Nursing Pillow

Well I went through my list and one of the things I really wanted again for this baby was a nursing pillow. I remember when we bought ours the last time how expensive it was. So I started looking for DIY and second hand ones for a good price. Just when I was about to give up and make one I found a one on my local kijiji listing for $5. I couldn't buy the stuffing for that cheap. So we went out and picked it up.
Being that our family has allergies, I soaked and washed this by hand and let dry. Then I looked at it and was really unhappy with how it looked. It was very plain and didn't give me that soft/cozy feel. Our first one had a cover that was flannel fabric. I did not let the look of it disappoint me  for long. I went through some boxes of fabric I had stored away from 5 years ago and found the perfect fabric. Since we don't know what we are having I couldn't be more thrilled with the colour of the fabric.

I got busy the next night with my sewing machine and planned out how to make this. I picked up a 24" zipper from the fabric store that would match for just under $1.50. I am still editing this video for my YouTube channel, you can check it out my other DIY projects if you want.

So overall I spent $6.50 on this nursing pillow and about 2 hours of my time. I say that is getting ready for a baby on a budget, don't you?

Baby Bibs

In preparing for the baby I was looking around what I had in the house to make some bibs. I am a bit of a freak when it comes to my kids clothes as a baby. There isn't many photos of my girls without a bib on. I didn't want to buy any because its something I can make. So When I was looking for fabric for the nursing pillow I came across all the fat quarters that Grandma Maggie had shipped to me about 4 years ago from New Brunswick for Christmas. I was always complaining to her that I couldn't find Care Bear fabric locally and when she found some she bought it for me to make for my youngest. Unfortunately 3 kids back to back didn't leave me a lot of time to sew for her. So these got tucked away till now.

While the kids were being good and staying in their beds I got to cutting up some of these fabrics into big shaped. I then grabbed some flannel I had and picked the colours I had that matched and cut them out as well. I got busy and in no time at all I had a set of 5 bibs. I only choose a few fabrics from the stash, as I was only making newborn to 3 months size bibs. I will probably make more with the rest of the fabric though. I was really impressed I was able to get 3 bib cuts from each fat quarter. So over al I made 15 bibs. I will make a video of this soon on my YouTube channel.

All that's left for me to do is add some snaps or Velcro hook and loop tape. I think I will go with snaps though. I am really happy with how these turned out. I posted to my Facebook and got a good response from them. I think they are cute and perfect for either gender. Also love the fact that they are reversible. I can have them wear the fun printed side or the soft flannel side. I also like that I didn't end up spending any money for 15 bibs and just used about 2.5 hours of my time.

*suggestion, if you want to make your own but don't have fabric like me. See what you have in your linen closet. Do you have some receiving blankets not being used? some flat bed sheets not being used? Even some towels not being used? Really the possibilities are endless.

My Eldest is SEVEN!

Wow where have the years gone! My baby girl is now seven years old. I can not believe how quickly these years have gone by. She is an amazing little girl, who is into everything! She amazes me everyday and is learning so much so fast. The past few appointments I don't even feel like she needs me there anymore. You know how before your little ones want you to hold their hand or you need to tell them everything that's going on in a calm way before it happens. Well our last dentist appointment she was telling the dentists what they were doing and why they were doing it. She didn't cry or budge an inch when the did any of the work. This brought tears to my eyes. I am watching my little girl get stronger and stronger before my eyes. She didn't even need to hold my hand during the procedure.

Now that she is seven and has her own room she is very particular with what goes in her room, where it goes and everything. If I make her bed wrong she gets upset about it. I know your probably asking why am I making her bed, she is seven. Well she actually makes her own bed I just so happen to wash her bedding the one day while she was at school and re make it. She did thank me for washing her floor and empting her garbage bin though. Anyways to the point I am getting to, when we asked her what she wanted for her birthday she asked for a place to put her laundry. She hates her clothes all over the floor or in a pile. Normally we have them put it in a basket in the hallway, but we figured if this is what she wants this is what she will get. We looked EVERYWHERE for one, and with no luck. I finally found one I thought she may like, and well by this picture you can see she did.

For our kids, since they are so close in age, we generally don't do birthday parties that much. They just have so much and really don't need more, and we can not afford everything they want. So we pick a few things they can use/need and something to play with as gifts for them. I know this may sound silly but as they have gotten older our birthday budget has gone up. For their birthdays after 5 we said $100 would be the budget, unless they wanted a big party with their friends then that would be their gift. We don't see the point in over doing it as we want the kids to be thankful for what they have and use what they have. How do you feel about this?

Here are some pictures of our fun evening!



Update on How I am getting Organized

So earlier this year I told you about my new method of getting organize. I have been at it a month now and have to admit I am still loving it. I find myself at random times checking it and it is helping me so much. I have such a forgetful memory that I always forget what I have and haven't done, what I need to do first and what can wait. I love this little task check list on my phone. I even added in when I need to pay bills and have it remind me every month. I have started to add in things I want for around the house or need to do for the house that are just one time projects.

Now you might be reading this and saying, "wow that list must be getting long!"

Well your right it is getting long, but only the item bolded are what need to be done. Everything else can wait, and even if I miss a deadline, it isn't constantly reminding me. It will just stay on the task check list till I check it off. I wish I had of started doing this years ago, I haven't felt so relaxed and calm about everything I need to do. I always set my goals high, which is hard to achieve with 3 kids in the house, but am finding this helping me complete it and stay on task.

Car Seat Canopy Cover

So when my girls were babies we used to drape a blanket over the car seat. It would always fall down or slid of and we were constantly arranging it. Honestly when it got warmer out we just never covered the car seat anymore.

So with this baby due in April I thought I should get bus making a car seat canopy cover. I thought of just grabbing a blanket I already had and adding the straps, but wanted to go one step further. But if you are not a sewer and want this, that is an alternate routine to go. You can take scrap piece and hand sew it on and use snaps or sticky Velcro. It is really very simple.

Well last night I got busy and made this one with the help of this tutorial. It is a very easy tutorial to follow and easy to alter. I quickly went into my fabric stash and pulled out some more Dr. Suess fabric I had. I wanted to line it with black but then re thought that it would make it to dark and attack the sun more in the summer. So I went with white flannel. I was a little disappointed to find I didn't have enough to make one cut of the white, so I got creative and pieced together the white till it matched the dimensions I wanted. (this is something you can do very easily with scraps even to give a quilted look)

Now if your not like me and want to make this, take a look at some flat sheets you aren't using in your linen closet and some receiving blankets you may have. This project really has no limits and was simple and fun to make.

So there you have my new car seat canopy cover. I am debating adding a peep hole in the front. I choose to do a black bottom as yellow well look dirty fast and if it hits the ground I didn't want it showing so much.

This cover cost me nothing to make but a couple hours of my time.