Wrapping a Wreath

I've always liked how wreaths brighten up a porch. I looked up a bunch of wreath ideas on pinterest, and decided that even though we don't have a front door, I could still make one to hang up on one of our walls. I was expecting this project to take an hour or maybe two- little did I know how long it would actually take!

I decided to do a yarn wrapped wreath, and chose a foam base for it since I wanted to be able to pin various decorations to the wreath so it could be used all year round. This is what the wreath looked like after spending an hour wrapping yarn around it twice:

Unfortunately, the designs I had in mind called for a thicker wreath. After re-checking some tutorials online, I realized I would have to wrap the wreath with yarn a bajillion lot more times to get that thickness. So I improvised and used grocery bags to help bulk it up:

Matt was slightly concerned when he saw what had become of the wreath, but I assured him it wasn't finished.

I bought new thicker yarn and rewrapped the wreath three more times (adding another two hours): 

And then I spent an hour cutting fall leaves out of felt and arranging them on the wreath. Although white isn't the best background for fall, it will be for other seasons and holidays, so I figured it was worth the sacrifice. I'm still glad I went with a foam center, because the leaves pinned in nicely, but if you just want the thickness of the wreath without having to wrap it in yarn and grocery bags, I'd really recommend going with wrapping a straw wreath. 

Rhetorically,

Rebekah

The Cloth Diaper Experiment

This is a follow-up post about our decision to cloth diaper.  After nine months, we're throwing in the towel cloth.

Our initial decision to cloth diaper was to save money. So let's break down what we paid to start:
Cloth Wipes: 12 GroVia and 12 Thirsties = $22.78
Prefold Diaper Supplies: 3 Snappies = $11.50, 5 Rumparooz covers = $70, 12 Prefolds $25.98
Pocket Diapers: 12 LBB = $73.98
Cloth Pail Liners: 2 Planet Wise = $33.44
Cloth Wet Bag: 1 Thirsties = $15
Initial investment = $252.68

So here's the thing we discovered about Prefolds- they aren't super absorbent. Also, you have to keep on purchasing the next size up. Since we had been hoping to just make the investment and be done with it, having to continually buy prefolds and experiment with absorbency didn't seem like the best option. So after getting one more size up, we switched to doing all pocket diapers- which necessitated buying twelve more, bringing the total up to 24 diapers we could use for the rest of our diapering experience.

But then we discovered that once babies start solids you have to get the poo off the diapers (breastfed poo is water soluble so we could just throw them in the washer). A diaper sprayer is the most economical, but also messy. So we opted for flushable diaper liners. Then, we started having the same leaking problems with the pocket diapers. We tried to double stuff them at night, but we still would have to change them every 2-3 hours- not something we were in the mood to do at midnight, 2am, 4am, etc. Although there are cloth diaper options for night time, I really didn't want to try to buy more diapers when each one would be around $20 and have to experiment all over again. So we switched to disposables at night. But our leaking problems continued during the day. If there was only one insert in, we would have to change Dash's outfits about 4 times a day, despite our best efforts to make sure he was changed every 1-2 hours. I think this was because we had stretched out the pockets by double stuffing them, so that if only one insert was in, it would no longer fill the pocket properly. Add to that the fact that we washed, dried, and stuffed the pocket diapers every other day and the hassle started to build.

Subsequent Purchases:
Next size up for Prefolds = $24.00
12 more pocket diapers = $67.96
12 more pocket inserts (to double stuff) = $36.70
Diaper Liners (600 liners- a 2 month supply) = $42.84
Total Investment: $424.18

If we exclusively did cloth diapers (even at night), we would average 10-12 diaper changes a day, even though Dash is in the 8 diaper change a day 'zone.' I realize that every baby is different, and that these are just averages, but when Dash hates getting his diaper changed anyway, battling with him a few more times a day just isn't worth it. Also, we have to keep moving up his clothing sizes because cloth diapers are so bulky.

Let's look at how often one changes a diaper to see how much disposables would have cost:

AGE	DIAPER CHANGES PER DAY	NUMBERS OF DIAPERS PER MONTH
0-1 month	10-12	320
1-5 months	8-10	870
5-9 months	8	870
9-12 months	8	728

Assuming we bought diapers for 20 cents a diaper (averaging different sizes) for the first 9 months we would have spent $412. So we basically broke even- or a little bit ahead since I haven't calculated wipes into the cost. In the end, cloth diapers will save money, but with the absorbency issues we are facing it's just not worth it anymore. We'd have to invest in another set of cloth diapers (who knows how much that will cost and if they will fit our needs) or we could just switch to disposables.

