All 4 Kids

I participated in another kids' consignment sale last week. This one was All 4 Kids. I registered as a seller so that I could unload an extra jogging stroller (picked up last summer and then determined there was one feature--a stationary front wheel--which I could not live with), as well as some miscellaneous items that aren't worth holding onto for future babies, and also so I could maybe scope the presale. Well, I did end up hitting the presale (wasn't entirely sure if I would). But I am so glad I did! I got a cute khaki jacket for fall/spring, a pair of jeans, a halloween costume, a toddler play table with chairs and three pairs of Stride Rite shoes. The best purchase? By far, the shoes. Carter wears a 5.5 wide now, and at this age they typically outgrow their shoes about every three months (which is how long the size 4.5 lasted). I picked up two pairs of 6.5 wide (one pair of sneakers and one pair of dress shoes) and a pair of 7.5 wide boot-type sneakers. The 7.5 wide look like they were never even worn! The total cost for all three pairs of shoes? $19. Unbelievable. Even at the outlet, the least expensive pairs are $25-30. I paid $5, $6 and $8 for these (the unworn 7.5W being the $8 pair). It made the effort of going to the presale, 100% worthwhile.

Oh, I also picked up another booster seat for him. We have one that I keep in my car for restaurants and other people's houses. My intent was to get this one (at $4 I couldn't pass it up) for one of the grandparents' houses. But, we're actually using it at our house. Carter is kinda growing out of his high chair (he still fits in it, but he fights it; he'd rather be at the table with us). So we've been using the booster at home now. I guess we may think about putting away the high chair eventually . . . for now, its seat is holding his box of bibs and wash cloths.

And, in the end, I sold most of the stuff I tagged. Most importantly, I sold the jogger. Woo-hoo!

Daddy Day Care

Carter hadn't had a full day of Daddy since March, when Jack started his new job with Allstate. Well, since he was sick all last week, Jack and I tag-teamed staying home from work. Thursday, Jack stayed home with Carter. I expected to come home and find the little man still in his pajamas, but that was not the case. Nope, he was dressed in his Spiderman t-shirt. And I learned that they'd had Spiderman mac and cheese for lunch. When I got home, everyone was still in one piece and the house wasn't too messy. Jack had set my expectations low, so I'd been prepared for worse.

On the topic of Carter being sick, here's an update. He's basically recovered now. It took a whole week. The last of his symptoms finished on Saturday. We tried giving him some milk with dinner Saturday night, but his little tummy didn't handle it well. It went right through him and then he was restless after he went to bed. A dose of Maalox helped and then he finally was able to sleep. We haven't tried milk again since then, and haven't re-introduced juices, fruits (except applesauce and bananas) or yogurt. Incidentally, I think Carter is milking this sickness. He loves bananas, and right now he's getting as much of them as he can eat. 2.5 bananas on Friday really seemed to help block him up. Below, he is signing one of his favorite words, banana.

Mommy Workouts

Working out takes a high priority for me, and I wake between 4:30 and 5 a.m. almost every day during the week in order to fit in a morning run on the treadmill. But, that wasn't a viable option while I was breastfeeding. And, I rarely coax myself out of bed in time to squeeze in any strength training before my shower. So, I take what I can get. Below I've outlined an assortment of mommy exercise moves that have helped me to squeeze a little bit of muscle training into my daily activities.


Arms:

• Carry a baby, even an 8.5-pound baby, for hours on end. Your triceps will be nice and tight, and your biceps will flex a bit, too.
• "Superbaby" will take flight when you stretch your arms. Hold baby in front of you while zooming up the stairs, down the hallway or through the kitchen. Repeat this "joyride for baby" at least five times a day.
• Baby toss is not quite the same as a bean bag toss. Stand stationary and toss baby (or a 25-pound toddler, you know, whatever you've got) straight up, into the air. The older the baby, the more "daring" you can be. Toss for five reps, 8-10 times a day.

Legs:

• Keep the changing table upstairs and spend most of your time downstairs. Climb those stairs 6-10 times a day to change diapers and clothes, and put baby to bed. (Not advised during first 4-6 weeks after delivery.)
• Chase a toddler through the first floor of the house. But don't just run after him; you'll catch him too easily. Instead, do squats. Step, squat, step, squat, step, squat . . . you'll be more on his pace, and your thighs will get quite a workout. Repeat at least three times a day.

Abs:

• Sit on the floor and place baby facing you, on your lap. Hold baby's torso and rock back, rounding your back for a smooth ride. Swing yourself back up and repeat. If he or she giggles, go faster. Repeat until tired. Do 3-5 sets per day.
• For abs and arms simultaneously, get down on the floor with baby. If baby is small and immobile, lie him or her on his or her back. Do push-ups above them, bringing your nose down to brush his or hers with each rep (or kiss the nose each time). If baby is bigger and sits/stands/moves in his or her own, get into a push-up position next to him or her on the floor. Hold the position and talk to baby. If he or she climbs on your back, all the better! Hold still for 30-45 seconds at a time. Repeat 3-5 times per set, a handful of times per day.

Cardio:

• Put baby in a wagon and run across the back yard. Up hills and back down. Repeat until you're almost ready to collapse. Baby will not be ready to stop, but mommy needs to pace herself.
• As soon as baby has gone down for a nap, run through the house as fast as possible. Clean up from lunch, pick up toys, take the dog outside to use the potty, start a load of laundry, unload the dishwasher, put dishes and boxed foods back into the cabinets (not where baby left them, on the kitchen floor) . . . and sit down at the computer to check e-mail. If you're fast enough, you might have a couple minutes before baby awakes. If you don't have time to sit down, then you need to run faster next time.

Mommy's Little Helper

Carter loves the vacuum cleaner, and recently he has really taken up the whole mimicking thing. For a while now, he's been intrigued with the vacuum cleaner. Whenever he sees it (since before he turned one), he tries to touch it. Well, now he tries to use it. He has a little corn popper which helps him feel like he is helping, and it tides him over while I'm using my vacuum. But heaven forbid I should keep him from the vacuum once I'm finished--if Mommy isn't using it, then it must be Carter's turn.

