Puj Splash Review

Bathing babies can be tricky. Since Sam was born I've been struggling with finding a way to bathe him that would make us both happy. James hated the bath so much so we ended up showering him with one of us for the first 5 or 6 months of his life. However, this was pre-law school, summer internship and two kids and we are a much busier bunch now than we were then. Sam hated the bath almost as much as James did, but finding the time to put him in the shower with Steve or myself was easier said than done, especially considering Steve was across the country for the first three weeks of Sam's life. I hated giving him baths because he would scream and scream and it was hard to hold on to a wet, slippery, crying baby in the bathroom sink- which only made him madder. Bathing Sam felt like running a marathon in a monsoon--I was left exhausted and very wet.

Enter Puj, a company started by parents who were looking for a solution to their bathing baby woes. Puj sent me the Puj Splash Bath Set and I was really excited to try it, hoping it would solve some of our bath time problems.

The Puj Splash gift set comes with the Flyte (a bathtub that fits in your sink and folds up for easy storing), the Hug (a hooded infant towel that can hook around mom's neck for easy and dry bathing), three Fresh washcloths, and three Nubs (hooks you can attach to your wall that can hold the Flyte or Hug or anything else you can think of).

The packaging of the set is super cute- everything is labeled and there is a kind note and instructions from Katie, one of the Puj creators. Presentation doesn't matter to everyone, but I am a sucker for cute. This set would make a great baby gift for many reasons, but I especially love how great it looks when you open up the box.

We've been using the Flyte now for several weeks to bathe Sam. At first he didn't love it. He didn't cry as much as he did without the tub, but he still fussed about bath time. But even so, I loved using it because I could rest Sam in the tub without having to hold his slippery little body. Both my hands were free to bathe him and I felt like I could do a much better job and be a little gentler.

After a couple weeks of using the Flyte, Sam got used to it and we all started to enjoy baths a lot more. Now he is content and happy during his baths and they are lasting longer and longer because he enjoys being in there so much!

The Flyte fits in our smaller bathroom sink as well as the bigger kitchen sink. It is very easy to use and easy to store.

The washcloths are soft and perfect for scrubbing baby down. Some washcloths are rough and can hurt delicate baby skin, but these are perfect.

The Hug towel is also super soft and snuggly. There are two tabs that hook together so the parent can hook the towel around his or her neck while bathing the baby. This keeps the parent dry while baby splashes around. And when the bath is done all you do is put baby on your shoulder, unhook the tabs, and wrap baby up in the towel. Much easier than fumbling with a slippery, wet baby. Its also nice if you don't have counter storage or a place to put the towel close by while bathing the baby.

I love towels with hoods so that baby's head can stay warm even while you are getting them dressed after the bath, since baby's lose much of their body heat through their little, wet heads.

I would highly recommend the Puj Splash to anyone looking for a solution to making bath time easier and happier for everyone involved. It has made a huge difference in bathing sweet little Sam! And if you don't have babies yourself, it would make a really great baby gift. From now until July 31 if you use the code "SPLASHTESTER20" you can get 20% of your order of a Puj Splash set on the Puj website.

T-shirt to baby beanie tutorial

After making these baby leggings I still had some fabric from my t-shirts left, so I decided to turn them into some matching hats. James was bald for over a year so hats were kind of a must for him. If this baby is as bald as James he will have plenty of options to keep his little noggin warm.

So here is how you make a baby hat. It is even easier than making baby leggings, which is saying something.

1. Grab the arms from the shirt you cut up to make your baby leggings. (This only works with long sleeves or 3/4 length). Cut them along the seam so you have two pieces that look like this. 

2. Download and print this pattern and pin to your sleeve.

 3. Cut out your hat pieces so you have two pieces that look like this:

        * This pattern makes a hat for an older baby, maybe 6-12 months? I cut a little fabric (maybe 1/2 inch) off the sides of the hat part, but not off the knot part (skinny tail at top), so that it would fit a newborn, especially since this fabric is pretty stretchy.

4. Lay your two hat pieces right-side together and using your double needle, stitch all the way around your hat, except for the bottom--which will become the head opening. Trim off the excess fabric. Turn inside out, then tie a knot, leaving a little tail at the top.

5. There are a few ways you could finish off your hat. But if you're like me, you will choose the easiest way possible. For this hat, I simply folded the bottom up twice and left it like that. Super easy.

You could also cut the bottom off the hat and sew a seam around the head opening--that's what i did on the black a white striped hat. Or you could cut off the bottom of the hat and add a band to the bottom. This is what I did on the grey and white striped hat using this tutorial.

Have fun making your baby leggings and beanies. I can't wait to put our little boy in these in less than two months!

T-Shirt to Baby Leggings

I posted this picture on Instagram awhile ago and had a lot of requests for how I made these leggings. Rather than trying to type it out on my phone (I am so horrible at it), I figured I would tell you how on this here blog. My pictures aren't very good and I am no sewer, but making these is pretty easy, so hopefully you can understand this little tutorial!

