Raising a Homemaker

GUEST POST!

And here are a couple videos we took that I saved just for my readers :)

What does "crying it out" look like with you?

Before I was married and had kids I knew exactly what "crying it out" meant. I was also 100% sure I was going to do it with my babies. My babies would be ready for nap or bed time, I would lay them down and if they didn't immediately fall asleep then they would cry until they did and eventually learn to just forgo the whole crying thing.

After having my daughter I realized two things. One, newborns are too young to cry it out. And two, it helps when they don't have any issues with falling asleep in the first place. Cosette was a very laid back baby and we had very few problems with getting her to fall asleep. When the time came to try crying it out with her it went something like this:
Day one, cried for about 30 minutes, fell asleep and had a nice full nap.
Day two, cried for about 20 minutes, fell asleep and had a nice full nap.
Day three, cried for about 15 minutes, fell asleep and had a nice full nap.
By the end of the week she was falling asleep with little to no crying at all.

Then came my dear little boy. Crying it out doesn't look like that for him. When he cries it does nothing but make him dig his heels in deeper, get himself into a bigger tizzy and make it take even longer to calm him down. He might be slightly stubborn. :-P And the rare occasion when he did fall asleep he would wake up a few minutes later and start it all over again.

Obviously crying it out in the traditional sense doesn't work with him. So how does it work? When he is clearly tired but too fussy to fall asleep or even nurse I have to let him cry for about 15 minutes then offer him the breast where he nurses for a bit and falls fast asleep. Maybe I'm not doing the text book version of crying it out with him but I am doing what he and I both need.

So, what do you do, Mamma? Do you let your baby cry it out? Do you do something else entirely? Or maybe something in between?

The story of my son's birth. Part two

HERE the second half of my son's birth story. You can find Part One HERE.

Enjoy!

The Past Two Years: Part seven

Last summer we spent a LOT of time at the beach.

Cosette turned ONE!

And a couple weeks later we found out we were pregnant!

Almost too many blessing to count in one year!

The story of my son's birth. Part one

I did a guest post at CFPN! The rest of the story will be posted next week :)

The Past Two Years: Part two

In July 2009 Cosette came out of my belly and into our lives. You can find the story of her birth HERE.

This is my favorite breastfeeding picture I have with her.

How do you choose a baby name?

One of the hardest things for us is choosing the perfect name for our babies. Both of them were at least two days old before we were able to settle on a name. All the names that I had thought I would use before I got married I either don't like any more or my husband doesn't like them, so finding names has proved to be a lot harder than I thought it would be. But I do have one tip. Choose a theme. By doing this you narrow down your choices so it's not quite as overwhelming. There are countless themes you can choose from. The theme that we settled on is classic literature. Our daughter's name is from Les Miserables (Cosette) and our son's name is from King Arthur (Arthur). So, here are some themes you can choose from:

Literature
Shakespeare
Same first letter (all kids starting with c, etc)
Nationality (Italian, French, German etc)
Family names
Biblical
Historical (my brother's daughters are all named after British royalty and his sons after preachers)
Virtues

There are tons more, but this ought to get you started!

ps. I've done a couple guest posts on the CFPN's blog here and here


**************************************************


Una delle cose più difficili per noi è scegliere il nome perfetto per i nostri bambini. Entrambi erano almeno due giorni prima siamo stati in grado di risolvere su un nome. Tutti i nomi che avevo pensato che mi sarebbe usare prima mi sono sposato io o non mi piace più o mio marito non le piace, così la ricerca di nomi ha dimostrato di essere molto più difficile di quanto pensassi che fosse. Ma io sono una punta. Scegli un tema. In questo modo a limitare giù le vostre scelte in modo che non è così schiacciante. Ci sono innumerevoli i temi si possono scegliere. Il tema che abbiamo scelto è la letteratura classica. Nome di nostra figlia è da Les Miserables (Cosette) e il nome di nostro figlio è tratto da King Arthur (Arthur). Così, qui sono alcuni temi è possibile scegliere tra:

Letteratura
Shakespeare
Stessa prima lettera (tutti i bambini che iniziano con c, ecc)
Nazionalità (italiano, francese, tedesco etc)
Famiglia nomi
Biblico
Storico (figlie di mio fratello sono tutti nomi reale inglese e ai suoi figli dopo predicatori)
Virtù

Ci sono tonnellate di più, ma questo dovrebbe iniziare!

ps. Ho fatto un paio di guest post sul blog del CFPN qui e qui

Fitted Cloth Diaper Sewing Tutorial

I cut the pattern out on a fold to make sure it's symmetrical. I cut two flannel pieces for the inside and one jersey (tee shirt material) for the outside.




I sew them right sides together.



Leave an opening at the top so you can turn it right side out when your done.




Mark where you want the elastic to go on the legs and across the back. Cut elastic about 1/2 the length of where you want it.



I use a clear elastic, I've read that it lasts longer.



I sew the elastic to the seam allowance. Zig zag stitch the end of the elastic on to the diaper. Then stretch it tight and zig zag over the elastic to keep it in place. Yes, I do end up sewing into the elastic it's self.



This is what it looks like when the elastic is all sewn in but before it's turned.




Clip the corners.



Turn it right side out and sew a top stitch on the top/front to close it. And you're done!



Inside of the finished diaper.



Finished diaper folded. I use a snappi to keep it closed.




-------------------------------------------

I have made some with more of an inner soaker material but since they take so much longer to dry I like to do them like this and just lay in the extra absorbent insert. The ones that I have sewn the inserts into I just use those cheap prefolds that you get a target that most people use as burp rags.

And I should add that the flannel I used is from extra receiving blankets (I have over 20!) and the outside tie dyed material was a top bed sheet. I've heard that you can use jean and it makes for a great night time diaper because of it's absorbency. Old tee shirts work well too.

Laughing Babies