Burning a Hole in my Pocket!

Man, Christmas is draining when you wait! I usually have all of my shopping done before Thanksgiving but this year we didn't get it done until a few days ago (not quite "done", still have a few more things to buy).

I need to get back on board with my knitting, too, if I'm going to finish these gifts in time! I've been spending all evening looking at/drooling over/obsessing about cloth diapers. I need to get my head back in the game!

I have been on a flats and prefolds kick for about a week now. If I'm at home, that's all MissE's been wearing. I've been saving the AIO's and AI2's for when we're out and about. I did score a few medium RagaBabe's this week though! Woo hoo! Finally had to pack away the smalls. They haven't fit her for weeks, but now it's to the point that they're leaking every time, so onto building our medium stash!

MissE's had a terrible teething rash the last few days and it always looks better when I put her in a flat or a prefold or just let her have some naked time. She gets lots of naked time (I'd post a cute picture, but I don't want her bare booty circulating around the internet). Here's one of her in a prefold today instead:

Also, found some cute pictures:

Because I don't wear paper/plastic chemical-laden underwear...

Awesome! If I hadn't already wrapped our gifts, I totally would've used newspaper!

Yeah, we fail on all accounts. Especially if you count browsing the internet as reading...

(Vintage Breastfeeding Advice from Australia)

That is all...

The Christmas Season is Upon Us!

Well, it's that time of year again! It's time for shopping, cold weather, and singing. 

I've been working on several projects as Christmas draws nearer.

I made this Pixie Santa Hat for MissE for photos that will go in our Christmas cards this year :)

The only problem is that she keeps pulling at the little ball on the end to pull the hat off almost as soon as I put it on her head...

I also have another hat that's a work in progress for my little brother for Christmas. He was upset that I would only let him play with the pumpkin hat since the others were gifts (this was before I did the Santa Hat) so I promised him I would make him his own. It will be camouflage, here's a sneak peek:

Tomorrow Mister, MissE, and I will be going Christmas shopping! I'm pretty excited as it's been nerve-racking for me to have waited this long. I usually have all of the Christmas shopping done before Thanksgiving but it just didn't get done this year, other things on my mind with the new baby and all. I can't wait to have all of the shopping done with everything wrapped and ready to go!

Crafting Away!

Hello! I've been loving knitting and I can't wait to learn to crochet! I'll be starting that endeavor after the holidays and the Christmas craziness are over. From what I've been told crocheting goes a lot faster, plus I can make those adorable amigurumi things!

This is the first thing that I knit was a pumpkin hat for MissE. There's plenty of obvious mistakes in it but it's still cute :)

Next up were some hats that are still a work-in-progress that will be for my best friend's kids. I still have one more hat to do and then I need to add the eyes. They're supposed to look like the minions from the movie Despicable Me.

I'm still working on several projects and will talk about them when they're done!

I Got My Hogwarts Letter!!!

So I've started my very first knitting project ever and it's taken me about a week to complete. It's a pumpkin beanie hat for MissE. I missed the pumpkin patch so I'm going to take my own pumpkin photos with her wearing nothing but a diaper and the pumpkin beanie :)

I plan on knitting a few things for Christmas gifts and then moving on to knitting wool longies for MissE for diaper covers. Once I'm really comfortable with knitting, I'll move on to crochet. I actually really like it!

I'll update with pics once they're taken later this week so be on the look out!

In doing all of this, I have discovered Ravelry which is an online community for those who knit, crochet, spin, and weave (basically all things yarn related). I joined several groups that were related to things I enjoy such as Disney, Harry Potter, Texas, and a local group that I've met up with in real life now. I received a message from one of my Harry Potter groups and this is how it started:


"We are pleased to inform you that you have been selected to join the Knitting and Crochet House Cup being held at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Please find enclosed a list of all necessary books and equipment."


Yes, that's right, I received my Hogwarts Letter! I was thrilled! I actually squealed out loud and then read the entire letter out loud to Mister. It is a very detailed group and they cover all aspects of Hogwarts including offering 8 classes, Quidditch, a Headmistress Challenge, an Order of the Phoenix Mission, Detention, Sorting into Houses, a House Cup, Study Hall, OWLs, NEWTs, House Challenges/Missions , House Unity, Crafting Duels, Inter-House Unity, and so much more! Each aspect is extremely detailed out.


