Samuel at *Almost* 21 Months

This Boy. This Samuel Harrison. I cannot begin to even describe this little guy. He is one of the most laid back, mellow, affectionate little boys I have ever seen. Most of the time. The rest of the time, this kid is  climbing. Everything. EVERYTHING. He is HILARIOUS too - the way he rambles his gibberish, his expressions, the things that he does with toys...too much.

He is starting to talk a lot more and show likes and dislikes in all areas. He LOVES Yo Gabba Gabba (just like his bubba and sissy!) and can't get enough of Brobee. He loves to eat and would all day long if we let him. He loves animals and babies and his favorite toys are cars, Nat's My Little Ponies, Cabbage Patch Dolls, books, and anything small that he can just carry around all day with him.

Some of his words are: Bow-beh (Brobee), Goggy (Doggy), Bye, Hi, Mama/Mommy, Dada/Daddy, Nini (what he calls his doll), Baby, Jump, Gabba (For Yo Gabba), Abbey (our cat), No, Deez (Please), Muk (Milk), Boat, Shoes, Eat, Nana (Banana), Coat, Socks...lots of words! He also "sings" along with music in the car or on TV.

He is obsessed with light switches, shoes and socks, and Brobee. He is starting to play with the other two, but still more of a parallel playing style. He loves any toys that make music and light up and with lots of buttons to press.

He is about 25lbs and 32" tall. Squatty boy. His eyes are really hard to tell what color they are. They are dark blue on the outside with a ring of hazel in the middle. I bet he'll go dark the way Natalie did. It took her two years for her eye color to change to green. His eyes are so round and expressive and he knows how to roll them already.

Some big news in his life is that we are in the process of figuring out some food allergies. He spent the entire winter with a terrible case of Eczema on his face, legs, and bottom. Nothing would take care of it. He also had a chronic runny nose, nasty poos, and would be irritable at bedtime. I took him into the doctor last week and she was 99% convinced that he has a dairy allergy. We have completely cut any and all milk/dairy from his diet. He is actually on almost a Vegan diet because he doesn't like to eat a lot of meat so I have been looking up a lot of Vegan recipes. I'm also learning that there is milk or milk proteins in so many foods I'd have never suspected - which makes me wonder what else is being snuck into food that we don't know about. While all of this is a pain in the butt, it has really inspired me to really think about the foods we are putting in our bodies. I've started making a lot more things at home so that I know what is going into them. I made some almond butter that Timmy says is better than the store bought peanut butter we have. All that is in it is almonds and a pinch of salt! I also bought cashews and peanuts so that I can make some other things that are high in protein that I know my boys love. Natalie, on the other hand, can't stand any type of nut or nut product.

We've had to switch his diapers (he is now using 7th gen dipes, but I am considering switching back to cloth because those dipes are insanely expensive.). We can no longer use the soap and detergents that we have been with him. I made a fresh batch of laundry soap for the entire family so that we don't have to constantly sort out Sam's clothes. I plan on making a dryer ball out of wool yarn so that I can get rid of dryer sheets.

I also have to limit/cut out as many citrus and acidic foods as I can, like certain fruits and veggies. I am learning so much from my friends who have had to deal with food allergies - and I'm glad that my sister dealt with this as a parent because my nephew had a LOT of food allergies when he was small like Sam. I think he has since outgrown most of them but may still have a few allergies.

If anyone reading this has any advice, tips, recipes, etc for children with dairy allergies, I am all ears! Thanks!

And now I leave you with a few cute pics of Sammy.

Eating lunch with Brobee

Reading, one of his favorite things to do

Gotta have a Brobee shirt!

Wearing Timmy's shoes

Swinging at Riverside Park

Fluffy Talk

Right now it seems cloth diapering has become "all the rage" online and off. I've been cloth diapering The Boy for over a year now and while at times I find myself becoming lazy and wanting to just switch back completely to sposies, I realize how much time, effort, and money we've put into making our child's bottom fluffy.

I've been really experimenting with the types of diapers and covers that work best for The Boy and have also been building up a nice newborn and small stash for Baby Girl. I've come to the conclusion that after I get this last batch in the mail (from a trade from a friend online) I will not need to buy either child cloth diapers for a long time and that is a relief! As much fun as it is to shop for fluff, being at stash nirvana is a blessing.

The Boy's stash is made up of mostly fitted diapers and a few pockets. My favorite diapers are his Cuddlebuns fitteds and his WoolDins fitted and bamboo prefold. They are soft, absorbent, and super cute! In fact, his WoolDins fitted is so thick I think he could easily go coverless in it, something we've never been able to do because he is such a heavy wetter.

For long naps and overnights we use Bum Genius 3.0 one-size pocket diapers and I have never had a major issue with these! Yes, we have had our share of random leaks but I find that they happen when it's approaching time for a good diaper-stripping. We have been able to go upwards of fourteen hours at night with a BG3.0 and have not had a leak. We do have to majorly stuff these and they become so bulky that he wears a lot of 18mo and 2T size jammies to fit over them, but who cares? He's going to be sleeping anyway. It's not like he's off to model his sweet tushie online.

Or is he? Yes, that is my son's fluffy-butt modeling his iced giraffes fitted diaper!

As for Baby Girl's stash, hers is mostly made up of prefolds along with a few pocket diapers and fitteds. I love using prefolds and they are so cost-effective, being the most affordable. On average, you can buy a dozen prefold diapers for around $20-$25 whereas it can cost nearly that much just to buy one fitted diaper.

Today I am trying something entirely new - receiving blankets as flat diapers! The fold took a little bit for me to get down, but I've got it pretty mastered now and The Boy is wearing one for the first time ever at this very moment. I'm really hoping this works out because if it has, I have just added something like fifteen "new diapers" to his stash!

The biggest drawback to cloth diapering that I have found is the amount of water used to wash his diapers. Honestly, it only adds an average of three extra loads a week, but once Baby Girl arrives it will probably be more like five loads. Our weather lately has been so inconsistent that I haven't been able to hang his fluff on the line as much as I'd like to and I guess I could be better about getting out there to hang it up or use my clothes bars. That would definitely save on dryer time and electricity. I actually do enjoy fluff wash. I love folding and organizing his stash each time. For regular fluff wash I use a detergent that is locally made and sold called Sunday's Wash and it is about $8 for 32 loads, but it works wonders and is so gentle on The Boy's bum!

Other products I use are Punkin Booty Bits for his wipe solution. The Boy gets a huge kick out of when I spray it on the wash cloth and on his bottom. It never fails to make him giggle! They have so many wonderful scents and are so affordable! For The Boy's wool I use Ewe Need It wool wash. It comes in many of the same scents as the PBB and works wonderfully on all of his wool!

I guess I could go on and on about fluff itself but haven't actually discussed why I chose to cloth diaper. Many reasons come to mind - less sposies in landfills, saving money, and it's fun! It's a great ice-breaker as well. I have come across some people that are a bit obnoxious when talking about cloth diapering. I am very passionate about cloth diapering, but I am not preachy. I fully admit that I do not know everything about cloth diapering. In fact, there is so much I have to learn yet about the many facets of this "hobby." If anyone is interested in cloth diapering, though, I am always happy to answer any questions!