Wordless{ish} Wednesday: fluffy bum

A diaper made with daddy's old t-shirt.

Rockin' the stache!

First of all, Happy Veteran's Day to everyone! It's amazing how there are so many men/women in our country that volunteer to defend our freedoms. I'm also thankful to the families of these service men/women, I couldn't imagine being without my hubby for more than a night and there are so many families that will go up to a year without seeing their spouse.

I'm not sure why mustache shirts and mustache parties are the thing to have and do, but I love it! When you add mustaches to all things baby/toddler, it makes it even better. Had I thought about it before I made Parker's first birthday plans, I really think I would have changed his theme....next birthday maybe.


I have been wanting to make Parker a 'stache diaper for a few months now, but I've been seriously so busy that it's hard to work it in. I finally decided this morning that I would make Parker this long awaited diaper.



I recently designed a pattern for a nice fitting bib, and I decided to make him a bib to match the diaper instead of a shirt. I'm liking this matching bib/diaper idea. This bib will get a lot more use since he won't out grow it as fast as he does his matching shirts.



I love the comment Parker received, "Little man, your mustache fell off." It was cute.



Parker watching the fountain during the Veteran's Day celebration at Fountain Hills Park.



Parker loved seeing his little dog wear the bib.

Wordless{ish} Wednesday: Cooler weather?

It's has been so hot here! I realize that I do live in AZ and we should expect hotter temperatures, but reaching 100 degrees in October is ridiculous.

I'm sure hoping today's cooler weather is here to stay. Parker loves to be outside, he is starting to get extremely stir crazy when I don't let him run around outside. Another advantage to having a home with a little one...a backyard.

What he wore:

shirt: Now & Zen
diaper: Bohemian Baby Couture Diapers
legs: upcycled using this tutorial
accessories: rock and stick ;)

Fluffy Butt Friday: What's on the butt!

Brand: Sunbaby
Style: pocket diaper
Cost: $4.00
Where to buy?: Ebay



I'm also one of those moms whose shirt must always match the diaper.

Fluffy Butt Friday: What's on the butt!

Brand: Thirsties cover and a Bumkins prefold
Style: prefold and cover
Cost: $12.75 for the cover and $2.00 for the prefold
Where to buy?: Zoolikins

Scavenger Hunt Sunday

I have missed participating in Scavenger Hunt Sunday! I'm happy that I had some extra time to join in this week.

1. Give Me Flowers



This is what is left of the rose I received on Mother's Day. It's pretty much dead, but I keep it around because my kitty loves to eat flower petals when they become crunchy. I was having fun playing around with this window that is in our bathroom, and with the lighting that was coming through.

2. Visual Contrast



I usually don't take photos during this time of the day in Parker's room, normally the shadows are very distracting. Parker was being so funny when he saw his shadow, I couldn't resist taking some photos.

3. Friendship



I actually took this photo around Easter, but it was so cute and this photo came to mind immediately when I saw the prompt. I also used the picture in my new blog banner. It is amazing how much these two love each other.

4. Before and After



I was asked to sew up some newborn diapers this past week. I had no idea what I could use for this prompt, so I used a couple of the photos I took of this newborn order I completed.

5. Dark

Fluffy Butt Friday: What's on the butt!

Brand: Bohemian Baby Couture
Style: One size pocket diaper
Features: Custom applique' letter on bum
Cost: $16.00
Where to buy?: bohemianbabycouture

The Great Cloth Diaper Change 2011

Parker and I participated in the 1st annual cloth diaper change this past Saturday! Locations across the world also joined in on this event to not only bring awareness to cloth diapers, but also an attempt to go for a world record. We had a great time and met some wonderful people. It was nice to actually meet, in real life, other mama's that cloth diaper.

Location: Whole Foods-Chandler, Arizona
Date: April 23rd, 2011

I also made Parker's Horton shirt and Dr. Seuss diaper, AND a similar set is available for purchase on my ETSY page(link on the left of my page.)







We also won some new fluff for our diaper stash! YAY, free fluff is awesome :)

Laundry Day

Edit: I almost forgot to add that my business sponsors The Paper Mama and she is hosting a giveaway for one of my items. Visit her blog for more details!

Parker decided to help me with laundry. I now have to actually schedule my laundry days. Our washer/dryer decided to quit working a few weeks ago and there are no plans in the works to have it fixed anytime soon. It was a crappy set up in the first place, but it was still better than having to drag all the laundry to the public facility.

