Pump Smart, Not Hard

With my return to work looming on the horizon, its time to start building a freezer supply of breast milk. Not my favorite part of breastfeeding, but necessary none the less. Luckily, we ended up finding a chest freezer on Craig's List so storage is no longer a problem. Time to start pumping!

With a toddler and a newborn hanging around, however, there isn't a ton of time during the day to get in a session or two. Pumping, labeling, cleaning, and storing needs to be as efficient as possible to keep the day moving.

Pumping
I keep my pump set up 24/7. When I go back to work, I keep one AC adapter plugged in at home and one at work, so there is no climbing behind or under furniture to plug it into the wall. I sit it next to the couch, so when I need to pump I can just set it next to me, set up, and go. I keep extra breast pads, lanolin, and a burp cloth in my pump bag so they are within reach should I need them.

Cleaning
Cleaning pump parts is annoying. I hate doing it, so I don't....at least not every time. Fresh milk is good in the fridge for about 3-5 days. Therefore, you can put your pump parts in the fridge between pumping and they'll stay fine without cleaning! This little tid bit of information saves so much time during the day and is invaluable when you're pumping during a quick work break. A zip top bag or plastic tub work great for storage.

Labeling
Since I am working on saving milk, everything goes right into freezer bags and into the freezer. The process of finding a bag and then a Sharpie to label it (both of which seemed to migrate around my kitchen) took way too long. This little bit of genius I'm genuinely proud of. I cut a slit in the top of the storage bag package and put a magnet inside the package behind the bags, sticking it on the side of the fridge. The Sharpie is right in the top and whenever I need one, I know exactly where they.

Storing
While the typical storage bag (I use Lansinoh brand) is made to stand up, you should always freeze them flat to save room and make storage easier. There are a lot of ways to store frozen bags, but my favorite is standing up like files in a basket or box. I don't have enough milk to fill one yet, but I bought square baskets at the dollar store to keep things organized in the freezer. Always remember the FIFO rule (first in, first out) so you're pulling the oldest milk first.


With this system, I can get through a pumping session in just under 25 minutes. If I needed to set up my pump, actually pump, then clean parts, find bags, label, and store everything it would be closer to 40. That's a big difference, especially to two kids demanding your attention!

Now that I'm on the road to a nice milk stash, the next step is getting G to drink from a bottle....something she hasn't actually done yet. While I'm very happy and proud of that fact, it does make me nervous that we haven't given it a go yet. Wish us luck!

Being a Toddler is Hard

If you recorded everything I said during one day, you would hear a lot of...

"Please put that down..."
"Please don't dump that......uuuugh....."
"I can't understand you when you're whining."
"You can play with _____ when you put away _____."

Please clean up your flash cards...

Along with the word, "Charlie" about 10,000 times. In the grand scheme of things, Charlie is a very good kid; he's generally quiet and amiable, can play independently, and I can safely leave him in a room alone for more than five seconds and not return to complete destruction.

When it comes down to it, however, he is two and a half and being a toddler is tough. Most things in your environment are not made in your size, don't belong to you, and can be considered death traps if you're creative enough. People generally can't understand you, don't agree with you, and constantly insist you go places/do things that you don't want to do. It's frustrating and the whine, the cry, and the occasional meltdown are direct results.

Recently, I came upon the most perfect explanation of having a toddler - "Reasons My Son is Crying." It is hysterical because its true. Recent things that made Charlie whine/cry/meltdown are...

I wouldn't let him wear a hoodie in 80 degree weather.
He ran around the living room screaming and riled up the puppy, who eventually ran him over.
I changed his dirty diaper.
I ate something in front of him.
I wouldn't let him stick a crayon in his sister's nose.
He was hungry, but couldn't remember the word "hungry."
I didn't let him eat his coloring book.
The sticker he threw in the dirt wouldn't stick anymore.

No toddler is exempt from the occasional meltdown and I knew it was guaranteed once Ginny arrived. Hey, the baby cries and gets all kinds of attention, why can't I? Though it is pretty solid logic, it drives me batty. As we ignore the whine and respond to the talking, he's slowly getting better, but its been a long (and slightly funny) seven weeks.

All of this is part of growing up and as much as its frustrating now, I know we'll miss the funny things he says, does, and flips out over at this age. They grow up too fast to wish it away. Even the tantrums.

