Meal Planner!

I've been slowly completing projects in the house. The nursery is 95% done and wall decorating has begun. A few weeks back I made our meal planner/calendar. I wanted something nice but easily accessible. Here is what I came up with.

I found great large frames at a  local church garage sale. This one didn't even need repainting! I then took apart the frame and covered the artwork inside in white paper. This hid the print. My outer layer is burlap and both it and the paper are secured to the back of the artwork. To section out the board into the seven days of the week, I used black ribbon also secured on the back (pinned then glued). JoAnns sells nice vinyl letter stickers so I found a font I liked to label the days of the week. Once all of that was done, the frame backing was put back in place and wah-la!

I now have a write on wipe off meal planner that matches our kitchen nicely! Because everything is behind the glass, it makes it easy to wipe off and clean. Another plus is that it looks like a piece of furniture not just an organization tool.

My Mei Tai

Before Carter arrived I spent one riveting Friday night making my very first baby carrier. It is probably my most in depth sewing project to date and required me to pay more attention to the pattern than I normally do. Even so, I modified the pattern and made it my own! I added in a head rest with padding and changed the overall shape a bit. Here's the final product in use. I could only try it on empty yet cradling my giant bump until he arrived. Now that he is here it's getting use. I have to say I love it possibly even more than my Ergo or Moby at the moment. The only draw back is that I can't just untie it and let it hang half on half off once he decides he wants out. I can do that with my Ergo and Moby stays on in between carryings. Maybe I'll make the same pattern but but buckles on it instead of long tie strings next. Then it'd be perfect! It's lightweight and much more cool both in temperature and fabric pattern!!

The pirate fabric panel is actually removable so it can be switched out with other fun patterns at a moments notice. I'm excited to have a fashionable carrier that changes without having to own a hundred different one. Hubby already asked why I needed this one when I have a Moby and an Ergo. He just doesn't understand!! Wait until I tell him I still need a woven wrap!

Playing in the...

...TOILET!!

Now that Nolan is eating solids his easy-peasy breastfed baby poops have disappeared only to be replaced by gooey, stinky "bigger" kid poo. For disposable diapers this doesn't matter, but for cloth diapers it signals a change.

Gone are the days that I could just throw diaper and all into the wash with no concern for the poo. Now, I have to rinse off or scrape it off first. As an aside did you know that disposable diaper users are supposed to empty the diaper of poo and flush it before disposing? Yep, landfills aren't supposed to have human waste. It's biohazard!

Luckily he still only goes once or twice a week but yesterday's mess was enough to make me look for solutions. I tried flushing the toilet and swishing the diaper to no avail.I had enough of playing in the toilet so today I went to Lowe's and tried my hand at plumbing.

I made a do-it-yourself diaper sprayer which is hooked up to the water valve on the toilet. Here's my final product!

Check out this blog (Gidget Goes Home) for more details. Mine is similar but not exact. It wasn't too hard but I did have to improvise a bit.

We'll find out in a few days how well it works but for now it is plumbed and not leaking and the shut off valve works great!