Wednesday, February 24, 2016

Project Life 2016: Week 3



Before I had a baby, I would often run out of pictures to put in the weekly project life page. Yeah, not so much anymore. Now my problem is that all my pictures are of the same subject! It is definitely the Lincoln show around our house. At least until 8pm when he usually goes down for the night. :)

As I'm going back and filling in the weeks of January and early February, it just really hits me how much Lincoln has taken over our lives. I'm hard pressed to find a photo he's not in! Then I remember that I've been home with him for the past twelve weeks, normal life having been put on hold. Now that maternity leave is over I'll probably have a few other topics to document, but I'm sure Lincoln will continue to be the main character in our project life album this year.

Sunday, February 21, 2016

Work

Tomorrow I go back to work.

I'm about as ready as I possibly can be. I've got my list of things not to forget tomorrow (pump, parts, bottles, laptop, lunch, lots of water), and I'm only slightly paranoid about forgetting something. I've got my morning plan ready, as well as Plan B for when Lincoln doesn't cooperate with the first plan. I don't feel like I'm going to be a mess when I leave tomorrow. Pretty sure that has more to do with the fact that Lincoln will be home with Chris all day, and not actually a reflection on me. But still. It's nice knowing I'm not going to fall apart not the drive in. And it helps knowing that my kids really missed me these last three months.

But I'm still going to miss this little monkey. (And all that hair.)




Saturday, February 20, 2016

Cloth Diaper Update

We love cloth diapers!

Here's Lincoln in one of our faves, a Thirsties all-in-one.



When we decided to do cloth diapers back in... oh, I don't know April of last year (like a month after we found out we were pregnant), we really had no idea how many options were out there. And I was seriously confused at first with all the crazy lingo. Pockets, all-in-twos, prefolds, all-in-ones, covers, liners, inserts, bamboo, hemp, microfiber, oh my gosh, So Many Words.

Well, we did eventually figure it all out. But then we had to decide what system to go with! Through all the research, I was pretty confident we were going to love the Thirsties most, but after reading all the Amazon reviews on all-in-ones, pockets, and a cover system, I still didn't know which ones we should go for.

When Lincoln was first born, we planned to use diaper covers with prefolds and the fancy Thirsties duo inserts. We got four of the covers and a bunch of inserts. This was our plan due to learning that most one-size-fits-all diapers don't actually fit the brand new babies very well. This system worked well in theory; the problem with it was Lincoln– he did his business to the side every time so the cover always had to be changed with the insert.

I had also made a ton of flannel fitteds to use with snappis inside the diaper covers. Unfortunately, Lincoln came out bigger than expected (8 lbs, 4 oz), and the majority of my fitteds were too small right off the bat. Luckily, we'd also got a sample of BumGenius all-in-ones in the newborn size, and those lasted for about his first two months. I really liked those all-in-ones; they always fit really well under Lincoln's clothes. They don't have flaps like the bigger version, so everything's contained within the diaper, but they still dried super fast.

Around six weeks, we also started trying out our assorted one size diapers on him. By that time I'd accumulated a good collection of Thirsties, BumGenius, and Alva Babies. (Oh, and we also had two size small gDiapers I'd gotten for free. We didn't use those ones much since they were a bit girly–pink and yellow–but they served their purpose once in awhile.) I've found that cloth diaper shopping is pretty addicting. Even now, when we have a good sized stash–enough to get us through three days if we wanted to wait that long between washes– I still find myself adding diapers to my Amazon cart now and then.


This picture shows most of our diapers; I think it's just missing a few Alva Babies.

Our stash includes:
   11 Alva Babies (3 of which are colored tabs with gussets)
   2 BumGenius all-in-ones (the black and emerald ones above)
   3 BumGenius pockets (the blues in the bottom right corner)
   3 Thirsties all-in-ones (left bottom corner–mint, plaid, and teepee)
   2 Thirsties pockets (the blue and orange)
   1 random... I can't remember the brand name, but it came from Amazon and we had to have it since it had little orange foxes on a gray background.
   4 Thirsties diaper covers (not pictured)
   2 Small gDiapers (girly colors, not pictured)

And, I just added a third gDiaper to our cart, this one in medium. The smalls fit a bit funny on Lincoln for now; the inserts bunch up quite a bit. I'm hoping he'll grow into the medium soon so we can try it out for real.

So with all that, what did our favorites end up being?

Well, Chris has literally no preference. He says they all work, so it really doesn't matter. Although he does agree with me that the 3 Alva Babies with gussets are a bit crazy when double stuffed, which we do at night. Here are my opinions on the diapers we have on hand:

Thirsties Pockets: I actually ended up liking all of our diapers, but the Thirsties pockets are my faves so far. We've got one in snap and one in velcro and both are great. The velcro on Thirsties is WAY better than Bumgenius' velcro; the quality between them in incomparable. I love the gussets on the Thirsties pockets, the way they fit trimly under Lincoln's clothes, and the fact that the opening is in front and back, meaning the insert washes out. Oh, and the insert? A microfiber and a hemp insert. And they're super easy to stuff.

Thirsties All-in-Ones: These are my next favorite. An all-in-one is hard to beat for convenience, but I like these ones over BumGenius' because there's only one flap to deal with. Makes it trimmer, and still seems to hold the same amount as the two-flapped BumGenius.

Alva Babies: I can't believe these are so cheap. Seriously. We love the Alva Babies (the gusset ones, not so much, sadly). They're a little harder to stuff, but they fit great. And we can double stuff these easily and they still fit nicely.

BumGenius pockets: I really like the BumGenius colors and the trim fit... but the reason these are so trim is because the microfiber liner is thin and really doesn't hold anything. Double stuffing really bulks up the diaper unfortunately.

