Its been a while...

Wow! Our life has been pretty busy the last few months and so much has happened! To catch us up:

Samantha showing her friend how to crawl.

We officially are moved into the intern house and have been for a few months now.

Samantha started crawling two days after we moved in!

She finally got over her diarrhea after having it for 6 long weeks!

So as of today Samantha is 9 months and 6 days old!!! Not only is she crawling but she is also pulling herself up on the furniture. She can bend down to pick something off the floor as long as she is supporting herself and she will sometimes walk along the furniture. She loves following me all around the house and loves to see what I am doing! Having her be mobile has been so awesome so far because the whole crying when I leave the room thing has finally ended since she can just go wherever I go!



Crawling and pulling up has also allowed her to reach many other things she couldn't before and since we also have a much larger house there is even more to get into. But we have been training her as you have probably read and she is very good at understanding what we say (although she doesn't always like it!) She now knows "Don't touch" "Don't eat it" "Let go" "no"  and "come here". Eighty percent of the time she obeys right away but occasionally with something she really wants she will give us a little fight, but we always make sure to win so that she doesn't lose.


As I mentioned earlier she finally got over her diarrhea. Pottying was going great for short time there afterwards but as she started getting more efficient at crawling she began cuing to us less. I have heard from other moms who EC that it is pretty common for babies to sort of "pause" when they hit a new major milestone like crawling or walking. Some mom's think that they literally stop caring and others see it from a more logical perspective. They are able to do and see so much more than they used to and just like we will wait until the last minute sometimes to go to the bathroom when we are preoccupied they will as well. The difference is that you and I know our breaking point and can accurately judge so as not to hit the point of no return. But an infant who is learning their body and gaining self control doesn't know that point yet. So I have had to start going off of timing again.

But she was so dang cute sitting like a big girl!

Another issue we have had was what potty I was putting her on. I bought a travel seat that lays inside the adult potty before she was born to use in public. But once she was big enough to use it I liked it so much I started putting her on it at home every time except in the middle of the night when I still use the Baby Bjorn. She was so cute sitting on the big potty like a big girl! And she was good at it too! I became comfortable enough with her on it that I would step away from her to get her diaper together or leave the room for a second which was a big mistake.

 One night I sat her on the potty right as we got home from being out. I left her side to take off my boots only a few feet away. I was talking to her and she was turning around to face me when she misjudged her balance and toppled right onto her forehead with her body collapsing on top of her face. She barely hit the floor before I swooped her up into my arms. My heart was racing and she was SCREAMING! It was the second most scary moment of her life! After a couple of minutes she finally calmed down and we assessed the damage. Just a bump on the forehead and broken capillaries on her little nose. She looked like Rudolph for a couple of days! I felt so bad that I ever got comfortable leaving her. I obviously stopped after that.

 But I also started noticing that she was pretty consistently not pooping on the big toilet and would instead wait until she was in a diaper (which you can imagine how frustrating that is given how far we have come). She would poop in her little potty but not the big one. Then I had a "duh" moment. Her little feet dangle off the big potty so she has no ground to bear down against when she has to poop. Imaging trying to poop sitting on the floor with your legs straight out in front of you. so we started sitting her on the little potty again in the bathroom and voila we've got poop in potty again!!! So maybe her falling off wasn't such a bad thing after all...just kidding!!!!!!



So Chris was laid off in November for the rainy season as expected and money is a little tight, also as expected. And I have been sewing things for Samantha and as gifts and everyone kept telling me I should sell them so I decided to start my own business! I am still working on all the details so currently I only have a facebook page but soon I hope to get my etsy page up and running. It has been so much fun so far deciding the name and creating the design. And I had my first two clients, my mom and a very close friend! But her you got to start somewhere right?! If you are interested please check out my page here and please like it also!

 So due to being so busy the last couple of months I failed to take Samantha's 7 and 8 month pictures. But I was sure to take her 9 month ones so at least I will have 1, 3,6, 9 and 12 month shots for her birthday (which I am so excited about!!) Here are other random pictures from the past months and her 9 month shots. Hope you enjoy!!!

A Christmas Eve nap

I found her sleeping in her crib like this today!

Sad to Leave but Happy to Move!

