My New Favourite Cloth Diaper!

When Noodleman was quite small, I discovered the rainforest babies diaper. It is a diaper cover that comes with a snap in liner. Daddyman and I fell in love with this system. The diapers dried fast and so did the cover. I bought quite a few! My only hang ups with this diaper would be:

1) The company has gone out of business or stopped making them, or something. I only ever find them on Olivia Place, and then it's a nice discount.

2) They are a sized diaper. So Noodleman will eventually grow out of them.

3) The hemp liner that came with them (they also come with a microfiber liner), has gone all gross! It is thin and not soft and I don't like to use it unless I have too.

But all in all, they are still our go to diapers.

Now recently, the store has started selling Best Bottom Diapers. I will admit, I didn't try before we started selling them. I figured they are so much like the rainforest babies, I would love them. So, the other day I ordered the Hoot. Well it finally came and I prewashed it (which by the way is the thing I hate the most about all cloth diapers!). I hate having to prewash. I want to take it out of the package and throw it on Noodleman's bum. Anyways, back to the diaper, so I prewashed it, threw it on Noodleman and guess what? I frickin' love this diaper!! I love that when he needs changing, I just take out the insert and put in a new one (wiping down the inside of the cover too). When we go out, this is my new go-to diaper. I pack a couple cloths and a couple inserts and it takes up no space at all. I can even fit it in my regular purse! The most amazing thing is, the insert fits in a Ziploc bag, the sandwich kind! I have a wetbag, but I occasionally forget it :(. I also love that it is a one size diaper, so he can wear it for a while and then if we have another baby, I can use it for longer.

Here is the one I bought:

I don't have any pictures of it on, as we are also ECing part time, so Noodleman really only has a diaper on when we leave the house.  I bought 3 of the stay dry liners to go with this diaper and that seems to be a good number. I don't want to use it for more than 3, as I think it would get stinky in there! However, having not tried it, I don't actually know. 

Now here are the things I don't like about this diaper...there's only 2. First, the inserts are sized, so at some point I will have to buy more. However, this is nice because Noodleman is small and is currently in the medium size, so there is no bunching and it fits like a sized diaper. The second thing I dislike about it is, one day he will be out of diapers and I may have to sell it! 

There are so many patterns of the Best Bottom diapers, I might have to buy a few more. I am excited to try the over night liners. We have doubled up with inserts before, but it is so nice that these snap together. It would mean no more bunching and moving around. I will try to catch a photo at naptime, with his little bum up in the air, then you can see how incredibly cute this diaper is. I am excited to get a Moo-licious one as well. We have been in the solid colours for so long, I can't wait to explore more prints!!

**While I do sell them, this is a personal account of my experience with this style/brand of diaper. The company does not/did not pay me for this, I had to purchase this diaper myself for my son. 

DIY Toddler pants out of old sweater

I am addicted to Pinterest! I have some of the fullest board out of all my friends, and I frequently get annoyed that no one is pinning anything new! So I decided to actually start making some of the things I have pinned.

The first thing, that I thought would be quick and easy, was a pair of toddler pants of out of an old sweater. Daddyman and I had just gone through everyone's clothing to take to a clothing swap, and I have salvaged some of his old sweaters to upcycle.

One of the sweaters is thick and soft and Daddyman has had it forever. We have both worn it on sick days and very cold days. So I grabbed it and cut the arms off!

As you can see I used a pair of Noodleman's pants to measure how long the arms should be. I used a pair that are a little big on him, as lately everything I make him is too small by the time I am finished!

Next I cut open the inside seam of the sleeve, down to the crotch of the pants. The picture isn't any good, as the sweater is black. I left the pants in place to make sure the crotch was in the right place.

Next I pinned the seams of opposite sides together. 

Once it was pinned, I sewed right sides together. You can turn your pants inside out for this, but I prefer to leave them. This is what it looks like sewn.

Next I turned over the waist. I didn't iron it, as I didn't think it would make any difference, but it may have been easier! Once the waist was turned over and sewn, I measured Noodleman's waist and then fed the elastic through with a safety pin. Thankfully, the knit is fairly close on this sweater, so the safety pin didn't slip through! This is the finished product...

The great thing about using the sleeves is you don't have to hem the legs. These are still a little big for my Noodleman, but he has room to grow and they fit great over his fluff bum (cloth diapers).

Here he is, in them...

I am excited for the next clothing swap, I will be on the lookout for other peoples hand me down sweaters to make more of these!

DIY for the Toddlers!

Lately I have been experimenting with making things for Noodleman to play with. He is more interested in pots and pans, and spoons and bowls, than your regular run of the mill toys, so I thought I would test my crafty skills and see what I could come up with.

The first thing I had to come up with was new bath toys. Daddyman and Noodleman have a shower together every night while I clean up dinner. This is a little relax time for me (about 10-20 minutes), however lately Noodleman is bored with the selection of toys in the shower, so he is signing all-done after about 5 minutes. This doesn't fly well with me as I like having a couple minutes alone before bedtime, and Daddyman isn't getting the time to soap up. So after racking my brain for what we could buy him for "Christmas"(but he would get before the day), I thought about my days working in daycare and the water play toys we had. We were on a budget and had to be creative with our budget. I went to the dollar store and bought 4 sheets of fun foam for $1.25. When I got home (and Noodleman was sleeping), I used my Cricut paper cut outs, to draw and cut out some shapes for the bath. That night I got them wet and stuck them on the bath wall to see how Noodleman reacted. He loved them! He put them up and took them down. He put them on the floor and stomped on them. We used squirters to shoot them off the wall! I made some dinosaurs and fishies, so we used them like felt board stories and sang songs with them. The best part is, if he rips them apart (they are quite thin), I can make a ton more!

Now onto our play-space!
I am home all day with my little Noodleman and another little LO, that we hang out with. They are only 3 weeks apart, so have a lot of the same interests...and are cheeky in similar ways! Lately both have been into zippers, buttons, string, belt buckles, clips, and everything else that opens and closes. I wanted to make Noodleman something really fun to use/practice all these skills with, without having him cart one of my sweaters all over the house! So I was going to make him a pillow, but as my fabulously creative brain got started with all the things I wanted on it, the pillow became HUGE in my brain. So I thought about it for a while and decided to make him a block, but a big one, about 11 inches square. So far I have created 4 panels, one with a zipper that opens into a pocket:

Clips:

And then I sewed together 2 pieces of felt (green and blue) to make him his own felt board. The last one I have so far, is a piece of minky to cuddle. I am excited about the last 2 sides. Daddyman is making big wooden buttons, and I will sew flaps and string to one side for those. The last side, will have some kind of sensory play. I would like to find a piece of burlap, fleece and maybe a piece of vinyl. I will of course post pictures once it is finished!

My last project was so easy, Noodleman was able to help. Daddyman also helped...by drinking the pop inside the bottle. Next I cleaned the bottle and gathered all the ingredients. I put a spout of top and let Noodleman add all the things he wanted in it. We used a base of rice, then added sparkles, buttons, tiny alphabet pasta and some beads.

That's all we/I have been working on lately. Christmas is coming and I will be baking up a storm so expect more recipes coming your way!