Mr. Yarn!

I went out to breakfast with family today and I had quite a fussy baby and no toys. I used his fleece hat as a hand puppet and voila! A smiley baby! SOOO I went home and made "Mr. Yarn" Who will now travel in the diaper bag.

Very easy to make all you need is:

-Needle and any color thread

-Piece of old t-shirt or piece of scrap fabric about 12" x 10"

-Two buttons

-10 3" strands of any color yarn

Fold fabric in half so the outside is facing in. Sew along the long edge and knot. Sew the top and pull tight to make it bunch up and tie tight. Turn right side out and put your hand inside and hold the "bunchy" part in your hand to make the mouth. Sew the buttons as eyes-about either side of the center of your middle finger (if that makes sense) Lay your 10 piece of yarn and tie very tightly at the center then put above the eyes and stitch to puppet to make hair.

If you're not any good at sewing use a tube sock and skip the first few steps.

What I love about puppets is they can be happy, sad, playful or silly by only changing your voice and it's expression. SO easy and SO entertaining for our growing little ones. Mr Yarn got his name because Bear pulled out one of his hairs and the puppet kept "eating" it and spitting it back out to make Bear laugh. It was a blast!

Love,

PlusPeace

Boob Cube-REVISED

So I now realize that "boob cubes" are no longer the most efficient way to store breastmilk when our little ones are eating more and more often. SOOOO I have come up with 3 oz Boob Cubes!!

Buy a tube or two of those 4 oz bathroom cups (I chose the SpongeBob themed ones) and after a pumping fill almost to the top-about 3 oz and put saran and a rubber band as the lid. Line your freezer door and then after they are frozed squeeze them out into freezer baggies and label! The cups can be reused twice (two times only) if you rinse with HOT water.

Follow the thaw instructions from my past feezing blog.

Love

PlusPeace

The SIMPLE things in life.

I have been SWAMPED! SO sorry for not posting any nifty things for you thrifty moms in a while BUT as your little one discovers the world around him it may be tempting to buy every toy on the shelf. I have to resist the toy aisle in every store because all the kids toys are just so damn cute! At this stage I truly believe simple every day things are better.

Lately I've been lining up things for Bear to grab and touch and explore. I sit him on my lap at the table or lay him next to a bunch of different colorful things around the house. Colored plastic baby spoons (2.99 for 10 at the grocery store) A bright blue plastic measuring cup, a plush toy (usually his "binky bear" its a Wubba-nub) and I let him hold them and pick which ones he wants. The way I see it if I give him a some shiney monster toy off the shelf he'll have no idea what it is (because I have no idea what it is) but if it's an every day thing he's more likely to recognize it later on.

Also we have so much fun with paper towel rolls the other day, I would talk into it and he thought it was hilarious.

Make sure everything you give them in OK to put in their mouth and CLEAN! A great way to clean toys is 1 cup white vinegar and 1 cup water and after washing them just dunk them and let dry. Non-Toxic and once vinegar is dry it has no smell!

Love,

PlusPeace