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!