Mario Wall Stickers

So, I recently shared the felt characters I made for Josephine's room.  We still love them, and have started letting her hold one at diaper changes. She thinks this is fantastic. :)

For my birthday, my big brother gave me some Mario wall stickers, which I used to decorate another area of Jo's room.

Aren't they so cheerful?

We'll hold Josephine up to the wall and let her collect coins, stomp Goombas, and go up/down pipes. She thinks this is hilarious.

I used almost all of the stickers in the set.  There was one more Mario, plus two small hills that looked a little weird with everything else.

Of course, now I feel like I need to do something to this corner of the wall:

Love and Piranha Plants,

Leah Joy

Felt Characters

So, before Josephine was born, I had this fabulous to plan to make her a quilt and two mobiles (one for above her bed, and one for above her changing table) and I was going to have them done before she was born.

Hahahahaha.

I didn't finish the quilt until she was 5 months old, and by the time I had the characters for the mobiles done, she was too old for a mobile.

Here are the finished characters.  In case you can't tell, I went with a Mario theme for one, and a jungle animals theme for the other.

I couldn't use them for a mobile, but I didn't really want them to just be toys, either (at least not yet). I worked really hard on these guys; I hand sewed each one. Josephine is still in the put-everything-in-my-mouth-or-tear-it-apart stage, so while these might be toys someday, for now, I made them into garlands for her room.

They hang above her changing station, so she can look at them while getting cleaned. :)

They all turned out pretty well, except the hippo. He's a little derpy. (But then again, so am I.)

I hung them with tiny clothespins. They're super cute, but also don't put any holes in the characters, so I can re-purpose them later.

I think the elephant is my favorite of the animals.

The fireflower is my favorite of the Mario guys.

Love and Embroidery Floss,

Leah Joy

Hexagon Medallion Rug

Inspired by Pinterest, as always:

There's a link to a free pattern on the pinned page.

I had a lot of fun making this project - it was actually pretty quick, too.

And it's so pretty, and much bigger than I thought it would be, which is actually good.

To avoid purchasing more fabric, I used this weird fabric on the back. I got it for free once in a grab bag.  Since this will be a rug, no one will ever actually have to see it. :)

Right now, it lives in Josephine's room.

Love and Triangles,

Leah Joy

Nursery Update

My baby is now 5 months old! Wow!  It's also been 5 months since I first shared pictures of her nursery.  A lot has changed since then, so I thought it was time for an update.

Her crib has a bit more going on now. We had to add a breathable mesh bumper, because she kept getting her legs stuck between the slats and it freaked her out.  Most of her stuffed animal collection lives beneath her crib, waiting until she's old enough to do more than slobber on them.

Also, in case you couldn't tell, I did not clean up before I took these pictures.  I wanted to keep it real for you. (And I didn't want to clean.)  Next to her crib, on the floor, I keep her towels and a basket of bath toys and washcloths.  This maybe isn't the most logical place for them, but they don't really fit in the bathroom, and they're easier to grab from the floor than from in her closet.

Moving to the left, there's my rocking chair, along with another chair which actually just functions as a surface for burp cloths and a glass of water.  There's also her Rock 'n' Play, which has basically been a life/sleep saver.  In the far corner, I still have some craft stuff, too.

You may or may not have noticed, but the sewing machine and desk are gone! They have been moved into Caleb's office so that I can actually use them.  Boy, does her room feel a lot emptier without them!

The 12-cube organizer is still in place, and is a little more functional for her diaper changes now.  I still have the bags of next-size clothes all ready to go, too.

And then we're back to the changing table/dresser.

So of course, we'll peek inside.  This is how it is currently organized, but it has changed a few times since the last update.

The top drawer holds spare changing table pad covers, most of which are just blankets.  We also keep travel-size wet bags (for in the diaper bag), cloth diapers, and burp cloths.

The middle drawer holds onesies (separated into short- and long-sleeve), pants (in the bigger basket), hats, socks/shoes, and sleepers (separated into fleece and cotton).  This drawer changed the most.  In the beginning, I had it packed way too full.  I wasn't sure what size she was going to be, so I filled the dresser with all her clothes size Newborn through 3 months.  This meant at least half of the clothes in the dresser didn't even fit her - and I could hardly find the ones that did.  My mom came and helped me sort through the dresser and we narrowed it down so that we could actually find things - and get the drawers to open and shut.

