27 Week Update

Yesterday Zane turned 27 weeks old. Seeing as my last blog update was when he was 8 weeks old, he has grown and advanced significantly! Our little man is now six months and six days old and is quite possibly the cutest he has ever been. Zac and I both agree that each new stage that Zane has gotten to has been even better than the last. Let's get up to date on how Zane is progressing!

Stats: On Monday we took Zane to the pediatrician for his six month checkup. I was really excited to be able to go to this appointment since the last one I had taken him to was his 4 week checkup. I really like the office we've chosen and it was nice seeing the doctor and nurses. Zane was born a tiny but long boy at 6lbs 11ozs and 20ins long. The pediatrician was concerned about his weight those first few weeks but those concerns were gone this visit. This visit Zane weighed in 19lbs and measured 28ins. For his age, he is in the 98th percentile for height and 90th percentile for weight. After getting weighed and measured Zane had a physical, and then it was time for vaccinations. Zane cried but he was easily soothed and before we knew it we were on our way home. 

Sleep: We consider ourselves to be pretty lucky with Zane's sleep habits. He started to sleep through the night shortly after I returned to work and hasn't had any issues since. We begin our bedtime routine at around 6:30. Zane has fun splashing around in the tub before we head to his room to get him changed into his pajamas. We are still going strong with cloth diapering and have found that Kawaai heavy wetter diapers work best for overnight. (We use mostly Bumgenius for daytime.) If Zac is home, he will lay down on Zane's floor with a book and read a bedtime story while I feed Zane in the rocking armchair. Most nights though it's just me and Zane. We have used a sound machine to help soothe Zane to sleep (and help prevent us from having to tip toe around the house during nap and bed times) since he was only a week old. Unless he is incredibly tired, Zane will still be awake when we lay him in the crib and he's very good about getting to sleep on his own. He is usually asleep by 7:00 and we don't normally hear a peep out of him until about 5:30 or 6:00am. The latest he has slept is 7:00. He goes done for a nap at around 10:00am and sleeps for about an hour. His second nap of the day is around 2:00pm and this nap can last up to two hours. Occasionally in the late afternoon Zane will take a ten to fifteen minute catnap after nursing. 

Diet: As I mentioned above, Zane will sometimes fall asleep after nursing. I am happy to say that we are still breastfeeding. Unfortunately, my supply has taken a big dive and I am not producing enough for Zane to be exclusively breastfed. We supplement with formula and I do my best to get as much breastmilk in him as possible. Now that I am on leave I am able to nurse him more often and I still pump four times a day. We have also recently begun baby led weaning to introduce solids into Zane's diet. It's only been a week and a half since we started so we are still in the beginning but we are hoping that he enjoys feeding himself and finds something that he likes. (So far we have tried avocado and butternut squash and he has made a funny face when nibbling on both.) 

Physical Miestones: Zane is pretty close to sitting up on his own. He can sit for a little while if he is focused on something but for the most part he needs assistance. Mostly he likes to stand. Obviously he isn't standing on his own yet but he likes to lean up against things or be held in the standing position. Often when we attempt to get him to sit he will stiffen his legs and push his body so that he can stand. 

He has just started to roll over though he only goes one direction at the moment. It makes for interesting viewing on the baby monitor as he wakes up from a nap and rolls continuously until he reaches one side of the crib. 

Events: During his sixth month, Zane celebrated his first Halloween and attended his first wedding. My older brother Albert had a Dia de Los Muertos wedding on November 2. We were definitely nervous about taking Zane to the wedding but my brother said that he really wanted his nephew to be there. Before Zane was even born, my mom had already purchased a little suit for him to wear. 

The wedding started at 5:00pm and we were  worried that Zane would not want to sit quietly. If he hasn't gotten a good nap at 2:00pm by 5:00pm he can get pretty cranky and tired and will sometimes randomly yell quite loudly. I was quite on edge not knowing how Zane would be feeling and not wanting the sounds of his screams to interrupt the wedding ceremony that was held in a very beautiful, very small, historic church. Instead of being cranky, Zane ended us being really happy and wanted to squeal with joy. He started babbling as the music introduced the beginning of the ceremony. Zac was sweet and took Zane out so that he couldn't be heard and I stayed to I watch my brother get married. Since the reception took place during what is normally Zane's bedtime we weren't sure how he would be. We brought the stroller and our carrier just in case. He fell asleep for a little while in the stroller but eventually the noise of all the fun taking place around him got to be too much and he woke up. I carried him in our carrier for the rest of the night and he fell asleep for a little while in my arms. 

