Baby Leggings

My latest sewing project has been making baby leg/arm warmers. They protect baby's legs but don't have to be taken off when you change their diaper like pants and onesies do, making diaper changing easier and more efficient whether you use cloth or paper. Also, they are super-cute and AMAZINGLY easy to make!!

The biggest retailer of these is Babylegs, and on their website (babylegs.com), one pair of leg warmers costs $12...!!! That seemed ridiculous to me, so I looked for patterns to make my own. I found one at http://everythingyourmamamade.com/2008/01/21/make-your-own-baby-leg-warmers/. Oh my gosh, it is so easy and quick and CHEAP. Here are some little ones I made from crew socks I got at the dollar store (this was my very first attempt, so keep in mind, they're pretty crappy!):


I don't know how clear these pictures will be once they're posted (they kind of suck in the preview), but the designs are a little argyle square, grey and black houndstooth (those turned out pretty bad- all bulky and bunched up at the top- which wasn't entirely my fault and was partly due to the knit of the sock itself), a little tree and yellow stars.


This picture has AWFUL quality! The colors/designs are cream (not too bad, but I obviously shouldn't have used black thread. I didn't have any other colors though), blue and green stripes, gray with little scotty dogs (you can't see them here, but they are cute!), and white hearts.

It took me a few tries to realize that I should probably be putting the label (they said "CHATTIES" on the sole) at the back. And the ones with appliques that are supposed to face a certain direction (e.g. the trees, the dogs, the hearts) will be upside down when worn as leggings. But whatever. It was good practice before I did some longer ones. Here's a picture of me wearing one on my arm:


If they're just too ugly to put on the baby, I'll see if I can cut out/serge a thumb hole and wear them as arm warmers myself.


Here are some better ones! I got a pack of these at Walmart for cheap and made these in like five minutes. I was glad I had practiced on the smaller ones first. The reason why most of the crew sock leggings were bulkier than the ones featured here is that I started out using a zigzag stitch for extra security. Only since I'm such a beginner at sewing, I didn't do a very good job at staying near the edge. I decided to switch to a straight stitch and went around twice, just in case, and the results were much better. I brought the blue pair ^^ to Texas with me last week and tried them on Jane. She pointed at them and said "Gock!" ("sock"), and when I put them on her, she lifted up her skirt to look at them. Then she went around and played, and didn't try to pull them off or anything- yay! I put one of the little pairs on her arms and she liked those, too.


I really liked the way the green ones turned out. (The pair next to it is brown, if you can't tell. Crappy lighting.) And they aren't as uneven in length as they look in the pictures, I swear.


The green argyle pair was given to me by Connie. She bought these at a kiosk in the mall before I was even pregnant!!! They're a little bit girly, so I'll probably save them for a daughter. the brown and green argyle pair were made by me- don't they look comparable? I'm so proud!!


The only real difference between my leggings and the "professionally made" ones are that the edges are serged. I don't even know what a serger looks like, let alone how to use one, and Connie doesn't own one, so that's pretty much out of the question for now. However, once I become more proficient at sewing, I'd love to learn how to serge and own a serger myself. They are REALLY useful. First things first, though. (aka, learn to sew, get a sewing machine, etc.)


And here's my non-serged edge. I trimmed off the extra fabric after I sewed them to make it neat. Even with a straight stitch, it was hard to stay near the edge. This has a lot to do with the fact that sock material likes to curl in when it's cut, and I had to hold three layers flat while sewing. Different layers were curling in different directions, so I gave myself a wider edge than I would have if it was all completely flat.


And here are the socks that I've cut and prepared to sew next! (See what I mean about the edges curling?) The pair at the end is actually a bright shade of pink, NOT red- the picture quality isn't THAT bad! It came with the pack, and I'm going to make it into a pair of leggings for Jane.

It's probably a good thing that I'm not having a girl. If I were, I'd probably spend way too much money buying her cute little outfits and end up with too many clothes for her to ever wear.

By the way, did I even post before now that I'm having a boy? Oops, I don't think I did! ...It's a boy! Here are some pictures (sorry that they're sideways, I was too lazy to change that):


Baby's foot! Five toes, count 'em.


Baby's profile- very handsome, like his father! (jk, too early to tell)


Baby's equipment! Not a very modest shot, haha! You can see his shins and knees pretty well here, too. Definitely a boy. Which is what we were planning, so that's good!

