Mommy Guilt

Mommy Guilt, the guilt working moms feel when they go to work also the guilt that any mom feels when she's away from her kids.
I've felt it, there are mornings when I'm getting ready that I just want to say; fuck it, I'm calling in sick so I can stay home with my kiddo. I don't do it, but I've felt that way. I can tell you that this AM was not one of those AM.
After a fitful nights sleep, of B waking up and having crying fits, I was glad to take her to the sitter and go to work. I needed the time away or I was going to kill something.
Sitting here on my pumping break writing this post has given me the ability to evaluate and tell myself, this won't last forever, she will only be a baby once. My mantra on some days.
I'm not saying I love being away from my kid. I don't. I think a lot about the milestones I'm missing. But the advantage I think working mom's have is that when our kids are driving us crazy you just remind yourself when your going back to work. And that you have the ability to take a kid sabbatical for the time your at work.
The stuff they do to drive you crazy doesn't seem so bad when your at work.
So I feel better about the lack of sleep. And now I want to go home and give B a big hug.

How do you deal when your kids are driving you crazy? Let's hear from the Stay at home mom's too, you guys work hard.

Swiffer pad Tutorail

So I've been MIA for awhile. Sorry. I've just had so much to talk about but couldn't get my thoughts organized. And I still really can't. So I thought I would post a tutorial on how to make your own Swiffer sweeper pads.
Depending on the kind of material you use, you can use them for wet or dry pads. Swiffer pads are expensive and it doesn't cost that much to make reusable ones. It's cheaper and greener! I've made mine out of rags, old towels, t-shirts, basically whatever material I had laying around.
The pictures that I took are of some prefolds that I really didn't like so I thought I would use them to make some pads.

Take your swiffer and plunk it down in the middle of your material. I marked the length of the swiffer.

Fold over the end of the material where you made your marks and then give yourself a 1/2" allowance on the long sides of the swiffer. You are going to cut down these 1/2" marks

I've made the cut on the right side of the fabric and now I'm getting ready to do the left

Fold over at your Swiffer length marks. And pin. you can see my mark on the left hand side of the prefold. Then just sew down the length of the folded part of your material with a 1/4" seam allowance. your basically creating pockets on both sides.

You can see my pocket in this picture. Then zig zag stitch the long edges/rough edges.(If you don't do this your material will unravel) If you have a serger you can do this with a serger too. If you do, can I borrow it? I so wish I had a serger.

Ta-Da! It's done and you now have a lovely reusable Swiffer pad.

The other pad in this picture is made out of an old dust rag and pieces of a t-shirt.
The nice thing about this project is that it doesn't have to look perfect, because your just cleaning your floors with it any way. It just has to work. And your not spending money on a box of swiffer pads you just use what you have.

Follow Me!

I'm on Twitter. If you would like to follow me, there is a nifty little button on the left side of the blog that you can click and follow me.
As of right now I will not have a Facebook page for the blog.

I'm also on Instagram as sarlar6. Follow me there for cute photos.

Are you a Pinterest fan so am I. In fact I posted about my love of Pinterest here. Would love to see some of your pins!

Here I go Again

So B is 8 months old now, as of yesterday. And I haven't done much in the way of trying to tone back up after having her. I can admit to myself that I wasn't that toned before I got pregnant, but it's even worse now, stuff jiggles, ewww.
Since I graduated highschool I've been on a downward spiral as far as my weight is concerned or should I say upward, cause that  is where the scale has been going. And I've tried lots of things in the past; joining a gym, doing weight watchers, it just hasn't worked long term. I really don't have the willpower to stick with it.
But now I have someone else to think about, my daughter. I need more energy she will be a toddler very soon and that means active. So I need to be able to keep up with her. So in that vein I scoured Pinterest for ideas.
I printed off some workouts to do with your baby, as well as some inspiration to stick on the fridge to motivate me to stick with my plan.
So my goal is a small one. I'd like to try and lose 30# by my birthday, which is in June. A modest goal but one I feel that I could do.
What do I plan to do? Well my goal right now is to incorporate exercise into my life. My poor Bandit has been neglected since B was born so I'm going to try and walk him more and incorporate strength training into my daily routine. I'd like to try and eat better, but I've had a hard time with that in the past, especially since I'm breastfeeding, cutting back on eating isn't going to work. I just get too hungry and then I overeat, so I'm just going to try and be more conscientious about what I eat and how much.

