Monday, October 18, 2010
Cloth Diapers for Mamas in need!!!!
As most of you know, I am a Rn and have worked at Children's Hospital of Michigan for the past 9 yrs. I resigned in May to be a full time SAHM to all my little monkeys, but recently found a home care job. This job will be working with pregnant or recently delivered mamas! I will be doing lots of education on safety, diet, health, ect. I'm really excited and would love to spread my love for cloth diapers! Not only is it something I enjoy, but it is better for baby and the earth! if there are any stores or manufacturers out there that would be willing to donate some cloth diapers for my mama's...please let me know!!!
Monday, October 11, 2010
Alternative to PayPal????
Just heard about this. It is a brand new payment system still in the building stages. They will give you an early bird deposit of $50.00 and up to $20.00 a day for signing up before they launch. There are some super small survey to fill out, about 5 questions that is used as research to help build the company. They do not ask for any personal info at this time except for your email address. They have a time line set up for the launch as to when it will open for person to person payments, then small businesses and finally medium and large businesses. They also have plans to have a debit card linked to your account! Worth a try!!! You can check out all the details at
http://www.paybox.me/r/donniesleo
http://www.paybox.me/r/donniesleo
Friday, October 8, 2010
How do you encourage a creative, artistic spirit in your baby, toddler or young child?
Creative and artistic spirits are few and far between these days. Unfortunately, society pressures people to live a cookie cutter life where if you are "different" you will have to deal with torment and torture. I find this very sad, someone's creativity may bring important advances to our culture, but if they are not allowed to express themselves....we will never know.
I have six children, ages 1, 2, 9, 10, 10 & 14. I really feel that you must encourage a child to be an individual right from birth. At the infancy stage, it is more so the mama or daddy that must break away from the average. Refrain from comparing your baby. Dress you infant with a since of style that is becoming of them. Do research and make your own choice of which parenting techniques or products you want to use. I choose to breastfeed starting with the 14 y/o, and received so much criticism for that! I started cloth diapers with my second and everyone thought I was nuts! As my babies started rolling, crawling and interacting with their enviroment, we played with everything and anything. I let them lead the way. We've use hair brushes for phones, t-shirt for parachutes, blankets for forts. When they were old enough to hold crayons, I taped paper on the wall and let them color all day long on the paper and left it up for awhile to display their work. Finger painting was always a favorite with my kids! We made t-shirt with hand prints or potatoe stamps and also used window art stuff. At the toddler stage I always let them pick out clothes and help them learn how to dress themselves! We love to collect leaves and twigs and make trees or nest. It has alwAys been a tradition to make a Christmas ornament with the kids each year. On birthdays or holidays, I have them create cards with whatever they want. I keep a huge art box full of stickers and strings, paint, markers, paper glue, glitter....you name it, its in there...lol.
My kids that are in school are the ones I really stress about being yourself! My oldest is quite the artist. She draws such beautiful pictures. I'll ask her to draw me things all the time. She has a certain flair about her....her clothes, her purple streaks in her hair...but I love it! She brings home excellent grades and is a great daughter. I will got through her art work from school with her l the time. She loves when I buy her the cheap plain folders for school so she can decorate them herself. My 9 & one if the 10 y/o are more into reading and writing. We have a closet with shelves full of books. We make trips to the library, I read their short stories that they write. A couple of the books we put together in a folder to make if like a real book! My other 10 y/o is more of a fashion diva...so what can I do but take her shopping...teh he he. We pick out clothes together and accerorize! Then the babies....its all done through play and love. My 2 y/o loves trains. We have a ton of Thomas so we build huge tracks that go in every direction! I have the wonder markers for him and he draws masterpieces that get displayed. My 1 y/o is very texture oriented! There are times that I just put her in the highchair with only a diaper andet het play with mushy foods....pudding, hello, grapes..whatever I find. She will sit for awhile creating artwork on her tray!
I am a mama with high expectations of my kids.....I give them the tools for success and they decide how they want to use them! I have always marched to the beat of my own drum....call me different, weird, crazy, but I love being unique and I want each one of my children to be who they were meant to be, not what society says is acceptable to be.
This question was posed by BumGenius as part of their giveaway for the new artist series of BG 4.0
http://clothdiapers.blogspot.com/2010/10/bumgenius-artist-series-giveaway.html
Go check it out!
WWW.cottenbabies.com
WWW.bumgenius.com
I have six children, ages 1, 2, 9, 10, 10 & 14. I really feel that you must encourage a child to be an individual right from birth. At the infancy stage, it is more so the mama or daddy that must break away from the average. Refrain from comparing your baby. Dress you infant with a since of style that is becoming of them. Do research and make your own choice of which parenting techniques or products you want to use. I choose to breastfeed starting with the 14 y/o, and received so much criticism for that! I started cloth diapers with my second and everyone thought I was nuts! As my babies started rolling, crawling and interacting with their enviroment, we played with everything and anything. I let them lead the way. We've use hair brushes for phones, t-shirt for parachutes, blankets for forts. When they were old enough to hold crayons, I taped paper on the wall and let them color all day long on the paper and left it up for awhile to display their work. Finger painting was always a favorite with my kids! We made t-shirt with hand prints or potatoe stamps and also used window art stuff. At the toddler stage I always let them pick out clothes and help them learn how to dress themselves! We love to collect leaves and twigs and make trees or nest. It has alwAys been a tradition to make a Christmas ornament with the kids each year. On birthdays or holidays, I have them create cards with whatever they want. I keep a huge art box full of stickers and strings, paint, markers, paper glue, glitter....you name it, its in there...lol.
