Happy First Birthday, Bubba!

You GUYS!  It's been a whole year!  I should do a big update post with pictures and whatnot, but I wanted to get the little guy's birth story posted.  As a quick update, he has seven teeth, refuses to crawl - he travels by rolling instead, which is HILARIOUS!, won't hardly sit up because he has places.to.go, isn't sleeping through the night, still weighs a ridiculous amount (can't wait to find out how much on Monday), and he loooooves his mama's milk.  I found out tonight he can feed himself pretty much an entire torn up egg, bits at a time, and though he will eat every last everlovin' thing he finds randomly on the floor, he does not care for steamed and finely chopped carrots.  (maybe I should've scattered them on the floor?)

Anyway, here's the story:

My water broke at 1:20 AM on Saturday, October 6.  I had been sleeping on a chux pad for a while just in case, and I was glad that I did!  I woke up Hubs and told him, and we both tried to go back to sleep.  I had a few contractions, but nothing big.  I couldn’t sleep and my water kept leaking, so I got up and sat on the couch on a towel and chux pad.

Goosie woke up a bit before 7 AM, I think, and wondered what I was doing!  I told her that the baby would be coming soon, and she was very excited.  I had her call Grandma so Grandma could come back to our house and help out.  (She and my dad had *just* been at our house two days before on their way home  but she repacked her bags and hit the road that morning, in snow and fog.)

I was thankful that Hubs spent lots of time at home, even though harvest was in full swing and it was a very busy time for him.  My contractions continued on and off, but didn’t get very strong or closer together.  I was in frequent contact with my doula, Rebecca, who was very encouraging.

My last gush of water was on Saturday, around 5PM.  By the time I woke up Sunday morning, the break had sealed and baby was back to swimming again.  Most everyone else was getting quite antsy that I wasn’t going to the hospital, but I knew it wasn’t time yet.  My mom scrubbed the bathtub so I could soak in the water and relax.  Goosie though it was hilarious that I was taking a bath!  I was thankful that my contractions picked up a little.

Sunday evening, Hubs and I had a discussion and we agreed that we’d go to the hospital in the morning.  We didn’t make it that long, though!  I had several hard contractions between 11PM to midnight, and I wanted in the Jacuzzi tub!  Also, I was on my left side in bed so Hubs could put counter pressure on my back to help with contractions, and with baby being on my left side, gravity pulled him really low toward my hip and it hurt!

We woke my mom up and told her we were heading in.  We stopped on the way for some sustenance – Hubs got me two snickers bars.  He wasn’t able to eat before Goosie was born (I had Burger King breakfast that time) and this time he just got an energy drink.

We got to the hospital about 2:30 AM and got checked in pretty quickly.  My first nurse was one who was there when Goosie was born which was fun.  She had been pregnant then, and this time she had a 4 month old baby.  I was surprised that my Certified Nurse Midwife showed up pretty quickly, and my doula Rebecca soon followed.  I think my midwife even did my first check, which showed I was about 6 cm dilated, but baby's head wasn’t really down.

I got in the tub, we walked the halls, I sat on the birth ball, I asked Hubs to pray.  Baby still didn’t come down, and I wasn’t progressing.  Rebecca showed Hubs a trick to help with pain relief, they both squeezed a spot between my thumb and index finger, which did help.  My midwife and Rebecca also tied a sheet on the bathroom door hinge so I could try a hanging squat.  It HURT, but it didn’t work to bring baby down.

Finally, my midwife said it was time to do Pitocin.  I agreed, but asked for pain meds.  I knew I could do it without them as I had with Goosie, but this time I wanted help relaxing to let my body do its work.  They gave me a shot which helped some.

Baby still didn’t come down.  My midwife said it was time to do a c-section and I cried.  She assured me that I had done everything I could.  I remember the contractions being unbearable after that because they were pointless, and they gave me a shot to stop them.  I asked Hubs to “call the moms” to let them know I was having a c-section but that it wasn’t an emergency, baby and I were OK.  He opted to send a text instead.

I remember the anesthesiologist talking to me quite a bit.  My main concern was that I was cold (about the only time I *ever* get cold is in labor!) and he didn’t think it would get any better when I got the spinal epidural, but surprisingly, it did!  (I actually remember a warm feeling traveling through my body.)

The doctor who did the surgery wasn’t my favorite, but he is very good at doing surgery so that was a blessing.  I remember him asking if I wanted my tubes tied and I emphatically said NO, plus I reminded him of that again in the operating room.

I remember hating being wheeled down the hall again, but I was glad it would be over soon.  I think I wished that an OR nurse we know was there, and as it turned out, she was, but didn’t come in.  My midwife asked if I wanted the drape lowered so I could see, and I didn’t.  I asked Hubs to come and hold my hand.  I remember Rebecca taking lots of pictures.

Having baby pulled out of me was a pretty wild feeling even though I was numb.  I’m pretty sure my midwife was the one that announced it was a boy, and I was surprised! (I was 60% sure baby was a girl.)  She brought him over to show me and he was rather blue but crying.  I immediately recognized his cry and face even though I had not seen or heard either before.

They had him on the warming table for a while before weighing him and he peed and pooped, and I wished they’d hurry and weigh him before he lost any more weight!  I was shocked when they said 10# 2oz, though I now wonder if his weight was inflated any from IV fluids.

My midwife gave him to me to hold while they wheeled me back to my room, but I asked Hubs to carry him instead because I was a bit woozy.  I don’t remember him crying as much as Goosie did.  Since I was still so cold, they put the warmer over both of us when we got back to the room, and they kept restarting it.

I remember Goosie and Grandma coming in to see us – Goosie was a bit shy.  She brought her stuffed Nappy Cat (that her aunt had given her *right* after she was born in that same hospital) and so I had her bring Nappy over to sniff the baby. :)  I also remember being a bit surprised at how quickly I fell head over heels in love with him.

