Panties

I got asked the question today 'Is she (referring to the 13 1/2 month old little lady) potty training?'
I had to stop and think for a little while. I have been ECing for over a year now and I guess I dont really think of it as potty training I think if it more as just a part of my life. It has become second nature. After she nurses I offer the potty, when she wakes from her nap I offer the potty, when she starts grabbing herself I offer the potty. Doesnt everyone?
I dont make a big deal about accidents. We just clean them up and go about our day.
So I answer with a smile 'Yes, she is potty trained.'
The little lady has been wearing panties for over two weeks now. Some days are filled full of accidents and other have none.. so I guess it keeps things fresh and exciting.
If I really feel like living on the edge I will leave the house with out a change of clothes. But most of the time I have a little backpack full of pants and underwear, just in case.
The hardest thing about the little lady wearing panties has been finding pants that fit her. Before her cloth diaper held up her pants very nicely and now with out that extra padding they just fall right down. I guess that the price that I have to pay for ECing.
Last nigh the little lady woke up just after 9pm. I could hear her saying 'Ma.' I went in to check on her. I picked her up and started rocking her. She started telling me that she needed to poo by starting to push (many times she will use the ASL sign for poop, but I guess not when she is half asleep). I asked her if she needed to go and she shook her head yes.
She then sat on her little potty on the counter in the bathroom and pooed. She was so cute half asleep leaning over and laying her head on my chest and wrapping her arms around my back.
It was so nice to just wipe a bottom than having to change a poopy diaper in the middle of the night.
Yay for Elimination Communication.

The little lady helping her dolly go potty

Day number five

Today marks the fifth day that the little lady has worn panties.
Some days she has had no accidents and others were filled full of many accidents and me about ready to give up and just put a diaper back on her.

But I have not given up.

Isn't she so cute in her little panties?
I have had a very hard time finding her some that fit her little bum. The 2T ones fall off but they work, the 18 month training pants fit but they are hard to find and bloomers fit her great but they are not really panties.

Maybe one day I will find some time that I can sit down and make her some that fit her perfectly and until then I am just going to love on these two amazing kids.

Are you ready?

We are getting ready.
To celebrate World Breastfeeding Week and my birthday I am going to host a give-a-way and spend the first week in August talking about (what else) breastfeeding.

Simple gifts

Sleep is a gift in our house.
Lately I have not been getting much of it but the littles have and I have been enjoying there naps. But I just cant stop myself from taking pictures of them as they nap.


Here is the little man napping in his place of choice, resting his head on a large pile of books with is pants on backwards. Priceless.


And the little lady napping in the rocking seat, not strapped in, with the hubbies shirt as a pillow while toys cover the floor just of the cameras view.

Those are just a few snapshots from my life. And I am loving every minute of it.

I received another gift today. An early birthday gift from my Mom and Dad. This one is just a little more tangible than peace and quiet, a bike trailer.


I am super excited. I could hardly wait for the hubby to come home so I could take it out for a spin. It hooked up to the bike really easy and I could hardly feel it back there.
The littles liked it also. The little lady even sat in there and played for a while after we were done riding. I guess it was so relaxing for her that when I took her out she just had to poo. On herself, me and the ground. So then it was bath time. She was still so relaxed that she forgot to cry while she was in the big bath tub or maybe (hopefully) she likes the big tub now.
While she was in the tub playing with her brother I was able to wash her wool soaker in the sink and relanolize it. I think that I am really starting to like wool.

This week...

Has been very busy. I thought having the little man away at VBS would give me a little more time to blog, relax and do house work (in that order), but I was wrong. I have not found time to blog since Tuesday, the sink is still full of dishes and relaxing I dont know if that will ever come.
It was a fun week even though I did not get the things done that I wanted to.
The little man enjoyed his VBS. He cried the first three days and it was only five days long. I knew that he would have fun so I left him crying. When I got there to pick him up the first day he told me he had fun. So I did not feel so bad. We went back last night for his last day performance and play time. We got there early so that he could jump in the bounce house but he did not want to. When it was time to sing he did not want to either. He just stood there.
What a stubborn boy.
He even woke up this morning singing the songs and when I asked him why he did not sing yesterday he just shrugged his shoulders.
Sometimes I wish I knew what was going through his little head, but only sometimes.
About day number two of VBS he came home with a runny nose that now the little lady has it. Maybe it is the runny nose but she has not been sleeping well at night.
The little lady has always enjoyed sleeping on her belly but lately when she rolls to her belly she then thinks she needs to push herself up. So this is what she is doing at night. This is making for some really long nights. Hopefully she gets it figured out soon. Night time is for sleeping, daytime is for playing.
I just had to move her up to her medium pocket diapers for night time. Tear. She is just growing up so fast. I only have a few so I think that I am going to venture out and try wool at night.
As for diapers during the day we are going through very few maybe three, or less. Over the past month and a half I have only changed something like a hand full of poopy diapers. This I really like.
She is still really enjoying sitting on her little potty. She has completely destroyed a plant that I had sitting on the counter next to her potty. She still does not really like the big potty though. I really think that it the sound of her pee hitting the water that she does not like. She will start to go and as soon as she hears it she stops. Sometimes she will continue going but other times she wont. This makes it hard when we are out and about. Sometimes she will hold it until we get to the little potty that in the car but other times she will just go in her diaper.
Well I guess its about time to lay this sleeping baby down and try to get some sleep. Hopefully this is a good night. My fingers are crossed.
*Sorry about the lack of pictures. I tried to upload a video but an error came up and I am much too tired to deal with it today. Maybe tomorrow.

