One of my favorite parts of the upcoming holiday season is sending out Christmas cards. My list grows bigger each year since we keep on moving, and I keep on reconnecting with old friends on Facebook. I actually really love picking out cards, sometimes writing up a letter, and stuffing and mailing all of the cards. It’s a tradition my mom always took seriously, and somehow it has stuck.

This year I feel obligated to include a photo for the first time in a long time because we have something gorgeous and brag-worthy to show off. Need I remind you?

From Daily Daguerreotype

So I’m planning on putting together photo cards at Shutterfly. I’ve already convinced Matt that we need to get our Christmas tree as soon as we get home from Thanksgiving in NH so that we can decorate it and pose for a Christmas family photo shoot. Meanwhile I need to determine just which card I want to use.

I’m also going to make my Christmas shopping a bit easier this year by using my cute daughter’s smile to personalize a few gifts. Who wouldn’t be a sucker for Penelope smiling back at them from their cup of coffee?

My fingers are itching for that first cold night in December when I get to snuggle up on the couch in front of the fire with a cup of cocoa and start addressing envelopes. And then the fun of checking the mail those weeks before Christmas to find cards from my friends and family that wind up decking out one of our doors each year. I am jubilant just thinking about it!

* Many thanks to Sarah for tipping me off to Shutterfly’s Holiday Card blog promotion!

But I’m not sure what I would say.

I don’t know if this is the four month growth spurt or just something that happens when a kid turns four months old and suddenly they’re all “You can’t force me to sleep, Milk Lady!” We are just in a stage where my daughter is getting more complex and harder to read. And I feel like I haven’t slept in weeks.

My darling turtle who used to sleep through the night and take a few solid naps during the day despite the fact she was the salty sea captain of the Crappy Napper, has been waking up many many many many times nightly out of hunger. And angst. And playfulness. And now she is taking nearly as long to go down for her naps as they wind up being in length. I am trying to switch things up to make it easier on her, while still keeping some semblance of the routine she’s used to. We’re trying to bump back her bedtime to make her more tired during the day. We’re trying to bond her with her snuggly wuggly lion in hopes that he can calm her down, or at least entertain her in her crib. And sometimes I just give up altogether, throw her in the Ergo and take a fourty-five minute walk so that she’ll sleep all the while considering that a mighty fine nap and a good way to eventually fit into my favorite pair of jeans.

I feel like I have the mental strength to tackle these new challenges, but what is really puzzling me is the lack of energy I suddenly have. It’s taken four months, but my body is finally back to normal – in the sense that I no longer ache along my incision, I have regained feeling in my stomach, and all those ligaments that moved around during pregnancy seem to have gone back to their normal places. I am working out more than ever before, but am not getting all the energy I’m supposed to with that. I think my exhaustion is a combination of saying goodbye to those marvellous pregnancy hormones that make each new mom into a veritable Superman, and the lack of sleep that is finally catching up with me.

Sleep.

And so I’m trying to slow down on the booking of fun things and amp up my time at home with hopes that Penny and I both can get a bit more rest. I’m also trying to just let go and follow her lead during this time of change. It makes sense that she is having trouble sleeping now that she can nearly sit up on her own and wants to constantly be petting the dog or throwing toys on the ground. Life awake has become much more fun. For her and for me.

But how do I survive until the waters calm and we fall back into a new routine? What are your tips, seasoned moms?

Today I turn twenty-eight. I think for a mom’s birthday she should be allowed to put her daughter in her all-time favorite outfit.

From Daily Daguerreotype

Jeans from Target, butterfly shirt from Old Navy, and sweater and hat were handmedowns from her big cousin. Who made those, Big Ma? I love them forever and will never let Penny grow out of them.

All but one of Matt’s appointments cancelled today, so we are having an awesome day together as a family. This seriously rocks.

Too bad Creature made it into the picture.

Today is election day which means there is lots of poo-slingin going on. In lieu of writing a political diatribe, I’m going to instead update you on our experience with cloth diapers.

