Food!
What is it about food blogs? Is it because everyone runs into it multiple times a day? Probably. Or maybe those pictures of fresh sliced bread right out of the oven are just irresistible to clickage (Yes, clickage.).

Anyway, my thought (and question) is, what do YOU want to read? I would really like to be serious about writing in my blog a couple times a week, if not more. And if I’m not writing for my readers, then who am I writing for? So drop me a couple comments if you can. Be specific. Be vague. Be whatever you want to be. But tell me what you wanna see!

In Him,
Sara

I am pretty good about doing my floors weekly, keeping up with the pantry and fridge/freezer, changing bedsheets, etc. The necessary things.

What the routine DOES do is not let me worry about everything all at once. And that is the most important thing of all. The daily chores are hard enough to get done, let alone tidy the whole house while I’m at it, and take care of a rowdy 10 month old. There is less guilt.

Routines don’t work for everyone, or so I hear. It works great for me! I am so glad I did it!!

My son who is 10 (!) months old tomorrow got sick over the weekend. It has been a hard illness for him (and me), and probably his third cold of the season. He may have a slight fever too, and he is wheezing and coughing. It is hard for him to sleep.

Let’s backtrack. 2 months ago, my milk supply came to a screeching halt. Elijah was becoming too dependent on bottles of water and juice, and not nursing enough. I was tense, so milk wouldn’t let down and it was an incredible downward cycle. It took a week or more to get back on track, and even then wasn’t the same as before. He has always been a 2 minute nurser, so that didn’t help either. My LLL leader encouraged me and thankfully it all became okay again, but still just okay.

When he got sick this weekend, Elijah started nursing 1 or 2 times through the night and even more often during the day (more than the every 2 hours I nurse him already!). I have noticed a great abundance of milk supply despite his poor, sick suckling, and he is eating less and nursing more. Good for him!  There are such good antibody qualities in breastmilk, and it will help him get better quicker. It has been such a relief to know that my milk supply has really rose to the occasion, and I am thankful to God for it! Happy GratiTuesday!!

My new schedule focuses on one room of the house each day. I only include 5 days of the week, which leaves weekends to relax or to catch up on what I couldn’t do through the week. I have jobs for each day, things to sanitize daily, and things to do every evening.

Here is my schedule. Afterwards, I will tell you how I planned it all out!

Monday (Kitchen and Dining Room Day)

jobs: organize freezer, pantry, and refrigerator, and thoroughly dust both rooms.

sanitize: Elijah’s eating space, stove handles, fridge handles, freezer handle, water cooler and sink.

Tuesday (Laundry Room)

jobs:  wash, dry and fold any needed laundry, dust, clean the extra bathroom.

sanitize: table for clothes folding, laundry machines, clothes baskets, all chairs in the dining room and kitchen.

Wednesday (Living Room)

jobs: declutter and dust.

sanitize: 2 tables in the living room, tv remotes and game controllers

Thursday (Master bedroom)

jobs: declutter and dust, change bedsheets, organize the house recycling

sanitize: all house door handles and cupboard handles

Friday (Elijah’s room and Guest)

jobs: change bedsheets, dust, clean house bathroom thoroughly.

sanitize: crib and bookshelf, Elijah’s favorite toys.

For every evening I prepare anything I can for the next night’s dinner, make Eric’s lunch, and wash and cut up any vegetables I will make the next day for Elijah’s meals.

Making this schedule was easy…anybody can do it! First write down all the jobs that need done weekly in your house. Second, write down all the places and things you want sanitized weekly (ok so maybe I went a little crazy with this part, but it is easy to do with a lysol wipe or some good ol’ vinegar…it is the easiest part of my list). Choose a room or two to delegate to each day of the week, and break up the jobs and sanitizing chores to each day!  That’s it!!  If you have older kids, you can get even more done because you can write what you want them to do each day.

I love this schedule because I don’t worry about the whole house all day, every day. If there is a job I know needs done but it is scheduled for a day later in the week, it is off my mind. I have time to sit and play with Elijah, and my house is actually really clean.

I hope this helps those of you who read this! I love my schedule. It makes me feel really good about my house and jobs and the way I do it. Let me know how it works out for you!

