Gospel Community...Being More Transparent

Church this morning was AMAZING. It was all about community. Why we need it and how it should look. I stole our pastors phrase...gospel community. It means making our church look like the community that God has in mind. Rich, poor, educated, uneducated, outgoing, introverted all fellowshiping together, being a community. This means that we rejoice with those who rejoice and mourn with those who mourn. We support each other through burdens and hard times. We pray for each other, encourage each other and speak truth to each other. While he was preaching I was thinking about our COM group (small group) that we have recently joined. We have begun making friends in this group and are enjoying getting to know them. However, as he was talking about how we should be more transparent in our COM groups, in order to allow us to really be a gospel community, I was thinking about how most of our group doesn't really know about Grant. One couple already knew Grant's story. I used to work with her and we were friends before we started going to church there. However, only 1 or 2 more girls in the group know about him. It's not because we aren't proud of him. I think it's because we don't want to burden others with the sadness of a baby dying. The look that people give you when you say your baby died is heartbreaking and we aren't always open about it. We need to be though. I was talking with my friend Melinda (who is in our COM group and knows about Grant) after church today about this. I think the next time our group gets together we will share Grant's story. The whole story. These are our friends, fellow believers, those who are supposed to be there to support and love us, they should know about our first born, our son.

I've been thinking about Grant a great deal more lately than normal. I think about him every day but most of the time it's a short thought as I see his picture on our wall or see his nose on Amelia. Sometimes I think more as I rock her and pray before bed or when I see a little boy that would be about his age. As his second birthday is approaching I've thought about him more. I've thought about how I want to celebrate him for his birthday, how I want people to remember him. I'm still working on what I would like to do for his birthday but I'm sure I will figure something out that will honor him and celebrate him. First, I will share his life with our friends.

1st Christmas

This year I was lucky and had the ENTIRE week of Christmas off! It was amazing to be able to spend her first Christmas in Dallas with our families. It was a crazy busy week but we enjoyed it and were thankful for the time we had with family. We were then thankful that we got to sleep in our own beds when we got back :) We started our week off by going to my Memaw's 80th birthday party/family Christmas party. Amelia got to meet family members for the first time and it was nice being able to celebrate my Memaw. The next day we went with my Mom to take my Memaw home and then we went to my Aunt's house and Amelia got to be cuddled by more family members she had never met. I hadn't seen my Aunts in a long time so it was nice to see them and visit for a while. Amelia loved the attention cause she's rotten like that. Monday, yes Monday (2 days before Christmas), Jonathan and I took my Dad Christmas shopping. Oh! What an adventure that was. Christmas Eve and Christmas Day were full of Christmas activities with our families. The only problem with everyone living in Dallas is everyone doesn't really live in Dallas. The DFW metroplex is HUGE and it's about an hour and fifteen minutes between my families house and Jonathan's families house. Makes for lots of car time. Thankfully, Amelia is a trooper in the car and did great both days. Thursday we hung out with my Mom and Friday we headed home! We left most of Amelia's gifts at my Mom's house. No room in the car with us, our stuff and our 2 dogs. We will have to get her presents later. Good thing she's too young to know! We also spent a great deal of December in our numerous Christmas outfits and made a trip to see Santa.

I like to eat my reindeer.

Oh Christmas Tree

Me and my birthday buddy/betrothed :)

Ho Ho Ho, Merry Christmas

Not Amused

Christmas Jammies

Cousin Maddi and Amelia

Cousin Kenzie and Amelia

More Christmas Jammies- Christmas Eve

Afternoon Nap on Christmas Day

Memaw and Amelia- 80 and 4 months

Merry Christmas from the Bybee Family

4 months...A Little Late

My baby girl is 4 months old! I really, really, really need time to slow down. Tonight I was loading pictures onto our computer from my phone and Oh..My..Goodness she has grown and changed so much. I can't believe how big she is. Here are her stats and what she is up to now.

Weight: 14lbs 6oz (75%)
Height: 25 inches (75%)
LOVES: playing on her play-mat and in her jumper, her Daddy, bottles and her fingers, baths
HATES: naps, nursing when she is tired, really hungry or it's after 3pm
SLEEPING: 11-12 hours each night (7pm-7am). about 3 15-30 min naps per day
EATING: 4oz every 2 hours when awake. Sometimes takes 6-7 oz before bed or late in the afternoon.

It's really funny that she now prefers a bottle over nursing since she hated them so much in the beginning. She especially wants them when she is really tired, hungry or it's getting later in the evening. She still nurses willingly first thing in the morning which is nice because I HATE pumping. She has outgrown her colic, actually she outgrew that at about 12 weeks. She goes to bed in her own bed around 7pm every night and prefers to be laid down awake and left alone. She hates to take naps during the day and fights it as much as possible. I may try black out curtains in her room. She started laughing 2 days after she turned 3 months old and it is the most adorable sound ever. She now "talks" all the time and tried to help preach today at church. She learned to roll from her tummy to her back on December 10, sat up without help for the first time on December 20 (when she turned 4 months old) and rolled from her back to her tummy on December 30. Today she learned how to turn in circles while on her tummy and is trying to figure out how to scoot on her belly. I'm not ready for her to be mobile! She sucks on her two middle fingers on her right hand to put herself to sleep and sometimes "talks" herself to sleep. She is the sweetest thing in the world and I don't know what I would do without her.

