Showing posts with label soapbox. Show all posts
Showing posts with label soapbox. Show all posts

Friday, June 29, 2012

On Barf, Birdseye, and Burp Cloths


Why I Prefer Birdseye 3 Ply Prefolds for my HoopDeeDoo Burpcloths.

{warning: super grody baby talk ahead!}

I've had some people ask about the burpcloths I'm making for the shop, so let me address it here:  I use 3 ply birdseye weave prefold diapers, which are lighter weight.  Many boutique burp cloths are 6 ply, but I don't use them anymore.

Why?


{fabric: ikea}


They don't fit the HoopDeeDoo philosophy of pretty + practical.  

My own personal experience as a mom comes into play here.  Sorry to get graphic, but I had a baby with severe reflux, so I know burpcloths.  I tried them all.   I gave up on the puffy 6 plys very quickly.  A 6 ply Chinese prefold gauze weave diaper is great for liquids (ahem: urine) and keeping it "inside" a diaper, but it simply doesn't absorb thicker liquids as quickly (ahem: vomit).   So you get the dreaded runoff or smearing.  Pretty, but not practical.

I eventually just bought a pack of plain white birdseye 3 plys and used them forever.  They worked like a charm and took up less room in the diaper bag, but were kind of boring. Practical, but not pretty.

I always wanted the kind of burp cloths that I am now making for my shop.


{fabric: alexander henry.  find in the shop here.}

Yes, the thick ones seem so luxurious and pretty on the boutique shelf.  But baby barf ain't pretty, folks.  Young mamas in the trenches of reflux and sleep deprivation need absorbency and less barf on their backs.

Just keepin' it real.

Put yourself in  a new mama's shoes for a moment.  Let's say it's Mother's Day and you got a 5 minute hot shower as your gift, and you're disturbingly excited about going to church because it's the first time you've left the house all week, and your precious 3 week old horks all over that fat fluffy burp cloth which doesn't absorb anything so all of the putrescence streams down the back of your new Ann Taylor sweater set (ok, it's a hand me down from your mother in law, but new to you) - yes, it will be the end of the world.  I promise.  You will first cry the ugly cry, and then you will crack and start using hand towels as burpcloths until you can get some decent absorbent burpies, even if they are ugly, just as long as they suck up the vomit and fold down small enough to get into the diaper bag.

(Completely fictional story.)


{fabric: alexander henry.  find in the shop here.}

Anyways, to keep things both pretty and practical, I chose an absorbent birdseye cloth as the base and added a cotton fabric strip to pretty it up.  Prewashed on hot.  Machine dried on hot.  Cause new mamas want to know that the thing is going to survive some harsh treatment. 

Give me practical any day of the week.  But make it pretty while you're at it.  :)



{fabric: vintage.  find in the shop here.}
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Thursday, April 12, 2012

Making my peace with blogging


So obviously I fell off the #marchphotoaday bandwagon.


I wanted to do it.  I had fun taking the pictures.  But then spring break came and I forgot to take all of the pictures, and when we got back to the routine, it was all I could do to just make sure the family was fed and clothed and where they were supposed to be at any given moment.


Photo taken at Pops on 3/14/12

I've been pondering blogging and my role in the blogosphere and my lack of motivation for it.  Here's what I've come up with:

1.  I don't need anything else to do.  If blogging feels like a chore, I'm not going to do it, because I have enough chores to do, so I should do one that results in my family having clean dishes or something like that.  

2.  I can't compete.  Reading other people's shiny happy blogs makes me feel like my house isn't clean enough, my blog isn't pretty enough, etc. etc.  Let me be clear: NO ONE is making me feel that way but MYSELF.  So I removed myself from reading most blogs I follow for a while.  It felt really good.  And the universe did not explode.

3.  I'd rather be sewing.  I only have about 5 hours a week to put into my etsy shop, so I'd rather spend all of that making stuff than wrestling with blogger.

