Easy DIY Wooden Bed Risers

In our master bedroom our bed sits on a standard metal bed frame.  Not only were the legs still visible under the bedskirt, but the bed was about an inch too low to fit underbed storage containers!  Not being able to store much under the bed was a huge inconvenience and after tripping over these containers in our walk-in closet for far too long I decided to make my own bed risers and fix the issue once and for all. 
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Now this isn't exactly a glamorous or high-end project, but I think you'll agree that the Before and Afters speak for themselves - it's a huge improvement over what was there and helps fit more under the bed for critical storage.  

The wrinkly, too-short bedskirt shows the ugly metal legs and the limited storage underneath.

Materials:  

• ruler
• chop saw or handsaw
• 2x4 lumber
• 1x5 lumber (or whatever size wood will cover the legs of your bed + the thickness of the 2x4)
• woodglue
• screws
• drill/screw gun
• sandpaper
• stain or paint

How-To:  

First measure the height of the legs of the bed (in our case the back side of the leg has a support bracket which is why you'll see the back side of our risers are slightly shorter) and add this height to 1.5 (the actual thickness of a 2x4).  This is the height your side boards will be for the bed riser.  For us it came to about 5 inches along the front three sides and 4 inches in the back.  

Next cut your 2x4 to size to fit comfortably under the legs of your bed.  Then cut all the side pieces to size, creating a box around the 2x4 base.  

Before assembling, it's a good idea to lay it out under one of the legs of the bed to make sure everything fits properly (as you can see from the "cut-away" example I have below).  Here you can see how the leg sits on the 2x4 base with all the side pieces around it.  

Once you have all your pieces cut to size, pre-drill, wood glue, and screw everything together.  We used black screws so they would blend in better with the dark stain we chose.  Make sure everything is attached sturdily then sand and stain/paint in the color of your choosing.  We went with a dark stain since the rest of our bedroom set is a darker wood.  

After everything was dry, I had my husband help me by picking up one corner of the bed at a time so I could place a riser under each leg.  I also purchased a longer bedskirt that better fit the new height of the bed.  These risers aren't the most beautiful DIY project but they're pretty un-noticeable with the longer bedskirt - and the best part?  Now I can finally fit the storage totes under our bed!  

Disclaimer:  Always make sure the risers you build are appropriate for your bed and your situation.  Make sure it's safe and sturdy! Use at your own risk.

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Recharging Postpartum Hair with Maple Holistics

Having a baby really changes your hair, and after having two babies my hair is nothing like it used to be.  Hormones have totally changed the color and texture of my hair... in the past few years it's gone from bright blonde and wavy to ten shades darker and stick straight.  After our second baby my hair definitely needed some recharging and I was excited to try something new. 
| This post shares an honest review of products provided by Maple Holistics |

Recharging Postpartum Hair

Give your Hormones a Chance to Settle Down

Those first two months after baby, your hormones are raging and just about anything goes.  Don't be surprised if your hair suddenly gets super dry or super greasy, or starts shedding like crazy.  As frustrating as those first two months can be (and for so many reasons - dealing with a new baby and a healing body isn't easy!), try to roll with these hair hiccups and know that a lot of it will improve or get more predictable once your hormones settle down.  

Get a Haircut

Getting a new haircut or even just a trim can really help refresh your hair and give you a boost of confidence.  Getting rid of those split ends will give you a fresh start to learn about your new post-baby hair.  

Try a New Shampoo/Conditioner

With all the new things going on with your hair, your old shampoo routine just might not cut it anymore. Now's a great time to switch it up and try something new! My hair really needed some perking up so I was super excited when Maple Holistics reached out to me and asked if I wanted to try their Tea Tree Shampoo and Conditioner.

Maple Holistics uses all-natural ingredients, and is both chemical free and cruelty free, which I love.  Using their tea tree shampoo gives you a cool, tingling sensation on your scalp that really helps you and your hair feel more refreshed and awake.  Afterwards my hair felt clean and lighter - I loved that the conditioner didn't leave it feeling heavy!  

If you want to try Maple Holitics' Tea Tree Shampoo or another one of their products, make sure to check out their Free Samples Program.

- I received this item for review from Maple Holistics but all opinions expressed are my own.  Please read our full Disclosure Policy for more information - 

Shop My Favorite Finds on Amazon!

