Night Diapers part 2

So, we have still be working on our nighttime diaper solution. As I said before, Miss Roo is a heavy wetter and sleeps for at least 11 hours at a go. She is 2 years old and no where near potty training. So, we do what we can. I put her in a Sustainablebabyish or Sloob fitted the night before last. It was a snapless fitted. This was the second night with that particular diaper. The first night, I just used the 2 boosters that were included. It was a disaster! Totally soaked by morning, it was a pain trying to figure out the Snappi. FAIL. But, I tried again. I added an extra booster, used a different cover and mastered the Snappi. This morning, DRY. Yippee!! The diaper was soaked through, but at least her jammies were completely dry. Woohoo! And after fighting with the Snappi last night, I think I have it figured out. We have also done another night in our Goodmamas. I always think there is no way they will work. The fit is super tiny on my huge toddler, but in the morning, she is dry. She does get really mad when I cover up her pretty diapers with a cover. Its funny. I don't think she understands the whole cover idea, since we normally use pocket diapers. But, she doesn't have the major issues with prefolds, maybe because I lay them in the cover and it goes on like her pockets. Still, toddler diapering is an interesting adventure. I am still collecting my newborn stash for Bitty Babe. So far, I have 4 tiny fitted diapers, 18 newborn prefolds, 12 infant prefolds, 5 small covers. I also have 12 Rumparooz OS pockets. I was going to get some Lil' Joeys, but since Miss Roo was so big at birth, I don't think they will fit for long enough. So, I got some RaRz and I really think they will work well. Oh, I am so excited to use cloth on a bitty baby. We didn't start on Miss Roo until she was 14 months old. I think this is all for this part of Night Diapers. More to come at a later date.

Overnight Diapers part 1

So, we have been cloth diapering for about a year now and mostly have everything figured out. Nighttime is a different animal. Miss Roo typically sleeps 10-12 hours and is a heavy wetter. I have tried a pocket diaper stuffed with a microfiber insert and a trifolded hemp insert with no luck. I had finally resorted to a Rainforest babies hemp prefold with a Ozy Cozy toddler sized prefold wrapped around it with a cover over the top. This does work, but its so freaking bulky that I hated to put it on the princess too much before bed. I have been on the lookout for another solution.

I came across Spot's Corner, which is a place for mamas to sell their gently used diapers to other mamas. There were tons! I went a little crazy and became totally obsessed. I really only bought 4, so its not as bad as it sounds. I bought 3 Goodmama fitteds and one Sustainablebabyish or Sbish OBV snapless fitted. I soaked them overnight in Rockin' Green and washed them, anxious to see if one of these would be our new nighttime solution. As soon as they were dry, which seemed to take a lot longer than my pocket inserts or hemp, I put Miss Roo to bed in a Goodmama fitted with a Wonderwrap over the top. Then off to bed we went. The next morning--DRY. Oh my gosh. I opened up that cover and the fitted was completely soaked, but her jammies were dry. Okay, I thought, we will try it again and see if maybe this was just a fluke. So last night, we tried it again. A Goodmama fitted with a Wonderwrap cover over the top. And she drank a ton before bed. I thought there was no way she would be dry this morning. But she was!! Again the diaper was soaked, but nothing else was. I have 3 of these now and they may be our solution.

I do have a couple of things I don't really like about them. First off, they need a cover. Miss Roo doesn' t understand that her pretty diaper has to be covered, so its a bit of a fight every night. Second, the rise isn't very high and since Roo is so tall, they don't fit real great. But, they do snap and she doesn't seem uncomfortable or in pain from them. Third, and finally, they do take a lot longer to dry. I guess its cause all the layers, but also the snap in soakers take forever. At least 2 cycles in the dryer, and sometimes have to hang the rest of the way dry. Really, this isn't a problem, since I have 3 but it kind of annoys me.

I have tried my Sbish fitted for one night, but I don't think I have given it a fair shot yet, so I am going to hold off reviewing it until then.

