Mac & Cheese Makeover

This isn't a new idea.

I don't even have a new take on it or anything extraordinary to add to it.

But, it is a good idea that I wanted to share.

We like to keep lunch simple around here, I'd rather use my brain powder (and effort) on dinner. Steven takes care of most of the left overs from dinner because he takes his lunch to work. So, what are John and I do to do?

Most days we just eat whatever random stuff I have in the fridge/pantry that doesn't take that long to heat up... like popcorn and yogurt. But I remembered that a friend of mine hid carrots in her son's mac & cheese. And who doesn't love mac & cheese. Total comfort food. I'm not even too fussy, I think the stuff out of the box is great! And super cheap... 55 cents a box (for HEB brand). However, John's a good veggie eater (Praise the Lord) so I did a few things differently.


"Healthy" Boxed Mac & Cheese Makeover

1 box mac & cheese ($0.55)
1.5 cups frozen broccoli ($0.50)
1/4 cup butter ($0.30)
1/2 cup pureed carrots ($0.20) or squash or whatever.
1/4 cup milk ($0.10)

I boiled water (with salt added in) and then tossed in my macaroni & the frozen broccoli. Boiled for 5 minutes (or whatever your package says), then drain. I added the butter to the hot noodles & broccoli and mixed until it melted. Then I add the carrots, powdered cheese & a splash of milk (I didn't measure the milk but I'm guessing it was about 1/4 cup). Add the milk slowly to check for the right constancy.


It made two lunches for me and 2-3 for him (depending on how hungry he will be tomorrow) for $1.65, or 40 cents per person per meal. I don't think you can beat that for simple healthy lunch. You could make your own mac & cheese instead of using the box... but I think as far as cost goes the box may win (I haven't looked into it, though). You could even beef it up with some meat, or bacon bits, or beans (if you want a cheep protein).

Okay... now I've wasted too much time blogging about lunch... Back to work!

Baking Torment

Confession: I'm addicted to an expensive habit...

meet parchment paper!


"Modern parchment paper is made by running sheets of paper pulp through a bath of sulfuric acid... a process which is reversed by washing the chemicals off followed by drying. This treatment forms a sulfurized cross-linked material with high density, stability, and heat resistance, and low surface energy – thereby imparting good non-stick or release properties." -Wikipedia

HEAT RESISTANT & LOW SURFACE (energy but I think they mean) TENSION.

Those words excite the engineering part of my brain that tangos with the housewife part of my brain. Nothing sticks to this stuff AND I can cook at very high temperatures... like for pizza or pitas. I think I fell in love with parchment paper around the time that I found artisan bread... but recently I discovered that I use this stuff at an alarming rate!

I joked that I don't turn my oven unless I have this in the house... and then I noticed it was on my grocery list a lot... then I figured that I was spending around $10 a month! On Paper I throw away each month! Ouch!!! What makes it worse is that I could just flour/oil a surface to keep it from sticking... or invest in one of these.

Ahhh.

So, I'm warning you not to get addicted as I have. For now I'm entering into a self inflicted weaning program.

I can can!

I'm making my Granny so proud right now.

I've been kinda interested in canning mainly as a way to preserve things we grow. We've never had enough tomatoes to warrant the investment, but I'm still interested. Once I found Mary Ostyn's blog I stumbled upon her canning videos. It seemed simple and I had most everything to try it... so.... I decided to try it today!

I thought jelly would be a great thing to start with (especially since our tomatoes are being stubborn about ripening this year). She has a great grape jelly video, but we aren't crazy about grape jelly. However, we do LOVE strawberry... especially the HEB more fruit kind. So I thought it would a be a fun project to compare the cost and see how hard it was.


I used my HUGE stock pot we got as a wedding present... I love that thing. And for the cans I had four 1/2 pint kind left over from Aunt Becky's friend's Thia Peanut Sauce... I miss that stuff... and one 1 pint jar left over from some local honey we bought a while back. For a jar lifter I use our kitchen tongs... but I went slow making sure not drop a slippery hot jar. It will be nice to get an actual can lifter, but I'll have to start producing more veggies so that it warrants the cost ($10 at HEB).

I ran to HEB to get the missing ingredients that I did need to make the jam. I thought about going to Sam's to ensure that I got a great deal on strawberries, but I'm often tempted to buy extra things when I go to Sam's because the prices are so good. So, I went to HEB and got strawberries ($1.5/lbs... not the greatest deal, but a good one nonetheless), fruit pectin and lids. I used the recipe that came with the fruit pectin. It was simple to follow and came with great directions.

Here are my humble jars processing. Canning makes me feel homey... and I like it!



And here is the final product! They were still hot in this picture and the pectin hadn't set up, but everything went like the website/recipe said so I'm sure they will turn out. They are so cute!



Okay. So how does the cost break down. The HEB fruit spread cost $2.50 for just under 1.5 cups. I made a little over 5 cups and the cost for 1.5 cups was $1.50.

So, it's not the hugest of savings, but it did work out cheaper. I think if I would have gotten a better deal on strawberries (like say grew them or picked my own) then I would see more savings. However, that being said it did save me a little over $3.00 and I made it the most expensive way. I know if I make grape jelly the way Mrs. Ostyn makes hers (she buy frozen fruit juice concentrate) I'm sure I'll save on that and I may try that once we run out of strawberry.

I'm planning on keeping it pretty simple. Canning can get scary if you venture too far outside of fruits, tomatoes & pickles. Anything other than that requires a pressure canner and you have to be extra careful not give your family food posioning. I would love to be able to make my own stews (& maybe cream-o-soups) and can them and to be able to can green beans or the purple hulled peas I grow. But for now I'll just make fresh soup and freeze my green beans and dry out my purple hulled peas. We don't have a huge back yard and it's best to start small anyway. I can just focus on growing berries, tomatoes & cucumbers to make jellies, jams, salsas, tomato sauce, barbeque sauce, pickles, relish, etc. Really I think I'll have enough variety to keep me busy. Just be warned family, you may receive can goods from us for Christmas :)

Now I'm super excited about our tomatoes... if they will ever ripen!

Pizza Rolls... how to with pictures :)

Yum!

A local pizza place has these wonderful things call peperoni rolls. They even have a special night when they are only 50 cents each. Sounds like a great deal, huh? Well, it is... for eating out. But not for penny-pinchin-I-can-make-that-(almost)-from-scratch-for-less people like me! The cost per roll for mine are about 22 cents.

And honestly, I had the idea of making pizza pocket type contraptions to stash away in our freezer for quick lunches for Steven or for dinner-on-the-go-kind-of-nights. However, I've found that these are easier for me to make and a lot less messy to eat than pizza pockets (you don't really need a plate with these). I'm thinking we are for sure going to fill our freezer with these when we have our next baby.

I looked and looked online for a tutorial on how to wrap these suckers up... but the best one I found was this video (don't ask me how I found it). I did a couple of things differently than he did but in general (aside from the weirdness that is a vegan zombie) I think it's a pretty good tutorial.



Here is what you'll need...
Dough (I use artisan bread dough)
Extra flour for dusting
Some kind of sauce
A touch of water
Olive Oil
Cheese
Toppings (pepperoni, spinach, onion, chicken, etc)



Here's how to put them together...

Get you're dough out on a well floured surface.



And Roll it out like you are making a pizza.

I learned a little bit since I took these pictures and you don't want to roll the dough out too thin or the cheese will leak out. I've made them (several times) since this picture and have rolled the dough out a little thicker (roughly 3/8"... that's somewhere between 1/4" & 1/2") and it works much better. Sometimes cheese escapes, but most of the time it holds it all in.



Next Cut the pizza dough into slices

I was experimenting in these pictures. The optimum number of slices is 8! If you do 12 (like I did on the right) they come out too small. 8 is great. One pizza feeds our entire family for one meal... 4.5 pizza rolls for Steven, 2.5 for me, 1 for John. But make a second pizza so you will have left overs for the next day.



And then put on the toppings. Keep all the toppings in the wide section of the pizza slice. And keep all messy ingredients far away from little helpers... he kept bugging me for pepperoni slices.



Next, the tricky part. The roll!

So if you look at the bottom of the picture and work your way up you can see the stages.

The arrows are my attempts at making these pictures better. I've found that it's best to take the two flaps, in the very bottom slice, and bring them ALL the way over the toppings. Then press them down firmly (sealing it and preventing cheese escapes). Then start to roll. As I roll I like to seal the edges whenever I feel like there might be a spot where cheese will escape. It's not really as hard as I'm making it out to be... and if your cheese escapes you can just peel if off the cookie sheet and feed it to your cheese loving husband.



