Keeping it Real: You're Not Evil if You Use Disposable Diapers

I'm attempting a delicate balance in this post. I'm definitely an advocate for environmental consciousness and responsibility and I love new ways to help keep the earth healthy. I also applaud anyone who's trying to make good choices for the health of their baby. I also know several people who cloth diaper, and I love and respect them. This post is in no way trying to undermine people who use cloth diapers, or trying to convince fence-sitters to not give cloth a try. If you want to do it, you should! It's very rewarding. If it works for you, awesome! If you don't want to do it, don't do it and don't let anyone make you feel guilty. I'm trying to share my own personal experience and things I've learned in my 2 months of cloth diapering (don't let the seemingly short time frame fool you--as my husband can vouch, I've spent at least a good 100 hours researching cloth diapers. Conservatively estimating). And I want to provide some information that, with the flood of cloth diaper blogs, is hard to find when you're researching cloth diapers. I'll try to cite sources where I can, but I've literally seen hundreds of sites, so it's hard to go back and find exactly what I'm looking for. Definitely Google any ideas or terms that you have questions about. The goal is to provide information for an informed decision, since basically everything you can find is pro-cloth and a lot of it was misleading for my situation.

The Argument for Cloth: Environmental Responsibility

If you don't know this stuff by now, you will once you start researching cloth vs disposable. Disposable diapers are a huge strain on the environment. They are neatly wrapped plasticky packages of human waste that take around 500 years to decompose. According to Wikipedia, An estimated 27.4 billion disposable diapers are used each year in the US, resulting in a possible 3.4 million tons of used diapers adding to landfills each year. (Remember: used diapers=human waste. Feces, urine, nastiness.) That's a lot of garbage. Like, a LOT. And remember that disposable diapers also use thousands of trees each year and release chemical pollution into the air and water. Oh, and disposables are transported on big, diesel-sucking trucks that spew more pollution into the atmosphere, and you have to burn gas in your own car to drive to the store to buy them.

The Argument for Cloth: Baby Health and Earlier Potty Training

I'll admit, this is the primary reason I started cloth. (The environmental stuff was a definite bonus, though, don't get me wrong. I love the earth and we are responsible for keeping it clean and healthy...or trying to minimize our impact.) It's kind of a funny story--I was checking out books on parenting and I saw Early Start Potty Training by Linda Sonna and got it because I had a 13-month-old and I always read up on things way in advance. I had read several books on pregnancy by the time I was 5 months away from actually being pregnant. (Sidenote: By far my favorite was The Real Deal Guide to Pregnancy by Erika Lenkert. Love that book.) Anyways, it was a very interesting book filled with eye-opening facts and a few weird things, like her idea that putting a diaper on a baby sends the message that you reject their genital area and they'll be conflicted later in life. I don't know that I buy into that. But she taught me about how Pampers hired Dr. Brazleton back in the day to encourage parents to keep their kids in diapers longer, which is pretty gross, living the first several years of your life in your own waste. At the beginning of the 20th century, most kids were out of diapers before they were one year old. Sonna attributes several health issues to the increased duration of disposable diaper-wearing, including rashes, urinary tract infections, and the risk of male infertility. That last one really worried me. What parent wants to curse their tiny little baby boy with infertility later in life? The reasoning was that the plastic in the diaper trapped the heat, and there is a German study that showed an increase in scrotal temperature of 1 degree Celsius (just over 30 degrees Fahrenheit) after 24 hours of being in a disposable diaper (http://abcnews.go.com/Health/story?id=117939&page=1#.Tt4d-bIk6so). Increased scrotal temperatures are known to kill of sperm in grown men, but the effect on babies is unknown. There's also the concern of the chemicals in the diapers and absorbent gel, one of them apparently the chemical recalled from tampons for causing toxic shock syndrome.

Yikes. What a nightmare!! Cloth sounds so much better. Add to that the idea that the increased sensation of wetness children experience in cloth diapers encourages them to potty train sooner, and how can you go wrong?

The Argument for Cloth: You can save around $2,000 per child

You can buy a reasonable stash of cloth diapers for around $300. If they're one-size, they're all you need for one child, and you can reuse them for future children. Disposables will run you upwards of $2,000 per child. 'Nuff said.

My Life with Cloth

There's a huge learning curve with cloth diapers, but I loved it...especially once I learned the perfect combination of stuffing for an overnight diaper (Doopsy is AMAZING: www.doopsy.com, buy at www.babyecomart.com), and when I found a cloth-friendly detergent (Dropps scent+dye free) and learned how little I had to use (literally, 3 drops), so that I could stop rinsing each load three extra times (you have to rinse til all the suds are gone, or you could give your baby a rash or cause the diapers to lose absorbency).

You have to be very careful with cloth diapers. You have to find cloth-friendly detergents and creams so you don't ruin your investment. Luckily, there are a ton of detergents and creams to choose from. Unluckily, there are a ton of detergents and creams to choose from, and you can blow a fortune trying to find the one that works for your baby. I had to keep putting my little guy back in disposables every 3 days so that I could use Desitin to clear up rashes he kept getting. He has the kind of skin that requires cream with every diaper, but I wasn't using cream in his cloth diapers at first because of the millions of sites and blogs that swear up and down that cloth diapers do NOT cause rashes. Confused and frustrated at his recurring rashes, I bought 2 creams, neither of which did much, hence the continual return to Huggies. After a while, though, that didn't work anymore, and he developed a raging yeast rash that, after 3 weeks of treatment, is finally almost cleared up. He never had yeast rashes with disposables. I figure it's just his skin--he can't handle the increased moisture of cloth. EVEN though I religiously changed him after every bowel movement (I felt like some creepy poop stalker, I was so aware of his bowel movements) and constantly watched the clock to make sure he went no longer than 2 hours between changes. EVEN though I laundered the diapers properly, and even usually did a mini strip since I rinsed so many times because I was paranoid about detergent residue.

Cloth is also hard because there are so many options. You have to pick a diaper system, try it out, and if it doesn't work, try another kind. You can sell diapers that don't work for you on ebay so you're not totally out your investment, but it still costs you money. Same thing with detergent and cream: you have to sink a lot of money in to find what works, but with these, if they don't work, you definitely can't sell them to make any investment back.