I was surprised that I was OK with Hubs not spending much time at the hospital, though he did come every night for a while.  We had quite a time deciding on a name, and since Hubs conceeded a few other things, we went with his choice for a first name and my choice for a middle name.

My physical recovery from the c-section was fairly smooth, I was thankful to not suffer much in the way of complications from the surgery.

It hasn't been an easy year for us, but I wouldn't trade it for anything.

Oh, Yeah, It's a Boy!

And he's almost five weeks old already.  Sorry 'bout that. :>)

He was born on October 8, after a couple of days of labor (and my water having broken and then sealing back up!).  Unfortunately he just didn't descend and ended up taking the "easy" way out - c-section.  Huge bummer for this natural birth loving mama, but thankfully I've had no problems whatsoever from the surgery. Little dickens was 10 pounds 2 ounces, which is three pounds four ounces bigger than his sister was!

He is an amazingly good baby, nursing is going well.  Goosie is quite enamored and a big help.  For some dumb reason, I didn't bother taking my supplements for the first week or so after he was born and (shocker!) my adrenals bottomed out.  Once I got back on track with them, I rebounded rather quickly.  (I also had my placenta encapsulated.  If you wanna know more, details can be found here.)

Physically, I'm doing super well.  I didn't feel anywhere near this well after Goose's birth, and I'm so thankful.  Emotionally... not so much.  I'm still leaps and bounds ahead of where I was after Goose's birth, but it hasn't been easy.  I did well in the hospital, but after returning home, I had close to two weeks of ... well, terror.  I had another week plus of major struggling, and even now I am still having a bit of trouble that manifests itself in intense loneliness.

My awesome and amazing mother was here for almost 3 weeks - a huge gigantic blessing.  Especially since Hubs wasn't done with harvest yet; they finished on Halloween.  That's a full week earlier than they've ever finished before!

I have the birth story written out, but I need to go over it with my doula and get it typed up so I can share it.  Overall, I'm OK with the way things played out; I feel like we did everything that we could.  It's a huge disappointment (especially since Goose's birth was forceps assisted, sigh), but I could tell that he wasn't going anywhere.

We are doing quite well adjusting to being a family of four, though my respect for my grandmothers (who had 11 children each), friends who are moms of many, and basically anyone with more than one child is through the roof. :>)

Hope you are all doing well, and I have a few various things I'd like to share with all of you but as you can imagine, it's all taking a backseat to baby holding right now.  I'm just starting to think about things to make for Christmas, so if you have anything you're working on, I'd love to hear about it!

Yeast Elimination Diet

A couple of weeks ago, my parents stayed here on their way home from my brother's. I wasn't sure when they were coming and wasn't exactly prepared to cook, but I ended up making a yummy supper of lasagna, a half recipe of herbed oatmeal pan bread, peas and a half recipe of butterscotch bars. YUM. I'm a re-submitting this post for the latest installment of the spring cleaning carnival at Kitchen Stewardship. The first topic for which I submitted this was Get the Gluten Out, and Amy at Simply Sugar and Gluten-Free wrote about her (very interesting!) experiences here. The latest installment is Get the Refined Sugar Out (at Kitchen Stewardship) and the guest poster is Donielle from Naturally Knocked Up, and you can read her post Cutting Back on Sugar.

Back to me. A couple of years ago, I couldn't have eaten that supper. Goose and I struggled with yeast for several months after she was born. It started with her diaper rash, that would NOT go away. Since I nursed her exclusively, I had my own troubles, too. An excellent resource for breastfeeding and thrush is this page on KellyMom.com. (Actually, KellyMom.com is an excellent resource overall for breastfeeding.) There is a lot of info on La Leche League's yeast page as well, and here is what Dr. Jack Newman has to say about yeast.

Though it is not specific to breastfeeding and thrush, I read The Yeast Connection, its corresponding website, and the cookbook (which I borrowed via interlibrary loan), all excellent resources.

We tried a very, very long list of things to get rid of the yeast. Nystatin. Diflucan. Gentian Violet. All Purpose Nipple Ointment. A weak vinegar wash and left the flaps down on my nursing bra for fifteen minutes after nursing, and changed nursing pads after each nursing session. Grapefruit Seed Extract. Acidophilis powder. Yeast detox supplements through our chiropractor. The only thing that finally worked was a yeast elimination diet.

*****Please note that you should work closely with your health care provider if you suspect you are having difficulty with yeast, also known as candida. I am not a doctor, nor do I even play one on TV.*****

There are a number of yeast elimination diets on the interwebs. I happen to be a rather picky eater, so I struggled to find one that I could actually follow, and I still made a few compromises. I finally ended up mostly using the diet from QFAC. I was able to follow it for about two weeks and both Goose and I were able to clear up our problems. I also lost several pounds! Unfortunately, I wasn't able to sustain the diet (or weight loss, sigh), but I've been thinking it would be a good thing to do periodically for my health.

My friend Sarah wrote a very informative post on Why Grain Free? at her blog Sarah's Musings that gives a lot of great information. Unfortunately grains are not just a filler for me (remember, I'm a recovering vegetarian married to a cow farmer!) so I don't think I could go completely grain-free. But it certainly gives a lot of food for thought.

Check out a lot more posts on gluten-free here at Simply Sugar and Gluten Free and more on cutting out the sugar here at Naturally Knocked Up. The giveaways for the gluten part of the carnival are closed, but go check out the ones for the sugar part!

Also, go check out some great posts on nursin' babies over at the Breastfeeding Blog Carnival at Modern Alternative Mama!

