Mommy Mondays – Parenting with Love and Logic

You may actually be thinking, “Did Ellie quit blogging again?”. No, I did not, but life has been a little hectic around here lately. We have a lot going on in our lives – baby coming, house on the market, Jeremy’s job stuff is always kind of in the air, and Jeremy’s grandmother has been diagnosed with cancer and given only a few months to live – a lot going on taking up both physical and emotional energy.

In the midst of that, I have had some time to do some reading. A couple of weeks ago Capri went through a weird sleep cycle thing for about a week and she would only go to sleep if we were sitting on the floor in her room. During one of those nights I decided to try to make the most of it and pulled up the book Parenting with Love and Logic on my Kindle App and began reading it.

I’m pretty sure I’ve talked Jeremy’s ear off while reading this book (and maybe my mom’s, Beth’s and some ladies from my small group…).  It’s given me a lot to think about. I do totally recommend this book – although I’m hesitant to say it’s the ultimate book on parenting – I do think it has a lot of good ideas. I grew up in a house that parented using mostly the principles of Growing Kids God’s Way. I think my parents did a great job, but there are some things about that method that rub me a little the wrong way and I think some of the principles in Love and Logic probably would have fit my personality better as I was growing up and honestly think it will fit my parenting style better as I parent as an adult.

I didn’t agree with everything this book had to say. In fact there were several examples that had to do with food/eating that I didn’t particularly like. However, like all parenting books (or any advice books for that matter), you take what you agree with and can tweak other things to fit your family. One thing I felt was that I will need to read this book every day for the next 10 years to get some of the principles turned into habits in our home! I’m excited to start implementing some of the things even now as Capri is little. We even started a little with some small things like when she is walking with us and we want her to hold our hand. Now we ask her, “would you like to hold my hand or would you like me to carry you?” She seems to understand even now and will choose one or the other!

So, I liked the book. I think we’ll use a lot of the principles in it for our own parenting. What parenting books have you found to be helpful to you?

Mommy Mondays – Cloth Diapers – “what we use” Edition

So I’ve mentioned on here before that we cloth diaper, but I don’t think I’ve ever given a whole lot of details on it. We started cloth diapering around the time Capri was 2 months old (I didn’t have any newborn size diapers that would fit her and I wasn’t ready to jump into the washing of cloth diapers while I was trying to figure everything else out! Not to mention, when you’re a first time mom, or maybe just if you’re me, it was really helpful to have the Pampers Swaddlers with the little line that changed color when the diaper needed to be changed!). Anyway, we’ve been cloth diapering for a year now. In case you’re interested, I thought I’d let you know what we use/do and how we’ve liked it.

Let’s start by saying I’m a HUGE proponent of cloth diapering! We love it (yes, my husband loves it too). There are so many reasons to do it – 1) cloth diapers are super cute, 2) it saves a TON of money 3) it’s good for the environment 4) less chemicals on your little baby…and I’m sure there are more but those are kind of my top reasons…

I think I might need to break this post up a bit…there’s a lot to talk about when it comes to cloth diapers. So I’ll start with just a post letting you know which diapers I’ve tried and what I’ve liked and disliked. I’m not receiving anything for my review or mention of these brands – it’s just my thoughts.

Gdiapers. I had heard a lot about Gdiapers and they are available at Target and Babies R Us, but I had some friends who had used them and didn’t highly recommend them so I didn’t plan on using them. However, our local grocery store, HEB, apparently had them as well and decided not to carry them anymore so they put them on clearance – I got 6 covers for under $10 – ridiculous! I also got some disposable inserts on clearance but went ahead and purchased the cloth inserts. I LOVED these! The ones I had purchased were smalls and I am so glad I got them because they were significantly smaller than all the other diapers I had and fit her great when we first started with cloth and they had way less bulk. Having liked them so much, I bought 4 more in medium when she grew out of them…sadly I did not like them as much in the larger size – I had trouble with leaks. So my conclusion - I loved them when she was little bitty but didn’t love them as she got older. They do come in the best colors though! They have a newborn kit that I have on my registry and would love to try with this next baby, but it’s pretty expensive so we’ll see…

GroVia. So, first I should say that I don’t technically have GroVia diapers. They were originally GroBaby and the 7 covers I have are GroBaby covers before they re-branded and I assume they made some changes to their diapers as well. Some of my snap-in soakers are the new ones though. I got these used for like $10 each which is awesome because I think they retail for over $20. I really loved these at the begining. I rarely use them now and the reason is this, 6 of the 7 were hook & loop (think velcro) and they wore out – again these are the old ones, hopefully this has been fixed with the new ones. That said, the one I have that has snaps is awesome. I’m planning on replacing the velcro sometime soon. That’s really been my only complaint with these. I know they say you can air out the cover and re-use it before washing. I tried that a few times and still thought it had a smell and decided not to do it…

Bumgenius AIO. These diapers are awesome! Of course, now they only make this in a newborn size Jeremy loves these – of course, they are sized and an all-in-one! I got 3 smalls on craigslist for $10 total and I don’t even think they were used! They were great when she was little because again, less bulk. I also have one in a medium and one in a large. I love these – super easy and I normally keep them in her diaper bag for when she’s at church or for the baby sitter because they are essentially just like a disposable. So I love these but again now they only sell these exact ones in the newborn size.