My Frustration with Cloth Sites and Blogs

At my wit's end about why my baby was getting rashes in diapers that do not cause diaper rash, I tried Googling every possible combination of "why is my baby getting rashes in cloth diapers." I got no help. Cloth diapers do not cause diaper rash. Instead, I was basically getting that I was a horrible parent because I was obviously leaving my baby marinating in his waste for too long (which, given my vigilant watching of the clock and "I'm-pooping" cues, I knew wasn't true), or I was stupid for not cleaning the diapers properly (again, which I knew wasn't true). No one was allowing that cloth could cause rash, but everyone was condemning disposables for causing rashes, which was exactly opposite of my experience. I'm frustrated that the general message of most cloth sites and blogs is "If you don't use cloth, you're a horrible, lazy, irresponsible, negligent parent who doesn't care about the health of your child or of the environment." I guess it's like any deep, passionate belief, but I'm frustrated that this belief outrightly precludes what is reality for what I'm sure is many people: cloth just doesn't work for some people. That doesn't make them bad.

Why I Don't Worry Too Much about Disposables

First, I have no other option. I will not keep putting my baby in diapers that give him a yeast rash. But, upon further study, a lot of the promises about cloth diapers being better ring hollow.

Yes, disposables use materials, create pollution, and clog landfills. But cloth diapers use a ton of water to clean. It's estimated that it takes anywhere from 50-70 gallons of water every time you wash, which is every other day to every 2-3 days, adding up to 100-280 gallons of water a week--not good for drought-ridden areas. I can safely estimate that I was definitely using at least 280 gallons a week, if not more. And I don't think that's me being dumb about it: I did exactly what every cloth site said I should: cold rinse, hot wash, double rinse. Also, drying your diapers in the dryer is a big drain on resources, since dryers are the biggest energy-sucking appliances in most homes. Most cloth diapers are made from cotton, which is generally considered an environmentally wasteful crop, considering its use of arable land, water, and high chemical pesticide dependency (again, Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cloth_diapers). With these factors, cloth diapers can actually be more damaging to the environment than disposables, according to some studies. Cloth sites argue that comparing waste production of disposables to resource depletion of cloth is comparing apples to oranges, but if the idea is to be more environmentally responsible, the options have to be weighed.

Of course, you can be more green with using cloth, by washing full loads, on cold, line drying, and buying diapers made of bamboo, hemp, or organic cotton.

Also, the idea that an increased sensation of wetness from cloth encourages faster potty training is, from what I read, an interesting idea with no data or studies to back it up. I know my guy is too headstrong at this point. I think we have to wait until he can understand a reward system of some kind. With the next one, I'm going to see if I can give elimination communication a try (also known as natural infant hygiene, again, first heard about it in Early Start Potty Training).

As to the idea of the chemicals in diapers, including the toxic shock syndrome chemical: call me crazy, but I tend to see a difference between something that you sit on compared to something you insert into your body. Yes, chemicals are absorbed through the skin, but I can't help but think that there are a lot of things that come into contact with our skin that don't bother us, but that would have a drastically heightened effect if they were inserted into our bodies (I'm thinking things like cleaning products, raw chicken juice, germs on WalMart cart handles, etc). And as for the scrotal temperature study, I'd like to know what they used for "cotton diapers" before I get too worried, because there is a plastic component to the polyurethane laminate (PUL) that cloth diapers use for the waterproof shell. PUL is equally as breathable as disposables, so I would think that temperatures would be the same in PUL cloth diapers as disposables, but I might be wrong. There is the idea that bamboo diapers are thermally regulated, so that might be a good option if you're looking to protect the scrotum, but there are no studies that I'm aware of that would support that idea.

The Bottom Line

There are lots of reasons to use cloth and lots of people have great success with cloth. There are people who, for whatever reason, choose not to use cloth. That doesn't make them bad. The important thing is to make the best decision for you and your baby that you feel most comfortable with. In order to make the best decision, you need as much information as possible, so I'm trying to even out the be-all, end-all mentality of cloth, because, really, it's up to you.

Buzzing Brain List

Hello again. I'm still alive. It's a miracle. Here are some things I've been up to since last posting, with details for some to come in future posts:

-Read a lot of books that changed my life, titles and more details to come. For now, here are some things I've started thanks to my life-changing reads:
-started cloth diapering, after dozens of hours of research and funding from my weaselby's profits

-developed a detailed and functional family budget (my computer is stuffed with MORE spreadsheets)

-started making homemade baby food

-started planning out dinners a month at a time

-Got a lot of orders and sold a lot of stuff in the shop. I think I've made about 60 more parrots, but I really don't want to go back and count them all.

-Worked a tiny little bit on Ezra's costume.

-Got Ezra and myself into a weekly playgroup. (By the way, this is one of the VERY few times where "myself" is grammatically correct to use. Ah, perhaps a future post on my grammatical pet peeves...?)

-Started shooting up Copaxone every night.

-Had a lot of paradigm shifts and epiphanies.

So I've been up to a lot. There have been a ton more little nagging issues eating away at my brain and keeping me up when I should sleep and thwarting any effort to take a break and relax. Out of desperation, I developed a technique I call "Buzzing Brain List" or "Fevered Brain List" or "My Head is Going to Explode if I Have to Think of One More Thing."

The problem: I have so many things flying around my brain at any given moment that I can't sort through them all to do anything constructive with them, so I just get caught up in the frantic buzzing and kind of sit in a stupor feeling completely defeated and disheartened with no idea where to start.

The solution: Late one night, I couldn't calm my brain down to go to sleep. So I got up to write out my goals for the next few days in my planner (I'm addicted to my planner) and realized, looking at the 8 1/2 x 11" expanse crammed full with my stressed, cramped writing, I had a ton to do. I wanted to write it all down on a list and leave it out for my husband to see so he would feel bad for me and my harried self, and then maybe I would feel less guilty about having to cook so many Birdseye Voila! frozen dinner bags (those things are AWESOME, by the way). So I wrote it all down and, WOW, my brain took a big sigh and felt blissfully vacant. And I went to sleep.

How I think it works: If I write something down, I give my brain permission to forget it (which is why it's important that I never ever lose my planner). So, having vomited all my pestering thoughts onto paper, my brain didn't have to desperately cling to the huge load of worries. The next morning, I discovered another benefit to writing my list: I could look at everything and determine what I could do something about, and what was just fruitless fretting. For the things that I couldn't do anything about, I simply crossed it off my list and deleted it from the obsessive-worrier part of my brain. For the things that I wasn't sure if I could help or not, I put in parentheses and moved them to the back burner to be revisited once the things that needed my attention were done. For the things that I could do something about, I wrote down what I needed to do and by when. I also numbered everything, with #1 being the most important thing and needed to be done first, all the way down the number line. Then I plugged it all into my planner and got to work with a much clearer and relaxed mind, and I actually used my energy constructively instead of feverishly flitting from one unfinished project to the next while using half of my precious brain power to worry about stuff I couldn't do anything about.

