Labeling Baby E's Storage Tote

Okay, so a few days ago I shared with you the fact of how I had stored Baby E's bassinet, swing, and bouncer in a large storage container. However, I didn't really talk about how I would come to recognize what was in that storage container. Besides having to remember. 

So, I grabbed the storage container that I had put everything in and put it to the side. Then I pulled out a few old sheet protectors and decided to cut them. I just went along the perforated edges and just cut/rip. Ending up with two sheets. 

I then printed up two signs. One to sit on the outside and the other to sit on the inside. 

After that, I went back to the sheet protector and folded it to make a large envelope. Once it was folded, I just grabbed some regular scotch tape and taped the ends shut. 

Once, it was all taped together. I opened it up just to make sure that it wouldn't come apart on me. 

Once I confirmed that it wouldn't rip open, I went ahead and placed the two sheets of paper inside of it. First to go in was the paper with the names of the stuff inside and then I placed the itemized list on the inside. 

Lastly, after everything was stuffed into the envelope. I just grabbed my tape and placed it onto the outside of the container. Mostly in a space that I knew I could see and easily access the list just in case. 

                                     

Once it was taped and all said and done. I just placed the storage container in Baby E's closet. She has the room and with the fact that it's been so hot especially in the attic... I'm just kind of being lazy and don't want to store it up there at the moment. Mostly, because I'd like to be able to breathe and not feel like I'm suffocating. So, for the time being until it get's cooler it's just going to hang out in her closet. Next to the storage bin with her clothes in it.

Hello Screen, Goodbye Screen!

With Summer in full swing, we've noticed a TON of bugs coming in and out of the house. Especially, when we have to stand there forever waiting for the dogs. It just seems like all those little buggers sneak on by us.

While watching TV we saw an infomercial on a little screen for your door. It's magnetized in the middle to snap easily after you without letting all the bugs in. We laughed about it. Then a week later, my husband brings one home.

After, a few weeks of having it sit on the table... we decided to put it up.

I laid the screen on the dining room floor and placed the velcro strips in their designated places. We then brought one by one outside and hung them up.

     
      

Of course, we were super excited when we were done. We could let the dogs in and out. Not having to worry about stealthy fighting the bugs coming and then chasing all the ones that get by us. Of course our puppies were a little weirded out by it. Mostly with the snapping of the magnetic strips. They quickly got over it though and made it ten times easier to just let them do their thing.

That lasted about a few weeks.

My puppy got overly excited chasing a bug that was sitting on it. She jumped up and scratched the hell out of it. Which then in turn pulled it from the top. Needless, to say it ripped.

Now it's gone. But it was awesome while it lasted. Thank God it was free! And no, my husband didn't steal it, one of the businesses around his work threw it out in the trash. A brand new box. So, he took it.

Storing Baby E's LARGE Items

Baby E has pretty much outgrown several of her essential items. So, the other day I decided it was time to pack them up. My baby girl is growing up. A bitter sweet moment.

So, before I started to pack everything up. I took pictures of everything. 

• how the item looked (before I broke it down)
• the items that belong with it (seating pads, screws, rods, etc.)
• the labels (everything that I labeled)
• everything together while it was broken down

Taking the pictures kind of helped me to remember everything that went together as well as hopefully help me in the future. 

~*~

Here are two of the items that I took pictures of before breaking them down. 

 

After I had taken the first picture, I began to break down the swing. I broke it down one by one and labeled everything as I broke it down. That way when we go to use it again for a future baby, we know how to put the stuff back together. This is mostly because my husband threw away the directions to the items and we can't find them on the companies websites.

 

Once everything was labeled and pictures taken, I placed them into the bin. I also grabbed all of the screws/tools and placed them in corresponding plastic sandwich bags. 

~*~

This is where it became tricky. I wanted to fit the swing, bassinet, and bouncer together in one box. And I was able to as well, except for the frame to the bassinet. That part didn't break down (I'll explain what I did with that part later). 

With trying to get everything to fit, I just had to find a way to get everything to work. I would lay out the different parts and move them around if necessary. 

Once, I got the basis down of how I wanted to lay the majority of the rods and especially the top of the swing. In the picture below, you can see that all the rods are in place for all three items. The top of the swing is laying on its side. I placed a few grocery bags around it to support it. I also took majority of the swings parts and placed it in the blue bag next to it. Also providing additional support.

