April's Little Eco Footprints Box

        With the craziness of every day life while the family is sick, I keep putting off announcing what was in my Eco Footprints Box that I opened  a week ago! This time I had to pick up the box in the post office, there was a bit of an issue but yet again the ladies from Little Eco Footprints dealt with it promptly. What was in it? What was this months surprise? So here goes the box:

This month's goodies include:

1) Prana Snacks Trail Mix (Machu Pichu): So I opened the box picked this up and started eating it. It was so delicious!!! I escpeccially loved the sour unique taste of the goldenberries. Other ingredients included: European pumpkin seeds, goji berries, raisans, brasil nuts, almonds etc. This really is worth getting. It sounds a bit pricey at $5 a 250 gram bag but when you think about it, it really isnt. Nuts and exotic fruit don't come cheap and $5 for 250 grams of organic wholesome goodness is really not that much. I was also excited to find out that you can get $10 off your purchases at the Prana website, problem is you need a $50 order and thats way too much snacks and knowing me they will disappear faster then they really should! (By the way I love that its made right here in Canada - support companies from where you live!).

2)Wee Woolies Hat- This also caught my eye straight away It was soft. I loved the bright turqoise colour. It is made of 100% merino wool. I washed it and it shrunk about 3 times and got a slight fuzzy look. The hat still fits my son but not for to long but most 0-12 month hats do not fit him anymore. The fit is great, I love how it looks on him.

3) Smith Farms Lip Tint- It is a nice raspberry like colour. The case is thin. Made with natural ingredients and void of nasty chemicals that overfill the ingredients of mainstream make-up. (By the way my favourite lip balm that works wonders is made by the company Eco Nuts)

4)Wood "Boomerang" Toy- My son wasn't over the moon with this toy but liked it. It was very plain and does not exactly look like a boomerang but it is a good natural toy that can hold up having teeth sunken in.

5) Earth Berries (Soap Nuts)- This is a sample bag that includes a satchel to put the soap nuts in. You can add a drop of essential oil in for a scent if you like your laundry to have a smell since soap nuts leave no trace of their having done their job. I have spoken at leagnth before about soap nuts so this was a welcome surprise.

6) $7 Giftcard to  Maple Hills Dryer Balls. I love dryer balls so this is nice to have in case I need some  more.

Also as always there was a little brochure from the ladies behind Little Eco Footprints including a few interesting articles and great coupon codes.

The Call

   My son was sick so obviously my posting has been rare. Now he is beginning to feel better and I have a few stories to tell. It's been a hard week but there have been some smiles and chuckles also, not only tears.

   Tuesday my mom stayed home with Alek and me. We were cleaning and playing. My mom was sitting on the couch holding Alek and of course he caught sight of the highly coveted phone. Oh, his eyes would not leave that piece of technology. A toy! It must be the greatest toy ever, if no one gives it to me! It makes noises, it has buttons, it can be bitten, so much to say about that phone, its fabulous. So he reached out and began to whine. My mom didn't think twice and gave it to him. This is when he gave a huge smile and happily began to bite the phone and press buttons with glee.

Next thing I know the phone is ringing. Okay, Dad or M is calling yet again. "Hello"
"Hello, someone from your house just called the police."
My mouth drops a little and I feel frozen for a moment. "Uh uhmm, my 8 month old was just playing with the phone. He must have accidentally called."
"Okay, who else is in the house with you?"
"Just my mom, my son and I"
"We still have to come by"
"Okay"

   So my darling little baby somehow called the COPS! HOW?!

    Anyhow. So a police officer came by took my name, DOB and yet again asked if anyone else was in the house at the moment. Also "so this is your son you called?". Yep, the little man sitting in my arms is the one who called you guys. There was no lecture but there was a hint of a chuckle and yet a feeling of being uncomfortable. I was expecting a lecture. No lecture occurred. All was absolutely fine but I do not reccomend anyone giving their child a phone to play with. The police who come may not be so nice.

   A year ago my SIL said this happened to her. Her 2 year old was playing with the phone and this happened. Did anyone even remotely think this could happen when the phone was given to a baby? No. But apparently it can so be careful and don't give a house phone to your child. He may surprise you. How does the saying go? Fool me once shame on you, fool me twice shame on me? No more phone play!

Great Spring Cloth Giveaway

    Its finally spring (hope there wont be any more snow!!!) and it is an amazing time to try and win a bunch of amazing baby and cloth diaper gear! Whether your a new mom or a veteran, a cloth diaperer or have never yet tried cloth, this giveaway is HUGE and INCREDIBLE! The Great Spring Cloth Giveaway hosted by Bundles and Buzz starts  April 22, that's today, and will end on May 6. The prize is valued at over $600!!! Yep, that's over $600 of goodies that will be finding ONE good home! I don't know about you but I would LOVE to get this. This giveaway is open to Canada and the U.S. Check it out below. The prizes include: 

1) FlipSize Canada- Trade in your used Children’s clothing for gift cards from Amazon.ca, Chapters/Indigo or FlipSize or just cash out into PayPal. They are contributing a  Ju-Ju-Be B.F.F. Bag (ARV $165) to this giveaway. 

2)Trillium Sales and Distribution - A company they represent is Wonder Bumpers, this is a cool new safe "bumper" you can win.