IT WAS AMAZING.

That was about two weeks ago. It was so great. I felt so relaxed, sane, and productive.

That was two weeks ago. I need to write out my list again.

But I've crossed off a to-do in writing this post. :)

Teething Woes and Halloween

I noticed Ezra had one new tooth the day before his birthday. I found out today that that tooth is definitely a molar--the one behind the canine. The back side is pushing through, leaving a strip of gum along the biting surface of the tooth that is yet to be broken through. Poor guy. And he has his two lower secondary incisors coming in, saw those just last night, in fact. I'll miss his little smile with just the two bottom teeth, and how he sometimes pushes his lower jaw forward so the two teeth are over his upper lip. Aww. But, all these new teeth would explain why he's been so grumpy and teary. Today, for example, my whole to-do list was shot. No groceries (thank goodness my husband covered for that), 3 Etsy orders on hold, a grumpy baby who refused to sleep all day. It was definitely challenging, but after the attempt at his second nap, we pulled out his foam blocks and I had fun building little villages and alien fortresses. He had fun grabbing random pieces and toppling whole buildings and pulling all the blocks out of their container as I tried to show him how to clean up. And from that, my Halloween plans were born. A little Googling solidified my plans and designs and I'm so excited to get started. Halloween has always been my favorite holiday, and I typically plan my costume all year long. (Well, not the last few years, they've been a little crazy. Thank goodness for my Harry Potter robe I made in clothing design class in high school, haha.) Jason told me that I can get started on Halloween in August, to which I said and say, "Psh! He'll fit this 18 month hoodie even in 2 months." Plus, who knows how long this will take me. I'm keeping it simple but awesome, but I do think that, with my domestic duties and shop maintenance, it will take me the bulk of the next 2 1/2 months. The exciting part is, Ezra's costume has the thematic landscape to supply Jason's and my costumes, too! I'm not huge on family/themed Halloween at ALL. So we'll see what I can do to make our costumes subtle, amazing, non-corny, and awesome.

I already know what I'm going to be! :D Details to come. Meanwhile, I got orders to fill. Hooray!!!!!!

weaselby's is now on facebook!

Hooray! I finally figured out how to publish my Etsy facebook page. Still learning all the linking, so here we go! Find me on facebook :p And, of course, on Etsy: weaselby.etsy.com I just posted all the pirate party goodies.

Winning Recipes of the Week

I've decided to post recipes I try that turn out reeeeeally good. Here we go:

Honey Mustard Chicken--slow cooker

4 boneless skinless chicken breasts

3/4 cup dijon mustard (I used spicy brown)

1/4 cup honey

Place chicken in slow cooker. Mix honey and mustard in separate bowl, pour over chicken. Cook 8 hours on low. I cooked mine on high for just under 4 hours. (Note: I never cook in my slow cooker on low, ever since our first roast that ended up as a shriveled bit of jerky. I cook for around 4 hours on high, everything always cooks thoroughly while staying tender and juicy.)

Green Bean Casserole

With the chicken, I made a cheesy variation of green bean casserole, with generic brand low sodium cream of mushroom soup and frozen beans for more flavor, texture, and nutrients:

http://www.campbellkitchen.com/recipedetail.aspx?recipeId=24099&fbid=pPoFjCCrh5o

1 can (10 3/4 ounces) Campbell's® Condensed Cream of Mushroom Soup (Regular, 98% Fat Free or Healthy Request®)

1/2 cup milk

1 teaspoon soy sauce

Dash ground black pepper

4 cups cooked cut green beans

1 1/3 cups French's® French Fried Onions

• Stir the soup, milk, soy sauce, black pepper, beans and 2/3 cup onions in a 1 1/2-quart casserole.
• Bake at 350°F. for 25 minutes or until the bean mixture is hot and bubbling. Stir the bean mixture. Sprinkle with the remaining onions.
• Bake for 5 minutes or until the onions are golden brown.
  
  TIPS:
  Easy Substitution: Use 1 bag (16 to 20 ounces) frozen green beans, thawed, 2 packages (9 ounces each) frozen green beans, thawed, 2 cans(about 16 ounces each) green beans, drained or about 1 1/2 poundsfresh green beans for this recipe.
  
  Flavor Variation: For cheese lovers, stir in 1/2 cup shredded Cheddar cheese with the soup. Omit the soy sauce. Sprinkle with an additional 1/4 cup Cheddar cheese when adding the remaining onions.
  
  
  
  Homemade Macaroni and Cheese
  Agh, sorry, all the pasting and alien formatting has messed things up. Anyways, last recipe, for homemade MACARONI!!! It's as good as what you hope to get when you order macaroni from a restaurant:
  http://allrecipes.com/recipe/traditional-macaroni-and-cheese/detail.aspx

  Ingredients

  • 1 2/3 cups dry, small elbow macaroni, cooked and drained
  • 2 tablespoons cornstarch
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon dry mustard
  • 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
  • 1 (12 fluid ounce) can NESTLE® CARNATION® Evaporated Milk
  • 1 cup water
  • 2 tablespoons butter or margarine
  • 2 cups shredded sharp Cheddar cheese, divided

  Directions

  1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Grease 2-quart casserole dish.
  2. Combine cornstarch, salt, mustard and pepper in medium saucepan. Stir in evaporated milk, water, and butter. Cook over medium-heat, stirring constantly, until mixture comes to a boil. Boil for 1 minute. Remove from heat. Stir in 1 1/2 cups cheese until melted. Add macaroni; mix well. Pour into prepared casserole dish. Top with remaining cheese.
  3. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes or until cheese is melted and light brown.

  
  

  ENJOY!

  BEST. EVER. I didn't mess with the whole evaporated milk/water thing because that seemed sill to me, so I did it all with milk, which work out to be 2 1/2 cups of milk.

Anatomy of a First Birthday: The Recipe, The Aftermath

Yay!!!! The birthday party was a huge success. For the 1 hour and 45 minutes that we were all outside at the pool, we experienced the coolest temperatures in 2 weeks. It got hot again at 5 pm. What are the odds?! There was a nice breeze (that tangled up the awesome red and black foil helium balloons, sadly) and cloud coverage. Gorgeous. EVERYONE came! All 14 parents and 9 kids :D I've decided that, after this experience, great parties are made by great guests. Our party was AWESOME, because we had awesome guests. Seriously. We're so lucky to have such cool people for friends.

