See ya later August Hello September

August is drawing to a close and I am so ready for it to be over. August was not nice to us this year and I am just plum done! And with the end of August means September is here, which means Fall is here, which is my MOST favorite time of year.

August came in like a player stealing 3rd base but is going out slower than a no hitter. I mean it when I say August hasn't been nice to us. The month itself hasn't been mean to us, but what has happened to us this month is enough to have me crying "Foul" or "Do over".

We've had to replace tires on Bill's truck because he ran over a socket wrench, not knowingly, cause who would run over a socket wrench? So after $1250 was paid out for those, then it was onto injuries.




On our way out of town for our belated anniversary overnight his truck overheated on the mountain pass. Come to find out the radiator cap wasn't on tight enough but it had us worried for a bit.


Next up was our 1st injury in a nut shell is this. Bill wanted to prove me wrong and didn't believe the saying "Mama is always right". Let's just say he does now. By trying to prove me wrong that a car cannot be put into reverse when parked & foot not on brake pedal. So he did it, with our kids in the car = car rolled down our driveway into the street with Bill and I chasing after it. Resulting in Bill hurting his knee getting the car stopped. We meet with the Orthopedic surgeon on Tues to discuss injuries. (looks like a torn meniscus & calf muscles)


Then as if Bill wasn't in enough pain his tooth started hurting. To the dentist he went to discover not 1 but 2 root canals are needed!


Next it was car issues up to bat again. This time the alternator on Bill's truck went out. $120 bucks later, a recharged battery and his truck is back up and running again.


This week we are headed out for our annual Labor Day camping trip with friends. As the end of the month draws near lets hope it takes pity on us and ends quietly.

Once we are back from camping it's time for schedules, swim lessons, ballet class, MOPS, comfort foods, Football and fall weather. I am so ready for fall to come and bring us some normalcy and routine. Bring it on baby, I'm ready!!!

Not Me Monday

Happy Monday Morning and welcome to another edition of Team D Not Me Monday's. Not Me Monday's were started by McMama. Check out her blog to see what everyone else did NOT do this past week.

This week Bill and I did NOT go away and stay overnight in a hotel, our first time since our honeymoon 4yrs ago. We went to Leavenworth and stayed in a small, cute, off the beaten path Motel. It was so quaint...just how I like them.

It was NOT so relaxing and enjoyable making us wish we had another day.

We did NOT order in pizza, watch movies and just lay around the hotel room. Leading Bill to say "You know we could've just done this at home" ........Ummm, yeah right like we would.

The motel room did NOT have the biggest jacuzzi jetted tub that I have ever seen. I did NOT take 2 bubble baths all by myself in a 24hr period.

I did NOT have Bill take a picture of me in one of my bubble baths and I did NOT just post it for everyone to see.

Yesterday, I did NOT find a newborn diaper next to my side of the bed. Micah is 4months old and I couldn't have possibly forgotten about a newborn diaper for 4months, could I have???

This morning I did NOT spill hot coffee on myself while I was sitting on the couch. I did NOT fall asleep and forget I had coffee in my hand. I did NOT wake up suddenly and have to change my pjs and clean up the couch. I do NOT have red marks on my legs from the hot coffee.

I have NOT eaten so much Zucchini this week that I am re-thinking planting a Zucchini plant next year. Who knew that a single zucchini plant could produce so many of these suckers!!

Cloth Diapering 101 - post #2

So today I am going to blog about the diapers I am making for Micah. His diapers aren't all made at this point. But between all the test one's I bought & my friend made he is in cloth diapers about half time. (this results in more washing than normal, but I am just so excited to have him in cloth that I am willing to do a load of diapers every day)

So I am making Micah diapers using a "Trimsy" pocket pattern. It is an average rise but fits skinnier in the legs and the snaps are a bit different. The snaps are located on the wings instead of the waistband like most other diapers.

Diapers are made out of waterproof "PUL" (Polyurethane Laminate) and is a soft, polyester knit fabric laminated with waterproof polyurethane on the back. Then the inside of the diaper is made with Suede cloth material, which wicks moisture away from baby's bottom.

We start the process by cutting out the pattern for each diaper.

All of the diapers cut out & ready for snapping. He will have blue, red, brown, green, and some cute giraffe print ones.

Then we start attaching the snaps to the PUL using a special set of "snapper" tools. Which is kinda of like a hole punch. First, you poke a hole with the very sharp poker tool. Then you poke the snap through the hole with the "snapper" tool. It is a bit awkward at the beginning but you get the hang of it. I messed up and snapped two diapers completely wrong and we had to throw them into the scrap bucket. Once the snaps are on the PUL they are very, very hard to remove. Trust me! I snapped 1 snap wrong & had to cut it off using toe nail clippers.

Some of the diaper covers with snaps on. The green ones are so cute, they have turtle snaps!

This picture does no justice to the cuteness of the turtle snaps

Next post I will show how you make the pocket for the insert & the sewing of the PUL & suede cloth together.

Cloth Diapering 101

This will be my 1st post of many on cloth diapering. Most of my friends have never done it and lately I have been getting a lot of questions about it. So in an effort to share my knowledge & explain the whys of cloth diapering I am going to do several posts on the subject.

My only experience with cloth diapers wasn't a pleasant one. My mom, back in the day used them with my brother. (23+ years ago) I remember the horrible smells, stains & pins...I get chills thinking about them. I cannot remember the number of times I got poked with them.

