I don't quite know how I have the energy to write this right now, but here goes nothing. Today was such hectic day. I thought Thursday had plans of total relaxation for me and my sweet lover bug, but the universe had other plans for us. Justin got off work extremely early, due to the high volume of soldiers in processing at his installation. Apparently all the NCO's that were in processing got pushed back a couple days. This allowed for them to get the Joe's all squared away first. Justin had no complaints about that, and I don't either. It's kind of nice knowing that his impending field time is being delayed a bit. Any who, so with my husband getting off so early, we decided it was time to go car shopping.

I had researched a few car dealerships that I liked, and we came across this 2001 Hyundai Elantra that I Thought would be perfect for Justin to commute to work. Turns out I was right, because after test driving it and inspecting the car, Justin was sold. I am pretty proud of my negotiating skills. I was able to talk the car down to a very decent price. That price included the minor repairs that needed to be done to the car, and tax, title, and registration. Definitely money well spent on our part. I don't think there are too many things we hate more than car payments, so I'm glad this car is paid in full and set to go. The carfax we viewed couldn't have been any better. This vehicle only had one owner, and nine services. No accidents, or anything like that either. The entire car purchase process took about three hours, and we went to a dealership about an hour away from home. The car sales men who sold us the vehicle mentioned that Washington state has over sixty six percent of  car sales in that area. Clearly they are doing something right in Everett and Lynnwood!

Today was also the day I switched all of Ava bug's clothes over to nine months. It was actually kind of emotional for me. I have a true to size baby who will be nine months old on Monday, and I just don't know where the time is running off to. I'm having frequent flashbacks of my little newborn in her newborn clothes. It feels fresh, as if it were yesterday. We also scheduled some Valentine day pictures for bug and her daddy. Apparently Ava is only allowed to have one Valentine! I can't wait to see how their photos turn out. Bug is wearing a red tutu, with a be mine onesie. This is the first time she'll have had a studio session before, so I'm hoping all goes well.

Last night I also decided to try my first batch of organic prefolds and a certified organic workhorse diaper. I'm very excited about using my favorite type of cloth with Ava. Since we will be at home a lot of the time, I can utilize my covers again! I can't wait. I love Karen from Green Mountain Diapers. a family that built a company due to their love of cloth. Cloth diapering isn't some cool trend or fad for our family. It's not solely about savings, or trying to appear more natural or green. We cloth because we truly believe it's a better diapering system for Ava, and we love that it's helping our world stay a bit more green. I am constantly reminded of that when I purchase or receive cloth essentials from small companies.

Whoo! This was longer than I expected. I'm off all! Tomorrow is love day with my sweet man, and I've got a lot to do between now and then! If you know a Veteran, make sure to give em a smooch for Valentine's day!

  ♥- Leilani

Cloth and Breast

A lot of changes are being made in our home this month and I couldn't be more thrilled. For starters, cloth diapers. YES we are still cloth diapering Ava. We will continue to cloth diaper her until she is set for potty training. Ava just recently outgrew her newborn stash of prefolds. Justin is so excited because this means she finally fits into ALL of her pocket diapers we purchased for her! (He now favors them over any other diaper) I tried a birth to potty training diaper on Miss A and her bum looks so stinkin' cute in them. We have decided to continue to utilize the newborn prefolds by using a different fold method:

tri-folding the prefold and inserting it into a diaper cover. The neat thing about diaper covers are that they have a designated flap on the front of the diaper were you can tuck the prefold in. Just ensuring that any waste is being kept inside the diaper. Once Ava outgrows the absorbency we will retire the newborn stash and use them with baby # 2. So far everything with cloth diapering continues to be a breeze, even on the go. In fact, my husband changed our daughter while on the go for the first time yesterday. We ate dinner at the Olive Garden and they indeed have a changing area in the men's restroom. He carted Ava, her infant seat, and our diaper bag into the restroom and had no trouble. Diapering on the go is different anyways, diapering with cloth adds more steps. I was so proud of him for feeling confident about that. A lot of people have asked what my wash routine looks like with my HE washer and dryer, so here it goes:

On a medium light cycle (I wash every other day)

Two tablespoons of rockin' green

Normal cycle

cold wash

Two tablespoons of rockin' green

Normal cycle

hot wash

No soap

rinse and spin

tap water 

Dry on high heat

two cycles to maximize quilts in prefolds

I do not dry inserts, covers, or pocket diaper shells. I continue to hang dry them. 

