5 Ways I've Changed as a Mother : One Year In

My little guy just turned one on May 27. Besides looking back on this year and not being able to comprehend how he's grown so fast, I also have realized it's an opportunity for me to look back on my first year of motherhood.

I have changed since becoming a mom.

That's not something I thought I'd be proud of. I didn't think I would like to admit that, but I have. Having Calvin has changed me in so many ways that I never really took into consideration beforehand, ways that never even occurred to me.

And don't get me wrong it's not like I woke up on May 28, 2016 and I was a completely different person. It has been a very gradual process sinking into motherhood and feeling comfortable in it. And I must admit it's only been in the last couple months that I've really come to understand my new self.

I am so much stronger than I ever knew.
Emotionally, being a mom is hard. It was a roller coaster for the first couple months with all the hormones and adjusting to this crazy new life, but it's been better since then. However motherhood is totally unlike anything I've ever experienced. I thought college was hard. I thought my job was stressful at times. But nothing compares to motherhood. Being a mother is a full time job. Seriously. Even if you aren't a stay at home mom. Life is hectic and there is hardly ever time to just sit on your butt and do nothing anymore.

I could care less what others think. 
In the early months breastfeeding in public was super terrifying, but I've since gotten over it. And it's not just breastfeeding. I don't care if Calvin decides to scream in the middle of the grocery store. I don't care if he cries while we're out to dinner. Of course, I try to comfort him, I don't want him throwing a fit, I just don't feel embarrassed over it and I don't worry that everyone is watching us. Which is totally strange for me, I've always been a very shy person.

Being a calm mother is hard!
I have lost my cool on too many occasions in this short year. Being a calm and loving mother is hard work. Reminding myself not to freak out on my little boy is a constant battle. I want to be able to speak to Calvin and tell him what's gone wrong instead of just telling him to stop. I don't want to be the mom who yells all the time and it's harder than I thought it would be to fight against that urge. I didn't expect to have to remind myself so often that he's just a baby, he's new at this, he's learning, just like I'm learning how to be a mom.

My body is not the same and it's okay.
I've gone back and forth on this one for this past year. I gained a ton of weight with Calvin (over 50 lbs, and I'm only 5'3"). My body is definitely not the same. I am still fluctuating between 5-10 pounds left to lose. My belly is super squishy. I have stretch marks like pretty much everywhere. My legs are more jiggly than before. But you know what? It's okay. Calvin doesn't care, why should I?

My priorities have changed.
Especially financially. I would rather spend $50 in new clothes for Cal than to buy a new eyeshadow palette for myself. I don't feel the desire to collect all the new lipsticks from one line. I don't feel like rushing around to all the local Walgreens to find the newest summer collection. That just doesn't appeal to me anymore. And I never would have thought that'd be the case! If you asked me 13 months ago, I never ever would have thought I'd just drop one of my biggest passions like that. I know having a baby is expensive, but I can honestly say having Calvin has saved us money in a different way because we think twice about our spending now. We used to just get whatever we wanted, but now we consider what's best for the family as a whole, and that keeps us from just buying every little thing that isn't necessary. Thinking about the three of us as a true family unit instead of just me and Justin has really changed things.

I'm sure not everyone changes so much as a mom, but I've definitely noticed changes in myself and I can say with a lot of confidence that these changes have been for the best. I love being a mom, even though it is seriously a lot of work, I'm so happy.

Love,
Alaina

What We Packed for Our One Year Old on a Weekend Trip : Cloth Diapering

For Calvin's birthday weekend (Memorial Day Weekend) we took a little trip to my Grandpa's in the country and I thought I'd show you what we packed in Calvin's bag. We left Saturday morning and returned Sunday afternoon. It was a two hour drive there and two hours back. 

From top to bottom, left to right, in rows (kind of):

• 12 best bottoms inserts
• 1 Thirsties hemp insert (for the ride home)
• 2 stay dry liners
• 2 cloth wipes (to use as liners if need be)
• 1 GMD birdseye flat (for the ride home)
• 3 Buttons diaper covers
• fabric chair strap-in thing (It wraps around the spindles of a grown up chair and can be used as a makeshift high chair to contain little ones during mealtime)
• changing pad
• Honest co. spray hand sanitizer
• Honest co. diaper rash cream
• 4 disposables diapers
• 2 overnight disposable diapers
• sandals
• hair band, sunglasses, and lip balm for me, first aid kit, a sippy cup converter, Cal's sunglasses, Zen Mama's teething ring (always in the diaper bag)
• 2 packs of wipes
• Honest co. spray sunscreen
• 2 wetbags (1 for diapers, 1 for dirty clothes)
• 3 pairs of socks
• tennis shoes
• 2 outfits
• 2 pajamas
• swimming trunks
• swim diaper
• 4 bibs
• sun hat
• blanket 

We anticipated hot weather and swimming in the creek, but it rained pretty much as soon as we got there and it was cooler and muddy for the rest of the weekend, so we ended up not using a lot of what we packed, honestly.

But the backpack was definitely stuffed full.

Cloth Diapering 

I brought disposables just in case. My husband was weary of cloth diapering away from home, but I actually found cloth diapering on this trip even easier than disposables. In my opinion, I think it's more courteous to dispose of used disposable diapers out in the main trash when you're at someone else's home. You don't want to throw a dirty diaper into the kitchen trash can and let it stink up someone else's house. So using cloth was easy because I didn't have to walk outside every time I changed a diaper. The cloth diapers just went straight into the wet bag that was already near me and the diaper bag.

