Cloth Diapers

Using cloth diapers is a really good way to save money.



Not to mention super cute.

We started using cloth on B in March. I ordered 10 pockets and washed every night. I slowly built my stash and once J was born I ordered a ton of prefolds and cheap covers. One thing that I was afraid of was not wanting to stick with the wash routine. It was a little intimidating thinking about all of the laundry I would be doing with 2 little ones in diapers. It took a some getting used to but after a few weeks it just became a part of my every day routine. I'm going to share exactly what I do with our diapers. First, I got a small trash can to store my dirty diapers until wash day. Once soiled I knock off any solids in the toilet then throw in the pail. I usually end up washing every 1-2 days just depending on how I feel. This is what I do:

Prewash with cold water - to get the ickys out
Cold wash/rinse with 2tspns of Rockin Green Hard Rock
Hot wash/rinse with 2tspn of Rockin Green
Extra cold rinse

If I get stinkies I do a couple extra rinses, if that doesn't help then I use some vinegar and that seems to do the trick. It's really simple.

Another intimidating part of cloth..... prefolds. I'll have a post on that later! :)

Photoshop

Here is a super simple tutorial to make your pictures "pop". Open your picture in photoshop, go to layer > duplicate layer and set it to "soft light" adjust opacity to your liking. I also like to adjust the saturation of this layer by going to image > adjustments > hue/saturation. I set the master saturation at +30 then the red saturation to -20.



Done!

Water Play

The heat lately has been unbelievable! So what do we do? We play outside with the water hose, of course.

Lightroom 3

I downloaded the trial version of Lightroom 3 and it's basically amazing. I used to edit my pictures 1 by 1 in photoshop which took way to long. I installed Lightroom and instantly imported all of the photos off my camera. Easy!


Straight out of camera


After editing, looks much better right? ;)

BG 4.0 pics

B is 30lbs and 36in. J is 16lbs and 26in. I could probably snap it down to the medium setting on B, fully unsnapped makes the rise VERY long which is nice. J is on the smallest setting.

Swagbucks

Anyone not signed up for Swagbucks yet? It's pretty much the coolest thing ever. So far I have gotten $30 in amazon gift cards. I figured I would post my referral link here just in case anyone wants to join ;) http://www.swagbucks.com/refer/jessicalev follow the link, sign up and start searching! It's really easy.

Bum genius! 4.0

I love our BG 3.0 but the velcro is terrible. We don't use it often because it's way to easy for B to take off on her own. I got excited when I found out they adjusted the rise on the new 4.0 and added snaps. I am definitely a snaps girl! At first I thought I'd hate them but my kids are pretty patient during diaper changes so taking a few extra seconds to snap them is no biggie for us. I got my 4.0 in the mail today and once I get some pictures of the fit on both kids, I'll post them. I tried it out on J and it fits wonderfully on the medium snap setting. He is roughly 16lbs and 26in. We have a hard time using cloth on him because every diaper cuts into his chubby thighs, it doesn't seem to bother him but I don't like it. The bum genius never leaves any marks and the elastic is really soft. I am really impressed by it, I ordered another one!

Pics will come shortly :)

Birth Story

Jax was born on April 22, 2010 at 1:12 PM weighing 7lbs 10oz and 21in long. I was 39 weeks exactly! Around 550am thursday morning I woke up and my water broke. I instantly starting having contractions but they werent very strong. Patrick had already headed to work for the day so I called and told him what was going on and that I'd call him when its time to go to the hospital. So I get up and decide to do some very last minute cleaning, did dishes and laundry until B woke up then I got her ready to go to my friends house. At 730am I called Patrick back and told him to come home since he was 2hrs away I wanted to make sure we made it to the hospital in time. The contractions were still really mild and not timeable at all so I figured we had plenty of time. He got home around 10 and we had some errands to run before heading to the hospital. We finally got to there at 1150am and the nurse started the jacuzzi tub for me. At this point my contractions were 2 min apart and painful but I was laughing and joking around in between them so they werent THAT bad. I was only able to sit in the tub for about 15 min before the contractions became unbearable. I called the nurse and requested the epidural, contractions at this point were 1 min apart. They checked me and I was dialated to a 7. Within minutes I started yelling at Patrick to call the nurse because I felt like I had to push and he was like "No, they just checked you and you were only a 7" I started freaking out and finally I hit the nurses button while trying so hard not to push him out without my midwife there. They checked me at 1pm and I was fully dialated, my midwife rushed in and 12 minutes later he was born. I wasnt able to get the epidural because it went so fast and holy crap that was some horrible pain. I was really wanting a natural med-free birth but I honestly didnt think I'd actually HAVE one lol. I am so glad I did it though. He is doing great and growing really fast. He was back up to his birth weight at 6 days old and now at 15 days old he weighs around 9lbs.

