New Cloth Diapers: BumGenius 4.0

Our latest addition to the cloth diaper "stash" arrived today! Six BumGenius 4.0 Snaps in Ribbit from Nicki's Diapers. I was so excited when they came that I rushed them into the wash and dryer so we could try them out. They are a work of art!

 This is the first BumGenius we've purchased, but I have one that a friend gave me and really liked it. I was moved to purchase them because of the great sale they have going on right now. Bum Genius 4.0 are Buy 5 Get 1 Free! That brings the price to $15 each!!!!

I really can't use enough exclamation points to describe my excitement. If you don't cloth diaper then you probably think I'm a little nutty, but using cloth diapers has been one of the greatest sources of savings for our family in these early years of having children. It's a modest upfront investment ($200-500 depending on your likes) but you can them pay nothing on diapers until your 'little' is out of diapers.

"Well, Molly, if they're so great, why are you spending more money on new ones?"

Good question.

Because I have Two Under Two. I thought Mogi would be potty trained by now and out of cloth diapers, but we're still in the process and its not going to be done tomorrow. He does go through a lot less diapers than Aj does, but they still get used and we didn't have enough to make it from wash day to wash day. There's nothing worse than needing to get your child dressed only to realize the diapers are still wet in the wash and there's no clean ones to use. Since this has happened or nearly happened several times lately, I decided to buy more. Also, AJ is a big wetter for her size and I bought some Cotton Babies Diaper Doublers from Nicki's to use with her prefolds and covers. I've been having to change her diaper so often that its become a hassle. And I can't imagine she like sitting in a soggy diaper!


Do you have questions about cloth diapering? Something that's preventing you from taking the "leap"? Share them on hear and I'll try to answer them. We'll also be having a series over at Muddy Mamas in the next few months on cloth diapers, so if I can't answer them I know one of the other cloth diaper Mamas can!

+++ I'm not receiving compensation in any way for this post. I'm just a huge fan!++

Happy Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day to all the mom's out there, whether your kids are in your arms, out your door, or just a dream conceived in your heart. I am becoming overwhelmingly convinced with each passing day that motherhood is a huge and high calling that has been undermined by our culture. We need to "take it back" and celebrate it as the important career that it is!

Happy Mother's Day to my mom. She goes by the name "Dani" to her Mocha Drop grandkids, but she'll always be my mama. She's one of the hardest working, determined, loving, and generous women I know. She gives so much of her time and energy to all of us and we could not imagine how our world would "keep on spinning" without her help. We love you, Mama Dani :)

It's been a nice Mother's Day for me. Mogi-boy made me a card and gift at preschool, which was my first homemade gift from him! And Hubs took me and the kids out for a yummy meal, which we NEVER do given the high octane level of Mogi. But, it was great.

Today, in addition to Mother's Day, AJ is 6 months old and Mogi 23 months! Time is flying. I've got some more "Two Under Two" posts rolling around in my head, so I better get them writtin before he's no longer "under two"!

Two Under Two: Sharing a Room

Well, I'm giving it a try again tonight. Last night I put the kids to bed in the same room and it went pretty well. Things have been rough for the last week with AJ's sleep. She's been busting out of her swaddle and a few nights I got up nearly 15 times to fix it and pop in the pacifier. Can you say ZOMBIE?

Anyway, back to a shared room. I've had her travel pack n' play in "Mogi's" room for a few weeks and she lays in it to play at times. But, last night I laid her down in it at 8pm, her usual bedtime, and she laid there watching us as Mogi finished his evening story time and then went to bed at 8:30. It all went smoothly. I did her "dream feed" at 9:30 with no problem.

And then I didn't hear a peep until 4am! A nice change from 12am, 1am, 3am.... you get the idea :)

The swaddle was loose, so I refastened, popped in the paci and climbed back into bed. At 6am she started to fuss and I moved her to her own crib in the next room. It turned out to only be a blip of belly gas, but I didn't want Mogi awakened.

She started her day at 7:15 and Mogi woke at 7:45. Not too shabby for a first try with no idea what I'm doing!!

But, I figure, even if they don't have an appreciation for it now, they will soon enough. I remember sharing a room with my younger brother for a few years when we were little and it was great.

Today they did a naptime together, since they both go down at 1p for a few hours. Mogi woke up a little early and awoke sister, but it wasn't bad. And they're back down for the night.

So, moms and dads out there, got any tips for room sharing?? Are there any unforeseen pitfalls I should look out for?? Help a mama out!!

