Sick Days

A couple of days ago I got sick. I realize not everyone is a nurse and

people don't want to hear the gory details so I will just say Gastro

it's not pretty. Everett got up early to try to find me, when

he did he took one look at me and ran for Daddy's arms. I am not

kidding, that is how bad I looked. I was a disaster. Fortunately I have

a wonderful husband who loves to watch his son. While I laid in

bed all day, Dylan took Everett to work for a meeting, and

kept him out of the house all day. At night when Dylan had to work

my parents agreed to watch Everett. I felt bad asking, because I knew

they would agree, even though they had just gotten home yesterday.

At 8:45 my mom brought Everett home tried to sneak upstairs and put

him to sleep. I went to checkon them, curling into a ball on Everett's

rocker. From his changetable Everett who hadn't seen me all day turns

his head, smiles, and gives three big kisses. It just melted my heart.

Here I was feeling the worst I've felt in years and with one small

gesture that boy made me feel wonderful. Everett went straight to

bed. And my mom left. The last thing she said was "If he wakes up

tonight call me, I'll come get him." Not that I would ever do that but

that too melted my heart. I just hope one day yearsfrom now Everett

will be as greatful for Dylan and I, as I was for my parents on Tuesday

night.

Fortunately it was only a 36hour sickness, but then Everett got sick.

It sucks to watch your baby get sick but whats even worse is to not be

there. I had to work, and Dylan was off. So Dylan stayed with him.

Dylan is a very capable father. He took 3 months paternity leave, he

knows how to take care of his son. But I felt I should of been the one

with Everett. Maybe its because Im his mother, maybe its because Im

a nurse, maybe its because Dylan didn't know what Pedialyte was.

Either way it broke my heart not to be with Everett when he was sick.

Now that he is better-ish, I can actually see that it was better that

Dylan did stay with him. Everett and Dylan had been having some

bonding issues the last couple weeks, so it's nice that Dylan got to be

the one to hold and cuddle the sick little guy.

Daddy and Diapers

Now I know I'm lucky, my husband completely supports my decision to cloth diaper. He isn't lukewarm towards the idea, he doesn't hesitate between disposables and cloth, he does cloth. He is a Cloth Diaper daddy. If you ask him why he does it he will likely say "because of my wife" but that is not true he does it for our son. Everett has SUPER sensitive skin and cloth diapers work best for him.

Do not be fooled he knows his cloth diapers. He prefers velcro to snaps, but likes that Everett can't undo snaps. He likes to match Everett's cloth diapers to whatever sports team is playing. He could care less if it's organic cotton or cotton, he does not care if which insert is to suppose to go with which diaper he will decide on the best combination based on his needs and finally he will NOT ever do prefolds. He happily travels using cloth, he prefers cloth to biosoakers and gdiapers.

All that being said there are definitely some interesting daddy and diaper moments. Daddy used to wash the diapers when he was on paternity leave, but now that he is working full time and I am working part time it's mostly back in my hands. Last night though I asked Daddy to do the diapers well I was working. As soon as I got home I went to change out of my scrubs and took them to the laundry room where I discovered a washer full of suds. "Dylan how much detergent did you use" "A full cap, why?!?!?" Ugh we have a front loader...not good. It took six washes to finally be suds free. SIX WASHES!!! I had to wonder why not just use the tiny bubbles...it's fool proof? Why not just call and ask? Why? But I can't really complain I mean my husband does wash cloth diapers.

We have had a couple other funny moments...but honestly I will take all the funny moments because I am lucky my husband is a Cloth Diaper Daddy!

What a Great Day!!!

Everett woke up at 4:30 this morning!! 4:30.....Seriously 4:30, before him, that was bedtime for Dylan and I. 4:30 is not morning!! Unfortunately he just couldn't settle, he tossed and turned and cried out for a couple more hours but just couldn't get a restful sleep. I was determined we were going to have a bad day...besides the 4:30 wake up call, I had a dentist appointment and had to cancel a playdate.

The first good thing to happen was Hart Hanson retweeted something I said to him...it wasn't really anything amazing or super thoughtful, but he obviously thougt it was important enough to retweet. I know its super small but it made me smile! That's the thing about Twitter, it connects you to people you normally would never be able to connect with. I think Hart Hanson is amazing because a) He's Canadian, b)He writes/directs/produces/runs my favorite show Bones, c) He seems like a real good person...like the kind of person I would trust Everett with for an hour.

The next good thing...was not the dentist appointment. No Everett won a contest by Robeez. The contest was post a picture of you child in his most patriotic outfit, Everett wore a Baby Kanga (Canadian Company) and his red Olympic mittens. I believe he was the only Canadian baby to win this week. YEAH!!! Everett wins a free pair of shoes. Im super thrilled with this since I love shoes so much!!

