Crunchy Granola

No, not the stuff you eat for breakfast.  The new hippie, for lack of a better description.  Prior to having my own child, I had no idea that I would eventually find myself using this phrase to describe my own parenting!  Seriously, when did this happen?!  I breastfeed, I make my own baby food, I sew baby shoes, I have even entered the world of cloth diapering... willingly!  And I love all of it!

The latest in diapers: Yes, I wrote a big, long post about the cloth diaper inserts that I made.  Yes, they work well.  But they are bulky.  Mostly, they stick out kind of awkwardly in the front of the diaper.  Solution: I'm trying the old faithful Gerber pre-fold diapers by themselves, with no added core layer or anything like that.  It's working out well.  I'll still use the ones I sewed for overnight because they are a bit more absorbent.

Baby food: I read a great blog post that pretty much sums up exactly what I do for Aubrey's food.  I don't really have anything particular to say, other than you should read the post yourself.

Final note on the crunchy granola topic:We have started the weaning process.  I gave Aubrey her first bottle (sippy cup) of whole milk today.  I am unexpectedly sad about this.  That being said, people who breastfeed three or four year olds freak me out.  The end.

Birthday In The Works

I can barely believe that my baby girl is coming up on her first year birthday!  But I am fully embracing the idea, and I am enjoying putting together some ideas to make it special.  So far, I've narrowed down my ideas for the cake and some of the decor.  Here's what I've got so far:

Cake desing: something along the lines of this, only with "neater" frosting.  Cake flavor: sugar-free banana cake, with sugar-free cream cheese frosting (sweetened with apple juice concentrate)

Decor, Part One: no-sew fabric lanterns.  Already in the works.

Decor, Part Two: no-sew fabric pennant.

Decor, Part Three: fabric strip fringe garland.  (Can you tell I'm into fabrics right now?)

Decor, Part Four: pom-poms (jumbo, seen here, and possible miniatures as garland) from baby shower tissue paper.

Little Touches: "ONE" letters, and multiple clusters of balloons.

Keepsake: Birth stats (like this) on left side of small poster, one year stats on right side.

Still working on invitation ideas.  Baby girl will (obviously) wear a tutu, made by her lovely aunt, along with a top that I plan to finish off with a cute iron-on.  Converse All-Stars and fake pearls are possible additions for photo opportunities.  I am so looking forward to the utter cuteness of this day!

Special thanks to Pinterest for helping me catalogue all of these nifty ideas!