Our newest adventure

Being a parent of little Leyton is a daily adventure -some fun and some not so much.  Our newest adventure is in an area that a parent of a 15 month old should have a hold on by now -diapers.  But always one for a challenge, Mommy can't keep things simple and keep using those trusty Huggies forever.  Nope, we are now jumping into the land of cloth diapers.
Allow me to explain (or not, if you could care less about what kind of diapers my kid uses, by all means, skip down to the pictures).  Before LC was born, I thought cloth diapers were a great idea.  Cheaper and better for the environment.  So we gave them a brief and half-hearted, uninformed whirl when she was a few months old.... disaster.   So I hung that up along with many of my other preconceived notions about being a mommy.  But when I found out that a dear friend of mine was successfully cloth diapering her little one, I was reinspired and this time took a very different approach.... RESEARCH!  I was pointed to a wonderful website:http://theecofriendlyfamily.com/2010/07/ive-never-looked-back/ and after reading and watching videos, I felt ready to try again.  So I gathered all the materials I needed, figured out where I would put the dirty things, bought and made the homemade laundry detergent, had Ryan put up a clothes line... so that when that first dirty diaper came off, I was READY!
Now about that first diaper.... there are MANY different kinds of 'cloth' diapers out there, which is just one of the many potentially overwhelming things about trying them out.  The first thing I did though, was search LC's drawers for things we already had on hand.  From baby showers, we already had some prefolds.  And back when I knew nothing of babies or diapers, I had ordered 6 large g pants diapers, which are basically a cloth cover with a waterproof liner, in a size that is too big for LC and too big for pretty much any baby -it's for kids from 25 to 35 pounds (who should be ready for potty training soon!  But anyway, like I said... completely clueless about that stuff when I bought them).  So we started with that.  I first tried folding the prefold liner and strapping it on with a 'snappie' (snappies have replaced safety pins).  LC HATED IT.  I'm not sure if I had it on too tight or what, but that didn't work.  So then I just folded the prefold into thirds, put it in the liner, closed her up, and off we went.  And that works great!  Even poopie diapers!  Success!!
Great, you say... what about cleaning those things.  Ah... the other major roadblock on anyone's cloth diaper journey.  I was very concerned about this myself, and did a lot of research on the matter beforehand.   I read about flushable liners, which you just put in the diaper and then shake out into the potty along with nasties as needed.  We started there and again, success!  Love them.  I have yet to touch poop.  They are a little bit of a pain when there is no poop, you have to peel them off and toss them, but totally worth the trouble for those 2-3 times a day when you do have a nasty to dispose of.  So we take off the dirty diaper, toss it in a regular little trash can with a lid, and when the can is full (or run out of diapers, which is currently our situation) they are ready for the wash.  You can read about how to wash them on that website I mentioned, but again, much easier than I imagined.
So now that I am sold on cloth diapers, we are slowly adding to our collection.  There are some really nice ones out there, much better than the ghetto version that I basically created myself.  We currently have two 'fancy' diapers, with 7 more on the way.  LC only uses 6-8 diapers a day, so we really don't need too many more, it just depends on how often I want to was them.  But, when Baby C 2.0 comes along, we'll need a bigger selection.  I am also very aware that newborn/breastfeed baby poop is much different than 16 month old poop, but we will have to cross that bridge and post that post when we get there.
So, I by no means have this cloth diapering thing completely figured out, but we are trying it MOST of the time (not at night and Daddy really isn't completely on board yet) and I feel really good about it.  I like not filling up the trash with things that will sit in a landfill until LC is a grown woman.  And though it is an investment now, in the long run, cloth diapers are about a quarter of the cost of disposable, so it's hard not to feel good about that.  Anyway, thanks for indulging me and finally, here are some pictures (completely unrelated to the above post) of the always adorable Leyton Lee Campoamor!

The closest thing LC has ever had to a bottle

Sure looks like she knows what to do with one NOW

This thing is broken!

LC is finally upgraded to her big girl carseat.  Yes, she seems a little old for that, but she is barely 20 pounds, which is the weight kids are supposed to be.  She still fit in the other seat, but she was kicking the back of the seat.  Now she has plenty of leg room!  Plus, more to see!

Another fun trip to the zoo.  Love the monkeys!

Mommy and baby giraffes with Mommy and Baby Campoamor

Cervals are cool too.

Leyton walked a LOT of the zoo, but this is her favorite way to travel

Petting zoo!

So brave!

Better than Ever!

After unsuccessfully trying to post a funny little video of sick Leyton almost falling asleep in her highchair, I had to settle for pictures of LC up to her normal shenanigans.  

Leyton is helping her Daddy fish the magnets out of under the refrigerator.  She pushes them under, say "Ut Oh!" and "Bye Bye."  Daddy pulled out 8... there are still 3 missing...

She LOVES shoes (typical girl!).

She actually put this on herself... and then got stuck

She also loves to climb

And Leyton still loves to read books.  She is reading this one to Susannah.

