DIY Diaper Wipe Spray

When we decided to go with cloth diapers, at first the thought of doing cloth wipes as well wasn't something I even considered.  I don't even think I thought that was a thing.  Then at our baby shower a friend who had a new baby was changing her and used a reusable cloth and wipe spray and my mind was blown.  

There are lots of reasons to forego using regular disposable wipes: nasty chemicals and fragrances, the wastefulness of the packaging and throwing away the wipes themselves.  But what really got me was just the cost effectiveness of creating my own wipe spray and using cloth wipes.  

We've been using this method since Jack was born and I really really love it.  The wipes just go in the wash along with the cloth diapers, and I've gone through maybe 4 or 5 batches of this recipe so far.  It's super quick to make and I make two at a time so I can have a spare one to take in my diaper bag for when we're on the go.

DIY Baby Wipe Spray

• 2 TBSP Aloe Vera (liquid. we use this stuff)

• 2 tsp oil (jojoba, hemp, avocado, etc)

• 1.5 tsp liquid castile soap

• 10 drops tea tree essential oil

• 10 drops lavender essential oil

• ~4 TBSP water
  (yields 4 oz)

1. Add all ingredients (except water) to a 4 oz dark glass spray bottle.

2. Add water, just enough to fill the bottle to the top (leave enough room for the displacement of the spray tube). Swirl gently to mix.

3. Before each use, invert or gently swirl to combine ingredients.  Spray directly onto baby's skin or on the wipe itself (I find the former works best for us).

Four Months

Four month old Jack is quite the morning person.  He's super happy in the mornings right after waking up.  I plop him in his crib where I've made a makeshift play gym and he coos and plays for a good hour or so, which is so nice while I brush my teeth, make coffee and breakfast, and chill on the chair in his nursery reading news, catching up on social media, or checking emails.

Our new family photos

A couple months ago AlisaMarie of Sons & Daughters Photography came over to our little apartment and captured our new family.  I don't even remember how old Jack was here, I think it was in February, so probably 2 months-ish.  It's crazy how much he's grown in just those short months since we did this session!  Today he actually turns 4 months old!  He's smiling and giggling and holding toys, all of which sounds super boring before you have a kid, but it's pretty amazing to see those tiny milestones happening in these first months of life.  He wants to crawl, but he's not quite there yet.  I'll be enjoying these last weeks or months of having a stationary child before he starts cruising around.

I had a hard time culling these down, so here are a bunch of photos from our session!

Three Months

I'm slacking, cuz we're already 2 weeks past the day I took these photos, but here's my little 3 month old babe!  He's pretty damn cute.  These days he is smiling and laughing, he can grab and hold onto things, and he's pretty in love with a rabbit stuffed animal friend.  He's trying to crawl and rather annoyed that he can't get it down.  He sleeps through the night some nights.  He's a fan of baths.  He sleeps in the car and is great during outings.

As for me, I went in for another postpartum check up because at my 6 week check up things still weren't healing, so we did some silver nitrate cauterizing to see if that jump started the healing.  Unfortunately it did, but not enough, so when I went in for my follow up checkup, it was decided I needed to go into the OR that day and get the scar revised and re-stitched.  Oooof.  That sucked.  The thought of re-starting the healing process was so overwhelming.  There were tears shed.  But, a week later and it has felt better this whole time than it did at any point since giving birth, so I'm feeling super optimistic about it healing properly this time around.  I go in for my follow up appointment on Tuesday, so we'll see what the doc says then!

top: carters | pants: h&m | hat: carhartt

Family (Friends) Values

If you've been reading my recent posts you've probably caught on to our deliberations about where to move next.  For the time being we're living in Anchorage with my parents, but are planning on moving in the next year.  I ran across this article the other day and it echoed and clarified a lot of thoughts I've had while mulling our move about in my mind.  It's a quick, short read so hop over and read it real fast.  I'll wait.

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In some ways it can feel a little depressing to think about how short life is and the limited time we have here on earth. But it also makes you really evaluate how you're spending your life.  We moved up to Anchorage for two pretty major reasons, 1. my healthcare, and 2. to be close to my family for their support.  We didn't know if we'd end up loving Anchorage and find a niche here, but it turns out we haven't and Anchorage doesn't feel like a great fit for our family.  But one of the big reasons is that we really miss our community in Tacoma.  Even though the grey, dim, soggy winters make me stabby, our friends in Tacoma are just so amazing.  My life long best friend lives in Tacoma (after I convinced her to move out to the PNW when she graduated college), and even this hermit introvert realized after leaving how many people I truly had connected with in my 5 years living there.  

Now, I know if we decided to plant roots here in Anchorage I could absolutely build a community here. But my parents are considering a move down to Portland (again, to be closer to family-- my two brothers live there), and if we moved back to Tacoma, that's only a couple hours away.

Anyway, all of that to say, all of these thoughts had been mulling about in my mind about what we should do, where we should move, and reading that article just condensed those thoughts into a very clear, succinct picture of why certain things really matter.  Because we aren't going to have forever with our best friends, parents, siblings, grandparents, etc.  Because proximity matters.  

So for now we're here in Alaska, but I think our time in the great north is coming to a close.  I always took pride in being an Alaskan girl, but while my roots are Alaskan, I've realized that I bloomed in the Pacific Northwest. And for my whole life I thought, having been raised in Alaska, that I'd want my kids raised in Alaska.  But that's not really important to me anymore.  I know how I want to raise my kid(s) and it doesn't have to be in Alaska.  

All that being said, this place is heartbreakingly stunning.  Having grown up here I think I'm blind to it in some ways, but films like this remind me of the utter magnificence and meaningfulness of the beauty of the landscape around me. And imagery like this isn't unusual.  I'm stunned on a daily basis by the colors of a sunrise (which I see so regularly now, nursing Jack in the wee hours of the morning), the hoarfrost on naked trees, the sunlight illuminating the mountain range on the borders of town.  It really is something else to be surrounded by natural beauty of this magnitude on a daily basis.