Cloth Diapers Revisited

As you know by now, I love me some cloth diapers. On a personal note, 5 years ago I never ever thought I would utter the words "love" and "cloth diapers" in the same sentence, let alone actually use them!! We ran into some leaks along the way (get it, leaks haha!), especially at night time. My beloved Bum Genius diapers had failed me, and off down the disposable road we went. I was given a few suggestions for some night time ones to try and I finally made a decision to go with Sloomb Sustainable Babyish Cloth Fitted (aren't they pretty?) with a wool cover. We are 2/2 in staying dry at night and I have fallen in love. My only regret - that I didn't find these sooner! So, I found a giveaway for another fitted diaper, I'm hoping to win and get the mocha one this time! Check out 29 Diapers for the giveaway, and also for tons of information on cloth diapering, saving money with babies, and all sorts of other fun things! Pictures of Dax in his new undies will be coming soon...

Loss

When I was pregnant, I joined a message board with other women who were pregnant and due in October 2009. We all grew pretty close, and now that our babies are here we continue to talk. We share our lives with each other - some of the women on that board are the closest friends I have. One of the ladies on my board had a 2 year old daughter fighting leukemia. I read the blog that she kept, staying up to date on her daughter's progress. Sometimes it seemed like she was winning, other times it seemed like leukemia was winning. I found out that her daughter passed away Saturday evening and is now in heaven. My heart is so heavy and aches for them. To lose a baby at 2 years old, I can't even fathom the pain they are going through and the emptiness they are feeling in their family. Life is short, two years seems so unfair, but I find peace in knowing that the sweet little girl is no longer in pain, and is up in heaven with her Father up above.

Girly Burp Rags

My friend Ashley is due in a couple of weeks, expecting a baby girl - Anna Elizabeth. She picked up some super cute fabric on clearance and asked me to make her some burp rags for baby Anna.

I decided to do a cute zig-zag stitch around the edge to finish them off:





They are all set for Anna to start using :)

All I want for Christmas...

or I should say, all Dax wants for Christmas are his 2 front teeth! The bottom 2 are taking their sweet time coming in, with no sign of any others at this point. You can barely see the second tooth coming in, it's the one on the left when you look at the picture - it started coming through Saturday morning.



Yes, that is pumpkin on his face, I've been mixing it in with his oatmeal in the mornings for breakfast and he loves it! He loves his new teeth, he's constantly moving his tongue over them to feel them out, and his new favorite thing to do is feel our teeth. This sends both him and us into peals of laughter.

Dax's First Birthday Party

We went with a Halloween themed party this year, and it was a success! I was pretty stressed out about getting everything done, and I wish I had made and/or bought a few more decorations, but this was truly the first birthday party I have ever thrown, and it was a pretty big learning experience for me :) I am also proud to announce that I did not have a breakdown until after Dax went to bed last night, I'm still trying to come to terms with the fact that my baby will be 1 on Monday.

The cake is not what I had originally attempted to do, but it was the next best option when we didn't have a cake the day of the party :)



I also made up some cupcakes that were inspired by my friend Joanne, who made some Candy Corn Cupcakes (for what it's worth, I used a cream cheese frosting, which I probably wouldn't do again if I wanted to pipe frosting on, it doesn't hold it's shape very well once the frosting gets room temperature):



We also had some homemade pumpkin cheesecake bars with oreo crusts, and little ghosts on top (these are so delicious, i had one for breakfast!):



The table setup:



The decorations:



And the birthday boy himself with his first piece of cake!



It was everywhere :)



And here he is with his present from mama and daddy:

Delux Tag Blankets - Baby Crafting Part 2

I believe I have caught the crafting bug from my friend Joanne, over at Ready, Set, Craft! Today, I tackled some tag blankets. I just did mini ones, the first one was a 10"x10", and the other one was 8"x8". The fabric I picked up is so fun - it's textured, but really really soft as well, perfect to attach to a carseat, stroller, or use for a lovie :)

Here's the 8" one:


Here's the 10" one:

Baby Presents - Getting Crafty Again!

I am on a homemade gift kick! One of my good friends had a baby on Sunday (the coolest birthday ever - 10.10.10), she and her husband kept the gender a surprise until their baby was born. I personally don't think I could do that, it would drive me nuts!! They had a boy, and they didn't have much boy stuff since their first was a girl. I've been making a few different "boy" things to send them instead of the traditional gift of clothes. This might end up being a series of 3 post, because I have 3 different things I am making her.

