a Hot Coco kinda day

a warm bit of heaven to try and sooth my soul

It's been 3 weeks now of someone being sick in my house. It all started 3 weeks ago with Danika getting strep.  By that weekend I had it. Then Danika went to school on Monday and called crying about her throat. I picked her up and took her to the dr the next day when her fever was 103. Tested for flu it was negative. So the dr suggested that we get some blood drawn to see if it was viral and mono. So I asked for the dr. to test Danika for Factor V Leiden since their dad has it. By the end of the week Lucas had strep (Yay) and we got the results that Danika's other thing was not mono but was a viral infection. She finally is all healthy and back at school this Monday. Tuesday me and Lucas had her viral infection while neither of us have had a fever he lost his voice other than that he's been fine. Me on the other hand I feel like someone took sandpaper and rubbed it up and down the inside of my throat! Today I seem to be slightly better! Yay I hope that this means I am on the up swing of this!

So last night the pediatrician called with Danika's results on the Factor V Leiden test. She has the  heterozygous form of the mutation. So basically she is at higher risks for getting clots in veins and may cause deep vein thrombosis (DVT). But the risks aren't as high as someone who had the homozygous form of the mutation which is good news. The pediatrician stressed that she not ever be around cigarette smoke, start smoking when older or work in an environment where there is heavy cigarette smoke. She needs to stay on a healthy diet and it's important that she never becomes over weight. She will also be limited on birth control options later in life and will also have to most likely see a perinatologist as well as an OB if she ever gets pregnant. We will have to make sure any medicines she is given do not increase her risks of getting clots. There is a chance the boys have it to we will find out for sure sometime when they need blood work done.

I knew there was a chance she had it but knowing now is kinda hard it makes it a reality. Now I have to try and protect her from something we have no control over. She may live her whole life with never having an issue from the disorder. It just really makes me sad that she's not "healthy" and there is nothing we can do to fix her we just have to wait and hope she doesn't fall apart. I think probably in a few weeks the initial shock of the news will wear off and it'll just be one of those things to remember just in case but right now I want to hug my babies to me and keep them all safe even though that's not really possible.

my little princess

So I'm having a hard time copeing with knowing she really has this disorder. And as I sit here finishing my hot coco all I really can do is pray she will be ok and nothing bad will ever come to her, but it's hard to have that kind of faith in the unknown. Maybe I'd cope better if I didn't have my hormones outta whack from pregnancy but they are so I'm just sitting here waiting for school to be over so I can cuddle my little girl extra tight today because I think that's really what I'm needing right now.

Another Sunday Night

Tonight we enjoyed a pleasant pot blending of Caribbean Breeze Herbal Tea (mix of strawberries, apples, elderberries, citrus peel, rose hips, hibiscus blossoms and rose petals), Apple Lemon Pomegranate Rooibos Tea (mix of green rooibos, apples, pomegranate seeds, lemongrass, cherry bits with pits, cardamom, red rose petals, & pomegranate blossoms ) with a hint of Peppermint Herbal Tea mixed in. This is one of my many favorite blends of tea it's especially yummy iced in the 100+ temps we get here in the summer. The boys spent their chill time messaging each other through their DSs. I love the brotherly bond they have and how they love spending time together sending each other silly messages instead of just vegging watching tv!

Woohoo finished ordering more diapers!!

Ok so now that my credit card is smoking I think I've now got everything I need ordered! Today I ordered:
2 kissaluvs pail liners
12 kissaluvs bamboo/hemp doublers (the price was to good to pass up)
24 Organic Birdeye Flats
Snappis
A Gallon of Allens Naturally Laundry Detergent

So that's it! I still have stuff I want to buy but I got everything I think I actually need to successfully CD Javan onces he's born!!

100% Organic Cotton Vs. Plain 100% Cotton

There are many options when buying cloth diapers (to say in the least) and while trying to sort through which ones I wanted to invest in two options kept coming up. Organic or non-organic cotton and bleached or unbleached. So I've been doing quite a bit of reading and will cover bleach vs unbleached in a different blog. So here is the skinny on Organic vs Non-Organic Cotton. This is mainly about the farming and harvesting part since that is where there is a big difference really. These are lists of facts I've gathered from all my reading compiled into one place for maybe better understanding and easier comparison.


Non-Organic Cotton:
*typically treats seeds with fungicides or insecticides
*uses genetically modified organism seeds for approximately 70% of US grown cotton
*Synthetic fertilizers are applied to the soil
*soil requires intensive irrigation
*Highly toxic herbicides are applied to kill weeds
*Highly toxic pesticides are used for pest control
*25% of the worlds consumption of insecticides are used for pest control on cotton
*use toxic chemicals to defoliate for harvesting

Non-organic cotton farming uses 2.03 billion pounds of synthetic fertilizers (formaldehyde, sodium lauryl sulphate, parabens, chemical dyes etc) per year while only using 3% of the farmland.