So, to solve the favor-handing-out conundrum, I just told everyone what the deal was when they came: your bag is in the chest, it has your child's name on it, you get to pick your parrot, and don't forget the chocolate coins that are in the cooler with our 72 bottles of water. Lots of people went ahead and put the parrot of their choice in their bag right then, which worked very well. About an hour and 15 minutes into the aquatic festivities, there was a gradual and natural shift from the pool to the gazebo, so Jason ran back for the Party Pail of ice cream, we dished everyone up, lit Ezra's cupcake candle, sang, and enjoyed eating. We all ate at our leisure for a while, then kids' patience began to wane, so everyone headed out (with their bags and coins), making for a grand total party time of 1 hour 45 minutes. It was AWESOME.

Highlights:

One family came with everyone, Mom, Dad, and 6-month-old son, in eye patches :D

Our youngest guest, a one-month-old, had the most clever costume EVER. Seriously, if I were creative and genius enough to have thought of this, it would have been Ezra's Halloween costume last year. They had him in a white onesie with the sleeves cut off, black Sharpie stripes drawn on it, and the best part: knit pants with one leg rolled up and the other tied at the ankle, making him a pegleg! Man. That was awesome.

Watching Ezra's one friend have a blast with her mom tickling her neck with her new pink parrot :D

Having adult guests say that the healthy cupcakes were good! And watching the young guests devour them :)

Getting nice feedback about how the kids are still digging their parrots/getting requests for the recipe...which leads us to...

THE RECIPE!

http://www.homemade-baby-food-recipes.com/healthy-first-birthday-cake-recipes.html

Healthy First Birthday Cake Recipes - Sugar Free Applesauce and Banana Cake

8 oz (2 cups) whole wheat flour
1 tbspwheat germ
1 heaped tsp baking soda
1 tsp cinnamon (optional)
6 medium, ripebananas- mashed
8 fl oz (1 cup)sugar-free applesauce
2-4 fl oz (1/4 to 1/2 cup) soy milk


Preheat the oven to 325 deg F (160 deg C).
In a bowl, combine the flour, wheat germ, baking soda and cinnamon.
In a separate bowl, combine the applesauce with the mashed bananas and 1/4 cup milk.
Pour the applesauce mixture into the bowl with the dry ingredients and mix thoroughly. If the mixture seems dry, you can add up to another 1/4 cup milk.
Pour into a greased 9" x 9" square or 9" round pan and bake for around 1 to 1 1/2 hours. The cake is ready when a sharp knife inserted into the middle comes out clean.

Read more:http://www.homemade-baby-food-recipes.com/healthy-first-birthday-cake-recipes.html#ixzz1UkWRKi4Z

I did mine as cupcakes, shown below. I baked them for 24 minutes. I used pirate cups from Hobby Lobby, which unfortunately looked nice but performed very poorly. The cupcakes fused with the paper. :s

I left a few unfrosted to make it possible for younger/milk-allergic guests to enjoy. Here's the frosting recipe. I think I may have used a juice concentrate that was too strong...my husband liked it but accurately described it as "a kick in the teeth." I think I could have whisked it for longer, too...the longer it's whisked, the thicker it seems to get. All in all, a very cool recipe:

http://www.homemade-baby-food-recipes.com/sugar-free-frosting.html I used the Apple and Cream Cheese Frosting recipe. I went ahead and just linked it because there are a lot that are cool. It's a great website.

And here are a few pictures from the day:

We went to Red Lobster with a gift card that night and they gave him his first scoop of ice cream :) We opened presents afterwards and had a grand ol' time. (Actually, I'm kind of nervous to watch the video we took of "him" opening presents...it was a lot of, "Ezra, look at this, now that, oh, that too, stop playing with that toy and look at this card..." In hindsight, since it was so late, we probably should have done presents and cards the next day. :s )

Whew. Now on to thank-you notes. And cleaning the house, lol, which I put off while prepping for the party for the two weeks before. I tell ya, I'm tired. But it was totally worth it! :)

Oh, and for your use and viewing pleasure, here are some of the links I used while brainstorming and planning the party:

http://familyfun.go.com/parties/pirate-party-704668/

http://www.boardmanweb.com/party/pirate.html

Anatomy of a First Birthday: The Favors

So, like I said in the last post, I decided to put pirate stickers, chocolate coins, a child-sized eye patch, and a stuffed parrot in each brown paper lunch sack. It took forever to find a parrot pattern, but here's the one I used--it's FANTASTIC.

http://www.cutoutandkeep.net/projects/stuffed_parrot

I altered my pattern a bit, to make it more baby-friendly: I cut all of my pieces out of felt (no feathers) and omitted the feet/safety pin (although the parrots ARE the perfect size, they would be so cute pinned to little kids' shoulders, if that were safe :p ). I also didn't have time to make a "beak sock" and white mask around the eyes for each parrot, so I just hole punched pieces of black felt and glued them on my parrots. I didn't do feather stitch detailing on each bird, but I still think they turned out nice. If I'd had time, I may have done the stitch detailing.

We have 8 little guests coming, so I made 9 parrots, because I want Ezra to have one as a memento from his first birthday :) I picked the color combinations to make each parrot unique, because I'm planning on having each child or parent pick their own parrot. Four of the kids are girls, so I made 2 overtly girly parrots (pink and purple) and one in the more subdued feminine hues of dark purple and pink, so there's enough girliness without planning on each girl being in love with pink. I Googled a few macaws at the beginning to get me going on color schemes, so a few of these guys are pretty realistically colored, and I like that. :)

Next, eye patches. I cut a general shape/size out of black felt and held it up to Ezra's face to gauge the appropriateness. I ended up trimming a lot, and ended up with with a patch about 1 7/8" across and 1 1/2" top to bottom, with bottom corners rounded. I cut some yarn and measured Ezra's head, leaving enough slack to be able to tie it in a bow around his head (if he cooperates. I'm not expecting any of the patches to be worn, but they look cute and it's fun to picture.) I cut about 34" of yarn for the smaller kids, and 36" for the older kids. I straight stitched it (by hand, the machine wouldn't handle this very well, I don't think) to the top edge of the patch. Viola!

Then I typed each child's name into a Word document in Blackadder size 72 and drew each name onto a bag. Here's what the favor bags look like:

I filled each bag with the patch and the stickers, lined them up in the chest, and hung the parrots along the front of the chest, like so:

Keeping it secret:

Chocolate coins are chilling in the fridge. We'll put them in the cooler with the chilled water bottles so they don't melt in the heat (did I mention that this has been the hottest week of the summer??), and guests who want them can add them to their bags on the way out.

