Nora: Three Months Old

I cannot believe that three whole months have gone by since this sweet little girl was born.

This girl, who is so mellow, so content to be on her belly, so able to roll onto her belly (what?!), so happy to smile at us and chat with us.

(That outfit? That was my outfit, a gift from my sweet godmother. How fun to be able to put it on my girl!)

This girl, who has completely grown out of newborn prefolds and is comfortably in bumGenius diapers, and almost comfortably in medium-size prefolds, and who has grown out of nearly all of her three-month clothes.

This ever-growing girl, who has stolen our hearts and doubled the joy in this house.

We are so thankful for the gift that is our sweet Nora Lorraine. So incredibly thankful.

And We're Off!

After an awesome visit with my parents a couple of weeks ago, it's time for us to take off on an adventure of our own... Italy, here we come!

We've spent the last few days preparing for our big trip, and thankfully almost everything's taken care of at this point. We're taking military flights as far as we can (can't beat free), so that makes planning a little tougher, but we're trying to stay flexible. Our tentative plan is to leave for Dover AFB in the wee hours of the morning tomorrow!

Last night we hurried to get everything together in case there was a flight out today. We wanted to pack light since there'd be so much traveling involved with this trip; more stuff definitely isn't worth the extra hassle to us. For a three-ish week journey, I think we did pretty good:

Especially since all of the above packs into this:

Of course, changes have been made since we snapped this shot last night. Instead of the packing cube of bumGenius diapers, we got two Grovia diapers today and a package of disposable inserts (they decompose in about six weeks as opposed to the 500+ years experts think regular disposable diapers might take to break down). We'll still take a couple of BG's for overnight use and for when we have easy access to a washing machine. Since we're taking fewer diapers, we're also bringing a much smaller wet bag instead of our large one. The Grovias came highly recommended by a fellow shopper, whose rave reviews really made the decision much easier. Can't wait to see how we like them!

We also forgot to include AJ's little bag of goodies for the plane in the first photo. This was fun to put together, because we wanted the boy to have a bunch of new (or new-to-him) little things and activities to keep him occupied and happy on so many long flights. A bag of pipe cleaners (how have I never introduced AJ to the fun of pipe cleaners before?), a little macaroni-on-a-string activity that I was reminded of on Pinterest, a little felt strawberry Daddy made, a couple of sticker books, a little toy calf, and mini Iron Man and Silver Surfer guys. Hope they're a hit!

We kept busy in the kitchen last night, too, baking some more graham crackers for the boy and I to snack on during our travels. I have to say, these are so easy to make and are really delicious! (Even our neighbors love them!) Here's the recipe, if you're interested. I cut them into little Cheese-It size squares to make them easy for AJ to handle (and keep him and our surroundings slightly less crumb-y), and that seems to work out pretty wonderfully.

We've also been busy scrubbing down the house before we leave. My mama made sure to tell me the other day, "Don't forget to clean the toilets before you go," and as much as I wanted to (and perhaps did) roll my eyes, she's right. And Mama, they're all done! As much as scrubbing the inside of our soon-to-be-empty refrigerator or vacuuming the upstairs isn't exactly what I'd most love to be doing this evening, it'll be so worth it to come home to an incredibly clean house. (And, taking so little clothing means we'll only be doing a load or two of laundry when we return. Win!) Nothing like coming back from a big (or little) trip to a clean, relaxing space.

Alright, T-minus nine hours and counting... Time to cross the rest of the to-dos off of our list. Card making, toothbrush finding - we bought AJ a new one just yesterday and can't seem to find it anywhere - and packing, teepee sewing, puzzle making... And the list goes on!

Hope to posting from somewhere other than the island soon!

Traveling with a 15 Month Old

We've travelled with AJ many, many times in his short little life so far, and fortunately we've been getting smarter and smarter about it. Here's what we learned this time (along with a few cellphone shots of the boy on our travels):

Meals: Figuring out meals as you go is not a great plan. We did this on the way to Albany, and it was a pain. And messy. So for the way back, I stopped at Target and bought three different Ella's Kitchen baby food pouches. AJ eats table food exclusively now, but for mess-free airplane meals these veggie-and-fruit-only pouches are amazing. These will be a go-to for future trips! Also, nursing-friendly tops are very helpful for discreet nursing while seated 2.5 inches from a complete (often male) stranger. I just layered a cotton t-shirt over a stretchy camisole; camisole covers the belly, bottom of the t-shirt covers baby's mouth. Pair those with quick mama reflexes (for when distractible toddler suddenly decides he is all done for the eleventh time in two minutes), and our flights were wardrobe-malfunction free.