To Do

Here are my goals for this week:

Visit Dr Berry so he can fill out the form for the DMV
Turn in the form/mail it to the DMV
Cook something on at least two different days this week
Acquire and send in all the necessary forms to Medicaid
Email my supervisor at UVU
Finish making the baby leggings I started
Find the drawing I made for Pop, or redraw it if I can't find it
Scan and/or mail it to him
Don't buy anything online
Don't buy any fast food or soda
Clean the apartment

• Sweep kitchen floor
• Clear off living room floor and vacuum
• Clear off the couch/couch area
• Counters, sink and mirrors in the bathroom
• Clean the toilet
• Clear off the clutter in the back room
• Clear off the clutter in the bedroom
• Change the sheets on our bed
• Do laundry

Do the french worksheets and email them to my teacher
Go through my clothes and put some in storage and/or in a bag for DI
Pay my health insurance bill
Pay the rent
Pay my doctor's bills
Pick up and deposit my paycheck
Go to bed by midnight every night, excluding nights where I work grave shift of course
Clean out school bag (!! I can't believe this isn't done yet!)
Go on a date/play a game with Mykle
Follow up on my blog at the end of the week to see how I did with these goals

I know this stuff isn't interesting, but this is an experiment to see if I do any better at accomplishing things this week after posting my to do list on here. If it helps, you may be subjected to boring blog posts every Monday. Yay!

Cloth Diapering

I am excited right now. And the reason is actually a little silly.

I'm excited (and have been for a long time- actually from long before I even got pregnant) about cloth diapering.

My sister Kate is extremely unsupportive, skeptical, and disinterested about this entire topic. I can't criticize her about this because she IS the one with two kids, changing diapers every day. I have zero kids and I think I've only changed a poopy diaper once in my life (though I have changed several wet diapers). However, to be completely fair, Kate has never actually TRIED cloth diapers (to my knowledge), and therefore has less room to judge than mothers who have at least experimented with it. Still, she's got the babies and the experience; all I have is a plan. I shall therefore refrain from speaking condescendingly of her anti-environmental stance until I have tried and tested the cloth method myself. (har har, just kidding, to each her own and far be it from me to judge)

I had lunch with younger sister Dot today and asked her what she would do with her kids in the (hopefully) very distant future, just out of curiosity. She said DEFINITELY disposables: "I'm green, but I'm not THAT green!!" When I inquired as to why, she said that Kate had talked to her about it and brought up strong arguments against it, which convinced her to go with disposables. I assume Dot was probably leaning towards cloth before that conversation (if she even thought about it at all), since she really is quite environmentally conscious. I find it highly amusing that Kate is so vehement in her opinion, enough to promote disposables (or demote cloth, I'm not sure which) when she hasn't tried anything different. It doesn't annoy or irritate me at all, I just think it's kind of hilarious, especially since she told Dot (who won't be having kids for a long time to come) all about this opinion.

I'm sure she avoids the topic with me because she doesn't want to argue, and she finds the topic boring. I wonder if she'll even finish reading this blog entry once she's read the title. I'm also pretty sure that she and Danny (particularly Danny) think that I'm an uppity snob who will lecture them on the damages disposables pose to the environment while promoting my own "greener" way as far superior to theirs. And I KNOW they're just waiting for me to have the baby, try cloth diapering, get sick of it and give up so that they can smile knowingly to one another and say "it was a noble intention, but short-lasting, just as we thought." When I picture this scene in my head, I can't stop laughing even though I would be the one SOL in the scenario!

Either way, I am EXTREMELY enthusiastic about the idea of cloth diapering as I have already stated. I first got excited about it (and this is a little embarrassing) before I was even married. (I can't believe I used to make fun of Dot for packing her suitcases three months before we were to leave on our summer vacation.) I've always known that I would have kids someday and I like to plan these kinds of things! Plus, I hadn't decided which method to use yet and I wanted to do the research before I got pregnant so that I could be well-informed when the time came along. And I had a lot of spare time on my hands in California!

I've also done several research projects concerning this and similar topics for my psychology classes at school. Specifically, I wrote an enormous paper (which I'll post here at a later date) all about Elimination Communication, aka Assisted Infant Toilet Training. I did a ton of research for it, and learned a lot about the pros and cons of all three methods (cloth, paper and commando). I decided cloth was the way I'd go; I'll give EC a shot, but as "granola" as I may be, I'm not sure of my abilities there. We'll see, and I'll discuss my plans for that in a later post.

