Cloth Diapers at 11 Months

Welcome back to cloth diapering month by month with your host, me!  Ha ha, okay, seriously. I realize that my child actually 12 months now, so I am a little late on this post.  Hopefully you can look past my oversight :)

 This month was a little interesting in that we, well, didn't use cloth diapers for half of it.  We traveled a lot, and neither Josh nor I were interested in trying to figure out what to do with a car full of stinky diapers. But we're back in them, and I am so thankful to not be counting disposable diapers and trying to figure out how many more hours we have until we really do need to buy some more.

Adelle - 11 Months 

# of Children: 1

Gender: female

Size: 17 lbs, 27 in

Average # of Diapers a day: 9

Laundry Schedule: 2-3 days.

 Routine: 2 pre-folds used during awake times, all-in-ones during naps/bed

Diaper Size: One size diapers - middle settings; Thirsties covers - size 2, smallest settings; Disposables - size  3

Leaking?: This month's particular issue has been leaking overnight.  It is to the point that she has to wear a diaper with 3 layers of inserts.  Because of this, I am in the process of figuring out alternate fabrics for inserts that will hold more than the micro-fiber inserts we are using right now.

How's the Poo?: Kiddo is pooping more, and at more unexpected times.  About half of her poos happen while in prefolds and covers, so we're going through covers faster than we used to.  Josh and I have talked off and on about getting a couple more covers. My guess is we will be having the discussion again soon.

Did you Use Disposables?: Yes - actually, half of this month Adelle spent in disposables.  We traveled through 4 states over 2 weeks time, and even though I am an advocate for using cloth diapers as much as we can, using them while travelling was not something I was interested in doing.  At all.

Any Changes: Two things -

1.  The end of this month was also the end of a pretty serious growth spurt.  We have been changing the setting slowly on a few of our diapers and covers (exciting!).  


2.  I started using cloth wipes again, once we got back.  Its been kind of relieving to not have to pick through dirty diapers to pull out wipes anymore.

Any Issues: Again, just the leaking. I'll let you know next month how we work through the overnight leaking.

Favorite Brand: Bummi's TotsBots are still my fav.  This month, they have been the only diaper to hold all Kiddo's overnight work.  I think it's because [1] the insert is made of hemp [which soaks up more than microfiber], and [2] because the insert is a tongue-style, it naturally becomes two layers of inserts when the tongue is stuffed in. I can add another insert in without the diaper  seams exploding or my child looking like a oompa-loompa.  I think the picture below will actually explain better what I can't explain with words:

Still Like Cloth?: I enjoyed the convience of using disposable for the two weeks while we traveling.  I thought I was going to be overwhelmed going to back to cloth again when we got home, but honestly, it was a relief.  The routine of using them actually helped me get back in the groove of being at home.

Ha ha :)  Hope you have awesome weekend and MLK Day plans!

DIY Paper Mobiles

The origin of this idea came from here.

 I think I said this in my last post, but I'm going to say it again.  Sewing with paper is ridiculously easy.  I loved not having to deal with fabric stretching or bunching up.  I used to do a lot of paper crafts [used to meaning when I was 10], but kind of quit as I grew up and, along with it, grew less creative.  These mobiles might have sparked some of my inner childhood creativity...we'll just have to wait and see what comes of it.

Okay!  So here's how this thing went.

Supplies

• lots and lots of cardstock paper in your choice of colors
• a ruler
• scissors or a paper cutter
• a working sewing machine
• thread
• paper clips
• thumb tacks or tape

Instructions

1. First off, some math [sorry!].  If you care about how long you want you mobiles to hang, you will have to do a little math. Each mobile I made was a total of 44 inches long, using 26 strips of paper. If you want them shorter, use fewer strips; longer, you'll need more.  For the sake of simplicity, I will run this tutorial using my measurements as standard.


2. Cut your paper into the same size strips, using either scissors or a paper cutter [if you have one].  I did 1x6.25 inch strips because I was using cardstock that came 4.5x6.25 inches.  You are more than welcome to choose your own dimensions - just make sure they are uniform.


3. Keep cutting until you have enough strips of paper - for me, I made 7 mobiles x 26 strips = 182 strips of paper. Oh yeah, and make sure you have the same number of each color :)


4. I arranged my stacks of strips in the order that I wanted to sew them together.  This made sure that all my mobiles were the same, and also made the sewing process go quickly.


5. Machine time - Give you mobile about a 10 inch tail of thread before starting to sew the paper. I recommend tying the bobbin and top threads together at the top of the tail, in order to prevent tangling issues.  This tail will be what gets taped or tacked to the ceiling.


6. Sew! Center your paper on the maching foot and go for it.  I gave about 1/8 inch between each strip.


7. When you're done with all your strips, end by making another thread tail of about 4 inches.


8. To hang on the ceiling, use either tape or a thumb tack.  I used thumb tacks because we have the crazy pebbly ceilings that make tape impossible to use.


