Craft organisation + recycling = This

You know those plastic snap lock bags that PJs and rompers and the like come in??? As shown on the left of the above photo?? Well after buying Pie some new PJs I had quite a few of them to get rid of but then I thought of a handy new way to use them :)

I've got lots of craft projects on the go, I've got maybe 6 pairs of ruffley bloomers cut out to sew up, bonnets to put together, bibs that I've appliqued and are waiting to have the final embellishments added etc. So after removing all cardboard and stickers from the PJ packaging I'm left with a very handy snap close plastic pouch which has a hanger attached to it!!! I've now got all my seperate projects neatly stored and I can easily grab one during my nap time crafting, work on it while Miss Pie cat naps and then put it all back together in its bag and hang it up in the craft cabinet before Pie has a chance to do her 'I'm awake now' scream :) Good for the environment, good for keeping my teeny tiny crafting space neat and organised and good for my budget too! For bigger projects use the packaging from grown up PJs, lots of things come in these bags and rather than letting them end up in landfill, keep them in a draw ready to be put to good use :)

Oh and for safety reason I used a hole punch on the bottom of the bag to ensure it wouldn't be a suffocation hazard if Pie got her hands on it in a few months time.

Little Leg Warmers!

Hello world :)

Well as most of the MCN addicts will know, another match made in heaven is the MCN and legwarmer ensemble :) Because of this I went a little crazy and got Pie like 5 or 6 pairs on ebay a few months back. Sadly, they aren't going to fit her til who knows when! Luckily, one of my favourite blogs : Little Pink Monster : showed me just how easy it is to make your own legwarmers. Now in her tutorial she uses ladies socks, I've used girls socks, size 2-8 but when you see them on you'll see I could have gotten away with the size smaller, so if your making them for a little newborn feel free to get smaller ones, Pie will get plenty of wear out of these anyway :) She is 5 months and about 5.5kg right now.



 So I started with a 4 pack of girls socks - the brilliance of this is that grisl socks are MUCH cuter than ladies socks and they were cheap - I got these from Kmart for $7 - 4 pairs of socks = 4 pairs of leg warmers, for $7? Nice!
In the picture you can see 3 pairs of socks and 1 finished legwarmer but I wasn't happy with the stripes not matching up so I unpicked it and as you will later, went a different way anyway :)




Now for the next step you take your sock and chop it up, pretty simple. The ankle bit becomes the leg warmer, the foot bit becomes the cuff and the other bits become rubbish :-)

This becomes this

Then you fold the foot piece in half and slide it onto the ankle part so all the cut edges are together. Depending on the pattern/print on the sock your using, you may need to line them up very carefully or you may be able to just slip it on and be good to go.

(As you can see I decided to mix the socks up so I had contrasting cuffs on my leg warmer. As they were all in a pack together they looked so much better when I swapped the pieces around :)


Then pin the cuff to the 'leg' of the leg warmer like so. (If you're a more advanced sewer you won't need to put so many pins in but I prefer to make sure everythings all pinned securely so I don't wreck it!)


Then sew it on the inside in a nice straight line all the way around until they are connected. I couldn't manage photos and sewing but you can check Little Pink Monster for the tutorial if my instructions aren't making any sense. Then turn the cuff out and TA-DA!!!! You've got a leg warmer!!! Make another one justthe same and TA-DA!!!! You've got a pair of leg warmers :) So Simple!!!

Next find a super cute model to try them out on.