I am just so excited to announce that we are moving next week! We have been in living in a studio since we got married...well actually I have been living here since a month before we got married; 17 months! We are moving to the intern house where we were both interns. I am so very excited to be close to lots of people again and especially close to some of our best friends! We have been trying to figure out if and where to move to for such a long time so to finally be at this point is super exciting.

When we first found our studio we were so excited! We were just engaged and didn't have much time to find a place. I looked online everyday for something we could afford and close to our community when one day I found it! For $450 a month we were so shocked and it was within waking distance of the neighborhood where most people in our community lived! We called right away and came to look at it.

The lady from the property management group looked at us like we were crazy for wanting to look at such a tiny place. She talked to us like we were going to laugh at the thought of moving in once we actually got to see it. Then she didn't know how to react when I said I loved it!!! And I did. It was perfect to begin our new life as a new couple and eventually family, although we weren't expecting to start so soon. We were so excited about it we didn't even notice the broken screen door or the kitchen faucet that has the tiniest amount of hot water flowing from it. It had character...sort of. So we moved our stuff in and I moved in the month before the wedding.

First Arbuagh Kiss!

I enjoyed making the space ours and preparing it for Chris once he became my husband. There wasn't too much to prepare but I loved laying in bed at night picturing what my near future would like like after we said "I do". A few weeks later on June 11 we came to OUR little haven and became husband and wife then went out to eat India Oven : ) . We soon left for our honeymoon and returned with an extra person unknowingly hiding in my womb.

BFP!!!

I started feeling different and suspected I might be pregnant. Anxiously I waited to take a test and took a few way too soon! Then finally the first day my period should have started the test was positive! I couldn't believe it! Just 2 weeks into our marriage we found out I was pregnant! We began taking weekly belly photos almost immediately...and then forgot after a while.

First Weekly Pregnancy Picture

I remember the air conditioner broke towards the end of my first trimester. Yuck! It took the a whole week to finally replace it. And a week to a nauseous pregnant woman is a long time! Then winter came and my belly grew. I loved when I could start feeling her move inside of me! I spent so much time sitting on our only chair staring at my belly waiting for her to move. We rearranged our furniture and set up the co-sleeper before I was even 20 weeks! My excuse was so that we could get used to the new layout by the time she came but really I just wanted to daydream about when she would be laying in that bed next to me!

Last Pregnancy Shot at home at about 5 months

Winter began to fade and my pregnancy was coming to an end when I got the worst pregnancy rash called PUPPP. Ugh it was horrific. I was already past my due date and all of a sudden this incredibly itchy rash spread over my entire body and was constantly itchy! Scratching became my drug of choice. During the day we tried everything we could think of to get my labor started and to distract me from the itch but at night I would wake to find myself scratching like a madwoman! Chris would hear me and get me out of bed to throw me into the cold shower. Terrible! We would sit there for so long with the freezing water pouring over my body while I sobbed begging God to make it go away. I think that was just as hard as labor!

Sorry its blurry; first time to inspect my daughter

Finally 2 weeks after my due date labor began! I spent my labor walking around our small home back and forth from the bathroom to the kitchen into the main room and then all over again. I was in the bathtub when I broke down and cried to Chris telling him how hard this was. And after 18 hours of labor my beautiful daughter was born on our bed in our tiny home into the hands of my amazing midwife. I will always remember that corner of my bed right next to the door to the bathroom where I met my daughter for the very first time.

First Potty

This is our first home as a family and where many of my daughter's "firsts" have occurred!
Like her first time to get dressed, first laugh, first cry, first bath, first time to potty in the toilet, first time to roll over, first time to sit up, first time to roll off the bed, first time to have a poop explosion, first time to understand "no", first time to eat a food other than breastmilk. For her first 6 months this has been her home!

First Tantrum

So although I am very excited to be moving and to have much more space for our family there is a part of me that is sad to say goodbye to the first place we called home as the Arbaugh Family. I will cherish every single memory that I have of this tiny studio; the good and the bad. And now I am looking forward to our next home and all the memories it will bring.

6 months!

She is half a year old! I can't believe it! 

