Project 36 of many. . .

The projects are few and far between these days. And while they still get accomplished, they seem small compared to the handbags and tables I used to churn out in a manner that now seems impossible. I still get a lot done, but in the words of my aunt I've had to learn to "sit on my hands" otherwise family and home suffers greatly. I don't make posts anymore about projects that I've accomplished around the house - sometimes a post gets put on facebook. Most of my "projects" these days have minds of their own anyway.

Well, today I am breaking the silence. . . with the 36th documented project.  Yesterday, I used four pieces of scotch tape to fix the mini blinds that I fell into in a half sleeping stupor and broke. I won't lie - it had been on my list of "to do's" for about a week and it made me feel quite accomplished.

Also, I really dislike mini blinds -- I might be able to write an entire essay on why they are one of the worst consumer products available. 

DIY: Fitted Prefold

The other day while perusing Pinterest, yah know, like ya do when you are having bon bons and sipping champagne in your sparkling clean, quiet home -- I came across some fitted prefolds. I thought they might address some issues we have with cloth diapering.

Our babiest is a very wiggily little man and keeping my newspaper fold from going all wonka is seriously difficult -- plus, the diaper liner always seems to move around no matter how I fold the diaper... and we know what that gets us.

But, I have three boys and the thought of spending an entire day doing a complicated looking prefold revamp seemed out of the question. I also didn't like the idea of adding another piece of elastic to my kid's legs - it's already bulky enough down there, and that elastic isn't keeping any wetness out - that's what my Flip is for.

Then I had an "ah hah!" moment and this method popped into my head. It. Is. So. Simple. No joke, under 5 minutes, and I'm not talking about a concentrated 5 minutes. I am talking about five minutes while having a baby on your leg and getting sucked into whatever episode of Daniel Tiger (Isn't he just the best?) is on.

You will need:

• Scissors
• Ruler
• Marking pencil (I used a purple crayon the first time)
• Prefold
• A threaded sewing machine

 

 

The smaller seam allowance, and cut line, on the "bottom" side of the diaper allows for added width to cover more bum.

 

 

 

 

These work so much better for my little boy than the regular prefolds did. I have used these prefolds for 4 years and wish I had done this 4 years ago! The diaper fits so much trimmer, the diaper liner lays flat and does not shift around and my son doesn't get weird marks on his skin from where strange folds in the diaper pressed into him. The best part? These work really well with my snappies. Before I transformed my prefolds I was really having to stretch the snappy to make it work and with any more gains we were going to have to switch to a different diaper type.

 

If you wanted you could zig zag across all your raw edges before sewing what ends up becoming the center seam of the diaper, and then leave the "pocket" open and stuff another prefold in there at night or for long trips.

 

What do you use? Let me know if this works for you or if you have any questions.

 

bumGenius, ruffle, diaper covers

A girl. I never got one. The desire for cute girlie things will not subside within me! I have piles and piles of cute girl fabrics -- and have finally found a use for them! I  have started to embellish bumGenius diaper covers. It's a great way for me to relax and feel like I am accomplishing something after a day of cleaning up the same messes over and over again :) I've got them over in my Etsy store

Jacob: 1 year old

We found out that Jacob was a anemic at our 1 year check up. He had not grown in weight or height since 9 months, but, his head circumference had followed its same growth pattern so the doctor ruled out a lack of growth hormone. Everything else about him was fine, he was meeting all of his milestones. . .didn't have loose stool or was vomiting all the time. . .but, his finger prick revealed low iron and a lead level of 6.9 (CDC guideline is it must be under 10, doc likes it around 3). So we went and got some more extensive blood draws done, and because I am crazy I requested that Jonathan and Levi get them as well . . . what an experience.

Of course, Jacob woke up from his nap that day vomiting and having loose stool, so, I was sure the end was near. Then I started talking to family and it turns out that everyone I had seen over the weekend all thought they were having food poisoning. I have never been so thankful for the flu!

The next morning I had two missed calls from the doc's office, one at 4am, and one at 8am...that's always a good sign.

We scheduled an appointment with hematology at Saint Louis Children's Hospital, and had more blood drawn. Then I spoke with the doc and she told me that Jacob was severely anemic and that if his levels dropped anymore that he might start having system failures and that it was also going to make it very hard for him to get over the flu. So, we ended up getting a blood transfusion that afternoon. I have decided that blood transfusions are my favorite kind of "medicine," sans the 5 times they had to poke Jacob to find a good vein. They finally found one in his foot that worked.

We are hoping that this is all that was needed to help Jacob start growing again. Up until 6 months old I thought that Jacob was going to be my darkest child. Then he started getting more and more pale. With our history of long lasting jaundice in the family I figured he had just had some lingering around giving him that Italian glow, and that he was going to be pale. 6 Months is also when most babies start eating real food, foods that have iron in them. Jacob was not ready to eat real food at 6 months and was almost exclusively breastfed until he was 9 months old. I did not give him an iron supplement, my reasoning was that supplements were not well absorbed into the body. Plus, my other kids hadn't needed them.

Jacob wasn't the other kids though. I think Levi consumed his first t-bone around 5 months, and both he and Jonathan were full term, so they got that extra dose of iron from my body in their last few weeks in there. Plus, their mom wasn't endurance training, which takes even more iron out of her body and I assume passes less of it through breast milk.

So, we are now almost back to our normal chipper self, really I think the only reason Jacob has been lethargic and not his normal self is because of the flu. Jacob is an incredibly happy baby, so, I am not sure when I would have noticed that something was wrong with him.

We are taking iron supplements now and follow up with the doctor in 6 weeks. We are also going to go to an allergist and see what food allergies he has and if there are some malabsorption problems (I am sure there are). We will also be drinking a lot of bone broth.

At one year Jacob weighs 18lbs 13oz and is 29.24" long. He as 5lb 3oz at birth and 19" long. He had brown hair then and blonde hair now.