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Mar 28, 2011

A Big week for Sewing Diapers

I am really excited for this week. Okay, I should qualify that. Hubby is away and I hate that part of this week, but I am really excited because over the weekend I got my order from Diaperkit.com. The site is having a huge inventory close-out of the diaper kits and so I was able to get enough to make 11 diapers for a great price.

This gives me one diaper for Baby C and ten diapers for a soon to be new mommy of two. She is due any day now and really wants to use cloth from the start. She is a lot like me and started to use cloth diapers with her first son when he was older and in the bigger sizes. Now she needs small diapers, but does not want to spend as much on this stash as they did with the first ones. I completely understand as she sounds just like me! Well, she sounds like Hubby. I am all for trying out new diapers, though I do not always love the price tag.
This morning I went into my sewing room, with both kids even, and started getting things ready to sew. I was going to start sewing up one of the small diapers for the lady I know, but then realized I should start sewing with the diaper that is going to be for Baby C. That way if I mess up or want to do things differently, I can and it won't be one of the diapers that I want to be perfect. I know that when I make diapers for Baby C, it will mostly likely not be 100% perfect and I am fine with that, but if I am making something for someone else, I want it to be perfect and a good reflection on my business and my sewing skills. I figure then I may be more likely to have that person come to me when they need me to sew up something else for them.

Well, I must say, even with being really dumb and getting my finger too close to the needle while sewing, I have Baby C's diaper almost finished within like no time at all. It really is going fast since I don't have to cut the material at all. I am really pleased with these kits. All I have to do to finish Baby C's diaper is sew on the Aplix and sew the front closed. It is really quick and easy! I hope I have the ten baby diapers sewn up just as fast, though it is all dependent on my kiddos being good for me and letting me work. :)
 Fast forward a few hours and....
This afternoon the kids both napped for a little, giving me the chance to finish up Baby C's diaper and I love it! Sewing on the aplix the way I did was so much faster than snaps or the way I have tried sewing on Velcro in the past.  This makes it that I can't wait to sew up the smaller diapers for my friend. Maybe I will just have to go and start that while they are still napping!

Until next time... Happy Sewing!

Mar 25, 2011

What can Amazon do for you?

I know I have not posted any "deal" or Coupon posts in quite some time. I really should change that, and I am starting with this post. Another blog that I follow (BabyGoodBuys.com) has been posting "diaper deals" posts for a bit now, using Amazon as her source for the information. Well, that got me to thinking, what kind of deals can I find on Amazon.com? First, I took the advice of BabyGoodBuys and signed up for Amazon Mom. I can't believe I didn't know about it sooner, it is pretty nice. 
Amazon Mom members receive benefits such as 30% off diapers and wipes, FREE Two-Day Shipping with Amazon Prime, as well as exclusive offers via e-mail.  (from the FAQ for Amazon Mom)
 It is also free to join. It is not just for moms either: Dads, grandmoms, and other caregivers can also sign up for this service. Then when you need something for baby, you can find some really great deals and they are even sent to you via email. 
There is also a Subscribe & Save program that you can sign up for and they will automatically send you the items you sign up for when you need them. This can be canceled at any time (like after your initial order ships). 
Now, on to what prompted me to write this post. As BabyGoodBuys put it, under $.18 per diaper is a good deal and under $.10 is not to be missed. Well, I found a deal for Luvs diapers that is "not to be missed." Today on Amazon you can buy a box of Size 1 Luvs Ultra Leakguard Stretch Diapers for $24.88 with subscribe and save (that is $.09 per diaper!) When I searched for the size one Luvs, it told me they were $30, but when I actually clicked on the item to buy it, I found out the price I could actually pay. I mention this because we do still use disposables on Baby C during the night. A deal like this is just awesome!