We're huge Amazon fans in this house - living out in the boonies like we do means that a lot of home and grocery shopping is done online and you can't beat Amazon for their selection and Prime shipping!  | This page contains affiliate links |

I've created a page on Amazon to showcase some of our favorite Amazon finds - everything from home, to beauty, to baby and kid items.  Items with a "speech bubble" in the corner means I've added a note about that item, just give it a click to see what I have to say about it.  

Feel free to check our Favorite Amazon Finds often since I'll be continuing to add more items as they come up.  

Goals for 2018

Every New Year, there's an inspiring urge to finally accomplish all that you've been meaning to do.  As someone who tends to get caught up in the everyday, I love this motivation to see the big picture and write down what I'd like to accomplish the coming year.  

First, lets look back at all the great things that 2017 brought! 

The biggest blessing of 2017 was definitely adding to our family with the birth of our second daughter at the end of the summer.  The pregnancy and new baby stage kept me pretty busy throughout the whole year, and so Birch Landing Home took a bit of a backseat for 2017.  Nevertheless, highlights for BLH this year have included being quoted in Parenting New Hampshire Magazine and adding another wholesale account to our roster.  I also got the opportunity to work with some of my favorite international brands including L.L. Bean, Nûby, and Safety 1st as well as many wonderful New England-based companies including Hills & Trails, Woodboogah, and Cobalt Sky Studio.  

Goals for 2018

I have a lot of professional and personal things I'd like to accomplish or improve for 2018 - here are some of them:  

Grow Birch Landing Home More

This past year, Birch Landing Home was put on the back burner while I focused on family.  Family always comes first, but this year I want to get back into the working groove and grow BLH more.  I have some great ideas for new products to add to the Etsy Shop and DIY projects to share on the blog.  I'd also love to do more work with both international brands and New England-based buisnesses. 
(I also have an incredibly exciting collaboration lined up for the spring that I can't wait to share with you all!)  

Get Back into Running

While I ran throughout my first pregnancy, this time around I just couldn't so I stopped running and haven't gotten back into it since.  I don't know if another Half is on the books for this year with the new baby, but I'd love to at least get back into a regular running routine and do a few fun 5Ks.  

Clean House

Going through the house and systematically purging everything in the beginning of the year is something I really look forward to.  It's so refreshing to go through everything and donate or sell whatever you haven't been using for the past year.  Now that we have two kids the amount of "stuff" has exploded and I'm looking forward to getting it under control.  

Make More Time for Family and Friends

We've been so busy with work and our own family we haven't had the chance to visit enough with family and close friends this past year.  We're way overdue to visit some great friends and you can never spend enough time with your family.  This is an important priority for us in the new year.  

Get Up Early

Getting up early before the rest of the house really helps me get a jump on my day.  This was something that had been part of my routine but has fallen by the wayside over the last few months.  There's just something so motivating about getting up before everyone else, enjoying a cup of coffee in the peace and quiet, planning out your day, and getting a jump start on your to-do list.  Days when I get up early are so much more productive and let me focus more on the kids and other important tasks the rest of the day.  

Get Outside More

I'm really looking forward to more hiking and camping trips with family and friends this year.  There have been a couple of hikes that have been on our "to-do list" forever and it's high time we finally do them!  There's nothing better than getting outside to recharge. 

Explore New England! 

One of our favorite things to do as a family is day trips and weekend trips around New England to explore all the great things this area has to offer.  Usually we do a couple trips every year and this year I'd love to do even more if we can - especially in Maine and Vermont.  I'd also like to share our knowledge and put together more New England Travel Guides for the blog.  

What are some of your goals for the New Year? 

Photo from Free Nature Stock

New England Humidifier

I shared this photo on my Instagram Stories earlier and got so many comments I figured it was worth explaining!  Here in New England during winter, things get sooo dry indoors with the freezing cold temps outside and heat cranking inside - as a result your skin and throat really suffer, feeling constantly dry and scratchy.  | This post contains affiliate links |

One solution is to get a humidifier to put some moisture back into the dry air. In fact we do have a cool mist humidifier upstairs that we run at night when it's particularly dry or we're sick, but otherwise you can't beat the price and efficiency of an old fashioned "New England Humidifier" - a.k.a. a pot of water on the wood stove or radiator.

