Silas John - Week 13

We move from newborn to baby this week.  Can't believe it happened so fast.  And, I kind of fell off the bandwagon with pictures this week.  I promise to do better.

I've been saying for a while now that Silas has been congested.  It finally progressed enough last weekend (Silas would cry if he was awake and not eat well, not to mention a terrible sounding cough) that we took him to the doctor's office on Monday.  Luckily it wasn't a serious cough aka moved to his chest, and this week, he's be on the mend.  He's gone back to eating longer and sleeping better.  He's still coughing quite a bit, but it doesn't seem to bother him like it did.

Due to being sick, he's sleeping in his rock and play which keeps him in a more elevated position.   He's started doing this interesting thing where he just makes the sucking motion with his lips like he's sucking his thumb, but he's only sucking air.  It seems to soothe him back to sleep if he's woken from coughing.  Once he's not swaddled, he may take after his brother and be a thumb sucker.

Speaking of sleep, after waking up at 5 am one morning and then 4 am the next, I heard him at 3 am the following day, and knew we were starting a terrible trend.  I decided it was time for a little cry it out.  So I took my pillow out to the couch - in order not to wake up Jason - and listened to Silas cry.  To my surprise, he cried for 15 minutes, then whimpered for 15 more minutes, then fell asleep.  He slept for 5 more hours and woke up at 8 am!?!?!?  And he's been sleeping 10 1/2 hours since then!

We've given up on the bottle for the time being.  We don't have anything coming up where he has to take a bottle so I'm hoping a little bit of rest from it will help him be ready to take it again.  I've got a lot of milk stored up, so I hope so.

Also, if you missed it, we started cloth diapers this week!  I had been given so many diapers, that I was just putting it off, but all the disposable diaper explosions reminded me why I like cloth so much.  We haven't had one since.  Silas doesn't seem to mind the change at all.  And with him being the second child to use the diapers, it's like we're diapering for free!! And I love FREE!

His skin has really cleared up this week.  I don't know if its just due to the magical 3 month move from newborn to baby, or what.  But he had several dry patches on his arms and legs that are gone for now and I only occasionally have to put stuff on his face.  Also, his cradle cap seems to be gone.  Three months is really a game changer.

He's much more vocal this week.  He'll talk to his hands, hanging toys, Amos or anyone who's holding him.  I'll hear him and think he's getting fussy, but look and see him smiling really big, just carrying on. He makes an actually cooing noise when he talks too.  They are so precious.  I think he carries on more than Amos did at that age.  Amos was much more interested in all things physical - rolling, sitting or standing.  Silas could care less about mastering those at this point.

Amos loves Silas.  I know because Amos loves to give him kisses.  He loves to tell Silas bye when Silas goes down for naps, and he loves when Silas "waves" back.  He asks where Silas is when he wakes up from his naps.  He is more willing to share his toys with him.  He'll sing him a song or read him a book.  If I want to get Amos to do something, (i.e. jump) I'll ask him to show Silas how to jump and he's much more apt to do it then if he were just doing it for me.  He's already a good BIG brother!

Speaking of Amos, here he was at 13 weeks!

And so it begins...

...diapering two little boys with cloth!

I waited a little longer with Silas to put him into cloth, but now I don't know why.  He just looks so cute in them.  Cloth makes diapering a little more fun.

 I don't think much is going to change with two.  I'll just have to do laundry a little more often.  Right now, I've divvied up my diaper stash between the two boys.  They each have about the same amount but of different kinds (Amos-Bumgenius AIO and the Best Bottom covers, Silas- Grovia AIO and the Flip covers).  I think this will make laundry a little easier to keep track of.  Plus, I won't have to mess with setting the covers to different sizes each time.

If you want a little more of the reasoning behind my choice of diapers, check out this post. And I mention a little bit more in this one.

The Vance House Rejoices!

Why are we rejoicing you might ask?  Because we have completed our first week of cloth diapering and I love it.  Whew!  You never know if something that you put money into is going to be a dud!  Luckily, this wasn't it!

DISCLAIMER:  If you have no interest in cloth diapers, do not keep reading.  This post will be really boring and confusing!  YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!

Now that I'm for sure about cloth diapering, the rest of my "stash" is on its way!  The rest of the post is essentially about how I decided what the rest of my stash was going to be.  Let me warn you again, if you don't care about cloth diapering, stop reading!

My least favorite was the BumGenius AlOs (All in One).  I’m a little surprised by this because I thought that they would be my favorite.  They’re a few reasons for this conclusion.  They are messier than the rest, they take longer to dry and the leg gussets turn inside out on themselves, which isn’t a good thing when I’m trying to contain runny poop.  They definitely aren’t a terrible diaper; they just won’t be my first choice when getting into the diaper drawer.

Here's Amos in the BumGenius AIO

 If you look closely, you can see how the leg gusset will turn inside out! 