Finally!

My review for Kawaii cloth diapers! I've been so busy lately, nesting like crazy, doing tons of laundry and basically rearranging my entire house I completely forgot about my blog. I bought these diapers myself and wanted to post a little review for anyone interested in them. We've been using them for a little over 2 weeks and so far so good. First let me tell you about B, she is an 18 month old 28lb 33-34in toddler with chubby thighs and a small waist. So far shes been very easy to cloth and every diaper we have tried has fit her really well. The kawaii's are one size and come in either snap or velcro closure. I bought 4 snaps and 6 velcro. They are pockets so they come with 2 microfiber inserts each. B is on the medium size setting when only stuffed with 1 insert, at night she is on the largest setting stuffed with 2 inserts. They have a PUL outer with suedecloth inner to wick away moisture.






I do have a few minor complaints... I like to stuff them right out of the dryer so they are ready to go when B needs to be changed. These make that difficult because the inserts shift a lot. I'll stuff them and put them in the changing table but when I take one out the insert bunches up and I have to re-adjust it before putting it on. Like I said, very minor. The best thing is the velcro is holding up amazingly well despite being washed every night.

We have had 2 leaks so far and both were 100% my fault! Both times I left them on for to long. B isnt much of a super soaker and can go about 2 1/2 hours without being changed, sometimes longer. Over night I stuff with 2 inserts and that gets her through 12-13 hours with no problems.

http://theluvyourbaby.com/ is the website and the lady who sells them is very quick to respond if you have any questions.

I'm no professional reviewer ;). I plan on putting them on J when hes born in the next few weeks and taking pics. Just hoping to help some mommas out!

I'm so bad

I'm so bad at keeping this blog up to date. I want to make some changes so I actually have things to write about. I'm going to start doing some reviews on cloth diapers, hopefully I can help some new cloth moms out. I just got 10 Kawaii diapers in the mail today and I'm so excited to test them out! They are in the washer right now and when they are done I will take pictures and post about them. I also ordered 1 KatyDid OneSize diaper though I'm not sure when I'll actually recieve it. When I get it I'll definitely do a review! I really do hope I can help some people out, cloth is SO much fun but super overwhelming.

So for future reviews I'm going to do the bumGenius 3.0 one size, Kawaii one size, KatyDid onesize. I also plan on getting some Rumparooz and the bumGenius organic one size. I'm ready to start reviewing. Who knew cloth diapers could be so exciting?

Potty Training

So I guess we have officially started potty training B. I have been sitting her on the toilet for a few weeks but she started getting scared of it. I didn't want to force her so I stopped and bought her a little potty, much better. She loves to sit on it. I've done little research, I am really just winging it. She's been running around nakey a lot and we've already had a few accidents but honestly, I think it has helped her become more aware of what she is doing. She took a shower with me and I let her run around while I got dressed, she started peeing on the floor, I picked her up the second I saw her and sat her on the toilet. I figured she would freak out but she didn't. She continued to potty and got really excited! When she was done she tried flushing. I was a little shocked, I don't think I give her enough credit. She is a really smart little girl, I didn't think she understood what to do but she's proven me wrong! And when she was done she had to run and tell daddy, she was so proud of herself.

It's funny because the past few days she's been saying "P I!" we thought she was just babbling but I've come to realize she is really saying "I Pee!", she also lets us know when she poos lol. Wouldn't it be lovely if she was out of diapers by 2? I plan on using cloth with little man so if B continues the way she is, we will definitely save money each month. Diapers are expensive!

Easy burp cloths

A friend of mine is having a baby shower on Saturday, since we are really tight on money right now I dug through my piles upon piles of fabric trying to figure out something I could make her. I decided to make her some burp cloths! I wish I would've had some of these when B was little since she was quite the spitter, we just used recieving blankets and while they're good for little spit ups they didn't hold much. These are super super easy to make and are adorable so I thought I'd give a little tutorial on what I did. Remember, I am a beginner. I still can't sew in a straight line and it is very apparent in the photos, I need practice :P.

Materials -
Scrap fabric, I used fat quarters and could make 2 burp cloths out of 1 fat quarter
Gerber cloth diapers, I got the 3ply kind from walmart
Iron
Scissors
Sewing machine

First thing I did was wash all of the fabric and the burp cloths in hot water. This only took about 40 min, they dried really quick!


