Sounds Gross but it's Cute: Making a Diaper Cake

Happy Thursday everyone! I am participating in Mama Kat's Writer's Workshop today. I was so thrilled when I saw that she had a craft post as an option because I've been working on this one for quite some time.

I have a co-worker who is pregnant with her third child. She has two little boys who are around the same age as The Son and she is having a much-wanted girl this time. Another co-worker of mine thought it would be a great idea to have a little baby shower for her. I agreed and we had planned on having it at my home.

The Blizzard of 2010 decided to come on the same night as the scheduled party and... Surprise! We had to cancel. I was bummed, my co-workers were bummed but the guest(s) of honor had no idea because it was supposed to be a surprise party anyway. We rescheduled the party for the following Monday night after the mom-to-beX3 was finished teaching swim lessons. I didn't take pictures of the actual party because no one wants to be photographed at almost 9 months pregnant, let alone almost 9 months pregnant AND just completing a couple hours teaching swimming lessons in the pool. Trust me on this one.

I didn't know what to give as a gift and had always thought that diaper cakes were a little bit odd but now that I've been a new mother, I know that diapers are a wonderful gift because they are one of the items that you need right from the beginning and keep on needing. Presenting a case of diapers as a gift, isn't very creative or pretty so the diaper cake makes a cute way to present something that's a rather well, let's face it... unpleasant part of parenting. I had a friend at my shower give me a pack of diapers along with the books, "The Gas We Pass" and "Everyone Poops" which I thought was hilarious but I'm not sure this particular guest of honor has quite the same sense of humor as I do so I decided the diaper cake was a better option.

Making a diaper cake is actually pretty simple. I looked up a couple different varieties on line since I had never made one before, and decided on the kind that doesn't roll up each individual diaper. It came out beautifully and I'm sure was much quicker than the other kind, not to mention better on the diapers.

First, you need a round object to put in the center, this will NOT be staying there as it does in other diaper cake varieties so it really doesn't matter what it is, it's just there to hold your diapers up as you form them into a circle. I started with four diapers layered on top of each other kind of like steps and rested them against my center object.

Continue to lay your diapers all around the object, kind of with a pinwheel effect.

You will need the following amount of diapers per layer, the first number is the diapers that will to around the outside and the second number will be the numbers you put into the middle:

Bottom = 40 and 8
Middle = 28 and 4
Top = 14 and 2

After you put all your diapers around the round object, tie them tightly with a piece of string or other thin ribbon. I used curling ribbon. I put the ribbon around, tied them part way, removed my round object and then tied them the rest of the way, there should be a smallish area still open in the center. After you tie them you can arrange them to make them more even.

After you like the way they are arranged, take the smaller amount of diapers and roll them up all together to stick them in the middle.

Do this for all three layers. One of the tutorials I saw suggested using a pizza pan to put the bottom layer on but honestly, I used a piece of cardboard from an old calendar that was much smaller than my bottom layer but worked just fine, I found that once everything was tied up, I didn't even need it.

The decorating was the fun part. I found this thick white ribbon and made that the base for all my decorations. The important thing to remember with this project is that you don't want to glue anything to the diapers OR to the objects with which you're decorating. I wrapped the ribbon around and used my hot glue gun to glue it to the other side of the ribbon. Remember, NO glue on the diapers. I am saying this twice because as obvious as it is, if you are a big glue gun user, you might get carried away and want to start gluing all over the place. I had to keep reminding myself not to do this. I used small pieces of ribbon and glued them to the white ribbon and then used them to tie various things on.

This little cutie was the thing that inspired the whole theme of my cake, I knew that my friend wouldn't have any little toys like her because, like I said, she has two boys. I loved the pink and brown colors and she's really soft. I got her at Wal-Mart, she's made for their store's Carter's brand. I tied her to the top layer and rested her so it looked like she was seated on the middle layer. So cute!

Here's another angle, I used some onesies, a few toys, some bibs and a little brush and comb set as my decorations along with some various pink and brown ribbon. I made a big bow for the top and secured it through the center and then just tied everything around to make it look cute. (Such technical directions, huh? ;) )

I did not attach the three layers to each other so the cake was easy to transport and just assemble when we got to the party. It was a big hit and made a really cute decoration on the table. I was very happy with it.

