Blueberries for Frances

Yesterday, we took advantage of the beautiful spring-like weather and bought four blueberry plants at Costco, then mixed a pile of peat moss into the soil on the side of our house and got them in the ground.  In one afternoon, we went from a bed with daffodils, hyacinths, and an overgrown lemon-mint plant to a bare patch of soil with four green sticks at 3-foot intervals.  Our neighbors are probably horrified!  Frances should have blueberries in, oh, a year or so.

Frances has been having a spit-up fest the last few days, causing me to run through the extra onesies in her diaper bag - and then forget to replenish them before going out to lunch today.  Consequently, when she peed through a cloth diaper, two onesies, and a pair of overalls today, she was left with nothing to wear but the Winnie-the-Pooh jumpsuit we keep in the bag for emergencies.  Poor kiddo's gonna think she was dressed like a shlub her entire babyhood.  I've got to get some pictures of her looking her cutest!

Cloth diaper thoughts so far

The GroBaby ones are fine for night (when she doesn't poop anymore), but if she poops in them during the day, the whole diaper needs a wash - not a big deal, but more of a hassle (and laundry) than other diapers.
The Flip diaper we have has a great cover, but I'm not loving the diaper itself, which is too bad - I wanted to like it, since it can be folded sideways and fit a little baby better than the other big honking prefolds we have.
The Gerber super-absorbent prefolds (from Target) are easy to fold, but not very soft.  Although they fit her better than the Bummis, I tend to avoid them until we run out of the other diapers and inserts.
The Bummis are great, very absorbent and soft, but massive on her.  Once I've folded it down in front, back, and on the sides, the poor kid reminds me of the little brother in "A Christmas Story" - 'I can't put my arms down!'
The Gerber birdseye flats are, surprisingly, my favorites for the daytime.  I've been doubling up with them, and they are really absorbent, almost as good as a disposable.  I also like that they can be folded to fit her, and they are very trim - so her clothes fit better, and I don't worry that I'm torturing her by keeping her feet from ever being in the same ZIP code.

Cover-wise, I prefer the Blueberry covers, but don't have any complaints about any of them.  We've only used the Happy Heiny cow-print diaper once, but it felt very luxurious to be putting her in such a cushy, fleecy diaper.  Too bad I don't like pocket diapers.

Last night, Frances slept for 6.5 hours straight - I woke up a few times to check that she was still breathing, but overall, I enjoyed a restful, uninterrupted night of sleep!  When she finally woke up at 5:45, she was HUNGRY, and ate every hour for the next three hours, but I was so well-rested, I didn't even mind.

We'll see if she keeps this up into the future.

In the last two days, Frances has developed (discovered?) a social smile.  We smile at her, she smiles back, we smile more, she does, too - it's a fun loop.  Plus, it's one more thing we can check off of our "should we worry about autism?" list.  Hey, with two special ed teachers in the house, you worry about these things.

As evidence of Frances' exposure to the sounds of our home in the womb, I have often cited the example of Olive barking (at everything) when listing the sounds to which Frances has no response.  This week, I have noticed that although she can sleep through Olive barking at the cat, the garbage truck, or a plane flying overhead, Frances wakes immediately when Olive shakes her head, jingling her tags.  So intriguing.

In preparation for tomorrow night's outing to the theatre (my mom and I have season tickets), I've been pumping like crazy the last few days.  Unfortunately, Frances seems to be going through a needy (and extra feedy) phase, and the last three pumpings have only yielded enough for about 1 and a half feedings.  Here's hoping Frances isn't very hungry tomorrow.