Storing kids' art and backing up your computer

Recently my mom gave me a huge box where she had stored all of my art projects, books, programs, letters and notes from childhood. I enjoyed going through them and had quite a few laughs.

Anna and Kimberly have already started doing some 'art' at school and I was never sure where to store it. I don't want a lot of papers accumulating and I know the pile will only get larger, but I also don't want to chuck everything in the garbage and never see it again.

I decided to continue with my past post about going paperless and I found another use for my scanner: saving the girls' art projects! I created a folder for each girl and within them separate folders for each year, and I've started compiling all of their art in digital form by scanning them into my computer. This way I don't have to hold on to all of the individual pieces, only a few that I want to display. I'm thinking that I will compile all kinds of art, notes, certificates (the nice thing about scanning is that you can shrink larger papers down into smaller picture files) and other sentimental tokens and put them into a large photo book down the road. Wouldn't it be fun to have a nice book to look through down memory lane instead of piles and piles of papers!

Here are some examples of art I've already scanned. Be sure to organize them by date so you know he child's age at the time:

 

 

 

 

When you start storing important documents on your computer you always run the risk of losing them. I highly recommend getting a good backup system on your computer. You want one that backs up continuously rather than requiring you to back up manually. I've tried several and the one I've been most happy with is Backblaze. It's super easy and is constantly backing up your files without slowing down your computer too much. If you were to lose anything on your computer they would send you a zip drive with everything on it. It's about $50 a year for the service. A small price to pay for piece of mind (if you want to sign up,  you can get a free month).

Our Favorite Kiddo Books

I'm an avid reader and hope Anna will enjoy one of my favorite pastimes herself someday. I remember going to the local library during our family vacations and getting ten Nancy Drew books. By the end of the week I had finished them all (nerd alert). My parents had to make a rule "No reading at the table" or they would find me trying to shovel cereal into my mouth while keeping a book spread at the same time.

C.S. Lewis once said that all good children's books are equally as enjoyable as an adult. I agree. Well-written children's books have a simplicity about them that the adult world typically lacks. In counseling, a well-timed story, be it written or verbal, was a powerful tool for both children and adults.

We don't have a large collection of children's books yet, but we add to them slowly through gifts or special deals. I'm liking the board books right now because they are easier to handle with a baby on your lap. I didn't realize that most classic books come in a board book version. Here are some of our current favorites.

Anna loved the Hungry Caterpillar illustrations so I knew she would be equally as thrilled with Brown Bear. Great book with beautiful pictures. The story is fun for toddlers to follow.

This is a cute book with touchy-feely ladybugs that are fun to play with.

Probably my favorite. Written by the author of Goodnight Moon.

 The Sandra Boynton books are adorable and unique.

Another sweet, sweet one.

I love the Dr. Suess books. We actually don't have this one but it's one of my favorites.

Right now we have some of the small board books.

These stories mesmerized Anna from day one because the pictures are huge and contrasting. She still loves them.

These last ones Anna is too young for, but they are some of my favorites:

An illustration-only book. Powerful message.

We have a credit to My Publisher that has to be used this month, so I'm working on a simple storybook for Anna about her "story". More on that later.

Weekend Fun

It was a fun-filled weekend for us, filled with fruits and veggies, baby thrifting, friends, and a DIY.

We started the weekend off with picking up our first Bountiful Basket. I had been lusting for a while now over Facebook pictures from friends displaying their $15 baskets of fresh produce. A big fan of fresh fruits and veggies and a despiser of grocery shopping, I signed up immediately. We love our first basket! I'm pretty familiar with local produce prices and this is such a great deal for a week's worth of stuff. I love how each week you can choose whether you want to buy. It feels like Christmas when you go to pick up your basket, and it's fun to incorporate something you usually don't buy into meals (fresh pineapple anyone?). Love it! They are trying to get an organic basket going which would be awesome and much more affordable than store prices.

After picking up my basket, I headed to our city's semi-annual children's consignment event. It's a huge thing around here. I volunteered to help out earlier that week so I could attend the sale the day before the public. I was on the prowl for a few specific things and found just what I was looking for:

This chid sized table was just a few bucks. It's hard to accurately see the colors
but they are a pretty pastel blue and green.

Birthday dress.

Been looking for one of these classic wooden toys with an abacus.
This one was still in perfect condition and I especially liked the little zoo up top.

I found a swimming outfit for this summer- was tempted to get a cutsey bathing suit
but thought this was more practical for sun coverage.

We then headed out for short trip to visit two friends, Blake and Juli. Anna met some horses for the first time. I was so proud of her- she didn't get scared at all! And they were some big horses!