And don't even get me started on the Swiffer . . . it might as well belong to him. If I so much as pull it out of the pantry, he throws a fit until I hand it over. He doesn't quite get all the corners of the floor, but I am enjoying letting him have at it, and then I just have to spot-check behind him.

When the work is done, be sure to take some time for yourself.

But cleaning isn't his only game. He also likes to help with packing. I've been sifting through closets and cabinets, sorting out the things we could do without for the next 6-12 months and packing them up . . . trying to de-clutter so we can get moving on putting the house on the market. While I was packing up baby clothes from Carter's play room closet, he decided to get in there and help me. The photo below is a completely accurate display of how he helped. He loaded the toys and then put the top on it. We may need to work on an "efficient use of space" lesson.

Sick Baby (Toddler)

(The patient brought his bear to dinner on Monday.)

As mentioned in my Lake Weekend post, Carter has been sick lately. It really started two weeks ago. He was running a low-grade fever that (Thursday) afternoon at daycare. Nothing out of the ordinary, though--especially considering he's cutting molars. That Friday and Saturday he seemed fine, and that was the weekend of our aquarium trip. Sunday he had a fever of 102.4. I kept him home that Monday because of Sunday's fever, but he went back to daycare Tuesday and Thursday (I took a vacation day Wednesday to do some Kidsignments shopping). Somewhere in that date range, he experienced some spitting up, particularly of milk. Then, Friday en route to the lake there was the vomit incident, followed by another 102.4 fever.

Saturday and Sunday he seemed fine, so off to daycare he went on Monday. By Monday afternoon he was running a fever of 101 and was fussy, unwilling to be consoled by his teachers or the daycare director. Jack picked him up an hour early and put him down for a nap. We noticed all four of his diaper changes at school had been poops, and Jack changed another when they got home. After we had dinner, we woke him from his nap and found another poop. His bottom was so raw we couldn't even use wipes--we did what we could with a damp wash cloth, but Carter was trying to crawl up the wall to get his bottom away from anything that might touch it.

Monday evening wasn't pretty. Explosive diarrhea every 20-30 minutes. He wasn't terribly energetic, so Jack set us up in the living room with the Nemo DVD, I covered my lap and the couch in layers of water-proof pads and thick towels, and I let Carter lay on my lap with no diaper. We needed some way of helping to air out his rear end. When I did put him back in diapers, he went to bed in a diaper one size bigger than normal and with no pants on (I thought that would help keep the diaper from pressing against his skin). He woke every two hours during the night, needing a diaper change.



By morning, his poop was almost solid again. I gave him his morning milk along with some Gatorade/Pedialyte. As he started hydrating, the diarrhea returned. We saw his doctor that morning and here is what she told me.



First, he tested negative for strep and influenza (whew). However, it looks like he caught a stomach bug at daycare when everything started (we knew he'd been exposed to one). The bacteria levels in his digestive tract probably were off-balance as a result of an antibiotic he took in June (can take up to six months for levels to return to normal). That imbalance of digestive bacteria combined with the stomach bug and caused reoccuring symptoms. There is a test to verify this theory and she will conduct it next week if he's still having problems. However, there's nothing they can do for it, so the effort of conducting a fecal check isn't usually justified by confirmation of knowing that it's a bacterial imbalance.



In the meantime, I was instructed to cut off his milk consumption immediately, along with all fruits and fruit juices. I also was to be careful with yogurt. Normally, yogurt is good for digestion and usually is recommended while children are on antibiotics (as has always been the case with Carter). However, because the cause is most likely too much of a certain type of (normally good and naturally occuring) bacteria, we don't want to promote its growth. Plus, the yogurt may upset his stomach. Starches, pastas, macaroni and cheese, crackers and even cheese were prescribed--anything that would normally block him up. So that's what he's been consuming.



I can tell he's missing his milk; he keeps asking for it. But the orange Gatorade seems to be tiding him over for the time being. He has improved a great deal but isn't quite into the recovery phase. I'm hoping to reintroduce milk today, but we will see.

Lake Weekend

Yes, we are half-way through the week and I'm just now posting about last weekend's trip to the lake. It's been quite a week. I was home Tuesday and Wednesday with Carter; Jack is home with him today. He's been battling a stomach bug for almost two weeks, but I think we're finally in the home stretch.

We went with Jack's family, as his parents have a house on Lake Sinclair. Nana, Papa Jack, Uncle Brad and Aunt Meredith joined Jack, Carter, Marley and me.

Jack had a claim for work late Friday afternoon, so I was to take Carter and Marley to his parents' house so we could ride in their van and arrive before Carter's bed time. (If we'd waited for Jack to get home, it would have been past Carter's bed time by the time we arrived.) I was late getting out the door, as I'm not used to having to load bags, a cooler, Marley and Carter, plus cut off the water to the house--though luckily Jack had packed half our stuff already, in the trunk of my car. I finally got on the road and was pulling into McDonald's for an iced coffee. Carter had been clingy and fussy all day; Marley had been a headache, and I was starting to pull out my hair. I hadn't had a chance to make my iced coffee at the house that afternoon, so I was heading for one at McDonald's. As I pulled into the parking lot, Carter's crying got louder and then stopped. I turned around to see him completely covered in vomit. Everything from the mouth down was dripping in it. I pulled into the drive-through line and then turned around to soak up what I could with napkins, while I waited behind the other cars. Five minutes later, Carter was passed out. When we got to Nana's house, she was ready with paper towels and some cleaning spray. She took Carter inside to clean and change him, and I stripped what I could from the car seat (the piddle pad, upper cushion, straps and strap covers were saturated). An hour later we were on the road.