His sleep schedule was a little messed up from the interrupted routine and the fact that the following day was day lights saving. This turned out to be okay though because the next day we were headed home (a six hour drive) and Zane slept comfortably in his car seat.

The sixth month has been a fun one and with the holidays coming up we can only imagine how fun the seventh month will be! 

Bonding Time

                        

*Sigh* It's a Monday morning and I am sitting down to organize my thoughts and enjoy the morning instead of rushing out the door to get to work by 7:00. In fact, it's not quite 7:00 and I have already changed and fed Zane and put him back to bed, gotten in a workout (not my best but it's been a while), taken a shower, brushed my teeth and am sitting down with a cup of Mother's Milk Tea and my breast pump. I'm not sure that I will ever be able to fully express how amazing this feels. Today is the first working day that I've been able to take off since going back to work 20 weeks ago. 

I knew that returning to a 40 hour work week after being gone for 8 weeks and leaving my 6 week old at home was going to be difficult but I really had no idea. Returning to work has been far more difficult than I could ever have anticipated. 

        

A few weeks prior to returning to work, my back up who I had recently trained before going on maternity leave, emailed me to inform me that she had gotten another job and would be quitting as soon as I returned. Being post partum and emotional already, I did not take this news very well. Losing my back up took away any chance that I could take an extra day off after returning. As I am the only one at my job with my position there would be no other person who could fill in for me. This meant that I would be missing out on Zane's doctor visits and photo appointments. With several deadlines at all different times throughout the week being able to have a sick day was out of the question as well. It was definitely another reason to hope that Zane didn't get sick as I wouldn't be able to stay home and take care of him. I talked my backup into working an extra day to be there on my first day back so that we could touch base and she could fill me in on what was going on over the last 8 weeks. 

Shortly after returning to work my newly promoted general manager confided in me that he was offered a position at another company that would pay nearly 50% more than he was currently making and gave him a schedule that would allow him to spend more time with his family. Obviously this was an opportunity that he could not turn down and he would be leaving in just a few short weeks. I had worked with this manager for about 8 years and he was easily my favorite. I was happy for him and his wonderful opportunity but I was also quite devastated by the news. Our work environment had seen some wonderful changes since his promotion and in addition to missing him being around I was fearful that we would be taking steps backward in the office. 

With all of this change going on and missing my family at home I felt incredibly overwhelmed for quite a while and had many tear filled shifts. On top of this I had to worry about pumping at work to make sure that Zane was still a breastfed baby. Upon my return, my general manager had set up a space for me to pump in a linen closet. This might not seem so wonderful but given that I shared an office with 10 men and the linen room was the only space with a lock and no camera, it was my best option. I certainly didn't want to be pumping in the car everyday. He was also quite sweet and ordered a mini fridge for the office so that I had somewhere to store my milk. I was incredibly touched and am still so thankful to him for this. 

The management team was very understanding of my breaks to the linen room (in the beginning I was pumping every 3 hours) however the staff was less than so. I didn't realize until then how popular the linen room was. Even with a sign posted letting everyone know that the door was locked and not to enter, I had frequent interruptions. There has still yet to be a week where I don't have someone who need to get into the room. Up until a few weeks ago when I finally changed the sign to say "nursing mommy inside" the interruptions were a daily thing. At minimum there would be a jiggle of the door handle as someone would try to enter. More often than not there would be a knock on the door. I sat in the room uncomfortably as people would bang on the door, express their irritation loudly, and make rude comments regarding their opinion about what I was doing ("That's disgusting! Can't she find a bathroom to do that in?!" "Go home and be a mother instead of being here!"). I once had to stand up, quickly scoop up my pump, and slam my body against the door to stop someone with keys who ignored the sign and started to enter. Even while pleading for them to stop coming in and pushing against the door they tried to fight past me. On more than a few occasions (including my last day of work this last Friday) my sign had been moved to the top of the door making it difficult for my 5 foot frame and short arms to reach up and retrieve it once I was done in the room. Needless to say I began to dread pumping and this left me broken hearted. I was just trying to make sure my son was fed, and I felt like I was doing something wrong. 