The upside? Bigger load capacities!

The downside? I have to be really careful with how hot the water in the wash gets and how hot the dry cycle gets when I'm washing the cloth diapers. I have known friends to lose hundreds of dollars worth of diapers because the wash or dry cycle melted the waterproof fabric in the diapers.







Parker helping me stuff and fold all the diapers.


Mommy?!? This is the one I wanted to wear...


Somehow he always gets his way, I can't resist those eyes.

Fluffy Butt Friday: What's on the butt!

Brand: Sunnybaby
Style: One size pocket diaper
Cost: $4.00
Where to buy?: Ebay

Vlog: Storing cloth diapers

I was trying to take pictures of my cloth diaper storage, but I couldn't capture it how I wanted and decided to vlog instead.


Here was my cost(storage items only):

Green stacking basket(Target): $5.00
Hanging shoe storage(Target): $6.99
Black trash can(Target): $9.99
Wet bag(inside of trash can): $5.00
Drawer oraganizer(99 cents only): .99

Total storage cost: $27.97



I forgot to mention in the video, the top drawer of the dresser/changing table has an organizer that contains the diaper creams, vaseline, powders and hand sanitizer.

A little bit of this...a little bit of that! (49/365)

I started researching cloth diapers when I was still pregnant. I knew right away that it was something I wanted to do. I was so excited to put the cute print diapers on Parker and show off his fluffy butt. I thought I knew everything there was to know about cloth and thought that I would have an easy time with it. I mean come on, how hard can it be?

Well, it wasn't as easy as I imagined, there were things I didn't really think about before Parker was born, such as;

• How tired I was with a newborn, utterly exhausted, I had little desire to clean let alone wash diapers.
• I couldn't get them to fit correctly, when he was little, they always leaked.
• Some of the diapers I bought were way too big to fit a newborn.
  
• I didn't have enough diapers in the beginning to get through a full day of changes.
• I couldn't figure out how to wash them correctly.
  
• My hubby loved the idea of cloth diapers, but was afraid to use them.

There was a point in time that I wanted to throw in the towel and quit cloth, I felt completely overwhelmed, frustrated and didn't think it was really all that worth it. I decided to take a small step back and only cloth diaper part of the time. When I felt overwhelmed, or needed a break from diaper laundry I would turn to disposables. I believe that had I not done this, I would not be cloth diapering at all today. The funny thing was that I felt somewhat embarrassed to call myself a cloth diapering mama because I did rely on disposables part of the time.

In the meantime I slowly bought diapers on sale here and there. I bought different styles/brands of cloth diapers until I found what style/brand worked best for us. I tried many different detergents and was able to get a wash routine down. Now, Parker is just over 5 months and I'm proud to say that I cloth diaper exclusively and have been for a month and a half.

AND, our little stash is now big enough to get through 2 or even 3 days without having to do diaper laundry...YAY!



I know that some other cloth diapering mamas will have you believe that cloth diapering is all or nothing and if you turn to disposables on a stressful, overwhelming day you are a bad mother. I wrote this post because I know that I'm not the only mama who has felt overwhelmed about cloth diapers at some point and if turning to disposables some of the time keeps you from losing your sanity, then go for it!

Scavenger Hunt Sunday (35,36,37/365)

We had a very busy past couple of days and when we stay busy that usually means I'm able to take lots of cute pictures in different locations. I forgot to look at what this weeks scavenger hunt items were, but I still managed to get pictures for each item.

1. Water

Once again, my crazy cat Picasso was sneaking a drink of water from somewhere other than his water bowl.

2. Quote

(37/365)


We have to work pretty hard to get Parker to laugh. Nolan would never tell me, but he has been the only person not to be able to get Parker to laugh and I think it really has been bumming him out. This week my husband discovered a way to get Parker to laugh so hard, and he is the ONLY person to get Parker to laugh this hard. It is unbelievably adorable and I know that a wonderful connection has been made between the two.

3. Window

(36/365)


I had told Nolan the night before that I wouldn't ask to go anywhere ALL day Saturday. He would be able to have a full day to relax and unwind. Boy was I wrong! I had gone shopping the day before in Scottsdale and left my nursing cover at the store I bought all my cloth diapers from. My wonderful husband drove me all the way back to pick up the cover and we decided to take a small ride on the trolley and walk around before we headed back. This was looking out at the shops while riding the trolley.

