Notice Anything Different?

I've been contemplating changes for Adventures in Diapering for quite a while. Thankfully, last week I came across Crissy's Blog Design. Crissy charges between $55-$65 for a complete blog package while she is currently working on building her portfolio. Her Professional Blog package includes a lot- pretty much everything you see here including the new Navigation Bar up top!

Crissy was easy to work with, gave me tons of choices in the design process, offered her opinion when I had trouble making decisions, and finished everything within only a few days from start to finish! Everything was made on a test blog first so I could look things over and have her make changes as needed.

If you are on the fence about whether to hire someone to help spiff up your blog, I highly recommend Crissy's Blog Design.

Also, take a look up top. You are now reading Adventures in Diapering and Beyond. I felt the beyond summed up the stage of life I seem to be moving into. Web address is still the same as before.

So what do you think about Adventures in Diapering's new name and look?

Keeping Toys Organized by Rotation

With 4 kids, it didn't take long before our house had become FILLED with toys. In fact, it became that way back when we only had one child! The worst time for toys usually seems to be right after Christmas when toys consume our living room!

The solution? I decided it was time to get the toys out of sight and go through them on rotation.

We went through all of the toys and find toys that the children have out grown or do not play with to donate. Next, we bought quite a few clear plastic tubs. We use clear tubs so it would be easy for the kids and I to see the contents.

I chose separate tubs to store groups of toys such as:

Cars
Little Legos
Duplos
Playmobil
Lincoln Logs
Magic Tricks


We rotate through the toys by picking a group of toys to play with every week. When the kids pick a tub to bring up, it's like Christmas again! They suddenly have something to play with that they haven't seen for weeks and are instantly entertained!

It seems that kids don't get bored when they have too few toys, but rather when they have too many. Cleaning out the toys and putting the ones the kids love into rotation has been a big help for the toy burnout in our house.

What to Pack for a Family Road Trip with an Unknown Destination

Recently our family did something we had never done before. We left our house expecting just to go to the zoo and ended up taking a road trip across 6 states!

With a vehicle filled to the max with people (6 of us) there isn't a lot of room for "stuff", so packing somewhat light is a must.


Here is a list of items that work well for a family who doesn't know where they'll end up:

• 3 sets of clothes for each family member (you can always wash them in the sink or at a laundry mat if you need more clean clothes)
• extra undies for children 7 and under
• Sandals
• Tennis Shoes/Hiking Boots AND socks
• Jackets
• Swimsuits & Sunscreen
  

• Basic Toiletries and Daily Meds.
• First Aid Kit- including Benadryl and Pain Med. fo both children and adults

• Tent & Sleeping Bags
• Bag filled with Little Toys for the children to play with during the car ride
• A Backpack for each of the Children to pack their favorite comfort items and books

• Backpack Carrier for carrying Babies/Toddlers
• Disposable Diapers and Baby Wipes

• Map of U.S. Highways or GPS (we ended up buying a U.S. map because there was only so long we could make the trip blind. There are times when you run across locations with no cell coverage, so having a map is a must!)

• Cooler packed with bottled water, juice boxes, healthy snacks, and sandwiches

• Camera AND CAMERA BATTERY CHARGER!!! (If you do find that your camera battery dies, try Best Buy- they allowed me to charge my battery an hour for free. Unfortunatly, I didn't have it charged when we went to the Rocky Mountain National Park. I learned the hard way that a disposable camera doesn't evey come close to the type of pictures you get with a basic digital camera. Very sad. So don't forget your camera charger!)
• Bible (I wish I had taken mine as we could have read verses about what God says about creating the mountains while being in the mountains)

Win a Customized Child's T-Shirt or Onesie!

The winner is number 13- The Graves Family! Congratulations!

How to enter the giveaway for a child's custom onesie or tee:

Visit My Emmy Baby and leave a comment here with what type of custom design you would like to win. For extra entries and rules, see below.

If you win, you can choose your own custom design for your child's tee, whether you pick a sibling tee, silly saying, cartoon character, or simply your child's name, your options are pretty much limitless. Sizes run from newborn up to 10/12 youth in white, black, pink, or blue.