We arrived a little before 6; Brad and Meredith were just a few minutes behind us. Jack finally arrived with Marley just before 8. Carter did eat a good dinner and seemed a little better, but he was burning up by the time we got him to bed around 8:30. I had exactly 2/3 of a dose of Ibuprophen with me (thought I had an additional bottle but actually did not). So after Carter went to bed, Jack and I made a trip to Wal-Mart for children's Motrin (I'm getting ready to step up from Infant to Children, as Carter meets the weight guideline and has started gagging on the thick infant drops). We also were on a mission to find vanilla Carnation Instant Breakfast for Carter's milk (I'm still mixing it in for flavor and calories), but they only had Chocolate (that was my third attempt for the week--must have been a sign that it's time to wean). So, we came up 50/50 on supplies for Carter. His fever actually never returned during the weekend, so we didn't have to use the new Motrin. Oh well. It doesn't expire until June 2012, so we left it at the lake house in the "just-in-case" cabinet.

By the time we got back from Wal-Mart, we had an ice cream dessert courtesy of Nana and it was time for me to crash. 10:30 p.m. felt much later.

Saturday brought a relaxing morning run for me, a great deal of fishing for the boys (about a dozen or more caught between Jack and Brad--poor Papa Jack spent most of his time running from one son to the other, helping to remove hooks from fish and tree limbs.

A moment like this

Sometimes, you have a moment so wonderful that you wish you could just freeze time--or at least remember its exact details forever. Sometimes these moments are big ones: your high school or college graduation, your wedding, seeing your newborn baby for the first time; sometimes they are small ones: sitting on the tailgate of your high school boyfriend's truck and eating ice cream pints in the grocery store parking lot, looking over the barren wasteland of a lava field, experiencing a toddler's unbridled affection.

I had one of those moments last night. After a weekend at the lake (more on that trip, later), I was getting Carter bathed for bed. He stood up in the water-filled tub (he likes to tempt fate) and started giving me kisses. I mean a mob of kisses. He does this from time to time. He'll get in a funny mood and assault me with big, wet kisses. The more I laugh, the more he keeps at it. He has learned to blow raspberries, so the kisses were mixed with some raspberries--on my cheeks, nose and mouth. I laughed so hard! He looked me in the eye, smiled and went in for more! This went on for a good 5-10 minutes.

These are the moments I live for. To feel such raw, loving emotion from a little boy who can't even form a full sentence yet. (Though we're getting close. He can say "Hi dad" and once this weekend, he said "Where are they?" when someone went out of view.) I could just gobble him up. But I won't. Because then I couldn't look forward to more of these moments. Sorry that the photo is unrelated to the story. I wasn't exactly able to capture a picture of it.

Ready to Go!

All my bags are packed;

I'm ready to go.

I'm standing here outside your door

I hate to wake you up to say goodbye . . .

Okay, so he wasn't really outside our door, but he had his bags packed and he was ready to go! He even blew kisses on his way to the door. Nevermind the fact he was barefoot.

Aquarium

We took Carter to the Georgia Aquarium on Saturday. It was tiring. My grandparents were in town, so they went with us (as did one of my sisters). I'd given my grandparents an early start on Friday so we could go to the farmer's market in the morning, and I didn't want everyone to have to gather for another "early" morning on Saturday (plus, Jack and I wanted time for a morning run at the park--something that has become a treat rather than our once-routine). So we had a 2 p.m. appointment with the fishies. Normally, that would mean leaving our house at 1 p.m. but there were extenuating circumstances on Saturday:

• Jack was driving my grandparents' conversion van, not exactly the same as his Silverado or my Camry
• Road work on I-85 South in Atlanta meant we wanted to take a less direct route, not on the interstate
• We were traveling with more than just us, and we normally walk at record-setting paces, even with Carter in tow
• A health care rally at Centennial Park, next to the aquarium
• A Braves game downtown
• Move-in weekend for Georgia State and Georgia Tech (didn't realize that one until we hit the traffic on 10th Street)

So, we left the house a little before 1 (had hoped to leave at 12:30) and arrived at 2:35. Turns out that was okay; a 2:00 pre-book means you are slated entry between 2 and 3. Whew.
Carter did not sleep en route to the aquarium, so he was pretty worn out during the visit. Our first "exhibit" was the tropical area. We thought it probably would be the most enjoyable (aka colorful and lively) for him, so we wanted to hit it before he got antsy. It definitely was his favorite! (And mine, too! Forget the whale sharks, belugas and manta ray--well the belugas and manta ray were cool, but I'd seen a manta before.) The stunning contrast of the jellyfish against the dark (blue) water just mesmerized him.

And the flurry of brightly colored activity at the reef was right up his alley.

Half-way through the visit, he got fussy (it was 4 p.m. and his only nap for the day had come two hours early). Luckily, the ballroom was open so he could run around in some open space. He had limited ability to roam in the exhibits.

At each of the main viewing areas, I took him to the very front and let him stand at the glass while I sat behind him, making sure he didn't bother anyone or wander too far. Well, at the second exhibit (the one with the whale sharks and manta), there was a couple with a little girl (shown in the picture at bottom) sitting next to us. Like Carter and me, the parents sat behind her and she stood. She was probably 2-2.5 years old. Carter LOVES other children. Familiar ones, strange ones, doesn't matter. He wants to interact. Well, he was trying to get her attention and she was ignoring him. Finally, he looked directly at her and made a noise like he was blowing raspberries. He's done it before. He doesn't put his tongue between his lips; his lips are closed, so he doesn't spit when he does it. He gets the noise without the spray. Well, the other mom looked at her daughter and said "[Fill in her name], stop!" The dad then says quite loudly, "It's not [girl's name]. She's being good." I couldn't believe my ears! Carter does misbehave in public--he was Mr. Tantrum at the grocery store on Monday. But I didn't consider this little show to be any misbehavior. Give me a break. He's a 14-month-old little boy who is extremely social with other children. The little girl is lucky she wasn't being pushed aside, hugged, hit, bitten or kissed. Carter's behavior was relatively mild for a toddler.

Potty Training, Day 4

I hadn't planned to post a Day 4 update, but a turn of events changed my mind. I apologize for another day without photos, but the topic really doesn't lend itself to showing any. I promise my next post will have pictures.