This week...

was filled full of naps. Not by me of cource but by the little man.
He does not always nap even though most days he needs one.
When he does nap he seams to stay up later at night and when he has had a late night a nap is a must. Its a vicious cycle.
His favorite place to nap is the couch. Blue couch, green couch or covered in diapers he does not care.





His second favorite place to sleep is in the car. This is just one picture of the three car naps he had this week.


Tomorrow is the little mans first day of VBS, so hopefully the naps will continue. We will see.

WIP Wednesday

My needles are once again bare.
I finished my rainbow shorties from last week and they are working great. I still need to finish the tie for them, but other than that they are finished.


When I find some time to sit down and cast on it will be another pair of shorties. This time in different shades of pink. It was a very fun and easy pattern. I am not really up for too much of a challenge right now.

I cant believe that it is 59 degrees outside, windy, rainy and the second day of June. The only way the little lady was able to wear her shorties was with a pair of leg warmers. Lets hope that this is not how the whole summer is going to be.

WIP Wednesday

After many, many month of not of not having anything on my needles I finally started a new project. Its not that I did not want to knit it is just that I lost all of my bamboo double pointed needles a few months back and had not gotten around to replacing them. Oh ya... I had a baby a few months ago also that takes up a lot of my 'free' time. So after a quick trip to the craft store last week the knitting bug has bit again.

I have been very excited to try wool soakers on the little lady. The two that I knitted using my sisters pattern are still a little too big.


So I started her some rainbow shorties using this pattern.


I am using a Crystal Palace Yarn that is 100% wool that I ended getting for 30% off. The color is called circus but I think that it looks more like fruit loops. This is my first time knitting a ruffled edge and I really like how it is turning out.

Just one more leg to finish (hopefully today). Then they will be ready to be lanolized. Hopefully we will get some summer like weather here soon so she can wear them.

Fuffy bottom

This post is part of the Cloth Diaper Carnival from Cloth Diapering Bloggers and Dirty Diaper Laundry. Each participant writes about the chosen topic, this month is Newborn Cloth Diapering. If you want to read what others are saying just click on the Dirty Diaper Laundry link. Enjoy.


I have been asked a few times why I cloth diaper and normally my answer is why not. I dont do it to save the planet even though the thought of my childs diaper sitting in the land fill for hundreds and hundreds of years bothers me. I dont do it to make a fashion statement even though they are super cute. I do it because I dont like the idea of throwing my money away or the idea of my child sitting on all those chemicals. I do it because I want to.

When it came to cloth diapering the little lady I was new to diapering a newborn but I was not new to cloth. Since I did not start cloth diapering the little man until he was a year old, this stage was all very new to me. I was very lucky to have many people around me who have been there and done that.

Washing the diapers is just about as easy as remembering to go to the store and buying a box of disposables. Well, maybe not quite that easy. I wash about ever other day. The night before I am going to wash I place all the diapers in the washer and let the soak in cold water and baking soda over night. In the morning I just add the diaper from that night, a little natural free and clear laundry soap (about a 1/4 of what your would normally use) and I let the washer do the rest. They are washed in hot with an extra rinse to make sure all the soap is out. Once they are done washing they either make there way to the dryer with my dryer balls (that I love) or they can be dried outside in the sun. I have only put her diapers in the sun once so far but it does wonders on the stains. Now that the diapers are washed they are ready to go on the little bottom.

Laundry day in our house

The little ladys stash consist of
18 fitted diapers with snaps
3 small Velcro covers (2 Thirsties and 1 Bummis)
at least 36 infant prefolds (never used as diapers yet)
12 small pocket diapers (Fuzzi Bunz)
5 or so wool soakers (lanolized, but never used yet)
2 small snappies
100+ cloth wipes
and this is just what she fits in right now. I have three bags in the closet of the larger sizes. The only things that I bought were the two Thirsties covers (second hand), the snappies here and some wool to make a few of the wool soakers. Maybe soon I will get around to trying the wool, I hear that once you try it you dont go back. Everything else was given to me by my sister or of from friends.

My goal was not to buy any disposable diapers, and I have not. So the few packages that I was given as gifts were all that I had. So at about a week when I saw that I was running low I knew that it was time to make the switch.

