Meg vs. The Bath: Cheapskate baby seat.

I was getting kind of tired of doing two separate baths for the big boys and the baby, but those baby bath seats are all $30 and up! I saw this one on Amazon, and thought, "That looks like a $40 glorified inner tube."

So I improvised.

$1 at Walmart last summer. It worked pretty well as long as someone was holding the tube for stability.

Later I found the baby boat I got on clearance at the end of the season a couple of summers ago, so he can sit in that pretty much unassisted. It is nice to plop all three boys in the bath where they are contained so I can clean the bathroom. They even do me the favor of dumping the water all over the floor so I have to mop...

Meg vs. Vision: Firmoo Free Glasses & Giveaway on Lil' Bit & Nan!

Recently my 2-year-old broke my only pair of glasses. They were my only pair because he also broke the pair before that. What can I say? He loves glasses and is not good at being gentle with them. So currently my glasses are taped together and sitting in the car so I can use them to drive, but the rest of time life has been a blur in a more literal way than usual.

Enter Firmoo! I recently remembered that Bethany over at Lil' Bit & Nan had blogged about their First Pair Free program, and when I headed over to look up the information, lo and behold, she is holding a giveaway for another pair of free glasses from Firmoo! So I went ahead and ordered my free pair, and if I'm really lucky, then I'll get that pair of prescription sunglasses I've been wanting, or maybe a back-up pair of glasses (imagine that!). They have lots of cute and really affordable styles, so head over to Firmoo to check them out, and over to Lil' Bit & Nan to enter this awesome giveaway! Thanks Bethany!

Meg vs. Babies: Cloth Diapers and DIY Cloth Wipes

I have thought on and off about trying cloth diapering ever since we had our first boy. And now that we are on number three and the diapers keep piling up, I finally decided I needed to go for it. It haunted me that we paid so much, threw so much out, and didn't have something sustainable in case of an emergency.

Thankfully, cloth diapers aren't what they used to be. After looking all over for affordable used cloth diapers on Craigslist and elsewhere, I found Alva Baby, which is a Chinese pocket diaper manufacturer (I know, bad American. But I am a poor American, so this is what I can do). Their new diapers are cheaper than almost any used ones I could find here in the bay area, and they had pretty decent reviews. For about $135, I got 20 diapers (they actually ended up sending me 22 for some reason), 40 inserts (20 that came with the diapers, and another 20 more heavy duty liners with bamboo), a roll of liners, and a wet bag for the diaper pail.

They arrived after about a week, and I washed all the covers and inserts with bumGenius Diaper Detergent that I ordered from Amazon (washed the bamboo ones seperately 3 times in hot water to prep them), and was ready to try them on the boys. Since they have snaps to adjust the size, I can use the same batch for both of my boys in diapers.

I was worried about Mr. 2-year-old being resistant to switching up his Huggies, but he thought these bad boys were pretty fancy.

Then I got to thinking, "Why should I keep buying wipes, too?" So I pulled out my stash of flannel receiving blankets, most of which I received as gifts but haven't used because I have big babies and can't keep a good swaddle with them. I cut three of them up into squares (16 squares per blanket), and folded them tissue-style so they would pop out of my wipes container. Here's a quick how-to on that in case you're curious.

1. Lay out a square, like so:

2. Lay another square overlapping half of the first.

3. Fold the first over the second, like so:

4. Lay down a third where the first one was.

5. Fold the second one over the third one (see where this is going?).

6. Repeat until you get a stack like this:

I put a stack of 48 wipes (three blankets' worth) into an extra wipes container, and then went to work on some wipes solution.

I had pinned this solution a long time ago, but on reviewing it, it seemed like it used a LOT of soap for the amount of water it required. Plus in includes baby oil in it, and I read mixed reviews online about whether you should use baby oil with cloth diapers. I also read reviews from people who said just to use water and forget about adding anything. So I took my own approach, boiled two cups of water, added a squirt of the baby wash I had on hand (I think Johnson & Johnson's shea butter something-or-other), and dumped all over my lovely new wipes. Done!

Note: Due to gravity, more solution will sink to the bottom of the stack, making the bottom wipes soggy and the top wipes dry. I would just flip your stack over once a day to redistribute the solution. I do this with my store-bought disposable wipes on occasion as well.