It works by simply adding moisture into the air by letting the water evaporate.  It's most efficient when you put the pot of water on the heat source so it evaporates a bit quicker, but if you don't have a stove or radiator you can also leave the pot by a heating vent or just in the room with you.  If you do leave the pot on your stove or radiator, just make sure it doesn't go dry (you want to take it off when you leave the house too) otherwise you might end up with a scorched pot!  

Disclaimer:  Use this tip at your own risk.  

Cataloging Past Family Christmas Cards

Creating our family's Christmas card each year is a tradition I greatly look forward to.  I especially love looking back at past years to see how much everyone has grown.  I used to tuck these old cards away in a drawer but I've found it much more accessible and enjoyable to put them within reach, displayed in a special photo album.  | This post contains affiliate links |

Luckily, we've always done 5x7 inch photo cards which fit perfectly inside a festive perfectly-sized photo album I found on Amazon. If you've done different sized or odd-sized cards through the years, it might make the most sense to use a big scrapbook to chronicle them. Just make sure to order an extra card to add to the album each year and cherish the memories!

Safety 1st Premium Baby Care Kit

Having a newborn means there's a lot of little essentials you're going to need - and even though this is our second baby, things like new combs, thermometer, and teether are always needed.  Safety 1st was kind enough to send us their Precious Memories Premium Baby Care Set for our newest addition to the family and I wanted to share with you all the wonderful things that are included. 
| This post contains an honest review of products provided to us from Safety 1st.  This post also contains affiliate links. | 

First of all I just wanted to point out what a great value the Premium Baby Care Kit is! It includes all the items seen below - including a fox wash mitt, booger sucker, cradle cap brush, thermometer, toothbrush, comb, brush, teether, nail clippers, and photo cards. Whew. And it's all boxed up neatly in a sturdy wooden box that can easily be reused as handy storage in the nursery. All-in-all it's a $75 value but retails for less than half of that on Amazon! This would make the perfect affordable and easy baby shower gift for a friend or coworker (or for yourself!).

The kit also comes with these really sweetly illustrated "First Cards" by Milestone Baby.  These are perfect for documenting those special firsts with your baby.  I also love that there's a little spot to record the date as well so the cards can be kept and tucked away in your memory box after.  

We've been using these items for a few weeks now and our favorites so far have definitely been the cute fox washing mitt (which our four-year-old has claimed as hers) as well as the cradle cap brush which we use religiously with each bath for our baby.  I just love how the brush really scrubs off the the flaky skin without being too tough on your baby's sensitive scalp!  It really does a wonderful job.  

- I received this item for review from Safety 1st/Milestone Baby but all opinions expressed are my own.  Please read our full Disclosure Policy for more information - 

Safety 1st's Premium Baby Care Kit can be found at various retailers including Amazon and Babies 'R Us.
Don't forget to follow @Safety_1st and @Milestonebaby on Instagram to see their latest products!

Dealing with Extreme Food Intolerances in our Baby

Sometimes babies have a hard time processing breastmilk because of food mom eats - this isn't that uncommon.  In fact our first baby had MSPI (Milk-Soy Protein Intolerance), and I had to avoid dairy and soy while breastfeeding until she outgrew it around 15 months.  What is uncommon is a baby that is so sensitive that she can react to EVERYTHING mom eats.  Unfortunately, that seems to be where we're at now with our second baby and why I've been so MIA from the blog and Etsy shop these last two months.  | DISCLAIMER:  I am not a medical professional and am not suggesting medical advice - I am just sharing our experiences.  Please always consult your own doctors and specialists before trying anything. |
This post contains affiliate links.  

Going on a TED

Our baby's poops were "off" from birth... at first they were blamed on the medications I got during my c-section (she was breech), then on dairy/soy which I quickly cut out of my diet, but then she started having blood in her stool. After a particularly scary (bloody) diaper I immediately went on a Total Elimination Diet (TED). A TED is when you cut your diet down to just a handful of low allergenic foods in order to get your baby to "baseline" (baseline being no more bad symptoms, whatever that may be for your situation), then adding one pure food in a time to make sure your baby still does well with it in your diet. With the okay from our baby's GI specialist I started my TED of turkey, sweet potatoes, quinoa, and clean olive oil (a lot of olive oils are cut with soy or corn oil, and there are only a few brands that are truly "clean"). I also cut out all my vitamins and supplements in case those were affecting her.