The Latest Baby Shower Gift

One of the blessings of having a big extended family is lots of opportunities to celebrate! I have two cousins expecting babies, and there is a shower this weekend for the one expecting her first. (Don't worry, I have a few things tucked away for the one who is expecting her second!)


Flannel burp cloths - while utilitarian plain white prefold cloth diapers get the job done, I loved using pretty burp rags! (I called my pretty flannel ones my "goin' to town" ones :>) though I hadn't figured out how to stitch my own yet at that point!) The cousin being showered doesn't know the gender of her baby, so I picked ones that are neutral. You can click on the link to see how I made them, and you can also click over to my Etsy shop from my sidebar to see what I have listed there.






This is probably my favorite crinkly taggie toy that I've made so far! Thanks to my sweet sister in law for fixing the photo for me! I love the way the ribbons pull colors out of the print. You'll notice I don't pay too much mind to keeping everything straight... I think it's better to be cheerful than perfect. :>) Plus, I prefer to spend my stitching time praying for the recipient than being cranky over ribbon that keeps creeping over - and I especially pray when the gift is for a new mama.





I suppose I'm biased, since I loved putting these on Goose so much, but I just love to give homemade baby leg warmers as baby gifts! I usually tell the recipient that they may not need them too much the first winter, when the baby wears a lot of sleepers. But when they start wearing pants and skirts/dresses, they sure come in handy! The link above is my attempt at explaining how to make them, or you can visit my Etsy shop by clicking the link in my sidebar to see all the styles I have available over there.

I also cleaned out Goose's closet and found some things that we loved but are no longer using that need to be passed along - think unopened bottles of baby lotion and baby powder, diaper cream, etc. I'm thinking that's going to count as a bag! (See the closet post for an enormous list of things that I gave to my cousin expecting her second baby when she had her first. It was the perfect way to "go shopping" without spending too much!)

This post will be submitted to:

Baby Gifts From Your Stash

One of my sweet cousins had a baby about 7 months after Goose was born, and between the financial pinch of me quitting work and the time pinch of the stores where she was registered being too far from Goose's crib where she required naps at frequent intervals, I had to come up with something . . . inventive, shall we say. Some of the things were pulled out of my own "supply" closet, while others were purchased, and my mom split the cost with me. I felt we were able to shower my dear cousin with items that I had found to be very helpful as I transitioned to being a new mom.

Free:
Baby Sling - one that I had been given that didn't work for us.

Ear Plugs - I bought a multi-pack when it became clear that the tiniest noise over the monitor would rouse me from sleep. (Yes, I needed a monitor. Our bedroom and the nursery are on different floors. We slept in the spare room for a while but had to keep the doors closed to keep the cats out.) So I put a pair in a small plastic bag and gave them to her that way.

Safety Pin - I attached it over my bar strap to indicate which side Goose was due to nurse on the next time. (note, 1. that typo is my way of not really typing the actual word for all the weirdos out there searching such things to find, and 2. I didn't actually stick it through the fabric, but I put the strap inside the pin. Otherwise the straps would have been shot in short order!)

Soothies - Goose had some trouble latching on, so these gel pads were, well, soothing. I see that Medela has a cheaper version though either way, I'd look for them locally to avoid shipping charges. I had a package left over.

Incontinence Pads - Though I did not need them for their intended purpose, I had some on hand to put underneath Goose and me when I nursed her in the side-lying position. (Scroll down to see links for nursing while laying down.) I hadn't thought about it at the time, but I have since bought at a consignment sale a washable, reusable pad for Goose's crib that would work well, and would pull double duty!

Heavy-Flow Maxi Pads - I had some left over that I passed along to her.

Mother's Milk Tea - a friend had given me a few boxes, so I passed one along.

Nursing Pads - though now I might be tempted to try to make some...

Safety Q Tips - for some reason, I seemed to have trouble finding these in stores. I don't think I was looking in the right places. :>)

Disposable Changing Pads - Especially at first, I hated the thought of laying my baby down on a nasty changing table in a public restroom. I bought a package of these pads, and I think I only actually threw one away, so they certainly last. (They are also good for diaper blowouts - which we thankfully didn't experience very often.) Since I had so many left over, I just gave her a loose one.

Things I bought:
Medela Micro-Steam Bags - We battled thrush forever, and I since my cousin intended to nurse and keep working, I knew she'd have to pump, and these are a quick and easy way to make sure things are sanitized.

Aquaphor - I didn't realize this had a "following" as a diaper rash treatment, but it sure worked for us. Don't bother with the more expensive baby version, I'm pretty sure it's the same thing.

Pacifiers - I don't remember the brand we used, but we got them at Target and they were very round, which seemed most like mama.

Links - we used these to attach everything to everything else.

Mesh Laundry Delicates Bags - I love these bags for washing socks! They're intended to keep your unmentionables safe in the wash, but they work wonders for keeping tiny socks from getting lost. I also found myself much less stressed when I went to fold, for some random reason. I buy them at the Dollar Store.

Milk Freezer Storage Bags - I wanted to support her decision to nurse as much as I could! She tried the ice cube-type trays for a while but found them more difficult to thaw when the baby needed milk at daycare, so she switched to the bags.

Cute Zipper Pull - for the diaper bag! I seemed to be all thumbs when it came time to try to unzip my diaper bag in a hurry, so I found a cute zipper pull to be very helpful.

Journal - I was able to find a few of these on sale. When Goose was tiny, I journaled everything - diapers, sleeping, nursing - to try and figure out why she cried so much. I also made a brief foray into elimination communication (also known as infant potty training) and wanted to track her diapers for that, as well. When she started on solid foods, I tracked them in the journal, as well as new teeth. I still make a brief entry for each day noting sleep (because we still struggle), and I also keep track of certain potty issues she may or may not have. And, of course, anything cute she happens to do or say. :>) You think you'll remember, but you never do.