4. Activity

We decided to go shopping at the mall, we stopped in Pottery Barn Kids and I saw this chair and just had to take photos. It made me think of the Blue's Clue's chair, except a different color.

5. Page 25 of a Magazine (source of inspiration)

Here is page 25 of the Parent's magazine I recently received in the mail. (Not much to work with unfortunately)



The ad was talking about diapers and I did just buy new covers and prefolds for Parker on Friday. I also had taken some pictures of Parker with his new diaper covers......eh, close enough.

(35/365)

Wordless{ish} Wednesday (33/365)

A Days Worth of Diapers

Yesterday I took pictures of every diaper change we did, so today I could blog about cloth diapers. Not only did we get some quality tummy time in, we took a lot of cute fluffy butt pictures.

I have quite a few family and friends that always ask about my cloth diapering. Some have tried and quit. Others, I think, are just curious. Well, if I can just sway one person into just trying out cloth with this post, I will be happy.

So the question always arises, "Why do I cloth diaper?" I cloth diaper for three main reasons:

The first reason is because it's less expensive in the long run. The initial cost can be more but you can slowly buy your stash over time if you start buying early in your pregnancy. There are swap boards where you can buy used diapers if you aren't opposed to used and you could add cloth diapers to baby registries.

The second reason I cloth diaper is the semi-hippie person in me. I want to reduce my carbon footprint.

The third reason is because cloth diapers are so much cuter! No matter what disposable diaper companies do to make their diapers look more appealing they can't compare with the millions of fabric possibilities that cloth diapers are made from.

Now sit back, relax and enjoy some pictures of our diaper stash!

Good morning! Diaper Change #1

This diaper is from a company named Bagshot Row Bamboo AKA BRSB

BagshotRowBamboo
Paper, rock, scissors print





Diaper change #2

Another BRSB diaper

Camping print



Diaper change #3

This diaper is from a company called Goodmama. The first three diapers I have featured are called fitted diapers and require a waterproof cover. I used what is called a snappi fastener to secure them, but you can use traditional pins or some companies even provide snaps or velcro closure. I don't use a cover when I'm home since they are so absorbant and rarely leak but, we were leaving the house so the second picture shows a yellow diaper cover from a Swaddlebees.

Goodmama

Swaddlebees
Space print




Diaper Change #4

This diaper is from a company called Doodle Dypes. This diaper is called an AI2(all in two) which means that there is a waterproof layer built into the diaper and no waterproof cover is needed.

Doodle Dypes

Volkswagen Print



Diaper change #5

This diaper is from a company called Cutiepoops. This is called an AIO(all in one) and also has a hidden waterproof layer and doesn't require a waterproof cover. The only difference between an AI2 and an AIO is that the pads that soak the urine on and AI2 can be removed to wash and an AIO the soaker pads are built into the diaper and are usually unseen.

Cutiepoops

Route 66 Print




Diaper change #6

This diaper is actually a simple prefold diaper. I couldn't take a picture of just the prefold because the ones I have are too small to be snappied/pinned so I just lay them in the waterproof cover. The first picture is how I store them.

The prefold with a waterproof cover system is probably the least expensive route to go when cloth diapering. I paid only $2.00 per prefold and bought two dozen. Depending on how many days you want to do laundry you can buy more or less. I do laundry every other day. I will use a cover all day unless I get poo on it.

Here is the link to where I bought my prefolds although there are many other websites that sell prefold diapers.

Zoolikins





Diaper change #7

This diaper I actually made myself before Parker was born, it's a simple pocket diaper which basically means there is a pocket in the diaper where you put stuff soakers in. I bought 2 packs of microfiber towels from Walmart and they work incredible and use one towel folded in thirds. So if you can sew there are numerous websites that offer free sewing patterns. This diaper would still require a waterproof cover.

I do plan on making more but having a newborn takes up most of your free time.

Here is the link to the pattern I used for this diaper

RRP Pocket Diaper



Diaper change #8

This diaper is made by Rockstar fluff and is another example of an AI2, no waterproof cover needed.

Rockstar Fluff

Mushroom Print




Diaper change #9

Last diaper change of the day is another example of a prefold and a waterproof cover. This cover is one of the more popular and my favorite. I have never had any leaks with these covers.

Thirsties




Thank you for visiting, please comment if you have any questions.