Survival

Well, I did it. I drove half way across the country, and back, with a baby and a first grader, and I lived to tell about it.

It wasn't easy and, quite honestly, by the last day I didn't like M very much, and I know she really didn't like me either.

The part that I was worried about most, cloth diapering and breastfeeding the baby on the road, ended up being the easiest part of the trip. At four months, Little W was a great passenger and slept most of the time in the car. Sure she had her moments where she cried because she woke up and had to wait a while before I could find a safe place to pull over to take care of her, or because she needed to nap but was fighting sleep. Over all though, she was really easy to travel with.

Her sister really wasn't that bad either, but when you're asked for the 15th time on the first leg of a two day car ride if we are in Iowa yet, you get a little frustrated, and more than a little tired of answering, "We won't be in Iowa until tomorrow."

On a completely separate note, I had a package waiting for me when I returned. My Blissful Booty Cloth Diapers and wipe water sample pack were waiting for me. I couldn't wait to smell the four new scents, or try out the diapers. The scents are great, and I'm waiting for my chance to use them (I have a full bottle of the vanilla lavender mixed right now that I have to use first.) The diapers had to be washed before I could give them a test drive on Little W's bottom, but I'm happy to report that they have been laundered and three of the four have been driven around the block. Look for a review on here very soon.

Until then, remember to hug your kids, kiss your spouse, and tell someone that you care about just what they mean to you. You never know if you'll have that chance again.

Be well, lovelies!

Back In The Swing Of Things

I have to admit, I’m really enjoying the sense of accomplishment and satisfaction that goes along with completing a writing project. I haven’t felt that in ages, not since I was writing for KCCI’s Local Voices. Now that I’ve put up a few new posts on my personal blog, I want more.

There's nothing like a fresh cup of coffee and a fresh page

I want to work on my 2009 NaNoWriMo novel, and get it finished (this is especially important now that I have joined a critique group, and have handed out my first chapter to several near strangers asking them for their input.) I just hope I can keep the momentum going. I’d really like to write “The End” on my first novel.


That will have to wait until tomorrow though, because it is nearly 2 am, and I am falling asleep at my keyboard.

You Know You’re From Pennsylvania If…

You drive headlong into a blizzard at 75 mph without even blinking.

The same could probably be said for a few other famously snowy states.

In my last post I thought that the second leg of the trip was the long one, but I was mistaken. Friday’s trip should have only been five hours on the road. Notice the “should” in that sentence.

At this point we were about an hour behind the storm according to the toll booth attendant. Apparently I drove faster than Mother Nature or Old Man Winter, because it wasn't too much longer and we were in the thick of a good old fashioned late season lake effect blizzard.

I knew I was driving into a winter storm, but I wasn’t expecting the Ohio DOT to completely drop the ball on the whole snow removal thing. At one point the three lane interstate was down to just one barely passable lane (that didn’t stop the crazies from trying to drive in over a foot of very wet slushy snow in the right hand lane at more than 60 mph though.)

The remains of an accident that brought traffic to a near stand still at the I-80/I-90 split just West of Cleveland on Friday. I guess they didn't think they needed to slow down.

It took well over two hours to travel approx 40 miles. Had it not been for that storm, we would have been at our destination by 3 pm. We still made it by 5 pm, so it wasn’t a late night, but it would have been nice to have those extra hours back.

Since arriving here in PA, I’ve done two loads of diapers. The first load was on Saturday to make sure I’d have enough to get me through the weekend trip to my grandma’s house, and then I just washed again tonight (Tuesday) because I was just about out of clean fluff.

So far, this trip has gone much better than the trip I took with M when she was about the same age little W is now. I’ve learned to pack a lot less, and because I can wash my diapers and wipes when I need more, I don’t have to worry about packing enough diapers for the whole trip.

I’m looking forward to returning home. I have a package with four new AIO’s in it waiting for me, and I really want to check out these diapers, and see how well they work. Look for the review on here soon.

So, to sum it all up, even though we still have the two day trip back to our Iowa home, I think our first major trip while cloth diapering and exclusively breastfeeding is going really well.

Check back in a day or two to see if I’ve changed my mind yet.


 

The Results Are In...

Successful so far!


I promised a follow up, so here it is.


