Catching up...

We know we haven't been very timely in our posts, and the point of this blog was to keep everyone updated...I keep hearing that Tyler's feeding times will space out. So far, he's still eating every 2 hours during the day, although some afternoons/evenings, he wants to eat every hour. But it's worth it, since most nights he lets me sleep for a solid 6 hours.

People often ask me the following three questions: How is it going, bringing him to work? How's Vader adapting to the new arrival? And finally, how do we like the cloth diapers???

Bringing Tyler to work is still going great. We feel so blessed to have had this opportunity. It's a combination of the right job, and the right child. My co-workers have been very generous in their willingness to help out, including evacuating him during a fire drill, taking care of him while I've coordinated care during medical emergencies, and taking care of him while I confronted a "blackwater" situation (not the Haliburton type.) I will say, it takes absolutely every ounce of my energy to make it through the day, and by Saturday, all I want to do is sleep in, yet Tyler's still on the weekday schedule. Lately, Tyson's been working Saturdays, so it's been especially hard to get the cleaning done.

As for Vader, he never did like being the only dog in the household. For most of his life, he's had another dog living with him. When Dusty died in January, Vader was the saddest dog I've ever seen. Now, although he's as neurotic as ever, he does seem much happier, and is very eagerly awaiting the day Tyler will be old enough to be his playmate. (Heh heh heh, little does he know...) Vader checks on him first thing in the morning, when I first get home from work, and any time he cries.He loves to lick his arms and legs, and sniffs his ears and hair. So far, Tyler's mostly avoided eye contact with Vader, but just yesterday reached out to pet Vader and smile at him for the first time.

Vader was my lesson that "tabula rasa" is a fallacy. I now willingly accept that no matter what my intentions may be, reality doesn't always match up. And so, we arrive at sleeping arrangements.

Here is the beautiful crib we bought for Tyler, which Tyson put together in January:

And here is where Tyler really sleeps:

Yup, he's sleeping in a pack-n-play.

And here's Vader's cozy bed, donated by our wonderful friend Melanie:

And here's where Vader really sleeps:

That's right, he sleeps partially under the pack-n-play. And now that Tyler's too big to sleep in the bassinet portion of the pack-n-play, well, they're basically sleeping right next to each other, on the same level, with only a thin piece of mesh and vinyl between them.

The time is quickly coming for us to move Tyler into his own room for the night. We're warming him up to it by having him nap in his crib in the evenings. I guess we'll probably let Vader make his own decision about where to sleep. I wonder which room he'll choose?

And finally, cloth diapers. We love them. We use the BumGenius 3.0 One Size. They're adjustable, so right now Tyler's wearing them on the middle size. They look very similar to regular plastic diapers, except they're bulky and colorful. We used disposable diapers the week that we were in Virginia and were disappointed by how much they leaked compared to the cloth.We also have only had diaper rash once, so it's good in that department. We do have to wash them every other day, sometimes every day. Fortunately, our washing machine is very conveniently located, and line drying in the desert sun is quick, and bleaches out all the stains. As for stuffing the clean diapers, well, that's good mindless work to do while watching some television.

If someone were to ask my opinion, I'd highly recommend cloth diapering, for environmental, financial, and health reasons. But I'd say don't bother buying newborn size cloth diapers - we didn't use them for the first week because we didn't want the umbilical stump to stain the diapers, and then we couldn't use them for the second week, when we had to put vaseline on Tyler's circumcision site. By the time that healed, he was almost too big for them. Plus, plenty of people bought us newborn disposable diapers for our baby shower. So if I were to do it over again, I just would have used disposable diapers for the first couple of weeks, until he weighed 10lbs, then I'd have started using the One Size cloth diapers. 

And that's my two cents on diapering.