Not having a real break since returning to work has been a bit of a challenge. I feel like I'm constantly on the go and can't slow down to enjoy anything. I find myself having a long day at work and rushing home before Zac leaves for his job. Zac and I have opposite schedules which allow us to avoid childcare and lets Zane be with one of us at all times. These schedules work out wonderfully for childcare but don't give us much time during the week to be a married couple. As it stands we get one or two nights during the week together. Unfortunately, during the week I'm pretty tired from work and go to bed not long after Zane so we don't get much time to catch up with one another. During the week I only get a few hours with Zane before he goes to bed. Since I leave for work before he wakes, this is the only time I get with him. (I once heard him wake up and start to cry as I walked to the car in the morning and was crushed that I had to continue on my way to work.) Saturday has turned into our family day. It's the one day Zac and I both have off so we try to make it full of fun. It doesn't always work out this way since we still have a house to maintain and errands to run but we try. 

As I mentioned before, my general manager was gone a few weeks after I returned to work. Since his choice to leave happened suddenly, we were without a replacement for a while as our corporate office looked for someone in the company to relocate. This unfortunately put my plans to get a new backup trained on the back burner. A process that began in late July took until October to finalize. I was getting anxious to get a backup in training because I knew that I needed a break. I wanted to take six weeks off for "bonding time" (a state given allowance for mothers of infants under one year of age) and I wanted to take this leave over the holidays. Being home for Zane's first fall and winter holidays meant the world to me and not having someone trained to take over my job while I was away complicated this. The stress and anxiety started to get to me and I began to suffer physical consequences. It started with headaches and progressed to feeling tired and weak. For more than a week I had chest pains and my body felt as though I were being folded in half vertically. I had difficulty breathing in deeply which of course frightened me and made me more stressed and anxious (vicious cycle). Worst of all I noticed a serious decrease in milk supply. Zane was eating more and more and I was pumping less each session. I decided that regardless of whether or not I had a backup I needed to put in my notice at work for my leave of absence. It was what was best for me and my family. Thankfully I was able to begin training a backup and they were certified on my last day of work. 

This brings us to today. Today is my first official day of leave. For the next six weeks I will be focusing on my family and soaking in every moment with them. I've made a goal not to let a single day go wasted. This break has been seriously needed and much anticipated. I want to be sure that I'm accomplishing things, making memories, giving lots of love to my husband and son, visiting with friends and family that I haven't seen in months, and breathing some fresh air. I've spent the last five months working in an office with no windows, stressing over deadlines, rushing home, and just trying to make it through the day. It's time to start living! I don't want to spend my days trying to get through them. I want to live them.

On my last day my new general manager (who is one very sweet and understanding woman) got me a gift of things to help me relax over they next six weeks. It was incredibly thoughtful. One of the items was an adorable notebook. While Zane naps today I will begin filling it up with lists, plans, goals, and projects. I have so many thoughts and ideas rushing through my head about what I can accomplish during my leave. It's time to get them all on paper and work on my most important goals: make myself happy, make others happy, make beautiful things, and create wonderful memories. 

I have missed my blog dearly. The last time I posted my sweet Zane was only 8 weeks old. I'll try my best to post regularly (even when I return to work). I'm looking forward to sharing our small family adventures this holiday season. 

May you all have a WONDERFUL Monday! 

8 Week Update

Happy 8 weeks Zaney Boy! (And happy 200th post!)

This week I managed to break apart the lens to the very nice camera that my parents let me borrow to take Zane's weekly pictures. (Go me!) It was the cherry on top of a very long week. His 8 week photoshoot was taken with my iPhone. He was such a mover and made a BUNCH of adorable faces but unfortunately most pictures had blurred limbs. This was the best one of the bunch. Hopefully next week we'll have the lens fixed and can get better quality photos of our boy again.

Work has left me emotional and exhausted. I'm hoping I'll get the chance to update about how work is going but in addition to stealing time away from my handsome little man, working is also making blogging just about impossible. :/

Zane is doing great, though and that's something to be super happy about. Our boy is growing and had a big time growth spurt this past week. He's moving a ton, smiling at people us and sleeping very well. Last night he went down at 8:00pm after his bath and didn't wake up until 1:00am. After a diaper change and a feeding he went right back to sleep. This mama is grateful as it is now 4:00am and I am getting ready for work.

