Getting Ready for Toddler Travelling

I haven't travelled very far with a toddler. I haven't taken a toddler on an airplane before. I have been on planes with parents who have brought their babies/toddlers on a trip. And sometimes those babies have screamed for the entire duration of the flight. I did not want to be one of those parents, or for my toddler to be one of those toddlers. Mostly because babies on flights are not typically crying tears of joy, and I didn't want Jaden's experience on the plane to be a miserable one. When the baby aint happy, aint nobody happy....at least on airplanes anyway.

I read a bunch of articles about making travelling easier on little ones. The only thing that I seemed to be able to control was providing Jaden with something special and something familiar. I chose to do this by making a special travel sack.

Since I'm not tricky enough to come up with my own sewing pattern, I turned to blogland for a tutorial on how to make a hobo sac and found a fantastic one at Dana Made It. Here's how my travel sack turned out.

I used some of the same material I made Jaden's toddler bibs out of,  Cars on white from the Ready Set Go collection from Robert Kauffman. Such super cute material! And it is 100% organic cotton. I really love this fabric.

After it was made, I stuffed it with Jaden's favorite toys.

And then I let him play with it for a few days so he could get used to it as being his. I thought I would get him occupied with it once we had boarded the plane and settled in our seats, but Jaden was more interested in other things, particularly what was outside of the airplane window.

He wanted to see who else was on the plane. There was another toddler in the seat in front of Jaden. He spent a few minutes baby chatting with his airplane friend through the crack between the seat and the window.



He finally settled in Daddy's lap and played some games on the Nexus.

Once the flight took off, things went pretty smoothly. He wouldn't drink from his sippy cup and experienced a little discomfort in his ears, but he did well after only one or two little screams. He even eventually became interested in the toys his sack was holding for him and occupied himself for the flight. Travelling with a toddler wasn't as bad as I had anticipated! (so far, so good!)

While we were in Orlando, we pushed him everywhere in a new stroller. We already had two strollers, but one was way too big, and the other was a basic umbrella stroller. I wanted something compact to carry and comfortable for Jaden. So we bought this one:



source

It was perfect for our trip. It folds and unfolds pretty easily. When folded up, it was small enough to fit in the trunk of our rental car, and to take with us on the monorail and other people moving transportation in the parks of Disney World. With a padded, reclining seat, tray, and sunshade it had all of the comfort Jaden needed. The basket and the parent tray also came in very handy for carting around toddler essentials (diaper, wipes, sippy cups) and jackets for when it got chilly. Having it was a huge factor in the success of our vacation.

The most important thing I learned when travelling with a toddler is to be prepared in advance for every situation. Bring something that is familiar and special to them. Make sure they are comfortable and well fed. Make sure that some of the activities planned are kid-centric. And always always pack at least one extra set of clothing wherever you go.

Jaden's travel sack now goes with us wherever we go. He loves having it in his lap when we are in the car. Overall, he's a pretty good traveller these days!

Turners Invade Orlando

My brother-in-law, Sean, is going on a mission for our church. In April, he will go to South Africa for two years to teach others about our faith. So my parents-in-law thought it would be a good idea to take a family vacation before he leaves. We didn't know about these plans until Christmas morning, when we were all handed a gift and told to open it at the same time.

This was Jaden's gift

This was Doug's gift

And this was my gift

There seemed to be a common theme....DISNEY!

Yes, indeed. Disney. But not Disneyland, as I had initially thought. DisneyWORLD. In FLORIDA. WOHOO!

I was beyond excited. I was exactly like the little kid who has his suitcase packed weeks beforehand in that commercial. Yeah. I packed. Several times. I was so totally excited to get out of the Utah coldness and into the warmness of Florida and to go to Disneyworld. My next few posts will be about the adventures we had over one week of family vacation. That way I won't be writing one very long post about it. And that way you'll keep coming back to my blog. (hehehe. that is the evil plan)

More Cuteness

*drum roll please* Introducing *keep the drum roll going* Petit Lambie Petti Rompers!

Petti Rompers are adorable outfits for little girls newborn through toddler ages. They look beautiful in photos and are fun to run around in during hot summer months.

No outfit is complete without accessories. Petit Lambie is now also carrying infant headbands.

Visit Petit Lambie on Etsy for more colors and styles.

New Inventory

Petit Lambie has grown so much this winter. I opened shop in 2010, and after one year I had only made two sales. When we moved out of our condo and into my in-law's, I didn't think twice about packing away my supplies and inventory. I didn't expect that I would need them. Then, suddenly, I had four orders in one week. FOUR! My business had doubled in one week, and I scrambled to obtain the supplies and materials necessary to create the items ordered, make them, and get them shipped in a timely manner. The next week brought more orders, and the next more and more. I am happy to have been wrong on this occasion and am grateful that my newsboy hat was liked by so many.

Petit Lambie is profitable enough that it funds itself now. Husband is especially grateful for that! And it has also done well enough for me to expand. I am happy and excited to experiment with new ideas and offer new products.

Here are some of the first new things I've added to my shop.