Wool Dryer Balls

Our dryer does a great job of keeping up with fairly constant use, but when it comes to drying cloth diapers we often have to run a second cycle. It is trying to dry something that is meant to lock in moisture, after all. One way to help cut down on drying time is by adding in some wool dryer balls.

Wool dryer balls are, as the name suggests, are made of 100% wool that is felted to create a nice tight ball. While bouncing around the dryer drum, 4 to 6 balls can cut down on dryer time and as an added bonus, soften clothes and reduce static! We have been a softener/dryer sheet free family for about 6 years now since learning about the nasty chemicals found in both products. Softeners and dryer sheets can also damage your clothes, making them fade and wear much faster. Chemicals AND wasted wardrobe? No thanks.

There are a lot of sites out there where you can purchase dryer balls, but they are pricey! Upwards of $6-$8 each. EACH?! This was definitely one of those things that I saw and though, "Pfft....I can make that." I've felted knitting projects before (see fuzzy bunny slippers on the right) so I understand the general idea of how it works. 100% wool + really hot water and soap + dryer time = nice felted yarn. Basically, everything you're not supposed to do to wool. Check.

To start, it is important to find 100% wool yarn. Anything that says "machine washable" or "washer safe" is no good. Its meant to remain stable through washing. Labels can be tricky - just because the label says wool doesn't mean its 100% wool. Look for other materials like acrylic, which won't felt in the wash.

 Oooh wool......psych! Its 50% wool, 50% acrylic. Gotta read the labels if you're going to felt.

I know it goes against everything you learned about laundry, but you want something that WILL shrink if you wash it. I like Patons Classic or Lion Brand Fisherman Wool. Both are relatively inexpensive and come in nice colors and stripes. I had several colors in my yarn stash and picked up two new colorways that were on sale for $2.49 at Michael's.

Can you tell which ones my cat has gotten to?

To begin, wind the yarn around your fingers until you have a small layer.

Next, pull it off your fingers and wind around it the other way. Fold the whole thing in half and begin winding around and around in layers, turning the ball to keep it even. I like to do it in a strip, then turn the ball and add another strip, and so on - it seems to go faster.

To end it, tuck in the tail end under a few strands. Its okay if its not completely secure since it will felt to the yarn around it in the wash.

Notice the wide stripes of wound yarn? Makes winding much faster.

You can get two decent sized balls from a skein (approx. 223 yards). You can make them larger or smaller as you'd like. I made these four to try out the felting process. Yes, it bothers me that I chose two skeins that don't match.

Next, I took a pair of trouser socks that I don't wear anymore and made a little wool ball caterpillar. I made sure the sock was tight around the ball to help it keep shape and then used bits of yarn to tie off in between. If you just stuffed them all in, they'd felt to each other! Not good. 

Finally, send them through the wash! I did a hot wash with soap, dryer on high, another hot wash with soap, and a final dry on high to get the felted look I was looking for. Since I have an HE front loading machine, I added about 2 gallons of hot water into the detergent drawer to help the process. With a top loading machine, I can imagine the whole process being a lot faster. As a side note, wool stinks when you're felting it. Sorry!

Ta da! Here are my nicely felted dryer balls! These four cost about $5 to make and will help cut down on energy costs, recouping their price to make over and over and over. Feel free to add a few drops of essential oil to help fragrance your laundry in a safe and natural way and if your dryer balls get fuzzy over time, give 'em a shave with a fabric shaver. Enjoy your soft, fluffy laundry!

Happy Mother's Day!

It really is the little things that make a day like Mother's Day special.

J made waffles for breakfast, G took a three hour nap while I finally went through all of my clothes, and C played (relatively) quietly and stayed dry in underwear all morning! I got rid of bags and bags of clothes that don't fit me anymore (and never will again) and put away my maternity clothes. Its amazing a) how much clothing I was holding onto "just in case" it fit me again and b) how long its been since I've bought clothes for myself. About five years as far as J and I can figure.

In the afternoon, we grabbed Five Guys for lunch (YUM!) and then hit up Ross and TJ Maxx so I could find some summer clothes that actually fit me without breaking the bank. We had planned for C to take a nap on the hour drive to the shopping center, but no dice. Despite that, he walked around both stores (and a few others) and behaved SO well! And to boot, G napped most of the afternoon and stayed in the same spit up free outfit all day.

Yummy food, shopping, and well behaved kids. Now that's a Mother's Day. :-)

I hope all of the special women out there - the Moms, Moms-to-be, Grandmothers, Aunts, Godmothers, and Friends; the women who touch the lives of children every day - had a wonderful day.