 Crazy boy sitting so well for a picture on the way to NY.

Luggage: On the way to Albany, we mailed two large flat-rate USPS boxes full of clothes to my parents' house and carried two bags (a diaper bag and a shoulder bag) on the plane. It was nice to not carry everything, but the shipping cost $30 and the two bags I did carry were still kind of heavy and really uncomfortable. On the way back to Honolulu, I packed all of our things into a carry-on suitcase that my mom wanted to donate and carried the necessities in the backpack my wonderful husband ordered me for the Ergo baby carrier. It's a great size, and can be worn as a regular backpack or attached to the front of the Ergo depending on your needs. This made our return trip much more comfortable and enjoyable! (It was somewhat less enjoyable to learn that the airline had left our luggage in Phoenix, but thankfully we got it back the next day. Next time, I'll just carryon one suitcase to avoid the headache.)

Sleepy boy did so very well on the flights back to Honolulu!

Diaper changes: We used cloth diapers throughout our trip, even during 12+ hours of flying through three different airports. And you know what? I'd do it again next time. Honestly, the only downside I can think of is that they take up a bit more space, but I'm okay with that. (Okay, and when he pooped on the long flight back to Honolulu and I had to change him in the tiny airplane lavatory that was not equipped with a changing table, that may have counted toward the downside. Picture a distraught mother looking in every nook and cranny of said 2'x2' lavatory for a changing table, feeling like a moron for not being able to find it - we later learned this older plane had none, which helped my ego a bit - and then changing the 2-1/2' tall boy while he stood on the floor next to me and knocked my glasses off my face. Better yet, don't picture it. It was kind of awful.) So, what did all of this teach me? 1. Cloth diapers are fine, even for transoceanic trips. 2. When changing a toddler on your lap, they are much happier with the situation if their head is near your head, not hanging off your lap near your feet. 3. When changing a stinky toddler in an airplane bathroom, take his shorts off first (as in while you're at your seat), don't waste time looking for the darn changing table if it's not glaringly obvious where it is, and make it quick. It's not like he's enjoying it either.

Watching us takeoff from O'Hare.

Layovers: In trying to keep the boy happiest on the planes where he was much more confined, I tried to tire him out as much as possible at the airports during our layovers. On the way back to Hawai'i, this meant letting him run around the terminal while I followed closely behind. I got a ton of side-eyes for being that mom, but I figured that if he were to scream on the plane next to any of the side-eyers, they would have wished that he had rid himself of some of his restlessness prior to boarding. So, run around the airport, as politely and quietly as possible, it was. "We go behind people, not in front of them," and "We already ate, we don't need to go into that restaurant" were a couple of phrases that I had to use once or twice (or maybe a thousand) times. Unfortunately, so was "AJ, please be GENTLE!" when he found three little boys to play with near our gate. Sometimes he's such a great playmate. This time, he squeezed the littlest boy's arm like crazy; I'm not even sure why, and I felt so horrible, even though the little guy didn't seem to care all that much. Let's hope there's no repeat of that, little boy!

Checking out the baseball exhibit in Phoenix's Sky Harbor Int'l.

All in all, traveling with the boy was wonderful. He was so good on the plane; he was the biggest flirt I've ever seen with every lady we encountered. We sat next to parents of many (six, then nine) on our last two flights back home, which made those legs of the journey much more enjoyable. (Much more so than when we sat next to the twenty-something young man who attempted to play solitaire a few inches from AJ on one of our flights. 52 card pick-up, anyone? Yikes.) As long as I kept our luggage to a minimum, stayed positive, and tried to go with the flow as much as possible, things went well. When I let myself get frustrated and overwhelmed, or got caught up in how very tired I was after traveling alone with a toddler for 12+ hours, things got a little crazy. Sometimes - most of the time - it's all in the attitude. While I'm not planning on making such a huge trip without James again, I'm not at all anxious about our next trip like I was about this one. With a little prep work and a lot of smiles, traveling with baby in tow can be a good time!