Here is my EXTREMELY simplified list of the pros and cons of cloth diapering:

Pros
Much more economical (and YES, I'm including the extra cost of electricity for the washer and dryer in that statement)
Much more environmentally friendly (disposables make up approximately 2% of our country's landfills; I'll post the citation for that when I post my research paper on EC)
Better for baby's skin, assuming you do it properly and aren't washing your dipes with fabric softeners or what not
Less leakage IF you use and fit them properly

Cons
You have to do more laundry, which takes time
It's grosser since you keep the dirties to wash instead of tossing them
This leads to a big loss of convenience because you have to make sure that the smell from your pail/bag doesn't permeate, work on treating and preventing stains, fix seams and replace elastics when they wear out, etc.
Figuring out how all the different kinds work and which is best for your baby also takes time and energy

There are quite a few more reasons under each category, but those are the biggest ones. When examining these pros and cons, I found the cons for cloth diapering much more "fixable" than the cons for disposables, and the pros much more worthwhile. So I decided to do further research.

First, I looked for someone I knew who had used cloth diapers. Lo and behold, my very own MOTHER fit that description! I honestly didn't know this until I asked; as a toddler I always carried a cloth prefold with me wherever I went because I loved putting it against my nose and smelling the clean detergent. I had no idea that I once wore the same type of diaper on my BUTT! (and just for the record, NO, my "security blanket" prefolds were never used as actual diapers; I did NOT inhale the scent of a cloth that had been previously peed/pooped on)

So I asked my mom about that. How much of a hassle was it to do all that extra laundry? Well, apparently grandma Vasicek got her a diaper service for Joe (and maybe Kate too?), so that wasn't a big issue the first time around. When she did have to wash her own diapers, she said it wasn't that hard, and she was used to the folding and pinning by then so no biggie. I'm still surprised that I'm surprised that I was CDed myself, by my very own mother.

And yes, I meant to include both "surprises" in the previous sentence.

Then I started researching the whole thing online. And wow, has the world of CDing come a long way since my mom did it! Parents aren't limited to prefolds and flatfolds anymore. There are pockets and inserts and All-In-Ones and All-In-Twos and One Sizes and fitteds and doublers and hybrids and liners and covers and soakers and woolies and snaps and velcros and so much more! And yes, I've read about each and every single one of these things and I know what they all mean!

It's late and Mykle wants me to come to bed soon, so I can't go into descriptions and explanations right now. Besides, I'm sure most people would find that extraordinarily boring to hear about. However, I have been working on making some fleece soakers myself (I'm learning to sew!!! How exciting!! It's both easy and incredibly complicated all at once. Sigh.) and I wanted to post pictures and brag about them!!

For your information, a soaker can be worn over a disposable diaper or a cloth diaper such as a prefold/fitted. It serves two general purposes: Preventing leaks/wicking moisture away from the baby's skin, and being cute! Most variations I know of are made of fleece or wool, or a combination of wool and nylon.

The pattern I used was online at http://katrinassqs.blogspot.com/2007/10/free-soaker-pattern.html, and is available for free! It's very simple and detailed with pictures showing each step. This is essential for beginner sewers like myself. (Mom taught me the basics when I was thirteen. That's the only instruction I ever had and I hadn't practiced since then. Luckily, I have a near photographic memory and remembered how to do all the basic crap like threading the bobbin, etc.)

Here are pictures of the fronts and backs of the two soakers I made just tonight! (Thank you Connie, for the use of your sewing machine!) Both are made from fleece remnants I got at Joanne's for half price. The first is black (not a traditional baby color, but I wanted to start with something generic):


This black one has an extra piece of fleece sewn in the bottom to help prevent leaks. I promise it looks less blobby in real life! For the picture I propped it against a shoe :)

I do not know the gender of my baby yet. I find out in a week. I realize that this next soaker is blue. Yes, I DO predict that it'll be a boy, but that's not why I picked blue. I just thought this print was adorable. Also, I think the only REALLY non-gender-neutral color is pink, and a girl can wear a blue fish-themed soaker without appearing ridiculous. Whatever.



