Cloth Diaper Review - Happy Heinys

Recently Baby Half Off was having a cloth diaper sale on Happy Heiny's pocket sized diapers. Since the baby no longer fit into her medium Thirsties anymore I decided to buy some large one's and give them a try.

I LOVE these diapers, even more than I love her Flip and Thirsties AIO. These are very simple pocket diapers that fasten with velcro. They don't come with an insert but I use my Flip inserts and they are working wonderfully!

Hello Everyone

It has been quite some time since I did some blogging! Unfortunately I switched teams at work and my schedule has become so hectic I haven't had any time left for blogging. Luckily things have slowed down, not as much as I would have liked, and I am back to blogging! My daughter is 16 and a half months now, time sure does fly! I have stopped nursing and switched the baby to cow's milk. Just recently she has also stopped using a baby bottle, Hooray! Sadly sleep is still an issue for us, will I ever be able to sleep again? She has gone from crawling to walking and now I can barely keep up with her. I have lots of great posts coming up and even my first giveaway. Stay tuned!

Tip of the Day

I love being able to reuse items around the house. Not only is it good for the environment it's also good for the pocketbook. I recently came across some great green tips that I wanted to share.

1. Plastic baby bottles make great bath toys for kids.When you need to clean them just place them in the dishwasher. You can also make rattles out of them by placing beads or beans inside of them. Just make sure you use nontoxic glue to glue the cap in place to prevent a choking hazard.
2. Clean laundry measuring cups and scoops make fun beach and sandbox toys.
3. Worn out pre folds and old mismatched socks make great dust cloths.
4. Use shoe boxes for storing photos, recipes, bills, small toys and art supplies.  Cover with wrapping paper to make them more attractive and add a label that describes the contents.
5. Greeting cards can be cut up and used as post cards and gift tags.
6. Envelopes from junk mail can be used for to-do lists and shopping lists.
7. Spray bottles from household cleaners can be washed thoroughly and then used for household cleaners and water spritzer bottles for house plants.
8. Save orange and lemon peels and put them in a fireplace.  They will add fragrance to the room when you have a fire.

Cloth Diaper Review - Gro Baby

My family and I are planning on going on vacation this week. This will be the babies first vacation. Since I am using cloth diapers I wasn't sure if I should use them when we go on vacation. I recently read an article discussing traveling using cloth diapers and the article mentioned the Gro Baby disposable inserts. I decided to buy the shell and disposable inserts system to use while on vacation.

GroBaby Shell Blackberry

When my package arrived in the mail I was very excited. I decided to try out the inserts before we went on vacation so I could get use to them. The inserts looked just liked a disposable diaper but instead of having velcro tabs their was a peel and stick strip in the back. I put one on while we went to the grocery store. Boy was I shocked to find my daughter with a horrible diaper rash when I changed her diaper. It was the worst diaper rash she has ever had. I looked at the filler material ingredients and I found that the diapers contained the same gel chemical that the regular disposables have. Since my daughter was allergic to the inserts I won't be using them. I decided that I would use the shell with my Flip Insert. I was very disappointed with the Gro Baby shell. First off the cover was much narrower than my other diaper covers so my insert barely fit inside. I was afraid that their would be a leakage issue since the mid section of the diaper barely covered her. Another problem is the cover isn't as long as other covers so it won't be fitting her much longer. She is only 9 months and 16lbs right now. I hated the velcro fastening in this diaper. Their aren't any laundry tabs or middle velcro strip. You have to use the fabric to attach the velcro and it is very hard to take the tabs off/put the tabs on the fabric, which is a big problem when your child is squirming around. The shells (diaper covers) are very had to use and don't cover tall/chubby babies. I don't recommend the Gro Baby shell/disposable insert.

Getting Organzized

My work has been so busy lately that all my other projects have taken a back seat. My craft area is still a huge mess. I have a bunch of started projects that I haven't gotten a chance to finish and since I haven't had time to get my craft room ready everything is thrown across my dining room table. I have decided that I need to get organized. I found some great online tutorials for making a travel journal, binder cover, and some free planner templates. I wanted to use the travel journal idea and make my own planner for sewing/craft projects. Since I really don't have the time right now I decided that instead I would do "A goal a day" to conquer all my unfinished projects. I will pick one specific thing I need to get done everyday and make that my goal for the day. Remember to be specific when picking your goal, the more specific the better. For example I need to get my daughter's tutu finished by Saturday instead of making finish tutu my goal for today, my goal for today is to finish attaching all the tulle pieces that are missing. My goal for tomorrow is to sew the ribbon sash on the tutu. If I can get my 2 goals done then I will be finished with the tutu. It's that easy. Remember to be very specific when choosing your goal. You might also be tempted to pick more than one goal a day. Don't! If you start picking multiple goals a day you might not get them done, we all know how busy life can be, and then you would be right back where you started!