So far they work fine, and it is kind of nice to have something sturdier than my regular wipes between me and whatever mess I am cleaning up (even if I am then throwing it in a laundry bag instead of the trash).

*Update: I realized after a couple of washes that these wipes would fray, since they are flannel (duh, for anyone who sews regularly; I sew not-so-regularly). So as I have pulled them out of the dryer I have been doing a quick zigzag stitch around the edges to prevent more fraying. Otherwise, a few weeks in and I am still happy with them!

One day in, and I would say that the cloth diapers are only marginally more work than disposables (granted, I haven't washed a load yet, but I have a machine that will do all that work for me!). And here is my take on the eww factor: If you are on your first baby and still kind of grossed out by poo, this can seem a little gross, since you may have to do some rinsing (like for my 4-month-old), and you have to pull wet inserts out of covers, dump big poos into the toilet (for my 2-year-old), etc. But after three boys and potty training, the poo part doesn't really bother me, and it is no grosser than cleaning out the training potty we used for my oldest (seriously, for some reason poop is so much grosser in that little potty than in the diaper. Not sure why.). The cloth diapers have done better at containing the newborn poop (we had a blowout pretty much every time he pooped before), which means that I don't have as many clothes to scrub and soak. And the liners in my 2-year-old's diaper minimize the poo interaction there. But to make things easier, I got this Diaper Sprayer on Amazon for $15 (though it looks like it has gone up in price since then), and am planning to hook it up today.

If I change my mind about this whole cloth diapering thing after a couple of weeks I will let you know, but so far I am pretty happy with it!

Meg vs. Halloween: Big Tee to Totoro (or any animal!)

I meant to post this before Halloween, but you know how those things go. In true Japanese form, my kiddos love the movie My Neighbor Totoro . If you haven't seen it, you should! It is so so very cute and fun. A timeless classic.

I thought that a Totoro costume would be easy to pull off, and Big Brother already had this Totoro Hat, so I got to work. Big brother was going to be the big grey Totoro, Little Brother would be his little blue friend, and Baby Brother would be a Soot Sprite. Little Brother's costume was the most difficult, because there was no pre-made hat to buy, and I had a hard time finding any plain blue clothing in his size. Finally I came across this boys' XL tee at Wal-Mart, and figured I could work with it.

I wanted it to be a bit big, since I wouldn't have matching pants and the character is kind of round. So I grabbed a hoodie to use for my pattern.

First I cut new, shorter sleeves from the old sleeves.

Next, I folded the hoodie and the shirt in half, laid the hoodie down, and cut around it.

 I laid it all out to make sure the sleeves would fit the curve for the arm holes.

Then I sewed the sleeves back to the shirt, sewed up the sides, and hemmed the bottom.

I had this band from the bottom hem, out of which I cut my hat.

With some felt and a few extra tee shirt scraps, I appliqued on the little Totoro's eyes, nose, and tummy, and I was done! It really was a quick project, and you could easily do any number of animals the same way.

My little fellows were happy with the results! (Even if I did make the hat too small; my kids have really big heads.)

Happy Halloween! On to Thanksgiving fun, then Christmas! Eek!

Meg vs. The Exterior: Our first quote...

Tonight we had a couple of fellas come over to give us a quote on coating our house with some fancy Coolwall stuff. The whole shebang would include fixing all of the dry rot, cracks, and every imaginable problem with the house's exterior, sealing it, coating it with some kind of superpaint that reflects heat, and pretty much making our house invincible (against water, anyway). It lasts way longer than paint and has a lifetime warranty. I would have loved to have it done; they said they could schedule us in four days and have it done a week after that. The only catch? It would have cost FOURTEEN THOUSAND DOLLARS. Sigh.

I guess it's time to roll up our sleeves, get to work, and prioritize what we will contract out!

In other news, I spent all of 15 minutes over the course of the day putting two coats of chalkboard paint on our board. I also ate too many chocolate chip cookies (John has been making them almost every Sunday--so good, and so bad!) and spent a while hanging upside-down from my couch trying to get the baby to flip, then spent too much time on the internet. I think it's time to go to sleep and and then get a new day started!

