Let the cloth diaper adventure begin.

I finally got my prefolds in the mail today from www.greenmountaindiapers.com/, so the cloth diapering adventure can begin.  I was going  to start with prefolds and thirsties duo wrap covers only, but there were so many other cute options. I  decided to get different ones to try. I ended up getting 2 -all in ones.

I absolutely love the Grovia with the owl print


I also picked up a swaddlebees all in one with owl print as well.

Then I got 1 bum genius 4.0 and 2 happy heineys.

I did purchase a fuzzi bunz, but wasn't crazy about it, especially since I live in a hot climate and the lining was fleece.

I also purchased Rockin Green soap ( hearing mixed reviews about it, so I hope that it works), a diaper sprayer, and cloth wipes.

Upon recieving my prefolds I was sent an overwhelming novel about how to prewash diapers to prepare them. I think I have to read it 3 more times before I begin , but hopefully it will begin over the weekend. I need to wash them at least 4 times to get them prepped. I think the initial process will be daunting, but I am looking forward to having a little one in a cloth diapered bum. I will let you know how it works out.

Well I can't wait to see what happens. I will keep you all posted.

Easter Wrap Up

   Just wanted to share some photos from our first family holiday Easter. That is so great to say "family".

Little D's first Easter basket, which included bunny made by me, Waldorf baby doll, wool felted ball, wooden egg and 2 books.

The babe wearing an Easter bunny hat I made using this pattern http://notesfromaveryredkitchen.blogspot.com/2010/03/bunny-hat.html

Bunny shaped pancakes (sorry not the best presentation)

"Little D's basket and homemade sugar cookies.

Babe in his Sunday best. ( This is the best place to photograph him)

The family

This pretty much sums up how we spent the afternoon. Cuddling and loving on our little boy.

Hippity Hoppity Easters on it's way....

     I know cheesy title, but I am so excited for babies first Easter on Sunday. I love all the craftiness that is involved with the Easter holiday, just Spring in general.  I have had a busy day trying to get some last minute things done for Easter on Sunday.  In between baby sleeping, eating and fussing (he's going through a 6 week growth spurt) I have dyed eggs with natural food dyes, made Italian Easter bread, made Spring sugar cookies, made a homemade card for baby and sewed a little bunny hat for him as well.  It was a busy day......

(Simple Easter card for my little one)

(Eggs soaking in homemade dyes using blueberries, raspberries and turmeric)

(The finished product. Not as dark as traditional dye but a safer and more fun option and equally pretty)

(Italian Easter Bread)

(Spring Easter cookies)

(Cute little Easter hand towel my mom picked up for me at Pier 1)

(Homemade Easter garland)

Spring Nature Table

         I have looked forward to starting a natural table since I found out I was pregnant.  I was so excited to have a baby being born in the late winter/early spring.  I knew I would be starting my nature table for the springtime, a time a renewal and birth. I love the springtime, eventhough I live in Florida and there really isn't a change of season. Every year I  will add something new to the nature table and I will change it for the different seasons. I really like the way my nature table looks so far.
    

        I have included 2 small stuffed bunnies that were made using a pattern from the Living Crafts magazine that I had picked up a few years ago. I had been looking forward to making this for sometime. I have actually made this bunny in a larger size for little guys Easter basket.(you will see that later on this week). I also added a little birds nest that I have crocheted and put a little chicky in the nest. The chicky I picked up from an etsy seller. He is made out of wool,super tiny and very cute.  There are also two small wool felt mushrooms that I had made for babies room, so I put them on nature table for now.  They are all resting on a green playsilk.

         I also knit the little yellow duck. He is made out of a small knit square and a larger knit square. I like the way he came out. The wooden egg and base are from another seller on etsy. The small basket is for the small seasonal books. The book in the basket is called Spring and it is by Gerda  Muller and has really great illustrations.  I found the little saying from another blog. I cant remember where, but I thought it was a nice saying for the Spring so I wanted to include it.

Well there you have it my little guys first Spring nature table.

