$2 Fat Quarter Dress

Just last week, I made two dresses out two fat quarter pieces of fabric.  One for Penelope, and one for my friend Stacey (who had the awesome post this week about a great outdoor activity for a wild boy!) She is very close to giving birth to a sweet baby girl and I wanted to make her one of my pillow case dresses. 

I also made her a crinkly toy and earlier I gave her the too small shorts I made when making Penelope's jumper.

The baby girl's dress is about a 3-6 months if I had to guess.  I am not big on measuring, I just use an old dress and eye ball it.  One of the reasons I love pillow case dresses, they are so forgiving.

I got the fat quarter's at Joanne Fabric's for $1 each, when they were on sale. A fat quarter is simply a 1/4 of a yard of fabric, cut a certain way to be more square shaped than long and skinny.  This is what the fat quarter looks like all in one piece.

This is the other one.  I cut off the bottom panel to use on Penelope's dress.

Then I pinned and sewed the bottom panel to the one for Penelope.  It took me forever to figure out this part. I starred and starred at it, for like 30 minutes, and couldn't figure out how to sew it on in one line of stitching.  Then by the grace of God, when I was Joann Fabric's later that day, to get more pink ribbon, they had a sample dress on a manikin with this type of bottom and I was able to look at it and figure it out!

So you fold the long rectangle panel of fabric in half along the long side.  So the wrong sides of the panel are in the inside and the right side is on the outside.  Then pin the bottom panel to the big piece, right sides facing.

Then sew a straight line. If you have a serger, you could just do one line with the serger and be done.  But I don't have one, so I just use pinking sheers to finish.

The picture on the left is what it looks like on the back, the right is the front.

If you look down the middle, you have made a little tube.

Then I added a piece of pink ribbon, so I could coordinate the ribbon that I used for the straps and to coordinate the finished dress to baby girl's dress.  I am hoping that they still fit when get together again, I am sucker for matching outfits.

Then I sewed both rectangles together along the sides.  I put the fabric right side facing and sewed on either side.  Then turned it inside out.  At that point you have a big tube.

Then I made the casing at the top.  Fold the top down twice to your desired width, and make a tube with your fabric.  When you sew it, be sure to leave a hole open, to thread your elastic through.

Use a safety pin to help you thread your elastic.

Once you thread your elastic all the way through, sew your hole closed. This is what the top looks like finished.

Then I pinned the straps of ribbon to the dress.  I pinned them on either side of the elastic in the tube, so my stitching would line up with what I sewed already.

And ta-da!  This dress was the first dress I used without using a tutorial or pattern, so I was pretty stoked.

It's a little long on Penelope, but I wanted her to get plenty of wear out of it.  She is in the 97% for height and she always grows out of the length of her dresses before her chest.

Oh, those blue eyes.

What do you think?  Think you could make one too?

Mama and Baby Love is Back!

I started this blog in March of 2010 and named it Mama and Baby Love. I named the blog after my beloved yoga studio I used to own for mothers and children.  When I asked Tara to partner with me in writing on the blog, I changed the name to Healthy Mama, Healthy Baby.


Recently, it became clear that there was misunderstanding about what our roles were in the blog and who owned what.  My intention, even though we were partners and I said we were co-founders and I was more than happy to split all profits, was that I would maintain control of the business end and be able to lead the brand of Healthy Mama, Healthy Baby.  I was doing all the back end, business, marketing and promotion work myself, so I thought it was understood that I would have final say on what was best for the brand.  Although, Tara was my friend and I valued her content, I was not willing to have a democracy about business decisions.  I do not think it is a good way to run a business, I think businesses do better with clearly define roles of each member.  I also just know myself and I know I need to have control with any project I am involved in. We could not come to agreement and I decided that I no longer wanted to partner with Tara.  I am sorry for the part I played in the demise and I feel horrible that there was a misunderstanding.  Tara felt very mislead and mistreated as a blog partner and friend. I feel awful that she feels this way.  I did my best to clear it up, so we could move forward, but ultimately I decided that it was not the best interest of anyone to move forward together.


I could not keep the name Healthy Mama, Healthy Baby, without Tara, so I have gone back to my roots.  To the original name of the blog, when I first started it, Mama and Baby Love. But it is OK, everything happens for a reason.  Luckily, I never got around to switching the domain name, and I have been publishing under mamaandbabylove.blogspot.com this whole time.  Somebody upstairs must have been looking out for me!


I have worked so hard on this blog for the past year and half and I am excited about it's future.  If you stick around you will get more of the posts you love from me. This blog is like another baby to me, I am so passionate about writing posts that help Mamas live an easier and happier life!  I will continue to write about Natural Parenting, Real Food, Yoga, DIY and a new addition, Travel!


