Cheerful Homemaker

Giveaways

2012-01-28T10:33:00.001-06:00

Check out these current cloth diaper giveaways~

-- Our Growing Garden is giving away a diaper from 123 Cloth Me

-- The Cloth Diaper Geek is giving away a Thirsties Duo All-in-One

-- Thirsties is giving away a Thirsties Duo All-in-One, 6-pk Thirsties Fab cloth wipes, and Deluxe diaper duffle

-- The Cloth Diaper Geek is giving away a BumGenius Freetime OS AIO from Squishy Tushy

-- RSVP for the Sweet Pea Diapers & Friends Twitter party on February 7th. They have a whole list of prizes they will draw for during the party.

-- Under the Apple Tree is giving away a Baby Legs grab bag

-- Life with Levi has a giveaway for a FuzziBunz OS cloth diaper

-- Sisters 'n Cloth is giving away a Glow Bug Cloth Diaper

Good luck!

Homemade Babylegs

2012-01-26T21:29:00.001-06:00

Until a few months ago, I had no idea what BabyLegs were. I'd never seen them, never heard of them.

When I started researching different types of cloth diapers, I kept running across BabyLegs. They're essentially leg warmers for babies. They protect little knees from rug burn once your wee one starts to crawl. They also make diaper changes a breeze because you don't have to take them off each time as you do with pants.

Unfortunately, BabyLegs aren't cheap. The average price I've seen for a single pair is $12.

For $12 I'll deal with the inconvenience of taking Gene's pants off at each diaper change.

One day a friend of mine directed my attention to a tutorial on how to make your own BabyLegs using a pair of knee-high socks. So today while at Target I picked a pair up.

Using the tutorial as my guide, I chopped up the socks and reassembled them. Here's what I came up with:

Probably not the best looking BabyLegs you've ever seen, but I like them. I don't have any action shots of them on my little man yet (he's asleep, thankyouJesus!), but I will definitely try them on him tomorrow!

So there you have it, homemade BabyLegs.

Retail cost: $12

My cost: $2.50 + 10 minutes of my time

Savings: $9.50!!!

UPDATE: They're gigantic, but Gene will grow into them... eventually.

What is He Wearing?

2012-01-24T23:23:00.000-06:00

If Gene and I aren't going to leave the house, we do not get dressed. We snuggle up in our sweatpants and footed jammies. It cuts down on dirty laundry and we stay cozy.

My husband doesn't seem to understand this.

Sunday morning he took Gene upstairs to change his diaper. He brought him back downstairs fully dressed -- onesie, pants, socks, hat.

Perhaps I should be more specific.

Christmas socks.

Mizzou stocking cap.

It kind of looked like he had been dressed in the dark. I'm not sure he really liked his outfit, but I'll let you decide...

Reindeer socks!

Laundry Organization

2012-01-23T21:51:00.000-06:00

I love to organize things. I love to have a place for everything and everything in its place.

When I started college, I had one laundry basket under my bed for dirty clothes. Once I moved off-campus I had one of those cheap laundry organizers.

Cheap! Cheap!

Of course, I always put laundry off until the last possible moment, so the plastic pieces holding it together didn't last very long and broke under the weight of my dirty clothes.

When we moved to Illinois back in 2008, I decided to change the way we organize our laundry. I settled on three round laundry baskets -- whites, lights, and darks. They were in the corner of our room and we could easily toss our dirty laundry in them.

Once we bought our house in 2009, the laundry organization changed again. I had a dedicated laundry area in the basement for my baskets. The original three basket system became five -- whites, lights, colors, darks, and towels/bedding. I also acquired a laundry basket specifically for carrying laundry to and from the laundry room. Gene also has his own laundry basket.

Lost count yet? That's seven laundry baskets. Seven.

We also have a large hamper in our bathroom that the hubs can't seem to find and an old one in the basement with nothing in it.

The laundry basket situation is betting a bit out of hand.

It's time to simplify. In an attempt to stay organized, I got carried away.

I found this on Ana White's blog the other day. I love it. It's simple and it takes advantage of vertical space rather than horizontal.

