A simple invention that saves my sanity

Here he is: The Messiest Baby In All The Land

Cute, right?

But my floors after every meal and snack?

Not so cute. And this was a particularly clean day.

So I bought a yard of PUL (polyurethane laminate), which is a waterproof fabric often used in cloth diapers. It's awesome stuff. Slick on one side so you can wipe it off. Waterproof so liquids don't soak through. Soft and fold-able so I can stash it in my diaper bag for meals out. Plus, machine washable... a necessity! And comes in cute designs and colors. I just got plain old white since it spends a fair amount of time on my dining room floor. Too bad they don't have wood color. 

I just rolled up and hemmed the edges and it makes the perfect reusable high chair mat. I've never seen these in stores, only the disposable ones... and do we really need more things to add to landfills? 

maybe I need to make a bigger one...

This thing saves my life. Keeps me from vacuuming three times a day. Mopping too. Why does this kid insist on throwing absolutely everything on the floor? And with force! Even supposedly spill-proof sippy cups spill the milk if thrown hard enough. And Beckham has it all figured out. 

I just lay this down pre-meal, then shake it off outside after (feed the birds!).  I wipe it off, then use it again. When it gets really messy I just throw it in the washer and dryer. 

It also makes a great play-doh mat for Ty! 

Finally- Laundry room makeover!

Earlier this year I posted a few of my home-improvement wishes- a big one was my laundry room. You may remember this?

Oh, how I hated that wire shelf. Stuff tipped over and fell through, plus it just looked so messy and disorganized!

I would have been happy with some cheap white cabinets, but my picky husband (love him) insisted that we needed nice wood ones. Of course, wood would be great, but they are expensive! Around $180 for a big double cabinet is what we found, and we needed two doubles plus one or two singles ($100 each?) to fill this wall.

So this room stayed as is.

Until we discovered this place called The Rebuilding Center on Mississippi in Portland. People and builders donate used building materials which are sold for so cheap! I love this place. It's very hit or miss, especially if you are looking for something specific, but really fun to just browse through all the stuff. They have a huge selection of doors, windows, hardware, light fixtures, sinks and toilets, plus some furniture, and of course... cabinets! 

We walked in and instantly spotted a group of cabinets that looked very similar to what we have in our kitchen. There was no price on them; they must have just come in. There were more than we needed so we asked the price for three- two doubles and one single. $65!! Seriously. And they looked almost brand new. These would have cost at least $450 new. We were so excited.

So I finally took that horrid shelf down and painted the room. No, not the cute pink like originally planned. It looked terrible with the wood color of these cabinets. So I picked out a gorgeous robin's egg blue that makes me think of Tiffany & Co. every time I do laundry.  :)

Mike watched some online tutorials to learn how to hang them, which turned out to be easy and only took him a couple hours.

Et voila!

Isn't it pretty?! I love the little hanging rod that I painted to match the walls. 

I looove my cabinets. So organized and neat. 

And this paint is just fab. Such a soothing, clean color for a laundry room. I actually want to be in there now!

Of course, I had to make an ironing pad to match. Our old one was so thin and ugly, and this was so easy to make!

This is my new retractable laundry line!

It has five strings to hang clothes to dry! I really needed this for hanging Beckham's cloth diapers. And I love how it rolls up so neatly when not in use. 

So nice to have this crossed off the list. 

We've also been working on our big living room makeover, very slowly. It's almost done, though, and I can't wait to show you!

Also, don't forget to make some laundry detergent and get it donated! Do something good this thanksgiving week! Then come enter my giveaway! ONE person has entered, come on folks! The odds of winning are excellent! ;)

A week of Ruby: day 3

Oh sweet girlie girl bliss. A tutu! The most practical of baby gifts. ;)

But soooo pretty! Kinda want one for myself.

It ended up bigger than I meant it to be... I just went crazy adding tulle strip after tulle strip. I wanted it fluffy! May not fit her until she's bigger, but that's ok. 

I used elastic all the way around, but a big satin bow to tie it together. I'm hoping that will make it more adjustable so it can grow with her. 

