Tag Archives: nursery

{attempting simple} cloth diapers

Cloth diapers. Oh yes. Yes, I did. Bet you thought I would never, ever do that, didn’t you? Because I thought that exact same thing, too. ;)

I’m not gonna lie, I was scared. Among other things, I thought the nursery would smell like poo 24/7 and that I would be slaving over the washer and dryer all the live-long day. Turns out, neither is true. Staying true to my goal of attempting to incorporate simpler living in the daily routines of my life, I’ve been cloth diapering for a solid week now with only minor catastrophes incidences.

My brain wheels got to turning when poor Baby Sister had a consistently reddish bum, even using Seventh Generation diapers. I still love those diapers and they always did great on Little Bit. But they were not being so sweet to Baby Sister. So for probably the past month, I’ve been playing around in my head with making the switch to cloth diapers.

And then one day about two weeks ago I decided to quit dreaming and just do it.

Thanks to my sweet friend, R0byn, I got a bit of a head start. She let me harass her one day via thousands of texts ask her what she started with and recommended. She highly recommended Bum Genius diapers. By the way, she has several great posts on this if you’re interested.

Bum Genius diapers have great ratings all around and they are “all-in-ones”, meaning they can fit newborns to potty-training toddlers. Score one for a money-saver there. Thanks to Robyn, I also knew they had a 30-day money back guarantee, so if I tried them and hated them, I could send them back.

I ordered 6 off of vine.com {they were running a 30% off thing} and tried those 6 for a few days. And quickly realized I needed about three times that amount of diapers to avoid the aforementioned slaving over the washer/dryer. I checked craigslist, and lo and behold, a lady was selling a lot of 13 Bum Genius diapers {in girl colors!} for $6 each as opposed to $16 each brand new. She had only used them for a year, so they looked like new! Score one for me.

And the whole changing/storing/washing process really isn’t that bad. I use a cute chicken wire basket in the nursery that has a washable drawstring laundry bag lining it, toss the dirty diapers in there, and when it gets full I dump all the diapers and the bag in the wash. {I have 2 laundry bags, so I just line the basket again with the other one.}

There are just a few extras when it comes to washing. You have to rinse everything once with cold water before you add detergent, then wash hot with detergent, then extra rinse ‘em. And I did what any easily confused, anal direction-following person does. I taped the washing instructions to the inside of a laundry room cabinet. Don’t judge.

I was gifted some Rockin’ Green detergent from a sweet friend at church who works in that company, and it is the. best. detergent. ever. It was developed specifically for cloth diapers but works with everything. Rockin’ Green also is starting to distribute just a few brands of cloth diapers. So she gave me 4 different kinds of cloth diapers {yes, she is awesome} to try. Three were Itti Bitti brand and one was Go Green. Love, love the Go Green but Baby Sister leaks out of the Itti Bitti ones. However, this could totally be user error so I’m not giving up on those just yet :)

So if your eyes haven’t glazed over yet from too much cloth diaper rambling, I’ll tell you about flushable poop liners. You’ll either be all interested or I’ll put you to sleep. Either way, you’re welcome.

Robyn recommended flushable poop liners. These take a lot of the ick factor out of the whole thing. Before I knew about these I had visions of me scraping poo off a diaper over the toilet, gagging at the unmentionables piling up underneath my fingernails. Gross, I know. But these are the things I imagine. With these liners, you just grab a tiny corner of it, pull it off over the potty and flush that sucker down. All the solids go bye-bye and then you wash the diaper like normal. Easy peasy.

So how’s that for my first stab at attempting simple?! I’m really, really glad I switched. No more forgetting to buy diapers, no more red bottoms, no more feeling like I was throwing away money every month!

Do y’all cloth diaper? What are your thoughts? Please share any tips!

{thrifted} colorful vintage nursery :: part two

I am still loving walking into our new nursery – it just makes me happy. So let’s continue our nursery discussion, shall we? Above is technically the wall behind the door – I wish you could see it without having to come all the way in the room and turn completely around. And then I feel guilty for wishing silly things like that when there are important things that actually matter to think about. But I digress.

