A "new" diaper, a "new" dress, and a "new" crib.

I knew when I decided to cloth diaper Madeline that her diapers would eventually need maintenance. Elastic and Velcro can only stand up to washing so many times before their effectiveness wears out. Her diapers need new elastic and I am wishing I could replace it myself, but I honestly don't know how, I don't have the resources and I don't want to ruin my diapers. They have a lot of life left in them still, so I'll solicit someone who has the know-how and resources to help me replace the elastic. I think it's simple (I can say that since I don't know how to do it! ha!), but it's just a matter of getting it done. She's starting to leak, so I need to do it soon.

But I won't be replacing the Velcro (Hook&Loop)...I'll be "upgrading" her BumGenius diapers to snaps. The 4.0 version hadn't come out when I purchased my stash, so I'll be doing it on my own. I practiced on some Mommy's Touch diapers I had and I did not like the conversion. At all. The diapers were difficult to snap/unsnap and I didn't want to ruin my BumGenius diapers! I finally converted one BumGenius as an example and I'm happy to report that it works WAY better than the Mommy's Touch. I think the PUL fabric is different so the snaps are easier to use. For whatever reason, I'm happy with the "new" diaper!

My mom sent me an old dress for Madeline to wear. I don't remember where she got the dress, but I think she was given it when Katie was an infant (in 1989) and it was old then. It was stained and yellowed, but I soaked it in some Rockin' Green and it came out looking brand new! I was so excited for her to wear it to church yesterday! It's like a "new" dress!

Lastly, I alluded to Madeline "new" crib setup in my last post. She's certainly trapped now - we put a tent over her crib! Before anyone passes judgement on Craig and me for placing a tent on Madeline's crib, let me say that you don't know our little escape artist. Madeline is tall and has figured out how to use her height to her advantage. She fell out of her crib a couple of weeks ago and once she knew she could escape, all bets for sleeping were off. Totally. What once was easy, became hard. No more playing/singing herself to sleep. Nope, it was screams, a leg over the rain and a drop to the ground. And then the night of no sleeping came - while Craig was away on business. I brought Madeline to bed with me, but I can't sleep with a child in my bed. I moved her to her mattress (now on the floor) and she was awake in less than an hour wondering around upstairs, so she came back to bed with me and she slept (I didn't). I know she will eventually grow out of her crib and we'll transition her to a bed/mattress of the floor, but Madeline just doesn't get the "it's time to sleep" notion when she has freedom. Maybe when she's 2 or something, but at 18 months, she wasn't ready to grasp that idea.

For the record, I love this tent. And so does she - when it's not time to sleep, that is. She wants to play in her crib, asks for us to "close" her in and then plays. It's hilarious. She's also transitioned to going to sleep with the tent on. She's not as happy about it as I'd like (when it's time to sleep), but every night is easier and easier.

So, here's her "new" crib.

 * hello, Madeline *

 * Do you want out? *

 * You know it unzips from this end, but you can't figure out how to get out on your own! *

 * You also know that this is how you zip it back up! *

Please notice the raw wood on the first picture. No seriously, go back and look at the damage Madeline did to her bed prior to us zip-tying towels to the sides. I had forgotten how bad it was until I removed the towels to put on the tent! Wow! Also note her outfit.  I removed her blue jeans prior to her nap and put on stretchy pants and these were on top. I like to keep it real here on the ol' blog! Bright blue shirt and lime green with brown polka dotted pants!

So that's what's "new" with us. What's "new" with you?