2011 etsy favourites... part two... wear it

Well Santa was too good to us and we're still taking it all in.  I will of course share some of our favourite moments of our very first Christmas together very soon... until then...

here are a few of my etsy favourites... for wearing... from this past year...

enjoy!

by SigalitAlcali

by KangarooCare ... this is a nursing necklace... I think the girls would love it as they've recently taken to grabbing my face and hair whilst eating!

by Joretta ... for when the girls have actual hair... not fuzzy adorable hair

by opellecreative ... simple and gorgeous... for outings without the diaper bag

by Sumikoshop ... that tall thing is a whistle... could come in handy in a couple of years... no I did not just say that... 

by Sumikoshop ... love this.

I hope you had a fabulous Christmas too!

chaotic recap... fourth edition

Christmas is in two days and we've been busy shopping, wrapping and planning menus...

so this is going to be photo heavy and writing sparse... brace yourselves.

Love that we will be getting some quality time with this man... in the form of two weeks off from work!




Somebody's teething... do you see that drool?



she's rocking her amber necklace... please let those rocks be doing their magic




Alice is still working on the whole jumping thing...

yeah... she's wearing a tu-tu skirt... I know... it's a little much but we had to get fussed up because....


Auntie Stephanie has arrived...

she's not really a bag lady... I promise you

the girls are smitten...



and she's addicted...

Presents are wrapped and under the tree...

and we're all so excited for our first Christmas together as a family of four.

Are you ready for Christmas?  Do you stay home for the holiday or are you off on a road/plane/train trip?

Have a fabulous Christmas!

cloth diapering twins

I have been meaning to update you on our cloth diapering ways... because I know you want to hear about the nitty gritty details of dealing with cloth diapers times two.  First of all I feel I must mention that if you do not have a baby you will likely think that dealing with baby poo is totally nasty and that you will have no part in laundering soiled baby diapers. When it's your own... you might feel differently.  I do.

We're almost five months in and totally sold on cloth, wouldn't have it any other way, we tell total strangers on the street with babies that they should be using cloth.  I am a believer.





I meant to write this post for a good while so that I can convince even more of you that cloth is so the way to go.  Today I found the perfect motivation as one of you is pregnant with twins (yay!!) and emailed me to ask me about the ins and outs of cloth diapering twins (thank you Nicole from Glam Granola).  Well I just hit send and am afraid I wrote you a novel... so I figured I mind as well post that novel on here ... right. now.

here goes.

We assumed our babies would be small (smaller then they actually were) so we originally went with these bummis newborn covers along with these organic preemie prefolds and snappis, we would then hold the prefold on the baby with the snappi and put the cover over.  For the first week we used disposables until they got rid of all the sticky black stuff.  Originally I admit we used disposables at night for fear that the wetness of the cloth would wake them up (we were soo soo wrong).  I think we bought roughly 40 of the diapers and about 10 covers to start with and we were planning to wash them every second day.

Here's what I didn't like about the original system we had going:

1. I do not like the velcro fasteners on the covers (they stick to everything when you wash them even though you velcro them back on themselves before washing (bummis do make covers with snaps but I haven't tried them)

2. they seemed to hold the smell really badly 

3. the covers dug into their legs (and they had small legs)

What we do now (and have done since they were about two months old when i discovered flip one size covers)...

Flip OS Cover via

We use the next size up of organic prefolds by bummis (the infant size which I am told will likely be good enough until they are potty trained), along with a fleece liner (I bought the bummis ones but you can cut up a bunch of fleece yourself... this makes the baby feel less wetness) and a flip one size fits all cover (which I love love love love love).  I fold the prefold into thirds the long way and then lay the fleece on top and then lay it in the cover and voila... you have the diaper.

I do wash the diapers usually every day, sometimes every second but I just do it that often because then there's less to put back out and less to fold (I loathe folding).  We have 8 covers now which works well if we launder every day or so.  I only change the covers at night and when they um poo.

As for how we handle the dirty diapers... I really recommend fuzzibunz hanging diaper pail... you throw the dirty diapers in it and then it unzips at the bottom so you unzip and shake them into the laundry and then toss the bag in too (see... not so nasty afterall).  We also have two small laundry pails that we sometimes put the bag in, otherwise you can just hook the bag around a door knob.  We have a front loading machine and we put it through a rinse cycle first so that everything gets nice and wet and then we run it through a whites cycle.  We use Country Save detergent - we started out with Nellies and it just didn't take the smell out but country save works really well for us.

I breastfeed... which makes this whole thing easier... now I could write a novel on how that all went down and how awesome it is NOW so if you have questions ask away... if you do use formula you will need to use a paper liner and flush it as that stuff won't just wash away.

For going out of the house (which you will need to do in order to STAY SANE) you will need a wetbag - I like these bags with the outside compartment.

For diaper cream I use liveclean non-pertrolum jelly and it does fine with the cloth.