Then take some marinara and water it down a bit. Add some oil and whisk till it's all combined. Then paint over the pizza rolls on the baking sheet. I set mine on parchment because I put everything on parchment... I don't think I turn on the oven if I don't have parchment in the house.



The next batch I made was spinach. You can brush the top with olive oil and put a spinach leaf on it (or an our case a spinach leaf and a piece of cheese because I had to keep the plain spinach separate for John because he couldn't have dairy yet)... really just some way of identifying it so that you don't have to cut it open to figure out what is inside.



Like I said, they were a big hit and we have pretty much made them once a week since I took these pictures. You just can't beat feeding a small family of 3 for under $2!

Baby/Toddler Food

With John’s birthday coming up I find myself in amazement of how fast it has gone by. We were giving him some food last night and I thought to myself, “I can’t believe he’s eating table food already. Wasn’t I just pureeing and freezing ice cubes of squash & green beans yesterday?”

Five months ago isn’t yesterday, but it isn’t that long either. I didn’t realize how quickly they go from Momma-waiting-for-an-open-mouth-to-put-plain-puree-in-so-they-can-spit-it-out to self-feeding-finger-food-loving-happy-almost-toddler-with-a-very-messy-high-chair.

Honestly, I’m kinda glad it went by quickly because I really like where we are now. Purees are a lot of work and feeding John now is simple & a lot quicker. With our next baby I may lean more toward the Baby Led Weaning method mentioned by Mackenzie. I’m not sure yet, but I like the idea of semi-skipping the puree stage.

So where are we now?

Steamed Vegetables, Some Fruits, Rice Patties, Pasta Creations, Pancakes/Breads and lightly sweetened cookies.

Seems like a lot of work, but I promise it’s not...

Steamed Veggies:
John is a great veggie eater… and I’m thankful! As long as the pieces are big enough he will try it (He has a hard time picking up peas & black beans and ends up smearing them all over his tray). I’m not sure if the good-veggie-eating-trend will continue as he grows into toddler-hood, but I’m planning on continuing to offer a wide variety of food. As of last month I started adding seasoning to his steamed veggies… simple stuff like dried herbs, garlic powder and cinnamon and a little olive oil to help it stick on and give him some healthy fat. I like to take the help from the frozen food aisle here and I pick up frozen broccoli & green beans for John all the time. However, raw cubed squash, sweet potatoes and carrots freeze nicely so I stock up when they go on sale in the produce aisle.

Some Fruit:
Fruit is actually a little bit of a struggle for us. I’m not too worried about it because I don’t know many people that hate fruit. From the beginning John hasn’t been that big on bananas, but he does love apple/pear type things. I used to feed him applesauce as a treat, but he doesn’t let me feed it to him anymore so now he eats really ripe pears. He loves pears! I tried strawberries & watermelon recently but I don’t think he understood that it was food… I was even showing him that I was eating it too. Honestly, I think fruit is too slippery for him. He very independent when it comes to solids and I think if he has to fight it, he just doesn’t. Maybe when he figures out how to use a spoon he will discover a world of fruit.

Rice Patties:
These are fun. Two of my friends make these for their toddlers and I had to try it. I tweaked the recipe a bit (no cheese or meat) because John can’t have dairy till he is one and he really doesn’t need meat… he’s growing at a great rate (although we do give him cubed chicken occasionally). I substituted cooked black beans in for a protein source. I was a little nervous about the egg, but we are so close to being a year old and John hasn’t shown any signs of any allergies so I decided it was okay. Mine turn out pretty green because of the spinach/broccoli puree, but John loves them. They freeze well too. I always taste them as a rule of thumb… I don’t want to feed him something super disgusting. This is a little extra work and not something I normally cook for us, but making a large batch that last us a couple of weeks isn’t that hard.

Pasta Creation:
This kid is his Dad’s son. He loves it when pasta hits his tray. I like to use the whole wheat rigatoni. It’s easy for him to grab and the little swirls hold extra sauce. For sauce I started using tomato, but with John’s yeast problems he couldn’t handle much of that. Recently I tried carrot puree… I just seasoned it like it was tomato puree (Italian herbs, garlic powder, onion powder, etc) and John liked it. I need to add in some veggies (like zucchini or broccoli), but I forgot to that this last time. He gets extra messy when eating this, but if we are at home and don’t have much on the agenda I don’t mind.

Pancakes/Breads:
I first started John with pancakes for breakfast but I haven’t made those in a while… however, they are still a hit (all around… we like those too). And when we have bread at dinner, John loves to sample. And he gets really excited if he sees a tortilla. I gave him some for dinner once with a rice patty and he ate the tortilla and absolutely rejected the rice patty… now we give him his veggie first and then his carbs.

Lightly Sweetened Cookies:
When I was running low on baby friendly options at the house I gave John some of his Dad’s Animals Crackers. Of course he loved them like every other baby out there, so they became a semi-staple in his diet. Animal Crackers, Buddy Grahams, Cheerios, Puffs, etc. They are great if we are out and John is having a particularly crabby day… but I try not to rely on them for that. And they are also wonderful if I need a quick meal for John that doesn’t require the much clean up.



I’m not the strictest parent when it comes to sugar/salt, but I did want a better option for all the animal-cracker-type things he eats. I found this recipe on Wholesomebabyfood.com and decided to try it. It made like 3 dozen teething cookie size sticks…. but I think John at five of them in one sitting. I also used carrot puree because I didn’t have any bananas on hand. They are softer than teething cookies but a good alternate to cookies/cracker type things. They are a bit messy so I may still use cheerios/animal crackers when we are out… but there are a lot of recipes on the wholesome baby food website so I’m sure with more experimenting I’ll find a cleaner alternative.

Here is our (wheat, dairy & egg free) cookie recipe.

Ingredients
1 c quick oats
1 c ground oats (grind oats and make a coarse oat flour)
1/4 t salt
1/4 t cinnamon or ginger or cardamom
1/4 t nutmeg
1 t baking powder
1 c (~2) overripe bananas, mashed
1 t vanilla extract
3 T oil of choice

Directions:
Mix all ingredients and put into a pastry bag (I used a large zip lock bag). Cut opening and pipe mixture onto parchment paper or a greased cookie sheet. Bake 12-15 min at 350.


I really wish I would have tried this sooner. I was hesitant to try it because I thought it would be a choking hazard, but they turned out quite soft and I would be comfortable giving this to a 6 or 7 month old… and it’s great because it doesn’t have wheat, dairy or egg in it.

Anyway, that is a pretty good summary of where we are when it comes to baby food now. I hope I gave you some good ideas. And hopefully I can find this post again when our next baby is 6 months old! :)

Getting The Gardens Going

I'm so excited about our yard/gardens this year. I think I'm most excited because I'm not going to be pregnant or have a newborn this year so I will be able to do more in it. And of course we have big plans!

I use our Producers Co-op schedule for planting, and just browsing it you can pretty much be growing something year round down here. March is pretty active on the schedule so we jumped into gear and grabbed a few plants from the Co-op. Then with a little 'trading/exchanging' with some friends we ended up we a good garden this year.

Here is a video I took the weekend we planted everything. I've decided that videos are a great way to document our yard... I'll have another update later on this summer with the progress.



Since the video I've done a bit more planting. AND this weekend we were blessed with FREE t-post to stake our tomatoes. I prefer cages, but since I'm at home more I'll have the time to tie up our tomatoes. I've read that if you keep the sucker shoots trimmed on your tomatoes the plant will grow bigger tomatoes... I will test that theory this year.

Here's a picture (that I drew in five minutes) of our yard and a list of what we've got (or hope to get) growing this year.



Front of House
-pansies (soon to be done)
-day lilies (just emerging)
-perennial grass
-dwarf dahlias?

The Pansies and Perennial grass was purchased with fun money (gift card from Christmas). However the Day Lilies were planted last year. They didn't establish as well as I would like so I might fill in with Dwarf Dahlias.

Deck Area
-obedient plant (invasive)
-gerber daisies
-dwarf dahlias?
-honey suckle

The goal for the deck is shade & pretty color. Steven found honey suckle on sale last year and we have been training them to grow up to cover the deck. They are native to this area so they are doing great. Along the path from the gate to the back yard are some transplants I planted last year. I planted just a few (6-7) and watered semi-regularly and they TOOK off. If you are looking for a good tall invasive plant, Obedient Plant is the one for you! And finally I have some very faithful Gerber Daisies that I think I got three years ago. They continue to come back and I continue to welcome them. I've had trouble with other plants in this area so I'll probably throw in some dwarf dahlias to fill in around the Gerber Daisies.

