Taking time to nurse the baby

Bills due, meals to be cooked, house to be cleaned, email's to be answered, phones ringing, . . . And this is just the beginning of the list of things fighting for our attention as moms. It can be overwhelming. I'm constantly trying to find ways to multitask and get everything done quicker. One of those ways I multitask is nursing the baby while doing other things. You can learn pretty quickly how to nurse and do just about anything one handed. But just because I'm able to, is it what's best for me and my baby? I started asking myself this the other day when I was trying to get some work done on the computer and nurse at the same time. I was busy trying to type and fill in the budget one handed as best I could when I looked down and noticed two big blue eyes looking up and studying my face. I smiled at her and she paused for a moment to give me a big milky grin and then continued eating while we just stared at each other. And you know what? My milk started flowing even harder. Just taking that moment to really relax and enjoy that bond with my little girl helped released the oxytocin needed to get my milk flowing better. I felt less stressed too. The work could wait. My little girl needed me at that moment for comfort and bonding and nourishment. And I needed her in that moment to relax, destress, and refocus on what's really important. Yes, there will be moments when you just need to nurse and get things done. But really stop and ask yourself, "Can this task wait while I take some time to nurse the baby?". This of course applies to moms who bottle feed as well. It's such a wonderful feeling to look deep into your babies eyes and feel the warmth of their love for you! Don't let that moment slip away.

Some of our favorite Cloth Diapers

I've heard it all, "I don't know how you cloth diaper." "You're so much better than me, I wish I could do it." "Look at you so natural and saving the planet." I'm always too awkward and embarrassed in the moment to know what to say as I stumble out something like "oh we'll I used to do plastic diapers with Meg sometimes." Why am I embarrassed? Why is anyone embarrassed of the choices we make in raising and taking care of our children? Isn't it silly? I think for me I don't want others to think that I'm thinking lesser of the mama's out there that are using disposable diapers. I'm not a better mama. I'm not amazing at saving the planet. Aren't we all just trying to do what's best for our particular circumstances and families? Here are the reasons my husband and I have chosen to use cloth diapers.

1. I love to collect cloth diapers! They are just too cute! Yep, I admit it. My first reason was purely selfish and shallow of me. I love all the colors and the patterns and that you can get them soft and fuzzy on the outside or the normal PUL fabric outer. You can get their initials monogrammed on the bum or some little frilly lace. I loved how some pulled up and down easily like pull-ups and some flip down in the front for infant potty training. I would pour over review after review, and store after store dreaming about all the cute little diapers my babies could wear. After seeing some of the store prices I started thinking "Maybe I'll never get to own any. This is so expensive!"

2. I could learn to sew my own! That's when I started thinking maybe I can sew my own for cheaper! I had received several cloth diapers from my mom and dad for my baby shower with Meg. (Let me just say, Best Baby Shower Gift Ever! If you're looking for something that keeps on giving for someone special!) Oh they were beautiful and I loved them and I used them a lot! (Some of them are still being used with Amy right now!) But even though they bought me a whole box full, I still needed a few more to make it practical. So I started looking for diaper sewing tutorials and videos. I went to the fabric store and bought the fabric, I bought a decently priced snap press and plastic snaps, and made one diaper! I was so proud of it crooked stitched and all. But sadly production stopped at just one mostly because of my sewing machine's problems. . .Or maybe it's my lack of sewing machine knowledge problems. I somehow can't get through a project without having to unjam and re thread every few stitches. It drove me crazy. So now I have several yards of PUL in my closet that I should really figure out what I'm going to do with it.

3. It saves us money! Once we had a stash big enough to cloth diaper full time, we didn't have the expense of buying plastic diapers every month. Yes you do have to wash more often so there is some added water cost, but the savings are still beneficial. We have used cloth wipes along with the cloth diapers to save even more not needing to buy wipes. Although sometimes wipes are convenient to still have for messy faces and what not in the car and recently we've been buying regular wipes to have on hand for moments like that.