For example, here is this terms Astronomy Lesson:

Good evening, class! Welcome to Astronomy. We are your professors, TheDoctorsPlusOne, Andryl, Froggie3ds, and HermioneWeasley.

We all know that its 1 o’clock in the morning and you are all very tired and want to go to bed after a hard day’s work, but pay attention because we will be watching a meteor shower tonight, and discussing what it means. If you’re really tired, you may grab a cup of steaming coffee, hot chocolate, or tea. We know it’s November, and it’s too cold to have the windows open, so you might want to grab a blanket and cuddle with someone by the window.

Froggie starts drawing a complicated group of dots on the chalk board. This meteor shower, Leonids, will be giving about 15 meteors an hour. There are a few other meteor showers this month, but we want this one to be our main focus. All meteor showers have a parent comet, and this shower’s comet is Tempel-Tuttle. It was discovered by a couple old warlocks, Ernst Tempel and Horace Tuttle.

Since the moon is currently blocking our view of the shower, we will not be observing until the moon has risen a bit more. TDPO yawns and falls back into her chair. Everyone, pull out your star charts and look up in the sky. Find Leones, and note its position--it will be important. TDPO grabs a cup of tea and downs it in one.

Andryl steps up and starts to speak as HermioneWeasley hands out drinks. A meteor shower is a stream of debris from a comet. This shower is mostly known for it’s amazing storms which can produce thousands of meteors per hour. Sadly, this year is not the right year for a storm, but we will still see a few meteors.

TDPO wakes up, yawns, and carries on the conversation. When Tuttle found the comet, he wrote down everything he could about it, but it was kept away from the prying eyes of Muggles, and only wizards nowadays are starting to wonder where all the information went. And no, we don’t have it.

But Tempel, a German astronomer, and warlock, also discovered the comet and also wrote down all he could about it. He, like Tuttle, hid it away from Muggles. We have his report, but it’s in German. It is also very long.

Here is your assignment:

Option 1: Work with a partner to keep warm! Craft related projects to keep you warm while you watch the stars. For this option, youmust include your partner’s Ravelry name, spelled correctly, in your hand-in information, so that we may check your work together. For this option only you and your partner may hand in a project together which you have both worked on. 
Option 2: Read what Tempel said about discovering the comet and knit, crochet, spin, dye, or weave something based on his detailed report. For example you might dye yarn based on an eloquent description of the comet streaking through the night sky, or create a replica of his pocket watch (described in great detail on page 15). 
Option 3: Be creative! Craft something that is inspired by the meteor shower or parent comet. Some ideas are a shawl with lots of eyelets for meteors, or a bobble hat.

Summary: Craft something to keep someone warm (by yourself or with a partner), craft something related to Tempel’s German report about the comet, or craft something inspired by the comet and/or meteor shower.

To earn points towards the House Cup, you must complete a minimum of 1 class per month for each of the 3 months of the term. You can do a maximum of 6 out of the 8 classes offered, plus any of the extra stuff like quidditch, missions, challenges, etc. I think it's a great idea and believe that it will keep me motivated to keep working on projects rather than setting it aside for something new like I have a tendency to do. 

Each term is 3 months long with a 1 month break in between for sorting. One term is considered a year at Hogwarts so if I did one term I would be considered a First Year. Right now I can participate as a NQFY (Not Quite First Year) and fully intend on doing so since you get a higher priority during sorting if you have participated and completed classes. I'm hoping to be sorted next term (sorting is in December for the term starting in January) but I'm not holding my breath since I've just discovered it during the last month of the current term so I haven't turned anything in the last 2 months. It is all run by volunteers so the number of pupils accepted for sorting is limited. But, like I said, everyone can participate as a Not Quite First Year Student but you won't earn points. Those who have been sorted before but are not participating during the current term can play as a Student on Sabbatical. 

I'm hoping to be sorted into either Ravenclaw or Gryffindor, but I'd be fine with any of the Houses. Wish me luck!

Upkeep, Favorites, and Knitting

Wow! I haven't written in a long time! I'm terrible at blogs, I never keep up with them. I thought this one would be different since I didn't put a specific theme to it like the other ones I've started, but obviously it's just me and my inability to stick with things.

