That time I had to cut Parker out of his onesie.

Yesterday marked the 7th day in Parker's pooping strike.  I mentioned this to Grampy, and he decided to give Car Car a good bouncing.  After nearly 45 minutes of bouncing, my dad said, "Don't be surprised if he poops later."  And he was right.  Parker pooped later.  Parker pooped A LOT.  And it was literally the scariest shit I have ever seen.

((Prepare yourself, because I'm about to give a minute by minute recap of the event.))

Parker was in his jumperoo when he suddenly became very fussy.  Since the boy almost never fusses, I picked him up immediately.  He smelled awful.  Huh, guess he finally pooped...  

::walking to the nursery::  Oh God, this is going to suck.

I laid him on the floor of the nursery, expecting to find poop up and down his pant legs; but after a quick inspection, I was surprised to find the leg gussets holding strong.  I put a new diaper under him and peeled open the diaper he was wearing...and that's when I noticed that the new diaper was suddenly covered in poop.  What the hell??  How did that get there?!   I rolled Parker to one side and saw what looked like massive love handles in his onesie; but they weren't love handles.  Babies don't have love handles.  It was gobs and gobs of yellow shit.  It was freakish.  I lifted the onesie and his entire back-- up to his friggin armpits-- was covered.

I froze.  What the hell do I do??  Why did this have to happen when Casey wasn't home?  Maybe we should wait for him.... Or maybe I should call someone.  Who the hell can I call??

That's when I realized all this crap was about to ooze onto the rug.  I stuffed a burpie under his butt and bolted into the kitchen for scissors and a towel-- all while yelling, "LUCY, DON'T TOUCH THE POOP!" over and over again.

There was no way to pull the onesie over his head.  So I started snipping.  (Fortunately he was wearing one of those cheap white Gerber onesies underneath his outfit, so it wasn't much of a sacrifice.  Can you believe it was the one time I actually listened to my mom about dressing the kids in layers??  Go figure.)  All I could think was, I can't believe I'm literally cutting a piece of clothing off my kid.  I sat him up and started wiping him down.  His back, his belly, his arms and wrists, his thighs.  Then I transferred him to the towel and re-wiped him.  I threw out the massive, poopy heap of burp cloth, diapers, and approximately 10,000 wipes, and plopped Parker in the bath.

Parker's all, "You'll get over it, Ma." 

Absolutely.horrifying. Do you think this is bad karma for switching to disposables?

PS - Lucy pooped on the kitchen floor tonight.  So, overall, not a good poop week for the Shelton household.  

Done with cloth.

(I wish I could have come up with a more witty title for this post.)

Are you surprised?

It was a snap decision, really.  I texted Casey last Monday and said, "I think I want to switch to disposables.  Discuss tonight?"  And he replied immediately, "No need to discuss.  We're doing it.  I've been waiting almost 2 years for you to say that."  And that was that.  We created an Amazon Mom account and the kids have been in disposables ever since. 

Our decision to cloth diaper was financially driven (the planet saving and cute prints were an added bonus); but, we have decided that, sometimes, it's worth it to spend a little extra money.

I don't want to bash cloth, because I know there are so many benefits to be had from it; but I do want to share why we are no longer cloth diapering...  

1.  LEAKS.  (The catalyst for this whole thing.)  The pocket diapers (which account for approximately half of our stash) have been leaking, and I cannot for the life of me figure out why.  I have tried everything (stripping, adjusting fit, different inserts) to correct the problem!  Nothing pisses me off more than when Parker wakes early from a nap because his diaper has leaked and his clothes are soaked, or when Lucy gets up from the couch and there's a huge wet spot where she was sitting.  Keep in mind, since we have so many pockets, incidents like these happened several times each day. 

2.  Laundry is a bitch.  Washing for one isn't so bad, but washing for two is practically a full-time job!  Between diapers and clothing, I wash 2-4 loads of laundry each day; but, since we've been so busy, there have been days that I didn't get to the laundry...and we've had to make an extra trip to the store to buy disposables.  It was such a ridiculous thing to be stressed about.

3.  Poopy diapers.  I literally contemplated throwing the diaper away (rather than rinsing it) every single time.  I cannot adequately describe how disgusting this task is-- even with a diaper sprayer and liner.  Add to that that I don't always have the opportunity to spray the diaper immediately after each change (hello, two kids)...so that smelly diaper would sit in the bathroom until I could get to it.

4.  My kids can't button their pants.  Kind of trivial, I suppose, but it matters to me.  We grow big babies, and they already have a hard enough time wearing age appropriate sizes; when you add a huge cloth diaper into the equation, there is no hope whatsoever.