Meg vs. Maternity Wardrobe: Easy skirt updates

In the interest of getting started on my 30 by 30 list, I tackled a couple of maternity skirts that I rarely wore because I didn't like the fit. I knew they were easy fixes if I just took a little time with the sewing machine, but of course I put it off until 2 months before baby is due! Regardless, it is nice to have a little change in my limited maternity wardrobe, and if I can do this, anyone can.

Makeover #1:

(Note the appearance of toys on my bed in the after shots. It was futile trying to keep them out.) This was technically not a maternity skirt, but when I bought it I needed something quick, it had an elastic waistband, and it was on clearance for about $4 at Target; the perfect storm for buying something I didn't really like and that was really the wrong size. Since the waist fit comfortably, I just decided how far in I wanted the bottom of the skirt taken in, pinned it and made sure that I was taking in the same amount on both sides, and sewed a straight line from the waist to the hem. I also took the opportunity to lengthen the skirt a smidge by letting down the original hem as much as possible--a little over an inch. Serious improvement, right? No more saggy, baggy, shapeless blob skirt here.

Makeover #2:

 

This skirt fit fine, but I was just tired of the shape, and felt like it made me look wider (again, one big, bumpy blob). Plus I had seen lots of maternity pencil skirts and was on the verge of coveting one. This skirt is essentially constructed of a series of triangles, so all I had to do was take in each seam to make the bottom narrower, like this:

Now to tackle the rest of my clothes pile!

Meg vs. The Living Room: Window Treatments

Wednesday: Kindly ask hubby to put blinds back up in the living room. Pull out sheets and figure out a plan for curtains.

I made curtains today! I had only done so once before, and they were pretty crude. I can't say that today's rendition are much better, but the fact that they came from a sheet helped because 3/4 of the seams were already done for me. The only problem is, the curtain rod we snatched at Ross in a hurry was too short, so I couldn't put them up. Boo! To make myself feel better, I turned one king-size pillowcase into two cases for throw pillows, and they are now sitting on our couch. I can't make anything else for that room in that fabric, or I think I will start to detest it even though I am totally in love with it now.

I did kindly asked my hubby to put up the blinds, and he kindly said that he would... then went off to study. I am confident that they will be put up soon. He has been super pro-active with the house projects this week, so I can't complain! Pictures to come as soon as we get things up and ready.

P.S. More living room news: our correct couches should be delivered next Friday or Saturday. No more borrowed couches with shipping fabric draped over them! Yay!

Meg vs. The Bedroom: Paint shopping

Tuesday: Buy paint for bedrooms (buy paint for ceilings). Paint a final coat on the bench.


Once again, I should have checked the weather before publishing my goals. Last week the forecast said rain for Wednesday, but it was rainy today, which meant a no-go on painting the bench. We did buy another can of spray paint for when things clear up, and picked up some white paint for our bedroom ceilings (did you know that the non-VOC paint+primer is cheaper than the regular stuff? I was sure it would be more expensive, and it is better for my pregnant self. Double bonus). We decided to get one last paint sample since we hadn't fallen in love with any one shade of grey just yet, but the sample was still too dark. So we settled on the one I picked a while ago, which was "Silver Drop" by Behr. It looks lighter on the walls than it does in the picture.

Source: HomeDepot.com

I also pulled out my sheets and decided on a plan for curtains; now I just have to get around to sewing them!

Meg vs. Decor and the Garden: Shopping!

Thursday: Go thrifting for a large mirror and other decorations. Buy seeds to start for garden.

This seems like it would be an easy goal for a day, but it means either dragging two toddlers shopping all over the place or figuring out how to leave them at home. Lucky for me, John had the day off.

We all took a trip to Home Depot in the morning. We picked up a ceiling fan for our room, looked at bathroom fans (we ended up ordering on Amazon), and I grabbed a whole pile of seeds as fast as I could since by then the kiddos were DONE.

I was able to escape during nap time to do my thrifting. Sadly, I found no mirror to my liking. All the thrift mirrors were surprisingly pricey and not particularly attractive. I could get the same thing for the same price new at Ross. We want something with some visual interest, perhaps round or oval to offset all the straight lines and right angles in the room. And perhaps something I can paint a bright color to wake things up a bit. But nothing yet.

What I did find (at Ross; I was getting desperate, and it was next to Goodwill) was a king size sheet set in the same pattern (though a slightly different color) as my bench fabric. I think they will make fine drapes and accents for the living room.

