The Wildflower Patch!!

I was lucky enough to stumble across a blog written by a fellow crafty mom and blogger named Mandy! Her blog AND store are named The Wildflower Patch. The name just makes me wish for sumer! She sells felt playfood, family cloth, diapering supplies, items for mom and baby! All handmade and at very reasonable prices!!

http://www.wildflowerpatch.blogspot.com/

^ link to her blog

http://hyenacart.com/wildflowerpatch/

^ link to her store

This week, she is holding a giveaway on her blog! You can enter a number of ways before the 31st of March and can choose from a number of prizes should you be the lucky winner! Show this mama some love, guys! :)

Cloth diapering a newborn!

I started cloth diapering when Jackson was 4 months old. Before then, I was researching like it was my job. I had tried to cloth diaper Keelin, but just didn't quite have the knowledge to pull it off. I had problems with leaks, buildup in the diapers, and looking back- I had a GREAT stash of prefolds and Snappis, I was just missing out on some really good covers and a kick butt cloth diaper detergent. If only I'd had someone to give me advice on what to buy! With Jackson, I started out with WAHM (work at home mom) made all in ones that were great during the day, but wicked at night, leaving his clothes wet. I eventually discovered Thirsties covers (to this day, my favorite PUL covers) and fitted diapers. I finally got the guts to try prefolds again and boy, was I in love! I then ventured into the world of wool covers- knit and interlock. And I found my true love! WOOL! So breathable, so natural, so virtually bombproof- what's not to love? Baby Finn already has half a dozen wool covers, some bought for him, some that Jackson has outgrown! When we found out in December that we were expecting out third and final baby, the first thing I did was start shopping for diapers. I've never diapered a newborn before and have always lusted after teeny tiny diapers. And guys, they are soooo teeny. Can't help but "awww" over them! I posted a few pictures last night, but forgot this one! It's my drawer of fitted diapers. The ones on the left are Tinkle Traps (prefolds cut and sewn to fit like a sized fitted) that were dyed by the previous owner plus a couple of bamboo fitteds that I got in a trade! Those two bamboo diapers are my only new diapers!! The ones on the right are Kissaluvs Size 0, also known as KL0s. They're super fluffy and I adore them!! Can't wait to put them on Finn's teeny hiney!

Some people are hesitant to cloth diaper. Some people would be even MORE hesitant to cloth diaper with used cloth! But I've been cloth diapering full time for a couple of years now and I LOVE to buy used! Saves a ton of money, the cloth is already prepped (natural oils that can prohibit the best absorbancy have been washed out), and sometimes you find really special diapers, like the dip-dyed Tinkle Traps! I don't know if I'll ever get around to tie-dying the prefolds like I want to, but it's nice to have some already done for me!

As far as santitation goes, I sanitize my diapers when I buy them used. I boil the daylights out of them, strip them using Rockin Green (my favorite cloth diaper detergent), wash them with baking soda, rinse them with vinegar, dry them in the sun- in no particular order! :) That, my friends, is more sanitary than the hospital sheets most of us have given birth on top of!

For those of you that have cloth diapered a newborn or are planning to, what kind of diapers are you using, have you used, or are thinking about using?

Where did Spring go!?

Not good pictures in the photography sense, but MAN I love these kids! They're so darn squishy!

Well, today was another chilly day here in North Carolina. I really wish Spring would hightail it back here, so I can get to work outside! This damp cold gets in my bones; special thanks for that goes out to the douche waffle that rammed his SUV into my station wagon in late 2009. My back always aches when it's cold and damp :( Doesn't help being 17 weeks pregnant, either.

Anyway, no more whining from me! We had a productive day inside, regardless of the weather. I signed up for a local consignment so that I could sell off some Medium maternity clothes that I purchased online when I first found out that Baby #3 was on his way. I'm carrying MUCH higher than I usually do, so I'm actually still wearing my larger, regular jeans. I am pretty sure I MIGHT fit properly into size Small maternity clothes by the time my pregnancy journey ends, but I will never in a million years fit into these Mediums, so to the sale they go! They're mostly new with tags and I got a sweet deal on them from a mama who never got around to wearing them, so I just hope to get out of them what I paid. Fingers crossed that I'll find some great items at the consignor pre-sale, too! :) Definitely my favorite part of consigning... getting to shop early!

