BOGO Melissa & Doug Puzzles!

Remember me saying that I was loving those Melissa & Doug peg puzzles that I got for Enoch a few weeks ago?  Well, right now (until Aug. 26th), Melissa & Doug are having a Buy One Get One half off sale on all of their puzzles!  Here's the promo code:  PUZZLEBOGO, and here's the link to their website.

If you aren't sure what kind of puzzle to get for your baby/toddler/child, check out this link, as I think it will help you understand the options.

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Tips for: Homemade Laundry Detergent

We've been making our own laundry detergent for almost 2 years now, and I love it!  It saves us money, cleans our clothes well, and is one less thing for me to be continually buying at the supermarket!  In the past 2 years, I've only had to make 3 batches of detergent (I just made the 3rd, so it seems to last for quite a long time, though that may be changing as I add another baby to the mix soon!).

The first batch of detergent I made was a liquid, and I followed the Duggars' recipe.  It worked well, but I didn't like having to store 10 gallons of liquid detergent.  So the past 2 batches I've made have been a powder detergent.  It's much easier to store and even a bit easier to measure, if you ask me.  The recipe for powder detergent that I've settled on (for the most part) is from the How Does She? blog.  Below is my slightly revised recipe (because I'm soo bad at following recipes fully!).

See the note if you plan to use the detergent on baby clothes and/or cloth diapers.  I've had good success with the revised recipe on both of those delicate items, but Enoch doesn't have super sensitive skin, so I'm not sure if it'd work well for babies who do or not.  And I'll admit that it's probably not as good for cloth diapers as Charlie's soap or Rockin' Green soap, but it has worked well for us and gets out the stink (I wash once on cold, regular and then again on hot, super wash for each diaper load.)

finished product

Ingredients:

• 1 (4 lb 12 oz) box Borax (Found in the detergent aisle)
• 1 (3 lb 7 oz) box Arm & Hammer Super Washing Soda (Found in the detergent aisle)
• 1 (3 lb) container OxiClean (Found in the detergent aisle)
• 3 (15 oz total) bars Fels Naptha (Found in the detergent aisle)  
• 1 (4 lb) box Baking Soda (Found in the cooking aisle or detergent aisle)
• 1 (55 oz) bottle of Purex Crystals Fabric Softener (Found in the detergent aisle)
• 5 gallon bucket with lid (empty & clean; can use aluminum foil for lid)
• Large paint stirring stick or spatula (for stirring)

Directions:

• Grate up the Fels Naptha soap bars until it's in little pieces, like couscous.  (I use my food processor and shred it like cheese, then process it with the chopping accessory.)
• Layer all ingredients into 5 gallon bucket (doing thirds worked well for me).***
• Stir between each layer and then again when you have it all in the bucket.
• Store in a cool, dry place.  
• Use 1-3 Tbsp per load of laundry.  (I typically use 2-3 T, which happens to correspond well to the fabric softener's measuring cap.)

baby/diaper detergent set aside
-I store it in my empty OxiClean containers-

Notes:

***If you plan to use this soap for babies or cloth diapers, leave out the fabric softener until all of the other ingredients are combined.  Then remove about 1/2 of the detergent into a separate container to set aside as your baby/diaper detergent.  After that, you can pretty easily add in as much of the fabric softener as you'd like to into your 5 gallon bucket.  I usually use 1/2 bottle of fabric softener for the remaining 1/2 of the recipe that needs it.

If you've never tried to make your own laundry detergent, I'd recommend giving it a go!  It only takes about 20 minutes from beginning to end, and this recipe lasts such a long time!   {And did I mention that it'll stretch your laundry dollars?!?!}

Happy Washing!

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My Take on Cloth Diapers - 1.5 years in

diaper laundry - ready to be folded

I just wanted to do a quick update on my experience with cloth diapers now that we're 1.5 years in.

First, I am so thankful for cloth diapers because they have saved us a ton of money!   We started out using prefolds and covers predominantly (that's the cheapest cloth diaper set-up you can invest in), and they will definitely last through baby #2.  :)  I've also recently invested in some pocket diapers (pictured below) which are much more daddy-friendly because they work almost exactly like a disposable (after I stuff them).   Let's just be honest, I enjoy having a quick diaper solution too!

