New stuff

So I've made two new big adjustments in the world of Blake...
1) cloth diapers! woohoo!
2) no more pumping! made the full switch to formula.

I've had these cloth diapers since wayyy before he was born. With all the complications from the hip dysplasia, our orthopedic doctor recommended just using regular disposables due to the complicated harness and bulky brace. Now that Blake is down to only wearing the brace for 12 hours at night, I decided to give the Bumgenius 4.0 pocket diapers a go for the daytime hours. So far, it's a breeze! It really isn't much harder than disposables - all the time I would have spent going to store to buy disposables, collecting the coupons for them, or ordering off Amazon (for a pretty penny, no less!), I spend just tossing them in the washing machine every other day. I've got a wet bag that stores them when he's done with each one, and then I throw them in the washer. After they're clean I toss the inserts in the dryer and drape the diapers over plastic hangers in the garage (where our washer & dryer are). Super easy.

I felt so guilty for so long about putting Blake on formula, but once I did it I felt so relieved. I know breast is best, but to be honest - it was slowly killing me. The pumping itself wasn't really so bad...I could handle the 10-15 minutes here and there to pump. The problem was that if I wasn't able to get it done EXACTLY when it needed to be done (every 4 to 5 hours), I would develop a clogged duct which then threatened to turn into mastitis. This happened approximately every two weeks regardless of how diligently I watched the time. Ugh. It was nearly impossible to take care of the kiddos when I was on the verge of mastitis - the fever and aches nearly took me down each time. So after a lot of contemplation, I decided that being able to happily take care of my kids was more important than the few benefits that Blake was receiving from the pumped milk. Besides, I still have quite a bit stored up from my overproduction. I really wish breastfeeding would work for me, but I've resigned myself to being incapable of it. :(

I've started a little bit of drawing/watercolors again. I'd really like to get in to it again, I've really missed art. We'll see how it goes considering I constantly feel like I have zero time!!