A Little Math and HUGE savings

So the other day Ryan and I were at Shoppers and he asked me why we don't use formula. My answer was "because the boob is free!" Now I have never looked into formula because I knew that if I didn't have to use it I didn't want to. I looked at the price and was shocked to find that a 640g can was on 'sale' for $26.95. Now I'm sure you can get it a lot cheaper elsewhere but I just did some quick math in my head (I haven't gone completely baby brained yet!). Basically the can said for every 2 oz of water add one scoop (8.7g) and at an average of about 30 ounces a day that works out to 130g. SO a 640g can would only last 5 days if you are lucky. SO in a month (assuming you can get it for $25 a can... just to make easy math) we are talking about $150 in just formula!!!! SO Norah is now 4 months (as of yesterday) and we would have forked out $600 in formula in those 4 months.... If you have the option to breastfeed why wouldn't you.... I'm not judging those who choose not to. Its a choice and I understand that it isn't for everyone but for me I love it! Its me and Norah's special bonding time. My sister in law sent me an article awhile back with a great quote (mind you I can't find it now so I'm paraphrasing). It basically said that in the busy world that we live in today breastfeeding is the much needed break you need from the crazy madness. Don't think of it as a chore, think of it as your little break from reality where you can just sit with your child and hold them and think of absolutely nothing. That idea really worked for me. I used to try to rush Norah through feedings because the laundry needed to be done or the cooking done etc. Then I realized it was the time I needed to read a book. So for Mothers Day Ryan and Norah got me my Kobo Ereader so I could sit and read while Norah ate. I have flown through 8 books since then!!! I LOVE it, now I can't wait till she is hungry again because its the only time I get to read and relax!!!!

NOW back onto the savings topic. As you know we use cloth diapers and I still LOVE them to death!!! We had her in disposables a little while back as we went on a road trip for a wedding and I hated the disposables the entire time we were away! I forgot how much they smell... cloth diapers keep smells in better. Not that I leave her in her diapers for long periods of time but when you are in a car and all you can smell is pee ewwwww!!!!! Anyway, assuming disposables cost 30 cents each and that we would use 8 diapers a day and that there are 120 days in 4 months we would have spent $288 on disposables so far. SO between diapers and formula we have saved ourselves a nice $888. Since we spent $460 on the cloth diapers we still have savings of around $428.... NOT TOO BAD!!

PLUS I made Norah another dress!! How cute is this one!! The material was a whooping $3/metre so I picked up a metre... now I can make her at least another 2 dresses or some skirts with this material. SO for $3 I get about 3-4 outfits for her!!

While I was making it yesterday this is what Norah was doing.... so cute!

Happy Easter!!!

Happy Easter everyone!!!

Last night we went to my parents place for a lovely Easter dinner with the family. Last week I decided I wanted to make Norah another dress but this time have it fit her now so she could wear it for Easter dinner! It turned out even better than the first dress I made (the one with butterflies). How cute does she look in her Easter dress??

Today while Norah took a brief nap Ryan and I went outside to get rid of yet another garden in our backyard. Since we bought our house 3 years ago it seems that every spring we get rid of more gardens! Our backyard had gardens on every edge of the house, along the perimeter of the yard as well as all around the pool! It was just too much for us to handle so the first year we got rid of a few along the one side of the yard. Last year we got rid of more along the house and now there was only this little zoned off section and then the vegetable garden that we use along the other side of our yard. I didn't snap a photo before Ryan started but this small garden was sectioned off with large 4 by 4's and was so overgrown with weeds, vines and this bush thing that we decided it was time to go. Plus since it is right next to where our patio set goes and our gazebo we knew it would give us more space! In the summer we put our mini bar fridge right next to this so we plan on making an outdoor bar here possibly or a bench! Anyway, the big task was getting the root of the bush out! Here it is!

Ryan worked for about 45 minutes attempting to get this stubborn root out!! I was on Norah duty because what we thought was her napping was just her having a mini 20 minute siesta!

When I came back outside Ryan has successfully pulled out the bush and I found this huge and VERY heavy stump in our driveway!

We spread some grass seed and hopefully this zone will become an area where Norah can play in the grass while we are relaxing outside by the pool!!!