Rum - it was a small bottle. Just in case.

The Happiest Baby on the Block DVD - I cannot say enough good things about this! You can read an article from Parenting magazine that gives a summary here. I think all new parents should see it!

Anybody have any other tried-and-true things that you might add to the list?

For more frugal ideas, visit Life as Mom.

Babies, Birth and Midwives

OK, so for this post I am completely stealing word-for-word what my dear friend Shaye wrote here on her blog, Miller Memories. She nails it.

PS - note the last 3+ minutes of the video are citing sources, so it's really closer to 5 minutes. And you can see a pic of me and Goose at 3:17, coincidentally her birth date. :>)
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Nebraska Friends of Midwives is a consumer-based, grassroots group working to educate women in an attempt to better our prenatal care and birthing outcomes. We're currently lobbying for three proposed bills that would allow more options and greater safety measures in our state. Niecey of The Monkeys and Me created the following video for our group, leaving us breathless in her wake. As you'll see in the 8-minute video, there's an overwhelming amount of research and statistical data which show Nebraska to be in a serious crisis when it comes to safe, normal birth. So take just a few minutes to watch the video, contemplate our current statistics, and meet me on the other side to learn of ways you can help out this month!!

Today, February 11th, our group is hosting a luncheon at the capitol to meet with our legislators regarding LB 406, LB 457, and LB 481 (you may click on each one to go directly to the official bill in PDF format). These bills are only the first steps needed to help catch us up to most other states. Here's how YOU can help:

• Read and sign our brand new online petition HERE.
• Find your senator HERE and call to ask where they stand on "the midwife bills." Sometimes that's all it takes to pique their interest.
• Join the Nebraska Friends of Midwives e-list HERE or our discussion board HERE.
• If you feel inclined, we could sure use a few new members. It's only $10 for a year, but it increases our numbers and power exponentially. It doesn't matter your gender, age, experience, etc.

There are many more things I could tell you to do, but these really are the best beginning steps to begin getting involved in bettering our birth climate. Currently, Nebraska and Alabama are at the bottom of the barrel on these liberties. We'll soon see which state is the last to get this liberating legislation passed. We're so close, people.

If you live here, please lend a hand (or if you know someone who lives here, please send them a link to this post!). I'll beg if I have to.
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Back to Lenetta: I was blown away by the statistical evidence that Nebraska - and the US as a whole! - is moving the wrong direction with regards to birth-related outcomes for mothers and babies. Things are getting WORSE for us!

I would also like to note that there are always going to be cases where mother and baby require the care of an obstetrician (I'm praying for one such friend right now!), and Cesarean sections have saved the lives of many who would not have otherwise survived. These cases should be exceptions, though, and it seems that more and more often they are becoming a very frightening norm.

Cloth Diapering Routine

So I began with Our Cloth Diaper Journey, but the hard part for most people is how on earth do you wash them? The first thing is to get over the ick factor. All babies dirty their diapers, and at some point, as a parent, you are going to get some on your person no matter what kind of diapers you use. I found that dealing with dirty cloth diapers wasn't nearly as bad as I thought it might be.

Goose never had formula, so I can't speak to how cloth diapering works with formula fed babies. Dirty diapers from exclusively bre@stfed babies (nope, can't bring myself to put that word on here, I don't want the wrong kind of searchers finding these posts by accident) can go straight in the wash. Older babies' "stinky bottom" that is reasonably solid can just be shaken into the toilet and anything remaining (usually not much) can go in the wash.

There is a certain no-man's-land when babies start eating some solid foods that results in diapers that are yucky and not solid. I found these to be the worst, but still not terrible. I kept a diaper-only rubber spatula in the bathroom (in the toilet brush container) and used it to scrape as necessary. I swished the spatula, and wiped it off with toilet paper then returned it to its home with the brush. I then tossed the diaper in the pail as usual.

When we were just starting out with cloth, I used two pails - one for the inserts/liners, and one for the diapers. This is true of all fleece - if you wash it with cotton, it will pick up the lint and pill the fleece. In the case of the diapers, it doesn't affect their absorbency, but they aren't quite as soft. Both pails were lined with a nylon bag that I purchased in the camping/sporting goods section of Wal-Mart. I tossed the diapers in as-is, though I tried to make sure they weren't balled up - I found the stink problem in the nursery came about only if things didn't have a chance to dry out. As Goose got older, I tended to lay the liners over the edge of the pail so they'd dry out better. I was lucky, though - Goose never really got into her diaper pails.

When it was time to wash, I dumped everything (including the nylon bags) in the washing machine, turning the bag inside out to make sure nothing was trapped inside. This was back when I had a top load washing machine, and it took a long time to get a wash routine figured out. As I remember, I ended up running them on a short cold wash cycle, then a hot heavy wash long cycle, then an extra rinse. I used as little detergent as possible.

When we got our front-load washing machine, I was a bit nervous because I've heard a lot of complaints about them not getting diapers clean. It took a bit of messing around, but I ended up very pleased with the following routine:

Cold soak cycle with one tablespoon of borax/washing soda and a very small drizzle of Tide. Then I ran a sanitary wash cycle (light soil) with just a few drops of Tide and a teaspoon or so of povodone iodine in the bleach compartment. Why the povodone? Because it's what my friend Patty does. (In the initial post, I noted that I purchased my Happy Heinys from her. And she has a LOT of kids, so she knows diapers.) I didn't use it for a long time, but it does very well at killing germs. I followed the sniff test - if they came out smelling like hot poop, they weren't clean.

For quite a while, I didn't put anything in with the diapers for the soak cycle. Then I realized that it made sense to use detergent when they were at their dirtiest. I then used just a touch more in the sanitary wash cycle because most of the gunk was gone at that point.