I am really bummed to loose the HMHB Fan page on Facebook.  I feel like I did a really great job fostering and growing that community.  Connecting with each of you there, was one of the highlights of my day.


So, I would really appreciate it if you would take the time to like my new Mama and Baby Love Facebook page.  
 
I wish Tara all the love, light and peace in the world.  You can find her new blog, Healthy Mama, Happy Baby here.

Frozen Ice Toy Project

I have mentioned my friend Stacey, here on the blog before. When we went to California just recently, they are the family we stayed with.  We first met them when they were childless and living in Tallahassee.  Her husband, Adam, is an engineer and surfs. And ya'll know my husband is an engineer and surfs.  So it was love at first site for Peter.  They have been fast friends ever since and me and Stacey are peas in a pod too.  She is uber laid back and calm, a good fit to my craziness.  


Also a good fit for her wild child, Kalen, who just turned 4.  I saw this idea on a blog somewhere, I can't remember now, sorry!  And I thought, oh man, that is exactly the kind of thing Kalen would get a kick out of and sent it to her.


She took pictures and wanted to share with you here!  P.S.  Stacey works for Petunia Pickle Bottom and all the cool PPB stuff I give away on the blog is because of her, so make sure you give her lots of comment love and maybe she will send something new to giveaway soon!!

And with that, take it away, Stacey!


As a mom of a son, I find it more difficult to do projects with him at home.  He just doesn't have the attention span to sit.  If we try to color, he wants to break the crayons. If we paint, he wants to put paint over the entire house.  If we bake, he wants to eat the dough before the flour and water are even mixed....so when I saw this idea, I knew it was just perfect for my son - who loves to destroy things.

First you freeze toys into water at different intervals.  I took a large ziploc storage container that I already had and filled it up 1/3 of the way and placed toys in and let freeze.

I repeated this until the the container was full - it took a full day to freeze, so you need to plan ahead if you want to do this project.

We got Kalen set up with his safety glasses and hammer.  I ran some warm water over the whole container and the ice piece just lifted out nicely.

Then I let him whack away!

Here he has decided to throw some pieces since he doesn't have the patience to try to break it open with the hammer - make sure you warn them about windows if this happens.

Back to the hammer.

 and Ta-Da - all the toys have been recovered! It took Kalen about 10 minutes to get all his toys out.

Thanks for sharing Stacey!  This is a perfect thing to do at home with a crazy preschooler.  I am tempted to try this with Penelope but maybe in a smaller container so she can just throw it in smaller chunks, I am thinking she is not ready for a hammer yet!  This could be a cool home school project too, teaching about the chemical properties of freezing and thawing water.

Perfectionism and Yoga

I just finished reading the book, Poser: My Life in 23 Yoga Poses.  My friend Lia, over at The Little Cafe at the End of the World was doing a virtual book club on it.  I can't rave about it enough!  It is full of magical personal insights, so it reads like a self-help book, but it's as entertaining as the best non-fiction.  That is probably the definition of a memoir, now that I think about it, ha!

I was talking to my friend Lindsey, the other day about self-help books and she said she is not the kind of person that likes to sit down with that kind of book,  that it is laborious for her to get through them.  For me, reading self-help and health books is like popping candy in my mouth.  I love it, it's relaxing for me, and I barrel through them.  In fact, I was talking to another friend of mine recently, Molly, telling her about some new fact I had just read, and she turned to me and said, "where do you find this information?!  You just know so much!"  I thought about it for a moment, and realized, I just really love to read.  And I am a fast reader, always have been.

But if you are not like me, Poser, is an easy, fun read. It's one of those books, where because you bought it to be a relaxing, read-in-the-tub kind of book, you sort of feel like a train hit you, because it starts unraveling some deep seated beliefs about yourself.  It is also the best introductory explanation of yoga poses and history I have ever read.

The book is a classic female hero's journey.  If you don't know what a hero's journey is, I highly recommend devouring Pam England's blog.  She will blow your mind.  Read it all, every single post.  Her blog is like my weekly multi-vitamin for my scattered and mended heart, my Sunday Service.

Claire Dederer, is a crunchy, AP, Seattle, new mom trying to do everything absolutely perfect, in order to consider her self good.

This book made me self reflect on so many things and one of them is this concept of what exactly it means to be a good mother.  I have visited this concept before, when I was doing my advanced Birthing From Within training but that was over 5 years ago and I wasn't a mother yet.

