Greening our Lives - Part 3 - Homemade Gifts

This holiday season, we aimed to create homemade gifts. It was amazing and terrible all at the same time, as many'good-for-the-earth' ventures can be the first time around. We used repurposed, natural or recycled materials whenever possible.

It was amazing to involve the girls in this process, now 5 and 3. They really got a kick out of helping create things versus helping pick things to buy. That being said, there was a lot of homework on my part to help them choose projects that were doable, and thoughtful for their gift recipients.

I would totally do this again. It was labourious but well worth the feeling that we weren't generating as much waste, and had put so much thought into the gift-giving process.

Here is the line-up of gifts that we tried this year, how well they worked, and some that we'd like to try in the future.

Kid-Friendly Projects...

Homemade Oatmeal Lavender Bath Soak

This was a hit! It was super-easy for the girls to measure and mix, and very little mess. They had a blast decorating labels for jars. This was relatively inexpensive, using oatmeal and epsom salts we already had, dried lavender we had collected from the garden, and lavender essential oil (which I've fallen in love with, so it was a very multi-purpose purchase).

We got the recipe from this site, Homemade Gifts Made Easy. They even have a printable label you can download!

Chamomile Lavender Bath Melts

A simple recipe using shea butter, dried lavender, chamomile tea and lavender essential oil. The recipe called for cocoa butter, which we didn't have, and it still worked without it. The girls helped with measuring, and I did the heating. We used silicone mini-muffin trays and they set easily in the fridge. I tried one last night and it was divine! A bit of a pain to clean off the tub, as it sticks to the tub, but it leaves your skin feeling so smooth and moisturized.

We used the recipe from Be Beautiful, but omitted the cocoa butter. 

Rosemary 'Bubble' Bath

The girls had a blast measuring and mixing this bubble bath. We used dried rosemary from our pantry, and they helped mix all the ingredients and make fun labels for the bottles. Initially we omitted the glycerin in the recipe from Ann Randolf's page, but luckily tested it on a bath with the girls, and there were no bubbles! Her recipe said that you could use coconut oil and/or glycerin, but without glycerin our bubbles didn't hold. It was a neat experiment for the girls though, since they got to test it with glycerin the next time and it was much more bubbly!

We found out why Ann didn't posted a picture of the finished product; it comes out cloudy brown mixture! It smells awesome though, and the coconut oil makes it a nice moisturizing bath. It was relatively inexpensive to make, as castile soap and glycerin are not expensive, and we already had coconut oil. 

Simple Bird Houses

This was the girls' idea, and we helped them find a template that would be simple enough for them to assemble with help. We found the template online,and Andrew scavenged our wood pile to find a nice piece of cedar left from my grandparents deck we had just torn down (we bought the house from my family). That made the present a bit more meaningful for them, and it was great that we were able to use reuse wood. The rest of that deck will find a home in new arbours and trellises for our garden next summer hopefully. Andrew cut the pieces from the template for them, and they drilled holes, screwed in the front and tapped in the nails with his assistance. One of the girls tried to steel some wood after the project to take to bed because she said she LOVED building things now. 

We chose this pattern from Birds and Blooms. This site was amazing because it described how hole size, choice of materials and placement will affect what type and whether a bird nests in your box. This was invaluable advice, because our initial plan was to have the girls paint them, but we learned that bright colours or smelly paint may turn birds off. 

Home Science Kits for Kids

This was amazing on so many levels. As a science teacher on a semester leave, it was so nice to get my hands into some science again. Even though many of the activities we included were familiar to me, I found this AH-MAZING printable science e-book from I Can Teach My Child (which has become a new favourite kid activity resource). The girls helped shop for the kit materials, and assemble the kits. we painted each scientist an apron personalized with their name, and podged them a personal science notebook. 

In addition to the materials listed on this page, we added a "water beads" activity using those floral water beads (from the dollar store), and a bright coloured 'test tube' from the dollar store (aka coloured shot glass). We gave them a microscope, and used swim goggles for goggles, since the safety goggles were so overpriced, none of the activities really need eye protection, and they could serve double-duty. 

My addition to the e-book, was to flag each activity with tips on how messy, time-consuming or dangerous it would be. We received good feedback so far from the gift recipients!

Adult Projects (not the x-rated kind, just not kid friendly!)

Jewellery Organizer

I picked up a frame at the local reuse store, some galvanized pest fencing and small cup hooks from the hardware store and did some rearranging to create a jewellery organizer like this one from Be Inspired Teens

. I got the idea by searching photos on pinterest. It super-simple to put together. I'm making another one for moi, and with a frame that has those little metal clips in the back, I don't even need a staple gun to attach the wire fencing. The biggest challenge in my house will be hanging it high enough that the girls can't ransack it all the time. So far the 'you-must-ask-before-touching-mommy's-jewelery' rule has worked, but I'm not so sure if its in plain sight!