Here are some examples of my favorite designs My Emmy Baby has done (the first one is my favorite!):

How to enter the giveaway for a child's custom onesie or tee:

• Visit My Emmy Baby and leave a comment here with what type of custom design you would like to win
  

*For extra entries you can do any of the following (each through a seperate comment):

• Become a follower of Adventures in Diapering (or leave a comment stating you already are)
• Blog about the giveaway and include a link back to this contest
  
• Add my button to your blog (code can be found on right side of page)
• Twitter this contest and leave a link to the Twit
• Leave a comment with your favorite tee/onesie from My Emmy Baby's examples
  

Contest Rules:

♥Contest ends Friday, July 31, at 11pm Central Time
♥Winner will be determined randomly using random.org
♥Winner MUST either have their e-mail address on their profile, or leave their e-mail address with their comment
♥I will announce the winner of the giveaway on August 1, 2009- on this blog as well as by e-mailing the winner. I will provide Emily, the designer, with your information so you can work with her to create the design of your choice!
♥If I do not receive a response from the winner within 48 hours of my contacting them, I will randomly choose a new winner.

How to Make a Simple Princess Castle Cake

To honor my daughter, Evangeline, on her 3rd. birthday, I decided to make her a castle cake. Here's how I did it:

Supplies:

1 Cake mix
3 tubs of Frosting OR 1 large batch of homemade frosting (I used 2 tubs and 1 batch homemade as I ran out while decorating. The homemade butter cream was SO much tastier than the artificial store stuff!!!)
Food Coloring
Sugar Ice Cream Cones
Ice Cream Cones

Directions:

I used one cake mix to bake 2 round cakes. I allowed them to cool, then used a bread knife to cut the rounded part off the top so to make the tops of the cakes flat.

I frosted one of the cakes, set the other cake on top and frosted them nice and smooth.


To make the towers, take 4 ice cream cones- set one sugar cone on top of each of the ice cream cones. Give them just a little twist so they stay in place.


Fill a cup with frosting (tinted with the color of your choice) and warm it up in the microwave. Dip each of the new "towers" into the melted frosting so that it covers the cone. Sprinkle colored sugars over the towers before the frosting gets hard. Set each of the towers onto the frosted cake- spaced out as desired.


I used sandwich baggies filled with frosting to decorate the cake. An easy way to fill the baggies is to set them in a cup and turn the edges over the side of the cup. Then just fill up with tinted frosting, seal baggies, and lift out of cup. Give the corner a tiny snip and you're ready to decorate!

I added some frosting around the bases of the cone towers, the tops of the towers, the top and bottom of the cake, as well as creating a door and windows on the cake and towers. My butter cream frosting started to get too warm while being used, and thus started to not work as well while decorating. Usually I use butter cream from the bakery which stays firm better. If you use home made frosting, I recommend letting it set up just a bit in the fridge before using. If the frosting starts to get too mushy from the warmth of your hand, just set it aside and let it set up a little again before finishing.

Here's a couple photos of the finished cake!



The frosted cones were DELICIOUS!!! When we served the cake, we separated the cones (making a total of 8 ice cream cones) and the kids (and I) had a scoop of ice cream inside their cone along with their cake. So yummy! Though it wasn't THE most pretty cake ever, it was fairly easy and really tasty.

Family Traditions

It's funny the things kids remember. For example, when my kids think about Christmastime, they talk about how we slept in sleeping bags next to the Christmas tree on Christmas Eve. Sure, they enjoyed their presents, but the thing they remember most were the fun times we spent as a family. To them, sleeping in sleeping bags with their family in the living room and waking up and seeing their gifts next to the tree was really cool.

Recently we celebrated my daughter's 3rd. birthday with another of our family traditions: donuts for birthdays. On the morning of my daughter's birthday, my husband took her and her brothers out to the donut store- in their jammies. They each picked out the donuts they wanted as well as some for their littlest sister and I. With their arrival home, we celebrated my little girl's birthday with our donut treat and flavored milk. It was very special to celebrate her birthday this way- as a family enjoying each others company and bonding over donuts and milk.

When my children look back at their birthdays, they probably won't remember what presents they received, but I have no doubt they will remember how Daddy took them out for donuts in their jammies every single birthday.


What special family traditions have you started with your husband or children? What family traditions do you remember most from when you were a child?

1 Free Admission Coupon to the Denver Fire Fighter's Museum

After visiting the Denver Firefighter's Museum this past week, we received a coupon for 1 free admission, plus a 10% off coupon for items in their gift shop. Both expire at the end of August. Considering the fact that there is NO WAY we're going out to Denver between now and September, this coupon is just going to go in the trash unless someone else can use it.