I know some people (including Patty) who dunk and swish their babies' diapers in the toilet. I preferred to rewash them if they didn't come clean rather than do that. A mom somewhere wrote that she preferred picking an occasional stray piece of corn or a raisin out of the washer rather than dunk and swish. Yeah, me too.

By the time Goose potty trained, I quit using the pails and just used my washing machine as a dry pail. Occasionally I had to pull out dirty diapers if I needed to run a load of regular laundry, but I thought it was more convenient than the pails. After I changed Goose, I just took the diaper to the machine, pulled out the insert, and tossed it all in. Like the pails, I didn't have much trouble with Goose getting into them. Please note that with a front-load washer, I highly recommend you leave the door open because I would fear the diapers would get NASTY if they didn't dry out.

I certainly preferred to hang Goose's diapers to dry on the clothesline, though we went through a spell of several weeks this summer where it either rained or was cool/cloudy/humid on the days that I wanted to wash diapers, or I wasn't able to get them washed until night. Our dew point here is high enough that clothes are *soaked* by morning if left on the line overnight.

The waterproof PUL fabric is such that it does well to have an occasional turn in the dryer to help keep it sealed. Overall, to help keep down the ickies, I preferred to dry Goose's diapers as quickly as possible. So if sunshine wasn't available, I tossed them in the dryer. Katie at Kitchen Stewardship notes that she can tell a difference in her dryer-dried microfiber versus line-dried, but she notes that her dish cloth microfiber needs a round in the dryer to keep stink at bay.

If you have any questions on washing cloth diapers, feel free to e-mail me or leave a comment. This is one of my favorite things to talk about! :>) Next up (someday), a brief post on potty training...

Flannel Burp Cloths

Burp cloths, burp rags, swipers - whatever you call them, they're pretty handy when you have a little one that is an urper, and they all tend to urp for a while at least. I used the heck out of plain prefold diapers for burp cloths and they work well. But I found some fun flannel printed ones that I used as my "goin' to town" burp cloths. (For those of you who aren't country folk, you save your nice stuff for trips to town.)

Thanks to this tutorial at Paper Dolly Girl, I was inspired to make some flannel burp rags and I was very pleased with how they turned out. As I noted in my post on how to make your own taggie blankets and embellished burp rags, I cruise the reminant bins at Wal-Mart and Hobby Lobby pretty much every time I go and pick up anything that catches my eye. Because of this habit, I tend to let the piece of fabric dictate the size of my final project. That is, I'd rather have a some bigger and smaller burp rags than have them all uniformly sized and a big pile of scraps. (Not that there's anything wrong with scraps!)

My method also differed in that I used flannel on both sides, and I stitched down the flannel in the middle. Some of my scraps were a bit short, and I didn't want them migrating around in the wash. I also sewed some scraps together for the middle piece. Initially I was concerned that the seam might feel lumpy between a sleeping baby's face and a loving adult's shoulder but I could barely feel the seam.

I was so pleased with how these turned out! I will be giving them as gifts for sure, and I also listed some in my Etsy shop (with more to come) if you'd like to give a special tiny one the gift of handmade flannel burp cloths but don't have the time or sewing skills.

For more frugal ideas, visit Life as Mom. You can also check out my handmade gifts section and see what I'm making for Christmas if you'd like!

Our Cloth Diaper Journey

While pregnant with the Goose, I became fascinated with cloth diapers. Something I read really sealed the deal for me, though - a mom said that she didn't have to worry about running out of diapers and needing to pack up the kids and go to the store, she just threw in a load of laundry. We live about 25 miles from stores where I'd buy diapers (small town grocery stores are *really* expensive on that sort of thing!) so that comment really stuck. (I love this pic of Goose, wearing her cow leg warmers and reading a nappy book. :>))

I wasn't sure where to start, though. Luckily I had some acquaintances (now friends :>))in the Nebraska Friends of Midwives that use cloth, so I was able to garner a number of opinions. One mentioned that she purchased several different kinds of diapers at first, figured out what she liked, and then went with those. I did a crazy amount of searching and clicking around - about that time, I was experiencing some anxiety (which I'm going to have to cover once I get caught up on writing some about me posts!) and thinking about cloth diapers helped soothe that, for whatever reason.

Please note that none of these links are affiliate links, nor have I utilized the companies - they are just links that I found helpful.

Were I to start from scratch, I might try something like one of these sampler packages. If you try doing a search for "cloth diaper starter kit" or "cloth diaper sample package" or something like that, you'll likely find more. Ooh, I found a bunch of links that I stumbled across a long time ago, you can find more sampler packs here, here, here, here, and here. Note that some of the returns are for credit.

My decision was mostly made from the start, because Patty, one of my NFOM acquaintances (now a dear friend), was a retailer for Happy Heineys. She was also expecting a baby about the same time I was expecting the Honker, so we had a fun time comparing pregnancies. Hers was baby #5, though. :>) In addition to the Happy Heinys, I also bought some Fuzzi Bunz and a couple of Bumkins All-In-Ones (AIOs). I didn't even try prefolds and covers after hearing Patty wax poetic about pocket diapers.

If you want to learn more about cloth diapers, there are tons of great sites. Some that I found helpful include the diapering forum at Mothering.com, Diaper Pin, Pinstripes and Polkadots, and Punkin Butt. Though I'll admit I've not read through them in quite a while! If you really want to kill some time, visit Diaper Swappers. You can learn tons about diapering and a lot of other natural family practices, and there is also a huge marketplace for gently used and some new diapers. It moves FAST though!

