Okay, so it's been a while. I've been busy and distracted... and kind of lazy. But really, why make excuses?

Levi has been doing great with EC! I am totally amazed at times that he has chosen to hold his elimination (moreso poops than pees) for the toilet. We EC both into his little potty but then I also hold him over the big toilet. Mainly because I am lazy and I just want to be able to flush it instead of dump out his potty and then rinse it. See, I'm lazy :) I think the next step is when he is able to sit up on his own I will purchase a toilet insert so he can sit on the big toilet without me having to strattle it and hold him there.

I have decided he's going to start getting solids on a regular basis. Every morning and every afternoon/evening-ish I am going to start giving him a little bit of oatmeal. I have heard so many viewpoints about what to introduce first to Levi that I have decided to go with what my doctor recommends (especially since we are about to go to his 6 month appointment!) Cereal. It's easy and I think it will be safe. I gave him a few egg yolks but I wasn't sure about the iron content of them, and I keep reading all this stuff about iron, so I am giving him the baby iron-fortified cereal. Maybe this introduction to solids will help him sleep through the night a little better. We will see.

It's been sporadic as far as sleeping through the night goes. Last night we woke up at 11. I had been asleep for probably about an hour so I was so disoriented that all I could do was stumble in and nurse him, no clear thoughts, no nothing. Then he woke up again at 4, so I fed him again and he went back to sleep until about 7:30. I have decided that I am going to stop EC-ing him in the middle of the night. This might get him used to pooping in the middle of the night and I am tired of EC-ing at this time. It wakes me up too much. If it is just nursing I fall asleep a lot easier than if I'm up and have to think etc...

As far as his naps go, it's hard to keep him awake for more than 2 hours, unless there is a lot of stimulation. He gets so fussy after about an hour and a half that I just have to lay him down again. He sleeps for another hour to two hours and then we go through the same cycle. I've been reading this book called "The Sleep Lady's Good Night Sleep Tight" thanks to my friend Alicia and I think that I need to get him on a little more of a schedule. I so often throw out any kind of schedule that I go the other way and I think we are starting to need a little more consistency.

I am also trying to introduce or get him attached to a "Lovey" a little giraffe blanket stuffed-animal toy that he can take to bed with him. I put it in his free arm while we nurse and then lay him down with it for naps and bedtime. I have to sit and watch him though or else he will totally cover his face with it and then be frustrated because he can't breathe! Oh my, all the things to think about with a little one.

There's my update! Hope you enjoy!

Practicing

Happy Mother's Day to all of you fine mamas out there! This really feels like the first Mother's Day to me that has special meaning. Last year I was pregnant at this time so Ben bought me some maternity clothes for my Mother's day present. He's so sweet! I haven't gotten anything from him this year, but I'm not a big presents or gifts person, so I think I'm really okay with it. :)

Okay, so I was just wanting to post about this thought that has been bouncing around in my head these past few days. Practicing. I am practicing EC. That is the correct terminology, not necessarily accomplishing EC or dominating EC :), but it's a practice. We go through set-backs, we have times when it is more often and times when we are not able to because of circumstances. Sometimes I get tired of taking is potty with us, so I just choose not to. But all of this is just a gentle practice. We are not expecting perfection from our children, just like we aren't expecting them to walk as soon as they come out of the womb. We are simply guiding them, doing what we feel is best and healthiest for them. Some days Levi is a perfect baby, then a few days will go by and I have no idea why he is crying so much.

Anyways, I have come to believe that EC-ing is just a daily process. We take it one step at a time. We don't allow the Enemy to call us failures. We love on our little ones and do what we feel is best for them.

It's important on those days when it is difficult to really remember why I decided to EC. So I will go ahead and list my reasons for you:
1. Cuts down on diaper rash, keeps Levi from having to sit in his own poop most of the time
2. Is a more natural transition to potty training
3. Is better for the environment than even cloth diapers, even the detergent we use can be harmful
4. I don't want to have to wash so many diapers
5. Cuts down on the amount of leaks, more in the toilet, less in the diaper
6. I want to learn and be in tune with my child for all of his basic needs. Not obsessively so, but just to keep those lines of communication open.

