Ryder 5 months

Ryder is 5 months!

He can tripod sit for a few seconds
He can roll over from back to belly
He wears size 12 month clothes
He has blue eyes
He loves his 2 fingers!

Bed transition

Mason hasn't been sleeping well for over a month so a couple weeks ago we decided to work on tranisitioning him to a bed. We took his mattress out of the crib and put it on the floor. A day or so into it all was quiet during nap time which was surprising because he hadn't taken a nap since we moved his mattress. I snuck into his room and this is what I found.

That's right - he climbed into his changing table and that's where he fell asleep. Baby wanted his bars back! So for the time being we put his mattress back into the crib for safety reason. His sleep didn't get any better but he must have been more comfortable than sleeping in his changing table!

Then this past weekend he learned to climb out of his crib. Sigh. At least we needed him out of there so Ryder could have the crib. We got his big boy bed this weekend and now we are transitioning into that. Maybe someday in the future I'll get a fulls night sleep again.

Valentines Day

My best friend brought her little one over for a mini valentines "shoot". We had a lot of fun and the boys were so cute! If only I could get Mason to pose!

Ryder with his best friend Liam

p.s. I made those hats!

My assistant Mason

Mason isn't too fond of being photographed anymore. So instead he helps pose Ryder.

Mason working with his client

The end result

Ryder in cloth

I forgot to add a picture of my cutie wearing his first cloth diaper!

Cloth Diapers

Last month I finally decided to take the plunge and buy some cloth diapers. I had been thinking about it for a while. Since Mason was a baby. I always had some excuse and I was scared to take the plunge. In January someone on one of the message boards I'm on posted about some cloth diapers on sale and I impulsively bought 6. They were the Bum Genious 3.0 AIO's that are being discontinued. I figured I'd test them out, cloth diaper part time and if I liked it make the plunge to full time.

Now I'm sure some of you think of prefolds when you hear cloth diapers.

Yes those are still around, but cloth diapering has come a LONG way. There are so many different types. To test which ones we liked the best we ended up doing a $10 trial with Jillians Drawers. They sent me enough diapers to cloth diaper full time for 3 weeks and when my 3 weeks were up I sent the diapers back to them. They came with awesome intructions and I learned which diapers I liked the best - pocket diapers. I ended up mostly going with the very popular Bum Genious 4.0's. They are one size diapers and will grow with Ryder. Right now he is on the medium snap. Mason at 2 can also wear them!

I'm sure you might be wondering "why cloth." There are several reasons why I decided to switch but here are my top reason why (in no particular order)

1. They are better for the environment
2. Poopy blowouts are no more
3. No emergency runs to the store because we're out of diapers
4. Less stinky room (no huge diaper pail of a month + worth of diapers sitting around)
5. They will save us around $1500
6. They are so cute!
7. No chemicals on my baby's bum
8. They say potty training is easier

About a week into my trial I knew what I wanted my stash to be and placed my order. I tried to start with the bare minimum. I might still need to add a few things to make it a little more convenient but I'm making do with what I have.

My stash:

13 Bum Genious 4.0 OS (most with snaps)
6 Bum Genious 3.0 AIO
1 Fuzzibunz size medium
3 hemp doublers for night
12 Thirsies Fab wipes
1 medium planet wise wet bag
1 bumGenious diaper pail liner
tiny bubbles detergent
safety first easy saver diaper pail
I also have an additional diaper pail liner a friend gave me

I might need to add a couple more diapers and 1-2 more wet bags for when we're out. It would also be nice to have an additional wet bag or diaper pail in our laundry room.

Doing the laundry is one of the things I was most worried about. Whenever I would do research on cloth diapering I would hear about all these different ways to wash them and it sounded so complicated. Once you get started it's not bad at all. Here's what I do (I have a top loader).

(all is done on extra large load. You want the most amount of water to get the dipes clean)

Cold pre-rinse
Hot Wash with detergent (half the recommended amount. I use no more than one scoop)
Extra rinse
Hang outer shells to dry, inserts in dryer on medium for an hour

Easy peasy! I do laundry every other day. I usually wash at night and then everything is dry in the morning. I stuff inserts in diapes, put in drawers and we're ready to go.

Oh and before I forget a great tip I got from a friend was to have different colored diapers for night. Those you need to stuff with extra inserts so if you use the same color diapers for those you aren't stretching out all your diapers - only the night time ones. I use my AIO diapers for the diaper bag since they are slimer than the pocket diapers. They are also the daddy diapers (IF he actually changes a diaper). They have aplix instead of snaps so they are as close to a disposable as you can get. Fool proof.

BG 4.0 OS stash

AIO diapers on left and night time diapers on rightextra inserts and unstuffed diapers
wipes

fingerpainting

It's been snowing here. A Lot. We are snowed in at least once a week. So we've had to start getting creative with things to do. There's only so many cookies we can bake and eat!

It starts off innocent enough
Now he's getting into it!