Some fun facts: The two embroidered floral pieces (prints? creations? what do you call them?) were thrifted, as were the frames. I made the yarn balls for a baby shower a long time ago and I continue to find random uses for them all over my house. The paper bunting was made by my sister for Baby Sister’s baby shower cake. And at the very bottom of the white shelf thingy is a white diaper pin that was mine and my sister’s. My mom saved it because she is amazing like that. On the right – another cool saving story. Those jeans were my hubby’s dad’s when he was tiny. Seriously, can you believe that?? So Baby Sister’s grandpa wore them. Then my hubby wore them. And then they will hang on the wall of Baby Sister’s room because I cannot in good conscience subject them to another generation of toddlers. The bib above them was mine and my sister’s. Very early 80′s. Gotta represent.

Shelves and aqua bins were a baby shower gift, but came from Lowe’s. The small plaque by Curly Gurl Designs reads, “Welcome to this world, little one. It is even now that much better because you are here.”

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Tissue paper flowers were made by my amazing sister for this baby’s sweet baby shower. They hung over the food table at the shower and I told my sister in no uncertain terms that they were mine asked my sister if I could please take them home to use in the nursery. My mom tied/clustered them together for me and perched perilously on a small step ladder to hang them over the crib. I kept telling her I didn’t mind doing it and she just kept eying my ginormous belly. I got her message.

The adorable alphabet cards are free printables from The Handmade Home. I adore them. How can you go wrong in life if H is for high heels and I is for icing? We’re setting Baby Sister up for success, is what we’re doing.

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Apparently I am slightly obsessed with pompom fringe. I used some coral/red small trim on the new glider cushions and it makes me so happy. That trim actually came from Walmart (gasp!) and it was pretty cheap. I bought plain white heavier curtains at Lowe’s and just sewed some canary yellow pompom fringe down the inside edge. Love it. I had to order it online – Walmart failed me that time. {By the way, I used curtain clip rings to attach the curtains to the rod so they would slide super easily. I found plain blackout liner fabric for a steal at a local fabric store and I just cut it to size and clipped it to the back of the curtains with the same clip rings. No sewing involved. Bam.}

The needlepointed lady on the nightstand was made by my Gran – my mom’s mom. I love that there is a piece of her in this room. The sweet quilt draped over the crib is one that was made for my hubby when he was a baby.

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I put new blue knobs {$2 each at Lowe’s} on the small chest of drawers and spray painted the lamp base yellow. I tied a leftover crib bumper tie around the top of the lamp. {Don’t ask why I had a leftover tie – apparently I cannot count correctly from 1 to 22.} The bunny is the softest stuffed animal I have ever felt and was a gift from my sweet aunt. The mirror was an antique store find in Marble Falls. I love the aging glass on it.

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And there you have it. A colorful, vintage, “collected-over-time-look” nursery and guest bedroom combo. And best of all, it is done and waiting for a sweet Baby Sister. I’ll let you know as soon as she arrives! {If you missed part one of the nursery, go here!}

{thrifted} colorful vintage nursery :: part one

After a flurry of nesting activity spanning several weeks, I’m so happy to say that our combo guest room and nursery are done! I’ve been singing that Wizard of Oz song with my own words in there…la, la, the nursery’s done, the nursery’s done, the nursery’s done!

As soon as we found out this little one was another sweet girl, I started gathering ideas and regularly hitting up our local thrift stores. No, wait. Scratch that. I’ve been gathering ideas for another nursery since I did Little Bit’s nursery two and a half years ago. Cause that’s just how I roll.

I knew I wanted a bright, colorful, vintage-y, happy vibe. So I started with fabric. I hit the vintage fabric jackpot one random day at a thrift store and that really got my brain going. Thrift stores are the perfect place to find fabric, y’all. Sheets, pillow cases, table cloths, bed skirts, unfinished fabric craft projects, fabric remnants – it’s all there for super cheap.