The plans for the rest of the weekend are to potentially work on cleaning up and purging stuff from the basement!!! We'll see how that goes!

Sunny Little Sun Dress

I LOVE this dress!!! I finally managed to make it to Fabricland and pick up the supplies I needed to finish Norah's summer dress. And while I was there I also picked up a bunch of material that was on sale which I will use to make MORE DRESSES!!! haahaa! I'm completely hooked! I LOVE how this dress turned out!!! (Reminder: You can find the pattern over at www.made-by-rae.com or click here)

I had originally wanted to do orange or yellow piping and bias tape... BUT alas Fabricland only had blah colours of piping... I was super disappointed! But upon second check they had red piping so I caved and bought it. I am SO happy that I did, I love how it turned out with the red! And with all that blabber here is the finished front of the dress!

And the back of the dress... mind you it really doesn't make too much of a difference which side is the front and which is the back!

Did you see the cute bloomers I made???? They were SOOOOO easy! I originally wanted to make the bloomers on Martha Stewarts website. But after printing out the pattern I realized it had to be enlarged by 250%.... and not having the equipment to do that I went on a search for a new pattern.

I came across this tutorial at Dana Made It and away I went. In less than a half hour I had these cute bloomers done!!! They were so easy I plan on making many more!!!!

One dress down... I have enough material to make about 30 more!! haahaa!!! I will be making the straps of the dress longer though so that I can tie the bows bigger and easier. But I am still super happy with how this dress turned out!!! Stay tuned for more cute dresses!!!

Dress Progress

Yesterday I said I wanted to make this dress from www.made-by-rae.com. WELL today while Norah napped I almost finished the dress. Actually it only took me about an hour and a half to get this far. This dress is SUPER easy to make!!! I plan on making MANY MORE!!!! This is my progress so far! As you can see I have the top finished and the bottom finished... I would have finished the entire dress but I still don't have piping or bias tape to finish it off. I know you can easily make those yourself BUT I want them in either yellow or orange (I'm leaning towards yellow) and I don't have any yellow or orange fabric lying around. Tomorrow we are headed to Fabricland to pick up the piping and bias tape so this dress will be finished tomorrow. I am SUPER happy with it so far. The only thing that I am not sure about is how to tie the straps. I followed the pattern properly but its VERY hard to tie bows with the short amount of fabric. Next time I make this dress I plan on making MUCH longer straps so it can easily be tied in big bows! If the straps on this dress are too short I will just attach some snaps or buttons on the top to keep it on, no big deal.

Since I have enough extra fabric left I plan on making a pair of bloomers to go with the dress. I found a free pattern at Martha Stewarts website here that I plan on testing out! That post later this week possibly!

Super Cute Dress Plans

I have been incredibly unmotivated to do ANY house projects right now. It is probably because the weather has been fantastic lately and during Norah's naps the last thing I want to do is to hang out in the dark basement and paint!! With the warm weather I have been dreaming of summer and with that dreaming of Norah's summer outfits up at the cottage! I came across this SUPER CUTE dress over at Made By Rae and now plan to make it!!

Isn't it super adorable! I went searching for my box of fabric (which I know is overflowing) and alas remembered that it is under the bed in the spare bedroom behind all of the flooring that we have yet to install! ahhhhh there was no way I was lugging all of that out and putting it back just to find fabric!! BUT I did remember I had previously pulled out some fabric for Norah's room that I never ended up using and it will be PERFECT!! This butterfly fabric is going to look super cute on her this summer!

Now all I have to do is make the dress. The patterns on the website are for a newborn or a 3 year old so I had to adjust the pattern for a 9 month old. Since Norah is already almost grown out of her 3-6 month clothes (at 7 weeks) I guessed she would be in 9 month old clothes by the summer and adjusted the pattern based on a 9 month onesie I have. Tomorrows plan is to cut and start working on this dress tomorrow during her nap. Maybe if I feel up to it I'll start tonight!! :-) I plan on using just the butterfly fabric for this dress, I do have to pick up piping and bias tape still but I can do that tomorrow morning. If I have enough extra material I may even try to make a matching hat or bloomers!