I just figured out how to send blog posts from my phone to publish online, cool!

Another Diaper

Just made this one for my friend Lauren's daughter. It's a fitted (needs a cover) one size with ooga booga print.

Taste of Tacoma

Saturday we went to the Taste of Tacoma like last year, only plus one! (Well, technically Jeanine was there last year, just travelling in style and bouncing and kicking me the whole time :) The weather was much cooler this year but still very warm and nice for walking around. The food was great, tons of people, vendors, music, etc. Doesn't get much better than a day out with the family. Here's some pics!

Little Heartbreaker

...or at least he breaks my heart! I'm biased :)

Fluff Bum

Got some cute pics of Jeanine in her fluff lately, thought I'd show off her adorable little bum!

Making Diapers

Yes, I've entered the world of sewing my own cloth diapers and I love it! Yesterday I made my first one and it took forever because I wanted to get it right and not waste my precious PUL (polyurethane laminate) fabric or my inner suedecloth, but it turned out perfect! The pattern and kit I ordered are the KCK One (Kayla's Cloth Kits, one size fits all), and I would recommend it to ANYONE, even total beginner sewers like myself. The instructions were well put together and I had no problems whatsoever understanding how to make this diaper! Here's some pics of the Nini in her newest fluff, made by me! She's so cute!

I'll take some close-up shots of just the diaper sometime and edit them to this post. Right now it's in the wetbag soaked...but it didn't leak, woohoo!

Some Pics and Videos

This dress I made Jeanine out of bandanas, so easy, only took 20 minutes! I made another one that is black and white too, and will put that up later. Notice the skulls and keys... ;)In the shopping cart at Target, where she proceeded to say "hi" quietly to everyone who passed! So cute!

On the floor with his beloved "buppy"

Nini sounding like an ambulance/fire truck (now she'll do it with a little prompting..."What does the fire truck say?")


Johnny made his own pizza for lunch...so proud of himself! :)

BumJoy Review

I recently got a new diaper and I find myself reaching for it right away, every time it's clean! I LOVE my new BumJoy diaper, available here on Etsy from a wonderful cloth diaper designer and creator. Joy is an amazing seamstress and her work is impeccable! This diaper does not leak, is SO soft and is clearly (even in the pictures, let alone holding the diaper in your own hands) made with the highest quality materials and workmanship. I love her colors available, though for now I only have red (but am dying for a green!) and wish she'd branch into prints, but I also understand that she is making these out of her home in order to stay home with her son, thereby making it pretty impossible to take care of a toddler AND run a huge business. I got my diaper 3 days after placing the order and she was in touch the entire time. I highly recommend anyone with trimmer/skinnier babies try this diaper, I can practically guarantee you'll love it!

Ahhhhh, Summer = Bliss

I love that I can finally line dry my diapers, it's so much better for them and the UV rays get out all the bacteria if there's any left after washing. This is about 80% of my stash (absorbent inserts, inside-out wetbag, and pocket diapers), minus the few Jeanine wore during washing :)

What is This?

John has begun making "letters" out of things...sidewalk chalk, crayons, Hotwheels cars, and...Frosted Mini Wheats! John was adamant that this one was an 'x', but I think it looks like a 'y', a little anyway ;)

Allergic Much?

You be the judge...we don't know what caused this but we had to take her to urgent care at 9pm because it just kept getting worse. She got some Prednisone and Benadryl and cleared up by the morning but it's still a little weird :-/ Clearly from the pictures, Jeanine didn't care one bit, she just kept rubbing her eyes and then grinning really big :)

Diaper Review

So I think this is the beginning of a new era on the Stegman Family blog. I often want to write about things that don't necessarily have much to do with the kids or the things we're up to lately but every time I come to the same conclusion...most of you are here to see pics of the kids. Well, this is something I want to do so you'll have to weed through some extra posts occasionally if you want to see the kids! I'm going to start talking a little about cloth diapering and the products we're using because lots of moms need to know about them! To start off, however, I want to make sure to say that I am in no way affiliated with any cloth diapering company and these are just my honest opinions as a stay-at-home cloth-diapering mom. First off for today, my review on CushytOOsh One-Size Pocket Cloth Diapers!