'Pepper Garden'
-peppers
-easter lilies
-zinnias

We call this area our pepper garden because it's where our peppers have lived the last few years. I need to rotate something else there, but was lazy this year. The Easter Lilies are established next to the AC... courtesy of Steven's family and their church! Like I said in the video it's a deep bed so it's hard to weed in the back. I planted zinnias this weekend to fill in. Zinnias are annuals (have to be planted every year) but like the Gerber Daisies if you crush the spent flowers and leave them in the bed they will come back year after year. I hope to get Zinnias going really well in the Pepper Garden.

Free Rangin' Yard Plants
-sunflowers
-purple hauled peas
-bush beans
-squash
-watermelon/pumpkin

Some things I can grow right in the grass; sunflowers, squash & pumpkins for sure. And some things I'm not sure if I can grow in the grass, but I have seed (which are inexpensive) and I don't mind experimenting. I think the real key with "free rangin' yard plants" is lots of water... and no needy plants (like say corn that needs lots of nitrogen & tomatoes which can be high maintenance). I haven't done watermelon in the grass and have a feeling it won't do well, but I'm still going to try because I simply don't have room to do it any where else. Hopefully my water theory will come through for me on this. The Peas & Beans are legumes (take nitrogen from the air) so it should work out well... provided I keep up with watering. Watering is HUGE for Texas.

Box Garden
-spinach (almost done)
-tomatoes
-carrots
-radishes
-eggplant
-cucumber

And my beloved box garden. If you don't have at least one raised bed you should... unless you have enough land to till up the soil in mounds... I can't wait till we can do that! I love to grow spinach. I think I counted like 9 plants for this year and we still can eat it as fast as it grows! Sadly I had to pull out two plants this past weekend due to flowers forming... sad sad day... but September will be here soon and we can plant more spinach! The tomatoes & eggplant are doing well. Last year I had the eggplant over with the pepper and kinda forgot about it till the fall... we had a great fall eggplant harvest, though. The tomatoes are slightly rotated... but only slightly because we just don't have that much room. The carrots are just for fun, so I'm not really upset that Miss M & Zuzu went through them while in the back yard. :) The radishes are also for fun. I don't like radishes, but they grow quickly and are fun... they are like the instant gratification of gardening. And cucumbers are kinda an experiment. I think two years ago I tired cucumbers and failed. I got close, but failed in the end. I'm growing them from seed so the failure won't hurt as much.

I love gardening! Can you tell? But seriously, as soon as you get used to fresh home grown tomatoes it is too hard to eat over priced bad tomatoes from the grocery store. I also love gardening because it just helps me feel closer to God. We have such great bonding moments in the yard. It's quite and a great time for me to think/meditate. And of all the times I've heard God speak directly to me it happens most while I'm working in the gardens. And with all the agricultural references in the Bible I have a lot to think & meditate on.

Happy Gardening!

Baked Oatmeal

I follow this blog called "eat real." I started following it about a year ago when I was dabbling in making everything from scratch. And while I do still enjoy making most things from the basics, I have come to realize that it's more important to get dinner on the table... so every once and a while I grab that can of cream 'o' fill-in-the-blank soup and get dinner done.

I have still found my 'from the basics' blog useful. I find that she has creative ways to get a wider variety of food in your family's diet... even if they are strange at times. Last week she posted a recipe for Baked Oatmeal. I was intrigued. So I mixed up some for breakfast for Saturday morning.

It was DELICIOUS!!! I loved the texture! 'Soft not gloppy' just like she says on her blog! I'm an oatmeal fan, but a bowl of the mushy porridge doesn't always make my appetite do a back flip. However the baked version was like happiness in my mouth. The top is kinda like a soft granola and the inside is warm, soft and moist like an oatmeal cinnamon brownie. Delightful!

We put 'cream' (well, half & half because it's what we had) on top of it like the website called for, but it didn't really add much to the dish.

The recipe made about four servings... really 3 if you have a large husband... but needless to say we had left overs. So I thought it would be a good experiment to see how well it re-heated.

The next day (today) I reheated the oatmeal (~1.5 minutes in the microwave)... and 'Oh My!' still happiness in my mouth! I was SHOCKED that it reheated as well as she said it would. Even better we spotted some yogurt in the back of the fridge and dolloped some onto our spilt left over serving of baked oatmeal. AMAZINGNESS!!!!

YOU HAVE TO TRY THIS RECIPE!!!

I'm planning on making some to store for the weekdays. This will give us another option instead of the whole wheat apple muffins... which get old after a while. So excited!

Eat Real is the website where I found honey-butter popcorn. Really similar to kettle corn. I made this for homegroup once and we decided that honey and butter were made for each other. God created honey and said, “It is not good for honey to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him.” (p.s. God didn't really say that)

However, eat real is also where I discovered Kale Chip. I've tried and tried to like Kale to a no avail. I've since given up on kale and decided that spinach is good enough.

Happy Experimenting in the Kitchen!

Classic Onesie

I found a tutorial for a '90 minute shirt' made from old t-shirts. Exactly my style! I didn't follow the instructions exactly... I made my own trim because I was trying to use supplies I already had and I made a onesie instead of a shirt. But I think it turned out just great!



T-shirt donated by our homegroup leader's wife! Thanks!



I made it completely from a t-shirt with the addition of 3 snaps and some thread. I used her tutorial on making a pattern as well. I did have to ruin a cheap white onesie that John had outgrown, but with all the t-shirt we have piled up to re-purpose I'm sure I'll get my money's worth. And old t-shirts are sooo soft... I just want to snuggle him up!

Following the tutorial was pretty simple, actually. It's looks kinda intimidating at first glance, but after that you apply the trim you sew two straight lines and the sleeves... which are WAY easier than they look. Apply the snaps and your done! Making my own pattern was great because I could make onesie for a VERY long torso baby... he takes after his Dad big time! The kid wears a 24-month onesies, but 12-month pants. He's mostly torso.

I used Dana's (she wrote the tutorial) sneaky trick to us the already hemmed parts of the shirt to say yourself time. I used the sleeves to make John's sleeves and if I make a shirt in the future than I'll use the bottom of the shirt to make the bottom hem. Genius!

She says it's a 90-minute shirt but she also warns that your first time it will take longer because it's your first one. Well, I actually made the pattern and the shirt in 90-minutes. I know this because I was watching the last part of the Early Show and Rachel Ray while working on it. AND I did a diaper change & put John down for a nap during that time! I'm confident I can make the onesie in less than 60-minutes after a make a few more! I'm excited!

I have some other ideas for boyish embellishments, but I think this white one is definitely as keeper. I can use it for his baby sister (or brother) and he can wear it under his many pairs of overalls he will be sporting around this summer. The only thing I'm not completely happy with is the trim... but I made it up so I'm the only one to blame. It's just a little bulky. I'm sure with more experimenting I'll get it right.

I pretty sure John likes it... or he's just happy to be up from his nap!

Cutie!!!

New Curtains

After two & a half years at our duplex we finally replaced the vertical blinds!

Look at those beautiful curtains!

A certain little boy is enjoying them as well. He doesn't pull on them so they aren't off limits... yet! Hopefully he's content to play pick-a-boo in them and doesn't pull on them ever, but in case he does there are some might anchors holding them up.




My sister got them for me in brown, but I decide to return it and replace it with something lighter. Our living room is a bit dark and in the future I would like to have lighter furniture. I like dark woods but too much dark wood and maroon can make a room feel like the walls are closing in... especially when your living room is as small as ours.

Once they were up I realized that John really likes to look out the window. It made me feel bad for not having the window open more, but now he can move the curtains and look by himself and I can maintain some privacy in the house.




He loves playing in them!




And I love finding him in all the curtains!

(note: the red spot on his head is a battle wound from learning to pull up on furniture)

New Years Resolutions

Aahhhh! Holiday projects are over and everyone is making new resolutions for this coming year. And I'm joining them! It's good to have goals.

Here are a few of mine. I say a "few" because I figure that if I make several at least on of them will stick, right? We'll see!

Fitness
yes. I'm claiming this one... I know it's the most common and the most commonly broken, but I'm still claiming it. I did get back down to my pre-pregnancy weight after John was born, but my pre-pregnancy weight was definitely not my long term goal. And the pregnancy did strange things to my body. I carry weight differently now and it's not a very flattering different.