It looks like my posts have turned into monthly posts...and I am just fine with that. Now that Samantha is getting older I am finding that I don't have as much free time to blog. And like I said when I started, I would rather be spending my time living my life than writing about it. So if I can only do a post once a month that will have to do. 

She has grown so much this month mentally and physically.It is such a neat experience to see her mind trying to understand something and then a couple of days later it clicks! 

She is trying to crawl. I thought she might be crawling by now but not quite. She is getting up on all fours and doing some push up type motions. (It actually kind of looks like she is humping the ground : ) ) She tries reaching her very hardest to get something out of reach but usually ends up pushing her self backwards. However she is getting very efficient at rolling. She can roll in any direction and get where she wants to go. Since we don't have too much room in our house I try to give her time each day outside to practice her rolling/crawling.

Two days ago she started getting on her belly from sitting position! We were in church when she did it (we go to a house church) and it was in the middle of someone talking so I couldn't say anything but I almost jumped out of my seat I was so excited!! And she has done it a couple more times since then. 

She is really talking now! She especially loves to yell as loud as she can when we are in public bathrooms, and she can be so loud! A few times I have come out and Chris told me he could hear her over the busy restaurant or mall! I think she likes the sound of her voice when in echoes. So cute! 

She is still to obey to the word "no". She definitely knows what it means but sometimes she just really doesn't want to let go of some things she really likes. We have had a lot more opportunities this last month to work on training her to obey. We like the saying house proof your child don't childproof your house. So we are teaching her to not touch certain things like cords. But they look so enticing! It is so funny to watch her process the decision to play with them. She will see them within her reach and stare at them. Sometimes she will just look away and find something else to play with. Sometimes she will look and start to reach for them and remember what happens and then pull her hands away without us even saying anything. But sometimes she just wants to touch so bad and she will just go for it. Then we switch and tell her no. She cried for a few seconds then looks at them again before finding something else to play with. She is such a smart girl! Hopefully we will have moved by the time she starts crawling so that I don't have to retrain her on what she can touch and what she can't. 

My poor baby got diarrhea this month. And she still has it. It has been almost 4 weeks now! When she first got it she had a low fever and just didn't seem to be feeling well. I started researching what it could be and the 2 things it could sound like are parasites or Rotavirus. We did a parasite cleanse for a couple of weeks but nothing seemed to happen. If it is Rotavirus there isn't anything we can do since it is a virus. We have been watching her to make she she doesn't become dehydrated and she has been perfectly fine so far. They say that diarrhea from Rotavirus could last up to 6 weeks!! Poor thing! She actually doesn't seem to be affected by it at all. Other than the first week she hasn't been uncomfortable or fussy so as long as everything is going well I don't see any reason to go to the doctor. 

I did read that taking probiotics can help it to go away faster by healing up the intestines when the virus is gone. So I started giving her yogurt last week. And she loves it! She especially loves her spoon! It has been very fun giving her her first foods! Since then we have given her a tiny bite of tomato, chicken, and broccoli. And then this last weekend we went to Apple Hill and I had a pickle. Once she saw it she immediately wanted to chew on it so I let her waiting for the much awaited reaction to a pickle...and I got nothing! She LOVED it! I had a hard time getting any bites in for myself! I am not sure how much of it she consumed herself but she sucked on it until it started making her eyes water and I was at the bottom of it! She went nuts over it like it was a drug! Funny kid! Loves her pickles just like her mom! 

Due to her having diarrhea, EC hasn't been going to great as far as catching goes. It is almost like she has reverted to when she was only a newborn and would have poop farts all the time. Almost every diaper has a smidge of poop on it because she just can't hold it in. It's a bummer but practicing EC has helped her during this process. It has been helping to keep her out of her icky poop diapers. She hates sitting in a soiled diaper especially poopy so she isn't in them for very long preventing a nasty diaper rash. At first she did get a rash but I can only imagine how much worse it would be if she had to sit in it. I think we are on the tail end of the runs because the color is going back to the traditional breastfed yellow. I will be very happy to be back to normal!

This month's photo session shows the difference between the 5 month old Sam and the 6 month old Sam who wants to go go go and figure everything out. She just would not sit still and give me her million dollar smile so I just decided to go with it and take pictures of what she was doing!!

Unless I find some downtime, be back next month!