9. The paper clips can be clipped to the bottom tail to give you mobiles some weight, so they don't fly around when the A/C turns on.

*Note: if you run out of thread in the middle of one of your mobiles [like I did], don't fret.  All you need to do is get more thread in your machine, and then start sewing again on the paper over the last couple of stitches.  After you've finished, you can go back and cut off the excess thread.*

Total cost of this project - nothing.  If you already have colorful cardstock floating around and access to a sewing machine, you are golden.

[Sorry about the poor resolution. Quick camera phone picture, you know?]

Just like the banner, I was pleased enough with myself to actually save my mobiles.  Two are hanging in Kiddo's bedroom, and the rest are in storage for potential use at another shindig. Speaking of storage, the mobiles store beautifully.  They just happily went into a manilla envelope, nice and flat and safe :)

Oh, The Places You'll Go!

but not yet, because you're still only one.

For Adelle's first birthday, I went with a Dr. Seuss theme - specifically, I themed it off of the book, "Oh, The Places You'll Go!"  I thought it was fitting, considering how much travel we have put this child through over the last year, and also because of the big plans we have for her life.  Nothing too specific, but we as parents want her to aspire big and desire to make good changes happen in our world.

For the decorating, I did four main things:

1. Decorated cupcakes like a mad woman.
2. Created hanging paper mobiles.
3. Drew up a banner.
4. Made a poster of her one-year-old stats.

Food consisted of:

1. A baby food bar [it was a birthday for a baby, after all!]
2. Burgers and hot dogs for the rest of us.

First off, a cupcake montage!

The picture in the middle?  My dad lost control of that cupcake while decorating it.  He did catch it before it landed... face down, all over his hands.

Oh yeah!  My parents came out for the party - which happened to be the best thing that could have happened.  I can't decorate cakes at all, however, my mom can. She knew what all we needed and then made it happen.

She even made Josh some gluten-free cupcakes, so he wouldn't be left out on the fun.

The inspiration for the mobiles came from Pinterest.  [Here's the link to the original source.]

I found out a couple things with making these - sewing paper is ah-mazingly easy. It doesn't stretch or tear or do anything annoying that fabric tends to do.  I'll give you a quick tutorial of just how easy these were in a couple of days.

Can you believe I actually drew that banner free-hand?  Me either.  I liked how it turned out so much that I put it up in Kiddo's room after the party.

Josh came up with a neat "game" for the party where everyone was asked to write or draw the places they want to go.  The original idea was more of a "where do you want to be in 20 years" but it turned into a lot of visiting or moving to other states/countries [which was still pretty fun].

Here's the poster I made with all of Kiddo's one year stats!  I got the idea from a couple of Pinterest finds [you can find them on my first birthday board].  All it took was a black foam poster board, metallic paint pens, a ruler, and some creativity!

You probably noticed that her actual stats are not on the board.  Her one year check up is today, where I will get all those much needed numbers.  Once its done I'll put up a finished picture.

Update: It's done!  Here it is, all finished...

she's a little kid!

...And here's a decent picture of us next to it :)

The baby food bar consisted of a couple of Kiddo's favorite baby foods [applesauce and Chex mix], along with a couple of your standard baby food fare.  Not only did the other babies show their appreciation of having food available to them, but even a few adults found out that pureed peas is a decent chip dip.

Party time!

"thanks, Jesus!"

Dellie got her own giant cupcake to smash. She was very excited about it.

She, however, is more of a cake-picker than a smasher.

yum.

To end, here's some pictures of the party!  Enjoy!

becky compares with the book.

burger makers extraordinaire

burgers on a corn tortilla

some of adelle's friends hang out

Happy First Birthday, Goob!

We did it.  We officially kept our child alive for a whole year.

We survived 14 hours of induced labor [sans any really helpful pain killers], and an unexpected c-section...

And winding up in the hospital two weeks later with a skin infection...

Moving from Hawaii when she was 4 months old...

And moving into the grandparents' basement for the summer...

Then finally moving to Arizona...

Dellie survived her mom...

And her dad...

Her first haircut...

Riding a horse...

Her first time swimming...

all 9 scorpions [and dressing up as one for Halloween]...

And her first Christmas...

Happy Birthday Adelle! We both love you very, very much :)

Why Baby Leggings Are More Than Just Trendy

When kiddo was still cooking, and I was obsessing over cloth diapers, I ran across these.

[all the images are links to Amazon.com,  where a percent of the purchases made through said links will come back to support this blog!]

Amazon's website had recommended them to me, based on how much time I had been spending staring at cloth diapers.  My first reaction was something along these lines:

"Really?!? Are we in the  80's still?"

So I decided to see what the hubbub was all about.  Actually, my hubby decided to see what the deal was.  His male-no-nonsense brain saw the leggings and said, "that's a really good idea.  With those you won't have to keep pulling pants up and down all day."

He had a point.