Whats going on at my Etsy store

     As well as being a stay at home mom I run a small shop over at etsy. It is called KAT DESIGNS. Whenever the mood stikes me I make something to put into the shop. I am currently selling some womens aprons that would be great for the Spring and the Summer. They are really bright and fun. I am also selling flag banners and gift sets for children. Please visit often, because I always post different things.

                                                     http://www.katdesigns.etsy.com/

 

      

While you are at it check out my husbands cigar box guitar shop on etsy.

http://www.simplemanguitars.etsy.com/

Another Spring Top

     I had a little time on my hands today, so decided to make another spring top using the same pattern. This fabric I picked up at Joanns about 3 years ago. I love it so much I actually have pajama pants made up in same fabric. These tops are so easy. I think this one took me 1/2 hour from start to finish. At this rate I will have more spring tops then I know what to do with.

(and just a little extra cuteness. My 5 week old taking a nap on his lambswool)

Repurposed Spring Top

   I have desperately been wanting to do some sewing for myself lately, after having made a ton of tiny things for baby. So today, I finally got the chance to sew something for myself. Yeah!

    I made this top from an old Simplicity easy pattern and it was quite easy. I made it throughout the day today while little man slept..  It was made using a $2.00 vintage sheet I picked up at the local thrift store. I really loved the bright colors and the spring feeling of it. I needed some more tops that are easy to breastfeed in and these sort of tops seem to work the best. I look forward to making some more in the future.

Food Revolution

    Did you see Jamie Olivers Food Revolution last night. Eye opening. I am disguisted by the food that they these school systems are feeding our children. It is so true what he said about how much we nuture our children from the time they are newborns, only to put them into a school system that feeds them un-nutrious crap. I understand they are trying to cut costs and it is hard for families that have little to no income, but there has to be a way to make the food healthy and still keep it reasonably priced. I don't know. I would just prefer my child eat real, whole foods. I guess when my boy gets to school I will be packing his lunch. It really is a shame.

Woodland Theme Nursery

     When I found out I was having a baby I was so excited. I knew that I wanted to design a nursery that was gender neutral. I started the room before I knew if I was having a boy or girl. It didn't matter anyway , because I was going to design the room to work for a boy and a girl. We were going to turn our spare room into our little ones bedroom. My husband and I both agreed on a very soft green color that was called pear tree. The paint we used was a voc free paint from Home Depot. We wanted a room that was as eco-friendly and safe for the baby as possible.  My husband spent a few weekends painting and putting down the wood floors in the babies room. He really put so much time and love into his new babies room and he was so proud of the job he had done and so was I. I am really into the woodland theme right now, so we chose to decorate with owls, deers and gnomes.

  There were a few things we purchased and there were a lot of things that were handmade by me. I am going to go through each corner of the room. We purchased the crib and dresser at a local children's furniture store. We loved the dark wood and that it was convertible for later use. The bedding I purchased from amazon. It is a simple organic bedding set with a deer print in green and brown. Thought it was very calming and matched rooms theme. We also purchased an organic cotton mattress from naturepedic. It is probably the best thing we purchased. I think it is important for my baby to sleep on an organic mattress because he will be spending most of his young life sleeping.

     First the owl mobile. I got the idea for somewhere on etsy. I loved how cute the baby owls looked made in felt. The only thing I added that was different was the branches from outside to hang it.

(Little D does love looking up at it and I have to say it did turn out pretty good)

I purchased the gnome growth chart on this wall from a online store called Nova Natural. I absolutely love all their stuff and this growth chart was no exception. I had to order it right away.http://www.novanatural.com/

Also in this corner I have included a bamboo mushroom stool, which my mother ordered from another online store magic cabin.http://www.magiccabin.com/ and the little rocking horse I picked up at a yard sale for $1.00. Yes, that's right $1.00

In the first section of the room I added a toy shelf. It doesn't have much, but I don't believe that children need a lot of toys anyway. I love the simplicity of it and later on I will add more baskets to put more things from nature. For now there are 4 baskets, one basket has playsilks in it, the 2nd has 2 crochet balls that were made by me as well as 2 fabric blocks and an felt owl rattle, the 3rd basket has shells and pinecones and the 4th basket has a wooden rattle and a wooden teething deer I ordered from etsy. On the bottom shelf is a wooden train my mom picked up as well as a little pull elephant.