Unfortunately, Enoch is about to outgrow the biggest size of prefold available (if I want to continue using a snappi with them), so I'm considering altering a few with my trusty sewing machine.  Ideally, I'll be able to add some tabs onto the sides (for added width) without sacrificing the length.  I'm a huge snappi fan because it keeps the prefold in place and minimizes the clean up that comes along with poop, so let's just say that if altering them doesn't work I'll be scraping together a Plan B quickly (because he's also about to outgrow the pocket diapers too)!

pocket diapers - folded & ready to go!

Regarding a washing schedule, I've just recently become super organized about this in the past month and have started a washing routine: every Wednesday and Saturday I do diaper laundry.  I don't use cloth on Sundays since we're out of the house so much, so that means that I wash Mon-Wed diapers on Wednesday night and Thurs-Sat diapers on Saturday night.  This works great for me, and my diaper pail can hold just that many diapers.  Once Karis comes, I may end up investing in another pail since my washer could easily wash more each time.

If you're considering trying cloth, I'd highly recommend it IF you can afford the initial investment, are willing to wash a few extra loads of laundry weekly, and have a supportive husband.  I would say that 100% cotton is the best way to go, and that having some diversity is helpful (like a few pocket diapers for when you're lazy).  We also love using flushable liners (Imse Vimse is our preferred brand) because cleaning up poop is so much easier!  If you're wondering how many cloth diapers you'll need, try using this calculation:

(# of diapers you change per day) * (# of days between washing) = # of diapers needed

Currently, I use about 15-18 every 3 days, not including night time, but we went through a lot more when Enoch was smaller, like 18-22 every 2-3 days.  (If you go with prefolds and covers, you'll need 1 cover for every 3-5 prefolds because you can re-use the covers.)  We have also had good success with the "one-size" adjustable type of cloth diapers (they use snaps to adjust for a range of weights).  I also recommend going into a cloth diaper store (preferably with your baby) because the women in *most* stores are so helpful, and you can see how each type of diaper fits on your little one before buying.  I really miss the store in NWA (Terra Tots)!!

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Munchkin Fresh Food (Fruit/Veg) Feeder

Here's my review of the Munchkin Fresh Food Feeder.  We bought ours at WalMart, but you can also find them at Amazon and maybe Target??  Although I would have never bought this after just seeing it in the store, we had a friend recommend it to us.  She is a grandma who's just recently had two young grandkids, so she's been through this stage less than 1 year ago.  She recommended trying it because it's a great way to give babies fresh foods AND it can also help with teething (when you use frozen fruit)!

It's a handy little contraption that has a mesh bag, lockable top, and holding ring for making it easier to feed your baby fresh food.  With this device, you can feed your baby fruits and vegetables that you don't want to have to mash/cook.  It seems that they should be naturally soft foods though, and foods that can sqiush through the small holes in the mesh.


Here's a video of Enoch eating some frozen blueberries out of it.



As you can tell, he is a fan of chewing/sucking on it now, but the first few times I tried to use it, he was a little hesitant about how the mesh bag felt on his tongue.  I would suggest continuing to try it if your little one doesn't take to it immediately.  The blueberries worked well this time after they had a few minutes to defrost so that he was able to suck out some juice and blueberry filling. :)

One other note that I would add in about this is that it can be quite messy (depending on what kind of fruit/veg you put into it)!  As you saw in the video, Enoch got SO purple from the blueberry juice.  So, this is certainly not the kind of thing I'd take in the car or to a restaurant.  In our house, it will mainly be reserved for before bath time when Little Man is already naked.  Giving it to the baby when he/she is in a high chair could also be good, but once it falls onto the ground, it picks up any little debris it can find (because it's wet and juicy), so you might also need use a paci clip to keep it up on the high chair (depending on how much of a pitcher you have).

Overall, I'd give this 4 stars out of 5.  It's handy to use, and it did make Enoch's sore gums feel better, but it's pretty messy and is really only useful to me at home.