BumGenius All-in-Ones: The double flap is a little annoying because you have to really make sure both flaps stay inside the diaper, and it definitely chunks the diaper up a bit. These also seem to stain easier.

Thirsties Diaper Covers and Duo Inserts: We don't use these much anymore. When Lincoln was newer, we used them much more, either with the micro fleece/hemp inserts or a prefold. We do still use them when we've run out of the others, or they're in the wash, or they're all sitting in a laundry basket in his room for a day and a half (like now). Those things give us an extra day of diapering easy. Having those (and the gDiapers) on hand makes it nice and easy to cloth diaper since we can do laundry without the rush.

Seriously, cloth diapering is so much more fun than disposables. And in the three months since Lincoln was born, we have bought exactly one box of disposable diapers... and it's taking us a loooooooooong time to go through that box. Lincoln might move up to size twos before we finish the box! Good thing all our cloth diapers grow with him! ;)

Friday, February 19, 2016

Friday Photo Shoot



Lincoln got to go to school to see all the kids again today. I took him with me to watch my students run laps for the jogathon, on this, my last day of maternity leave. I go back to work officially on Monday, and my 7th graders are thrilled. This little guy will probably be less than happy, but at least he's got Daddy to hang out with all day here at home. And Daddy's already set up some parent play dates (a.k.a work at a friend's house) so they shouldn't be too bored.

We did a little mini shoot this afternoon in Lincoln's room, because he was just so darn happy, plus was wearing an adorable outfit: two things that always make me want to bust out the big camera. And he did not disappoint. Look at this stud! :)




2 Months


Finished Lincoln's 2 month page. Such a difference in his expressions from 1 month. He's all smiles and smirks and blue steel in these photos. Much better than the perturbed expressions and screaming from the first month...

Thursday, February 11, 2016

Project Life 2016: Week 2


Week 2! Soooooo much less journaling than Week 1's page. A currently card sums up a lot of it, and the big journal card goes over Lincoln's current sleeping schedule. Among other things this week, I worked on prints for Lincoln's baby book, we had a play date with the other November babies (three of us 8th grade teachers got pregnant at the exact same time), Lincoln and I went to the breastfeeding support class to get him weighed (we passed 10 pounds, woot), and Chris decided cuddling time was the perfect opportunity to teach Lincoln about Clash of Clans.




Materials: Project Life Golden Themed Cards, Project Life Midnight Edition, Project 52 2016 Edition, Paislee Press Joie de Vivre, Rukristin Currently card

Wednesday, February 10, 2016

Project Life 2016: Week 1


Week 1 has tons of journaling, because I added in my blog post about my One Little Word this year. Way more journaling than is usual for me.

This week also includes the story of Lincoln's first drive-in experience. We went to see Star Wars one night, stopping for pizza and soda in Lakeside and then having a little party of 2 + baby in our car. Link did great at the drive-in; we moved his car seat to the middle so he could see through our front bucket seats for awhile, but Chris chose to hold him not long after. He just chilled in Chris' lap, "watching" the movie with us, then Chris passed him over to me midway through and he fell right asleep. Who says you can't go out to the movies once you have a baby?


Materials: Project Life Moments Like These Edition, Project 52 2016 Edition, Paislee Press All the Stripes Photo Templates




Saturday, February 6, 2016

This Weekend

Chris' parents are down from Yucaipa to be with us this weekend. I've been waiting for weeks for them to arrive. Mostly because I love it when someone else is around to hold Lincoln for awhile, so Chris and I can get some stuff done. We love that little guy, but during the day, he demands attention and cuddles and entertainment. You know how newborns are supposed to sleep so much? Yeah, not really with this one. He'll only fall asleep for a good nap if you're right there with him, either holding him or curled up next to him so that he can cuddle on up. I'll admit, his cuddling is really sweet. He'll grunt and kick to give himself the momentum to slide over a couple of inches to be arm to arm, then lay a hand on my arm. The unsweet part is that I usually end up falling asleep with him, so while a good nap is had by all, the things... they do not get done.

So Chris' parents being here has me so excited to do all the things! I just got back from grocery shopping for the week, and it only took an hour and a half this time, plus I had plenty of room in the cart for the actual groceries. (When Link's with me, he takes up about 80% of the cart.) Chris and I are about to head off to an engagement shoot at Balboa Park, sans baby. This will be my first shoot back from "maternity leave" from the photography business. My last shoot was in September (and at almost 9 months pregnant, it pretty much finished me off), so it's definitely been awhile. Lincoln gets to stay and hang out with Grandma and Grandpa T., which he is very pleased about. Who better to snuggle you all day long then the grandparents?

Last night after Lincoln went down I was able to get through some Project Life 2015 pages as well. My goal is to finish last year before I head back to my teaching job (in two weeks), but man, it is not looking good for me. My perfectionism is really killing my productivity these days, even when I go into the project thinking, "Just do the bare minimum! Get it done!"

In light of this, I've decided that 2016's album is going to be purely digital. It's going to save me a ton of time, not only with getting photos and cards printed, but with my crazy indecisiveness. It's much easier to commit to a color scheme/card/title on the computer, where I know it can be changed any ol' time I feel like it, than it is to commit in print, wait to go pick up said prints, and spend time putting it together at home. Not to mention how much easier it is to pick up a project when everything's digital and all I have to do is sit at my computer, instead of pulling out boxes and albums and leafing through for perfect cards, yada yada.

Here's this year's title page. I'm not generally a pink person, but I'm really loving it with all these black stripes.





Supplies are from Project Life and Paisley Press' All the Stripes frames.