spring

I love waking up and finding the sun shinning and the weather nice. Yesterday we headed to the university plant sale and got 14 tomato plants and a few flowers to fill out our raised beds. Its still weeks before the frost date passes and it will be safe to plant them outside.  So for the time being my upstairs bathroom has been over taken by plants.   I think today we will walk down to the local food co-op and get a few seed potatoes and seed packets.
I can't wait to get C out in the garden to have him experience the joy and excitement of looking for a yummy strawberry, and picking a ripe tomato and eating it. All children should have edible plants growing at home, a potted plant in a window a small tomato plant on the patio. If every house had a garden even a tinny one it would make the whole battle against obesity and proper nutrition so much easier.

My take on Cloth: what we learned

  
What I learned

I knew that I was going to have a big baby, my husband was 10lb 10 oz and I was 8lb 8 oz at birth, I fully expected to be having a baby that was around 9 pounds.  Lots of blogs and things I read said that newborn diapers were pointless only fit for a week or two, and not to bother with them and just get xs covers that would last a lot longer. It seemed like good advice. I really really wish I hadn't listened.  C was 8lb11oz, he was a big boy and we probably would have been OK with ill fitting covers had he gained weight after birth, he lost a pound and took a month and a half to get back to his birth weight. We managed with small overs and prefold after a week or so of doing disposables (we went ended up using nearly three packages of newborn diapers there are maybe 6 or so left in the last package that I plan to use for the 1st day or so for the next baby so we don't have to deal with cloth and the brand new baby poop.)

Lesson one: is get a few newborn covers, buy them used,they last forever since they are only lightly used and, they have a few advantages such as the cut out for the umbilical cord and since they really do only wear them for a little while they last for ever. Lots of cloth moms pass the newborn stash of diapers around the neighborhood, so if you have friends that use cloth ask if you can borrow the newborn sizes.

Lesson two:You really do want a snappi, When we started we just couldn't see why we really needed a snappi, sure it was a littler harder to get the prefold in the cover with out one but we managed until C started rolling and I gave in and bough a snappi, Seriously wish I had done it sooner it makes prefolds so much easier. We ended up getting three one that lived in the diaper bag one that stayed on the baby and one at home on the changing table. On really messy diapers they sometimes get yucky or when changing wiggle worms its nice to be able to finish the change and wash the snappi later to get the yuck off.

Lesson three: Try a little of everything. Starting out I said we only need a few covers and prefolds, all the pockets, fitted, all in one, insert business seems unnecessary and so much more expensive. We rocked prefolds and a few brands of covers as well as a combination of snaps and apex. Starting out we loved the apex covers, I had compleatly been converted to snaps, they don't come unstuck in the wash and attack everything in the machine. We started using a combination of fitted diapers and prefolds until we out grew out current sized prefolds and all our friends were raving over one size pocket diapers so we switched and have completely fazed out our prefold usage.

Lesson four:  Start buying diapers early. I knew what I wanted and still was so overwhelmed by the choices of kinds of covers and types of prefolds. I was so worried I was going to make a mistake and I didn't want to "waste" my diaper budget buying the wrong thing.That I just couldn't bring myself to buy anything. I know now that buying something that's not right for you or your baby happens, its easy to resell your stash if you need to and having a back up of stuff you don't love is better than having no back up at all.Trust yourself really you can't go wrong. If your not sure buy one of a few different kinds of diapers and once your little one can wear them you can sell the ones you don't like and buy more of the ones you do.

Done with the grumpy mom

dumping puffs and grinding them into the carpet.

As a mom I feel I spend way to much time saying no, don't touch that do that, stop that, leave it. I spend way to much time feeling angry and grumpy.
I hate being an irritated mommy. I want to be one of the easy going parents and most of the time I am able to parent gently. I fully believe in attachment parenting. I know my child is a better because we don't cry it out, I listen to what he is saying and feeling and respond to his needs. Sure it means I don't have "Me time" but I feel like I get plenty of selfish time. I get to do what I want I get books read, I go out with friends, I take walks and go shopping. I just do it all with my little person snuggled up next to me.