3. My husband and I both agree on cloth diapering. It took a little time to get my husband on board with cloth diapering. We talked about the benefits of saving money and that we could use the diapers for all our future children. I hoped that us both starting out with cloth would help us not know the ease of tossing and throwing away diapers. There were times at the beginning that my husband wanted to just buy some disposables, like when I was having trouble washing the diapers as I didn't realize you couldn't use regular laundry soap, as I had been doing, and our diapers started leaking. But after looking up diaper washing tutorials and figuring out how to fix our leaking diapers we started to get better at it, and my husband was more on board. I don't think I could full time cloth diaper without his approval and support. He helps me wash them when I'm sick or just too tired. He's great at changing diapers now. It took a little while of learning for both of us, but because we both agree that it works for our family, it's not an issue in our relationship and we now have our system down. (I'll explain our system below if you're interested in knowing.)

4. It helps decrease the amount of diapers in the dump. We do take the Bible verses that tell us to take care of the earth seriously. No we're not perfect in our family. We could do more. But we try to make conscious decisions to recycle and not litter, and cloth diapering for our individual family is just another step in trying to do our part. My husband and I get irked by the Christians we've come across that seem to think taking care of our environment is liberal and stupid. We've heard people tell us "we're not tree huggers" like it's something to be proud of that they're not. Are they really proud that they don't care about caring for the earth God gave us to care for? They're being a bad testimony for Christians. It's one thing to just not feel you have the time or resources to cloth diaper, like my friend who lives in an apartment and has to use the laundromat. Or my friends that have to go to work and use daycare. Or the mom who is just. so. tired! I understand all that!  It's another thing to proudly state that you don't care and will do what you want when you want. Makes them sound silly. I also really get annoyed with people who automatically think we are liberal because we are into natural medicine, home births, and cloth diapering. Most people who know me, know I'm very conservative in my view points. I guess you can call us conservative tree huggers. :)

The diapers we use
We've used several brands and types through the years but here is a quick run down in case anyone is interested in what we like to use.

1. Bella Bottoms These are the diapers my parents bought me for my shower. They were so beautiful and girly with little roses and soft colors. They were fitted snap diapers with covers. If the inside diaper is dirty you just change the diaper and use the same cover for most of the day if it isn't pooed on. :) It was very simple to do. I had some diapers in bamboo, some in cotton (like washcloth material), and some in hemp. The Hemp and bamboo were sadly first to get destroyed. After washing them over and over they just started shredding to pieces, but I did get us use them all the way from Meg through Jo's diapering life time. And I still have all the covers that have made it through all four girls. The diapers didn't leak too often. I think they would have done even better if I had known from the get go how to take care of them better. I feel like when I started diapering there wasn't a whole lot on the internet about how to do it as I searched but didn't find answers. I don't think Bella Bottoms are selling anymore. But they were beautiful and a decent price at about $12 a diaper.

2. Fuzzy Bunz I recieved several of these as hand me downs from moms that didn't have time to cloth diaper, or some of them were gifts at one of my baby showers. They work really welly as far as keeping leaks in. I have several in the newborn size that I use actually until my girls are about 5 months. (maybe my girls are smaller than normal?) I also have some one size fits all that I like as well. They have held up through all four girls. They don't leak unless they are on crooked or something. The only trouble I have with them is that I'm lazy and the system they have for making the diaper smaller or larger in the leg hole is this elastic band you have to pull out and button at the tightness you need them at. Kind of like the kids jeans that have the adjustable waists. No it's not rocket science to adjust them, but as in the past I've had up to two kids in diapers at a time it's kind of a pain to root your fingers in that little hole to pick out the elastic and re button it where it needs to be. I know I'm lazy right?! But my lovely pocket diapers that I tend to favorite, have snaps on them that you just easily snap where you want them to fit and it just seems easier to my tired mama brain. I feel kind of guilty, like I should favorite these diapers the most since they are the most expensive in my stash. They are nice, but not my most favorite.

3. Lovely Pocket Diapers I am so excited I found these diapers. I think I got them when Jo was almost out of diapers and Beth was just about to be born. Like I said above, I love that they adjust so quickly from newborn to toddler size. They were just as good as my expensive Fuzzi Bunz, if not better in the not leaking department. And they were a great price at $7-$7.50 a pop. I also loved working with Melissa in the process. We actually found out from a friend that we lived not too far from her and she offered to meet my husband at work to give us our order. That was very nice as I was actually at home in early labor and it took one more thing off my mind. Very sweet to work with! I am an affiliate with Lovely Pocket Diapers, so if you click on my link here I'll get a percentage of the sale for referring you. I would not be an affiliate for this company if I didn't love them and think they were a great diaper. So if you want to buy diapers and support me while doing so, thank you. :) Click here to visit Lovely Pocket Diapers.