The prints we ordered of Zane's newborn photos have arrived so I'm hoping I'll get the chance to share those with you soon. For now, it's off to work....

Seven Week Update

Happy Fourth of July everyone!

Week seven has been a busy one. I'd love to talk all about it but unfortunately, work + growing baby boy = one tired mama. I hardly find the time shower, so the blog has been getting neglected. I can see now why the majority of mama blogs I follow are written by stay at home moms. It's a lot easier to write posts when you can find ten minutes here, and fifteen minutes there, to work on it. I spend eight hours a day at a computer doing work and I would happily trade it for even thirty minutes of blog time!

Without having the time to get too much into detail, I will say that our little guy is getting SO big. We weighed him just yesterday and he's now at about 10.5lbs! Our little chunker. I love it! He's still eating like a crazy man and thankfully my milk production is still keeping up with his demands. I find time at work to pump at least twice. Today I'll have to pump three times since I start work an hour earlier.

Although he still fits into his newborn diapers we have packed them away because he has outgrown their absorbancy. We have a heavy wetter on our hands, which is no surprise given the amount of milk he takes in! The prefold that we loved so much were getting soaked the second we put them on him. (We once had to change him three times in about seven minutes. No exaggeration there!) And I'm sad to see the Lil' Joey's go. They were so adorable and so trim on his tush, but unfortunately they just couldn't hold up. Though they last longer than the prefolds, Zane gets them pretty soaked as well. They are significantly heavier when we take them off of him so it's at least great to know that they are still holding quite a bit. Just not enough, though. Now that we're putting him into his one size diapers by BumGenius and Kawaii Baby (we have yet to try out his one size Grovia or FuzziBunz Elite) we are changing him less frequently, he is staying much more dry, and we haven't had any issues with leakage. We have ordered some more one size diapers for our stash so I will try to get a fluff mail post up once they arrive and a review once we've tried them out for a bit.

Well, that's all I have time for!!! Bah! (I'm quickly writing this at 4:30am before getting ready for my 6:00am clock in time.)

Six Week Update

Where to start with week six?! Zac and I had been warned that week six would be a challenging one. One person even described it as 'hell week'. They weren't wrong. Babies are due for a nice growth spurt at week six and as you can imagine this causes them to get pretty hungry and quite fussy. Zane is falling right in line. His fussiness began week five and hit an all time high this week. (Or at least we hope it's an all time high!) We've nicknamed our little man "Tiny Tyrant". He's quite demanding this week and we're doing our best to determine what he wants and meet his needs. Sometimes it takes us a little longer to figure it out and Zane isn't happy about it. Poor baby!

One thing about growing is that it makes Zane a hungry boy. This is fantastic! We want our little man to grow big and strong. This week he started to cluster feed. Being a breast fed baby this meant a lot of extra work for me. We had gotten used to Zane eating every two hours and nursing for forty five minutes to an hour. This left me with an hour to attempt to get things done in between feedings which felt like a lot of work and left me pretty tired.

On Saturday, Zane began to cluster feed. He nursed at 1:30pm, then again at 2:30pm, and 3:30pm and every hour on the half hour for the rest of the evening until his bedtime routine started just after 8:00pm. His feedings still lasted about forty five minutes or so which only left me a fifteen minute rest between each nursing session. Talk about exhausting. On Sunday this started at 2:00pm and continued again until bathtime.

Yesterday was the fourth day of cluster feeding and it began once Zane woke up at 6:00am. By this time I was unbelievably exhausted and didn't know if I could do it anymore. I have also been trying to pump and get a nice stash together for when I go back to work. Pumping during the cluster feeding has been just about impossible. I tried a few times to pump while feeding Zane and when he squirmed he would push the pump off. After his sixth feeding yesterday I was pooped. It was just after 11:00am and I couldn't imagine continuing on for the next 9 hours. I finally gave in and had Zac feed Zane from a bottle while I pumped. I pumped every time that Zane fed to make sure that my supply didn't take a dip, but my pumping didn't last for as long as Zane's nursing sessions would. This helped me keep a bit of my sanity and still allowed me to add to our frozen milk stash. I'm grateful that Zac had the entire day off and was home with me. I'm not sure what I would have done if it was just me.