I grew up with what I consider to be a bad mother, she is a good person, just not a good mother.  And I know that much of the choices I have made in my parenting style, have been to live up to the internal guidelines I have set up for myself of what makes a good mother, based on everything she was not.

For example, for me and my awesomely loud inner judge, a good mother nurses her baby on demand and self weans.  Can you imagine my inner turmoil when I was not given the opportunity to do that?  I had a personal belief system that if I did not nurse, I was a Fuck. Up.   And thus, I had to re-shift my thinking of what constitutes being a good mother for me.  I am reiterating the for me part, because I am talking about how I judge myself, not other mothers.

I learned long ago it's not a good idea to judge other mothers for their choices, or judge anyone for that matter.  I always say that the specific way in which we parent our children does not matter, only that we bring unconditional love to each moment with them. 

So since I couldn't nurse, the next best thing for a "good mother" to do,  is do everything she possibly can to get her baby to nurse. A good mother does not give up and throw in the towel, a good mother pumps her brains out and does not supplement with formula.  The list went on and on and on.  And I did not deviate.  I stayed on the course, the inner judge whipping me back in line whenever needed, and dammit, by 5 months I got Penelope to nurse.

Then I realized that my list of what makes a good mother is much longer than my birthing and feeding choices.  A good mother makes clothes from scratch!  She makes food from things she grew herself in her garden and then makes a meal from scratch! Hell, even makes laundry detergent from scratch!  She also works out 5 days a week AND does yoga.  She does yoga with her child too.  She cloth diapers and makes chicken stock from bones from a $30 chicken that she drove 4 hours round trip to go buy straight from a farmer because organic chicken from the natural food store is not good enough. 

After reading this book, I began to take stock of how much I do, not only because it's healthy or the right thing to do, but because it makes me feel like I am GOOD.  The energy it takes to try and be good is EXHAUSTING.

Now, I am not saying that I am going to change anything about what I am doing (because then what the hell would I blog about?) but from here on out, I am giving myself a little break if I don't meet my perfect internal standards.

As Claire wrote in her book:
FUCK IT.  Get over yourself.  You are going to fuck up.  And it will be OK.

What a breath of fresh air.  It was like she just gave me a hall pass for motherhood.  And so I give it you.  Give yourself a pat on the back, you are doing great! Even if you are not growing your own damn food and making your own damn laundry detergent and nursing your baby 24/7.  You are awesome and good just as you are.

Prenatal Yoga For Back Relief

Doing a lazy post today and simply sharing my guest post over at Code Name: Mama.  I wrote about some of the most important yoga poses to do to relieve back pain during pregnancy.

What pose helps you the most when you have an achy back?  If you don't practice yoga (if you don't you should!!) what tips do you have to relieve back pain naturally?

Spontaneous Yoga!

Here a few pictures of Penelope doing yoga on our trip to California. Pretty much where ever she goes, she will bust out into some spontaneous yoga. It's amazing to watch.

Some Down Dog.

 Some Donkey.

And Frog Pose.

And a little Rolio, in the middle of a hike.

I posted some of our trip pictures here and here on the blog, but here is the rest of our trip pictures if you want to see.

I also tagged some of these pictures to the Healthy Mama, Healthy Baby Facebook page.  I put a call out the week for our HMHB fans to post some pictures of their little ones doing yoga, or themselves, or pictures of working out, cooking, sewing, baby-wearing, breastfeeding, you know, all the things we are into...I want to see of your pictures!!

Happy Weekend everyone!

All Natural Kids Bugs Spray Review and Giveaway!

We were graciously sent Absolute Green's 100% Natural DEET Free Bug Spray a few months ago to try out.  It came just at the right time, when the bugs here in North Florida were starting to peak.

Ya'll know what freaks Tara and I are about buying everything organic and chemical free and bug spray is no exception.

I really liked this spray.  When I sprayed it on Penelope it smelled nice and did not leave a heavy residue.  And it seemed to work just fine.  Now, were not in the middle of a swamp, but for normal outdoor activities it has been really great for us.  I like, Tara, found I had to really put a lot on, but its so light and smells good that it isn't really a problem.

Here is what Tara said:

"I liked the bug spray for Arabella and I.  It didn't have as strong of a smell as my other all-natural spray.  It was nice to come in from being outside and not have a cloud of citronella around us.  I did have to use a little more than I normally do, to keep those pesky mosquitoes away though (we really put it to the test by going out at dusk).  I didn't mind having to do that because of the all-natural ingredients.  Great product!"

