A Josephine Doll for Josephine

Many moons ago, a friend sent me a link to The Josephine Doll pattern on whileshenaps.com.

I decided to make this doll for Josephine to give to her when Micah was born. That way, we'd both have a baby to take care of.

She named her doll "Dolly", proving that she's just as good at naming things as I was at her age.

Jo takes good care of her doll. She reads to her, changes her diaper, and gives her tummy time.

I sized the pattern up a little bit, so the finished doll is about 7" long.

Love and Pink,

Leah Joy

Herringbone Baby Quilt

This is a quilt I made this past winter for my cousin's baby.

I had so much fun picking out the fabric for this quilt.

I'm so pleased with how it turned out!

It was really fun to piece this quilt together and watch the pattern grow.

I even quilted it with the herringbone pattern, so I think the back looks just as cool as the front:

Love and Babies,

Leah Joy

Cinnamon Roll Couronne

Any other fans of The Great British Baking Show?

I was fascinated when they made couronnes, and wanted to make my own. I found a recipe for a cinnamon roll version, which sounded way better than anything they made on the show. I mean, come on. Cinnamon and sugar... Mmmm....

Once I got it into a ring, I took a picture, just in case it turned out horribly. I wanted to be able to see that it had been pretty at least at one point. :)

But it turned out beautifully!

And it sliced into beautiful cinnamon rolls.

While it was a lot of work, it's a beautiful result, and I would definitely consider making it again for a special occasion.

The only thing I would do differently is make some sort of rim around the edge of the baking sheet to catch all the oozing butter/sugar goodness. A lot of it dripped to the bottom of the oven and made the whole house smell like burnt sugar.

Mmmm....

Bonus picture of some football brownies I made for the Super Bowl. The laces were piped with a powdered sugar icing in a zip-top bag.

Love and Cinnamon,

Leah Joy

Christmas Truffles (2017)

And now for an out-of-season Christmas post!

Many of you may be familiar with my 'Cookie List'. It began in high school, as a way to give something to my friends, even when I couldn't afford a gift. It has since morphed into a way to give gifts to co-workers and church friends. (Read a better description here.)

Last fall, Caleb started a new job. At his previous job, he had a very clearly defined department, and it was easy to bring in a box of goodies for each person in his department. In his new job, the office is a very open space, and bringing in a box for just a few people would be, well, rude. Not wanting to make up boxes for all 30-something people in his office, we decided on a truffle buffet! (I know, right!)

Jo helped me bring in and set up a beautiful display of truffles. (It was also a great chance to meet some of Caleb's co-workers.)

Jo got to try one, too. Mmmm....

We also brought in a bunch of little paper-board boxes so they could pack some up to bring home. It was a big hit, and we plan to do something similar this year!

Love and Chocolate,

Leah Joy

Jo's Halloween (2017)

Yes, I am very far behind on these posts!

Looking back, it's funny that Jo went as Elmo, since we've barely watched any Sesame Street in months. She's far more into Daniel Tiger now.

I found the idea for this costume with my trusty sidekick (Pinterest).

Jo and I went to Once Upon a Child and found red pants and a red sweatshirt. I decorated the Elmo face with felt we already had. For the tutu, I bought a roll of 6" red tulle from Hobby Lobby and made a waistband of elastic (already had). This is the kind of tutu where you cut strips of the tulle and tie them on the elastic. While it's a super quick way to make a tutu, it does not hold up well against long-term (ab)use by a toddler. However, it worked well for the day!

Now I need to start thinking about a costume for her this year. Any ideas?

Love and Tulle,

Leah Joy

New House Tour: Jo's Room

I right away need to apologize for the picture quality in this and upcoming posts. I've mainly been using my phone, which looks fine, well, on my phone, but once blown up a bit, it's a tad grainy. Sorry!

Here's what Jo's room looked like after we purchased it (and moved her toys in, and stuck art on the one nail in the wall):

When we had first looked at the house, there were also purple curtains and a huge purple bed in this room, so we were ready to be rid of the purple. I don't know if you can tell in the picture, but the walls were sponge-painted two tones of lavender. They even painted the outlet covers, switch plates, and the actual outlets and switches, too. That's a lot of purple.

The room also had a very funky smell, which I can actually still smell just looking at the above picture. We had had the carpets professionally cleaned, and even after several baking soda and essential oil treatments, the room still smelled funky, so a coat of paint seemed like it might help get rid of that smell.