It was fun spendig time with Blake and Juli. Everyone but me is in the medical field, so I enjoyed listening to all the medical discussion. We got to have some delicious wine from a nearby winery, and Juli made this awesome vegan pear bread that even Anna could have. It was so nice to be able to give her some of our food for once.

When we got home, I whipped out this chalkboard I found for a few bucks. I'm kind of obsessed with chalkboards:

I used some leftover scrapbook paper, cut out a rectangle, and taped it over the top design. Presto! It now matched our kitchen. Scrapbook paper is the best for projects because you can change it out for a mere 50 cents :)

Well, better get started on all the fun stuff now (you know, laundry, cooking, meal planning....)

Mary had a Little Lamb

We received this sentimental hand-me-down from a dear family member, and it piqued my interest.

Mostly I wondered what made these Mother Goose rhymes "Christian." What I found made me smile and laugh heartily. This old-fashioned book had taken traditional nursery rhymes and added to them themes about Jesus, salvation, life, and the basic fundamentals of serving, forgiving, loving, and kindness.

I enjoyed reading through them- creative and amusing. Check out these two takes on "Mary had a little lamb" and "Jack and Jill."

And this one is pretty funny:

Maybe I should take a shot at creating my own themed nursery rhyme? :)

I really liked the old-timey pictures and thought they would go perfect in the nursery, so I decided to take a few rhymes and frame them up. First I scanned them and then resized easily by opening the picture in my viewfinder and "printing" it while choosing "4x6" size. I love how it turned out!

Baby proofing

This is what we've had on our hands lately:

Yes, we have ourselves a climber. We have spent the last week babyproofing the place (ok Ben has spent the last week babyproofing the place). It's taken quite a long time, even without things like fireplaces and stairs. While I am proud to say we lasted 9 months living off of savings alone including replacing a car (yay!), we have now entered the dreaded no-savings zone and will be living off of Ben's student loan until he graduates. Scary, I know. Especially considering I've spent my whole life committed to being debt-free, (including putting myself all the way through graduate school without any debt). But we weighed the costs and benefits greatly and know it's worth the temporary sacrifice of material, temporal things for something eternal- me being able to stay at home and raise our daughter (side note: we're praying for a rural medicine loan repayment site to alleviate the future burden). All that to say, we didn't go with anything fancy for this babyproofing stuff!

This is what it has consisted of (ignore the terrible pictures; poor lighting!):

Bookcases and dressers anchored to walls.

TV secured.

Sharp edges covered.

Toilet lid locked.



Cabinet and drawers locked.

Outlets protected.

Anything I'm forgetting?

Hangin out in her tights... 

Favorite Websites

A collection of my favorite online resources and websites. I've found many of these through blog recommendations so I'm sharing the love. There are a few obvious ones and hopefully some new-to-you ones.

Picnik- Free online photo editing. This is how I made my blog header. You can crop, touch up, add text and borders to pictures and save them as files on your computer. Did I mention it's free?

Local Harvest- A site to find Community Supported Agriculture in your area. CSAs are local farmers who will deliver their fresh and safe meat and produce for a reasonable price. You usually pay a monthly set amount and receive various seasonal produce and free-range meat, sans chemicals of course. We don't use this yet, but I can't wait for the time when we will!

Simple Mom- I love this site (and its sister sites look great too- Mom, Kids, Organic, Homeschool). It is the only article blog that I subscribe to via email. The editor is a woman named Tsh who's values resemble ours. She is Christian (though her blog isn't spiritual heavy), world-conscious, and counter the busy/materialistic American culture. She encourages others to live simply but richly. Love it!

Meetup- a great way to find Mom groups or other common interest groups in your area. Particularly helpful if you are new to an area.

A Disciples Notebook- perhaps the most profound devotionals in the online world. I've subscribed to a lot of devotional emails in the past and this is the only one I haven't abandoned. I still regularly get their daily email in my inbox and it is always encouraging and challenging. I even have a folder in my inbox saved with my favorite ones (problem is I end up saving every other one :)

Tripadvisor-  We used this website to plan our honeymoon in St. Lucia, our visa renewal trip to Thailand, and our anniversary in Charleston. I'm definitley not a vacation planning psycho (I like relaxing vacations without a lot to do), but since we don't take vacations often we wanted to make sure we were staying somewhere we loved and going to restaurants and sites that we would enjoy. Thankfully, everything we picked through reading reviews on Tripadvisor (and checking out their well-ranked stuff) were off-the-beaten path (often skipping the common touristy hotels and sights) and PERFECT for us. Thanks to this website, we've had absolutely amazing times on all of our vacations without wasting time and money on less-than-awesome places and things to do. Time is precious when it comes to vacations, and this website ensures you use your time in a way that suits you.