 

 Pie wore them on their own with a matching pink MCN (and her knitted ballerina bootees from Gran)

 

And also disccovered they look great over leggings and tights when its extra cold :)

My little model then went back for another nap (She had a very upset afternoon, lots of crying and cat napping after her first week on rice cereal has left her very constipated :( Poor bub!) and I finished the other pairs, resulting in 4 pairs of leg warmers in one afternoon. These really are an awesome nap time project, especially if you've got a cat napper like me :)

Bringing blogging back

A long long time ago (this is sound a bit like a song) I used to blog. I believe it was so far back that it was when MySpace was cool, and Sexy Back was a number 1 hit (hence the name of todays blog). My blog was called Jodi's World and it was a story of all the fun a single girl in her early 20's has... Well not all the fun... But it was funny stories relating to my life and ideas back then. I was young, I was a student, I had loads of free time and was making lots of discoveries about the world around me. Well now I've got a lot more free time than I have had for the past few years and once again I'm making a lot of new discoveries about my new life as a Mummy. So that's where the name of my blog comes from :)

Wipes troubles conquered!

So I haven't blogged much, been busily pinning things on pinterest, facebooking and getting everything settled around the house :) I've been rather productive in my hunt for the perfect partner to my MCNs tho;

I've got cloth wipes sorted and down to a fine art! Yes, thats right, I've discovered the most brilliant way to work with reuseable wipes. I'm so proud of it that I'm going to dedicate a whole blog to it :)

Wipes:
It was suggested I try out chux type cloths as reuseable wipes and my mum had recently given me some she found when sorting through all her crap, I mean stuff :) I had no idea what I was going to do with them, she'd thought they would make good washable nappy liners but I kinda thought whats the point? If I've got to somehow get the mess off them to wash them or can just flush the other ones I've got. But as washable wipes they would be perfect. So I used the rotary cutter (I think thats what they are called, those wheel knife things quilters etc use?) to cut them all in half leaving me with HEAPS of washable wipes. Awesome thing is they dont need hemming and don't fray when you wash them. They are cheap to replace if they get too shabby after frequent washing and when they are damp they stick to each other (You would think thats a bad thing but read on and let me explain)!! The bad thing is they do tear from time to time but as I can replace them its not that big of a deal. I also use some cheap washers from kmart. Wipes sorted :)

Solution:
So I've got a 1L glass bottle for storing my nappy solution in now. Works better than the old plastic water bottle that I used last time. I stuck with the same recipe as last time too;

• 1T alpha kerri water dispersible oil, 
• 1T johnsons bedtime oil, 
• 1T johnsons wash,
• few drops of teatree oil and
• fill the bottle with water

 Ta Da :) EXCEPT... next time Ill put the bath wash in AFTER the water as I had an over flow of bubbles til I put the few drops of teatree oil in which seemed to kill some of the bubbles. Atleast they killed them until I tried to put the rest of the water in and it bubbled up all over again haha. But basically you can put whatever you want in your wipes solution, I've found recipes using aloe vera gel and water, others using 2T oil 2T wash, there are heaps out there. I found these ones smell nice enough but not too smelly and wipe things off really well. I decorated my glass bottle with coloured sharpies (picked them up reduced to clear at office works for 50c each, bargain) to make it all pretty (we'll just call that what it is, procrastinating!) before filling it. But sadly my artwork washed away when the nappy solution overflowed down the side of the bottle so it was a bit of a waste of time unfortunately. (Please excuse the mess in the background, I was halfway through unpacking my dining room!)

Container:
So with the perfect wipes and solution my final battle was the container to store them in. I wanted something convenient that would be easy to use one handed. While I was searching I've been using an old lunch box and let me tell you, not making life too easy! I'd open it, get out a wipe, put the lid back on, get to nappy changing and discover Pie had done a sneaky poop!! (Ofcourse!) So then I'd have to hold her legs (to make sure she wouldn't put them in it) then struggle to open the container with my one free hand, usually resulting in me flipping it over on its side and Pie watching me struggle while trying to wrestle her way out of my grip so she could kick her feet around. So anyway, I've been umming and arrggghhhinnng over the huggies ones. They are big enough, have the press button to open them, which would be perfect, but I dont like the little opening with all the rubbery bits - too hard to get the wipes if they don't all come through in a row, which lets face it is pretty possible with cloth wipes. So, out shopping a few days ago at my local IGA I was doing the search of the wipes section (which I do in every supermarket, kmart, Big W and baby focused store I enter at the moment!) and found an IGA brand hard wipes container, like a huggies one with a big oval opening and no huggies written on it. Cost about the same price, $5 something, so I bought it, got it home and have been using it ever since and I'm in LOVE :)