So, are a few more pictures of our day!

Bottom drawer of Baby Finn's organizer- organic cotton prefold diapers in the back, handmade all in ones to the left, tinkle trap pre-fitteds to the right, plus some Thirsties XS covers and Loveybums wool wraps! All purchased used from other mamas! Prepped and ready for baby!

Here are the clothes we have so far for Baby #3. Soft, organic cotton everything in gender neutral colors, all purchased from consignments or purchased used from mamas online.

Here is a full length shot of the organizer. It's one of two I've purchased for our last baby. It's an organizer made by Badger Basket- unfinished wood, sustainably harvested, organic cotton baskets. I think the look is to die for! The other is put together in Jackson's closet, holding his diapers and wool, since Baby doesn't have much yet!

A thrifted table I bought for $10 last fall. It was BRIGHT blue and hideous, but I liked the lines. Scraped the junk and paint off, painted it white with no VOC paint, and voila! Perfect bedside table for Jackson!

Happy Monday :)

Sweet Saturday!

Today was super chilly, but I got up at 7am to meet my friend Dana at one of our local farmer's markets. I really got some amazing things, but more on that later!


Here is a picture of my strawberry and rhubarb pie filling! The strawberries are from a local farm (by local, I mean 3 miles away!) and my Dad picked them last year, cut them up and froze them! So on a cold, rainy day in early Spring, I have beautiful strawberries to use in a pie with some gorgeous, but bitter, rhubarb. The rhubarb is soaking up some of that glorious strawberry sweetness before I bake it into something incredible using my late grandmother's cobbler recipe.


This, my friends, is raw milk. In the state of NC, it is only sold "not for human consumption," BUT we consume it. It is pretty incredible, albeit expensive, and we can't get a hold of much at a time since the people we get it from are very small scale, but it's absolutely incredible. It is unpasteurized, so it does carry some risk of contamination, but so does pasteurized stuff. That's my disclaimer :) The people we buy it from sell it for pet use or product use, so they do their part and follow the law. We are the "bad" ones.

I have some pretty serious lactose issues, but for some reason raw milk (cows and goats) doesn't kill my tummy, so I'm willing to search it out and pay for it.

I used my raw milk this morning to make a smoothie with a whole banana, raspberries, lots of kale, honey, probiotic powder, yogurt, ice, and flaxseed oil. My hubby said it was like a salad in a cup (I think I might have used a bit much kale for his liking- haha), but that it was good! My little boy hung out drinking it and "yum!"-ing to himself this morning. Precious.

At the farmer's market, I got some humanely raised and butchered lamb ( from the same guy that gave us the free eggs and sold us the sausage a couple of weeks ago- I told you he had a customer for life!). I got a ton of kale, some free range eggs (6 different colored eggs- love the variety) even though we are hoping to get a few grown chickens this week to get a start on laying, since our chicks are still way too young to lay. Also got some goat cheese, olive bread, and bacon pimento cheese for my dad and husband to enjoy.

I made a killer lunch this afternoon- baked winter vegetables (winter squash, parsnips, potatoes, and cabbage) and honey cornbread! My husband and father were here watching basketball (please, let March Madness be over SOON! I can't take it anymore!), both gave me funny looks when I served lunch (because there was no meat, I guess?), but they both really enjoyed it and went back for seconds of one thing or another. :)

Oh, I almost forgot... Tim and I got down into the basement while the little guy napped and went through quite a few boxes that were never unpacked from our move in August. The amount of clothes the kids have outgrown, toys they wouldn't play with now, things I'd forgotten about- it was just incredible. I boxed up a ton of stuff to take to Goodwill, pulled out the clothes to wash and freshen up before passing on to friends with kids smaller than mine, and really noticed that we had a lot more room, but ran out of time this afternoon. Will continue another day! Minimalism makes this mama's heart happy. Clutter steals time away from what you truly love.