I didn't like the AIOs because Goose felt wet right away. With the pocket diapers, I could go about up to 2 hours between changes (unless she was dirty, of course). A pocket diaper has two layers in itself - in the case of the Happy Heinys and the Fuzzi Bunz, the outer layer is waterproof PUL, and the inner layer is fleece. You then use something absorbent as an insert.

Both Happy Heinys and Fuzzi Bunz make a one-size diaper. Goose pretty much fell off the bottom of the growth chart (though she has always been perfectly healthy) and I didn't care for the one-sizes for her. But every baby is different. I preferred the cut of the Fuzzi Bunz diapers and the way they fit Goose, but I liked the aplix (velcro) closure of the Happy Heinys better.

When Goose was tiny, I used cotton washcloths. Then Happy Heinys came out with a microfiber insert which I really liked at first. But eventually I had trouble getting them clean and they got stinky. I really liked the absorbency of the microfiber, though, and so I switched to microfiber towels, which I purchased in the auto department of Wal-Mart. Note that they should never be put directly on baby's skin, though.

I'll post later on our routine and the important part - washing diapers! [edit - you can read it here.]

Soft Blocks for Baby

With apologies to my sister-in-law who gets my posts via e-mail, this post is about how I made blocks for her little boy for Christmas. (Delete this e-mail now, sister!) (The rest of you can scroll down to see the pictures.)

I bought a piece of 4" thick foam at Hobby Lobby and found a post at eHow.com on how to cut foam. I'll tell you, my hands and wrists were sore from pulling my electric knife through the foam, and I certainly should have put it up on the table instead of the floor because my bunner muscles and thighs were SORE from kneeling, squatting, and otherwise dancing around while cutting. Mercy. Oh, and I put one of my cheap, large cutting boards under the spot where I was cutting with the knife - you will ding it up, and badly.

The foam was about $22 and I used a 40% off coupon - you should be able to see the current one being offered here. It was 22"x22", so I'm thinking of making extra blocks (or two) and selling them in my Etsy shop. Maybe a set for a baby girl?

On my shopping trip to Hobby Lobby, I found the fabric you see - it coincidentally was a print with 4.25" square blocks! I cut it apart so that four blocks were together, and I stitched on a top and a bottom, so to speak. On the advice of both my mother and MIL, I'm using a zig zag stitch for strength. I left two sides open for stuffing the foam in, as I found leaving just one side open made for a very tight squeeze.

Then I hand stitched the remaining two sides shut using more or less a basic whipstitch. I tended to space my stitches too closely together, which I thought was better than too far apart. My mom had encouraged me to try to space them about the same distance as the zig zag stitches from the machine, but my brain kept over-riding that. :>)

I found that even using only the width of my presser foot as my seam allowance, some of the blocks are pretty tight - plus it comes as no surprise that none of my blocks are completely square (nor are my fabric cuts). Were I to do this again with non-block-printed fabric, I'd probably cut at least 4.5" squares and possibly 4.75" squares to make sure there is enough room. On the one hand, you don't want the fabric too loose and the foam sliding around inside, but on the other hand, too tight isn't very pretty.

To make the bag, I figured three rows of three blocks each, which would be 12" by 12", plus 4" on the sides, and I wanted plenty of room for a drawstring at the top. I ended up cutting my fabric 17" across by about 37" long (partly influenced by the size of my piece of fabric). I was completely winging it without a pattern (which seems to be my favorite way to sew!) so I'll just explain what I did.

First, I made the patch with [nephew name]'S BLOCKS. I tried embroidering it and didn't care for the way it turned out. So I pulled that out. I had a number of scraps left over from the blocks, so I made stencil letters on the computer (see how to do that at my ABC Book post) and cut them out. I used two-sided fusible interfacing attached to the print first, then traced the letters on the back side - make sure you trace the letters BACKWARDS so they'll end up the right way - and cut them out, then fused them to the navy piece of fabric. I cut around the edge with pinking shears and stitched it to the light blue fabric for the sack. Note that my webbing is thick, so I did NOT stitch around the outside. I used some of this on my ABC Book referenced above, and ended up breaking my thread several times. Had I used the Wonder Under that I finally found in the storage room this morning, I'd have used a zig zag stitch around the letters.

Looking at it now, I think I should have scooted it down a few inches when I stitched it on, but without the bag sewn and the blocks in it, it looked centered at the time. So, if you try this at home, learn from my mistakes . . .

To make the bag, I folded the fabric at the bottom of the bagand pinned one side. I stitched that side shut and pressed the seam open. I trimmed the corner a bit, snipping off the diagonal, so it would be neater when turned right side out. I think at this point I had intended to fold the top down and sew the slot for the drawstring, but I forgot. I stitched the other side, also all the way up to the top, which kind of came back to bite me later, but I persevered! I then turned the top down and stitched the drawstring slot, but if you're following along in your mind, you'll realize I don't have anywhere for the drawstring to go into or out of - it's completely stitched shut!

Luckily, I thrive on this type of challenge. :>) I stitched back and forth a few times about 3/4" down from the top of the bag along one side seam, and then used a seam ripper to open the side seam stitches between that and the seam that made the bottom of the drawstring slot. Success! For the string, I braided six strands of navy yarn with different colored flecks and knotted each end. I fastened a barrette on one end, and used that to feed the yarn through the slot. (Slot isn't the right word, but I can't think of what the right word would be! Feel free to leave me a comment on that!) I also pressed the fold at the top so it would lay neatly.

Then I stuffed the blocks in and tied the yarn, sat back, and admired my work. :>) You can see more of what I'm doing for Christmas at my Handmade Christmas post, which I'm updating as I make more things. (Unless you're going to be a recipient of said gifts. Then no peeking, you Scrooge!) You can also see more handmade Christmas ideas at Proverbs 31 Living.

For more frugal ideas, visit Life As Mom.

