Bath time!

I've mentioned before how much Jacob loves his bath time, but for the past few days he had been fussing in his bath and we weren't sure what was wrong. We had chalked it up to him being tired and all too ready to go to bed.
Last night I got an early start on his bedtime routine, and he was doing really good! I put him in his bath tub and let him sit up for a little bit. We've been letting him practice sitting on his own for a few weeks now at least, but he hasn't been very good at balancing for long, but last night he was sitting up really well! Jacob balanced himself with an arm on the side of the tub and sat there looking around for a little while. When I went to lay him down and get started washing him he started fussing, just like he had the previous nights. I knew he wasn't that tired, he had just had a nap. So I sat him back up again and he was fine. Our little man has decided that he's big enough to spend his whole bath time sitting up on his own. No more laying back on a sling to keep his head out of the water!

Jacob was so proud of himself we had to take a few pictures. I can't believe how fast he's growing up!

Happy again once I figured out he just wanted to sit up.

He spent most of bath time splashing!

DIY baby wipes

As new parents and a young married couple, Alex and I are trying to find more and more ways to be financially responsible. Things like eating out less, walking to the store instead of driving, buying groceries from a store that offers gas reward points, trying cloth diapering (I may have to write a post on that subject later!) etc. One of the ways I have been saving us just a bit of money each month is by making my own baby wipes. It's really easy, and one batch lasts me about 2 months, so I thought I would share.

You'll only need a few supplies

A roll of paper towels, a container for the wipes, and some baby wash.

I have found that in the case of paper towels, cheapest is not best. Spending a few extra dollars on a brand name will make the wipes more durable, and we prefer the "select-a-size" style.
Wal-mart sells some nicer looking containers if you don't like the look of my whipped cream ones. You could probably even find one tall enough that you could skip the following step. Just remember that if you use a whole roll, you'll need to combine the amounts of water and soap in one jar too.

Use a non-serrated knife to cut the paper towels in half.

You can kind of just eyeball the halfway point for this step, then have at it! It may take a little bit of elbow grease.

Ta-da!

Mix about 1 and 1/4 cups of warm water, and 2 Tbsp of baby wash in each container

For this batch I used 1 and 1/2 cups of water and they're just too wet! You can mess around with the amounts until you get the wipes exactly how you want them. Just remember that you'll need enough water to soak through all the layers of paper towel. I love that I can change up the scent by using different soaps, I'm sure you can even find hypo allergenic soap if your baby has extra sensitive skin.

Put the paper towels in the soap mixture

Make sure the lids are on tight and flip the containers over

I usually just guess how long to leave the paper towels soaking. It doesn't take a lot of time, about 20 minutes at the most.

Pull out the cardboard tube

The cardboard should be soggy and easily pulled out from the middle. If it's too soggy it will tear some, but still come out.

Pull out the middle paper towel so you can easily get to it when needed

And there you have it! A whole batch of wipes for just a few cents per wipe! I love how easy these are, and I don't know for sure if it's related to the wipes, but I have noticed that my little Jacob has not had a diaper rash since I started using these!