Now, before placing the seat pads and other miscellaneous fabric parts into the bin; I made sure to wash each one. This way I could get any stains and funky smells that may have been embedded into the fabric. I can't stand putting dirty things away. Especially in storage.

After everything was washed and dried, I placed them in several grocery bags and used those as cushions as well.

I then placed the seat to the swing on top of everything.

To ensure that the screws and other items that were in plastic baggies wouldn't fly everywhere in the bin or get lost at a future date, I decided to tape them to one side of the bin (on the inside).

After taping them to the side, I placed the swing cushion on top and then to top it all off... I also placed the wooden bottom and cushion of the bassinet on top of that.

Then closed the bin and that's all she wrote.

Now, all I have to do is write up the labels for the outside of the box.

Baby E's 8th Month Favorites

I honestly don't have any 8 month favorites for Baby E. Unless you count the pool and her pool toys. Those have been by far her favorite things. 

We're crawling around and attempting to walk so you know everything is now awesome! Between the tables to the chairs, the DVDs, dog toys, and even the dog bowls. Oh yeah, we found the dog bowls.

However, since we don't have any 8th month favorites I figured I'd share that bitter sweet moment of packing some baby things up (that will be in a follow up post).

Does your baby have any favorite items or does everything seem to be awesome at the moment?

The Bags Need A Container.

Okay, so we all have it. That moment when you open up the doors underneath the sink and every bag falls out. Of course, you may have a few words come out and then shove them back in. Talking about how you'll find something to put those bags in, then of course you never do it. Getting more and more frustrated each time. Of course, that's my husband and I.

So....

One day after perusing Pinterest, I found an easy way to kind of maintain the bags and store them in other places. You know, where they're actually needed but aren't really there. This way you don't have to walk everywhere just to grab a bag.

So, like I said while I was perusing I found this awesome way to reuse a Lysol/Clorox/Store Brand/Whatever You Use Container into a plastic bag holder.

It didn't require shoving bags into a jumbled up mess. It's so neatly organized. It's awesome.

I clicked on the picture and found this adorable little website called Infarrantly Creative with detailed directions on how to complete this.

I grabbed all my grocery bags and threw them into the laundry hamper.

I then picked through each. Throwing away any that had random holes in it. I then flattened out the good ones on the table.

Once flattened, I would fold them in half. Smoothing them out and placing them to the side. I did this about 14 times.

 

As I finished that, I laid each on top of the end of the next one. Making a little train.

I then tightly rolled them together, pushing any air out as I went.

Grabbed my Lysol Container and placed the bags into it. With the tail sticking out.

 

Taking the tail, I pushed it through the opening of the top of the container. Sealing it.

I did leave the outside blank. This one just hangs out next to my daughters trash can. You can't see it. So it's all good.

Oh and let me just say, this has become ridiculously hand when it comes to replacing the trash bags in Baby E's trash can. Just pull, replace, and go.

Goodbye Rocks!

Okay, so I don't know if the previous owners put these out and created this little area. However, this girl likes to go barefoot and walking over these rocks gets a little old. Plus, they go everywhere. I mean end up at the end of the sidewalk, everywhere.

It even had this weird bumper around it to define the area. I wasn't feeling that either. So, my husband pulled it up and took it to the dump. Then, we were left with rocks. Lovely rocks.

With the fact that it was continuously raining or we were busy with Baby E, we never really got around to it. Until... I pick the hottest day to rake rocks. Even with that, it still looks better.

I had to rake them into piles, but that's okay. It still looks a lot better than what it did.

Now, to just get a wheel barrow. Scoop them up and take them out front. I'm just going to add them to the random hole in the driveway.

It just looks so much better. All I have to do now is figure out how to get the remainder of the rocks up. You know the ones that are stuck under the mounds and mounds of dirt.





Even the sidewalk, that seemed to gather the rocks on it as well. I honestly still haven't figured out how the sidewalk accumulated that many rocks. Here's a before and after shot.

        

 

Celebrating the 1st Day of Summer!

This is a little late. I know. However, back around June 21st I decided to keep the tradition alive of celebrating the first day of summer.

Now, when Baby E goes into school this will more than likely be celebrated on the last day of school (you know, to welcome summer in). For right now though, just celebrating the first day of summer is perfect for us.

