Reupholstering Tips and Tricks - AKA First big nursery project!!

Yeah...check that shit out^^  Coolest Dr. Seuss nursery chair everrrrr, right?!?

So, I wish I could give you a step by step guide detailing exactly how to reupholster a chair - but I can't.  The fact of the matter is every chair is different and that makes the process of stripping it down and reupholstering it different.  The general idea of it is simple - carefully pull off all the fabric, use that fabric as a template to cut out the new fabric, then put the new fabric on just like you took the old fabric off.  Easy peasy, right?

Well here are a few tips and tricks for you...

• Give yourself plenty of time.  I spent hours just pulling out staples.  This is not a process that is going to be completed in a day.  Maybe if you have a few people and a lot of patience you could finish it in a weekend, but I recommend spreading it out over a bunch of days so you don't give yourself carpal tunnel.
• I used a flat head screw driver and needle-nose pliers to pull out all the staples, it worked quite well.
• Save everything you pull off!!  Seriously!  Every scrap of cardboard, random spikey thing, and piece of fabric.  Saving everything will make it a million times easier to reassemble it.
• Label everything.  Where it goes on the chair, what order you pulled it off in, which part of it pulled up first, etc.  I just used a sharpie and wrote right on the panels where they went and all the details that would help me successfully replace it with new fabric.
• Don't expect perfection.  Seriously, this is true of all my projects.  If I wanted or needed it to be perfect there's probably someone out there I can pay hundreds of dollars to do it for me and there's a reason why they charge so much - this shit is time consuming!  There are some snags in my fabric from me stapling wrong and the back of it is a little wonky (I didn't have quite enough fabric but whatever...who's going to be looking at the back??)

So here's what you need - 

• A cheap piece of old furniture that hopefully was built well but just needs a facelift (you don't want the frame of the chair to be falling apart, just the fabric!)
• Flat head screwdriver and needle-nose pliers (to remove staples)
• Upholstery fabric - no not waste your time and get fabric that isn't heavy enough to be considered upholstery fabric...it will fall apart and then you will have wasted hours of your life for nothing.  I did, however, decide I could use a non-upholstery fabric on the parts that won't get much wear and tear and I think it was a safe decision (the blue Lorax tree print is just normal cotton, not upholstery weight fabric).  I calculated how much I would need after I ripped off all the fabric.
• A staple gun.  I have a fancy one my Dad got me for my birthday (after I reupholstered my kitchen chairs with just a hammer and upholstery tacks he decided I needed a staple gun) but you could use one of those old school plain ones (like this) - it would just take longer.
• A seam ripper to disassemble the cushions 
• And if you're like me...a hot glue gun.  Yes, I hot glued some parts, but I'll never tell you which ones (muahahahahaha) <--not sure why I'm evil laughing about that

I got the chair used from someone on base and it actually reclined (the foot part doesn't pop out, it just reclines) but not very well.  The Sailor actually re-did all the mechanical bits so now it reclines smoothly.  It cost $20.  Then I spent about $50 on fabrics (from onlinefabricstore.net and fabric.com).  

There is some sewing involved to make the covers for the cushions (just like the rest of the chair you pull the cushion apart - with a seam ripper - and use the pieces as a pattern for the new cover).  For this chair I was able to save the zipper on the bottom cushion but the back cushion was originally attached to the chair itself.  I decided it would be easiest for me to make it another cover so I had to get a long zipper for that which also cost me a few bucks. 

I would say I spent between 25 and 30 hours on the chair in all spread out over a bunch of days over two weeks.  But, I'm absolutely in love with it and it cost us less than $75 in all!

After I finished reupholstering it instead of putting back on the feet The Sailor turned it into a rocking chair!  He used scrap wood and the screws that were originally holding on the feet so again, no cost to us.  It took two tries to get the curve right for a rocking chair but still didn't take him much time at all.

So now it reclines and rocks and is gorgeous.  It will be the perfect visual centerpiece for BabyDeux's Dr. Seuss nursery and it will be mighty comfy for all those middle of the night nursing sessions in my future!