My supplies


What I did was a laid my fabric on the cloth diaper and matched up the fabric to the thick center. I didnt do measurments because it looked like after I washed the diapers they all shrunk to weird sizes and the center portion looked like it was smaller at the top then at the bottom. Anyways, I cut the fabric about an inch bigger then the center strip of the diaper.


I folded the sides of the fabric under to hide the unfinished edge, then pinned it in place.


And started to sew! I used a straight stitch for this burp cloth but if I had to do it over again I'd use a small zig zag, only because the zig zag is easier for me to control and keep straight, for whatever reason. When I use a straight stitch I always end up going all over the place lol.


Here is the finished project! I sewed the sides down first then did the top and bottom. Super easy right?


See the wonky lines? hahah how terrible! In my defense, I made this in about 10 min while trying to keep a toddler from knocking over my ironing board. It't not like she has a million toys to play with or anything. I guess the ironing board is just that interesting. But the the lines dont have to be straight, I mean, the thing is just going to be puked on!


Here are a few more I made. I'm addicted! These are super cheap to make also. The closest Joanns is over an hour away so I have to stick with my walmart fabric. I discovered a little section that is nothing but fat quarters. They range from $1-1.47 I didnt see any more expensive then that. The cloth diapers were like $11 for 12. I also have a ton of fabric scraps left over from other projects that I could use. I think I'm going to make my little man some with soft flannel.

Wow so I almost forgot I had a blog! Things have been super busy around here. We are trying to prepare for the baby but since Patrick has been laid off since December there isn't a lot that we can do. B has been going through some serious mood swings. I think shes getting sick, she's been running a low grade fever for the past 2 days and she's super clingy. Poor baby! Another reason I've been MIA is because we got internet through verizon wireless and we can only use a certain amount of megabytes each month. So far this month we've used up most of it so I'm trying to limit my time I spend on the computer so I don't go over and get charged an insane amount. I'm trying to work on another tutorial, a more detailed one but its been hard! I haven't been able to spend much time playing in my Photoshop either.

The baby is doing great. He's extremely active like, non stop movement. I can't believe how fast these past 3 months have gone. I only have 11 weeks left! I can't wait to meet him :) But we still dont have a name picked out. Well I have a name picked but we haven't agreed on it yet. Hopefully we get it figured out before he's born. I've gotta get my little cranky daughter in bed. Maybe I'll remember that I have a blog and start posting again lol.

Photography blog

www.jlevphoto.blogspot.com

WOOHOO!

Copyright

Anyone know of a good way to copyright photos? I'm a little worried about my pictures being stolen. I know I can always put a watermark on the picture but that can easily be taken off by anyone. I'm not really sure why anyone would go through the trouble of stealing someone elses pictures, it's not THAT hard to produce good photos so why not learn instead of steal? Doesn't make a lot of sense to me.

Not a lot to blog about these days. We spent all day yesterday worrying about the crawl space under the house flooding because the sump pump wasnt plugged in. We basically flooded the street when we turned it on. Oops! Then we spent a few hours at Lowes looking through carpet because our upstairs needs to be done ASAP.

I'm a still a little undecided about the name we have picked for our little guy. I think we might end up changing it and maybe not telling anyone until after hes born. Is that mean? lol. I like the name Emmett but it just doesn't click with me. Not to mention everyone thinks we are naming our kids after twilight characters which makes me want to puke. Seriously.

Wordless Wednesday

Adbrite

I signed up for Adbrite and I'm not sure it's going to last long. I visited my page and within about a minute I had a full page ad pop up. Annoying! We'll see how it goes I guess.

Photoshop

I've been working in Photoshop for years. I started when I was about 11 with photoshop 7. I was home schooled after the 6th grade and my favorite thing to do was design layouts for web pages (I also ran my own website for awhile but that's another story). I stopped when I went back to school for the 11th grade and have since picked it up again. I don't remember a lot so I'm like a newbie to it again. I want to start posting tutorials and stuff on here of things I learn and maybe help someone else out. I'm gonna start today! I'm not very good with explaining things so in order to understand what I'm talking about you'll probably have to have a little photoshop knowledge already.





Here is a picture of B that I took today while playing outside (taking advantage of the 45 degree weather here in Missouri!). Anyways, the top picture is SOOC (straight out of camera) and the bottom is after processing. I love the way it looks and it is really really easy. I rarely shoot in RAW, I did this using a high resolution JPG.

