It's another cold one...

Chicago is in the middle of a 36+ hour winter weather advisory, and we're supposed to receive 12-14 inches of snow by tomorrow morning. Taking Mico out this morning was chilly! Tye stayed cuddled up against me, barely visible, her wide eyes taking in all the whiteness. Just wait until later this afternoon, when we're supposed to have whiteout conditions!

On blogging...

I haven't always been a blog reader. During the original blogging craze, I heard bloggers described as people who spend their lives writing about their lives, and I was certain that anyone who lived in front of their computer had little interesting to share. The few blogs I came across were just that, and so I decided that blogging and following just weren't for me.

A couple years ago, while teaching in Northbrook, the social worker on our team stumbled across a blog kept by the parent of one of our students. I read several posts and found it charming, insightful, and witty, and because much of it revolved around the student I taught, I found it highly interesting. And yet, I felt somewhat uncomfortable reading it because it was such a personal view into the family's life. Reading it felt almost like eavesdropping on a family conversation to which I wasn't sure I was invited. I believe I complimented the mother on her beautiful writing at the time, but I decided that our communication should happen in modes that encouraged two-way dialogue, like the communication notebook that went home every night.

As a Special Education teacher, I always worked very hard to establish deep connections with all of my students. Even in a population known for difficulty showing and interpreting emotions appropriately, a strong relationship can motivate a student to work hard when little else can. With some students, this bond takes months of effort to establish. With others, it happens easily, as if you just know that this child would have been your own best friend had timing been different. One of my students in Northbrook was like this. She was a tiny, sensitive-skinned girl with a beautiful mess of brown hair that seemed as big as she was some days. She ate the foods I liked, like spicy curries, salads with dried cranberries and blue cheese, and salsa by the spoonful, and we preferred many of the same activities- finger painting, swinging, cooking, and walking the therapy dog. She wore hand-knit dresses and home made coats that made me enviously wish the same items were available in my size. It was her mother who kept the blog, beautifully intertwining stories about her daughter's growth with her passion for knitting intricate works of wearable art.

When she left our program, I missed this student like I would miss a friend. I began reading her mother's blog daily- the first I ever followed. I chuckled when my little friend used scissors to take some length off her own hair, cheered on her progress with her private speech therapist, and literally screamed with joy when she was accepted into an excellent new school... but I never commented on the posts for fear her mother would think, for any number of reasons, that my continued interest in her daughter was somehow crossing the line. Two years later, she posted her first video of her daughter. You know how a picture is worth a thousand words? I think a video is worth several million, and I just had to comment on it. It was a big move- I was loosing my anonymity. Much to my relief, instead of posting about how creepy it was that some teacher never stopped following her child, the mother wrote me a friendly email in response to my comment. I was grateful to receive it, to re-establish two-way dialogue, and to be accepted as a blog follower.

Yesterday, I checked my email and discovered that I had a comment on one of my own posts- the student's mother, Jen, asked for my address so that she could send something to Tye. I checked her blog for her email address, and when I did, I saw her most recent post, titled "Bucktown Baby Dress." As I read it, looking at the photos of itty-bitty patterned stitching, my eyes welled with tears. Could it be for Tye? Really? I started following Jen's blog, the first I ever read, because I loved her daughter. Now I have my own daughter, and my own blog, and I'm reading a post about a beautiful dress that might be for my daughter and writing my own post about both of our daughters. I've decided that blogs can be pretty great after all.

Oh, laundry...

The first night Tye was born, the three of us cuddled together on our queen-sized bed in the birthing center and slept skin-to-skin. Co-sleeping wasn't something Tyler and I talked about. I had thought about it, but I decided we would do whatever came naturally when Tye came home (perhaps that decision was a decision to co-sleep, but I didn't know it then). When it came time for us to go to bed for the first time at home, Tyler said definitively, "She's sleeping with us tonight." Ever since then, we've been co-sleeping.