How to turn your t-shirts into baby leggings: 

1. Start with an old t-shirt. I used t-shirts that were either too small or too big, or had small holes or stains that I could work around. Choose shirts with a little stretch so they can cover those chubby baby thighs.

 2. Cut your shirts along the side seams and around the sleeves so you have two pieces like those above. Set the sleeves aside to use for your baby hats (tutorial coming soon!)

3. Fold each piece in half, being careful to line up the bottom seam, which will become the bottom of your leggings.

 4. Line up your pattern with the bottom of the leggings on the bottom of your shirt and the long straight side on the fold of the fabric.
        *I made my own pattern from some baby leggings I already had using the method found on this tutorial. The only difference is you don't need to add any length on the bottom of your pattern because you won't be sewing a seam on the leg openings since you are using the hem of your shirt.
        * If you don't already have leggings that you can trace, I found some free, printable patterns here. If you want to use the hem of your t-shirt as the leg opening (one less sewing step!), then you can cut off about 3/4 inch from the bottom of your pattern.

5. Repeat for the other piece of fabric so you have two pieces that look like this. Lay the two pieces right sides together, being careful to line up the edges

6. Pin the top sides together (you know its the top because it doesn't have the seam). Sew along each side, about a 1/4 inch in.
        * to sew these leggings I used a double needle. It allows for more stretch and nice looking seams. If you don't have a double needle you can do a zig-zag stitch which will also allow for some stretch.
        * also, lengthening your stitch on your machine will help your fabric not to stretch out as much while you are sewing it. Experiment on scraps so you can decide what will work best for your particular fabric. My machine starts out at a 2.5 and I upped it to a 4.5.

7.  Now flip your leggings around, lining up the seams you just sewed (so it looks like a pair of leggings) and pin all the way around the bottom, unsewed part. Make sure you line up the bottom edges as well as the seams at the crotch. Start sewing at one end and sew one big seam all the way to the other edge, about a 1/4 inch in. And remember to backstitch! I am the worst at remembering to do that.

8. Now fold over the top of your leggings 1 1/4 inch and pin. But pin on the inside so that you can flip them inside out and sew along the outside.

 9. Now flip your leggings inside out so that the right side is facing out now. Sew around the top leaving an inch of space from the top. Also, leave about an inch of unsewed space so you can thread your elastic through. If you sew on the right side with the double needle I think it looks much nicer than if you were to do a zig zag or straight stitch.

See the double needled seam looks nice! Also notice the space I left for threading the elastic through. Make sure you backstitch on either side of that space.

10. Turn your leggings back inside out and thread your elastic through. I ran out of my 3/4 inch elastic and was too lazy to go buy more so I just used this tiny one. But I liked how the 3/4 inch looked better so if you have to buy some anyway, get that size. 

I just cut the elastic the width of my leggings times two and then added a half inch or so. Thread it through the hole you left and then overlap the elastic by about an inch or inch and a half. 

Then sew the two ends of your elastic together. For this part I learned the hard way that my double needle couldn't handle the thickness of the elastic. So I switched over to a single needle to sew my elastic together as well as finish off the leggings.

11. Once you've sewn your elastic together pop it back inside and finish sewing the top seam together- just sewing the hole closed. Look how horrible mine looks. I'm kind of embarrassed to even post this picture. I have a serious fault that I am not a perfectionist at all in my sewing. But I figure I will just have this be the back of the leggings and no one will ever see it :)

 Ta-da! You're finished! Once I did one pair of leggings and figured it all out, they went so quickly, especially if you use the same color thread on all of them! Hopefully this tutorial makes sense and I explained each step enough! Good luck and happy sewing. Also I won't blame you if you start turning all your clothes (even the ones you wear) into leggings. I might have gotten carried away too.

Sacred Gifts

While in Utah we went down to BYU to visit the Sacred Gifts exhibit at the Museum of Art. It was one of my favorite things we did to celebrate the Christmas season. This is an exhibit of the religious artwork of Carl Bloch, Heinrich Hoffman, and Frans Schwartz and the paintings all depict the life of Christ. 

It was an incredibly touching and moving experience for me. You can rent an ipad for a few dollars and  listen to explanations about the paintings, the painters, where the painting hung originally as well as messages from general authorities, latter-day saints and art scholars. Some of the paintings have music you can listen to that goes along with them. That was probably my favorite part.

Christus Consolator by Carl Bloch

The exhibit is free but you have to reserve tickets online in advance. It runs through May so hurry down to Provo and see this exhibit if you have the chance! It was amazing!

Portrait of Christ by Heinrich Hoffman

Agony In The Garden by Frans Schwartz

Last of Florida-- My Beach Baby

What is it about the beach that turns me into a crazy person who takes millions of pictures of her baby playing in the sand? Well anyways, here are a ton of pictures of James playing at the beach because I had a really hard time narrowing it down.

Also, I am realizing how many stripes James has in his closet.