Our beautiful view of O'ahu: Almost home!

Adventures in Cloth Diapering - 4 Months In

...and loving it! I wish we had done this from day one, but, hindsight is 20-20, right? And, there's always next time!

We cautiously embarked upon our cloth diapering adventure after many, many hours of research, and after much debate and hesitation. We loved the idea of not buying diapers every month. We really liked the idea of soft, comfy, chemical-free cloth next to our baby's bum. We did not love the idea of dealing with baby poop on a daily basis, beyond throwing it right in the garbage. But as it turns out, cloth diapering is no big deal!

We started out with Econobum diapers, which consist of prefolds and covers. They're the cheapest cloth diapering option, and they're adorable, but we were a little intimidated by them.



So, we moved on to bumGenius 4.0 one-size diapers. These are pocket diapers; we just stuff a single insert (+ two newborn inserts for nighttime, which come with the diapers) in each cover after they're washed and dried, and we're good to go.


Speaking of washing and drying, we've found that laundry is not the hassle we thought it'd be, nor do we do it much more often than we used to. Dirty diapers are stored in a waterproof wetbag, and every other evening, we throw the diapers and the wetbag in the washer for a cold rise/hot wash/cold rise cycle with just a tiny bit of Tide Original powdered detergent. Then we put the inserts in the dryer and hang the covers up to dry. (Hence the diapers-on-the-doorknobs photos in the ten month post!) Dirty diapers only require one extra step: we throw the flushable liner in the toilet and move on. (If it's a particularly messy diaper, I rinse it out in the sink before tossing it in the wetbag, but I'm probably a little over-zealous in my diaper cleaning.)

To make sure that we don't have any leaks at nighttime, AJ wears a wool soaker over his bumGenius pocket diaper. Very inexpensive, easy to care for, and oh-so-cute. We got custom soakers made (each for less than the price of a diaper!) by Forty41 on etsy.com. The owner is such a pleasure to work with, and her work is incredible! The soaker below has the Chicago Cubs logo on the hip; our other soaker is black and white with a skull and crossbones applique.




Most recently, we've tried a Rumparooz pocket diaper with a hemp insert. They seem incredibly well made, and we love how this diaper and insert feel - so soft, and no microfiber. We also love the idea of the double gussets to contain messes (we haven't dealt with one in this diaper yet, so we can't comment on how well the gussets work). If they weren't considerably more expensive than the bumGenius, we'd probably switch exclusively to them. We do, however, plan on using their Lil Joey newborn diapers for Baby #2. Besides the quality and softness factors, the Rumparooz come in some adorable prints. So adorable that we just couldn't say no to this one:

We've also made the switch to cloth wipes in the last few weeks, another decision I wish we'd made earlier. So easy, it's a little ridiculous, and the twelve we have are plenty. We just keep water and a few drops of baby wash in a little spray bottle (it was $0.99 at Target!), spray him down, wipe him, and stick the wipe in the diaper and the diaper in the wetbag. Done.

Last, but not least, we've been using cloth even when we travel. We've brought them to NY, and then to D.C. In NY, it's easy because we have access to my parents' washing machine. Cloth diapering is as easy there as it is at home. In D.C. we were in a hotel, but we just packed our wetbag and rinsed each diaper in the sink before tossing it in since we'd be going a little longer than normal before doing laundry. Our thirteen diapers got us through the entire three day weekend, including both drives to and from D.C. On shorter outings, we just put the used dipes in a small wetbag that we keep in the diaper bag. (We had this wetbag before we switched to cloth that was used for clothes that had been sacrificed to disposable diaper explosions. Glad we don't have to deal with those anymore!) We thought using cloth when we're out and about would be a bit of a pain, but it hasn't felt like a burden at all.

All around, cloth diapering is so incredibly easy. I never thought I would even try cloth, let alone love it, but I can't say it enough: CLOTH DIAPERING ROCKS!