My baby is 5 months old!

5 days old

Wow! I cannot believe how fast time has gone. She was just a tiny puddle laying on my chest just yesterday and now she is so big sitting up on her own and interested in everything around her! This is the fastest she will ever grow in her life and it makes me sad. It is so hard to remember every detail because one day she is looking and acting completely different!

5 months old!

So this month has been great! It has gone by the fastest! Like I said she is sitting up on her own now. She can grab things that she wants, she found her feet and loves to play with them, and she found her voice again. She was really talkative a while back and then went through a pretty quiet phase. But the past 2 weeks she likes to talk to anyone and everyone. She is very curious about EVERYTHING. She always has her eyes on what Chris and I are doing. It is so fun to watch her learning things. I still think she is teething which means she probably isn't lol. I dont know... sometimes I think I can feel them and then other days I don't anymore. She likes to chew on frozen things anyways so I keep letting her. Today I froze my orange peels and she really loved gnawing on those!

We have been going through sleep training this month. She will be so tired but will fight taking naps or going to bed so we started putting her to bed or nap after nursing and singing to her and then letting her cry until she falls asleep. It has been so hard on me! It is really hard to hear your baby crying like that especially when they start crying harder and harder. But we have to be consistent. The only thing with that is that she isn't consistent. Usually she falls asleep while nursing and all i have to do is lay her down and we are good so I don't have very many opportunities to let her cry it out and learn that she needs to go to sleep. So she is still crying almost every time it happens. This past week however she has been fighting sleep more and more. So we have been having a crying session at least once a day and they are getting shorter each time. Like tonight she cried 5 minutes then fell asleep : )

Another icky part of the napping situation is that we live in a studio so it is hard to keep a quiet house while she is falling asleep which can make it harder since she can hear us talking or moving around. But hopefully we will be moving soon and that will be changing. Part of me wants to make it silent for her but then I think about people before us or the millions now who live in one room homes do it. There is no way they were silent for hours everyday just to let the baby sleep. The baby would just get used to sleeping with noise. And so will Sammy. She can sleep through noise pretty well already; its just the falling asleep when she wants to be involved that's not settling well with her at the moment.

ECing is still going great. I am not sure if I have said this before but it is just part of our life. I don't think about it any more than I think of any of her other needs and we don't spend gobs of time doing it. I think about the same way other parents think about changing their babes. She loves being dry and I love her being dry and so that is what we aim for but sometimes we have misses and we clean her up give her a new diaper and move on. Easy Peasy!

Actually I have noticed this past month that we are getting better at our catch rate. We only have a 1 or 2 misses on an average day and have been dry most nights since coming back from kids camp! I am at the point where I need to wash our diapers because they can't sit that long without being washed not because I am running out. This last time our stash of diapers lasted us 2 and 1/2 weeks and we had a couple extra misses due to traveling mishaps. Those diapers really needed to be washed at that point!!!

I really want to become more dependent on training pants instead of diapers but i only have 4 and for some reason Sammy really likes to pee in them. It may just be coincidence but she pees in them pretty quickly after I put them on and since i have 4 I usually do diapers after that. So I am hoping to find some time to make some homemade ones so that she can get used to them. They are so stinking cute in her little bum!!!

Chris' new job required us to go to the bay area last week which was awesome!!! Our first mini trip as a family. We stayed in a hotel within walking distance to the ocean! Woo hoo! Saw a beautiful sunset and got to find some neat geocaches.

Oh and not sure if I ever followed up with my back wrapping issue but we finally figured it out. Just needed a good wrap! A very kind lady from the Sacramento Baby Wearers group is letting me borrow one of hers until I can buy one of my own and once I had that I got it down. We have been LOVING the back wrap since!

Here are the 5 month shots...so cute!