Day one of two day road trip went well. We survived (I consider this success.)


So just to recap, I am taking my two daughters ages 6 years and 4 months from our house in IA to visit my mum in PA, by car, without the help of another adult, and I am cloth diapering and breast feeding the younger one.


Yeah.


Now do you see why I’ve decided that arriving at the hotel, before midnight with the same number of people that we started out with, is a success?


How did you manage, you ask?


In short, I’m awesome.


Well, that and I have a really good baby.


She had some fussy moments. I drove for several miles looking desperately for a rest stop so I could safely pull over to nurse, but all in all, it went really well once we finally got on the road.


Tomorrow’s leg is a little longer, but we will be on the road earlier in the day, so hopefully we can be at Grandma’s house before little W hits her evening fussy period.


As far as the cloth diapering goes, it really hasn’t been a big deal at all. I have my wet bag that has a dry pocket and a wet pocket. I keep the clean diapers in the dry side with my wipes and wipe water spray. After the change, I put the wipe in the dirty diaper, and then it all goes in the wet side. That’s it. The only difference between cloth and disposables is I’m taking my diaper with me instead of throwing it away.


I brought two wet bags, and two pail liners with me, and just put all the diapers from the road in the wet bag with the morning diaper from home, so the two pocket wet bag is all set and ready for tomorrow. I’m using one of the pail liners for or dirty clothes, sooo much easier than my old method of folding neatly so it would all fit in my reusable shopping bags from Target. Just toss it in, and you’re done. I should have bought pail liners years ago!


I’ll give you another update tomorrow if I can get an internet connection.


Good night for now lovelies.

Our Cloth Diaper Journey--The First Test

Hello Lovelies!



Well, I don’t know how many of you know this, but R and I have made the decision to do cloth diapers with our second daughter W. I had really wanted to do cloth with our first, but we just couldn’t manage to make the initial cost work with our budget. This time, tax season came at just the right time, and helped us take the plunge.


We have been in cloth for about three weeks now, maybe four, and so far so good. One of the last days in disposables resulted in not one but two outfit changes for little W because her diaper blew out all down her leg. I can honestly say that she has not had to change an outfit because of a blow out, and I have not had to soak any of her clothes to make sure they don’t stain, and trust me, her output amount has not changed.


Tomorrow will be the beginning of the first real test of my cloth diapering skills though. Tomorrow, M, W, and I will all be heading out to my Mum’s house in PA. That’s a 13 hour trip by car stretched out over two days. Just me, a six year old, and a 4 month old, in a car for two days. Lord help me.


Now, you may be asking yourself: Why is she doing a blog post at 1:40 AM when she has a huge road trip ahead of her? Good question. I would like to take this opportunity to suggest that you not get sick with massive infections in your ears, sinuses, eye and throat the week before you plan to leave town on a road trip. It really messes up your schedule. Add to that the fact that I have once again over extended myself with my PTA commitments and a fundraiser that while hugely successful, is also hugely time consuming, and that’s how I am still up at nearly 2 AM waiting on laundry.


*Sigh*


So.


Yeah.


So far, our cloth journey has been great. I’ve found some great diapers that I really like, and some that I don’t really care for (unfortunately, I bought two of those before I realized that I don’t really like them.)


I’m currently waiting on an order form Blissful Booty Cloth Diapers (you can go to their store here and find them on Facebook here.) I was hoping that they would arrive before we had to leave, but sadly they are not here yet (the package will probably arrive tomorrow afternoon.) I look forward to trying those out especially since they have some of my favorite features. Watch for a review in the next two weeks.


I’ll also be doing reviews of the diapers I’ve tried so far (good and bad, or maybe I should say ones I liked, and ones that weren’t what I needed or was looking for.)


I think I just heard the washer buzz, so I’ll end it here for now.


I’ll update tomorrow on how the first day on the road went.


Wish me luck. I’ll need it.

Silent Sunday

Flower It Is

On November 17th after 36 hours of labor followed by a C-section, we welcomed a second beautiful little girl into our family. Her name is very special to our family, and to me especially. She was named in honor of the two people who were there with me through all 36 of those hours, as well as the months leading up to those last moments before she made her grand entrance.

We are doing things a little different this time, more on that in an upcoming post (hopefully soon).