One final note, I read a lot of tutorials in order to come up with the way I was going to make this and noticed that a lot of sites comment that diapers are very absorbent to smells as well as liquid so if you're a smoker or cook a lot of "fragrant" types of food, it's a good idea to make your diaper cake away from these various odors. This wasn't an issue for us, but I can only imagine how a beautiful diaper cake could ruin a baby shower for lots of people if it reeked of cigarettes. Ewwwwww...

Well Friends, I hope you all have a lovely day. If you stopped by from Mama Kat, thanks! Leave me a comment and I'll be sure to stop by your blog too. If you want to see what we're doing today, click here for yesterday's post. Yes, it happened, or I should say, it's happening. Again. Stay warm people! Live healthy!

Writer's Workshop: A List of Do's and Don'ts

I haven't blogged in a few days because I've been busy and preoccupied with snow so today, when I realized it was Thursday, I hopped on over to Mama's Losin' It to see if there was a writing prompt that I could use to participate in her always fun Writer's Workshop. I've elected to do the Do's and Don'ts list and with help from The Husband and The Son, we've composed...

The Do's and Don'ts of how to Survive Two Major Snowstorms
Within a Week of Each Other!

Do...
Plan on spending lots of time indoors watching some favorite TV shows and playing Wii with your family.
Don't...
Expect anything you have planned to tape on your DVR to actually be the scheduled program, it will inevitably be "LATE BREAKING COVERAGE OF THE NOR'EASTER OF 2010" for hours on end.

Do...
take photographs of the storm in progress.
Don't...
call them "snowtographs."

Do...
let your dog out to play and frolic in the wintry wonderland as the snow accumulates.
Don't...
step in the "presents" he leaves WAY too close to your front step when you open the door.

Do...
make sure you have plenty of bread, milk and eggs in case you need lots and lots of french toast during the storm.
Don't...
forget you also need to make sure you have plenty of toilet paper.

Do...
Spend lots of time working on the computer and by working I mean facebooking and playing hidden object games.
Don't...
prevent The Husband from using the computer for two minutes to check if he actually has to go to work.

Do...
Take the time to make homemade whole wheat bread and delicious homemade Wheat Thins.
Don't...
eat them all in one day.

Do...
Pay $30 to have someone shovel and plow your driveway and front walk.
Don't...
hesitate to tell everyone you did it yourself "for exercise."

Do...
Enjoy being able to have snow days off from work and school and the gym...
Don't...
forget to spend the time with your family, playing in the snow, laughing and making great memories.

Happy Snow day to everyone who's having one! Stay warm! Have fun! Stay Healthy!

Writer's Workshop... Interview a child

It's Thursday's Writer's Workshop with Mama Kat again today. I liked a lot of the prompt choices but decided on the one that suggests interviewing a child. I thought The Son would think this was really cool and be more than happy to help. I was wrong. He helped me, but was less than enthusiastic.

I decided to interview him on jobs since I always find children's take on jobs and what adults do amusing. Here goes...

Me: What does Daddy do for a job?

The Son: Work.

Me: Well, I know but what does he do for a job?

The Son: He's a dean.

Me: Well, what does that mean, to be the dean?

The Son: He teaches

Me: Is that all he does?

The Son: I think so.

Me: How much money does Daddy make at his job?

The Son: A lot .

Me: What does Mommy do for a job?

The Son: Work at the YMCA.

Me: What exactly do I do there?

The Son: Teach and have meetings.

Me: Do I do anything else?

The Son: Well, not that I can think of

Me: How much money does Mommy make?

The Son: Some.

Me: So, what are you going to do for a job when you grow up?

The Son: Be a paleontologist.

Me: At what age do you think you'll become a paleontologist?

The Son: (thinking really hard) I don't know.

Me: Well, what do you think? Take a guess.

The Son: Hmmmmm, I don't know, a teenager?

Me: OK, and how much money will you make as a paleontologist?

The Son: 120

Me: What do you think best job in the whole world is?

The Son: Well, there's 3 best jobs... a paleontologist, a marine biologist and... (thinking) what's the one that studies bugs?

Me: an entomologist?

The Son: Yeah, an entomologist, do you know how to spell that?

Me: Yes, I know how to spell that. What's the worst job in the whole world?

The Son: Going to work when you have kids and you're a dad.

Me: OK well, is there anything else you want to tell me about jobs?

The Son: Well, let me just tell you something before I tell you stuff about jobs, your hair's all messed up.

Me: I know, anything else about jobs?

The Son: No, not really, my stomach's growling.

Me: OK then, go eat breakfast. Thanks!

The Son: (as he runs off) You're welcome...

