Diaper-Free day 1

I have been interested in the different ways in which parents educate and teach their children about the potty and have the time to finally implement my preferred way to teach Stirling about the potty! I have been ultimately inspired by a book called Diaper Free... I know for most this sounds absolutely crazy, but it is such an amazing book about Elimination Communication.

After becoming completely inspired by this book, I too have faith that together Shep and I can choose a more natural approach to "potty training"(I HATE the word train, because we train our animals and teach our children, but that is an entirely different post) It is amazing that without even knowing much about EC, I already practice some of the tools mentioned by Ingrid Bauer. It is amazing how just a simple instinct is part of educating your child about elimination communication.

So, today I had the energy and the extra oomph to begin the elimination communication process. I decided to slowly being this process and Stirling was diaper- free crawling around our living room for about 20 minutes. We had his froggy potty in the room, immediately Stirling was VERY curious about the potty. We embraced this curiosity and put him on the potty and talked to him about the potty, but no elimination occurred. But I still got a feeling of success, because he was happy to be sitting on the potty and continued to show interest in the potty. For the next few weeks, I am slowly going to let him go for longer periods of diaper-freeness and better learn his signals, body language and timing! I cannot wait for this insane adventure we are about to embrace. I am sure there will be some hilarious stories to come.

Thank you all for your support, I am sure this is not something many of you understand or even really knew was possible! I am determined to have our baby be toilet independent before 2!

6 Months and counting

STIRLING is SIX months old, and I CANNOT BELIEVE IT! A week ago our sweet baby boy turned 6 months and we are so very thankful for a healthy and handsome boy. 

Since Stirling is now six months, this means I have started to put him in cloth diapers. I wanted to cloth diaper him from day one, but I knew it would be too much for me to handle and told myself that at six months we would begin to cloth diaper throughout the night and then slowly go from there. So far he has slept two nights in his BumGenius 4.0 cloth diapers and I AM LOVING IT! Not only is Stirling now a night-time cloth diaper baby, we got him some babylegs because he is beginning to crawl! I remember seeing the babylegs when I was pregnant and thought they were such a great find, so I waited until now and splurged by buying two different designs (trains and union jack) 

Since Stirling is beginning to eat solid foods.. I started off this week with trying a pureed peach and breast milk... I thought it was a great idea BUT Stirling is not too fond of the peach... so now we are going to try the avocado again. Since I am making his food, naturally I need storage for his food! I have been doing loads and loads of research/ review reading and figured I would try the kinderville brand storage cups. I thought these looked awesome because of everyone's reviews and also because they are not plastic (trying to not support petroleum products as much as possible). I received them in the mail today!!! They are much bigger than I had expected, but I think I will enjoy using them. I also got these really nice little glass storage rectangles made by innobaby. I actually had no idea they would be glass, but I think I am going to have to splurge on buying more of these after my next paycheck, mainly because I love the locking lids! Last but not least, we finally found a store that sold Sophie the giraffe!!! Words cannot describe how hard I have been trying to find this 100% rubber teething giraffe for the baby! I just want to say that Baby Bliss in Southlake is one of the best stores I have been to in ages ( I have a weird obsession with wooden toys, and they had loads of them... SO EXCITED for when we can purchase some more wooden toys for Stirling!). 

Well, enough about my crazy money spending this past week, but I feel that Michael, Stirling and I will all benefit from these purchases. I cannot wait until Stirling starts crawling, but am not looking forward to rearranging everything in the living room to be baby safe.  

GOODNIGHT ALL!

My Heart's Leading

Over these past three weeks while I have been taking three graduate classes, I have not had much time but I have had an hour drive to and from the Fort Worth Health Science Center to think. I have come to realize and understand much of attachment parenting. Although I may not agree with some of the stuff, I have realized that naturally I do practice certain aspects of attachment parenting. I believe that this is just possibly a motherly instinct. What really tugs at my heart is that society's techniques in relation to raising a child, especially an infant veers away from what is natural to us all compassion and the gift of parenthood. A parent and their child have a natural bond, I mean how else would a baby be able to pick your breast milk over other breast milk if there was not a strong natural connection. I feel as if society is not encouraging us, as parents, to get to know our child and their needs. 

Today I was told something so offensive I almost cannot believe there are people out there who think this... I was told that holding and cuddling a baby "too much" can be a form of child abuse... HOW ON EARTH CAN TENDING TO THE NEEDS OF YOUR CHILD BE CHILD ABUSE, last time I heard, CPS has never gone into a home of a loving parent and taken their child away... where has compassion gone?! Obviously out the window for someone who believes that you can hold a baby too much. Getting out of my soap box, I just have to say some children are naturally more dependent and some naturally more independent, hence why a parent should get to know the needs of their child, but to think that no child should be held and put a limit on loving a baby is just absurd and very offensive in my opinion. 

All in all, my only wish is that parents trust themselves and listen to their hearts and instincts when raising their children. It takes work to create a healthy home for your child, so why not first begin with trusting the parenting instincts you were naturally given. 

P.S. If you are interested in a book that supports, inspires and educates you, please please please read Attached at the Heart: 8 Proven Parenting Principles for Raising Connected and Compassionate Children by Barbara Nicholson and Lysa Parker or give this book to a momma at the next baby shower you attend! 

Introducing Avocado, not Cereal

I know that many people have been trying to almost force me into introducing Stirling cereal, but something inside me just does not feel comfortable with this decision. I would much rather introduce our child to food that he can enjoy the taste rather than start him on something that  is practically tasteless. Stirling is still breast-fed,so I really see no need for the added nutrients that cereal has...

In all, introducing food to a baby within their first year is not for nutrition, it is for the simple introduction of textures, tastes, and smells of healthy food. In my opinion, this cannot be done if he is getting cereal.

After knowing what I wanted for Stirling, I decided to search for something that also agreed with my opinion and even educated me on how to introduce healthy foods within the first year without the use of cereal. I stumbled upon a book called, Baby-Led Weaning by Gill Rapley and Tracey Murkett.  I think this is a great start to the way we want Stirling to be introduced to food; I think I am going to be using my own variation of baby-led weaning, but I am excited to finally introduce food into Stirling's diet!!