Day 4 was back to daycare, so I wasn't expecting any huge breakthroughs. Carter will transition to the older toddler room sometime this week or next. In the meantime, they've put a toddler potty in his current room for his use. My update has nothing to do with the daycare potty. In fact, Carter didn't even pee on (in?) the potty today. Nope. But he did poop on (in?) it. That's right--we entered the messy territory of potty training. He went a little and then seemed to freak out and get really apprehensive. I rewarded him with an M&M while he was still sitting there. When we decided he'd had enough, I helped him up and gave him two more, gesturing that what was in the potty had earned the candy.

I was pretty sure that he wasn't finished, and had just stopped because he was in unfamiliar territory. Jack went downstairs and I started drawing Carter's bath water. I noticed he was squatting next to me, but that isn't uncommon. Then he stood up and I took a double-take. He'd finished his business! Yep, on the bathroom rug. I cleaned it up, put him in the tub and thought he had a look on his face like he still needed to go. I took him out and out him on the potty, but he threw a fit and refused to sit there. So back into the tub he went. We made it through his bath and I let him run naked through his room after he dried off (all normal routine). I was pulling some more diapers from his closet to put in the diaper stacker, and I turned around to see not one more spot but two more spots--both on the tile in front of his bathroom vanity. Nice. I cleaned and diapered him, cleaned the floor and proceeded with bedtime preparations. Jack came up to take it on home (as always) and I had to relay the story to him.

Hmmm . . . turns out that training a puppy and training a toddler aren't too different after all!

Potty Training, Day 3

Well, well, well. Actually, he started sitting on the potty on Friday, but I'm not going to count Day 1 until he actually used it: Saturday. We have a little potty user on our hands. I'm sure that a month from now, he will completely change his mind and we'll be back in diapers. I'm not holding my breath. But for now, he's playing along, and so am I. Sorry, no photos to accompany this post. :-)

Day 3 was yesterday, which normally would have meant back to work/school. But alas, Carter had a fever this weekend (102.4 on Sunday, even Sunday evening) and while it was down to 100.6 yesterday morning, he really wasn't supposed to return to school until the fever had been gone for 24 hours. So home I stayed, though I was able to get a lot of work done during his three-hour morning nap. (Yeah, definite sign he wasn't feeling well. But it helped build my case for being able to do my office work at home.) Anyway, before he went down for a nap, we had potty success #3! That's three times in three days! I'd picked up some M&M's on Sunday morning, but they were stashed only in Carter's bathroom. This success happened in our downstairs bathroom (we have two toddler potties). So I whisked him upstairs for a candy. (Later, I picked up some more M&M's to keep downstairs.)

He sat on the potty a few more times that afternoon and evening, but no more successes. He did, however, catch on to my little game. He just didn't fully understand the process. After sitting on the potty through one round of "pat-a-cake" (we typically sit for as little as one song, or as many as four--though this morning was more like 8-10) he told me he was all done. He stood up and motioned that he wanted to eat. I thought maybe he was ready for a snack, and then he knocked on the door of his linen closet. He repeated it: signing to eat, then gesturing at the closet door. What's in that closet? M&M's. He's a quick one. It only took two times (since I didn't have any for his first success) for him to learn that after using the potty, he gets candy from the closet. Except he hadn't done anything, so he didn't get any. But he asked again after his bedtime potty run. I guess he likes the candy.

I did talk to the daycare director during Carter's afternoon nap. We probably will transition him to the older toddler room a little early, likely either this week or next week. I also learned that a number of children (and Carter's morning teacher) had a stomach bug over the weekend or on Monday. I'm pretty sure that's what he had.

Potty Time

I promised more on the potty introduction, and now I will deliver.

Around the time he turned one, Carter entered the phase where he has to know where we are, at all times. Since he was born (particularly if I'm the only one home with him), I've been leaving the bathroom door open a crack while I'm in there. In the early days, it was so I could have a better chance of hearing him cry. Then it was so I'd have a better chance of rushing quickly from the bathroom if I heard him getting into something. Then it became an avenue of allowing him to find me, rather than crying and banging on the bathroom door (which is what he does sometimes when Jack goes into the office and closes the door). So Carter has been following me into the bathroom for, oh, probably a month and a half or maybe two months now.

Side note, I have taught him to "knock" (aka usually bang) on a close door before pushing on it. He usually is really good about this.

Anyway, so he's been watching me use the bathroom, and a couple weeks ago Jack left the door cracked so Carter could watch him (he said maybe Carter should see how a man does it). I guess because Jack wasn't sitting on the potty, Carter was a little more interested in the big porcelain bowl. We won't discuss where his hands went. But I started telling one of my mom-of-a-toddler co-workers, and she knew (and understood) where I was going with the story. So maybe some other moms out there understand, too. Let's just say Jack started yelling for me to come and wash Carter's hands.


I've done quite a bit of research on when to potty train. There seem to be two schools of thought.

• Potty train early. Like around 15 months. This is when a toddler is just starting to develop the understanding of what is happening when people use the toilet.
• Pros: An early exit from diapers! Also, there is some belief that children begin to develop a fear of the toilet itself, somewhere between 18 and 24 months. By starting them using it before 18 months, you beat the toilet fear to the punch.
• Cons: Can take longer (studies seem to suggest an extra 1-3 months for the process to complete, compared to children who potty train at 2.5-3 years). Most children this age don't have the muscular ability to hold their bladder or bowels.
• Potty train later. Like not before 24 months.
• Pros: Child has more understanding of body functions. Child is more likely to be able to control the bladder and bowel muscles. Toddlers who potty train between 30 and 36 months seem to do so more quickly.
• Cons: The child is in diapers longer. By two years, the task may seem more daunting (the old "the longer you wait, the worse it's gonna be") and the toilet may seem a little scary (it swirls around and sucks down whatever is in it, never to be seen again).
  