So, there you have it folks... an interview with my five-year-old on jobs and work, enlightening, huh?

Writer's Workshop... Solicited, Unsolicited Parenting Advice

It's Thursday and I really liked one of Mama Kat's Writer's Workshop prompts this morning. I haven't participated in a while but I have been thinking of telling you all about this for a while now and this presents me with the perfect opportunity:

Share a piece of unsolicited parenting advice...only I'm soliciting it.

Mama Kat writes a lovely piece about getting her day care children to nap every day, this includes her own children of course. She offers some great ideas which she guarantees work with the children she takes care of. Solid advice, you can be sure. My solicited, unsolicited parenting advice is somewhat different...

There are many theories on child-rearing and parenting, "Parenting by Loving Guidance and Firm Boundaries," "Parenting by Using Natural and Logical Consequences," Parenting Using Mutual Respect and Listening," etc., etc. I'm sure they're all fine, but ultimately our goal as caregivers is to get those in our care to do what we want them to do, when we want them to do it. That brings me to my theory of parenting...

"Parenting by Competition" *

My theory works especially well for boys and I say that because I have no experience parenting a girl. If you are the parent of a female child, well, you'll have to modify these competitions to suit your purposes. It's really a very simple strategy. Just turn everything into a competition. Everything. Your child will want to win so much that they'll complete any task you ask of them, and they'll do it quickly. The key here is that you must allow your child to win pretty much all the time. Allow me to offer a few examples:

1- Cleaning up their toys...
When your child has toys that need to be cleaned up, all you have to say is, "I bet I can clean up more toys than you can AND in a faster time." Your child will instantly begin cleaning up so that they can beat you. Remember, you must allow them to beat you.

2- "Trying" to go potty when out at the mall...
This works well when your child is completely potty trained and is able to go into a bathroom stall by themselves with you in the stall next to them. It's great for those kids who say, "I don't have to go" when you know darn well that they do. Simply tell them, "I bet I can pee faster than you can." Works. Every. Time. I used it when The Son was younger, in the process of potty training, and we had to go in the same stall by telling him that I could pee longer than he did and pretending to time it, with him winning of course...

3- Going upstairs to go to bed...
Simple... "I bet I can beat you up the stairs." This one has been used in our household when the theory of "Parenting by Competition" is starting to lose it's effectiveness, this is when YOU actually win the race up the stairs. It WILL make your child angry to lose but it will also give you the upper hand by making the winning next time all the more desirable. You can quickly alleviate any anger by moving on to the next competition... "I bet can put toothpaste on my toothbrush faster than you can."

4- At the Y or beach or swimming club...
"I bet I can get dressed (or undressed or changed into my swimsuit) faster than you can"

Try it! You can add, change and modify the competitions to suit your many parenting needs. I guarantee my "Parenting by Competition" theory WILL work. If it doesn't, I suggest you research my other parenting theory... "Parenting by Bribery."

*disclaimer: This theory of parenting is meant to be taken with a grain of salt, rest assured that The Son, is truly a loving, sweet, good boy with whom we only need to resort to "Parenting by Competition" with on rare occasions. On those occasions however, it really does work. ;)

Writer's Workshop...

Thursday again... time for our friend Mama Kat's Writer's Workshop. I was thrilled this week when I saw that she had "write a limerick" as one of her prompts... and then I tried to do it, not quite as easy as I remember it being.

My life these days isn't all that exciting and besides work and taking care of The Son, the only thing I do pretty much is work out so I wrote my limerick about my experience yesterday... enjoy!

There once was a Momma from PA
who wanted to run a 5K,
She found life sublime, she decreased her time!
But found it difficult to walk the next day.

Have a great Thursday everyone...it's a busy day for us, The Son has gymnastics, I have my weight loss meeting and I'm teaching a new class for the Y at a local charter school, Scrapbooking and Stamping... four little girls are enrolled, should be fun!

Writer's Workshop...

It's Thursday and time again for Mama Kat's Writer's Workshop. It's only taken me ALL day to get this "assignment" finished and even then, I had to call The Husband to get him to help me a little bit. I'd also like to say that I would never use the word "Xanadu" in a poem unless forced to use the letter "X" but I AM proud of myself for not using "X-ray" or eXact! Here's the assignment:

Write a 26-line poem using all the letters of the alphabet, where the first line starts with the letter "A," the second "B," the third "C," etc., culminating with the final line starting with "Z."