My kids that are in school are the ones I really stress about being yourself! My oldest is quite the artist. She draws such beautiful pictures. I'll ask her to draw me things all the time. She has a certain flair about her....her clothes, her purple streaks in her hair...but I love it! She brings home excellent grades and is a great daughter. I will got through her art work from school with her l the time. She loves when I buy her the cheap plain folders for school so she can decorate them herself. My 9 & one if the 10 y/o are more into reading and writing. We have a closet with shelves full of books. We make trips to the library, I read their short stories that they write. A couple of the books we put together in a folder to make if like a real book! My other 10 y/o is more of a fashion diva...so what can I do but take her shopping...teh he he. We pick out clothes together and accerorize! Then the babies....its all done through play and love. My 2 y/o loves trains. We have a ton of Thomas so we build huge tracks that go in every direction! I have the wonder markers for him and he draws masterpieces that get displayed. My 1 y/o is very texture oriented! There are times that I just put her in the highchair with only a diaper andet het play with mushy foods....pudding, hello, grapes..whatever I find. She will sit for awhile creating artwork on her tray!
I am a mama with high expectations of my kids.....I give them the tools for success and they decide how they want to use them! I have always marched to the beat of my own drum....call me different, weird, crazy, but I love being unique and I want each one of my children to be who they were meant to be, not what society says is acceptable to be.
This question was posed by BumGenius as part of their giveaway for the new artist series of BG 4.0
http://clothdiapers.blogspot.com/2010/10/bumgenius-artist-series-giveaway.html
Go check it out!
WWW.cottenbabies.com
WWW.bumgenius.com
BumGenius released new prints on the 4.0
If you are a BG fan you will be interested to know they have just released an artist print series. You can get out the new prints and enter a giveaway on their blog. My babies have been in BG 3.0 and loved them. I can't wIt to get my new 4.0 to try out!
http://clothdiapers.blogspot.com/2010/10/draft-bumgenius-artist-series-tiny.html#comments
http://clothdiapers.blogspot.com/2010/10/draft-bumgenius-artist-series-tiny.html#comments
Wednesday, October 6, 2010
I tried out SMARTI PANTS and now I am a Smarti Mama
The first time I ever used cloth diapers was when my 9 1/2 y/o was a baby. She broke out in a terrible rash from sposies so I thought I better do something to save my poor baby's behind! Even back then, it was a lot different then what our grandmas used....but boy has it come a whole lot further now!
Back in 2002 (hahaha that sounds so funny, like I'm writing with this wealth of knowledge) I ordered some DSQ (diaper service quality) CPF (chinese prefolds) and some bummis covers! No longer was the days of pins and plastic pants! All I had to do was fold a CPF into thirds, place it in a cover and velcro it around her tushie!
Now I have a 2 y/o and a 1 y/o and I love to CD (cloth diaper)! But in these "modern ages" it is so easy to CD and you have so so so many options. I will have to save all the options and lingo for another post...that will take forever!
For the past 2 years I've used pockets for the most part! A pocket is a diaper that has a PUL outer and some sort of inner that is safe to be against baby's bum, usually suede cloth or micro fleece. Then there is an opening that you "stuff" the diaper with. Many options to stuff with also. Anyways...My hubby and I were pretty partial to a specific diaper and I loved them. But, recently, one of my wonderful Diaper Swappers mamas told me about SMARTI PANTS. They have been in production for a little over a year now AND they are made right here in the USA!!! (WOOT WOOT) I ordered a "special edition" 3 pack of green apple and was so excited for them to come.
When my "fluff mail" (CD) arrived I immediately tried them on my babies. Now let me tell you an important piece of info...my 2 y/o is a total chunky meat head~big all around with a bubba belly (similar to a mans beer belly) and my 1 y/o is long and slender with very tiny pixi like features! Smarti Pants are a ONE SIZE diaper that fits from 7 lbs-35 lbs (birth -potty training)and are similar to a pocket, but it is considered a "sleeve" diaper because the pocket you stuff is open on both ends which allows you to make sure the insert is in perfectly! I was very impressed that I was able to get a great fit on both babies! These diapers are snap closures, so no worries about pilling or washing machine snakes. There are 2 columns of snaps in the front to adjust the rise and the closures allow you to overlap snap for even the tiniest of waists! Each diaper comes with a MF (micro fiber) insert that was able to hold my super soaker son through his nap with no leaks! I also loved the bright color! Smarti Pants is doing a special edition 3 pack colors that started in August! The first release was Hot Chocolate for August and Green Apple for September! We Smarti Parents are so anxiously awaiting the release for OCTOBER!!! We are hoping it is a 3 color pack!