Eating as much as he is, Zane is going through quite a few diapers. Prior to the cluster feeding, Zac and I were doing diaper laundry and making wipes every other day. The last few days Zane's diaper pail has been filling up daily which means daily washing. Thankfully we have our wash routine down (turns out I had the washer on the wrong setting before) so the diapers get clean without needing an additional wash. It's not a huge deal having an extra load of laundry to do but we do look forward to going back to washing diapers every other day. 

In addition to being super hungry, Zane is also much more fussy than he has ever been. This week if he wasn't sleeping or nursing, he was screaming. It can wear you down when that adorable little face gets so red, that tiny body stiffens up, and that loud crazy cry echoes through the house. On Monday the exhaustion and Zane's screams started to get to me and I needed a break. Zac saw that I was getting tears in my eyes, handed me the car keys and our Target shopping list, and told me to get out of the house for a little bit. It was my first solo shopping trip since Zane was born. I have to admit that I lost my sleep deprived mind. Even though I had a list, I grabbed a cart and just started shopping. When I hit the register I immediately woke up and snapped out of my haze when the register read $357. Needless to say when I got home I sorted through my pile of goodies and created a very big "return" bag. 

Zac and I tried several things to help make him happy and some things just didn't work. Zane had a lot of gas so we tried what we could to relieve him of the pain. We pumped his legs, massaged his belly, and rubbed his back. He seemed to really like the Superman hold.

These days we look forward to a little after Zane's 8 o'clock feeding when we start his bedtime routine. Just after this feeding we get the bath started. Zane's first bath was not an enjoyable experience for him. He screamed at the top of his lungs and raged the whole time. The second time around, he cried only when we wet his head and washed his hair. As the saying goes, the third time was a charm. The sound of the water seemed to calm him and he was very relaxed during the whole bath. Even while I washed his hair he just looked around and didn't make a peep. He stayed calm once he was wrapped up in his towel and even allowed me to massage him with some lotion before diapering him up and swaddling him. It's especially great that he gets so calm during bathtime because most evenings Zac is at work and I give Zane his bath by myself. Afterwards he goes to bed just fine. 

We've heard that week seven should be much less difficult than week six. Zane should finish cluster feeding and get back on a regular routine. He should also be a much happier little man and THAT is something we look forward to. He's such a sweet, expressive little guy and we hate to see him upset. I hope to get more of these cute little faces than a pouty lip or a scream.

Today not only marks week six for Zane but also the end of my maternity leave. Tomorrow is my first day back at work. Tonight I'll be laying out my clothes, packing my pumping supplies, and setting my alarm instead of listening for Zane. (He is a pretty reliable alarm clock!) In the morning, Zac will be giving Zane his first bottle of the day while I sit in the parking lot of my work pumping before heading in to get my eight hour shift started. The longest I've been away from Zane up until now has been forty five minutes. It's definitely going to be a rough day and I hope it goes by quickly. At least I know that Zane will be with his daddy all day and I will have bathtime to look forward to when I get home.

Cloth Diapering Part 4: One Month Update

Sorry for the lack of posting this week. I've been trying to get this post (and a few other one month update posts) finished for the last five days now. Lots going on with a fussy little Zane. I've also been having issues with pumping and amping up my supply to create a stash so that we have enough milk on hand while I'm at work. But I'm sure that will be a completly different post.  

Zane is a month old and I thought that it was a good time for another cloth diapering update. In the last cloth diapering post we had just finished with week one. At that point we were only using the Lil' Joey diapers in our stash and loved the way they were working out. The last half of the first week, we had started to use the rest of the disposable diapers the hospital gave us when Zane was born, while we waited for him to heal from his circumcision. (We were applying a lot of Vaseline to help him heal and we didn't think that it was good for the cloth diapers.)

Zane healed pretty quickly and he was back in cloth diapers before we knew it. Since then, Zac and I have had some time to really get a routine going, try out all of the diapers in our newborn stash, and figure out what works for us and Zane.

Lil' Joey by Rumparooz: Right off the cuff, the Rumparooz Lil' Joey diapers were our favorite. The all in one diaper is super easy to put on him and we were able to get a great fit on him. These diapers are super absorbant and hold a lot of wetness. The best part about these diapers is that the pull the moisture away from his skin so he stays pretty dry even when he heavily wets the diaper.