Two Under Two: In Case of Emergency

If you're like most parents, you probably made sure you had smoke detectors, a fire extinguisher, and other safety features around your house before you brought home your first child. But, did you revisit any of that before bringing home your second child? I didn't. I guess I didn't think safety would be much more different with more kids in the house. But, I soon found out I was wrong.

On November 17th, when AJ was just nine days old we had an emergency situation that caused us to leave our house in the middle of the night. By the grace of God we were all safe, and although no one ever wants to think of worst case scenarios, our situation could have been horribly worse.

It was an uneventful Wednesday night. Ro was home and my best friend was staying with us for the night from out of town. AJ was having some stomach problems so I found myself sitting in the recliner from 9pm onward trying to help her through the pain and hoping she'd sleep. But at nearly 11:30pm I realized that the air coming out of the vent was no longer warm but actually cold. And since it was around 40 degrees outside, the cold air was uncomfortable. I woke Ro and asked him to turn the heat off until we could figure out the problem.

He left the room and a few minutes later still hadn't returned. All of a sudden the power in the whole house went out. Hoping Ro knew what was going on, I called out to him. He responded that something had happened to the computer and he turned off the power. I walked toward where he was in the center of the house as he switched the main breaker back on. I quickly saw that several lights and an outdoor fan were surging dramatically and called for him to turn the power back off.

Standing in the hall outside Mogi's room with AJ in my arms, I was overcome by the need to get out of the house and protect the safety of our kids. I said, "something isn't right, we need to get out of the house." The moment I said those words I immediately heard fire truck's sirens on our street. The Mama Bear in me yelled to my best friend to get Mogi out of bed and get out of the house. And as we stepped out of the house we saw that the next door neighbor's house was on fire.

After we sought safety on another neighbor's front porch, I realized that my purse and keys were still in the house, along with AJ's car seat. Ro went back into the house, which still had the power off, and retrieved those items and we headed across town to my parent's home to get out of the cold and get the kids to bed.

I don't know if it comes across the page as a dramatic event, but it was very dramatic and a bit scary. We eventually found out that we had experienced a power surge that did damage to some appliances in our home and that the neighbor's home sustained extensive damage when a fire started at the meter box. It's a pure miracle that Ro was in the right place at the right time and saw our computer begin to surge and throw sparks or we could have had a worse fate.

But, all this got me thinking about safety. What if I had been home alone with my two kids? How would I have gotten them out of the house? Newborn babies are "floppy" and often require both hands to carry. And thirty pound 18 month toddlers do not move quickly when you need them too and certainly not in the middle of the night. I knew that I couldn't carry them both in my arms at the same time. I needed a plan.

Do you have an evacuation plan? Have you thought about it recently and included any new family members?

Well, mine's not fancy, but I have a plan in my head for what I'll do if I have to get both kids out of the house in an emergency.

At the time of our "evacuation" I had AJ's car seat in the kitchen on a chair so she could sit up at table level. Nice idea, but a difficult place to extract it from in a hurry. So, I now keep it right by the front door at all times.

I also make sure that my purse is in a certain place, especially at night, so I can grab it without thinking, and I keep my keys attached to the purse so they don't get carried off by a curious toddler without me knowing!

Both kids sleep in blanket sleepers, like Halo SleepSacks, so I don't have to worry about them being warm enough if it was cold outside, but if I did I would keep jackets and shoes in a bag by the door. And if you or your kids need medicines that would be hard to replace immediately, do you keep it in a place where it would go with you?

Well, I know this isn't an exciting post or a very happy topic, but I just felt the need to share. And I hope you'll be better prepared for an unforeseen event that I was...

Two Under Two, the reality of it all

When we decided to have our children close together it was mostly based on the fact that Hubs and I both have siblings close in age. Although I'm big into doing my research, there wasn't much info on having a second child and how that works out at home. Some people asked me how I would continue working on my PhD and I told them I didn't know. And really, I didn't. (Side note: I still don't have any idea how to get back into it, but that's another post.) I read a few magazine articles here and there on the pros and cons of various sibling age differences, but that was about it.

So, in an attempt to add to the conversation on having Two Kids Under Two, here are some excerpts from our life the last few months.

The first few weeks went dreamily. The grandparents were a constant presence, Hubs took a week off work, and Mogi barely acknowledged his sister. I really think he thought she was a toy or accessory of some type. She clearly didn't "move fast enough" for him and his always on the move kind of ways, so he just ignored her. AJ ate and slept and nothing else. If she was awake she then easily slipped into sleep without a trouble or care. She didn't cry and occasionally made adorable kitten-like sounds.