Another exciting reason to lose weight came up on Christmas Eve! A very beautiful sister-in-law of mine received a very pretty diamond ring from her boyfriend. We are excited to receive Manly into our family! He loves Jesus & John so he's off to a great start! The wedding date isn't finalized yet, but I know I would like to lose at least 20lb before it happens.

Owning the day
This one is something that I've kinda learned the hard way. When John was born I struggled with depression. I still do on bad days, but I've learned ways prevent this. Exercise is a big one. But another one that helps is if I wake up before John does. I like to get him going at 7am, weather he's up or not, it's just makes the rest of the day work really well. Sometimes he wakes up a little earlier, but he is pretty much like an alarm clock now. However, no one loves & adores their alarm clock! And I've been lazy and waking up at 7am when I HAVE to.

I do so much better on days when I wake up an hour before he gets up and get ready for the day. If I claim the day instead of the day claiming me things just work better around here. Reading my bible, hugging my husband and having a cup of coffee will go a long way toward improving my attitude towards John and myself.

(sorry if that sounds harsh towards John but that's real Mom talk! I promise I love my baby but somedays changing diapers and other Mommy duties get to me)

Etsy
Believe it or not I do have an etsy shop. Remember Thirty-one-Twenty-four? This year I hope to list more things. Most everything I've posted has sold so I really ought to bank on this. I have lots of ideas and friends and family keep the suggestions coming.

The short term goal is to just break even. The truth is that I love making things with my hands... quilting, sewing, crocheting, knitting, scrapbooking, just plan crafting! I love to do it all!!! So if I can break even then it wont hurt our budget.

The longer term goal is to make money to help boost our savings. I would love to commit to this but the fact is that I have an emerging toddler and can't ignore him. One thing I realized when my Mom was here was that I don't get in the floor and play with him enough. I tend to be all about business with John... feed him, clean him, etc. It's all about balance and I need to find it. I think once I find the balance I can focus on making money with a second job.

Gardening
Alright, last year I had a pretty good excuse... John. This year he's older and can play with himself (or some toys) quite contently. I really want to teach him about gardening and we need to spend more time in the yard together. The big hurtle with this is of coarse little critters. But I think I can get over it enough (or set plenty traps) to manage a small garden.

Currently we have spinach and lettuce growing in our boxed garden but that's not enough. Remember cotton and sunflowers (those were so pretty) and cucumbers and fall veggies (like pumpkins) and I need to give corn another try! Plus kids that grow vegetables are more likely to try a wider variety of food.

So those are the goals! I will try to keep you updated because after all this is our Swindell update site!

Happy Resolutions Making! And Keeping!!!

Cuteness on a Toothpick

I saw this on allrecipes.com & I had to make it for my MOPS' Christmas party. I'm not going to lie, the penguins took a while... but I did it while watching Rachel Ray so it went by quickly... but it still took an hour. The cheese ball igloo only took about five seconds, so I guess it made up for it. All that to say they were a big hit! If you like olives you will love devouring these cute little guys!

Homemade Baby Food... or at least my version

I'm actually having a lot fun making John's food. I do still buy a few jars & cereal for emergencies, but I've made most of it. It's so easy and I like making up little names for the creations I feed him... peaches & cream oatmeal, not-so-spiced apples, orange melody (stole that from a friend), cream of green soup, etc.

I've made oatmeal, sweet potatoes, squash, green beans, avocado and banana. I like the puree-and-freeze-in-ice-cube-trays method. When it's time for him to eat I take out a cube, microwave it, mix in a little milk if it needs it & serve! You can also take out a few cubes the night before and put them in the fridge to thaw, but I can never remember to do that.

I even freeze some jarred baby food into cubes. The jars say to use within two days... well, John can't eat a whole jar at one or even two sittings yet. I like freezing them because then I can give him a variety of food without worrying about using up containers before they grow bacteria. He eats four times a day and I give him some solids at each feeding except the last. He has oatmeal & fruit for breakfast, usually something orange for lunch and someone green for dinner. That is what works best for John and I but it's definitely not the only method out there for feeding your baby.

Here is a picture of our cubes. The bags are of things I've mostly made myself. The tray is full of jarred fruits (peaches, pears, prunes & a mixed fruit) to go with John's breakfasts. I haven't done the cost comparison on fruit yet so I just bought some jars the last time I was at the store. I'm sure I'm saving money making his veggies, but it may be pretty close when it comes to fruit and I was being lazy.



For oatmeal I would suggest just buying the dehydrated stuff at the store. We had some steel cut oats that I wanted to use, but it's a lot of work to turn them into powder and cook them. I want to use them up, but it's taking FOREVER!!! He eat like one cube of oatmeal a day. If you are really interested in how to make your own oatmeal you can check out wholesome baby food. For the little amount that John eats I don't mind spending a little extra. Plus homemade oatmeal has to be re-heated with formula to return it to it's original form. It can be done, it's just not the most convenient thing in the world.

For Squash & Sweet Potatoes, I roast and mash (not even puree) them into the cubes. They are so soft from roasting and John can handle well mashed things.

For Green Beans & Peas I buy the frozen package and boil them until they are soft. Then I put them in our blender and puree till they are very smooth. I put in all the cooking liquid (it's where the vitamins go while boiling) and sometimes even add more water. Our blender does a better job of it than our food processor. John wouldn't eat the green beans if I made them in the food processor, but once I figured out how to make them smoother, he got on board.

For Apples, I get the unsweetened BIG jar of apple sauce. A friend told me about it and it is DEFINITELY cheaper!!! Just make sure you grab the one that's ingredients say only apples & water. I freeze apple sauce too! John actually really likes to eat frozen apples in his little feeder thingy. After only one time with green beans he lost interest in the feeder... then I put in apples and he was a lot happier to use it. Apples are better anyways, they don't stain like green beans do... I think all of our bibs have green bean stains on them.

And for avocado & bananas I slice them and put them in ice cube trays to freeze individually before I toss them into a bag. I don't have a picture of it above because I needed to get some more avocado & bananas when I took this picture. John wasn't actually a fan avocado or banana at first. I was persistent with the avocado and I think he like it's now... or at least tolerates it. Bananas stop him up pretty bad so he doesn't actually eat much of those.

Next up is finger foods! I'm really excited about finger foods! We still have about a month before John is suppose to be able to do finger foods, but I'm willing to give them to him whenever he wants to try. He tries to uses his hands to feed himself anyway, so why not use it to my advantage?

I actually tried a few days ago with small pieces of avocado... he manged to get them in his hands but got distracted by his thumb when his hand got close to his mouth... the result... a hand full of avocado while sucking on his thumb.

I'm sure he'll have it figured out soon but right now he doesn't quite get it. Really we need high chair with a tray before we can do finger foods anyway. For some reason his boppy tray has become a toy so I can't use it when I feed him... it's too distracting.

In addition to feeding himself the food gets a lot easier when he can do finger foods. I'll have to do more chopping and less pureeing, but for some reason that seems easier to me. And I really like the idea of feeding him when I feed myself... it just makes sense in my brain.

Happy Baby Feeding!

Grocery Store... and List!

When John was still an infant I use to DREAD going to the grocery store. One time he started screaming in the middle of the trip, and it just traumatized me! I was kinda surprised how quickly I grabbed the rest of the groceries on my list and got me and my screaming baby out of there!

At about 5 months John out grew his infant carrier, but couldn't sit up unsupported. This was a problem because I couldn't carry in his new car seat for him to sit it. For a while I would take in the Bobby and put that behind him.

He is getting the hang of it and, in addition to being a bigger much happier baby, our trips to the grocery store are a lot of fun! He still can't balance well in the seat, but I'm right there to prop him back up.... it's funny how he can basically crawl, but doesn't want to sit up on his own.... silly kid.

During John's nap I make my list. Then I get him up, feed him and off we go! I know most Moms think their kids are the cutest kids in the universe but... mine really is the cutest kid in the universe! And I LOVE all the compliments I get when we are cruising around the store.

I also love to tell John all about groceries (I know I look like such a nut talking to my 6 month old like he's five... but it's our little game and I like it!). Sometime I even let John explore grocery items. My favorite memory of him was when he was trying to pick up an acorn squash. He leaned over and grunted and grunted and grunted... then he gave up and lunged at it like he does everything else. He is so cute!

One not so cute (and kinda scary) moment happened with my grocery list. John was looking at it and trying to grab it the entire time. So when I got close to the end I let him play with it. After grabbing a few more things I looked down at him and notice my list was gone... but he was chewing on something. In a matter of 2 seconds he had waded up and almost swallowed the entire list! I have that kid that puts everything in his mouth!