For about a week, we were unable to get a great fit on our little guy. Zane is tall and skinny with thin little thighs. He had started to get a little belly on him so we adjusted the waist. Since the Lil' Joey diapers only have one snap to adjust the fit, extending the waist also extended the thigh holes and they were not as snug as they needed to be. He did leak a little onto his clothes as a result. This is when we really started trying out the other diapers in our stash.

Zane has grown a few inches and his belly is not as round so the fit is back to being just snug enough on both his waist and thighs. While we still love these diapers we have a few new favorites as well.

Prefolds: Surprisingly, these have turned out to be our favorite diapers to use throughout the day. At first we were a bit nervous to use them. The whole folding thing left us a little intimidated. After we looked up some Youtube videos (yes we are huge fans of Youtube) we realized that it was going to be a lot easier than we thought (much like cloth diapering in general). And look how cute the covers look with his clothes.

It is definitely easier to get a custom fit on Zane with a prefold since there are no snaps to worry about. (Well at least on the prefold.) We're using newborn covers by Rumparooz which have multiple snaps and allow us to get a better fit on him as well. We've never had any leaks or blowouts while he has been wearing a prefold. We have had some almost blowout moments where the mess has gotten out of the prefold, but the double gusset leg holes and the great fit of the covers have held everything in nicely. We also like that (permitted we don't have an almost blowout moment) we can use the covers several times a day before needing to wash them.

The one thing about using prefolds is that they are not super absorbant. Once they are wet, they are wet. The all in one diapers seem to pull the wetness away from Zane's skin and the prefolds don't have that quality. Zane gets very uncomfortable when he gets wet (as anyone would) and he will let us know when he needs a changing when he has a prefold on. We do find that we change more diapers when we use the prefold, but they take a lot less time to dry so we can replenish our stash pretty quickly.

Grovia: Initially we were not a fan of this Grovia all in one newborn diaper. This was because we used it as an overnight diaper one evening and it just wasn't meant for that. Zane is a bit of a heavy wetter and he filled this diaper up. The moisture wicked onto his pajamas and in the middle of the night we were left to change not only his diaper but his whole outfit as well. This is not fun when you are super tired and can hardly open your eyes.

Though this was not a good night time option we later found that it was a great day time diaper when we were changing him more frequently. We were able to get a great fit on him and it was trim enough to fit under his neworn clothes without a problem.

BumGenius Newborn: Not surprisingly, due to it's velcro closure, we can get the most custom fit on this diaper. It's the easiest diaper for other people to use because there is no guessing which snaps to close it on and no folding involved.

The inside of the diaper is flat with only a single gusset liner. We thought that this might cause problems with blowout and leakage however, due to the custom fit we haven't had any issues. The only problem we've had with this diaper is the velcro closure. While the velcro is great for getting a custom fit and makes it super easy to use, when you're changing a diaper in the middle of the night you don't always remember to tuck the closures on the velcro tab. On a few occasions we've opened up the dryer to find a few cloth wipes or a onesie stuck to the velcro on the diaper. Not cool.

Kissaluvs: This blue Kissaluvs newborn all in one diaper was not one that we originally had in our stash when we started to cloth diaper. A few weeks ago we decided to order Zane a sound machine from Amazon.com (one we eventually returned because we were not a fan...but more on that later). The item was just shy of hitting the free shipping minimum purchase price, so we decided that rather than pay for shipping we would add another item to our cart. It was only a few more dollars to add on an item and get free shipping than to just get the sound machine and pay the money for shopping anyway. We decided to add another diaper to our newborn stash and found this one from Kissaluvs.

We found that this diaper was a cross between the Lil' Joey's and the BumGenius newborn all in one diapers. The outer shell and fit is very much like the Lil' Joey diaper. It has a one snap adjustable fit. The sizing of this diaper is a little different than the Lil' Joey however and we are able to get a better fit around the thighs. The inside is more like the Bumgenius newborn diaper which is flat. It has pretty good absorbtion and keeps the moisture pulled away from Zane's skin. All in all it's a pretty good diaper and one of the first that I will reach for if we are putting him in an all in one.

