What's In The Mailbox?

I wanted to share some of the fun things that have shown up at our house recently.  It's always a highlight of my day to get packages!  

Arm & Hammer baking soda from Smiley360.  Diaper pail, cat box, laundry room...  I've had this shaker all over the house lately.

Caltrate Calcium gummies, also from Smiley360.  These are yummy!  I used to take calcium chews that were more of a taffy consistency.  I quit taking them, because they were kinda gross.  But since my Vitamin C are gummies, too, I knew I could handle gummies.

New panda shoes from zulily.com (affiliate link).  Hannah really thrashed the old ones on the right, so when I saw them again, I got her another pair.  Unfortunately, between the time I ordered them, and the time they arrived, she got a new (bigger) foot!  So they don't fit now.  I've put them up for Katie to grow into.

This was a great VoxBox from Johnson's and Influenster!  No more tangles shampoo, conditioner, and spray!  Confession?  Brianna had asked me for another bottle of tangle spray the day before this box arrived.  I let her have this one.  Hannah and Katie are using the conditioning shampoo.  Love it!

One of my sweet sewing mama friends sent me this lovely box of handmade soaps!  Brianna staged them for me with some of her recently crocheted washcloths.  Aren't they pretty?  The soaps smell great, and we're having fun trying them out.  You can see what she has available here.

We have a Special Occasion coming up that I want to look extra nice for, so this is a good time to play with some new makup from Modern Mom and Sheer Cover Studio.

Moms Meet sent us a package of Walgreens Well Beginnings brand diapers, wipes, and baby wash, plus samples and coupons for my friends!

Anything interesting in your mailbox lately?  I'd love to hear about it!

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Buttons Diapers GIVEAWAY

Disclosure: I got this product as part of an advertorial.

We received a sweet little package from Buttons Cloth Diapers for review.  Katie and Luke are both currently in diapers, so it's always nice to add something new to the stash.

Inside was a cover and a daytime insert.  The insert snaps into an inner layer of the two layer PUL (PolyUrethane Laminate, which is a fancy way of saying "fabric that's been coated to make it waterproof") cover.

Katie tried out the diaper first.  See the cute little button embroidered on the back?  Adorable!

These diapers are highly adjustable, fitting babies from 9# all the way up through 35# toddlers.  She is 3 years old, and at the upper end of that range now.  We had NO LEAKS while using the Buttons system, either with the insert, or as a cover over another diaper.

The Buttons covers come in a lovely array of colors, and the inserts are available in day and night absorbencies, in both small and large sizes.  I found the snap in insert to be much easier than stuffing an insert into a pocket style diaper.

Here is Luke, wearing the freshly laundered cover with a toddler prefold folded up inside.  Not as trim as the Buttons insert, but a great option for when the insert is in the wash.  

I liked using the Buttons Cloth Diapers system, and would recommend them to anyone interested in using cloth diapers.  They have a great package deal of 6 covers and 20 inserts that would be all you would need.  Having extra inserts, you could snap out the used one and snap in a new one to use the same cover again.  Plus, if you pre-snap the inserts into the covers, these diapers are as convenient as AIO or All In One diapers, which makes them great for Dads or babysitters, who might not be as familiar with more complex diapering systems.  (Did I ever tell you about the time my MIL put Brianna in a fleece diaper cover ONLY--no diaper--and I didn't realize it until she peed all over me at church??  Brianna, that is, not my MIL...)

Are you ready to WIN your very own cover and insert from Buttons Cloth Diapers?  

a Rafflecopter giveaway

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I received one or more of the products mentioned above for free using Tomoson.com. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will be good for my readers.

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Bummas review and GIVEAWAY

Disclosure: I got this product as part of an advertorial.

If you are pregnant or have a child in diapers, you should know about Bummas!  What are Bummas?  They're genius little wipes for babies.  With two kids in diapers, I was happy to get the chance to review them and share the chance for you to win a set of your own!  

I selected the green & brown 10 pack, "calm."  

Let's face it, I could use some calm in my world.

Not to mention, the predominantly green colorway goes great in the panda room.  (You may notice there's only 8 in this picture--two are in the wash.)

Upon receiving them, I was impressed with how cute they are in the little holder, which you can reuse, if you like.  After the recommended pre-washing, they were ready to use.  

How does one use Bummas?  They're versatile, here are the 3 main ways to use Bummas at the changing table:  

1) to cover the "hose" when changing a little boy so you don't get sprayed

2) to dry a wet bottom before putting the new diaper on

3) moistened and used for a diaper wipe.

There are several diaper wipe moistening formulas out on the market.  I happen to have a couple of them here.  You can also make your own with water and essential oils.  When my big kids were little, I kept a peri bottle of water on the changing table to moisten my cloth wipes with.  

Bummas wipes are made from 100% cotton that is soft velour on one side and scrubby terrycloth on the other.  This is a great combination!  I like to use the velour side on faces and the terry side on messy bottoms.  

I also used Bummas wipes for cleaning up Luke in the high chair after meals.  These are great little wipes, and I'd love to have another pack or two around the house.  Bummas would be handy to keep in the diaper bag, too, especially if your little one has a cold, as they'd be super soft for wiping little noses.  

