First day in a cloth diaper

• 12 - 18 cloth diapers. Less if you really do want to just test the waters... after all, they're not cheap up front if you're really not sure...
• 1 Small wet bag for carrying in the diaper bag
• 2 Large wet bags for your Diaper Dekor. Or whatever type of trash can you use.
• 1 drying rack
• Fragrance free detergent. I use Shaklee.
• 1 adorable baby. After all, you need this if you're even going to attempt to cloth diaper.
• Patience. 
• A husband that supports cloth diapering even though the snaps are hard for his big man hands to snap sometimes.

3 months old. Holy Crap.

Dear William,
I'm sure I'll say this every month, but I truly cannot believe that you have been in our lives for 3 months already. Sometimes it seems like only yesterday that we brought you home. And other times it feels like it has been so much longer.

You continue to bring such an absolute joy to our lives with your smiles and, more recently, your adorable little belly laughs. I love watching you discover your personality and know that in the months and years to come that we will continue to be blessed with such a happy little boy.

That said, stop growing up! :) Momma is not ready for you to start doing things like rolling over and moving around quite yet! You try so hard to roll from your back to your belly and vice versa when we play together on the floor. And you have gotten so strong when doing tummy time. You even have developed the ability to army crawl on the floor. Once you get moving, we are going to be in BIG trouble.

We just started using a walker that Grandma Karen bought when your cousin Riley was just a baby. Sure, its almost 13 years old and there's nothing fancy about it... but you, my dear, love it. You are so proud of yourself when you are standing up tall and you use those chubby little legs of yours to push off the ground and give me the biggest smiles while doing so. You are getting to be so big and just thinking about you growing up makes me want to cry.

You continue to be a terrible napper during the day, only giving me about 20 minutes here or there. And most of the time you prefer to sleep on me, rather than in your crib. But we're still working on it. Luckily, you seem to like your aquarium that Nana & Papa got you for Christmas so sometimes you'll lay in your crib and watch it and then eventually take a little snooze.

You are a great sleeper overnight and have set your own bedtime! You now go to bed around 7:00 and will sleep over 12 hours with a midnight or later feeding and an early morning feeding. Most of the time when you are ready to get up in the morning you are talking to yourself in your crib and when I come in to get you, you are all smiles. Oh, and you continue to be a squirmy worm and love to move yourself around in your crib. Its pretty funny when I come in to get you and you've squirmed your way 180 degrees from the way I put you down. You've also gotten really good at being the incredible hulk and breaking yourself out of your swaddle. We'll see how much longer the swaddling lasts with you.

You love your dog, William. You watch her so intently when she walks into and out of a room. I like to think its not because you're so bored playing with me every day but  that you just find her (and her tail) so fascinating. She hasn't given you any real kisses yet. She just prefers to come and smell you with her very wet nose when you're on the ground or in your walker. And we are very lucky that she is a patient big sister with you.

You are a drool machine these days, little man. And you love to chew on your Sophie. Or anything you can get those little hands on. You are getting so good at holding things and bringing them to your mouth, with the occasional poke to the eye, of course. I'm convinced that you are in the early stages of teething which would explain why you yell at me from your crib during nap time and only like to take your pacifier occasionally at best these days. We shall see what the next month brings.

In the morning, you and I sit on the floor and play together while momma drinks her coffee and eats her breakfast. It's become our little routine together. And every time that I take a sip or have a bite, your mouth starts going and your tongue comes out and you mimic my eating. Once you have the opportunity to eat real food I have a feeling you will do so like a champ.

Your favorite toys right now are your caterpillar, firefly, captain calamari and, of course, Sophie the Giraffe. But, pretty much anything you can put in your mouth has become your favorite toy these days... including your hand, your sleeve, your receiving blankets and burp cloths. We've also watched Baby Beethoven a couple of times and the puppets seem to be your favorite part.

You and I survived our first work week without daddy when he traveled to Utah. Overall, it went really well. We had some visits at our house and went out a couple of times to keep ourselves busy so that momma didn't go stir crazy. And by the end of the week I could tell that you were done with me and missed your daddy. And sure enough, when he got home you went to bed really well for him and got back onto your normal schedule without a problem.

You are also almost exclusively cloth diapered! That was a big step for us to take but it is working out so well with you. We have to use disposables here and there if your cloth diapers aren't fully dry, but we have developed our system and overall I am loving it. Plus, you look adorable in your cloth diapers. You get very excited these days when you get your diaper changed or your clothes changed and are all smiles for us (most of the time!).

Thank you, William. Thank you for amazing your momma every day. Thank you for being such a huge part of mine and daddy's life even though you are still so small. Thank you for being such a good little person and for bringing smiles to our faces. You light up my world and I love you more than anything.

Love,
Your Momma

William. 3 months old. January 29.