Things I Learned Today

Our truck is not standard. This means, I do not need to use my left foot. Or look to shift gears. Using your left foot on the break you think is a clutch hurts. You only make this mistake once. Looking for the gear shifter is less painful and more embarassing, regardless of the fact that the only human watching you flail your arm aimlessly around is a one year old.

Also, if you feel like you're going 20 in the truck, you're probably going 50. And if you like you're going 50, you're probably going 100. Thank you police for not seeing me today. I did not mean to speed. That was nice of you.

When your baby is grumpy, you either do exactly what he wants or listen to him scream. Those are your only two options.

Your babies first knee scrape is more exciting than sad. He's a real boy! This also means he's growing up. But we won't get into that.

You always forget something when you go to costco. And by you I mean me.

Packing for a baby means you are taking three times as much stuff as you thought you would at first.

Make sure when you look for books online at the library, you make sure it's actually at the library you go to in your city. Otherwise you get sad.

This is all. It was a fairly uneventful day.

My baby got a car...

bed. It's a lot of fun. And super cute. I was a little sad to take down the crib. Just another, all to frequent, moment when I realize my baby boy is growing up. But I think it's good. He actually likes going for naps and bedtime now. He crawls up on it and looks at his books and we snuggle and then he sleeps. Without screaming. It's really nice. No more going to bed sad! For either of us! Wonderful.

This is the week that we decided to start cloth diapering. We thought about doing it when he was born. And again when he was out of his newborn diapers. And then we moved three times within 9 months, and I was so glad we didn't do cloth. I did not need one more load of laundry to do while packing up our little family three time and moving provinces and within cities and renovating houses and living with parents and moving into an almost finished house... you get the picture. Cloth diapering was tempting for two reasons - it's nice on the bank account (after the initial buying them) and it's nice to the  environment.

And then Fabric Land happened. They actually have the cutest POL fabrics of all time from a company called Babyville. Check it. They are adorable. So I broke out the sewing machine and made the plunge. Despite the initiate start up cost (the fabric isn't as super cheap as it is super cute... ) I figure that even if he's potty trained in the next 6 months it will be cheaper that disposable. Also if we eventually have mini-human #2 we will save TONS of monies. The diapers have snaps so they can do quite a few sizes, and lets face it, if the next babe is as big as this babe then I'll only need the two sizes (assuming they're potty trained before they need the biggest size... PLEASE LET THIS BE SO.) Also, I already do laundry 3 times a week. The extra laundry will make an extremely small difference in our lives.

Depending on where you buy the fabric (Walmart vs Fabric Land) and whether you use Velcro or snaps, and whether you get sucked in and buy the adorable applique they have, and if you buy the pre packaged or bulk and whether you do the cute elastic that shows or do a hidden elastic, I'm thinking it costs anywhere from 10-15 dollars per diaper, including the soaker. I could get out the receipts and do an actual total if anyone is interested. 

I'm making diapers that has 'pockets' to simply place the soaker in, as opposed to sewing the soaker into the shell to make an 'all in one'. (There are about 10 different types of diaper patterns they had in the book... let alone the cosmetic variations you can make.) I'm hoping this will allow me to use the shell two or three changes before it needs to be washed (the POL fabric can just be wiped for the most part), as the shell is what costs... the soakers are just flannel and some batting. Simple and cheap.

The first one I made is a little bit sad. But live and learn. The next two are so much cuter.

 #1

 #2 (Hidden elastic) 

#3 Adorable print, right?!

Before and After

Apparently I have been lazy and not written in a while. My husband was home a ridiculous amount last week, because when there is too much rain they can't work. It was really nice to have him around. Caed and I had lots of fun with him. Unfortunately the bank account does not feel the same way... but it was totally worth it.

We took numerous trips to the beach. Caed had tons of fun, the sun wore him out (and us) and we all look a little less white and feel a little more like summer is the best season.

Josh wasn't completely off work though, because when he's not doing his real job he has a wife at home to force him off the couch and to get at it. (Ok he's actually really good at getting things done and his wife often complains something along the lines of "but if you get off the couch, then I have to get off the couch and I just feel quite lazy." More often than not he gets off the couch anyway. Sad for lazy me.)

But our counters are sealed and shiny. This not only makes it look nice, but makes it easier/possible to clean them. We used an epoxy that not only sealed the counter tops, but leveled them and made them shiny. It was actually fairly easy to use (not that it was me who applied them...). We just scrubbed and sanded the counters, taped off areas we didn't want epoxied (the wall, sink, cupboard hardware), covered the floor, mixed the two containers together and applied with a paintbrush/sponge. They had to dry for 24 hours before we could use them. This was kind of inconvenient, but it had to be done, so we just sucked it up. And accidentally touched/put purses on them....

 Before.

 

After.

  Before.

 After.

The grout is also done on the tile back splash. I think it looks fantastic. I'm really happy with the tile I picked and the way it turned out. I would, next time, wait until someone was around to entertain my one year old. Grouting with a tiny human screaming and hugging your legs isn't as fun as you might think.

 Before.

After.

And the fence! Josh built a little fence with a gate on the drive way side of the house. And my little, I mean short, because it isn't a very big space. It is quite tall, however. It's a really great cedar fence. I like it a lot. It will keep my babe in, and provide a wind break for when I'm attempting to light the bbq. Lighting a bbq with a match is definitely not one of my strengths. Dumb clicker that stopped working. Give me a match, add a little wind (What? Wind? in Medicine Hat??? Crazy, I know.) and you get an Ashley waiting for her husband to come home so she can make supper/ he can make supper, because lets face it, he's already home and the man should bbq... at least at my house. He also built a gate on the other side next to the neighbors fence. Not all we need is the gate at the back that will go between my lilac hedges. So wonderful.

 Before.

 After.

After.

As for me, I've been cleaning my floor. Over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over........

Jodi Mae, my fabulous sister in law, brought me this back from Ikea. It's wonderful. We put it together that night. I like it so much. I fits a lot of our stuff (books, dvds, wii stuff). Functional and looks great. Thank you once again Ikea. And Jodi. :)