BumGenius 4.0: Now that our little guy is over 8lbs, he has started to fit into the BumGenius 4.0 one size pocket diapers. These diapers are meant to go from newborn to toddler and can fit babies from 8-35lbs. Being born at 6lbs 11oz, Zane was a bit too tiny for these diapers at birth. These diapers fit when put on the smallest setting for both waist and rise. Since they are able to be set larger for a bigger baby or toddler, they are a bit bulky on our barely 8lb little man.

As you can see, he has quite the big booty in this diaper. This isn't one that we would put him in when dressing him in his newborn clothes, but when we're home and we don't care about how it looks, we think they work pretty good.

I made the mistake of putting him in this diaper a little too early when he had a little bit of a belly and super skinny thighs. The fit wasn't just right on his thighs and I learned this the hard way. I was holding Zane on my lap and suddenly smelled the unpleasant warning of a diaper change. I went to stand up and realized that my lap was covered in poop. Zane had a huge blowout through one of the leg holes and I had quite a clean up job to deal with. I'm pretty sure that he would have had a blowout in any diaper, cloth or disposable, because it was quite a sizeable mess. Still, I opted to avoid using this diaper on him again until we were able to get a better fit on him.

Now that he can fit in the diaper a bit better we've started to use this as a night time option. They are very absorbant and later if we need to increase the absorbancy we can add another insert into the pocket. Zane is a bit of a heavy wetter so it's possible that we'll have to do this soon. For now we love that we can put this on him at night and not have to worry about any leakage. Also, these do a really good job with wicking the moisture into the insert and keeping his skin very dry. This means that even though he soaks the diaper, he isn't waking up in the middle of the night uncomfortable or upset. We'd definitely recommend these diapers to anyone who decided to cloth diaper.

So there's where we stand with our cloth diapering. Or at least it's where we were a few weeks ago. Blogging has certainly gotten more difficult these past few weeks. I'm hoping to be able to keep up the pace but with my return to work quickly approaching we'll just have to see.

Five Week Update

Look who is five weeks old!

Zane had his one month check up today and we were happy to discover that he has put on weight and is growing. Such a relief to know that my milk supply is sufficient enough. He is now up to 8lb 5oz which is almost 2lbs above his birth weight. He has also grown 2 inches since birth which puts him in the 75th percentile for height. While he has gained weight he is still a slender little guy. He currently measures in the 10th percentile for weight but the doctor is not concerned about his growth. As long as he continues to wet at least 6 diapers a day, he is getting enough to eat. 

Zane also got the second round of his Hep B shot. He did a pretty good job. Yes he got upset and cried right after but he was quickly soothed and off we went to continue our day.
This week has been a fussy one for Zane and as a result has been quite a challenging one for Zac and I. It can be a bit frustrating when he is crying and we've tried what we think is everything to make him happy. Zac works during the evening so I am alone with Zane for six to seven hours in the late afternoon and evening. His fussiness tends to start at around five o'clock or so, just shortly after Zac leaves for work, and sometimes lasts until Zac gets home around eleven o'clock. Sometimes swaddling works, sometimes rocking him does the trick, and a few times he has comfort nursed. The doctor told us that evening fussines in babies Zane's age is normal and can continue to get worse until two months. (Yay!) He gave us several suggestions on ways to calm down our fussy boy and recommended using gripe water if needed.

While he loves his swing and bouncy chair, our little guy definitely prefers to be held. The Moby Wrap has come in handy for this. I'm able to keep Zane close and keep him calm while still being hands free to complete necessary chores and tasks. (It's difficult to write a blog post with only one hand free!) Zac loves the Moby Wrap, too. On the few occasions that the weather hasn't been too hot, he has taken Zane outside with him as he completes his chores in the yard. He has even gotten some skin to skin time with him a few times. The sight of Zac wearing Zane around is just so precious, I can hardly stand it.

We celebrated Zac's first Father's Day this weekend which was something pretty special. I was very appreciative of Zac's fantastic managers who gave him Friday, Saturday, and Sunday off. It was great having him home all day for the entire weekend. It definitely reminded us that we need to work on our long term goal of working from home together. It would be wonderful to be able to see each other on a regular basis and have the ability to be available to Zane.

It's been another wonderful week with out little guy. We can't believe how big he has gotten already and how quickly the time has gone by.