Baby Training

This can be a pretty controversial topic but I am now a firm believer in training our children from infancy. We started Ecing our daughter from birth. Whenever I noticed her peeing or pooping I would say "psst" to get her to associate the word with the action. At 5 days old we started placing her on her potty and saying "psst" to tell her to go potty and she went for the very first time at our command. At the time it could have just been timing or coincidence but as time went on she learned the association of "psst" and time to go potty. Now it is very evident that it isn't just about timing and it definitely isn't coincidence but rather we have trained her to go potty at our command. Obviously if you have ever read my blog before we don't catch everything yet but she is still trained according to many. (There is a debate among some circles about what potty trained actually means, ex. one is trained when they have zero accidents anymore or when one has an understanding of when and where to potty and occasionally may have accidents. I tend to lean more toward the allowance for accidents since most pregnant women have had an accident before and no one would say they are no longer potty trained) Now some people still find my family very odd for "potty training" my daughter so early. And there sure are a lot of critics of EC out there, but let me assure you my daughter is trained to a pretty far extent.

Now if you understand that she is potty trained-ish, then you should understand that any baby can be trained for other things as well. One of my favorite parenting websites/ministry is No greater Joy. Please visit their website or even better read their books To Train up a child and No Greater Joy Volumes 1,2,&3 for more information on what I am talking about in a broader sense. But for now, this is what has been going on with training my daughter.

I really dislike getting my hair pulled as I am sure most would agree. And little baby hands are notorious for hair pulling or getting at your jewelry or eyeglasses. And I just really don't want to have to always wear my hair up, never wear jewelry, or be forced to start wearing contacts again. So I wanted to train my daughter to not touch those things on me or anyone else. I started maybe around 2 months or so. She was able to hold her head up and her arms were starting to squirm around much more and would grab anything they came in contact with including hair. Developmentally she didn't know what she was grabbing and I don't think was able to distinguish between hair or anything else she would grab so I didn't want to just say "no" to her grabbing and prevent her from grabbing at everything. So at first we began teaching her to let go. When she would grab hair or any other undesirable thing we would say "let go" two times while tapping her hand  and then I would flick her hands until she let go. When she did I would smile and say "good girl!!!" which is also what I usually say when she potties in the toilet.

There weren't too many opportunities at first to train her but as she has gotten older more and more have arisen. Especially this last month. Her motor skills have improved drastically. At first she started reaching in the general direction for something she wanted to touch hoping to be able to grab it. Now she is getting pretty skilled at grabbing exactly what she wants. This whole time I have been training her to let go and this last couple of weeks she has shown HUGE improvement. She understands me now. It usually takes me 2 times saying "let go" and tapping her hand for her to let go. Occasionally I have to still flick her hand but she is definitely understanding what I am telling her. It is so neat to watch her little mind growing!

So now that she is able to grab at what she wants, we are starting to train her to not touch specific things. And now we are using the word "no". I usually give a flick the first time she touches anything because I want to quickly associate the word no with that object and then after she understands "no" I will just tell her once and if she continues to touch or touches again I will flick her hand until she stops touching. Since she already understands to let go when getting flicked it doesn't take her long to let go of something but if she still wants it she will keep grabbing at it a few more times. But has eventually always stopped. Its amazing! Once we can get her to understand the meaning of "no" our life will become much easier with an older baby! So stay tuned to hear more results!!!


 In regards to getting back on track with EC...

So big! She is starting to sit on her potty on her own!

Yesterday went GREAT! I caught every pee overnight which is the very first time!!! Very exciting!!! Part of it was me waking up obviously but another was she was holding longer waiting for me to wake up because I knew I was getting up right away. And then during the day we only had 2 very small misses. One was in the morning after she woke up. She usually has a couple of small pees after she wakes up and it can be hard to catch them all when they are close together. I missed while I was taking a shower. The other one was when I was out shopping. She fell asleep in my wrap and then we went to my mom's house where I didn't pee her right away and since it had been a while she just couldn't hold it. But only 2 misses all day and night is an awesome record!!!!

Last night wasn't too great... we only missed 2 but I like not missing any : ) And this morning has been all catches except for one when she was playing on her belly.

Daddy is home!!!

Our Family bed is complete again. He was so sleepy!