For the first few weeks of her life, Tye's breathing was sometimes irregular, which is apparently normal for newborns but scary for parents regardless. Not only did Tye's position asleep atop my chest those first weeks comfort me by confirming she was still breathing, but co-sleeping is actually proven to help regulate an infant's breathing and heart rate, as well as body temperature. Even now that her breathing is normal, I still worry constantly about Tye choking. I've never talked to other parents whose children dealt with this, but Tye actually chokes sometimes when she spits up as the milk fills her throat and nostrils. At times, Tye has gone 20 to 30 seconds without being able to take a breath. This happens probably five or six times a week. By holding her upright and tilted forwards, and sometimes using the bulb syringe, we can help Tye clear her airways and breathe again. But what if we don't know that she's choking? Often when this happens, Tye is completely silent, unable to pass air in or out. By sleeping with Tye on my chest or face-to-face on our sides, I know I'll have the best chance of waking if she chokes. So far, every time Tye has had one of these episodes in the middle of the night, I wake up either just as it starts or a minute or two before it starts. Call it what you will-- mother-child bond, maternal instinct, or Divine Intervention-- I am forever grateful that she's beside me when it happens. Co-sleeping has kept me sane through the nights.

Hands down, the best part of co-sleeping is the cuddle time. Waking next to her squirmy little limbs and smiley face in the morning is wonderful. In the mornings, we cuddle and play for a few minutes until she's ready to eat, and then she has her breakfast in our cozy, toasty bed. I feel like we're very intimately bonded because she's with me all day long, every day. By the time she wakes up from her long mid-day nap (which she takes in her cradle, thank God for video monitors), I really miss her. I can't imagine sleeping away from her all night long. Co-sleeping has such clear benefits for children, but I think it's helping me as much as it is Tye.

The down side of co-sleeping? Leaked diapers mean changing the sheets and mattress pad on a much, much bigger bed, as happened yesterday. I had to wash the sheets and the down-alternative mattress pad. On the topic of laundry, can I share my new favorite laundry product? I found these Nellie's Dryer Balls at the Crate and Barrel Outlet a while ago and am loving them.

Along with our Charlie's Soap, which we started using for cloth diapers but I love for all our laundry, these Nellie's leave our laundry soft and just slightly scented of natural lavender (not too much for my still-sensitive-as-a-pregnant-woman sense of smell). Of course, I would prefer not to use my dryer for energy-saving reasons, but unfortunately, winters in Chicago just don't lend themselves to line-drying items.

Anyway, I washed everything and put it back on our bed and we enjoyed nice clean sheets last night.... and I realized that I would change the sheets on our bed every day if it meant Tye could sleep with me every night.

Not that I want to, but I would.

HILARIOUS!

A spin off of Beyonce's Single Ladies...

I heart Etsy

I came across these beautiful slings by Get Carried Away Baby on Etsy.com this morning. They are stunning, and right now, half price (less than half what we paid for ours at sakurabloom.com). There's even a camouflage sling for "Mr. Wonderful." I'm considering adding another to our collection...

I also fell in love with these felted wool teethers by Babus. The soft but dense wool will provide a totally different texture than other toys, and they are just so cute. Look at this collection!

What a CUTIE!

taken Friday

ECing!

Today has been our first day of ECing. As of 5 pm, we have had 6 catches and 4 misses. In non-EC language, that means Tye has peed in her little potty 6 times today and in her diaper only 4 times so far (and one of those misses I saw coming, but let's just say, only one girl can potty at a time...). I didn't keep her on the potty chair all day, either- we only had 2 uneventful trips to the potty. To make ECing more convenient, Tye is wearing one of her SwaddleBees diapers with easy on-and-off snaps, full-length leg warmers, and an oversized fleece jacket over a t-shirt. This leaves her diaper uncovered, easily accessed for removing or checking. It's not waterproof, but it's super absorbent. Tye doesn't urinate much at one time, so any misses are easy for me to discover early and change right away, without risking a puddle or wet lap. While we get ECing figured out, this may be Tye's new uniform!

ECing is supposed to be about the process and reading your child's needs, not the outcome. However, I am extremely pleased with the outcome so far! At $.33 per disposable diaper (a number that will only increase as Tye grows into larger diapers), we've already saved $1.98 today over using disposables. Saving a couple dollars a day will certainly add up quickly. Compared to cloth diapers, I'll be doing much less laundry each week. And in terms of environmental impact, we're only using a small amount of toilet paper to wipe and a little water to rinse the potty chair- a huge savings over the garbage created by disposables or the soap and hot water used to wash cloth diapers.

Perhaps the best part of ECing, though, is already evident to me. I'm reading Tye's body language and her attempts to communicate with me and responding to those in a way that will keep her more comfortable. As she learns that I will respond to her signals, she'll make her needs known in more obvious ways, deepening the natural communicative process. The increased, intimate two-way communication builds a deeper bond between us.

More good news- I heard today that we are two-thirds of the way through meteorological winter. Spring is coming!