Its getting harder as he gets older to feel like a calm easy going mommy. I get caught up in the constant redirection and it stresses me out and I end up losing my calm and snapping. I am done. I know how I want my day to go, how I want to be as a mother and I know I've gone off that path, I'm drifting and so I've desided I need a change.

I am going to try to actively work toward being a better mother, defining my ideal and figuring out what my life right now is lacking, I have started a long list of parenting books and memoirs I want to read, I have lots of projects I've been meaning to get around to. Ideas for structuring our days to avoid the dreaded toddler melt downs. I just need to put all this research into affect. Its not just parenting, its being a better wife, a better friend, its about being a better me.

I'll be posting a list of goals, a list of projects, and a list of books later and then I'll start working through the lists. I'm hoping that by having them written out and by using this blog I'll be able to keep myself on track.

Homestead wishes and Crafting to dos

I am a little obsessed lately with the whole Homestead in your own backyard, mini farm movement that seems to be sweeping the country.

 I love the idea of The Little House in the City, vegetables growing in raised beds while small livestock like goats,sheep and bunnies graze peacefully in the backyard, the free range chickens cluck and wander laying pretty brown eggs that I whip up into delicious from scratch meals in my plastic free kitchen while wearing an apron that I sewed and embroidered myself, the panty is overflowing in homemade canned goods. At dinner we sit by the light of candles we made during afternoon craft time with the children and my darling husband sips his home brewed beer. I love the idea of this simple life with everything homemade and real not processed and packaged in plastic and just the buy more more more low quality fast life that seems to be so mainstream. I want my children to play in the dirt, I want them to know where food comes from, I want a simple life. A good life.

  In many ways the whole movement was how I was brought up, we grew a lot of our food, caned, lived simply and I want that same sort of life now. With the number of food issues we have in our house and the number of food issues that seem to keep popping up in the news suggesting that processed foods and gmo foods are really bad for us, it makes sense to get back to basics and grow our own.  I'm cheap too, I want to eat well but I can't afford to feed my family organic foods all the time, I can afford the time it takes to grow them however and so this month we have been converting our front yard in to a pretty amazing vegetable garden.  I can afford much nicer things if I buy them second hand from thrift stores and yard sales. I like the thrill of not knowing what exactly I'm going to find. I like that I could, if I wanted to, make just
about anything my family needed, I can do all sorts of crafty homemaker things that have become a novelty I can sew, can, bake, I'm good and figuring out how to make things work or go with out. I like the chalenges of being responsable for my home and family.

That's not to say that my house is always clean, it rarely is, or that we don't have nights were dinner is what ever you can find that's edible in the house. I would like to be a "better" mother and wife, to be more organized and together. I want to have the time to do all the crafty things I see on pinterest and to take the time to give my child pretty bento meals all decorated in a theme vs the same old standbys. I am human and there are only so many hours in the day.

That said I do want my house to be more.

This week the small one has been over joyed to spend the day sitting in the front yard with a spade and a pile of dirt to dig in while mommy and daddy work hard at converting a boring lawn into a bunch of raised beds. I have great plans for a large vegetable garden and its been  hard blistering work. I think once we get done its going to look amazing. We have already gotten complements from the neighbors probably because they have realized that this summer our yard wont be an over grown weed monstrosity it was last year.

Not only is a large vegetable garden on our to do list, building a chicken coop, new clothes line, jump starting the compost bin and a lot of do it from scratch recipes are on the list for this summer. Cheese making, and brewing beer are on the list too. There are lots of sewing projects like new cushions for benches and reusable bags that are on my ever grown list as well.

I'm excited I know that lots of things that go onto my list wont happen this summer, or even next but just having a list, having goals to work toward and things that I feel will make our family closer and life easier in the long run is comforting. 

 I'm hoping that keeping this blog and posting my long list of Homestead wishes and Crafting to dos out in the open will be insensitive to do them, instead of spending hours looking and neat ideas on pinterest or talking about how we should have a craft night or canning party on facebook, I'm hoping that I will be able to use that time to just do it. 