So the mere thought of using cloth diapers was nothing I had ever dreamed of doing when I had my own children. That is until I got re-acquainted with my friend Stacy. (long story on what happened there) and I saw the cute diaper butts on her girls. I was hooked from that moment on!! And then when I discovered the cost savings it was all over. We were going to do cloth diapers with our next baby, which we all know as Micah.

Bill's first thoughts were "What, you want to do what?" and to say he was thrilled would be an understatement. Even when I explained the cost savings and I showed him how cute the diapers were. He still thought I was crazy. I think I remember he even saying something along the lines of "Sure now that we've polluted the landfills with hundreds of diapers now you want to go green?"

The great thing about Bill is he will let me do my homework, investigate, explore and most times I talk myself out of whatever wild idea I have. Unfortunately, not this time. My homework, investigating and exploring only made me want to do them more. I am sure Bill got tired of hearing about Prefolds, fitted, pockets, Hybrids etc....

After much research & many calls/meetings with Stacy I decided to go her route and make my own. Yes, you are reading that right. Make my own, as in sew them. She had 2 different patterns that she has used with her girls and we settled on a "Trimsy" pattern. Which basically is a smaller diaper in the rise & narrower in the legs for my long & skinny baby boy.

Before I keep going let me explain a few things:

The Rise = the top front of diaper or cover to the top of the back of the cover or diaper is the rise

Prefold = these are like what our mom's used, only they are used inside a diaper cover. And they can be made of cotton, hemp, microfiber or a combination of these fabrics.

AIO (All in one) = they are a cloth diaper and diaper cover all in one piece. Example of an AIO are bumGenius

Hybrids = In a Hybrid Diaper, a reusable, outer cover wraps a disposable soaker pad in the same way diaper covers wrap around cloth diapers, except of course, the internal soaker pad is not reusable. An examples of a Hybrid are Grovia or gDiapers,

Pocket = Pocket Diapers are most similar to the AIO's but instead of the inner absorbent soaker sewn in, pocket diapers have a pocket to 'house' a removable insert. Examples of a pocket diaper is a Fuzzibunz.

Fitted = fitted diapers do not require folding and will typically secure in the front or side with snap or velcro closures. These diapers can grow with your child and usually will fit a child until 35lbs! Most of the major cloth diapering companies sell a fitted diaper.

Research sites:
http://www.diaperjunction.com/
http://www.swaddlebees.com/
http://www.mynewlifeasmom.com/
http://allaboutclothdiapers.com/
**and most of the major brands have great websites with lots of information on their specific diaper**

So I am making pocket diapers and buying my inserts. I have tried the microfiber inserts from Bumgenious and like them. But the "trimsy" pattern I am using will not fit them. I am going to most likely use Swaddlebee's hemp inserts.

We have been using Fuzzibunz (fitted large diaper) on Addie and loving them. These inserts are also made out of microfiber and are working great on her.

My next post I will talk about Micah's diapers, how I am making them and post some pictures of them. Stay tuned.

Not Me Monday - camping style

It's Monday and so that means Not Me Monday over at MckMama's. And it's been awhile since I've done one, so here we go.....

This weekend we did NOT go camping for 24hrs with our friends.

It was NOT my idea to go camping for 24hrs. I mean seriously would I suggest camping with 3 small children for only 24hrs? Didn't we already do this once? What sane mother would do this again?

When we arrived at the campsite & began setting up I did NOT have a little melt down with my hubby in front of our friends.

There was so much dirt that and the girls did NOT get dirty within 5Min's of arriving. And I did NOT spend almost the entire time fretting about all this said dirt.

I did NOT pack 5 outfits for the girls, thinking it was over kill. They did NOT go through every outfit and I did NOT tell Bill "I should've packed more" on our way home.

It did NOT start raining shortly after we arrived & we did NOT set up blue tarps between the trucks to try to combat the rain.

This was NOT the conversation I heard Bill having with the girls yesterday morning as we tried to keep them quiet at 6am.

Bill - "Girls do you know what a clam is?"

Girls - "no"

Bill - "A clam lives in the water and does clammy things while keeping it's mouth shut and is quiet"

Girls - "why?"

Bill - "Because that's what they do"

Bill - "Can you guys do this?" and he demonstrates keeping his mouth shut tightly.

I did NOT give him a hard time for the rest of the day about clams doing "clammy things". Does anyone else know what "clammy things" means? ha,ha ;o)

I did NOT eat waay to much this weekend and am NOT feeling it today.

Seen, Heard, Said Wednesday

Seen: A loving family saying goodbye to their Father, Husband, Brother and Grandfather. It was the most moving memorial service I have ever been too. The worship at the beginning of the service was so beautiful!! Words can describe the honor I felt just being in the room & celebrating this man's life.

Heard: My friend's daughter telling Addie tonight "Don't play with that basket Addie, it's a decoration" - so her mother's daughter.

Ellia to me "But Mama, you don't take naps, you just drink coffee" - when I told her it was nap time.

Said: Ellia heard me reading to Bill out loud a FB friends comment to another friend, and the comment was "Be nice Asian" so Ellia says "Be nice Asian" Bill and I cracked up cause she has no idea what she is saying....it was so funny. (maybe you had to be there, but trust me it was funny)