Did i forget to tell you?

i think i did. please excuse the all lower case; i'm going one handed because my toddler is sleeping in that arm. why? because he woke up early from his nap and would only sleep on mama.
but, the newest news of all: drum roll please...no, seriously, i can't say it without a proper drum roll. oh, come on, everyone can do it! just bang your hands on your lap, it's not that hard! thank you!

so, mark and i are adding to our family again! yup, we're getting a puppy! a cute little--oh, not a puppy? but brendon wants one so bad! fine. we'll have a baby then. you can't tell me they're not allowed here! i'm due mid-late october :)

i've een super sick. i don't rwmember being this sick with brendon. i do remember being sick, throwing up in the morning and at night, but i don't remember the mid-day stuff. everything i read about morning sickness with number 2 was, "i didn't notice it as much" and "running around with little [other child] made it seem not as bad". not here. i've had to put brendon down suddenly and run to the bathroom before. once the bathrooms despirately needed a cleaning, so i threw up in the living room in a trash bag...brendon watched and when i was done, proceeded to show me what i looked like, leaning over the bag. he even added sound effects. i had to laugh, it was just so cute.

so there you have it. i'll probably be back next month... :)

ISO: amber teething necklaces STAT!

Does anyone make amber teething necklaces and want to help my poor teething, cranky toddler out? It's been awful! I know he can't help it, and it's part of life, but I think I'd rather have more than one tooth come through at once. We went though this a few weeks ago, and then all of the sudden *poof* there was one of his eye teeth. Now, I'm waiting and watching for another one.

The fever, the crying, the tears, the non-sleeping, the acetaminophen, the ibuprofen, the Orajel. Oh my word! I'm beginning to hate the smell of Orajel. And Brendon now fights the meds.

But we will get through this, and we will do it two more times! But I'm serious about the amber teething necklaces! I don't have any extra $$, but I'm willing to do a trade, for some sewing skills. Seriously, I can make a ton of things without patterns, and just about anything if there is a pattern.

He woke up from his nap, still cranky and snuggly. We sat on the couch and I rocked a little, and he fell back asleep! Was not expecting that, but he's been asleep for about another hour on the couch. Poor guy.

Butt Paste? Pass Boudreaux's! (review)

This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of Boudreaux's Butt Paste. All opinions are 100% mine.

I only heard of Boudreaux's Butt Paste from a blog I was reading, this mom of 6 kids went shopping and her kid kept dropping random items in her cart. She did her best to deter this. One item was butt paste. She goes "Oh, {son} I didn't know you were out of butt paste!" HA!

Then, I got a tube as a baby shower present. Thankfully, Brendon never really had much problems with diaper rash. Once he was teething and had a bad rash when he pooped, Boudreaux's Butt Paste cleared it up! Seriously! It would be there, I'd change his diaper use the paste, and next diaper change, it was gone! And it protected his skin from any more rashes! {exclamation point!!} LOL

I'd only heard of other brands, white and pasty. Boudreaux's is more of a cream colored, and actually smells pretty nice. Boudreaux's Butt Paste® was specifically formulated by a pharmacist with direction from a respected pediatrician to provide effective diaper rash care. So you know that it's pediatrician recommended!

I like that Boudreaux's Butt Paste actually wipes off my fingers and on to Brendon's butt easily! and when it's time to change his diaper, it wipes off him with one wipe! You can get it lots of convenient sizes, 1oz, 2oz, 3oz and 4oz tubes, 16oz jar! Never be without! The tubes can be a small handy travel size, have a nice flip top cap.

The paste is made of 16% zinc oxide (so, no it's not safe for cloth diapers, but you can use a fleece liner!) and Peruvian Balsam, which helps it treat diaper rash and soothes irritated skin, and smell pleasent.

Not only do mom's love it, but TV loves it too. it's been featured on the Oprah Show, Tonight Show, Today Show, in People Magazine, ESPN, and Whil You Were Out (TLC)!

Did you know that you can visit their site for a free sample to test out for your self? They also have an "all natural" version.

How I make my covers

 When I make my covers, first, I cut out the fabric and PUL layers. Duh. Sometimes I do it together, sometimes separately. It just depends on the *mood* LOL Then I sew the soft touch tape to the tummy end, but only to the fabric, not the PUL layer too.

tummy touch tape sewed in place

Then, I place the two pieces together and trim if needed. If don't cut them together (or sometimes, even if I do!) I end up with extra wide curves or extra fabric, especially if I've cut out the pattern on a fold. I think the fold makes it wider, because it doesn't crease (you can see my pile over there <---). 

yah, yah, yah, i know it's looks funky. But it works!