More about this awesome product from Absolute Green:

This bug spray repels mosquitoes, including the west nile virus producing mosquito's, biting flies, gnats, no see-ums and other annoying insects! Our spray of essential oils keeps the bugs away while your children enjoy nature, look for seashells, find frogs or just play outside without getting bug bites!

Absolute Green Kids Natural Bug Repellent is a non-toxic bug spray that works great, dries non-oily and has a pleasant aroma. Convenient 4oz size allows for an easy travel companion. Lasting 4-6 hours between applications. Recommended for the whole family.

Contains: Witch Hazel Distillate, Ethyl Alcohol (from corn), Lemon grass Eucalyptus Essential Oil, Neem Seed Oil, Cedar wood Essential Oil, and other essential oils.


So would you like to try this awesome bug spray?  Well today's your lucky day!  Absolute Green is giving away 3 BOTTLES to HMHB readers!!!

Here is what you have to do to enter:

MANDATORY ENTRY
Check out Absolute Green on Facebook and "like" them.

You must be a Healthy Mama, Healthy Baby Google Follower to participate.

EXTRA ENTRIES
Must include email address if not listed in profile. Each entry must be a separate comment.

* Follow Healthy Mama, Healthy Baby on Facebook.  We have a blast over there!

* Blog about this Giveaway on your blog and provide post URL.

* Post about this Giveaway on Facebook and tag Healthy Mama, Healthy Baby AND Absolute Green.

Good luck everyone! Giveaway will run until 7.30.11! I will use random generator to pick a winner and will email the winner and announce it here on the blog. The winner will have 48 hours to respond or a new winner will be announced.

DISCLAIMER: We were not paid for this post.  Thank you, Absolute Green for allowing us to review your products and for the awesome giveaway. If you are interested in having me do a review and giveaway for your business or product, or about our advertising pricing, send us an email at healthymamahealthybaby at gmail dot com.

Supplements I Give My Toddler

Some health experts will tell you that if you eat perfectly then you don't need any supplements. Other experts say, even if you eat perfectly, you still can't meet all your nutritional needs without supplements.

Although I am certainly not an expert, I am in the other camp, and I am a big fan of supplements. I don't even eat perfectly yet, but I also agree that it is really hard to get everything you need from food consistently even if you do eat absolutely perfect.

I took my dear friend Lindsey, to New Leaf Market the other day. New Leaf Market is a great little co-op natural food store in my hometown. They can be a wee bit snotty, but overall it is amazing resource. I can even buy raw milk in the store!

Anyway, we went shopping together, because she was a little overwhelmed with the supplement choices and she wasn't sure what her 2 year old son needed, but she new he was lacking in some nutrients and wanted help.

So we went up and down the isles together and I showed her the brands I like and use for Penelope.

Here is what we got:

• Cod Liver Oil
• Vitamin D
• Vitamin C
• Multivitamin
• Probiotics

If your child has some serious issues like eczema, epilepsy or even cancer I highly suggest taking an herbal supplement called Protandim.   Please email me if you want more information.

Here are the brands I like best for each supplement:

• Cod Live Oil: Green Pastures.  They do not make chewables anymore, so I get the liquid and put it into Penelope's smoothies.  If she doesn't have any smoothie on a given day, I give her a chewable version I get from Earth Fare.  Nothing compares to Green Pastures, but if you can't afford it or can't get your child to take it in liquid form, a chewable version is fine. Or even better, slather it on their butt during one diaper change a day.  The oil and nutrients get absorbed right through the skin!
• Vitamin D: Solaray makes a sugar free, flavored chewable tablet.
• Vitamin C: I like Hyland's best
• Multivitamin: I use Shaklee's Kids.   Penelope loves them and they have no sugar or food coloring or yucky fillers.  And I like supporting a mom who is running a network marketing business.
• Probiotics: Nature's Way makes a loose powder form which is great for slipping into smoothies or bottles of milk.  Even a newborn should get probiotics.  You can sprinkle some on your nipple before the baby latches on, or sprinkle some on their tongue.

Please be clear, I am not an certifiable expert in supplements, this is just what I do for Penelope, based on lots of research, but still I am not an MD, nor am I doling out medical advice.

I also use my intuition as a guide once I do my research.  If I feel in my gut that she needs two things of vitamin C one day if a cold is coming on, or two things of Vitamin D if she is teething. I go with my gut. If I forget to give her everything one day, I take it as a sign from my higher self that she didn't need it.

What supplements do you give your child? 

Flying with Toddlers

Last week I got back from an awesome trip with my family.  It started out a little hairy with Penelope getting a fever and then Delta canceled all flights on the day we were originally going to leave.  But all ended well, with the end result of one happy family.