The only tricky thing I haven't quite figured out is when to give the guests their bags. I don't want any kids demanding to take their parrots into the pool...hmmm. I'll keep you all updated.

Bottom line:

Parrots:

3 colors of felt, using just under 2 sheets for each parrot (you can use the same colors for multiple parrots): $0.50

Stuffing: You can get a small bag for about $3 and probably won't use it all

Eye patches:

1 sheet of black felt, $0.25 for all 9

Yarn: $2.79 a skein, but you'll have a ton left over for other projects (I already had this in my materials)

Stickers:

From Target, $4 a package/4 sheets a package (by far my biggest splurge)

Lunch sacks:

About $0.02 each

Chocolate coins:

$0.99 for a bag of 7 (I bought 5 bags, so each guest is getting 4, with three left for us)=$4.95

Total per bag: About $2.61

Anatomy of a First Birthday: The Favor Box

I'm coming back to proofread this, I kind of just threw it out there. I'll look over it again next week to make sure it actually makes sense, when his birthday is over and I have time. :)

The Story:
Since I'm not spending a ton on decorations or activities, I wanted to put an effort into the favors that the guests will take home. After much Googling for ideas and deliberation, I decided to gowith pirate stickers, some chocolate coins (for the parents, in about 50% of the cases), a little stuffed parrot, and a kid-sized eyepatch.

Alright. Sweet. Now...what do I use for a favor bag? I considered your standard clear plastic favor bags, but since the invitations and the favors are really the only things that will end up being pirate-themed, I wanted to go a little more...thematic. I considered making little treasure chests for each guest out of brown craft foam, but the foam is too thin for me to imagine successfully gluing it together. (Thinking back just now, I suppose I could have done interlocking pieces, with tabs and holes...but trying to figure it out gives me a headache right now lol.) I considered buying small wooden treasure chests from Hobby Lobby, but even a much-too-small chest was too pricey. Since I was going to buy so many lunch sacks for the invitations, I decided to just use a bag per child and write their names on it with Sharpie, using the Blackadder font as my model. But I needed a good presentation still...instead of a bunch of little chests, why not out all the favor bags in one BIG chest? One big chest made out of the (free) box Grandma used to ship Ezra's birthday present!

The How-To:

Materials Needed:

Box (try to get one of thin cardboard that is easily bent)

Brown paper box tape (not plastic)

Brown craft paint (and brush--preferably a broad one)

Scissors (and maybe a box cutter)

Yardstick

Pencil

For extra bling:

Black or yellow Duck Tape

Brown Sharpie

Jute/hemp

Hole puncher

Directions:

1. Measure and cut: Decide how big you want your chest to be. I wanted mine to be 18x20", keeping the height at the 8.5" the box already was. Open all the flaps on the box, pull off any tape (if you mar the cardboard, that's ok, it'll add to character later), and cut the box at one corner so that it lays flat. Since my box required modification to 2 sides, I went ahead and cut all the sides apart, measured 2 sides and marked them at 18" and the other 2 at 20". In the picture below, my two 18" shorter sides are on the left, the longer 20" sides are on the right.

2. Assemble and tape: Decide which flaps you want to use for the bottom and which for the top. You'll need to cut the two bottom flaps of the long sides of the chest so that when they're folded together, they're each half of the shorter sides. For example, I cut my two short sides to 18", and the box was originally 20x20". So I had to cut 1" off of each of the bottom flaps of the long sides (the 20" sides) so that the flaps would each measure 9", so that they would fold neatly and measure 18", the length of the short side. (I'll work on getting a diagram to illustrate.)

Tape the edges of all sides so you end up with a box with both ends open. To make it easier, you can lay the sides flat, side by side, so that you can tape all the edges and then stand it up when you tape the last edge. Tape the bottom flaps closed. Now you have a modified box with an open top. DO NOT CUT THE TOP FLAPS. (Note: I made my lid before taping the box together, as you can see in the pictures. I think it would have been easier to do it the way I'm describing, hence, why I'm describing it this way :) )

3. Craft the rounded top: Round both of the top flaps of the longer sides by rolling the cardboard. I had to hold the cardboard down and put pressure on it with one hand while pulling up with the other hand to break it down a bit.

Cut one flap off the box completely and tape it to the attached flap.

Now you have a box with a great rounded treasure chest top!

4. Trace and cut the side flaps: Use two or three pieces of tape to tape the front of the lid to the front side of the chest to hold it in place while you mark the sides of the lid. Turn your chest on its side and use your pencil to trace where the lid is on the side flaps.

Cut on your drawn line and tape the new curved side to the top of the lid. Then cut the flap where it is attached to the box. Do the same on the other side. (I taped my lid on the inside with lots of small pieces, because the curve makes one big piece hard to do.)

5. Paint: Use your brown craft paint to paint your box. Use a dry brush kind of technique for more texture. And then your basic chest is done!

These are to give your chest a little more character:

6. Metal work: Cut pieces of black Duck Tape and line all the edges of your chest. I just used one piece for each edge, folding it so that one half was on each side. I also used it on all the raw edges of my chest, except for the sides of the lid, because the sides of my lid were too short and the tape would have covered all the "wood." Put two pieces (mine are about 3") on the back fold for hinges. I also cut a keyhole out of tape and put it in the center of the front of the chest. You can also cut handle shapes for the sides.

7. Woodgrain: Google pictures of woodgrain and draw your woodgrain with your brown Sharpie. To avoid the stark "contour map" look, you can do a thin layer of paint over the Sharpie, or you can shade it with pencils, crayons, paint, whatever your creative instinct demands.

8. Lid support: As I worked with my chest, it started to open more than I wanted. So I punched holes in both sides of the lid and directly below those holes in the sides of the chest, about 3-4" from the back of the chest. I opened the chest as far as I wanted it to open, cut 2 lengths of jute, fed them through the holes, and tied a single knot in each end (on the outside of the chest). Now it won't open more than I want it to, and it will keep it's chest-like look even when it's open.

I think you need to look close to see the jute, but here's how the display has turned out, with the bags and parrots. Posts on how to make the parrots and what's inside the bags coming.

I'm very pleased with how it all turned out! I put enough work into it that I'm going to keep it as a toy chest for as long as it holds up...which I'm anticipating will be a good long while, considering all the Duck Tape I used, lol.

The Bottom Line:

$3.79 for Duck Tape--but I only used about $.75 of it, max.

