Tuesday, October 16, 2012

baby wearing 10.17.12

starting a new journey soon called baby wearing! aka putting your baby in a carrier strapped to your body :)

I've been considering it for a while but found an excellent price on two that I'd been looking into (seven slings and an ergo) so I just am going for it. my ergo should be here by this weekend and I don't know when the seven sling will be here.

hoping any praying that I like them and that Cash does too! he generally doesn't like being in a stroller or grocery cart. but would rather walk or be carried. so hopefully this will work out for us!

love hugs and baby wearing
carrie

Monday, October 15, 2012

it's been a while!

I've wanted to get back blogging for so long and I'm finally just gonna do it! I've been vlogging on my YouTube channel but no much blogging going on.

so here it goes, jumping back in!

today we went to try to get a different (more safe) car considering ours was number two on the ten top accident prone cars! YIKES!

didn't work out. so we'll just stick with what we have for a while til something better comes along! ;)

I don't know why but lately I have been so tired. I called in my thyroid medicine earlier so hopefully that will help.

I've also been losing weight ;) which is awesome. it's so hard for someone with hypothyroidism to lose weight and it's definitely a huge accomplishment for me. I can tell not only in my body but in my face, my hands/wrists, etc! it's incredible. people had been telling me I looked slimmer and I have seen the numbers dropping on my scale but I didn't really see it until recently. since January I've lost 20lbs. I know that's a long time but I don't care I love it :)

gonna go paint the nails but will blog later!

love, hugs, and mismatching blogs
carrie

Monday, April 23, 2012

Cloth diaper stripping routine

Okay, here's what I do when I strip my cloth diapers.
Everybody uses a different method pretty much, if you YouTube it you'll never find the same way multiple times haha
But here's what I do and what works wonderfully for me!

Q: what's cloth diaper stripping?
A: when you cloth diaper, you have to follow very specific wash/use instructions. Can/can't use diff types of detergents, creams, powders, etc. so every once in a while you may have detergent, urine, or other types of build up which may cause your diapers to lose absorbency, stink, be dingy or did colored, not come clean in the wash, and repel liquid all together. Whicheans more leaks and not happy mommy or baby. When you strip the diapers it removes all of the build up and regains your "bought new from the store" absorbency, look, feel, and smell :)

HOW I STRIP: ;p no pun intended

1. Seperate inserts & diaper shells
2. Rinse inserts & shells with hot water
3. Fill up both sides of the sink (or buckets, or bath tub, or whatever you'll be using) with the hottest water you can get. (if your sink water isn't hot enough, try boiling water and dumping it in)
4. Add 1/2 tablespoon dawn to water in each side of sink and swish around
5. Place inserts in one side & shells in the other
6. Agitate using a big spoon (or your hands if it's not too hot)
7. Let sit for 30 minutes to an hour, agitating every 10 minutes.
8. Drain water out of sinks.
9. Transfer everything to one sink.
10. Fill empty sink with clean, hot water.
11. Wet a nail brush (or something similar) and add a strip of dawn dish detergent liquid (MUST be dawn, no off brands or it won't work)
12. One by one, scrub your inserts & diapers. (I lay the insert flat out, scrub up x3 and scrub down x3 on each side) then put it in the clean water.
13. When youve scrubbed everything, agitate the water they're in, let sit 15 minutes.
14. Drain water, rinse each diaper & insert in hot/warm water, when rinsed decently put into washing machine.
15. Do your normal wash cycle. Rinse 2-3 times (until suds are gone)
16. Sun or dry as usual :)

Tadaaaaaa! Sparkly clean brand new feeling/looking/smelling diapers :)

I do this about once a month to my entire stash :)

Thursday, April 19, 2012

Cloth Diapering Haul :)

watch the youtube video at :
Cloth Diaper Haul #1

please subscribe to my channel and watch my videos :)
let me know what kinds of videos you'd like to see!


there are quite a few groups on facebook that are buy/sell/trade groups for cloth diapers, you'll find LOTS of good deals here if you're looking to cloth diaper on a budget. craigslist is also a great place to try to find some deals (most people are willing to ship to you, so look in heavily populated areas).

i found this gem of a deal on facebooks Cloth Diaper Swap  http://www.facebook.com/groups/ClothDiaperSwap/

30 SunBaby diapers
9 BumGenius 4.0 (5 artist series)
20 bamboo wipes
40 BumGenius inserts
and 8 cotton/terry doublers (of unknown brand)
all for $130

After making the video the first time, and it wouldn't upload, i got online and did some research into how much i would have paid if i bought all this stuff brand new, i would have paid $520 for all of that stuff!