 

Yes I'm sitting on a table at McAllister's. When You learn to sit you have to show off!

Favorite sight ever!

Sitting up chatting with my Grant bear.

First Thanksgiving!

We enjoyed our week of Thanksgiving. My mom was able to be here for the whole week, which was AMAZING! It was so much fun to have her here and spending time with us and Amelia. She cooked us lots of delicious food and we just chilled by the fire for a few days. It was COLD the first part of the week. Jonathan's family was supposed to come down the Sunday before Thanksgiving but because there was a chance of ice and it was so cold we decided to cancel. The biggest bummer was that it didn't end up icing at all and we could have still had our Thanksgiving, oh well, better to be safe than have people stranded or in car accidents. Since we didn't eat the food for that day we decided to have a friend Thanksgiving on Wednesday night. We also took a Thanksgiving meal to a family in need on Wednesday. Thursday we did a whole lot of nothing until that night when my mom and I braved the crowds and went shopping. Friday morning my mom and Jonathan went shopping while I stayed home with Amelia. We got a few gifts but most of our stuff we ordered online. Friday we also went and bought Amelia's first Christmas tree. She wore her Christmas shirt on Friday and then on Saturday we had Thanksgiving with our family so she wore her Thanksgiving shirt. Maybe a little backwards but it was fun! Before we could eat on Saturday Jonathan, my brother and my brother-in-law put the Christmas lights on our house, they are beautiful. We ate lots of delicious food and enjoyed spending time with each other. I really enjoyed my family being at our house and not having to drive for this holiday. Here are some pictures of Amelia in her Thanksgiving outfit. It was truly a day to be thankful for.

Not too thrilled with mom taking my picture

Halloween 2013

Amelia's first Halloween was so much fun. We went to the pumpkin patch and a couple of church Trunk or Treats. One for our church and one with a friend. Amelia was dressed up as Minion from Despicable Me and was adorable. Jonathan was dressed up as Gru. I was going to be Margo but the plan I had for a skirt didn't work out and then I didn't have time to make one from scratch. I had so much fun making Amelia's hat and Jonathan's scarf though. I can't wait until next Halloween when we will dress up as a family again. I love themed costumes!

Cloth Diapering...The Bybee Way

We use cloth diapers. No, we aren't crazy. Yes, it is a little more work than disposable diapering but not much. In our opinion and for our family it is completely worth the extra work. Amelia can't wear Pampers brand diapers, she gets an AWFUL rash. Huggies work and we have used them when traveling but prefer to use cloth even when out and about. Here is a little about what we use, our favorites and our least favorites, and our wash routine.

Our Stash: 3 Grovia Hybrid shells and 8 inserts
                       $16.95/shell; $17.95/2 inserts
                  3 Best Bottoms Covers and 9 Size medium stay dry inserts
                      $83.85 for package of 3 covers and 9 inserts here: Best Bottoms Package or
                      $16.95/Cover and $3.95/stay dry insert
                  1 Softbums cover
                       $21.95
                  6 Nicki's Pocket Diapers
                       $9.95/diaper
                  1 Little Monster Pocket Diaper
                       $11.95
                  1 Thirsties Duo Wrap Cover Size 1 w/ velcro
                       $12.95
                  1 Thirsties Duo All In One (AIO) Size 1
                       $15.75

We also have a bunch of Fuzzi buns pocket diapers that were given to us by a friend. When she was smaller we tried a trial package from Jillians Drawers that is for newborns. In this we tried Bumgenius Newborn AIO, prefolds, the Thirsties Duo AIO and Thirsties Cover, Kissaluvs fitteds, Prowrap cover and a Bumgenius Freetime AIO. We also purchased a Grovia Newborn AIO.

Newborn Period:
           Favorites: Grovia Newborn AIO and Kissaluvs size 0 fitteds with Thirsties cover
           OK: Thirsties Duo Size 1 AIO- we still use this one, not my favorite but works in a pinch. I  also liked the prefolds ok but they weren't my favorite and they were not as user friendly.
           Least Favorites: Bumgenius Newborn AIO (leaked) and Bumgenius Freetime AIO (too bulky)
      

Now: 6 weeks and up
         Favorites: My favorite is the Bestbottoms insert in the Bestbottoms or Softbums cover. The softbums cover is more trim fitting. The Bestbottoms covers are capable of preventing the most serious breastmilk poo blowouts. I also really like the Grovia shells and inserts. Jonathan's favorites are the Grovia ones followed by the Bestbottoms ones.
        OK: Thirsties Duo Size 1 AIO and Nicki's pockets. They work ok but are very bulky. The Nicki's pockets do have some seriously cute prints. I also really like the print on our Little Monsters Pocket (penguins) and it works similar to the Nicki's pockets.
        Least Favorites: Fuzzibuns. They just don't seem to fit her very well and leak. 