If you EC, do you have any more to add to this list? Would love to hear your comments.

Well, EC has been going a lot better. There are peaks and valleys with everything I think. I also think we are finally taking care of this diaper rash that's been hanging on for dear life. :)

Levi's had several poops in the potty, though they are not particularly substantial. He used to poop a lot more. Maybe that's because he is not in his growth spurt right now and isn't consuming quite as much. Life is much calmer when there is no growth spurt and Levi isn't constantly wanting to nurse me dry.

The diapers are getting better now that more poops are going in the potty, but I am still looking around for something I can use part time as he gets bigger. Not that he's bursting out of his FuzziBunz but his diaperaps are coming undone more and more often. Yes Lindsay, snaps do sound better.

I was also totally pumped that it made it up to 77 in our house. This makes the diaper free time much less stressful, I don't have to worry about him getting cold. I am probably more worried about him getting chilled than I am even if he pees on the carpet. There's my priorities folks.

I ordered a one side bumgenious today. Just one off of amazon. I hope it's not pink. I didn't really understand the process and I made it up to the checkout like 3 times each time thinking the price was way too much. Turns out they were trying to sell me 2 and then 3 of them... I don't know how that worked. By the end of it I was just hoping I would just order one. That's my advanced technical knowledge.

I started writing a song yesterday about Levi. The doctor said that I should write while I can because my feelings towards him will change as he grows. (He also probably knows that I will be way busier once Levi starts becoming mobile.) The song is basically about me feeling completely inadequate for this incredible task of parenting and the joy of watching a miracle like him right before my eyes.

We tried rice cereal these past two nights. Levi was not having any of it. I think for now I'm okay with that. We will revisit it again in a little while. :)

Soon after I post about my EC potty failure Levi poops on the potty. It seems inevitable. I love my little one and how he always keeps me guessing.

Ben and I were talking about how he is such a good baby and pondering if it isn't because of my mothering style. I am not meaning to brag on myself, please don't get me wrong, but I think it's just the laid back approach. I think babies can really sense stress, it's human to sense stress and worry. I think it's important to make a decision not to worry or stress about, is he getting enough? Is he sleeping enough or too much or am I putting him on the potty too much or enough? None of those fears need to be feared. As mothers, we have been given by God a natural instinct to know what our child needs. If we have no idea what that is, we have the Holy Spirit to depend on. We are completely taken care of in these areas and worry is not something that has a hold in our lives.

I'm sure there are other factors to Levi being a good baby, such as his personality, but I can't help but also think that the attitude of the parent does play a valuable role.

Love you all!

Okay, so all day I have been wanting to post about this morning's craziness! I was nursing Levi and he just felt like he was really super full, but he wasn't pooping and his nursing was slowing down, I wasn't near empty. So I took his diaper off, he didn't complain and I put him on his toilet and immediately he pooped and peed, it was like he was waiting for it! My husband came in and I told him about it. Levi had stopped for a bit so I assumed he was done. His diapers were in the wash so I took the diaper out from under him to actually put on him (a cloth one) and had a fleeting thought of putting him on his potty again. I sort of was looking at how much he had pooped, got distracted and like 5 seconds later he pooped everywhere! I mean, more like directly at my poor husband who was sitting there and playing with Levi. It shot out like 6 inches ... it was ridiculous! So we had to get the carpet cleaner and wipe it all up.

Lesson: I should have gone with my guts again that he might need to poop again. Now I won't be so quick to take him off and be quicker to put him on his toilet :)

So today has been a success and an unsuccess. I don't take myself too seriously if you can't tell already. :) I'm just excited about this process of teaching him to go on the toilet, this process of communicating and learning about what his little body needs and doesn't need.

He has been so fun and interesting to get to know. It's all just a process that feels like forever sometimes, and sometimes feels like passes by so quickly.