Tip of the Day

Do you love Robeez's shoes? I love them and so does my daughter. It's the only shoes that she doesn't try to take off and they have such cute designs. For a limited time you can get 20% off any purchase of $50 or more. Use coupon code MOTHERS20 at checkout. Offer expires May 12, 2010.

Sew Mama Sew is turning 5 this month and they are offering 15% off your entire order. As always, shipping in the US is only $5 no matter how large your order. Enter the code 15SMSISFIVE when you checkout. Offer good through Monday, May 17, 2010.

My Preemie Experience

My daughter was born at 36 weeks. She weighed only 4 lbs 6oz at birth, she was a tiny baby. She was so much smaller than all the other babies and our top priority was to keep her healthy. Our doctor told us how important it was to keep her healthy. At her age and weight if she got a cold she would need to be hospitalized. I wanted to share some of the useful things I learned about having a preemie. The hospital nurses told us it would be best to limit the number of guests we had come to see the baby. Not only were their germs to think about but they also warned us that having to many visitors often fatigued newborns. We followed the nurses recommendations and only our immediate families were able to see the baby. All other family and friends were turned away nicely. This was hard for some people to deal with but our daughter only lost 4 ounces during the first week and that was a great start. If possible I also recommend breastfeeding. Even if you don't plan on breastfeeding for long, any amount of breast milk is a great help. Our pediatrician had us supplement with formula for preemies and at first I followed that. When my milk came in though I only gave her breast milk and during that time she started gaining lots of weight. Breast milk also helps your babies immune system and much more. Make sure that anyone who is going to touch the baby washes their hands first. I know this sounds like common sense but you must be vigilant about this. Don't expect everyone to just know that they should have clean hands before they touch your baby. Another good idea is to get a car seat sign. When your out in public people WILL touch your baby without asking first and they will have germs on their hands. Once I put this sign on my daughter's car seat no one touched her again. I didn't take the baby out of the house until she was 2 months old. I know how hard this was on me but it was cold season and I didn't want to risk catching a cold. Another wonderful tip the hospital gave us was to have lots of skin to skin contact. They mentioned studies that showed preemie's do better quickly with skin to skin contact. I would suggest using the Moby Wrap. It is safe for preemies to use and it makes skin to skin contact easy. My last piece of advice would be to stay positive.

Mother's Day Gift Ideas

Mother's Day is almost here, it's May 9th for all those who don't know. I decided the best gift to give my mom and mother-in-law this year was a framed picture of their kids/grandkids. I found and printed the cutest pictures and I found some cute cheap frames at Target. I love Target they have such good stuff! To make the gift extra special my little sisters and I are getting together this weekend to make our Flower Card and personalized Bookmarks. I plan on changing the bookmark slightly. Instead of using fabric we will be using our favorite school picture or any wallet size picture will do. You can use any scrap fabric you have aroundt he house to make the flower card. Any mother will truly love these gifts!

DIY Invitations and Book Labels

My daughter's first birthday is fast approaching and I am trying to start her birthday planning early. I wasn't sure what theme I wanted to do for her first birthday, do you even need one, but a good friend suggested a princess theme since that's her nickname. I came across some great FREE printable invitations that are breautiful, Free Invitations.They have a wide variety and they even have a cute recipe card template. I think I will be using the Frame Monogram invitation but I haven't decided yet. They add new invitations frequently, I LOVE the peacock feather invitation. I also came across cute templates for This Book Belongs To labels. These labels are an image file so you have to print the whole block and not just the ones you like but they are still very cute. They can come in handy for school books and gifts.

