The Best Worst Camping Trip Ever

In 2009, my husband and I celebrated our 1st anniversary. We were entering that "almost broke, but at least we're broke together" phase of our relationship. We decided that to celebrate year #1 we'd take a cheap little camping trip up to Big Sur. The campground I really wanted to stay in was booked up (San Simeon Park). So I found another, private campground, that has plenty of sites open for the weekend. The website made is seem like it was a great place- with a stream large enough to play in and float around on tubes lazily. There was also a little store and bar beside it. There were several trail heads within walking distance of the campground and the sites were nestled in between Giant Sequoias. Beautiful, right?

We'd also be celebrating my birthday since it is only 2 days after our anniversary. For my birthday I'd asked for a new Colman camping stove. I received one, it wasn't Colman, but it seemed to work just fine so I was thrilled. (This becomes an important detail.) Now, I've been camping with my family since I was too young to remember. We usually went camping in a small trailer, but sometimes tents too. Over years of watching my meticulous mother, grandmother, and aunt pack for tons of camping trips, by osmosis, I inherited their type-A precision in packing all the necessary camping supplies, beyond the basic tent and sleeping bag. Everything we needed would fit into a.) the cook stove's storage bag, b.) the Rubbermade tub, which doubles and a nightstand in the tent or side table by the campfire, or c.) the ice chest.

We hit the road nice and early and drove to Anaheim. (Pit stop for the day at Disneyland!!) The next morning headed up the coast to Big Sur. Gorgeous drive once we got on the 1! We found the campground fairly easily got checked in, found our site and set to work pitching the tent.

The downward spiral:
The camp site was SOOOOOOOOOOOO small and sooooooooooo close to our neighbor's. We figured it'd be ok since no one else was checked in around us, and online the campground wasn't booked to capacity. WRONG! By nightfall it was packed was LOUD large camping groups. So whatever, we cracked open the wine, and got that fire going and cooked a delicious meal. Our nearest neighbors arrived after us and literally set their tent up within arms reach of our camp fire. Really!!! Who does that?

Camping Pet Peeve: Blasting loud music. I'm not a fuddy-duddy (well maybe a bit) but I go camping to get away from this kind of noise. I don't wanna hear your "Best of the 90s mix tape", R&B slow jams, or anything else for that matter. I just want to hear the sound on the wind in the tree, crickets, birds, crackling fires, and kids riding their bikes. That is it.

Then, all night, seriously all night one of the neighbors' infants cried and cried and cried. I'm talking like ear infection horrible screaming. Camping with babies is totally fine, but if your child is screaming for hours on end at 2am and you're tent camping.... go sit in the car, go for a drive- everyone in the campground will thank you. Poor baby. Poor baby's mom bc you know she was stressing out. Poor campers within earshot- it was baaaaad.

We should have known the day was not going to be quite as we planned. I got up and set to work whipping up some eggs, bacon and pancake batter for breakfast. Guess what wouldn't light? Yep- the dang camp stove (Note to self: buy the Coleman brand when it comes to things you really need to work well! So we had PB & J instead. :(

We were looking forward to a day of floating lazily in the water...... wrong! There were SOOOOO many people it was rediculous. It was more like a kid stew- yuck!

See that tent to the right of Colin- that's NOT ours!!

Plan B to the Rescue: Hit the road and explore Monterey. Neither of us had been since we were kids so it was a great adventure. The aquarium was awesome. The weather was beautiful. I love that my husband is easy going. Our nice relaxing camping trip turned into day tripping up and down the coast for the next few days, but we had a blast.

Seriously- how darn cute are these Sea Otters?!?!?

We got creative with our camping cooking. Yes, I know we had a fire, but we had planned on the cook stove so we didn't have the things more suited for fire cooking.

The trip could have been ruined. So what we didn't get to have all the delicious camping meals we'd planned. We could have been grumps and been cranky about the situation, but we made the best of it and ended up having a fantastic trip! What matters most is how we spend the time with those that we care about most- it doesn't really matter if everything goes as planned or not.