Well, since Carter is showing interest and has started signing to us when he needs a diaper change, I thought I'd jump on the opportunity to try out the sooner-the-better method. So we are officially into the potty training phase. And I don't mean we're looking at the potty--which was how this post originally ended (I originally wrote it last week and saved the draft, but now am coming back to update). Over the weekend, we had two successful potty trips: one Saturday and one Sunday! It came as a surprise to me. Sunday Carter even gave me his "all done" signal after he peed. We also had two narrow misses. The one on Saturday was prior to our first success. Carter got off the potty, took two steps and then peed on the tile. Oh well. The second narrow miss was entirely my fault; I broke our potty routine before bed last night. I put him on the changing table, removed his diaper and bent down to prep his thermometer. While the diaper was off and I was squatting, he peed on the changing table. I'm pretty sure he would have gone in the potty if I'd followed our normal routine of putting him on it as soon as the diaper is off. Oops.

Now, I have to talk to the daycare directors. Carter still is in the young toddler room; he is scheduled to transition to the older toddler room at 15 months, which is still another four weeks away. The older toddler room does potty training, but the younger toddler room does not. I hate to lose the next four weeks, and would prefer to strike while the iron (aka his interest) is hot. So I'll have to see if we can work on it before he transitions, or if he'll need to transition early.

But this mom is SO EXCITED! Carter using the potty absolutely made my weekend! Even if I do have a more-than-ample supply at diapers at home. Whatever. Wal-Mart may be seeing a bulk return of a whole bunch of size 4 and 5 packs this fall, if all goes well. But we certainly aren't ready to part with them yet.

Diaper Reviews

In my previous post, I mentioned a blog with reviews of numerous diaper brands. This site got my gears turning and I thought I'd share our diaper brand experiences. First, I must say that from what I've read (and I have to go by what I've read, since I only have one diaper "tester"), different fits/absorbancies/materials/brands work better for different children, depending on that child's shape, size, schedule, etc. Also, I'll go ahead and state up front that we are a disposables-only house. No cloth diapers for our babies, except as burp cloths. (Also, I apologize for the lack of photos. Carter never appears outside his bedroom/bathroom in just a diaper, except on vacation when he made some living room appearances dressed only in a swim diaper.)

In my experience with Carter, diaper preference also evolves as the child grows. We have tried all three national brands, all styles of them (except the overnight styles, which we will be trying soon), and a few generic brands.

Newborn: I liked Huggies supreme (I think they're called Little Snugglers now, but they were called Gentle Care a year ago). We tried Pampers Swaddlers also and they were fine. But, reasons I liked Huggies better: They had an umbilical cord cut-out and they were substantially larger than the Swaddlers. Carter was born big enough to go straight into a size 1 instead of newborn. But we had some NB packs, so we used them for about 10 days, I think. After day 5 or 6, the Swaddlers newborn were too small. Because Carter was so big at birth and because he breastfed which meant pooping at every feeding (8-12 times a day) for the first week or so, we didn't really test absorbancy; he was being changed every 1-2 hours while awake. Fit was the primary factor for us.

Size 1 through 2/3 (roughly 10-20 pounds, or 1.5 weeks to 4 months old for Mr. Carter): There is a size 2/3, which falls in between 2 and 3. In a change of opinion, I prefered Pampers Swaddlers at this stage. Size 1 was when we got adventurous. We tried Pampers Swaddlers, Swaddlers Sensitive and Baby Dry. We tried Huggies regular and supreme. We tried Luvs. We tried Parent's Choice (Wal-Mart brand). Overall, during this period, Pampers Swaddlers were the favorite. They seemed to "puff out" almost immediately when wet. Also, they seemed to wick away his liquidy breastmilk stools much better than any other brand.

• Huggies were fine (and fit a little bit longer--I think he grew out of Pampers at three weeks) but didn't puff out as much as the Pampers.
• Luvs were not a success in our house. After multiple wet leaks in the period of a couple days (despite diaper changes every 1.5-2 hours), we abandoned the pack before we'd finished them all.
• Parent's Choice were fine. No leaks. Seemed to run a little smaller than the national brands.

Size 3 (around 5-10 months for Carter?): Pretty neutral between Pampers and Huggies. I didn't find much difference between Pampers Cruisers (the older-baby version of Swaddlers) and Pampers Baby Dry. Maybe because he was beginning to transition to a more solid diet, and so his stools were becoming more solid as well? I think he was in size 3 for a really long time. I'm pretty sure he'd made the transition by Thanksgiving (5.5 months), and I don't think we moved up to size 4 (during daytime) until April or even May. As previously noted, Huggies seem to run a little bigger than Pampers. So as Carter started to grow out of Pampers, we started using Huggies size 3 or Pampers size 4 overnight.



Size 4 (around 10 or 11 months for Carter): Huggies Little Movers (supreme) are king at our house. I usually can score awesome deals on Huggies, and have decided that there is a significant difference in the grippers on supreme (Little Movers) vs. regular (Snug N Dry)--enough to justify a pack containing three or four fewer diapers. We also tried Kroger Comforts. No complaints there; they held up just fine. And we tried two anonymous brands. I participated in a diaper study through Compass Market Research in which we received two 22-packs of mystery diapers and tested them. In addition to the free diapers, we earned $20 for our time. We're pretty confident that we identified one of the brands, but both held up reasonably well.

Swim diapers: We only used Huggies Little Swimmers, because I had high-dollar coupons for them. They seemed fine. Here is some info I learned about swim diapers, which I did NOT realize prior to this week (read: did not realize until AFTER our beach trip). Swim diapers are intended to contain #2 but not #1. It makes sense now that it has been brought to my attention (on the Baby Cheapskate blog), but it never occured to me before. They are designed to release the urine. If they contained the urine, they'd swell and become a drowning hazard, adding dangerous extra weight to a small child in the water. Urine is not a contamination risk; it's actually sterile. It's the poo that needs to be kept out of public pools, lakes, oceans, etc. for sanitation. Good to know . . . wish I had known it before I put Carter down for a nap in his swim diaper at the beach. But now it explains the MAJOR leak we experienced in doing so. At least we know for next time!