And then...Everett was playing in the bonus room, while daddy and I sat talking. He undid his diaper...both daddy and I said "Put that diaper back on!!" Instead Everett turned walked down the hall and banged on the bathroom door. Daddy put him on the toilet...and he immediately peed!!! At 13 months old it's official I think my little guy is a genius!!! I was sooo proud, daddy is sure its a coincidence, but I'm pretty sure he's a potty training genius!

And then to top it all off at bedtime he went to bed without a fight. I think the toddler bed may be a success!

Then Daddy called to announce Cineplex was hiring for his dream job as a booker. A temporary position but still a foot in the door. Although moving to Toronto is the last thing I want to do, it is Daddy's dream, and they do have Sick Kids that I could go work at...if he gets the job.

All and all a very good day for the Hodgson family!!

Bumgenius leading the way...again!!

So today while I was on twitter Bumgenius announced there new advertisement in Pregnancy magazine. Since I don't read Pregnancy magazine I would not of been aware of this add campaigne had they not mentioned it via twitter.We will get back to the advertisement shortly.

See the thing is Bumgenius is a cloth diaper manufacturer, in the cloth diaper world I would say they are golden standard in cloth diapers. They're also a gateway drug to other cloth diapers :) The thing about Bumgenius diapers is how super easy they are to use. Often referred to as Daddy and Grandparent friendly. They really are no more difficult then a disposable. The truth is when we started cloth diapering my local retailer suggested I pick out 3 different styles to try, so I did...BG 3.0, BG AIO and BG Organic...all Bumgenius. They worked, they did exactly what I had hoped, besides catching what they're ment to, they convinced Daddy that we could cloth diaper!! Since then we have crossed over to different brands, but our fail safe nighttime diaper remains Bumgenius 3.0. I could tell you all about Bumgenius but really if you're interested in cloth diapers you already know about Bumgenius. And if you're not and want to know more visit there website bumgenius.com

So back to the ad, which will appear in 3 different magazines. They are the first and only mainstream cloth diaper company I have heard of advertising in a magazine. My hope is that they're advertisement will draw attention to cloth diapers in general. I don't care what kind, just to get the word out there!! Bumgenius is a cloth diaper leader in many aspects. It doesn't matter if you like there product I am sure every cloth diaper mommy out there is just thrilled to know that there is soon to be a real advertisement out there for cloth diapers!! So this March go check out Pregnancy Magazine, Mothering Magazine, and Pregnancy and Newborn Magazine to see a real life Cloth Diaper Advertisement!!

My Baby Reaches Another Milestone

So today Everett and I were up playing in his room while Daddy took a shower. The truth is Everett was in his crib running back and forth playing, and I was slightly neglecting him while checking my facebook. Things were a little to quiet, and I quickly discovered why. I looked up to find my little monkey had climbed up his crib, with both legs and over, balancing his body on the front and side rails. WHAT?!?!? He's 13 months old. How is this possible??? I knew immediately something had to be done. I can't say I was surprised by these turn of events, my little man has gotten more and more daring in the recent days.

After some thought I came up with two solutions. The first was to switch the crib into the toddler bed. The second option was to purchase a crib bubble/dome/tent or whatever you call it. After some thought and research I decided to try Everett in the toddler bed, I would give him 2 hours tonight in the toddler bed. If he was still trying to escape tomorrow I would look into buying a dome. As I was transforming the crib to toddler bed a lightbulb went off...Remember that episode of Gilmore Girls where Christopher calls Lauralei because GiGi keeps escaping from her crib, so Lauralei turned the crib around? Why didn't I do that????? Instead of reassembling the crib I decided to wait for daddy .

In the mean time I brought Everett into his bedroom and his eyes lit up when he saw his bed had been changed. He spent half an hour getting up and down from his bed, laughing and talking.

We decided although we both agree Everett is to young for a toddler bed, however we also agree we aren't willing to risk Everett climbing and falling out of his crib. We prepared for bed as normal and then the fun would begin. Dylan and I were both prepared for a terrible night. We knew we would be taking turns returning Everett to his big boy bed. Just like SuperNanny says, no talking just returning him to bed. We put him in his bed, tucked him in after story time, and said goodnight. And then....wait there is no and then...That was it. He went right to sleep. Apparently my baby is ready for his big boy bed...it's just Daddy and I who aren't.

What would you have done?