W 17 Month Update

Is it just me, or did August fly by??

So, W is still about 24 to 25 pounds and I officially packed up his 18 month stuff to save for BabyDeux!  He also wears a size 5.5 shoe, which apparently is kinda big for a 17 month old (but I wouldn't know either way).

This month we went to Dancing Tots, My Five Senses, (he and The Sailor went to) Donuts with Dad, La Leche League, Natural Parenting for Non Hippies, and Family Story Time...maybe that's why the month flew by! haha

Dancing Tots

My Five Senses

Family Story Time

Fun fact - as you can see from the picture at Family Story Time he actually favors his left hand.  I've heard and read that around 18 months is when they'll start to "permanently" favor one hand over the other so I'm curious to see what will happen.  I'm a righty - the left side of my body is useless except for eating (I've always been the person to only use my right hand to cut food and I use my fork/spoon in my left hand) but The Sailor is truly ambidextrous.  You'll notice he has tattoos on both of his forearms...yeah, he did both of them (he apprenticed to be a tattoo artist before joining The Navy).  Crazy right?

Some new things he enjoys doing (on top of everything he liked last month) is playing chase around the house and flying kites outside.

"Come here kite!!!" 

Yes, The Sailor attached it to a fishing reel

The beginning of the month was pretty much business as usual but the second half of the month has been pretty rough.  Not sure if you've ever heard of the Wonder Week Leaps but they're essentially a description of 10 "fussy phases" that all babies go through as they enter different mental developmental milestones and it's based only off their expected due date.  When I first heard of them I thought it was ridiculous, how could every kid get fussy around the same time?  Then his craptastic periods starting matching up with them so now I'm pretty much a believer.

There is a book and a phone application; I just have the app and if W is being a turd I open it up to see if he's in the middle of a "leap" and 99% of the time it's been right.  Right now he's in the middle of the tenth and final leap - the leap of systems.  The "symptoms" as described by the app that most strongly hit home are:

• Cries more often and is more often cranky or fretful
• Is cheerful one moment and cries the next
• Wants to be closer to you

Flipping adorable, right?  He hasn't napped like that in AGES

• Wants physical attention to be tighter or closer
• Sleeps poorly
• Reaches for cuddly toy or does so more often

Gabby counts as a cuddly toy, right?  BTW, he's kissing her, not biting

The biggest thing during this leap for us has been him being more stubborn.  Sometimes I'll say no to him, and he'll say it right back.  Not cool dude, not cool.  They apparently are developing a sense of self, and of their own body.  The other day at the Family Resource Center a little girl (probably 2 or 3 years old) hit him for no reason and he just looked at her and firmly said, "no!"  It was actually quite a proud moment for me - in my eyes that's the beginning of conflict resolution.  Instead of hitting her back or running to me, he just told her what's up.  Then she tried to kiss him and he had a melt down and came running to me, but at least it started out good! (And can you blame him for having a melt down...holy mixed signals Batman!)

At the beginning of the month I was seriously afraid he was going to stop breastfeeding completely.  I was barely making any milk and he would get more frustrated than anything when he was at the breast.  Every time he nursed I was afraid it was his last.  Then my supply kicked up a bit, but it turned salty (which is completely normal during pregnancy).  He'll still nurse for a while first thing in the morning, but needs water right after, and if he nurses at all throughout the day he switches sides a lot and I think he's just hoping the other side will be less salty.  But, I wake up and my boobs feel heavy (not engorged at all, just noticeably heavier than usual) and after his morning snuggles and nursing session they feel significantly lighter so he's definitely getting something!

I guess that's really it!  We've got another busy month ahead of us - hopefully he'll get through this final wonder week leap quickly!!!

W - 16 Month Update

Pretty sure I haven't done one of these since W was a newborn!  It's about time I update the world on my big, little man!