Now anyone will tell you that an AIO (all in one) is easier but it is going to cost you a lot.  At this point we've spent roughly $500 - $600 total on diapering stuff and we likely will need to spend very little more until they are potty trained (compare that to roughly $2500 PER CHILD on disposables), not to mention that disposables stink... like literally they smell awful.

The hardest part of cloth diapering thus far is responding to people (or should I say defending my position) on why we are using cloth diapers... people think they are gross.  

Bottom line in my opinion... you do need to decide you are just going to do it and stick with it because disposibles are more convenient but like I already said... they stink... a lot... and will burn a hole in your wallet...

have I convinced you?

I hope so.

2011 etsy favourites... part one... say it

When I have free time, which is rare and may involve staying up too late just to grab a few minutes to myself (which I never regret the next morning) I usually spend it clicking through etsy while watching tv, drinking wine or lemonade and eating raspberries.  Weird combo, maybe... but it works.

Okay so I do actually buy things off of etsy... usually in waves... usually when we're decorating something specific... but other times I just click through until I find something that I think I might just love and then I add it to my favourites and it might just be bought down the road or it might show up on here in a post.

Here are some of my favourite etsy finds that say something from this past year that I have yet to buy or post...

by HelloHuckleberry

I think we might just need this one...

by Kathy Panton

by sparrownestscript

I need to buy this for our next anniversary... Andrew, look away!

by ashleykjensen

I found this same saying on a print last year and ever since I've thought it belonged in our front entranceway... 

by theSIBLINGshop

because adding damn makes everyday that much better.

happy wednesday.

28 was a good year

A year ago this was the scene at the arrivals terminal of the airport when we picked up my sister...

it was my birthday ... and the same day we found out that it worked and that I was pregnant... and this is Steph absorbing this news...

and this was the same day... one year later...

amazing how so much can change in a year.

last year it was my birthday ... and the same day we found out that it worked and that I was pregnant... and the same day that we picked up my sister from the airport and told her the news.

this year we didn't make it to the airport but the reunion was just as sweet as last year.

okay maybe sweeter..

 

 loved this.  Andrew admitted to using his left hand to write this.  so cute.

 It was a great day.

Heidi thought so too.

29... you have some large shoes to fill!

happy monday!

chaotic recap... third edition

Last Saturday night was a get all dressed up, go to Andrew's Christmas party, pretend we're real adults for a night and socialize with other real adults, drink what you think was a reasonable amount, learn a couple hours later that it was far too much for your out of drinking practice self and pay dearly when your daughters wake you several times that night to feed... kind of night.

in short... it was awesome with a side of awful.


Isla and Alice started talking to each other... it started with a few direct smiles and escalated to full on giggling and talking to one another, amazing to watch...



i think i know you from somewhere...



yes i believe you shared a womb with me...

also amazing, when they look right at you when you talk to them.


Yesterday I baked... well it was more like we baked (my Mom, my Mother-in-Law and Myself)... and unlike last year... success was had!

The makings of a hello dolly bar... this time I didn't literally LAYER the ingredients into the pan and I put more than the suggested 1/3 cup of condensed milk... (recipe)

Sugar cookies... I would like to say that I was responsible for the perfect cut outs but it was really Andrew's Mom who rolled out the dough and cut out these goodies... yes I still need to ice them. (recipe from Martha Stewarts Cookie book)

These gingerbread cookies were very easy to make (this coming from someone not at home in the kitchen).  Oh and I swear... this is the ONLY pan where the cookies had a bit of a run in with one another.  (recipe)

Now we just need to hide these somewhere until Christmas (and then I need to give as many away as possible..)


Another first this week... Alice has decided that she wants to hold her bottle (she gets bottles during the night and sometimes one during the day)...

Andrew's let her actually hold it a couple of times at night but he credits her super sticky hands rather then brute strength...


I had to throw this in here simply because those baby legs that Isla is sporting used to look like giant adult sized tights on their tiny newborn legs...

now... not so much.


Today the plan was to go to a movie but then Isla decided not to sleep much again last night and I thought I would likely sleep through a movie... so we went Christmas shopping instead...

and by Christmas shopping I really mean I bought things for myself shopping.  I haven't really shopped in over a year, for clothes that aren't for a baby related purpose (maternity, nursing, for the babies... you get it).  I had been very reluctant to shop for myself because I kept wanting to lose more weight from the pregnancy.  Well all of the skinny jeans fit now so I figure it's safe now.  So today I didn't go looking for anything for myself... I went looking for Christmas presents and I did find some but it always happens that when I am not looking for myself and when I really shouldn't be spending money on myself... that I actually find things I love.

I came home with two.  Happy early birthday present to me.


And finally... some more sweet pictures of our sweet girls that I took these past couple of days...

This weekend we have no official plans but I am sure there will be some Christmas shopping and lots of giggles.

Are you finished your Christmas shopping?

Happy Weekend!