Diaper Woes

We are having some diaper issues in the Hagy household lately. Most obnoxious right now is the diaper rash. I hate when they both have red butts 'cause it feels so wasteful to put them in disposable diapers so I can use the heavy duty rash cream on them.

I don't remember Kaida getting diaper rash until she was eating solid foods. I mean occassionally, but Colin has been red a bunch of times and he's only 2 months old. His usually clears up pretty quickly and isn't that bad.
Kaida on the other hand gets really awful red sores. Or her whole butt gets red and hot. For a while she was telling us when she needed her diaper changed but she's stopped doing that. You would think that if you were sitting on a poop that was burning you you'd tell someone about it.
Anyway, I'm not sure what we've been feeding her but it's been 3 days of rash now. It started as one bad diaper so we'd put some cream on it and she'd be fine within a diaper change or two. But today it was bad all day. She screams when we change her and won't even sit down in the bath tub. Poor baby.

So, rashes are one thing. But leaks are starting to be a big problem too. I think I have super pee-ers. I can understand Kaida peeing a lot. She's getting pretty big and she drinks a lot during the day. If I'm really on top of it and change her every two hours we can usually get through the day without leaks. Unless there's a poop during the 2 hours when she has her juice. Then it's like a perfect storm. The solution to this problem may be just to put more doublers in or try the grovia or prefolds again.
But then there's overnight. I gave up doing cloth overnight when she started leaking every night. I'd rather just do disposables than spend who knows how much trying to find the one kind of cloth diaper that works for 12 hours overnight. But now the disposables seem to be leaking almost every night. And last night it leaked really bad. I had to change the waterproof pad, the crib protector, the sheet, and the mattress pad. Might be time to start limiting liquids in the evening. Or have her sleep on a puppy pad.

But, on to Colin. The cloth diapers fit really well on him. We don't have the skinny leg leaks we had with Kaida a lot in the beginning. But we do have the peeing more than the diaper can handle leaks. I may need to try the grovia and prefolds on him too, or more doublers. It's just surprising that he's out-peeing the diapers this early. The good news is that the cloth diapers hold in baby poop a lot better than a disposable.

It's annoying to have cloth diaper problems but there are obviously drawbacks to the disposables too. Can't seem to win.

Pictures from March

Kaida's trying to share her cookies with Colin. It's more like force feeding.


Sometimes she tries to pick him up or move him. This time she tried to put a baby-doll diaper on him.


She really likes the bumbo


And the toys on the play mat.


Adorable!


2 Months old!



My hat is awesome!



Look at my chubby arms!

Dance party in the front yard!


Daddy did my hair, he did a great job!


I'm pretty naughty. Mommy and Daddy put the child proof door knob cover on the outside of the bathroom door after this.


I thought I'd try out the bassinet. It's a snug fit.

Had some fun with a pen!


My super cute hat!



I fell in the bath tub while it was filling up. Daddy swears he only left the room for a second, and I wasn't even in there when he stepped out. I like to keep them on their toes.


I am beyond adorable in pig tails.

Kaida and Colin March 2012

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Comparison

I compare my babies to each other. Mostly because I sort of learned how to do things for babies with Kaida but they're a lot different for Colin.

Anyway, here's what I've noticed:

The main difference (besides the obvious) is fat rolls. Kaida never had any. Colin has them on his arms and his legs and his neck. I'll give him his bath and think he's clean but then I still have to get into the creases with a wipe. Also, they're adorable. I'm not sure I trust it but our scale said he was 13 pounds the other day. It took Kaida 6 months to double her birth weight but Colin is almost there at 2 months.

Another difference is their hair. Kaida's was pretty long when she was born so it felt like hair. His is still pretty short so it feels fuzzy. Not like a buzz cut, more like a teddy bear.

And the fantastic difference is their sleep. When I put him down at night he goes to sleep. After he nurses overnight he goes back to sleep. I remember her screaming a lot in the middle of the night. I know there's plenty of time for him to start doing that but he's been great so far *knock on wood*.

She liked the sling but he hates it. He prefers the pack carrier.

She would stay really still in the sink for her baths. He splashes me, stretches out and bonks his head on the other side, and sticks his legs up onto the counter.

He tolerates tummy time a little better. She would usually be screaming hysterically within the first minute. He doesn't dislike it but starts to cry once he gets bored.

She used to pee on the changing table several times a week. He hardly ever pees while I'm changing him, but when he does it's a lot more dramatic!

They have similarities too, falling asleep in the car seat, staring at the cats, and liking bath time. I guess we'll see if they get more alike or less as he gets older!

Consignment Sale!

The consignement sale was this weekend. I actually helped out for a little while this year. Apparently they open on Friday night for a couple hours. I'm not sure if it's open to the nursery school parents or the vendors or what but it wasn't advertised as being open to the public.

I worked Friday night just re-organizing the tables in the toy room as people bought stuff. I didn't see anything we needed there except for a couple books. When I was up in the infant room I'd seen a car with a push handle on the back like Luke's next door. I went back Saturday morning and bought the books but as I was driving up I saw someone pushing a kid around the parking lot in the car. That's what I get for falling back to sleep for a half hour.