I'm feeling extremely confident about cloth and continue to spread the word about how much better of a diapering system it is for little ones. A friend of mine mentioned how much money we would have spent by now on disposable diapers, diaper rash cream and formula, I calculated it with just a generic brand of diapers and even then the savings were outrageous! 

Even though we will be using biodegradable disposables for our trip to New York in a couple weeks, I already budgeted that into our diapering costs, and that's for 10 days. I feel better knowing biodegradable diapers won't end up in landfills.

Speaking of breast feeding...

I'm over 6 weeks in and I continue to love all the benefits of sole breastfeeding. I went back and forth with this decision and sadly, my exclusively breastfeeding journey is coming to an end. We are still breastfeeding, but starting SOON I will be pumping and expressing milk into bottles for Miss A. Even with Ava still being so tiny Justin wants to be able to have that bonding time that feedings present. I feel like that's fair. I know having a bottle will be a little easier than nursing all the time. I'm also going to start up a freezer stash! We decided not to invest in a bottle warmer. They are so unnecessary if you are patient. I'm going to defrost by allowing the sealed milk to soak in lukewarm water. That's the plan for now anyway. 

I love how financially aware parenting has made Justin and I. We are firm believers that there never needs to be a penny of wasted money. I've noticed a lot of new parents invest in items that really aren't needed or used. I've lost the whole, "but, it's cute" factor while out and about. Rather than splurging on something sweet that will last Ava a couple months, I'm investing that money into her college savings.  

This whole, "investments paying you back" ordeal has taken a huge toll on us. 

Also, I was nervous to share. Going back and forth with mixed feelings about publicly breastfeeding with my husband caused me to shy away from being daring with breastfeeding photos. He is slowly but surely coming around more and more. Feeling comfortable with me feeding in public was his challenge. Here is a photo from the Father's day shoot we had! 

Ava started fussing. And I, feeling comfortable as ever, pulled my dress down without cover in tow and fed her. I was so proud of myself this day.

cloth, cloth, cloth !

Can I just say I LOVE cloth diapers. After prepping my pre-folds, covers, and cloth wipes, I realized how easy the washing process really is. When I ordered my orange edge newborn pre-folds ( 100% cotton) from greenmountaindiapers it came with a four step prepping process pamphlet. The pamphlet has all kinds of information about detergents, stains, etc. After the prepping process my pre-folds came out super absorbent and ready to use.

The steps I used were:

1. In a cold wash, use one teaspoon of detergent and wash cotton pre-folds
2. In a hot wash, use one and a half teaspoons of detergent and wash cotton pre-folds
3. Dry cotton pre-folds on the normal setting
4. repeat steps 2 & 3 twice more, remembering to dry in between washes. 

I used rockin green detergent in my HE washer and dryer. Even with the eco friendly system I use, the amount of water was perfect. I immediately started practicing different types of pre-fold techniques and I found a video that helped me tremendously ! She goes over a bunch of different prefold, folds. The newspaper, angel wing, jelly roll, etc. 

My favorite right now is the angel wing fold, apparently great for newborns !

pre-folds do require covers, I just didn't add them in my photos. Also, snappi's are great. I thought I was going to have a difficult time attaching them to the diapers. No problem at all. I'm excited to put my cloth to use. A good friend of mine reminded me of how important cloth really is to me. I will be cloth diapering from Ava's first diaper in the hospital. With the arrival of my daughter will come sponsored reviews on certain pocket diapers, vlogs about a day in the life of cloth diapering a newborn baby, and other little tid bits I pick up along the way !