another month slips away

Somehow March has gotten away from me already. We were preparing for the inlaws to visit at the end of February, and then BAM! here comes April. Does this mean I'm getting old?
Per the name of this blog, I was really planning on updating nearly daily with little insights about the modern homestead, but instead it seems to have become an update outlet. Oh well, here's another monthly summary.

We're making more progress on the new house project every day and (finally!) have a plan! I'm especially proud of it since it's almost all my doing, but I won't say that when my darling husband is around. For some reason he seems to be keeping the project on the downlow so I'm sure he won't appreciate my posting this:

but luckily he's not the blog-reading type. hehe. It's about 1400 sq feet and super awesome if I do say so myself. 3 Bedrooms, one real bathroom with 2 "half" baths, a big screened-in porch area, shower outside, walk-in closet, PANTRY!, cute little office, lots of built in storage. Obviously I'm not excited about it at all, and yes, that is a clawfoot tub in the master bedroom!

In other news, our darling Honey is crawling now. Every experienced parent we meet says, "Couldn't wait for the first one to crawl, didn't care if the others ever did." but so far, I feel like the crawling has given me more freedom too. She can finally entertain herself nearly all of the time. She comes to me when she needs a diaper change or a trip to the bathroom and she's not as upset when I leave the room because she can follow me. The only real challenge to her new-found mobility is keeping the house baby-safe; putting outlet covers back on after using an outlet, nothing choke-able on the floor, only drool-proof things within 2 feet of the floor.

Since I finally got one of my sewing machines going again I've been trying to make a dent in the mound of sewing projects that has collected in my craft corner over the last year and a half. Some mending, a little more progress on a braided rug, and home-made AIO cloth diapers! Here's Honey rockin' one of 'em:
I tried to make my own pattern, but found out pretty quickly that pattern-making requires a lot more sewing skill than I have, so I broke down and ordered one off the internets. Boy am I glad I did. I got the Little Half Moon pattern which is SO easy to use, even for inexperienced ol' me. I think I've made 5 or six so far in a variety of sizes, with 3 more on the way for a very pregnant friend but *shh* she doesn't know they're coming yet. You might find yourself wondering, "Why are you making these AIOs when you already have so many, very functional cloth diapers?"
There are two main reasons. One, as Honey continues to get better at signally when she has to go to the bathroom, we end up taking off and then putting back on the same clean diapers over and over. Its a pain to do this with the two-part system of the diaper and cover. We don't already have many All-in-ones (AIOs), so for convenience, cost, and fashion, I'm making them for us in the bigger sizes.
The second reason, is for our expecting city friends. Their kids will likely spend time at professional day-care centers which no longer, generally speaking, support the use of cloth diapers. I'm hoping, perhaps naively, that both the couples and the care centers will find these homemade AIOs just as convenient as disposables, but with fewer environmental drawbacks.

Well, I hear the youngin stirring in the other room, so this concludes my monthly installment of 'Another Day in the Life.' 'Till next time, au revoir.