Cloth Diaper Review

This last week I have been on a crazy cloth diaper rampage. I was seeing how much we really have spent on diapers(and what parents have spent) and it was too much!
I was doing quite a bit of calculating and decided that this is what I really want to do. Not only to save us some money, but to be apart in saving the planet. I'm already up to date on the recycling, my husband laughs at me to see the recycling bin so full that our second bathroom is full of the recycling for the next time that it's empty. He always tells me to just throw it away IN THE GARBAGE BIN! I just can't bring myself to do it!

So anyway, I've been ordering AIO and pocket diapers. Mostly from Ebay.(Credit goes to Jessica Swehosky for the suggestion, thanks Jess!) You can get super good deals on the name brand diapers like fuzzibunz, bumgienous, and gDiapers. Also some off brand diapers like Babyland. Kinda sucks that the off brand like these are from China but they are only about $3-$5 bucks, and that's including the shipping. I just ordered one from China off the ebay site, just to see how good of quality they really are. I mean for $3? You just gotta try it!

Last night I finally got my first diaper order in from the Fancypants brand of diapers. I am actually surprised at the quality and I'm excited to get Josiah to wear them. I've only got two Pocket diapers right now, so till the many others that come in I'm getting in some practice.
I also was looking up ways to clean them, I knew that detergents with soap and tons of chemicals in them would cause a buildup and in time cause a stink in the diapers. I will also be making my own detergent for diapers. I already have the products in my laundry closet from making my own regular laundry detergent. So why not?

Cloth diaper detergent consist of:
Borax
Arm and Hammer Washing Soda
Oxyclean
Also, I add just a drop or two of lavender to my diaper wash for a good smelling load.

The total comes pretty close to $80 starting, that included:
All the diapers
A wet/dry bag to store the dirty diapers in.
A drying rack with the clips
A few extra flat pre-fold backups
One snappy(something that takes place of the ancient safety pins)

That's a purchase for us to buy 2 boxes of costco diapers which each box lasts us a little less than a month and a large box of costco wipes which lasts us about 2 or so months.
I will also be making cloth wipes and my own wipes solution too!
What I'm doing is saving a lot of money!
I actually felt sorry for some of the women out their that have spent about $700 on a fuzzibunz website getting all that they needed.
I'm getting different kinds of diapers, but you aren't going to want to just stick with one brand of diaper. You want to look at your options, for example I LOVE pampers swaddlers, huggies are OK, and I HATE Luvs.(gives Josiah bad diaper rash) It's good to keep your mind open.
I have 2 cloth diapers now and I've got 12 more on the way!(I think)
Seems like a lot but I don't want to be doing laundry everyday, so this is an awesome start!
Soon when I get everything together, I'll make a video for you guys so that you can get an idea of what I'm doing. I'm sure that some of you mommies out there are willing to make a green change like I am. And just think how much $ you'll be saving on your next baby!
So with the new year coming up I'm making my resolution now!
Never buying disposables again!

As Kermit the Frog says-It's not easy being green.
Which is odd because IKEA says that it's easy to be green.
What do you think? ;)

Roller Coaster Ride

These past few months have been hard, but God is getting us through the tough times.
We have been going through things financially and emotionally, but now all that is about to change. I must admit, I have not been fully putting my faith into God like I should, I have not been praying and reading like I used to. God is going to be working into our lives like he never has before, and in the end although is doesn't seem like it, it's going to be amazing and worth it. The ride to get to that goal is going to be super hard. I just want my lady friends to please pray for me, to help me give my husband that support. To help me to have that peace, comfort and faith. To give me support and love through these tough times.
I thank God for my friends and Ben's friends that are standing with us.
Thank you all for praying.
Love Jess.

Button Organization complete

I just used what I had, mason jars and baby food jars for the colored buttons that I didn't have very much of. So pretty, and organized!!!

Buttons, Buttons, Buttons.

So today, I decided to go through all of my fabric craft stuff and organize. My son is starting to get into all of my craft stuff and a baby with contents with unknowns sewing basket=disaster. We only have two rooms in our house. Which is alright for us now, but I would love to eventually move out to a larger place so that I can have my own craft area to call my own. But for now, organization is key to a person who loves to sew/craft alot. I use nearly all my items that I have, and I'm scared to give any of it away for fear of that I will ending up regretting giving up something that I now have to buy for twice as much as I got it for. So my first organizing project for today us organizing my buttons. :)

Cute little birdie tin. 

Most of my buttons are in this large tin. All the ones in this tin was what my grandmother gave to me.

Buttons that I have left to sort.

These are old buttons that came off of shirts, sweaters, jackets from her family. Even some cool army buttons from when my grandfather served in the war. Really cool to look at.

.

 I've sorted then out by color so that I can find the buttons i want much more quickly than looking at a overwhelming heap of buttons in a tin. 

Blue/green, Black, Purple

White(gonna need a bigger jar I think
Brass, Yellow/orange/brown, and red/pink

Close up of the Brass/Shiny buttons.

This is going to look pretty cool on the shelf when I'm done. Then who knows!? Maybe I can pass it down to my daughter or granddaughter. Do you have anything that is passed down to you from your family past? Let me know! I'd love to hear it!

Jess

To see the complete organization click here

No Dinner-Only Baked Goods December.

Let's just say that the last 2 weeks we have been eating out or just eating a can of soup at home.