Putting it all into action:Now my next trick is I put all my cloths in the container, slightly dampen them with solution and then i take them back out and put them on the lid. Now, I put them in individually and when I put the next wipe in, I press it against the edge of the previous one. So when I pull them out through the little hole, the next one follows :) When I've got all the wipes I need I press the last one onto the little lip of the opening then close the lid. Wipes stay wet and easy to reach when we next visit the nappy change station. Even my gorgeous husband is finding it as easy, or even easier (as we never had a hard plastic wipes container, just used the refills with the sticky cover u peel up each time) wiping solution :)

Boring maybe but I thought you'd all like to hear my tips and if not, well don't read my blog :)

A Hair Treatment to remember

Hello world.... Well not really as i don't yet have any followers yet haha :) I haven't yet worked out how to link my blog to my facebook page but atleast when people do discover me they will have something to read :)

Well after our busy afternoon of mother daughter cooking, Pie got to try the delicious stewed apples for her sunday breakfast, which lead to a very upsert tummy and that lead to my late Sunday afternoon 'spew shampoo'.
 As a new stay at home Mum with a 4.5month old and a husband currently out of work, its been a while since I could afford a nice hair treatment or even a hair cut with the apprentice giving me a shampoo before hand... This was not a nice replacement! Nor was having my Mum wash the top of my hair in cool water in her bathroom sink. My lovely husband was able to control his laughter long enough to take Pie and ask my brother to "Quick, grab the camera! We need a photo of this!" (I won't be sharing it here, don't worry!), while I lay on the couch in a pool of vomit saying repeatedly "I don't know what to do!" as I felt it dribbling though my thick mop of hair and onto my scalp. My sister handed me a tissue! Fortunately, I can now look back and laugh too. Unfortunately we didn't capture it on video to share with the world (or send to Funniest home videos!)
Monday was spent discovering Pinterest and becoming seriously addicted!!! Our little Pie wouldn't sleep so we ended up packing her up in the pram and heading out for a family walk in the morning. The afternoon was spent pinning things to my pinterest boards! Seriously, the whole afternoon! If you haven't yet discovered it I'm seriously recomending you do right now (well finish reading this first!) Basically you get virtual cork boards and you 'pin' photos from all sorts of places on the web to them. For example I have a 'My Little Pie Board' and everytime I find something I want to buy or make for Pie I 'pin' it to the board so I can then find it easily and others can find the awesome things I've found too and pin them to their own board if they like. I've got like 9 boards on the go right now - my fave recipes, recipes I'd like to try, nappy things, my favourite things, home ideas, crafts to try, awesome tips and ideas etc etc. You can go check them out at https://pinterest.com/jodstar . Monday night I watched Can of Worms which I'm really liking and made awesome dairy free chocolate cake and cupcakes for the week. Pie is a little dairy intolerant so I have to avoid it or she gets a very upset tummy, so I'm discovering lots of good dairy free recipes. If you want the recipe its on my pinterest board :) https://pinterest.com/mcnlovers/cooking-up-a-storm/
Today was mothers group day which is always nice and I got to see a bub from my anti natal class, Pie was first born in class and this little bub was the last born :) We got a photo of them together, Pies about 6 weeks older but only half a kg bigger, she's a little Pie, my girl <3
After mothers group was grocery shopping time which is so much easier now that we're meal planning! We also got Pie a gorgeous little tunic for next year that I've been wanting for ages from target, but thought it was too much to pay for something she wouldn't really get much wear out of. today it was reduced in the winter sales to $10 with tights, YAY! And I've got a lovely photo collection planned for it :) I'd love a better camera but am making do with what I've got :) I love photos and our poor little Pie constantly has my mobile or camera pointed at her! Speaking of pinterest, I even set up a whole board of photo ideas too! Did I mention how much I am LOVING pinterest???

