Short Rounds Fitteds

Another week has passed, therefore, it’s time to share a bit more of my stash!  The bad thing about resolving to try as many WAHM diapers as possible is that every week, I have a new favorite.  It doesn’t mean I love the others any less, it’s more like I feel guilt for thinking there MUST be something wrong, something I don’t love.  Either I’m incredibly lucky or the cloth diapering community has begun weeding out the bad ones, because I have yet to put a mommy-made diaper on RJ’s bottom that I wouldn’t scoop up more of!

This week, I tried out a side-snapping fitted from Short Rounds.  I wanted a snapping fitted because my hubby won’t pick up anything that requires a snappi or pins.  I like the fit of our side-snapping pockets, so this seemed like a logical choice.

Jen is a newer WAHM, but you’d never knowing it looking at her diapers!  The sewing was professional, the snaps are secure, and the elastic is perfect from what I can see and feel.  The outer is absolutely adorable, even if it wasn’t one of my “must have” prints and the inner compliments the outer well.

When my fluffy mail first came, I wasn’t sure about the bright yellow color of the inner, but once I soaked it in for a bit, I don’t think any other color would do.  I think I’m so used to white or neutral inners that it took some getting used to.  Other than that, I had no complaints.

Bubs had spent a few days in disposables and had a case of monkey butt when we put this on him, so his “review” may be a bit skewed.  He was a changed boy as soon as his bottom hit the soft cotton velour.  Once the diaper change was done, he was grinning from ear to ear.  I think he liked it!

I was a bit concerned because there was a bit more of a gap in the front, between the diaper and his skin, than I’m used to with other diapers.  When I looked closer, I think that’s just because RJ is at the small end of the medium size.  Because of that gap, I was worried about what would happen when it was “christened”.  The answer, absolutely nothing!  The soaker did it’s job perfectly and absorbed a good amount, to the point where the outer was barely damp.

Would you like to try out a Short Rounds fitted of your own?  If so, leave me a comment with the size your little one needs along with your “must have” fabric choice.  I can’t guarantee the fabric you want will be available, but I will do my best to order your diaper in a fabric you’re sure to love!

Want more entries?  If you post about this week’s giveaway on Facebook or Twitter and leave another comment with the link, you’ll receive another entry.  If someone posts that you sent them here, you’ll also receive a bonus entry.

This week’s winner will be posted sometime early next week.  I will shoot for Monday, but that will depend on the demands of being mommy!

Week #2 Winner

This week’s winner is Rose Plummer (#4)!!!

Being a mom has interrupted my blogging momentarily.  As happens when you have kids, I don’t have this week’s review ready, but it will be up tonight.  Be sure to check back for your chance to win some squishy softness of your own!

Diaper of the Week #2

First off, congrats to the brand new owner of a Bugga Bugga Boutique amazingly awesome diaper!!!  This week, Tracy will be getting some fluffy mail, courtesy of the completely unperfect family!

This week goes hand in hand with last week.  When you do cover a fitted diaper, what do you use?  Seriously, this is still one of the most overwhelming choices for me!  There are a billion PUL covers out there in both colors and fun patterns.  Then you have wool and fleece shorties, longies, soakers, skirties (okay, we don’t consider this option, but it’s there), etc.  At a later date, we’ll tackle wool and fleece, but for now, we’re keeping it simple.

I decided to ask some mommies for suggestions of what to look at to post here.  The first response was Adorabumz covers.  When Cassie suggested this, she was raving about how wonderful Rachel’s customer service is and what a sweet lady she is.  That’s just the type of person I am hoping to spread the word about, so I hopped over to her site.

The Dr. Seuss cover caught my eye immediately.  Seriously, who isn’t in love with Dr. Seuss?  He was a great writer for kids, the characters are incredibly goofy, and it’s fun to pass on to the kids.

