Pinterevolution

I'm not sure if you've jumped on the pinterest wagon yet, or not, but if you haven't.... You should. Right after you read this. :)

You browse their pins, or pin your own ideas (images from websites, blogs, etc) onto boards. You can name your boards. Examples include: "Wedding plans", "Renovating the bathroom", "Halloween decor", "First birthday ideas" etc. Options are literally endless.

Don't get discouraged, though, when you go to get an account. It will tell you that you need an invite. And it may not send you an invite for up to 24 hours (so I've heard), I got my invite within an hour of requesting one (don't be jealous). I tell everyone about pinterest. I got my mom to do it, I convinced a coworker to get one last weekend (didn't take much, right Michelle?), I think I even sufficiently pushed the check out lady at Hobby Lobby today to start one.

You're going to be overwhelmed. There are so many ideas, extremely clever things you'll wish you'd thought of. It helps you find things from the internet (which is so much bigger than I'd ever imagined) that you probably would have never, ever found on your own.

Enough babble, let me show you what I accomplished today.

A few days ago, I saw (on pinterest) a tutorial for how to make babylegs. These are super cute, footless leggings for babies. They're genius. They protect knees while crawling, they make diaper changes so easy (legs covered, but no waist, zippers, buttons, snaps to deal with) and they're darn cute. But they run ya 12 bucks a pop! Anyways, I wanted to figure out how to make them myself, so, I typed "babylegs" into the search box on pinterest. Like a billion images popped up, but I clicked on one that said, "Baby legs tutorial; Easy!" or something like that, I can't remember, because I changed it when I repinned it. But it had this adorable picture to help sway my decision. Here's the original post.

{they cloth diaper, too!!}

So, I wanted to make some babylegs that Cohen could wear with his Halloween costume on Wednesday to the zoo. I found these socks at Target for $6.00. They're women's knee-high socks.

Fuzzy... kinda hard to work with..  But they match our costume.

Cut a straight line above and below the heel, and above the toe.

Fold each small piece over on itself, so the good (outer) sides are facing you.

Pull the folded piece around the bottom of the long sock. All three unfinished edges should be at the end. And you should only see the good sides.

See? Only good sides. 

Stitch around the unfinished edges. I stitched about a 1/4 inch below the edges. I did a kind of loose stitch, I knew it would need to stretch a little.

After sewn, unfold! (it's the one on the left that I sewed. I sewed the right one too, but this is the manufactured end.)

Voila! Handmade baby legs! Can't wait to try these on Cohen for Halloween!

So, yes, that was my first pinterest project! Ready for my second? Ok!!

I saw this a few weeks ago, and when walking past the scrapbooking section at Hobby Lobby today, I decided, Today's the Day. It's a weekly, family calendar from, get this: a collage frame! Behold.

Clever right? It's dry erase because it's glass!

Anyhoo, here are my supplies.

A $12.00 collage frame from Wal*Mart and 8 pieces of scrapbooking paper that I got from a pack (of 36, double-sided) from Hobby Lobby for around $5. (with a 40% off coupon from their website)

Cut your pieces of paper to fit the size of your frames. Mine were 4x6in.

Remove the cardboard pieces and insert your papers. (easy, right?)

Taa-daa! Write on it with a dry erase marker! It can also hang up and down, like the inspiration post.

You can pick any patterns or colors..endless options!

Then hang it up in a central place! I LOVE it!

Are you already a member of pinterest? What have you made?? Please share!

9 months!

This is the exact amount of time it took me to grow this child in my body. And this 9 months has gone by so, SO much faster than the other 9. The other 9 was me, anticipating this 9.

Oh, this baby. I try to take a lesson in Joy from him all the time. This sweet baby almost always has a smile (like above) plastered on his precious face. How can I, too, not forget my troubles and worries and just smile when I see this? It reminds me to rest in the Peace of the Lord. He is my reminder of love, joy, peace, patience... Children are such blessings... how can anyone argue that? 

Ok, people. I tried really, really hard to take this month's Tonka picture. What I got were Cohen's attempts at escaping the frame. This first picture is the winner!

I love this, because it also shows where he's at developmentally! Pulling up and cruising along furniture!!

He never once sat by the truck for our traditional picture. :(

Always standing these days!

Goofy grin

If he notices the camera, he likes to come attack it!

Growth: Our boy is pretty big. :) But he's spot on, on the growth charts. He weighs 20 pounds 15.5 ounces (50th%). He is 29 3/4 inches tall (75th%). (That's 2'5.75"!) And his head circumference is 17.5 inches (25th%). He is wearing size 12-18 months in most things. Occasionally, I can fit him into 6-12. And things marked "9 months" (rare sizing) usually fit him. Pants have to be 12 month+, to accommodate his bum. :) But we don't mind. 

