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I think I just upped my crunchiness factor again!

While Dave and Lindsey (my brother-in-law and his girlfriend) were staying with us recently, Lindsey and I were discussing crafty projects we could make for Christmas presents. We discussed handkerchiefs, market bags, reusable vegetable bags for in the fridge, sandwich wraps, and snack bags.

We didn’t get around to any of it before Christmas … mostly because she was gone through November and December! (She was, however, still good enough to be crafty in her Christmas presents!)

When she arrived again in January, we happened to go on a trip to Ottawa Street - Hamilton’s fabric and antique district. While there, I purchased some cotton as well as some rip-stop nylon.

These things are easy and fun to make! I won’t even BEGIN to pretend that I’m a decent sewer - in fact, I would definitely consider myself to be a novice. So if you’re concerned you won’t be able to figure this out, I say you can!

The first thing I made was a reusable sandwich wrap. I did a bunch of research online and found that I liked Toward Sustainability’s Homemade Sandwich Wrap the best. However, I didn’t like the idea of plastic actually in contact with my food (after all, if I didn’t care about it, why would I bother making these?). I knew I had a couple of options for waterproof layers - vinyl (um … I don’t like to wrap my sandwiches in reproductive toxins, you?), PUL (not sure about how food-safe it is, and it wasn’t readily available), oilcloth (I’d love to use this stuff if it still exists!), and nylon. In order to keep the waterproof layer away from the food entirely, I decided to use two layers of cotton sandwiching (pardon the pun!) what I opted for - rip-stop nylon.

So I kinda followed the directions and kind of made it up. I quickly realized that I couldn’t just sew it closed and turn it inside out, since it was three layers and not two, so I ended up just folding over the edges of the three pieces of cloth, pinning them together and hemming them. Next time, I’m going to try the two cotton pieces with right sides facing, and then the nylon on top … I *think* that should work for turning it inside-out so that there’s no fraying fabric on the outside!

The second item I made was a reusable snack bag. I again researched a bunch of patterns and settled on the we wilsons’ Reusable Snack Bag Tutorial. I followed this one pretty much exactly, except I again sandwiched the nylon between two layers of cotton so that the food would be touching only cotton. It took a bit of finagling, but I figured it out - maybe the next one I make I’ll take pictures as I go!

The next set I made was much … nicer. As always happens with projects, I think, I knew what I was doing and what the problems might be (although I still hadn’t figured out that I can probably flip the wrap inside-out) and I made the snack bag much bigger - it’s about 6″ by 6″ total, I think. The plaid one is perfect for quick snacks for Gwen, but a bit impractical for adult-sized snacks.

This set was given to Lindsey for her birthday (and in the picture, you can see how the wrapped sandwich would sit).

I bought a bunch of material and am hoping to sew up a few more sandwich wraps and snack bags for Brad as well as some fun snack bags for Gwen and I to use on our outings - it’s MUCH easier to give her a snack bag to eat on the run than a container!

And in case you’re wondering, I’ve washed Brad’s sandwich wraps and snack bag just in my dish water and let them air dry. They both can often just be shaken free of crumbs and used again right away, but if they’re soiled (for example, by an egg salad sandwich!), the food comes right off the cotton with a little swish and wipe

Um, I’m full term.

Yep, that means I can go at any time.

Yep, that’s a bit crazy/exciting/nerve-wracking.

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This passage made me smile today as I found it over @ Peaceful Parenting - totally my new favourite blog. If this is what parenting is all about, BRING IT ON!

Manifesto of the idle parent

We reject the idea that parenting requires hard work
We pledge to leave our children alone
That should mean that they leave us alone, too
We reject the rampant consumerism that invades children from the moment they are born
We read them poetry and fantastic stories without morals
We drink alcohol without guilt
We reject the inner Puritan
We fill the house with music and laughter
We don’t waste money on family days out and holidays
We lie in bed for as long as possible
We try not to interfere
We push them into the garden and shut the door so that we can clean the house
We both work as little as possible, particularly when the kids are small
Time is more important than money
Happy mess is better than miserable tidiness
Down with school
We fill the house with music and merriment

Here is the recipe that my midwife office gives out for postpartum herbal baths.