And, here's my poem: (be kind, I tried to follow the rules as much as possible)

The ABC's of The Son
Adorable five-year-old who's the love of my life.
Bouncing off the walls, your days are full of fun.
Curiosity abounds, you want to know it all.
Darling boy, you never fail to make us laugh.
Energy seems to radiate off of you.
Family and friends keep you busy as you
Grow up right before our eyes.
Hugging you and kissing you make me smile,
I never realized how much love my heart could hold.
Jumping and gyrating,
Karate kicking,
Laughing and loving,
Momma's little man.
Never stopping, you play, play, play,
Oh my! You are a busy kid.
Puppy dog tails and snips and snails--they say that's what you're made of.
Questing daily for adventures galore you can turn...
Rocks into fossils and insects into pets.
Sometimes I just can't believe you're ours.
Thankful on daily basis
Unconditional love...
Verdantly abounds.
We cherish our family time as our own personal
Xanadu.
You bring us joy, love and a
Zest for life beyond compare.

Writer's Workshop...

It's Thursday and I'm participating in Mama Kat's Writer's Workshop again. I'm not very consistent with my participation but I like to do it when she has a relatively easy prompt, like today so I'm going to do this one... 3.) List your five most recent favorite things.

These are a few of my favorite things...

1. Bison Burger

As many of you know, I am pursuing a healthier lifestyle. I recently discovered this Bison Burger in the grocery store as I was wandering through the meat area. I love burgers but the "lean" burger at our grocery store was never very tasty to me and the regular burger is tasty but not very healthy. I've had bison at restaurants before and liked it so I picked up a pack for the fam. It. is. fantastic. It's juicy but lean and has all the flavor of a regular burger but without a greasy taste. A 4 oz. burger has 190 calories unlike a regular burger that has 285 calories (and lots more fat). A pound costs a little more than $5 so it's probably a bit more expensive than regular ground beef but it is really delicious. Sure, it's still a treat, and not as healthy as chicken or other lean meats but I save it for Thursday nights after I've been weighed. I serve it with roasted potatoes to make it really feel decadent. I recommend it fully. I don't think I'll ever go back to regular ground beef.

2. My sleeping son
He's awake now but he just woke up and it's almost 11:30 AM. He was up at the crack of dawn with me, complaining that he had a "nightmare" and wanted to get in bed with Momma and Daddy. The thing is, we were just about to get up because "the crack of dawn" is when I am due into work. I got up to get ready and The Son stayed in my bed. The Husband came down to put on the coffee and we thought The Son had gone back to sleep in our bed. Evidently, he got up about five minutes after I left for work which wasn't even 7 AM! The husband coerced and cajoled him to get him back in his bed and as I started this post, he was still asleep. Can you say photo op? He's up now and he missed his gymnastics class but he didn't seem too upset by that and frankly, I'm happy to have had an excuse to not have to be on the run before noon.

3. My new sneakers
I finally managed to get some new sneakers and I am loving these so much that I am going to devote a large portion of my Adventures in Living Healthy with CityMomma/ CountryMomma post tomorrow. They've made my work outs so much more enjoyable.

4. This Guy

Here's our puppy Ziggy in all his Pointer Glory. He was out front having a ball this morning when I took this. You see, it's very windy here today, VERY windy and he was having so much fun running around the yard chasing blowing leaves and pointing at everything is sight. I was thrilled to finally get a good picture of him pointing...he is a German Shorthair Pointer after all. He's such a smart and sweet dog and even though he can drive me crazy at times, I love, love, love him. The other day, The Son and I were snuggling on the couch when Ziggy decided that he had to be in the middle of us right then and there. We ended up like three spoons, watching TV with Ziggy behind The Son and me behind Ziggy. The Son and I couldn't stop laughing, it was so funny. I was really wishing there was someone else who could have taken our picture.

And lastly, a really silly thing that is currently one of my favorite things...

5. Word Challenge on Facebook
Are you on facebook? Have you played this game? Well, when I started it, I was terrible, really terrible, but I have goals people. Goals to be the BEST and I practiced and practiced and practiced and now, I am the BEST! At least as far as my facebook friends who play Word Challenge are concerned. I have a high score of over 65,000 and that is 40,000 points higher than my closest facebook friend. I don't know why I've become obsessed but I have to play it a couple times a day just to see if I can beat my high score. I'm working on getting over 100,000. I'll let you know if I get there.