4. Coolababy Pull up Cloth Diapers These are diapers I found on Ebay from China. I normally try to buy local, but at the time finances were very tight and I just needed a few more diapers for Beth who was almost potty trained but still was having accidents in public places. I wanted to see if there was a trainer diaper out there that would pull up and down but still be somewhat waterproof so I didn't have to worry about changing her clothes at the zoo (no fun!), or worry about her wetting friend's couches when visiting. (embarrassing!) So I found these diapers for $9 and free shipping. I bought three of them as I was unsure how they would work. I wouldn't say they leak, but they do wick on the edges a tiny bit when wet. But for training pants, they work well to keep pants dry. They pull up and down pretty easily with the elastic in the waist and they also they are made like a pocket diaper with snaps so they can snap off in case of an accident. Beth has a little trouble pulling them up herself as the pocket that kept the liner in it would kind of mess up and be a little tricky to pull up, but if I helped her it went ok. Overall I think think it was a worthwhile investment. And I recently discovered they also are fitting on Amy at 6 months. Although since they wick a little I don't use them unless we are low on diaper wash day and I need an emergency diaper.

5. Waterproof Wet Bags We have two wet bags that we rotate taking out with us in the diaper bag when we go places. I didn't have these with Meg and Joe. I was trying to save extra money and just use grocery bags. Grocery bags kinda work, but the smell can get really horrid sitting in the hot car if you have several places to go! Be warned! I am so thankful that we bought two wet bags now to keep the stink out. These also keep the moisture from seeping through to the diaper bag. If you're not planning on using cloth diapers, these are also great for putting wet clothes or swim suits in to keep your dirty and wet items separate from anything dry in your bag!


Our Wash Routine

We have enough Diapers that we can go about three days without washing, but because I don't want the diapers sitting dirty that long, I try to wash every other day. We've tried several methods and have found this method works best for us with our hard water.

1. If any solids, shake out in potty right away when changing if possible. It will be easier, but if it has been awhile you may have to use a bit of toilet paper to wipe it off. I've heard good things about diaper sprayers, but haven't got a chance to use one yet. If yellow newborn nursing poo, we just toss it in the wash as is.

2. I like to do a hot pre-rinse to clean off any baby poo and pee. Since my washer won't do a hot rinse, I just run the shortest hot cycle without soap. (It helps to put down my diaper wash on top of the washer lid at this point so I don't forget I still need to wash with soap next)

3. Run a hot wash with diaper soap and a rinse. We love Rockin' Green Hard Rock wash the best for our hard water situation. Have tried Nelly's soap (it's ok), Tide free and clear (went bad for us), and Crunchy Clean (it's ok). We keep going back to Rockin' Green as our favorite. It's kind of pricey, but the bag normally lasts us 3 months.

4. We normally dry in the dryer on a normal cycle, but I think in my mind someday I'll line dry them to get them sun bleached perfect. :)

It's really not too hard to do. We also do Elimination Communication hoping to have them potty trained before they are eating solids and having solid poos. :) I'll have to do a blog on that in the future!

Let me know if you have any questions or comments below and I'll be happy answer!

This post contains affiliate links, but all the opinions are my own. If you shop through my links I get a percentage of the sale which helps support my family. Thank you!

Marriage, Family, and Finance Books We Love

A close friend of ours is getting married this month. I'm the type that likes to really think carefully before I buy a present, especially a wedding present. I get so frustrated when we forgot to get the present and have to run to the store 30 mins before the party or wedding and we just have to grab anything that will do as fast as we can! Sadly my sister's wedding was one of those frustrating moments. Of course for my sister I really wanted to get something even more memorable and nice for her! But somehow in the buzz of the wedding I didn't get her what I had hoped. I guess we'll just have to make it up and surprise them some anniversary with a belated better present. I like to have a few weeks or months to really think about all my options. I don't want to just get something that will clutter up the newlyweds home. Decluttering is already challenging enough combining two separate lives into one with all the old memory nick nacks that tend to accumulate through your growing up years. 7 years of marriage later my husband and I are still trying to get our home decluttered from all the junk we've separately accumulated. I also don't like buying things that need replaced quickly. I like to buy things that when they use them they remember we cared. We have several wedding gifts of our own like this. Every time we go on a camping trip we remember a couple friend of ours who bought us our tent. Maybe that's silly of me, I don't know. Anyways, as I've been shopping around for a present for my friend, I finally decided I was going to go through and pick some of our favorite books related to marriage, finances, and babies to give them as well as a few fun kitchen items that they had on their registry list to help them set up their new home. It was a tough job narrowing our favorites down to just a few, but here is a list with links to some of the books that have really helped us grow together as a couple in different aspects of life.