I have a birthday coming up very soon, so I'm hoping a certain someone takes it upon his handy self to build me one. (hint hint)

Sweet Baby Cheeks

2012-01-22T21:23:00.001-06:00

Back in October I wondered who Gene was going to look like. Now that he's here, some of that question has been answered.

He has gorgeous blue eyes like Mama and Daddy.

He was born with lots of dark hair like Mama, though who knows what it will be like later. At least he wasn't bald! :)

Now for the million dollar bonus question...

What about dimples?

The hubs has dimples. Ever since finding out we were expecting, everyone has been wondering if the baby would have them as well. My own grandmother mentioned it more times than I can remember.

Well, the verdict is in...

He has one dimple!

I know I'm incredibly biased, but that dimple on that little face is pretty much the cutest thing I have ever seen.

A Sneak Peek...

2012-01-20T14:46:00.003-06:00

It hasn't been much, but I have been sitting down to my sewing machine a little more this week. It makes me very happy. The quilt I'm working on is a gift, so I can't show you the entire thing, but you can enjoy a sneak peek!

I can't wait until it's finished!

11 Random Things

2012-01-20T00:05:00.003-06:00

Mallorie of The Happy Home tagged me in a survey. I'm breaking the rules, though. I'll answer her questions and post random things about myself, but I'm not going to tag anyone else. If you'd like to participate, feel free to do so.

11 Random Things About Me

1. The hubs and I go way back. I mean waaaaaay back. All the way back to the 80s. Not only did we grow up in the same town and attend the same schools, but we were next-door neighbors for a couple of years! I have a picture of us together. It's Hallmark Movie cute.

2. I had a huge crush on the hubs when I was in junior high. He used to mow a yard across the street from the swimming pool and did so without his shirt on. I thought he was so hot. My best friend also liked him. I didn't want to ruin our friendship by fighting over a guy, so I let her like him. It worked out for me in the end, though. I started dating him my senior year of high school.

3. I can sing. I sang the national anthem at my high school graduation. Alone. In front of 2,000 people. A capella.

4. I had mono in the 10th grade. Best. Diet. Ever. I was out of school for a week and all I did was sleep and watch movies. I dropped 15 lbs in a week and none of my clothes fit when I went back to school.

5. Breastfeeding is one of the most difficult things I have ever done. Consequently, it's one of the things in my life that I am most proud of for not giving up.

6. The hubs was the first to suggest we should have a baby. I resisted. One evening and half a bottle of wine convinced me he was right.

7. Mizzou wasn't my top choice for college. I had actually planned to go to the University of Missouri - Kansas City. When I didn't get into the program I had applied for, I decided to go to Mizzou. Hubs just happened to be transferring there.

8. I played the bassoon in high school band.

9. If I'm not leaving the house I stay in my sweatpants.

10. We've lived here for nearly four years and I don't feel as though I've made many friends. Most of the people I talk to on a regular basis are people I've met within the last 3 months.

11. I don't like spending money on things for myself. I would rather save the money or use it on something we need.

Mallorie's Questions

1. If you could live anywhere where would that be? We'd like to eventually move back to Missouri. We wouldn't mind living in the Kansas City area.

2. What is your favorite board game? Life, Scrabble, and Yahtzee... though the last one isn't a board game.

3. What is your favorite season? Fall. Hello? College football! Unfortunately, we haven't been able to watch too many games because we live in Big 10 country and Mizzou is in the Big 12. They're going to the SEC soon, so we still won't get to watch.

4. If you had to choose would you rather have a perfectly cleaned house each day OR never have to cook again? A perfectly clean house. If the house is magically clean, then the dishes I dirty up when cooking would be clean, too.

5. If you found out that you had unlimited funds and money was no longer a problem what is the first thing you would buy? A big house in the country.

6. Do you get a bigger rush from a big splurge or finding a great deal? The great deal! I always end up with buyer's remorse. What if I had waited a few more days and it went on sale? I'm a big fan of saving money.

7. How do you sleep at night? Side, back, tummy? What sleep? I have an infant! Haha... currently I sleep on my side. I was a tummy sleeper before I got pregnant. I spent 2011 sleeping on my sides and now it's kind of a habit.