This is another remnant I got the other day. The pieces are cut out but I didn't have time to make a soaker out of it yet. I wish they were crabs not lobsters, but I still think it's cute. Esp. since I'm from New England. And again, I don't care if it's blue. (the background is a lot bluer than it looks in the picture)


This last pic is a very poor quality photo of a PUL print I got for covers. It's a light green with monkey faces on it, also gender neutral IMO. I'm psyched to use it, but need to find some elastic and a good lining first.


That's all for now. Time for bed!

just so you know...

I know I haven't said it on facebook yet, but I am pregnant. I didn't post it there because I don't want the staff or the students at my work to find out for as long as possible. If the staff know, they might let slip to the girls, and if the girls know they might use it against me. I don't think they'd punch me in the stomach or anything (though that's entirely possible), but if I punish them for something they'd probably say stuff like "You're just mad because you're pregnant and hormonal, etc. I don't want to deal with that.

Of course, I told my supervisor about it. I'm not entirely stupid :)

Basically, I just wanted to make this post to brag about how economical I've been about the whole thing. So far, I have spent $115 and I have the following items:

- A crib

- A crib mattress

- Two strollers

- Two car seats that clip into the strollers

- The matching car seat bases

- A high chair

- An exersaucer

...so, I have most of the bigger items I'll need. Kate gave me her old chicco stroller, and Mykle and I found a matching car seat/base (with the infant insert) on craigslist for $50, in almost brand new condition. I got the crib and crib mattress (the latter of which is brand new) today, which I found on ksl for $65. The extra stroller, car seat/base, high chair and exersaucer I got on freecycle. The second stroller and car seat are a set, in excellent condition, with a Winnie the Pooh print. (My mother-in-law will LOVE this, since she adores Winnie the Pooh.) The print has a lot of blue on it, but it's not incredibly boyish, and even if I were adamant about my baby coinciding perfectly with their gender schema (which I'm not) I still wouldn't mind using it for a girl. Everything else is unisex- mostly green, actually.

I don't know yet whether or not I'm expecting a boy or a girl, but I find out at my next visit on January 19th! I'm excited to know. Mykle wants a boy, and I did too at first, but every time I visit Kate and Danny in Texas and see my little niece I change my mind! She is SO CUTE, basically the cutest baby on the planet, and the smartest too. She LOVES shoes, and will try on every pair that she finds. And if her shoes get dirty at all, she starts to cry. If her clothes or hands get dirty, no big deal :) Oh my gosh, I love her so much! I can't wait to see her again!

AND guess what?? I get to see her and little Dan (my baby nephew) and Kate and Danny in just a few weeks!! For a Christmas present, Mykle and my dad got me a flight to Houston to visit my sister! YAYYY!!! It's on the weekend right after my next ultrasound, which is great because when I get there I can tell them if I'm having a boy or a girl! And then Kate will probably give me tons of her old baby clothes (though if she doesn't, that is totally fine), and I'll bring them back to Utah and when Mykle sees them he'll get all freaked out again, like when I brought the exersaucer home! He's so nervous about having a baby, it's adorable!

So far, my new year has been great. I am so relieved not to be in school anymore! I haven't graduated yet even though I finished all my requirements; I applied for graduation too late last semester, and missed the deadline so that I have to graduate in April. Typical. Whatever, it doesn't matter. I actually have an incomplete in French 2020 to finish up, so it's cool. It'll probably take me two days to do all the work I need for that, it's wicked easy. I just have to do a bunch of worksheets, finish my paper on the Little Prince, and take the final exam. Cake.

...mmm, cake...

I saw an awesome movie in the dollar theater the other day- RED, starring Bruce Willis and Morgan Freeman. Hilarious!! I saw it with the girls at work on one of their activities, but I liked it so much I dragged Mykle to see it with me later that week. I knew he would love it, and he totally did! The girl in it totally reminds us of Esther!

On Sunday I saw that new Reese Witherspoon movie with the girls at work (it also has Jack Nicholson and Owen Wilson in it), and I'm going to make Mykle see that one too when it gets to the dollar theater. He would love it, even if it is a romantic comedy. I'll just cover his ears when the f-word comes on (only at one part). I don't know why they had to stick the f-word in there, but I suppose any movie with Jack Nicholson in it is going to have some language. Owen Wilson is absolutely HILARIOUS in it! I liked RED better, but that's pretty much a given; it's like a comedic combination of the Bourne Identity and the A-Team, with Bruce Willis, Morgan Freeman, Richard Dreyfuss, and Helen Mirren in it. Obviously it's going to be good.