Update: I'm selling off the diapers that aren't my favorite so I can get some more of my absolute favorites! I'm so excited! I've continued to buy a few things here and there to try out and have discovered my favorites for the most part. I'm loving flats, fitteds, RagaBabe AIO's, and Green Line covers.

I'm also learning to knit so I can knit wool longies for MissE for winter. Now that I've started, I'm wanting to knit all kinds of things! I used to associate knitting with doilies and afghans but knitting is a fascinating world of such cute and functional items! Can't wait to get decent at it!

They're Like Pokemon cards...

So I've sent back some diapers from my trial and am down to 8 diapers, 2 covers, 3 flats and 6 (too small) prefolds. I'm definitely jonesing for some more diapers! Guess what I'm putting on MissE's Christmas list (hint, hint).

I have a pretty extensive "wanna try" list. Now just to decide what to try first! Decisions, decisions...

Is it sad that I'm addicted to something my baby poops in? They're like Pokemon cards, gotta get 'em all!

SCORE!!!!!

I could not be more excited! Absolutely no one will share in my excitement but I just scored my first RagaBabe! It's used, but I don't care! Still stalking the site for a new one :) AAAHHHH!!!

Whoo, Busy Busy

Whoo! Busy week! We finally figured out that MissE's been teething and that's the cause of a lot of her issues and I've decided to open a co-op that I've been working hard on for the past few days!

Please visit my co-op and "like" it at http://www.facebook.com/controlledchaoscoop !!! You get fantastic discounts (usually wholesale prices) by joining! I'm so excited! There's lots of items available for all walks of life like cloth diapering products, luxury skincare items, natural wooden teething toys, mama bling nursing necklaces, beautiful and realistic sugar items, candles, and so much more!!!

Oh yeah, and my new book about cloth diapers came in almost a month before I thought it would and I read it in one day! I loved it! It would've saved me so much research time if it had been available when i was first considering using cloth diapers! It's called Changing Diapers by Kelly Wels. I pre-ordered from her website in order to get an autographed copy, but I'm considering getting another copy off of amazon to loan out to friends and family who are interested in learning more about cloth diapers :)

More will follow soon!

Closing Shop

So today I went shopping with MissE and my mother-in-law at Borders because it is my all-time-favorite store and it is closing :(

There was next to nothing left and almost every fixture was either gone or had a "sold" sticker on it. When I was checking out with my two books, the cashier was even telling another employee how someone bought the stool she was sitting on while checking him out!

Because of the lack of titles left at Borders, we headed across the street to Barnes and Noble. Now here, of course, I found many books I was interested in but refrained myself and managed to leave with only four, all of which were cookbooks. I now have two and a half pages of my notepad written out with the titles of recipes I'd like to try in the near future. I plan on grocery shopping tomorrow to go ahead and get started!

I also spent the morning scouring a cloth diaper addiction swap and managed to score four diapers for MissE. A raspberry AppleCheeks, a pink GoGreen Champ, a spearmint OS Fuzzibunz, and a brown OS Fuzzibunz. I kept going back and forth between brown and orange and finally decided that brown would match more things and I could easily get an orange in another brand. Now if only I could snag a RagaBabe (or ten), then my life would be complete. Okay, maybe not to that extent, but you know what I mean.

All in all, it was a pretty good day :)

You're a Winner!

So a few days ago we received a phone call that my name had been drawn from a sweepstakes I entered and that we had to go to a resort about 2 hours away to claim our prize (which takes 3 hours with the baby). We were guaranteed to have won a car, an island getaway, a shopping spree, or some cash. Plus, we would get a trip and a small visa gift card for showing up.

So we wake up early and head out to claim our prize. On the phone, they made it sound like a very personal experience and even had me confirm my arrival time so that someone could meet with me. We get there and apparently we were one of many. We waited in line, filled out a form, presented two forms of ID, and waited for someone to take us away.

Here comes the catch: They were trying to sell us a time share.