The bottom drawer holds extra sheets and blankets, jackets/sweaters, overalls, and then a pile of outfit thingies for which I have no name other than 'jumpsuits'. (I really don't know what they're called.)

Having extra room in the drawers is really nice and helps keep it from getting overwhelming.  It's very easy to see what she has, since everything in there fits her.

Finally, the closet:

The hanging things haven't changed too much, but the stuff on the floor has. While it was nice to keep the bathtub in there before she could use it, now that she's using it frequently, it's pretty silly to cart the bathtub back and forth every time, so we keep it in the bathroom.  In its place on the floor of the closet, I now have bags of clothing Josephine has outgrown - plus my maternity clothes.  I do plan to eventually sort this all, fold it nicely, and put it into better storage, but for now this is functional.

And that's all, folks.  I'm sure it will continue to change, but for now, this is what works well for us.

Love and Crayons,

Leah Joy

Nursery Tour

A question I've been getting a lot is "What are you doing to the nursery?"  Not a lot, as far as decorating goes, but lots of furniture changes!  Here's a photo tour, so you can see for yourselves.

When you walk in the door, you're greeted with both a Pack'n'Play (with bassinet) and a crib.  The Pack'n'Play will be moving (to our bedroom for the first couple weeks, and then to various locations around the house), but for now it makes sense to just keep it all in here.

The Pack'n'Play is also currently the storage location for Baby's already-massive stuffed animal collection, and a few other things:

(I LOVE that happy polar bear!)

To the right of those is the closet, which got a little bit of a makeover.  The top two shelves are still for paper products and cleaning supplies, but now we have a few of Baby's things hanging up, too.

Including what will be her diaper bag once she's old enough to carry her own bag.

Down below is my collection of baskets, an extra Pack'n'Play (we have been super blessed!), and bathtime stuff.  I'm really glad the bathtime stuff fit in here, since we don't have a lot of extra room in the bathroom.

To the left of the crib is the window and the rocking chair (the chair does have a cushion, too, it's just currently being cleaned).

I also did a quick update to the curtains so that they'll be easy to open and close.  They were just tied open before, but now they have actual ties.  "Actual ties" being a loose term that I'm currently applying to a piece of yarn with some knots in it. :)  Not exactly elegant, but functional.  And easy to replace later if I feel like it.

The other side of the room is still a craft room.  Yes, I should not have these things out in Baby's room when she's no longer a baby, but she's not going to be getting out of her crib on her own for a while, and I see no reason to try to reconfigure everything at once.  And yes, it's kind of a mess.

This part still needs organizing, as the top of the 12-cube organizer will probably be partially emptied to hold wipes/diapers.  In the corner, I have some bags of larger size baby clothes, all sorted and folded and ready to go in the dresser when she outgrows the size currently in there.

If you kept going left from the dresser, you'd be back at the door, so that's a full circle tour.

And now you get to peek inside the dresser!

The top drawer holds newborn-size disposable diapers, disposable wipes, and the one-size cloth diapers (that we'll use once Baby is big enough for them).  

I used various baskets and cardboard boxes to make really fancy drawer dividers. :)  In the middle drawer are onesies, sweatshirts, pants, sleepers, and sleep sacks.  We also have an entire box of hats (she has 15!) and socks.

The bottom drawer holds burp cloths, extra sheets, swaddlers, and blankets.

I am very aware that every time Baby grows this whole system will need to be redone.  I am okay with that.  I am also aware that my cloth diaper stash will probably not stay in rainbow order, and I'm also okay with that.

Now, I've seen a lot of blog posts about people's nurseries and what it cost to decorate them, so I thought I'd throw in my two cents here, also.  First of all, we've been very blessed and have very generous families.  The crib is the same one my little siblings used when they were babies.  We bought a new mattress for it, but the sheets were gifts from family.  We were given two Pack'n'Plays, and sheets to go with them.  The dresser is also a hand-me-down from my parents, and I used stuff I had around the house to organize it.  We were given tons of clothes from friends and family.

What did we purchase?  Most of the diapers, the changing table pad, the crib mattress, a few blankets (from Salvation Army), and the rocking chair (at a garage sale).  (We did purchase other things, like a car seat and stuff, but I'm focusing on the nursery today.)