 So I've matched up the layers and decide where the gather should go. I do have them marked on my pattern, but I just never remember to mark them when I'm cutting. Besides, they all end up in about the same areas. I know where I want them, so it all ends up good.

make sure you place the pins close to the edge, so you don't get extra holes

 Next comes the FOE, or fold-over elastic. This stuff is amazing. It's totally forgiving, and stretches as much or as little as you want. I don't actually start sewing at the end of the FOE. I give it a little tale, and pin until the corner. I always say I'm going to round my tabs, but each time, I never do. I just plow through. It's tedious, but I get a certain satisfaction when I see it finished. 

Hi Snoopy! I'm glad you look good in brown!

 Then, using a wide, short, three-step zig-zag, I sew around, stretching the FOE at the designated parts. I didn't take a picture of this, because I tend to focus to closely on it. Usually, I can get the FOE on with out stopping except to sew the FOE raw edges together, but I had to add a few inches, so I did have to stop and start a few times, but unless you look closely for it, it's not noticeable. 

need the right stitch!

 Then, the sticky touch tape. Someone reviewed a cover and said the tabs didn't stay closed that well, so I lengthened the sticky part, hopefully, they won't curl or come apart as easily. I really don't have a problem with it, but Brendon is always wearing pants. Our house is just too drafty/cold with out pants.

zigged around the touch tape to keep fraying enclosed

 I added an extra tab of soft touch tape, mainly because this is a medium, but the opening looked a bit big. It probably won't need it, but it doesn't hurt the function of the cover. Overlap! I couldn't remember what it was called! Overlapping touch tape. *sigh* I need more sleep.

overlapping touch tape, in case the bebe is skinny!

And I'm done. It took about an hour, but that's only if I'm alone (AKA Brendon is napping) LOL. He just loves to help. He loves pushing the reverse button.

it's finished! I loove admiring my handiwork. And see the green PUL! *love*

Here's the one I did the other day, compared to the one today. See how Snoopy is upside down on the crotch part of the one on the right? I forgot to add a seam to swap the direction of Snoopy. But it's just a small part.

Medium with brown FOE, small with Green FOE

The medium cover has an owner, but the small is up for grabs. Anyone going to have a 15lb-er around March? Anyone?

(PUL is PolyUrithane Laminate, waterproof on one side, and polyester-fabric on the other. Touch tape is generic "Velcro." Can't call it Velcro because I heard they sued for their name. FOE is fold-over elastic. It has a seam that makes it fold easily, perfect for binding!)

My fluff

 Alright. I guess it's time I humbled myself and say what I never, ever dreamed I'd say (Yes, Amy Grace, I'm thinking of you!) I love my cloth diapers!! *deep breath* I love my cloth diapers!

Daddy bought a new gun. Mommy bought new diapers! Yay!!

Oh, hi! I...uh...scoffed at the idea of cloth diapers because of the laundry. I despise laundry. Right now, I have a mountain (although it's dwindling bit by bit) of dirty laundry up stairs, a basket full of clean laundry up stairs (maybe two..?), one down stairs, drier full of clothes, and washing machine full of diapers. I'm never caught up. I'm always finding clothes I had forgotten I loved because I hadn't washed it in a month. Huh, maybe that should be a sign I have too many clothes?

Covers I made myself! and yes, I do use the ones I keep

But really, adding two loads a week? Like a sprinkler during a rainstorm. Don't worry, I'm not trying to convert you, but I feel like I need to come clean.  I feel good about not throwing so many diapers away. I felt like I needed to keep them on Brendon as long as possible to not use as many through out the day. And, honestly, some times I wanted to put a diaper BACK on after bath-time for the night if it wasn't really *that* wet. No, I never did, but I seriously thought about it.

Attempting to be organized, yeah right, it's usually empty!

