Cloth Diapers ( Part One )

 I've been asked to do a post about cloth diapers. Some people wanna know about different kinds, some wanna know all about cleaning and accessories, What kinds fit best with what ages, and some just wanna know about the day-to-day stuff. There is just SO much to talk about with cloth diapers that I have been avoiding the subject, even though its something so near and dear to me. I've decided that it is going to be best to do this in parts. So, here it goes!!

The first thing I am going to tackle is WHY. Why choose cloth diapers? Why would you choose to re-use something that your baby POOPS in? Well for a lot of reasons....

1) It saves TONS of money!
2) It is better for the environment
3) Harmful chemicals in disposables
4) They're cute, easy, and prevent diaper rash

Money
Disposables are really expensive. The average on costs $0.23 cents. Children, on average, go through 12 diapers a day for the first 8 months and then 8 diapers a day from 8 to 24 months. That's 9,600 diapers! The means you will spend $2,208 in diapers! That's a lot of money. But, we're not done. Forget about wipes? On average they cost $ 0.042 cents per wipe. You use about two of them per diaper change which means you go through 19,200 of them. Which is $806.40. For something that wipes your kids butt.... sounds a tad bit ridiculous. That brings your grand total to a whopping $3,014 if you diaper for two years. A lot of kids go longer, and if you're like me you go through a lot more than 2 wipes per change.

So now you're probably wondering how much cloth diapers ON AVERAGE cost. Lets say you buy 36 cloth diapers at $9 each (some are cheaper some are more expensive) that's gonna cost you $324. You're gonna use them 9600+ times which brings the average cost total for each change to $0.03 Add $0.04 cents to each change for the cost of detergent and water to clean them. Now if you buy 40 cloth wipes add $35.00 (you can very easily make your own cloth wipes, I'll do a tutorial soon) Your diapering total comes out to $743.00 .

That means that you save $2,271.40 cloth diapering!! Now just imagine if you use the same diapers for your future children! The saving goes up and up!
(Thanks Bottoms up Diaper Shop for providing these stats)


Environment
Did you know that a diaper put in the landfill today will probably still be there 550 years from now?! All 9,600 of them we were talking about!! That is a lot of diapers sitting in landfills. If that wasn't enough Massive amounts of wood pulp are used each year in the process of making of disposable diaper (outer and inner paper layers). 25,000 trees are used each year, in addition to 3.4 billion gallons of oil used to make the plastic liners in the diapers. Gross.

Chemicals
Did I get you interested about what else is in disposables? This part is by far the worst.

Sodium Polycarlate- This is used as a powder to form the inner pad of the diaper. its what makes it absorbent. Its the jelly stuff that sometimes comes out. It can hold 100x its weight in water, can stick to baby and cause reactions, studies have shown that when rats ingest the chemical it can cause death, band from tampons in 1985 because of TSS, children have died from ingesting just 5 grams of it, and it can cause female organ problems

Dioxin- This is a by-product of when the bleach the diapers to get the nice clean 'white' look. Its a huge CANCER CAUSING chemical. The EPA lists it as the MOST TOXIC of all cancer linked chemicals. It can cause birth defects, skin and liver disease, and many other things. Its banned in most countries...but not the US. How sick is that?

Tributly TIN (TBT)- A highly toxic pollutant that spreads through the skin. It harms the immune system and and hormonal system. And some people believe that it can cause sterility in boys.

Do you still wanna put sposies on your baby??

Cute, Easy, and Prevent Diaper Rash

Cloth diapers come in huge variety of different colors, prints, and fun accessories to go along with them. One of my diapers has space ships and robots on the them!! They are super easy to take care of too. I do an extra load of laundry every two-three days with a cloth diaper safe detergent. Many moms have also noticed that cloth diaper give their child fewer diaper rashes, probably due to the fact that they don't have harmful chemicals in them that irritate baby's skin.

I hope that this post has been helpful in the ''why'' of cloth diapers!! Be ready for the next post of ''types''

Cloth Diaper Giveaway!!

We're ready for our first cloth diaper giveaway!! I have my wonderful employers to thank for giving me the opportunity to be able to do this give away for all of you.

Brenda and Patrick Flanagan are the proud owners of a diaper shop in our local mall called Bottoms Up Diaper Shop. Patrick is on his way to becoming a minister and Brenda is the craftiest person I have ever met. Their main store product is cloth diapers, but they sell tons of other things like cloth diaper safe diaper rash cream, baby leg warmers, and hand crocheted hats. They truly believe in everything they stand for. You can find their Facebook page here.

What they stand for: Being as socially responsible as possible. They believe that going green is whats best for ourselves, our children, and our environment.

