nerdwagon.org

I’ve been wanting to sew a cloth diaper and a fleece diaper cover for the longest time. They looked SO simple and I read through the patterns a million times! However, I chickened out every time I would look at my sewing machine, at the fabric and then at the dreaded elastic. I’d never in my life sewn elastic on to something before! A couple of nights ago I took the plunge and this is what the end result was:

It’s made up of a fleece outer layer (to keep baby’s clothes dry!) and a flannel inner layer. I stuffed it with a Microfiber and a Hemp insert and she was dry 2 hours later. We love it! I couldn’t get a good enough fit with pins so I ended up just using a Snappi to fasten it. I am still in the process of learning how to pin a diaper on a wiggly 11 month old.

Overall, I love it! I totally forgot to cut extra around my pattern for seam allowances so I think next time I make this, it will be bigger and a better fit. This one is kind of on the smallish side. I also need to practice sewing the elastic. I didn’t pull the elastic hard enough to create a really hard tension so it isn’t quite as tight fitting around the legs as I would like it to be.

Btw, I used the Free RRP diaper pattern from this website!

The next night I sewed up a Fleece Soaker from the Katrina Soaker pattern and I absolutely LOVE it! It was sooo unbelievably easy and I think with some more practice it wont take very long at all to whip one of these bad boys out. I accidentally cut the body fleece (the print) the wrong way so it doesn’t have the waist-to-waist stretch that I needed it to but luckily I cut out the waist and leg cuffs out the right way so those are perfectly stretchy. This soaker fits AWESOME over her prefold and fitted diapers. I can’t wait to make more!

I really wish I had a serger so that I could make the edges / seams look all nice and finished on the inside but for now my wimpy little zigzag stitch will have to do. Oh and I wish I had an endless supply of cute flannel and fleece material so that I could make a million of these cute things! Next I would like to try making some Fleece Longies (the same thing but basically pants) for her as well.

Now that I have this cute soaker, I have been putting my daughter in prefolds or fitteds more often. I hardly ever reach for my pocket all-in-ones anymore! I need to make a few more to have on hand.

Candy :: Mar.11.2010 :: Cloth Diapers, Zoey :: No Comments »

The thought of my daughter learning to spoon feed herself gives me small coronaries. The more I think about it, the more I get until I am in a full blown heart attack. The mess that goes along with learning to spoon feed yourself is a given and I know you know exactly what I am talking about. But, if there is one thing I am learning as a parent, it is that sometimes you just have to live in the moment and let them get messy. Sometimes you have to ignore the pretty white shirt that just got splattered with spaghetti sauce or the adorable pants that just became victim of a blow out.

So when I made spaghetti last night I decided that I would strip Zoey down and let her have at it. I mean, what is more fun that making a mess and eating spaghetti?

She loved it! As soon as I put the tray down with the cut up spaghetti noodles and sauce on it, she started hitting the tray like a wild maniac. Noodles were flying everywhere. She would pick noodles up by the handful and throw them or drop them on the floor. And…

That was the happiest dog in the universe last night. She sat there, patiently attentive. Waiting. Yearning. Begging. PLEASE DROP MORE!

I had to spoon a few noodles into her mouth so she would realize that this is stuff that you can not only play with but also EAT! And YUM! It is delicious! Once she had a bite, she realized what it was and started eating them. It took some serious concentration and a level of hand eye coordination that she didn’t even know she was capable of but she would eventually get a noodle into her mouth. I even witnessed her splurping a few noodles up.. I had no idea she knew how to slurp a noodle! And by the way, slurping noodles is annoying and I hate when I hear people do it.. but when my sweet peanut is doing it, it is the cutest thing ever :)

You know, it is a little more challenging these days to feed her. We don’t give her baby puree very often anymore and I try to give her whatever we are having for dinner. Making sure she is getting a healthy, well balanced diet is not an easy task. I’m sure it would be easier if I was making sure my husband and I were always getting a well balanced diet but sometimes it is hard to remember to take care of yourself when you are so busy taking care of someone else.

Candy :: Mar.08.2010 :: Baby Food, Parenting, Zoey :: 1 Comment »

When did she get old enough to eat real people food?

And drink out of a “big girl” cup?

And shovel said cheese into her mouth by handfuls?

Sometimes I feel like every time I blink she grows another inch and learns a new facial expression, new skill, or makes a new sound. People warned us about time flying. They warned us to cherish each moment because they are going off to college before you know it. There was a lot of eye rolling when given such unsolicited advice but now I see. Now I understand what they were saying. Now I find myself warning others of their fate.

Now we are approaching her very first Easter. And not too long after that, we’ll be celebrating her first year on this earth. How??? Someone please pause the clock. Just for a second. My heart desperately needs to catch up.

I love her. More than I ever thought possible.

