Made some more wipes this morning!

Just wanted to share a few pictures of the wipes I serged up this morning. I made these with cotton knit and organic hemp fleece.


16 wipes for a total of 52. That should be enough to get us through a few days!



Some of the different prints I used this time



Front/Back



The hemp fleece has a more nubbly texture than obv but is still very soft. I wanted to make some wipes with it for those "icky" diapers.






I'm hoping to get some good pictures of the kids this weekend but I think we may all be getting a mild case of the sickies. Hopefully it'll pass soon. Have a good weekend!

Quick post on Fuzzi Bunz

I love these diapers. I loved them when Reece was a baby and I still love them now. They've changed their sizing and design a bit since then but I still love them anyway. The new sizing is much larger and has a longer rise so they're a bit big for Quinn. But they fit him nicely, don't leak and he has tons of growing room in them. Perfect! Ella only wears them for nap and bed now and is still on the tightest snaps so these will be the last diapers she ever uses.


Here they are as they first arrived. We ordered 22 and have 2 more dark blue on the way for an even 2 dozen. I have to admit I was a little sad not be able to order at least a few pink or purple or daisy print ones for Ella but it just seems kind of silly since she won't be using them at all soon.


We also ordered a diaper sprayer with our package and let me tell you it is the best thing EVER!!! We've made our own before but these professional ones rock. It took about 2 min to install and works perfectly every time with no leaks. It has a really nice on/off valve and a holder that doesn't need any permanent mounts. It makes cleaning poopy diapers crazy easy. We just give them a quick spray and everything comes clean. Then we just toss in the pail and that's it! No touching or dunking or swishing. Ick.

Oh! I also wanted to add that although the initial cost of cloth can be expensive they really save you a lot and have a great resale value. We spent very little of our own money on the stuff we ordered above (and also 8 extra smalls that aren't pictured). Almost all the money came from selling other diapers/covers/wool/etc. we weren't using. I'm collecting more xs ones for Andrew as I can when I find good deals or sales and I continue to sell diapers and covers to fund them.


Ella was so cute. She sat inside while everyone else was out back and helped me unwrap and unstuff them all so we could do a prewash.



PS- Everyone else was out back helping Daddy set up the pool. Quinny's had a cold so I was worried about him getting chilly. Everyone else was dressed for summer so looking back at this picture seems really funny.



Anyway, back to my little helper...



She sat and helped until every paper was off and every insert was out.







And a side note. I LOVE Nicki's Diapers. They're so awesome. Free shipping and they ship right away. With this order we got a cute pair of babylegs as a free gift. With our 2nd order (some xs for Baby Andrew) we received a free Bumkins pocket bib. Awesome company.


Quinny in his new babylegs. So cute!



This is a picture comparison of the medium vs. xsmall fuzzi bunz. I think it's obvious which is Quinn's and which is Baby Andrew's. How cute is that! I love the teeny newborn diapers.



And I just love this picture. Fat little curly haired boy. =)

This and That

Things have been going pretty well lately. The weather is getting nicer but we still have some chilly days.

We're still preparing for baby Andrew although there's not a terrible lot to do. I'm so excited for him to be here! I can't wait to hold a newborn again and fall asleep next to a basinette with a little bundle swaddled up inside. Those first few weeks are my absolute favorite!

We've also had our fair share of excitement which is almost everyday. =) Our most recent episode was what has come to be known as the "Block Affair".

Reece came out of his room crying the other night saying he had a boogie. Well Marty and I laughed at first because he was acting up so much over a boogie. Then I noticed he was coughing and sneezing over and over. It wasn't a boogie he had in his nose...


It was a bead block!


Why on earth do little children like to shove things up their noses?! Marty held him still while I pulled the bead out with a tiny crochet hook. I needed something to "hook" into the hole of the bead to pull it down and out.


The letter "K". I don't know whether to call it the culprit or the victim haha



He was so relieved to have it out of his nose he jumped up and hugged Marty and said, "Thanks guys! Thanks thanks thanks! No more blocks for me!"



Hopefully he won't try putting anything in his nose again anytime soon!

Recently Marty and I had discussed looking into a larger capacity washer and dryer. I do laundry everyday which I'm sure lots of people do. But we were wondering if a larger capacity set would bring the time I spent on laundry everyday down some. I knew I didn't want a front loading set as I don't care for them and they're not great for washing diapers in. So we went to look at a "super capacity" top loader and realized there isn't much difference in the size at all. It was hardly noticeable. So we decided to stick with what we have and be grateful they work well! Haha

Speaking of cloth, we recently switched back to cloth diapers again. We took a break from them while we moved but figured we'd start using them again now and save some money. I sold a lot of the things we weren't using and ordered some Fuzzi Bunz. They're my favorite. I also have some extra small ones on the way for Baby Andrew. Can't wait for that!