We have been using CushytOOsh One-Size Pockets (available on Etsy, e-bay, and Hyenacart) for 3 months on one child, and she is now almost 10 months old. The final tally: 1.5 thumbs up!
When I first got the diapers my thoughts were CUTE!! But I also thought the materials (the PUL and fleece inner) seemed a very thin and was a little apprehensive about having spent $100 on diapers I didn't know would work. However, I LOVE these diapers!
Pros: The price!! It's so hard to find diapers of this quality for the price she advertises. I got 10 diapers for $99.95!! The PUL is very thin, I'm guessing a 1 ml thickness, and the fleece is thin, but it also doesn't pill like other diapers I tried in the past, and is still very soft. The white snaps are very durable and don't come open, and are well placed, including on the crossover tabs for more settings. The inserts that come with the diaper are trim, 3 layered microfiber, and very absorbant. I double them up for naps and triple for nighttime, but only because I am overly cautious and don't like washing bedding :) So far in my 3 months of using these diapers we have not had a leak that was the fault of the diaper. If we had leaks it was because I improperly stuffed it for a wrong amount of time, or I waited entirely too long (4 hours, I know, terrible!) before changing a diaper with one insert after my heavy wetter had had an 8oz. bottle.
Cons: Only 5 colors, I want more! I got 2 of the cow print ones but they are not completely waterproof and are now labeled as swim diapers on her websites. I also live in an area of the country that doesn't permit, except for about 2 months out of the year, line drying. Because of this I have washed and dried them each over 80 times and can definitely tell that the elastic is starting to wear out.
Overall these diapers are fabulous and I would recommend them to anyone who needs a cheap stash to start off with!

If you need a fantastic website to weed through that has everything you'll ever need to know about cloth, please check out Lauren's cloth blog, The Diaper Diaries!

Product Review/Recommendation

I, like my good friend Lauren, have a weird obsession with having no leg hair, but I still hate to shave. It takes up so much time and water and I have so little of both of those these days (hey, water bills get high in the summertime!) that I decided to try out an epilator like Lauren. The concept of this product is very much like waxing, in the sense that the hairs are being removed at the root, thereby taking much longer to grow back, and growing back much finer. It's basically a rotating head with about 40 pairs of tweezers that pull the hairs out one by one, very quickly. Sounds scary and I'll admit that the first time I epilated my legs it was scary...and painful. I mean P.A.I.N.F.U.L. But nevertheless I stuck it out and I love it! If you can imagine the pain of waxing, which happens all at once and then is over with, multiply that by about a hundred and you'll know what the first time feels like :) BUT, after a full week I barely had any hair on my legs! I did it again after a week and was basically just getting hairs I'd missed the last time and it barely hurt at all. My legs are so smooth and I love not having to shave all summer long! I am so amazed at this product and thought I'd recommend it to any of you ladies who hate shaving or dealing with wax and want something more permanent for your legs and underarms. Definitely a 2 thumbs up for me! Enjoy!
PS-If you get it at Bed Bath & Beyond like I did, make sure to find one of those 20% off coupons before you go, it totally makes it worth it to buy!

Wish Us Luck

John is wearing underwear to bed for the first time tonight since he's woken up dry for about 2 weeks straight now, yikes! I will either be forking over 5 whole peices of salt water taffy to the boy in the morning, or doing a washload of bedsheets :) Will keep you updated...

*UPDATE*
He did it! I'm not going to consider him fully nighttime trained until he's gone all night with no accidents for a couple weeks, but yay! Good job big boy! I miss my baby... :(

Sweet Babes

"Here you go momma, wanna play with this helicopter?"

Scrunch Face!

Skinny boy :)

"Aren't I SO adorable?"

Just some pics from hangout time this afternoon. The kids had a really sweet time playing together :)

OK Here Goes!

It's been a while. I knowwww! I have been so busy and yet seemingly we haven't done a darn thing in forever! It's so hard to remember what we've done in the past month and actually blog about it but this is my feeble attempt at recalling what's happened :)

Isaac: Turned 30! He wasn't thrilled with the fact that he's not just a 20-something now but the air rifle pellet gun he got from my parents should help him get over it. I told him the older he gets the better the toys are :) Then he graduated from EMT school, hooray! He passed and did very well after 5 weeks of class time, ride-alongs, and lots of studying. I'm so proud of him and all he has accomplished for himself and our family over this last 6 months, he's worked so hard and needs a break! He also had his first fire, and second :), and is still working very hard at studying while working his new, now and forever, 24 hour shifts. We love the schedule but will have to do some tweaking for a while until we find a right balance for all of Isaac's time.