Box--free

Jute--I used maybe 0.005 of a cent from my supplies

Anatomy of a First Birthday: The Invitation

"When parents of a one-year-old throw a big barbecue, I know it's more for them than for their child. The best child-centered birthday parties are loosely structured and short. They begin with free play, end with food and cake and the blowing out of candles. No matter what the occasion is, though, try to limit the celebration to two hours. I know many parents who hire clowns and entertainers of all sorts for toddler parties, but give me a break. Toddlers don't need entertaining. A mother recently told me about a celebration for a one-year-old at which the child ended up crying and had to leave her own party!" Tracy Hogg, Secrets of the Baby Whisperer for Toddlers, Ballantine Books, 2002. p. 88

The Story:
We have our son's first birthday party in one week, and I've been a little mindblown at how extravagant first birthdays are these days. While researching what I could do, I was looking at threads on babycentral.com and saw one titled "Is $90 too much to spend on a first birthday cake?" I clicked it, positive that all of the responses would be along the lines of, "Are you crazy?! Why would you spend that much on a cake for a first birthday?" Shoot, I don't think I spent that much on my wedding cake. But no, the majority of the responses were, "Oh, not at all, I'm spending $160 on mine...I spent over $200 on the decorations...I'm making all of my decorations by hand, lol, because I'm crafty like that...first birthdays only come once, go big or go home!" I was shocked, quite frankly. Nothing against anyone who wants to or has gone that route for a first birthday. I'm in the student lifestyle mindset where extravagance is outlandish. Besides, a seventh birthday and a tenth birthday and a sixteenth birthday only happen once. Wouldn't it make more sense to save the money and the craziness for birthdays he'll actually remember? I started feeling very rebellious and even more lost about what to do for his birthday. The only options seemed to be break the bank or do nothing. Come on. We couldn't do nothing. I needed to plan something fun and classy, centered around our baby, and as inexpensive as possible.

The Plan:
So I decided that we'd invite a few of our couple-with-baby friends over to hang out for an hour or so. Oh, hmm. Our place is too small for an extra four guests. Luckily we have a pool in our complex and the hellishly (literally) hot weather, so that took care of finding a place with enough space and took care of the entertainment in the same option. Oh, and it's free. :)
Then I was thinking about what to serve for the cake. I didn't want to pump my pure whole foods baby full of HFCS and carnuba wax and sugar. I'll do a post on what I decided to do next week, once I find out how my chosen cake recipe goes over. Then I was thinking about the plates/cups/napkins and didn't know what of the myriad of colors available at the dollar store to choose from. My birthday party research suggested choosing a theme to help with color choice. Of course I immediately went to my two-in-one creative consultant/husband. We had just gotten a huge supply of PJs for the little guy from his grandma, among which were some awesome skull and crossbones PJs that we both loved. So my husband suggested a pirate theme so could wear his awesome shirt. Thus was born the theme for our son's first birthday party.

The Invitation:
I actually got started on the favors for the guests first, but they're not done yet, so I'm starting my coverage with the invitations, which are all done and ready to be delivered tomorrow. I wanted to go inexpensive and awesome, nothing chintzy or cheesy. I decided to do a treasure map-style invitation on "parchment"--or crumpled up, burned brown paper lunch sacks.

The How-To:
First, you have to cut open a lunch sack. I cut down the seam on the back and cut off the bottom of the sack, then I measured and cut out two pieces of 8 1/2x11", the same size as computer paper. A lunch sack is perfect for this, with just a little left over on the edges.
Next, I created the invitation as a Word document. I needed a pirate-y message and a nice swash-buckling font. The familiarize yourself with pirate lingo, I highly recommend this website: http://www.mangolanguages.com/blog/learn-to-speak-pirate/ Once you've completed the course, you'll be able to come up with an authentic, original message for your pirate invitation. :) For my font, I choose Blackadder ITC (which I've also used in years gone by for Harry Potter-type ventures :) )
Here's my message, to help you get your creative juices flowing:

Captain *child's name*--

Ye & yer crew be invited to a celebration in honor of *birthday boy/girl*’s first birthday. Join us fer carousin’ around the pool, feastin’ on birthday delicacies, and enjoyin’ the fine company of yer fellow buccaneers.

When: __________________

Where: __________________

I made up a basic map in Paint of the major streets around us to help people find their way and put a big red X where the pool is. I topped it off with a clipart skull at the top, printed it out on my "parchment" and got this (I've scratched out specific details, but you get the idea):

Next, I ripped off the edges to make it look more parchment-y. The more irregular and asymmetrical, the better. I got a pilot light and set it on fire in a few places (one at a time!) for the classic burned-map look. (Hint: Hold your invitation with the flames going away from the rest of the invitation so the flames don't spread too fast. Do the burning over the kitchen sink so you can drop the invitation in the sink and douse it if it gets out of control, and to catch the ashes that will fall for easy clean-up.) Then I crumpled the invitation up real good to get the worn animal-hide feeling. Here's what I got:

Pretty sweet, huh? The last thing to figure out was how to deliver the invitations, because I couldn't very well just hand people pieces of crumpled brown paper. Sooo, I folded them in thirds (like I was going to put them in a long envelope), then in thirds again. I tied them with a bit of jute that I have in my supplies inventory for my Etsy shop. I marked the upper right hand corner with the first letter of the name of the person the invitation is for so I can keep them straight. I figure random markings add to the mystery of it, lol.

Viola. Authentic, thematic treasure map-style invitations for our pirate themed birthday party for our son.

Here's the exciting bottom line: they're just under $0.02 a piece!

Coming next week: baby and toddler-friendly pirate party favors and baby-friendly birthday cupcakes.

Invitations now available for custom ordering in my Etsy shop: http://www.etsy.com/listing/79056586/pirate-birthday-party-treasure-map

Exciting News

His favorite thing to do when he's done eating is to grab the cover of his tray and either smash it against his face or hold it over his head and wait for us to laugh. He smiles real big (as shown :) Note his smushed nose) and laughs right back.

Here's some of the fun stuff from the last post:

The Baby:
He's a broccoli FIEND. He loves the stuff! He gets so excited when he sees it, loves to eat the little pieces I cut up for him, and snatched a spear off my plate and sucked happily on it for a good 10 minutes.

He's got moves. He started bopping in his high chair at Denny's about a month ago, and now he's obsessed with standing holding his dad's hands so he can high-step and shimmy to his little heart's delight. :)

He's cruising around, holding onto furniture as he makes his way through the house.

He uses his Fisher-Price lion walker--only, he kneels on one side and shuffles across the floor with it. :p

He discovered the joy of unrolling all the toilet paper from the roll today.