Ready to win a pack?  

a Rafflecopter giveaway

You can purchase Bummas directly from the website, or on Amazon, and they are available at a wide range of local stores as well.  If you are a diaper retailer, or have a site that sells children's products, they have a quick start wholesale pack available, as well.  Please connect with Bummas on Facebook.

I received one or more of the products mentioned above for free using Tomoson.com. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will be good for my readers.

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Diaper Dabbler

Have you ever come across a concept and thought, "Now that is brilliant!  Why didn't I think of that?"  I pretty much said just that when I saw a review possibility for Diaper Dabbler.  Even though I didn't qualify for the review, numbers wise, I sent the biz a message saying, "Great idea!" and we got to chatting back and forth.  

In the end, I was offered the chance to review, and since this is a service that I can totally see a market for, I was happy to do it.  

So what is Diaper Dabbler?  It's a sample pack of a variety of diaper brands.  Instead of buying a whole case of Brand X and then finding out they make Junior break out in a rash, you get a nice package containing 3 diapers in several different brands, plus a handy little card to keep on the changing table, where you can write down the brand name, and how well you liked it or didn't.  (You know, not that new parents are forgetful or anything...!)  

I've had a lot of babies over the years, and I've dealt with sensitive skin, rashes, super soakers, and just plain leaky dipes.  It's very frustrated to have 3/4 of a case of diapers sitting by the changing table that you can't use.  Bulk buying is not a good deal when the product doesn't work for you.  

I can easily see how this would be a great baby shower gift.  Let the parents determine which diapers work best for their new baby, and then they can buy that brand in bulk.  

Diaper Dabbler offers regular brand names like Huggies and Pampers, and store generics, such as Target, Costco, and CVS, and they also offer the eco-friendly brands, such as Honest Company, Seventh Generation, and Earth's Best!  Prices start at just $18 for a nice assortment of options.  

What I also like about Diaper Dabbler is that they go up to size 3 currently.  (I hope that if interest is there, they'll offer 4 eventually.)  You know what this means?  This is a brilliant idea for adoptive families, as well.  Internationally adopted children are usually toddlers when they come home, not newborns.  Having an assortment of size 3 diapers would be nice to take for overseas travel, or to have waiting when you arrive home with your new child.  It would also be convenient for foster parents who take babies to keep a variety of brands on hand to see what works with a new placement in the early days when you don't want to be running out to the store for a different brand of diapers when your usual brand doesn't work.  And you can print the comparison chart for each child.  

Diaper Dabblers also sells training pants packs!  Talk about an inspired idea!  Potty training is a huge transition for a toddler, and it means starting all over again, brand wise, for parents.  Disposable trainers fit a little differently than diapers do.  Since Katie is out of size 3 diapers now (although she wore them when we first got home from China), I opted to try the training pants.  A standard pack contains a total of 30 trainers, from 5 different brands.  For review purposes, I received a total of 9 trainers from 3 different brands.  When it's time to potty train Katie, I'll be able to figure out what's a good fit for her, what she can get up and down by herself the easiest.  I also received the BumBoosa sample wipe they include with most orders.  I was curious about the idea of bamboo wipes, and I liked it.  

Diaper Dabbler is a great service for new parents.  Their customer service is friendly.  I would recommend them as the perfect baby shower present or welcome home gift for an adoptive family.  You can connect with Diaper Dabbler on Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest.  

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Got Diapers? How about Soap?

Honest Company is sending a surprise in all December bundles!  And, if you use code GIVE2013, you get an extra item in your bundle, FREE.  It's a great time to try out their service.



I did a post comparing Honest Co diapers and Seventh Generation diapers here.  I originally expected it to be more expensive to have diapers delivered, but that turned out to not be the case for us.

You may be saying, "Wait, I thought you used cloth diapers?"  We do, about half the time.  Since I have 2 in diapers, and another child who wears a pull up at night, the Honest Company bundle for one works great for us.  We get one pack of pull ups and 5 packs of diapers, plus the included wipes.

One of the features I love about our Honest Company diaper bundle is that if I'm using more cloth, and we're not ready for another bundle yet, I just push the delivery date back.  You get a reminder email before the bundles ship.  When this comes, I check my stock and decided if we're ready or not.  I can easily select a future date on the website.  I can also change my pattern selections.  They've got some cute new ones.

If you do both the diaper bundle and the essential bundle, you get free shipping.  Honestly, (no pun intended) this was the reason why I tried the essentials bundle.  Turns out, I've liked the products.  We've tried the laundry pods, the dishwasher pods, the dish soap, the shampoo & conditioner, the rinse agent, and more.  Actually, I was putting the healing balm on Annaliese's dry, cracked hands last night.  It's good stuff.

It's really nice to not ever have to make a mad dash to the store for diapers.  Especially this time of year, when stores are so crazy.  One less thing on the to do list is always good, right?

I'm an Honest Company affiliate, so if you click through one of the banners here and place an order I do receive a little commission from them.  But I use these products, and I like them, so I think you might like them, too.

