Just wanna cry

Apparently, I have been the victim of mail theft.

FLUFFY mail theft.

I know, awful, right?!

I had a custom cloth diaper made for Sweet Pea. And just tonight I contacted the maker to see when I could expect it - only to find out it shipped last week and was, according to the USPS, delivered on Jan 17th. :( Sadly, no diaper ever arrived. 

This is the photo from her Facebook page, of what should have been my diaper:

I'll bet our mail thief was REALLY excited to rip open that package and find a diaper. *snicker* If only they'd bothered to bring it back! :P

Now the lady has to try to find more of that fabric so she can make me another one... let's hope she's able to track if down!


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Sweet Bobbins Wetbag Review

About a month or so ago, I somehow stumbled upon the Sweet Bobbins store on Etsy. They currently make super cute bibs, nursing covers, crib sheets, adorable key fobs, cloth wipes, pail liners, nursing pads, and wetbags!

I ordered a wetbag in this super cute tree pattern:

And after using this wetbag for about a month, I just have to tell you all about it!

I. am. in. love.

You're probably thinking, "What's so special about this wetbag? Aren't they all pretty much the same?" Well, I used to think so. But not anymore!
Here are some of the things that make a Sweet Bobbins wetbag so great:

1. A snap handle. Planetwise wetbags only have snap handles on their large bags. Paddle & Quack have handles, but they don't snap/unsnap. This wetbag is only a medium size, but it has a handle that snaps. And the handle is long, too, so that means I can hang it virtually anywhere I want to!

2. Cute fabrics. OK - so pretty much any WAHM (work-at-home-mom) shop will have cuter fabrics than any of the mass-produced brands. And Sweet Bobbins is no exception! I especially love these ones:

Ok, so that was a lot. But there are just that many cute prints!

Oh yeah, back to my list...

3. Quality construction. This is a biggie with anything I purchase. I want to know it will last. I don't want to pay somebody for something that isn't quality work. If I wanted sub-par I'd just make it myself! (Ahahahaha!!!) My Sweet Bobbins wetbag is sewn very nicely, and looks like it will hold up for a long time.

4. The PUL. Anybody familiar with wetbags knows that the PUL is what actually makes a wetbag, a wetbag. The PUL is the waterproof factor. Otherwise you'd just have a cute little bag made out of a cute fabric, that you couldn't put dirty diapers or wet swimsuits into, without getting the whole bag (and everything touching the bag) dirty and/or wet. So obviously, the wetbag has PUL. But here's the great thing about Sweet Bobbins wetbags - they don't use the typical "PUL" that is found in most wetbags and diaper covers. Instead, they use a material called ProCare Barrier Fabric. It's basically like PUL, only better. Here's an excerpt from a blog post explaining it:

"Here’s the breakdown: 25% polyester, 75% vinyl, proprietary does not contain dehp phlalates or BPA plasticisers – that’s important to a lot of people they are looking for BPA free plastics. It’s also free of lead and cadmium... In addition to being food safe, it’s a medical grade fabric. It can stand up to 1,000 home washings." (From the Sweet Bobbins blog post - to read more for yourself, scroll to the bottom of the post, under the sub-title "Fabric choices")

Can you see how thick the ProCare material is?

ProCare is thicker, stronger, and less stretchy than PUL. So what does this mean as far as performance? AMAZING THINGS.

Since our diaper pail is in the nursery, we keep a wetbag hanging in the bathroom that can be used for any diapers that need to be sprayed off. (Don't want to carry a dripping diaper through the house.. eewww!!) The only hanging wetbag I had before my Sweet Bobbins one was the Paddle & Quack wetbag - that didn't snap. So we had to rig up a hook in order to hang it from our towel rack, but we got it to hang. And it held the wet, sprayed-off diapers OK... until the wetness from the diaper soaked through the PUL, through the cotton fabric, and started to drip on my bathroom floor. YUCK!! The P&Q wetbag held up fine when used for normal dirty diapers while out & about... but apparently it couldn't handle hanging up with extra-wet diapers inside.

So naturally, when I first tried my Sweet Bobbins wetbag hanging in the bathroom, I was hesitant. I was hopeful that it would work better, since the ProCare felt so much thicker and superior to the other PUL... but I still put a towel on the floor beneath it, just in case.