Felt Flowers

These were so fun to make. They were tedious to cut out, but the sewing was simple, and I could cart them around with me to fill the time if I was waiting for a meeting to start or a bus to come (knitting would do that too, but I'm not a knitter). I also found this to be a great occupier during those tempting pre-holiday season evenings when there were many batch-cooked cookies waiting in the freezer. Keeping my hands busy while watching tv saved me a few thousand calories for sure!

There were many great tutorials out there (All Crafts catalogued a ton of them), but my favourites were these:

Felt Camelia from How Joyful. I made these using buttons or felt-covered balls in the centre. I attached both a hair clip, and a pin to the back to make them more versatile to wear as a hair clip, clip to a headband, attach to a purse strap, or use as a broach on a wrap or shirt.

Felt Rose from How Joyful. 

Felt Flowers from Mrs. Priss.These were super-cute done in small sizes, with fun buttons in the middle, and a couple little green leaves out the side for girls' barrettes.

Mens' Tie Belt and Bangle

This was so fun. I took one of the girls with me to Goodwill "By the Pound" near us, which we hadn't explored yet. We picked up 10 ties for under $2. I did a bit of research to find a good way to clean ties (which can be fussy since they're usually made of silk), and found it on E-how here (its kind of shocking how many how-tos there are now). 

Obi-Style Tie Belt

Mark Montano's video tutorial for an Obi-style belt overlapping the ties diagonally, and from the Crafty Minx, an obi-style belt overlapping the ties horizontally. 

Faux Buckle Style Belt

I used a couple tutorials, but mainly this one from A Red Ribbon, to turn a men's tie into a a headband, to make this belt. I figured it could be a belt, but could be cinched tighter to wear as a headband. I sewed in the buckle, but waited until the recipients tried them on to sew in snaps at 2 spots: for a dress belt, and for a hip belt. 

 The upside of trimming the tie to make a more fitted belt, is the leftover could be used to make the little bangle. I used a tutorial similar to this one, but I used a yogurt container for structure, and sewed a snap closure so it could be more fitted.

Reading Tent

This was my favourite by far. I think it was more a present for me than the girls. I found duvet fabric that was super-wide and I got the length of the tent from the width of the fabric. It could easily be made using a duvet cover or queen-sized sheet to be simple, and the sewing is super easy, with 4 straight stitches across to create pockets for the ribbon and hoola hoop.

 I'll update later with a photo of our finished product. I hung a low-watt light inside, and recovered floor and back cushions. For each girls I made a little personalized heart pillow with their name sewn on in felt. 

Block Puzzle

Andrew cut cubes from new pine to make these adorable photo puzzles. We were hoping to salvage wood we already had, but most of it was painted with exterior paint, which would not be suitable for the 2-year olds these gifts were intended for. The puzzle is definitely too tricky to solve for a 2-yr old, but its a keepsake for sure. 

Phew! The gift preparation this year was a lot of hard work, and I couldn't have tried all of these ideas if I weren't on a leave from work this semester, but I think some of them would be doable if I was working. For next Christmas, or upcoming birthdays, when I'm back at work, I would definitely need to think about these things MUCH more in advance. 

Sacred Friday Nights

The first day back to work finally came (after a year and a half off)... and went. I just finished my fourth week back at school since my leave with Grace and I definitely feel like a chicken with my head cut off most of the time.

Tonight was a rare, blissful, calm moment, hanging out with the girls and my husband and just hanging, with nothing on my mind and just enjoying them. Must be a Friday thing. Fridays are sacred to me for that reason. The pressure to 'have fun' or 'get stuff done' on the precious two days of the weekend has not yet crept in. On that note, the museum is on our agenda tomorrow!

The anxious feeling about the marking I didn't do or the prep I should have done that typically hits on a Sunday hasn't even crossed my mind.

Part of me wonders what the heck I was thinking when I was a new teacher and couldn't for the life of me understand why my colleagues with kids didn't want to try every new lesson idea or mark 30-60 giant bristol board posters! No projects bigger than 8.5x11 these days, that's for sure!

I still LOVE teaching though. Almost to my detriment (or even my family's detriment, sadly). I can't help myself when I think of a new way to approach a topic or find a new resource or activity to try out. I really need to reign it in this year and find a workable balance between work and family.