So.....Potty Training

I'm not quite sure how to categorize today's potty training attempt. It wasn't a complete failure, but it wasn't exactly a "good" day, so maybe a semi-success? Let's just say we'll be taking this one day at a time.

The set up. For today, I had 11 pairs of underwear on hand, a waterproof mattress pad for the couch, a big jug of water, mini M&Ms as a reward, and his potty chair. There are many opinions on where to put the potty, but I chose to stick in the living room. Yes, I realize that under normal circumstances you want them to pee in the bathroom, but since I was simultaneously taking care of G, I wanted to be able to coach C through a potty break if I was nursing or otherwise busy. We'll work on making it to the potty first, than to the bathroom.

Also, did you know a crib sized mattress pad fits over 2 couch cushions almost perfectly? Cool, huh?

It's no secret that C is a little high strung, so I started out the day very slow. I changed his diaper and gave him a choice of underwear to put on. Then, I gave him a big ol' cup of water and started a 15 minute timer. I downloaded a simple kitchen timer app on my phone that let me set an alarm for potty breaks. Super helpful when you're also taking care of a newborn and constantly lose track of time.

Thankfully, G napped very well this morning so I got a lot of one on one time with C. Whenever the timer went off or I noticed his underwear a tad wet, I asked him if he needed to go and calmly moved him towards his potty. Most times he sat and sat and sat. A few times he actually peed. One time he said he needed to pee and when he sat down, pooped! Yeah, we went through pretty much every pair of underwear and almost 40 ounces of water (I swear, this kid is part camel), but it was going alright.

Then around noon, he peed on the floor. Like, a full pee. And I accidentally scared him.

I saw him peeing. No big deal, let's go over to the potty! My voice was calm, but my actions were slightly frantic. I grabbed him under the arms, quickly moved across the room, and plopped him down. I celebrated the few drops that made it in the bowl. He lost it. I don't know if he thought he was in trouble or the wet underwear were uncomfortable, but from then on he became more anxious and stubborn when I asked him if he needed to go. I put him down for a nap (with a diaper) and when he woke up, he'd lost all interest in using the potty and didn't want to put on underwear.

I know he's a sensitive kid and I'm not going to push him. We'll start again tomorrow. I think the more I accept his temperament and tailor this process to him, the more successful he will be. He doesn't respond well to things being done "to" him and I should have remembered that. Maybe that means letting him pee on the floor, then asking him to sit on the potty after the fact. Not ideal, but better than him shutting down.

As a side note, microfiber cloth diaper inserts are great for soaking up accidents!

The biggest success for the day? This evening, we were filling the tub to give C a bath and he was standing on the bath mat throwing in toys. He stopped and said, "pee pee!" A few seconds later, he started to pee all over the bath mat....and I was super excited! He knew he had to go! That's step one!! He'd never said that before. Despite all the pee I cleaned up today, I know that no matter how slowly, we are getting somewhere.

WW: Let's Get this Potty Started

Pixar underoos and M&Ms can only mean one thing.....

Wish us luck.

Toddle Along Tuesday: Things My Kid Says

Its a well known fact that when toddlers learn to talk, they are hysterical, embarrassing, and sometimes completely frustrating. This week's Toddle Along Tuesday is, "Things My Kid Says." Whether they're cute, funny, or just ridiculous, this is the place for them. In no particular order, here are my most recent favorite Charlie-isms.

• How he says "banana," adding in extra L sounds and sticking out his tongue. I'm going to be slightly sad when he figures out how to say it correctly.

 

• Telling G, "no biting!" while she's nursing. I try to explain that she's not biting, but he insists on trying to protect me.
• Along the same lines, telling G, "It's okay, it's okay." when she's upset and crying. Melts my heart.
• "Reading" his favorite book, "Russell the Sheep" with an emphasis on the "What's a sheep to do?!" and "Not tired!" parts.
• When he wishes to express his disagreement with a request or situation, he simply says, "Nope!" with a cheeky facial expression to match.
• He adds "Look! A..." in front of everything and shrieks with excitement. "Look! A Mommy!" "Look! A baby!" "Look! A Daddy!"
• The second we drive into the shopping center where Target is, he immediately begins asking for popcorn or "copcorn" and he says.

All of his little words crack us up. We can't wait for him to start with silly sentences, jokes, and other toddler antics!


What does your kid say that makes you laugh or go aww? Link up with Toddle Along Tuesday over at Growing Up Geeky and share!