We trained our son Elijah to sleep in his crib when he turned 5 months old. It was one of the hardest things I have ever had to do. But after the first day or two, he took to it like a duck to water and slept great!! Then…blast it all, he learned to climb to stand up. It was mayhem all over again! He would stand in his crib and not sleep. I didn’t know what to do. I searched online, and found that most mothers would go in after a few minutes of crying, and lay the baby back down and walk out (expression-less, so as to not give the baby attention, which is what they would want). Eventually, the baby would sleep.

I did this with Elijah for about 2 months. In the beginning, I did it because he did not know how to get back down once he stood up. It was cruel to make him stand there and not be able to get back down. And then, I did it because I didn’t know what else to do. And THEN he started waking up every 2 or 3 hours at night just to get the attention of me laying him back down!!  Something had to be done.

Last night I finally sucked it up and did something about it. Eric would be home the next morning (Saturday) so I could sleep in a bit, and no one was sleeping over our house for Elijah to terrorize at midnight with his protests. It had to be done. So at midnight, I lay in bed, watching the video baby monitor of him crying to the door, waiting for me to walk through and lay him back down 5 times in a row.  I never came. He was mad. I was heartbroken. I turned on the tv just to distract myself. And after 20-30 minutes, he laid himself down (still protesting angrily, but my first success: it was POSSIBLE, he could in fact, lay himself down). He did get up once more, but in a few minutes, he got down, crawled over to his favorite blankie and plopped down. A few cute struggles to get comfortable later, he was sound asleep. And I was wide awake. But so happy! And to top it off, he only woke up for his 3 AM feeding (not the other couple times he usually wakes up).

I knew naptimes would be the biggest battle of mama vs determined son. Today, for two of his naps he was too tired to stand up. He laid right down to sleep. For his third and final nap, I thought he was out cold as well, but I saw in the monitor he had indeed stood up and was talking to himself. Eventually, he started crying, and I was doubting myself again. I busied myself with some chores and hoped and prayed.

5 short minutes later, he was laying down! I couldn’t believe it!  In only 5 minutes! To someone else, this may not sound like a big victory. But I know my son. It means he wanted me to come in, but he understands that I won’t be doing it anymore. It is a big victory for mama.

Thank you for reading along. It was an exciting time for me, and I was thrilled to share it. It was all God’s grace in listening to my prayer. He is good!

Keep checking back! I will be here . Eventually…

I don’t mean this post to be overly negative. I have had a very rough day and it is late. I just don’t feel like going to bed yet, and so decided to update my blog. Perhaps this was the wrong place to vent . My apologies.

In other news, I can eat dairy! It doesn’t bother Elijah like I thought it did, and butter pecan ice cream is sooooo delicious. And parmesan cheese. Yum. It took me a long time to realize that gluten bothered the little guy, and also took a long time for me to get used to a gluten-free diet. But we are both doing better now, and finding more tasty things to eat!

Well, this was kind of a random post. Thanks for reading! Check back soon for my post about Lake Bloomington, Illinois. I should go to bed now . Good night!

I don’t know everything about cloth diapers, nor have I tried everything out there. So I am just writing on what I have tried and what I know. I hope it helps!

To my understanding, there are 2 basic styles of cloth diapers. One is the “stuffing” method, where you stuff the cloth diaper with a prefold (the basic white diaper that you fold the two sides in) or other “stuffer” that the diaper comes with. When the baby soils the diaper, you have to wash both the inside, and the outer parts of the diaper. These types of diapers tend to be much more expensive, plus more laundry. And you would have to buy a ton of them, since you have to wash them often. I may be wrong on some of this information since I have never tried them, but that is my basic understanding.

The other type of cloth diapering is a basic prefold or insert with a rubber/plastic outside. When the baby soils the diaper, you toss the prefold/insert into the diaper pail or dirty bag and you can reuse the wrap. You only have to wash the wrap if the baby gets the wrap “poopied.”

Keep in mind that I have a chunky baby. If your baby is different, a different option might be considered for you.

I bought the Thirsties Duo wrap from www.cottonbabies.com (a great website, with free shipping!!). The Duo wrap was 2 sizes…just unbutton for a different size. I got size 1, which went fom 8 to 15 lbs, or around there. You have to get size 2 when the baby outgrows it. There are only 2 sizes for this wrap. All in all, I did NOT like this wrap. It was around 13 dollars each, ALWAYS got poop on the edges, and the velcro constantly scratched my little one. I had three of them and was washing them all the time.