4.  I've got other non-crafty projects that eat up huge amounts of time and satisfy my creative urges in a way blogging simply can't.  Like music.  I got to produce and sing in a bluegrass worship service for Easter with Rick Trevino.  It required tons of planning and rehearsal and resulted in one of the most joyful Easters of my life!  You can't say yes to everything, so when these kinds of projects come along, I just say NO to everything else mediocre so I can say YES to amazing!

5.  And, most importantly, the family comes first.  Read this amazing post my friend Jen brought to my attention today.  (Jen is a spectacular blogger herself, and hers is one of the few that made the cut, because, well, she's Jen.)

So, to sum up, I think I have made my peace with being a sporadically posting, bad photo taking, messy random blogger who can't write html and only occasionally responds to comments.  

yay!

(I'm much better at Facebook and Twitter, by the way)



My desk.  Scary, eh?




- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
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Thursday, September 16, 2010

soapbox moment: care

Hi, craftosphere.  I'm home.  From where?

Two funerals in three weeks.

First, my husband's grandmother.

Second, my father.

Both of them had been ill for a long time.  Both of them were suffering.  Both of them were believers in Christ, as I am, and are now free in heaven, with new bodies, healed and happy.

The rest of us are a little worse for wear.  We're happy for them both, peaceful of heart, but very very tired.

I want to say a couple of things about Huntington's disease, from which my dad suffered for almost 10 years.  Now that it's all over, I feel like I can talk about it publicly without being disrespectful of his desire for normalcy, his desire to live life to the fullest, to not be characterized by the disease.  He was an incredible man, an upright man, a model of Godly character and courage.  He was NOT defined by this disease.  But since so few know about it, I have a few words to say.

First of all, Huntington's disease is ugly, really really really ugly, and not a novelty.

You see it in the media, like with Thirteen on "House", or in a Harlan Coben novel, or if you've been around a long time, you might know it as Woody Guthrie's disease.

Don't be fooled into thinking it's cool.  If you have HD, then people often think you are drunk or mentally handicapped.  You fall a lot.  You can't drive, or shouldn't.  You can hardly work.  You possibly passed it on to your kids, and for this, you feel really really guilty.  Your personality changes so gradually that people don't always know that you've lost your ability to reason properly.  You sometimes are belligerent and cruel to the ones you love, and even when you aren't, your movements are so violent that you bruise and batter them unintentionally.  You slowly starve to death.  You are at risk for choking.  You know that there's no cure.

There's no cure.

There's only care.

But care isn't popular.  Care doesn't get big budget benefits and black tie galas.  Care doesn't get media attention.  Care doesn't get donations.

Care takes commitment from the family.  It takes unbelievable financial, physical, and spiritual resources.  Care is expensive in every way imaginable.  Care suffers quietly, anonymously.


Caring for someone at home is the most exhausting, the most demanding, the most noble and loving thing a person can do for another.  Even the most well-equipped nursing home can rarely handle a HD patient, so my mom cared for dad at home.  She loved him like nothing I have ever seen before, and she gave of herself every minute of every day, all for him.  Sacrificial love.  Up until the very last breath.

Why am I telling you all of this?  You came here to read about knitting and sewing.

Because you probably know someone quietly suffering, taking care of a loved one at home.  Maybe it's your grandma taking care of grandpa.  Maybe it's your next door neighbor with her handicapped child.  Maybe you actually know someone with Huntington's disease (unlikely, but if you do I'd like to know).  If any of the above rings a bell, and someone is now in your mind, then REACH OUT TO THEM.  They need your help.  They are TOO BUSY TO ASK FOR HELP.  You can give them a little bit of courage by a simple meal, card, ride, phone call, email, mow, errand, visit.

Care.  Focus on care.  Do what the big-budget galas can't do.

For those who reached out to me and my family during this dark turmoil of the last 10 years, thank you.  You were ministers of grace.  You were Christ in action.

As for the future?  I'm at risk for HD.  I'm not going to be tested, although I plan to enroll in some medical studies.

But, as my dad said, I'm not going to base my life on an "if."  I'm going to LIVE.

Time to sew.

http://www.hdsa.org/
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