an envelope neck shirt and green shorts for inspecting ants

Being the fourth child to go through our boy clothes leaves Hunter wearing a stained onsie (or just a diaper) much more often than I’d like.  What I really want his summer uniform to be is a t-shirt (without crotch snaps) and a diaper– with some shorts to throw on when we need to go in public.

got one

I’ve got the first set done.  I used an old onsie to make the shirt pattern ( you can find a good tutorial for doing that here) and whipped it up out of some creamy cotton jersey knit I had on hand and leftover cotton ribbing from Ian’s batch of tinkle time trainers.  It ended up being shorter on him than I had planned, so I just added a band of ribbing at the bottom instead of hemming it.  I like how it turned out, but I’ll still make the next one longer.

a view of the whole outfit

His shorts I made by tracing a pair that fit well.  With the pattern drafting and all I think they took me an hour.  I think I’ll be able to whip another pair up in half an hour now.  That is, after I make a trip to restock my supply of elastic.

trying to cath 'em

Getting an adventurous toddler to stay still long enough to get photos of his new outfit is a challenge.  Thanks to the ants building a hill in the cracks on our front porch he stayed in the same place for more than half a second.

squat with toe grip

I love how babies squat– how their little toes grip the ground.  It’s the stance of concentration.  They can play like this for long stretches of time, but they’re at the ready to stand right up and hurry to the next thing.

inspecting an ant

Or look at things from a different angle.

In his everyday world this guy is the littlest one around.  He thoroughly enjoys being the big bad monster once in a while.  The ants, on the other hand, aren’t so sure…


making books

A few weeks ago I had an issue of Home Education Magazine out from the library and in it was an add for Bare Books.  My kids kept eying it, then we saw posts at Soule Mama and Balancing Everything about the fun of filling them up, so I thought I’d order a box full to coincide with all the writing I hoped would ensue with the unveiling of the typewriter.

It looks like I will be buying bare books like groceries.

reading his creation

The day they arrived we cracked open the box and everyone got started.  Logan filled his up in no time with the story of “Tom and the Magic Roller Coaster.”

tom and the magic roller coaster

Hi, I'm Tom

Woa A elf is at home

I can’t even tell you how much I love his uninhibited 5 year old drawings and handwriting.  He is fearless in his art making.

Brenna and Jonah wrote stories too.  After writing and dreaming all day long Jonah was so filled with pride in his work.  As I tucked him in he said, “Mom, I never knew I liked writing as much as I like reading.  It feels so good to write something someone else will read and really, really like.”  He’s still at work making sure his handwriting is neat as he goes.  It’s fun to watch their personalities magnified in their work.  I will definitely post more books soon.

I’ve got a board book of our backyard birds in the works for Hunter who says “buhr, buhr” with his little pointer finger constantly.  We have an Audubon calendar and he will stand beneath it with his arms stretched up making all the noise he can to get someone to lift him up for a closer look.

buhr book

buhr, buhr

It’s been embarrassingly long since I last drew something.  It really feels so good.  (Here are closeups of the goldfinch and robin.) I’m almost finished with the house finches that are nesting on our front door.

working on house finches

They have 5 eggs now.

5 now!

My front door is going to be a mess when they hatch!

sewing for little bums

The first thing I ever really researched and obsessed over using the internet was cloth diapers.  I figured it all out with help from many, many online cloth diaper users and sellers and makers, many of which aren’t around anymore, some who are under different names and locations.  My main source of information was the FAQs at the One Stop Diaper Shop (now Very Baby) and the Diaper Pin.  Anyway, back then I tried my hand at sewing some diapers, but it was a long process to get just one done without a serger or a snap press.

Just a few weeks ago Jessica came out with a one size version of her fitted diaper pattern with a snapless option, and since I do have a serger now I thought I’d give it a go.

Very Baby one size diaper

I learned that serging around curves is hard.  It is definitely something that needs more practice and time than I had to give it.  I made 3 with stretch terry on the outside and velour on the inside.  (I don’t know what I was thinking with my color choices, though.)  My chubby baby likes to pull them out of the laundry basket and bring them to me so I’ll put one on him.

Very Baby one size diaper

I’m a big fan of one-size diapers.  I absolutely loved my Mother Ease One-sizers when they were in their prime.  They lasted through 3 babies, but by the time they got to this guy they were scratchy and stinky.  Very Baby one size diaper

I’m not sure about the snappi fastener on these, though.  My climbing, running, climbing, dancing, climbing baby seems to get his diaper all wadded up.  If I could somehow find 2 days to sew I would get myself a snap press and push through making a dozen of these the real way.

I’ve also got another bum that needs covered.  We’re working on the potty learning here with Ian, but it’s a process.  I hate putting him in diapers, though, so I’m making him some Tinkle Time Trainers.  They offer more protection than the training pants you can find at Target, can snap off for messy accidents, but still feel like underwear.

tinkle time trainer

tinkle time trainer

I’ve got one done.  Let’s see how long it lasts today.

And let’s see how many more I can get done.