So tonight, instead of worrying about work, I'm sitting here catching up on correspondence, writing a blog entry, and a host of many other things I wouldn't even give a second thought to during the week. I'm sitting in a living room that looks like a tornado came through, with a sink full of dirty dishes at 10pm and don't give a crap because there are 2 more days in the weekend to worry about all that. I remember reading a blog post from a work-from-home mom who spent Fridays cleaning up and 'prepping' the house so that the weekend could be more relaxing and stress-free. I wish that could be me sometimes, but right now, I'm glad it isn't. Fall tv line-up, here I come!

To Run or Not To Run...

I had a blog post idea in the back of my head, a few months back, titled "Running Makes Me Happy". It wasn't written fast enough it seems, since I was told by my GP a few weeks later (about 2 months ago) that I probably shouldn't run. This didn't go over well with me, and it took me a while to come to terms with this advice, and then selectively ignore it. I still went ahead and ran the Sporting Life 10k race on May 1, finishing at a decent 1:09.

When I started a couch-to-5k run clinic at my yoga studio in September, I hadn't run since doing laps on the track in highschool. I have been fairly out of shape since I tore my knee and had reconstructive surgery, then foot surgery and 2 pregnancies. Excuses, excuses.

I love biking, canoeing, hiking, and dabbled in 'stroller fit' classes since my two little ladies came around, but none of it really impacted my overall cardio fitness level and weight. When I started the run clinic in September, I was really anxious and worried I might pass out before the end of our first 30 min run/walk. We started at 1 min walking / 1 min running and although it wasn't 'fun', it wasn't so bad. We gradually worked up to alternating 6 minutes running, 1 minute walking, for 5 km. Doing yoga right after helped alot with muscle tightness. I was extremely fortunate to have wonderful friends who I could run with, having the best chats with while we ran. I always look forward to running with friends. The time passes so quickly and I don't notice my tiredness as much. I also like running alone, though not as much, because I listen to music and imagine dancing to it (sometimes silently mouthing the words to the songs). Running makes me feel really good. I could sprint down the street without getting winded; I was losing weight and toning up, and sleeping so much better. I was very proud to complete a 5k race with my best friends in December (only 3 months from the time I wasn't running at all).  My reconstructed knee has always been a tad bit sore from running, but it is from many activities.

After winter subsided I started a 10K clinic, after a 3 week hiatus from running during some nasty storms and a head cold. The first few runs were okay but when we increased the distance by 1km a week, my 'good' knee started screaming. My GP sent me for x-rays, and the results showed  minimal degenerative marginal ostophytosis, blank likely incidental bone island on my tibia at the junction of the medulla and cortex, and differential would include other sclerotic bone foci including fibrous dysplasia. Ohhhhhhhhhh, that's what it is! Its so much clearer now. Argh! The advice of my GP after the xrays was as I feared: "running is probably not a good idea. It will only get worse. You need your knees for life. Try biking or swimming. If you insist on training for this race it will continue to hurt. You should stop running if it becomes painful." This all sounds like common sense, but it is a very hard pill to swallow.

I like biking, but you can't chat while biking, or risk riding into a pole while you turn your head sideways to hear because the wind is gusting in your ears so bad facing forward that you can't hear the person shouting. Swimming is even less social, with conversation completely impossible, and not very attractive because I have HORRIBLE swimming technique. I only recently learned that I'm supposed to breath out into the water during front crawl and only inhale above water, facing sideways. It explained alot about why I often feel like I'm drowning while swimming.

I did some research and found there are a few studies that show regular runners actually have a lower incidence of osteoarthritis in their joints than non-runners. Running and other weight-bearing cardio activities help flush fluid through the joints, which is the only way cartilage and ligaments can receive oxygen, possibly improving your cartilage. Proper stretching and strengthing are keys to preventing injury.

With all this in mind, I kept running, but listened to my body and didn't push it too hard, too fast. The pain subsided for the most part. I scaled back my training after that visit, sticking to 5k mostly. I had already registered for the Sporting Life 10k race by the time I got this advice, so I decided to try it and just walk if my knees got too sore. I finished the race doing 10:1 intervals running the whole thing!

My regular runs are from 5-7k typically, and I'm trying to include more biking now that the weather's better and I can lug my 100lbs of toddler in the bike trailer. I'm definitely not defeated by this diagnosis, but I'm still interested to hear what the orthopedic surgeon has to say about it in a few weeks!

What Every New Mom Should Know

So this doesn't sound like it will be related to keeping a million notebooks at first, but in recent months I have written countless emails with lists of ideas related to new motherhood. Right now I have 7 friends expecting a baby, and six of those are expecting between May and July.

I find myself thinking a lot about the decisions we made before our first baby was born, and in the first few months of her life. I feel lucky to look back confidently on a lot of decisions (especially the most important ones like choosing a midwife), but there are definitely quite a few that I would change if I could do it all again.

