Steel Cut Tropical Oats

Talk about "Throwback  Thursday", today I had a bowl of oats that was much like what I used to make for my toddlers and babies. Except of course, at the time theirs looked like this:

Pumpkin Mash

LOOOVE Pumpkin. In case you didn't know yet. You can make this savory or sweet. You can use pumpkin puree made in a crock pot like I posted HERE. Or you can quarter the pumpkin, remove the seeds and roast it in an oven. Once fork tender, scoop out the pumpkin flesh and puree or mash.

If you prefer you can cube the pumpkin like this Roasted Butternut Squash recipe.

Cloth Diapers Part 4 Flats. Origami Fold with jelly roll sides.

Flats. SO trim. I love flats. Wash so clean and dry in a snap.Because they are so trim it takes no room to store a wholestash of them. You can use them like prefolds if they are folded into a square four times. I only use the origami fold. It's quick and easy. I just fold them in this fold and stack them up so I can just grab them prefolded and use them.

Here are the previous posts on cloth I've done

Part One Intro.

Part Two Prefolds- Trifold.
Part Three with my favorite Prefold fold. 

I keep flats folded like this in stacks ready to go.

 1- Lay out the flat. I should have used a plain white one, this is hard to see.

2- Fold it over once.

3- Fold it over once more to make a square. (you can use this like a prefold).

4- Take the top corner of the flat and pull it over to the left.

5- You will make a triangle with the top layer.

6- Pick the whole thing up and flip it over so that the triangle is on the underside.

7- Fold the square part of the flat in to itself twice.

8- This is how it will look once it is folded in twice.

9- Rotate the flat 180 degrees. I know you can position and fold the flat so it just ends up like this, but this is how I do it and it takes me no time at all.

10- Roll the two "wings" jelly roll style. This isn't done traditionally with this particular fold but I think it helps with a snug fit and keeps everything in the diaper.

11- If you need to adjust the rise in the back before placing the baby on top. Do that first then jelly roll the sides.

12- Hold the diaper together like this, and slide it under the baby.

13- Pull up the middle between the baby's legs. Smooth out the flaps on the sides.

14- I only use one pin with flats. I never used snappis because the flats were so thin.

15- Very trim!

Didn't even "watermark" whatevs.
This is how I have stored my pins since Diva was a baby, I have only changed out this glycerin bar of soap ONCE. The soap helps the pins glide through diapers and keeps them in once place. I prefer Dritz metal pins. Do they still make the straight ones? I hoarded quite a bit when I heard they were stopping. I haven't had to buy any, so I don't know.

Cloth Diapers Part 3 Prefold folds (jelly roll and my favorite fold)

My favorite prefold fold is the one pictured above. As far as I know,  there is no name for it. It's a jelly roll with bikini twist. The jelly roll sides holds everything in and the bikini twist makes it trim in the crotch. LOVE LOVE this fold.

Cloth diaper Posts
Part One.
Part Two.
Part Three.
Part Four.

1- Roll the two long sides of the prefold in like you would a jelly roll.

2- I hold the prefold together, lift the baby/toddler up by the legs and slide the prefold under. With the back fanned out a bit. You can also fold down the back to adjust the rise or fold down the front later.

3-  For a regular Jelly roll fold bring up the front, fan out the front and fasten with a snappi or two pins. With both pins and snappis I put the front side tabs flush against baby's skin then put the back side tabs OVER them. Then I pin or snappi it that way.

4- Jelly roll fold with front folded down. Fastened with a snappi. It's too wide in the crotch for me.

 After step two I like to bikni twist the middle. This makes the diaper more trim and gives it more layers of absorbency. It also makes a little pocket in the back for.. solids.

See the little pocket?

Still trim. Ready for a cover.

I love the way the rolls on the sides help hold things in also.

Cloth Diapers Part 1

OK, this post has nothing to do with food, but a couple of moms I know asked me about cloth diapers and folding prefolds and such. So I'm going to post a few posts on diapers and how we folded our flats and prefolds.