Penny has been in her BumGenius 3.0s for about three months now, seeing as we started her at three weeks of age. And I can’t say enough great things about them. The biggest misconceptions about cloth diapers are that 1) they will stink to high heaven along with lots of poo handlin’ and 2) All! That! Laundry! I’m here to set those misconceptions straight.

If there’s anything I’m thoroughly impressed with in the cloth diapering realm, it’s just how clean these diapers get in the wash. I am washing them according to the manufacturer’s recommendations using a front-loading washing machine, Charlie’s Soap, and once-a-month bleach treatment. About twice a month, I opt to dry my inserts outside in the sun to bleach out any discoloration that has started to set in. The rest of the time, they go in the dryer. After three months of use, my diapers still look brand new.

There is seriously no smell on the diapers after washing them. None. And then during a diaper change, I can avoid getting poo on my hands just as easily if not more than when using disposables. In fact, Matt loves cloth diapers so much that he finds changing disposable diapers to be really gross. I imagine this is because of how absorbent cloth diapers are. Also a kid in a dirty disposable stinks from a mile away, whereas it’s often hard to tell if Penny has soiled her cloth diaper because of odor and moisture absorbency.

As for the laundry aspect, I admit that I might be biased about this one since I love doing laundry, love my laundry appliances, and love my laundry room. But I really do not find an extra load of laundry every other day to be a big chore. Especially when you get as much of a kick out of cloth diapers as I do. Stuffing and folding Penny’s diapers is fun, nay even therapeutic, after a long day. I can imagine that doing the diaper wash for more than one kid would be disheartening, although if I’m honest with you, I think changing the diapers of more than one kid in and of itself would be disheartening. I do not believe I am called to that particular challenge, Lord willing.

I have become such a lover of cloth diapers that I recently switched over to cloth wipes. It’s really a smarter choice when you’re cloth diapering so that you don’t constantly have to be throwing away half of your dirty items while storing the other half. I wash my wipes in with my diapers and mix up my own solution of baby wash and water to moisten the wipes. I hate the word “moisten.” It takes me about 2 minutes every other day, I can fold them to pop up automatically in my hand-me-down dispenser, and Penny’s butt isn’t slarved with all sorts of unrecognizable chemicals – just baby wash and water.

Which brings me to the best part of cloth diapering… her butt. Seriously, her butt is in mint condition. (My mother-in-law even noticed which made me awfully proud!) She gets the occasional rash because I no longer change her diaper at night (and she can wear a cloth diaper all night without any leaking! That’s the power of BG!) which easily clears up without ointment from spending a day in clean cloth dipes. On occasion we will use Grandma El’s butt cream to clear up rashes even faster, and it doesn’t damage your dipes like most other butt creams do.

I thought I would switch Penny to disposables when we are out on errands, but thanks to marvellous wetbags and very compact BumGenius Flips, I only keep cloth dipes in my diaper bag now. Penny’s babysitter is even willing to do cloth diapers, so I won’t need to stock up on disposables before going out on date night.

If you’re not a believer yet, perhaps this will seal the deal. In the past four months I have spent a total of $50 on diapering items. That includes the disposables she was in up through week 3, one package of disposables when we were traveling in September, and disposable wipes up through last week when I switched to cloth wipes.

Which means, if all goes as planned, I won’t spend another dime on diapers until I pick up some disposables for our cruise in February.

So if you are considering cloth diapers, let me assure you that these are NOT your mama’s diapers anymore!

Last week I got an Ergo in the mail as an early birthday present from my mom. This brings my baby wearing gear up to two ring slings, a Bjorn and and Ergo with glorious intentions of making myself a mei tai. I love having so many options because there really are times when one works better than the other, and I can’t help but love them all.

My oldest sister introduced me to babywearing as she also introduced me to the world of midwifery, doulas, and cloth diapering. I give her all the credit in the world for Penny’s good-lookin, rash-free bum, and for her happiness at being worn regularly (you already know that I adore midwives & doulas). I jumped into babywearing thinking it would be very convenient to have my hands free during the many tasks I take on in the course of a day. But I have come out on the other side seeing just how happy Penny is while being worn.

