Today marks 21 days that we have successfully kept Hosea alive. Yippee! He now weighs over 10 pounds (wow) and is getting bigger by the second. He's been pretty screamy some nights, which is trying, but he's definitely thriving.

One thing I wanted to comment on was the success we've had with cloth nappies (diapers). I was a little skeptical at first, but now I'm a huge fan. Here's how it works:

1. Take one baby and place it on a changing table. Remove dirty nappy and wipe bum clean. We used water at first, but now we use a blend of chamomile, honey, sweet almond oil, and lavender that takes about 5 minutes to make and keeps him nappy rash-free (and good-smelling!)

2. Place cloth nappy (we have flat old-fashioned ones and pre-folds) onto baby after folding in the appropriate manner. We use flushable liners to separate the poop from the cloth part. Use a Snappi (greatest invention since chicken!) to attach the nappy to the baby.


3. Place a cover over the nappy to keep baby dry. We'd like to use those colorfull, pretty wool ones, but they cost beaucoup bucks, so plain white PUL it is.



4. Voila! Clean happy baby in 2 minutes. Adorable hand-decorated Nessie onesie optional, but highly desirable.



Cloth nappies are especially great if, say, your baby has the habit of soaking through four nappies in under an hour. With disposables, I'd be tempted to not change him for fear of filling up landfill space at an alarming rate, but with cloth, into the bucket they go to get thrown in the wash. And, if nothing else, Hosea has some mad whizzing skillz.

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Something I've noticed is how often you do things that, to the outside observer, probably look pretty bizarre and occasionally must look downright cruel. Burping, for example, can get pretty vigorous with a hard-to-wind baby. Also, the chin support for the lap-sitting burp position looks, well, interesting. (Okay, so the hand behind the neck was added for emphasis, but you get the idea.)



Feeding in general causes Hosea to contort in some incredible positions. I call this one "Neck Snapped".



It's okay, though, he still gets some intense cuddling at the end of the day (or, um, very very early the next day).






Hosea says: Do you mind, guys? Me and my dad are having some quality time, here.

I'm still not back in classes, though I'm feeling better every day. I made the walk to the bus stop and back today, which is a good sign, and I spent the day at a coffee shop going through pharmacology notes.

Keep praying for us, guys. Though many of the day-to-day things are getting easier, having a screaming colicky baby is exhausting, both physically and emotionally. We both spend a lot of time saying "what do I do now?" with him, especially with feeding time, where he still has some issues. He gets his tongue-tie fixed tomorrow, so maybe that will help. But we are both frustrated at feedings which occur every 2-4 hours, take at least an hour and a half and almost always involve some manner of crying, screeching, and spit-up. Sigh.