Conquer Losing Your Temper

We all have moments where we lose our temper and usually you feel horrible for losing your temper once you have calmed down. I read a great article that had some great tips on lowering your stress level so you don't lose your temper. First think about your normal daily routine. What part of the normal day causes you the most stress? What part of the day are you happiest? For me the most stressful part of my day was when I got home from work and picking up my daughter. I am trying to get all my chores done but my daughter never lets me get anything done. I usually end up getting very frustrated at this part of the day. The happiest part of my day is playing with my daughter and then getting her ready for bed. In order to make the best of these times you need to evaluate why you are happy/stressed and figure out what you can do to improve them. I realized that I was trying to do to many chores when I first got home. I really only needed to clean my pumping equipment, all my other chores could wait until after my husband got home. So I changed my routine. I now only clean my pump equipment and then I spend the rest of the time playing with my daughter. Not only has this removed my stress it's given me more free time that I can spend with my daughter. Now the happiest time of my day has gotten better because I have more time to play her.

Some of my favorite craft sites

Since my daughter has been sleeping a lot more now, thank god, I finally have some spare time. I have been really getting into crafts lately and am always looking for some great free crafts I can attempt. Most of my crafts relate to stuffed animals or clothes for my daughter. I found some really great websites that I wanted to share.

1. The Creative Place -Random crafts
2. How About Orange - Great recycled paper coasters under Most Popular Projects
3. Pin Sew Press - Random sewing tutorials
4. Ready Set Craft - Random paper crafts great inspiration for homemade cards
5. The Red Thread - Good paper mache craft for kids under My tutorials
6. Prudent Baby - Lots of free tutorials under Babies&Kids, Nursery
7. MMM Crafts - Great Stuffed Monkey Tutorial under Free Patterns and Tutorials

Earth Day Crafts

Happy Earth Day everyone! So I thought the best way to celebrate Earth Day and to teach your children the importance of Earth Day would be to  do a craft together. I found some great crafts online that I wanted to share. Enjoy!

1. Memory Tree Do It Yourself Project from Repurposed Fabrics - great mother's day gift
2. Repurposed Clothes Collage Pillow - great sewing project for adults
3. Earth Day Garland - great craft activity for kids

Yummy Dirt Cups Recipe

I found this great recipe for Yummy Dirt Cups on Kaboose.com. I made some small changes to the recipe to save time. I thought their serving suggestion of using new foil-lined clay pots cute for parties but very impractical for everyday use.

Ingredients

• 4 cups of chocolate pudding (you can buy the ready made cups or you can make the pudding yourself)
• 1 - 8 ounce container of whipped topping, thawed
• 1 -16 ounces package of chocolate sandwich cookies
• Gummy worms or insects

Equipment:

• Medium mixing bowl
• Rubber scraper or large spoon
• 8-10 paper or plastic cups (8 ounce size)

Cooking Instructions

1. Crush the cookies into tiny pieces in a plastic bag
2. Stir whippped topping and 1/2 of the crushed cookies into the pudding (very gently) with rubber scraper until mixture is all the same color. Place about 1 tablespoon of the remaining crushed cookies into the bottom of each cup.
3. Fill cups about 3/4 full with pudding mixture. Top each cup with the rest of the crushed cookies. Add gummy worms and insects to decorate. Put cups into the refrigerator for about one hour to chill. Enjoy!

Product Review - BreathableBaby Breathable Bumper

My 8 month old daughter has turned out to be a very crazy sleeper. She is constantly moving around and ends up in so many different positions. Throughout the night I have to get up to move her little arms and legs out of the slots in her crib. She has banged her head on many occasions on the side of the crib. We had to remove her cloth bumper because she kept shoving her face into it and I was afraid she would suffocate when she was sleeping. I was so exhausted from getting up all night every night but I didn't know what else to do. My friend suggested that I get a Breathable Bumper.

BreathableBaby Bumper

I was so happy that someone had invented this that I went out to Buy Buy Baby and bought it right away. The bumper comes in two pieces, a long piece and a short piece. It was very easy to attach, which was good because it didn't come with instructions. The bumper has velcro along the seams so it's very eay to adjust. Since their are no ties you don't have to worry about your child hurting themselves with them. It is made of nylon so you can breathe even if your face is shoved up next to the bumper. It also can't handle any weight so it will fall down if your child tries to stand on it. My daughter hasn't had any problem with her arms/legs getting stuck in the crib anymore and I don't have to get up all night. It does have some padding but not very much so she still hits her head sometimes and hurts herself but it's not very often. The product costs $30 and it is totally worth the price. The only bad part of this bummper is that when my daughter is awake she puts her leg on top of the bumper and it falls down causing her leg to get stuck. Since I only use her crib for naps/bedtime it's not a big problem for me. I highly recommend this product. It is well worth the money!