Where to start...well, he's about 24 pounds and although he can fit in 18 month clothes he really shouldn't (the shirts are basically crop tops on him).  He sleeps in his crib from 8 pm to 630 am on weekdays and 730 on weekends - I say he gets woken up by The Sailor while he gets ready for work, The Sailor says that isn't true, either way he wakes up earlier during the week then the weekend!  Then he comes and cuddles in bed with me and nurses for about a half hour before we actually get up!

Things he likes...going to classes at the local Family Resource Center!  This past month we went to Art Explosion, La Leche League, Natural Parenting for Non-Hippies, and My 5 Senses.

Art Explosion

Playing with another toddler at La Leche League

He also loves playing with balloons and balls of all sizes.

One of his favorite "activities" is eating.  A normal breakfast for him is a whole piece of fruit (usually a banana or a pluot - which is a plum apricot hybrid), 2 pieces of turkey sausage, and an egg.  Then he has a morning snack, lunch, an afternoon snack, dinner, and still breastfeeds between 3 and 5 times a day.  He's also started using an actual fork to feed him and even eats corn directly off the cob.

And I swear this boy loves his pets more and more each day!

Things he doesn't like are when I try to carry him to and from the car - he wants to walk there himself, and being told no in general (as in, "No, W, you can't play in that drawer in the kitchen.")

He hasn't shown any signs of parental preference...he just prefers us all to be together.  He gets upset if either The Sailor or I leave.

He's go, go, going non-stop and incredibly independent.  He likes to play on the playground himself, walk places himself, and read to himself regularly.

My favorite thing he does is when he "surprises" me with kisses.  He doesn't like to give me kisses if I ask for them (but he'll give Tomcat, Gabby, or stuffed animals kisses on command) but every once and a while he'll crawl up on my lap and just give me a kiss.  It absolutely melts my heart.

His words are still pretty limited but he regular says Mama, Dada, Meow, and vroom (when playing with cars) and he signs milk, please, more, finished.  He "talks" to me (and everyone else) constantly, I'm just waiting for it to become actual words!

Challenges this month were 1) me trying to keep up with him even though I'm pregnant and lazy and 2) he's transitioned from 2 to 1 nap ::whompwhomp::  He used to take a morning nap at about 930 and an afternoon nap at about 230.  They were each about an hour and a half long.  But he started fighting the second nap and I'd spend 45 minutes trying to get him down only for him to wake up a half hour later.  Now he's going down for a nap between 11 and noon and that nap lasts 2-3 hours.  He has his best naps when we've done something extra active to wear him out in the morning (either going to a class or playing outside) and if he poops before he goes down for a nap.  If we can keep up one nap that lasts about 3 hours long I'm not going to complain!

I guess that's really it this month!

In case you couldn't tell, we did a "golf" photo shoot last week at the driving range on base, haha.

We'll Stop When He Wants to Stop

I have to say that a lot these days since it's my go to response to the ever popular question, "when are you gonna stop breastfeeding W?"  But, it isn't a completely honest answer.

W and I still go to La Leche League every month.  I like it there.  I like the other moms there.  I like the other babies there.  I like that I started going while I was still pregnant with W and I was eager to learn as much as possible from these more experienced moms in the hopes that I could have a great breastfeeding relationship with my children and now I'm one of the more experienced moms sharing advice and stories with the new moms.  When our La Leche League leader describes the ideal length of time to breastfeed you baby she says as long as it is a "mutually beneficial relationship."  Now that I've made it well past our initial goal of breastfeeding for a year, that really is my plan.  As long as both W and I are happy, I will continue to nurse him.

The World Health Organization recommends breastfeeding up to two years or more:

Breastfeeding is an unequaled way of providing ideal food for the healthy growth and development of infants; it is also an integral part of the reproductive process with important implications for the health of mothers.  As a global public health recommendation, infants should be exclusively breastfed for the first six months of life to achieve optimal growth, development and health.  Thereafter, to meet their evolving nutritional requirements, infants should receive nutritionally adequate and safe complementary foods while breastfeeding continues for up to two years of age or beyond.