Sleep: Cohen is doing pretty good in this department. He generally goes to bed at 9pm and wakes between 7:30-8:30 (or 9-10 when I'm not there...fishy, I know..). He no longer gets a bottle at night (Praise the Lord!). He wakes sometimes a few hours after he goes down, and needs his paci. But sometimes, he will fuss for a second, like he wants his paci, and will roll over and go back to sleep!! On a perfect day, he takes two naps, still. He naps for 1-2 hours about two hours after he wakes in the morning. Then he'll usually lay down again around 3 pm for an hour or so. If his morning nap was shorter, the afternoon nap will be longer, and vice versa. 

Eating: He is still on infant formula. He gets 24-30 ounces a day. It is steadily decreasing as he is eating more solids. He holds his own bottle now, it's uber cute. Today, and I didn't take pictures, I made him a broccoli, cauliflower, pea and carrot puree with a cheese sauce (that I made!). And he liked it! He's never had peas! Or cauliflower. I'm glad he liked it. And I'm glad I know how to make a cheese sauce now! I also made a new fruit puree for him: mango and apple! This tasted yum-my. :) So, yesterday, we were at Burger King while waiting on another errand we were running, and Cohen was eye balling my chicken fries and french fries. I thought... he's 9 months old... eh, why not? So, I broke off a tiny piece of french fry, dusted and blew off all the salt I could, and let him pick it up and eat it. He made a face at first, but definitely wanted more! haha, a child after my own heart. I'm sure that, total, he only had one french fry, but it seemed like a lot. I also let him have little bites of chicken fry. Loved it. :)

Development: He is a champion crawler now. VERY fast. Especially if he's into something he knows he shouldn't be and is running from us. He's been crawling for 2 months now! Crazy! He pulls up on furniture and "cruises" along furniture now. He likes to walk while holding our hands, as long as he can stop occasionally to "dance, dance, dance" or "jumpy, jumpy." He likes to sit on his knees. Which I think is about the cutest position a baby can be in. Ever. He gives kisses all the time, sometimes without us prompting him! He likes the repeating sound game. He'll say, "Oooohh" and daddy will say, "Oooohh" then he'll say (louder) "Gaahhh" and daddy will say "Gaaahh" and so on and so forth. It can go on for quite some time. :) He says "dada", but no "mama". :( When he's upset, he babbles with the "b" sound and high pitched. It's cute, it's hard to remember that he's upset. We play "Pat-a-cake" and we're working on waving bye-bye and giving "high-five". Maybe by next month. :) He seems to be learning something new everyday. Such precious times.

Our decision to cloth diaper.

A couple months ago, we made a sort of snap decision (haha.. pun intended) to start cloth diapering Cohen.  He was 7 months old. I wish, so much, that some one had talked to me and convinced me to do this from the get-go.

Before I looked into it, I used to think, "Yuck.. peed on cloth with poop on it that I have to touch." That's not convenient, that's not fun. To be honest, I didn't really even think of cloth until our baby shower stash of diapers (which was quite large, actually) ran out around 5 months and we started to feel the burden of how expensive disposable diapers were.

We did this for several reasons. First, to save money. And it does! Since we bought our first big batch of diapers those couple months ago, we haven't had to buy a $40 box of disposables (which we would've certainly done once or twice by now.) I will not lie, it takes a pretty penny to get your diaper stash built up and to buy a few accessories you kind of need to cloth diaper. I'll go over the cost later. But once you buy 18-24 diapers, you are set and don't need buy anymore. I'll expand on that thought later, too. :)

Second, the environment! Landfills in American soil are 30% full of disposable diapers! It takes something like 200 years for a disposable diaper to decompose. (Now, who sat around and waited for that to happen, I don't know.) :) Despite popular belief, disposable diapers require 2x the amount of water to produce than it takes to wash your cloth diapers. It takes 3x as much energy to produce a disposable diaper. For every one baby using disposables, 1 ton of garbage is created (by the end of their diapering lifetime.) And last, and kind of disturbing.. 1 cup of crude oil is used to manufacture the plastic in one disposable diaper.
(these stats were found and cited here)

Third, our baby's bottom! We wanted something natural to be on Cohen's bottom. Babies who wear cloth experience less (if any!) diaper rashes. The cloth wicks away moisture, helping keep bottoms dry. We know what fabrics we're buying so, we can get all natural fibers that we know won't bother Cohen.

Fourth, they're incredibly cute. Who doesn't love a fluffy-bottomed baby? They are not your mother's cloth diapers. They are easy to use, come in many colors and styles, and are convenient. I was worried about the convenience issue, but they are made to be easy to use anywhere.

Time for some pictures!