So I decided to try something different. For the same price (13 dollars), the Flip diaper wrap is so much better!! On the inside is a mini flap in the back AND front to tuck the prefold in, so the pee stays in!! I don’t think I have ever had a leak with these to stain any clothes…at all! Granted, every once in a while, poop gets on the edges, but it is usually small enough to where I can just wipe it a little and the wrap can be used again. Disposables always leak poopy out of the back, and with the Thirsties wrap, I always had leaks out the front with pee and washed them constantly…with every poop, and that isn’t an exaggeration. I have washed each of my Flip wraps MaYbE 2 times each, and have had them for a while. Plus the colors they come in are superbly amazing . Plus the Flip diapers come in an “All in One” size system, to fit babies 8 lbs and up! SO if the wrap lasts, you can use it forever! I will let you know how that goes. lol! Right now I am in the middle size.

I also tried the Econobum wrap. They stain easier than the Flip, and only come in white. But they are 9 dollars each and work well! Also are “All in One” sizing which is great. I still like the Flip better, but I do like the Econobum! Does about the same job with “poop catching” as the Flip. I was impressed.

I have a bag I bought on Cotton Babies…(http://www.cottonbabies.com/product_info.php?products_id=2193) a Bummis Fabulous Wet Bag. It is AMAZING. If you are planning to cloth diaper outside the home (which is a TON easier than I thought), I would definitely invest in this bag. And spend a few bucks more and buy the Medium size. It is worth it!! I can fit a ton in there, so it is great for all day outings, doesn’t smell, and washes easily. It has a loop and snap so you can hook it on your diaper bag, stroller…anything! I have 5 diaper wraps. It is more than enough for daily and outing diapering. I only use disposables at night because I don’t change unless my son poops, and sometimes he goes all night.

As for prefolds, you have 2 options: Indian or Chinese, and for the life of me, I can’t tell a difference, besides that the Indian are a tad more soft. And you can get them unbleached I think. You can read about the pros and cons of each at the Cotton Babies website if you look up one or the other kind. The unfortunate thing is that the prefolds have sizes! I wish they came in all one size. I bought 24 of the infant size because the Regular size was too big until Elijah was about 15 lbs or more. 24 was definitely enough for me. I have 36 Regular size diapers and have to fold the front down because it is still too long for him, but at least he has room to grow. Cotton Babies sells another size bigger prefold but I think the middle Regular size will fit for the rest of his diapered life. I hope.  Flip diapers also want to sell you their insert. It is expensive, and they say it keeps the wetness off of baby’s bum. It doesn’t catch poop well, but maybe holds more fluid, I am not sure yet. But if you order at Cotton Babies, they have an option where you can buy a Flip wrap WITH an insert for around 16 or 17 dollars. I did this, and have 3 of the inserts. It is only a few dollars, so maybe worth the try to see if YOU like it! Shipping is free, so you can always order more if you like them.

A tip! Use Cloth Wipes!! Don’t worry about buying any special kind. Regular baby bath wipes work great. I got a ton from different people, or you could buy 16 for cheap (the Gerber kind). I don’t even know how many I have. I keep about 6 to 8 separate for bathtime, and wash them with Elijah’s clothes, but the other wipes I wash with the diapers. You can either wet them at a sink, or if you don’t want to do that, use the Peri-bottle the hospital gave you! That thing is Heaven-sent. When you are done with it, run it through the dishwasher to rid of any germs, and just fill with regular water and keep with your changing stuff! Spray a wipe as you need it. I even carry mine around with me and wipes when we go out. Although, if you use regular wipes when you go out, they wash fine through the laundry machine and dryer…and you just toss them when you find them as you are folding (they don’t re-wet nicely).

Whew, what a spiel! I love cloth diapering…it saves a ton of money!! All the things I have (minus the Thirsties wraps…because I wish I hadn’t bought those) is at or under 150 dollars. That is way less than the approximate 2000dollars per child for dispoasables. And you can reuse cloth diapers for each child until they wear out…then make a modest purchase at Cotton Babies without paying for shipping! You can’t beat it.

I hope this helps you! Please leave a comment if you have any questions at all and I will address them as soon as I can.