Did you know that Amazon also has great cloth diaper packages? They have two GroVia packages for moms who might be starting out or find that they love GroVia the best and want to make it their stash. First there is the Grovia Girl Variety Cloth Diapering System Starter Kit. This kit gives you 6 shells, 6 inserts, a pack of disposable inserts, two packs tiny bubbles, and a magic stick for $186.67.
You can also get another kit that is for going with disposable inserts and GroVia shells. This is called the GroVia Hybrid Diapering System Starter Kit Eco-Friendly Disposable Inserts. This also has 6 shells and has 150 of the disposable inserts for $169.90. 
These kits are nice for going with a kit but not the full-time kits that you find on the other cloth diapering sites. 
For those who make their own baby food, Amazon has Fresh Baby So Easy Baby Food Trays for $11.14 and it is eligible for Amazon Prime FREE shipping. These trays hold 1 ounce per cube. If you want containers that hold 2 ounces you can find the Fresh N Freeze Baby Food Containers 12-Pack for $9.95. 
I have been in love with Amazon for some time and now that I am a mom of two and have learned about Amazon Mom, Amazon Prime, and Subscribe & Save, I am in love all that much more. You can always find some great deals. What deal can you find?



Until next time... Happy Deal Hunting!


Disclaimer: This post does contain affiliate links.

Mar 21, 2011

Oh the fluffy changes

It seems that we have had our fair share of fluffy changes going on in our house lately. Around the same time that I packed up all of LJ's sized diapers Baby C had her own change up going on. You may remember that I made some diapers for Baby C before she was born. Figuring that she would run about the same size as LJ when born, I made some that were to fit babies up to 7 pounds, but knew it may fit longer since I tend to have skinny little ones. Well, the diaper that I made for my little girl to wear home from the hospital is now too little for my baby. Her little belly became too big for me to be able to comfortably close the Velcro around her waist.  Now, it sits while I think what I want to do with it. I am not sure if I want to think of selling it or if I want to hold on to it. On one hand, I would love to be able to sell some diapers and get the name out on my business and all that jazz. On the other hand it is a really cute diaper. I love it and it is pink. I am so torn. What would you do with the diaper if it was too tiny for your little one, you may or may not have another, and it would just be sitting around. Oh the dilemma!

Mar 17, 2011

Potty Training week one

Well, we are coming up on about one week of potty training. It has been interesting to find what is working for us and what doesn't. You may recall my previous posts about this with some pretty decent venting going on in the first. LJ wants to train, but at the same time he seems fine to not train. This brought me to the point of no more diapers and we are not going back. I actually packed up his sized diapers the other day and made all of the one size diapers so they will fit Baby C.
We have a pack of the disposable training pants, but really they are too much like diapers for LJ. He doesn't mind wearing them, but he will never say he needs to go to the potty while in them because he doesn't feel the need. I use these only if we are going out for a long trip or if I run out of clean underwear or training pants.
So, what has been working for us? I found the best way to get successes with LJ is to keep him naked from the waist down for as long as I can (he really likes to have his big boy underwear on). We also now use food coloring. Yes, food coloring. On Monday LJ said he wanted blue water in the potty and that he would sit on the big bathroom potty if it had blue or green water. So, I used some of our toilet cleaner to make some green water (hey I got to clean the toilet afterward as well since he didn't actually go that time). LJ also wanted the colored water down in his training potty. That is when I knew I needed food coloring. I made some blue water for his potty, but quickly realized it made it really to tell if he had actually done anything. LJ likes to say "yay! Poopies in the potty!" after like every time he sits down. If we ask him if he peed, he will say yes, even if he did not.
So, how did I fix that issue and still give him the colored water? When we clean out the potty from a success, we put in a drop of food color. This way when he pees he is making colored water. He loves it and we know when he successful and wen he is not. It becomes very easy to see pee in a potty when it is colored blue or purple (he now likes us to put in red and blue). I am just loving that he is excited to sit on the potty. We have had to go out and get two new race cars already.
We made the deal with LJ that for each row of his potty chart that he filled up (it has 7 boxes per row) we would go to the store and he could pick out a new toy. We were going to take him to the dollar store, but when we had to shop at walmart first for a few things and saw they had matchbox cars for 98 cents, that became our place to go. He loves being able to pick out a new race car and take it home. We love that it means he has gone to the potty 7 times successfully. This newest race car was bought after only two days. I thought that was awesome.
Tuesday and Wednesday were more difficult for full training as I had a doctor's appt and he had play group. That meant longer trips from home and throw-away pull ups. Wednesday we didn't have any successful times on the potty except for one time that he left maybe two drops right before bed time. Today he has already had two successful times on the potty and we have gone through about four pairs of underwear. It seems like as soon as they are on him, he doesn't think about what his body is saying and he starts to go without going to the potty first. I know that will get better as time goes on, but for now, naked is the way to go. :)