I woke up Tuesday morning and had a quick thought wondering if Chris would ever just come home one day and surprise me. Nothing made me think that; I just did. Then later that afternoon he text me saying that he was busy right then but would call me later. I was planning on going to a community group that night at 6 so I was hoping we wouldn't call then so I asked him when. He said he probably wasn't going to work that night and would prob call around 8-9. I thought that was a little odd since he had worked 2 weeks straight with no time off but then again maybe they were giving him time to rest or something. But because I had the thought of him coming him everything he said made me suspicious! So then I asked him what he was doing and he said he was driving. They were sending him all over the place for Union stuff. I reasoned in my mind that that could be true because he had been having some issues with the union earlier that week where he did in fact have to drive all over. But my heart was still hoping. I went to community group and was hanging out with everyone when he asked me when the group would be over. It hadn't even really started yet. Then he sent me a picture of inside our house with a glass of wine and our white lights lit. I immediately knew he was home and I announced to everyone that I had to leave because my husband was home. They were all excited for me and helped me get all Sammy's stuff in the car to rush home to my beloved husband who was waiting for me with M&M's!

She nestled into his armpit and fell asleep. She missed her Daddy!

Needless to say I was very excited and we both cried a lot that night! So I  have my Baby Love home with me at last!

Since he has been home EC has not been going so great haha! I have been a little preoccupied with spending time with Chris that we have just not been paying attention to the potty cues. Oops...sorry Baby Girl! So we ran out of cloth diapers really fast this last week which means yesterday and today she has been in disposables : ( Which by the way are horrible for trying to catch! They have made our catch ratio plummet!  We are probably catching about 20% these last couple of days!! But today is laundry day and I think our family is back on course so this week should get better.

I do have a funny story to tell about parenting. We saw a little boy this week that a family member was baby sitting who was 10 months old. He crawled into the bathroom and when he was pulled out he cried. Not a long cry which he dried up pretty quickly when he saw there were people he didn't know in the room. A comment was made and everyone started "aww" ing to him and he started crying again which was even funnier to everyone else not realizing they were why he was crying. But not because he had been offended; he couldn't even understand what was said. He was crying because he was getting attention for doing so. So after he stopped and was happy again I said, "Watch this" and for absolutely no reason I looked at him and began saying with a sympathetic face, "Aw, poor baby. That is so sad poor baby..." and immediately he started bawling again right on cue. Sometimes I don't think people realize how much children's emotions aren't true emotions but just a reaction to the emotion that is being given to them. Like a hurt child for instance will scream uncontrollably when people are around and especially if they are focusing on their "pain". But when no one is there or even just paying attention, they usually might cry for a second then keep playing. Unless they know someone is nearby who will give them the show they want. Just an interesting observation. Try it at home... for fun of course. Wouldn't want to make it a habit ; )


On another note... I finally made Sammy's 4 month onesie and took pictures today! It a little over a week overdue but better now than never! She is currently 29 inches long and 16.8 pounds! Thanks to Granny for the adorable new flower headbands and tutu!!! Enjoy!

Trying to get back in the groove

Since we have been home we have been having quite a few misses. I went to my mom's Sunday and stayed the night and then came home late last night. We had lots of misses over night there. I think I was just absolutely exhausted and was having a really hard time waking up. I am still trying to catch up on sleep but Sammy still isn't sleeping as much as she used to at night. She has gotten a little better; waking up about every 3 hours. But oh how I miss that good 6 hour stretch.

Her bottom gums are starting to get a little swollen and mushier. Not sure what that means but she has been incredibly fussy today! It could be that she has gotten used to being held all day long from last week or she is teething. Not sure which or if its both but little bit is throwing icky tantrums left and right. It has been a pretty hard day today to say the least. Thankfully she finally settled down and I nursed her to sleep for her afternoon nap.

Hmmm, now that I think about it I  have heard other EC moms say that they start having more misses when teeth are coming in. i wonder if that could be why. I have also heard that some babies don't like laying down when they are teething... maybe! We shall see.

So that's my day, how is yours?

Kids Camp

***WARNING THIS IS A WEEKS WORTH OF POSTS SO IT IS PRETTY LONG...SORRY!***

Monday

Just Lounging around while I set up our cabin

So I made it through my first week with my husband being out of town. Each day got a little easier to handle being away from him but it was still a very hard week for me. Preparing and now being at Kid's camp has really helped though because there is just so much to do. Sad thing is that I don't have cell phone service here so I can't talk to him on the phone but hopefully I will get set up on the internet soon so I will be able to chat with him. (I am typing this offline right now in case there is confusion!)

