Diaper Tractor

Our closest friends, Matt and Kate, are less then a month away from delivering their first child.  A few weeks ago, we celebrated at Kate's baby shower.  We wanted to do something really special for them, and Scott found this wonderful idea online: 

Well, he found a wonderful PICTURE online, but I couldn't find the instructions anywhere.  However, I did find instructions for similar items, so I just had to wing it.  Here is our finished product:

 

Make the wheels first and set them aside.  I used Size 1 Pampers Swaddlers (the amount used will vary depending on the size of the tires, but I would buy at least an 84 pack of diapers to be safe).  Obviously, you can use any type of diapers you like, but I was partial to these when Felix was first born.  I followed the instructions found in this video for the wheels and they came out perfect. I wound up using the springform pan I have for the larger wheels and a Pyrex container for the smaller wheels.  I wrapped the wheels with a couple large rubber bands before removing them from the pan. 

I purchased thick green ribbon (2 rolls) and thin yellow ribbon (one roll).  I cut the ribbon to the lengths needed based on the size of each of the four wheels.  I then affixed the yellow ribbon to the center of the green ribbon using a strong adhesive tape.  I attached the completed ribbons around the wheels using double sized tape.  I then used two paper towels rolls slid into the middle of each of the wheels to anchor the wheels together.  We then put a pair of baby socks into each end of the paper towel rolls as hubcaps (we didn't use any particular color for these).

I used two dishwasher baskets for the tractor itself.  I used the Babies R Us brand that Kate had registered for, which worked perfectly because come in two different sizes (one for each part of the tractor itself).  However, you could easily use a box of wipes for the larger part of the tractor and purchase a Munchkin dishwasher basket for the smaller part.

I wrapped the smaller dishwasher basket with a hooded towel (it may take several folds to get the size you need while also hiding the hood portion of the towel) and affixed it using double sided tape.  I then used the same combination of green and yellow ribbon from above to wrap that part of the tractor. 

I wrapped the larger dishwasher basket with two receiving blankets (one to cover the front and back of the basket and one to cover the sides).  It may take a few folds to get the right size for the receiving blankets.  I affixed each blanket using double sided tape. 

The steeples on top of the tractor were made using a pair of baby socks.  For the longer steeple, I placed a sharpie inside one of the socks (which can later be used to write your child's name on things for daycare) and wedged it into the ribbon used around the smaller dishwasher basket.  The smaller steeple is a rolled sock held together with the thin yellow ribbon.  I then used double sided tape to affix the smaller steeple to the top of the small dishwasher basket. 

The headlights are two craft puffs (not sure what they're actually called) affixed with double sided tape. 

The only pain with the tractor is that I couldn't find a way to attach everything.  Since we also bought Matt and Kate a Radio Flyer wagon, I rested the dishwasher baskets on top of the wheels (which have been held together with the paper towel rolls) and placed paper "grass" all around it to keep it from falling apart. 

Another tip is that I placed all the extra socks and receiving blankets (since you will likely buy these in packs of 4 or 6) inside the dishwasher baskets.

I hope this helps anyone looking to make this in the future.  We were really happy with how it turned out! 

Teacher Appreciation Gifts

I've taken a particular liking to Pinterest lately. No, that's an understatement.  I'm obsessed with Pinterest!  I love doing little things for the important people in our lives and the women that care for Felix are among the most important to us.  So for this past Teacher's Appreciation Week, we put these little gifts together for all the ladies at daycare:

I thought I would post the (simple) instructions on here for anyone looking for similar ideas.  I slightly modified the instructions found on this blog. What you'll need:

• Bag of Marshmallows
• Sleeve of individually wrapped mini-Hershey bars
• Box of Graham Crackers
• Ziploc bags (the original blog I found this one called for cellophane bags, but I didn't have any, so I just folded the Ziploc bags down as far as needed to hide the "Ziploc" printed on the bag)
• Cardstock
• Printer
• Stapler

I used the printable label found on the blog linked above.  Super simple, but special enough to let the girls know how much they mean to us.

14 Months, Trip to Ohio and Happy Birthday Pepere

It's been awhile, but what else is new.  I seem to get completely side tracked every month before I realize how much I haven't blogged about.

We just got back from our trip out to Ohio for my father-in-law's 60th birthday celebration over Memorial Day weekend.  Since Felix is older and unwilling to sit in a car seat for very long without getting irate, we decided to split the trip into two days and and stay overnight in PA.  The total trip is about 11-12 hours depending on how many stops you make.  We made it to Washington, PA before we stopped for the night, which was only about 3.5 hours from our destination.  Everything went great, we get Felix to sleep in his pack n' play and I had just sneaked my way to the bed when we heard banging on a nearby door and "HOUSEKEEPING....SOMEONE ORDER CHEESEBURGERS," and a battery of screams from about 6 different kids.  Apparently, the family next door thought it was a wonderful time to scream through the hallways and have a feast at 10pm.  Needless to say, Felix woke up with a vengeance.  Scott was able to get him back to sleep eventually and get some sleep himself, but I couldn't relax enough the rest of the night to sleep.  I think we've both decided from now on, unless it's absolutely necessary, we'll be doing the drive in one shot.  

Once we were out in Ohio, the trip was great and it was really nice for Felix to get some quality time with his cousin!  Luckily, Felix and Grayson are on very similar nap and sleep schedules.  However, we did discover Felix is a stress eater.  He ate almost non-stop from the minute we got to Ohio to the minute we left!  

We attended a wonderful dinner for Scott's dad to celebrate his birthday (thanks to Scott's brother, Dan, and his wife, Nicole).  And Scott was able to spend some quality time with his dad and brothers. 

Here's some pictures (and one video) from the weekend.  I wish I had more, but I have found myself taking them less and less lately, which needs to be rectified!

 So happy to be out of the car and running around the hotel room

Thank god for maid service!

 

Quality time with Grandma

 Boxcar ride around Pepere and Grandma's house

 

Pepere's surprise dinner

Pepere's semi-surprise birthday celebration

Piano fun 

Playing on Pepere's new patio

 Two and a half hours from home and happy to be taking a break!

Can't wait to see everyone again for Thanksgiving, when we'll get to celebrate our NEW NIECE (Congrats Dan and Nicole!!). 

This little man is now 14 months old (almost 15 months now) and not happy about posing for pictures:

 

Where's your belly?

He is quite the character.  He had said Dadda (but usually it's Daddy), Ma (very rarely says Momma), Uh oh and Woah.  While we were in Ohio, he picked up on "Doggie" really quickly too.  Since we have returned from Ohio, he has also taken a liking to climbing the stairs (looks like that gate is going to start being used again) and always wants to go outside.  He stands at the back door, knocks and then reaches as high as he can for the door knob (but still can't quite reach it).  He also knows where is belly is (see above), his nose and his head.  He eats almost anything (but is not too big on sweets).  While he's home on the weekends, he takes a solid 2-3 hour nap in the afternoon, but his naps are still all over the place while at daycare. 

We have also made another big transition in the last week.  We got Felix completely off the sippy cups and onto the straw cups (he was still using one soft sippy cup at night).  We also stopped rocking him to sleep.  From Day 1 Felix has been very good at letting us know when he's ready to move onto the next step and this was no different.  We didn't even need to try.  The transition happened in one night.  We now give him his straw cup of milk while we read him a book.  When he's done listening, he closes the book for us (finished or not) and hands us his milk.  We then turn the light off, kiss him goodnight, put him in his crib and leave.  No screaming, no crying.  It takes him about 10 minutes to fall asleep, but he's completely content doing so!