Liam's (Cloth) Diaper Bag at 4 months

Liam's Diaper Bag at 4 Months

I got this bag at Target about 5 years ago. It is supposed to be used for a laptop/briefcase. It has the two pockets that you see on the outside, and the one pocket on the inside you see below. It also had a cell phone holder and a place to clip my keys.

Everything really does fit in here! And I love how it keeps its shape. It does have a zipper closure and when I dont add the extra blanket, I can zip it closed.

Here is the overview, I cant believe all this really goes in here!

Top left going right... at least 2 burp rags, Liam spits up and drools a lot. My nursing cover--which I rarely use. My wallet and keys. A thicker blanket, an aden + ansi  blanket. I made that green and brown bag for his extra outfit and a few other items. Toys. Extra wet bag, nipple cream (just incase), sun screen. Boogie wipes, extra nuk, first aid kit, tide stick, mini notebook, and pens.

Extra outfit, extra hat, mittens, and my mittens. In that little black clutch I have tissues, pads, and nursing pads. The brown polka dot bag is a wet/dry bag, wipes, diaper cream, the green and brown thing is a changing pad I made. And two diapers. 

This is what I would pack if we were going away for a few hours. If we are just running to the store, I usually dont bring so much. I might just grab the wet/dry bag with the diapers, blankets, toys, burp rag, nuk, and my wallet.

Our Cloth Diapering Set Up

Cloth diapering has quickly become an obsession of mine! There are so many fantastic reason to cloth diaper. The biggest one in my book is the savings! You buy cloth once. That's it. Not to mention, they are so incredibly cute!! They are, of course, way better for the environment--no waste in landfills, sitting for years and years. No harmful chemicals on your baby's bottom! No drymax gel causing chemical burns. This can be a controversial topic, but I would rather error on the side of caution with this one.
Here's another comparison from Apple Cheeks Diapers.

So, for those of you who care, here's our current set up.

This is an old desk we had. it works well for a diaper station. There are three drawers on the right, the first holds his diapers, the last two hold clothes he currently fits into. I have his baby book, extra change pad covers, and his grooming kit on the shelves. On the right hand side of the top I have my Himalayan Salt Lamp as a night light. And a basket of cloth wipes I made from scrap flannel, as well as wipe solution and other diapering odds and ends. Underneath you can almost see the laundry basket and that red bin holds his dirty diapers when we are doing diaper laundry since I only have one pail liner for now. You can also see a cute red chevron pocket diaper in that bin. :)

Here we have most of his diapers we are currently using. Left top going down: The first 5 are Thirsties Duo Wrap Size 1. The next three are Flip Covers. Middle Row Top: You can see some extra inserts in the way back, our favorites are hemp. 1 Weehuggerz cover size 1. 4 lotus bumz pockets. Right top: Dippee Dypee Skellington Jack cover with bamboo inserts. Kawaii baby, 2 Imagine pockets, and 2 Fancy Pants Pockets.

Top Left: Rockin' Green Shake It Up deodorizer (got as a gift), California Baby lotion, Homemade Wipe Solution. Bottom Left: homemade cloth wipes--2-ply cotton flannel.

Green Mountain Diaper Prefolds. Orange edge-newborn size, Yellow edge-infant size.

I will eventually do a more indepth post on what has worked for us so far. And a sort of review on the diapers we currently own. Our set up could always be more efficient, but for now, this is what works. Liam loves to be on his changing table, I'm not really sure why, but its a good place to get him to smile. :)
N.

Newborn Must Haves: Weeks 1-3

YAY for photo collages!! I love doing these--when I actually get the time! :) 

I have been so excited to get to do these "must-haves" and "favorites" posts!! So while little man is sleeping behind me on his playmat (#7) I figured now would be a great time!

1. I haven't braved the breastfeeding in public thing yet. I think it will be easier once Liam can hold his head up, and we are off the nipple shield. So I pump when I know we will be out longer than he can go without eating. We use the Breastflow bottles, which I absolutely love! They are more nipple/boob like and he takes his time drinking, which helps with his gas.

2. When we got home from the hospital and we had to keep Liam on the UV-blanket for his jaundice, we had to keep him comfy while it was wrapped around him 24-7. He slept in this Fisher-Price Infant to Toddler Rocker, which has a kickstand to keep from rocking. When the kickstand is being used, it is almost like a mini-bassinet. So now, during his really fussy/gassy nights, he still sleeps in here where he is sitting up more. It is next to my side of the bed, where I can just reach over and comfort him without getting out of bed.

3. I cannot say enough about cloth diapering!!! We used disposables until his umbilical stump fell off since the cloth were a bit higher in the rise, and I was not about to buy any newborn cloth diapers. Right now our favorites include the Flip covers, Lotus Bumz pockets with hemp insert for overnight, and the Thirsties Duo Covers. With the disposables, we leaked out all.the.time! But since switching, we haven't had any leaks!! This really helps with his clothes laundry! 