That time of year where I bake myself to the end of my love for cooking. I swear, my baby is eating a heck of a lot better than me. I've probably eaten enough cookies, candies and chocolates to last my family till the next Christmas season. Good thing I take multivitamins. :)

So today I have decided that Josiah and I are going to take a run down to Roth's and get lots of veggies, and some fruits to snack on so that I'll have that beautiful apple staring at me and haunting me till I eat it. Maybe make a eggplant parmesan casserole for dinner and a green salad? I'll take some low-fat milk to go with it I think.

Too cold to take a run now, but at least I can eat somewhat healthy before the warmer weather arrives. I'll definitely have a challenge ahead of me to get that fat baby love off my midsection. Hopefully we won't be pregnant before summer so that I can have that opportunity to work out. :)

Alcohol and Pregnancy-To Drink or Not To Drink

So I had a nice little conversation about alcohol and pregnancy to a lady on Facebook that just had to say something about my comment.
I do my research so I have a link here that you can take a gander at to help back me up a little.
However, I do want to clear this up with some ladies that are reading this, if you are against it, I totally understand! This subject should be talked about with your doctor or midwife BEFORE having a drink. This is something that I choose to do, just like smoking, I choose NOT to do that during pregnancy, or at all!

Here is my little private message to her, she wanted to make inappropriate and out in public for everyone to see. Well lets just say that I do my research...

Hello,
This is my view on alcohol and pregnancy.
(posted link here)
Also, they started making this a big deal in the early 70s! Of course they are going to say something about it with all the craziness that went on during that time. I'm not gonna go around suggesting it to other pregnant women, because it can be unsafe to women who do not have complete normal pregnancies.
My midwife needed me to relax, my stress level was going through the roof, which was causing me high blood pressure. She has been a midwife for over 25 years now so I totally trust her wisdom.
Back in the early 1900s they would give sick restless infants a tablespoon of whiskey to help them sleep, so what would be the difference in the womb?
Women in Europe drink like they do when they are not pregnant . So why aren't they pressing this subject in other countries? Is it because Americans screwed up back in the day? Probably.
If you were to ask a doctor and most newer midwives about this, they would be against it...because it their job to have us stay away from what could be a binge and unsafe for babies and their mothers.
I don't want someone judging me (and others) for having a glass of wine once in awhile during pregnancy.
So please, think twice before you go off and tell a lady in public that she is a bad mother for have a drink to relax during her stressful third trimester.
Thank you

I said please and thank you, was I polite enough? She was absolutely rude about this subject matter and glancing at her very ghetto FB page she was a bit younger than me, she is single, and is pregnant.
Status saying "single" is one thing. I have polite, mannerly friends who are single and are wonderful mothers to their children. But having cuss words all over her wall to her "baby-daddy"?(hate that word :/) That is what made me write this message. Maybe she needed a little bit of education in her life. :)

I'm not usually like this, most of you know. My personality is very much on the quiet side of things, but when someone steps out of line to tell me I'm a horrible mommy to my beautiful Josiah, that will bring me out of my shell.

First Christmas of 3

Josiah's first official Christmas, our first official Christmas as a family of 3! Super excited for Christmas this year, so much more fun with a child that knows how to tear apart things like...Christmas wrapping!

This is the first time that Josiah has seen a Christmas tree, and is also difficult for me to put together while trying to entertain him. Thanks to my mom though for helping me put the lights on, and thanks to Bill and Wendy for tightening the darn tree into its stupid stand cause I'm hopeless when it comes to that sort of thing. So after arranging it to where I wanted it, getting the lights on, I finally was able to do something decorative to my beautiful tree! 

As soon as I was finished decorating and cleaning up the pine needles everywhere I was able to get the little man out of his walker, didn't take him long to discover the tree and crawl as fast as he can to get his hands on one of those shiny Christmas balls. For only just a second I got a quick pic of the very little time of him admiring it.

I told him NOT to take down the ornaments and this is the grin I get. Little Turkey! lol! 

There he goes, he HAD to have one!

Haha Mom! 

I let him play with the round shiny ones for a little bit, but then he started eating it. So now he has his own cloth stocking ornament to play with. 

Going to Love this Christmas of a family of 3 and cherish it always.

Jess

Cute Fabric Made Onesi

There is a baby shower coming up on Sunday and I had no idea what to get my wonderful friend for her shower. She has three girls and this 4th one is going to be a boy! yay! So she needs mostly boyish things. This month has been really crazy so far, which part of that means that we are super short on cash. Desperate to find something that she would like for her son I went to Pinterest. :) Oh how I love this site! So many great ideas and all the items that I needed for this project I already had! Yay for me!!!

I was super excited to get going on this so the day after I found this pin, I got to work on it right away. :)

Here is my inspiration...

#1 I didn't have THIS many fabric pieces lying around my house

#2 I didn't have 10 white onesis to do these

 What I DID have was a set of 4 different long sleeve onesis that I got from Toys'R'Us earlier this year during their winter sale right before spring hit, so I got them super cheap! Josiah was too big for them at the time but, I knew that SOMEONE was going to have a baby boy SOMEDAY! Well, I guess I was right! :)

I also had a few fabric scraps that I used for gifts before which I still had some left over.

Also I didn't have this...

But i did have this...

This is the same thing but just in a different shape, I use this to help hem my jean, because of my short self I can never find jeans short enough, if they are a "short" they are too short. So I get a regular and hem it myself. 

Anyways

Here are the results...

Minky soft whale

Soft mink and flannel girrafe

Polka dotted tie.

Here they are all ready to go.

I know that they arent perfect, I'm not the greatest at these sort of things but as I go, I'll get better and better. Best part about this is that I didn't have to go out and buy anything. Really saved me some money, all it took me was some time and love. <3

Thanks for reading!

Jess