Its awesome to be able to share those hind sights with friends expecting their first baby. I'm sure they take it with a grain of salt, as any new mother should do, and as I did, because parenting styles are as unique as we all are as people. There are a lot of important decisions we made that were largely influenced by the network of new parents and trusted experts we had around us, but a good number of decisions were informed by online research too. The one place that tried to give us a lot of advice, but that we didn't rely too much on, was the store we registered for our baby shower at. It gave us list after list of 'stuff' we needed people to buy us, but as it turned out less than half of that stuff was really important or worth worrying about.

If you gather the collective wisdom of all the moms you know, you're likely to come up with a lot of great ideas. Take the most extreme ideas from either end of the spectrum with a grain of salt, and try your hardest to actually accept the advice that starts with "I wouldn't have believed this before I had a baby but...". What emerges is a realistic picture of what you really need for a new baby and what the experience will really be like.

It is awesome to see so many moms around me really supporting one another. Before my first baby I learned more from researching online and reading books than I did from real-life moms. If I'd taken the time to talk to more real moms, perhaps I wouldn't have ended up with too many clothes in the newborn size or 20 cutesy cloth bibs that were never worn, and may have asked for one-dish dinners instead for shower presents (which is my favourite gift for new parents ever since I had a baby myself). I would have found as much new baby 'gear' as possible second-hand, or tried to borrow it (like baby swings, bouncy chairs, exersaucers, bassinets, crib frame, etc.).

Who Will Bring Your Baby Into This World?

The most important piece of advice I followed when we found out I was pregnant was to use a midwife. I had three close friends use a midwife and rave about it. This is by far the best decision we made in preparing for our new baby girl.

Before we even conceived our first baby, I always imagined I would give birth in a hospital, maybe with pain meds, and anything else I saw on The Baby Story from TLC. My prenatal class instructor later regarded The Baby Story and What to Expect When You're Expecting as fear-mongering.  The labour & delivery of my first baby was as far from that tv-driven image of childbirth as possible. My first baby girl was laboured and born at home, in water. In the pre-baby years I probably would have viewed this type of birth as very 'out-there', 'granola' or 'tree-hugging'.

After a lot of reading I decided that a midwife was the smartest choice for me. They focused on giving the new mother CHOICE in her pregnancy and birth. Tests were not conducted automatically without consulting the new parents. Labouring at home as long as possible before birth, and returning home as soon as possible after the birth were a key part of the approach. Research has shown that new mothers are more relaxed at home and a more relaxed mom labours better then a tense mom in a foreign environment, where they may not be sure if its a safe nest or not.

I read that new moms and babies bond better at home and parents can relax more, have skin-to-skin time, and have a healthy start for breastfeeding, with regular support from a midwife who visits your home in the first 24-hours, 48-hours, 5 days and 7 days after the birth. The moms I knew who had used a midwife were incredibly satisfied with how the labour and delivery was dealt with by their midwife and felt in control of their birth.

Many moms I spoke to who had ob-gyns attend their pregnancy and labour loved them throughout the pregnancy (except for maybe the 5-min appointments in some cases), but the divide happened over the labour & delivery. Some moms didn't end up with their own doctor for the actual delivery, and those that had their own doctor didn't see them more than once every hour or two until the actual pushing stage. I can't imagine that experience for my first baby's labour & delivery, which lasted 37 hours and was delivered posterior. I'm convinced she may have been a C-section if I'd been with an ob-gyn and our recovery and wonderful start to breastfeeding wouldn't have happened so smoothly. I didn't have to take her out of the house until she was a week old and the only germs she was exposed to were those she had already experienced in-utero. Our second daughter was born in hosptial with our midwife, and I still wouldn't trade the home birth experience for anything.

On a Lighter Note...

My sister-in-law and I threw a small baby shower for our other sister-in-law last fall. A nifty idea that surfaced while planning that shower was to create a list of 'can't-live-without' items for a new mom and new baby. We put together a 'survival kit' for the mom-to-be with things like sensitive wipes, carter's onesies, lansinoh nipple cream and pads, a thermo-baby daphne bath seat,  a Pipallily toy strap and a few more things. It wasn't glamorous or cutesy, but the goal was to make life a little easier for my sister-in-law in the first few weeks of new motherhood.

Another neat idea for that shower was a photo-mobile with baby photos of the mom and dad-to-be, with some ultrasound pics of the new baby (to be replaced with real pics after she arrived).

Baby Photo Mobile

Once the new baby arrives, by far my favourite gift is one or two homemade dinners, ready to thaw & reheat, in one dish preferably. It looks like I'm going to have a lot of batch cooking this spring!

What do you think every new mom should know or ask? Click on "# Comments" below and let me know!