Ingredients:

• 1 oz uva ursi
• 1 oz shepherd’s purse
• 4-6 cloves garlic, sliced or chopped

Instructions:

1. Put all ingredients in a pot with 4L of liquid.
2. Simmer for 20 minutes.
3. Add 1 cup sea salt to the mixture.
4. Let cool and strain into containers with lids, freeze if not used within 2 days. Makes enough for 2 baths.

I was lucky enough for my first birth to have a friend drop off some extra herbal bath that she made up for her homebirth in April before I had Gwen, so I didn’t have to make it! In the above picture, taken shortly after Gwen’s birth, we’re actually in the herbal bath together. It’s healing for both mom’s reproductive system and baby’s cord and is honestly SO SOOTHING. If you’ve got it frozen in containers, just thaw it in the tub while you’re filling it with water. This time, I’m hoping to make a double batch so that I can have a soothing bath more often!

Wow. Has it seriously been almost a year since I went no-poo? I find that hard to believe!!

After this update, where I said that I was washing every other day, I’ve been able to cut back to every 3rd or 4th day. It’s been incredible, really! My hair hasn’t been great lately, but I’m not sure if that’s pregnancy hormones or the fact that it’s longer, or the fact that the seasons have changed and I just don’t care enough to change what I’m doing and figure out what my hair needs in the winter Regardless, I’ve been very pleased with the way my hair has responded to the no-poo method and even use baking soda/ACV rinses on Gwen’s hair. Her hair’s great though - I wash it about every 2 weeks with a water wash or two in between and it looks and feels amazing!

As an aside, this post @ Yarn Harlot made me HOWL. If you want a quick rundown of how I feel about my hair, although I’ve yet to find a hair dresser who is as accepting as her’s is, I’ll let her words speak for me:

The lady who cuts my hair is awesome and I love her.  It’s taken us about two years to get where we are now, which is her totally accepting that I’m never going to take an interest in my hair in any way - other than showing up to have it wrangled.  I’m not going to straighten it or buy $80 worth of product.. I’m not going to discuss it or talk about it’s colour.  I’m not going to do any of the things she talks about, and I do not own a diffuser now, nor do I plan on getting one.  I don’t have a style - I have a cut, and I don’t want to talk about maybe getting a style.  I’m going to show up, say something about how I would like to be able to participate more fully in society and not be held back by my hair, and she fixes it, we chat nicely and I leave.  It works great.

Ah, that’s precisely how I feel!

Yeah, I know. It’s January 24th and I’m just now talking about Christmas.

What can I say? Having people at home during the day means I don’t feel like blogging so much!

WARNING: PHOTO-INTENSIVE POST!

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If you don’t frequent Hathor the Cow Goddess‘ comic site, check out the comic Extinction!

I love her comics … although this one’s a little bit scary!

Gwen has decreased the amount she’s nursing dramatically over the past month or so. It began with her no longer wanting to nurse to sleep - she would nurse, on both sides, but then before she would fall asleep, she would pull off and want to snuggle with Brad to fall asleep. We decided to go with it and changed our bedtime routine from books-nurse-sleep to nurse-books-sleep. I nurse Gwen, get her pj’s and nighttime diaper on and brush her teeth then call Brad up to read her books and put her down. It’s somewhat a relief to know that when Love Bug arrives, there will be a pair of arms available to hold him/her while the other parent is doing their portion of the bedtime routine. Read the rest of this entry »

Is this article here @ Peaceful Parenting: Tackling Distress Tantrums with Brain Research.

I don’t know about anyone else, but Gwen has been full-on tantruming since about 9 mos of age, so although we are getting significantly LESS tantrums now, we definitely have a few meltdowns per day. My gut reaction is always that she’s really in distress - she certainly appears to be in distress - but culturally, it’s expected that she’s tantruming because she’s asserting herself and wants to manipulate the situation.

I feel good knowing that the research suggests that says she’s truly in distress and needs my help to manage her emotions.

Of my baby and her doll.

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