We decided on BumGenius 4.0 one size pocket diapers. This means they have snaps that you can snap down to make them smaller, then the waist is also adjustable with snaps. There is also a hook/loop version (velcro) but we figured Cohen would finagle his way out of velcro easier than snaps. At the back right are gFlappers (more info later), bottom right are our cloth wipes and then there is a sample of Rockin' Green cloth diaper detergent. 

These are part of the artist series and are just adorable. Otherwise, bumgenius are solid and super cute.

Cloth diapers should not go into your dryer, as it will ruin the elastic after a while. It is suggested to line dry them in the sunlight. The sun dries them quickly and also helps remove poopy stains. (I doubted the suns stain fighting abilities but am now 100% convinced!)

Cohen's first cloth diaper experience! Happy as a clam! Not uncomfortable to him in the least.

And just look at that booty! So fluffy and cute!

Here is my big bag, that came in the mail a few days after I got the sample. This is the start up kit with a bag of detergent, a scoop and "Shake it up," a powder to help keep odors at bay in your diaper pail and wet bags. It is made by a stay at home mom right here in Texas! It can be purchased here. You buy either "Classic, Soft, or Hard Rock" depending on your town's water type. We bought Hard Rock. It has worked like a charm so far--no stinkies here! This bundle is $24.95, plus shipping. But, they sell this in my local cloth shop, so I'll never have to pay shipping again. :) And one bag like the one pictured above there (The Nappy Shoppe) is $15.95.

This is a monkeydoodlez Tuck And Go. It's hook and loop closure. It is a cover, you simply lay your own inserts (the part that soaks up pee) inside and fix it to your very wiggly baby and go! (hence, "tuck and go") These are sized, meaning you buy it for the stage your baby is in currently. 

You lay the inserts in that opening right there. Pretty easy. This cover is $14.95. Great value.

This is a standard AIO (All in one) monkeydoodlez diaper. It is sized diaper, also. It is hook/loop closure.

It's very, very simple to use. No stuffing required. I find myself grabbing this diaper when we are in a big hurry. It's a good one to keep in the diaper bag. This one is $19.25 over at the Nappy Shoppe. 

This diaper. Oh, this diaper. I love it. It is a Sweet Pea OS (one size) pocket diaper. I just love the fit. 

It is microfiber on the inside, so it is super soft on Cohen's bum. And the owls? Don't get me started. It's a great deal of a diaper too. At the Nappy Shoppe, it's $15.95. And this includes 2 inserts. A soaker insert and a smaller one. I have since gone back for a royal blue and turquoise sweet pea. Love it. 

And these cuties are gDiapers. They look ridiculously cute on a baby bum. They have a snap in leak-proof liner. Then you stuff that liner with either a biodegradable disposable insert, or your own cloth inserts! Makes them great for trips! These are sized. We got larges for Cohen.

These two came together at Babies R Us, and cost $26.99. But the Nappy Shoppe sells individual gPants for $19.99.

This is Coco's Bummis swim diaper! No inserts needed. Did you know that disposable "swim diapers" don't really absorb pee? They soak up with water the minute they are submerged and might keep poop from escaping if they aren't too full of water. This diaper will hold poop if baby happens to do that in the pool. And it looks so cute! And baby doesn't need a swim suit with this one. $12.75 at the Nappy Shoppe.

And alas, my favorites. BumGenius 4.0 OS (one size) pocket diapers. So incredibly easy and real freakin' cute. These come with 2 inserts, a larger "toddler" one and a smaller "infant" one. We use both now. These are generally a little more expensive. But I bought two sets of these when they were buy 5 get 1 free. One is $17.95 at the Nappy Shoppe. 

They're very soft inside. And oh-so-easy. And the designs and colors are to die for. 

And these amazing inserts are called gFlappers. They're made at the Nappy Shoppe. They're amazing. It's a three layer insert, for tons of absorbency, but only sewn together on one end so it comes nice and clean in the washing machine. They're $7.85. I have 5. :) We use these at night. We use all bamboo, but they make them with hemp and bamboo. I'm nervous about the oils in hemp for Cohen's skin.

Also pictured way up at the top, Sweet Pea cotton wipes. These are $5.95 for 8. We wet those and use them instead of wipes. 

You'll also need a wet bag for being out and about. I got mine at Planet Wise for either $16.50 or $19.00, I can't remember. 

I also bought a pail liner from the Nappy Shoppe. It lines a standard kitchen trash can and you store used diapers in it until you're ready to wash. Mine is Wahmies brand and was $17.95.

We use flushable liners in our diapers. It's a thin, paper-like liner that lays in the diaper. Pee passes through and it catches poop! Then you lift it out and flush it away! Right now we're using TinyTush liners. These are usually less than $10 for a 100 of them. 

I feel like that's all if it for now. But we've been cloth diapering for about 2 months and we still love it. I might do a part 2, later, but this is so long as is! Any questions? :)