That said, here are some of the pros to cloth diapering:

• You don't really have to worry about "running out" of diapers or having to do a late-night diaper run. Just wash them and you have your supply back!
• Cloth wipes are amazing! Instead of going through a handful of disposable wipes every poopy diaper, you usually only need one cloth wipe.
• Until adding flushable inserts into the mix, we didn't have to really add diapers into our monthly expenses since we made the initial investment.
• Dash hasn't had too many issues with diaper rash- which I've heard is less common with cloth diapers.

Final note- I put a lot of effort into comparing brands, types of cloth systems, and ultimately I picked the cheapest best-rated options. So I guess I got what I paid for- diapers that weren't as absorbent and stretched out quicker. Should I have invested more initially? Maybe. But then when would I hit the point of breaking even? At a year?

Rhetorically,
Rebekah

Dear Dash: Nine Months

Dear Dash, It's been a month full of changes for you:

 You learned to crawl! You love your new-found mobility.

You also braved the stairs- but you only did that to get our shoes,
so we haven't installed the baby gate quite yet!

Although you like crawling, your first and only love will always be standing.
Here's just a few places I've found you standing when I come to check on you.
It seems like every time you wake up from a nap I find you in a standing position, smiling.

You were a trooper for your doctor's visit with two shots and two toe pricks.
So many bandaids!

Apparently you didn't want the giraffe to see what was so funny.

You are still our happy social baby! You love to give open mouth "kisses" to other babies, and we enjoy it when you wrap your arms around our necks to hug us.

Your top teeth came in this month, which means you can now experiment with chewing biting our shoulders. 

Rhetorically,

Rebekah

Mansion Kids Update

I finally finished the sketches for my Mansion Kids book!! Here's a few of my favorites:

The Kids

The Villian

The Rope Swing Room

Responsibly calling the police

Rhetorically,
Rebekah

Super Saturday Sneak Peek

I spent today working on these crafts for our upcoming Super Saturday activity!

Sunday Cans- we originally got the idea from this article, although this article that came out recently was good incentive to keep it!

New Sew Baby Bows- we got the idea for bow ties from this tutorial, and the baby girl bows from this tutorial. Both are way easy, and I was able to make all 6 fairly quickly.

Rhetorically,
Rebekah

When Things Don't Go As Planned

Have you ever had your plans blow up in your face? To the point where you seriously have to re-evaluate what you should be doing with your life? That happened to me today. I'm still trying to figure things out. I had this vision of what life would be like, and it's not going to happen anymore. At least not right now.

I feel like Derice at the beginning of the movie "Cool Runnings" when he fails to qualify for the Olympics because a fellow runner trips and knocks him over.

Derice knew he could have qualified. But he's told that he'll just have to wait four more years. To come so close to fulfilling a dream and then being told to wait is a hard pill to swallow. So Derice figures out a way to get to the Olympics earlier--by forming the first Jamacan Bobsled team to compete in the Winter Olympics.

I guess I'll just have to figure out what my "bobsled" will be.

Rhetorically,
Rebekah

Movies

Matt and I have watched a variety of movies this summer, and I thought I'd post about the one's I've liked.

 The BoxTrolls- I wasn't sure what to think of this movie at first, and I was kind of worried that it would give me nightmares. But it was completely different than what I expected. I really liked the social message of this movie, and felt like it comically taught several different principles, including the importance of fatherhood, the willingness not to believe every rumor you hear, and accepting those who may look and act differently than you. 

Hugo- an visually artistic movie, I really felt the message hit home with this quote: "I'd imagine the whole world was one big machine. Machines never come with any extra parts, you know. They always come with the exact amount they need. So I figured, if the entire world was one big machine, I couldn't be an extra part. I had to be here for some reason. And that means you have to be here for some reason, too." Hugo has a great message of healing, and I loved the imagery and foreshadowing throughout.




Penguins- Other than being a "valued and important member of the team" message (and I suppose the message that revenge doesn't make you feel better), I mostly liked this movie for the classic penguin comedy. I also loved how the script writers worked in famous actor's names into the dialogue. Examples: "Nicholas! Cage them!" or  "Kevin! Bake on!"

Mall Cop 2- Admittedly not my favorite of the summer, but I did appreciate how clean it was- very little swearing or sexual scenes.

I loved Inside Out! It had some characters I wasn't expecting, and a great message about valuing all feelings. As far as criticism for the movie goes, I'll let this clip speak for me. 

Rhetorically,
Rebekah