Until next time... Happy Training!

We have a winner!

I must say that I am sorry that so much time has gone by since the Wee Expressions giveaway ended and I this winners post. Time has just been flying by for me lately.

Anyway, on to the winner of th Wee Expressions Giveaway...


I will be emailing the winner shortly and they will then have 48 hours to respond before I pick another winner.


Mar 14, 2011

Potty Training

Well, it is official. We are potty training. LJ would show signs of wanting to train, like wanting to wear big boy undies, but we were (and sometimes still are) having issues with getting him to tell us when he needed to go or wanting to sit on the potty.
I know that going back and forth between diapers and big boy pants can slow things down. That is the last thing I want to have happen. So, we have made the big leap and we are no longer in diapers during the day. If he wants to be in undies, then that is the way we are going to go full bore. I have a few training pants and we bought a small pack of Thomas the tank engine unders for LJ. Today we went out and bought more unders. (Yes, I know I tend to say undies and unders. I don't know why some contexts I say unders and others I say undies, but that is a total side note!)
I have also been making some of LJ's prefolds in to trainers. I saw the idea from a lady on etsy. Sorry, I do not remember her name or anything. So, using the concept of prefitteds and trainers, I whipped up my first trainer for LJ to wear. It isn't the greatest, but it works well for going along with regular big boy undies. We did also buy a four pack of the plastic pants to go over his trainer or unders when we are going out for a short trip.
Today I was trying to get him to sit on the potty, and again he didn't really want to. Then he said one phrase and I have run with it. Green water. See, we have those color tablets for changing bath water and he loves taking a blue bath. Well, he was saying he wanted to make the water in the big toilet to be green. I asked that if I made it green, would he sit on the potty and I got a "yes!" I used some of our toilet cleaner to make the water green (and hey, I could clean the toilet if he didn't go). That actually worked and got LJ to sit on the potty. He then sat at least one more time with green water.
He didn't even seem like he had to have his sticker too if he could have his green water. I knew I had to get some food coloring or something to make the water colors when he wanted colored water.
I can't wait to see where this goes. I am hoping that he begins to have more times of letting us know he needs to go before he does it. I think one thing that may help in this process will be more play dates with his two cousins who are both now trained. He wanted to sit on the potty three times at a party over the weekend just because his cousins were. And if my sister reads this, then totally when she feels like coming over with the boys for some time with other adults, let me know, we would love it! :)

Until next time... Happy Parenting!

Mar 11, 2011

Is he even ready?