Stockpiling

I'm a deal shopper. I almost never pay retail for anything. I stockpile our house to ensure we never fall victim to the "need it now" game. Of course, sometimes things fall through the cracks and we realize we are completely out of napkins or toilet paper or cooking spray or--heaven forbid--Infant Motrin . . . but for the most part, I'm able to avoid those emergencies. And some things we can hold out until they go on sale: if our milk is full price, then Jack and I eat something else for breakfasts until it's on sale again (since there's an unending supply of alternatives like Pop-Tarts, breakfast bars or muffins that have been frozen). At my house today you will find . . .

• Four half-gallon containers of Carter's organic milk (a two-week supply)
• Three unopened boxes of Infant Motrin in addition to the two opened bottles of Motrin and two opened bottles of Tylenol--which probably will last another 6-8 months, provided we have no relapses of ear infections, major teething troubles or 104-degree fevers
• 17 tubes of toothpaste, which should last about 17 months (almost all of them were completely free or better)
• Five large bottles of body wash, which should last 8-10 months
• 12+ pounds of peanut butter, which should get me to at least next month (just kidding--but seriously, there have been many weeks when I alone consumed an entire pound; and it seemed like last year, I never had enough on hand for holiday baking and I had to pay higher prices, so this year I won't be caught offguard)
• 10 boxes of Eggos (all free)
• A closet shelf full of diapers in sizes 4 (Carter's current size) and 5, and wipes, and one pack of Pull-Ups: enough to last roughly 18 weeks. I actually had a bigger stock than what is pictured, but I used one pack and sent another to daycare in the days before I took the picture

Now, I have been "stocking up" on diapers since my first OB appointment, when Carter was the size of a nickel. It really helped after he was born, when I didn't have to worry about buying diapers for the first three months (though I did have to exchange some when he grew out of the size 1 earlier than anticipated--before one month!). Well, I always combined sales with coupons but never tracked off-the-beaten-path sales or rebates. Since I've started tracking these opportunities on my coupon blogs, I've realized that what I thought was a good price back then, was not! It was an okay price. I have grown my stockpile since then, and am now on a self-inflicted restriction. I have started introducing Carter to the potty (more on that later), and now am hoping to transition out of diapers before we use up all of these! So I have promised Jack that I won't buy any more for at least a month. I think. I have a really great coupon right now . . . so I might use that one and add to my stockpile for the future. Yes, add to it . . . I have one pack already (stored in my closet, not pictured). [On the topic of babies. Don't get excited, folks. We have a (somewhat altered) plan and aren't quite where we need to be. Very close, but not quite.] But I will really try not to buy one single pack for Carter until we deplete this supply. For heaven's sake, there's no more room in Carter's closet!

Diaper Brand Tip: For anyone who is interested, I have found a blog with user reviews of national and generic diaper brands (dozens of them--and all varieties). I just stumbled across it and am reading the reviews to see how their analyses stack up to my experiences. I see a future blog post topic in the works . . . http://delicious.com/babycheapskate/diaperreviews

A Big Baby

Jack's summer semester ended August 6, and he finally could breathe a sigh of relief. He was ready for some quality father/son time. I just didn't think it would involve him climbing into Carter's bed. He went into Carter's room Saturday afternoon after Carter woke from his nap, and I guess the crib looked so inviting that he decided to join the wee man.

He's a Climber!

I've had to completely reorganize our kitchen cabinets, drawers and refrigerator, and the bathroom cabinets and drawers. Carter likes to unpack things like diaper bags, cabinets and refrigerators. And then he found the drawers also. He can't see into the drawers, but he blindly grabs whatever is in them. So I had to move the heavy pots out of the kitchen cabinets that he can reach; move the razors and medicines from the bathroom drawers and move kitchen knives out of the kitchen drawers. Don't get me wrong: we have the cool magnetic cabinet locks. They're still in the packaging and everything! We haven't taken the time to drill into the cabinets yet, but we have put some of the "butterfly" type locks on the outside of the cabinet doors. They just don't work on drawers or doors that aren't facing another door.

Shortly after the photo at top was taken, Mr. Curiosity dropped a Sprite can on his toes. He had a thin black bruise for almost a week (yes, this photo was taken more than a week ago--sorry).

Speaking of Mila . . .

Speaking of Carter's girlfriend Mila, I have to show some pictures of her. For anyone who is Facebook friends with Cal, he has the pictures posted on there. I stole them from his online album. I just have to share because she is so darn pretty! She actually has a little boy's onesie that Carter's has also (but Carter hasn't grown into his yet--its a 24M). Even in the brown monkey top, she looks girly! She just turned seven months (was born New Years Day), and is crawling and pulling herself up. I think Carter was pulling himself up somewhere around seven months, but I'd have to go back and look. I just double-checked and Carter started crawling right at nine months.

Miss Mila Jane Haines, movie star in training

Cal and Mila
(did I mention that her skin is whiter than Carter's?!)

Jenny and Mila

Dinner Dates

In other news, we successfully made it through a dinner date at a nice restaurant, with Carter! (Okay, we kinda did this on vacation also. But we ate outside that time, and vacation doesn't count.) Hooray! It was no small feat. It still involved a highly complex list of factors, aligning to create an opportunity that didn't come easily.

Saturday night we went out with our good friends Cal and Jenny, and their daughter Mila--so it was a triple date. We get together with them every 2-3 weeks at minimum, but our date nights have evolved over the last two years. Now, we're more likely to grab takeout, eat at one of the houses (they live exactly five minutes from us) and go our separate ways by 8:30 p.m. than we are to be at Jillian's until 1 a.m. This weekend, though, we were up for a challenge. We decided that Dominick's would be the source of our big test. Cal and Jenny had their rehearsal dinner there two years ago, and the four of us have eaten and gotten takeout from there on numerous occasions. It's a great upscale local restaurant, and is situated directly on the square in downtown Lawrenceville. So, a) it offered wide sidewalks and a large lawn in front of the courthouse where Carter could run; and b) it offered takeout as a backup plan.