BUT! My adorable little boy isn't the point of this post.

I wanted to share a tip that has really helped me stay within my grocery budget while I'm at the store shopping. It's so tempting to just go into the store and grab what I think I need... but if I do that at the end of the month I've spent twice the amount I budgeted for. Especially since we don't eat out anymore. I often think to myself, "Well, if I get it at the store it will be cheaper." While that is true, you can still go quite a bit over budget if you let that thought run too wild.

First and foremost I try to ALWAYS make a list! And (the important part) if it's not on the list it doesn't go into the basket. It takes some discipline but you will be grateful at the end of the month (or whenever you sit down to review your budget).

Secondly, I came up with a system for making my grocery list that NEVER fails to keep me in budget. I think I created it, but it could very well be an idea that has already been done.

When I make my list I guess the price of each item. I guess even if I don't know what the price will be.... I just force myself to put a number down. I try to keep the numbers simple and usually whole numbers... they just add up a lot easier that way. Then I sum all the things on my list and see if I have enough money to get what I want. It only adds a few seconds to making my list and it has great benefits!

So my list look something like this...

Milk (3) <<--- a little ridiculous that milk is that high!
Eggs (2)
Flour (3)
Limes (1)
Tomatoes (3)
Cilantro (1)
Jalapenos (1)
Fish (4)
Beef (4)
Stir Fry Veggies (2)
Pasta (1)
Red Sauce (2)
Oatmeal (3)
-------------
Total $30


The great part is that if something is on sale I come in under. I usually break my rule and get something that isn't on my list... usually feta, because it's not a necessity, but it's so nice to have around. But if a few items are a little higher than my guess then I know not to grab something extra. I used to drag in a calculator with me to help me stay on budget, but now if I stay within the price that I wrote down I don't have to worry about going over... or calculating up my total before I check out.

Hopefully this is a useful tip for you!

Unfinished Stitchers

A friend in my homegroup introduced me to a little quilting group.

I sound like such an old lady when I tell people that I'm a part of a quilting group. But let's face it, I AM an old lady trapped inside a 24 year old body. I sew, quilt, knit, crochet, play gin, grocery shop at 9am, garden, cloth diaper, watch Wheel of Fortune when I can, bake and mostly cook from scratch!

However, this group is not for old ladies! In fact, most girls in this group don't really prefer traditional styled quilts... in fact, I may be the only one.... haha. But! I am expanding the quilting/sewing portion of my brain and I like it!

We call ourselves "Unfinished Stitchers" and it's really nice to hang out with them every other Saturday! Steven and John have bonding time and I get to retreat a few streets over with my well loved sewing machine.

I bought a darning foot about 6 months ago (I know that because it was one of the first trips out I took after John was born.... I know, a darning foot? really?... well, I was stressed because of nursing and only a trip to Lone Star Quiltworks could fix it!) and have since been trying to master (or just get decent at) the art of free motion quilting.

They look so relaxed and free flowing in all the web videos I've found.... but let me tell you it's hard! And the only way to learn is to practice.

So... I grabbed a charity quilt from my new friend at Unfinished Stitchers.

I had to finish a few blocks (it's the row that's colors look terribly out of place) before I quilted it. John LOVED the colors in this quilt (the only time I actually let him "play" with it was when I took these pictures). The quilting was fun and definitely a learning opportunity. The best part is that it won't be hanging around the house for me to agonize over every little mistake.

A post about a quote I thought was great...

Hahaha... I should have probably thought of a better title...

Anyway.

I read a ton of blogs.

Well, I don't actually "read" all blogs I subscribe to. With the exception of people I actually know, I usually skim the pictures, titles & subtitles and then decide if I want to read it. It's how I navigate the 71 blogs I am subscribed to in Google Reader.

I found a new food blog a couple of days ago... I was probably looking for a recipe for dinner or something when I came across it. The writer lives in New York and has a little boy who started solids around the time John was born. The main site is called Smitten Kitchen. What intrigued me was her "side blog" on baby food called Smitten Kitchen Baby. I really like her attitude when it comes to feeding her little boy. Not only does she believe in very little tools (a food processor and some ice cube trays) and she strives to get her kiddo to eat what her and her husband eat, but this was on her about page:


“You’re doing it wrong!” Sad but true, sharing bits of parenting on the Internet doesn’t always bring out the most supportive community responses. “But my doctor said that if you introduce fruit before vegetables, baby will get a sweet tooth and become obese!” “This book says that if you feed your child eggs before they’re one year old, they will never get into Harvard!” and the all-encompassing, “I can’t believe you would feed your baby that! We wouldn’t feed it to our dog!”

People, I’ve heard it all and so I can nip any of this in the bud before we begin: It’s okay. You’re okay. I am not here to tell you how to feed your kid, nor do I have any desire to impart judgment. All I will be sharing here is how we started our little guy on the path that we hope will lead to him enjoying the variety of foods that we do. Also? I think you’re doing a great job.

That said, I’m a realist and fully understand that it will not matter how many hours we spend cooking down seasonal, organic, local Greenmarket produce and how delighted our little snowflakes are to slurp it up, they will eventually come into contact with a Chicken McNugget and they will find it to be delicious. And we will be doing no less of a good job because of it.

Shall we continue?


A side note: I have tried the granola bars and they were great! (so great I almost wrote a post about it, but decided this counted instead). I'm going to try the lemon cranberry scones and the apple muffins next (can you tell I'm looking for some fast breakfast options for around here?). Also, I would LOVE for someone to make this cake for me someday! And finally she does have a "tips" blog as well.

back on track... Thanksgiving!!!

Okay, okay, I admit it... I jumped the gun. Can you blame me? The day after Halloween I went grocery shopping and saw employees stocking Christmas merchandise. And I can't count on two hands the number of Christmas commercials I've already seen. HOWEVER, I promise I haven't forgotten about Thanksgiving.

For me, Thanksgiving is up there in my top three favorite holidays. I think I enjoy it because it's a time of year when everyone is "counting their blessings." Have you counted your blessings lately? Doesn't it put you in a ridiculously good mood? A thankful heart is a very enjoyable heart to be around.

More than teaching John about the Pilgrims or the Indians (which are an important parts of Thanksgiving) I want him to learn to give thanks to God for all he has. And, of course, I have a couple of ideas for this season... again, we'll see if they pan out as well as they came together in my head.

All of my ideas center around writing down our Thanks. The funny thing is that this week's MOPs was about "counting your blessing" and we made a craft to help us do just that. I promise I wrote this post first... but more on that later..

I like the idea of doing a Thankful Tree for when John is a bit older. You make a tree out of craft paper to put on your wall (or a door). Then each kiddo gets a different color of paper to make their leaves (they can trace their hand to make a leaf). On each leaf, the kids write/draw what they are thankful for and puts it on the tree. The parents write their thanks on the trunk of the tree... I like the symbolism behind that. On Thanksgiving you can take the leaves down one by one reviewing each thanksgiving.

A couple of days ago I heard a similar idea on the radio, maybe better for older kids. All through the month of November you write what you are thankful for on a piece of paper and place it in a festive storage container. On Thanksgiving you go through the pieces of paper and share your thanksgiving with everyone. Of course, I have the perfect pumpkin in mind! We could use that wonderful pumpkin now for Steven and I. Later we can store the construction paper hand print cut outs in it for when John wants to do the tree.

Well, the people at Mops must listen to KSBJ because that is pretty much what we did this Thursday. They provided the boxes and we decorated them. I really like the way the top of my box turned out so I think we will be using this until we can finance a beautiful Jim Shore Pumpkin. The speaker was great and I definitely came back feeling refreshed. I really like MOPS.






On the decorating front, I need to make a banner/wall hanging to display Colossians 2:7,

"Let your lives overflow with thanksgiving for all He has done."

My decorating style tends to lean toward the traditional side... I do prefer simple lines, but in general I can thoroughly appreciate the traditional style. I LOVE the idea of rotating quilted wall hanging. The only problem is that I need to get on the ball when it comes to making said wall hanging... sigh. When I do get around to it, I hope to design a Thanksgiving one around Colossians 2:7.

Lots, lots to do! Happy Thanksgiving!

Thinking about Advent. Yep, already!

Thanksgiving is on it's way and that only means that Christmas is right on our heals. Halloween may have stumped us, but for Christmas I'm just oozing with ideas for traditions for our little family. My favorite idea is the Jesse Tree! This seems like such a great way to teach our children about advent. I love the season of preparing our hearts to receive Christ.