After making any purchase online, the long wait begins.  I hate waiting!  Great news for anyone who is like me, my new cover was here within 3 days (maybe even the second day after I ordered), waiting to greet me when I got home from work.  Cassie wasn’t lying when she said Rachel has awesome customer service!  Within 20 minutes of placing my order, I had an email from Rachel thanking me for my order.  Between great communication and fast shipping, I was inclined to recommend her to others without seeing the cover.  I’d never do that, of course, because there are probably people out there who are fast and friendly without being skilled.

After opening the package, another benefit fell into my lap.  Rachel includes care instructions with her covers.  This may not seem important to veteran cloth mamas, but to someone who has been scared of using options that require covers, it was a welcome addition to the cover.  She also included a business card, another welcome non-essential item.  Business cards make it easier for me to remember who I ordered what from so I can order again!  I’ve started writing a description of the items on the back of the cards and putting them in a little box so I have them for reference.

As soon as I finished washing and drying the cover per the directions, it was time for a test drive!  For a snap cover, it had a great fit.  The print was even more adorable in person than it is on her website.

If I had to choose something to cut the sugar level a bit, I’m not sure if I like fold-over elastic (FOE).  This is nothing against the cover, it’s a personal preference thing.  If I find something that has a print I can’t live without, FOE won’t keep me from buying it, but I’d have to have more experience before deciding if I’d buy something in a solid color with FOE. The edges on the flaps didn’t lay quite as flat as I’d like, other than that, the FOE was a cute trim.

Overall, I’d say I would definitely buy more Adorabumz covers!  Would you like one of your own?  Leave me a comment to be entered in this week’s drawing!  If you tell others to visit my blog and they mention that you sent them when they comment, you’ll BOTH receive an additional entry.  Next Monday, sometime after work and before dinner when the little man is sleeping, I’ll choose the winner.  Please make sure you leave your email address or blog address so I can contact you if you win!  Because this is a fitted cover, please also leave what size you would  need in the comments.

Clutter and Attitudes

Have you ever noticed that when the house is clean, you feel more calm?  While I can’t say how anyone else feels, I know that when my house is a mess, I feel irritable, anxious, and over-all drained.  Knowing this and having experienced both options, why is it so hard to just do it?

I could make excuses for a week.

It’s hard to do it all with two kids in the house.  True, but one of those kids contributes nearly nothing to the mess.  With the exception of clothes, diapers, and bottles, nearly none of the mess is his.  Guess I can’t use that one.

I work full-time.  Another true statement, but I’m sure not every working mom’s house looks this way.  I know moms tend to fall into a trap of trying to do it all, but I feel like I’ve fallen into the opposite trap of doing nothing while trying to not do everything.  Does that make any sense?

I have no help.  I could have help, but I haven’t figured out how to encourage Khaila to help me without doing everything for her.  It’d be nice if I had more help from the hubby, but while I try to get him to see the light, is it fair to my kids to bring them into this chaos every day?

A few times now, I’ve participated in “Tackle It Tuesday” and the results from those days seem to stick.  I need to try to remember how surprised I am every time I finish something I’ve been dreading and I realize it didn’t take as long as I had imagined it would.  This seems to be another big hurdle in my attitude makeover.  I know what will fix part of my negative thinking, now I just need to take the steps to actually fix it.

It’s 7pm and everyone is asleep but me.  I think the time is here for me to close the computer and do something.  There is an overwhelming mine field of toys on the living room floor and two loads of laundry calling my name.  If I can tackle those, I can call Wednesday a success!

Has anyone else faced this challenge head on?  If so, what helped you?

My Little Angels

Not Me Monday #3

Welcome to Not Me! Monday! This blog carnival was created by MckMama. You can head over to her blog to read what she and everyone else have not been doing this week.

Wow, what a week we’ve had and what a start to this week!  I swear, I did not forget what day it is!  I would never rush to get a Tuesday post done when it’s so obviously Monday!  I especially wouldn’t do that within an hour of posting TWO Monday posts!

I would never assume that three prefolded diapers would be enough for one little boy going through a growth spurt when I knew we’d be gone a minimum of four hours!  I would also never take pictures of said little boy in every type of diaper I put on him, realizing he may be ridiculed years down the road if his friends or *gasp* a future girlfriend should see them!