I made reservations for 6:30, but the party before us was taking their sweet time, so we had to wait a little bit for our table. (The hostesses were very apologetic.) Around 6:45 or so, we were taken to our table in the back room. I was relieved they put us in the back--it's a smaller area sometimes used for private parties (like Cal and Jenny's rehearsal dinner), where I wouldn't feel like Carter was disrupting the entire restaurant. They had both high chairs in place already, and even had paper mats under them.

Dinner pretty much can be broken into intervals of roughly 10 minutes. That's about as long as we could keep Carter's attention. So he was at the table for 10 minutes so we could order, then Jack took him outside to walk. I sent him a text message when salads arrived so he brought Carter back, and that lasted about 10 minutes. I took Carter out to walk and look at the flowers (and say hello to everyone on the sidewalk). Jack sent me a text message when entrees arrived. We made our way back to the restaurant. Carter resisted his high chair for a bit, and finally ate a few bites of his kids' pizza when I let him sit in my lap. When he'd finally had enough, Jack took him back outside to the courthouse lawn. Cal followed with Mila shortly after, while Jenny and I took care of the checks and all the baby gear at the table. If there hadn't been an outlet for us to take Carter to burn some energy, we wouldn't have lasted through the first course!

An Expanding Palate

Sorry, I don't have a photo of this one. Carter has been on a roll when it comes to trying (and liking) new foods lately. After our successful attempts of watermelon, cantaloupe and strawberry cake while on vacation, we have some new foods to add to the list.

Honeydew: A natural follow-up to the two vacation melons.
Nectarines: He actually had tried some plums and nectarines before. But Friday, he really hit it hard. I was eating a nectarine while feeding Carter his morning snack. He indicated that he wanted a bite of what I was eating (I was biting into the whole fruit; it wasn't sliced). He's had a couple bites before, but he ate half of mine this time. No lie, no exaggeration. He ate half of it! And it was a pretty large one.
Raisin(less) Bran: I was eating raisin bran for breakfast while Carter was munching on some waffles. He indicated that he wanted to try what I was eating (seeing a pattern here?). I spooned out a few bran flakes on my spoon, and they met his approval. He had another few, and then I poured some into his bowl and put a little milk with them. He has a hard time remembering to use the spoon, so he ate much of it with his hands--but two out of three days this weekend, he ate a bowl of bran flakes with milk (I picked out the raisins because I don't think he's quite ready for them).

Despite trying and liking these new foods, the little monkey still asks for bananas on a daily basis. During the weekend, he usually puts back two whole ones each day. I have started not slicing them for him. Instead, I'll break off half the banana and hand it to him. Half seems to be the magical size. If I try to do 1/4 or 1/3, it's small enough that he can shove it all in his mouth (which was the problem with slices--he shoved them into his mouth by the fistfull). Half a banana is too big to go in all at once, so he actually takes the time to bite off pieces. He still finishes them in as little as 30 seconds (I swear), but it's actually a little slower than when I sliced them.

Tooth Update

Carter has been suffering from fierce teething pain lately. After finally breaking tooth #8 at the end of June, he has cut two molars. One appeared the week before our beach trip, and the other appeared at the end of the trip. I suspect the other two are not far behind. He has resurrected the old habit of gnawing on everything in sight, except this time around "everything in sight" includes Mom and Dad! He nuzzles into an arm (or occasionally a leg), opens wide and starts in for the flesh. He usually pauses just before bearing down, probably anticipating the inevitable "no" from his victim. He seems to be using it as a last resort to soothe his pain, and he stops as soon as we tell him not to do it. I've been using teething tablets and Tylenol/Motrin (Tylenol at daycare and Motrin at home). He seems to be disinterested in his teething rings these days (though he did like chewing on baby Cora's teether at the beach). I hope these teeth hurry up! It's torturing the poor little man. Carter has his first dentist appointment at the end of this month.

Language Skills

In the last couple weeks, Carter's language seems to be gaining momentum. The signing and verbal vocabulary have picked up, and he seems to understand longer, more complex commands from Jack and me. (For instance, if we tell him to give Squeaker to Marley, he will.) Here is a list of some of Carter's new words and signs. I'm not including Mama and Dada, since he's been saying those for a while.

Words:

• Daddy (very distinct second syllable)
• Hi Dad (okay, a two-word phrase)
• Muh (haven't heard this one lately, but it seemed to mean Marley)
• Dog (pronounced without the ending "g")
• Thank you (we caught him saying it once, a couple weeks ago)
• Anana (meaning banana--and he definitely knows its meaning!)
• Ahta (Aunt Katya--he said it twice at the beach with her)
• GG (Great Grandma)
• Elmo (yes, Elmo has made the list ALREADY)
• Uh-oh

Signs:

• Milk
• More
• Eat (taught entirely at home--he used it A LOT at the beach)
• Please (I've seen him use it once--he told me in signs that he wanted to eat a banana, please. How could I resist?)
• Banana (taught entirely at home and now used daily)
• Bed (taught entirely at home)
• Diaper change (I didn't verify my signing book before teaching him this one, so it's probably not the real sign--but he knows what it means and he will do the sign if I ask him if he needs a diaper change--then he proceeds up the stairs, repeating the sign with each stair he climbs.)

I don't think I've forgotten anything. The banana word and sign crack me up, as does the diaper change sign. In fact, on occasion, he has told me on his own that he needs a diaper change. It makes me wonder if we will have an early potty trainer on our hands?? I'm starting to consider my plan of attack, since he's beginning to understand.

Energy

After spending an entire week keeping up with Carter, I have learned a little bit about him. Mostly, that he is high-energy. Not hyper-active. He just has lots of energy. It was tiring! I have experienced a glimpse of this phenomenon on the weekends, but now I know that he can keep it up for at least 10 consecutive days. So I assume he's like this at daycare also. He has two speeds: fast and sleep. When he's starting to wind down, he will literally run in circles (he did this at a baby shower in June). So factor in the beach and lots of people to entertain, and Carter crashed hard at the beach. He was our little alarm clock, up at 6:00 (sometimes it was almost 6:30) each morning. That's fine; 6:00 is sleeping in for me, compared to my normal 4:30 alarm (which means I get out of bed around 4:45). And the earlier I start my day, the more time I have to enjoy my vacation. So I really didn't mind that he was up. I just wish there would have been a way for me to get up a little before 6:00 so I could run--but with him in our room, me getting up woke him every time. So I only ran two mornings. Like his parents, Carter definitely is a morning person.