I know that we are trading leaks for blowouts, and I know that those blowouts will lead to laundry.  But having a blowout once every few months is so much more manageable than 4-6 leaks per day.  And I know that I could have theoretically purchased new cloth diapers that don't leak, and still spent less money than we will on disposables; but then I'm still stuck with laundry and poop duty, and clothes that don't fit.  (Having just bought their winter wardrobes, I was not eager to buy replacement cloth diapers AND larger clothing.)  Our decision to switch to disposables has lifted such a weight off of my shoulders.  I could probably run through various scenarios of how we could have been more successful with cloth, but what's the point?  We are all so much happier this way.

Breakfast with Santa

Lucy wasn't feelin' it.  Parker was indifferent.

Lulu: "Wahhhhhhhh!"

Me:  "Honey, come on, it's ok.  Just look at the camera and pretend not to be miserable."

She didn't care too much for Rudolph or Frosty either.

Lulu:  "OMG, Mom, who are these creeps?  They look nothing like the cartoon."

Fortunately, there were pancakes and balloons to smooth the whole thing over.

Lulu:  "I don't really do forks, Mom.  I prefer to dive right in."

Parker slept for the majority of the event (surprise, surprise); but he was his usual, happy self when he woke up!

Maybe next year?  ::eyeroll::

3 Months

My chubby, smiley boy, you are 3 months old!  While you're bigger than most babies your age, you seem so small to me (compared to your big sister).  I love hugging your tiny little body and snuggling up close to you in the mornings.  You are such a happy boy, and you make everyone around you just as happy.  You always have the biggest, sweetest smile on your face.

At 3 months you are:

Lucy's sidekick.

A stomach sleeper.

Underwhelmed by Story Time, but a mighty cute Big Bad Wolf.

So, so smiley.

Gumming every hand that comes close to your mouth.

Sleeping better than Lucy was at this age.  Bedtime is at 7:30 pm, and you wake after 5 hours, then every 3 hours after that until 7:30 am.  Naps are still a little tricky, only lasting an hour...  (HELP!)  The good news is that you self-soothe like a champ and putting you down is easy peasy (when we are home). 

Sleeping sans swaddle as of last week.  You didn't even notice it was gone.  (So glad we left your arms outside the swaddle from Day 1!) 

Making funny faces.

"Oy!  It's still November...  WHY am I already wearing Christmas gear, Ma?"

A master of tummy time.

"Ma, please, this is easy.  Give me a real challenge."

Just look at that high kick.

Joining us at the dinner table.

Whatcha got there, Lu?  Chicken?  Gimme a bite."

Keeping momma company while she cooks.

Standing on those big strong legs!

Giggling whenever someone undresses you.

Healthy!

Filling out your 3-6 month clothes.

17.6 pounds and ... inches  (will update!)

Exclusively breastfed and we have given up on pacifiers.  

We love you, sweets.  We love you mucho, mucho, mucho.  I know the best is yet to come, but we are having a ton of fun with you right now.  I actually have a hard time remembering what life was like before you were born-- it's like you've always been here.

So true.

20 Months (photo dump)

You are getting pretty darn close to your second birthday...like, close enough that I should start planning and maybe set a date.

This time last year I was sad to think you were no longer my baby, but a toddler...  Now I'm sad to think you're no longer a toddler, but a little girl.  Next thing I know we'll be signing you up for Girl Scouts and shopping for prom dresses.

At 20 months you are:

Parker's dutiful big sis.

Pitching in with the landscaping.

Wearing momma's chuuuus and Spongebob (knock-off) Crocs.

Still a messy eater.

A gorgeous Little Red Riding Hood and professional trick-or-treater.  (And toe sucker?)

Pumpkin-picker and painter extraordinaire.

Attending Story Time at the library every Thursday with momma, Parker, and Grandma Shelton.  You sing and dance along with the stories and songs, make little crafts, and play on the computer afterwards.

Pretty goofy in the shower.

In need of a legit toddler chair.  (Because, um, Parker wants his bouncer back.)  Ohhh, Santa??

A.K.A. "Olive Finger"

Moody...

Freaking out at 6:24pm

All smiles at 6:25pm

OBSESSED with fastening buckles.

Always on your BlackBerry.

Making some hilarious expressions.

Thoroughly enjoying your new toy from Auntie Meg.

So dang toothy and smiley.

Chasing ducks.

Too darn tall!  You can reach on top of the counters; you're always stealing cookies, hair brushes and anything you can get your hands on.  You're kind of like a raccoon.

Cookie thief!

A daddy's girl through and through.

You are so funny, so beautiful, so sweet, so sassy, and so smart.  You learn something new everyday.  I am in awe of you, Lu.  We love you; I don't think you will know how much so until you have a child of your own.