Marriage

-Love & Respect: The Love She Most Desires; The Respect He Desperately Needs
This book was great for helping us understand early on what they call the "crazy cycle" where one doesn't feel loved so they show disrespect and the other feels disrespect so they don't show love. That cycle can keep going and going until sadly sometimes it ends in divorce. Or we can choose to stop the cycle and choose to show love and/or respect in spite of what we think our spouse deserves which in turn helps heal our relationship with our spouse. (Now this doesn't mean letting a spouse abuse you. If you're experiencing abuse, you need to find someone safe to help you through that.) This book is full of other great helpful chapters on understanding our spouses and that's why it made it to our favorites list.

-The Power of a Praying Wife
When we were first married, I decided to sign up for a Spanish Bible Study to keep my Spanish practice going. It was such a sweet group of about 5 older ladies and me, the only newlywed. I was so grateful to find a Bible Study of women who encouraged me and truly respected and loved their own husbands, instead of the much more common scenario where you go to a Women's Bible Study and they are all bashing their husbands. I loved every moment in that group! This book taught how powerful and real prayer can be in your marriage. The lessons I learned from these ladies and this book were so important to me and I still use a lot of what I learned from them today. I'm thankful I read this book at the beginning of our marriage.

-Real Marriage: The Truth About Sex, Friendship, and Life Together
What a great book this is! Oddly enough this book also helped me through some depression I was going through as Mark Driscoll talks about a point where he too was going through the same kind of depression. I have experienced Postpartum Depression, but in this book as you'll find, there are other reasons that can lead you to depression as well. This helped put in words what I couldn't seem to explain on my own to my husband.

Childbirth
-Ina May's Guide to Childbirth
I know, I know! A childbirth book on their wedding day?! But you have to understand as a Doula this is a passion of mine. The book is so fascinating explaining the female body that I wish all women could read it even if they never planned to have a baby. Did you know that women can actually go backwards in dilation? Or how about that birth can actually sometimes feel good? Yes as a believer, I know the Bible says we will have "pain in childbirth", but Ina Mae, who doesn't profess to be a believer, but has researched the original words in that verse explains in her book that the word can actually be translated "hard work" or "toil" instead of "pain". Everyone experiences birth differently, but this will open your eyes to what you don't normally see when the media portrays birth. I will warn you the pictures show everything. My husband wanted me to cover the pictures for him or just read it to him as it made him uncomfortable looking at other women like that.

Finances
-Dave Ramsey's Complete Guide to Money: The Handbook of Financial Peace University
We read this book along while going through the Financial Peace University Workshop before we were even married. A great read on how to take care of your finances so you don't get into the deep pit of debt. Sadly, my husband and I still did go into some debt a few times in our marriage, but we are working to dig out of that hole and grow our assets.

-Rich Dad Poor Dad: What The Rich Teach Their Kids About Money That the Poor and Middle Class Do Not!
This is one of the latest books we've been reading. For believers, sometimes we are afraid to make money. We think money is evil and so we should just make enough to provide for our families and not "be greedy" and try to make a lot of money. We think we don't want to be "filthy rich". My husband and I now are learning as we read this book that like the parable of the talents in the Bible, we should be going out and trying to multiply our talents or money. It's kind of sad that there are so many missionaries out there that have to take long periods of time off to raise support. Shouldn't we as believers be wise with our money so we can give even more and help out. This book explains how to stop working for money and make money work for you through your assets. A very exciting and encouraging book. It's worth much more than the $4.83 price tag!

Hopefully some of these books can be an encouragement to you too!