This is my first trip anywhere with little Sammy Jean and especially my first time without Chris on a trip! So I can tell I have some things to learn but so far I am managing just fine. Thought I would share with you all about not only my trip but also ECing with Sammy at camp.

So yesterday we left and it was only a 2 hour drive I think but we had to stop twice. Once to get snacks where I found a wet diaper and refusal to potty more and the other to eat, nurse, and potty. She was wet then too but I didn't try to potty her until right before we left so she was probably dry when we got there. Then when we got to camp it was a little chaotic trying to get our room key and moving everything in while also trying to potty and feed her. I am helping with the snack shop so we also had to set that up as well.

Diaper Stash

 Thankfully I brought the wrap I am borrowing because Holy Moly doing this without it wouldn't be very fun! I just wrap her around me and go! I did however need to figure out  our diaper bag/backpack situation. I originally was planning on using my small Camelbak back pack with a couple of diapers wipes and nursing cover in it. But even those couple of things with the Water bladder just didn't fit well. Anytime I needed something I had to basically take everything out. But I also brought my normal size backpack as well that has a place for the water bladder. It carries much more so I don't have to try to stuff everything. It even fits my wrap so I don't have to carry it when I am not using it.

I brought all of our diapers down and I would have brought our large wet bag except that right before we left I noticed that the water proof layer inside is all torn up making it pointless as a waterproof bag. I am pretty sure I dried it too much. Now I know! So I just brought a couple of garbage bags to use as wet bags for now. I also brought a package of disposables… I know, I know shocking! But they are Whole Foods brand so one of the safest and I really didn't want to be stranded in case the cloth diapers just don't work out. I am not planning on using them unless I absolutely have to.

 So there are two locations that we are having the snack bar so I can sort of set up camp at the one indoors and will just have to transfer stuff to the other one when needed. I brought a stack of diapers inside so that I don't have to keep carrying so many around with me in the backpack. I only carry 4-5 with me. And I will just collect the dirty ones at the end of the day and bring them back to the cabin. Oh I also brought Ziploc bags to put wet or dirty diapers in during transport to the cabin.  So this is my plan so far and we might have to tweak some things as we go but so far it seems to be working.

Can't forget the potty!

Last night went great. I wasn't worried about her not being able to sleep because she will pretty much sleep anywhere we go. I really like that I have a take-a-long baby! She woke me up twice and was already wet but the other 2 times I caught before she peed! Although one of them was odd. I woke up and undressed her to pee and then put her on the potty. While she was peeing I noticed there was a wet spot next to the potty. I know I didn't spill because it was 5:30 am and I was pretty awake at that point with the sun already up. So I thought maybe she leaked but neither her diaper or her pajamas were wet. So I thought maybe she peed on her way to the potty but then I smelled the spot and it didn't even smell like pee. So I have no idea where it came from or what it was. Maybe it was spit up...Idk it was weird but I didn't care enough to investigate more so back to sleep we went!

Today has been much better than yesterday so far. I feel really sleepy though from the last two nights of going to bed late and waking up early. I might try to nap when I finish this, which is what Sammy is doing right now before campers come. Back to pottying...she has been dry all day I think...yeah I can't think of a wet diaper and I don't have any in the wet bag except for one that I actually peed her on when we went to Walmart. We were in the car and I didn't want to go all the way back into the store so I just pulled out a clean diaper and held her over it so she could pee. Kind of sucks doing that since now I have a wet diaper to wash but at least I caught it and she isn't sitting in it. I think there is a poop coming soon. She had a blow out 2 days ago and pooped a little yesterday morning so it might be time for one. All last night and this morning she has had lots of gas and every once and a while some poop farts but still no deployment so I am really trying to watch for cues and give plenty of opportunities because I really don't want to miss here at camp where I have no bath to wash her in if she ends up blowing out!

 Tuesday

 

Found a girl with this shirt! I love it!!!

Last night went great in the pottying realm! Only missed one pee which I missed almost deliberately. I think she is going through ANOTHER growth spurt because she was nursing all night long! She woke up at least every two hours and it was just wearing me out. So at one of the wake ups I just nursed her instead of also pottying her and the next time she woke up she was soaked! So needless to say I am pretty sleepy today.