Cheap White Noise

When Goose was a tiny baby, it became clear that sleep was going to be an uphill battle with her. To make matters worse, her bedroom opens right into our living room, so that even watching TV at low levels or holding a conversation at a normal tone sounds like it is happening in her bedroom.

I read in a number of places to try white noise. Some suggested sources were a fan - which was too cold in early spring for a baby even if it was not pointed at her, static from the radio - new radios seem to try to edge into the closest signal and thus don't stay on static, and it just wasn't practical to run the vacuum cleaner every time she needed to sleep! (Though my carpets could have used the vacuuming, I know.)



I can't remember exactly how or when I figured it out, but I set up my fish aquarium in her room and used the air pump as the white noise. As a bonus, I could use the light from the aquarium as a nightlight. Of course, once she started crawling, that idea had to go out the window. But the air pump itself did not.

I disconnected the tube that ran into the tank, and coiled up and bound the power cord so that there was just enough room to plug it in and set it on the floor. It has provided about two years of white noise in addition to perhaps two or three years of use in an aquarium, so it seems to be lasting well. I don't remember what the cost was initially - I'm certain I picked it up at Wal-Mart, though, and that it was not a "top of the line" model. I've considered taking it with us when we travel, but I wasn't sure if it would be too weird for her to wake up to a familiar sound in an unfamiliar place. Regardless, this idea has worked very well for us!

And here's just one of those little things that keeps me from listing Goose on ebay . . . yesterday, she gave a short shrill squeal, as two year olds do to voice their displeasure with something. Immediately after, she very seriously and in a normal tone, said "calm down?" Yes, little one, I do want you to calm down. Thanks. :>)

For more frugal ideas, visit Life As Mom.

Handmade Christmas, 2009

Here are some of the things I'm working on for Christmas and a few fall birthdays. Most of these come from my reading the whole internet posts or my bookmarks from before I had a blog. I have a favorites folder called "crafty" and several subfolders inside that. As I see things that I think might work to give as gifts or otherwise make or do, I bookmark it in those folders. When a holiday or birthday approaches, I dig through them and see what sounds good. I intend to come back and update with pictures as I get them done.

And if you're one of my sisters-in-law, MOVE ALONG! NOTHING TO SEE HERE! :>) (They both subscribe to my blog, and I'm trying to keep them from inadvertantly being grinches!)

For my nieces (who are ages 10, 6, 5, and 2):
* The oldest three will each get one of these I Spy bags. I picked up random little things at the thrift store to put in them, bargin bin fabric, and I bought a huge bag of rice and 1/2 yard of thick clear plastic like that which your grandmother may have over her tablecloth to protect it from the hooligan grandchildren. :>) You can read more about them at my post here. (and I re-did them about three times to make them not-so-easy. :>))

* The middle girls will each get a homemade camping lantern, mine are shown at left. (with apologies for not realizing that the phone cord was in the picture going up the wall) I ended up hot gluing some ribbon around the bottom to cover the gap between the lid and the waxed paper. For about two minutes, I tried to figure out how to glue the ribbon to the jar. Then I gave up and glued it to the lid, so the open part is up instead of down but at least it lays flat. Whew.

* I made a "quiet family" for the youngest. I liked both the wooden version and the cloth one. I like how they're made without mouths, hence the quiet part. :>) I was able to find the wooden version pretty inexpensively at Hobby Lobby - I think both the bag of "kids" and "adults" were $3 each with several in a package, and the box was around $2. I recruited my dad to trim the bottoms so the mama is shorter than the papa, and, in the case of my nieces, they're four different sizes. (He's the best!)

I ended up not bothering with faces or hair, just glued a piece of fabric around the bodies. Since my box was divided, I decided to make different "rooms" like my brother's new house. I found some clip-art, made it black and white, printed it, cut it out, and glued it to the fabric that I glued in the box. I had brief thoughts of trying to draw a swing set on the back but quickly realized I'm a *terrible* artist and threw that out the window. I think she'll be pleased anyway.

* My youngest niece will get some of this play makeup. I requested makeup and nail polish on freecycle, and I was tickled with how it turned out. I have some for sale in my Etsy shop, if you're interested!


* Youngest niece will also be getting a scrappy flower crown. As you can see from the little hand in the pic on the right, Goose was quite interested. It might get a bit crazy when her cousin opens it up...

* For my middle two nieces, I am planning to put together a craft-a-day kit because last year, the glow of being at Grandma's kind of wore off a few days into the several-day visit. There was a wrench thrown in the works when it was decided that we'll celebrate at my brother's instead, but this will give them something to do during the days they have off from school anyway, and it's kind of "consumable" in that it's not a whole bunch of stuff my sister-in-law has find a place to put. Win-win-win!
*** flubber
*** fruity smelly painting
*** gak
*** oobleck
*** no-sew bags
*** paper marbling
*** marble run
*** (which got me thinking about a domino run)
*** puffy paint (though we won't do ghosts and I'm thinking about a bit of food coloring mixed in here and there - like this post from Chasing Cheerios)

* My oldest niece will be getting some bookmarks, I found lots o' links (here, and here, and another at here, and one more here, the beaded one is here though I made a few changes, and the felt and ribbon one is here.)







For my sisters-in-law:
* As noted earlier in the Reading the Whole Internet Post, I plan to make them each two of these button and wire brooches. I'm using buttons out from a huge bag I got at a rummage sale last year, Hubs brought me some wire. It wasn't quite as easy as I hoped, but I'm got better as I went along. I still need to glue felt on the backs and attach the pins.