Organic Cotton
*Uses untreated seeds
*Never uses genetically modified organism seeds
*Living soil is the basis of the organic farm
*Soil enriched by compost and other organic matter
*Builds strong soil through crop rotation
*Soil retains water efficiently
*Weeds are physically removed instead of chemical methods
*Uses beneficial insects, biological and cultural practices to control pests
*Maintains a balance between pests and their natural predators through healthy soil
*Relies mostly on the seasonal freeze for defoliation to harvest

 Benefits of growing organic:
*protects surface and groundwater quality
*reduced risk insect and disease control by replacing insecticide with the manipulation of ecosystems
*long-term prevention of pests through beneficial habitat planting
*conservation of biodiversity
*eliminates the use of toxic chemicals used in cotton
*organically grown crops also yield soils with higher organic matter content, thicker topsoil depth, higher polysaccharides content, and lower modulus of rupture; therefore reducing considerably soil erosion
*saves lives pesticides & hazardous chemicals are believed to cause up to a million cases of poisoning a year and 20,000 deaths)
*no formaldehyde  (used in the finished product) and according to NCI (National Cancer Institute) study, there is a link between formaldehyde exposure & cancer in the uppermost part of the throat
*no nickel is used which can cause skin rashes

USDA Organic Standards:(just a useful tidbit)
Four principal labels for organic cotton fiber products are:
1. 100% Organic Cotton. This must contain 100% organically produced cotton
2. Organic Cotton. This must contain 95% organically produced cotton
3. Made with Organic Cotton. This must contain at least 70% organically produced cotton.
4. Made with  __% Organic Cotton. This must contain the percentage of cotton advertised.

So I don't know about you but for me it's an easy choice when buying my cloth diapers to go for the organic option when ever available because if your baby is wearing non-organic cotton diapers they are exposed to the pesticides and chemicals that were used to grow and manufacture the fabric. I find buying organic when ever possible helps send a message that I want a better place and cleaner environment. And this is one thing I can feel great about supporting!

Yay! Ordered more cloth diapers!!

I placed another order today with Cotton Babies. I ordered:
3 Proraps classic in newborn
3 Bummis Super Brites in small colors blue, green and yellow
1 Bummis Fabulous Wet Bag size medium in yellow
2 Seconds BumGenius 3.0 One-size cloth diapers in white
1 BumGenius BabyLegs in William (got this item for free)

I've almost completed my stash! I just need to order my flats, my 2 laundry wetbags and laundry detergent! and hopefully get my diapers that I registered for :-) and then I'm good to go!

Duh

So I've definitely hit that brain dead part of pregnancy. I am forgetting things left and right and can't remember stuff I've done the day before. This is so frustrating! Ugh! That and typing has become a challenge since I can't remember what I started typing about in the beginning lol! And I find myself just sitting around staring off into space! This is why i haven't blogged in a few days! Maybe I'll get some good sleep tonight and my brain will functions again!

AIO vs Pre-fold with Cover

Someone asked me today what my thoughts on this topic were so here's what I told them!!

Good question! I have owned 1 AIO and never got around to using it, and let a friend have all my cloth diapers with the directions to return when done and 1 they never used them and 2 threw them away (needless to say it's a good thing he was one of my best friends cuz I wanted to kill him!!) . That being said at this point in time I have no plans to buy any AIO.


So from my readings this is what I think of AIO diapers:

Pluses!! They are the closest to a disposable diaper as you can get! They are a water proof cover, diaper and a liner all sewn into one, no stuffing just one thing to strap on to the baby. That being said you can buy diaper doublers, inserts or prefolds to add absorbency if you have a heavy wetter (in that case to me it seems like just as much work as a pre-fold with a cover).

AIO draw backs. They are like the ultimate diaper & so is the price! Also never having used one they seem like with everything sewn together it will take longer to dry and just like disposables you only get one use out of each diaper once used it has to be washed again. Lastly if something goes wrong with it that's a whole diaper gone :-(

Pre-fold/flats/contoured or fitted diapers can all be used with a cover. The reason I'm going to be using pre-folds and flats is because you are able to customize the fit as your baby as it grows and your baby's shape better than with an other diaper. The folding techniques are really really easy to do and with most covers you can just fold the pre-folds up like a newspaper and lay in the cover and go! Unlike AIO during every diaper change all you have to change out is the diaper not the cover unless it gets soiled so you need less covers. I also like the fact that if a cover does get dirty I can wash it in my sink really quick if I need it asap and they line dry in like 15 mins! The only cons I can think about for this type route of diapering is 1. not everyone knows how they work so you'll have to teach who ever might have to change your baby how to do it and 2 it takes maybe a few seconds longer than and AIO to do (I'm just assuming this since like I said I've never actually used and AIO but have used disposables before but with practice I'm sure prefold and cover will be just about as fast as AIO diapers).

And for an example I'm going to use BumGenius' products for pricing:

AIO (I was told you need 24 diapers to get through 2 days of diapering)

BumGenius 3.0 deluxe AIO (these come in x-small, s,m,l so you will have to buy more as your baby grows) $382.80

Organic option

BumGenius Elemental One-size AIO (fits baby from 7-35lbs) $598.80

Pre-Fold (you need 24) & Cover (you need 6)

BumGenius Flip One Size Diaper Cover (they are supposed to fit baby 7-35 pounds and I was told you need only 6 for 2 days) 6=$83.70

BumGenius Flip Insert Stay Dry (these aren't pre-folds but these are their non organic option) 24=$118.80

Organic option

BumGenius Flip Insert Organic (it's an actual prefold) 24=$190.80

Summary

AIO $382.80 vs Prefold & cover $202.50 and these AIO don't grow with the baby so you'll have to buy more as they get bigger! That's a $180.30 difference

Organic AIO $598.80 vs organic prefold & cover $274.50 with a difference of $324.30

So for me Prefold and Cover is a much economical option for me and I'd have less of a problem replacing them than an AIO if something did go wrong. I put in the two different price options because I plan to use as much organic products as possible and from what i've read organic cotton is more absorbent than regular cotton. So this is all just my personal opinion so take it for what it is lol bet you didn't think you'd get a novel for an answer :-D