If I make it to two years with W, that means I'll be tandem breastfeeding for about 2 months.

At my OB appointment this past week, the doctor mentioned that I'll have to stop breastfeeding around 22 to 24 weeks because when you breastfeed it makes your uterus contract, and by then the baby will be big enough that it could be damaging or send me into pre-term labor.  W literally looked like he was trying to fry her brains with his eyes while she was saying this.

Lucky for W, I've done my own research, and I see absolutely no reason to stop nursing him.

From La Leche League:

Although uterine contractions are experienced during breastfeeding, they are a normal part of pregnancy...Uterine contractions also occur during sexual activity, which most couples continue during pregnancy.

From The Mayo Clinic:

Generally, it's safe to continue breastfeeding while pregnant - as long as you're careful about eating a healthy diet and diligently drinking plenty of fluids.  There's an important caveat, however.  Breastfeeding can trigger mild uterine contractions.  Although these contractions aren't a concern during an uncomplicated pregnancy, your health care provider might discourage breastfeeding while pregnant if you have a history of preterm labor or you're experiencing uterine pain or bleeding.

So, as long as I'm having another healthy pregnancy, I see no reason to stop nursing W...unless he decides to stop.  During pregnancy it's completely normal for your supply to dramatically decrease at about month 4 to 5 or the taste of my milk might change.  Either of these factors might trigger W to wean on his own, and honestly that will break my heart a little bit.  Until he reaches 2 (or until something changes and I can't safely nurse him) I will continue to offer him breast-milk.

In an ideal world I'll have another healthy pregnancy and be able to nurse W until at least his second birthday and some point after that he'll decide to stop breastfeeding on his own.  I won't ever have to deal with figuring out how to wean him - he'll just stop when he feels ready to stop.

How long did you breastfeed your baby?  Would you ever consider tandem nursing?

Inexpensive & Easy DIY Patio Water Mister/Sprinkler

We live in Central California.  It is hotter than Hades here for most of June through September.  Last weekend I'm pretty sure it hit 110.  So, I wanted to buy or make some misters to put on my back patio to make it bearable on those horrible days.  Like any female these days, I turned to Pinterest!  And I found these instructions to make a "drive through kid wash" that we altered a little bit to create what we wanted.

Step one was acquiring all the supplies.  Our local Home Depot and Lowe's don't carry the mister jets mentioned in the instructions I found so I did was I usually do when I can't find something locally - searched on Amazon.  Lucky for me I found some (and they were Prime eligible - woot for free 2 day shipping); these are the ones I ordered.  Then we went to Home Depot to get 1/4 inch PVC (we bought 1 piece and had it cut in half), Teflon tape, PVC glue, an end cap, an L bracket (so the section where the hose connected to the pipe would be hanging straight down), and a threaded female hose connector.  All of that stuff was about $10.

We decided for the length of pipe we were using, 8 jets would be enough, so The Sailor marked and drilled the holes in the pipe for me (he used a 1/8 drill bit for the jets we got off Amazon).  Then we had to get the jets in the holes.  Luckily, they will dig their own threads, you just have to push down and twist at the same time.  In order to seal the holes, first we wrapped the threads of the jets in Teflon tape.

Then The Sailor had to screw them in because it hurt my fingers, haha.

Then I just put PVC glue on the inside of the end cap and put it on one end...

And use the PVC glue again to attach the L bracket to the pipe, and then the hose attachment to the L bracket...

And then we let the glue dry for about 10 minutes!

We weren't exactly sure how we were going to mount it to the roof of our patio and The Sailor ended up coming up with the solution; he screwed to small pieces of scrap wood into the ceiling that the pipe could then rest on...

Voila!  DIY Patio Mister that we only actually used about $11 worth of materials (we have tons of the jets left over, half the pipe, and almost all the Teflon tape and PVC glue) and only took about 15 minutes to assemble!  All that was left was for W to try them out.

We started just playing with his water table...

 And then I turned on the hose....