I chose a very pleasant soft pink (we call it Little Tikes Pink). My mom helped me paint the whole room, and we also did the trim in white. What a difference! (And it got rid of the smell!)

Then my mom helped me decorate! (Oh sorry, and Jo did, too.)

Until I was able to make new curtains for her room, I hung up the living room curtains from our old house.

The heart crayon art is something Chloe and I made with a friend several years back. It goes very nicely over Jo's kitchen. (Craigslist find!)

And here are the new curtains!!

They are fully lined with blackout fabric.

And they have beautiful unicorns!!!

The pink perfectly matches the walls (I actually chose the wall color to go with the fabric), and the bits of purple help tie in the existing carpet. But I love that having a teal background makes the whole room a little less overwhelmingly one color.

Love and Unicorns,

Leah Joy

Cloth Diaper Update - 7/12/2018

It has been a very long time since I did a cloth diaper update, and it's about darn stinkin' time I did. (Puns always intended.)

We've learned a LOT since that first update, and I've actually just gone back and edited a few things on that one, since I no longer endorse some of the products on there.

So, let's just jump right into what diapers we use:

BumGenius Freetime All-in-Ones: We bought a couple of these on clearance at Buy Buy Baby and the rest from Craigslist. They are still holding up well for Jo and Micah. The larger sizing fits Jo and the smallest sizing fits Micah. They are easy to wash, dry fairly quickly, and are easy to use. We have about 37 of them, which is about a 2-day supply for a toddler and a newborn.

BumGenius are shown on the right

 We had started out using DiaperRite AIOs, but after 5 months of use, these started leaking out the stitching. (Actually, their pocket diapers also started doing this.) The company could not refund me anything (I was past the refund date - since I was so prepared for Jo, we actually passed the refund date before she even started wearing them). They had a few suggestions for potential fixes, but none of them worked. I also could not edit my review on their website (where I had given them a glowing 5-star review). They were absolutely not worth the money!

We have not found a cloth diaper solution for nighttime. Everything we have tried ends up leaking. We've tried pocket diapers and AIOs with microfiber inserts and hemp inserts, in various combinations and quantities, but nothing has worked. So we use disposable diapers at night.

We still really like our Planet Wise wet bags. We still have the large ones from when Jo was a newborn. They are pretty beat up looking, but they STILL WORK. They are a pretty amazing product. Very worth the investment.

These Damero travel size wet bags were not so great. They worked pretty well for a while, but after a year or so, stopped being as waterproof. They're still good bags for carrying dry things, so I'll use them to pack up a change of clothes, or all the bedtime things if we're going somewhere where we'll need to get Jo ready for bed. However, I no longer recommend them for diaper use.

Instead, we purchased some medium-size Planet Wise wet bags to use for travel bags.

We're still using baby washcloths for wipes, and other than adding another package, there's no change here. They're pretty great.

We still like coconut oil and aloe vera for rash creams, although I've also added a homemade salve that's cloth diaper friendly. (This recipe, but with no essential oils, so it's safe for Micah, too.) We don't use either the Cetaphil cream or the Shea Moisture cream shown below anymore. I'd still use the Shea Moisture one, but it's been discontinued. A crying shame, too, because it was cloth-diaper friendly and made my baby smell like Baby Jesus! (Frankincense and Myrrh)

For bad diaper rash, we'll switch to disposables and use Triple Paste or Desitin.

We also switched laundry detergents. We were using Nellie's, which I still think is a great product, but my children have SUPER acidic pee. I have no idea why this is, but it causes an ammonia build-up that then caused HORRIBLE diaper rash. (Like, bleeding rash. Yeah, really awful!)

We started using Rockin' Green Funk Rock Pre-Wash (it's an ammonia bouncer) and Hard Rock (specifically designed for hard water). We had to do a soak with the Funk Rock once, and then just add it to our pre-wash every time. I actually do another soak about 2-3 times a year, just to keep the diapers nice. 

We still have these swim diapers, and have since purchased larger sizes for them. I highly recommend both of these (Apple Cheeks and the Bummis Swimmi). The smaller size (Apple Cheeks size 1 and Bummis S) fit Jo the summer she was 6 months and 18 months, and they now fit Micah at 4 months. The larger size (Apple Cheeks size 2 and Bummis XL [I bought XL because L was $10 more expensive]) fits Jo now at 2.5 (25 pounds). 

If you have any questions or want any more information, please comment below. I'd love to answer your questions if I can!