We purchased the rocking chair at a local unfinished wood furniture store. This rocking chair was on clearance because it had a slight problem with the bottom. It was nothing my husband couldn't fix, so we got it for $75.00. I made the crocheted blanket that sits at the back of rocking chair. I got the pattern from an old crochet book I had.

This little baby gnome I made up real quick. Thought he would be a cute addition to the room. I found the pattern for him some where on the internet.

I also painted and added the stickers to these name letters, which hang above the crib. I love these stickers they are the Martha Stewart line and I thought they fit the room perfectly

Just above his dresser we hung these alphabet woodland theme letters. I got them off of this seller on etsy. http://www.inktreepress.etsy.com/

I also have a tall book shelf in another corner for all of his books. I am obsessed with children's books. I only have some out; there are more in the closet for when he gets older. I made the stuffed lamb and bunny that are sitting at the top of book shelf. The ceramic mushrooms I got at Pier One and the ceramic owl came from etsy. Got to love etsy. They have everything.

Well there you go, a little tour of our babies room. He isn't sleeping in here yet, but does love to listen to stories here and spend time staring at his mobile.

Learning to let go- A birth story...

   Today I am going to share the story of my little boy's birth.  When I found out I was pregnant I was so excited. I have wanted to be a mommy for so long.  The pregnancy went very smoothly and I loved every aspect of being pregnant. I went to yoga weekly, took daily walks, ate as healthy as I could, talked to and sang to my baby all the time and took hynobirthing to prepare for a natural childbirth. I was looking forward to the birth. I was never anxious or nervous, just very excited about it. I kept this positive atttitute about the birth the whole time. I was hoping to have a homebirth, but things did not work out and I ended up having a hospital birth with a certified nurse midwife.

(Here I am at 40 weeks pregnant. 1 Week before I gave birth)

   Well fast forward 9 months I am a week late and I go to the hospital for a routine biophysical/stress test to make sure everything is going well. I was hooked up to the fetal heart rate monitor for quite awhile to obseve the babies heart beat. Everything looked great . There were a few times that his heart rate did drop, but no reason for concern. What did concern the nurses was my high blood pressure (which mind you I had perfect blood pressure the whole pregnancy until this moment). They wanted to do further testing to see if I had
preeclampsia. http://www.healthline.com/adamcontent/preeclampsia?utm_medium=ask&utm_source=smart&utm_campaign=article&utm_term=Preeclampsia&ask_return=Preeclampsia..
I had not even experienced any of these symptom. When the tests came back it was determined that I had mild preeclampsia. I would have to be admitted into hospital and they would have to get the baby delivered as soon as possible. I started to panic because I thought that meant having a C-section, something I had dreaded the whole time ,because I wanted a completely natural drug free birth. The thought of a C-section put me into a panic. My midwife was called in and I was reasssured that I was not going to need a C-section if I could deliver this baby on my own. The problem was that I wasn't even dialated yet and my cervix was only 60% effaced.They were going to have to ripen my cervix, before inducing me. Now, let me tell you that none of this was in my birth plan. I was feeling very upset and overwhelmed. I wanted a natural birth, but I also wanted to make sure that I was safe and that my baby was safe.
   After spending the day being monitored I was moved into the birthing room. This was at about 7 pm. I did change into my birthing skirt. I refused to wear the hospital gown. I was hooked up to the monitors and told I had to stay in the bed. I was so upset with this I did not picture myself laboring in the bed. I wanted to be moving around, on the birthing ball, using belly dance moves to get the baby out. At 7:30 I was given a dose of cytotec. The hope was that I would go into labor on my own before being induced, but the midwife said that that rarely happened.  I was anxious to have even this done, because I knew it was not what I had wanted with a natural birth , but it had to be done.

