I am now making dryer balls

After watching my electric bill sky rocket because of all the laundry I am doing I decided to look into dryer balls. I had heard they could cut your drying time in half which would save me a ton of money on my bill. I currently have two in my dryer and I have noticed a slight difference in my drying time but today I made a bunch more and I will be adding them to the dryer! They recommend having 8 for a large load of clothes so that is what I am going to do! Anything to save some cash!!

Already planning for next year

Even though Christmas just happened I am already planning for next year. I have big plans for next Christmas and it is going to take me a year to get it all done.

I know for sure I am expanding what I knit and more people will be getting knitted items from me. This year my mom made all us kids a beautiful blanket, they were a huge hit and I am thinking of making a couple for gifts next year. I know they took her a long time so I better get to work on them now. Plus I have a lot of other projects in mind, including longies and hudson hats.

What I do not make I am going to try to find on clearance. If I shop all year it should make it so much easier to finish closer to Christmas. Even though I do not like the thought of getting up early, I do plan on black Friday shopping next year, Chris did this year and it saved us a lot of money!

A really great soup recipe

I am always trying to find more foods that my kids will eat. I decided to try making a new style of soup. I thought it turned out great so I thought I would share with you all!

2 large cans of stewed tomatoes
3 cans of black beans ( do not drain )
1 bag frozen corn
1 bag frozen green beans
1 bag fresh baby carrots
4 cups of v8 juice
4 cubes of beef base
garlic
italian seasoning
frozen beef ravioli

Combine all ingredients in a large soup pan except the ravioli, simmer until carrots are tender. Add the beef ravioli and cook about another 10 mins

Serve and enjoy!

A major rave for diaperchange cloth diapers

I have found my favorite cloth diaper!

Kairi is a very long baby for her age and these diapers are a fantastic fit on her. Not only do they fit very well and are very well made but they come in all kinds of super cute prints!


Plus the customer service is great! I was having issues ordering some diapers on cyber Monday and I was contacted quickly and she did everything she could to help me resolve my issues.

If you like pocket diapers you really need to give these a try.
www.diaperchangediapers.com

Action shots!

Halo sleep sack sale

These are a great product for babies!

http://kids.woot.com/

Reduce the Risk of SIDS

Designed by a parent who lost an infant to SIDS (Sudden Infant Death Syndrome), and now being used in hospital nurseries nationwide, the HALO® SleepSack™ wearable blanket replaces loose bedding in the crib that can cover your baby's face and interfere with breathing. It's the only product that carries seals from leading SIDS organizations in both the U.S. and Canada.

The Safer Way to Sleep®
Regular baby blankets in the crib can be dangerous! The HALO® SleepSack™ wearable blanket eliminates the need for loose blankets and is the #1 choice of parents and leading experts for keeping your baby safe and warm all night long.

Remember that "BACK IS BEST®" for babies safest sleep.

How much do you really save using cloth?

I have been asked this question more then once and when you sit done and really do that math you will be shocked.

I have three children, let's start with disposable diapers. When I used then I used huggies so this is using their prices and this estimate is from birth to about 2.5 years.

Buying atleast one jumbo pack a week is:
$51.96 a month
$1558.80 for 2.5 years
4676.40 for all three children

Now cloth diapers. I personally like to have a decent sized stash and I have bought almost all my diapers new or used off www.diaperswappers.com or new off www.etsy.com
I will average out my spending to about $10 a diaper, atleast 20 diapers per size.

So far on my diaper stash I have spent around:

cloth diapers - $800 total for all three kids
extra water - $120 yearly
laundry soap - 60 yearly
= $980

Now let's talk about the fact that you can also resell diapers you are not using anymore, which I have done and you can also trade diapers you are not using for diapers you will. If you take this into consideration I have spent way less out my pocket for the diapers I have because I have sold the diapers I had for my son and I have traded many diapers also.

Now you can spend more on diapers if you buy all new but you will be saving money in the long run. Another way you can save even more money is to buy only OS diapers, most times they will be able to be used all the way till potty training. We do use some OS diapers.

If you want to save even more then you can use cloth wipes also. I use cloth wipes and they do a much better job cleaning and you do not have to worry about using a wipe warmer because you can just use warm water when you wet down the wipe!

My favorite pocket diapers

If I had to choose only one diaper to make up my whole collection it would be BG OS. They fit so well and the MF inserts that I bought from cottonbabies.com work wonderfully. I was a little leery of the one sized diapers at first. I did not think the same diaper that fit my 26lb two year old would really fit my 14lb 3 month old but they do! They can be a little more pricey to buy new, I have bought or traded for all mine off FSOT on diaperswappers.com

My next favorite would be knickernappies. I have only used these in a large and I know they work wonderfully for Destiny. I have the side snapping diapers which can be interesting to get on a two year old who never wants to sit still but I really do love them other wise.

I love the diaperchange pockets also, not only do they work really well but they have some super adorable prints!

I have have many other diapers but those are my top three favorite pockets for sure!

A site to share

We started cloth diapering our children when Alexzander was about 20 months and Destiny was around 4 months. We had thought about it before but I honestly did not want to wash dirty diapers.

Once I sat down and did the math on how much money we would be able to save I was shocked so we decided to go ahead and give it a try.

This website has tons of cloth diapers for sale, a long with baby carriers, breastfeeding gear and so much more.

Please check out:
http://www.momsmilkboutique.com/

Let me introduce myself

Let me start of my new blog by introducing myself and what I hope this blog to become.

My name is Whitney, I am married to my best friend in the world and I am a stay at home mom to my three beautiful children.

Chris and I were married 7-9-09 and we wanted to start our family right away. Our son Alexzander, was conceived on our honeymoon. He was born 4-18-06. Only a few short months later we were dealt a blow, he had been born with a rare condition called craniosynitosis, basically meaning he had no or little soft spot and it was affecting the growth of his head. Luckily for us it was a milder form and would only require one surgery to correct. It was a hard time for us but we made it through. He is now three years old and besides a scar on his head you would never even know!

Our second child, Destiny was born a short 15 months after our son. She joined our family on 8-4-07. She is our strong willed little girl, we love her to pieces but she does know how to test anybodies patience level!

Our newest addition to the family is Kairi, she was born on our fourth wedding anniversary 7 -09- 09. Her brother and sister simply adore her and we love watching the way they all act together.


Before my oldest was born I did a lot of reading on different parenting styles and we soon came to find the we seem to fit best into the AP style, while we may not be as crunchy as some people out there we do enjoy the AP life.

My hopes for this blog is to write about my life has a mom, to post things that are important to me as a mother and maybe just maybe help other mothers by doing so.

Enjoy!