LJ will be 3 in April. He has been almost potty trained twice. The first time, I could not commit the time I knew we would need to training, so I let the training slide. The second time he showed interest and then after a few days, no more interest. Well, that seemed to happen again the other week.
He wants big boy underwear on, but he doesn't want to change them when he wets them. He also doesn't want to tell us when he has to go or sit on the potty every time. I know he feels the wet pull-up on him, but he doesn't want me to change him. Sometimes he knows when he has to go or just went, and other times he could not be bothered by it. Some times he is interested in the potty and others, not so much. We have tried the chart with getting stickers or candy each time he is successful on the potty, but it seems to only go so far, even though he loves getting candy. One more success on the potty and he gets to make a special trip with us to a special store (the dollar store) and pick out a toy.
I have tried to make it a happy time to sit and go on the potty, but so often he isn't phased by it. I know going back to diapers after being in trainers for a day or so is not good, but I can't keep him in trainers until he magically decides he is ready and willing to train. If that makes sense. I know that we are going to have accidents, but I just don't know. He seems to be fine with accidents and not care. Is he just not ready even though he has showed the signs of being ready?
I just don't know how to get him interested in the potty all the time, not just when he wants to be interested. If I try to be loving yet firm, he begins to melt down and I don't want this to be an unhappy thing. Making it unhappy or unpleasant is not going to get us anywhere and I know that.
I guess I just needed to vent a little bit about my son who seems to want to be ready, but doesn't always act it. Also, going into cloth trainers, I just don't know if we can be changing his outfit and underpants that often if he isn't going to tell us he needs to go. I know he can hold it for a while, but then it seems when he is underpants he goes a little, then a little more a few minutes later, and then a big amount a while after that.
Part of me feels I should have just trained him at 18 months when he showed signs of willingness and training to go poo on the potty that young. ah the frustrations of parenting a willful little 2 year old.

What advice to my momma readers have that you can offer?

Mar 10, 2011

Winner! Is it you?

I am so happy! The great BumCoveredDiapers.com giveaway got 157 comments! I have not had any giveaway do that well yet, though I hope it continues in upcoming giveaways I may do. :)
Without further adu...
The winner of a Build-Your-Own fitted diaper from BumCoveredDiapers.com is.......



I will be emailing the winner shortly. They will then have 48 hours to respond before I pick another winner. Congrats to PA LaPresti's!

Mar 9, 2011

An UnderCover Winner!

And the winner of the UnderCover Mama nursing tank is...


The winner has been emailed and confirmed. Congrats Jentri!

Mar 3, 2011

Winners, Winners, Winners!

Now I have two winners to announce!

And the winner of the Fleece Soaker from Zizzies and Izzies is....




And the winner for the Babylegs Grabbag is...
I will be emailing the winners shortly and they will then have 48 hours from the time I send the emails to respond to me before new winners are picked.

LBBE - Hevea Baby Pacifier Review

When it comes to baby, I like to keep things natural and simple. There are many products, even for babies, that just don't fit those criteria. There is one such company out there that feels the same way, especially about pacifiers. That company is Hevea Baby USA. Hevea Baby makes a great 100% natural rubber pacifier.

As the picture above notes, these pacifiers are made from 100% natural rubber. They are BPA, PVC, and phalate free. That is really awesome in my book. It was shortly after my first son was born that I started hearing and learning so much more about BPA and what it can do to kids and so now I am doing all I can to keep it away from both of my kids and from the family as a whole.
So, now on to our experience. Well, we waited for at least three weeks before trying out any nipples or pacifiers other than my built in ones. :) Baby C is still trying to get used to pacifiers and such. I have tried this pacifier but she seems to not be too keen on the shape. As she gets more used to having something other than my finger or breast in her mouth, she may become more apt to take this shaped pacifier. Until then, I am trying to learn what she might like and what she does not.
I did really like the solid design of this pacifier, there are not real nooks or crannies for dirt or anything to get caught in. Yes, there are design cutouts, but they seem pretty easy to get to with a nipple brush. I do think that the design is nice and distinctive. I like it. I would love if Baby C ended up using this pacifier more often as she gets a little older.
Now, I am hoping that Baby C does not get as addicted to a pacifier as LJ did, but I do think it can be good for a baby to use one when they are young. They have been found to help reduce the risk of SIDS. I think it can also work nicely as something that calms little ones when they need it most.
I think this is a great pacifier made with good materials. You can learn more about this and other great Hevea products at Hevea Baby USA. Also, check out their facebook page!

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