Well guess what? This thing doesn't leak. The fabric on the outside has never gotten even damp feeling. And I've put sprayed-off PREFOLD diapers in it. We're talking sopping wet, heavy, prefolds. Right in the bag. And all that wetness? It stayed in the bag. (Where it belongs!) This ProCare is amazing stuff, I'm telling you! And Sweet Bobbins is amazing because they are the only company I know of that uses ProCare in their wetbags, making them virtually leak-proof!

5. The price. Seriously. With all the great features I mentioned, and the fact that it is made by a WAHM (Work At Home Mom), you'd think it would be a lot more expensive than the mass-produced big brand ones, right? Most WAHM things typically are. Well a Planetwise medium wetbag (no handle, inferior PUL) is 13X16 inches, and costs $16.50 from most retailers. A Sweet Bobbins wetbag (snap handle, ProCare fabric) in the 14X14 inch size (almost the same size) is $18.50! That's only $2 more, for a far superior product, in my opinion. Worth it? I say YES!
I've never been more pleased with a wetbag purchase. :)

So if you're in the market for a wetbag (or nursing cover, or bib, or cloth wipes, or...) head over to the Sweet Bobbins shop and check out the great stuff!

*I was not compensated for this review in any way. In fact, I was not even asked to do this review. I simply fell in love with a product and thought I should share it with you. All opinions are strictly my own.*

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Zookies Diaper Cover Giveaway @ Manager to Mom

Kristy at Manager to Mom is giving away a Zookies custom diaper cover!
If you've never seen a Zookies cover before, you're missing out!

Check out how adorable these are:

Ok, so do you want one for yourself yet?!
Click HERE to go to Manager to Mom's blog and enter for your chance to win. :)

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Newborn Fluff 2!

On Friday I posted that I was going to sort through all of Monster's outgrown clothes and diapers. Well, I finished that task this Sunday. Here's the result of the clothes sorting:

Newborn - 3 month boy clothes

3-6 month boy clothes ~ 6-9 month boy clothes

12 month boy clothes

Gender neutral clothes (white socks, onesies, etc.) all sizes

All of these bags will be put in plastic storage bins before they go out into the shed... I just have to buy them first, LOL. For now, they sit on my couch waiting. :)  

And now on to the bag that most of you actually care about - the diapers!

 If you recall, this is the picture I left you with on Friday:

Those were the diapers that had been stashed away with Monster's outgrown clothes.

And here is my complete newborn/small diaper stash, with the brand-new diapers from the closet added:

(Oh, and a bit more organized, too! Haha)

First up, we have the newborn/infant sized prefolds!  I bought these uses, so I don't know the brands, and I'm not even sure exactly what "size" they are, but they fit Monster at 6 days old when we started cloth diapering him, and they fit until he was around 3 months I think. I am supposed to have 23. But I only pulled 21 out of the bags - it's a complete mystery what happened to the other 2!

And prefolds leads us to covers!
I have 4 x-small Thirsties wraps, 1 newborn size Bummis Super Whisper Wrap, and 1 newborn size Prorap. The Thirsties were my favorites with Monster - they held in even the messiest of newborn poos!

And then I have 3 small Thirties wraps. I also purchased 2 Flip OS diaper covers when Monster reached this size - but those are currently in Monster's diaper stash for use as his night-time diaper. :)

Currently I am using 1 meduim Tweedle Bugs cover, 2 Thirsties Duo Wrap size 2's, 1 WAHM large cover, and 1 OS Sweet Pea cover for Monster's stash. So once this baby outgrows these smalls, there will be plenty to move up into!

Now here's the first item that wasn't in the bag of Monster's old stuff - some super cheap off-brand snappi's (these are the ones I bought on Ebay for $0.55!) One of the 6 was used on Monster - and broke after not much use. We'll see whether it was a fluke, or if they are all that bad. But oh well, at less then .10/each I'm not gonna cry! And I'll still probably be buying a new Snappi brand fastener, too.

Next up are some of my size small AIO's. 1 Bumkins, and 2 Thirsties Pocket AIOs (discontinued)
The Bumkins is super cute, but it didn't work as well as our other diapers. It didn't fit as well as some others, and it ended up leaking more than any of our others did. But it's CUTE!