I would never get in the car to head down the road without remembering to buckle one of the children in!  Luckily, this has only never happened with the four year old who is quick to correct me before the vehicle is in gear!

I would never skip making dinner because the entire family fell asleep before I could start it.  I’d make dinner, wake them up, and make sure they had full bellies.  Let’s just say they’re not handling a changed schedule very well!

I would never dry one outfit because I forgot to put a load of laundry into the dryer the night before.  I would also never dream of wearing a pair of partially dried jeans to work!

Speaking of work, I would never throw my hair into a ponytail without brushing it because I’m running late!  Even though I wear a hat, I know to make sure I look presentable at all times!

What haven’t you done this week???

Tackling the Washer Room

Why the washer room and not the laundry room?  Well, when you have an apartment that had laundry facilities added as an after-thought, you wind up with the washer in the back entry and the dryer in the bedroom closet.  It’s not as bad as it sounds, the bedroom is off the back entry, so it’s a quick trip from washer to dryer.

Why not tackle both at once?  Well, I don’t have that much ambition or time!  The back entry is only seen by us, so it has become a catch-all and the closet is even worse.  I figure I can reasonably tackle these in consecutive weeks and feel good about it!

Things I found:

• Brand new pack of HUNDREDS of hair accessories for Khaila.
• One of the kids’ Christmas stockings (must be RJ’s, tags are still on it)
• Denim capris with rip from waist to mid-thigh.  Why am I hanging on to those?
• BRAND NEW Tide To-Go pen (or whatever it’s called).  I can’t tell you how many times I’ve said I *need* to get one for the diaper bag.  Who knew, it was here the whole time!
• Three Sharpies, probably put on the shelf for “safe keeping” from an artistic toddler.
• A pair of Nike tennis shoes that I gave up on months ago.  One was missing a shoelace!
• Babyfood jar filled with spare change saved from the washing machine.

And the end result?  It’s not totally done, but I need to get a new mop before I can do the floor!

I told the hubby that he’s cut off from buying compact flourescent bulbs for about a decade.  Each of the past two years, he’s “stocked up” during the big sales before our local energy fair.  I think I know what we’re giving everyone for Christmas this year!  Okay, not really, but we could and we’d still have plenty!

I moved the hamper so it’s out of sight a bit more.  I really don’t like having it exposed, but what can I do?  No, really, if you have any suggestions, please leave them!

I also put a small rug that I found against the wall.  My hope is that we can start putting our shoes on it.  It won’t be long before RJ is trying to crawl and in even less time, the snow will be falling.  Between nasty exhaust poluted snow melt and the crud hubby and I get on our shoes at work (we both work in kitchens), I’m really not comfortable with a baby crawling where we walk!

Thanks for stopping by for my weekly tackle!  Be sure to leave a comment so I can see yours!

If you’re a cloth diapering mama or have one in your life, be sure to check out this week’s diaper giveaway!

Makeover Monday #3

It’s Monday once again!  Time to start the week off right by listing 5 things that are right with the world.  I challenge anyone who reads this to post their own list and leave me a link!  One by one, we can turn Mondays around from a day we dread to a day we celebrate the start of a new week.  Beyond that, remember these five things when life is bogging you down and remember the things that are truly important!

1. My baby boy is 4 months old today!  I can’t believe time has flown by so fast.  Today, I realized he’ll be 7 months old by Christmas, how fun!!!!
2. My husband is back to work.  After far too long being unemployed, a job offer came in last week and he started today!  It’ll be interesting to see how the three of them adjust to the new schedule!
3. I have an amazing family!!  My sister-in-law is taking care of the kids while hubby is training.  Today was the first time RJ has been with anyone other than mom or dad for the entire day.  He did wonderful, right up to the time we got home!
4. I have made some amazing connections, both online and “in real life”.  It’s refreshing to see the positive side of humanity in the face of so much going wrong.
5. Technology!  There are many things in this world I may have never explored if not for the internet.  This week, handicapped children and Pagans are high on my list of priorities.  I have been blessed with two healthy children and feel secure in my relationship with Jesus, but without knowledge, it’s impossible to have an intelligent conversation on topics such as these!  For an amazing post on the fact that words DO hurt, please stop by Praying For Parker!