While waiting for someone to show us the wonders of their resort and dazzle us with the benefits of owning with them, Mister was looking around the room and stereotyping which couples would be paired with what kind of agent. He was spot on with some of them that we saw while on our tour. We were paired with an older German gentleman, who mentioned that my name was German and we found our connection with him and how they stereotyped us to find our match. His name was JP.

JP took us to a large room with many table and chairs all full of agents and couples. Upbeat and positive music was blaring throughout the room ("Celebrate good times, come on!" is still running through my head) and JP sits us down and starts showing us photos of their properties, asking us questions about our vacation habits, and running through the numbers.

JP then drove us around the property, made commentary on all of the amenities, took us on a tour of a few of their available rooms, and stayed upbeat and positive through it all even though we had already made it fairly clear that we weren't interested. You see, we already own a time share that we just bought last year so we weren't really in the market for another one. We own with the Disney Vacation Club and you can click on the DVC icon on the right of the page for more of that and my referral information. We are also in the process of working Dave Ramsey's Total Money Makeover and are on baby step 2, which is all about getting out of debt, so financing a second (and unnecessary) time share was definitely out of the question.

When we come to the end of the tour, he shows us our options, prices, and asks us what we think. I feel terrible about wasting his time since I'm sure these agents work on commission when we told him both of our reasons why we were not in the market for a new time share. He then thanks us and gets his manager to come talk to us about our prizes. Manager comes and asks us about our choice and we run through the same scenarios of why we we not buying that we did with JP. He then asks us about which trip we'd like to take (we chose a cruise) and then went to get another higher-up to give us our vouchers and direct us to our next location.

We had to take our forms to the next building where we waited to be given our prize. They would only take one person from each group so Mister went while I nursed MissE. He came back and informed me that we won the island getaway, the only prize we didn't want since we were already getting a trip. Oh well, it's still awesome.

So we left with our two travel vouchers and visa card in hand. We stopped at a shopping strip about an hour into the drive home and promptly spent the gift card, ate dinner, and shopped a little more. A very long day but we left with more than we started the day with so all in all it was good.

Rabbi Preaches Potter and Portrait from Wine Corks

Here are a couple of interesting stories I read today. (You have to click on the blue word to get the link).

The first is about a rabbi who says that the Harry Potter books teach morality and ethics so he preaches them to his congregation. (I'm an avid Harry Potter fan).

The second is about an artist who creates giant wall portraits of his subjects made entirely from wine corks.

Enjoy!
Any thoughts on these?

Breaking a Cardinal Rule

Rules are meant to be broken, right? If you read my last post, you are aware that I was about to break one of the cloth diapering cardinal rules: never try a new diaper on the road.

I chose to embark on this rule-breaking scheme because my cloth diaper trial package was arriving the day before we were going out of town for the Labor Day holiday weekend. The package arrived on Thursday and I spent all day (and most of the night) prepping MissE's new diapers. I separated out the natural fiber diapers and inserts and threw those in the washing machine with some Rockin' Green cloth diaper detergent. After 5 washes, I added the rest of the diapers for one final wash since the synthetic diapers only need to be washed once.

This. Took. All. Day.

At about 11 p.m., it was finally time to dry! Knowing we were getting up at 5 a.m., I decided to put the diapers in the dryer instead of line drying, thinking this would be the fast and easy route. Begin 70 minute tumble dry cycle number one. At 3:30 a.m., MissE woke up screaming so I sent Mister to check on the diapers. Begin 70 minute tumble dry cycle number two. Mister goes back to bed while I browse the Internet as I nurse MissE back to sleep. Get up at 5 a.m., check on diapers, pull out dry diapers, begin dryer cycle number three for still damp inserts and diapers. By the time everyone is finally up, out of bed, car loaded, and baby dressed, some of the inserts are still not dry! I end up just throwing everything in a large tote bag and lay the damp inserts out on some of the luggage and seats in the back of the car to dry on the way.


This was also our first road trip with the baby. A drive that normally would take us 5 hours took 8... Anyway, we decided to use disposables on the road since we were unsure of the abilities of the cloth. Very first diaper change results in wiping a poo explosion out of MissE's car seat, stripping off her poo-covered clothes, and cleaning her off as best we could with baby wipes in the front seat of the car (yes, she got a bath that evening).