The first week of Spring!

The first week of Spring was really kind to us, aside from the last couple of days being a little chilly for my taste! I was really productive at home and we got some great news. Tim got a great job offer from a company he was interested in working with, so he officially is employed for when he gets out of the Army two weeks from today!

I felt the baby kick from the outside for the first time last night! I'm almost 17 weeks and felt the baby start moving around right before I was 13 weeks. I guess with this being my third and final baby, I know what to look for- or this baby is just wild at heart!

Speaking of the baby, I believe we are going to name him Finn. It's a Gaelic name that means "fair." And yeah, all of my kids are pale- go figure. :) Having a hard time choosing a middle name, though. We'll let you know when we come up with something, but it will definitely be a tough decision.


I made a tablecloth for the kidlet's table! We eat a lot of yogurt and fruit, all of which were ending up on the unvarnished wooden table. Had to protect it somehow. My elastic wasn't tight enough on 2 of the corners, but it was my first shot at it, so I will tighten it up at a later time. For now, we're loving the easy cleanup!


The results of my first knitting lesson with my friend Kate! I've practiced a bit since then, so I hope that eventually I will actually start trying to make something :)

One of my 2011 Resolutions was to learn to knit and it was the last thing on my list I had yet to start, so I'm really excited. Progress- and it is so relaxing!



Short rows tilled in the garden, two peach trees planted (now we get to just wait about 5 more years for peaches), marigolds planted (help with bug control and pollination), and some of our seedlings put in the ground.

We did have a little cold snap, so I'm afraid that some of them aren't looking so good. I think I have enough seedlings left to make up for it if those kick the bucket, though, and end up in the compost bin.





Diapers on the line right above my daffodils! See the brownish colored diaper? I heard that you can dye fabric with tea, so I tried it and the color looks really strange. I think I did something wrong, but I definitely will try again. Some of the fabric I've seen dyed with tea is just lovely, so we'll see if I can't get the hang of it :)


My beautiful seedlings! Can't believe that I grew these from seeds and only killed a few of them :) My thumb is slowly changing colors!

Our upcycled chicken coop! It is finally finished and our 10 oldest chickens are spending their second night out there (with a heat lamp, of course) tonight. They love it! I've never seen them happier! It's 88 square feet, 44 feet of perches, 7 nesting boxes, a large fenced run is just beyond the window, and there is a closeable "chicken door" on the bottom left, so I can shut them in at night to protect them from predators. There is electricity out there, so our feathered family members will have a heat lamp as long as they need it and a fan in the summer.

My hair is everywhere!

Some of you might know what "no poo" is and some might not. I'm planning on doing a really detailed blog about it tomorrow if all goes well.

Well, I am about to finish my first week of no poo-ing and WOW. All I can say is WOW.

I have really wavy, slightly curly hair that has gotten straighter as I've gotten older. Big disappointment, since I love my curls, even though I do take a flat iron to them occasionally. At first, I blamed the lack of curls on my hormones changing during pregnancy, nursing, etc. but after my first couple of times no poo-ing (i.e. not using shampoo, but instead, using a homemade mixture of totally natural cleansing product- I use baking soda and apple cider vinegar, not at the same time), I realized that it was the products that I've been using in my hair! I thought that since they rated pretty well on websites that rank toxicity of beauty products, I was safe, but it is clear to me now that my hair is just really affected by what is put on it.

Last night, I took a late shower and fell asleep with my hair down and damp. Yeah, I was absolutely zonked and drooling... Woke up this morning with curly hair like I haven't seen since I was in high school. I've been putting my hair up to work outside in the yard, so I guess I just haven't noticed the curls! Now, there will be no pictures, because my hair is still rebelling a bit against the lack of product, so I'm rocking a look that speaks of wild woman of Borneo chic and it is not to be immortalized on my blog.