For a Jesse Tree you read an Old Testament story every day of December building up to Christmas. Each story leads up to the birth of Christ and has a corresponding ornament you place on the tree. The "tree" idea comes from Isiah 11:1, "A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse; from his roots a Branch will bear fruit."

The hope is that our kids will look forward to the excitement of placing a new ornament on the tree each night, and Steven and I will look forward to sharing with our children all that God did to prepare the world for the best gift of all!

The are soooo soooo many ideas online for setting up a Jesse Tree. Here are just a few.

First, here is a pretty detailed explanation of the Jesse Tree and a chart (at the bottom of the page) of the readings and symbols. This is a great reference for establishing the tradition.

This blog is my favorite so far. It seems like last year she was almost done perfecting her tree, so maybe this year she will have some more ideas. Her ornaments are really nice and coordinate well. I also LOVE the idea of the bags under the tree, just like little presents. This is kinda my "goal."

This blog is less matchy-matchy, but still quite solid. She reads from the Big Picture Story Bible for their daily reading... convenient, we already read out of that book!

I don't quite have time to get everything together for a well coordinated tree. I think for this year it may be some paper symbols I print on card stock, color and string up on a ribbon. John won't have a memory of the ornaments so I still have some grace time.

I'm kinda undecided whether I'll buy (and slightly modify) the ornament or make them. All I know is that I want them to coordinate and look nice. And of course they have to be durable because we have a little boy who will be doing the "placing" of the ornaments. If I decide to buy them, I'll hit up some after Christmas sales to find the nicer ornaments. I will just swap out the paper copies as I find or make better replacements.

I'll probably start with this website. They have good printable symbols, but I don't think John will get much out of the devotions, yet. So, we will probably use this website as our reading guide. I'm thinking we will read the story out of The Big Picture for John, place the ornament and put him in bed. After he's down, Steven and I can go back and read the parental devotion. I hope it works out that easy...

Anyway, there are, of course, a plethora of ideas on the world wide web... and now it's just a matter of deciding on a permanent option and establishing a tradition. My goal for this month is to get the symbols printed and colored. And to print out all devotions to read. That should be a good enough start for this year.

Happy Tradition Making!

Grilled Pizza!

We're currently obsessed!

This was the first pizza we made. It was a chicken, spinach, sauteed onions & garlic, feta & mozzarella pizza. Here is Steven taking it off the grill...


The crust was prefect! Our stove just can't produce an authentic Italian pizza. On the grill, however, the pizza crust bubbled and even got slightly charred... just like in Italy. And even better, we did it outside so it didn't heat up the house! (I know, it's the end of October, but it's still in the low 90s here)

I had heard of grilling pizza, but didn't have the courage until I found this website. My friend had the first book and I borrow it from her. This book has changed the way I make bread. I really want the Healthy Bread version now (it even has Gluten Free Recipes, Mom)!

A friend asked me how much it cost to make a loaf and I calculated it because I was curious. A simple loaf of bread is only 20 cents! The same dough can be used to make a pizza crust... 10 cents for pizza crust! Unbelievable!!!

Making this pizza goes really fast. You can turn raw dough into a pizza ready to eat in 20 minutes. It's cheaper AND faster than a pizza out of a box... and tastier! I really wish I knew about this while in school!

This is how we've done it...

5:15 - Get dough out of the fridge, roll/stretch it out to a small circle (like a thick pita) and leave it on the counter to rest.
5:16 - Prep Toppings. Saute things and cook meats. Put cheeses, meats & other toppings on a plate to transport outside.
5:20 - Steven gets home and lights the grill (aim for a temperature of about 450).
5:25 - Stretch/roll rested dough into desired size (it will stretch very easily after it has rest for 10 minutes) and take it to the grill. Put the raw dough right onto the grill. Close the lid and wait for it to bubble up.
5:30 - After the dough bubbles, flip the dough over (uncooked side down). Quickly top the pizza and close the lid.
5:35 - Enjoy a yummy pizza!

The major thing that is different about this pizza is that you definitely can't over load the cheese. It doesn't take long to cook the dough, so the cheese won't have time to set if you overload it. I'm a big fan of this new style of pizza... my cheese loving husband it's as excited. Also, it's important to precook all toppings... but we already did that for homemade pizza so it's not a big change for us.

I mentioned that this book has changed the way I make breads and it is a change for the better. The idea is bread in five minutes (of prep work) a day. That doesn't include the resting/baking time so you kinda still have to be around... but at least you can fold laundry or write a blog post (he he) while the bread is resting/baking.

The best part is that for a little amount of work (5-10 minutes) once a week, you can have pizza dough or bread dough ready to use right in your fridge. Do you know HOW much you can do with pizza/bread dough? A ton! The idea that this dough can KEEP in your fridge for up to 14 days is liberating! Have something come up and can't get to the dough that night... no problem, just do pizzas tomorrow night. Don't know what to make for dinner... well, you have fresh yummy dough in the fridge; go make a pizza! LOVE IT!!!!

If you are really interested you don't have to have a copy of the book to start. There are a lot of recipes and ideas on the website, but I would still recommend a copy of the book; it really shows how much variety this dough can have.

Main Recipe (with instructions)

Healthy Recipe (with instructions)

Gluten Free Recipe (just for you Mom!... try it... I want a food review!)

Grilled Pizza Idea.

Bread While Camping?

Baking a loaf in a dutch oven.

Crackers! This is done on the grill, but could also be done in the oven.

Happy Bread Baking!

Baby Clothes

Isn't this outfit cute!?!

Yeah it is... and he is! but I totally do not get baby clothes sizes and get really confused at the store.

I thought when you buy a 12 months outfit it is suppose to fit a kid around 12 months. I'm not asking for exactness... but at least a semi-accurate range. When I go to the 3-6 months baby clothing section I expect to find at least one thing that will fit my almost five month old.

Before John was born I thought I had a gold mine of clothes (thank you, everyone, for the gifts... sorry my kid is a growing machine and only wore your outfit once or twice) and that I wouldn't have to shop for at least a year! Boy was I wrong.

My current favorite store is called "Once Upon A Child." They have good stuff... most things I've found were close to new, and priced decently (better than Kohl's, at least... which is another store I'm addicted to). Around John's three month birthday I started to notice that we were running low on clothes that would fit... he was already in 9 month outfits according to how "they" size them. And we needed sleepers because he was done with swaddling.

Currently he is in 9-12 month clothes, but we are beginning to start pulling out the 9-month outfits for storage until a little brother comes along (his little sister will be wearing bows and dresses and John doesn't own any of those). We have a good amount of outfits for now so I'm trying to convince him to maintain his current size... but every time I look at him I think he has grown.

The only outfits that aren't in danger of storage for the future are an 18 month onesie and a few pairs of overalls that I think will fit him around Christmas.

Now, I'm not complaining... it's kinda fun to shop for John. He's so cute and I definitely like the bigger boy clothes better than little onesies. I'm just asking for a little help navigating the store.

A friend of mine was watching John while I ran some errands. I went to Once Upon A Child for a Fall-ish outfit. I didn't have him with me so I just held up things to get a feel for what I thought might fit. I picked out some dark blue jeans and a button up shirt (like Dad has).

After I got them home and washed, I noticed that the top said 6-12 months. Understandable... John wears 12 months clothes now, and I was shopping in the 12 month section. But the pants said newborn!

Newborn? Really. I mean, he's wearing a cloth diaper under those blue jeans and they don't look snug at all.

I guess I just want some consistency.

Oh, well. I'll be done ranting now...

Let's just look at pictures of my cute kid!



I think overall, John was just excited to see how his new outfit tasted...

Cloth Diapers… now that we actually have a baby!

I’ve been working on this post for probably a month. It is really, really, really long so prepare yourself. Hopefully you will enjoy learning about how I do cloth diapers and maybe gain some ideas for your system of cloth diapers... or maybe you will just think I'm crazy... cuz I kinda am... but this crazy women is saving TONS of money!!!

Anyway...

I LOVE, love, LOVE our cloth diapers! I really thought it would be hard to overcome the convenience of disposable diapers. But I’ve gotten used to the extra laundry and it’s really not as much as of a hassle as I thought it would be. I can honestly say I enjoy using cloth more than disposables. Cloth diapers work! And they save money! (and they are soft & pretty) If they didn’t work I would be using disposables… but since I don’t have leaks and I never really touch dirty diapers after they come off of John, I don’t mind using cloth at all.