Now, even if you don't have friends and family give you things, I think some of the principles still apply.  I saw one Pinterest nursery where the writer raved about the amazing deal she got on a dresser - only $300!  I can't even imagine spending $300 on a little dresser!  I guess I understand not having the energy to browse thrift stores, consignment shops, garage sales, and/or Craigslist, but I also feel like if you could score a dresser for $50 that just needed a little love, it would be totally worth it.

I get some things have to be purchased new, or at least fairly new, because of newer health/safety standards, but you should still be able to find good deals on these things.  They are used for such a short period of time that it seems wasteful to spend a lot of money on them. (Yes, you will continue to use a dresser for a long time, unlike a crib, but there are also not a lot of health/safety regulations applying to dressers.)  And all it takes to refresh some of these items is a good cleaning.

Okay, well, that turned into a rant/ramble.  You're welcome? :)

Love and Yellow Walls,

Leah Joy

Cloth Diapering: Why We're Doing It

Happy Black Friday!  Today is Baby's due date, and since I'm pre-writing this post, I can't even tell you if we've had baby yet or not.  Today, I'm here to talk about cloth diapers. 

After doing a lot of research, like seriously, a lot of research, and then some more research, we followed up with doing some more research.  Finally, we decided that cloth diapering is right for our family.  When people find out, I get three main reactions: "You'll get so sick of the laundry," "I don't have the time to do that," or "WHY?"

I'm here today to tell you why, and also address people's primary concerns.  First up, why:

1. Baby's Skin.  Our baby is genetically predisposed to have sensitive skin, and cloth is much nicer on sensitive skin than disposable.  While cloth-diapered babies can still get diaper rash, it's less common, and when they do, it's less likely to be from the actual diaper (and more likely to be from sickness or something they ate).  

2. Budget.  Caleb would tell you this is the only reason we're cloth diapering.  If you don't believe that it's cheaper, do a quick Google search.  Even using the most expensive cloth diapers is cheaper overall than using the cheapest disposables.  We find this highly motivating.

3. Environment.  I've got to admit, I'm not the most environmentally-concerned person, and if it weren't for reasons 1 and 2, I'd probably just use disposables.  However, it's a bonus that by being cheap and nice to my baby's skin, I also get to be a good steward of God's creation.

4. THEY ARE SO CUTE.  This was not one of my original reasons, but after having a box of 17 adorable diapers come in the mail, I'm about dying of cuteness.  Yes, the cuteness of my baby's poop catchers. :)

Above is when they first came in the mail.  Below is the stash all lined up in the dresser.

A lot of people have concerns about cloth diapering, and I will address those here:

1. "My kid will go to daycare and they don't allow cloth diapers."  Okay, if your kid has to go to daycare, then yeah, you probably can't cloth diaper.  End of story.

2. "I live in a region that is often drought-stricken and can't justify using that much water for laundry."  This is also a legitimate factor, but one that doesn't apply here in the Great Lakes region.

3. "We don't have a washer in our house and have to go to a laundromat."  Again, this is very legitimate.  I probably wouldn't want to cloth diaper if we had to leave the house to do laundry, either.

4. "Cloth diapers are so much work to put on- and all those pins."  Okay, 20 years ago, this was so true, but cloth diapers have come a long way since then.  There are some varieties that are as easy to put on as disposables.

5. "I don't have the time to do that," or "That's too much laundry."  As stated in number 3, there are some varieties that are as easy to put on as disposables.  Cloth diapers only add 1 load of laundry every few days, which doesn't seem to me like it will take a lot of time.  But I also don't hate doing laundry, so this could feel like torture if you hate laundry.

Now, my intentions here are not at all to shame you if you've chosen disposable diapers for your family.  I'm just saying why we chose them, in spite of some valid arguments against them.

And now some more cute pictures.  I pre-washed all the diapers and was pleased to note that our 24 diaper collection (including a wet bag) fits very nicely on our drying rack.  Plus they look so clean and fresh!  (Yes, I am aware that part may not last.)

We have a wet bag hanging in the nursery for collecting the diapers.  The plan is to just take the whole thing to the washer and empty it in.  (The wet bag will get washed every time, too.)

Aren't these monkeys just the cutest?!

Love and Snaps,

Leah Joy

P.S. At some point, I will certainly update you all on how this adventure is going.

P.P.S. We are planning on using newborn-size disposables until Baby is big enough to fit into the one-size cloth diapers.