This is a picture of Isaac in front of the house that was on fire (his first fire), and a piece of wood from the house. His chief gave him both of these and we both this it's pretty neat to have around for memories. What a nice guy to think of Isaac this way!

Me: I'm crafty. Literally :) I've been thinking up lots of new projects to keep me busy and have almost completed Jeanine's new room to last through her toddler and childhood years. After EVERYTHING is perfect, I'll post pictures of the whole room, but for now you can use your imaginations. I also participated in a late spring consignment sale which was kind of a bust and not worth all the work I put into tagging and preparing my items, but at least I sold a few things. As always, I've been busy with the kids and the house, and am growing quite fond of Washington as the weather gets better and prospects of more family in the area are blossoming.

Jeanine: is 9.5 months old now, wow time flies! She's crawling, pulling up on furniture, has one tooth with another on the way, and is the sweetest little girl I've ever known. She waves, she claps, and she loves to tease people that maybe, just maybe, she'll let them hold her...but then she doesn't. Last week she had a 9 month checkup and weighed 19.3lbs (50th %ile), was 28.5" tall (75th %ile), and still has a cute little 20th %ile head :) We are quite fond of our precious girl! She loves her sleep (like John) and is very much a daddy's girl and will only go to him if he's anywhere in the vicinity. She's also still allergic to dairy or cow's milk protein, and we're struggling daily with finding foods for a one-toothed, sensitive tummied little porker to eat :) Jeanine has also just begun "the scrunch-face" smile and loves to scrunch up that button nose when she's laughing and smiling. It's so adorable and I hope she doesn't grow out of it any time soon! Oh yeah, the only word she'll say consistently now is Daddy. She loves to babble all day long but when Isaac is home, she just shouts out "yaddy, yaddy!"

John: is growing into such a fun, intelligent, loving little boy! We adore him every day as he grows and learns. Right now he is very much enjoying every second of the day in the backyard, though I've been sending him out front more often than not since last week when we discovered massive mounds of ants making their way all over the backyard. There are anthills everywhere and literally ants upon ants upon ants crawling everywhere in the sandbox and gravel, and a little bit in the grass, eww! Tuesday is our yard day and will be spent getting rid of ants and weeds and fertilizing the yard, so hopefully things will get better soon! John just had his first "real" (not done by mommy) haircut 2 days ago as well! I had been letting it grow out so that we could see what he looks like with a real "little boy" haircut and it was well worth the wait, he's adorable! He sat in the chair very quietly and solemnly and watched in the mirror as the lady at WalMart cut away. John loves to make his sissy laugh and smile and most of the time there is harmony in the house when they play. Of course we have the occasional selfish bout when it comes to John's toys, but we're working on that, he's only human after all. John loves riding his bike out front and decorating the entire driveway with sidewalk chalk :)

Johnny asleep on the couch on Mother's Day. He slept like this for 2 hours!

I also came to a major milestone in my life as a mom when we left the children overnight with Isaac's mom (here at our house) and went for an awesome 2 day/1 night run up to Orcas Island! We left on Memorial Day Monday at about 9am and got to spend 2 whole days together without the kids! We came home Tuesday night late since I was really sick and so was Jeanine. I was sad at times and definitely missed them but we're all better for it and had a great time. I was able to relax and only use my brain for myself (which never happens)! I thought it might short-circuit when I got home and had to turn it back on to take care of the kids, lol! I am also so impressed with the amazing beauty of Orcas Island and the San Juans Islands. What an awesome part of the country, I recommend everyone go there at least once! I have pictures from that but they're on a disposable camera at WalMart right now, getting converted to digital. I'll post those as soon as I get them back. OK well I think that's it. We're pretty caught up now so hopefully I can get back on track and post more often, if only I'd actually take pictures throughout the week. Sometimes I go 2 weeks without taking one picture, that's so bad! Thanks for reading, don't forget to comment so we know we're not just posting for strangers to eves blog :)