Wish me luck I've been down this road before and it hasn't worked but I hope it does this time. I'm going to really try. Motivation is the key!

How about you? Trying to get back into shape? Having a hard time? What worked? What didn't?

Sometimes you need some ME time

<p>Yesterday I did some shopping.....by myself. It was glorious!
I think sometimes as a mom you need some alone time. Yes, I work 3 days a week, but I work with other people, I'm not alone. B is breastfed so when I'm not working, I'm not away from her from.more than a couple of hours. And sometimes that's very tiring and you just need a break. So yesterday I left J with a bag of milk and said I'll see you later and headed off to the big town. I got some materials at Joann fabrics, shopped at Target, and took myself out to lunch. And by that time I had run out of money so I went home :). <br>
But just those few hours of alone time were refreshing. I felt more relaxed when I got back.I think as mothers to be the best moms we can, we need that time to decompress and just take stock of ourselves.
That is not being selfish, you are still a mom. All of my alone time shopping, was for B, so she's never far from my mind. But I also got to reconnect with the before baby me, and it was nice to have time with her again.
So make some time for yourself, have your significant other take the kids, and take a bath, lock yourself in the bedroom and read a book, go to the movies, shop, do whatever makes you feel good. You'll find that your a better parent because of it.

What do you do to have some Me time?


The picture below is my lunch, and a trashy magazine! And no worrying about a baby meltdown! :)

I can't believe I haven't talked about this yet!

Cloth Diapers! I love them. When I was pregnant with B I briefly thought about cloth diapers and did some research but a newborn goes through a lot of diapers in a day and lets be honest I didn't want to deal with the hassle. Fast forward to a couple weeks after B was born and I got into babywearing with my Moby and as I did more research on babywearing, Cloth Diapers popped up again. As I read more and more I thought, maybe this would work. I researched what I liked and what I could afford and decided to try. Well I'm telling you, they are awesome. Not only are we saving money but they are so cute!Who needs a picture outfit when you have a cute diaper to wear.
Cloth diapers are not what your mom or grandma may remember, they've changed a lot since then. You have many different types like pocket diapers (my favorite), All in Ones (J's favorite), prefolds, flats, etc.  Do your research and find out what works for you. I started out with prefolds and covers, because they are the cheapest. From there I bought some pocket diapers, and then some all in ones. A lot of the time I buy when they are on sale, or some that are preloved. The nice thing about cloth diapers is that when they are properly taken care of, they will last a long time. So whatever I buy now is going to last for the next baby.
Washing cloth diapers is not bad. When your child is breastfed only, you just throw it all in the wash, breastfed babies poop is water soluble. When your child starts solids or is fed with formula then you must rinse the poop into the toilet. We are just starting on that part of our journey. A diaper sprayer that attaches to the toilet is a good investment and makes rinsing easy.
Everybody has a different wash routine, mine is a cold soak (usually overnight), then a hot wash-cold rinse with Country Save detergent, and then an extra rinse. I have been trying to do a splash of bleach at least every couple of weeks because I was having a problem with some ammonia smell sticking around, especially from the night time diapers. But with the bleach that has seemed to resolve itself. I then line dry anything with PUL and all the inserts and prefolds are thrown in the dryer (no dryer sheet).
Nighttime diapering has probably been our biggest hurdle with cloth diapering. Some people have problems with leaking, but that wasn't our issue. We had a problem with ammonia smell. But like I stated above the splash of bleach has been helping with that issue.
For me once we started cloth diapering I hated using disposables, I hate the feel of them and all I see when we use them is money going in the garbage. That said I send disposables to the sitter with B because it's just easier for the sitter and me. When I was home with B during Fair no disposables touched her cute little bum for 6 days! So B is cloth diapered probably 80% of the time, and that's OK because we're saving money. I buy disposable diapers quarterly and buy a new cloth diaper or two when I can, because really they're too cute to resist.
If your thinking about cloth diapering do your research there are a bunch of great sites out there and I'll list some below.
If you cloth diaper what do you love/hate about it? If you don't why didn't you think it was right for you? Post in the comments below. Any questions ask away?