I wanted to wait until her belly button stub fell off before I put her in cloth because I did not buy any newborn diaper covers and it was just my luck that it fell off early right at a week. She started just wearing them during the day. After about a week of that she was in cloth all the time. I use the fitted diapers during the day and the pockets at night. The first few times she wore the pockets we had some leaking but I think that it had to do with her still being so little.

We have only had a few leaks. Sometimes I forget to make sure that all of the cloth is inside of the cover and the diaper will leak. Even with the big blowouts the mess stays in the cover and does not venture out onto her outfit. She has had more messy blowouts in a disposable than she has had in cloth.

This is just the beginning of my cloth diapering journey with the little lady. Before I know it she will be out of diapers and I will look back and miss seeing her fluffy bottom. There are thing that I will miss about cloth diapering but there are also things that I wont miss. But until then she will proudly sport her fluffy bottom.

Just waiting

I find myself say that often.
...at the grocery store.
...at the mall.
...to people I hardly know.
...to close friends and family.

Pretty much everywhere I go and everyone that I talk to.

The little man asks me at least everyday when the little lady is coming and all I can say is
... just waiting.

He will lift up my shirt and talk into my bellybutton. "Come out I want to see you." I almost want to cry and than he gives her a kiss and than the tears start to flow.

I hope that the love that he is showing to his sister stays. One can only hope.


... her diapers are waiting


... her bed is waiting.


... her clothes are waiting.


... her car seat is waiting.


... her brother and family are waiting.

A package for me

Today just after the little man went down for his nap there was a knock at the door. It was the UPS man with a package for me.
I was very excited.

Inside the package was 6 organic Bummis infant prefolds and a small pink super brite cover. Sent to me because I follow the Bummis blog and I entered a giveaway they were having and I won. This is the first thing that I have ever won that I know I will really use. Thank you Bummis.


Now I am just playing the waiting game to see how they are going to look on her bottom. I will try to remember to update in March on how they work.

A diaper for my big boy

Today I pulled out the sewing machine and made my first fitted diaper. I know what you are thinking "the little man is out of diapers why do you need fitted diapers?" It is true he is out of diapers during the day but at night me still 'wets the bed'. I am fed up with my cheep AIO (all in ones) that stink and are WAY too bulky. Every night when I get the little man PJ's on my hubby laughs when he sees the little mans diaper bulge. So I am thinking that the fitted diapers with a hemp insert will be less bulky and just as absorbent. There has been a few nights where he has stayed dry and hopefully there are more to come.



It is a good thing that the little man is out of diapers because as soon as I put it on him to try and take a picture of it he was trying to get it off. These were the best pictures. I made it out of a pale blue flannel bed sheet. It is somewhat straight and somewhat symmetrical. I will try it on him tonight and let you all know how it worked. If it works out well I have 2 more to sew up. I dont think that I am going to quit my day/night job to sew diapers. Thankfully I dont have to.

Also guess what the little man has learned to do. He can now go potty all on his own (if he is not wearing pants). He climbs up on his stool, lifts up the seat, pulls up his shirt, goes potty, puts the seat down and flushes. Earlier today I SAT him down on the potty. He got mad climbed off and STOOD and went potty. He is getting so big.

number two

Well after 2 months of trying he got it. He knows that he needs to go number two in the potty!!! We have had three days of him saying/ signing potty and then running into the bathroom and going in the toilet. He is doing well with peeing on the potty also. He knows when he has to go but sometimes he will start to go in his pants and then remember he has to go on the potty and other times he tells me right after he goes. Maybe soon we will be done with diapers.

All boy.......

I have always been told that the little man is all boy. I dont really know what that means but today he showed me that there is more to him than just a rambunctious strong willed child.

While playing in his playroom he found a baby doll in his toy box. He calls everything a baby but this was really a baby.

I was sitting on the floor folding diapers (yes, I know that it is silly to fold diapers) and he came up and took a diaper and wrapped up the baby with it. I almost could not believe my eyes. He than took the baby and started rocking it in his arms. He played with it for almost ten minutes carrying it around up side down, playing with its eyes, hands and ears.

My hubby caught him playing with the baby a little later and of course got better pictures. This might be a one time thing but we got pictures to prove it.

My new adventure

I decided a few days ago that I was going to start using cloth diapers a few times a day to keep the cost of diapers down. But to my surprise I really like them. I had some cheap 2x4x2 pre folds that I put on him with a pair of plastic pants on the outside. He thought they were really fun to pull down.

A few days later I sewed up a few 4x8x4 diapers out of flannel and a few old T shirts. They worked really well. They are much softer and more absorbent. (They look cute also) I also took a trip to Best Loved Baby in Tacoma and bought some snappis. Now he can wear the diapers around the house without the plastic pants. I am looking into buying some nicer covers. When I told my mom about what my new adventure she handed me about five yards of this really funky flannel. The diapers may look different but they should work.

The greatest thing about the cloth diapers is when the little man has to go poo it is much easier to get him on the potty. (It is REAL obvious when he is going) Monday I did not have to change a poopy diaper!!! He loves to sit on the potty.