Before this trip, I was terrified about flying with Penelope.  Actually, I was more terrified about flying and pumping.  If I had flown before I was done pumping, I would have had to pump in dirty, public bathrooms, lug around the pump and a cooler full of milk.  I was worried about TSA touching the milk or worse pouring it out and being treating me like a terrorist like this mom was.  I was also worried about the TSA touching Penelope for a pat down.  Thankfully, no body ever laid a hand on her.

But even without the added craziness that is exclusive pumping, I was still  very nervous to fly with Penelope.  She is what I like to call a wild child.  You know the ones. Highly spirited and energetic.  Not so keen on listening.  She likes to do exactly what she wants to do, at exactly the time she wants to do it. She doesn't want anyone to help her or hold her hand, she is off like a rocket to explore.  I can't blame her much, the apple does not fall far from the tree.

Surprisingly, things went really well for us.  I never once felt overly stressed, I mean there were some tough moments, don't get me wrong, like on our 6 hour drive to Mammoth Mountain.  She cried for 45 minutes, even with me leaning over her car seat to nurse her.  Maybe it was because I was just so damn grateful to be traveling somewhere, but either way, these are things I did to prepare and things I did to help keep Penelope happy.

First, I checked out LOTS of blog posts to get some advice.  There were my favorites:


A Cup of Jo- Tips for flying with toddlers and babies.

Rhythm of the Home- Tips for flying with toddlers and babies.

Mamapedia- An article about how traveling and doing new things, meeting new people can be really over stimulating, especially for sensitive children.

Travel Mamas- Just an all around cool site for traveling with kids.

Baby Center - This one has a few good tips in their packing list.  I like the bring a clip on reading light so you can read if you child has fallen asleep on the plane.  And bringing outlet covers for the hotel or house you will be staying at.  Luckily for us, we were visiting friends who have a 4 year old, so the house was child proofed and filled with toys!

I also asked everyone in our lovely Facebook community for tips.  I really liked the tip about boarding the plane LAST.

After all that research and my personal experience, here are my tips for traveling with babies and toddlers.

BUY AN IPAD.  Seriously.  If you have been considering if for a long time, like we have, just go for it. Just go and buy it.  We have a DVD player and thank God for it, because seriously, I do not know what I would have done with out it, but an IPAD is slim and light, no fumbling around for DVDs and then scratching, said DVDs.  You can put games and other things on it, other than cartoons, so it is multifunctioning.  When your kid is asleep (hahaha), you can use to read or whatever.     I realize this is not the ideal for everyone, due to money and parenting phiolospohy about toddlers watching cartoons, but if you can afford it and don't mind your tot watching a little TV, then is the way to go. Trust me.

BUY A DVD PLAYER.  If you can't swing an IPAD, get a DVD player.  I let Penelope watch about hour of TV a day on our normal days at home.  This started a couple of months ago.  I realize that some people don't want their toddler to watch TV till age 2, and follow the AAP guidelines on it, but this is where we are as a family.  When we were traveling, she watched more TV on some days and none on others, so it even out.

NEW TOYS.  I realize I am making quite the consumptive and materialistic list here, but what can I say, it's what we did.  I went out and bought several new toys for Penelope.  I wanted her to be suprised and entertained by whatever new toy I pulled out of my bag.  And it worked.  Anytime she was getting antsy or fussy. I whipped out a new toy.  Now, they were not expesive toys.   A coloring book, some spinning tops, a travel art easel, etc.  I talked to another mom on the plane home, and she wrapped all the new toys, so her daughter had the added fun (and time killed) on opening up the new toy.  I liked that idea a lot.

FAMILIAR TOYS.  I also packed several of her most favorite books and stuffed animals so she could have the comfort of toys she new.  When we couldn't watch a DVD, during take off and landing, we nursed and read books.  Which brings me to my next tip.

NURSE.  I know not everyone can nurse, so use a paci or a bottle, if you can't nurse.  But if you are so lucky to be able to nurse, this is the Magic Wand of travel tips.  Anytime, anywhere, the boob helps.  Whether to nurse your little one to sleep, calm them down or help with ear pain.  The boob works wonders.  I also brough organic lollipops with me. I was afraid she wouldn't want to nurse with all the excitement and new things to look at. And since she is weaned from her bottle and she doesn't have a paci, a lollipop was the next best thing she could suck on. I also brought them in case a melt down occured.   I gave her one on the last flight, way past her bedtime and she needed something to help get to the finish line.  She only ate half of it.  Each lollipop has about 5 grams of sugar, not too bad.

So there you have it.  My tips for flying and traveling with toddlers.  Tell me, what is your best tip?