8. What is your guilty pleasure TV show? 16 & Pregnant or Teen Mom. I know, I'm such a grown-up.

9. When you were younger what did you want to be when you grew up? I have no idea. I still don't know for sure. I love being a mom, though. It's the best job I've ever had.

10. What is your favorite blog post that you've written so far? I like the posts where I talk about our home improvement projects, such as our floors, bathroom, and nursery. I'm so proud of us for doing it ourselves!

11. Which would you rather have painted, nails or toes? My toes. Fingernails seem to chip so fast. Polish lasts much longer on my toes.

3 Months

2012-01-19T20:25:00.000-06:00

My Gene is 3 months old today!

I can't believe how quickly the last few months have gone. It seems like just yesterday they were wheeling me into the operating room for my c-section.

This has been a big month for Gene. We celebrated his first Christmas and his first New Year's. He met tons of new family when we went to Missouri for Christmas and friends when we went back for New Year's.

Gene also received his first vaccines at his last appointment with his pediatrician. He'll get his four month checkup with a new doctor (yes, we fired his doctor!).

Gene also rolled over for the first time at 11 weeks old! He's holding his head up really well and is starting to grab onto his toys. He's also looking at things and people now instead of the walls or ceiling. He loves to look in the mirror and giggles when he sees me giving him kisses.

He is still wearing all 0-3 month clothes, though we are going to have to go up a pant size soon. Not because he's too big, but because his cloth diapers make his booty just a bit too fluffy!

Some days I still can't believe that we have a baby. We are so blessed to have Gene in our lives. He's such a happy baby and brings us so much joy! ♥ ♥ ♥

Wordless Wednesday

2012-01-18T23:03:00.000-06:00

I'm So Lucky

2012-01-17T20:56:00.001-06:00

Even though he's decided he's too cool for naps and only sleeps for 2-3 hour stretches at night...

...I'm still the luckiest Mama in the world! Look at that sweet face! He's perfect. :)

Weird Food

2012-01-16T21:23:00.000-06:00

My Cheerful Family and I made a little trip to a local farm and home store this weekend. I'm not actually sure what the hubs needed, but I'm always eager to tag along.

While the hubs went to look at who knows what, G and I wandered through the food section. Farm stores always have the most bizarre assortment of food merchandise. This time I ran across something a bit more bizarre than usual...

Bacon flavored sunflower seeds!!!

I don't quite understand the sudden fascination with bacon. I know it's awesome, but does everything need to be flavored with it? I've also seen bacon flavored popcorn, which doesn't sound appetizing at all.

The hubs informed me that he's tried these sunflower seeds and that they aren't that bad.

A few feet down the shelf was a box of marshmallow flavored popcorn, though I didn't get a picture...

Good-bye Dairy

2012-01-14T19:42:00.000-06:00

Thanks to some interesting diapers and a couple of other symptoms, we think baby G may have a dairy sensitivity. As a result, we've decided to try cutting dairy out of my diet to see if it helps.

I'm not a huge fan of milk, but I love cheese. Going cold turkey on cheese may be tough, but it'll be worth it if it helps.

I'm hoping that his sleep troubles are related to his possible dairy sensitivity and that a change in my diet will fix it. In addition to not napping well, G is also really restless at night.

Cross your fingers that this works. I may become quite cranky without cheese!

Noisy "Neighbors"

2012-01-12T22:50:00.000-06:00

With the exception of last summer, the house next to us has been empty for a year. The owners recently did some work on the house, but no one has lived there for quite some time.

We're fine with that. An empty house is better than a house full of noisy people.

This is a photograph. It's definitely NOT a drawing.

The empty house has a screened-in front porch complete with a screen door. The problem is that this screen door doesn't latch, so every single time the wind blows just right, the door opens and slams shut.

Fun, right?

This is Illinois and the wind blows three seasons out of the year. I've heard that door slam more times today than I can count. Part of me wants to call the owner and request that she do something about it (it's a rental house). The other part of me wants to walk over there and duct tape the door shut.

What would you do?

Help a Mama Out!

2012-01-11T23:25:00.000-06:00

Help me!

I need some ideas. I have given birth to the most beautiful baby boy. He is the sweetest baby. Seriously. The boy laughs when he has his diaper changed.