Environmental Working Group (both the health database  and food section)- I have used these as references numerous times when deciding if a food or product is something I feel comfortable using- particularly when buying baby products and making baby food.

Mint- free budgeting and financial tools. Quality stuff.

Georgia Pines (or your state's online library system)- I love that Georgia's libraries are synced so you can use any one to pick up or drop off books. Library-ing is super easy these days because you can look up your books before you go. If a book is checked out, I put it on hold from home. If it's available, I write down the call number and breeze in and out when I have the time.

resolved2worship- I'm generally not into keeping up with people's lives whom I don't know but I make an exception for this encouraging open journal of a thirty-something women named Alyssa Welch. It is probably the most encouraging real-life blog out there, whether you are a mom (she has 8 kids), a wife, or a single. I have grown so much through reading about her life and thoughts. And he might kill me for saying this but Ben loves it to. He is often found reading entries and commenting, "have you read the latest post? It was so good!"

Wholesome Baby Food- great resource on everything from making your own baby food, to food allergies, to nutrition. It's the only website I use regarding child nutrition these days.

Young House Love- the best, funniest home improvement/DIY site! They have any and every project how-to: building a cabinet from scratch, painting your kitchen, refinishing furniture, etc. I don't read all their posts because they are full-time bloggers and DIYers, but a simple search comes up with anything I'm looking for. Great resource.

Pandora- for obvious reasons. A great way to freely be introduced to new music and get custom playlists without the time spent to create them yourself. I use Pandora a lot with Anna- it keeps me from having to buy a bunch of kid CDs. I made a Disney playlist and one with more mellow kiddy songs. When it plays something I really like, I "bookmark" it.

Pinterest- has become my new way of organizing projects and ideas.

Etsy- online store where people sell their art and other homemade items. Surprisingly, I've found a lot of things on Etsy for a fraction of the cost of a typical store's selection- from a nursing cover to a tote bag. Great for gifts. Bonus that your are supporting fellow artists and the stuff is unique and handmade.

A Good Website for Moms

I thought I would share one of my favorite resources about infant/toddler sleep. There is a lot of bad information out there that can easily mislead parents in what is normal and what is abnormal in terms of sleep- from the age babies should be able to go without a feeding (not necessarily 3 or even 6 months for all babies) to appropriate bedtimes, to napping, to age to sleep train. I've found this website and the author, Nicole Johnson and her staff, to be super helpful and trustworthy. She takes into account a lot of the literature out there (Weissbluth, Ferber, Pantley, Sears) and combines it with her experience. She works with so many moms around the world strictly on baby/toddler sleep that she often seems a more trustworthy expert on what's "normal" than some of these authors.

The Baby Sleep Site

While they do paid consulting as well, I simply use their free resources. There are articles on everything from how much sleep your baby should be getting, how and when to transition into fewer naps, sleep regression, the effects of things like teething, night-time feeding, sleep associations, daylight savings, etc. Basically anything you can think of. There are some helpful e-books on there like "7 Napping Mistakes." If you have an infant or are expecting one, I recommend signing up for her weekly newsletter. I've received tons of information that has helped Anna become a good sleeper. Also, sometimes right when I think she is not doing what is normal for her age I get an article in my inbox that confirms the normal range is a little different than I thought :)

We Caved: A Cloth Diapering Post

Here I am doing the obligatory cloth diapering post. I thought I would share our journey to cloth thus far.

At first I was all about going the cloth diapering route. I had many friends who cloth diapered, and since I would be staying home it seemed a much smarter and more economical choice. I had no excuse not to. I did some research and decided to use the bumgenius 4.0s. They are considered a pocket diaper. We ordered 12 of them (we already had been given two at a shower).

Then Anna came along with some unexpected surprises. First, she was TINY. They say those diapers fit any baby 7-35 pounds, but not the case. She actually couldn't fit into them until she was 10 pounds. She wasn't 10 pounds until she was 4 MONTHS OLD!!!!! Plus, she had some GI issues and was pooping 7-8 times a day and going through 15+ diapers. Not very conducive to cloth diapering. So we stuck with disposables. Very easy. We returned the previously purchased cloth diapers but kept the two we had received from the shower.

I became unsatisfied with our diaper situation at around 6 months when Anna had her second yeast diaper rash. Those things are not easy to get rid off. Another reason was we had been fortunate enough to use many diapers received as gifts and ones my mom helped us with while staying with her. Now that we were predominantly purchasing diapers on our own, I realized that if Anna was going to be in diapers until she was 2 or 2-and-a-half we still had something like $1000 left to spend on diapers just for Anna. Not cool. So I decided to rethink the cloth option. Even with the up front investment and with starting at 6 months, the cost would be a fraction of disposables. When you factor in the possibility of using your diapers for future children you really start to save money (I estimate each child would cost almost $2000 in disposable diapers before they are potty trained).