When I washed these, it was the simplest CD I have EVER washed! There is no need to pull out the insert (like every other pocket diaper)! All you do is unsnap the rise settings and toss it in the wash. The insert works itself out during the wash cycle and both the diapers and inserts came out nice and clean! I have a front loader and had no problems! I prefer to dry my inserts in the dryer, but line dry my diapers! They dried very quickly!
I have to give Smarti Pants an overall A...in style, performance, ease of use, quality, value and fit! I'm so glad I was encouraged to try this diaper! You can not beat the price or quality of this diaper! All my mamas out there....give CDs a try and be sure to try Smarti Pants!!! I would love to be able to encourage all the teenage moms, moms out of work, single moms, every mom to use cloth diapers. I really wish I could donate some diaper stashes to mamas in need to help them out, spread the word of CDs and save some waste that is destroying our Earth!
Stop by http://WWW.smartipants.com to check out their complete line!
Keeley 1 & Landon 2 September 2010
Back in 2002 (hahaha that sounds so funny, like I'm writing with this wealth of knowledge) I ordered some DSQ (diaper service quality) CPF (chinese prefolds) and some bummis covers! No longer was the days of pins and plastic pants! All I had to do was fold a CPF into thirds, place it in a cover and velcro it around her tushie!
Now I have a 2 y/o and a 1 y/o and I love to CD (cloth diaper)! But in these "modern ages" it is so easy to CD and you have so so so many options. I will have to save all the options and lingo for another post...that will take forever!
For the past 2 years I've used pockets for the most part! A pocket is a diaper that has a PUL outer and some sort of inner that is safe to be against baby's bum, usually suede cloth or micro fleece. Then there is an opening that you "stuff" the diaper with. Many options to stuff with also. Anyways...My hubby and I were pretty partial to a specific diaper and I loved them. But, recently, one of my wonderful Diaper Swappers mamas told me about SMARTI PANTS. They have been in production for a little over a year now AND they are made right here in the USA!!! (WOOT WOOT) I ordered a "special edition" 3 pack of green apple and was so excited for them to come.
When my "fluff mail" (CD) arrived I immediately tried them on my babies. Now let me tell you an important piece of info...my 2 y/o is a total chunky meat head~big all around with a bubba belly (similar to a mans beer belly) and my 1 y/o is long and slender with very tiny pixi like features! Smarti Pants are a ONE SIZE diaper that fits from 7 lbs-35 lbs (birth -potty training)and are similar to a pocket, but it is considered a "sleeve" diaper because the pocket you stuff is open on both ends which allows you to make sure the insert is in perfectly! I was very impressed that I was able to get a great fit on both babies! These diapers are snap closures, so no worries about pilling or washing machine snakes. There are 2 columns of snaps in the front to adjust the rise and the closures allow you to overlap snap for even the tiniest of waists! Each diaper comes with a MF (micro fiber) insert that was able to hold my super soaker son through his nap with no leaks! I also loved the bright color! Smarti Pants is doing a special edition 3 pack colors that started in August! The first release was Hot Chocolate for August and Green Apple for September! We Smarti Parents are so anxiously awaiting the release for OCTOBER!!! We are hoping it is a 3 color pack!
When I washed these, it was the simplest CD I have EVER washed! There is no need to pull out the insert (like every other pocket diaper)! All you do is unsnap the rise settings and toss it in the wash. The insert works itself out during the wash cycle and both the diapers and inserts came out nice and clean! I have a front loader and had no problems! I prefer to dry my inserts in the dryer, but line dry my diapers! They dried very quickly!
I have to give Smarti Pants an overall A...in style, performance, ease of use, quality, value and fit! I'm so glad I was encouraged to try this diaper! You can not beat the price or quality of this diaper! All my mamas out there....give CDs a try and be sure to try Smarti Pants!!! I would love to be able to encourage all the teenage moms, moms out of work, single moms, every mom to use cloth diapers. I really wish I could donate some diaper stashes to mamas in need to help them out, spread the word of CDs and save some waste that is destroying our Earth!
Stop by http://WWW.smartipants.com to check out their complete line!
Keeley 1 & Landon 2 September 2010
Tuesday, October 5, 2010
MOMSMILKBOTIQUE.COM - ERGObaby GIVEAWAY
I told you before....I love giveaway. Here's another chance to win am Ergo! Head over to momsmilkboutique.com and follow their five simple steps to be entered into the drawing! Good luck everyone!
http://www.breastfeedbabywearclothdiaper.com/
http://www.breastfeedbabywearclothdiaper.com/
Monday, October 4, 2010
WHO LOVES A GIVEAWAY? I DO! GO CHECK THIS OUT....
I Love to babywear, I've gone through a ton of different types. My fav so far are Babyhawk, BUT I really really want to try an Ergo! Go check out Life with the Stevens and tell them I sent you. PLEASE LEAVE A COMMENT ON MY BLOG THAT YOU BECAME A FAN! We both will be entered to win!
http://www.lifewiththestevens.com/2010/09/organic-ergo-baby-carrier-giveaway.html
http://www.lifewiththestevens.com/2010/09/organic-ergo-baby-carrier-giveaway.html
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