We have discovered that our Thirsties Duo size 1 wrap will fit our Bestbottoms inserts which is nice.

Closure types: We both prefer the snap closure to the velcro.

Wash Routine: Amelia goes through about 10 diapers a day. I prefer to line dry our diapers. If I am going to do this (it takes all day) I have to wash every day to day and a half. If I am going to dry them in the dryer I can go 2 days between washes. We really need about 6 more diapers and then I can go every 2 days and still dry them outside.

Washer Type: Whirlpool Cabrio Platinum Top Loader
Water Type: Hard
Detergent: Rockin Green Hard Rock
We start by spraying her poop into the toilet using a diaper sprayer attachment on the guest bathroom toilet. We then toss all diapers into the diaper pail liner in a normal trash can with a lid that is stored in the guest bathroom. We have never had problems with stink by rinsing the poo off and washing every 2 days. At wash time I dump all contents of the wet bag and the wet bag (turned inside out) into our washer. I first run a rinse and spin cycle without soap. This is followed by a cycle set to bulky with warm water with 2 tbsp of soap added to the soap dispenser. I also choose an extra rinse cycle. I then hang the diapers and covers to dry outside or place the diapers in the dryer and lay the covers to air dry. I dry the diapers on warm in the dryer (takes about 60 min to get them good and dry).  After I line dry the diapers I toss them in the dryer for about 10 min to help soften them. I have never had problems with leak or stink issues with our microfiber diapers but we have only been doing this for a couple of months.

Cloth Wipes: Yes, we also use cloth wipes but only when at home. We use Circo brand newborn cloth diapers for wipes with a spray bottle of water. I just spray her bottom and wipe it clean. The wipe goes in the diaper pail with the dirty diapers and gets washed with them.

When we are out and about I take a couple of inserts and an extra cover in the diaper bag. The nice thing about the BestBottom covers is the inside is wipe-able so if it just gets wet or a little bit of poop on the inside of the cover you can wipe it clean with a baby wipe and let it dry while using a different cover and it's good to go again. We take a travel size wet bag with us to store dirty diapers in.

There you have it! Cloth diapering Bybee style!

Preparing for Change...Returning to Work

My maternity leave will soon be ending. I have been so blessed to have these past few months. I will have taken 10 1/2 weeks off since her birth and I was off the week before she was born because that's how my schedule happened to fall. This means I haven't worked in almost 12 weeks. Yikes! I miss work. I miss using my brain and helping sick kids. However, I love being with her all day every day. Yes, there are times when I just want a few minutes without a baby on my lap (or nursing :) ) but for the most part when I am away from her I miss her. Since I am soon returning to work Jonathan and I have started trying to get her used to me being gone. In my 2 month post I put that she hates bottles, it's because she does. She HATES them. She will drink from one if she is hungry but she usually gives you a look while she does it. We find it hilarious that she seems to look at us and say with her eyes "seriously, you think this is the same as my mom?"

I work nights. Amelia has colic, worse at night. Can you see how this may not be a good thing? At least when both of us are home we can share the burden on a bad night. Amelia usually doesn't go to bed until 11 or 11:30. She does sleep until 6 or 6:30 almost every morning though. This week we have started trying to have Jonathan put her down every other night (the nights when he doesn't have class early the next day). The first couple of times he did this she went to bed a little later than normal and fussed more than normal but he succeeded and seemed to be no worse for the wear. NOT the case for last night! Last night she didn't go to sleep until 4:15am! Jonathan came and woke me up at 2:45 and told me it was my turn. For some reason she just didn't want to sleep. She would fall asleep in his arms for 10-15 minutes and when he laid her down her eyes would pop wide open and she would cry and cry and cry. I nursed her at 2:50 and tried to put her down at 3:20. No luck. She wanted to look at me and smile and coo. She nursed again at about 4 and finally fell asleep at 4:15 and let me put her down. She was awake at 8:30! We will continue working on getting her to go to bed at night without nursing. This is going to be a struggle. She is one stubborn little girl :) Please pray for our sanity over the next few weeks as we continue to work on getting her used to me not being around all the time. It is hard for her, hard for me, and hard for Jonathan. I'm going to miss her sweetness when I am working. For a little bit of humor after a long night we put her in a shirt that says "I'm a cotton headed ninnymuggins".

I know this is just for a "season" and that it will get better, but it is so hard to see your baby sad and know that you can help but shouldn't because it will just make things worse later.

I love this little girl and am blessed to be her mom!