I read somewhere that babies who are worn spend many hours of the day in “contented calm,” and I really believe that’s true. As long as I have her positioned comfortably in whatever carrier I’m currently wearing, she is happy to watch me load and unload the dishwasher, shop at the grocery store, and change the sheets. She regularly naps for long periods while being worn when I take Berlin out for a walk. And my fear that she would never want to be put down just hasn’t come true. She happily plays in her exersaucer for up to a half an hour at a pop.

One thing that I’ve found interesting is just because a kid likes being worn doesn’t necessarily mean they want to be held all the time. They can definitely tell a difference. Penny is at a stage where she doesn’t want to be passed from person to person all the time – she wants to flop on her back or belly and squirm a bit instead of being restricted. But she almost always enjoys being worn. So when I’m craving some snuggle time, I often get better results by wearing her than by holding her in my arms.

Yesterday we took a nice long hike in the woods, and Matt wore Penny in the Ergo while I walked Berlin on the leash. Or rather, Berlin walked me. After 2 hours of walking approximately five miles, Matt had absolutely no soreness from wearing Pen – a testament to just how comfortable that Ergo really is.

The foliage was stunning.

From Daily Daguerreotype

And our nugget napped for the first hour.

From Daily Daguerreotype

While being “contented calm” the rest of the time.

From Daily Daguerreotype

The whole hike we couldn’t stop talking about how much fun it will be to wear her all around when we go on our family cruise in February!

So babywearers… what are your favorite carriers?

I do a lot of reading to Penny. Sure, I want her to be all smahht and whatnot, but it’s mostly because when you spend 12 hours a day with a four month old, you gots to come up with things to fill in the time.

We were graciously gifted with tons of books from friends and family, so we have a lot to choose from. But Pen and I have been taking trips to the library that I think will become a weekly affair to bulk up the stash. It’s also a great excuse to hang out with the ever-lovely and ever-flamboyant “Mr. Brian” who does children’s story hour, and whom we bumped into at the grocery store the other day. I love my neighborhood.

Here are my favorite kids books so far, in no particular order.

The Hound From The Pound – Auntie Gina and Uncle Adam gave Penny this book and OHMYWORD do I love it!?! Great story, great writing, lovely illustrations. Perfect for the teeny tiny turtle in your life who is growing up with lots of puppy love.

Papa, Do You Love Me? – Auntie Clarissa and Uncle Rob gave Penny this book along with its counterpart, Mama, Do You Love Me? It’s really hard to say which of the two I prefer, although I think I love the Papa version a teeny bit more because of the beautiful African animals illustrated. Both books are filled with interesting cultural references (African and Inuit) and absolutely stunning images. We have one in softcover and the other is a board book, which I adore since Penny will be able to enjoy the sweet stories both gnawing on the cardboard pages and learning to read.

Snuggle Puppy – Aunt Beth and Uncle Brent gave Penny this book with a whole slew of other Boynton board books. They are all pretty comical and enjoyable, but Snuggle Puppy is probably my favorite as it’s set as a song. Matt and I actually came up with pretty similar tunes separately, which was fun to discover. And now we go around singing Snuggle Puppy to Tiny Turtle regularly. It really gets stuck in your head.

Hush! – Matt found this book at a church book sale and bought it for (I think) a dollar. Best dollar spent EVER. Gorgeous illustrations and some really fun animal sounds you get to make. Yes, I’m a sucker for books with animal sounds.

I Had Trouble In Getting To Solla Sollew – Penelope and I picked this up at the library, and were quite interested as we had never heard of this Seuss book. It’s now one of my favorites, although not at all the right age for my daughter quite yet. Like a classic Ben Stiller movie, things get dramatically worse as the story progresses until finally the narrator realizes that the grass isn’t always greener and contentment in one’s current place is important. And of course wonderful, imaginative illustrations and language.

I’m sure there will be another roundup soon. What are your favorite kids books?