The Diaper Diaries: Part 2

As promised, I am back with an update on the cloth diapering. We started using them over the weekend, just after Bert passed the 3 week mark. They are a little bulky, but seem to be working well. His newborn sized clothes don't fit over them so well, so we have started putting him in the 0-3 month size clothes. It seems that the diaper changes are a little more frequent, as the cloth diapers don't absorb pee quite like disposables but what's an extra diaper change or two during the day?

I washed one load so far, using my homemade laundry detergent and dried them on the line and everything looked very clean. We have been storing the dirty diapers and cloth wipes in a wet bag and haven't noticed the smell, even with the heat we've been dealing with.

Since Bert likes to pee and poop immediately after a clean diaper is under him, I feel a lot better using the cloth diapers. It really irked me to have to toss a disposable diaper that hadn't even been on the kid long enough to undo the velcro! At least with the cloth diapers, it's just another one to go in the wash.

We will probably still use disposables if we go away for the weekend or something just for the convenience, but at home, we are officially cloth diaper converts. Or should I say, Bert is the convert.

Look at those muscles!

I should note that we are dealing with some diaper rash, so I have been using the liners that came with the bummis cloth diaper kit to keep the diaper cream from getting on the diaper. This is recommended because the cream can interfere with the absorbency of the diaper. The liner is almost like toilet paper, but a little softer, and can just be flushed or thrown in the trash. Hopefully the rash will clear up soon!

Po-tay-toe, Po-tah-toe

In a fit of productivity, Keith dug up all our potatoes out of the garden. This year we had a good amount of nice sized potatoes from just 6 hills. We planted them from last year's potatoes that sprouted.

Because our basement is so damp, potatoes don't keep that well. We decided to try freezing them this year. After a little internet research, we decided on this method from www.best-potato-recipes.com:


Diced potatoes can be frozen for use in a variety of recipes. Here's how:

• Peel two pounds of potatoes. (or whatever amount you want to work with.) Cut the potatoes into 1-inch cubes.

• Simmer the diced potatoes in salted water until just tender.
• Spray a sheet pan with non-stick cooking oil and spread cooked potatoes in a single layer on the pan.
• Place the pan of diced potatoes in the freezer until frozen solidly.

• Transfer the frozen potato cubes to freezer bags or containers to use as needed.
• When ready to use, reheat diced potatoes in simmering water.

Keith left the skins on since we grew red potatoes and like the skins in mashed potatoes. Hopefully it will be a successful way of storing potatoes! Has anybody else tried freezing potatoes?

No, We Haven't Fallen Off the Face of the Earth

As you may have surmised from the lack of posts, we haven't been doing much. I shouldn't say that. It feels like we've been doing a lot. A lot of nursing. A lot of diaper changing. A lot of onesie changing because Bert likes to pee on himself during the diaper changing. Or spit up on himself. And the onesie changing leads to laundry. And if we have a doctors appointment or want to leave the house for any reason, it feels like a two hour ordeal to get him fed, in a clean diaper, in a clean onesie, in the car seat, and finally in the car. Whew. But now we are about 2 1/2 weeks into this and it's starting to feel like it's coming a bit more naturally. Sometimes.

Anyway, Keith has been a trouper and managed to keep our garden going while I sat around like a zombie with my mini milk-sucking vampire attached. He's been picking peppers to freeze, and he took care of pulling, peeling, and blanching all of our carrots to freeze. And we had a lot of carrots. It was a whole day project to get them all ready for the freezer, mostly because he had to wait on me hand and foot throughout the day. Mind you, he did this when we had only been home for about four days; it has just taken me that long to post about it. We ended up with about 10 pint bags of carrots. I'm hoping to thaw some of them and make baby food when Bert is eating solid foods. Here's a look at the mountain of carrots:

By now you are probably thinking, "Do they know that their carrots don't look like carrots? There must be something in the water..." Actually, the seeds came from Burpee and they are called "kaleidoscope mix".  The purple ones are really orange inside once they are peeled, but the yellow and white ones have their colors all the way through. It makes for a little more interesting looking dinner plate, though they taste like any other carrots.

Last night, we had some sweet corn from our garden and it was delicious. The tomatoes are starting to come on and Keith picked a few tiny red ones, but most are still green. The peppers are abundant, though not as sweet and juicy as last year because it has been so hot and dry lately.

Week By Week Photo Project

Week 17...could this be our last outside photo until spring?

Week 16 and sporting the Halloween socks.

Week 15. Yes, folks, that is a smile. Yes, it required ridiculous antics to get it so I hope you appreciate it.