However, he hates to nap.

I have never been able to get Gene to consistently take naps. I watch for his tired signs. I nurse him and rock him to sleep. When I lay him down, though, he wakes up after 5 minutes. He's not wet. He's not hungry. He's not gassy.

I am getting stressed about this no nap situation.

This afternoon I managed to get him to nap for 30 minutes in his swing. Since he didn't nap enough today, he was really fussy this evening.

And by fussy I mean screaming.

It wasn't fun.

I need some suggestions. How do I get my baby to take naps? So far the only thing that works is laying down with him, which I do for his afternoon nap. I don't want to lay down with him for every single nap, though.

What worked for you? It's winter and I can't drive around with him all day just so he'll nap.

Sincerely,

A Frazzled Mama

Wedding DIY

2012-01-11T00:01:00.002-06:00

I started this blog four years ago in order to write about my wedding planning adventures. We didn't have a big budget and knew that there were projects we could tackle ourselves in order to save money.

With wedding season fast approaching, I decided to revisit a few of them.

Looking back, I realize that I am probably the only person who cared what these little bottles looked like. I spent hours working on these. The labels are printed on address labels. When I began applying them to each bottle, I discovered they wouldn't stick to the plastic. Enter: Super Glue.

The bows were a huge pain so I did a few at a time. Super Glue was also my friend here. I applied a drop of glue to each knot to hold them in place.

With Easter only a couple of months before our wedding, I decided to pick up a basket once they went on clearance. I'm so glad I did. I bought my basket for $1. It was pink and just took a few coats of white spray paint and some ribbon to make it work with our colors.

I'm not entirely sure where my mother found the ring bearer pillow. I added the ribbon to spruce it up a bit. Both of these items were being carried around by 2 year old children, so we definitely didn't want to splurge.

This was the end of our custom aisle runner. I saw people online charging a bunch of money to make these and figured out how to do it myself. I created the image using Power Point and enlarged the size of the document. It printed out on several pages, which I then trimmed and taped together. A bit of tracing, a bit of painting, and my aisle runner was done! I spent $20 on an aisle runner I was going to get regardless and $5-10 on paint supplies.

I used the same image from our aisle runner and bubbles on our unity candle. One large pillar candle, two tapers, and some ribbon. Easy peasy!

Here is where we saved a bunch of money. I made all of the stationery for our wedding invitations. Invitation companies will send you free samples of their products, so I ordered ~~a couple dozen~~ several different ones and designed one of our own. I bought the invitation kit at Michael's Crafts using a 40% off coupon. It included 100 invitations (size 5.5 X 8.5) and 100 envelopes. With the coupon the kit was less than $10. I also created RSVP postcards (cheaper stamps!) and a map to our reception venue.

When calling around for bouquet prices, the prices I had quoted were all $100+. We made mine for $30. My mom's friend wrapped each stem in floral wire to create the shape. She then wrapped the stems in floral tape and covered them with white satin ribbon. My bouquet contained three dozen red roses that we bought at Wal-Mart the day before the wedding.

*Ignore the terrible photo quality. This was four years and a crappy camera ago!

I've Been Pinned

2012-01-10T21:14:00.000-06:00

A few months ago I gave in and asked a friend for a Pinterest invite. I don't spend a lot of time on there because I've heard that it can eat up a lot of your time. I'm not really sure how it works or even what its purpose is, but I'm on there.

Tonight I was looking at statistical information about my blog to see how people end up on my blog and something caught my eye. Someone had landed on my blog after clicking a link on Pinterest. I did what any normal person would do and clicked on the URL that brought them to my site and found this:

I made that! [via]

How crazy is that?

It's a picture from this post back September 2010. I love this quilt. It's a great lap quilt and keeps my legs warm while I'm nursing Baby G.

Are you on Pinterest? Do you love it?

My Christmas

2012-01-09T00:01:00.002-06:00

We had a lovely Christmas. It was great seeing our family and showing off our little man.

However...

That little man did not take a decent nap for two days. It. Was. Brutal. He was really fussy when he was awake because he knew he needed to sleep. When he was asleep, we tried to leave him in his car seat when we arrived at family gatherings. Unfortunately, people get a bit overzealous where new babies are involved.

