Pinterest Project

Like so many others, I love Pinterest. For the most part, my boards are a collection of brilliant ideas and heartwarming baby photos, but my "for our home" collection is reserved for things I HAVE to implement. Shelving solutions, color schemes, unique uses for everyday items. When it comes time for us to finally buy our home, Pinterest is going to be the driving force behind decorating it.

Just last week, my husband and I completed our first-ever Pinterest project! 

Back in January, I shared with you all that we've been cloth diapering Emma. I LOVE cloth diapers. They're become so old hat by now, that our routine just...happens. 

Early on, I made the decision to wash our diapers every day. I change Emma in her nursery and then we immediately go to the bathroom across the hall. Pee or poop, I rinse every diaper with our Bum Genius diaper sprayer (connected to the toilet) before tossing it into our wet bag (kept behind the bathroom door). I hated the idea that diapers would sit there soaking in this bag for more than 24 hours. 

When we all come home for the day, the first thing I do is put diapers in the washing machine. Diapers first have to rinse on cold before they can be washed (with an extra rinse and spin setting...) on hot. Sometimes, depending on how big the load is, the washing machine can get off balance in the middle of a cycle and it takes a bit longer to get them done if you aren't paying attention. I very rarely pay attention, so unless I want to be down in the laundry room until midnight, I have to get them going early. 

Enter our Pinterest project!

We were trying to find the best way to dry our diapers, since they don't go in the dryer. Many cloth diaper users swear by line drying in the sun, but we have tons of birds in the backyard and I worry about them landing (and pooping!) on Emma's diapers. We were using a drying rack in the basement, but the basement is where the doggies live. I just kept thinking that their dander and hair was landing all over the cloth that touched her skin. 

While perusing Pinterest, I found this: 

Source: knockoffdecor.com via Taylor on Pinterest

How perfect! We had just the right amount of space for it next to Emma's bookshelf in her nursery.

It took Mike next to no time to build it. He used scrap wood, some spray paint, a few nails, ribbon and a door knob.

Since I was in Emma's room with a camera, I thought I'd snap a few other photos for you to see:

You can see we modified the design a bit. We built it to hold 8 diapers since that is a typical load. The ribbon is tied in a bow on a little hook anchored to the wall. If ever we want to push it up and out of the way, we use a shorter ribbon. 

Hanging the diapers in Emma's nursery is quite convenient. Once they're dry - which happens MUCH faster since the fan is always going - I pluck them from the rack and place them right into the diaper drawer. Easy. 

Love it! What a great new final addition to Emma's little nursery. 

not much

Not much to say today... or yesterday, or the yesterday before that, and the day before that...

I have never been able to FORCE writing. I have to be in just the right mood, with just the right thing to say - which can be problematic if I have a pressing deadline.


The thing I like most about my blog is that it's mine. I get to come and go as I please, writing when I want and what I want. Sometimes, I sit down and my thoughts turn into 6 or 7 different posts. Sometimes, I don't see Blogger for a week. Once upon a time, I tried to stick to an editorial calendar - mainly because it was the number one recommendation I made to clients and team members about their/our company blogs. Unfortunately, outlining my posts ahead of time didn't fit with the purpose of like you for always.

I like to visit this space and write what's on my mind, but if nothing is on my mind, I don't make myself come here - that would take all of the fun and freedom out of blogging.

That being said, I have a lot I'd like to (eventually) share with you. My husband and I completed our first Pinterest project, Emma is becoming a crazy smart little toddler, and I've managed to shed another pound! Big stuff, I know.

Until then, thank you for being patient and for continuing to check in even though you are disappointed day after day :). 

Truest and Funniest

The truest and funniest part of my day is when I read "Reasons Mommy Drinks".

au naturale

Lately, there has been a MAJOR push towards "all-natural" and/or "organic" beauty products. Everywhere I turn, I am exposed to messaging about how superior natural toiletries are.

Here's my take -

All lotions, cleansers, and anything else you apply to your body are unnatural. Your body was not made to absorb anything of the sort. Rather, it is a perfectly designed machine. Had you never used moisturizer, your skin would have figured out how to rehydrate itself. Had you never once lathered up your hair with shampoo, your scalp's natural oils would have nourished your locks. Point being, even if the packaging on your Tom's deodorant tells you that it's "all natural", that doesn't make it BETTER than that stick of Secret you just tossed in the trash. Neither were really meant to be slathered all over your underarms. 

That being said, I'm a fan of smooth legs, sweet smells, and personal hygiene. Just because I understand that these man-made luxuries aren't essential for survival doesn't mean I don't want to use them. I love "my products"!

Lately, though, I've been making changes in my line-up. I've slowly been substituting my long-loved go-tos for natural beauty products. Not because I think natural products are less likely to give me cancer, or because I think they'll provide a superior clean, or because I think that's what God wants. I simply like the fact that I can pronounce all of the ingredients.

