Baby Baby BABY

So I went and did it again, I neglected my poor, sweet blog. 

I've been doing lots of other stuff in the mean time though, really.  Like trying to wish this baby out of me.  We have about a week and a half until our due date at this point and I would LOVE Baby to come prior to that.  Like now.

Besides wishing, I've been working on crochet stuff for a local photographer, CNicholl Photography.  She did my maternity shots and is just fab.  Seriously. 

Recognize the belly band?

Anyway, she has commissioned a hand full of crochet prop hats from me over the past two weeks so I've been busy crocheting.  And she manged to peer pressure me into making a new Etsy shop, miniolives, which is for all my baby stuff.  It's kind of nice to be able to do things other than jewelry, as everyone and their cousin can make a bracelet...

 I also did a bunch of diaper pail liners, which are selling like crazy at the new Etsy - who would have guessed?!

 Oh and a puffy star origami mobile for Baby J's room... it's so damn cute.

Anyway, go check out the new Etsy and a say a quick prayer for a quick labor and delivery for Baby J and I.  And maybe one in the next week, that'd be pretty great.

The beginning of our journey into cloth diapering...

We made the decision as soon as this baby was conceived that we'd be cloth diapering.  For the first 6 months of the pregnancy, I'd do a teeny bit of research every now and again but generally, I just figured I'd wait until the baby got a little closer.  I should have started early!  Not that it's a big deal now, but budgeting for this would be easier spread out over the entire pregnancy...  And now the majority of my day is spent researching cloth diapering stuff, as well as pinning good tutorials for stuff on Pinterest.  (Follow me HERE!)

That being said, we decided to do a combination of traditional cloth diapers with PUL covers and pocket diapers.  I went out to our local cloth diaper/organic baby rearing store, Little Padded Seats, and bought two white soft IMSE VIMSE diaper covers in small.  These are very soft and have nice gusseted leg holes for baby, which could accommodate both chunky thighs and chicken legs.  Since I didn't want to have to buy these every time the baby grew, I also bought two Rump-a-Roos covers that are one size fits all.  I got a cute little celery color and a stormy sort of gray.  To go under these, I bought two 10 packs of premium prefold diapers from Gerber, which I will eventually end up buying more.  These are nice because not only can I use them solo with a cover, but I can also use them to stuff my pocket diapers - SCORE.  For closure when going solo, I plan to use Snappis, which are pretty awesome because I can't poke baby with sharp pins in the middle of the night.

Now on to the pocket diapers.  For these, we are going to try two different brands, FLIP by bumGenius and gDiapers.  Both of these are a pocket diaper/cover combo, meaning that the diaper itself is a PUL shell with two pocket flaps on the front and back of the inside to hold inserts or cloth diapers.  So far, we have only bought the FLIP diapers but I am diggin' them already.  The shells are pretty easy to adjust, they are a one size with plastic snaps, and the stay-dry inserts that come in the daypacks are pretty thick.  They are in the wash now but I will test absorbancy soon and get back to you...  I got two Day Packs in Noodle and Butternut, which come with 2 shells and 6 stay-dry inserts each for $50 a box.  Considering that I will be able to use the inserts or the cloth diapers, these were a pretty good investment.  In the long run, I think we'll have at least 6 of the shells, possibly up to 10 because we'll be able to use them for the whole diapering experience up to potty training, and potentially for the next kid.

The gDiapers that we are going to try are SO FREAKING CUTE.  Seriously, those little things are precious even though the kid will poop in them.  We are going to end up trying four of the gDiapers in Small to start and see how it goes from there.  gDiapers are sized, which will probably make it a better fit for growing baby but we'll have to buy more as baby thickens up... Unfortunately, the gDiapers don't come with inserts, you have to buy them separately and they run $30 for a 6 pack, which ends up being $5 an insert!  YIKES.  I am already planning to make my own inserts for at least the gDiapers, probably the FLIP ones as well.  Tutorial in the future, possibly? 

Anyway, that is the beginning of my diaper stash, more to come I am sure.  I will calculate up my costs eventually as well, so that I can see how much we are saving versus disposable diapers.

Any of my cloth diaper mamas that want to comment with advice would be MUCH appreciated!  We need all the help we can get...

Wet Bag - A Tutorial!

Because the hubs and I are cloth diapering the new baby, we will need to have a couple wet bags on hand at all times, especially during traveling.  I had all of the necessary supplies hanging around so I got to work... hope you enjoy!

To start with, you'll need the following things :

Materials

• Waterproof fabric (PUL, vinyl, shower curtain, waterproof vinyl tablecloth, whatever you have on hand!)
• Cotton fabric
• Zipper
• Sewing Machine
• Scissors
• Seam ripper (optional)

To start with, cut your waterproof fabric to the size bag you'll want.  I wanted to use a cheap waterproof tablecloth I had gotten during the spring for $1.  I thought about my bag dimensions and  ended up settling on a 12" x 12" bag, which means I cut a 12.5 inch wide by 24.5 inch long piece from my tablecloth.  The backing of this one is flannel, so I was able to just lay the whole thing over my chosen cotton fabric without pinning - it sticks!  So to be final, you'll need two rectangles of fabric, one 12.5 inch wide by 24.5 inch long piece of your waterproof material and one 12.5 inch wide by 24.5 inch long piece of your cotton fabric.  You'll also need to make sure your zipper will fit in the opening.  For this project, you'll want a zipper length of approximately 11.5 inches.  If your zipper is a little long, zip it up to the point you want it to end.  Put it in your sewing machine unzipped with the spot marked that it should end.  Now use the zig-zag stitch on the widest setting but the closest length together to sew the two halves together firmly.  Your new ending should be pretty short, but functional.  I sacrificed an old zip-up sweater to my heathen craft gods for this craft project, so I had to use this method.  (Sorry, forgot to take progress shots for the zipper bit...)

Once your fabric is all cut, you will probably want to do your 1/4 inch fold over on each shorter end, it makes for pretty seams... c:  Your stitches should be fairly close together and in a straight line, no more zig-zag-ing for you.

Next, close your zipper up and pin to the short end of your fabric rectangle.  You'll want to have the vinyl side facing out on the bottom side, the right side of the cotton facing up for the outside.  Sew on your zipper now, and be sure to back-tack your beginning and ending!  The next bit is to open your zipper up and sew the other side - this part is key.  If you try to do this with the zipper closed, you will have troubles...  Once your zipper is on, you'll need to flip the bag inside out so that the vinyl is on the outside on both sides of your tube of fabric.

Pin up your sides and sew your 1/4 seam down each side, making sure to back-tack again.  To ensure nice clean corners, snip the corners off at the bottom of your bag, but only up to your seam.  Once this is done, open up your zipper and flip your bag right-side (cotton) out.  Use something like a pen (with the cap on) or a crochet hook to push out your corners.

Ta-da!  Sit back and enjoy your new wet bag!  Throw your bathing suit in there after the pool, or use it for soiled diapers and whatnot like we are.  When cleaning this bag, I recommend just wiping out the inside with a Clorox wipe or equivalent.  If you need to wash it because the outside got dirty, I would machine or hand wash it only - don't dry it in your dryer.  Don't worry, it should air dry fairly quickly.  The best part of this project is that it didn't cost me a penny!  I already had the fabric and tablecloth in my craft zone for other projects.  The zipper was from an old (and not particularly awesome) sweater.