Second place goes to the Kissaluv Marvels.  The Marvel is a lot like a pocket diaper, except you don’t have to deal with taking out a “soiled” insert and restuffing it back in every time.  Instead, the insert is sewn in and agitates partly out in the wash.  It’s a pretty handy system, BUT I chose not to get anymore because they are so bulky on.  Every time I put it one him, I want to break out into "I Like Big Butts" and Jason doesn't appreciate it.  Not a terrible thing, but still enough to keep me from buying any more.

Amos in the AIO Marvels

 Mr. BIG BOTTOM

And finally, my favorites, and what I chose to buy more of were the GroVia AIO and the Best Bottom All-In-2!  I love both of these diapers.  The Gro Via is the slimmest diaper on Amos.   He barely looks like he is wearing a cloth diaper when he has these one.  The absorbent cloth is only attached in the back, so it dries MUCH faster than the BumGenius and the leg gussets are a big improvement.  It even has the option of snapping in additional doubler for nighttime. Again, it’s basically like having a pocket diaper, with out the mess of a pocket diaper. 

Amos in the GroVia AIO.  He loves them!

 Check out those leg gussets!  Much better!

The inside of the GroVia AIO

Showing the snap in doubler for extra absorbency.

The second winner is the Best Bottoms.  What a great system.  It was actually developed by a mom who used cloth diapers and wanted to make something wonderful that everyone can afford.  It’s a shell with inserts that snap in and out.  So if the shell isn’t dirty-, which it isn’t most of the time – you don’t have to change it.  Just change the insert!  That means less wash and less money on more diapers!!!  It sounded too good to be true, that’s why I didn’t make it all my stash the first time, but it really does work!  No leaks, and pretty trim make it a winner!

Amos in the Best Bottoms!

Double leg gussets!  Can it get any better!

The inside.

With the medium insert.  

(Side note: I didn't start cloth diapers until Amos was out of the small insert size.)

And now for the deals!  That's right, I didn't pay full price for any of these diapers!!!!!!  Right now GroVia is running a special:  buy 2 AIO diapers and get the third diaper free!  So of course, I purchased three more GroVias for the price of 2.  I added three more Best Bottom shells, 12 more inserts and 4 overnight inserts to my cart at KellysCloset too.  Then I found the coupon for 10% off my entire order!  ChaChing!

Lastly, a SURPRISE!!!  I was perusing our local overstock warehouse, I found a Day Pack of the Flip Diaper system by Cotton Babies.  I’d been interested in trying these out, but hadn't.  The system is pretty much like Best Bottom’s system, where you use a shell and change out only the inserts.  They were selling the pack for half off, so I thought that I couldn’t pass up the deal. 

The Flip on my model!

The Flip cover.

The Flip with the insert.  It doesn't snap in, it just slides in and fits under the flap of the cover.

Congratulations on making it to the end of a really long cloth diaper post.  You must love cloth diapers as much as I do!  My hope is that they save our family a ton of money and we are able to spend it on other things, like car insurance!

Once you go Cloth, you don't ever go back!

         I really don't know if my above statement is true, but I'm here to tell you that I'm committed to finding out.  Before finding out that Jason and I were pregnant, I had already become interested in cloth diapering through the blog YoungHouseLove (check it out if you haven't already).  In one of their post, they explained the ins and outs of their cloth diapering decision.  What jumped out at me the most was the amount of money they were saving by using cloth instead of disposable.
        Shortly thereafter, I found out that we were expecting a baby of our own and became very interested in cloth diapers.  My extensive research began.  Now, I had and still have NO experience to fall back on, so I read a TON of articles and watched a TON of youtube reviews.  If you are interested, I would suggest watching any of the review by DirtyDiaperLaundry.  She has reviewed at least a hundred different diapers.
        Ok, so what did I choose?  Well, after my aforementioned research, I knew some things that I didn't want.  I didn't want pocket diapers, the thought of empty messy diapers and restuffing diapers all the time did not appeal to me.  I didn't want to have to buy a bunch of different sizes and hope that I guessed right.  Definitely didn't want prefolds. And I didn't want to use velcro.  So I went with the top of the line - all in ones (AIO), one size fits all, diapers.  However, even with that specific criteria, there are still so many diapers to choose from.  I choose to start out with 8 of what I think will be the best diapers - because again, I still don't have a baby and I have not used them.  I choose 3 bumGenius Elemental, 2 GroVia AIO, 2 BestBottoms ( these are not an AIO) and 1 Kissaluv Marvel.  The bumGenius seem to be a premium diaper, but they have great reviews. However, I have read that they are terrible to get poop out of.  I'm predicting GroVia to be my favorite.  They have a really neat snap in insert that remains intact through the wash.  The Best Bottoms are different from the rest, in that, they have an outside shell that can be wiped cleaned if lightly soiled, then all that needs to be replaced in the insert that snaps in.  I find this option very interesting and am excited to see if if actually works that well.  It seems like it would take less washing.  Lastly, the Kissaluv has a pocket insert, but it remains attached at the back and agitates out in the wash.  No removing when the diaper is soiled.
          Below I have the pictures of my favorite.  Some are even modeled by my lovely husband.  Who else would think that cloth diapers would make a great hat!  Again, I'll let you know what I find out!  I've got high expectations!