I'm also shameless and get to post pictures of my babies.

When I started cloth my oldest girl was 17 months old. DH told me to get a few of each type and see what I liked from there. So I did. I got wool, fleece, pockets, fitteds, prefolds, all in ones. Tried them all... and Diva potty learned at 20 months. Niiicee. But it was prefect prep for Piglet who was on her way. 

 Prefolds. I love prefolds. Even if you don't use prefolds as your main cloth diaper, they are great for doubling your absorbency in pockets and even folded on top of all in ones for night time. They are SO easy to care for too. Easy to wash, cheap, versatile. So, where do you start? Let's see, don't get those mainstream gerber ones. They aren't absorbent or soft. Try the Indian or Chinese prefolds are wonderful. I dyed some of ours for more color. The one I used on this 18 inch doll is a preemie. I bought those for stuffing pocket diapers and we used them as prefolds when the girls were newborns. When you get your prefolds they need to be prepped. Several washings will make them softer and more absorbent.  Prefolds need a cover.

Flats- Like prefolds they are inexpensive and easy to care for- they dry in NO time. Flats are my favorite. I love that they are so trim. They can also be used as doublers and stuffers for pocket diapers.  They are pretty much one size fits all too. Flats need covers also.

Pixie in the cutest bacon and eggs fitted.

Fitteds- These are diapers with snaps or Aplix (velcro) for easy fastening. They are cut just like a diaper. So if you don't want to fold anything, fitteds are easy. You can just grab them, no need for pins or snappis. Put them on and if you're going out and about throw a cover or wool on top. Some fitteds have a soaker that is not sewn in. Sometimes they are snapped in or sewen on top. This is on of my criteria for most diapers, I want quick drying. If the soaker/absorbent part is sewen into the diaper that's more layers the dryer has to dry through and I don't feel it gets clean enough if water has to go through all those layers. See how this soaker is not sewn into the middle of the diaper? That's what I mean. I also prefer snaps. Aplix is a pain to me, it gets caught on my wool, snags fleece all sorts of issues. Fitteds need covers.

Soaker that is not inside of a diaper. Just sewn on top.

Pockets- Pockets are diapers that have an opening so you can stuff them with the amount of absorbency you need. I used pockets at night with double the amount of soakers and didn't have issues. We have used hemp soakers, prefolds and flats to stuff our pockets. With a pocket you don't need a cover, most are lined with PUL some with fleece.

All In One

All in ones- I'm not a huge fan. I do have some faves. I do love All in twos. They require no cover and are quick drying. The soaker on these are also on the outside. They were our go to for when we go out.

Covers- Oy, it's late. I love wool. Fleece is easy and cheap for a cover. PUL covers are nice and easy. Some can just be wiped off if soiled.

Wool- interlock, knit or crochet. Even recycled from wool sweaters. They are wonderful covers, natural and breathable.

Knit longies and skirite.

Wool interlock. 

PUL cover on Diva's doll from Hill Country Doll Maker.

Washing- When washing cloth diapers there are a ton of  "rules".  I wash mine with 1/3 or half the amount of detergent. I currently use Rockin' Green. Here is a great site with a ton of information I used when I first started out. LINK.

 That's it's for now. My next post will be on the folds we used on the girls.

Cloth diaper Posts
Part Two.
Part Three.
Part Four.

Baby cereal- Oatmeal

Steel cut oats for baby. I made this the same way I made the brown rice cereal for Pixie. Put the dry uncooked oats in a blender and blend it into a powder. I cooked it for 20-25 minutes with a water to powder ratio of 4 water 1 oats. Bring the water to a boil, whisk in oats, simmer and stir occasionally.

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Steel Cut Oats, Oatmeal

No real recipe I just follow the directions on the can, but this is my favorite oatmeal, the McCann's. So yummy! I love it with butter, brown sugar, a splash of heavy cream and sometimes slivered almonds or pecans. I guess you could add raisins- *shudders*
If you search "oats" or "oatmeal" on the search function other variations will pop up.