Cooking with my Pie

So this afternoon I had my very first cooking with Pie experience! And at only 4 and a bit months old its definately sooner than I was expecting!!!
Due to some awful, awful teeth which keep cutting and then moving back down (probably too ashamed to show there faces around me after causing my baby girl so much pain!) I had a very sooky snuggly girl this afternoon. While she was napping I got to it, making her food for the week.
Now I just have to say, how lucky are we modern mummies!!!! Preparing Pie's food is such an easy task thanks to the wonders of technology...
My first step, cut off a couple of pumpkin wedges then put them skin down in my microwave steamer pot with a splash of water, put the lid on, cook for 10-12mins!
While the pumpkins cooking I get onto peeling and chopping pears (and munching on the pear skins, yes a bit odd but I've discovered a love for it!) I put all my prepped pear in a bowl with a splash of water whilst it waits for the microwave to be vacated.
Pumpkin beeps, pull it out and put the container on the bench, pear bowl in microwave and its time to prep the apples - this weeks new food... I tried munching the apple skins but so not as good as the pear skin so I just eat a few wedges of apple while I chop.
Anyway it was right about now that my little Pie decided she'd had her half hour, it was time to wake up. So after a nappy change and a breast feed we return to the kitchen, Pie in the dining room in her bouncer watching while I continue the food prep and 'cooking'.
I scoop all the pumpkin flesh from its skin and put it into the knock-off magic bullets blender cup (best investment ever! My husband bought it shortly before we moved in together and its absolute crap, $20 from kmart, it purifies anything that hits its teeny tiny blades!!!! Now 18months later with a baby to feed its my favourite tool!)
It was at this point Pie started to really whinge, fingers in mouth, making her 'ow these stinking teeth are causing me so much pain' sounds. So we grab the ring sling from the boot of the car (I only just figured out how to use it properly last week after watching a very helpful instructional video on youtube! Every other time I tried from when she was a few weeks old she just screamed at me in very clear protest to being stuck in an odd hammock wrapped around my body! I thought babies liked that type of thing?) I rub a bit of teething gel across her gums, mainly so I can have a feel to see where we are up to - damn eye tooth is still sticking out and causing lots of swelling, if it sticks around my baby girl will have a fang haha!!!
Then its back to the pumpkin. Now scooping the warm flesh off the skin is not as easy one handed but we managed, screw the lid on, stick it in the base, twist and voila.... Pumpkin puree in seconds!!! Pears out of microwave, apples in and Pie is looks around and tries to suck on the ring holding the sling in place. She then finds the big noise of the magic puree machine a little scary but with big smiles from Mummy and a kiss, we are ready to go with the next step. Pumpkin puree into ice-cube tray and when we're done, by far Pies favourite part of the whole experience, she gets to lick the delicious, warm pumpkin puree from the spoon. Feeding her while in the ring sling proves to be a little tricky and somehow I put a big blob of pumpkin on her ear but she gives me a 'Wow, cooking with Mummy is so much fun' look and I get a big smile thinking about all the fun times to come and all the fun times I had when I was a kid in the kitchen (my exploding egg was a particularly memorable event).
Pumpkin in freezer, we give the bullet a quick rinse and in goes the pears, very similar to the pumpkins and Piper again licks the spoon, what a lucky girl :) At this point dear husband arrives home so he takes Pie to the lounge room which just doesn't sit well with Pie who isn't happy until she can see me! Very flattering as my daddy's girl has always been a daddy's girl and I've come to accept my place as her second favourite person in the world. But not today, just like her Mummy, when she's having a bad day she needs to be around her Mum. So Kev and Pie sit at the dining table and watch me complete the final dish, pureed apple, ready to start tomorrow, and as its a new food poor Pie didn't get to lick the spoon, I did instead and discovered that pureed apple is somewhat delicious and wish I'd made enough up for dessert tonight!!!
So all in all, my first mother daughter cooking experience was messy, noisey and a lot more complicated than a mummy only cooking experience but it was also wonderful :)

Jodi xo

A match made in heaven - MCNs and reuseable wipes

Transferring page notes over

So one problem I've come across in my cloth loving journey is wipes. My problem with wipes is trifold...