Then we have the size small BumGenius AIO's (discontinued). I loved these diapers on Monster! Oh, and don't worry - only the blue & green ones were Monster's. ;) In January 2011 BumGenius announced they were discontinuing their AIOs in sizes S-L and selling them all for $9.99. Since Ben is so awesome, he told me to buy some, thinking that we'd have another baby someday - including a couple pink ones in case we ever do have a girl. Little did we know that 'another baby someday' would end up being this same year! Haha. So anyway - when I bought some in January, I got 1 size small in Blossom. If this baby ends up being a boy - then I guess it will just go into storage for a little while longer!

And the last of the size small diapers I have are my Fuzzibunz! I absolutely loved these diapers. (And I still love my size medium and OS Fuzzibunz that I currently use for Monster)

And now it's time to show some of my brand new purchases! This is a 6-pack of Flip newborn size stay-dry inserts. I love the 1 OS stay-dry insert I have for Monster, but folded down to the small setting would be so bulky on an itty-bitty newborn. So I'm excited to give these a try!

( ^ Hey, look! ^ It's a  Monster foot!)

Since the 2 Flip covers I have are being used for night-time diapers, I also got a new Flip cover. I also took advantage of Cottonbabies' buy one-get one sale earlier this year on their Econobum diapers (a cover + prefold). Again, I got one in pink - just in case, someday! The Econobum prefolds are the prefolds that we currently use on Monster. I've never tried the covers before, but at a 2-for-1 price I figured it was worth trying them out on a future baby!

Oh and here we have 2 more BumGenius AIO diapers that I bought in January - a pale green and another pink. These are size mediums. Next to them is my size medium custom embroidered diaper made by Chunky Monkey Diapers.

Here's the back side of the diaper! This diaper won't be worn by any future children, as it was created just for Monster. Everybody has keepsakes from their baby years - Monster will have a cloth diaper as one of his! LOL

Each of our future children will also get a customized diaper just for them from Chunky Monkey diapers - all Ben's idea! (gosh I love this man.) I can't wait to decide what this baby's will be, and share it with you!
And now THIS picture is just exploding with tiny newborn cuteness! We've got 2 Lil Joey's, 2 BumGenius newborn AIOs, and 1 Tots Bots Teeny Fit. All of these fit babies from 5-12 pounds. How adorable are these?! These are all brand new - and actually all purchased AFTER getting pregnant again, unlike the others I've shown up til this point, haha.

The Lil Joeys & BumGenius were purchased by me, but the Tots Bots was actually a baby shower gift from my sweet friend Chana at Adventures in Fluff!

The last diaper in the bag is not even a regular diaper, but instead a swim diaper! This is a Monkey Doodlez swim diaper, size small. The bummer about this diaper is that since it's sized, it only lasted Monster one summer - last summer. And one whole summer isn't much swimming here in Washington! I think he used it twice - maybe 3 times. LOL. We didn't even buy him a swim diaper this year  - just used a pocket diaper without an insert. And this year Monster has been swimming maybe twice. The one time I can recall was not even really swimming - just splashing on the shore of a lake on the one weekend we had that the temp got above 80 degrees. *sigh* (As much as I really love living here, summers SUCK.)

So there you have it! This is my entire stash of newborn and size small (and a few medium) diapers. I think everything else we have that Monster currently uses is the Econobum OS prefolds, a bunch of random OS pockets, and 2 large BumGenius AIOs (that I purchased back in January). So once this new baby outgrows this stash, they will be wearing what Monster is wearing now. And I actually have more than enough diapers to cloth diaper two children at the same time!

After taking all these pictures, I'm itching to take photos of the diapers that are currently in rotation - the only problem is that they're never all clean at once! But my goal is to at least try to photograph as many of them as I can, to show you the stash we're currently using. Stay tuned!

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Newborn Fluff!

 I finally had a chance to get out in our shed and bring in the stored bins & bags of outgrown baby clothes and diapers. The logical part of my reasoning behind doing this is so that I can re-organize all of the baby clothes by size. They are currently just all thrown in bags/bins. One bag could have anywhere from newborn onesies to 9m size pants. (Hey my only goal when I packed the bags was to get the stuff out of the closet and in the shed... mission accomplished. LOL) But now my goal is to have them organized in such a way that if this baby ends up being a boy, I can easily locate the bag of baby stuff I'll need at that age. I know I also had a few pieces of clothing that are quite gender neutral, so I hope to track those down and store those separately, since they can get used with this baby no matter what.