Natural Homemade Bug Spray

Our family just got back from a family reunion camping trip. There were bugs everywhere! Scorpions, huge ugly spiders, pesky flies, and blood sucking mosquitoes! Thankfully I came prepared with a giant bottle of our natural homemade bug spray. I was so pleased that it worked so well. . .until we lost it one of the days and we each had quite a few bites! But while we had it, it worked! It's really simple to make. Amazon sells Insect Shield that is an aromatherapy blend of essential oils that naturally wards off bugs. You can either dab a few drops on your clothes, or I learned that you could also mix it with Thayer Witch Hazel and spray it on as you would any other bug spray. It smelled similar to a much more expensive brand of natural bug spray I've purchased in the past, but it was a cost effective option for making a large quantity to get our family of six through the long weekend. My husband loved that it didn't make him feel sticky like some others we've tried. The Thayer's witch hazel with Aloe in the blend gives more of a refreshing feeling to the skin. Now I'm not a doctor or herbalist, so make this and spray this at your own risk. But I did feel comfortable spraying this on our little ones arms and legs.

Here's how I made it:

Combine 12 oz of Thayer Witch Hazel with 120 drops of the Insect Shield (I used ten drops per every ounce of Witch Hazel for my ratio, you can make it stronger or weaker if you'd like. My ratio was pretty strong smelling, but it worked really well!)

Pour the concoction into an old clean spray bottle.
(Essential oils store better in dark bottles, so if you have one use that. Also if you're storing this on a shelf for awhile, a glass bottle would be best as essential oils can eat at plastic.)

Shake before you spray it on to remix the oils all up. As with other natural bug sprays you will probably find you need to respray yourself more often than you do with the potent non natural bug sprays. So keep that in mind!

Links to what I used so you can order some and make some for yourself!

Insect Shield Synergy. Essential Oil Blend. 10 ml (1/3 oz). 100% Pure, Undiluted, Therapeutic Grade. (Blend of: Citronella, Eucalyptus, Cedarwood, Lemongrass, Lavender, Litsea, Tea Tree, Patchouli & Catnip)

and

Thayer Original Witch Hazel, 12 Fluid Ounce

I hope this helps keep you and your family bug bite free as you enjoy the outdoors!


My sister-in-law recently found out she has Lymes disease. She had multiple misdiagnoses and even some doctors told her it was in her head. She grew weaker and weaker to the point she was in a wheelchair and almost died. Thankfully she found help from Shea Medical in Arizona. If you or a loved one is suffering from Lymes disease or chronic fatigue check out her website for support and information. Ticks aren't the only thing spreading Lymes and people need to know about it.

Mommy Daughter and Daddy Daughter Dates

My husband has been taking one weekday off a week to work from home so we can get our up and coming coffee shop and roastery started! It's been nice to have him around to see more of the girls as they do school and play during the day. He has also been making it a priority to take one girl out each week on a daddy daughter date. The girls love their dates with daddy! It didn't take long before the girls started asking me when I could go on a date with them too. So my husband and I decided Wednesday's would be daddy daughter date days, and Saturdays would be mommy daughter date days and we would rotate which girl we'd take with us that week. It isn't always something extravagant, maybe a simple trip to the hardware store with an ice cream stop on the way home, or some days we'll splurge a little more and go to the local indoor swimming pool and focus on teaching that one daughter to swim better, or maybe a stop at the ice skating rink to teach one to skate. but we always try to make it a special time to be alone and to talk and listen to their hearts. 

A new blog, a new chapter. . .

Welcome to our new blog! We're glad you've stopped by! We are a family of four girls. For this blog, I'll call them Meg, Jo, Beth, and Amy to protect their identities. Living the reality of having four little women to raise and love is even more fun than reading the book! It's so interesting to me that so far my girls fit personality wise with the book. My oldest is such a little mommy. She loves following the rules and wants the details of things all laid out for her. Her conscience is so soft and tender. My second has a lot of spunk, although I hate to peg her as a tomboy as she still has quite the sweet girly side to her too. She loves to make us all laugh! Our third appears to be quite shy, but once you connect with her one on one she has such a sweet loving heart she'll share with you. Our baby is just starting to show more of her personality. She's loves to cuddle. Since she was little she would feel like she was hugging me back as her little hand would pat my back as I patted hers. For the most part she's also very patient, but when she is upset she is very emotional. Her cry would break anyone's heart! People have said they pity us and that girls are supposedly harder to raise with all the emotions involved, they think we must be sad we never had a boy. But I wouldn't trade my girls for any others! How blessed I feel to be gifted these four beauties, How terrified at times I am that maybe I'm failing them! But I know we all are growing and learning as we go and I hope this blog will bring others encouragement as you take a peek into our lives.