Now, before you say "oh but it's used that's gross" let me tell you, I'm going to "strip" everything before it even comes into contact with Cash. have you ever bought baby clothes from a consignment store or have hand me downs? you think that's any different that buying used diapers? nope! chances are if you get second hand babies clothes, they've been pooped in/on peed in/on thrown up on, etc. So it's pretty much the same thing.

The lady who sent them to me told me that she only used each diaper one time because her son has an allergy to the sunbaby material (which i believe is microfleece) and he coulnd't use them anymore. Upon recieving them, they are in PERFECT condition, no fading, a few stains (that can be sunned out) and no pilling and they're super soft and perfect in every single way!

I'm going to to a stripping video too (soon) so you'll know what to do :)


Sunday, April 1, 2012

4.1.12 april fools day!

well well, here it is again, a day of jokes.
the most common that i seem to ALWAYS see, are the following:
- fake pregnancies
- fake marriages
- fake deaths
- fake cars/houses/boats/etc

now, i'm not sure if i'm the only one, but i HATE seeing someone fake a pregnancy. even if it is on april fools day. call me a party pooper, but i absolutely hate it.

anyways,

we're going out after while, cash is napping.
currently there are cloth diapers on a rack basking in the sun.
i love nothing more than the sight of a fluffy diaper on cash's butt or on a diaper rack.
they're so nice and clean and fluffy and cute and bright <3
nobody can understand until they actually do it themselves, and it may sound dumb, but i seriously love it!

made a new wipe solution today, it's a pretty simple one, not many ingrediants and pretty diluted.
1/2 cup distilled water
1/2 cup chamomile tea
1/4 teaspoon dr bronners castile soap in almond scent
shake and done!

it smells more like chamomile than almond, but you gotta dilute the dr bronners pretty good.
you only have to use 2-4 drops to wash your entire body, so it's pretty powerful! haha

made a tutu for the cutest niece who is having her pictures taken today which i'm sure will turn out beautiful. :)

well, time to go pack the diaper bag, flip the diapers, shower, and get ready for the day!

hope everyone has an awful terribly stinky day....APRIL FOOLS!

love, hugs, and bad jokes
carrie

Saturday, March 31, 2012

3.31.12 cloth diapering night number 3 and day number 4

today went pretty well in the cloth diapering world around here.
all except for one small mishap.

so last night, cash did great in his cloth diaper, slept all night long.
last night i washed ALL of his diapers and let them dry.

this afternoon i was changing his diaper and he had spots all over his hiney and it was beet red.
i wanted to cry my heart was so broken.
not only because he's NEVER had diaper rash, and he honestly didn't act like it bothered him, but because i felt like cloth diapering wasn't going to work if he was going to have to be like that.
 BUT, then, i realized what i had done wrong.
cash is SUPER sensitive to any kind of detergent that isn't "free & clear" "gentle" etc.
the wash that i had been using on my diapers is SUPER harsh. so harsh that you only have to use 1 tbsp of it PER load. and keep in mind, this stuff is for poopy/pee diapers. so it's bound to be very harsh on baby skin.
so i had to de-stuff, wash, and hang dry all of his diapers again. he was in disposables for the afternoon, but i put a ton of california baby diaper rash ointment (one of the VERY few that are cloth diaper safe) on his hiney and even though he peed through his disposables, one of the many reasons i'm glad i switched, all of his diapers are now cleaned in a safe detergent for him and the diapers and his hiney is no longer bumpy or red. that stuff worked great!

i am so glad i realized what was wrong before it kept him like that.
he is currently asleep in his cloth diaper, but he fell asleep on the way home from my dads with no bottle and a fresh diaper with only one insert, which means he'll more than likely wake up to eat and be changed. which is fine with me.

we didn't really do much today. went to visit family and typical weekend things.

i am currently working on discovering 18 uses for my dr bronners. maybe i'll blog about it when i find that many. so far i only have 5 or 6. i've heard of a few that i am not willing to try. like, using it as medicine and tooth paste? what the heck. hahaha

i'm still waiting on a lady to email me back about picking up some cloth diapers, i'm so excited i've sent her like 29304032984 emails. hahaha

but, it's time to run off to bed and dream of lovely things!

love, hugs, and no more rashes!
carrie

Friday, March 30, 2012

3.30 cloth diapering day #3

Today went great as the past two have!
Did some errands and cding is still working great!

Not much to update on.

I adjusted the elastic again for the third time and finally think I've found the perfect fit for my little one!
I'm getting the hang of taking him out with them too. I love it. :)

Love hugs and cloth diapering
Carrie