**I have NOT been compensated for this review in any way.  I simply wanted to share my thoughts about this product.  I hope it has been helpful.**

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"Big Boy" Car Seat

I'm not sure how this happened, but the infant carrier (car seat) that we purchased has to be the narrowest one on the market!  It had great safety ratings, and we liked almost everything else about it, but at around 3 months old, Enoch had grown too wide for it.  He hated going into it because he was so squished in it.  (It is a Baby Trend Snap N Go infant carrier.)

When we took our trip to Mississippi, we had to borrow a friend's infant carrier, which was much more roomy.  (It was a Chicco Key Fit 30.)  The Chicco was also a lot easier to raise and lower the handle on, which was our main complaint about the Baby Trend.  

So after our trip, we decided that it was time to buy a "big boy" car seat.  After a lot of research, we settled on the Britax Boulevard 70.

 

The best feature about it is that it can hold babies rear-facing from 5-40 pounds (10 pounds more than infant carriers)!!  This is important because the AAP recently changed their recommendations about when to turn babies forward-facing in their car seats.  They now recommend waiting until a child is 2 years old because of stats like these (found here):

A 2007 study in the journal Injury Prevention found that children under age 2 

are 75 percent less likely to die or to be severely injured in a crash if they are rear-facing. 

Another study found riding rear-facing to be five times safer than forward-facing.

Another other exciting feature about the Britax Boulevard 70 is that it can change into a forward-facing car seat with minimal effort and can hold the child until he/she is 70 pounds.  This feature assured us that we would be able to use this car seat for a long time, thus making it an investment.  :)  

I will say though that it definitely IS an investment.  This car seat is certainly not the cheapest option on the market, but it has added safety features that others do not, which continue adding to its value.  The main safety features it offers are:

• Safecell technology (lowers the center of gravity in a crash, keeping the child from moving as far forward in a crash)
• Integrated steel bars (strengthen the connection of the car seat to the vehicle's seat)
• Energy-absorbing versa-tether (slows forward movement by anchoring the top of car seat to the vehicle)
• True side impact protection (deep walls on the car seat with energy absorbing foam plus an adjustable head restraint for extra cushion) 
• (You can read about all of its features on the Britax website, just follow the link above.)

Not to be overly-protective, but I feel like a SAFE car seat is one of the most important purchases parents will make while their child is young.  First of all, the dangers of driving deal not only with your personal skills and alertness but most especially with other drivers' lack of skills and/or alertness.  Almost every time I'm in the car I am reminded of this because of careless, and sometimes reckless, drivers that I encounter.  Just check out this information from the CDC:

Motor vehicle injuries are the leading cause of death among children 
in the United States.  But many of these deaths can be prevented. 
Placing children in age- and size-appropriate car seats and 
booster seats reduces serious and fatal injuries by more than half.

So obviously car crashes are a big deal for our children.  The other reason that I think a safe car seat is an important investment for parents is simply because of how much we drive.  Most families don't walk to the supermarket, friends' homes, church, restaurants, daycare, or any number of other places that they go weekly.  I know we don't.  So, if injuries incurred while in a car are the leading cause of death among children in the US, I want to be wise in how I protect my children while they're in a car.  Don't you? 

**Having said all of that, I should also say that by no means do Hugh and I think we can keep Enoch perfectly safe by trying real hard and having all of the right equipment.  No, we realize that his every breath comes only through the hand our sovereign God who sustains him and perfectly knows his number of days.  What I am saying though is that we do want to be good stewards of what has been given to us.**

So, back to our car seat purchase: 

Once we made the decision about what car seat to get, we had to decide where to get it.  In our area, there were a few options, but we ultimately decided to buy from a small shop in Rogers, Twice But Nice Children's Boutique.  They sell some used clothing and large toys, but they also have really good deals on new car seats, strollers, and other expensive baby items.  When I called to get a price, they were $30 cheaper than anywhere else (including Amazon), and they were having a 10% off sale on Britax car seats (new in the bag).  {yay!!}  

Papa Steve and Granny Susie helped us invest in the car seat, and Enoch has been loving it ever since.  He no longer cries when he gets in the car seat, and he likes sitting a little more upright.  Having used it for a few months now, I would give it 5 stars for its safety, functionality, and user-friendliness!  

Enoch in the car seat at 4 months old.

*And I have NOT been compensated for this review, I just wanted to share our experiences with this great car seat in case any of our other friends are looking into buying one.

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