Cloth Diapers and Paperwork

Nearly every day Brian and I look at each other and comment on how much the baby has grown overnight. I suppose that's because he is literally growing overnight. At his eight week check up he was 12 lbs 5 oz (5.6 kilos) and 24 inches (61 cm) long. Now nearing the 90th percentile and outgrowing many of his clothes!

We're using cloth diapers on Riker and we're really happy with them. We used disposables for the first week so we wouldn't have to wash those tar-like first poos out of cloth but since then he's been in cloth. We decided to use a very simple cloth diaper system to start - prefolds and covers. There are some very fancy cloth diapers out there but we decided not to invest in any of those before he was born and we could find out what type would fit him best. Prefolds also fit a newborn better than some of the other styles out there. The set we are currently using was a gift from Heather and was purchased on ebay for only $55. That's a pretty good deal considering the price of disposables and the price of some modern cloth diapers! In the last couple of days we decided to use up the newborn disposables that were given to us before he out grows them and find them to leak more and not provide any additional convienence. Here's our stash including Chinese prefolds, Pro-wraps, Thirsties and Snappis:


With prefolds, you simply fold the absorbent cloth square and secure it with a Snappi fastener:

Then you cover that with a waterproof cover. This is my favorite style (Thirsties brand). They're very soft and come in lots of fun colors!

Once the diaper has been used, it goes into a dry bucket (no rinsing required) and then the whole bucket goes into the laundry once a day. Easy. We're also using cloth wipes and they just go into the same bucket as well.

We like the prefolds so much that we might just stick with them instead of getting the more expensive pocket diapers. I'll have to order a bigger size by the time he reaches fifteen pounds or so but that's still significantly cheaper than pockets which can be $20+ per diaper. I have ordered a few just to try them out though. I settled on a brand called Nubunz which appears to be a knockoff of some of the name brand varieties like BumGenius, but at $9.50 each, a much better deal.


There's quite a bit of paperwork to do when having a baby overseas. We have to travel to Sydney to get a Consular Report of Birth and then we have to get a Social Security number and a passport which is sizable stack of paper and requires amongst other information for both of us to list everywhere we've every been in our lives. We thought we'd take a shot at taking his passport photo ourselves and here are some of the cute ones:



Finally, a funny video of the little guy asleep in his rocking chair hitting himself in the face:

The Birth Story of Riker Donald McMillin

Seven weeks old and I've just managed to finish writing the birth story from my perspective. Fortunately we have our midwife's notes from the event because I'm in no way claiming that my version of the story is temporally accurate :)

I had originally said that I would post the birth story here in its entirety once it was completed but it turns out to be seven pages long. So if would like to read the birth story, I'm happy to share the gory details...just leave a comment or send me an email and I'll forward it to you.

RikerCam

A few images from week six:

So in love...

Oh those little toes!

In his Green Baby onesie from Auntie Liz and Uncle Keith. Appropriately, he wore this to a BBQ with my workmates this weekend :)

Almost a smile...

Six Weeks and Growing

The tricky thing about breastfeeding, I find, is that you never really know how much milk you are producing and in turn, you never really know if what you are producing is sufficient for your baby. So I've spent a fair bit of time over the past six weeks worrying whether or not he's getting enough to eat. I was worried because he had a somewhat traumatic birth and then we had some difficulties establishing breastfeeding so I wasn't feeling very confident about the whole process. But all along he's had wet and pooey diapers and seemed happy and content. Today I took him to the local community clinic where you can drop in to weigh your baby and chat with a nurse. And I'm very pleased with the results! Here are his vital stats:

Birth weight: 3.9 kilos or 8 lbs 10 oz
Six week weight: 5.2 kilos or 11 lbs 8 oz
33% increase!

Birth length: 53 cm or 20.5 inches
Six week length: 57 cm or 22.4 inches
10% increase!

He's in the 75th percentile across the board. That's my boy - growing up before my very eyes....

Master Riker

I just received new insurance policy cards since Riker was added to our plan and I quite like them :)


Wikipedia tells me that Master is an English title used for young and teenage or unmarried boys and that they are not to be called Mister until some undefined age, generally around thirteen. The title is mostly used for formal correspondence or invitations but feel free to call him Master Riker anytime :) You can also call him Number One as some of you have affectionately suggested :)

Photo of the day:


Master Riker is finally asleep and it's 12:30 so I can eat lunch at a reasonable time today. Maybe that will help to mend my clearly dysfunctional brain. Today I found my wallet in the refrigerator. I'd put it in the grocery bag yesterday and the whole thing just went into the fridge when I got home. Ah, that's a funny story too. Yesterday I had coffee with an American woman who lives two blocks away in Lyneham, has a twelve week old baby (girl) and a nearly identical birth story (posterior, brow, forceps), a husband who works at CSIRO (same organization as Brian) and she is from the Cleveland area. Funny eh?

Last random tidbit that shows I'm operating on auto pilot. Brian told me that in the middle of the night I was snoring loudly, awoke abruptly saying "sssshhhhhhhhh" to the baby and then went promptly back to snoring.

Sleep and Smiles

The days continue to fly by and some semblance of order is emerging out of the chaos. I'm getting a bit more sleep as the baby has been sleeping pretty well at night for the last few days. He's been getting about 3-4 hours sleep and is then up for an hour before going back to sleep for about two hours. Who'd have thought I'd ever think that that qualified as good sleep? Everything is easier with some rest and I even cooked dinner the other night for the first time in five weeks!

Here is the first smile photo I've managed to capture:


In his bouncy seat in the sun:


Babywearing mamas. At the Birth Centre annual picnic with Amy from our birth classes and baby Emily. Riker and Emily both happily cocooned in wrap slings.


On the ANUgreen veranda for Mitchell and Ailis's farewell party before they move to Atlanta. Ailis and Riordan, Barry and Riker.


Barry and Riker. Having heard his voice next to me in the office for all those months, they're mates already.