Success, I made a cloth diaper!

So I had been wondering for a while if I could make a basic, inexpensive, but easy to use cloth diaper.  I decided to go with a fitted style because you don't have to worry about folding or stuffing anything.  I also wanted to make it a "one-size" style diaper so that it could be used for a varity of sized children.  After much googling and research, I came across this website that had very helpful suggestions for making a fitted diaper.

So I started out with a couple bath towels that I got out of the dollar bin, drew a basic pattern based off of cloth diapers that I already have,  and on the second attempt, I believe I have a viable option!  

This is the result of the second try.  Very basic but functional.  I have thought about putting velcro on it, but haven't yet.  A snappi works great!  This is NOT waterproof, so it does need a separate cover.  It's black on one side and red on the other (it is reversible since there is no velcro).

Here it is on my 18-month-old son who is 20 pound.  I took this picture without the cover to get an idea of how it looks and fits.  The Snappi holds it on great.  Simply fold down the front of the diaper to get it to the proper size for the child.

I have yet to test it on smaller or larger babies, but it looks good on my little guy.

Pea Pod Purse Dangle

Last Saturday was The Great Cloth Diaper Change.  People gathered at local events help all across the United States and in 15 other countries to change their child's cloth diaper at the same time.  While I didn't attend an event, I did participate in a virtual "gathering" on Google + with Dearest Diapers' Rana Cox.  She was kind enough to even post some giveaways.  Would you believe that I won one?!

What I won was a wonderful little hand-made Pea Pod Purse Dangle from Christina Pratt and her Etsy shop, "Mommy's Little Treasures".  Her shop carries and custom makes a delightful selection of earrings, pea pod and nest necklaces, and a wide variety of Rosaries.  Christina contacted me promptly to check on my preference for the bead colors.  I chose colors that represent my, my husband's, and my son's birthstones.  She later contacted me to let me know that it was made and to give me a confirmation number for the package. 

So here it is, less than a week after the Great Cloth Diaper Change event, and I received the package in the mail!  I opened it and found the dangle slipped inside a small draw bag and everything wrapped in tissue paper.  She also included extra business cards.  I'm so pleased with the details in this dangle.  The birthstone beads were in the order I asked for and the heart shape on the latch just gives it an extra touch.  I'm very pleased with this item! 






Thank you to Rana for hosting the online gathering, and to Christina for providing the cute dangle!

New Diaper

So about a month ago, I had blogged here that I had won a diaper from the Life With Levi and Kelly Wels.  I received the Fuzzi Bunz Elite One Size diaper very quickly and am very pleased with it!

This was my first experience with a Fuzzi Bunz diaper.  When I opened the package, I found the pocket diaper, complete with two inserts (one newborn size and one larger), and replacement elastic for the back of the waist and both legs.  All of the one-size pocket diapers that I have used before have been fairly cheap.  They used a series of snaps in the front to adjust the size.  They also frequently had problems with wing droop. 

The Fuzzi Bunz Elite is totally different!  Rather than using the snaps in the front to adjust the size, it uses elastic in the legs and in the back of the waist.  The elastic is adjustable by changing which button-hole in the elastic the button is through.  I hadn't seen anything like that before.  It took a bit to get it adjusted to my baby.  I really like that method though because I have a very slender little boy and this makes it very customizable.  I wish they made more baby / little boy pants with this method of size adjustment. 

I also like the snap placement.  The triangular placement of the snaps on the tabs keeps the wings from drooping.  I've included a couple pictures of the diaper (with one insert) on my really slender 12-month-old.

While the two inserts are designed to be used separately for different size of babies, I found that I can use both and it works well as an overnight diaper.  The only down side I have found so far is that it can be difficult to get the inserts into position. 













Overall, I really like this diaper.  Would I buy it for myself?  Probably not, I'm too cheap.  But, since I won it, I will definitely keep and use it!  Thanks so much to Jen at Life with Levi and to Kelly Wels for this great diaper!

Baby Food bargain

So I HATE buying baby food because I don't like paying full-price for it.  I do make my own quite a bit, but if you are going to be away from home, the convenience of store-bought is nice. I recently received a referral to Vitacost.com.  They specialize in natural products, health foods, and supplements.  They also carry products for babies! 
Their referral program allows both the referrer and the referee to get a $10 discount code.  So, with my discount code, I went and bought $10 worth of Earth's Best Baby food.  I was able to pick up 7 (4 oz.) jars of food as well at 1 (1.4 oz.) package of their organic fruit rings!   I did still have to pay shipping (which was $4.99).  My total (since I went a bit over the $10 mark) was $5.30.  Divide that up and it comes to about 66 cents per item.  Oh, and did I mention that you can choose two free samples with each order?  So I also will get 2 tea bags to try out!  I just finished placing the order, and I look forward to getting it in the next 10 or so days!
If this is something you are interested in, please use this link so that we can both get a $10 discount code (does not apply to shipping). 

Free Pop?

I was thrilled this morning when I got an email from a major soft drink company.  Friday night, I had opened up a 12-pack of my husband's favorite beverage and found a can in the middle that was severly dented and only 1/2 full.  While a couple of other cans were sticky from the leaking liquid, the box it's self was not damaged.  So I used the "contact us" form on the website and reported the problem.  The form was very easy to use and identified all the information you needed to provide and helped you find that information on the can/box.  The email this morning was stating that they had recieved the information and were sorry that I had had the problem and were passing the information on to the appropriate bottleing facility.  They also included that they were mailing out a 12-pack replacement coupon!  Whee!  They say it should be here in about 10 days!

I Won a Cloth Diaper!

I had entered quite a few diaper giveaways recently. Most of them have been part of the 30 Days of Dipes giveaways, which I have been following via the Life With Levi blog. When I checked my email this morning, I found one from Jen at Life with Levi saying that I had been selected as a winner of one Fuzzibunz Elite diaper from Kelly Wels! I have picked out the color I want and am so looking forward to receiving it! I can hardly wait to try it on my little guy! I'll be sure to post about it once I have it and have a chance to try it out.