A Little Bit of Everything

I've been a little uninspired to blog lately. I don't feel like any one thing that has happened is worthy of an entire blog post, but I have been taking a few pictures of things thinking I  might eventually feel inspired to blog. So here is a post about a little bit of everything, home, food and a baby thrown in at the end. Enjoy.

We recently bought a big clothes drying contraption at Costco. Its main use will be for drying baby diapers because the sun works as a natural bleaching and deodorizing tool. It also seemed a little more earth friendly since you have to run cloth diapers through the dryer several times to get them completely dry. One problem this has brought up though is that clothing that is line dried tends to be scratchy and stiff. Am I doing something wrong? People talk about how wonderful line dried sheets are, but if they are anything like line dried diapers then I have to imagine slipping into line dried sheets would be rather scratchy and uncomfortable. I've started putting them in the dryer on a heat less cycle after they are dry just to soften them up, but this sort of defeats the purpose and seems like a ridiculous extra step. I would try fabric softener but everything online says those will lessen the absorbency of the diaper. Any ideas?

In food related news, I made a fool the other day. A fool is a simple old fashion dessert that is basically a fruit compote folded into whipped cream. I know I'm not suppose to be eating dairy right now, but I had a bowl full of fresh picked strawberries sitting on my counter and couldn't resist trying it. I think this would have worked better with a tart fruit (the original recipe called for rhubarb) or one with more body, but it was still pretty delicious. I also saw some ideas online for strawberry fools that add a little basil to it. I wasn't feeling brave the day I made this so I left it out, but next time I'll add it. Whatever fruit you choose to use, this would be a great way to use up leftover cream. It always seems like during the holidays I have recipes that call for a cup of cream and then I have to find uses for the rest. Generally it ends up being a treat in my morning coffee, but this could be a fun way to change it up.

Ok, so if you know how to make whipped cream you don't really need a recipe for this one, but here ya go. I didn't measure anything when I was making this but these general amounts made two big fools (hey wait a minute...). I think next time I'd use something more the size of a whiskey glass. These could be a great way to make a pretty dessert for a dinner party without a lot of effort because you could do that fruit ahead of time and just whip up the cream after dinner.

Strawberry Fool "Recipe"

ingredients

+/- 1 cup of whipping cream
1-2 tbsp. powdered sugar
a splash of vanilla extract

+/- 2 cups of strawberries quartered
2 tbsp. sugar

1) Wash and quarter the strawberries and then add the sugar. Allow to sit for at least a half and hour until they get juicy. Then, mash them with a fork.

2) Add remaining ingredients to a bowl and whip with an electric mixer until its the consistency of thick whipped cream. You'll want it a little stiffer  than you would normally make it because its going to sit for a bit.

3) Layer ingredients in a glass and then spiral a spoon down into it and back up. Refrigerate for a half and hour and then enjoy with a couple of shortbread cookies.

And now on to Baby. She's been having mild but continuing diaper rash issues lately so I've been trying to give her some diaper free time every day. While we still haven't been able to completely clear up the rash, it has led to some cute pictures.

Well that's it for my jumbled theme-less blog post. Hope you all are having more inspired weeks than me!

Baby's First Swim

A few weeks ago we bought Claire a little pool off of Amazon. We couldn't help ourselves. I stumbled upon it when I was looking for a sun tent for our beach trip and it was so adorable we decided we had to have it. Bonus, it was only twelve dollars for a super cute mushroom shaped inflatable baby pool. I didn't get a picture of the whole pool, but you can see the listing here.

Now that Claire can sit up on her own, and we are experiencing a particularly warm streak of weather, we decided it was time to give the pool a try. Claire has had warm baths, but this was going to be her first encounter with cool water. So while the Giants game was wrapping up today I blew up the pool and Jeffry wiggled Baby into her swim diaper. She was stylin' and ready for her first swim.

The pool also came with about six different inflatable mushrooms and butterflies. For much of her pool time those were far more interesting to her than the water.

I really should have given these a good wash before she went in the pool. Whoops.

The added challenge of pool time, is that toys can get away from you. Luckily, Momma was there to give her a hand.

Look at her little legs go!

Claire was in the water for quite a while before she realized that splashing was also a fun option, but when that cuteness happened it suddenly got a bit too wet to be taking pictures so I just enjoyed the moment!

 All in all I'd say it was a successful first pool experience that Claire really enjoyed. I was also really excited to see that the swim diaper kept the pee pee in and the water out. I think my $1 investment from the JBF sale paid off!  I have always been a little skeptical of both disposable and reusable swim diapers. I'd like to get her one of those sun blocking shirts to go along with it for when we go to grown up pools that don't have mushroom cap shades.

Oh Where, Oh Where...

...have baby's poops gone?

I know I promised to keep it light on the poop stories, but something so wonderful has happened that I can't help but share. This last week, Claire has gone from pooping with almost every diaper change, to only pooping once or twice every 24-36 hours. Sweet bliss I tell you.

I'm not entirely sure what caused this change. Babies do tend to poop less as they get older, but this change was not gradual and also coincided with my getting serious about no diary. When I asked Claire's pediatrician why she thinks this change happened so suddenly, she just shrugged her shoulders (I have so much faith in her (italics = sarcastic voice)). Whatever the cause, I couldn't be happier. The only thing about cloth diapers that makes them harder than disposables is that you have to rinse out the poopy ones before throwing them in the diaper pale. When you are changing diapers about every hour and a half, not having to go through the rinsing step is a pretty big deal.

Oh, and here's a cute picture of baby just for grins.

up, up, and away!