No joke, I woke-up one Tuesday and suddenly realized just how many products I use on any given day. Shampoo, conditioner, soap, shaving cream, face wash, exfoliating scrub, and a leave-in hair treatment - and that's all before I've even leave the shower. I lotion myself head to toe every.single.day. I use face masks, hairspray, hair volumizer, cuticle oil, facial moisturizer, anti-aging eye cream, blah, blah blah. I took a long, hard look at all of these product labels and thought, "Holy $&*^".

I wanted to become a more conscious consumer - not only for myself, but for my daughter. I'm now responsible for making decisions for another human being and here I am choosing products that I will cover her in twice daily based entirely on product design or advertising vs. research.

Yikes.

I started reading about what "natural things" other folks use by way of other blogs. From there, I started reading about those companies. After picking a few admirable companies, I read about products. I poured through product reviews and consumer reports. Once I had (what I thought was...) a great starting off point, I went to the store and read labels. Lots of reading involved here.

Eventually, I made decisions. I replaced all of my daughter's products immediately. I'm not quite sure why I was compelled to do so, but for whatever reason, I didn't feel even a bit wasteful replacing a perfectly good body wash with a natural alternative. For her, we selected Baby Bee Shampoo & Wash by Burt's Bees (98.9% natural). We also got her the Burt's Bees Baby Bee Nourishing Lotion Original (99% natural).

For me, the first thing I ran out of was shampoo and conditioner. I bought Say Yes to Carrots Nourishing Shampoo (99.4% natural) & Pampering Conditioner (99.8% natural). Eventually, I needed new facial moisturizer, so I went with Say Yes to Tomatoes Daily Balancing Moisturizer (99% natural). I was so pleased with Emma's new body lotion, that when mine got low, I purchased Burt's Bees Naturally Nourishing Milk & Honey Body Lotion (99% natural). Lastly, I replaced my Old Spice antiperspirant (yup, during pregnancy I fell in love with the smell and never went back) with Tom's of Maine Natural Deodorant.

Actually, that wasn't lastly. I just remembered I bought a box of natural tampons last month. No joke.

As of now, that's it. I will say all of the products, with the exception of one, are even better than the chemical-filled ones I was using before - most notably, my shampoo and conditioner. I love my Say Yes to Carrots shampoo and conditioner. From the smell to the way that my hair looks and feels, it's a WINNER.

The one exception? Tom's deodorant. It got an equal number of horrific and positive reviews, but I took a chance anyway. My input? It's kind of...sticky, however, it does the job. No stink here! Although, I'm not a particularly smelly person. I can forget to put on deod, go for a jog, and come back without any nasty BO. It's hard to say if I'll keep using this product. I want a deodorant that is aluminum free, but those are hard to come by.

And, an added bonus, none of the products I've recently purchased are more expensive than what I was using previously.

I don't have any intention of replacing EVERYTHING - like my make-up, Emma's Desitin, my mousse, and some other non-natural fabulous products.  Like I said, I'm just trying to be a bit more conscious. I understand that the amount of ANYTHING that is absorbed through your skin is minimal, but for the BIG products that I use every day, I wanted these natural alternatives.

I'm curious if you guys use natural products? What's your favorite? Did you catch A Cup of Jo's April 24 post about natural sunscreen? REALLY makes you think about what you're putting on yourself day after day!

hot, hot, HOT

I'm thinking about taking up Bikram Yoga.

Second semester of my senior year, I took a yoga class to fulfill my PE requirement. I must have been feeling SUPER ambitious when I registered for Yoga 101, because it was held at 7:30 IN THE MORNING...OFF CAMPUS! Having to wake-up early and scrape my car windshield to DRIVE to class put a bad taste in my mouth. Plus, my instructor was a little kooky. Sometimes, she would come into the room, put on an instructional CD and leave. Or other times, she would cancel class and have us write a paper about what yoga meant to us. Strange, right?

Needless to say, my previous yoga experience didn't exactly sell me on the practice. But now that I have the opportunity to learn from accredited instructors, I'm really curious about HOT yoga! To me, SWEAT is a MAJOR component of a workout. If I don't sweat, I don't feel like I accomplished anything - probably another reason I never got into traditional yoga. I also think I get the best muscle definition from using my own body weight as resistance. Plus, I like the idea of getting back into a class. I was big on cycling when I trained for my first triathlon and I found that classmates provided fabulous motivation and support.

I'm still thinking about it, but these super cute yoga accessories are really pushing me to pull the trigger...

Source: etsy.com via Taylor on Pinterest

Source: Uploaded by user via emily on Pinterest

Source: google.com via Melissa on Pinterest

ONE

 

 The days leading up to March 30 were an EMOTIONAL time of reflection for me.