I found some clothes for each of them too. A couple 18 month summer outfits to fill out Kaida's wardrobe and a few 24 month and 2T things. I already have some of the bigger summer stuff for her and I don't think she'll be in 2T for very long while it's still warm out.
For Colin I just bought some neutral shorts and pants. Oh, and a really cute sweater. He has a whole bunch of summer clothes in 3, 6, and 9 month sizes. I was really on top of it last year plus he was gifted a lot too!
At the fall sale I'll need to buy a bunch of 12 month stuff for him since I wasn't very successful at the end of winter clearance sales for him.

Overall, though, I would say it was a success.

Cute Things My Babies Do

When I change his diaper he kicks his leg over and over. It's usually just his right leg but sometimes the left leg gets in there on the action. It's like he's marching to a beat only he can hear.

When he nurses he's started kneading me. But the first time he did it he was just grabbing one of my fat rolls. It was pretty funny.
When he starts on the second side he often smashes his face into my boob over and over again like he can't find the nipple even though it ends up in his mouth on 3 out of 5 smashes.

When I kiss his cheeks he looks surprised for a couple seconds and then he smiles. Sometimes he grunts too so it sounds like a little laugh.

Yesterday I had him sitting up in the corner of the couch while I went to the dining room. Then I heard Kaida saying "Hi! Hi!" so I went to check on them. She was sitting on the couch next to him holding his hand and saying hi to him. It was adorable. But, of course, when I got the camera out she jumped up to ham for the camera.

She has started picking up words so fast it's a little scary. Today she learned doctor and teacher before nap time. The other day it was heart and all-righty by breakfast time.
Yesterday I told JR that in two weeks she's going to come up to us and say "Mama, Dada, do you remember the day you brought Colin home? I threw up that morning." Or something equally surprising.
Because she remembers things too. Mom was here this weekend with Aunt B. and when Mom came out of the shower Kaida went over to the stairs 'cause she remembered that she would go upstairs with her after her shower 7 weeks ago.

Yesterday we went out to play for a little while. We talked to Lois from next door for a little bit and then we walked to Lucas' house next door/around the corner where she played with all of his toys. He can't walk or talk yet or I'm sure he would have had a little more to say about her hostile takeover.

Colin went to the Doctor last week for his 1 month check up. He weighed 10 pounds 1.5 ounces and was 22.5 inches long. He seems to be around the 50th percentile for everything, which makes sense 'cause he looks like a normal chubby baby.

When Dr. Kovatch came in I mentioned how I got to leave "The Screamer" at home this time. He definitely remembered her and was visibly relieved that she wasn't there. He thinks it's her age and when she gets closer to two she'll be a little better about it. Here's hoping!
As we talked he compared the two of them a couple times, like the color of their hair and stuff like that. I guess it's good, in a sense, to have a child who behaves horribly, 'cause we're definitely memorable now.
I mentioned his dry skin and the Dr. thinks it's just because it's winter. He suggested Eucerin and then remembered that he had some samples (he loves to give us samples), so he brought an entire box of tiny tubes of lotion. He's so nice, and quirky. The hygienist who recommended him to begin with is right, Mr. Rogers on speed.


As for me the last couple weeks have been a little rough. On the Edinburgh Post Partum Depression scale I keep scoring at the low end of the range where I should seek further treatment.
The Baby Blue Prints nurse called and after she asked me the questions she said it's hard to discern between sleep deprivation and depression.
While we were still at the hospital someone came by to ask if I would be willing to have someone contact me for a research study on Post Partum Depression. I said yes and so someone from the study called and after the questions she said that my score was just high enough that they would come conduct a home visit. So she came a week later and asked me a lot more questions. But my score was low enough that they wouldn't ask me to be in the treatment part of the study. She suggested exercise, putting Kaida in daycare, and psychotherapy.
Then I took it again at the pediatrician. Dr. Kovatch noticed it was high but he didn't seem worried. He said "It'll get better."

Some days I feel fine. And it's usually for several days in a row. Then I'll have a day or two where I feel overwhelmed, unmotivated, or sad. And it really doesn't take much to make me cry. It's kind of like how I feel the week or two after the baby is born except I don't seem to swing from high to low as quickly or drastically and I don't have the anxiety I had after Kaida was born.
I thought maybe it was related to how much sleep I get but I can get lots (in relative terms) of sleep at night and have a bad day the next day. So it's not a direct correlation. But I'm definitely not getting as much sleep as I did after Kaida was born.
So far it seems better when I'm around people. Not random people, like at the store, but people I know.
I'll talk to the midwife at my appointment this week but I don't think I expect anything different from what I've already been told.

We went to birthday party for the store Mother's Boutique and a photographer was there to take some pictures. This is a cute one of Kaida and Colin together.

It's a learning experience.

In my 5 weeks as a mother of two I've learned a few things.

Like, no matter who I'm talking to, when I tell them that Kaida and Colin are 17 months apart they tell me about their sister, daughter, niece, neighbor, cousin, or best friend whose children are also 17 months (+ or - a month) apart. It's kind of like they're saying "Hey! I know someone who is just as crazy as you are!"

Also, it's never too early to start dinner. If you think, "Hmm, seems like everything is calm for the moment", you should start dinner. Because when it's time to actually start dinner there will be two diapers to change, a baby that needs to nurse, some sort of incident involving a snack cup or juice, and/or a complete metldown/screaming fit.

And, finally, that going to the grocery store all by yourself (which used to be my most despised chore) isn't all that bad. In fact it's sort of enjoyable. And fast!