But, of course, newborns do wake from their foggy state. And grandparents go home. And husbands go to work. And when that happens there is a grand potential for all kinds of things to "break loose" and "hit the fan".

Eventually, Mogi not only realized AJ was staying around, he also began to see her as a competitor for our affection. The little boy who wouldn't stop long enough to sit in your lap was now begging and crying to be picked up and held! And, of course, it would come to a boiling point when I was home alone with the two of them : ) [Hence, Molly's Laws of Motherhood] I was glad to have Mogi showing more affection but it was such a drastic change that I couldn't manage it well.

I was also functioning on sleep deprivation mode. You always hear new moms being told "Sleep when the baby sleeps." But that only work for first time moms because even though AJ might have been sleeping, Mogi was still wide awake and ready to tear the house apart at any moment- did I mention he's a climber and thrower if given the chance? So, my longest stretch of sleep was four hours for five or six weeks after having had horrible sleep through the last trimester of my pregnancy. I could not begin to think straight.

But, the light finally began to appear at the end of the tunnel. AJ's daily routine got more predictable and consistent. She started going down easier for naps and at night. She started sleeping a longer stretch at night, sometimes over 8 hours. And Mogi stopped seeing AJ as competition. He started to laugh and smile at her when she made funny noises or made eye contact with him.

So, what would I tell someone if they asked for some tips? Here's a few things...

1. Even if your life is completely laid back with child #1 and you do nothing predictably, create some routines before #2 arrives. It will help #1 have some things to feel very secure about and it will make life easier on you when you can't think straight.
Mornings and bedtime are written in stone around here. They always happen the exact same way in order to make sure all that needs to get done does get done. A lot of it has to do with my kids personalities and needs but I can have both kids fed, dressed and in the car, ready to go in less than an hour in the morning. And with the evenings being a fussy time for most newborns its great to work out plans for dinner and bath times. I also need this kind of order because there are times I have both kids on my own due to Hubs work rotations.

2. Get a piece of furniture big enough, and small enough, for the three of you. One of the first nights that I had both kids on my own I sat down in the rocking chair to feed AJ and moments later Mogi came up with a book in his hands begging to get into my lap. It was heart breaking. At 30 lbs I couldn't pull Mogi onto my lap one-handed if I needed to, but there wasn't room for him either. The next day I dragged a love seat into the nursery and took the legs off so Mogi can climb up and down without worrying about him falling. It's nothing fancy, just a $20 Cr@igslist find, but so worth it. Now Mogi can climb up next to me and bring the books with him!

3. Consider potty training. I'm not saying you need to potty train #1 before #2 arrives, but if you wait until #2 arrives it may not work. You can hear about toddlerhood and all the emotional changes that take place, but until it really happens, you have no idea. It was if someone flipped a switch one day and I woke up to a boy that no longer was thrilled to have my praise but instead was determined to do things his way. Now he wasn't perfect boy before this switch, but positive attention and praise often swayed his behavior. It doesn't work as well now and "I DO!" is now his favorite phrase. So, if you think you'll start potty training #1 after #2 is born, realize that between toddlerhood and the demands of a newborn it may take a lot more work than you expect.

4. Make good sleep habits a priority. Do you remember the first time your first child slept a rediculously long stretch at night? I do. It was as if life had begun again. I could put him to bed, get a few things done, go to bed and wake up the next day rested! Well, reaching that point is no less spectacular the second time around. I've relied heavily on the "Sleep Training" methods layed out in the Baby Whisperer's books. A swaddle, the "shush-pat", and a good lullaby are priceless!

5. Baby needs her space. I'd planned on AJ sleeping beside me at night in a bassinet and had a crib for her in the "Kid's Room" with Mogi's crib, but I quickly realized that it was unrealistic to think she could nap in the room while he was in there playing. And due to Hub's work rotations, she couldn't sleep in my room every day of the week. She needed her own place. So, I made some space for her in my office. It's not ideal, its a little too close to the commotion of the guest bathroom and I have to work very quietly if she's napping, but its working. So, even though kids can share a room once nap schedules coincide, until then they need a quiet space. But, let me be honest, the thought of sharing my office for the next year or so doesn't sound so appealing : /

Anyway, that's all the "wisdom" I have for now. I'd love to hear any stories from the "trenches" from those who also have two close in age, no matter what age they are now.

And as a reward for reaching the end of this very long post, here's a little happy moment from Potty Training Land : )