John has been in cloth since he was 2.5 weeks old. However, we didn’t start using them while out of the house until John was three months old. I lacked the supplies to do diaper changes while away from home, so I kept a small stash of disposables around. It was kind of a pain to do both cloth and disposables… I would have to remember to switch him out of cloth before our trips out of the house. Now that we are fully equipped, I feel comfortable using cloth everywhere from bible study to trips over night at Grandma’s house.

We started with the simplest system, prefolds and covers, and our stash evolved from there. However, we didn’t deviate too much. We still use prefolds and covers, but we have added homemade fitted diapers and pocket diapers… and a few diapers which don’t really fit those categories, our Flip diapers.

Okay, so that you will understand what I’m talking about when I say “prefold” or “Flip diaper” I’m going to try to explain all parts of our system.

Covers

Cloth diapers have two parts. The part that absorbs water (I’m going to call it the diaper) and the part that keeps your baby’s clothes dry (the cover). We started with PUL (polyurethane laminate) covers because they aren’t too expensive and are widely used. We have added in wool covers because I can make them! (I probably wouldn’t use wool covers if I couldn’t make them… they are really really expensive!)

From Cloth Diapers

From Cloth Diapers

Some close ups of the wool covers I've made...

From Cloth Diapers

From Cloth Diapers

From Cloth Diapers

From Cloth Diapers

The great thing about the cover & diaper system is that you can use the covers more than once without washing them if they aren’t soiled. I usually keep two out during the day and rotate between the two. I wash them when they get soiled or about every three days whenever I’m loading up the washing machine.

I love my one sized covers! All of my covers except for some of the wool covers are one sized. I LOVE the idea of one sized covers. You buy it once and it fits your kiddo from 8-35 pounds! So smart and cost effective!

I really like snaps on the covers (as opposed to Velcro) because it makes washing a lot simpler. Velcro can stick to different things in the wash and it is kinda annoying. Snaps eliminate that and it’s nice. But they say with Velcro you get a “better” fit… although I’ve had no fitting problems with John so far. Snaps are also supposes to last longer but I’ll have to get back to you on that… so far so good.

When I made my one sized wool cover I used Velcro simply because it was cheaper. I also experimented with buttons on wool covers. I like the buttons a lot more, but I’m not going to go back and change my Velcro one because it works fine.

Wool covers are pretty amazing (but once again, if I couldn’t make them for as cheap as I do then I wouldn’t use them). Wool is very breathable, yet it becomes surprisingly water resistant when lanolized. It is also antibacterial and super cute on little babies.

When I first started using wool I made a one sized green cover. It was a great cover. But, I thought I had lanolized it incorrectly because his diaper would feel moist. I thought it was the wool (because it came from an old skirt) and tossed the diaper cover and the rest of the skirt material.

I now totally regret that. After I started using the covers that I knitted and crocheted I realized that they do get a little moist but you can have a soaked diaper under them and they won’t get your baby’s clothes wet. It actually is kinda nice because it helps you know when your baby is completely soaked. I’m really mad at myself for throwing away the wool so quickly, but we do have 3 working covers that I made out of one skein of Fisherman’s Wool (plus our maroon one I made from a skein of fancy wool from Lonestar). I probably only need 4 or 5 covers… but I will most likely continue making them because I really enjoy making them.

I still haven’t perfected wool covers while we are out, but I have many options so I’m not stressing about it… we mainly use wool when we are home. I love the idea of doing cloth for next to nothing as far as cost is concerned and the MOST cost effective way for covers is to get your knitting/crocheting needles out with a good ball of wool. I also love knowing that if John outgrows our current set of diapers (that are supposed to be one sized) I can make him a bigger set.

Prefolds (diaper)

We started with a ton of these because we borrowed some from a friend, but we are now back down to the 10 I recieved as gifts while pregnant. They couldn’t be simpler… it’s a rectangle that you fold around your baby. It is the traditional cloth diaper and it works well.

From Cloth Diapers

Fastening with a Snappi is optional, but I really like Snappies. John is a WIGGLE WORM! I have found that the prefold stays in place much better during his play time if I fasten it with a Snappi. And, with a little boy I’ve gotten soaked a couple of time during changes. A Snappi keeps the diaper in place (containing any sprays) while I’m trying to get the cover on.



A word about ECONOBUMS!!! … do it!!!!

We asked for Econobums because they were the most inexpensive way to diaper your baby (and because Cotton Babies makes them). The starter pack ($50) comes with 12 prefolds and 3 covers AND now 1 wet bag (I totally missed out on the wet bag when we got ours… so jealous). I highly, Highly, HIGHLY, HIGHLY recommend Econobums. They are inexpensive because they only come in white and because they have a one sized PUL cover with a prefold (a one sized cover and a prefold is the cheapest way you could go even if you opted out of buying Econobums… but unless someone gives you diapers Econobums is the least inexpensive way I’ve seen cloth diapers done).

The Flip system (also made by Cotton Babies) is essentially the same thing, however, they are more expensive because the covers come in different colors and have some extra features to help hold the insert in place. In addition the inserts (instead of prefolds) have fancy microfiber, which can hold a crazy amount of fluid, and the inserts have “stay dry” liners which helps out a TON with diaper rash.

Econobums aren’t fancy, but they work… and you can literally diaper your baby from newborn to potty training for $150! That is so great! In the beginning they fit John’s skinny legs really well… and they still do now that he has chucker thighs. So far the covers haven’t shown any sign of wear and tear and my Econobums get a lot of use because I tend to grab them a lot (in most of John’s pictures he is in Econobum Covers).

I’ve talked about how much I love Cotton Babies (mainly because of their diaper grants for missionaries) in the past and this is just another GREAT Cotton Babies product. When it comes to purchasing new cloth diapering supplies it is really hard for me to purchase anything from anyone else besides Cotton Babies (and no, they didn’t pay me to say that… although, I wish they would!). I only really buy things outside of Cotton Babies when I have swagbucks to spend. And now that swagbucks added PayPal cash to its list of gift cards I may start saving up for those instead of Amazon gift cards.



Flip Insert (another type of diaper)

I’m not going to spend too much time on our Flip diapers. You can go to the website and read more. However, I will say I’m a fan of Flips if you can kinda predict when your baby is going to poop. The inserts have no elastic so they can’t contain messes… thus ruining your cover until laundry day. John is pretty predictable so I still use the two flip insert we have. I like to use them when we are out because they are less bulky and they absorb a crazy amount of fluid!

From Cloth Diapers

Fitteds (another type of diaper)

In my quest to find even cheaper diapering options I stumbled into the homemade diaper realm. And I have to say it’s quite satisfying to make something so functional out of things you were going to discard (old sheets, t-shirts, socks with holes, etc). I love my (16) fitted diapers because they are so simple to put on (no folding) and the elastic around the legs holds in messes better than prefolds, saving my covers for another use before laundry day. They also tend to be less bulky… but not quite as trim as the Flip diapers.

From Cloth Diapers

Pockets (both a cover and a soaker)

There is a disadvantage with pockets diapers because the cover part of them can’t be reused like a PUL or a Wool cover can be. I initially thought I wouldn’t use them. But I had one and I really really liked it when we started struggling with diaper rash. I received 5 additional pockets as an AMAZING gift and I was hooked! My current count is up to 8 and I use them all! I’m currently saving swagbucks like crazy to buy more and requesting them for all Christmas and Birthday presents for John for the next three years!... and for all our other kids :)

I don’t mind stuffing them and they are so great for babysitters and long road trips. If we weren’t so concerned about money (they cost about $15-$20 each… and you need 36 diaper for a set) I might have opted to use all pockets (or Bumgenius to be more specific)… which I thought I would never say… but it turns out I really really like them!

(not pictured below is my yellow Bumgenius and a orange Fuzzi Bunz)

From Cloth Diapers

Wipes

This usually tends to confuse people the most. I get the craziest looks when I pull out my wipes (especially since they are dark green and plaid). Cloth wipes can go straight into the pail with the diapers and it saves me the step of sorting disposable wipes from cloth diapers. Plus, we use a lot wipes (on his bum, face and/or hands) so it definitely saves us money. After I wash diapers I sort out the wipes and continue re-using them.

You can purchase cloth wipes, but I opted to cut up an old flannel sheet we had. I didn’t see the point in spending money on flannel wipes when I had a flannel sheet that Steven wanted to get rid of. One half of a fitted sheet made WAY more than the enough wipes.

I do spend some time folding the wipes because I want them to pop up out of the box just like the ones you buy at the store. It does take time, but it’s so nice to not have to fight with a chain of wipes when you are trying to hold wiggly little legs and clean a messy bottom!