One afternoon, he grabbed Alecia's book and sat on one of the couch cushions on the floor. He was so intent on getting in just the perfect position--it was so funny!

Each time we walked back from the sand bar, Carter fell asleep on Jack's shoulder. One morning, he even fell asleep on my shoulder as we walked to the beach! (It was a pretty exhausting walk with Carter and his stuff, so I carried him there while Jack carried the stuff, and we switched roles for the return trek.)

He enjoyed poking the bubbles that Jack blew on the back deck.

This shirt pretty much summed it up: He slept when and where he wanted.

When he was ready to go outside, he knew how to tell us. Even if he was missing his clothes.

Crazy Story

Warning! This post is rated "MA" for mature audiences. It contains adult subjects and violence. And if you love animals, it will be that much sadder for you.

I have a crazy story to share and it has nothing to do with Carter. Well, we'll tie him into the "lesson learned" part of the story. First, some background. For those who are not familiar with the area around our house, we live in a neighborhood of "estate lots" meaning the lots are bigger, with more distance between houses than what normally would be found in suburbia. It's a small neighborhood; the other side of the street backs up to a neighboring street and our side of the street mostly backs up to dense woods though some lots have horse pastures behind them. Our house backs up to a heavily wooded area. It's a relatively newly developed area, that was still wooded five years ago. The first night in our house, Jack saw a fox trekking across our yard. A couple months later, I opened our side door just before dawn and saw a coyote sauntering up the driveway. We still hear these animals in the woods, but hadn't really seen any in the last two years. Plenty of deer and rabbits--both of whom like to eat my flowers. It isn't uncommon for us to see a whole family of deer in our yard on any given day of the week. So there's lots of wildlife.

Backstory on our neighbors . . . on one side, we are flanked by a house that currently is vacant. There have been two tenants in the house in the last two years (as the owner/builder tries to sell it), but currently no one lives there. The neighbors on the other side had construction issues and took more than three years to build their house. They finally moved in last winter. They have four young children and two malteses with temperaments like Marley's (they bark at EVERYTHING). Well, they have a tendency of letting the dogs out to use the "bathroom" and not leashing them--so sometimes they wander into our yard or disrupt Marley's outside time.

Anyway, on to the crazy story. Monday night I went to bed a little after 10. Jack finished some schoolwork and came to bed probably around 11:30. He hadn't been in bed long (not yet asleep, and I was semi-awake as well) when Marley started stirring (he sleeps under our bed these days). We thought we heard the neighbor's dogs outside their house, so we figured he'd calm in a moment when they went back inside. He growled a little and then we heard it. Dog owners know in their guts when they hear it. The ear-piercing, blood-curdling, spine-chilling scream of a little dog in pain. Jack and I bolted upright, Marley started barking, Jack peeked through our blinds. The flood lights behind our house were not on, but there was a full moon that allowed a pretty good view of the backyard from our second-floor bedroom. I asked if he could see anything and he said yes, he was pretty sure he could see what was happening. Two shadowy animal figures in our back yard. He hesitated and then said "And I think one has something white in its mouth." He said it looked like at least one of the neighbors was outside at their house, but he wasn't sure. And then the animal figures disappeared. We continued to hear one dog barking at the neighbor's house, and Marley just would not calm down. We finally put him in his room downstairs, so we could get to sleep.

The next morning, in disbelief of what we thought happened, I mentioned maybe coyotes and Jack said that's what they looked like. I guess he didn't want to put a label on it because he still wasn't sure he really saw what he thought he saw. In a wave of optimism, we said maybe we were mistaken and he actually saw two deer, one of which could have had a white tail sticking up in the direction of our house. But we had to know. We have only spoken to our neighbors a few times, so I didn't feel comfortable calling. Plus, what do you say?? So I e-mailed him. I told him we'd heard a commotion and it sounded like one of their dogs was hurt, and asked if everyone was okay. In some way, I was hoping to hear "everyone is fine; both dogs are at home; not sure what you heard". Eight long hours later, I received a reply that his wife had spent the entire day looking for one of their dogs and couldn't find him. He gave me his cell number and asked to call if we heard or saw any sign of Mr. Biggs.

Later that night, the neighbor called to explain that he is out of town on business, his wife is distraught over not finding the dog, and he's trying to piece together what happened. He wanted to know what we saw and heard. With a heavy heart and much hesitation, I told him everything we knew--stopping short of the something-white-in-its-mouth detail, and just saying that it looked like there were a couple of coyotes with his dog. He said that was the conclusion he'd drawn based on what he'd been hearing from his wife (either a coyote or an owl), and said he's a country boy who understands the course of nature.

How horrible! I can't even imagine this happening to Marley. And I really hated telling him. I wasn't going to tell him the details except that he called to ask! I guess in some ways, you want closure. But in other ways, it's kind of nice to hold onto that glimmer of false hope that one day your beloved pet will return. I really don't know which is worse: knowing the gruesome truth or spending years wondering? I guess I probably would want my neighbor to tell me. Anyone want to chime in? Would you rather have your neighbor tell you, or is ignorance bliss?

This is a terrible reminder to be vigilant with our little dogs and little children. Wild animals do see them as prey, and it only takes a moment to be caught offguard.

Family Time

Carter got to spend lots of time with family at the beach. After a couple days, he warmed up to everyone and tried to play with his second-cousins, Ellie (27 months) and Cora (7 months). It was very sweet, but he developed a fascination with poking people's eyes and noses during the trip, and he kept trying to poke Cora in the face--and once, he tried to pick her up. She wasn't amused.

He finally sat still long enough to let his GG (great-grandma; my grandma) hold him.

He tried to share his snack cup with baby Cora.

He showed Cora his poppin' pals.

He ran around, entertaining the ladies in his monkey pajamas.