Storage Stained Clothes

When going through Kye's baby clothes to put aside things for the new baby I discovered that a LOT of his stuff had gotten stained in storage. It was this strange yellow discoloration on many of his clothing items, especially the white ones. I took EXTREMELY good care of everything he owned and never packed something that was stained so this really made me mad!

Like any girl would do - I called my mama ;) She has a Stainbuster's Bible and it said that the discoloration from storage is caused from the clothes having stains on them but the stains being so deep in the clothing that you can't see them until they sit in the dark for a long time and they come to the service. It's mostly caused from washing clothing in cold water...which I do, every load. I mean who can afford to wash all their stuff in hot water??? That's expensive! 

To get rid of the stains it said to soak the clothes in an Oxi-Clean type stain remover.  I soaked all the colored ones together and all the white ones together (I did end up throwing out all the plain white burp rags and onesies, why go through the cleaning hassle for stuff I can buy so cheaply?). I let them soak for several hours.

Next wash the clothes using bleach and hot water. I didn't use bleach on the colored clothes, but I did with the whites.

A few of the badly stained ones are still stained, and I could do the process again but I probably won't! Thankfully the swaddles, some of my favorite outfits, and some cute sleepers all came out clean! I'm so thankful that I didn't just throw it all out! Hope this helps some other mommies too :)

Stepping Stone

I feel VERY bad that I can't give credit to the blog where I got this idea from...I simply can't remember whose I saw it on, but I loved the idea and totally copied it!

Supplies I bought:

• box of stepping stone concrete mix from Hobby Lobby - $8.99 (it had enough to make two stones as I plan to make one for myself too!)
• small round concrete mold (also from Hobby Lobby) - $2.99 (can reuse when making another one as well)
• decorative stones (from the Dollar Store) - $1.00

How To:

• I really just followed the instructions on the box.
• Zach mixed the concrete with water then poured it into the mold
• I let it set for awhile b/c you don't want to put your kids feet (or hands) in it while it's too moist or it won't set
• We put Kye's feet straight down in it (pressing them down pretty deep) then straight back up and it turned out pretty good!
• I waited a little longer then put all the stones around (making sure to press them down enough to really stay)
• And I waited even longer to carve Kye's name and the year in the stone. I continued to check it throughout the day and carve the letters over and over to make sure they were really deep. 
• It took about a day to fully dry and popped right out of the mold no problem! 
• The mix must be a special type of concrete because the bottom of the stone is very smooth.

This made a WONDERFUL Mother's Day gift! Inexpensive, easy, and something she'll always cherish. I'm excited to have one for myself!