Wordless Wednesday : Mini-Hugh

THUNK!

Boy, it was a rough night. Cubby started around the 2 a.m.-ish hour with the crying. Pappa got up, changed his diaper, gave him some food (he didn't eat much yesterday) and put him back down... not even 15 minutes later, up again... crying. Mamma's turn! I went in to his room, settled in the rocking chair and gave him some Mamma's Milk... then, put him down. Not even 20 minutes later, up again... crying. Ay yai yai! What's up with this kid? By this time it's close to 4 a.m. so Pappa volunteers to get up with him and gives him some Sesame Street time! I have to be at work by 6:30 a.m., so I attempt to go back to sleep for a little while... next thing I know, it's about 5:45 a.m.-ish and Cubby is standing next to the bed trying to get my attention. I hear Pappa snoring out in the living room on the couch.

So, I pull him into bed, play with him a bit, give him some more Mamma's Milk and then get up with him (so I can get ready for work) and head out to wake up Pappa from the couch. I wake up Pappa, then fix Cubby's tent that he is always "squishing" and tell him "Cubby - you're gonna ruin this thing!" The next thing I know, Cubby takes a run for the tent (nothing new) and then I hear "THUNK!" Then some crying... Oh jeez! Here it is 6 a.m. and we're already starting the day this way. I grab him, he buries his face in my chest just BAWLING and I'm just patting him, rocking in the chair and tell Pappa - get me an Owie Bag from the freezer!

Then I pull him away from me to look - HOLY CRAP!!! I tell Pappa - "Hurry! It looks AWFUL!". I finally turn on a light to show Pappa and he FREAKS out! Yep. My kid has a golf ball size knot coming out of his head! What a way to start a Monday morning! Pappa wanted to take him to the doctor's but I made him call first - as I knew it would be at least $50 and HOURS of waiting in the ER, not to mention Cubby wasn't dressed or calm yet either.

After giving him more Mamma's Milk to get him calm, I was able to wedge the Owie Bag between his face and my chest in order to be able to "ice" it down. After more than 20 minutes, the advice nurse came on and in the end - we can't let him sleep more than 2 hours at a time for the next 24 hours. Yikes! What a looong night it's going to be tonight.

Good news - Cubby IS acting like himself and the knot has gone down a bit - and it's gonna be a helluva bruise for a while... Whew! Welcome to Parenthood!!!

Cubby in good spirits having some breakfast. Nice lump, huh?

Cubby sleeping with his Owie Bag 

Wordless Wednesday (Mostly): Like Father, Like Son?

After a disastrous first haircut (which I just realized I never posted), we thought we'd try again - AFTER he got the chance to see how fun it was for Daddy to get his haircut. My mom cuts everyone's hair in the family (yes, she does this for a living) and I ASSUMED she was just going to "trim it" like she did last time but.... well, see for yourself:

Bye Mamma!

This morning, as I was getting ready to leave for work, Pappa Bear was changing Cubby's diaper on the changing table. So I go in to say goodbye, kiss the Cub (which he was not having), kiss Pappa Bear (THEN, the Cub wanted to kiss Mamma) and say goodbye. As I was walking away waving and saying "Bye bye!", Cubby turned to his side, waved and said "Bye Mamma!"

Oh boy, he's definitely growing up.

The Beginning: Cloth Diapers

A lot of you already know I cloth diaper and LOVE it! So much so, I'm what you could call "addicted" although I'm trying desperately to hop on the wagon to recovery. What most of you don't know is why. If you know me at all, this doesn't seem like something I would go for, as I'm always about the latest "great" thing to make life easier & uncomplicated. Let's face it: Cloth diapering certainly doesn't make life easier. It just adds to the piles and piles of laundry already waiting to be washed & folded. Not to mention, having to deal with cleaning off poop? GUUUHHHHROSSSSSSSS!!!!!! Right?

One thing I never could anticipate is how I would feel/see things when I was pregnant. I spent HOURS on Babycenter and other baby-related websites, looking/researching and making sure what I was purchasing was not only top-rated but top ranked in safety, cost-effective and the BEST for my baby. In all of this researching, I came across discussions for cloth diapers. I started looking into it more vs. disposables and the more I looked at it, the more I thought it made sense but all the choices though were so overwhelming and I just couldn't FATHOM washing DIRTY DIAPERS?! GUUUUHHHHHROOOSSSSSS!!!!

So I found a local diapering service - Tidee Didee which delivers and picks up the dirties and brings me new ones! How cool was THAT?! After a small talk with Pappa Bear, he agreed to try it out. We only had a four week commitment, and we could at least give it that long to try, yes? At the service's recommendation, we started off on an 80 diaper (prefolds) a week rotation. Holy COW! That was a LOT of diapers!! After our first week, Pappa Bear though that it really was no different than changing disposable ('sposie) diapers and I agreed! It just took one extra step, a little coordination and know how and voila! Easy as pie! Of course they were HUGE on our little guy - just check it out for yourself:

 See how big his bottom half is? He looks like a pear!

 

Once Cubby started solids (around 5ish months or so) and his diaper started to have more solids in it, I thought I'd give washing/caring for our own cloth diapers a try. The main reason? Not only to cut costs, but man - they were so darn CUUUUUUTE! Turns out, it was all easy peasy as pie. Well, almost. We've had some stink issues, a suedecloth reaction, an eczema flare-up and oh the dreaded MUSH poop that required the installation and use of a diaper sprayer but for the most part - it's been a breeze! Besides, you can't capture this kind of adorable-cuteness in 'sposies, right?!!

 

Say CHEESE!!!

I have to tell you - I'm amazed. Every day I'm amazed at how far Cub has grown and all that he's learned and picked up. Today, I allowed him time on the computer. This is something I've been doing on and off for about a week. Since I spend so much time on it, he's always stealing my mouse and messing with my computer. So, why not? There's this cool website for little kiddies called Kneebouncers. All it requires (besides parent supervision) is the ability to hit a key on the keyboard. It's PERFECT for Cub and other kids his age.

So, as I am watching him on the computer thinking "What a BIG BOY!" I grab the camera to take a picture and I say "Say Cheese!" not really expecting him to say it but..... he said "Cheeese!" and I snapped this photo:

"CHEEEESE!"

The Year of a Cub

Never had I thought our life would change THIS much by such a tiny creature. It has brought many days of tears, laughter, amazement, heart-warming smiles and just unexplainable heart-filling emotions. It has TRULY been quite a WILD ride and an awe struck experience. So without further fanfare... a year in the life of Cub:

*WARNING* This will take a few minutes to see every picture :) Grab a coffee, kick your feet up and enjoy!