We (finally) make it to our destination and swiftly slap a cloth diaper on MissE's bottom! We continued to only use cloth for the rest of the trip, the drive home, the few days after, and I am still washing every day in order to only use cloth! (Note to self: need more diapers).

I am in cloth nirvana! I will never go back to disposables again! Not only are these diapers super cute, there hasn't been a single leak and no more daily morning up-the-back poo explosions! It's actually quite convenient when going out to store the used diapers in my wet bag to take home to wash instead of trying to find a trash can or worrying about leaving a dirty diaper in someone's home trash can.

Polka Dot diaper                                      Cow print diaper                               Flat diaper



Oh, and remember the dryer debacle? I was excited to see that the property had a clothes line! The first time I washed MissE's used cloth diapers, I put them on the line and everything was dry within a few hours!

While we were there, it was easier to wash at night and hang them to dry while we slept so there were clean, dry diapers in the morning. Kept this up at home by laying them over the fence to dry in the mornings. The flats and some of the covers and pockets dry in less than an hour and I haven't had to leave anything out for more than a few hours. This is one happy mama! Plus, line drying helps the waterproof layer of your diapers last longer so that the diapers may be used for subsequent children. :)


I am becoming more and more "crunchy" by the minute! Breastfeeding, co-sleeping, baby wearing, and now cloth diapering! My next mission is to convince Mister that we should use cloth napkins instead of paper towels. I'll keep you updated, lol.


 Diapers drying on the fence at home

Welcome & Current Addiction: Cloth Diapers

Hello and welcome! Not much to this blog, just a place to post about the going-ons of my little family. I am a new mom to a beautiful baby girl born in the middle of June, we'll call her MissE. Hubby just started a new job after a short stint in the Air Force and is loving it so far (we'll call him Mister).

My obsessions and addictions change as swiftly as my baby's diapers. Speaking of which, my current obsession revolves around the notion of cloth diapers. I know what you're thinking; safety pins, rubber pants, smelly wet pails, and origami-type folds only a highly trained master could successfully achieve. Today's modern cloth diapers are nothing of the sort, although you can still get that kind if you wish. Modern cloth diapers come in all varieties, shapes, sizes, and (of course) adorable colors and prints. There are now dry pails which reduce smell by using air flow, and waterproof-lined bags for use when you're out and about to carry your diapers in. Best of all, you just throw it all in the wash! You have to use a cloth diaper safe detergent and add an extra rinse, but other than that, it's not really any different than your regular washing routine.

Oh, and no toilet dunking if you don't want to! There are now modern day conveniences for getting off stubborn poo like flushable liners to place inside your diaper and simply flip into the toilet, or a diaper sprayer that attaches to your toilet to spray out the mess. I don't have to worry about this for a while since we are still in the exclusively breastfed stage which is completely water soluble.

I have a laundry list (pun intended) of cloth diapers I want to try! And all different types! There are tons of big name brands out there and probably 5 times as many WAHM (work at home mom) brands. There are the original flats and prefolds with pins or a Snappi (more on that later) and a cover (not plastic pants, CUTE covers). There are AIO's (all in one's) which are just like a disposable in the sense that you simply place it on and when it's soiled you take it off for a new one. There are AI2's (all in two's) which comprise of a shell and an insert where you can switch out the insert and keep reusing the cover until it is soiled. There are also pocket diapers which are similar to an AIO except that you can adjust the absorbency by stuffing the pocket with inserts and removing them reduces drying time compared to the AIO. There are also hybrid diapers which are like an AIO but with either an insert or an earth-friendly disposable insert, great for those who want the benefits of cloth but the convenience to throw away a disposable!

I could go on and on but I'll leave you for now. I have lots of favorite sites so far and will post them later, though some are linked through the icons on the right of the page. There is also a new book that is supposed to comprise of all the information that most (like me) spent hours and weeks researching on the Internet about cloth diapers coming out in October that I have already pre-ordered for an autographed copy.

I have ordered a cloth diaper trial from Itsy Bitsy Bums (and cannot recommend her highly enough, fantastic service). I will be breaking one of the cardinal rules of cloth diapering, which is to never try a new diaper on the road, as my diapers will come in the day before we go out of town with family for Labor Day weekend. Stay tuned to hear about that adventure.