Candy :: Mar.06.2010 :: Baby, Motherhood, Zoey :: 3 Comments »

Let’s see.. what all has been going on lately…

• Allergic to solid deodorant (I usually use clear gel). Hives. Itchy, red, burning hives. All over my arms and arm pits and they have now moved down to my stomach. I got a prescription for a steroid pack and steroid cream. Just trying to stay sane but it’s difficult. Break out started Wednesday evening.
• Went out of town with my Mama and I took Zoey with me. Gene was away from her from Wednesday to Saturday. He was sad. We were sad. But we had a great Girl’s Only time! Zoey loooooooooves her grandma so much.
• Haven’t cooked much since we got back in town. Sooo bad. I finally cooked hamburger helper and mashed potatoes tonight. Not the best dinner but it was all I could muster before the CRAZY BURNING ITCHING started up again.
• We got a local cloth diaper store here and it opened today. We stopped in and it was so much fun! I loved looking at all of the stuff and instantly wished I was a bajillionaire so that I could afford all of the cute fluff!
• Went to have lunch with Gene after my doctor’s appointment this morning. Had a great time seeing him. Did I already mention how much Zoey and I missed him while we were gone? Oh and he gave the dog a bath and shampooed the carpets in the house while we were gone. He is amazzzzing!
• Starting to plan Zoey’s 1st birthday. Have no idea how it is already approaching. Is she really going to be 1 soon? She doesn’t eat much baby food anymore. Usually whatever we are eating! It is nice not having to buy baby food. It’ll be even nicer when we don’t have to buy formula anymore, too. She is drinking water out of a straw sippy cup these days. She really knows how to hold it and drink from it and I think it is so cute. She cracks me up on a daily basis. Love her to death!

Candy :: Mar.02.2010 :: Daily, Lists :: 2 Comments »

There is nothing quite like the feeling you get when you can successfully match up all of the warm socks that just came out of the dryer.

socks
you’re soft, warm and cozy
you keep my toesies toasty
sometimes you’re striped
sometimes you’re dotty
most of the time you’re fuzzy
i like it best when you’re a pair
like ponytails in my hair

and don’t even think that I hesitated about putting this in the Domestic Goddess category. Oh yes I did go there!

Candy :: Feb.13.2010 :: Daily, Domestic Goddess :: 1 Comment »

So… There is this episode of Family Guy that…

Wait.

What do you mean you don’t watch Family Guy? Oh, you say your maturity level is above this show? Well, you may have stopped by the wrong blog then because that kind of 14 year old prepubescent boy humor is right up my alley! Anyway, back to what I was saying:

There is an episode where Stewie is standing next to Lois, she is laying in bed exhausted and he is trying to get her attention, “Mom! Mom! Mom! Mama! Mama! Mama! Mum! Mum! Mum! Mum! Lois! Lois! Lois! Lois!” Lois jumps up and shouts “WHAT?” and Stewie mischievously shouts “Hi!” and runs off laughing like a mad man. I felt like I lived this exact same scene today, except on a completely different level.

You see, last night I only got about 4 hours of sleep and only in two separate 2 hour increments. I was exhausted this morning and Zoey was especially fussy. She would constantly follow me around the house, whining and fussing, sometimes hollering. At one point I put my feet up on the coffee table and decided to have myself a little Mom Break because I felt like I was about to lose my grip with sanity at any given moment.

You’re laughing at the Mom Break comment, aren’t you? Because we all know there is no such a thing. There are variations. But not really.

So within just a few nanoseconds, Zoey was standing next to me, holding on to the couch for dear life and half crying, half fussing and half sweetly saying “Mamamamamamama.” (ok, so maybe you can’t technically do half of something three times, but c’mon just work with me here) At about that point I didn’t know whether to be annoyed or overwhelmed with the cuteness. She was doing her fake-sad squinty face (the one she does to get attention. did I mention that her genius is starting to scare me?) and interchanging between three different moods. All I had wanted was a break and just moments earlier I was feeling on the edge of desperation, but that adorable little mad squinty face and cute babbles just erased every single thing that I had previously felt and all of a sudden I was picking her up and snuggling her, giving her More Than She Bargained For Neck Kisses and blowing raspberries into her tummy.

She got what she wanted: my attention. Again, the genius thing comes back into play. I’m afraid I’ve been wrapped around a tiny, chubby and mostly slobbery finger. Send. Help.

Candy :: Feb.06.2010 :: Baby, Motherhood, Zoey :: 5 Comments »

Diaper change time has turned into an Epic Battle. Every single time we lay her down, whether it be on the changing table, the floor or the bed, she will instantly start screaming and thrashing around like we are about to torture her to death. This Epic Battle has resulted in us doing any and everything we can think of to take her mind off of the task at hand. From plastic bottles, shoes, toys, funny faces, funny noises all the way to blowing raspberries on her tummy AS we change her diaper (that is one thing no one ever tells you when you are pregnant- you will become a GREAT multi-tasker once you have children). Tonight was no different than any other night and when I heard the “belly laughs” coming from Z’s room, I had to grab the camera and run in there. I got in on the “end” of it so she was getting tired from all of the laughing but I did get some of it on camera!

Candy :: Jan.31.2010 :: Baby, Video, Zoey :: 2 Comments »