Great Giveaway- 2 Rumparooz One-Size Diapers!

Head on over to The Cloth Diaper Whisperer to enter to win two Rumparooz One-Size Diapers!

Good luck!

Great Giveaway- 2 Rumparooz One Size Diapers!

(Been awhile, hasn't it?!)

Head on over to The Cloth Diaper Whisperer and enter to win 2 Rumparooz One Size Cloth Diapers!

Image from The Cloth Diaper Whisperer.

Great Giveaway- 2 bumGenius 4.0s!

Image from The Cloth Diaper Whisperer.

Head on over to The Cloth Diaper Whisperer for a chance to win two bumGenius 4.0 diapers in your choice of colors and closure styles!

Sewing, Shop-ing, and Swimming

I am so excited!

I just this morning picked up the cutest, cutest, cutest printed PUL fabrics for making some more cloth diapers!

These fabrics are stretchy knits that have been laminated with PUL to make them waterproof, so they won't require a diaper cover (who would want to cover up that kind of cuteness?!).

I can't wait! 

And, speaking of, I wanted to take a sec to let anyone interested know that, even though the Mama & Nonni Handmades shop is on vacation, I am happy, happy, happy to take custom orders.  

Diapers, bibs, burp cloths, cloth wipes- I'm more than happy to sew them up for you!

The shop's vacation is only temporary- "Mama" has gone back to work full time, and "Nonni" is just still trying to get her ducks in a row.  So, we're mixing it up a little, trying to figure out who will be doing what, and how it will be getting done.  :)  We're hoping to have listings back up on Etsy this fall.

BUT, if you're interested in having something made before then, just let me know!  ;)

You can contact me for custom orders, or order inquiries, at:  Bright Beginnings Playgarden @ gmail . com (without all the pesky spaces of course).

And, as for swimming, well today will be Regan's first day at the pool!  

As the heat index here is around 100 today, we're looking forward that trip this afternoon!

I'm sure I'll have many pool-baby pictures to share afterward, but for now here are some to tide the grandmas, aunts, and friends over.

Be back soon!  :)

Cloth Diaper Giveaway- Rumparooz One Size Cloth Diapers with Inserts!

(Image from The Cloth Diaper Whisperer)

Want a chance to win?

Head on over to The Cloth Diaper Whisperer and enter!

Lucky, Lucky, Me!!!

The powers that be must be feeling sorry for me in my completely sleep deprived state, because...

I  WON!!!!!!!  :D

 (Image from The Cloth Diaper Whisperer)

And, I never win.

So, I'm doing the Happy Dance.

I'll be at it all day, too, so don't bother me.

;)

Great Giveaway at The Cloth Diaper Whisperer!

Go check it out!

(Image from The Cloth Diaper Whisperer)

Packing Up, and Heading Out

Well, today will be spent (mostly, I hope) packing for our trip to St. Paul to visit my baby sister.

We're leaving tomorrow morning, after some other errands are done, and away we will go!

My mom and grandma will be joining us tonight, and all four of us- six month old included!- will be making the trip together.  It should be a really fun time!  I'll get to see my little Ceiba puppy again (Koa enjoys "missing" her from afar ;) ), and see what all the fuss is about in the "big" city.  :)  It's kind of funny how life turns out sometimes- as kids she and I, our parents, and pretty much anyone else who knew us well, thought Erica (my sis) would be the "country mouse" and I would be the "city mouse".  Nope.  Erica loves the city life, and Pete and I wouldn't trade Po-Dunk Ville for anything (except maybe an acreage of our own one of these days).

We're planning on doing some thrift shopping, yarn looking, tennis shoe buying, six month picture taking, and who knows what else while we're there.  :)  And, since there will be extra hands to hold her and new and exciting distractions to distract her, I'm hoping to get some knitting of my own done for a special bride-to-be's bridal shower gift.  We shall see.

I won't be cloth diapering while we're gone (I'm really starting to miss our cloth diapers!  They've been in the "shop" for a while for some much needed repairing, and for the trip we won't have free laundry facilities available.), but I do really like the Seventh Generation disposables we've been using in the mean time.  I love that I don't have to worry about exposing Regan to any dangerous chemicals (Dioxin, anyone?!) by using them, and that- when they eventually reach the landfill- they'll biodegrade one day, while most other disposables won't (at least not for about 400 years or so...).  We'll be using disposable wipes too (only makes sense if we aren't doing laundry), and in the future I'm thinking of buying the Seventh Generation wipes too, since they're alcohol and chlorine free- nice for my sensitive skinned girl. 

And, while I'm yakking about baby products anyway, I might as well mention my (so far) favorite brand of baby skin care stuff- California Baby!  I love their Calendula Everyday Lotion (it smells good, makes her skin soft, and gets rid of her little eczema patches without leaving a greasy feeling), and their Calming Diaper Rash Cream (again, smells so good, and gets rid of any rash right away).  And, of course, no yucky chemicals!  :)

And, one of my newly discovered favorite sites- Diapers.com!  So, so simple and easy- and (in my opinion) cheap.  :)  And, I've been finding their coupons here and there recently, so woo-hoo!  :)

Anyway, I do need to "unplug" and get moving on the packing situation.  