 I've only used disposables for the babysitter this week, Monday and Tuesday. I think Mark's going to use them this weekend when I work, but I've saved a couple dozen of diapers from the trash this week. Even though *crosses fingers* Brendon will be out of diapers soon *ish, soon-ish* they'll last for the next kid. I have two pocket diapers I made (used to have three until one broke in the wash), two covers (used to be three until one fell apart), one fleecie (pull on cover), and about a dozen or so prefolds I lay in the covers. I have three BumGeniuses, two Fuzzibuns, two Happy Hineys, two Babykicks 3.0, and two (used to be one, but I got a free one, in fact, they were both free with orders!). I have a pre-loved BumGenius 3.0, 6 KaWaii baby diapers (soon to be 5 because I'm sending one back-it's snap broke!).

new fluff!

 I've started picking out the best diapers I like, and want to get more of them. One is the BumGenius, and one is BabyKicks. I hope to get some more pictures up, but Brendon has all of the sudden become camera shy angry. He throws a fit when I turn it on around him, I think it's because I'm using it and not him.

Mommy's creations...the kid and the diaper! LOL

Anyways, this is my change for our children's planet. I'm sorry, I like my hot showers waay to much to give them up. YOU CAN'T HAVE IT!

All about BAM

Brendon's vocabu words just keep expanding.

• mama
• dada
• baby
• elmo
• steve
• up
• please
• thank you
• banana
• juice
• milk
• cookie
• eat
• more
• hi
• bye-bye
• night-night
• morning
• book
• shoes
• two
• minion (from Despicable Me)
• teeth
• water
• bike
• hat
• boom (as in, did you fall down and go boom?)
• stuck
• pee-pee
• poo-poo (typical boy, huh?

He can point to his head, hair, eyes, nose, ears, mouth, tongue, teeth, belly, belly button, fingers, toes, pants, shirt, shoes, socks, hat.

He says hi and morning spontaneously when I get him up from his bed. We were outside today and it was cold and raining, and he patted his head and said "hat?"

He signs please, and milk and more. He waves bye-bye, and blows kisses.

When he falls down or bumps something (just not hard), he says "boom" until I say "did you fall down and go boom?" If he really gets hurt, he brings the hurt part to me to kiss.

He loves taking baths, especially now that he gets to color his water! I think that's his favorite part of bath time, dropping in the thingies.

He is truly his father's son, he dislikes wearing socks/footie PJ's or having his feet tucked in the blankets.

He is his mother's son and shares a love of books and reading. Today, after I got out of the shower, I found him in his room (gated in of course!) on his bed, reading books. It truly melted my heart to see that. *gushes*

He is 19 months old, weighs about 30lbs, wearing 18-24month clothes (mostly 24 month, some 18 month cause that's what we have). He can go up and down the stairs like it's nobody's business. He doesn't like to go outside when it's cold. He tries to take his jacket off when we get home, and put it in the closet. He takes his shoes and socks off whenever we get in the van.

He won't sleep in his regular bed any more, even changed to a toddler bed. He sleeps on a futon, with his two blankets, MY body pillow, and several stuffed animals. We might just put the crib frame away for a bit and have a little extra room.

Oh! Something new, he points to me and mark and himself when asked "Where's Mama/Dada/Brendon?" It's so cute! AND! (I know!!) his top right canine tooth has poked through! All those sleepless nights and napless days have paid off!

I'll try to do better about blogging, but I get bored easily...I wonder if that's why I have so many projects going on...hmm...LOL

Hi, do I know you?

I should have waited a few more weeks, then I could have made it a full month of being a slacker! Ugh, I just don't have enough time to do what I want to do, and I want to do it all. *sigh* I really should designate certain days for certain activities. But there's just now knowing what will come up for which days. Blogger only lets you have one scheduled post at a time, and I thought about just writing a bunch of posts, entertaining of course, and scheduling them all for several weeks, but I'm sure you can tell how that ended up.
My friend Amy G had her baby boy! Finally! LOL one of her last FB status's was something about that baby being evicted. I'm glad he decided to come out.  Recently, one of our new friends announced they were pregnant. She's due the day before I was. I'm so happy for her, really, and I'm doing really well with not being jealous :) I was able to get in some quality bitty-baby time with EBV, a few-week old infant (not too sure about the age there :D).  AH! So cute, fun, adorable, and lovable!
I've been perfecting my sewing skills, in between working on my SIL's quilt. It was first supposed to be for her birthday, but you all know that I am a slacker, so then it was Christmas, and well, maybe it'll be done by President's Day!
Ok, enough talking, work has been driving me into the mud these past few days, so I'm taking my heiney to bed while my wonderful sister is wrecking havoc in my kitchen, under the pretense of doing my dishes.