1. After years of bum changing (I'm an early childhood teacher BP (Before Pie) so have changed quite a few in my time) I've found the cheap wipes are my preference, I'm not a fan of the huggies ones, they are too thick and tear too easily. I don't like wipes to be too wet, too dry, too smelly, too thick or too thin. Most of the cheap ones don't work for us now tho as my little Cutie Pie has a sensitive toosh so we switched to a hypoallergenic brand but they seem a big waste of money when on a tight budget.

2. Disposing of wipes is a bit of a drama - they tend to get flushed down the toilet with our flushable liners *shhhhhh* - definately not ideal or environmentally friendly but a bag of wet and soiled wipes is not something I want in my bubs room, or they end up in the washing - yuck!

3. Thirdly I worry what goes into wipes solution? Is it really something I want to be putting on my little Cutie Pies butt???

So my problems are - cost, disposal and ingredients (in case you couldn't decipher that from my ramblings!)

This week I decided, if I'm washing nappies, why aren't I just washing wipes too?? My mum always used warm water on a washer with my younger siblings but I wanted something; - more convenient - right there on the change table and ready to go, rather than up to my elbows in number 3 and realising I've forgotten to wet a washer or need a second one (ok I'm exagerating slightly, after all the nappy changing experience I've had I don't end up 'up to my elbows' in it very often), - and more effective - My Cutie Pie has some intolerances we're working out and her poo's are pretty sticky so not all that easy to clean off!

After some reading I decided to try out the following solution which I mixed up in a bottle:

5 cups of hot water (recipe I found suggested 2.5cups but I thought that was too concentrated so dilluted it)
1 T of dry skin wash (I use Alpha Kerri)
1 T of baby wash (we use Johnson's blue brand wash for bubble baths when Pie and I have a big bath together, the recipes suggested 2 T of the baby wash  but I thought this was a bit too strong so used 1 of baby wash and 1 of the alpha kerri which was suggested to me as ideal bath solutions for newborns, either should work fine)
1.5 T of Johnsons sleepy time oil as it was given to me as a gift and I don't mind the smell of it
a few drops of tea tree oil - to keep any nasties from developing

I just had some thin washers that I put in a container and poured enough sollution on them to make them damp. I've been using these for the past 2 days and Im very happy :) Once I find the perfect container for storing them in they will be the perfect partner for my mcns :) Now I just have to get husband to use them too!

:) Jodi

Knit one, Purl one!

Transferring my page notes:)

One problem I've found with using MCNs is that they do occasionally leak. This may be that my budget so far has only allowed for cheapies but my budget hasn't improved enough to replace the collection so I'm happily making do with what I've got! Another reason could be that my little Cutie Pie has pretty skinny thighs (as far as baby thighs go!). So from time to time she has a little leak or two. To me this isn't that big of a deal, I still think cloth is the better option but I also don't want wet clothes to wake her in the middle of the night as I enjoy sleep just as much as shoe does! So when I discovered soakers I realised that my teenage self, who refused to learn to knit, had done me a huge dis-service!!! I'm now learning to knit in my spare time (all the spare time you have when you've got a 4 month old who manages to bewitch you into spending hours at a time just gazing and smiling at her and being totally mesmerised everyday!!!) and just about to start knitting a pair of soaker pants. So I thought I'd share the pattern for some of my fellow MCNAs (MCN addicts for those playing at home) to try out too :) 

There are plenty of patterns online but here's one I've found that I'll be trying out - http://www.curlypurly.com/pdf/soaker.pdf:) 

- Jodi