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Getting Going with Cloth Diapers

So... long before we even entertained the idea of having kids, I got it into my mind that I wanted to use cloth diapers. My mom had used them for my brother and me, but other than that I knew no one who was presently using them. I figured that I would just make it work when the time arrived. Well as soon as I found out I was pregnant, before we'd shared our good news, even before I'd even tiptoed into the huge world of baby stuff, I announced/asked to my husband "We're going to use cloth diapers, ok?" This question honestly wasn't really a question, but I put it that way to test the waters. To my surprise, Colin was pretty much on board. He had a lot more questions than I had even begun to think about, but we decided to make it work.

I did tons of research and I now know more about cloth diapers then I'd even imagined I would and there are still a few things I don't quite get, like wool covers for example. (More on this later.)

Anyways, I decided that an easy way for us to ensure that we would be able to continue cloth diapering through all stages of a pre-toilet trained toddler was to get diaper service. We are very fortunate to live a city that has diaper service available- Earthy Baby Diaper Service (update: Earthy Baby was bought by Pannalino Diaper Service- I've been super pleased with them!) is fabulous! (If we didn't I would be washing them myself though.) I'm the kind of wife that is great at somethings, but laundry is one of my LAST priorities. Luckily, Colin seems to be ok with this. We tend to put off laundry as long as we can and then once its clean I'm notorious for having 2 baskets of clean laundry sitting about for days. I know, I know it's a bad habit. I'm working on it.  I also was realistic with myself that washing diapers probably would be a higher priority, but not a task I was willing to take on with everything else especially once I went back to work. So our wonderful relationship with our diaper service began! There a bunches of sites out there that can walk you through starting up with cloth diapers (either with a service or self-washing them). After a year of using 99.9% cloth this is what we've found works the best for us.

Here is what our stash includes:

-Diaper Covers: Bummis & Thirsties have been our fav. I'd like to try making them, but haven't found the time to get sewing. Both brands' sizes run different so we used them at different weight stages. The Bummis x-small was perfect for my little 6lb 14oz 21 inch long!!! newborn. Talk about a string bean!

-Fleece liners: Helps to wick away moisture on long car rides and over night.

-Bio-degradable liners: Start using this when you start your babe on solid foods. Up until then all the poops wash right out and you don't have to remove it before washing. I've tried a couple brands- they both worked fine. I think I'll keep buying which ever is cheaper at the time. These you just lift out and plop into the toilet and flush away most of the mess. (Yes, sometimes you still have to rinse off poo that missed the liner, but really it's no worse than wiping up that cute patootie on your baby.)

-Diaper Pail, aka Trash Can with a good lid: Honestly the Simple Human rubbish cans are really nice, but so pricey that I couldn't bring myself to buy one. We use a Safety First diaper pail at my MILs house (she cares for our daughter during the week), but this pail is not big enough to hold a weeks worth of the larger diapers (I think it's only 10gal.). So this is a good purchase (cheap) if you'll be having someone else care for your baby during the day or if you're going to wash your own more than once per week. At our house we picked up a 13 gal. bin at Bed, Bath & Beyond, which is the perfect size for the large wet bag our diapers get delivered in. We also have mini trash can for wipes. (We use disposable wipes. I think this summer we'll switch to cloth, but for now this is what we use.)

-Extra wet bag for the diaper pail at our MILs house makes bringing them home e-a-s-y.

-Wet Bags for your diaper bag 2-3 to rotate. I've been though several kinds and my favorite is the Bummis small wet bag for day trips and the medium one for over night trips. Update: I found some time and made a bunch of wet bags in various sizes from PUL fabric I picked up at JoAnns.

I get most of our Fluff on amazon. The only down side is you can't touch it first, but once you find what you like its easy. Returning stuff to them isn't too tough either. There are several good baby stores in San Diego that carrier CDing supplies, but amazon has just been easier to buy from.

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How do you measure a year?

Seriously! The fastest year of my life just happened.

So, I feel like I'm not alone in the "Yep, I went through a RENT phase......" (No shame!) I was thinking about how to measure this past year and tapping into my past love affair with RENT seemed slightly appropriate...

 This past year has been measured in....

Weeks, months, days, minutes, seconds, and lots of contractions.