I decided to make some cloth wipes the other day to use since we're going back to cloth. They just make more sense. It's easier to just toss them in with the diaper laundry then to separate disposable wipes from your laundry.

I made 3 dozen. One side is cotton knit (like t-shirt material) and the other side is organic bamboo velour. Have I mentioned how soft OBV is and how much I loooooove it? It's booty luxury! Also, the wipes cost me nothing as I made them from materials I already had on hand.


3 dozen wipes. They're super soft and squishy and the little ones love to pet them, haha.



Here's some of the prints I used. Love these



Front and Back



Close up of the OBV. I don't think you can see well how soft this is but it'd be great for a baby blanket or something. Maybe I'll make Andrew a special blanket. =)



These would also be great for wiping runny noses or cleaning faces off after meals. I think I'll make some more today. I have some organic hemp fleece (not like regular fleece material, it's hard to explain but it's an absorbant fleece) that is super soft and squishy and would make some excellent wipes. Maybe we'll keep a stack in the kitchen for little faces or something.



Some little person ran off with the camera but as soon as I find it I'll be uploading some more pics. Enjoy your weekend!

Our Day at the Park

We had a great time at the park after dinner tonight. It was still nearly 80 degrees out when we got home afterwards! We had a really fun time. The kiddos were all played out and ready for bath and bed when we got back.


In the wagon and ready to go!







It's a rare thing for all 5 of them to be in the same picture let alone where no one is running away. So I really love this one.



This playground is great because it has an enclosed "baby park"



Peekaboo Quinny!






Ella said to heck with the baby park and ran to join everyone at the bigger play area



She went to play with Lexeigh in the sand and copied her every move. If Lexeigh bent down, Ella bent down...



If Lexeigh stood up, Ella stood up...



Until Lexeigh started running around and Ella must have thought it wasn't worth the effort any longer, haha



Jimmie mostly stood around and chatted with Marty and I. I think he might be getting too old for the park. =(



Or not, haha









Check out those skinny little legs



They love the sand the most



This is another one of my favorite pictures from tonight



If you look close you can see Quinny's smiling. He LOVES the slides!



He got to get down and explore. He was curious and cautious about the sand at first but after a minute he was running all over giving everyone fistfuls of it.









I love it when the littlest ones laugh and play together. It's one of my favorite things to watch.



And this may be in poor taste but I just couldn't help it...


Hope you all had a good Sunday evening as well!

Clothes, Laundry, Organizing and Such...

I've been going through clothes and organizing them lately. It's actually an ongoing process it seems since people are always growing in or out of something or needing something. In a weird way I rather enjoy it. =)

Our solution to managing clothes is really just to keep the washer going like other people do I'm sure. I used to loathe doing laundry but over time I really don't mind it anymore.

Our system for organizing and saving clothing is pretty simple. When someone grows out of something I bag it up into the 2.5 or 3 gallon Hefty or Ziploc bags. I then label the bag with it contents. Such as, "Boys 24 month-2T pants" or whatnot. Then I suck the air out of the bag so we can stack or store them in rubbermaid totes. This makes things so much easier than having a great big pile of outgrown clothing making a mess.

Here's a few of the tubs I recently reorganized and inventoried


I've also started doing this for the next sizes up for people as well. When I see a really awesome deal on something in the next size up I can pick it up and store it. That way it doesn't get misplaced or damaged before it's time to use it.

I really like doing things this way. It's a lot easier and really saves a ton of money. Saving things, buying things off season at a discount, and picking up clothes when you see a really good deal are awesome unless they aren't organized. Then it seems like everything gets heaped together, you have closets and drawers smashed full with things that are too small or too big, and it's just a frustrating mess. This makes things a lot easier...for us anyway. =)

Very Hungry Caterpillar Nursery

We've been working on the nursery and I think it's just about done! I'd like to get a rug for it eventually and maybe a shelf for the book and caterpillar to live on. I've seen some cute Hungry Caterpillar puzzles at the store that would be cute to glue together and hang over the closet or window or something.

We decided to set up a "dorm style" nursery with all the little ones together. They all tried to huddle together in the same room at night anyway and we figured this way they'd be sure to be on the same sleep cycles which would help. We still have an extra room should anyone grow out of the nursery, haha. For now this works really well for us though and they like the company at night. =)

It was really hard to get a good shot of their room but I did the best I could.


Here is Quinny's side. I did the paintings on the wall. The egg on the leaf before the caterpillar hatches, and then the caterpillar and the fruits he ate through.



Reece's bed



Ella's side with the butterfly from the book


They even have a hook to hang the Very Hungry Caterpillar helmet on =)




And this is about the best shot I could get of everything together



The next room to do is Jimmie's. He hasn't decided on what kind of room he wants but he's getting a bit old for character type themes. I've found some really cool pre-teen/teen boy bedding so we'll see what he likes. I'll post pictures as soon as that's finished of course!