Us: Shh! He's asleep. He hasn't napped all day.

Family: Okay we'll just leave him here... OH MY GOODNESS! HE. IS. SO. CUTE... Oh, look, he woke up! Let me hold him... Why are you crying? Do you want your mama? Here you go, Mama.

Don't misunderstand, we love our family. We were just a bit frazzled by all of the crying.

I found a photo on my camera that perfectly illustrates what Christmas Eve and Christmas Day were like for me...

Baby G is crying and I look bewildered, but check out that lovely bokeh on the Christmas tree!

Big Week!

2012-01-08T21:15:00.000-06:00

This week has been full of little milestones for baby G.

On Wednesday he turned 11 weeks old!

We also made a trip to the hospital on Wednesday. No, nothing is wrong. We were going to visit our lactation consultant. I had some questions and also wanted to check G's weight.

And guess what?

My little peanut finally weighs more than 10 pounds!

That's right. G weighed in at a whopping 10 lbs 2 oz! That's 2 lbs 4 oz more than he weighed at birth and 3 lbs 0 oz more than he weighed a week after he was born.

G is making all kinds of new sounds. He was sticking mainly to coos, but in the last few days he's added a few other sounds. He loves to "talk" to us, especially when we change his diaper.

On Thursday tummy time got a lot more interesting, as G figured out how to roll from his tummy onto his back. I thought it was an accident at first, but he rolled over a few more times before he got tired of me flipping him back onto his belly.

Of course he wouldn't roll over when the hubs was watching. He likes to make Mama look bad! He finally rolled over for him a few times Friday afternoon. I can't believe my little man is growing up so fast!

Gift Cards for Cloth Diapers!

2012-01-06T00:01:00.001-06:00

Happy Mega Swag Day!

Say what?

I talked about Swagbucks last week, so I won't repeat myself. I failed to mention that every Friday is Mega Swag Day. That means that the number of SB earned for a single search is increased. That means instead of winning 9 or 11 SB for a search, you could win 19 or 39 (or even more) SB. Awesome, right?

You know what's even better than that? Using those swagbucks to buy gift cards to Diaper Junction!

Free money for diapers? Yes, please!

It's no secret that I love using cloth diapers, so stumbling across this in the Swag Store was pretty exciting. Even more exciting? They cost almost half as many swagbucks as my beloved Amazon gift cards.

To sign up for your own Swagbucks account, click here.

From the Mouths of Babes

2012-01-05T00:01:00.001-06:00

I had an interesting conversation on Christmas with my nephew, Adrian, who is six. We were sitting together, enjoying our holiday meal. I decided to ask him what Santa Claus brought him this year. After he told me, he asked what I received for Christmas.

REALLY old picture, but he's so cute :)

Me: Santa brought me baby Gene. He dropped him off back in October.

Adrian: Santa didn't bring you a baby.

Me: He didn't?

Adrian: No. You made the baby.

That's right, folks. Santa Claus does not bring people babies for Christmas, no matter how good you are.

I was so floored by Adrian's response that I forgot to ask him what I did to make the baby. I am well aware of how it happened (he's from the Cabbage Patch, duh), but I'm curious to hear how much he knows...

Homemade Christmas

2012-01-04T00:01:00.001-06:00

Around this time last year I found the coolest fabric panel. It looked like a little town, complete with shops, roads, and an airport. Being an aunt to three little boys, I figured the two older boys -- ages four and six -- likely loved cars.

So I purchased two panels from Abby Mays Fabric Shop with the intention of getting an early start on Christmas gifts. We all know what happened, though.

I got pregnant.

Then I channeled Rip Van Winkle and slept for the better part of three months.

vroom! vroom!

Fast-forward to December 15th. I was finally able to sit down at my sewing machine and crank out two play mats for my nephews. We wrapped them up with a few cars and got to see our older nephew open his. I'm always incredibly nervous about making gifts for people, so I hope he likes it!

January Sponsors!

2012-01-03T09:52:00.003-06:00

I've decided to tip-toe into the world of blog sponsorship. You'll have to bear with me the first few months while I iron out all of the kinks, but I think this is going to be a fun feature. For now, check out the following...