The Family:

I bought some whole wheat flour a while back when my doctor told me to do the low glycemic index diet to help my blood sugar levels (diabetes can be an auto-immune disease, so gotta be on guard!). I've been dying to make whole wheat pancakes, but I had to find a recipe my husband would like. I found it: http://allrecipes.com/recipe/oatmeal-and-wheat-flour-blueberry-pancakes/detail.aspx

I altered it, by cutting the recipe in half, using whole wheat flour for the all-purpose flour as well, using old-fashioned oats that I ground up a bit in the food processor, and adding a teaspoon of vanilla. Oh, and I didn't have any blueberries, and it still turned out AWESOME. Absolute seal of approval from my husband. He also said that he felt like he gained 5 lbs during dinner, so these pancakes are hearty :D

Me:

I broke out the old Neena and Veena DVDs today. Felt so good to exercise! I've been developing some serious Relief Society arms :( I did abs and arms AND the hips, buns, and thighs video. Started them in 2003 during my sophomore year in high school...it felt like hanging out with old friends, exercising with Neena and Veena. http://bellytwins.com/

I'm the assistant librarian at church, and as part of the library duties, we manage the lost and found. We purge things that have been in the lost and found for at least 3 months. In April, a twenty-pound bag of random fabric showed up. I've been eyeing it for three months, and this last Sunday, I actually got to bring it home. I washed it all yesterday (a good 4 loads) because, who knows what's in a random bag of fabric. And it smelled funny. I had to toss only one white sheet due to a mysterious yellow stain, but there were some amazing gems in that bag. Add that to the sweet flannels I got at Jo-Ann at deep discount last week, and I've got some great crib bedding coming! (Hopefully.) Note to fellow crafters: Sign up for email and post mail newsletters and you'll score some AMAZING coupons. I've saved hundreds of dollars just over the last few months. www.joann.com www.hobbylobby.com (my new favorite store :) )

Latest cause: Drop side cribs were banned on June 28 of this year because they have been linked to so many infant deaths. So, it's illegal to sell them whether you're a retail store or a private seller listing to craigslist or selling at a yard sale. http://www.newschannel5.com/story/14993503/new You can also Google it for a wealth of links and articles. Sellers can be fined, so if you know of someone trying to sell a drop side crib, let them know that it's illegal. Because no one likes to be fined, and no one likes to be associated with the death of a baby :(

Just getting this out of the way...

The little guy has just mastered turning the TV on. Might have to unplug it like we had to do with the Playstation. :p

So, I wanted to go ahead and get this out of the way so that I can just move on with future posts. I'm afraid it might be lacking in personality and sparkle, but I hope it at least makes sense. I'm just trying to pound it out to have it done.

In November of 2006, my feet went numb. I saw a doctor who did blood tests (3 times, since the lab kept leaving my blood out to rot) and sent me to a neurologist for a nerve conduction study. I also saw another neurologist back home over Christmas vacation for a second opinion. Nothing was amiss, so they decided it was Guillian-Barre Syndrome, which is peripheral nerve paralysis, and told me that if the numbness crept up to my waist, I should go to the ER. It never climbed higher than my ankles and disappeared nearly a year later. That was weird and frustrating, not being able to feel anything with my feet for that long. But no big deal.

In February of this year, I had double vision for a week that took me to the ER because apparently double vision, dizziness, and nausea aren't good things to be experiencing. I had a CT scan and they said that it was just bad migraines, take Excedrin and Coke (the soda, lol) and it would go away. I was hopped up on hyperdoses (no pun intended) of caffeine for another week before I started feeling nasty having that much in my system. A few days later, my feet and legs went all numb and tingly again, so I went to the doctor and told him that I thought I was getting another flare up of Guillian-Barre, which he didn't think was likely, because it's ridiculously rare to have it twice. I was a little weirded out because my feet weren't completely numb like before, they felt dead and tingly. I also had some intense muscle weakness in my legs. He did more blood tests and found out my TSH levels were crazy out--"Your thyroid is out of control," were his words. "It could be auto-immune disease. But I could test a hundred of you and ten of you will test positive but only a few of you will actually have it." I assumed "you" was women or something...he was brusque, no-nonsense, no-questions-thank-you, and freaking me out. He asked me to go in the next day for more blood tests to make sure my thyroid really was that dysfunctional, and asked for my OB's number to compare my bloodwork from when I was pregnant. (Utah healthcare sucks, by the way...they did one blood test at the very beginning and one urine test halfway through when my blood pressure was too high. They had nothing for my doctor to compare my blood tests with.) Anyways, he put me on Synthroid, set up a follow up appointment in 8 weeks, and referred me to a neurologist for further testing. The closest appointment I could get was 7 weeks away.

I started noticing that when I bent my head forward or bent a buzzing, vibrating sensation in my spine that would shoot through my hips/pelvis and sometimes down my legs. I still had several weeks before I could see the neurologist or the doctor again, and, thinking that maybe I was having pinched nerves, I found a chiropractor. After my exam and x-rays, I found out that my back was all screwed up: my neck had no curve, my middle back was twisted to the right, my lower back was twisted to the left, my hips were out of joint, and one leg was higher than the other. Sweet, I'll get this fixed and things should get back to normal. This might fix my feet and the buzzing.

A few weeks into chiropractic treatment, I started having really intense burning in my feet. I'm talking the kind of pain that kicked me out of bed, crying, and landed me on the couch watching TBS for hours in the middle of the night. I was taking ibuprofen for 3 days with no improvement so I called my doctor on a Friday to tell him my new symptom. They were closed for Memorial Day weekend, so I left a message. I called again on Wednesday and left a message with the front desk. I went in that following Friday to get my records and asked to speak with my doctor, since I'd heard nothing from him. I was asked to leave a message again because he was really busy. Since the label on ibuprofen said to call your doctor if your symptoms hadn't improved in 10 days, I was starting to panic. I was nearing the end of the 10 days. Monday rolled around, no word, and we were leaving for Washington the next day, so I found an internal doctor nearby and called to make an appointment for when we got back. They were so great. They got me in to see the doctor within 2 hours, and she gave me a nerve painkiller prescription and took more blood. She sent a note the non-communicative doctor to let him know she'd seen me. I got another brusque voicemail from him later that day: "Uh, hi. *Doctor.* Got your message. Call me back." The next day he called again and was almost sickeningly pleasant, but in an annoyed, superior manne: "Hello, *Doctor* again. I called you yesterday and didn't hear back from you, so I'm calling again. Please call me when you have a minute. Again, I called you yesterday and you never called me back." Guess which call came AFTER he heard that I'd seen another doctor. (I cancelled my follow-up with him and haven't been back.)