Normal admission is $6 per adult and $4 per child ages 1-12.


There are many firetrucks and old time firefighting equipment on display. Children get a chance to dress up in bunker gear their size, try on a face mask, slide down a little pole, hop on to the truck, and even try to get out of a house safely blindfolded. Our kids had a great time! My 4 year old was already telling me how he wanted to go back again next time we go through Denver.



I wish I had received these coupons BEFORE going to the museum. Unfortunately, they didn't give them to us until we bought something in the gift shop upon leaving.

If YOU would like to visit the Denver Firefighter's Museum in Colorado, please send me an e-mail and I will send both coupons out to you along with a brochure. The only thing I ask is that you follow this blog through the follow link on the right side.


I received absolutely nothing for this post- no discount, product, nothing. I am sharing this information because I liked the fire museum and would like someone else to enjoy it as well.

Tip for Going to Play Places

Earlier this week we stopped at a McDonalds to eat on our way home from traveling. My children went to check out the play place, but they did not have socks. A woman we had never met before offered this tip:

Keep extra socks in your car in case you need a pair for a play place. That way even if your children are wearing sandals and no socks, you have spares in your dash that they can wear to play. I thought this was a great idea because my children often make it out the door without socks on, and we usually make it to play areas on the spur of the moment rather than planned out.

A Trip to the Zoo turns into 1700 Mile Road Trip!

Going to the zoo on a nice cool Saturday morning sounds normal enough, right? How about when the zoo is over several hours away and the thought of going anywhere hadn't occurred to you until 7:30 that morning?!?

That's exactly what happened to our family this past weekend. My husband and I woke up Saturday morning and both thought it would be a great day to go to the Omaha Henry Doorly Zoo. My husband and I packed a bag full of basic necessities in case we would stay the night in Omaha- tooth brushes, a change of clothes for all 6 of us, snacks and lunch for the day, and diapers. We then started off for the long drive to Omaha.


After a great day at the zoo, and a nice dinner outside the city, we decided we didn't want to stay in Omaha for the night, yet weren't ready to go home yet either. My husband gave his dad a call and started asking for ideas of where to drive. Somehow they came up with Mount Rushmore. Yes, THE Mount Rushmore, which was about 8 hours away from Omaha.

We drove way into the night before resting at a motel in South Dakota. The next day we had a great time exploring the Mount Rushmore National Memorial.

At this point, we were only hours from Colorado, so we decided to go to Rocky Mountain National Park. We drove another 6 hours until almost 2am (our local time) and crashed at a motel in Loveland, Colorado. The next day we made it into Estes Park and Rocky Mountain National Park. It was absolutely gorgeous there. My camera battery died back in South Dakota, so all photos of Estes Park are on a disposable camera at the moment.

After spending another night in Loveland, we visited Denver and drove home. What an incredible 4 days we had!


We spent over 24 hours driving in the car with 4 little children in 4 days, drove 1700 miles, and made over half the trip without a map.

Waking Up One Morning and Spontaneously Deciding to Travel Across the Country?

Priceless!

Diaper Problems Update

My Bum Genius Pockets are now fixed, for the moment at least. After removing the old velcro (with a little help from my mother-in-law), I sewed on the new velcro tabs. Let me say that was not easy. My machine did not like the velcro at all- it kept catching for some reason. The new tabs do not look professional at all as I used beige and white threading on the tabs. I know, I could have switched the thread in the bobbin and up top to match the tabs, BUT, I was so frustrated with having to fix the silly things in the first place that I refused to use anything other than the thread I already had set up.

Now with the new velcro in place, the diapers work wonderfully. The velcro is super sticky, just as the old tabs were when I bought the diapers last year. I am really hoping the quality on these tabs is better than the old ones because I do not want to seam rip those things out again!!!

On the positive side, I contacted another company that I had diaper cover issues with and they are sending me replacement covers for the crummy ones I have right now! The covers in question? Bummis Super Brites. Did not hold up well at all. The company offered to send me one Bummis Super Brite again as well as a Bummis Super Whisper Wrap with Snaps! I was really impressed with how they handled the situation and am looking forward to giving their company another try. Great customer service!