Week 23

Well, we are more than halfway done with the baby baking. On Friday, I will be 23 weeks. We set a date for the C-section and have picked a name. I moved Miss Roo to the bigger room, and got her twin bed set up, with new Dora bedding. She still prefers the crib converted to the toddler bed, but we have time to work on that. I have got my newborn cloth diaper stash worked out, I think. I have a dozen and a half nb prefolds, a dozen infant prefolds, 5 small covers and a few nb fitteds. I also sold off some of the diapers we were not reaching for, and got 8 new Rumparooz. I received 3 over the weekend and the other 5 should be here tomorrow. So total, I should have 12. These diapers have the shortest rise of any OS pocket, so I think they will be great for the nb stage. We will probably use the pfs and covers at home and save the RaR for going out. The great thing about the RaR, well, 2 great things, is they still fit Miss Roo, at 28 months, 37 inches tall and 34 pounds and they have these awesome double gussets to hold EBF poo in. Super excited to try them on a newborn.

We also had a baby shower for my SIL this weekend. MIL, GMIL and I went in and got her 12 brand new Kawaii pocket diapers. She was thrilled!! She was hugging them and went on and on about it. I had also got her 3 other new diapers, and she ordered another 3. So 18 new diapers, and she probably had another 6 or 8 ones I had sold her. The shower also gave me the opportunity to show off some of my diapers and explain how they worked. People were grossed out at first, and I heard from several, including a pregnant cousin, that they couldn't do that cause they work full time. Haha, I put that myth down quickly. I told them I worked full time, commuted another 10 hours a week and I did it. I said that it really only adds 3 loads a week, which is nothing compared to what other people in the house create (um, DH). They were impressed about how cute they were and how easily they went on the baby. Of course, I had some cute ones with me, so that always helps. I told everyone who was thinking about another baby to get with me if they were thinking about it. We also talked about how inexpensive they are, and how long you can use they for. Pretty fun times, at least for me.

Otherwise, things are pretty good. B got a job and started last week. He is really liking it, which I know makes him feel better. He is finally on an anti-depressent/anxiety med that is helping, so he wants to take it. He seems generally better. He has been sleeping again, helping more, and talking about things. In another week or so, he starts some really intensive therapy to help him deal with the PTSD, so that will be interesting. I am a little nervous that it will bring up stuff he doesn't want to talk about, but its supposed to also teach him how to deal and function with it. It sounds like a great program, but I guess we will see.

Nothing else really going on. Its finally spring, so we have been leaving windows open and Miss Roo never wants to be inside. I had to bribe her to come in and nap yesterday. The babysitter was bribing the kids today. She said if they are good, they get to play outside later. Its supposed to be around 75 degrees today. And sunny. Always feel better when the sun is shining.

God is so great in my life. I hope I can continue to serve Him.

Last day of the Month

Well, this has been a great day so far. Miss Roo and I got up on time to get to work and daycare, but Roo had a slight fever. B had an interview, so I had to stay home. But thats ok, didn't use gas and got to spend the day with her. B's interview went great, he is offically employed again! Its not anything great, just working for a lawn fertilizer place, but ITS A JOB!! He starts as soon as they get his background check and drug test back. Hopefully next week. He then went and talked to the city prosecutor about the legal issues. Pretty much, he was told it will NOT go on his record. And not to worry about it. There is a little more to it, but its complicated and pretty much relates to his good relationship with the PA's office.
Otherwise, the sun is shining, I was able to pay all the bills we had due right now today with B's last check from the Sheriff's office. And we still have my check tomorrow, a Money Order we bought for a shed that we are not getting and all of our tax return.
Alright, all in all, I think I have done pretty good this month. Its been rough, but I keep trying to find the good things that are happening. Yeah, B got arrested and resigned, but he is getting treatment for all his mental issues. He is happier than I have seen him in a while. Miss Roo is loving all this extra time with her daddy. She can't get enough of him. I am not as stressed as I thought I would be. This was a good month, colored by some bad that lead to more good.

God is Great! Thanks to Him for everything.

Updates on Everything

Things have just been going right along and super busy and I haven't been as good as I would like about updating, so here is the last 2 weeks.

B resigned from the SO on Valentine's day. It was a lot sadder than we thought it would be. Its like a whole chapter of his and my lives gone. When I got home that day, there was no sheriff's car in our driveway. Pretty much, this is the first time since we have lived in this house that this has happened. But, everyone was super nice to him while it was going on and after, when they picked up his stuff. On the plus side, I do not have to worry everytime he puts on his uniform that he won't come home. He has been cooking and cleaning and helping so much with Miss Roo. Its been great. Like a mini vaca for me. Well, not really, but still a huge load off.

We had our 18 week check-up. Everything is still good. I am down a total of 11 pounds so far. Doctor is not worried at all. Baby has a heart beat of 155. I am convinced its a girl, but we find out for sure on March 2.

