New Diaper Bag!

I take my diaper bag everywhere with me and it has gotten very beat up.  It was waterproof which sounds awesome right?  Except that the plastic lining rips very easily.  Its a mess.

I was shopping with my mom the other day and I found an awesome diaper bag for cheap!  12 dollars?  Sounds good right?  I love it!

Cute and subtle print.  I love it!

It has pockets for everything!  Everything is in there and its smaller than my old bag.

Baby Wipe Solution

I made my own baby wipes a few days ago.  Here's a quick solution to wet them.  I like the simplicity of it and the fact that it is easy to modify to use the soap and oil that you like.

1 cup hot water
2 squirts baby soap
1 teaspoon baby oil

Mix well in a wipes box.  Drop your stack of wipes in and shake to wet all of the wipes.  Keep sealed to prevent them from drying out.  Wash with your cloth diapers!

Need to know how to wash cloth diapers or just washing wipes?

Check out How to Cloth Diaper Your Baby #3 Laundry!

Linked at http://frugallysustainable.com/ and http://www.jillshomeremedies.blogspot.com/

A Little Huckleberry Finn

I dressed up Little and realized that she looked like Huckleberry Finn (or Tom Sawyer says grandma).  Either way, she looks super cute.  Everyone keeps guessing that she's a boy.  I love it.

Its tiring being a little scoundrel.  :)

Prunesicles

I keep seeing beautiful popsicles in blog world and on pinterest.  They are beautiful and fun and--my baby is no where near an age where I could hand her a popsicle.

What we are making I'm calling prunesicles.  They are cute.  They are frozen.  They are not fun.

Little has been on a poop strike.  The kind of poop strike where you have to go to the doctor.  We are giving her prune juice every day to try to keep things moving.  The problem is, prune juice comes in quite large cans for an infant.  Enter prunesicles.  I'm freezing teeny cubes of prune juice so we'll have single (baby) portions ready to go.

So those cute popsicles you're making?  I bet they can't beat my prunesicles.  Come try one.  No, really.

Homemade Baby Wipes

I use cloth diapers most of the time but until now, I haven't used cloth wipes.  I've been thinking about it but we buy our wipes at Costco and it seems like we never run out.  I was thinking the other day, why does that have to stop me?  I'd like to have some backup disposable wipes anyways so I'm not worried about running out!


Cloth wipes are somewhat expensive to buy and very very easy to make.  Like seriously, if you have never sewn before, this is the project for you to start with.  I used a flannel receiving blanket to make my wipes.  I was thinking it would have been more fun to find a flannel sheet with a cool print at a thrift store.  Of course, that would make a TON of wipes.


I made my wipes about 8x8 inches (some a little bit smaller since the blanket wasn't exactly the right size).  That's a size that fits very well folded in half into a regular wipes box.  I plan on just putting solution in the box with the wipes so using a wipes box will make sure that they don't dry out.

Just cut the blanket (or sheet if you want a lot!) into squares.

A blanket will give you a pretty large stack of wipes.

Zig-zag stitch around all the sides of the wipes.  That's it!

Note:  Another cool thing about my wipes?  Years ago my great grandmother gave me her sewing machine and a bunch of her sewing things.  For this project, I used up most the thread on two of her bobbins.  Notice that there are 12 different colors of thread?  That is just most of the thread from only 2 bobbins!  It seems that she never took the thread off when she filled her bobbin with a new color.  Too cool!

Linked at http://www.iheartnaptime.net/

Co-Sleeping

I know this is counter cultural but we co-sleep with Little.  We have had quite a few different co-sleeping arrangements since Little was born and we have never slept with her in a different room than us.

During the first three weeks, Little slept in our bed with us.  It was so wonderful to spend that time bonding with our tiny baby.  At about three weeks, I was feeling like I needed some more time without a baby attached to me.

From that time until Little was four months old, she slept in a custom built cradle right next to our bed.  The cradle was built for my cousin (he's now 14!) by my grandfather.  It was right next to the bed so that I could reach in and touch Little or I could rock it if she needed motion to keep her asleep.  When she was four months old, she was getting too big for the cradle but it was really sad to move her out of it.

Now, Little sleeps in a crib next to our bed.  Occasionally, she still gets to sleep in bed with us if she is fussy.  She loves to nap during the day in our bed between Husband and I.  At night, I can still reach my arms through the bars of her crib to hold her hand or put a pacifier in her mouth.

Sleeping in the same room as our baby and even sometimes in the same bed has never been an issue for us.  Little is a good sleeper.  She generally only wakes up at night when she is hungry.

We have never had to worry about not hearing the baby if she wakes up at night.  We don't use a baby monitor at night.  Co-sleeping in the same room has been shown to dramatically reduce the risk of SIDS.

