Monday, February 24, 2014

Embroidery Fun

Here are some recent embroidery projects I've been working on. 





Blurry but good! "This boy loves his bricks" for the Lego movie with dad!





Monday, February 17, 2014

Our week in pictures!

This is what i get when trying to capture a nice brotherly picture!

My sweet boy with one of his Valentine's shirts on.

Rockin' pink with his party horn.

Trying to rock pink with a horn but a little backwards.

Sweet smiles!

My favorite picture in a long tie. This is the start of them actually playing together!!

Nolan's "this by loves his bricks" shirt for the Lego movie. I asked him to let me take a picture and this is the face he did!



Saturday, February 15, 2014

Cloth Diaper Troubleshooting

Getting the right fit.
  1. Make sure the pocket insert is smoothly placed inside the cover. It needs to lie flat and straight.
  2. All portions of the insert should be tucked inside the pocket and none of the inner diaper layer should be folded over or exposed to outside of wicking will occur.
  3. Adjust the snaps so the rise of the diaper is snug and not unnecessarily bulky.
  4. Always use the wing snap to ensure a snug fit along the leg.

My diapers are leaking.
  1.  If your diapers are brand new check the fit of the diaper. Diapers that are too loose or adjusted too small can both leak. The inner fabric of a pocket diaper needs to be snug against the babies bottom in order for urine to be quickly absorbed and not pool and run out.
  2. Pocket one-size diapers fit best from 10-30#. Every child is different though so a very thin 10# baby might not yet fit.
  3.  If your diapers have been in use a while and just started leaking, the problem is likely detergent, mineral, or rash cream buildup and they need to be “stripped”. Stripping refers to the process of removing that detergent buildup. It can be done numerous ways.
    1. RLR – Soak clean diapers in RLR and hot water for 4-5 hours (bucket or tub) and then rinse until suds are gone.
    2. Add a tbsp. of original dawn dish soap to the wash cycle (clean diapers) and then rinse until all suds are gone.
    3. Boil the inserts only (NEVER THE OUTER POCKETS)

My diapers smell.
  1.   If your diapers smell once your baby wets them but are fine coming out of the machine, they likely need to be stripped. See #3 above. 
  2.   Increase the frequency of your wash schedule and do not leave diapers as long in the pail. 

Wednesday, February 12, 2014

New Pants and PicGIF

I've been eying the cool new cloth diaper pants that have been making their way around the web. Maxaloones (named after the pattern maker) or Pantaloones they are being called  I love the looks everyone has been doing and wanted to get in on the action myself. For my first pair I chose fabrics I had around the house already. Fleece is perfect for nighttime cloth diapering because if a leak happens to occur, the fleece itself absorbs the wetness and your baby continues sleeping! Carter seems to love them and Nolan has asked me to make him some that are blue and yellow. Friday we're hitting JoAnn's again.


Aren't they cute?? Now you're probably wondering how I got my photos to do that cool little switcheroo. It was simple! I received a copy of PicGIF for the Mac by Pearl Mountain from the App store to review. I wasn't sure the best way to use it and figured since I wanted to show off my pants I'd start there. It's so simple. The application requires no deep knowledge and is intuitive. You can upload videos or pictures and set them to motion. Adding text is easy too! I played around with it without reading instructions as that's what most of us tend to usually do. It wasn't a problem at all and I quickly figured out how to make the fun little picture set.

PicGIF supports many image formats including .jpeg, .tiff, and .bmp and most video formats too. It lets you customize size, the frame delay, sequence of pictures and movies, add text, and more.

You can check out more info about PicGIF for Mac here:
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/picgif/id784260229?ls=1&mt=12

They also have a trailer video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Z89p_D8Wpc

Now you'll all get to see my fun new GIF's as I use PicGIF and have fun!!



I received the item reviewed in this post in order to facilitate my review. All opinions are my own. 

Tuesday, February 11, 2014

Big boy beds!!