So we tried out the two bumgenius diapers we had. We liked them ok (and still use them), but I figured there had to be something that worked a little better for Anna, so I decided to go for G diapers.

At first I was hesitant about G diapers because I thought they would be more expensive- they have 3 sizes instead of the bumgenius's one-size-fits-all. I figured more sizes means more money. But then I realized that the size Medium G diapers fit most babies for their entire potty training period (Anna will probably never need a Large). You also don't have to wash the diaper cover (called "gpant") every time- you can just switch out the cloth inserts- which  means you don't have to buy 12-16 diapers. You can buy about half that amount and stock up on inserts. All that said, the G diapers actually ended up being cheaper. It was about $200 for 8 gpants and 18 inserts. Around the cost of 4 months of disposables. For future children, I might have to buy a few of the size Small diapers, but that cost would be minimal.

Plus, with a last name that starts with a G, how can you resist a practically monogrammed diaper? ha ha....

Here she is looking super cute.

I found that I preferred G diapers for several reasons. I like that the gpant is natural material, doesn't feel like plastic, and you can wash it with your regular laundry. I like that you don't have to stuff anything like you do with pocket diapers. And as mentioned above, I like that you can reuse the gpant and don't have to change the whole diaper each time you change (saving time and money). It's pretty easy to simply toss the cloth insert into a wet bag and throw a new one in there. I also think they will last longer than if I had to wash them after each diaper change. Aesthetically, they are less bulkier than the one-sizers, cuter (no empty snap holes if you do snaps), and the colors are rich and almost all are gender neutral (sans the one pink).

All that said, how do I feel about cloth now that I'm using it? Well, I'm not as head-over-heels in love as I was hoping. Don't get me wrong, cloth diapering is definitely the right choice for us but there are some personal drawbacks: 1. Cloth diapers aren't meant to hold as long as disposables, so I have to change Anna more often. 2. They do take more time and are not as neat and clean - you have to figure out how to dispose of wipes so they don't smell, throw away/flush solid poop, etc. and while it's not the biggest hassle in the world, it's also not as easy as rolling up a disposable diaper with the wipes inside to contain. 3. It's more laundry (and since we don't have a outdoor clothesline they take longer to dry inside as I don't want to run my dryer all day). I also don't like that I can't wash the inserts with our other laundry (partly because cloth diapers need an additive free detergent and that does not mean simply a detergent labeled "Free"). 4. They aren't as easy to travel with as disposables, and 5. Even with the trim G diapers, cloth diapers are bulkier than disposables giving you that trademark "fluffy bum." While cute, some short onesies or pants may not fit over it. All that said, I am still happy that we made the switch. Staying at home with one baby, I don't feel like I have an excuse not to spend the extra time to save the extra $ (and be a little more responsible with the earth God has given us). Honestly, if I were working or had 4 children running around I would probably stick with disposables.  

 Here are a few things that have made cloth diapering easier.

Rockin Green detergent made for cloth diapers, recommended by a friend. Inexpensive and works. You do not want to use a detergent that is not made for cloth diapers, trust me. Even something like Tide Free can mess up their absorbency because they have enzymes or brighteners in them. Check out this website for a full list of detergent types and whether they are cloth diaper friendly, recommended, and to see their cost breakdown.

Planet Wise wet bag that hangs from your changing table. You don't need a diaper pail if you use one of these. Just throw in the diapers and they stay contained until you are ready to wash them. Throw the whole bag and contents in the wash all at once. Pretty easy.

Imse Vimse flushable liners. I was not about to scrape solid poop off my diapers so it was either a diaper sprayer or liners. I chose liners because of ease with travelling. A friend recommended these ones. At first I thought liners kind of defeated the purpose of cloth diapers in the first place, but they are very inexpensive and WORTH IT. They hold all the nasty poop so you can just throw it away. They aren't meant to keep stuff from soaking onto the insert, just meant to hold the solids. You can also reuse the non-poopy ones for 2 washes before they fall apart, making them more economical. Throw them in the wetbag with the other dirty stuff. We even cut them in half because they are fairly large.

Lastly, I would highly recommend creating a drying rack like Sarah's brilliant DIY. (This is her picture, not ours. But we made one like it and use it all the time). Great post Sarah.

That's all folks. I hope that may have helped some of you considering cloth diapering. Cloth diapering is not for everyone. Each person has a different experience. Overall, I am satisfied with it. Good luck!