Yes, you could do the same with disposables and just wait until you got home to throw them out. However, we were down there with another couple and they use disposables and I just always noticed momma walking outside with the dirty diapers and I said to myself, hey this is actually a good example for how cloth can be easier than disposables. :) We did use one overnight disposable on the trip simply because the backpack was already so stuffed full, I didn't want to stuff it too full with an overnight diaper or two.

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I never realized just how dangerous of a place my Grandpa's is! Haha. Having to watch over a little person and make sure he doesn't kill himself in a place that is definitely not baby-proofed is a really tiring job. You couldn't just let him out of your sight for a minute! It was a lot of work to keep an eye on him but it was still a relaxing weekend.

This weekend honestly helped me to relax as a mother. We were down in the country, it was muddy and rainy, Calvin played in the puddles pretty much the entire weekend. And I let him. I didn't try to keep him clean. I didn't really try to prevent him from eating the mud. It helped me realize he's just a kid, we've all eaten dirt, we've all survived being down there at Grandpa's. My sisters and I have all been going down their our whole lives. I truly feel that the weekend was beneficial to us as a family in so many ways.

Thanks for reading!
Love,
Alaina

Our Overnight Cloth Diaper Solution : 1 Year Old Boy

I was so afraid to cloth diaper overnight. We've only been cloth diapering Calvin since he was 9 months old, so we went two months without even attempting to try it overnight. This was the first combination we tried and it worked for us. We've been very lucky and haven't had to troubleshoot nighttime at all so far. Fingers crossed!

This is what works overnight for 10-13 hours for us, starting closest to the skin out to the cover:

Stay-dry liner

GMD workhorse fitted diaper

Thirsties hemp insert

Thirsties duo wrap cover

I watched a lot of YouTube videos about nighttime cloth diapering before making the attempt. A fitted diaper and hemp insert seemed to be a pretty popular combination. I threw the stay dry liner on top just in case it would make him feel more comfortable and it actually makes cleaning up his first thing in the morning poo way easier. I have no idea what brand the stay dry liner is because we got them in some hand me down clothing bags. 

We already owned some Thirsties hemp inserts and I had wanted to try out some GMD workhorse diapers anyway, thinking about building a newborn stash for future babies, so I purchased a couple medium and large GMD workhorse fitteds just for overnights. For a fitted diaper, they're reasonably priced, natural and organic. Calvin can fit in the mediums, but they come kind of low on his backside, so we prefer the large at this point, he is around 23 pounds. 

And that's what works! I hope it does for you too. Let me know what your overnight diaper looks like!

My videos:
Our Overnight Cloth Diaper Solution video here.

Condensed overnight solution video with demo here.

Love,

Alaina

Stop Cloth Diaper Leaks : Buttons/Best Bottom System & Prefolds & Covers

Calvin modeling Buttons Marina one size cover

You have just started on this awesome new adventure in cloth diapering. You are so stoked. Cute prints, saving the environment, saving cash! So fun! Then you finally muster up the courage to leave the house without disposables. You venture out to the grocery store with baby and as soon as you take him out of the car seat, you feel a little wet spot on your hand. What?! Later you put him down for a nap and he wakes up soaked! What is happening?! You get frustrated. But hopefully you don't give up! Instead you head to the internet! Someone must have an answer!

We've been cloth diapering for 10 weeks now, but let me tell you, we've learned a lot in this short amount of time. We started when Calvin was around 9 months old, so next time around with a newborn could bring its own learning curve. Here are the tips I have learned to keep the diapers from leaking.

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Here are my top 3 tips for preventing leaks!
(we use Buttons covers with Best Bottom inserts or prefolds and Thirsties Duo Wrap covers for reference)

1. Make sure the leg gussets are in the crease of the thigh and crotch.
If it's too far down the leg, you're going to get leaks when they move. We had several leaks in the legs in our early days and I blamed the cover. Come to find out the cover was fine, it was the placement in the legs that was causing problems.

2. Make sure the absorbent part is fully tucked into the waterproof part.
Even if the cover's leg gussets are sitting right on top of the insert, you can get wicking. Make sure they're inside, not just on top. Also check the top of the diaper, below the belly button. We used to get leaks there at naptime because Cal sleeps on his stomach. I've learned that both having the diaper cover too tight or too loose can cause this issue, so make sure you have the best fit you can get.

3. Change the diaper every two hours.
I was expecting too much out of cloth in the beginning. They just aren't going to hold as much pee as a disposable. The only time I have had leaks (since figuring out what the hell I was doing) are when the diaper is simply full beyond capacity, when you change the baby and the insert is totally completely saturated. It has nowhere else to go! You can't expect the cover to just hold in a pool of pee.

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It's that simple. I like to take Cal's legs and move them in and out to see how the diaper shifts around. I open up his legs and check to see if anything is peaking out. Usually something does need to be adjusted, so that extra check really is helpful! And it's not that much different than a disposable. I always check to make sure the fluffy edges are flared out on the legs and butt of a disposable.

Right now Calvin wears disposables during the week while he's at the grandmas' and cloth all weekend when he's with us. We still have a giant box of disposable diapers, but when they run out (or Cal outgrows them), we're going to discuss using cloth with the grandmas too and see what they think. They both already know that we cloth diaper him at home, I'm just unsure how they'll feel about doing it themselves.

As of right now, we also want to cloth diaper our next baby from the start (and all the babies after that), so the grandmas will probably have to try it out eventually. :)

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I hope this was helpful! Let me know any other tips you have to prevent leaks!

Love,

Alaina