I love that Little is in our room with us.  Husband is a very light sleeper and he still enjoys having Little in our room with us.  Co-sleeping (but not only in our bed) has been wonderful for us.

Do you co-sleep with your child?  How does that work for your family?

Being a Mama in Real Life

So I had some big plans last night and today.  Ok, not really that huge but I thought that I could get the dishes done, make a good dinner (its not very hot so I can use the oven!), and maybe even make a treat for Husband.  And then reality happened.  Little was pretty fussy all day and I noticed that she felt warm.  Yep, she is sick.

Last night Little had a fever of 102.  That meant a lot of crying (just her so far) and not a lot of sleep (Little, Husband, and myself).  Last night, not only did I get nothing done, but my sweet girl would only sleep if I was holding her.  I spent the entire night sitting on the couch holding my girl.  Throughout the night she would wake up absolutely screaming.

This morning I took her to the doctor because she wasn't nursing well and I wanted to see if there was anything else we could do. The doctor decided that she probably has a virus.  My poor girl is trying to sleep it off right now and I am wishing she would let me catch a nap too.

Being a mama in real life is simply not as easy and glamorous as movies and such make it look!

Fun in the Sun!

It was a really hot day here on Saturday.  Its normally hot in the summer but we had a heat wave so the temperature was 10 degrees hotter than normal.  106 degrees.  Whew!  There isn't a lot you can do with a baby when its that hot.  We got a teeny tiny pool for Little!

The pool is absolutely miniature.  Only 30 inches in diameter.  I'm not sure an adult could even sit in it.

Cool swim suit right?  Its from the 80s.  Yeah, it used to be mine.

My mom got a whole bunch of squirty toys for Little.  She hasn't figured out the squirting but biting is fun!

How to Cloth Diaper Your Baby #4 Reasons

So here's my list of why we cloth diaper:

1.  Cloth Diapers are cheap


Cloth diapers are way cheaper than disposable diapers. We have bought a supply of 10 covers and about 30 inserts.  I probably spent $300 for all of them.  That seemed like a lot of money to spend on diapers but when I figured out that I could use the same diapers for how ever long Little is in diapers, the price looks a lot more reasonable.

I try to air dry my diapers most of the time. I did some research and dryer cycles cost about $1 per load.  If you are washing diapers twice a week, that can add up.  That would be over $100 per year.


2.  You can use the same diapers on every child you have

I plan on using the diapers we have now for 4 more children.  That means a couple thousand more diapers that I won't be buying.

3.  Cloth Diapers keep thousands of diapers out of the landfill every year

Babies use anywhere from 1000-3000 diapers every year.  Most diapers are made of plastics and take hundreds of years to decompose.  Our diapers won't go to the landfill.  They are diapers now, they will be cleaning rags when our kids are out of diapers.

4.  Kids who are in cloth diapers potty train an average of 12 months earlier

That's a couple thousand diapers I won't be changing.  Need I say more?

5.  There are no chemicals touching your baby's skin

I have super sensitive skin.  Little does too.  Disposable diapers are full of all sorts of chemicals.  I don't want those chemicals touching my baby's sensitive skin.

6.  Cotton is way softer than plastic

Cotton against the skin feels better than plastic right?  I love that cotton is what is touching Little.

7.  Cloth diapers are super cute

Little has solid colored cloth diapers.  There are a ton of options of colors and prints available.  That means that her diapers can match her outfits and when she is in dresses, I am never fussing with diaper covers.

8.  Cloth diapers are convenient

I never run out of diapers.  If Little is having a bad day and we are low on diapers, that's fine.  We don't have to go to the store.  I don't have to take her into the rain or the hot hot summer.  We can get some fresh diapers at home and quickly!

9.  Disposable diapers contain Dioxin

Dioxin is a known carcinogen (causes cancer).  I don't want even trace amounts of that against my baby's skin!

I love cloth diapers.  They are wonderful.  I love to talk about them.  I love to tell people about them.  I don't even mind changing them and washing them.  Want to hear more about them?  Have any questions?  Do you cloth diaper your kiddo?  I would love to hear about what you are doing.  Please comment and follow me!  Thanks!

Check these out for more information on cloth diapers:

How to Cloth Diaper Your Baby #1 Options

How to Cloth Diaper Your Baby #2 Diapering

How to Cloth Diaper Your Baby #3 Laundry

This post was linked at :http://frugallysustainable.com/

How to Cloth Diaper Your Baby #3 Laundry

Washing cloth diapers was probably the scariest thing for me before I started doing it.  Washing poop out of diapers just seems gross and potentially dangerous.  I wasn't sure how safe it was: would my baby be exposed to harmful bacteria?  Would I get poop on me?

We looked into getting a diaper service so that I would not have to wash the diapers but it was so expensive that we decided that I would try washing the diapers myself.

Laundry has turned out to be incredibly easy.