(Here I am wearing fetal heartrate montior along with my own birth skirt)

  I had three doses given to me throughout the night. I was starting to get contractions through the night. When I did I would ask to go to the bathroom to get off monitors and move around. After awhile they allowed me to sit in the rocking chair which really helped. I listened to my hynobirthing cd throughout the night, belly dance movements and just tried to focus.
   At about 5 am I started to feel really uncomfortable and contractions were getting very strong. I think they were coming about every 2 mins, sometimes 1 min. I would just try to remain calm and breath through them. I never made it to the finally dose of cytotec, because when I was checked at 5:30 am I was already dialated 6 cm and was in full blown labor. My midwife was called in and arrived at the hospital at 7 am, when she checked me I was 10 cm and ready to deliver. She was so shocked to see that I had gone into labor without the use of the pitocin. I was so proud of myself . I was going to be able to deliver my baby with minimal intervention.

    I had to deliver on the bed on my back, but it went well. I pushed for 40 mins and he was out. My water didnt even break until 10 mins before he was born. It was a beautiful birth and as natural as could be for the circumstances that I was in. I was so happy that I did it. I felt so empowered. The midwife told me that it went so smoothly, because I allowed myself to let go  and just accept what was to be. I have a hard time letting go. I think for the next birth though I will really try to aim for a homebirth. The midwife thinks the next one may come even faster than this one, so I may not even make it to the hospital.

   I gave birth to my little boy Darwin Storm on March 8 at 8:17 am. He was 7.6lbs and 20 inches long. The didnt cut the imbilical cord right away, he was put to my chest to breastfeed, they didnt take him from me for 45 mins. At least some of my birth plan still happened and overall I am satisfied that my baby made it here safetly.

1 Month Old

    Little one you are 1 month old. You gave already grown so much in such a short time. You were born on March 8, at 8:17 am to a loving mother and father. You came into the world naturally. You weighed 7.6lbs and were 20 inches long. You probably weigh about 10.5 lbs and have grown at least 2 inches. I am so proud to have you as my son and so happy to have you in my life. There have been many ups and downs this  past month, but we are making it one day at a time.

    You are so stong-willed/you grunt when you eat/i call you  little bear/you love to be close to your mommy and daddy/you love bathtime and playing on your lambswool/you smack your lips together when you are hungry/ you are already trying to crawl/you kick your legs frantically when trying to eat/you love your grandma and grandpa/you like to sit in your bouncy seat and stare at the picture of your mom and dad/you're sensitive/you like to put your hands on your face/your squirmy like your mother/you make the cutiest noises when you sleep/you have a full head of hair/you sneeze a lot just like your dad/you're feisty/you like to cuddle in bed with mommy/you like to dance with mommy in the moby wrap/your eyes are gray/you are happy one minute and upset the next/you smell good/you have a hard time taking nap in the afternoon but you love to sleep in the car/.you like like a little man already/you like your daddy/you like to wear your hat when you sleep/you had a hard time learning how to eat/you like to go for walks in your stroller/the neighbors love you/your aunts and uncle love you too/you love when i sing beautiful boy and you are my sunshine to you/you can hold your head up/you have come into a crafty family-daddy builds guitars and mommy sews and dances/ we are so glad you have chose us as your parents.

I look foward to what the future will bring with you. I look forward to all the things we will do together, but I also cherish every moment now, because I know they will be over in the blink of an eye. I love you little man.. We love you!

This post inspired by a post I read at http://www.goodness.typepad.com/

Made it through the first month

So,I have made it through my first month as a first time, stay at home mom, to a beautiful baby boy who I will call Little D. It has been a month of trial and errors. It has been a month of learning and growing. It has been a month of working on patient and getting into a new normal routine. I think that it is going well though. It feels different being a stay at home mom considering I have been working since I was 16 years old. I am ready though for this new adventure.

I have spent the last 6 years of my life taking care of other peoples children as a nanny and a preschool teacher, so I couldn't wait to be able to have one of my own to care for and do all the fun and creative things I have done with the children I have cared for. 
This blog will be about my daily adventures as a stay at home, first time mom to my little one, as well as a place to express myself creatively. I have been wanting to do this for sometime after reading many other crafty mamas blogs.
I will share my trials and tribulations with learning how to be a new mom. I will share stories about my goal to live simply and to raise my child using Waldorf and Montessori methods.
I am currently dealing with the struggles of breastfeeding and learning to let go. My next challenge learning to use cloth diapers.
Thanks for following me on my journey.
I hope that you will follow my on my adventure. Thanks.