I was really drawn to graphic, bright, prints in a variety of colors. So here’s what you see coming in to the room…

Y’all know I love to not spend money and use what I have and repurpose things, so let’s break it down. We’ll start with the guest bedroom side of things. The guest bed is a queen – a bit big for the room, especially for a combination nursery. BUT it is what we had and it’s comfortable for our guests. Sometimes {actually, most of the time for me} you just gotta work with what ya got! I think we tried the bed in every possible position in this room and this seemed to work the best. Definitely not ideal, but WWWYG. {Work with what ya got!}

Guest Bed Details:

I thrifted a white duvet cover for $13 to replace the dark brown duvet cover that was on the bed. It was then that I realized I had stuffed an old BLACK comforter inside the old duvet cover. And the new white cover had lace cutwork in the middle of it. Which equals black showing through my white duvet cover EVERYWHERE. So I did what any lazy girl would do. I found an old white sheet in the back of the linen closet and sewed just the corners of the white sheet {I’m telling you, super lazy} to the top of the old black comforter. Now you just see white through the lace. And I am happy because I didn’t have to spend any money.

I had the white bed skirt on the bed already. I also already had the red & white ottoman {gift from my sis a couple of years ago} and my mom gifted me the white ruffle-y shams. I thrifted the two crocheted blankets from a local shop for $5 each. The bright coral pillowcases came from Walmart for $7 for the pair. I thrifted the two throw pillows for $5 each and the quilted flower sham came from Tuesday Morning for $10. So under $50 for a complete bed remake. Be still my thrifty heart.

 

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So come on around to the other side of the room, where the crib is.

 

Crib Bedding Details:

All the fabric for the crib bedding was thrifted, except for the aqua & orange dot fabric and the ribbon piping. The outside of the bumper is yellow dotted swiss fabric. I love that is has a texture. The bumper ties are some really bright graphic vintage napkins I thrifted {$3 for set of 4} and cut into strips. Crib sheets are white ones from Walmart. The skirt is layered – the bottom layer is a thrifted bed skirt {$3} that I just had to make a little smaller. {By the way, I totally did this the lazy way and just folded it underneath the crib mattress to be the correct size. A true seamstress would have cut and sewn and done it right. Good thing I’m not a seamstress.} The top layer of the crib skirt is a vintage sheet I thrifted {$2} and again, folded under the crib mattress to be the correct size. And really, in the long run, the lazy way is great because when you have to lower the mattress, you can adjust the length of the skirt really easily. Or maybe that is just how I justify being lazy.

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On to the walls.

I wanted the gallery wall to wrap around the corner over the bed. To try to help the bed position make sense. And to try to detract from the fact that there is a giant half-door for our AC over the bed. I’m not sure if the gallery wrap-around wall helps, but I do like it. Everything was thrifted – frames, embroidery hoops, fabric, vintage needlepoint, and the vintage floral painting.

So that’s a lot of pictures and words and typing. I’ll do part two tomorrow, and cover the other parts of the room, alphabet cards, and crib mobile. Stay tuned!

baby shower!

Two weekends ago, a sweet old friend, a sweet newer friend, and my sister all joined efforts to throw me a baby shower. It.was.amazing. Beautiful. I am so thankful for all their hard work and planning. They know how to love, and they love me well.

The whole shower was this creative combo of bright colors, happy flowers, amazing food, and sweet memories.

See what I’m talking about…

How happy is that cake?? And who doesn’t love a handmade paper bunting on their cake? So stinkin’ cute. And, at the time, we hadn’t decided on a name for Baby Sister {procrastinate much?} so it says, “Welcome Baby Girl”. She does have a name now, so don’t worry. {Look for that bunting again in the nursery pics coming soon!}

A lot of the flowers they used on the table were cut straight from my mom’s garden. I loved that.

Handmade tissue paper flowers by my amazing sister. {Look for these in the nursery pics too!}

The food was fabulous. Jen {who is secretly a gourmet chef} made the above delish chicken salad with pita bread, these amazing tomato/mozzarella/basil bites, ham & cream cheese appetizers, and fruit kebobs. Seriously, it was SO good. I might have had thirds. And by that I mean the baby was clearly still hungry after my first two helpings. Gotta feed the babe.

