If you have a baby like Abs, you can never have too many burp cloths.  Abs had GERD, so spitting up was a very regular event.  We literally kept two burp cloths in every room and constantly had cloths over our shoulders.

A lot of the burp cloths that you’ll find in stores are so thin and ineffective for a baby like Abs.  So, what I found worked best were cloth diapers. But they’re kinda plain, so here’s how you can dress them up.

And I am definitely a novice sewer, so know that these are so easy to make!

Items Needed

• Sewing machine
• Cloth Diapers.  Make sure they’re pre folded and 3-ply
• Ribbon
• Matching Thread and White Thread

Directions

1. Wash the cloth diapers and iron them before you begin sewing, so that sewing the ribbon won’t cause shrinkage.
2. Measure your ribbon for the an inch or so wider than the width of the cloth bottom and cut.
3. Then, fold the ends of the ribbon and iron so you can sew more easily.
4. Sew the ends of the ribbon.
5. Sew the edges of the ribbon onto the bottom of the cloth.  
6. Fold the burp rag like this, and you’re all done.

I was going to write a post about movie reviews, but that will wait until next week, I guess.  I just got off the phone with my lovely cousin and friend Katie.  We were talking about her sweet, new, GORGEOUS baby girl.  She reminded me about some feeding charts that I had made to keep track of Abs’s eating/poops/wet diapers/sleeping times, etc.

In the hospital, they give you about 4 or 5 pages of charts.  But, I had a c-section, so I was in the hospital for awhile and never got a chance to make a copy of an unused chart.  Thus, I had to make my own.

So, remember to keep a clean chart from the hospital to make several copies.  Or, you can use my charts that I made.  This first one is the one I used for her first few weeks.

Once she was okay with weight gain, started eating less than 8 times a day, and didn’t need wet/dirty diapers counted, I started using this chart.

The charts will get bigger if you click on them.  If you need the charts in Microsoft Word so you can customize them more, let me know, and I’ll email you copies.

In this post, I talked about the financial benefits of making baby food.  Today, I’ll let you know a little of the baby food making process.

So, you have to buy food: either fresh or frozen.  And then, you cook them: either by baking or steaming.  And then, you puree them in a baby food processor or a blender.  After getting the food to the right consistency, I pour the food into ice cube trays, cover the trays with Cling Wrap, and label the trays with the food name and date.  To free up the ice cube trays, I crack the frozen food into baby food containers or a freezer safe bag.  Then, I put a few helpings in the fridge.

I’ve heard good things about the book Super Baby Food, but I don’t own it.  I came across Ruth Yaron’s website here.  And I found baby food recipes here , here, and here.

A baking example: for the sweet potatoes . . .

1. I washed them, poked holes in them with a fork, washed them again, and wrapped them in foil.
2. I baked them at 400 degrees for about an hour.
3. Then, I removed the meat from the skin and pureed the potatoes with some water.

A steaming example: for the carrots (on two separate occasions, I bought frozen and fresh carrots). . .

1. I put a steamer basket inside a pot of water; I filled the water up to where a little bit came inside the steamer basket.
2. I steamed the carrots on Medium heat for about 20 minutes.
3. Then, I put only the carrots (not the water from the steaming– because of the nitrates) into a blender and added more water.

So, those are the basic things you need to know.  Let me know if you have any questions.

Is making baby food worth it financially?

Miscellaneous Info:

• one ice cube=1 oz
• 3.5 oz = one individual pack of Gerber baby food
• one individual pack = $ 0.55
• Abby eats about 3 packs a day, which is 90 packs a month.

About a month ago at Walmart, I spent:

$3.11 on one butternut squash.  It yielded 40 oz, which is equal to 11.5 individual packs.  Would’ve spent $6.33 on Gerber.  Let’s see how much it’d cost for a month.  Homemade= $24.34; Gerber= $49.50, which is 2.04 times as much as homemade.

$1.68 on one bag of fresh carrots (you could also get a pack of frozen carrots).  It yielded 24 oz, which is equal to 6.8 individual packs.  We would’ve spent $3.74 on Gerber.  Homemade= $22.26; Gerber= $49.50, which is 2.23 times as much.

$0.70 on one sweet potato.  It yielded 12 oz, which is equal to almost 3.5 individual packs.  We would’ve spent $1.93 on Gerber.  Homemade= $18; Gerber= $49.50, which is 2.75 times as much.

$1.61 on 2 pears.  It yielded 10 oz, which equals 3 individual packs.  We would’ve spent $1.65 on Gerber.  Homemade= $48.30; Gerber= $49.50.  Not worth it.

Note: this was my first attempt at making baby food, so I wasn’t exactly sure what I was doing and may not have added enough water.  I know I didn’t add enough to the squash.

Come back for “Tipster Tuesday” to get tips on making baby food.

I’m not a very crafty person, so that’s why you can know that this project is very easy. Plus, I’m a cheapo, so you know this didn’t break the bank. In fact, it saved me $98 from not buying them online– no joke! And I was proud of myself for making the letters below for my DD’s nursery, with the help of my very good friend Tiffany.

Here’s what you need (I got all of these items from Hobby Lobby):

• Wooden Letters. The ones I found were already painted white.
• Mod Podge
• Sponge/Foam Brushes
• Scissors
• Scrapbook Paper– or any construction paper. I got four 12x12in paper.

Here’s how to do it yourself:

1. Trace the wooden letters onto your scrapbook paper. I could fit 2 letters on a page.
2. Cut these paper letters out. We cut them shorter than the tracing so that there would be a white outline on the letters.
3. Apply a coat of Mod Podge to a wooden letter. Try to make sure there are no bubbles or big globs.
4. Cover with the patterned (or solid) paper. Smooth it out so that you can’t see any gaps or bubbles between the letter and paper.
5. Apply a few coats of Mod Podge on top of the patterned paper, drying between coats

Quick, easy, and inexpensive.  Leave me a comment, if you would like for me to make you some.

Here are some other ones I’ve made: