Homemade Car Seat Blanket

I am a seriously lucky girl.  A couple of weeks ago the BigD bought me a sewing machine.  I have been lusting after a sewing machine for so long but could never justify it as I had never really used one more than once or twice before.  We were browsing a department store in town to see what to look for in a 2nd hand model.  We came across a really good deal in the sales and it was too good to pass up when we took into consideration guarantees/warranties etc...

If you have read any of my previous posts you will know that we have been blessed with a gorgeous new addition to the D household.  Given that he was born in the middle of winter (D1 &D2 were spring/summer babies) I found we needed to invest in a coat or carseat blanket.  When it comes to driving I, personally, hate to be all tied up in a coat/seatbelt combination and I am really aware that the children are probably just as un comfortable all strapped in with their winter coats etc. especially on long journeys.  With this in mind I went for the carseat blanket option but couldn't find the product I had in my head anywhere in the shops.  I asked around and a friend suggested I made my own, so after a bit of googling I came across this tutorial.  

I purchased my fabric from eBay, I went for two coordinating fleece fabrics.  Initially, before I was gifted the sewing machine, I was going to try and create a non sew version.  

Armed with my fabric, this step by step guide and my shiny new toy here's what I came up with!

I really wasn't confident edging a whole blanket so I decided to machine stitch the whole thing together with the right sides facing inwards and left a small gap to turn it the right way round after.  Also as I already had my car seat I was able to adjust the spaces for the carseat straps rather than go for the generic option as shown in the tutorial but still allowing room for the straps to be adjusted.

I must say I am so proud of my efforts for a first sewing project and it totally eliminates the need for a winter coat, making the school run and other outings so much easier.  I can just pop a sleeping baby into his carseat without pulling him around and waking him up trying to get a coat on.  All that's needed is a hat.

Welcome

Well it's official.  I now have more children than I have hands!

Welcome to the world Baby D3, it's good to have you here.

Baby D3 arrived one week ago yesterday on 16th jan 2012 at 01:18. He made quite a dramatic entrance, but that is a separate post I feel.

Even though I  am seriously sleep deprived, battling with severe breast engorgement through over supply and fighting off mastitis, I can honestly say I absolutely love the newborn stage.  I really really love it.  I love it even when I still haven't got him settled at 1am and am up again for another hour and a half less than 2 hours later.  I had remembered those first few sleepless nights after my other two, but I had definitely forgotten how bad they were. Indescribable.

Anyway, whine over.  The nameless child is here and he only remained nameless for 24 hours.  We had a short list of 5 names and although none of them jumped out at us as being "the one" before he was born, we were hoping once we met him one would just suit him better than the others.  Of course none of the names fit.  After a day of calling him "The Baby" we were beginning to get desperate - Calling him "The Baby" just felt so wrong.  Desperation led us to explore family initials and special place names but these didn't work either.  In the end he ended up with a name that basically, and rather loosely, translates to "Baby D3" and it suits him perfectly.  The thing I love best about it is that it isn't a made up name but a really old fashioned English name and although it is somewhat unusual it has a real story behind it.

Homemade Toys - Personalised Story Book

Last week I made a special book for D2. We called it "(insert D2's Real name here) Busy Day" I thought I'd share with you what we did.

We took the camera out with us for the day and captured the things we do on a daily basis. I chose a Wednesday as it is D2's favourite day - we go to "Booby Club", the local breastfeeding support group. I tried to mainly include things that happen EVERY day, breakfast time and getting dressed for example, with only a couple of pics that represent what happens on a Wednesday.

Once I looked at all the pictures we had taken throughout the day I soon realised there were going to be far too many things to hold her attention so I managed to get it down to 11 pictures.

Finding the right photo album for little hands was one of the biggest challenges. I wanted the book to be D2's, not something that only Mummy gets to touch. I found this one from boots, it has got a tightly bound spine, is just the right length, reasonably priced and I think it will last more than 5 minutes! The Pattern isn't one I would have necessarily gone for but beggars can't be choosers - If anyone finds a better one please let me know.

One final tip. Take all your pictures in the same orientation (All landscape or whatever is dictated by your chosen album). I leant the hard way and so a couple of the best shots didn't make it into the book.

If you liked this idea then you might want to take a look at my post on home made picture discs.

The Nameless Child

I am 31 weeks pregnant with Baby D3, a boy this time! I have 2 little girls aged 1 and 4 so my world is very much Pink. I am very excited to be having a boy and he will be a very loved addition to the family.

We have known he was a boy since our 20 week scan and our picture leaves this in no doubt whatsoever. This leaves the BIG question what do we call him? We have gone through, what feels like, every name under the sun and, still, we don't have a name we absolutely love. I fear the child may be nameless for quite sometime.

A friend of the family recently had the first baby girl after a long line of boys and there was much excitement about this. They, like us, found out the gender of the baby at the 20 week scan. 20 weeks later and the announcement of her arrival filters through but she is nameless. 3 weeks later and still no name. The bigD and I just cannot quite get our heads round this and say things like "It's not like they didn't know they were having a girl!" I now think there is a very strong possibility we will be in exactly the same situation in 9 weeks, or so, time.

It's not like we can't agree, it's just that there is nothing out there we love. We have a (long-ish) short list and we will more than likely just have to wait until we get to know him and see what fits best.

A cheap alternative to potentially toxic baby products

I recently read a report written by Amy Westervelt highlighting toxic ingredients in Johnson & Johnsons's baby shampoo and other beauty products (Click the link for more information).

This reminded me of an incident when the wall in my hallway was attacked with a well known brand of washable felt tip pens.  In a bid to remove the offending marks I reached for a packet of nearby baby wipes (I would like to point out that the baby wipes were not Johnson's but a well known supermarket's own brand).  Yes, the baby wipes did a fantastic job of removing the pen marks.  They also stripped the paint from the walls.  Can wipes really be good for a baby's bottom?


With this memory and reading the above mentioned article I was prompted to dig out an AMAZING book sent to me from New Zealand by my mother in law.  It contains recipes for all kinds of cleaning and beauty products using mostly simple and natural ingredients.

Being new to blogging I am unsure of the rules surrounding sharing with you the recipe for some of her baby products BUT I have found them all freely available on the WWW.

Click Here for a link to Wendyl Nissen's website and all her baby product recipes.

I am now armed with a shopping list of ingredients and I will let you know how we get on!