What a fun project. :)

These are less exciting but still cute and waaay more practical!

Just some simple little flannel washies. We use single layer flannel cloths like these as baby wipes with our cloth diapers, but they also make awesome little wipees for runny baby noses since they are so soft. And also for keeping in the kitchen for after meal clean up when she's older. I like having some thin ones for jobs like those, and the thick wash cloths for bathtime. Plus they are just plain cute.

When shopping for flannel for Ruby's wash cloths I saw this print that I loved for Beckham. Cloth baby wipes get very discolored.... as you can imagine. And bleach just ruins them, so I sun them when I can but it just doesn't get them bright white again. So I thought, why on earth do they even make white cloth baby wipes?? We all know what we're gonna wipe up! It's not white! This is a nice dark print that hopefully won't show the stains as much. I plan to use them in my travel wipes container- keep the ugly but still functional ones at home. :)

And again, more goodies to come tomorrow. 

The great plastic bag debate

"An island of trash twice the size of Texas...."

"90% of this trash is plastic bags that never biodegrade..."

"More than 267 species die every year due to plastic in our oceans...."




Stats from Environment Oregon about The Great Pacific Clean-up: an effort to ban plastic bags at retailers in Oregon in order to stop contributing to this 'Great Pacific Garbage Patch'.

I tend to avoid the news a bit. I'm a little ashamed to admit that, because I believe in the importance of staying aware of current events. But I'm also a mom who loses far too much sleep worrying about the awful stuff I hear on TV. And luckily, I have a husband who is a news/current events/pop culture junkie and keeps me abreast of the important stuff. And every now and then something really strikes a cord and I feel the need to learn more. This is one of those issues.

I hadn't heard about this garbage patch until some young ladies from Environment Oregon came knocking at my door, asking for contributions to their cause, and trying to educate the public about this plastic bag problem. I checked their website as soon as they left and was saddened by what I read, but inspired that someone is trying to create change. My husband has been emailing me links to the latest news articles dealing with this campaign (this way I don't have to read all the articles about crazy people doing awful things to children and animals), and I was very excited to learn that Portland-area Fred Meyer stores are doing a trial ban on the plastic bags!! It will begin August 1st, and paper bags will still be available, but they are encouraging bringing your own reusable bags.

This is so easy, people! The bags are around $1 each. Buy one each time you buy groceries and you'll have plenty in no time! Most people I know are already doing this; I've been doing it for years. It's such a simple, inexpensive step we can ALL take to keep this garbage pile from growing. Start small!


Also, and a bit off the subject, but I recently read that Americans throw out 16,000,000,000 (yes, thats billion) disposable diapers each year. Which take 500 years to decompose. Consider cloth! It's easier than you think! And will literally save you thousands! Just sayin'. :)

More cloth diapers... and a few owls

My good friend Becky, who recently switched to cloth for her gorgeous little one, showed me this owl diaper that she ordered from this Etsy seller. I HAD to post about it, because not only is it so stinkin' cute, it was only $10! And the seller does custom orders! Working on convincing hubby that I need just one more diaper.... Perhaps the John Deere one? Or maybe a custom boy owl print? Like this?

And while I was searching owls, I found this! How cute would it be in Beckham's owl-themed nursery? I may have to find a way to create one of these myself because I can't really justify $55 for an owl garland.

What a great idea, wrapping gifts in fabric! These are Japanese Furoshiki; eco-friendly and reusable! Plus gorgeous! I'd sure love a gift wrapped in one of these. 

Cloth Diapers

One of my favorite topics. :) We started cloth diapering when Ty was about 18 months, mostly to save money each month. I started reading and researching online and was overwhelmed with the different types, brands, and opinions out there. My husband was completely against this venture, for various reasons. Mostly, I think, because he didn't want to invest a bunch of money into something he didn't think I would stick with. Which totally made sense! So we started by purchasing a "try it kit" from Cotton Babies, a great online retailer of cloth diapering products. The kit was $35, and came with enough to diaper Ty for one day. I was hooked. I loved saving money, felt great about keeping disposables out of the landfill, and Ty loved the soft diapers! He didn't want me to put disposables on him anymore. This kit came with prefolds and covers, the most inexpensive and basic type of cloth, and probably what comes to mind when you think of cloth diapers. Slowly we added to our stash; I bought a dozen more prefolds, and started buying used off craigslist. Eventually I spent the money to buy a one-size pocket diaper, something I had been interested in but avoided since they cost anywhere from $15 to about $25 each! It seemed crazy to me when I knew I could buy prefolds for around $2 each, and the covers were about $13, which I could wipe out and reuse several times! But, wow, did I fall in love with my pocket diaper. They really are just like a disposable. Velcro (or snap) tabs. Hidden waterproof layer. Inner fleece wicks moisture away from baby. But the best part? They fit from birth to potty training! Hence the "one-size". That beats a disposable any day! So basically, for a newborn, you need about 24 diapers total. From day 1 until that baby is out of dipes. Yes, it's a bit of an investment to begin with, but considering the average parent spends close to $2000 on disposables per child, its a HUGE savings. Plus, these diapers really last and can be used on second children, and third, and it goes on. You can even sell them on eBay when you're finished with them and depending on the wear and tear, get 50-75% of what you paid! Not to mention the environmental impact.

So, I slowly bought more and more of these fabulous diapers, different brands, when we could afford to. At 2 1/2 Ty was potty trained, and I sadly (yes, I enjoy this!) packed away my diapers for another baby one day. There was absolutely no question that we would use cloth again. Even my husband was on board! That day came in August of 2009 when little Beckham arrived. We planned ahead this time, knowing we would need more diapers, and knowing that we loved the one-size pocket style. When people asked what we needed for baby, since we weren't having another shower, we shared some diaper websites with them. Mike's mom bought us some of my favorite diapers called Rumparooz (pictured above). I also found some "bargain" pockets on etsy called cushy toosh, and I think I got ten of them for around $100. I even got a coupon deal through diapers.com on some bumgenius diapers. So by the time Beckham was born, we had a nice stash of 25 dipes. For the first couple weeks we used disposables, mostly because I was afraid of meconium staining my pretty new diapers, plus it was nice to have a little adjustment period before adding more laundry to my already-full plate. But once I switched, it was just as easy as I remembered! And now that he is 7 months old and not pooping 10 times a day, I have enough dipes to go three days between washings. So it's even easier.

Stuff I recommend:

• a diaper sprayer; once baby is on solids you have to flush the poo down the toilet, and a sprayer makes it so much easier. I got mine on ebay for about $20. Newborn (breastfed) poo is water soluble and can go straight in the wash. 

• several wetbags; you need a place to put your wet or dirty dipes when out and about. These are waterproof and can just go straight in the wash with all your diapers. Plus, they're gorgeous! Also great for travel, swimsuits, even to stash baby feeding supplies in your diaper bag.

• a pail liner or two; made of colored fabric and a pul (waterproof) layer, you can line any garbage can with a lid to create a diaper pail. We got a pretty bronze pail to match Becks' room. Much nicer looking than those awful diaper genie things. The liner can go straight in the wash also, so you don't have to touch the dirty dipes when putting them in the washer. Just shove it all in.
• cloth wipes; well, think about it... you wipe baby's bottom and where do you put the wipe? In the diaper, roll it up, stick it all in the pail. What a mess if a disposable wipe goes in the wash. With these soft flannel wipes, you just wash them along with the diapers. I fold mine so they "pop" up in a regular plastic wipes container, and either wet them with plain water, or make a wipes solution with special soap bits. For a newborn, plain water is best anyway, and disposable wipes can irritate a diaper rash. Plus, less waste and less wasted money.

I haven't even mentioned how gorgeous cloth diapers can be... there are so many pretty new designs and prints. One could go a little nuts. There is a raging shopaholic who lives inside me and I try not to let her out. Except maybe at garage sales. But that's beside the point.