So, my mama grabbed Baby E a few beach buckets from Michaels for her to play with. We have one for the home and then one to take with us to the beach (since we haven't been to the beach yet, we play with both of them :))

We also grabbed the bathing suit from Kohls and the swimming diaper from Target.

The pool came from Walmart and the duckies were from Old Navy. The sunscreen you can get anywhere and in your preference :).

Once, everything was gathered. I just took the baby pool and wrapped it to form an ice cream cone and shoved it into the beach bucket. Then I just placed the swim diaper and the rubber duckies on top. Pushed the sunscreen in the middle to hold those items up and then the bathing suit is hanging out at the top in all its ruffly glory.

I gave it to baby E on the first day of summer and she loved it. She pulled out each item, looked at them, of course threw them, and then it was off to get dressed for the pool.

And of course, it can't be the perfect first day of summer without a glistening cool pool.

Baby E LOVED every moment of it and still loves it to this day.

Do you guys have any favorite ways to celebrate the first day of summer? OR Do you celebrate any other season?

DON'T FORGET! Anthem LemonAid Stand is THIS Weekend

Although summer is my favorite time of the year, I also enjoy seeing the local kids/daycare's/groups standing on the side of the roads with their lemonade stands. Of course what doesn't say summer without a little lemonade?

With that during the weekend of July 19th-21st you'll see several lemonade stands popping up in the area in support of Anthem LemonAid. This event raises funds to help the Children's Miracle Network to raise funds to help beat childhood cancer. If your in the Metro Richmond area all proceeds go to The Richmond Children's Hospital at VCU or if your in the Hampton Roads area all proceeds go to Children's Hospital of the Kings Daughters.

We did this with the school-age children when I worked at a daycare several years  ago and it was one of the best things ever! The kids decorated their own stands, made the lemonade (with help of course), and sold the lemonade themselves. The excitement was just unbelievable!

You can either register for either a physical stand or an on-line stand OR you have the option of registering for both. Below are the areas where you can register for your LemonAid stand.

Physical Stand~

- To register your physical stand in the Richmond Metro area (includes most of Central Virginia as well as Northern Virginia), click here
- To register your physical stand in the Hampton Roads area (includes majority of the Tidewater area), click here

On-line ~

- Hampton Roads area, click here --- stand will remain active until July 31st
- Richmond Metro area, click here

Hope many of you guys get the opportunity to participate! It's an amazing cause and truly fun!

And the Dogs Keep on Digging....

I swear one day I'm hoping our dogs find us some buried treasure in our yard. At the rate their going, at least. Every day the puppies keep bringing us something new. And today it was this.....

Before that, it was solo cups, hi-c boxes, flip flops, saw blades, balls, toys, etc. None of those which belong to us. Cause honestly, we don't even allow them to take their bones or toys out. 

Either that or we need a metal detector :).

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Baby Bottle Funk and Gunk

Okay, so after time and most of us know it; things that are seemingly clean end up having a funky smell. Although Baby E's bottles seemed beyond clean they would some how start having a weird smell and sometimes we would still see grime left from her formula. Now, this after the bottle's been washed umpteen times with a scrub brush, checked, and then washed in the dishwasher. Sometimes, I even wonder if my eye sight is getting worse because I don't see it until I pull them out of the dishwasher. Then it's like "eww gross" and back to the hand wash again.

Now, this starts to get a frustrating especially when you have a little one screaming their head off. Cause they want that bottle, like now and your not moving fast enough.

So, one day while I was washing dishes and I saw the bottle of vinegar sitting next to the sink. Once, again light bulb.

Vinegar has become one of my favorite things to clean with. Especially when you add baking soda into the mix.

So, I'd sit each bottle on the counter and add a little bit of baking soda to each. Then. I would grab the bottle of vinegar and add it. Of course, you know, you get this awesome chemical reaction... that brings you back to being a kid.

Once, the chemical reaction was finished... I would swirl it around and then dump. Then I'd add a little bit more water and a smidgen of soap and scrub. Just in case. Popping it into the dishwasher when I was finished.

Let me tell you, Baby E's bottles never looked better. They almost looked brand new and smelled even more amazing.

This has become my new regimen and the bottles look awesome. I don't have to worry about that funky smell and then finding gunky formula residue after washing.

Have you guys found an easy way to wash the gunk and funk out of your baby's bottles?