Us!

In tears (Lill's and ours), 2 hour nursing/sleeping schedules, and ounces of precious milk. 

In visits to Hemet, trips to Disneyland, and skillfully packing a car for camping.

Papa Lee and 2 week old Lilly

Sleepy smiles

Sometimes all you can do is rock.

In tummy time, tubby time, and first smiles and giggles.
In diapers, in bottles (not finished), in stuffy noses.
In quiet moments at 2am and Saturday morning snuggle time.

A perfect day

Baby toes!

Really, it doesn't get any better.

On the move!

In rolling, scooting, and finally crawling!
In pointing, babbling, and first words, Dada, tat (cat), a-dog-a (dog), and finally Mama!!!

Beginning to stand up

Practicing hunting for eggs

In teething, and standing, and stepping around.

"Hello? Grandma!"

Happy St. Patrick's Day

In sloppy kisses, in hugs, and in those big baby blue eyes!!!









Measuring in love doesn't even begin to explain it!

Look out I'm ONE!

 Thanks VERY MUCH to everyone who has given us support in our first year as parents. We are loving every minute of it!!! (Yes, even at 2:30am.) Lillian you are better than we ever dreamed you would be, you make us smile every day, we have fallen deeply and madly in love with you, and we treasure every moment we get to be with you. God bless you Lill!




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New Nursing Mother's Essentials

There are so many reasons to choose to nurse your baby. I'm not going to go into that because I'm not an expert and I'm sure you're capable of trolling the internet for that info (the website I linked below is fantastic by the way).

Like many moms-to-be I went to a breastfeeding class which was very informative, but really even though I was 30 weeks pregnant at the time it all seem so far off and foreign to me. What I really wanted was someone to tell me what I really needed to have on hand to make nursing something I would want to continue doing for as long as possible. So here is the advice I wish someone had passed on to me:

Nursing Essentials:
1. Lansinoh Nipple Cream- think chapstick for your nips- apply before/after nursing EVERY TIME to keep things from getting dry and cracking. By the way- its also great for extra dry spots on your own hands and on cradle cap! There are other brands available too. I went with this one. Which every kind you pick get one that you do not need to clean off before nursing.

2. Nursing Cover- you don't "need" this, but it seriously makes nursing in public WAY easy and comfortable. I never leave home with out it and we use it for SO many other things too. It makes a great: car seat cover to shade the baby in the car or while sleeping in the car seat or stroller, blanket, and a shopping cart cover when I've forgotten it. (Hooter Hiders are my favorite brand, but there are other options out there, too. I think those ones are larger though- which is very good when your LO gets bigger and more wiggley.)

3. Good nursing bras for day and night. (Target has some great ones!)

4. Heating pad or one of those rice filled microwavable packs (a warm compress before nursing really helps get things flowing and helps to be sure you fully drain your breast when pumping).

5. Bookmark this website: www.kellymom.net one of the BEST nursing resources I've found.

6. Pick out a good breast pump.  I have the Ameda pump and I love it. I also used the Medela pump I rented from the hospital. It was fine too. If you're going to be pumping 3 or more times a day while at work just get a good one. Before I was pumping I thought it was SO odd to get a "used" pump, but now I get it. You could get a used motor and then you buy a fresh kit of the actual part that goes on you (the flange) and fresh tubes. It wouldn't be unsanitary at all. But really, if this is your first child and you're planning on having more kiddos- just get you're own. The investment will be worth it.

7. Nursing pads. There are a bunch of brands- just try a few until you find what you prefer. I like the Lansinoh kid as far as disposable ones go, but I have some washable ones too.

Don't worry if nursing doesn't go perfectly in the hospital. I was so frustrated with it there, but once I got home (and didn't have nurses and people watching my every move) it was WAY easier. 

Find a lactation clinic (or visit a consultant if your insurance provides them). It is really helpful to visit the clinic to see how much your baby is getting in a feeding and to be sure his/her latch is correct. 

Happy nursing and don't give up if you're having trouble- seek out some support. AND if things really don't work out... don't beat yourself up over it. You're not a terrible mother. The most important thing is that your baby is nourished and loved.
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