We moved Miss Roo to a toddler bed. She has been doing great! I can't believe it. She has slept like 4 nights and took 2 naps. She goes right in, we kiss her and make sure she has all her friends and close the door. The only issue we have had with her is that during the second nap, she woke up, got her basket full of rash creams, lotions, brushes, etc and took it to bed. She managed to get a sample size of CJ's open and used the whole thing. It got everywhere-her, Harree, the bed, the sheets. Oh, well, lesson learned.

I took a bunch of Miss Roo's outgrown shoes to a consignment sale last weekend and made almost $130! Super excited. So, most went into checking, but I did use some to get a Boba carrier from Mami's and Papi's! This was really the only thing I can think that we will need for the new baby. Unless its a boy, then we are going to need some non-pink clothes. But we will know that soon enough.

I guess that's really all. I am trying my best to look at the positives. I am mostly okay with things, just somewhat concerned about money. But, God has provided for us so far and I do believe he will continue.

Updates

So, its been a few days since I updated. Things are going. We went down to the VA today for the psych appt and ended up getting in to see B's regular doctor too. He was offically diagonsed with PTSD. We knew thats what was mostly wrong, but its nice to have the diagonses. He will be getting more appointments for alcohol abuse, the PTSD, and job counseling. So, that was a good part of today. It was interesting taking the toddler. Unfortunitly, this meant no nap. But, Miss Roo did awesome. She finally broke down after about 4 hours while we were waiting for B's prescriptions. I took her to the car and we watched Dora. Then we drove around for a little bit and tried to get stuck in the 2 feet of snow.

Oh, yeah. We are still fighting with record amounts of snow we got Wednesday morning. At our house, we got about 25 inches. Its crazy. Our Dixie Dog can hardly be seen in the snow. She doesn't really like it. However, Baylee, our yellow lab, thinks it is the coolest thing ever. It is so much fun to watch them play in it. I got some excersise digging out the car so we could get to the VA today. It took about 20 minutes. But the car does awesome. We had no issues, but we drove pretty slow and steady.

Another great thing that has happened since the last time I updated. I won a diaper from Joana Weber, the Doopsy lady. So excited! I have never won a diaper and I think these ones will be great for the new baby. I also got some covers I bought off Fluff Swappers. They were from a lady in Canada. Some Blueberry OS covers. I had bought 2 from her, because I didn't really have the money for all three. When I opened them, there were 3. So I emailed her to see what happened, and told her I would pay for the extra one. She said, no, she just put it in there for me. So sweet. Really made my day today. And the covers look like they are in great shape. Good neutral colors and they have double gussets. Can't wait to use them tomorrow.

Oh, one last thing and I better go to bed. B had a job interview the other night! Just a phone one, but they said someone would be in touch. It was with an armored car company. And our friend text him tonight and said he may have a temporary job building fences. But it pays cash. So, it would be okay. I wish his back would be better before he started that physical labor, but we will do what we gotta do.

I want to take a minute to thank God for everything. Yes, this is going to be rough, but He has already shown us that things will be okay. We are working on a better relationship with each other and as a family.

Second week

Well, some good news yesterday. B met with a friend, who is going to help him some different parts of his life, including his resume. He was given homework, which included reading his bible and talking to me. He also met with a pastor friend, who prayed with him. He said it was the most positive day he had had in a long time. He also got a call last in the evening, which turned out to be a job interview. Just a phone one, but still. It was awesome.

Its still rough, trying to go day to day. But we are figuring out what has to change, what we can do without. We have decided that B will wait out the internal, and hopefully he can go to them, and resign after. That way he keeps his credentials and if the charge is dropped, he can possibly go back into law enforcement if he so wishes.

I am still trying to find the good in everything. Like last night Roo had a fever, so she could not go to daycare today. Thankfully, B had to be home anyway, so I didn't have to use sick time or take unpaid time. That was a very good thing. Also, trying to remember funny things that happened that night, like asking one of the officers to pick our Dixie dog up so M could get her dog out to the car. Or handing that officer my gun that I keep in my dresser and his eyes getting huge, because he expected a small gun and I handed him a .45 caliber 1911.

So, we are making it. Big changes are in store for us, but that isn't nessessarily a bad thing. Keep praying and look to God. He will provide us with what we need.

"We never know how strong we are, until strong is the only choice we have"-Unknown