Adventures in Fluff
I like Chana she has a lot of great advice and reviews.

All about Cloth Diapers
One of the first websites I visited

Diaper Pin
Great articles, great active forums

Diaper Junction
My favorite place to buy cloth diapers

The Fair is here!

I'm so excited! The fair is here! It is the highlight of my summer! This year I have the pleasure of introducing my daughter to it.
I have been a part of the Walworth County Fair since I was 9 years old! First as a member of 4-H, then FFA, and then until this year, a volunteer with some 4-H projects.
It was always something to look forward to, the last fun thing before school started. Working on your projects and animals all summer and then having this big payoff at the end of summer. Showing your animals and getting ribbons (and money).  The nervous feeling you get in your stomach before you go into the show ring. The pride you feel when you do a good job and the disappointment when you don't place where you think you should.
All those things are still imprinted in my memory and that is what I think about this time of year. How much fun I had and how I can't wait for B to be old enough to show, I hope she wants to. I keep trying to convince J that we need to start breeding sheep so that I have something to show, just so I can be apart of the fair again as a competitor.
But for now I'll be a spectator. Walking around eating junk food and seeing old friends. If your one of them and you see me wave Hi! Would love to see you!

                                           7 Month photo shoot! Can't wait for our first Fair!!

Suck Pad Tutorial

I love my Boba 3G! So does B, she loves to suck on the straps, I want my carrier to last awhile so I needed a solution. I could of bought suck pads but being the DIY girl that  I am I decided to make my own. And this is what I did;

Needed Supplies:
Flannel fabric
Cotton batting
scissors
soft tape
Velcro (I used 1" wide)
Sewing machine
Iron
Fabric glue

                  I always prewash fabric. Then make sure your fabric is nice and square

  

               Measure your straps where the suck pads would go. I add two inches to all sides.

                                                 Cut out four pieces of fabric.

                                         Cut out two pieces of cotton batting to fit in the middle of your fabric.

 I then folded in the edges 1/2 inch and ironed them flat. I put wrong sides together and then                    pinned and topstitched the entire thing

           Now to add the velcro. You want the velcro on opposite sides of the fabric. What I like to do is before you put the velcro on, fold it around the strap of your carrier to determine velcro placement. I like to use fabric glue to attach the velcro and then use a zig zag stitch to permanently attach the velcro.

   

I ran some decorative stitches of the area where the cotton batting is to prevent bunching during washing. But after that your done!  I hope your baby enjoys the suck pads!

If you don't feel crafty and would like to purchase suck pads for your carrier check out RedCharlotte on Etsy she has got nice ready made stuff for carriers. Let her know I sent you!

Blogging is Hard!

So I'm sorry about not being regular on my posts. See this post about my inability to even take a shower sometimes! So when I have a chance to be on the computer (usually after B goes to bed), I usually get sidetracked by stalking Facebook or getting sucked into Pinterest. Oops!! But I have a bunch of posts in the works so there is a bunch of stuff coming. And B is doing more and more fun things so we have a lot to talk about.
Thanks for reading!!

My baby is 7 months old!

Oh where has the time gone. I can't believe it's been 7 months since this cutie patootie came into our lives

And now she's getting so big and learning so many new things. She has two teeth, both on the bottom. She can almost sit up on her own (she uses the boppy for some stability still). She's started to play with/ eat solid foods, and her giggling is infectious. I can't wait for the next 5 months to see what she will do, how her personality will  develop, and what kind of trouble she'll get herself into.

                                                   Hi Mom

                                              Please no more pictures!