Yesterday evening was pretty hard on baby girl. We had just done so much and she only got a good 1 1/2 hour nap which isn't very long. So by 7:30 she was just done. That was unfortunately also during the evening program session at camp where they are worshiping and playing team games and a speaker and prayer. One of the best parts. But another issue is that is was just so stinking loud!!! Way too loud for her to be inside anyways so we just had to call it a quits and go back to our cabin. I laid her down and she fell asleep immediately, poor thing!

Our outfits matched everyday.

Today has been great so far. She still kept having stinky farts all morning so I knew it was coming. Kept trying to potty and nothing was happening until right after breakfast when I took her there was a tiny bit of poop when I wiped so I went to red alert! We left to go back to town to restock on snack shack supplies and at our first stop I pottyed her and she pooped… A LOT! I didn't go inside so I had to let her go on a clean pre-fold again but it was still way better than an explosive diaper situation!!! Now it is nap time again and I am hoping she gets a much better nap despite the lawn care going on all around us!

All Blue Day!

Later on… So EC wise we have had an awesome day! I think we actually only missed once! I have accomplished this a couple of times at home and even on the 4th like I mentioned in a previous post but I wasn't expecting to do so well at camp. And the thing is that I am not even really being super aware! I mean I am almost constantly running back and forth all day and she is just being so good at not only cuing but also holding it. I can tell we have been at her maximum holding capacity a couple of times because she pees before I even say "psst". I just barely hold her over the toilet and she is ready to go. She is so smart! ECing her really has made this trip so much easier! Except for the occasional miss I don’t even really use the diaper bag for its intended purpose. I mostly use it to carry my water, nursing cover, and wrap.

Squeezed in some diaper free time!

On the other hand she is still wanting to eat very frequently when we get back to the cabin. Almost constantly. And we had to make another car ride to town and she cried in the car the whole time until we were on our way back when she finally fell asleep! So I am going to opt out of the car rides to town from now on. I am hoping to get to go on a hike tomorrow or at least go swimming with baby girl but we shall see. I am exhausted and hoping she sleeps more tonight with out her marathon nursing sessions. We shall see!

Wednesday

 

So early!

"And Daddy loves me"

Sooooooo sleepy!!! She fed every hour and a half last night! Definitely going through growth spurt. I can tell she has grown just by looking at her! Why is she growing so fast!!! My theory is that she is seeing all the big kids running around so she wants to grow up fast so she can play with them!

Still going great EC wise. Missed only once all day and once last night. 

So Big!

Thursday

 

Last night was a little better. She woke up every 2- 2 1/2 hours. I am still exhausted though. Trying to keep up with all the campers and their schedule but I have just been lagging. We did get to stay up a bit later last night which was cool so I got to actually hear the speaker before we went to bed. They were having smores last night and I was really trying to hold out for that but baby girl fell asleep in my arms and then woke up at the end of the speaking with red eyes. So I took her back to go to sleep.

This morning has been a little rough for her. I think she is teething still. She is grabbing my knuckle and rubbing along her gums all day. Unfortunately thought that just doesn't seem to do the trick! So she has been pretty fussy this morning. We took an early nap and missed the bulk of the water Olympics : ( And now she is taking her afternoon nap while the kids are starting to swim. Hoping to be able to help out at the snack bar some time today!!! Over all this has still been a very good trip and has definitely helped to keep my mind busy from thinking about how much I miss Chris!!!

All Pink Day! (Forgot to take pictures the other days)

Saturday

We are home now. Actually we got back yesterday. Baby Girl slept a little better Thursday night but I was definitely ready to go home! The car trip home was pretty good. She cried for a good half hour straight but it was totally a fit so I dealt with that and then she calmed down and eventually fell asleep. 

It was hard coming home to an empty house. I cried a lot again last night but then the Lord was so good to me. I started asking for joy even though I was really sad and he provided. I still really miss my husband but today I feel much better! And I am pretty sure Sammy is glad to be home as well! 

So over all we had a great week! It was a lot of fun and Sammy got to interact with lots of kiddos! I hope to go again next year when Sam is a year older and can do more! And ECwise it was a great week! And I still have a good stash of diapers left for a day or two until I do laundry! Woo hoo!