Anyways, I saw the neurologist. While I was waiting in the room, I took a look at the magazines they had lying out. No People, National Geographic, Vogue...just MS magazine. I'd been doing research on my symptoms and everything pointed to MS, so I flipped through them with a mixture of apprehension and revulsion. I teared up a bit with self-pity. Waited a bit longer in an empty room before the neurologist came in an did all the little tests like reflexes, eye movement, the pinwheel up my shins, balance, smelling, etc. I gave him my brief medical history that I'd typed up, and when we got around to my having had Guillian-Barre in 2006, he looked at me and said, "I doubt that's what you had." I teared up again, waiting for him to say it was MS. Instead, he got me set up for 3 MRIs, with and without contrast and said that he thought that maybe the shingles virus (I had it in 2004) had gotten into my spinal fluid. If so, they'd have to do a spinal tap. HECK NO. So when I went in for my MRIs, I focused on the positive sides of them either finding something in my brain or finding nothing. If they found something, then I wouldn't need a spinal tap. If they didn't find anything, then my brain was fine. I spent 4 hours in the tube. Gosh, you sure get sore just laying on a hard table forever.

I continued to research my symptoms and went through the emotional trauma of preparing myself for the diagnosis of MS. My husband said that, no, that can't be it. But I told him I was preparing for it so that if it was, it would be ok, and if not, well, great news. He reminded me that his grandma has MS and that she just recently needed the help of a walker and had several children. That cheered me up a ton. His grandma is amazing. She's totally an inspiration to me.

While we were in Utah over the Fourth of July (this was last week(, I got the results for my blood tests and MRIs: Hashimoto's Disease, the most common cause of hypothyroidism. Well, that's no surprise! What a relief! Then I went into my follow-up with the neurologist and saw my MRIs, and saw all the lesions in my brain and spinal cord. And he officially told me that it was MS. (I guess they don't like to tell people that they have MS over the phone or something.) And I was pleasantly surprised that it didn't really bother me. I didn't freak out or tear up. I just looked at my MRIs with the bright white spots thinking, "Wow, that's my brain. I look like a textbook!" I guess all of my emotionally distraught prep work had taken the shock out of the diagnosis. He said that I'd probably had MS since at least my numb-feet attack of 2006, and that that was probably my first MS attack. He seemed disgusted that they just randomly diagnosed Guillian-Barrie, especially since my nerve conduction tests were normal, and that's how GBS is diagnosed. (Remember I said Utah healthcare is crap?) He also suspects that my double-vision episode was my second attack, and that my burning feet pain is my current attack. He said that he wanted me to get on treatment right away, so I'm waiting to hear back from the copaxone people about when a nurse will come out to train me how to inject myself every day.

I'm actually way happier now that I know what's wrong than I have been for a while. (Although, I think that finding out that my insurance is covering my chiropractor bills properly took my major stress away...it'll be hard to stress me out after having to potentially pay $2000+ in additional chiropractor bills!) Anyway, I feel a huge sense of relief. It's nice to know that I'm not crazy, and that what I'm feeling is real. It's nice to know that what's wrong with me is treatable. AND it's nice to know that other symptoms I'm having are also caused by MS, so they might improve with treatment, too! (For the record, these other symptoms are intense fatigue, serious brain fog, and what I feel are depressingly diminished cognitive abilities. It's so hard and embarrassing for an avid reader with a BA in English to have trouble writing well, thinking clearly, remembering words, and committing embarrassing spelling mistakes--thank goodness for Google Chrome's built-in spellcheck. Although, I should just keep reading so that I improve those areas anyway :) ) I'm excited to start treatment, and to know that they're releasing oral treatments next year.

My main concern was not being able to have any more children, but that's not a problem at all. I just have to work closely with my OB and the neurologist. And if treatments deal with my fatigue, I feel like I'll be a much better mom. The thing that makes me most sad and that scares me, that I try not to think about, is that I'll somehow be seriously disabled at some point and my kids won't understand why, or they'll be embarrassed of me. That they might not know me, but some shrunken, dysfunctional shell of who I used to be, or something else entirely. But like I said, I try not to think about that. Lots of people have MS, my husband's grandma is still going ridiculously strong, the treatments are effective, and I get to start treatments soon, so my brain won't shrink :)

I'm doing great. It's nice knowing that I've probably had this for nearly 5 years now, so it can only get better, now that I can start treatment. And it's nice to have a medical reason to be easier on myself, to go slower and not push myself so hard. Instead of suddenly feeling like my body is some sort of alien being, I feel like my body is the most familiar thing, and that the whole world has tilted or shifted or changed colors around me. I don't know what will happen in the future, so it's nice to have a reminder to take things one day at a time and put the important things first. And the important things are my relationship with God and spending time with my family. (And taking care of my family with good food, clean clothes, and a clean house :) )

Oh yes, and I forgot in my list of things I'm relived about/grateful for: I offically don't need a spinal tap! :D

Randallizing.

I named the blog after a slogan my husband used while running for student government in middle school: "I'm a Randall, but I ain't no vandal!" Randallizing is like vandalizing, only not destructive to your health, psyche, home, or wallet. Basically, when you come to this blog, prepare to have your world rocked. Because we're so cool. Lol. I say that tongue-in-cheek. I think we're awesome, but sometimes I'm going to employ an ironic tone of type to spice things up.

I was diagnosed yesterday with multiple sclerosis, so I figured now's as good a time as any to start up a blog. I'm anticipating some increased introspection in the future, and I'm hoping that I can create some kind of supportive, uplifting resource for people. And I'm hoping to document an increase of cognitive ability once I start treatment. As in, being able to remember words and write as cleverly as I used to. Or, as cleverly as I think I used to. Haha.

Not that this blog is going to be all about that. I think it's silly to pin all of your identity on one little thing, especially if it's something that can be depressing. But it is a part of my life, so expect some flavorings of MS--so far I'm doing very well, so I don't anticipate depressing anyone about it. Positivity is a powerful thing.

Mostly, I'm going to be recording cool stuff about what we're up to, how cool we are lol, the cuteness and growing-up adventures of Randino #1 (our son, turning 1 year old in August!!), and, of course, I have to talk about my shop of goodness because I think that's awesome, too. And I'm hoping you guys like what I'm making, too, and buy everything :D Haha.

For example, here's a custom stick pony I'm just finishing up today. Remember Rainbow Brite? Yeah, this is Starlite! I haven't taken pictures of him on his stick yet, I'm waiting for him to dry before I move him around. :)

You can check out my shop for more: weaselby.etsy.com

More to come. I'm going to go play with my baby. I can hear him pulling his toys off his shelf. :D