He hated it!  Haha!  But, it isn't that hot out, so maybe on a hotter day he'll appreciate it more.  It took about 20 minutes of breastfeeding to calm him down.

Do you have any outdoor DIYs planned for this summer??

Flying With an Infant

A few weeks ago The Sailor, The Seamonkey, and I packed up and got ready for a trip across the country! As I may or may not have mentioned before, I'm originally from Massachusetts - aka as far as you can get from Naval Air Station Lemoore without leaving the country!  Since my whole family is in New England and they were all itching to meet the first grandchild in the fam my crazy Mom offered to buy us plane tickets to fly home for a trip as a belated wedding present.

Now, there is an airport in Fresno which is less than an hour from us, but if we flew out of there we would have had to change planes somewhere - something I really didn't want to do with an 11 week old baby.  Instead we opted to drive 3 hours to San Francisco and to not only have a direct flight, but to also get to fly Jet Blue (my favorite airline).  Our flight heading to Boston left San Francisco at 10:18 pm.  Instead of parking at the airport, we saved some moolah by parking at the Radisson hotel which has shuttles to the airport every half hour.  I really wanted to have more than enough time to get there and I wasn't sure if we would hit any traffic or not, so we left our house at 3:30 pm.

Ready to go!

The first 2 hours and 45 minutes of the ride were flawless - no traffic and the baby was sleeping!  The last 15 minutes took almost 45 and the baby started screaming while we were stopped dead in traffic and I couldn't even pull over anywhere to feed him....the last 20 minutes of the trip were HORRIBLE as The Sailor tried to console The Seamonkey to no avail. But once we got to the hotel and I got to feed and change my Little Man he calmed right down.

We chose to carry on both our stroller and the carseat.  We didn't really need our stroller for the trip itself; in all honesty I only really use it if I'm going shopping and want to try on clothes or if I'm walking the dogs.  Other than that I use one of the many carriers that I've accumulated.  But I had to bring the carseat and I would rather gate check it than check it with the rest of the bags because in my mind there's less risk of it getting broken if it's gate checked.  So basically, the stroller was just a means of easily transporting the carseat (and our other carry-ons) through the airport...

Strollers are so handy!

Where was the baby, you ask?  Well, in the airport itself I wore him in a mei tai (more info on what exactly that is when I post about babywearing) since it doesn't have any metal parts meaning I could keep him in the carrier as we went through security.  Speaking of security...the Baby Jogger City Mini does not fit through the x-ray machine in airport security!  We found this out the hard way since it fit through the initial opening and then got stuck in the middle of the machine.  Seriously...who designed that thing?  If it fits in it should also fit out, and yet it did not.  So we spent a half hour holding up the line at security as the TSA agents tried to get it out.  Luckily they didn't break it or else I would have flipped shit.

So, once we got through security we went and grabbed a bite to eat, I nursed The Seamonkey, and we headed down to the gate.  At this point I was really happy I had made the decision to leave so early since we basically had just enough time to re-arrange everything in our carry-ons to make things we would want in-flight easily accessible (we had my Vera Bradley diaper bag, the large digi-camo diaper bag I made, a Planetwise wet-dry bag that was just holding all of our cloth diapers, and my Boppy pillow to carry onto the actual plane with us), go to the bathroom, and change the baby before it would be time to board the plane.

Fun fact - we didn't want to be flying all over the country with dirty cloth diapers so we chose to use 'sposies in transit.  Those things are effing gross!  How do the majority of parents use them!?  They smell funny! {sorry for the rant} The first one I put on The Seamonkey that he pooed in, the poop shot straight up the back of it and onto his clothes.  I was terrified of this happening while we took off and then I would just have to sit there with a poop-covered baby waiting for the stupid fasten seatbelt light to turn off.  So I double-diapered him...I put a 'sposie on him and then put a Best Bottom cover over it.  Since the thought of poop just floating around in the cover grossed me out I ended up putting a disposable insert in the diaper cover so he was legit wearing two diapers at once.