Building Our Story

My name is Censie (said like Kenzie). I am the author of Building Our Story, this blog started as a journal for myself back in September 2009. Pretty soon it turned into a Trying to Conceive blog, then a pregnancy blog and then a parenting blog – and soon we hope a Trying to Conceive #2 blog! This website has become a great part of my life. I love updating it and using it to track all of our family’s big events and milestones.

It's 2012!

2012-01-01T00:01:00.002-06:00

2011 in Review

2011-12-31T00:01:00.003-06:00

January -- In the middle of the month we worked on our bathroom remodel. On January 31st we learned that our lives were about to change in a big way. We found out we were pregnant!

February -- On the 5th I celebrated my 25th birthday by getting new tires on my Malibu. Near the end of the month we met my obstetrician and had our first look at our little peanut.

March -- I slept through most of March. Seriously. I got home from work at 3PM and was asleep before 7PM for the entire month. It was the only real symptom I had my first trimester. It started suddenly and ended suddenly sometime in April.

April -- I made it to the second trimester! This is also the month we took the plunge and bought new furniture. We had been shopping for dining room furniture for three years and finally found a set we both liked. We also bought a new sofa.

May -- This month we made a quick one day trip to Missouri for the hubs' little brother's wedding. It's also the month we headed to the radiology department at the hospital for our anatomy scan. I was convinced the baby was a girl, so imagine my surprise when the ultrasound tech told us it was a boy!

June -- This is the month where our garage door died. We bought a new door and installed it ourselves. Yes, we. People were appalled when I mentioned that I was five months pregnant and helped my husband install a garage door. Oops. We also celebrated our third wedding anniversary on the 21st.

July -- This month marked the end of my second trimester. It's also the month I went PRN at work. Being a CNA involves a lot of physical labor and it was taking its toll on my body. I also managed to fail my one-hour glucose screening. I cried SO much at my appointment when I found out. My poor obstetrician didn't know what to think. On the 29th we celebrated my husband's 27th birthday. He's getting so old!

August -- We really started building up our cloth diaper stash in August. I wanted to do cloth as a way to save money and the hubs agreed because well... he spoils me. We also started buying baby gear for our little guy.

September -- We went apple picking for the first time! I also started to get uncomfortable near the end of the month as the ligaments started to relax in my pelvis. I was also the size of a house by this time.

October -- This was a b-u-s-y month. Sort of. A lot of hurry-up-and-wait. We finally finished the nursery a couple of weeks before the baby was due. The Hubs would frequently find me sitting in there in the evenings talking to my belly. It's my favorite room in the house. After my due date I made the difficult decision to be induced. A mere 24 hours after starting the induction process, our son, Gene, was born!

November -- My little man turned one month old on the 19th. How is that possible? We celebrated his first Thanksgiving with friends since I had a c-section and wasn't ready to travel yet. I also opened up about my struggles with breastfeeding.

December -- We took Gene to meet Santa Claus. We also celebrated our first Christmas as a family of three. Gene is the best gift we have received this year.

Swagbucks!

2011-12-29T22:48:00.000-06:00

I am a stay-at-home-mom so I'm paid in smiles and baby giggles rather than cash in my pocket. Unfortunately, stores don't accept giggles as a valid form of payment for merchandise.

That's where Swagbucks comes in. I know I've mentioned it a couple of times, but I love it and wanted to take a minute to talk about it. Again.

Swagbucks is an online search engine that allows you to earn points (called Swagbucks) that you can use to purchase prizes in their store. I always use my bucks to buy Amazon gift cards. I used the gift cards I purchased over the summer to buy cloth diapers before G arrived.

By the time Christmas was near I had earned another $70 in Amazon gift cards. I put them toward the Kindle Fire I bought for the hubs for Christmas. It was a huge help. Since December 1st I've already earned enough Swagbucks to get $30 in Amazon gift cards (they have other cards available, Amazon is just my favorite) just from searching.

Signing up is simple. Just click on the banner above to register. If you sign up before the end of the year, you can use the code HOLIDAYSWAG to earn an extra 100 Swagbucks. It must be entered during the registration process to work.

What are you waiting for? Go! Search! Win!