So there you have it my bloggy friends, 5 of my current favorite things. Be sure to stop by Mama Kat's blog and check on some of her other Writer's Workshop participants. It's a great way to find new blogs to read and we all know we could always use some more blogs to read! Have a great day everyone.

Writer's Workshop...

It's Thursday! I'm participating in Mama Kat's Writer's Workshop again this week. I love it when she has prompts that result in a list or something short and sweet. Today I've chosen the haiku prompt although I'm cheating a bit. She asks us to write about something we see out the window but I'm writing about two things I see as I sit at my computer desk. I hope I don't get a bad grade for slightly deviating from the assignment. I know when I was a teacher, I gave bonus points for creative thinking. (Hear that Mama Kat?)

The Puppy
Big head, silky ears.
Man's best friend is woman's too.
Love in a fur coat.

The Son
Funny boy, our joy.
He's sweetness personified.
Gives his love freely.

Together
Wrestling, playing.
A boy and his dog are friends.
Barking, laughing smiles.

Writer's Workshop...

I'm participating in MamaKat's Writer's Workshop today. It seems I only participate when she has a prompt that is a list but nonetheless, I'm participating. Today's choice for me is:

10 of my Absolute Worst Pet Peeves...
(in no particular order)

1. I hate bad grammar and misspellings, especially on blogs. You know the ones, the people who cannot spell correctly. Ever. Or those who use words incorrectly. All. the. time. Too, to, two, they're, there, their, alot, your, you're, etc. I could go on and on but I think you understand what I mean.

2. I can't stand music on blogs. Chances are, if I visit your blog and you have music, I will stop reading and never come back. I just like peace and quiet when I'm on the computer and the music really irritates me.

3. I hate when people touch my computer screen with their finger. The smudge that it leaves makes me crazy!

4. I hate it when The Husband has control of the remote control when we are watching TV together at night. I need to be able to control the volume AND he is unable to work the DVR in the most efficient and proper way which of course would be MY way, the right way.

5. It makes me crazy to be near someone who smells like cigarette smoke but even worse is when a child smells like cigarette smoke. There's a little girl who I watch in the morning and she REEKS, it's so disturbing and upsetting to think that a poor little first grade girl may as well be smoking a few cigs herself before she gets to school in the morning. Horrible.

6. Speaking of children...I hate it when kids have dirty faces and/or snotty noses. I know kids can't be perfectly clean all the time but it's not that difficult to keep a face clean or a nose wiped. It's especially infuriating when you see these kids with a mom or other caretaker who looks perfectly dressed and the kid is running around like a hot mess. Not cute, not cute at all.

7. I hate when people cannot be patient, especially when in a store or restaurant and they usually end up being mean or rude to the employee who was probably already flustered in the first place and therefore ends up taking even longer with what he/she was trying to do. The huffing and puffing and indignant noises is infuriating. It's even worse when they turn around to the people behind them and try to get them to be impatient too. I usually just smile and say, "it's OK, I'm a very patient person."

8. On the other hand...I hate it when employees aren't friendly or at least pleasant and when they act as if me shopping in "their" store or eating in "their" restaurant is a major inconvenience. If you act like you're having a shitty day people, you probably will!

9. I hate parents who think their child can do no wrong and blame everything on the teacher. You know this is usually when the kid is the biggest PITA in the entire class.

10. I hate yelling from room to room, The Son is notorious for this. He yells for me in various rooms and expects me to carry on a full-on conversation. Our house is big and half the time I can't even hear the child!

So there you go, I know I could think of lots more but it just feels good to write all these down. I look forward to reading more homework assignments today and hope mine won't be marked down because it's turned in really late.

10 Things I believe in...

Mama Kat is hosting her Writer's Workshop today and gave a few prompts to get us all started. One of the prompts was to write a letter to someone you miss a lot and I almost wrote a letter to my mom but I decided that would be too easy, not to mention too sad so I chose to write: 

10 things I believe...

10- I believe that Haagen Dazs Reserve "Toasted Coconut Sesame Brittle" is the best ice cream flavor ever invented. 

9- I believe that scrapbooking is good for the soul. 

8- I believe that there is no  sound better than your child's laughter.

7- I believe that pets are a part of the family.

6- I believe that a mother's love endures forever. 

5- I believe that sisters are "forever friends." 

4- I believe that a Daddy is the most important man in a child's life. 

3- I believe that everything happens for a reason, even if sometimes, we might never know that reason. 

2- I believe that everyone is good at something. 

1- I believe that nothing in life is ever as important as your family.