Reusable wipes are a life and wallet saver at the dinner table

I have been cloth diapering for about a year and a half now. I LOVE it and so do my children. When my son was little Pampers introduced Dry Max into their diapers which began causing chemical burns on babies bottoms. I thought for sure when this happened, Pampers would pull their product. Well its been two years now and Dry Max is still on the shelves. When I realized Pampers did not care about what their product was doing to little ones, I really started to think about all the chemicals in diapers and how little mattered to the manufacture. So thats when I made the switch to cloth. ( I will post in detail about cloth on another day when I have more time) I also use cloth wipes sometimes but discovered a new use for cloth wipes, which is awesome and I just have to share.

 So when your little one's face looks like this... how are you going to clean them up? A paper towel, bath, dish rag (yuck... I hate when I see people pull the dishrag out of the sink and wipe up their little one's face) 

I always turn to my trusty cloth wipes! I keep a container of them on the kitchen counter. I store them all dry and wet them in the sink as needed. I can rinse them out and keep on wiping that face until the mess is gone! I bought my "wipes" at the local grocery store. They were sold as bath washcloths for $4.00 for a pack of 10. Way cheaper than paper towels in the long run. They are more durable and softer. Here is what one looks like. 

 To fold them so they pop up one after the next you place the first one flat (as seen above) then take another one and cover the bottom one half way. 

 You then fold the fist one over the second one (half way)

 Then place the third one over the folded one

 Then take the bottom half of the one below and fold it up and continue this until you have all of you wipes folded.

 Leave the last half of the last wipe hanging and place the pile of folded wipes into the wipe container. 

 Then feed that last little bit through the wipe lid and you are set with your reusable wipes!

 When you pull one out the next should pop right up. 

And there you have it! Reusable wipes for cleaning up big messes at the dinner table or even craft time.

Human Milk Donation

So I have not said much about this yet but... I believe in human milk donation. When Connor was a baby I donated. Now that Annabelle is here I am donating again. There are many ways to donate your milk. I choose to donate mine to a milk bank that is a member of the Human Milk Banking Association of North America. This milk bank is local to me so it's convient and it's non profit. Which is very import an to me. Some milk banks will sell donated milk for over $180.00 an ounce. The non profit milk banks only charge right under $5.00 an ounce which covers the cost of operations, and processing of donors and doner milk. 

                    Here is how I store the milk. The containers are for the milk bank and the storage bags are for Annabelle. There are 300 oz in my deep freezer. 

Packing up the milk to donate

 The entrance of the milk bank

 Here is a look inside the milk bank

 Here is some milk waiting to be pasteurized 

You may be wondering about the process to become a donor. You first need to contact the milk bank. They will conduct a phone interview. Then a more detailed paper interview. After that you have to have your doctor and your baby's doctor sign off that you can donate. After that you have labs drawn to check for things like hepatitis, HIV ect. Once you pass that screening you can start donating. Your milk is tested for nutritional content, combine with three to four other mothers and then pasteurized and sent off to mostly hospitalized babies throughout the United States and the world. When I was donating when Connor was little some of the milk from our milk bank was even sent as far a Haiti ! I feel so blessed to be able to donate. It takes time and effort but if I had a baby in need I would want donor milk as an option. Its a gift only a mother can give!  

Sensory Play

Towards the end of winter, my very busy 2 and a half year old started going a little stir crazy. When he's bored he gets into trouble. I had to come up with something to keep his hands and mind active. I got onto my favorite site Pinterest and and started looking for ideas. I came across the idea of sensory tubs and fell in love. You can get creative as you wish or keep it very simple. Part of the fun for me is seeing what my little man could come up with out of the items in the sensory box. The first box I put together was a St. Patty's day theme and the second an Easter theme. The first was a hit and the Easter box is waiting for him to get up in the morning. Check out my Vlog BabiesAreBlessing on YouTube for a video of Connor playing with his first sensory box. It was a HIT.

Welcome

Hello! I am so excited to start a blog! If you don't already know I am a mommy vlogger on YouTube. My channel is BabiesAreBlessings. ( I have an older channel I don't update any longer... AbbeyDiG)  I am a mommy to two little ones. A 2 and a half year old little boy, Connor and a brand new 4 month old baby girl, Annabelle.  I love vlogging but have less and less time to put together vlogs. It is my hope that I can keep my viewers up to date on whats going on in my life through a blog, which I'm hoping I have time to update. I plan on posting blogs relating to recipes, organization, toddler activities, and daily life with two little ones. I have never blogged before. This is all new to me so please stick with me as I figure this out. I promise my blog will get better with age :)