After I had him double-diped and in his jammies we went to sit by the gate...and he turned into a silent terror.  He wasn't crying, but he was being a complete turd.  He spit up on me twice...he rarely spits up.  He was fussing like a madman.  He refused to be put in the ring sling, which I planned on wearing him in on the plane since it is easy to get him in and out of it (more on ring slings when I post about babywearing) and kept straightening his legs so he wasn't securely in.  All I could think was this is going to be the longest night of my life....

We boarded the plane and left the stroller and the carseat at the gate and he continued to be a silent terror.  He could tell things weren't "normal" and he was refusing to go to sleep even though it was past his bedtime (it was almost 10 pm at this point).  Everyone else is boarding and I could feel them all staring at me with hatred as the watched me struggle to settle The Seamonkey as we geared up for a 6 hour red-eye flight.  After everyone boarded and they started going over the safety info I started to nurse the Little Man and he passed right out.  I think the whole plane let out a sigh of relief as I put him into the ring sling and he continued to sleep soundly.

Passed the eff out!

He only woke up twice during the entire flight to eat.  He didn't even poop, so I didn't even need to get up to change his diaper.  In fact, since he was securely strapped to my chest in the ring sling, I actually slept pretty well myself!  Once we had landed and were waiting to get off the plane he let out one loud "waaaaahhhhh" but then went back to being quiet and the people around us actually chuckled at it.  We had arrived in Boston at about 6:30 am local time so we got off the plane, I changed his diaper {into one of his normal cloth diapers}, got him dressed, and while we waited for our baggage I nursed him again.

He really couldn't have been any better during that flight.

The flight back to California was during the day and he slept for the first half and then the second half I just bounced him on my lap.  It wasn't as easy as our first flight, but there weren't any real issues.

Since this post turned out to be way longer than I initially anticipated I'm gonna wait and post later with my personal tips on flying with an infant.  Until next time...

You know you had a bad night...

...when you wake up with a nursing pad stuck to your face.

Person Paint Creation

Yup...that was me Thursday morning.  The Seamonkey was basically in my armpit with his arms out of his swaddle but his lower half still in it.  Gabby was taking up the majority of the bed forcing me to sleep diagonally (The Sailor was at training in San Diego).  Lola was basically sitting on my head since Gabby was stealing the rest of the bed.  One of my boobs was still pulled out of my sleep nursing bra, and my nursing pad was stuck to my face.

More often than not The Seamonkey is a great sleeper!  We get in jam-jams around 7:30 and he falls asleep either on The Sailor's chest or in his swing until we decide to go to bed (around 9:30).  Before I go to bed I bring him upstairs, put him into his triple-stuffed night diaper (yeah...he's a heavy wetter), nurse him, swaddle him, rock in the chair for a bit with him, and then he sleeps in his bassinet right next to me.  Then he'll usually wake up around 3 am to be nursed again, and back in the bassinet he goes.  Then he wakes up again around 6 which is when I just pull him into bed with me (The Sailor is already gone for work), nurse him a bit laying down, and we snuggle until around 730 when we get up and start our day.

But not Wednesday night...oh no.  Little Man did not want to sleep.  I don't know if it was gas, a growth spurt, or general fussiness, but that boy refused to sleep in his bassinet.  So, instead of driving myself crazy I just pulled him into bed with me, especially since The Sailor wasn't there.  I spent the better part of midnight to 7 am nursing him in bed, and that's why I woke up in such a disheveled state.

But, I can't stay angry at that boy for too long...

::Yawn:: I'm sleepy since I kept Mommy up all night!

Especially since, without fail, when I bring him into the nursery to change his diaper in the morning he stares up at the lanterns and starts smiling giggling like crazy (his favorite spot in the house is on his changing table)...

You can kinda tell he's smiling in this picture

And luckily the past two nights have been back to business as usual!

When you have a fussy baby do you pull him into bed with you?  If not, how do you get any sleep on a bad night?  More importantly...have you ever woken up with a nursing pad stuck to your face? haha

Until next time...