Now that Kamea is four months old, we’re really finding our groove. This mama job is a breeze. Image may be NSFW.
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For the past month, we’ve been sleeping better. Kamea co-sleeps with us and it’s been such a joy. Most nights she sleeps quite well. We can stay in bed for 9-12 hours at night. She doesn’t sleep straight through but she kind of does. She tosses and turns when she’s hungry, I roll on my side and latch her on, and we’re both back in dreamland. Well, I usually get back to dreamland. Some nights she thrashes around a lot which keeps me awake because I keep putting her back on my breast (my husband says she’s practicing her “ninja” skills). But, some nights, like last night, we both sleep soundly. There are the occasional nights where she decides she’d like to wake up after about 4 hours of sleep and stay up. When this happens, it only takes about an hour of hanging out with her in bed and she’s ready to sleep again.
Nap time has been great too. We’re not on a schedule, but I’d estimate that she wants to nap every few hours. The one nap I can count on is in the morning. About 2 hours after waking, she’s ready for a nap. Sometimes she naps for 40-60 minutes and other times she sleeps a whole 2 hours.
What does all that mean? Mommy is getting more sleep! My eyes are no longer bloodshot and I feel like I can drive a car without causing harm to myself or others. Seriously, I didn’t start driving again until just recently because I only felt I had enough energy to make it through my day at home. Driving a car required too much alertness.
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The pretty colored ones are Swaddlebees Econappies. The white diaper with easy-to-use colored snaps are BabyKicks.
We’re also getting into cloth diapers more regularly (every time I use one, depending on the size, I save about 30 cents – gotta love that). They’re still not as great as I thought they’d be. For starters, you have to wash them (that’s work). Then, you have to stuff them (that’s more work). Finally, they’re still bulky as heck, but the fit is getting better. However, in spite of the extra work, it’s better on the earth and my baby’s girlie bits, and… they’re cute as hell! I think our plan is going to be using cloth diapers at home and when we go out, we’ll use eco-friendly disposables. I’m a fan of two cloth diaper brands right now: BabyKicks and Swaddlebees Econappi. Both are one size diapers that are supposed to fit from newborn until 35-40 pounds (depending on the brand), but I’m only now liking them on her at this age / weight because I think they’re too bulky to use for newborns. I have 6 BabyKicks and 4 Swaddlebee Econappis plus the Flip system I wrote about here. Flip are not my favorites, but they’re working okay.
We are still interested in trying Elimination Communication, but even now, I still don’t feel like it’s the right time. I know many people start early, but I have a few issues to figure out. 1) I have no idea when she’s peeing and she pees many times. 2) I don’t get much warning for poop either. Therefore, I’m just not comfortable with her being diaper free until I get a better handle on that. And, 3) it’s weird holding her on the potty when she doesn’t even sit on her own yet. I tried it the other day. Not fun. For either of us. All in good time though. We’ll work on that later.
As I mentioned in the last post, we took Kamea for her 4-month pediatric visit. At this visit we started talking about solids, just so we can start thinking about them. I plan on waiting to introduce solids until she cuts some teeth hopefully (that could be at 6-8 months). That means three things: 1) I need a high chair (going to start researching this very soon). 2) I need baby spoons. 3) I’m excited to start thinking about homemade baby food recipes and the next book I’ll write!
Image may be NSFW.
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Kamea is also starting to grab at toys and hold on to them, play with them, etc. It’s so exciting to see her develop. I recently bought her this groovy Baby Banana Teething Toothbrush. It’s BPA, latex, and phthalate free. She also has this eco-friendly baby rattle (BPA, PVC and phthalate free). And, Kamea loves her organic dolly that Lauren and Ginger bought her. She likes to chew on her, too. Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.
Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.
Clik here to view.
