Saturday, March 20, 2010

There's good busy and there's bad busy






Our lives' here at the Howard house are naturally busy. Sometimes we are busy in a good way: like last weekend when we babysit CK's (cousin Kari's) baby Brody so she could get some rest. She was sick with a nasty flu.

He is a sweet little baby with the most gorgeous blue eyes. It's really fun to watch him and Jackson interact. The girls' can't get enough of him, or the fact they have another baby to play with! Unfortunately though, sometimes we are busy in a bad way: like the next 6 days we spent dealing with the aforementioned nasty flu that CK had. Each one of us has gotten it in succession starting with me, Jack-Jack, Ella, Malina and now finally Dave. It lasts about 3-4 days and it involves alot of indescribable body functions. Lucky for you, I won't go into details.

Speaking of lucky, I do forgive my cousin for getting us sick but only because she's family. And because she let's me call her "CK".



Last Sunday, right before all the sickness started, was a day of celebration:
Jackson turned 7mo old!
I have been successfully breast feeding for 7mo!
We have used cloth diapers for 7mo!

Why is the feeding and defecating of my child exciting? Simple. Because we weren't sure we could handle it.

Breast feeding had been a problem with each of the girls'; my milk dried up when they were about 4mo. This time with Jackson, I was determined to make it work. What has helped the most is that I haven't lost any of the baby weight so I have a nice fat reserve to draw from. Just imagine me as a fat mama black bear, just not as cute. Every now and then I could feel my milk supply starting to dwindle, I would drink Mother's Milk Tea. When I bought the tea I had my doubts of it actually working but I was determined to try anything to keep my milk production up, no matter how ridiculous it seemed but, to their credit it does work.

When I told my friends, family, and husband that I wanted to cloth diaper our baby I was met with alot of raised eyebrows. You know that ones that say "ok......do what you want but you're crazy for doing it". My reason was very simple: we were going from a 2- person income, to a 1-person income and we needed to cut bills dramatically! I figured we could save about $2000 if we cloth diapered Jackson until he was 3yr. old. (Which is about how old the girls' were when they were potty trained).

Many people have varying opinions about cloth diapering, whether they do it or not. Some people find the act of folding cloth diapers relaxing, others tote the benefits for mother earth, and still others find it's not for them.

For me, I can't say I find folding diapers relaxing; it's just more laundry for me to do. And I can't just conveniently throw the diaper away when it gets soiled in public. I have to carry it around in my diaper bag until I get home. The truth is, I would rather not use cloth diapers but, there are also alot of things I would rather not do, like: clean the bathroom, wash my dishes, take out the garbage, etc. So really, that's not a good excuse. What I do like is that with just a little bit more work and slight inconvenience I save a good deal of money, which means I can afford to stay home with my kids--who help me fold cloth diapers.

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