I hear that after a week or two, your hair starts to calm down. So I'm ready for that to happen :) My hair is shinier than it has ever been, super soft, starting to get the natural curl back, and I think I made the right decision to switch to no poo-ing when I ran out of conditioner and didn't want to buy another $20 bottle. Baking soda wash and vinegar rinse plus some cool water has really worked wonders for my hair. Who could have possibly imagined that "not" washing my hair would give me back my high school hair?! haha And it's ridiculously cheap. Can't beat it with a stick!

Carseat Post #2 with pictures!

Happy Tuesday, everyone! As a follow-up to the post I made yesterday about my support of extended rear-facing, I thought I would post some pictures of my little ones in their carseats! I took these this afternoon around lunch time, so pardon the glaring light!


This is my 26 month old son, Jackson. I am not entirely sure what he weighs at the moment, but he is wearing 2T clothes and growing like a weed! He is in a Britax Marathon carseat, which has a rear-facing limit of 35lbs. and a forward-facing limit of 80lb. I didn't check height limits, because both of my kids are fairly short, so the weight limit will be an issue before the height limit will. (My love, Keelin, is shielding her eyes from the light in the background. Sweet girl!)

I do not have a LATCH system in my car, so the carseats are secured with seatbelts. We climb in the car, putting weight in the seat, in order to get the belts as tight as they should be. Those suckers are going nowhere!

When I turned him forward-facing, he liked being able to see where we were going and wasn't thrilled when I turned him back rear-facing. To make the transition back to rear-facing easier for him, we brought out some books, toy cars, stickers, etc. that are "for carseat use only!!" :) So we went on and on about how AWESOME Jackson's big boy carseat was and how GREAT it was that it faced backwards!!! Then we made a huge fuss about Jackson's fun car toys that he can only have if he's buckled into his seat. Now, he thinks that getting in the car is the best thing since sliced bread! I know that not everyone will have such an easy time with a rear-facing two year old, but I can only tell you what worked well for us.


My sweet love, Keelin, forward-facing at 41lbs and almost 5 years old. The straps are nice and tight, the chest clip is where it should be, and her seat was installed the same way Jackson's was. That sucker is going nowhere. Gotta love the mud on the side of her carseat. That's what happens when you hurl yourself into the van straight from the playground area of our backyard where you were communing with mud. She's also in a Britax Marathon.

We bought these two carseats in December of 2009, when we were in our accident two days before Christmas. I wouldn't put them back in the wrecked carseats, so I went to Target and got the only two Britax seats they had- hence the fact that they don't match (which does bother me a bit, lol). My back was so messed up from the accident, that I had to get the guys at the car rental place to install them for me when I picked up my loaner while my car was in the shop. You should have seen me asking these mechanics to climb up in the seats so that the belts would be tighter! ;) They looked at me like I was absolutely mad!


Here is a picture of the carseats with no munchkins in them. I keep the LATCH belts attached, because I get to use them when we put the carseats in someone's car that has the LATCH system. Looks a little goofy to have straps hanging everywhere, but I hope to one day have a LATCH system installed in my vehicle, so I'm hanging on to all of the pieces and parts :)

Addressing the issue that a lot of people have mentioned ("What about their legs?!")- Jackson, in the first picture, has one leg bent and the other hanging out on the back of the seat. He took a nap in the car this afternoon with both legs crossed, clearly comfortable enough to go to sleep! Sometimes I look back and see him poking a leg out towards Keelin, goofing off with his feet (he's a no shoe kinda guy if he can help it, so they're off the minute we get in the car- haha), kicking the seat, trying to put his toes on the window, etc. There hasn't been a time yet where he has seemed uncomfortable and I really paid attention to him at stop lights and in parking lots today, just to see if I noticed him acting like it bothered him. And he was fine, just like I imagined he would be.

I hope this post has been more positive than my last one. I was super frustrated last night with the negative reactions that people were giving to the newest recommendations on carseat safety, so my claws popped out. I find that people listen much better to reason and passion than they do to fussing and judging, but I am human and sometimes it shows. I hope that anyone considering extended rear-facing is encouraged by my photos. Let me know if you have any questions!