So today Daddy insisted we visit West Edmonton Mall...on a SATURDAY!!! This is not a regular occurance in our household. Honestly I avoid that place like the plague on weekends!! It is way to crowded and really, one of the few perks of shift work is avoiding crowded places on weekends. As I was waiting for the elevator a mom came out of little store yelling. "I CAN'T SHOP WITH HER!!!" indicating her three or four year old who was crying. Whoever was waiting outside calmly stated "Then leave her here, I'll watch her." Instead the mother grab the girls upper arm and yelled "For F**CKS SAKE" and marched her off! She yelled it loudly enough to silence everyone around us, and again the mall was packed! I was disgusted so I turned to tell her exactly what I thought. I mean someone has to stand up for this child. Unfortunately I had Everett in the stroller and was surrounded and couldn't get to her. There we at least 60 people who witnessed this and no one said anything , although I sure tried. Is this group think? Am I wrong? Should I have fallowed them? I feel that no child, especially young child deserves to be sworn at. I also know the risks of dislocating a shoulder in young children and although usually unintentional it does happen frequently. If a mother is going to behave like this in public what happens at home? I completely understand that shopping with a little one can be so frustrating, and I know that the mall was packed making it even more stressful, but does that make this behavior okay? And do I have a right to judge, speak up or interfere?

Happy Birthday Daddy!!

This is Daddy!

This is Daddy's Birthday cake....

This is Daddy doing his daddy things with me!

A Friday night off???

So in this household Daddy works Friday nights. Honestly it doesn't even faze me. I did the same thing for 8 years. It's part of the job, just like working Easter, Thanksgiving and Christmas. Discussion over, but not really but that's a whole different story. This Friday was different. Daddy didn't work!!!! So Daddy and I went out. We never go out anymore. Not since Everett joined us. We're not complaining, because we are lucky my parents live 5 minutes away. They happily watch Everett, we just don't go out together anymore. Anyways we went and we saw Hart Hanson speak. Who's Hart Hanson???? Well he's the Big Guy in charge of BONES, my favorite TV show. Was he here in Edmonton to speak about BONES? No, not exactly he was the Keynote speaker at a writer's conference. The closest I will ever be to a writer is writing nurse's notes. But being a diehard BONES fan I had to go!!! We paid $60 so as my husband put it I could watch a couple of BONES clips. We both actually enjoyed ourselves. But here's the kicker, it was over by 7:15. 7:15!!!! Our night out and we were home by 8pm!!!! We then went and had Indiana Jones birthday cake at my parents. Back home for 9pm!!!

When Dylan and I first started dating we would stay up after work until 3 or 4 in the morning. I mean you get off work at 1am, 3 or 4 seems reasonable. We aren't party animals. We don't drink, but we used to have fun! I just don't get it 9pm on a Friday night!!! When did this become our life? The sad thing is I don't think either of us minded.

Next time I want to question why Dylan works every Friday night I hope I will remember this. He can work every Friday night if it means he has Tuesday off to go swimming with us. Or Thursday's off to help with grocery shopping, or join Everett at Gymboree. Cineplex can keep there Friday nights, because somehow Tuesday afternoons are of a lot more value in this household!!

Just a couple pictures of a typical Everett day for Wordless Wednesday

Cloth Diapers On Ellen

Dear Ellen,

I know you must think we are a crazy bunch of moms, bombarding you with requests to see cloth diapers on your show. That's the thing about cloth diaper moms (and dads) We're passionate!! Once a family tries cloth rarely do they go back to disposables. Every family has there own reason for choosing cloth be it the environment, to save money, a sensitivity to disposables, health concerns, there are just so many reasons to choose cloth. Maybe you aren't familiar with modern day cloth diapers. I wasn't until Everett was born. They really are as easy as disposables. I feel I am qualified to speak on this as an expert. I am a nurse at a pediatric hospital. I change diapers for a living :) I can have a baby changed in 20 seconds flat in both disposables or a pocket cloth, what does that tell you? Super Easy!!!

While recently sharing my experience with cloth at work, an older coworker stated "We cloth diaper our kids 20 years ago, we did it for the environment, we thought we were making a difference. Why are people still using disposables? Are they just not listening?" As a mom who new nothing about cloth before baby, I don't think it's that they aren't listening I think it's that new parents just don't know. They don't know that there are other options out there! Ellen, think of how many moms watch your show, if we could convince 5 moms to try cloth that would save 25, 000 diapers from landfills, with just 5 moms switching.

The truth is we are a family who choose to cloth not for the environment, not to save money, but because our Everett needs it. He is super sensitive, 3 days in disposables and he has a rash! Ugh no one wants a bum rash!! I never knew about how easy modern cloth was. I didn't switch until Everett was 6 months old. For 6 months we battles the rashes with no luck. Had I only known sooner I could have saved him 6 months of pain and irritation. Please help spread the Cloth Diaper Word.

To help spread the word I have included a couple pictures

Thank you