I am disappointed to miss the La Leche League Friday morning... I was hoping to talk to some of the other EC moms some more, oh well, it will come around again next month.

I need to get a wool blanket so I won't have to worry so much about my carpet during diaper free time.

I also want to get some infant training pants. I was thinking about making them but then my mom suggested getting the smallest I could find and altering them... that might be easiest, I'm not sure. Is $7 expensive for infant potty training pants? I'm not sure. I'll look online I guess.

Levi's going through a growth spurt. He's 4 months as of last Tuesday. Bout time for that. I feel like I'm nursing all the time. I think he might be kind of teething too :(

I am beginning to think that EC is like long distance running. You will hit a wall and it will hurt, but you just have to push on through it. You kind of back off your stride for a little while, but don't give up, just keep going and then you will get a burst of energy. At least, that's the way it is for me. Some days I just want to throw in the towel. But for some strange reason I don't. I just think to myself, "Well, I will put him on the potty just for now, just one last time..." and then he goes. It's like I reach the point of exhaustion and then my second wind comes sailing in.

Levi has been really good today. I love good days. He had a poopy diaper this morning, but that was really it. This afternoon after a feeding I tried him and he peed, twice. then I put his diaper on him, waited about an hour and half, he got fussy so I laid him down and I could tell that wouldn't work... I just could tell, mother's intuition? I don't know. So I nursed him. He likes to feed twice before going down. But he was pretty well awake after I fed him and so I just put him on the potty and he pooped and peed! Then I put him down, putting the same diaper back on him because it was completely dry. He slept, woke up, fed, and then I put him on the potty again and he pooped again. Before I put him to bed around 8 I pottied him again and he peed. It has been a really really good day.

So, no complaints, but I'm not getting too comfortable. I'm just thankful that we were able to save a few more diapers since we weren't doing cloth today. And I think he was just happier in general.

Thank you! Hope you are having good experiences as well.

First Post!

Hello blogging world! I have done this sort of thing before, but not with this specific task. My desire is to share my "potty training" experiences with the world.

My sister-in-law, Lindsay originally told me about this new thing called Elimination Communication (EC). It's basically infant potty training. You come up with a noise or cue for when your infant eliminates and make that noise every time you hear or see them go. Eventually you can put them on a potty or bowl or whatever you choose (the women in the bush like to just have them go on the ground and then clean it up later) and then make the noise to teach them when to go.

It sounded crazy ... but then so did the prospect of changing thousands (yes, I believe it is thousands) of diapers in the first two or three years of Levi's life, so I wanted to try it. I started looking online for websites and found this great one www.diaperfreebaby.org and started reading testimonies or moms who had tried it and loved it. They sounded a little extreme, but a lot of it made sense.

So when Levi was born I started making a noise every time I heard or saw him eliminate. It's sort of a pssssss psssss sound, like the sound of peeing. I thought it would be appropriate :) I wasn't sure if this was getting through or not, he had a difficult time nursing and I didn't "feel" that instant connection right away. Communication with him felt difficult at times. He was about 5 or 6 weeks old when I was nursing him one day and I noticed he was extra squirmy so I made his little noise and he went immediately! I didn't know if it was on purpose, but it seemed to work.

The next big milestone that made me a believer came when he was 9 weeks old. I decided to nurse him without a diaper (very scary considering he's a boy!). He didn't poop the whole time, I don't remember if he peed or not, and he would usually go during or just after nursing. So I got out his little Baby Bjorn potty and stuck him on it and made the noise and he went in the potty! on the first time! What?! I was going crazy, I took a picture of it, yes, poop and all, and sent it to my husband. It was amazing!

So now Levi is 14 weeks old and is pooping about half the time on the potty. We have our ups and our downs, our good days, our bad days and ugly days. Days that we can't seem to catch a single poop, days when he is hungry all the time, days with diaper rashes and days that are hear perfect.

This is my EC adventure. Join me if you would like.