4. Wellements Gripe Water! This really helps us at nighttime! Liam hates burping...I really think he holds them in on purpose...ok, maybe not. But seriously, this kid really doesn't burp well. And of course, he makes is discomfort known late at night. So, we have found that 2.0ml of this organic gripe water helps us make it through the night. Thank goodness!

5. I love my water!! Plus when you breastfeed, you have to keep up your fluid intake even more! The Contigo Fliptop Straw is of my all time favorite water bottles! I also enjoy using the gigantic cup I got from the hospital.

6. Medela Nipple Shield. One of the very unfortunate things I learned from my doula was I apparently have too small of nipples to easily breastfeed my son. Luckily they make these handy-dandy nipple shields. I use the contact version so there is as much skin to skin as we can get. They aren't the most convenient things, but it is more convenient than buying formula. Plus, they help shape my nipples along with the nipple shells I have just started using. So hopefully we will be able to eventually stop using both things all together!

7. I love the Infantino Jungle Buddies Playmat! We have a small house, and this mat is compact and can easily fold up. I like that I can have Liam hang out on his mat while I am doing other things around the house. He loves to look at the contrasting colors right now, plus it is easily washable if need be. 

8. I do pump when we go out for longer periods of time, as well as if I am feeling really "full". I found this Avent Manual Pump on clearance at Walmart (for 20 bucks!) and figured I buy it just to have on hand. Well, turns out I really love it! I think eventually I will have to get an electric, but I would love to stick to the Avent brand, super comfy--if that's possible for a breast pump. lol

9. I use these Green Mountain Prefold Diapers as both cloth diapers and burp rags. I love these! First off, I tried putting the diapers around Liam and securing with a snappi, but it turned out I didn't like it as much as must placing it tri-folded as an insert into the cover. Anyways, these are so absorbent and get even more so with every wash! I currently have 12 newborn size and 24 small size.

10. This is where Liam sleeps. We got the Evenflo "Gears" play yard. At first, we were using the changer that it comes with, but I found it too low, and it hurt my back. I like the feature, but I prefer our new set up. (old desk with changing pad in Liam's bedroom) We have him sleep with the bassinet part installed, so he is closer to the top and easier to reach. This may sound silly, but I did pick this pattern because it matched the red in our bedroom. :)

One more thing, that I forgot to put on the collage, we use the gumdrop pacifier. This was something we agreed never to use...and well...the first night home, Liam was screaming and we couldn't figure out why. Me, having terrible sleep for 3 days in the hospital and 4 days prior while in labor was desperate. And...it worked like a charm! Now, I try not to use it unless he is really really fussy, usually just at night or if we are out in public. He doesn't wake wanting it, or keep it in his mouth consistently, so far at least...  Hopefully he wont become attached to it. I guess time will tell.

Pregnancy Week 16

I can't believe I'm already at week 17! I remember being 5 weeks pregnant and wishing I was this far along so I could relax and enjoy pregnancy! Wahoo!!! So obviously you have seen that we had our ultrasound and 16 week midwife appointment this past week. We are so excited to be having a baby boy!! I bought some fabric a few weeks ago that I absolutely fell in love with at Joanne Fabrics. It is brown flannel with fun bright smiley monsters. I also bought some super soft brown minky type of fabric to back a blanket. Teal satin binding too! So I plan on working on that this week. I would have still made it if we were having a girl, but I'm glad it turned out this way. :) Anyways, onto week 16...

How far: 16 weeks

Total weight gain: ZERO! still at my pp weight during my midwife appointment :)

Maternity clothes: I cant stand anything tight on my belly, so its fleece pants, yoga pants, pjs, and my maternity jeans/work pants. Still rockin the larger t shirts since my maternity shirts are too big yet.


Sleep: Hasn't been great this week. Just a lot of tossing and turning.

Best Moment: obviously seeing my little boy at our ultrasound!!! He is just perfect!!

Miss anything: coffee, headache medicine.

Food cravings: still mustard, pickles and oj

Anything make you queasy or sick: nothing really

Gender: BOY!! :) 

Movement: still waiting...its hard to tell, but until I'm positive I wont post it.

Wedding ring: On

Symptoms: headaches!! They are pretty mild, but really annoying! Sinus pain, tired, peeing a lot more during the day. I cry easily, and over silly things.

Mood: Good, sometimes emotional

Looking forward to: sewing my sweet little boy his blanket! 

I also finally ordered my prefold cloth diapers. I have them prepped and stored away with the rest of his covers and fun baby stuff! I did buy the Moby wrap as well as a sweet maternity coat at Target! 

Oh! I also found a very local place that does placenta encapsulation! I am super thrilled! She is very reasonably priced and her father is actually my next door neighbor! Small world...anyways, she posted the process on her website and I realized how easy it is to do it yourself. I contemplated doing it ourselves, but after thinking about it, I realized that I probably wont want to mess around with it after the birth. I know I will want to enjoy Liam and our family time. :) 

Hope you all stay warm! 

Nikky