You guys. HLNTV was the first news source to actually contact me for a real interview, so I have to share this because THIS brought tears to my eyes. And it's the #2 story on their site right now!!
Feel free to share this one all over and help #makeclothmainstream
And, I finally have something worth saying again.
I first discovered Spray Pal while pregnant with Tiny Viking. I had researched every aspect of cloth diapering I could think of. I can't remember which number blog or article I was on by the time I found this company, but it's well over a dozen. Someone mentioned the name and said it totally changed their life. I had to know. What WAS it? A poop splatter shield?? WHAT!? Then I read some more about it, including peoples thoughts after using it and I thought their product sounded GENIUS. Which, BTW, it totally freakin' is. I had looked up how much the diapers were going to cost, which led me to realize it wasn't just the same diapers and safety pins my Gramma had used. There were SO many cute prints! It was also... SO incredibly overwhelming trying to decide what type of diaper to try! So... we didn't. It still sounded so costly and how was I going to find the time to clean them? Hah. If I'd known then what I do now I would have started before. I will try to remember to post my journey to Cloth another time. (We still only use it part time but I love it!)
When Tiny was a few months old, I once more pondered cloth and I Google searched Spray Pal for MORE info, where I stumbled upon a Facebook page. The Cover Photo showed a row the teeniest cloth diapers I had ever seen, outside of a doll aisle. They gradually went up and size until the last had an adorable smiling baby boy in it. "The only point in looking back, is to see how far you've come" reads the image. I followed their page so that if we ever did make the switch I wouldn't forget the name of their company. As they made new posts and I searched through the older ones, I gleaned new/old information about this smiling boy, Ryan, most often mentioned as #minispraypal 2.0. He was a 25 weeker, a micro preemie born at 1 lb 13 oz! And, here I had thought my 5 lb 7.4 oz baby was small, I can't even imagine. One post of theirs really stands out in memory of the first time he sat up on his own in the bath! It was right about the same time Tiny had done the same thing. Which made it really sink in how much of a delay preemies can have, and it really sank in to me how far he'd come.
From then on I didn't just wait to randomly catch posts, from time to time I would just go to the page and see what new was going on. Then I started stalking them on Instagram when I ventured down that particular rabbit hole. There have been many times now that Tiny and Ryan hit the same milestones very close together, sometimes he gets to it first and sometimes she does. I cheer just as enthusiastically at my computer for this boy, as I do in real life for my own babe.
I cried with the first posts of his getting to do "sprints" off of oxygen and of pulling himself up for the first time. There were the first aided steps and the first surgery attempt for his cochlear implant. His birthday bash looked amazing! There were good news days and there were further delays and finally a second successful surgery! It was most recently "activation day," and I barely slept the night before, I was so excited for THEM! His cochlear implant was turned on and he heard his Mom's voice for the first time. And, giggled!!! The video she posted made me smile, made me laugh and made me cry a lot more! The story has been featured on Huffington Post and PopSugar.com
If you need a pick me up, all you need is to see the pictures or videos of this Miracle boy rediscovering the world around him. Did I mention he's weaned fully off oxygen during the day? No more tubing to get caught up in! I seriously get so excited for him. I can't wait to keep watching him grow. He is going to do BIG things.
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