Get Messy

Source: Here

The other night, I was on dinner duty with B and Chino. I needed a quick and easy dinner, something (somewhat) nutritious and of course, delicious. I stopped at Trader Joe's on my way home from work and grabbed some frozen gnocchi and some ground beef to throw together when I got home. I thought for a second about how messy B would get as he LITERALLY stuffed his face with it, but then decided to embrace it. Instead of feeding him with a fork, I stripped him down to his diaper, sat him in his high chair and let him go to town. I'm so very glad that I did. He had an absolute blast, picking up the food and feeding himself. By the end of it, his fact was covered, the high chair tray was covered and Chino was a very happy mutt, since he was the beneficiary of the food that was flying during all of the excitement. Of course, I posted the photo of B on Facebook because everyone loves a messy baby. He got a lot of likes and comments, but one comment stood out. Someone said that she was afraid to try that with her own son because she was afraid of the mess. In that moment, I decided not to be afraid of the mess but to embrace the mess. The mess is the fun part. Yes, it took some extra baby wipes and a post-dinner bath to clean it all up. Yes, I found ground beef in his diaper (how does that happen?), but the smiles and the fun and the laughter were all worth it. I know that some days, we won't have time to embrace the mess, but I'm going to do my best to wrap my arms around it and to live in the now, thinking about the consequences later. 

No Sew, DIY Crib Rail Cover

Do the sides of your baby's crib look like this? Mine do.

Baby B managed to gnaw his way around the entire inside perimeter of his gorgeous crib.The same crib that we painstakingly picked out so that it would LAST and be a piece of furniture that would grow with him from baby hood and beyond. Now that I look back on it, I can see that I was forgetting about the part where my baby figured out how to stand and was also teething at that exact same time, leading to a perfect storm of furniture destruction. All of those mornings, where B was quiet in his crib, "playing"? Yeah, this is what he was doing.

I'm not a huge DIY'er, so first, we headed off to the dreaded, Babies R Us to find a crib cover that would stop the insanity and save the wood. When we realized that they wouldn't fit, it was time for me to get creative, which turned out to be a lot cheaper and easier than exhaustively searching for crib rail covers. I'm so excited to share my first, official, DIY project as a mom! I wish I would have through of it before B left his mark on his bed, but better late than never, right? Here's what I did:

• Go to your favorite craft store and purchase 2-3 yards of fleece. I'm bad at measuring, so I always OVER estimate incase I goof. I went to Jo-Ann's and used a coupon, straight from my iPhone, so my fleece was 40% off! 
• Measure! Measure the length of your rails, the distance between the slats and the "wrapped" distance around the rails.
• Spread your fleece out on a flat, dog hair free surface. Cut rectangles in the appropriate dimensions. Length should be the length of your crib rails and the width should be enough to wrap around the crib rails, with a little room to spare, maybe 1-2". You can always trim back if you need to.

• Mark the fleece where the crib rails will be. For me, I just marked every 2" or so.
• Fold the rectangle in half and then cut on your marks, so that you have a fringe. Cut about 2-3" into the fleece. Don't cut too deep, you can always cut additional space while you're wrapping.
• Drape the cut fleece over the appropriate crib rails and start tying the fringes together. I started on each end and then worked my way to the middle. Make sure that you knot the tails on the side that the baby can't reach. Pull the fleece tight, so that there isn't any bunching or gathers on the side that your baby will see. Cut any loose "tails" off of the knots that face out. Repeat the process on the remaining crib rails and voila! You have a completely wrapped, and protected crib. Safe from beavers and babies.

This is my first DIY post, so my process pictures aren't the best. I didn't even think to take photos until I was almost done, but I'm hoping that you get the idea. I'm thrilled at how it turned out, and so is Nick. As usual, he had no clue about my final vision until he saw it come to life. We are week one into our newly protected crib and it is working beautifully.

This is my first DIY post, so if I'm missing any details or if you need clarification, let me know in the comments. Are there any other preventative measures that I need to take, now that B is a full blown toddler?