We'll be needing to make a Target run on our way out of town, as I made the mistake of taking Regan's favorite (I know, at this early age you wouldn't think there would be "favorites" yet, right?) toy- her soft, chewable "Look Book" photo album with us to the park yesterday.  It's the one toy we own that, for whatever reason, keeps her occupied for a nice stretch at a time.  She started to fuss in the stroller, so I whipped it out for her to play with- yay! I was so proud of my brilliant planning-ahead!- and it never made it home again.  Oops.  I think it got chucked over the side (Little Miss's current favorite activity) when I wasn't looking.  I tremble in fear at the thought of keeping her quiet during meeting on Sunday morning without it.  

Oh dear.

Wish us luck!  It's a six hour drive on a good day- not including any diaper, nursing, or cranky baby breaks.

Baby Giveaway Palooza!

Run, don't walk, over to The Green Baby Guide and get yourself entered to win the awesome baby stuff in the super giveaway they're hosting!

The Progression of Cloth

Cloth diapering has come a long way.

Here is my little sister, Erica, in 1987. She was about the same age here as Regan is now.
(Mom says she put the diaper on loose on purpose, since Erica had the Chicken Pox at the time.)

And, here's Regan in a more "modern" cloth diaper.

Cute on both accounts, but now much, much easier.

:)

Change Update & More

Well, our first month of change is over, and I'll admit that I'm bummed- we weren't able to fully succeed at it, but we did give it a valiant effort!

I tried hard to sew those diapers!

I did manage to get one almost completed, but somehow, with a one year old and an almost 4 month old to take care of during the day, I just couldn't carve out enough time to "get 'er done"as Pete would say.

And so, we did have to buy more disposable diapers towards the end of the month.

Oh well. I'm not going to allow myself to feel bad about it, because our "heart" is in the right place. We are trying, and we will continue to try!

I did discover a few things in the sewing process though-

1. I can sew if I put my mind to it!

2. I like cloth diapers MUCH better than disposables (I think I already knew this, it's just that I reaffirmed that to myself during this challenge.).

3. I don't really care for the way the Little Comet Tails diapers are supposed to go together. I'm tweaking the pattern to my liking as I go along. Which brings me to...

4. I'm seriously thinking, as I do get the time to sew, that other people might be interested in buying my version of a cloth diaper. I'm pondering on how to find the time to sew more and thinking about possibly trying to sell some (if I ever get enough finished to have a supply!). And,

5. I am not a fan of snaps on cloth diapers. I'm a velcro girl. I'll openly admit it.

I did the numbers, and it will be cheaper for me to make our diapers in the long run, rather than buying them. I love shopping for the fabric and notions, and I can't wait to (find the time to) post pictures! :)


I am coming along, slowly but surely, on the Five a Day Clutter Challenge too. I'm slowly weeding out clutter and junk (I even discovered that I have 6 extra shelves of storage space now!!!), getting rid of it, and organizing what's left behind.

I'm not stopping at just 30 days though- I'm going until all of the rooms in this house have a place for everything in them, and our home feels comfortable and relaxing instead of cluttered and chaotic!

I've written down a daily routine, for each day of the week, that I hope will help me find the time to do things like sew and sort. I really hope I can get the baby to work with me on it too! ;)

And, on a side note, I'm feeling much better these days (though it will be such a relief when winter starts to end and we can get outside again every day!). I've been taking St. John's Wort at each meal, and I've noticed that I'm definitely calmer through my days, and my mood is generally better. I'm hoping if I can stick to my new routine that I'll start to feel more rested and have more energy through the day too.

On a second side note, we had Regan's 3 month pictures done last weekend, and I can't wait to see them! Hopefully we'll get them in time to send out Valentines! :D

Here's a neat video on how fast it all goes once you're a parent- I'm already beginning to see it start to happen, and it's good, but a little bittersweet. :)

How are you doing on keeping your New Year's Resolutions?

One Small Change

So far, so good!

I'm doing well, so far, at getting rid of a few things each day. I have to say, it feels really good to actually look for things to either toss or stick in the garage sale box in the basement!

Today's five were:
Junk Mail, Small Drawstring Bag, Left-over Diapers (disposables! I'd never toss my cloth!), 2 Broken Toys, and 7 Magazines.

I realize that's actually 12+ items, not 5, but I was a bit behind from Sunday. ;)

It's kind of fun, getting rid of things- it's sort of like being able to take a deep breath.

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh. Feels so good! :)

On another note (well, pretty related actually), this sounds pretty cool!

Our change for January? Sewing our own cloth diapers instead of buying disposables or buying pre-made cloth. This is good, because we aren't spending as much (per diaper), we're not contributing to adding grossness ;) to the landfills (and, by extension, water supply), and buying cloth diaper fabric online once a month uses less fuel to be delivered to us than when we were ordering a couple of diapers a week to add to our stash. I can make several diapers out of one yard of fabric, which is one delivery trip from the postal service rather than several a month.

How 'bout you? Wanna join in the fun? Go sign up at Hip Mountain Mama!

I'll let you all know how the diaper sewing goes (gulp!).

Wish me luck!

"Cloth Diapers?!"

That's what Pete and I hear a lot when someone finds out for the first time that we are planning on using cloth diapers for our little one.

"What? Are you crazy?!", their tone of voice and facial expressions seem to say. :)

I think that's because so many people still think of the "old fashioned" cloth diapers from 20+ years ago- the folding, the pinning, the hot, sticky plastic "pants" that went over them- if that were still the way cloth diapering was done today, there's no way we would consider it (let alone be excited about it!) either!

But, thankfully, cloth diapering has come a long way since then!

Are you curious?
Because, let me tell you, the savings can't be beat.

Check it out- there's so much to choose from now-a-days! :)