How have you been blessed this week?

Diaper of the Week #1

Yes, I’ve fallen victim to cloth diapering!  It can be an incredibly economical way to diaper a child, but I see now that it can also be incredibly expensive!  When we started using cloth, I swore I would not be one of “those moms” who went insane over certain diapers or prints.  I was going to keep is incredibly simple.

I’m not going overboard, I still have some restraint within me.  There are certain diapers I don’t understand the hype over.  On the other hand, there are some diapers that may not get a ton of hype, but they should!

When we were looking at cloth options, fitted diapers seemed like a waste.  Why buy an adorable diaper if you have to cover it?  The first thing pointed out to me was that we buy cute undergarments for ourselves and cover them.  Okay, point taken.  But why buy them when you have to put a cover over them and then put clothes over that?  How about the fact that if you’re paying attention, you don’t necessarily HAVE to cover them when you’re at home!

Yes, I attempted to make my own fitted diapers, but to be honest, I could never compare with diapers like this one from Bugga Bugga Boutique.  It’s a one size, snappiable or pinnable diaper.  What does that mean?

Well, one size is pretty self explanatory.  By folding over the front of the diaper, it will fit a newborn and it will last through potty learning.  The nice thing about this diaper is there’s no guess work trying to figure out which set of snaps will achieve the necessary size.  That also means there are no snaps to come undone when you are trying to put it on a wiggly baby!

I wasn’t too keen on the thought of having to use a Snappi or pins to close a diaper, but decided to give it a try.  This is one of those things to file in the “shattered I’ll nevers” box.  I LOVE my Snappi!  Unlike snaps, I can always get the right fit.  Yes, Aplix (velcro) will give you the correct fit, but having to untangle a wad of stuck-together diapers is no fun!

As if all of that wasn’t enough, can you beat this print???  I’m not one to stalk prints, but I’ll admit any boyish Ooga Booga is a weakness of mine!  It seems like there are many more girly prints than boy prints and the monsters on this can’t be beat!

Besides being beyond adorable, my Ooga Booga Bugga Bugga (come one, it’s fun to say!) is well constructed, quick drying, and does its job holding everything in.  Sure, the whole thing gets wet if Bubba has a huge pee in his Bugga (okay, I may need to be stopped), but that’s what happens with fitteds.  The first time he wore this one, his little tummy was upset and everything stayed where it was supposed to.  The hubby was sure there was no way a cloth diaper would hold in a less than solid poo, so I was glad this dipe proved him wrong!

If you haven’t tried the Bugga Basics One Size Fitted, leave me a comment telling me why you’d like to try it!  Next Monday, I will announce the brand new owner of a BBOFS with cotton knit outer, bamboo interlock inner layers, and a lay-in soaker.  Please make sure to leave your email address so I can contact you for your address in the event you win!

Want more chances to win?  Leave a comment in this thread when you do each of the following:

1. Follow this blog
2. Post on Twitter or Facebook about this contest
3. Comment on another thread
4. Suggest a product to be reviewed

What a Wonderful Sister!

It’s things like this that give a person the warm and fuzzies!

Last month, I made a commitment to myself that I’m only going to buy Christmas gifts from work at home moms and local shops this year.  Because of that decision, I’ve started stalking the WAHM threads on message boards I visit hoping to find items I like for different family members.  If I had unlimited resources, I see a few things I would place a bid so high no one could beat me in the “See the Light” Fundraiser at Beneath the Rowan Tree on Hyena Cart.  Knowing that she is trying to raise funds for her brother gave me tonight’s warm and fuzzy.  Seriously, check it out, there are some great things on there!