Thursday, February 05, 2009

Free Time

We've heard that six months is a tough age for the little babes. Alas we do find that vaguely true over in babymaking town. Poor T is drooling an ocean over those tiny teeth that just haven't broken through to the other side yet. No sign whatsoever except for the shiny face and chapped, slimy hands.

I would say the best thing about six months, though, is trying all the new food. It is awesomely fun, and I really don't get why people buy baby food in jars. I mean, I probably saved like 500% on baby food this month and I still paid $5 for two organic avocados, $4 for an organic sweet potato, less than $2 for a bag of organic peas, and $2.50 for a bunch of organic bananas. At 80-something cents a pop for a jar of organic baby food, I would say I have myself a bargain. Making baby food is definitely beyond the thrill of the bargain for us, though. We like knowing we prepared everything especially for T--we picked it out, peeled it, washed it, mashed it--is this really too much trouble for some people? I get if you're traveling or something, but jeesh.

Okay, enough about my food tirade. I think I'm just feeling so sad for the little dude and his teeth that will not be. Soon soon, I know. As long as everything else stays the same forever and ever I'm good. Like sleeping, for instance. Sleeping can stay. We like sleep--all of us.

We had reached an impasse with our cloth diapers in December. They were constantly leaking, the babysitter kind of stopped using them, and we were just generally unhappy for them. We recommitted in 2009, did some more research about our possible issues, and seem to be back on track. He still can't sleep overnight in them, though---anyone have a good solution for heavy overnight wetters?

Oh, the things I think about now in my free time...

13 comments:

Laura said...

No advice on the pee pee issue. Just a "bravo!" for the "making your own food" thing. (Not that I'd expect any less from you two.) Way back in the 70s, before organic was everywhere, my mom made ALL of my baby food with a hand-cranked food grinder. In the summer it was made from veggies she grew herself. She was a pretty half-assed cook, otherwise, so I can only assume that it was something she considered to be important!

CD and SP said...

yeah, our moms, too, always used a food mill. i think it was just more practical, honestly, rather than thrifty or out of some sense of what is good and "natural" for a baby, but whatever! we're happy to follow in their footsteps!

beans said...

I think one of things we are most excited about when we ever get around to the baby making--which by the way was supposed to happen by 30, and now that we both turned 31, we've changed the year to 35 . .

is the food making. we agree that making food and preparing it is just so cathartic--and to know that what you feed your baby is good. yummo! GOOD FOR YOU!

beans said...

saw this and thought of you . .

http://www.mercurynews.com/peninsula/ci_11602349

AJ said...

We use Bum Genius pockets for overnight only. Target carries them now. Then I stuff them with two microfiber towels and he stays plenty dry all night, and Sam is an extremly heavy wetter.

Unknown said...

We also use the Bum Genius overnight, stuffed with two inserts. Some mornings they are very heavy, but we almost never have leaks. But they sell them at Target?! Really? Fascinating.
Ditto on the food making--it's great. And with the amounts our daughter is actually eating, a single carrot goes a long way...

Anonymous said...

I agree with you on the making your own food thing. i can't believe how much we save!

as for the night diaper...we started to having night ppe through issues around 5 months. up until then we had putting a doubler in (we use fuzzi bunz), when i added a hemp insert in addition to the double (and of course the usual insert) he stopped peeing through. hemp is supper duper absorbent.

CD and SP said...

you probably won't believe this, but we've used a bum genius stuffed with a microfiber insert which is then wrapped with a hemp doubler, and he still is soaking wet by the morning! i think we'll look into those fleece (or even better, wool-though those are really expensive) coveralls that you slip over the diaper. it's really annoying, at any rate!!

Anonymous said...

it might be not the amount of inserts you use but the type of detergent you use. I def. see a difference when I use cheaper detergent- they leak more. I have found the most success with purex ultra free and clear..
So I would first strip them-->
Add a squirt or two of original Dawn dish soap to your washer and run a hot wash, then rinse until there are no more bubbles. Dawn is a degreasing agent and helps stripping by removing oily residue. If your microfleece is repelling try scrubbing a little Dawn right into the microfleece with a medium bristle brush. Be sure to rinse, rinse, rinse until the water runs clear.

I do this every 2-3 months with my bumgenius and it works to restored the absorbancy.

Just an idea!

Good luck.

CD and SP said...

thanks for the stripping tip! we actually use expensive detergent so it's really annoying that they may still be getting all detergent-clogged!

i have been rinsing them about 3 times every time i wash them---this has definitely helped with the daytime wearing and preventing leaking, but i do think i need to do a proper stripping wash.

Anonymous said...

Homemade baby food is definitely harder when you have another child running around. I have been able to do it, but not all the time. :( It is hard to say things like, "I'd love to play superhero with you, but I'm too busy pushing peas through this strainer." I miss it.

I just talked to one of my cloth diapering friends about your pee issue. She just ended up doing disposables at night, so I'm sure that isn't a help to you guys. I hope you find a solution.

Lo said...

I hear you on the teeth. J started teething at four months....and didn't get teeth until eleven months. Really. Hope your little guy does better!!!

sara said...

We use 2 cloth diapers (one on top of the other, to make it double-y thick) at night. It works for our ten-month-old! We started doing it around 8 months or so.