They had this great idea to make a “Baby’s First ABC Book” by having all the guests illustrate each letter of the alphabet. This was one of the best baby shower ideas I’ve seen. It was really fun and now Baby Sister has this sweet book of hand drawn alphabet illustrations by all the people I love. High five on that one, girls!

My precious Bible study ladies brought a money tree, complete with origami money onesies!

Sweet, sweet friends. Thank you girls so much.

favorite finds & random thoughts

 

Well, we were stuck in the house all last week. Little Bit had a fever and didn’t feel so hot, so house-bound it was. During the week of laying on the couch and snuggling with my sweet girl, I’ve come across some fab websites/blogs/cool places. And I’ve had ample time to think about important, life-changing random things.

So read this/check these out when you’ve got time. Or want to procrastinate. Like when you have to unload the dishwasher.

{} The Handmade Home put together another great list of free, awesome fonts to download. I love new, creative fonts. As in, not Comic Sans or Arial. Just sayin’.

{} I discovered this great blog called Beautifully Rooted. It’s made up of all kinds of fantastic contributors who write beautiful words on subjects like “nourish”, “nurture”, and “sanctuary”. And the tagline is “grounded in who He created you to be”. How can you not love that?

{} I am so doing this. Hopefully this week. Giant outdoor chalkboard, anyone?? I have the perfect spot in mind. It’ll make our quirky house even quirkier. Quirky is fun and creative, right??

{} Little Bit had school pictures done yesterday with a real, live bunny. I’ve been thinking about that bunny today. I’m pretty sure he’ll have some lasting effects from being man-handled by 50 toddlers yesterday. Poor guy.

{} Yesterday I bought succulents on sale at Lowe’s for $3.98 a piece, some small galvanized metal buckets, and some rope for a project I’m working on for spiffy-ing up one of our {many} quirky outside spaces. Stay tuned for more details. This pic is the one that inspired me…

{} I read The No-Brainer Wardrobe e-book by Haley Morgan at The Tiny Twig. So good. Among lots of other great tips and tricks, she talks about going through and purging your closet based on lots of different criteria. I realize at 34 weeks pregnant that now IS NOT the time to go through my closet based on what fits, what I like, what makes me look fat, etc. Must remember this. DO NOT do this right now, DO NOT do this right now…

{} I finished the crib bumper AND recovered the nursery glider cushions. All by my big self. As opposed to calling my mom every 5 minutes asking how to do the next step. I’m sure she appreciates my steps toward big-girl independence. I’ll post pics soon…I have a few more projects to finish up in there. But I may get impatient and go ahead and post pictures anyway in it’s undone state. Gotta keep it real, right?

{} One of my good friends {and our doula!} is having a garage sale in April and said we could toss in whatever we wanted to get rid of. This has fed my already insane nesting spree to the point where our house might actually start to look empty. I might need an intervention.

{} I’m working on making a master meal idea list so I have all my options to choose from in one place when it’s time to menu plan. Anyone have any ideas on the best way to do this? I was thinking Excel. But then I remembered that I stink at using Excel and I feel like an accountant when I use it. Not that there’s anything wrong with accountants. I just don’t want to be one. Or feel like one.

{} Hubby introduced me to The Fray’s new album. Love, love, love. One of the songs is “Be Still”. Ah, the truth in that song.

{} I hear Little Bit talking to herself in her room this morning. This means she is awake. But ever since we moved her to a big girl bed, she continues to think someone has to come get her out of bed in the mornings. She has yet to come out of her room on her own. I don’t know what to make of this. But I’ll enjoy it while it lasts.

Happy Tuesday, everyone!

new nursery sneak peek

 

Here’s what I’ve been thrifting/collecting/printing recently for the new nursery…



I’m really excited! With Little Bit’s nursery, I did soft and pink/green, so I’m pumped to add some big splashes of bright colors for Baby Girl #2. My mom is coming to help me move furniture around, and rearrange to start transforming our guest room into a combo guest room/nursery. 


Of course, this means Little Bit will be moving to a big girl bed in the near future. Any tips for this transition? She’ll be in a queen bed with 2 side rails and we’re not changing her room or anything. I would seriously love any comments or suggestions about this! :)

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