We bought one pair of leggings - pink with black polka dots and a huge fabric flower around the ankle.  Oh. My. Word. they were so over the top.  I was a little embarrassed to even put them on Dellie the first time, and again the second and third.

But they really did make diaper changes a lot easier.  I am absolutely the worst at keep pants on babies while trying to change them - usually I have to just take them completely off and then try to wrangle them back on.  Usually by the fourth change, the pants just don't make it back on her.

trying to pants a newborn is hard

Fast forward to today - we currently own four pairs of leggings. I'm starting to really believe in the miracle of baby leggings. Here's a couple reasons why:

1. Those polka dot ones from the previous picture?  They still fit one year later.  A piece of children clothing that adapts to a rapidly growing baby is potentially life-changing. From what I understand, those leggings can eventually be used as arm warmers when Dellie gets too tall for them.  Once again, a piece of child's clothing that can adapt like that is a pretty awesome thing to own.

2. Not only are they great for changing wiggly babies, they are great for protecting crawling knees.

3. Cloth diapers make for big baby butts. Sometimes, pants don't fit over cloth diapered infants.  With leggings, a baby's legs stay warm without the need for trying to make those oh-so-cute-but-way-too-tight-baby-jeans button up.

One downside - trying to coordinate leggings with onesies is a pain in the rear.  Okay, it's really hard for me - but you are probably not nearly as fashion challenged as I am.

[I definitely put my child is this exact outfit the other day.  Halfway through the day I realized what awful, horrible thing I had done to her.]

My Conclusion: baby leggings are one of the few trends in baby fashion that actually make sense. However, the sticker shock can leave many thinking "Nuh uh, no way."

A couple cheaper options - check thrift stores, especially re-sale baby boutiques.  Love Child in Tempe has been a great local place to find gently used leggings for only $3 a pair. There are many smart mamas who make leggings using old sweaters or socks, or even knitting them from scratch!

Do you use baby leggings? What your favorite thing about using them?

2013, Here I Come...

Day 1 of 2013; day 1 back home.  We went up to Colorado for Christmas, then drove out to Omaha for a church conference, spent an hour in Iowa, then drove back to Phoenix.  If I have my math correct, we spent 52 hours on the road.

So that's why we're all so tired.

It was 32 degrees this morning.  It actually hit the freezing point here - in the hottest city in America.  I'm still a bit in shock.

For the first time in my life, I have actually decided that there is a plus side to having a mild winter here in Phoenix.  Coming back from all the holiday-ness up in the North Pole half of the U.S. to chilly, but comfortable desert was, in a weird way, nice.  It helped my brain jolt out of vacation mode into back-to-normal-life mode without much of a hiccup.  It has been especially nice since I usually have a bout of mini depression every January 1.  I don't usually get excited about a new year beginning - I end up wondering how on earth the last year went by just like that, and completely unprepared for life to start back up again.

Like they say, the days are long but the weeks are fast.

I can't believe that this time last year I was desperately trying to get a baby out before her due date [which didn't happen]. I can't believe that I wound up living in Arizona.  I was expecting, well, really anywhere but here. I also can't believe that life really isn't that different as a student family as it was an army family.  I was expecting to have blown through a lot more of our savings and feeling a lot more financially pinched.  I was expecting our life to be a lot harder than it is turning out to be for us three.

God is good. He was good to me this year, he was good to my family.  He was good to our crazy decision to leave a steady job for student life only 6 months after having a child.  I believe, more than I have ever before, that He is an active part of my life's journey - and He is interested in taking care of me, father to child.

I honestly don't really have anything I'm looking forward to this year.  I don't really have any big life events to expect over the coming months, nor do I really feel resolved about the things I want to change about myself or my lifestyle.  There are lots of things I would love to see myself doing differently, but I'm not really interested in doing any of the hard work to make it happen.  [Boy, that sounded really bad.]

I guess I do have some resolve over one thing - to pray.  I have been slowly convinced over the last few months that prayer is best thing I can do when life is overwhelming and I just want to quit. It also has this funny way of increasing communication with God, which tends to lead to a better, closer relationship with him.

So, when I am feeling confused about decisions, I can pray for peace in the unknown, and a clear answer when the time comes.

When I am feeling alone, I can pray for my relationship to get stronger with God.

When I am feeling hurt, I can pray for comfort and a better understanding of selfless love to others.

When I don't want to do something I know I should do, I can pray for conviction.

Through these prayers, I want to release my feelings and thoughts and desires [and lack of desires] to God.  To give them all to Him to take care of.  I suppose, in a sense, to pray is my resolution.  Maybe through increased prayer I will find other things to change throughout the year.  I hope to be a little more grown up next January 1st.

Sometimes, I suppose, the change that really sticks is the kind that plods slowly, faithfully along.  The kind that is almost imperceptible as it is happening.

Hope you had a good Christmas season, and are feeling a little more resolved and excited about this coming year :)