The most common piece of advice people gave me while pregnant and even into the early months of Emma's life was to enjoy it while it lasts. I understood the concept and feverishly tried to stall time on many occasions. Try as I might, though, days were flying and before I knew it, months had past. Twelve months to be exact.

I love watching Emma grow. She is a fearless, determined little person and I beam with pride for her on a daily basis. But, MAN! I can't believe she was only a baby for such a short period of time and now it's GONE! Gone. She'll never be a baby again. She's a walking, babbling toddler now gaining more independence by the day.

Sometimes, after I put Emma to bed for the night, I get overwhelmed with sadness. Trying to rock her comfortably is a bit challenging these days. She's getting so BIG (and heavy!). I cry thinking about a time when I can no longer rock her to sleep. Those moments are so precious - when she sleepily throws her head on your shoulder and wraps her tiny arms around your neck. It doesn't get much better than that and to know these days are numbered KILLS me!

I try so very hard to focus on all of the fascinating milestones that lay before us. As exciting as they are, I'm still a bit preoccupied with how quickly TODAY is disappearing.

Body After Baby, vol. 9

It's been ONE MILLION YEARS since I've written a BAB post!

Really more like 5 months.

But 5 months is JUST like one million years!

I've been mum on the weight loss topic on purpose - mostly because I didn't have anything new to say. But now! Now, I have plenty to share with you. Sorry this post is so "wordy". I won't be mad if you skim it.

Since October 2011, I have lost 12 pounds! TWELVE! That's not super impressive when you do the math and realize that 12 pounds over 6 months is only 2 pounds per month or a half a pound per week. So, don't do that math and just cheer with me, people!

(I don't have any really great photos to show the transformation, but I'll tell you that the dress on the right is TWO sizes smaller than the dress on the left!)

Seriously though, I am not diminishing this accomplishment in any way. I worked HARD for those 12 pounds and I am damn proud that they're gone. The month of September was particularly rough on my scale. Thanks to breastfeeding, I was down a whopping 22 pounds from the day I delivered Emma. I felt great. I was wearing pre-pregnancy dresses again and my weight loss goal was in sight. Then, I weaned Emma. Once my milk dried up, I actually started GAINING weight. It was brutal. I was devastated.

Instead of freaking out, I took a deep breath (and in addition to that deep breath, I also cried, and bitched, and moaned, and complained, and bought a bunch of new clothes...and kind of freaked out a little).

For the first time ever, I looked in the mirror and instead of seeing BLAH, I thought about what my body had just been through, and what it had done for me (and for Emma). I think it's fabulous that some women out there can birth a baby and bounce right back, but looking in the mirror that day, I accepted that wasn't going to be my reality.

On that day, things changed. For whatever reason, having this mini-epiphany gave me all the tools I needed to finally slim down. Suddenly, I was eating less and pushing myself harder at the gym. Emma and I were walking MILES every week. I was making smarter decisions. Slowly (very slowly), but surely, the weight fell off.

I took a break from the scale, and imagine my surprise when I hopped on one day at random and 5 pounds had disappeared! I shrieked! YES! Once I saw that I was actually losing, I started weighing myself daily again. Getting on the scale each morning tends to ground me for the day and since the numbers were falling down instead of climbing up, daily weigh-ins were not only manageable, but exciting. I was seriously excited to get on the scale each morning.

Three weeks ago, I saw a pretty AWESOME number. I was officially down 12 pounds since October! A total of 20 since having Emma! Boo-yah! Unfortunately, I've sat at 20 pounds gone for the last three weeks because I've been making TERRIBLE decisions regarding my meals. We traveled for Easter and being at my sister's really knocked me off my horse. We were eating Noodles & Company, incredible deep dish pizza, and justifying it all by saying, "We're on vacation! It's a holiday!"...and that mentality carried over to the following week. I thought surely our little trip would tip my scale in the wrong direction, so upon returning home, I didn't weigh myself for a few days.

Thank the LORD! My weight stayed put. Down 20, with about 30 to go. I have no "plan" for how I'm going to get the rest of these nasty pounds off, but I can tell you, I will NOT be letting myself binge like I did over Easter.

At the end of January, I purchased a dress for Emma's First Birthday (at the end of March). At the beginning of February, I purchased my Easter dress. The dress I bought for Emma's party was too big for me to even wear. I bought it a little roomy, but by March 30, it was SO huge, it looked awful. My Easter dress wasn't as dramatic, but I still could have used a size smaller. I wore it anyway, but was honestly a little uncomfortable - constantly pulling things up and repositioning how it hung.

It's a pretty neat feeling having your clothes suddenly be TOO BIG for you, so I'm going to try to ride this wave as long as I can.

Hopefully, the next time I have something to say about weight loss it's POSITIVE and DRAMATIC!

Read all of my other Body After Baby posts here.