Meg vs. The Bathroom: Re-setting the toilet

Friday:  Re-set master toilet on new wax ring. Look under the house to see what the sub-floor looks like.

I have been putting this job off for a long time. No real surprise there, since it involves the toilet and the dank crawl space under the house. But I got to work first thing in the morning cleaning the bathroom and getting ready to do the job.

First I turned off the water to the toilet and drained as much as I could out of the tank and the bowl. I flushed a few times to get as much out as possible, the dumped more water in the bowl with the bucket to get the momentum going out. I managed to get most of the water out, though not all of it.

Next I unscrewed the nuts holding down the toilet and managed to lift the back and move the toilet about a foot forward. At this point I realized that there was no way on earth that I could finish this job without help with lifting, so I just got as far as I could.

The old wax ring was stuck on the ground, so I pried that up, scraped off excess wax, and cleaned around the drain pipe a little bit. The first picture is with the wax seal still on, and the second is right after I pried it off. Both gross. I should have taken a picture after I cleaned a bit, because it was a lot easier to stomach at that point.

 

After the kids went to bed, the hubby helped me lift up the toilet (at this point the rest of the water came out, which was super fun), and he held it propped on the side of the bath tub while I stuck the wax ring on. It took quite a bit of twisting and pushing to get it to stick on, and even then it fell down onto the drain hole when we brought the toilet down. Perhaps we should have warmed it up a bit with the blow dryer to get it stickier. The box says it should be at least at room temperature to make it malleable.

Once it was in place (as far as we could tell; the directions I read online specifically said not to lift back up once you stick it down, because it will break the seal and you will have to start over again with a new ring), we attached it back to the bolts, re-connected and turned on the water, and waited anxiously.

So far the floor has stayed dry. I think the metal/plastic ring at the top of the floor pipe probably needs replacing too, and depending on the state of the sub-floor we may be ripping up the whole floor this summer anyway, so I will call this good for now. Of course I totally forgot to look under the house until it was dark (And I refuse to stick my head down there in the dark), so I will have to check that tomorrow. But I finally made my first real foray into toilet plumbing, and saved us a good $100 on a plumber. Oh, the fun of owning a house!

Meg vs. Preparation: More 72-hour kits!

Thursday:  Shopping day! Buy any additional supplies for 72-hour kits and finish putting them together.

I did this as much as was possible today. My Amazon order still isn't here, and the kits are still very very basic, but they are started and I think we could survive with them even if they aren't ideal.

I only had about an hour and a half round trip to do my shopping this morning. The road to WalMart was ridiculously crowded, so I changed course and headed to Target. I probably ended up spending a little more there, but a girl's got to do what a girl's got to do. Plus shopping at Target is significantly more pleasant than the alternative.

I found some little kiddy backpacks on clearance for $7.68, which was perfect for the boys and baby #3 (I think everyone who reads this should know by now, especially with my last post. But if not, surprise!). Here is what I put together:

Each person got two food bags; one for meals, one for snacks. Breakfasts: 5 oatmeal packets. Lunches: One easy mac, two tuna packets. Dinner: Three cans. The only differences between the kids and adults are that the adults got chile instead of ravioli, and the kids got Cliff Kidz Bars that I got on clearance instead of full size ones.

Kids' miscellaneous bags: Toothbrush/paste, tissue, notepad, sunscreen, comb, hand sanitizer, mask, washcloth, map with important addresses and phone numbers.

It all just barely fit with a change of clothes and a roll of toilet paper. We will have to pack a separate bag with diapers and wipes for everyone.

And this is everything that baby #3 has so far. Toothbrush, washcloth, notepad (it was extra), juice (in case of dehydration). We'll work on that pack later.

For now I filled the rest with extra water and an activity for big brothers.

Here is my miscellaneous bag. It has meds for the family, sewing kit, aloe gel, a lighter, and can opener (all from the dollar store!) in addition to what the kids have. Hubby has the same one minus the meds, since he'll be getting the giant first aid kit in his bag.

Here is hubby's bag.

And here they are all packed up!

 
In our front closet, ready to go out the door.

I'll keep building them little by little, but it feels good to have something. Bring it on, nature. (No, just kidding. Please don't.)