When babies exclusively breastfeed, their poop is water soluble.  That means that all dirty diapers just go straight into the bin.  We just use a large rubbermaid plastic storage bin as our cloth diaper pail.  When things get stinky, I pour some baking soda into the bottom of it.  Every time we wash diapers, I spray out the bin and let it bake in the sun.

Now that Little is eating solid foods, her diapers are slightly more complicated.  If there is a poop, you must do your best to get that off the diaper and into the toilet before you wash your diapers.  I just use a spatula and scrape the poop off the diaper.  Its not the most glamorous way to do it but its cheap and it works for us.  Another option is a diaper sprayer.  These little contraptions attach to the plumbing on your toilet and make a nice little jet of water to spray poop off the diaper and into the toilet.  Sounds more glamorous right?  Diapers with the poop removed go into the bin same as usual.

We wash diapers around every four days.  You can do it more often or wait as long as a week.  It really depends on your diaper supply and how big your washing machine is.  Remember that you do not want to have your load too full because you want extra water when you are washing diapers.

Washing diapers is really easy.  We wash the covers and the inserts all together.  Start with a cold prewash.  Wash on hot with half the normal amount of detergent (make sure the detergent is free from perfumes and enzymes).  We use All free and clear detergent but there are also detergents made specially for diapers.  Do an extra rinse and your diapers all all done!

Diapers can be dried in the dryer.  Make sure that your covers are only dried on low heat (this extends their life).  I have almost always dried our diapers on a drying rack.  In the winter, we dried them in Little's room (it works great to add humidity to the air) and now that it is summer, we dry them outside in the sun.  Drying diapers in the sun has the added bonus that the UV kills anything that might have survived the wash and it bleaches the diapers so that even the worst stains come out perfectly white.

That's it!  Your diapers are clean and dry and ready to go.  Not so bad right?  I do this several times a week and I know that I would definitely cloth diaper my next kid!

Want to know more?

How to Cloth Diaper Your Baby #1 Options

How to Cloth Diaper Your Baby #2 Diapering

Linked at http://frugallysustainable.com/

How to Cloth Diaper Your Baby #2 Diapering

Before I started using cloth diapers on Little, I thought that they must be super hard to use.  Everything you hear about diaper pins and leaking.  I was very nervous.  Good News: the cloth diapers you can get now are totally not like that!

I use Flip diapers.  They adjust to 3 different rises and a ton of different waist sizes using easy to access snaps.  Then you just stick in an insert and put it on your baby.  I have some of their inserts and I also use cotton cloth diapers.  The inserts that come as part of the flip system are awesome- they are cotton on one side and microfiber on the other so they are super absorbent but they keep your little one dry.  They also have fold lines stitched on them so you know exactly what size to make them.  The down side is that they are much more expensive than basic cloth diapers.  I use cotton prefolds now.  When Little was smaller, I used birds eye cotton flat folds.  Both of those are really easy to fold.  I just match their size to the size of the flip inserts.

These diapers are super simple to use.  If you have never used them before, start with a happy baby!

Take out the soiled insert and toss that in your diaper pail.  Stuff a clean insert under the flaps in front and back.

Lay the diaper under your baby, just like with a disposable diaper.

Snap each side to the perfect fit for your baby!

Don't cloth diapers look cute?

If you want to know more about cloth diapers, check out some of your options here.

Come back tomorrow to see how I wash our diapers!

Did you miss yesterday?  Check out How to Cloth Diaper Your Baby #1 Options

Linked at http://frugallysustainable.com/

How to Cloth Diaper Your Baby #1 Options

Husband and I talked a lot before Little was born about cloth diapering.  There were a lot of benefits we could see to cloth diapers.  They were cheaper, they were more environmentally friendly, babies who are cloth diapered potty train an average of 12 MONTHS earlier.  After much discussion, we decided that we would try it.  I wasn't committed to full time cloth diapering but I figured I would give it a go.

If you have ever researched cloth diapers, you will know that there are a TON of options out there.  All in ones, All in twos, pocket diapers, one size, diaper covers....  What does that all mean?

I asked a few friends who had cloth diapered their babies and I decided to try a couple different kinds of diapers.  The biggest concerns I had when choosing what I would use was how well they worked, how long they would take to dry, and how much they cost.  Husband makes good money but it seemed insane to me to spend $500 or more to get a set of cloth diapers.

Since cost was one of my main considerations, I really like the idea of one-size diapers.  One size diapers have some way to adjust their size to fit a variety of babies from birth to potty training.  One issue that people seem to have with them is that they are too large for many newborns.  I planned on just using disposable diapers until Little was big enough.  Since she was born at 9lbs 14oz, she was actually able to fit one size diapers from birth.