Perception Vs Reality

When J and I decided to start trying for a baby we thought it was going to take awhile, it didn't. We hit it out of the park on the first pitch (a little baseball analogy because it's summer). So all our plans of really saving our money for a year went out the window.
I worked 8 hours because I couldn't stay to help with emergencies, My Saturdays became a thing of the past because what good is a technician that can't take X-rays. We had 9 months to save for a baby and an unpaid maternity leave.
My perception of having a kid and the reality of actually being pregnant and having a child were way off.
I thought because J and I had no car payments and very little debt that we could continue the life we had before of eating out and buying what we wanted. The reality of it is we live paycheck to paycheck and have to ration our gas to make it to the next week. I had to go back to work part time because by the time you figured childcare and gas into the equation I''d be working just to pay for childcare. What sense does that make.
And sleep, showering regularly or eating a hot meal. Forget about it! People tell you this is going to happen, but you don't really get the actual reality of it until it happens.
I thought I was going to have this cute cuddly little baby who would lay quietly while I looked upon her. I got the cute and cuddly It took almost 8 weeks to get over the screaming demon child from 4p-7p.
I thought breastfeeding would be this easy beautiful thing.  In the beginning it was also emotionally draining, sometimes painful, and a steep learning curve. I am so glad I stuck with it because it got so much easier and I would be lost without it now.
So the perception and reality of children is really different and you don't really get it I think till you go through it.
Having kids is hard ,which any parent will tell you, you give up a lot for your children and your life will never be the same.
But I wouldn't give it up for anything!

                                                   
 

Big Latch On!

To celebrate World Breastfeeding Week today is the Big Latch On, so there are events around the country to attend. Unfortunately I won't be going to any big events I'll just be feeding at home like I do everyday :). If your close to any events please attend, I bet it will be fun and you be helping to normalize breastfeeding! Click the link below to find events in your area.
Big Latch On

World Breastfeeding Week!

It's world breastfeeding week and there has been lots of other bloggers who are much more articulate than I am about the issues surrounding breastfeeding. I don't think there should be any issues with breastfeeding, it is completely normal and shouldn't be sensationalized one way or the other.
Let's celebrate our ability to feed our children!
I love breastfeeding and am so glad I didn't give up. It is the best bonding time for me and B. Sometimes it's the only thing that calms her if she's upset or her teeth are giving her trouble.
Let's be supportive of women who breastfeed, if you see a breastfeeding mom in public give her a thumbs up or a smile, believe me for some people it takes a lot of courage to feed their child in public (and it shouldn't).
If you know someone who is pregnant and thinking about breastfeeding get her some books The Womanly Art of Breastfeeding,The Nursing Mother Companion, and Breastfeeding Made Simple: Seven Natural Laws for the Nursing Mother (my favorite) are great books. Get her a La Leche League membership they have lots of great advice.
Education about breastfeeding is the best thing for a new mother and the public.
Let's celebrate World Breastfeeding Week and if your a nursing mother Latch On!

Helpful links!
Kelly Mom
Best for Babes
La Leche League

My New Diaper Bag

So my store bought diaper bag that I bought before B was born started ripping after 4 months. Boo!! I didn't want to buy another diaper bag only to have it rip after another 4 months so I decided to make my own.
I searched around Etsy for a pattern and found one from Aivilo Charlotte Designs. She has a bunch of bag patterns so I chose one that I liked. She claims to have really easy to read instructions (even for beginners) and I wanted something with pictures because I'm also a visual learner. She emailed me the pattern within an hour. The instructions were great and good pictures too! If you a beginner this would be really easy to follow. I knew from making the diaper holder that it might be easier to work through the pattern with some fabric I had hanging around instead of messing up good fabric. So I raided my mom's fabric stash (with her permission) and came up with fabric to make the first diaper bag.

My first bag

I like working through a pattern with some extra fabric first. I've learned through some trial and error that I seem to waste less if I can work the kinks out first. The added bonus of this is that I had a diaper bag right away, instead of waiting till I had the money to go to Joanns and get the fabric pattern I really wanted. This pattern was fast after I had all the pieces cut out (Thanks Mom, She's a master cutter)  this first diaper bag  took me probably 3 days. With the second diaper bag  it took me about 2 days. I think if I had worked on it for an entire day straight it probably would of taken 8 hours. But I have a 6 month old so there were a lot of breaks and working on this when she was napping or sleeping or when her dad was able to watch her.

