Fluffaholics Anonymous

My name is Mummy Bear and I have a *slight* fluff addiction.
There is little that gives me more pleasure than a massive fluffy bottom.
I find myself stalking big bottomed babies at playgroup and wondering it they're wearing cloth.
I've actually had dreams about buying nappies. And woken up disappointed that I don't actually own them.

I'm not even monogamous to a brand, I'm a complete brand slut. Bumgenius, Tots Bots, Motherease, Onelife, Tiny Nippers, Alva, Cotton Bottoms, Blueberry, Bambooty, Rumparooz, Little Lambs... I don't even think that's an exhaustive list. And I still have a wishlist of brands I want to try! Gah!

Is it bad that part of me wants to go back to work so I can afford more? I haven't bought anymore since I've been on Statutory Maternity Pay. Actually that's a lie, I bought two more Bamboozle Stretchies. But they were preloved and I sold squishes Teenyfits for them. See? It's an addiction - I feel I have to justify buying.

Squishy Bear is full time fluffy bottomed. He doesn't wear fancy brands, it's generally Motherease Sandy's or prefolds in the day and Onelife Onesize at night. We don't get leaks very often (unless I haven't put the wrap on very well!) and my only issue has been clothes. He's a big boy anyway, 12lb 12oz at 7 weeks and pretty much at the end of 0-3 months clothes and therefore the clothes are pinching his nappies and wicking. My mother (who is not a cloth convert, she has a nasty habit of changing BB into a sposie as soon as he gets to her house) tried to put a pair of jeans over a Sandy and a motherease wrap and failed. So he pretty much lives in babygrows. Easy, comfy, and he's warm in the sling with a hoody and some booties on.

Baby Bear however wears sposies to bed at night. But we ran out the other day and I put him in a Tots Bots Bamboozle Stretch, two bamboo velour boosters and a flip insert with a Blueberry Coverall and a fleece sleepsuit. Watching him walk down the hallway like John Wayne was enough to make me fall off the loo laughing. He kept squatting to inspect his bottom and was quite befuddled at the size of it. Daddy Bear wasn't convinced at all. But it worked! The nappy was completely saturated but my fears of him waking up in a puddle of urine were unfounded. And the next night a similar combination worked again, but he's poorly and an unfortunately timed poo meant he woke up with a sore bum :(
I'll try again when its healed.

For now I'm just staying away from the preloved pages...

five weeks and couting...

35 weeks today! and waddling awkwardly around awkwardly after a 16 month old Baby Bear who is becoming increasingly challenging...

He can run... fast. He can screech at the top of his voice and does so when he wakes up, when he's tired, when I'm taking too long to sort his food, when I say no, etc etc.

But he is very cute. I woke yesterday morning (to screaming) and when I went into the room I received a beautiful beaming smile and the words, "Morning mummy. Biscuit?"

Yes. he strings words together, and is amazingly vocal. He can repeat most words (note to self, stop swearing) and uses a lot of words in context. That sentence came out as 'moooornin mummeee. Biskeet?' but its very obvious what he's saying most of the time, or at least what he's after. For instance, when he received said biscuit, and ran to me smiling cheekily. 'Guppatee? Dip-dip?'
which translates as 'you appear to have a cup of tea, can I dip my biscuit?' He is funny.

I'm starting to get really tired though, and I try my hardest not to snap at him. It's not his fault I'm pregnant. It's not his fault I have awful SPD and Daddy Bear works evenings so at bedtime I have no tolerance for him when he doesn't want to bath or go to bed, and that I can' take him to the park to play because I can't walk that far. I'm finally starting to accept help - if a member of my family offers to take him out for the day, I do say yes, so he gets a good day. Even if I feel bad about it...

On a brighter note, I love having a fluffy bummed little boy! I'm struggling with absorbancy issues at the minute, my Close Parent pop-ins are lasting 2.5 hours max, even with a bamboo booster, the Blueberry one-size pocket with a hemp insert was soaked and leaking through after 2 hours today and my massively boosted eBay cheapies aren't doing much better (so he looks like Beyonce but still not lasting very long...) I stripped them all with a dishwasher tablet and they're a bit better but I think I need more absorbent boosters. And more nappies...

I've ordered some Tots Bots Bamboozle Stretchies, some Little Lamb Bamboos, a Tots Bots easyfit, and Itti Bitti Tutto and some Blueberry wraps to give other nappies a go, hopefully I find something that works better for us.

Eagerly awaiting fluffy post!
xxx

It's Time to Get Fluffy...

So there are things I did with BB that I won't be doing this time round.
-Listening to other people's advice without thinking about what I wanted
-Moving him into his own room early
-Trying to put him down a lot
- Having constant visitors in the first few weeks
- Not accepting help
- Not doing what I wanted to do because other people said it wouldn't work
And it goes on....

My biggest regrets would be stopping breastfeeding too early and not cloth nappying.

I'm not going to put massive pressure on myself to breastfeed for a set amount of time, I just know I want to go for as long as we are both happy, however long that may be (despite DB's objections that they are 'his' boobies.... ) I'd love to breastfeed for a year+, but let's see how it goes!

And using cloth. I told everybody I wanted to use cloth when I was pregnant with BB. Had I done as I'd wanted and not listened to my mother/mother-in-law etc about how much hard work it was, I would be laughing. I'd have a full set of cloth nappies by now which I could use for Little Bear, and would have had a lot more disposable income for pretty ones!

So I'm slowly building up my stash, which includes so far
2 Newborn Bumgenius
1 Newborn Bambooty
1 Newborn Tiny Nipper
2 Size 1 Little Lamb microfibre
2 Small Motherease Sandys
3 Various small wraps
3 close-parent pop ins
1 blueberry one-size pocket
2 cheapy pockets
and a bundle of boosters

which sounds like a lot, but it isn't enough! Because I'm moving BB over to cloth as soon as I've got some more. I'm going to have a trial cloth day next week and if we get on with a particular brand, get some more.]

I must say, seeing all my fluff drying on the airer makes me excited! But is a dangerous addiction... I dream about nappies, spend most of my day shopping for nappies or talking about nappies or trying to convince DB we need two matching custom nappies for the boys! I can't wait until next payday - I NEED MORE FLUFF!!!!!!

Got my way in the end!