I think Levi's finally dropping his third nap! Eight months old and down to just two naps... am I getting my life back? I don't know. He's also starting to sleep through the night WAY better. When we were on vaca he thought it was a great idea to wake up about every two or three hours, no fun buddy! But the night we got home he slept for 11 hours straight! I was worried that he was okay when I got up. He must've gotten worn out from all those midnight arousals :) My little man is a home-body. He was so excited when we got home he was just crawling around and laughing and waving his arms, ecstatic that we were back in our own house! Haha!

The funny thing is that he almost seems to do better on the road. We have more poops in the potty at least, so I don't know. He pooped on my mom's adult toilet the other day when we stopped by and then pooped on the potty other times on vacation. But he's gone in his diaper at least once since we've been home. He's had some pees on his little potty, that's usually best because of the splash guard. It's so nice now that he can sit up on it on his own. I usually just hold his hands so he doesn't stick them down there while he's tee-tee-ing. TMI? I know, but that's why you read this blog, so that you can know all there is to know about my infant potty training experience.

I've been keeping a log of my daily activities. This is part of a homemaking Bible study I'm doing. It's really interesting to see what all I do all day. I think something about being accountable to a notebook has kept me up in my household duties. I'm looking at incorporating a daily planning system into my life with a good old-fashioned paper planner. :) Computers and I don't always see eye to eye and my phone isn't that tech savvy ... we'll see. I'll let you know how that all works out for me!

I keep meaning to blog and thinking about it and then I get distracted or my computer refuses to work, or Levi cries or... So I'm gonna just do it.

I have to be honest once again, Levi has not been pooping on the potty the way I would like him to, but then again, he hasn't been pooping with any regularity at all what so ever. My sister in law said she started giving her daughter 4 oz of watered down apple juice ever afternoon and she has been pooping with rockstar regularity. :) I made up the rockstar part, she didn't actually say that, but she hasn't had any problems with constipation. So I have been giving Levi some diluted apple juice (half water) when I remember to. The only problem is that I get busy or forget, or get impatient, or he has just nursed so he has no interest in it. But the other day we were going to a baseball game and we needed to leave as soon as he woke up from his nap, so I threw some apple juice and water in a bottle (probably more like 6 or 7 oz... whoops) and sat in the back and gave it to him. He drank it all up in the 20 mins it took. As soon as we pulled into the parking lot I had this feeling that he was just going to unload in his diaper, and of course, he gets this looks and just goes! Luckily I was able to make his little noise. Then I had to change him on the backseat of the Camry, which is slightly tilted so he kept sliding to the side and his head was rubbing funny on the carseat... Anyways, that was the last time he pooped. It's always runny poop too, so I don't think it's constipation. I don't know what it is. It's for sure stinkier and bigger than it was when he was exclusively breast fed.

The other bad thing about this pooping less often thing is that I have a tendency to change him less. When I know he's not sitting in a poopy diaper I tend to think, "oh well, his diaper is almost always wet anyways, he'll be fine." And then I end up forgetting and then he ends up with eczema. Not cool.

Oh yeah, here's something I have decided, for all you new moms out there... Pampers makes the best wipes. Don't get Huggies, don't get the cheapo store brand, they are for sure not worth it. You will use fewer Pampers, even though they are like 4 cents a wipe as opposed to 3.5 cents for a Huggies, they are just better. So, there you go, sometimes I have to learn the hard way just to pay more for something that you will actually use as opposed to something that is cheapo and you don't want to use.

I'm wanting to start making my own laundry detergent. And I want to get back into making my own wipes... only I want to do it right this time.

I hope you all have a wonderful time with your kids in these coming summer days. Stay cool!

I have found that as soon as I think that I'm really good at something, as soon as I'm on top of my game, as soon as I think I have something "in the bag" that God decides He needs to humble me. Conversely, I am beginning to think that as soon as I am about to give up hope, success happens upon me. This has especially been my experience with EC. I will explain after I give you a list of what has been going on lately.

-Went to the Dr and she prescribed some amazing steroid cream for Levi's ongoing stubborn rash. It was completely cleared up by the next day. Why did I not do this sooner??

-Caught two pees in the past two days.

-Went to a baby shower, gave her a toilet. Of course I did. She registered for it though, so you can't really blame me :)

-Picked up my Diaper Free Baby book to read again. We have been getting off track and it's time to get back on.

-Worked in the church nursery yesterday, but it was with the crawlers so Levi was next door. I knew he was in good hands, so I was okay with that. I'm excited for when he will start to crawl.

Okay, so here is my story of my blessing... haha! Just as a warning, if you don't like poop stories I would encourage you to stop reading now. However, just by the fact that you are reading this blog, that probably isn't the case :) I know, what an intro right?
Well, Levi has been pooping two to three times a week since Memorial day. He pooped last Sunday, then Wednesday and then pooped again yesterday. I have been introducing solids, but not super-regularly, maybe every other day, maybe twice a day. It's kind of erratic. I pump when I feed him solids so my supply doesn't go down. I just have one kid, I have time for this type of thing. Anyways, he had peas and cheerios on Saturday morning. Cheerios are amazing because he just sits there in his chair and tries to pick them up and when he gets frustrated I just put one in his mouth and he gums it and swallows. This keeps him occupied while I do things like make Ben's lunch or clean the kitchen, and sort of even feeds him at the same time! Amazing!
Sorry, I will get to the story.
This morning I wanted to give him more diaper free time. So I nursed him without his diaper on, just held a prefold under him, then tried to potty him and he didn't do anything. So I brought him out to the living room while Ben and I read our Bibles. He was on his belly, still without a diaper. We happened to be looking at him and all of the sudden Ben was like, "Jody, he's pooping." And then I saw it. Luckily, it was solid and just starting to poke out. (TMI, I know) I wasn't sure what to do since I didn't have a prefold there or anything, I just stuck his cloth diaper under him and ran for his toilet back in his room. I was worried that if I picked him up during it he would freak out. He did cry and seem upset as I put him on his toilet but we sang a song and cued him and let him chew on his toy and he pushed the rest of it out! Oh my gosh, I can't believe I'm talking about this... But I was so excited!! It was my first solid poop I had ever caught, sort of caught... I mean, at least it didn't get on the carpet.

Yeah, so that was my little "blessing" today :) haha! I'm hoping this will continue. Just trying to stay humble.