but I just recently got the time and motivation to take out the newborn clothing and put the 3-6 month clothing away. There is such a big sizing discrepancy in baby clothes he's going to have some 0-3 month things, a lot of 3-6 month things, and some 6-9 month things in his drawers once I get around to adding the 6-9 month clothing into the mix.

Developmentally, as I said I think he's teething. He doesn't care for tummy time, he has fabalous neck control regardless. He loves, loves, loves to swim in the bath tub on his back! I think that is a pretty good baby work out so I don't stress about the tummy time too much. I have been taking Noah in the tub with me for baths since his cord stub fell off a week or two after birth and he LOVES the water. He has learned to "push off" the side of the tub while I'm holding him. He also splashes in addition to kicking his arms and legs. The huge grins on his face, when he "swims", are spectacular! The other day spent about half an hour with him in the bath just a little bit ago and my arms hurt from holding him on his back and supporting his head above water while he "swam" and pushed off again and again. If I can't bathe with him, I do have a Summer Infant baby bather which he'll tolerate just long enough to be washed, but then tries to kick and scoot out of until I take him out and let him "swim". I found two things that may give him the freedom he'd enjoy but still keep him safe: Papillon Baby Bath Tub Ring Seat and something called an Inflatable neck collar in infant size. I'm leaning toward the Papillon but I need to do more research.

He loves to baby talk and laughs on his own and when we tickle him and just at seemingly random things we do. He really likes the red bean bag chair my mother (Grandma C) got him for Christmas. That is his favorite place to hang out while we eat. He's discovered his hands and reaches out for toys that dangle in front of him. One of his favorite toys is the Skip Hop Hug and Hide dog we got him for Christmas.
I still wear him, mostly in the Sleepy Wrap (now Boba Wrap) regularly...the Sleepy Wrap is my favorite baby wearing device right now. He didn't seem too keen on having his legs spread once he grew out of the frog position in the Baby Hawk Mei Tai. I tried him in the Ergo, since his neck control is so good, and again he didn't like having his hips that wide in that either. 


I'm looking into getting him a jumper and/or stationery playset (aka Exersaucer type) that way he's able to be UP and stimulated when I need to put him down. He loves to be straight up, looking around at everyone and everything. 

Noah: Happy Baby Pictures