I Just Keep Getting Crunchier and Crunchier!

We FINALLY have a store in town that sells cloth diapers, and everything green! Woo hoo!!!

This means that I'm going to be getting a whole lot crunchier. I am so so excited!

Already this week (I know it's Friday for everyone else, but around our house, it's Wednesday), I've cut up 3 t-shirts to replace the paper towels we won't be buying anymore, started washing my face using the oil cleansing method, and I've started washing our laundry with Soap Nuts.

The best part is that HubbyButt doesn't mind that our house is getting greener by the second!

Having Greenshops open up this week was such a blessing! We just discovered that Monkey is allergic to microsuede and microfleece, which is what most of the stay-dry linings on our cloth diapers are. That means that those diapers are no longer going to be part of our rotation for Monkey (I wanted to sell them, but HubbyButt and his mom convinced me to keep them for baby number two - who is NOT currently in the works). That also means that Monkey has been in the same 16 diapers all week! She's NOT allergic to natural fibers, so we've been using our unbleached cotton prefolds and the two bamboo fitteds we own.

Thankfully, Greenshops carries organic bamboo (OBV) AND organic cotton fitteds! Yaaay! We were able to really stock up on diapers for Monkey today during their sidewalk sale. We got a 6 pack of OBV fitteds and a single cotton fitted, plus a bag of Soap Nuts and a gorgeous new sling for just over $100! It was a total steal and I'm thrilled!

I'm so excited to get some action shots of the sling in particular. It's pink silk and is absolutely gorgeous!

In other wonderful news, Monkey rolled from back to belly for the first time today! She's been rolling from belly to back since the beginning of November, but hadn't been able to figure out how to get back until today, when I was moving the laundry from the washer to the dryer. I guess it's time to start babyproofing!

Product Review: Nacho Dipes AND Itsy Bitsy Bums

A few weeks before Christmas, I was desperately searching for a Christmas diaper for Monkey's bum. After a very disappointing address issue which resulted in a lost diaper, Abby at Itsy Bitsy Bums contacted me with a really really cute diaper for sale. A few days later this came in the mail.

I am in LOVE with this diaper! It's from Nacho Dipes and is made of organic bamboo velour on the inside. It's so soft and super absorbant. There's even a hidden layer of PUL (polyurethane laminate) that makes it waterproof, so we don't have to cover up the cute print! One of my favorite things about this diaper is that it has 2 sets of snaps; one is under the wings and adjusts the rise, instead of having a front snapping rise like the rest of our diapers. I also love that it has cross-over snaps so it fits very skinny babies, like Monkey, really snugly, but I think it would also fit a bigger baby as well. In the photo above, it's snapped all the way across on both sides to fit very small babies.

Christmas!

Even though Christmas is long over, I still put Monkey in this diaper on a regular basis. I expect we'll get a lot of use out of our first WAHM dipe!

Abby was so awesome to work with, too! Along with the diaper, she also sent me a sample of Grandma El's Diaper Remedy, which is a diaper rash gel that is totally cloth diaper safe. It can also be used as a preventative and smells so good! I'm seriously considering moving all of my coconut oil to the kitchen (it's really tasty in scrambled eggs!) and investing in Grandma El's; it clears up Monkey's rashes in at most two diaper changes.

Itsy Bitsy Bums has a really great selection and awesome prices. When we have a second baby, we'll be ordering the newborn rental package, rather than investing in a stash of diapers that the baby will outgrow in just a few short weeks. She also regularly offers free shipping on order $35 and over; if you pop over to her site right now, she's offering a free Planet Wise wet bag on orders over $25 along with the free shipping! That is a great deal!


These are not solicited reviews. I love these items and sellers, and just want to spread the word!

The Diaper Is Finally Finished!

A few weeks ago I posted about making a cloth diaper using the Rita's Rump Pocket pattern. I couldn't figure out how to put the elastic in, so I put the project on hold.