For a wipe solution I use baby wash and water. Once again, you can purchase special wipe solution, but we already have baby wash for baths so I use it. You can even add some oils or aloe vera to the solution to make it more moisturizing. To keep things simple I use only baby wash and water most of the time. I’ve experimented with different moisturizing agents in our quest to fight diaper rash, but it didn’t really make a difference.

You can add the solution to the wipe container to make pre-moistened wipes or you can use a dry wipe and a spray bottle of solution. We have done it both ways and I definitely like the pre-moistened wipes for changes at home. On the go I use a spray bottle because the wipes might mildew due to lack of use.





Cleaning Diapers

We use a dry pail for our dirty diapers. It is a trash can (that I decorated) with a PUL liner (planet wise purchase on Amazon with swagbucks… whoop!) that we pull out and transfer to the washing machine. Everything gets washed and we never touch a dirty diaper after it comes off the baby. I occasionally wash out my pail because I’m paranoid about our bathroom smelling… a little bleach or oxiclean does the trick.

Before a poopy diaper goes into the pail the poop has to be rinsed out. We have a little luxury item in this department… our diaper sprayer. You can purchase one, but I read a blog about how to assemble one from parts at your Home Depot… I spent about $20 and I don’t have to splash around in poopy water to get the diaper clean (unless I’m at Grandma’s house… then I just suck it up and wash my hands afterwards).



To wash the diapers (in the washing machine) I do a pre-rinse, hot wash and two rinses. We started using Charlie’s Soap, but have since switched to any soap without brighteners, fragrances or softeners… I’m a little liberal when it comes to detergents. I try to avoid brighteners, fragrances or softeners because they can build up on your diapers and make them less absorbent… but I have used whatever is available at Grandma’s house and we lived through it. I made a decision that life is too short to worry about detergents and moved on. If my diapers get ruined then I will just make more or fix them. Even if I have to purchase a new set of cloth diapers with each kid I’m still saving some money so I’m really not going to worry about it.

I line dry anything that has PUL on it and usually everything else goes in the drier. Because I got a really high electricity bill last month (I think it was because of all the additional laundry not just diapers… extra bath towels, burp cloths, baby clothes, bibs, blankets he spit up on, etc) I decided to start line drying more things. I did try at first to line dry my prefolds, but I really did not like the crunchy prefold (and I didn’t want to “fluff” it after it dried… too much work to pull everything out, let it dry, put everything back in and then sort it again). However, that electricity bill was high! So for the month of September I’m turning off lights more and air drying all of our laundry to see if it makes a difference. If it doesn’t affect our bill much, then I’m totally going back to using our drier.



Now wool covers are a different animal (literally… haha). Initially I thought this was going to be way too much work, but it’s not bad at all. You can’t throw your wool covers in the washing machine like you can your other covers because they will felt (making them smaller) and they won’t stay lanolized if you do that. You have to hand wash them and re-lanolize them about every 2-3 weeks or when the lanolin wears off. It’s not hard to lanolize at all… and it doesn’t take much time.





“On-the-go” cloth diapers

When we go out for day trips (to church, bible study or to visit a friend) I pack a few extra cloth diapers, a wet bag and my cloth wipes.

From Cloth Diapers

From Cloth Diapers

The cloth diapers are much much bulker than disposables and I don’t know how to fix that… but it is really nice to not worry about buying disposables. The wet bags are used for putting wet diapers in (or a swim suit if you are at the pool). The wipes are dry and the spray bottle (recycled from old body mist container) has the wipe solution in it. I hardly use wipes when I’m out but when I do it’s the same routine… I put the wipes in the diaper and the diaper in the wet bag. When I get home I empty the contents of the wet bag into the diaper pail and throw the wet bag in behind it… I don’t touch a thing! So far my bags have not leaked. I have two Kushies bags that I used my swagbucks to get… didn’t cost me a penny! However, I need more. We get pretty busy over the weekend and I could use another 3 wet bags… so I’m saving more swagbucks.

When we go for an overnight trip I pack everything (EVERYTHING) into a separate suitcase. I’m sure with more experience I will be able to just add the supplies to our suitcase, but I’m always afraid I’m going to need something so I just bring it all. What I’ve done in the past is do the last load of diaper laundry a couple of hours before we leave. When the laundry is done I put all the clean diapers in the suit case and grab the baby and the diaper bag for the trip there. Doing laundry overnight works well because all the PUL can line dry and the baby only dirties one diaper during that time. Then when we are ready to head back home I do the same thing at whoever’s house we are staying at. I use my Bumgenius diapers when John is going to be in the car seat for long periods of time because sitting on wet diaper is hard for his bum and they have the special stay dry liner. I’ve had no problems so far and will probably keep using cloth when we do overnight trips.



ALRIGHTY! You lived through the most detail explanation of anyone’s diapering system you will ever get. But just in case you are still reading, I’ve got more for ya!

I’ve mentioned diaper rash a few times. It has been our biggest problem so far but he is getting it less often now. When John got diaper rash in the past it would clear up if I used a rash ointment. However, you have to use a disposable diaper when using most ointments (ointments approved for cloth diapers get expensive… and we all know how I hate to spend money). Rash ointments are designed to repel water and if they get on cloth diapers and it is very, very hard to wash out. The result is a cloth diaper that doesn’t absorb water… bad cloth diaper!

This problem began when John started sleeping more than 3-4 hours at a time. When he was a newborn I changed his diaper at every feeding so his bum stayed dry. When he started sleeping longer at night I began to notice red bumps. I switched to disposables long enough to clear up the rash and then used my Flip and Bumgenius diapers at night. These two brands have a “stay dry” liner and it helps a lot.

Another thing that helped a lot with diaper rash was “naked man” time. After a bath we let John play on the floor naked for a while, usually in the kitchen on a towel (or a prefold) so that it is easy to clean up when he pees (in the future we will just let him run around naked outside… don’t worry, we have a privacy fence). You kinda have to be proactive, but “naked man” time works so well that if I catch the rash early enough I can give him a bath and let him “air out” and the rash will be gone the next day. It makes me very happy!... because I don’t have to spend money on either diaper rash ointment or disposable diapers.

My homemade diapers came about because I wanted to mimic the “stay dry” liners found in the Bumgenius and Flip diaper (and because I wanted to save mad amounts of money). The stay dry liner that Cotton Babies has on some of their products is really like a fancy fleece/suede material. Fleece will dry out quickly… have you ever taken a fleece jacket out of the wash… it’s pretty dry even before being dried in the drier. So fleece is a great material for a diaper that is against a baby’s bottom for long periods of time… and I wanted it on ALL my diapers!

I started looking around my house for fleece. I cut up an old scarf and made long rectangle liners that I put on top of his prefolds so that it would protect his bottom from the wet diaper. It wasn’t a bad idea… I just had to do extra sorting once the diapers came out of the wash. I decided I need to attach the fleece to my diapers so that I wouldn’t have to sort out liners from diapers. But I didn’t want to sew it on to my prefolds because they worked great as burp cloths, “naked man” pee protectors, and as inserts for our pocket diapers.

Around the same time I decided I wanted to increase my supply of diapers. I had previously been using the diapers that we received as gifts and I had to do laundry every other day and it was a pain. I know that prefolds are as inexpensive as you can get, but I had heard of making prefolds from old t-shirts and I thought I might experiment with adding my fleece to them. I made 3 prefolds with fleece… they worked great, but I wanted to see how hard it was to make a fitted diaper. Turns out it wasn’t that much harder… and I loved using my fitted diaper (and now have 16). So I went back and made my 3 t-shirt prefolds into fitted diapers.

All this time there was only a small fleece rectangle on the inside of my diaper. During a visit to my mother’s house she let me have a good amount of extra white fleece that she wasn’t using. I used my template to cut out full coverage fleece to go next to John’s sensitive skin. I then proceeded to take apart ALL of my homemade diapers (which was up to 12 by this time) and re-line them. It was a lot of work, and I kept shaking my head at myself while I was doing it, but it was really worth it. Now my diapers look a lot more professional and fleece (aka stay dryness) is the only thing touching John’s skin. I’m very pleased.

John pretty much wears the homemade fitteds if he isn’t wearing a Bumgenius or a Flip. I do still use prefolds, but only when we are running low and I need to do laundry. It’s kinda nice because when I run out of fitted diapers I put John in a prefold and do a load of laundry… prefolds are like my signal to start the washing machine.

Okay, believe it or not, I can’t think of anything else to add! If you have any questions about cloth diapering just ask! I love talking about cloth diapers (as you can see)! :) :) :)