We moved her frog chair out to the kitchen, and it's now her favorite place to sit and read... two books at once!

I tried to get a cute picture with one of her Aunt Sonya flowers...

Going...

And gone...

She's cute enough in her sassy zebra pants

Ryan and I don't really think she looks much like either one of us...

But we think for sure she is a beautiful child!

Sick baby girl

Being sick is the worst.  Nobody likes feeling crappy, and pretty much the only thing worse than being sick yourself is having a sick baby.  Beginning Friday, Leyton started with a runny nose, then a cough, then a little (100 degrees) fever.  Very little sleep for any of us on Friday night.  Saturday and Sunday, more of the same, but she did sleep pretty good at night (A little pause to give a shout out to LC's Daddy, who sat and rocked her for 3 hours one night, just so she could sleep!  We are both very lucky that she has such an awesome Daddy!).  Monday she was up an hour and a half early with coughing and crying, and then despite rocking AND a stroller ride, no nap.  By 6:30pm she was EXHAUSTED to the point that she was falling asleep in her highchair.  Speaking of highchair, she is also not eating anything more than a couple of bites here and there and occasionally she will eat some raisins and Cheerios (her absolute favorite).  This morning, Tuesday, she was up at 6:30 and cried until 8 when I loaded her into the car and took her to the doctor.  When she coughs and eats, she cries and grabs at her throat, so we wanted to rule out strep.  She had no temperature, she hadn't lost any weight from her last visit, and the strep test was negative, but she did have a very red throat and ears.  The doctor was worried that she may be in the beginning stages of an ear infection.  So we have some drops to help with ear pain and a Rx for antibiotics if her symptoms do not improve in the next day or so.  On the way home, she finally fell asleep in the car, so we sat in the driveway for an hour while she napped.  She also fell asleep in my nap, naked, waiting for the doctor.  Poor little thing is exhausted.  In fact, when we got in from the car, she curled up in my lap and I rocked her for a few minutes and now she is sleeping in her crib.  Here's hoping and praying for another good nap and that baby girl feels better soon!

Lots of this going on lately

And as promised in the last blog.....

ACE!!!

On Friday we had some very special visitors, the Eastons.  Ryan and I went to school with Lyndon and Krishna at Virginia Tech -Lyndon was even Ryan's roommate Junior year.  They are moving to San Diego at the end of March.  This is their beautiful daughter, Asana.  She is two and a half and she and Leyton played together very well.

Kids are so amazing.  Despite a fever, cough and runny nose, generally Leyton was in good spirits.

Even smiling

Runny nose and all

You can just tell she doesn't feel good though

Reading magazines helps.  She will have us read them OVER and OVER and OVER.

Here is a rare moment of a happy baby eating.  She starts crying as soon as we put her in her chair, but if we pull out Cheerios and raisins, she sometimes changes her tune.  Notice her guard kitty too, ready to pounce at any sign of danger.

Hope you feel better soon Baby Leyton!

So we can get back to more silly dance parties with Daddy (that's right, she's doing 'the sprinkler', with tongue out for added focus)

The Search for Ace

One of Leyton's new words is 'Ace.'  Ace is a teddy bear that her Poppy and BB bought her (I promise that we named him Ace BEFORE she started saying the word, since the word sounds a lot like another word that we would NOT like her to repeat).  I'll have to post an actual picture of Ace later, since he never actually makes an appearance in the video.  Leyton does however take a moment to do a little dance before she attacks the camera.  I will try and post more videos, but you can see the problem I have -once she sees the camera, she drops everything and wants to play with it.  

Catch Me if You Can!

Ah, lucky you if you can pull a smile out of this kid.

I could write volumes about the doings and sayings of this little girl.  But her face says it all.  Every time we go out, someone will comment on her eyes and how pretty and expressive they are.  And it's true, she can send you some looks!  Here are some of her best:

Seriously... you are still taking my picture?  Cut it out and feed me so I can get down and play please.

Fake smile

Silly smile

Daddy must have done something funny... because this is a real smile!

Speaking of funny Daddy....

Noah's Ark and her Airplane are two of her favorites.  She loves to take the animals in and out of the ark, and push the plane around.

She also likes to wear her Super Leyton cape

Finally got a picture of her doing yoga

And yes, she is FINALLY growing some HAIR!

Leyton also loves to hide.  Whether it's a diaper change, mealtime, or time to put on her jacket to go somewhere, as soon as she knows you want her caught, she takes off running -always to the same spot though, behind Daddy's dresser.

Pre-meltdown face.  She knows she's about to have to do something she doesn't want to, so she gives you a warning glance first.

"Get this thing out of my face!"

"I mean it!  I'll pitch a fit!"

We took advantage of our increasingly warmer days to loose the long sleeves and shoes.    Good thing she's cute, because the saggy pants and a pot-belly are hard to pull off.

Enough pictures, let's head outside!