Funny Breastfeeding Tidbit

My daughter picks my nose while she nurses.

The end.

Nursing Cover - Operation Undercover Bippy

So this morning the kids and I traveled to Wal-Mart. Ugh. I seriously dislike that place. There's only one in town so it's super packed all the time. Yes, 3 AM it's just as busy as it is at 9 AM or worse, 8 PM. My mission today was to get some supplies for Ryk' and 'Riyah's birthday bash this weekend. I'm usually the kind of person to do everything last minute, but this time, I figured I'd save myself the stress and dabble a little here and a little there of supply gathering/planning. I'm not really sure how that's going for me just yet, I'll get back to you on that one.

To Wally World we went. Came in, wiped the cart down like it was covered in fecal matter, and whisked away to the disposable utensil section. This part made me sad because I've really been striving to live my life a little greener to help out our planet and to reduce the amount of chemicals interfering with my family's health. However, it was either that or buying 40 glass plates, bowls and cups. Not enough money in our budget for that, so plastic it was.

Next stop, material. I made myself a nursing cover when I was pregnant with 'Riyah, but it never got used because she was always pulling it to the side revealing my after-baby muffin top and saggy, stretch-marked glob of a tummy. It only covered my front half, so if I wasn't wearing a nursing tank-top then most of my back was revealed, depending on the type of seating. I did a little search for nursing covers. Lots of cute designs, but nothing that covered me completely front to back. So, I decided to make my own. I scooped up my fabric selection and I couldn't get home fast enough!

'Riyah's been on an amazing sleep schedule lately. Wake up at 6:30. Nap from 10:30 til 1:30. Nap from 5 to 6. Bed at 8. I took advantage of this time today to make me my very own nursing cover. It ended up being a lot longer than what I expected, but I figured that's okay 'cause it's definitely doing it's job of covering my 'bippys' (as Ryk' calls them). =D 

::warning: awkward posing and random yardstick ahead::

 Front - There's elastic lines in the top band of the fabric so that I can easily pull it away from my chest so that I can see 'Riyah or keep it closed snug when I need to. It's over the shoulder as you can see! I also inserted an additional polka dot panel for extra room. You never know, we might just need it as a tent someday. =)

 

Back - LOOK AT THAT COVERAGE! No skin to peek at here!

 Here it is in action! Is it weird that I was pumped to use this in public?

Even though 'Riyah is already a year old, I still plan on nursing for a few months, at least. I know we're going to be doing a lot of outside activities this summer and this will come in handy. Plus, it's 100% cotton so it is super breathable. Ahhh, nursing in public never felt this good.

Saving Money Sunday

The Art of Saving Money. Some say, it would be a science, but I say saving money is an art, because it's a beautiful thing that you can see. =) So even though I'm not very artistically savvy, I am practicing and getting better at it. Since I'm a stay at home momma (part-time self employed photographer), saving my family money is a big deal. Plus, it makes my hubby a lot less grumpy. More smiles. That's a plus. Sometimes, I'll pitch him an idea that he absolutely thinks is ridiculous for me to try, a waste of time, blah blah blah, harrumph. After I tell him how much money it will save us, and show him how easy it was for me to do it, he smiles. That's all I need. =) It let's me know I'm doing good. So, to help others who need some extra change in their pocket going jing-a-ling-a-ling, here's ten things I'm doing to help save my family money today...
1) Cloth diapers
     -bumGenius 4.0 pocket diapers, to be exact. I love these. They keep her butt dry and she hardly EVER gets rash or irritation which saves us from buying lots of expensive diaper ointments and creams. Every bumgenius pocket diaper comes with a large insert to stuff in the diaper shell to soak up the potty and a small newborn/doubler insert for extra protection.
2) Cloth wipes
     -Well, I honestly never use the doublers, so I decided to use them as her wipes! She has terribly sensitive skin so I just spritz some water on her and the wipe and clean up her bum between every diaper change. Then, I just throw the wipes in her diaper pail for laundry time! I also made a dozen of my own out of two layers of flannel. I use the flannel wipes for her wet diapers and the doublers for her dirty diapers as I've found the flannel ones don't 'grab' onto the poo quite as well.
3) Cloth nursing pads
     -Leaking boobs. Sigh. I decided to make my own nursing pads with the same concept as the diapers Moriyah uses. They work amazing.
4) Breastfeeding
      -enough said =)
5) Handkerchiefs
     -We've all gotten colds this past week, which means lots of boogies and snot. Ew. We ran out of our last kleenex in the house the day before we came down with the snot-monster. No joke. So, I went through my headband baggie and found some! And you know what? No owies or crusty rawness under our noses! (fist pump!)
6) Terry cloth kitchen towels
     -No more paper towels. Sad, but true. I used to go through a roll in a day, or worse, a whole tub of clorox wipes when I was on a cleaning binge. But no more. Now, I'm currently in the process of making my own cleaning solution.
7) Homemade dishwasher detergent
     -I found it on this link ==>
http://beingcreativetokeepmysanity.blogspot.com/search/label/Homemade%20soap
    I found that it works fantastic! Instead of using 'LemiShine' like she asked for, I used white vinegar as a separate rinsing agent. FANTASTIC! It works just as good as the most expensive dish detergent I've ever bought.
8) Homemade mouthwash, shampoo, body scrub, hand sanitizer, etc. etc.
     -I found it on this link ===>
http://www.diynatural.com/category/beauty/
      I love this site. LOVE! Simple. Easy.
9) Plastic over the windows!
     -I used the 3M packs. Comes with a 'shrinkwrap' type plastic, 2 sided tape and alcohol wipes. Quite honestly, you could probably just do this yourself for much less, but I bought them over a year ago at a garage sale, so I figured I might as well use 'em. This WORKS! I can actually see the plastic moving when it's windy and the windows are completely shut and locked! That's ice cold air that won't be entering my home and making my heater run constantly. WOO!
10) Coupons
     -I'm no extreme coupon-er, but I enjoy saving money. I need to get the Sunday paper, but I don't have it yet, so I've been looking online for some awesome-possum sites where you can print coupons at home and use in the stores! Here's some...

     Walmart coupons - as much as I hate shopping there, they have amazing prices...so yeah
http://coupons.walmart.com/couponweb/Offers.aspx?pid=15429&zid=uw54&nid=10&bid=alk1006081021365e1ece78516 
     Shop at Home.com
http://www.shopathome.com/discounts_and_coupons/default-brand.aspx?refer=76025&src=SEPDSE&vendor=google&Distribution=Search&keyword=shop%20at%20home&MatchType=Exact&AdId=8234615721&placement=&gclid=CLW9567-tKwCFY3KKgodyH2rIQ
     Basically, all you need to do is go to google and type in 'coupons'.

Well, there ya have it! Just ten things I'm doing to save us money! I hope I've been able to inspire you as much as I've been inspired. It's really amazing how many chemicals are in so many things. It's also sadly amazing how much landfill waste could be prevented. Awareness is key.