baby clothes

Top Posts of 2014

Hello lovelies! I wanted to do a summary post of all the awesomeness that was had in 2014 here at DIY Mama! I had a roller coaster of a year blog-wise. Some days I wanted to stay up til dawn writing and crafting while there were weeks of me not feeling motivated to share one thought. I hear this happens and that it’s ok.

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I’ve also learned a ton on the tech & social media side of things, although I feel I’ve only begun to scratch the surface. Let’s see what you all thought were the best posts! They were interesting to me because they weren’t all in my top 5 but I do remember really loving writing each of these. Here were your top posts for 2014:

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Top Adult Attractions

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Now that I’ve had my first full year of blogging, I’ve realized there are two major things I need to work on for 2015: photography and branding. I was all over the place last year, mostly because I was learning how to use my DSLR (still am), editing programs and how I wanted DIY Mama to feel. I’m very thankful to all of you as readers and I’ve loved being able to share myself with you this past year! What was one post that stood out to you?

Keeping Baby Clothes Organized

Organize Baby Clothes

I love organizing. It’s super calming for me and I think there is a direct correlation between the organization of my home and my brain. I have been organizing baby clothes for 5 months now, which sounds like a ridiculously short amount of time for any other project but it has been a CONSTANT organizational nightmare. I tend to search Pinterest if I don’t have the PERFECT way of organizing a ‘situation’ (for lack of better words.) I round up a bunch of favorite ways to accomplish my project and then usually mix and match people’s ideas to fit our space/needs. With this situation I have been re-doing her clothes every few weeks! Partially because she’s been going through them so quickly, partially because when my husband helps and puts clothes away he does it his way, and partially because I can’t figure out a wonderful, fabulous, perfect way to keep everything in order.

Let’s just dive in here and you can see the layout of the room as well as how I organize her clothes. I want to preface with the fact that I did not straighten up or organize anything for better photo ops so you could see the organization in it’s natural state.

This is what you see as you walk into her room. The dream catcher was made by Mommy to make sure she has happy dreams. I used this as my inspiration.enter1If you turn left, you’ll see her crib wall. Her mobile was also made by me. Her Sophia bunting (suuuper cute, right?) was made by this lovely lady.

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Here is a closeup of what’s going on inside her crib. The rings hang with a little ducky high up on her crib so we can scoot her up there for play time. There is an elephant mirror for her to see herself in as well as her best friend Elmer. Her peacock is in there when she plays and wants a bit more stimulation but usually he is her traveling buddy. The bumper is bumpy so she loves waking up and feeling it.

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Next is the wall with her friends and reading chair. We put up shelves with toys from our past as well as artwork from loved ones. It also holds her monitor and above is her camera. The city print is from IKEA as are the turquoise cart and yellow side table (which has a drawer for quick access of her pacifier, toy, and tissues.) We use this glider for reading and her 5a feeding to help keep her calm.

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shelves

Turn again and you’ll see her changing table/dresser. The yellow curtains plus wood slatted blinds help with daytime naps. The art print is from Katie and is a nod to our wedding song. Her coat rack holds her jackets and carrier and underneath is her hamper (of which I do not recommend as a hamper because of the flaps. It would be better used as a storage bin for a child to learn to put away their stuffed toys.)

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Finally you’ll see her closet (which holds a ton of crap stuff ranging from kitchen platters to luggage to her extensive library.) We hang her packed diaper bag on the door to make it easy to grab and go. Both frames are from her family baby showers and my best friend made her bunting.

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The room seems quite full to me but every time I try to minimalize this space it just fills up again with new toys. Her closet only holds sets of clothes on hangers that are gifts and don’t yet fit her, otherwise all clothes are in her dresser or the pink tub by her dresser (where I throw small clothes to later organize and store or share.)

This is the top left drawer which is right under her changing pad. It holds Sophie’s swaddle sleeper, muslin blankets, burp cloths and bibs.

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The top right drawer is super easy to access when changing Soph. It contains her night and day diapers (Pampers are our favorite), socks (Circo long white with grippies are our favorite), hats, foot and arm toys, headbands and misc medical supplies.

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The middle left drawer holds her pants (rolled so I can easily see them), PJs, snugly outfits and shirts/dresses that are part of a set.

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The middle right drawer has short sleeved onesies, sweaters and long sleeved onesies that are easy to see as well as put away once folded.

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The bottom left drawer holds all of her clothes in the next size up as well as her swimsuits and cover ups. All of these clothes are borrowed or bought at a consignment store and I’ve pre-washed so they’re ready once she fits in them. It’s quite haphazard but it’s easy to just throw stuff in once it’s washed and re-organize it once I move them up a row to her current clothes.

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The bottom right drawer is her ‘fancy’ drawer. It is filled with the clothes that have been hand made for her by relatives. The majority of this drawer is clothes made for her by my Grandma June when I was 15 (and no where near wanting children.) I wish she could see Sophie in them now. She would want to bite her cheeks! This drawer is also pretty crazy because when I want to play dress up there’s limited time to rummage through and pick something out before Soph doesn’t want to play anymore.

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Sidenote: this is what the little bean was doing while I was snapping these pics before her nap. So sweet and patient.

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The top of the dresser has our essentials that are handy to have nearby during changes. Obviously her changing pad, wipes container (one of my favorite purchases), sanitizer, Aquaphor, baby powder, baby lotion, pacifier, q-tips, distracting toy, vaseline, freshner and a lamp (for the big messes.)

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That sums up the major pieces in the nursery. While looking at this I realize how much STUFF comes along with having a new baby (not that it’s all necessary but it makes life easier!) I go back and forth between feeling ok with the way it’s organized and thinking it’s a total mess. Do you have any of these products? Do you have any suggestions on how to keep things more organized? How do you do it???

This Post was not sponsored by Amazon, Target, Ikea or Ashley Furniture. All ideas and  photos are my own.

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