Do you make your own cloth diapers?

When I started to make my own cloth diapers I found it very hard to find PUL and some other materials I needed at my local fabric store. I came across Very Baby on the internet and it's a great resource for cloth diapers. You can find a variety of diaper patterns, all the fabric you would need for the diapers, and notions like snaps and size tags. It's everything a cloth diaper mommy needs in one place!

Tip of the Day

Do you have a picky eater? Does your child like all of his food seperated? If you're anything like me then you like to pack each food item in it's own container. Eventually you run out of space in your lunchbox or you barely get it to close. I came across Laptop Lunches on Facebook.

Laptop Lunches are American-style bento boxes designed to help families pack nutritious, eco-friendly lunches for school, work, and travel. The lunchboxes are reusable, recyclable, and dishwasher safe and they contain NO phthalates, bisphenol A (BPA), or lead. A complete system is $40 but it comes with the lunchbox, all the containers, carrying case, silverware, and water bottle. For a limited time get 10% off your entire order by using coupon code: weelicious.

Happy Easter!

Happy Easter everyone! I hope you had a wonderful day with your loved ones!

Tip of the Day

Do you have a lemon tree? Does your tree produce more lemons than you know what to do with? If you juice all of the lemons you can save the lemon juice for later use. After you have juiced the lemons place the juice in an ice cube tray and place them in the freezer. When the cubes are frozen place them in a freezer ziploc bag and back into the freezer. Each cube is about a fluid ounce and depending on your freezer should last a year. On hot summer days I use the cubes to make lemonade. I place 2 to 3 cubes in a tall glass of water with some sugar and viola instant lemonade. Since the cube doesn't contain much liquid it only takes a short time for it to become liquid. You can use the cubes in cooking, home remedies, and so on. You can use this trick for all citrus juice.

C-Section Scar Tissue Problem

I had my c-section almost 8 months ago. The incision healed very nicely and became white and flat 3 months after my operation. My incision began to itch at around 5 months and my doctor told me this was normal since it takes one year for the wound to totally heal. Soon after I began having sharp stabbing pains and burning at my incision. Then one day I noticed parts of my scar had turned bright red and had become very swollen. I began having the stabbing burning pain everyday and I decided to see my ob/gyn. She told me that pain so long after the operation is not normal and it appeared that I had developed adhesions. Adhesion is simply a medical term used to describe a scar tissue development. Sometimes the scar tissue forms around your organs constricting them or completely blocking them. She told me I would need to have surgery to cut the adhesion and to get rid of the pain. She told me the next time I got pregnant and had my c-section I could have the surgery done. Until then she could give me pain pills. Well I thought how stupid does she think I am? Why would I ever choose to have another c-section? It also made me wish I had questioned my c-section more. I never knew how many problems I could have. It also affects all my future pregnancies and births which is a real downer. Since she offered no real solution to my problem I decided to try and find one myself. I came across the LilyC Scar Therapy for C-Sections. It is very expensive at $42 but based on the description it looked like it could help with my pain. It mentioned healing red and raised scars. I haven't received the product yet but when I try it out I will be sure to post a  review. Hopefully it can help with my pain.

Product Review - The Healthy Baby Meal Planner

Since I decided to make my own baby food my pediatrician recommended I get a book from the library because certain foods have to be cooked differently. I went to my local library and I got a couple of books. They were ok but they didn't really have very much information besides making basic baby food. When I went to Buy Buy Baby I came across The Healthy Baby Meal Planner by Annabel Karmel.

I flipped through the book at the store and I really liked how much information it had. Since the book was so expensive there, it was $25, I decided to look for a cheaper place to get it. I found it for $5 on eBay, shipping was free. I love this book! It has such great information. It goes over all the vitamins your baby needs and explains each stage of the weaning process. The recipes are very simple but they taste great, I always taste the food I make before I give it to my daughter. They have lots of great puree blends so it makes mixing different veggies and fruits much simpler. It has a sample meal menu you can follow for each stage. It also explains when you can start switching to meats and giving your baby finger foods. It's not just for infants it also has plenty of great recipes for your toddler too. If you plan on making your own baby food I recommend this book, it's the only book you need. Just make sure you get it on eBay because it's much cheaper there!