Consignment Shopping and Yard Sale-ing

Hello all! I can't believe how quickly times passes for me now that I am a mom. It is hard to believe that May is more than half over! I am super happy today because my college roommmate who is one of my closest friends just had her baby this morning! A baby boy at that. I am really looking forward to rasing our sons together.

A few weeks ago I made a weekend adventure out to Warrenton to attend a consignment, community, and yard sales. It was a great weekend for it and we fould lots of great finds! We were able to get some larger toys and lots of clothes/shoes that were all in great condition. At one house alone we picked up a large bag of clothes with nothing but name brand clothes and shoes like Polo, Gymboree, Baby Gap,stride Rite, Saucony, etc. This mama spent A LOT of money on her son's clothes and she was pregnant with a girl! In order to make the most out of second shopping, I would recommend a few things:

1) Go early- It is true that the early bird catches the worm. You are able to get the first pick at the nicest items. The only downside is that because it is early the seller may not be as willing to negotiate.

2) Be Picky- Take your time and look over items completely before you purchase. I have been burned a few times by rushing to buy something because it was name brand or a "good deal" only to find it wasn't in very good condition.

3)Don't be afarid to haggle- For the most part, people are more than willing to work a deal with you to unload their stuff. That last thing anyone wans to do is haul their sutff back into their after putting it all out. But remember to be reasonable!

4) Look for name brands- More often than not, if you spend more you get more. I have found thi to be especially true with baby/childrens clothes. Name brand items last longer. As an example, E inherited a Polo hoodie from his cousin who is 16! Name brands companies also tend to make less trendy items which can be worn forever.

So there are a few of my tips for getting the best items at a bargain. Children's clothing is a great item to purchase second hand because they grow so quickly that the items are usually never worn. And most importantly you can save so much!


I am posting a few pics of the E's new rocking dinosaur and our new backpack carrier. Grand total for these items...$7!

Nursing

What a gorgeous day we have today in VA! I still cannot believe it is already May. Where has the time gone? Emory will be 8 months old tomorrow and I will be celebrating my first real Mother's Day this weekend (to a human anyway). E is so active and seems to be growing/changing everyday. And while I love seeing the changes, it does make me a little sad. I completely understand the cliches everyone told me about children growing up so fast.

With all these changes, we are coming to the end of another phase...nursing. My milk supply has gradually decreased since I returned to work but I have still been faithful about pumping several times a day. Whatever milk I do get, gets mixed in with the bottles he takes while I am away. He is drinking formula like a pro and is eating 3 jars of food a day now! He has put on weight and is our little chubster! He has very little interest in settling to nurse during the day anymore which makes me long for the days when he nursed all the time. Now the best time to nurse seems to be morning and night. I never realized how attached I would become to breastfeeding but I really am. I have really enjoyed the closeness we have had and bond we've shared which is why I have struggled so much with giving it up. Even thinking about not nursing makes me anxious. Because I thought pumping was becoming stressful, I thought I would stop pumping and just nurse while at home. I experimented with this on Wednesday and it didn't go well for me. I was sure I would feel this overwhelming since of relief and freedom but I didn't. The day was fine and I was busy but I missed the time away from my desk. I feel like pumping is my "Mommy Time" and not having that left me a little lost. So the pump is back and I am going to gradually "wean" myself rather than trying to quit cold turkey. Funny, right? I have to "wean" myself. My plan is to do it 2X per day this next week and then bring it down to 1X per day for a couple of weeks. Depending on how I feel afterI am planning to fill my new found time with going back to the gym. that, I will stop pumping at work altogether and just nurse morning and night.

When I allow myself to separate from the emotions and think objectively, I know I have a lot to be proud of. The statistics of moms who quit nursing soon after returning to work are so high. And like a close friend told me, it isn't really me it is my body and E telling me it is ending. This is the same amazing body that has taken me on countless runs, suffered through a Half Marathon, carried my precious baby for 9 months, and healed after a C-section. How could it be wrong?!?!

Cloth v. Disposable

After getting lots of advice from some cloth diapering mamas, I have decided to dip my toe in the pool and give it a try! It was something I have always wanted to do but when I read about it when I was pregnant, I felt completely overwhelmed. And honestly, I am not sure I could have handled cloth diapering in those ealy days when you are changing so many diapers with a screaming baby in the middle of the night. So now that things are little more predictable I decided to give it a whirl. There are a few reasosn why I personally wanted to try them out.

1) Cost Savings- The intitial investment in cloth diapers/covers can seem a little much but once you use them they eventually pay for themselves.

2) Environmental Impact- It is no secret that diapers sit in our landfills for a LONG time. So even using these part time would elimate some waste.

3) Longing for the "Good Old Days"- Sometimes I feel like I was born in the wrong time period. I appreciate technology and all it has to offer but I long for simpler times. I really try to apply this principal more than ever now that I have E.

I was given some great recommendations but most of the options are available only on-line. I had a bit of hard time understanding how they worked so I felt it would be
good to go with something I could actually see. The only option other than the basic cloth diapers were the g Diapers which I found at Babies R Us. Target had nothing but plastic pants. So I purchased 2 G Diaper covers for approx. $21 after a 20% off coupon. It also came with 3 pocket liners. Initially I tried using them with the generic flat fold cloth diapers which I folded and placed in the pocket liners...not so great. They are not very absorbent. I had really wanted to get pre-fold cloth diapers but wasn't having much luck finding those at Babies R Us. So I went back to the web and searched for another option. I ordered g Diaper Cloth Inserts ($25 for 6) which are made of fleece and hemp cotton. Again, you line these in the pocket liners. Prior to using you are supposed to wash (w/o detergent)and dry 6 times. Honestly, I washed them twice before using after reading some reviews. This was better but still not perfect. Back to the web/FB I went and it seems that you do need to change cloth diapers on a more strict schedule than disposable no matter which brand you use. After learning this the hard way while out errand running on Saturday, I tried another attempt to make this work. I found Gerber Premium Pre-fold Cloth Diapers ($11 for 6). The pre-folds works great! Just like I had thought. I just fold them up and put them in the pocket. Part of it is slightly doubled over to fit which provided extra absorbency. My other option is using the g Diapers cloth insert with a flat fold (fairly thin) diaper. Of course both of these leave you with a bulkly but but once you have that cute booty in that diaper cover..who really cares? So there it is my adventures in cloth diapering!