Night Diaper

At some point I think every mother hits a break up point with cloth diapers, for most this breaking point is night time. I was blessed with a baby who loves to sleep, even as a newborn he would go down for the night and other than nursing constantly he was not to be bothered. Before he learned to roll over a single microfiber insert and a pre-fold was enough to keep him try with no night changes. Suddenly he decided that sleeping on his tummy or side was much better than his back and we had huge leak issues.

I researched online and was lucky to stumble across a post by another mom talking about how she had a son who was a heavy wetter and a side sleeper and the liquid just leaked out the leg holes. That night I tried a micro fleece insert, then a prefold that was folded and snappied on, then a fitted diaper then another insert inside a cover with leg gussets.
No leaks,

We varied the layers play around with diffrent types of inserts bamboo, hemp, microfiber. The fitted diaper was a homemade flannel and terry cloth. the key, for us anyway was that the extra elastic in the fitted diaper helped keep the liquid from pooling out the legs. The diaper is huge (see the big butt on the baby in the photo) but not having to get up and change diapers in the night or waking up to a wet bed and wet baby is wonderful.


Now that hes older we just do a normal diaper for night, we are currently doing a bamboo blend insert folded in half in the front plus a microfiber and second bamboo blend inside a Alva pocket diaper. It seems to work well for us.

A note: some kids don't react well to micro fleece right against the skin, I would recommend  a bamboo or hemp blend right against the skin, the wick the liquid way better and I'm sure the natural fibers feel better than the micro fleece.

Sleep

I love watching C sleep. I was blessed with a baby who loves to sleep long naps,and through the night, cuddled up on his micro fleece blanket he sleeps and sleeps not even waking up to nurse just moving open mouth and closed eyes to where I am laying making his impatience little milk noises. I love feeling his body grow heavy when he gives in the power of the ergo nap, or watching him try to keep his eyes open when he nurses down at night.  Sleeping babies are the best so calm and peaceful. He wakes up full of happy smiles and hugs and kisses, it is worth all the early nights of sitting up struggling to keep my own eyes open, to be able to watch him now away in his milky dreams.

Cloth diapers

Yesterday I stripped our pocket diapers for the 1st time. Caden has been smelling a little like a hamster cage. In 15 months this is the 1st time we've had any issues with diapers smelling. Honestly cloth diapers have been so easy and we have saved so much money by not using disposables. I'll write a longer more detailed account of our journey though cloth at some point soon.

 This morning I stuffed all the diapers. There is something almost therapeutic about sorting out all the diaper stuff the stack of inserts and the covers and then rhythmic stuffing each one folding them up snapping them and stacking them on the shelf.  I love cloth diapers, love the fluffy little butts, the cute prints and patterns. I love never having to buy diapers never having to deal with the blow outs and weird gel stuff that is in them. I have to say I love saying money and early potty training.

Crayon Tutorial

I love crayons, even as an adult they are one of my favorite things to draw with. I love the way they look melted and in art school I used to melt them a lot, it was pre-pinterest and the whole look is kind of done now but I regress,  They can be hard for little fingers and so I've created this tutorial for how to take regular crayons and make toddler sized crayons using old crayons.

I got a lot of old crayons at the thrift store for a dollar a huge bag of crayons. There is nothing like getting new crayons. I loved getting brand new perfect crayons as a kid. I loved the beginning of school getting new box of perfect crayons, I almost didn't even want to use them to ruin the perfection of them



 A lot of broken crayons, and broken pieces.

I  peeled them all and broke them into little pieces

 At the thrift shop I got a muffin tin for 49 cents and separated them into colors, you can mix different colors or do each in a different color

I put them into the oven at 200 degrees until the crayons melt a few min depending on the color and how deep the pan is/ how may crayon pieces are in each cup.

Pull them out of the oven and let them cool. When they have cooled. Put the muffin pan in the freezer for five minutes. The crayons will pop out of the muffin tin.

This is what they look like when they done. perfect for younger kids to get their hands on or they make a great gift.