Also, I received my 4 new 1-size Fuzzi Bunz Pockets last week! They are working out nicely so far. The inserts they came with seem to be very thick and absorbent and the diapers fit my toddler very well. Hopefully they continue to hold up over time.

Thanks to everyone who offered solutions to the velcro problems I was having! It's great to have a full stash of working diapers again. I haven't used disposables for a week now that I have pockets again! That's a savings of $2.10! Yey! It seems my diapering days are numbered, though, as my youngest is nearing potty training... 3 down 1 to go!


*15 cents a generic disposable using 2 diapers per day x 7 days = $2.10

**The photo up top has nothing to do with diapering, rather, it is a snapshot of my attempt to recreate one of the hairdos from Babes in Hairland with my 2 year old's hair. I thought it turned out pretty sweet.

***For more information on getting started on cloth diapering, check out these FAQ's with helpful links

Cloth Diaper Problems

Over the past few months, I have become fed up with having my daughter's diaper fall off in the middle of the night due to velcro issues. Nothing like having your daughter wake up in the middle of the night wet and screaming because she's lying in a puddle of pee. Add having to soak up pee and change the sheets while you're only half awake and your toddler is screaming. You can see why that would get old quickly.

When I started cloth diapering, I thought the covers and pockets would hold up FOR AT LEAST a couple years. At the very least, they should last longer than a year! Especially at $14-$18 each! How is it that my $7 covers still work great and the velcro on my $18 pockets doesn't? The company that makes the $18 pockets wasn't able to answer that question either.

I did have a few items that have held up for the past 15 months- my Fuzzi Bunz Perfect Size diaper, my Pro Rap covers, and my Chinese Prefolds are all still working very well.

I finally gave in this weekend and bought more pocket diapers. I'm going to try out Fuzzi Bunz One Size diapers, (as pictured below). Once these diapers come in, I should be able to ditch the disposables for at night, YEY!

*If you have used cloth diapers for over a year, how have they held up? Have you had any issues with Velcro on any of your diapers? What brands have you found to hold up exceptionally well over time?

I received absolutely nothing in return for this post- no discount, no compensation, no free products, nothing. No one asked me to write anything I wrote here. The post above is completely my opinion with no outside source swaying it one way or the other. The diapers I have had issues with are ones that many women have had success with. For a more fuller picture on what brands hold up through the test of time, check out a diaper review site, such as diaperpin.com.

Looking for Something New to Read?

Last week there were a ton of new visitors leaving comments on my blog. Many of them were visiting for the giveaway or were SITS gals. I tried to comment back on as many of the visitors blogs as I could. In the process, I discovered some really cool blogs! I have several of them listed here, as well as some of my favorites since I started blogging.

Some of My Favorite Blogs (in no particular order):

Humor:

I'm Living Proof that God Has a Sense of Humor
A very comical blog written by Helene, a mom with 2 sets of twins. Tons of laughs as well as an honest look at what it's like to raise multiple children who are close in age.

Suburb Sanity
Make sure you surf through her archived posts- they are really funny!

Creative Ideas:

Great Fun 4 Kids
You have to check this one out- she has themed birthday party ideas, fun dinner themes, how to encourage table manners, and many other great tips for moms.

Lil Blue Boo
Full of creative ideas for moms to do for and with their kids, such as: Recycled Mosaic Kitchen Art, an Underwear Box, and even how to make Pants out of a T-Shirt for your Toddler.

Pink and Green Mama
Homemade Gift Ideas, make a Tooth-Fairy Pillow, and many more ideas of cool stuff to make!

Labor, Delivery, Birth

Wife.Mom.Nurse
Written by a labor and delivery nurse (and fellow fire-wife) who writes birth stories from the heart.

At Your Cervix
You've read what to expect during a c-section, now find out about what to expect during a vaginal labor and delivery- as well as interesting stories from the labor and delivery ward.

Living Simple and Green

Simple Bliss
Learn how to cook enough food in 2 days to last 10 weeks, make Paternless Pjs, and how to cook MSG-free.

Little Home
Healthy Recipes and tips on frugal living.

Food for the Soul

Women Living Well
Advice for Weary Moms, tips for a games for traveling in the car, and how to make Prayer Cards to help you remember to pray for your children.

Hair-Dos for Little Girls

Babes in Hairland
This blog has photo and video tutorials of how to do some REALLY cool hair-dos on your little girls! She even has instructions on a cool hair-do for baby hair!