Over the next few weeks things slowly improved (less blood and mucus, better color), but we couldn't quite get to baseline. I then started infant probiotics and epsom salt baths for her and a digestive enzyme-probiotic combo for me, with every new thing or change in dosage acting as a new trial... giving every little change a week to see if and how it affected her. Vaccines at her well-child checkup were treated the same as well.. each one done separately at least a week apart (and vaccines did cause her lower GI issues to flare up unfortunately.. so after each vaccine we'd have to give her a bit more time to settle back down). Everything I ate was recorded in a log with times and every poop she did was also recorded with times, descriptions, and even photos. It was a very, very tedious process and the results constantly felt like two steps forward, one step back.

After about 1.5 months we were finally flirting with baseline but couldn't quite keep there.  Nevertheless, I was desperate for more food varieties... my back was starting to hurt every time I ate - my body was getting tired of digesting only the same three foods each day and even though my blood work had been coming back normal this diet was still taking it's toll.  Unfortunately, every time I tried to add a new food in our little one would seemingly fail it (more mucus in stools, blood, and/or acidic poops).. it was incredibly disheartening and depressing.  It got to the point where I felt extreme guilt and dread after sealing Christmas cards because I didn't know what the glue was made out of and if it would affect our baby.  

FPIAP, FPIES, or Histamine Issues?

We won't know exactly what's going on with our baby until she starts solids since breastfeeding essentially "filters" everything to an extent.  In general most kids with these kinds of sensitivities seem to fall into at least one of three diagnoses: 

Food Protein Induced Allergic Proctocolitis (FPIAP) - This is generally considered the "milder" version that only affects the lower GI tract (blood, mucus-y stool, etc) and most will outgrow it by around 1-year old (we pray to God she has this version).  Some also refer to this as “Chronic FPIES” or just “Allergic Colitis.”

Food Protein Induced Enterocolitis Syndrome (FPIES) - This is typically a more severe version of FPIAP that also affects the upper GI.  The most common adverse reaction to a trigger involves severe vomiting-to-shock, that often requires a trip to the ER to get under control.  There are foods that are considered to be more "common" triggers for FPIES but literally any food could be a trigger.  Most will outgrow it by 3-4 years old.  

Histamine Issues - This includes Mast Cell issues.. these poor kids have trouble regulating histamine levels in their bodies and anything and everything can effect them.  It can be a very difficult and overwhelming life-long road to navigate.  

The Decision to Go to Formula

I wanted to continue breastfeeding SOO badly - I love breastfeeding and the peaceful bond that it brings.  However, as hard as I tried I just could not keep our baby at baseline and it was not beneficial for her gut or for me mentally or physically to continue such a restrictive diet that seemingly got us nowhere.  

If our TED had been more successful and I was able to add back foods into my diet and keep our little one's diapers clear I would have been more than happy to continue with what I was doing, but unfortunately that wasn't the case for us.  Once we hit two months on this diet I decided it was finally time to try formula.  Her GI doctor made a recommendation to try first and while those first two days of bottle and formula feeding were SO hard (I cried more than our baby did), we finally had success.  Knock on wood, she's been doing awesome since and it's such a weight off my shoulders to not have to monitor everything as strictly as before.  

Going forward we're taking vaccines very slowly and will likely delay the introduction of solids until at least 7 months.  We're closely monitoring everything with the GI and will likely get another opinion at an allergist too to get more guidance on everything going forward.  I pray to God she has the more mild version of things and outgrows it quickly, but only time will tell.  Best of luck to other mamas out there going through similar things, it can be so hard.  

UPDATE:  The doctors believe she has FPIAP (which would be the best-case scenario), and I'm really hopeful that that is the case and she will hopefully outgrow all this in the coming months.  We've very cautiously and slowly started solids at 8 months and hopefully will keep progressing.
SECOND UPDATE: Now at almost 15 months we’ve made some great progress but she’s still very sensitive to new things and even vaccinations. We take everything slowly and allow for an adjustment period with new foods and most have been passes as long as she has time to adjust and get used to them. It’s still a very slow and tedious process...  Hang in there!

DISCLAIMER:  I am NOT a medical professional and am NOT suggesting medical advice.  I am simply sharing our experiences.  Do not take any information I provided as fact or advice.  Always consult your own doctors and specialists before changing your diet, adding supplements, or going on a TED.  Always get medical approval for yourself and your baby.