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Bambo Nature Diaper GIVEAWAY

As you know, I have 2 little ones in diapers right now.  So I'm very excited about this GIVEAWAY from Bambo Nature!  Who wouldn't want to win a case of natural diapers?  Even mamas who use cloth at home can enjoy the convenience of disposables when you're on the go.

  a Rafflecopter giveaway

Raffle is for 1 case of Bambo Nature diapers, size of choice. Open to US residents 18+. Ends 12am Oct 1st.

Read here for more information about what Bambo Nature diapers contain, and more importantly, what they don't contain!  They sound great, I'd love to try them.

Thanks for entering, and good luck!


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What's been going on at our house

Aside from being sick, (finished one abx, still on the other one) we've been just flat out busy lately. Since my last post, we've gone out of town 3 days for a funeral, had Luke's feeding assessment, had friends we met in China over for a visit, had a birthday, done back to school supply shopping, started painting the babies' room, and taken the sick computer in for repairs. I'm really missing the computer!

The nice thing is that we got to see Annaliese while we were out of town.

She's happy, and she's doing well. It's hard to have her so far away, but it was nice to hear that she's a good houseguest. 

Luke's feeding assessment went well. I got an email copy of the report back already, which is nice. (I should call the speech place, since I haven't gotten their report yet.)  She states that he has the cup skills of an 8 month old, and the tongue and jaw skills of a 9 month old. Which fits right in with his development in other areas. He's just a very big baby. 

His size has been a challenge for me.  Both in the literal hauling him up and down the stairs, which I often ask one of my strapping teen boys to do for me, and in clothing him. I've often asked myself, "What size IS this child?!"  It's a hard call. His shorts are a size 4. Which means all those size 24 mos/2T shorts we had for him are too small. I could probably get him into 3T shorts in a disposable diaper, but we don't actually have any in that size. The problem with size 4 shorts, is that they hang down past his knees. We just pretend he's a baggy little surfer and roll with it. However, now that autumn is approaching, I'm realizing that's not going to work with pants. I'm either going to have to buy 4T pants and re-hem, or keep him in disposable diapers, 3T pants, and roll the legs a little. He's got a serious Buddha belly. Paul says I should just make his pants. In my spare time. Did I mention that school and homeschool start tomorrow? And I'm supposed to be making curtains for the babies' room? Probably not going to get to making pants for a while. 

I've often wanted to put a disclaimer on this blog, "If you're looking for one of those large family blogs where mom's got it all together and the children all play an instrument and speak Latin and wear matching, home sewn outfits and only speak respectful, kind words... Stop, back away slowly, and try some other blog."  Tomorrow being the first day of school and all, I should have some amazing plans, right? Well, the truth is, I pinned a couple of ideas, but without my stinking computer, I can't print what I was planning to print. And the reality of this summer being what it has, I haven't even ordered spelling books or enrichments yet. Math was also going to be, yes, you guessed it, on the computer, so now I'm really up a creek. Fortunately, I have a new game to review for The Schoolhouse Review Crew, so we have something exciting to kick off the year with. 

If you haven't yet entered our giveaway, please enter here:  http://grtlyblesd.blogspot.com/2013/08/alone-yet-not-alone.html

 My apologies for the formatting issues; I'm on my iPad and will edit once the computer is running again.  If you can pop back up to the top of the page to click for us at Top Mommy Blogs, that would be awesome, thanks!

Cloth Diaper Stash

One of the fun things about having littles in the house again is getting to use cloth diapers.

Yes, getting to.

There's something special about opening the dryer to a load of clean, dry diapers.  It's such a fleeting time, the mess of changing diapers really doesn't bother me much.  Besides, diapers are so much easier than having a preschooler who is dead set on christening every public restroom you encounter, knowing that uttering the magic words, "I haffa go potty," will instantly get them your undivided attention.

I thought being that they're clean, I would share my stash with you.

Most of these are SOS dipes that were given to me by a dear friend for Hannah.  

The dot one down front, and another girl print one like it (in use), came from a trade.

The row on the left are ones I made from the PooPockets pattern.  Interestingly enough, I met the mama behind (no pun intended) the PooPockets pattern when we were in China this last time.  She was bringing home her 4th little girl.  

I also made the Panda diaper (Cuddlebuns pattern, maybe?).  Hannah had a dress that matched it.

The above photo represents my fitted diapers, which is what I use the most.  

Not shown are 2 Fuzzi Bunz (pocket style diapers) and half a dozen toddler prefolds (which I bought when I had 3 Safe Families toddlers in diapers).

And here's our cover collection.

Not shown above are another Thirsties in solid pink, and the other Mother-ease Air Flow cover, which is on Luke, below.  

The top center cover is a Stacinator So Simple, which was my favorite cover of all time with Jack.  Unfortunately, neither thunder-thighed Luke, nor cast-wearing Katie can wear it right now!  Luke also doesn't fit in the white Bummi snap cover in the top right.

I don't reach for the mint (Bumgenius) or pink ones down front unless that's all that's left.  I am not crazy about stuffing pocket diapers.

Luke says, "Good for the environment, better at containing horrific blow out poop, AND more comfortable!  Cloth is great!"  

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