The diapers I bought were Fuzzibunz, Bum Genius 4.0 one size snap, and Flip one size snap.  Fuzzibunz and Bum Genius are both pocket diapers meaning that they are a waterproof layer with a microfiber layer against baby's skin.  There is a pocket between the layers that you put some sort of absorbent liner.  Flip are simple diaper covers.  That means that they are a waterproof layer and you tuck an absorbent liner into flaps in front and behind and that liner is touching baby's skin.

The benefit of diaper covers like Flip is that they can be used more than once. For a pee diaper or a poop diaper that stays on the liner, you can use the same cover and a new liner for a diaper change. I also discovered that it is easy to use old fashioned prefold diapers as a liner with Flip covers.

In the end, I got rid of the Fuzzibunz and Bum Genius diapers and I have just been using Flip.

Come back tomorrow to see how I cloth diaper Little!

Linked at http://frugallysustainable.com/

Losing Weight and Getting Healthy After Little

I am 8 months pregnant here.  HUGE belly!

Just a disclaimer, I have had a pretty easy time losing my baby weight.  I've made quite a few good choices but I've also been blessed with good genetics and a baby who loves to eat.

I gained a lot of weight when I was pregnant with Little.  Seriously, I had a belly that weighed 35 lbs.  I was pretty concerned about how I would lose all that weight after Little was born.

The quickest way to lose weight is to deliver your baby.  Between your baby and your placenta, you may lose anywhere from 10 to 20 lbs.  I lost 20.  Little was a huge baby and the placenta normally matches the baby in size.  I left the hospital 20 lbs lighter than I came in but I still looked 6 months pregnant.

After Little was born, I tried not to worry about my weight.  The first six weeks after giving birth, exercise is not recommended and I mostly followed that guideline.  Husband and I did start going on walks when Little was two or three weeks old but nothing too long.  I planned to start running again right at the six week mark but I listened to my body and I just wasn't ready for that yet.  I tried to do as much walking as I could but I was just so tired taking care of a newborn.

The best thing I did to lose weight was breastfeeding.  When you breastfeed exclusively, all the calories your baby gets are taken from your body.  That is such an easy way to lose weight.  Breastfeeding is so good for you and your baby.

The last thing is that I do my best to stick to whole foods like fresh vegetables and fruits, whole grains, and chicken.  We do eat red meat occasionally and I have been known to eat a box of mac'n'cheese but I try not to.  When you are nursing, you shouldn't eat a reduced calorie or even a reduced fat diet but it is important that the food you are eating is high in nutrients.

Here I am now.

Now, Little is six and a half months old and I am smaller than I was when I got pregnant.  Husband and I still don't eat perfect whole food diets but we are working our way there.  We want to be sure that we are modeling healthy eating and exercise behaviors for Little so that being healthy will be natural for her as she grows up.

Exercising with a baby

I like to exercise. I especially like the way I feel after I exercise. Before I got pregnant with Little, I had a gym membership and I went almost every day. When I got pregnant, I started planning for different types of exercise. I knew I wouldn't want to leave Little with strangers and I didn't want to exercise alone during the precious time that Husband was home. Here is what I have discovered thus far.

1. My BOB stroller is amazing. Little loves to go for a run or a walk. I don't run as often as I would like to but it seems to be the easiest cardio for me to do with Little.  When she was younger, I used to try to take Little for runs only when she was asleep but I have since realized that she is happy in the stroller when she is awake so I generally try to save nap times to use for other things.

Walking is also great and I can run errands while I walk with the stroller.  The grocery store is less than a mile from my home so sometimes I will walk there for a small shopping trip.  Make sure that your baby has some sort of sun protection in the stroller.  We are using the BOB sunshield right now.  I don't bring my whole diaper bag on walks or runs, I have found that the essentials for us are a pacifier, water for me, and a small diaper kit (wipes, one diaper, a small changing pad).

2.  Floor exercises are something that Little often likes to watch me do.  If she is in a good mood, I can set her down on the floor with her toys and I can do abs exercises next to her.  I don't do this enough, especially considering I actually have some physical therapy exercises that I am supposed to be doing to fix the separation of my abdominal muscles caused by my pregnancy.

3.  Some exercises are well suited for doing while wearing a fussy baby.  I love my Moby Wrap.  I have found that Little is almost always happy when she is in it and I can do things like walking, squats, and lunges while wearing her.  I also use the Moby Wrap to get housework done when Little is fussy.

4.  Lift that baby!  Little is six months old and already 20 lbs and 12 oz.  She loves to be lifted high into the air again and again.  She will be laughing and laughing while my arms are burning.  I have found many variations that allow me to work different muscles.  If you are going to do this,  remember that your exercise needs to be appropriate for your baby's stage of development.  Little can hold her head up well but not well enough to be thrown and caught again.

Enjoy working out with your baby!  I love working out with Little and I'm hoping that watching Husband and I exercise will help her to see it as a fun thing as she grows up.