Until today.

A fellow cloth diapering momma on BabyCenter posted a link to this tutorial. The directions are well-written and easy to understand as long as you look closely at the pictures. I love the idea of using a safety pin to pull the elastic through the casing; it makes it easy to guide it through, and tacking it down at the end is wonderful.

Since this was my first time doing it, I didn't know how large or small to make the leg openings. They ended up being a bit too large, but I'm sure Monkey will grow into them.

The Mommy Club

Children have this odd way of touching every part of our lives. It's wonderful, but it can be frustrating at times as well. Yes, there are some things I have to miss out on, but those are generally few and far between, and the time spent with my husband and daughter more than makes up for what being a mommy prevented me from doing.

But that's not what this post is about. This post is about the biggest blessing my daughter has given me (aside from the blessing of being her mommy). She's given me friends.

What started as a quest to find playmates for Monkey has turned into me meeting a wonderful group of women that I've become very close to. Our daughters (yes, they're all moms of girls; I have yet to meet any moms of boys near Monkey's age) are all under 8 months old, and we're all first time moms. That means we're all learning the same lessons, and that makes it very easy to come out of my shell and really connect with these women.

 I've always been painfully shy. I was picked on in youth group, and had the same small group of friends from fifth grade until we graduated from high school. I loved them, and I still do, but the only other one that's a mommy lives 3 states away.

Becoming a mommy has changed all that. I'm now a member of MOPS at our church (teehee, I even got a gift card to a local restaurant when a pediatric dentist came and spoke to the group. I was the newest mommy, Monkey was only 7 weeks old). Monkey and I tend to have at least one playdate a week, usually with Anna and Smiley, but we've been meeting with other moms and babies as well. Yesterday my new friend Georgina brought her daughter Clara (who is about 2 weeks older than Monkey) over for playtime. Monkey and Clara played and "talked" while Georgina and I watched Gilmore Girls, talked diapers, feeding schedules, introducing solids ... you know, all that good mom stuff. We really enjoyed having them over!

I've also met one other full-time cloth diapering momma! It was so wonderful to meet someone that enjoys diapering as much as I do. She works full time, so we don't get together that often, but it's still nice to know she's got more experience, and that if I need to I can call her and get help troubleshooting any diapering issues we run into.

I love my daughter so much, and I am so grateful for the wonderful women that she's introduced me to.

Product Reviews

I'd love to start doing product reviews! If you know of anyone seeking an honest, unbiased opinion on their product, or if you have a product you'd like me to review, please contact me.

It's Amazing What A Vacuum Can Do

Confession time: I've never been a fan of vacuums. Until I started using them, when I was about 12, I was terrified of them. I would leave the room, or even leave the house, whenever my mom started that evil sucker up. Now that I'm all grown up, I honestly don't vacuum nearly as often as I should, but Monkey has proven that she can move herself around, so I'll have to start doing this most dreaded task daily.

In fact, just this morning I vacuumed the living room. It made such a huge difference! First off, I had to pick all the toys and blankets up off the floor, and then getting all the yucky stuff that we drag around the house just transformed the room! Yes, it's still cluttered, especially the table and the couch, but it looks so so so much cleaner!

I really do feel more relaxed and like a better wife and mom when my house feels clean and is somewhat tidy (I don't like everything to be perfect, because what fun is that?). I feel like I'm more able to focus on having fun with my daughter and like HubbyButt can come home from work and relax and focus on his family, rather than trying to find somewhere to sit down.

Works For Me Wednesday

This is gonna be a quick one! When Monkey gets hungry, she thinks she's going to starve to death. Unfortunately, her formula has to sit for 5 minutes after being mixed, to allow the rice starch to settle and thicken. While we're waiting for her bottle to be ready, I change her toosh. 5 minutes is the perfect amount of time for a diaper change, and she generally forgets how hungry she is during her time on the changing table.

That's what works for me this Wednesday, what works for you?