I had trouble getting the wire to be very tight in the button holes, especially when there were four holes instead of just two. I also had much better luck (and more straight twists) by holding the wires taught and twisting the button rather than twisting the wire around the other strand of wire. Some of my buttons broke in the process as well, which was a huge bummer. but, they're cute, and hopefully the SILs will get a kick out of wearing them a few times and that's all I can ask. [update - I bought some button magnets and am planning to offer to turn them into magnets instead - I'll let them decide since they're already wrapped. :>)]

* Since they both live in cold places (Colorado and Alaska), I was planning to do hand warming gloves. I thought about instead making a small pocket on the outside of the gloves so that they can remove the rice bag and warm it without warming the whole gloves. Instead, I made little palm-sized warmers that they could tuck either in their palm or on the back of their hand. Of course, I didn't get the idea to embroider their initials until I was done with the first one. I mean, I really tried hard to make them unique! I used some new tan felt I'd found at the thrift shop and three strands of embroidery floss. [Update - looks like I'll be working on a new set of these . . . I have discovered the hard way that they make excellent cat toys. I also ended up making them bigger, so that they cover nearly the entire palm.] [Update 2 - Um, I wrapped them yesterday without taking new pictures. Oops. Guess you'll have to wait to see them until after Christmas.]

I will say that it appears to be the year of the blanket stitch. :>) My mom taught me how to do it and I'm loving it!

* The post that kicked the blanket stitch craze off is Frugal Family Fun Blog's hand warmers. I used pink felt, also found new at the thrift shop, bound with a blanket stitch using three strands of varigated embroidery floss. I kind of based the size off the size of the piece of felt I had, but I thought they were too big - Valerie's are more the size of a deck of cards. I ended up taking the stitches out of one end, cutting off some felt, embroidering their names on their respective warmers, and re-stitching. Valerie also has a more masculine denim version here.

I read in this link on homemade bed warmers that field corn actually holds heat better than rice. Since we have an abundance of that around here, Iactually re-did these and removed the rice - especially since corn from the farm will hold a bit of significance for my sweet sisters-in-law. I also re-did my own rice bag that I use when I'm chilly or achy, and I found that corn needs longer in the microwave than rice did. I made some bed warmers as gifts, too.


For my 9-month-old nephew:
* He has requested a few more pairs of leg warmers, so that's easy enough! Well, except for choosing which ones to give him, that is. :>) (Feel free to visit my Etsy shop if you'd like some leg warmers for your special little one!)

* I made him a crinkly owl, which I thought turned out great! I used fleece instead of felt because I wanted it to be totally washable. I went bigger with the eyes, using a baby food jar lid as my pattern. I gave some thought to doing some sort of claws but thought that might be overkill - he won't care either way. (And please note that the owl is blanket stitched all over the place.)

* Thanks to the suggestions in the comments, I made a set of blocks for the little guy, with a bag to hold them. You can see how I made them at my Soft Blocks for Baby post. They weren't quite stitched up in the picture but they turned out great.

Any other suggestions for a baby boy? Or a toddler boy, since his birthday will be coming up in March - and Chrismas will come around next year?!? Per Sarah's e-mailed comment, I'm looking hard at something like these puzzle blocks from the Land of Nod. I was thinking about painting the blocks then decoupaging on pictures, or maybe even just use patterned scrapbook paper. Then I found an awesome deal on Melissa & Doug puzzle blocks and punted on the idea for now. :>) [edit - if you want to make your own soft blocks or puzzle blocks, check out these posts at Make it and Love it (soft) and Making The World Cuter (puzzle).]

For Hubs:
* He isn't nearly as big on games as I am, but I made Quatro for him anyway. Actually, my dad did the cutting and staining, so I did very little, but I think it came together pretty easily! The problem is that Hubs is surprising me by kicking the soup out of me pretty much every time we play. I did well at first, but he's been handing my rear end to me ever since. The nice thing is that it doesn't take too long to play a game.

For our mothers and my sisters-in-law:
* I like to make calendars that feature a picture of Goose from (approximately) that month the previous year. It's fun to see how she's grown! I make the calendar part in Word - it's basically a "table" the size of the page that's seven columns by five rows, and then adjust the days and numbers as needed. I also put in that side of the family's birthdays and anniversaries, so I end up with two versions of the calendars. I then use Publisher for the picture pages, and I also have had fun including little quotes that I've found - I especially like The Quote Garden.

* The past two years, I've traced Goose's hand and then embroidered it onto a piece of fabric . . . I think of it as a Christmas ornament, I guess. The idea for that came from Plum Pudding, though it's a bit different with only one kiddo. :>) Here is the picture of mine from 2007 and 2008. For this year's, I finally used my sewing machine! I put the right sides together and stitched around the embroidered hand, leaving a gap. I turned it right side out and hand-stitched the gap shut, then used an embroidery needle to poke embroidery floss through to hang it up.

* Last year, I found a package of blank note cards and envelopes in a variety of colors. I also traced Goose's feet and took a thumbprint, and scanned them into my computer. I made it easy on myself and just digitally flipped them so I had right and left without trying to hold a kid still for so long. I used Paint and darkend the outside line, then filled them in with different colors. I ended up with some pretty random stuff, but I'll include them below for your enjoyment. (You'll note I made good use of the "rotate" feature".

















Some things I've made for gifts previously:
fabric and button barrettes with an update, though I don't think the buttons ever stayed on very well. (Mine are here.)

bangle bracelets (mine are here)

sidewalk chalk paint

ribbon dancer (mine is here)

tulle pony tail holders

tutus

silhouette pendants (Mine are here)

super foam-erators

this headband, the ribbon one from here and I didn't make this but I really wanted to! I intended to make some for Christmas, but after checking with her mom, I learned she's kind of growing out of them.

What are you making for Christmas this year? I'd love to see links in the comments!

And for more frugal ideas, visit Life As Mom. For more handmade Christmas ideas, visit Abbi at Proverbs 31 Living!