Cloth diaper brands they sell: Sunbabies, Kawaii, D-Dipes (local), OsoCozy, Bummis

Other Products: Leg warmers, Head Bands (Local) , Hair Clips (Local), Onzies(Local), Diaper Bags(Local), Cloth Diaper Laundry Detergent, Diaper Pails and Liners, Pacifiers, Cloth Wipes, Cloth Diaper Rash Cream, Socks, Wet bags, Woven Wraps, Mesh Rings Slings,

Products Brenda Makes: Diaper Pail Deodorizer, Breastfeeding safe Deodorant, Crochet Hats

Supporting local work at home moms is really important to Brenda and Patrick. A very large amount of their products are hand made. The Nina Line is one of them. You can find her etsy shop here. She hand makes adorable hair clips, head bands, onzie sets, and a lot more.

If you live in or will ever be in the Northeast Ohio area I highly recommend that you stop by their shop in the Great Lakes Mall in Mentor Ohio. They will go to great lengths to make their customers happy and are very knowledgeable about anything with cloth diapers. They have tought me so much.

Now onto our Giveaway!!! You all will be raffleing to get a Kawaii Minky Cow Print Diaper with matching leg warmers!! This is my first time ever using Rafflecopter so if you notice any problems let me know and I will take care of it.

It will come with cow print leg warmers as well

First Sweater

For the last week I've been working on my first clothing project. Up until now I have only been crocheting small things. Head bands, hats, scarves, baby blankets, and his Easter basket. So when I decided to make a sweater for my son I was really intimidated. I picked a pretty simple pattern for it ( here ) Well, it turned out great! I worked on it for a week and I am very pleased with it! The pattern is for 12 months and the sizing was very accurate. The only thing I would have done different is make the opening for the head bigger. It takes some time to get it over his head.

Crochet Hat Pattern

Upon request I'm going to do a post on my favorite crochet hat pattern. I really like this pattern because of how forgiving it is. You can make a few counting or stitch mistakes and it really wont make a huge difference in the end. Its very easy to modify into a bigger size or to add your own personal touches to it.

Written Pattern Here
Video Tutorial 
Left Handed Video Tutorial  (Upon Request)
( This lady does a great job on all her videos! Her tutorials taught me how to crochet!)

Materials-
Size F crochet hook
3 ply yarn
Tapestry needle (for sewing in ends)

Ch 3, Join
*NOTE: You can start this with the magic circle as an alternative start.

Rnd 1: 10 SC in LP, Do Not Join

Rnd 2: 2 SC in ea SC. (20 Single Crochet)

Add a marker to your beginning stitch.

Rnd 3: 1 SC in ea SC. (20 Single Crochet)

Rnd 4: 1 SC in next ST, 2 SC in next ST. (30 Single Crochet)

Rnd 5: 1 SC in ea SC around. (30 Single Crochet)

Rnd 6: SC INC every 3 Sts. (40 Single Crochet)

Rnd 7: SC in ea SC around. (40 Single Crochet)

Rnd 8: SC INC every 4 Sts. (50 Single Crochet)

Rnd 9: SC in ea ST around. (50 Single Crochet)

Rnd 10: SC INC every 5 Sts. (60 Single Crochet)

Rnd 11-31: SC in EA SC around until you get the length of your cap.

Use a larger size hook and/or yarn to make the cap for a larger size child. 

Heavily Modified

Pom Pom, Ear Flaps, and Braided Tail

Different Hook and Two Yarns at Once

Following Pattern Exactly

 I've made this hat many times but here are a few of them. I hope you enjoy this pattern as much as I do!!

DIY Hair Care Treatment

So I've been looking all over pinterest for a good recipe for a hair repair treatment. I've tried tuns of them. Some made my hair SUPER sticky- so bad that I had to use commercial shampoo two or three times to get it out. Some even made it feel more unhealthy than it did before, so I used a little bit from each one I found until I made one that is right for my hair. Ok, heres what I did-

1 Tablespoon honey
2 Tablespoons MELTED coconut oil
1 Tablespoon Apple Cider Vinegar

What you do is mix all the ingredients together and comb it through your hair. It works better for me if  my hair is slightly damp. Clip your hair up and keep it up for at least an hour. The longer the better. I'll even put a towel down on my pillow and sleep with this in my hair. When ever you are ready to take this out rinse your hair REALLY well. If you are washing your hair with baking soda it might have to wash your hair twice. Regular shampoo should take this right out. Condition your hair like normal if you would like.

Jackson Easter Pictures

So we got Jackson nine month / Easter pictures taken! I thought I'd take the time to share them with everyone. The lady that took them was pretty rude (and she seemed to have a problem with my thumb sucking baby) but never the less they came out great!

My favorite one

My little thumb sucker

Hat Mommy crocheted

With Daddy

Hat Mommy crocheted

With Daddy

With Mommy

My big boy

Liebster: We Won an Award!

Wow I'm so honored and thrilled, we won a blog award!! This was a total shock seeing that Where the Wild Things are is still in its beginning stages. I am so thankful to my friend over at Nature's Nurture for presenting this to me!

Now what is a Liebster?

