New Routines

The one difficult thing about attachment parenting is...well...the attachment.
(Of course, I assume all parents feel attached to their babies.)
My heart longs for my little guy when we are apart. Even if the distance is only a room away.
Actually, that's harder.
I'm able to leave him in the care of others without getting emotional.
But when I know he's in another room of the house and I'm not with him, I get sad!
That's when I joke that I have an attachment disorder.

Other than a handful of times, my little guy has always taken his naps in the same room as me.
He's been little enough that he still sleeps through everything, so it hasn't been an issue.
He's also been in the routine of eat, play, sleep, repeat. Once awake, I can usually predict to the minute when he will get sleepy and need to go back to sleep (usually an hour after he wakes up).
But, lately that has been changing.
He has been sleeping longer and staying awake longer.
Over the past few days I've been noticing his schedule shifting and he's been fighting his evening naps.
Over the past few months we've gotten in the habit of letting him nap while we eat dinner and then nap again from about 8-9:30pm. He then would be awake for an hour or so and around 10:30pm, we'd start his bedtime routine.

Today, we tired something new. Well, he tried something new and I helped. :)
He took one LONG morning nap (about 2.5 hours) and then one LONG afternoon nap (3 hours).
This is much different from his usual 1 hour naps.
When he woke up at 5:30pm, he stayed up (well, he took a little 15 minute cat nap around 7:00) and we kept him busy and entertained, even though he was a bit fussy, until 8:30.
At 8:30, I took him upstairs and did his nighttime routine which we normally do at 10:30:
Bible story,
picture book,
nurse,
prayers,
cuddle/rock until asleep

He fell asleep at 8:45. Normally when he goes to sleep at 10:30, we all just go to bed.
But I'm not ready to go to bed at 8:45!
So...I laid him down on our bed and setup the video monitor!
Now I'm hanging out in the living room while he's upstairs. :/
Feeling very...separated.

I'm not sure how long he'll sleep now with this new routine, but I assume I'll be feeding him once more before I actually go to bed. :)

Regardless, he is four months old now and I guess it's time that I get used to "putting the baby down to sleep" instead of just letting him nap down in the living room with us until we're ready to go to bed. But, I want it on the record that I'm not too happy about it (for now).

There on the screen is the back of his little bald head!

Ahh! He turned his head! 

Welp...I just finished this post...

and he just woke up.

Haha! :)

Change 3 Things Challenge

The site I use most for my cloth diaper needs is Cotton Babies.

The best thing about this site is the free shipping! And my orders always come super fast.
Now, I have heard of other little shops that offer similar products, and I still need to check those sites out, because I am always interested in helping out small local businesses over big corporate organizations.

However, Cotton Babies is now promoting their Change 3 Things Challenge and I'd like to challenge you blog readers (all 5 of you?) to participate!

I LOVE cloth diapering. I do all cloth diapers, primarily as a money-saving means.
Since my son's birth in October, I have spent a grand total of $219.30 on diapers and supplies.
And that is all I will spend until he grows out of the current prefolds we use, which will probably be when he starts walking.

For those of you who care, this is how cloth diapering works for us:
We use a prefold, a Snappi, and a cover.

We have three different kinds of covers:
1. Econobum -these are pretty thin and often soak through if you wait too long between changes. The good thing about this one is that if you change him frequently enough, it works well, and it is affordable and adjustable.

2. Flip- this is our favorite cover. It adjusts in size so it will fit him his whole diaper-wearing life.

 3. We just got these Bummis covers and although they are super cute, they too soak through a bit, like the Econobums.














At night, we use a bit of a different system.
We use a BumGenuis insert against his skin because it wicks away moisture better than the prefold fabric:

 

Then, we put in a prefold, folded in thirds:

And cover it with a BumGenuis cover:

This way, with the double layer, we don't have to change him during the night at all. :)

I wash the diapers about every three days. I have enough prefolds to last about four days, but my diaper pail isn't that big! :) If the prefolds get stained, I just lay them over my ledge (even in the cold weather!) and the sun bleaches them clean.

 Burkley with prefold and Snappi in place

 ...and with the cover on!

I also make all my own wipes out of flannel and terry-cloth because who wants to carry a dirty wipe over to the trash when you're putting the cloth diaper into the diaper pail??! Along with my cloth wipes, to clean his little bum I just spray him with some Kissaluvs Diaper Lotion Potion! It smells so good and moisturizes his skin.

ANYWAY. 
Now that you know my cloth diapering rituals, how about that  
CHANGE 3 THINGS CHALLENGE ??!!

 So, here's how it works:
You commit to using three cloth diapers a day instead of disposables on your little diapered diva.

By doing this, you could save up to $260 a year! (Imagine if you did ALL cloth!?!??)
Also, did you know it takes 500 years for a disposable diaper to decompose in the landfill?

WOAH.

 Besides that, I just think they're so cute.

To learn more about this challenge just click here.

Nursing Necklace

Today I had a craft party.
I made a nursing necklace.
I got the idea from HoboMama over at her blog.
Here's the link to the tutorial.

It was easy, fun, and looks cute.
It gives my little man something to fiddle with while he eats. :)




As you can see, it can be for more than just eating. Sleeping too. :)

Irresistible!