But the biggest part of my reasoning behind doing this is to remind myself of what newborn/small baby fluff I have!! I quickly tore through the bags, and this is what I came up with. I think this is everything. Once Monster outgrew this stuff, he was pretty much into the One-Size diapers that we use now.

Here's a quick view of the goods: a bunch of prefolds & covers, plus a few AIOs and pockets:

I also have been accumulating newborn fluff in Monster's closet since before even getting pregnant again earlier this year. ;) So I have quite a bit of cute stuff to add to this stash, which I'm excited about. And also starting to feel a TINY bit guilty about, since this photo seems to hold plenty of diapers for a newborn (there are 2 dozen newborn sized prefolds on that table...). But almost every new diaper in the closet was purchased on sale, so that's good, right?!

I will be going through the diapers and taking photos of everything I have soon. Watch the next few posts for a thorough breakdown of my newborn fluff stash!

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Dibs!: Petite Bottoms Giveaway

Dibs!: Petite Bottoms Giveaway

Dibs! is having a great giveaway from Petite Bottoms.... and the winner will get 4 prizes!

A BumGenius Elemental One-size diaper

A Thirsties Duo diaper

An Osocozy fitted diaper

And a Sweet Pea One-size diaper cover!

Plus, the winner will get to choose the color (and sizes when appropriate) of their diapers. Is that not a great giveaway prize pack! Hury over... this giveaway ends 8/8!

Dibs!: Petite Bottoms Giveaway



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Alvababy Cloth Diaper Giveaway ~ Adventures in Fluff

Chanat at Adventures in Fluff is hosting her very first giveaway!

She will be giving away an Alvababy pocket diaper in the winner's choice of print.

She just posted a First Glance Review of an Alvababy cloth diaper as well, so be sure to check it out. After reading her review and watching her video, I'd love to give an Alvababy a try!

This giveaway ends on 8/5/11, so hurry over to Adventures in Fluff to enter the Alvababy cloth diaper giveaway today!

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10 Teeth

Last night I felt like the worst mother on the planet. Ok, ok. Maybe not quite that bad... but I felt pretty stupid when I discovered that Monster has not 8 teeth, as I thought.... but TEN!

He's had all 4 front teeth on both the top & bottom for about a month and a half. And I never had a clue he was even teething lately... until last night while I was brushing his teeth. Now, normally he likes to sit on the bathroom counter and let me brush his teeth. I know he only has the front 8, and that's where I would focus my brushing, before I give him the toothbrush and let him "brush" the rest of his mouth for a bit when I'm done with his teeth.

Well, last night he decided he wanted to brush his teeth by himself and he was throwing a huge fit trying to grab the toothbrush from me. So I laid him down on his back, on the bathroom counter, to better hold him still while I brushed his teeth... and when I used my fingers to open his mouth for the toothbrush... I saw a glimpse of something white where only pink was supposed to be!! Could it be? I opened his mouth up again to get a better look, and, YES! A tooth! And on the other side... ANOTHER TOOTH!

Monster has both of his upper first molars. The right one is probably fully out. The left one seems to be about 90%. And I never knew until last night. Holy cow!

The reason I had no idea about these is because he still doesn't have his "canines" (see chart below).

He's got his central & lateral incisors on both the top and bottom. And then his first molars on top. It looks kinda funny seeing that gap in there. But that gap is all I ever see when he smiles or talks. The front 4 teeth, and gums to either side. His molars have been hidden inside of his cheeks.

I suppose I could look at this as a good thing - after all, a teething baby is not a happy baby, but a grumpy baby. And a grumpy, sleepless baby makes for a grumpy, sleepless mommy. So yes, it could have been a lot worse - he could have been a nightmare while these were popping through. I definitely count it as a blessing that he was his normal, sweet, good-sleeping self.

But I attribute a lot of that to his Baltic Amber necklace that he wears. (click link for my post/review about the necklace back in November). You can see him wearing one in the picture above. Every word I said then is still true now. We now own 3 different styles of necklaces, not just the 1. Every one works like a charm - and they're cute, too!

So, there's my confession for the day. My baby popped through 2 molars without me ever knowing it was happening. And I still wouldn't know today if he hadn't thrown a fit last night that required me to lay him down while brushing his teeth. But, this fact makes me love my Inspired By Finn necklaces even more!

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