This weekend we scored a great deal on a matching IKEA bed for Carter (Thanks friend!!). We went ahead and set it up in his room so we had some place to store the mattress. I'm not yet brave enough to be switching him to a bed from his crib. In the process the mast from his pirate ship decor got broken. Instead of fixing it, I decided to go ahead and start in slowly on his big boy room decor. I'm thinking maybe rocket ships but need to start pinning things!!

This also helped us make the leap and finally flip Nolan's bed over. The bed we have can be on the ground or lofted. It's a pretty safe and low loft but we hadn't yet done it for N. He's a good sleeper and hasn't fallen out of his bed to date but it's still a scary step!! Luckily once this bed is lofted the mattress and child sleep in a sort of box. Nolan is LOVING it and a plus side is he now has more play room in his bed room.



Baby brother hasn't yet figured out the ladder... luckily.

His cheese face!

Friday, February 7, 2014

Hiking in the cold

It's chilly here today (misty and 50 degrees) but we had been rained out once already from our planned hiking day. Determined not to let the weather ruin our fun, the boys and I met a friend and went to a local conservation area to explore. I was excited to use my hiking backpack carrier but of course left it in the garage! Luckily my Ergo was packed so I wore Carter for a portion of the hike.

The boys had a great time and so did their little friend. Carter wants so bad to be a big boy. He copied Nolan to the T and picked up sticks and even tried drawing in the mud. Cute to see. Here is some of our fun in pictures.




Wednesday, February 5, 2014

Messy boy... and mom!

 
Everyone knows little boys are messy but apparently so are their moms!! We were supposed to go hiking with friends today so I grabbed a pair of my old work hiking boots and we hurried out the door to Nolan's speech session. After I got there, I noticed that the side of the sole on my boot was really cracked. I chased Carter around the reception area of the school while Nolan was back in therapy and realized I had been leaving a trail of black rubber particles everywhere! I tried to hide it and stop walking around but what can you do when you're chasing a 17mo old? The entire sole of one of the boot feel off and disintegrated into pieces as I was wearing it!! So embarrassing and I hope on one noticed. Lesson of the day: when you don't wear something for four years it starts to disintegrate!

Then we headed straight to the conservation area and on the way storm clouds rolled in. We ended up letting the kids play in the parking area and watched as lightning was striking in the distance. No hiking for us as just a few minutes later it started pouring rain. We hurried home and somehow even though he had only been playing for about 3 minutes Nolan was covered in mud. He said, "mom I look like a monster penguin with lots of black dots!"



Let's hope tomorrow is less messy!

Monday, February 3, 2014

Yummi Pouches

Disclosure: I got this product as part of an advertorial.

So back in March of last year I reviewed the Infantino Fresh Squeeze System. We've been using it almost daily ever since. While I like the disposable Infantino brand pouches, we all know I'm much more into reusable! They make a silicone version that works with the system but it's not identical to the store bought pouches and my kiddos know and prefer the store bought versions. Enter the Yummi Pouch!

Made of food grade material that's BPA, PVC, and phthalate free these reuseable pouches come in a variety of sizes. They are freezer and dishwasher safe so you can easily clean and store them. While I use my Infantino system to fill, if you don't have one the pouches have a easily accessible zippered opening to pour or spoon in your mixtures. It's reinforced and even my wild child 17mo old holds and feeds himself with the pouches and we've never had one open on us.



The 6oz. size comes in a fun decorative pattern. The bottom expands and it will stand on it's own even. These aren't just for babyfood!! They are perfect for portable snacks for all ages. Applesauve, yogurt, and smoothies easily fit inside.




I have to admit that when I first saw the 10oz pouch I wondered why anyone would need one that big. Let me tell you why!! They are recappable (like that made up word??) so your hungry child can snack some recap and pack away for later. We took this to the zoo with applesauce and yogurt and he ate off it as he wanted with no mess.

Yummi Pouches offer a 30 day guarantee too! If you want to try them out "Like" them on Facebook and use the code PARTY4YP for 10% off at www.yummipouch.com/store.


I received one or more of the products mentioned above for free using Tomoson.com. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will be good for my readers.
 

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