Week 14...with his hair in a faux-hawk and working on jazz hands. We don't even watch "Glee" in this house!

Finally, we made it back outside for the week 13 photo! Check out those chubber legs...

A belated posting of the week 12 photo. I know you've all been on the edge of your seats since some of you start looking for the Thursday photo on Tuesdays...

Week 11...another rainy day, another inside photo.

Double digits...week 10! The photo is up and it's still Thursday, we got the cat in the shot, and it's horizontal. Craziness over here on the quarter-acre!

This Thursday was a rainy one on the quarter-acre so it was an inside photo. Bert smiled before and after I took pictures, but not during. I think he is going for the Calvin Klein model pout.

In honor of the start of football season, Keith requested that the week 8 photo be taken with Bert in his Penn State gear. Will his first word be "Joe-Pa"?

Week 7! We almost didn't get the photo before it got dark outside, but the flash got him to open his eyes!

Week 6!

Lookin' alive for week 5. I think he's getting the hang of this! At our doctor's appointment this week, Bert weighed in at 11 pounds, 2 ounces and is 21.5" long now.

Week 4!

Week 3. Just when you thought we might have fallen off the wagon (ha ha, pun intended).

Week 2 (and it's only Friday!) I think he looks bigger already!

We were inspired by this photo project over at YHL and decided to give it a try with our own little man. The goal will be to take Bert's photo in his red Radio Flyer wagon every Thursday for the first year so everybody can see how he grows. Maybe by telling you all that this is what we are going to do will make us more committed but I can very easily see a few Thursdays slipping by us. Anyway, it should give me a chance to get my Photoshop skills dusted off to mark the week on his onesie.

And without further ado, here is week 1!

(The goal also includes trying to get the photo posted on Thursday as well but that didn't happen this week. Obviously.)

Oh Boy!

We've been anxiously awaiting the arrival of this little man, and he's finally here!

Bert arrived at 1:54 on July 7, weighing in at 8 pounds on the dot and 20 inches long. Labor lasted about 5 hours and everybody came out healthy on the other side. He came out with a full head of blond hair, much to our surprise and the nurses' delight. We were sure he would have darker coloring like mine but he looks exactly like his daddy.

We're slowly adjusting to less sleep and having an itty bitty person in the house. Overall, things have been going pretty smoothly.

Day 1 and already a thinker

Bert and his Great Grandpop share a birthday!

Dressed to go home

Sleeping through his first stroller ride around the park

Meeting Great Grandpop

Eyes wide open!

Screaming his way through his first bath

Thanks for checking in on us! We'll be back with more when everybody gets some sleep...

Light to Work By

When we first saw our house, the garage had some fantastic work lights hanging from the ceiling. When we moved in, they were gone. In the two years since, Keith has grumbled about the lack of good lighting to work on projects out there but we hadn't jumped on doing anything about the situation.

Then he was scrolling through the employee "classifieds" at work where people from the company can list things they are selling, renting, or would like to buy. He came across a listing for fluorescent work lights for $5 each. Mr. Fast Fingers was dialing the number in no time. Turns out the woman had been using them for starting seedlings but was no longer gardening so Keith came home with three work lights for $15. What a steal! Lucky for him, all he had to do was install some hooks to hang them from and plug them in because they were pretty much identical to the ones the previous owners were using that just plug into outlets in the rafters, which are all connected to the main light switch. So for $15 and an hour's worth of work, Keith just lost his "There's not enough good light out there to work on that now" excuse. (Bet you didn't consider that, did you dear?)

And just because Keith likes you all to have visual proof that he actually does work around here (no matter what I say), here are the thrilling action shots of light hanging:

Once again, the man lights up my life.

Pesto, Presto!

You probably saw our purple basil here a few days ago when I mentioned that I wanted to make purple pesto. As I started picking, I realized I was going to have to combine my regular and purple basil to make a batch so, alas, no vibrantly purple pesto. Yeah, I'm a little bummed too.

Fresh-picked basil

Anyway, pesto is pretty simple. I use this recipe but instead of freezing it in ice cube trays, I put it in little containers to freeze. We tried ice cube trays last year, but couldn't get the pesto out nicely so hopefully these little containers will work out. This batch only made about 2 cups, so I hope to make more once my basil fills in again. 

So easy, just throw all the ingredients
 in the food processor

Because I mixed the green and purple basil, we didn't get that nice vibrant green color normally associated with fresh pesto. Keith referred to the color as "boogerey".  He may be right, but it still tastes delicious.

Ready to freeze

Side note: I love my new food processor! It was a baby shower gift from my mom to make baby food with but we are finding lots of uses for it pre-baby. It certainly makes quick work of pesto!