Today, I attempted some burps cloths. The key - having really really cute fabric :) I didn't have a pattern, but I did hold up one of our burp rags to the fabric for a rough idea of how long and wide the cloth should be. My favorite fabric is the one with the dinosaurs....I just might need to make Dax a blanket or pillow case out of it!!

Pumpkin Lane

We took Dax to Gull Meadow Farms where they have Pumpkin Lane. It's a little area set up with different cut outs to pose with, pumpkins, activities, and great picture taking opportunities. The weather has been wonderful here, so last night we packed up and went over to check it out!











Stay tuned for pictures from Dax's halloween themed first birthday party this weekend!!

A Tooth!

Dax finally has a tooth, and just 2 weeks shy of being 1 year old as well :) We were beginning to think that his almost 5 month old cousin was going to beat him in getting some pearly whites.

Bilingual Baby

Dax has started saying his first word in french "chat", which is cat. Everytime he sees a cat he starts saying "cha cha cha"...we love it!

Birthday Planning

Dax's first birthday is almost here and I have been working like crazy trying to get everything pulled together for this special day. We have decided to do a halloween-themed party, mainly because there is an abundance of halloween decorations available right now :) The first thing I took care of were the invitations. I enlisted the help of my friend, Joanne, who is also a Stampin' Up demonstrator, to make some invites. You can see them on her blog here.

I have since moved on to figuring out our menu. We are having a mid-afternoon party, so we'll be doing desserts and finger foods. This week, I tested out some carrot cream-cheese bars.



I'll be changing the colors used so the "spiders" are a little more noticable :) Up on the menu to try next week, pumpkin cheesecake bars with an oreo crust.

Getting Crafty Again

In a week or so, I will be going to a baby shower for a friend who's having a baby girl in December. I was going to make a wet bag, but she isn't sure if she's going to cloth diaper or not, and even though it would still be useful, I wanted to do something more fun! I picked up some great fabric and fleece at Joanne's during a HUGE sale, and here is what I made:

Shopping Cart/High Chair cover:


A view of the leg holes and toy loops:


The ruffle - this was my first time making a ruffle since I've only made covers for boys so far, it was fairly easy and I'm really pleased with the result!


And the cover reversed (yes, they are reversible!!)

Temporary Hiatus

Excuse the absence and lame posts from me over the past week or so. We moved yesterday, and are still in the process of moving. We are about 1/2way into our new apartment, but do not have internet set up yet and that isn't really on the top of the list for today. Dax is loving the apartment, there is a long hallway that he cruises up and down with a crazed look on his face and giggles the entire time. Nighttime and naps are a different story, he doesn't know the place at all, so he wakes up, even more frequently, screaming himself scared. When I go get him from his crib, he's sitting up, and looks petrified, I hate seeing him so scared. Hopefully this adjustment phase won't last forever.

Jail Break!

Meet Dax, my adorable almost 11 month old son.



See Dax Land where Dax plays.



See Dax get too smart for his own good and climb onto his car in an attempt to escape the confines of Dax Land.

F is for Football

College football to be precise! Fall is my husband's most favorite season, mainly because it means the start of college football again. To say he loves watching college game day, following his favorite team, and participating in college pick'ems with his buddies is an understatement. Lately, he and Dax have been playing lots and lots of football together. Dax is learning how to tackle and catch, he even has conquered spiking a ball. Just watch...

Second Attempt at Crafting

and the results came out much better!! The zipper was a lot easier to sew this time and I was extremely pleased with the results!



Dax has been romping around everywhere these days. He and Derek have been enjoying playing football together, and we have even taught him to do the touchdown sign when we say touchdown!

My Attempt at Craftiness

I made a wetbag for dirty diapers, or wet clothes, or really anything wet! The zipper gave me more problems than I care to remember, and my first bag is going in the trash, it really can't be salvaged. I'm pretty pleased with this, although I'm not so sure it's good enough to give as a gift.

Crawling Explosion

Ever since Dax has started crawling, it's as if all of these other light bulbs in his head have gone off at the same time. He's EVERY WHERE at once, trying to walk all the time, crawling up, in, out, through, down, pretty much anything, pulling up on everything, this boy is ready to run. Here are a few "action shots" of him crawling and going up the stairs.

So Long Mr. Walrus

As of Sunday, Dax has officially transitioned into doing a normal crawl. As happy as I am to see him hit this milestone, I will definitely miss seeing his goofy walrus crawl.

Tupperware

Dax finally found the tupperware/plasticware cabinet at my parent's house and he went to town!