1. Open a picture in photoshop
2. Run an action.... for this one I used the free Coffeeshop Butterscotch Vintage action. There are a LOT of free actions out there and they make editing pictures so much easier.
3. When I first ran the action it made the right side of her face really dark so I selected the Dodge tool and went over the dark part a few times to lighten it up a bit.
4. To make her eyes pop a little I used the selection tool and went around both eyes then went to Images < Adjustments < Brightness/Contrast, I upped the brightness about 10-15 and the contrast 20-25.

And that's it! I'm sure this is totally confusing haha. I will do another tutorial soon with more detail and pictures. This is just a basic understanding of what I do.

Oh, and don't mind the deflated pool in the background of the picture. I actually forgot it was in the yard since it snowed like CRAZY and covered it completely. Oops!

Sorry the pictures are a bit crappy, the first one was taken at night and I couldn't get B to sit for very long in the second one. The first is a bow holder that I made the other night. It turned out so cute and it was super easy! Its made out of an 8x10 picture frame that I sanded down a little and painted then hot glued the fabric and ribbon on. I also made the little bow, I'm proud of it since I've tried and tried to make cute boutique looking bows but always fail! I think this one actually came out pretty cute. I can't wait to make a trip to Joanns soon so I can buy some more small ribbon, I'm feeling creative.

Parenting

When I had B I was very strict with how I wanted to do things. I didn't want to co-sleep because I figured it would be a terrible habit to break, I didn't want to rock her to sleep because then she wouldn't know how to self-soothe and yadda yadda blah blah blah!

I used to lay her down in her crib and pat her to sleep but she started to hate it so I rocked her. I have been rocking her little chunky butt every night since she was about 9 months old, I tried not to worry about it being a hard habit to break and instead focus on spending that time with her. About 2 weeks ago I tried to rock her to sleep, around 8pm which is her normal bedtime. She refused to sit still she wanted to run around so I let her. I figured maybe she just wasn't quite ready for bed yet. About 30 minutes later I tried again and the same thing, she threw a fit. At this point I knew she was getting tired she was showing all of the signs and I really didn't have a clue what to do so on a whim I took her upstairs and put her in bed and walked away. We listened for a bit expecting her to scream but instead, silence. After about 10 minutes I decided to go check on her and sure enough she was sleeping. I figured for sure that was a fluke. So the next day at nap time I tried to rock her and it didn't work so instead of fighting her I took her straight upstairs and laid her down in her crib, gave her kisses then went back downstairs. She put herself to sleep. This has been consistently happening for the past 2 weeks. And now she lets me know she's ready for bed by pointing to the stairs. She did this all by herself and I am so proud! I hate that, at one point, I actually listened to other peoples opinions on how I was raising B. We even tried letting her cry-it-out because I thought for sure that she would be rocked until the age of 28. I was so wrong.

Just recently I stopped listening to what everyone else thought of my parenting and started to trust myself a little more. We are going to potty train when SHE is ready, we are going to toss the binky out completely when SHE is ready and if she ever wants to sleep in bed with mommy and daddy then I'm going to let her.

How do busy moms blog so often? I only have 1 and it's really difficult for me to get on the computer. For some reason I've been getting up early just to make breakfast, strange? I have been craving eggs, pancakes and french toast. So what have we had the past week? You guessed it; eggs, pancakes and french toast. This is probably horrible to admit but when I have a nice big, fulfilling breakfast I stay full for the majority of the day. Normally I'm not hungry again until around 5 which for us is dinner time. It doesn't help that I already feel like Emmett no longer has any space in my stomach. Is that normal for only 24 weeks? I'm assuming not. I definitley think he'll be bigger then B but I also predicted her to be big and she came out a whopping 7lb 7oz. So I guess we'll see!

We have officially started our journey with NO CABLE. The cable company decided they wanted to charge me 500 dollar fees to have everything switched over to the new address so I said UH NO THANKS. The crappy tv isn't even worth half of that. We still get basic channels but those are free. It was funny because Patrick was like 'YAY NOW WE DONT HAVE TO WATCH AMERICAN IDOL!' so I turn on fox 4 and I'm just waiting for him to notice that we, indeed, DO have the channel and we WILL be watching tomorrow night. He got pretty upset, he cant stand the show but I went through a whole season of Ice Road Truckers without complaining so he can SHOVE IT. In the nicest way possible, of course ;). So dinner is just about done and it smells pretty amazing (tacos!!!), I wanted to blog a little about the documentary "The Business of Being Born" but I guess I'll save that for another day. Stay tuned haha.

I love this little girl!