Bumgenius Elementals. I love these too! I had these from the very beginning and I think overall maybe my favorite. Definitely my favorite One Size diaper. They were bulky at the beginning but I felt like they still fit better when she was little than my other one size. These are spendy too since they are all in one and organic. I got my three pairs pre-owned and they were in excellent condition so I couldn’t even tell. I guess one complaint is that recently I’ve noticed some little holes in some of the cotton so I wonder if they wear is getting to them since we use them a lot. We used these as our nighttime diapers until we had to switch to disposables at night. I don’t think I’ve ever had a leak with these diapers.

Cotton Babies Econobum. This is a recent aquisition. In planning for the new baby I knew I would need to add some diapers to our stash and these are super inexpensive. I have been VERY happy with these! I just got the Trial Pack which is a cover and 3 prefolds. These prefolds are awesome – so thick! I love these and if I decide I need more this is probably what I’ll do.

FuzziBunz OS Pocket. Probably the only diaper I own that I do NOT like. Luckily I only have one. This has never fit her correctly and leaks almost every time I put it on her. You’d think it wouldn’t because it has adjustable leg gussetts but I can’t seem to get the right fit for her. And this is the reason I’m glad I did not just get a whole bunch of the same diaper – a word to the wise – get several different kinds – you won’t know what’s going to be best!

FuzzinBunz Perfect Size Pocket. I got one of these as a gift but I bought 4 of them on sale. All of mine are a size small and for a little while they have been some of my favorites. I love the practicality of a one size diaper, but sized diapers just have less bulk. All five of mine are a size small and at 14 months she still fits in them! To be fair, she’s pretty petite. I don’t think these fit her as soon as some of her other diapers, but they have lasted the longest of any of her sized diapers. I think these are great! By the way, this is what Capri is wearing in the picture above!

Bummis Super Whisper Wrap. This is another recent addition. I am thinking about using the Bummis Newborn Pack with our  next baby and thought I’d try out one of their covers with Capri. I have both flat diapers and prefolds that I put in it. I have really liked it so far and they have some cute colors. It’s another good route for an inexpensive diapering option.

ThinkLiz Pocket Diapers.  Finally, the backbone of my diaper stash. My awesome friend Beth over at ThinkLiz made me these diapers! Actually the ones pictured are almost all mine and the one in her tutorial is mine too! These are great! They are Jeremy’s favorites – he thinks they are cute and super easy to use. These have fit her the whole time and she still has plenty of room to grow in them. Thinking about making your own diapers? You should totally check out her tutorial!

In conclusion, I think variety is a great idea. I’ve loved each of my diapers more than others at a different stage with Capri. It’s been great to have several different kinds. I think now that I have the hang of it, I would venture more into the prefolds with covers as I have with the Bummis and Econobum but when I first started that seemed really overwhelming! So that’s what we have! If there was one other brand I would love to try – Thirsties – I hear great things about them, but alas it’s just not necessary right now! Do you have any questions?

Mommy Mondays – Kids’ Bible Edition

In an attempt to organize my brain and my blogging I’m going to try to organize my posts by day of the week. Since I’ve decided to jump into Toddler Tuesday I thought I’d throw in a Mommy Monday as well. I see Toddler Tuesday to be more about activities with Capri where Monday can be pretty much anything I want it to be!

Today – Kids’ Bibles!

I read Capri a Bible story before her morning nap every day – and if for some reason I’m not with her for her morning nap, we make sure that it’s always the first thing we read that day. I own three children’s Bibles, 2 from my own childhood. Here are some thoughts…

This is the first Bible I read aloud to Capri, Our Together-Time Bible. My mom bought this for Capri before she was born and it was the first one we read through. I’m excited to read through it again when she’s older – I love the stories and there are great questions, activities, and a prayer after each one! I think there are a couple of different versions of this It is supposed to be for ages 4 and up and that’s probably about right…

 

This is the Bible we’re reading through right now, The Book for Children. This is one from my childhood and holds a very special place in my heart. My mom wrote an inscription on the front – “no occassion, we decided you needed a Bible with more to it than the one we had read five times since May! We read a couple of chapters here this night and you asked Jesus to be your Savior, September 23, 1987″ Yay! This is the Bible that was read to me and captured my little toddler heart! I’ve been reading it to Capri and we’re about halfway through. Now, obviously this is an older version, and the biggest quirk is that it calls the Israelites ’Israelis” which kind of kills me but I just change it when I read it! It is now out of print but is still available from some sellers like Amazon both new and used. What I love is that it has a lot of stories in it that I think kids’ Bibles tend to miss and it’s very accurate – it pretty much says right what’s in the Bible without sugar coating it too much or leaving things out…This is for children 4 – 8 and that’s probably right but for now when we’re just reading books together, I think it’s great and on occasion it’s explained a story to me that I didn’t really know the meaning for! So I really like this one!

And another Bible from my childhood and probably the one my mom mentioned us reading so many times! The Bible in Pictures for Little Eyes by the same author as the previous one I mentioned. I’m pretty sure this one is out of print too but they remade it. We haven’t read this one yet but I think it will be good in the near future. Again ages 4 and up but I think younger would be fine. The stories are just a paragraph long with a picture for each and 2-3 questions. It also gives the reference to where it is in the Bible.

So that’s what we have going on in the Bible reading department. While looking these up I stumbled across the Read Aloud Bible (it comes in several volumes). It’s meant for ages 3 and up and I think it might be one I’d like to check out. What Bibles/devotionals have read with your little ones and what did you think?