Second Bag

This bag is definitely more me. Although the only change I would make is that I wish the red was teal. This pattern is so easy it's a little addictive.

Inside of the bag

I learned from making the first one that the inside pockets really need to have elastic on them otherwise they're floppy and get in the way of the main pocket. I also bought some grosgrain ribbon to cover the raw edges on the inside and to give it a little pop and fun. 

If I do make another bag (and I might) I'd put a zippered pocket in the middle. The other thing I would do different is when I put the inside and outside together I might hot glue the bottom because I think the lining might pull up and this might prevent that.

So if you would like to make a diaper bag of your own visit Aivilo Charlotte Etsy Shop and let her know I sent you!

I Made My Goal!

I did it! 6 months of pretty much exclusive breastfeeding. We had a few weeks early on of giving some formula, but that's it! There were days when I thought I wouldn't make it to the next feeding let alone 6 months. It's wasn't easy, there were many days when just to get through I would say to myself, just get through the next feeding and if it's too hard there is no shame in switching to formula. But I wanted it too much and we kept working on it. And you know what? It got so much better and I couldn't imagine not doing it now. (I'm too lazy for formula anyway) So my advice for any new mom struggling with breastfeeding is you can do it! And if you can't it's OK it doesn't make you any less of a mom!
coming soon baby led solids.

I have an Obsession with Pinterest

I love Pinterest! I find so many good ideas on it. I've found a lot of neat things to make for B on there. My latest make has been chew pads for the Boba (tutorial coming soon). Pinterest is the updated version of cutting pictures out of magazines. You have different boards to pin your ideas on, they give you a couple but you can add whatever categories you want. It's nicer too, because now I have somewhere to put all my inspiration. Living in an itty bitty house, space is at a premium and our almost 6 month old takes up a lot of it! Pinterest has a main page where you can see what people you follow have recently pinned. But my favorite part is the different categories on Pinterest. I spend a lot of time on the DIY & Crafts board as well as the kids board. They really have something for everyone. I planned B's baptism on Pinterest, I scoured different boards for ideas and used a lot of them. I have recipes, fitness tips, inspirational quotes, and my latest favorite photo ideas. Did you know Pinterest has a search feature I find this especially handy when I'm looking for something specific, I used this a lot when planning the Baptism. Or recently I looked up exercises to do with baby, I figure it's time to start toning this body up a little bit. You have to be invited, just ask Pinterest and they'll send you an invite or people already on Pinterest can invite you (just shoot me an email I'll send you an invite). If you haven't yet, check out Pinterest. And follow me Sarah Larsen
                                     

Hot Weather, No Rain and the 4th of July

It's been hot here in southern Wisconsin. We also haven't had any rain in weeks. Everything looks sad and brown. We've been watering the garden every night but we've lost the Roma tomatoes :(.
We have window AC units in our home and we've been limping along our living room unit to hopefully make it through another summer. Well J attempted to "fix" it to make it work better and ended up breaking it completely. Oops! So we were down an AC unit on some of the hottest days on record! Luckily a good friend of mine had a unit that she wasn't using anymore so we bought it from her and it's great to be cool again!
The 4th of July was great for us we hung out with friends on the 3rd, and laid low in the house to escape the heat on the 4th. I finished the crib bumpers I was making for B's crib. I was getting cabin fever though towards the end of the day so we went over to my mom and dad's for a little swim. The water was WARM! B loves the water, she loves to float around in her life- jacket and she likes to just chill in your arms. She definitely takes after her momma!
We were treated to a rude evening though as some of our neighbors decided to light off fireworks! J went outside to spray down the house because we were afraid of fire. It is so dry one little spark could of set off a grass fire!

My poor annuals, blue piggy is watching over them but its hot!

The Roma plant. It was going so well!

Hi daddy!

Stay cool this summer everyone!

Turning 27 or 3 years till 30

Can I just say I LOVE my birthday! I don’t know why, I just do. J keeps telling me I’m going to hate it one day because it just means I’m getting older. But you know what; I don’t think that’s true because I love my birthday. I think birthdays are a time for celebration and reflection.