Well it is recognition given by bloggers to other up-and-coming blogs with less than 200 subscribers. The award is meant to acknowledge that the blog is inspiring, motivating or a fun read — in other words, it’s worth checking out! (Liebster is the German word for “beloved” or “dearest.”)
Now the rules are simple, and keeps the fun going:

• Thank your Liebster Blog award presenter on your blog and link back to them
• Copy and paste the blog award on your blog
• Present the Liebster Blog award to 3-5 other blogs of 200 followers or fewer that you feel deserve recognition
• Let your selected bloggers know they have been chosen by leaving a comment on their blog

Here's who I have chosen to present this award to:

Crafty Crunchy Mama She's my Go-To person for attachment parenting ideas and green living

Crunchy Little Mommy She knows everything there is to know about cloth diapers

Take the time to go check out these great blogs! I hope that you all enjoy them as much as I do!!

Crocheted Easter Basket!

This year I wanted to do something really special for Jackson's first Easter so I crocheted him his own basket!! I didn't follow a pattern and I'm not sure what exactly I did so I can't post my own but I wanted to share! In his basket he had baby puffs, bananas, bubbles, some toys and some books. He really seemed to enjoy it. Hope you all had a wonderful Easter!

Easter Egg Fun

Tomorrows Easter and today is the day our family does eggs! Well we got really creative this year and made some awesome eggs. We took rubber bands, wrapped them around the eggs and put them in the coloring! Some we did a base color first and then did rubber bands.

Bryan's rubber band egg

And also we colored some with crayons! They are so cool- the wax melts down and gets a spidery effect. I figured it out by accident the other day- I was hard boiling eggs for jack and wanted to mark the ones in the carton that were cooked. I grabbed a green crayon and it started melts all over. Well, needless to say I had a blast lol so we did that this year as well. If you are gonna try it make sure the egg is really hot so that crayon will melt!

Bryan's crayon egg

Is Coconut Oil Bad?

I use coconut oil for a LOT of things (at the moment my hair has a bunch in it to help the dryness lol one of these days I'll make a post about all my uses for it.) but I had been told by a doctor that it was bad for you to consume do to the high volume of saturated fat. This had really confused me because I had always heard it was a great alternative for unhealthy oils. Well today I stumbled across a great explanation of coconut oil regarding health and I would really like to share it. This just helps me prove that even though a doctor is very knowledgeable they are not nutritionists.


"There is widespread misconception that coconut oil is bad for you because it is said to raise blood cholesterol and cause heart disease. The only “proof” is one four-decades old study. The study used hydrogenated coconut oil.
It is now known that the process of hydrogenation creates “trans fatty acids” (TFAs), which are toxic entities that enter cell membranes, block utilization of essential fatty acids (EFAs) and impede cell functionality. TFAs also cause a rise in blood cholesterol. These substances are not present in natural coconut oil.
In other words, a study based on hydrogenated coconut oil has no relevance to the non-hydrogenated coconut milk or coconut oil that you eat…Coconut Oil as Saturated Fat
Another reason people believe coconut oil must be bad for you is misguided association: it is a saturated fat and “saturated fats are bad for you.” Dietary guidelines inevitably fail to distinguish between different kinds of saturated fats and insist that saturated fats (meaning all saturated fats) are harmful.
This is not just misleading. It is bad science. Leading scientists now recognize that just as there is good cholesterol, there are also good saturated fats.
Fats are classified as short-, medium- or long-chain based on the number of carbon molecules they contain. Nearly two-thirds of the saturated fat in coconut oil consists of medium-chain fatty acids.
When we eat long-chain fatty acids, they must be emulsified by bile salts in the small intestine before they can be absorbed into our body. Short- and medium-chain fatty acids, such as those in coconut milk, are absorbed directly through the portal vein to the liver, where they are immediately available to the body.
In other words, most of the saturated fat in coconut oil is easily digestible and converted into quick energy. And these types of fatty acids are less likely to cause obesity because they are immediately used by the body and have no opportunity to be stored.”

I hope this helped you as much as it helped me!!

DIY Laundry Detergent

Another way that I do to help be green (and cut down on cost) is make my own laundry detergent. Its really simple to do and it works just as good. this recipe is also safe for HE washers. There are many ways to make laundry detergent but this is how I do it.

Ingredients:
1 bar of soap( or 3/4 bar of fels naptha)
1 cup of washing soda
1 cup of borax
optional: a few drops of essential oils

That's really all you need. I heard washing soda can be hard to find but I get mine at Walmart in the laundry detergent isle, which is also where I get my fels naptha bar. Ok, what you do is grate your bar of soap with a cheese grater. you can also put it through a food processor but I don't have one so I just do it by hand. Then you add in your other ingredients, mix them up, and you're done. Really simple. Use 1 tablespoon for a normal load or 2 for a heavy or really dirty load. You could store this in any old conntainer or you can pick out something cute to store it in. I just use an old tupperwear container. For fabric softener I suggest getting a wash cloth wet with white vinegar and adding that to your wet cloths in the dryer.