Basic Crocheted Beanies for Newborns

When I opened Petit Lambie, I was creating hats to be used exclusively for newborn photo shoots. However,  my popular newsboy hat was being ordered by mothers wanting their sons of all sizes to wear them for stylish warmth in the winter. So, I have decided to make photo props and hats essential for every newborn layette. Crocheted beanies. Simple. Stylish. Cute!

Basic Beanie in Sky Blue

Basic Beanie in Pink

Check out my Etsy shop for more colors & information. 

DIY Eye Makeup Removal {A Pinterest Project}

Once upon a time, as I was perusing Pinterest, I came across the idea to make my own eye makeup remover.

kristanlynn.com

Someone had found a recipe for eye makeup remover here in blogland and shared it on Pinterest. (My cousin's friend also has a recipe for eye makeup remover. Visit her blog,  A Lighter Journey, for her recipe and many money saving ideas!) What a good idea! I usually avoid washing my face before bedtime because my mascara and eyeliner get smudged all over the place and I find it in my pores the next morning. (gasp! I know. Some people say that a woman ages seven years for every night she doesn't wash her face. I don't believe those people -gasp again! I know. But if it were true, I'd look like I was 100 years old....and I don't think I look like I'm quite that old yet) Nevertheless, no matter how I try to avoid it, I always end up washing my face at night. I get into bed and get all snuggled up and then...dun dun dun...my eyes begin itching. The only way to make the itching go away is to get out of bed (and get cold again) and wash my face.

It hasn't always been this way. I used to purchase Clinique's Take the Day Off Makeup Remover, but have avoided the price of it lately. And so, I've been in the conundrum of black pores vs itchy eyes for quite a stretch. I decided that making my own eye makeup remover would be the solution.

Until I thought of a different problem.

Cotton balls. Those little white balls of fluff shed and the fibers get in my eyes. I don't like using cotton balls. What else should you use with eye makeup remover?

These!

Alli Crafts is a crochet blog with lots of useful free patterns. These are Alli's eye makeup remover pads.  These are my answer to cotton balls. I modified the pattern to reflect my own personal preferences and tastes (I really dislike the look of the double crochet stitch in anything) and made some of my own. I also used Kristin's formula for home made eye makeup remover. And now I can wash my face at night. No itching eyes. No straggly strands of cotton balls stuck in my eyes. No black pores. (and no looking seven years older every morning...if you believe in that sort of thing)
YAY!! I can get in bed, snuggle down in my covers and not have to get out and get cold anymore.....or at least for a few hours until my alarm clock wakes me up.

Here is my own eyemakeup battle remover kit

These little eye makeup remover pads work really well. I find that when they are made out of cotton yarn, they are soft and not at all abrasive to my skin. They also wash well, so my mascara doesn't stain them. I just throw them in my washing mahine with my towels. So far, so good.

I made a bunch of them (more than pictured here) because I....want to do laundry more often.

I also made coordinating washcloths. I think the pattern is really pretty and modern. Pretty, modern, and functional.

So, thank you, fellow Pinner, for putting this miracle answer to my every night problem on Pinterest. I am so glad you did!

More Petit Lambie Love

I sometimes get requests to make items that are not for sale in my shop. Like this cute little bear hat.

This is the second time I've been requested by a photographer to make a bear hat for a photoprop. And I haven't made any to sell in my Etsy shop. Silly the moi. I think I should get the hint. Bear hats coming soon to Petit Lambie!

One Decision Down

I have chosen the flooring for my house! Part of it, anyhow. This is monumental progress in my book. It took days and weeks of dreaming, looking, pricing, and dreaming some more to make a single choice.

The house had hardwood floors when we purchased it. Everyone wants those, right? The problem with the floors in this house is that the upstairs living room and hallway were done in a blood red cherry wood, and the bedrooms upstairs were done in a very light blonde bamboo. High contrast, right! And the transitions were done very poorly - you could see stripes of blonde bamboo at each bedroom doorway down the hall because they installed it up to the outside of the door jamb. We looked into what it would cost to just have them stripped and refinished to being the same color and found that it would be less expensive to replace it all.

This is the laminate wood we have decided to install for the upstairs living room, kitchen, hall, and bedroom floors.

It is called Marble Falls Teak. Had it fit in my budget, I would have liked to go with something a little bit darker and more rustic in walnut, but I really like this flooring. It was on sale and I had a coupon. Score! (Lumber Liquidators got the price even lower for us when Doug went in to negotiate with them) Definately an improvement from what was in the house when we bought it. Also an improvement from what is in there now. Though what is in the house now is a HUGE improvement from what used to be there. Doug has all of the floors ripped down to the subfloor. Believe it or not, the subfloors actually look better (and are much cleaner) than the floor that was there. Even so, subfloors aren't the prettiest. Those ugly subfloors will get covered up with new laminate flooring as soon as we get a fresh new coat of paint on the walls (or maybe 10 coats of paint...they desperately need it!)

Ug. I still have to choose paint colors. I've been looking for them for three months and haven't come any closer to deciding than the first day I began. But, stay tuned. I may eventually pick something out. Pinterest has given me many many ideas.