I’m a year older so it’s time to look back on the year and see if I’m where I want to be. And this year at 27, I’m happy with my life. I’m married to my best friend, we have a beautiful daughter, we may not be rich but we’re making do. My house may not be the one I want but I look to the future and think, you know it will come. As you can see I’m pretty content with life right now. It hasn’t always been that way and I’m sure I’ll be frustrated with something in my life down the road. But isn’t that what life is all about?

As for the celebration part of birthdays it’s going to be pretty low key. I have to work on my birthday and on Saturday. So J and I are planning on going out to dinner (we have a gift certificate) and maybe a movie, we might throw some errands in there. I know whoo hoo sounds exciting. But when you have a 5 month old and limited funds you have to find inexpensive fun J.

So here’s to the next year may it be as great as this one was!

Why I Started Babywearing

So Tuesday evening after work we needed to put up the hay that my dad had cut and baled. Both J and I were tired from working all day and it was close to B's bedtime, but you have to do what you have to do. So we loaded into the truck and headed down to the farm.
My mom could of watched B while we were baling hay but she's still recovering from surgery. I knew being close to bedtime B might be a little cranky too.  We had bought her some awesome new ear protection and I had to try them out. :) Out came the Boba which has become my go to carrier when we are out and about. It's really easy to tote around and put on quickly. B and I drove the tractor while the boys loaded hay bales. With the vibrating of the tractor and being snuggled close to me it wasn't long until B was passed out. In fact she stayed asleep until I got off the tractor.
I love babywearing and am so glad that I found out the proper way to do it.
B was a typical newborn and wanted to be held all the time. I on the other hand, am someone who when they are supposed to be resting, is wanting to do something, because I hate feeling unproductive.  We had received a Snugli as a shower gift. So one day I thought I would try it out, it was ok, but it wasn't all that comfortable for me. I remembered seeing someone with their newborn wrapped in a Moby so I thought I would try one of those. Once I figured out how to wrap it, it was awesome! I could put her in the Moby and do housework or when she was feeling cranky I could walk around the house and vacuum (which always seemed to help).
That started me on my carrier path. I started researching different carriers and types. I made my own ring sling because I was looking for something easy to put on and off. To this day I still haven't been able to get the hang of my ringsling. But I was loving my wrap and looking into better options. If you have ever looked into wraps you know even used ones can be expensive (over a $100) we didn't have the money at the time so I just kept using my Moby and researching, so I could find the perfect next carrier. Finally the stars lined up, I had the money and had reached a decision. While I wanted to get a beautiful new woven wrap, I decided on getting a Soft Structured Carrier (SSC) because that seemed my best option

Wearing B has allowed me to get things done around the house, while having her close to me and always within view. B can look out at the world but when she's had enough she can snuggle in and hide or go to sleep and I can continue doing what I'm doing. I don't have to lug around the carseat (which is awesome). When we go to the grocery store my cart isn't full of carseat, I can actually put stuff in my grocery cart. Walking through large crowds I'm not pushing a stroller, (okay, sometimes I am, but its because I'm using it more like a cart to put stuff in) so I'm able to weave easily through the crowd. If I have to run outside to hang clothes I do a back carry and away we go.
Babywearing has just made life easy. I'm not worried about what B is doing because she's right there.

There is plenty of information out there on babywearing. Some of my favorite websites are
www.wrapyourbaby.com
She has awesome video on this website on how to do different carrys as well as photo instruction

www.thebabywearer.com/
This Forum is great for beginners they go over the different types of carriers, have reviews on carriers, instructions, DIY. A really great all around babywearing website.

Farm work and babywearing go hand in hand

Wordless Wednesday

Have to get Hay up even when your sleepy

About Me

About Me:

I’m a first time mom who has a beautiful baby girl and a wonderful husband. I grew up on a farm and like raising my daughter with “country” values. We live in southern Wisconsin and while we don’t live on a farm yet, we live 1.5 miles from my family’s hobby farm and spend most of our time there. We raise our own meat, and grow our own vegetables. Being a new mom I’m passionate about breastfeeding, babywearing, cloth diapering, and raising my daughter as naturally as possible. I’m a huge Do It Yourselfer, and I love to cook.

Follow along on my journey as a new mom, the country way!