3) Rockin’ Green makes  cloth diaper friendly detergents.They have donated a package of Funk Rock and your choice of detergent.

4)Yaya Baby are giving a  Maxwell Designs Diaper Clutch, a chic and sophisticated mini-diaper bag. The clutch fits 3-4 stuffed cloth diapers plus extra room for clothing.

5)Hipkiddo  is providing a cloth diaper, wetbag, pailbag and change pad as part of the prize package.

6) Spray Pal- Win a spray pal. the Spray Pal contains any messes that otherwise might dirty up your bathroom. 

7) Best Bottoms and Planet Wise make wet bags and bloth diapers.  Their wet bags are PVC/lead free and their diapers are PVC free and CPSIA compliant. You can win a wet bag and diaper!

8) Lovey’s Body Products makes natural, worry-free body care products for you and your baby. A Tushi Wash spray and a Tushi Stick is included in this prize pack!

Butt-Ons makes unique cloth diapers inspired by chunky-thighed heavy wetters. You could win 1 Goodnight Moon a Right-On-Night-On (nighttime worthy) diaper, and 1 African Zebras a Premium Butt-On; the print is a wax cotton from Western Africa.

Green Line diapers  donated a cover and a bamboo cotton flat soaker for the prize pack.

Jenn’s Butterfli Bowtique is giving an Owl doll (winners choice of boy or girl) with Owl Hot & Cold Rice Pack.

 Thank you to the Host: Bundles and Buzz and co-hosts Thinking Outside of the Sandbox and FlipSize!

Now without further adieu:

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Firsts

     I have said before that this time period is so fun and exciting (let's be truthful it is VERY tiring too- but aren't all stages tiring for one reason or another?). Alek plays, laughs, can hold his head up, is trying solids, can communicate in ways other than crying, babbles etc etc. One of my favourite things about this age (last 2 months and until ?)  is how full of firsts its been!

  In the past week or so Alek has been very busy. You all read about his becoming mobile, but that's not all! About 2 days after crawling for the first time he began pulling up on anything and everything. I now basically run around like a chicken with its head cut off chasing him, saying NO, distracting him, picking him up and carrying him away and the like. I have failed and the dogs bowl of water has  been turned over, the cats tail pulled, a bag of disposable wipes played with, the underside of the carpet licked or just turned over. I have also had some success stopping him from pulling the cats tail, getting into the cats bowl, keeping him away from the copper table that he keeps trying to pull up on... and yeah. The list of failures look longer but the list of successes was hard fought for and very important. Each day he crawls faster, further and pulls up more and finds more places to pull up on.

   His mobility is not the only new "first" in the last week of so. We finally cut a tooth after almost 4 months of hard teething. No wonder he has had some bad nights this week. He is also getting another tooth soon enough, its a waiting game.

   His talking has increased. At the baby expo while changing his diapers he was having a full on conversation which kept getting louder and louder, which thankfully the other woman changing her newborns diapers found to be extremely adorable. It was!

He also got to go on the swings for the first time:

   He has also tried new foods, though the whole food business is not a great one. I may just breastfeed him till he's 30 since he just does not like anything. JOKING JOKING. That would NOT be okay! And well I'm exhausted so I may be missing something but yeah life is very busy and exciting. I find he is already getting a very strong personality and it's interesting, frustrating and awesome to see.

For your amusement:

Mystery Fluff

 Lately I am really into mystery mail. I'm loving my little Eco Footprint subscription boxes but itching to try out more baby or family friendly subscription boxes. I have my eye on the Baby Bag from Baby Bum. Anyways...As you all now, right now I have a little love affair going on with fluff (cloth diapers) so what could be better then mystery fluff?

   What is mystery fluff? You choose a price range and a package is sent to you with equal to or up to 10$ more worth of fluff (not including shipping of course).  This mystery fluff is offered at a GREAT cloth diaper store called Kissed By The Moon. They always have a large choice of great brands and have amazing deals and even giveaways. Actually they had a twitter and facebook party for reaching 10,000 fans and I won a pair of custom made Baby Roman undies for  my little. There are a few other cloth diaper stores and subscription boxes  that do something similar but not like this. What's so great about what they offer? You can choose "original" fluff which is a mix of diapers and accessories, the accessories fluff, only diapers, or "loved" fluff which is mystery fluff containing pre-loved diapers. Also now you can choose the monthly subscription instead of 1 time. This mail is customized by weight and gender and you can add requests or other information you find will be helpfull in putting you package together.

   I will go off on a tangent for a second. I searched far and wide for something even remotely similar in Canada and can you imagine not one store does this?! They really should, makes me want to open up my own store!!!

  Anyways. In my comments I left some need to know info, such as that my  son is big for his age, I like snaps my husband likes hook and loop, then I wrote which diapers I have and said I want to try out something completely new (such as Tots Bots). I chose the butterfly package meaning I paid 40$ and 10$ shipping.  Anyways I ordered on the 2nd and the package was shipped on the 3rd. The waiting game started and I was super excited. Next thing I know (Yeah right the week was tough with him teething and cutting his first tooth!!!- yes I have mentioned this in  my last post but I'm uber excited, he was been teething for 4.5 months already) it is the 9th and a package arrived. I was a bit confused but then I read it was from Kissed by the Moon, imagine my surprise. So what do I do? Give Alek a toy, forget whatever was cooking, grab the package and rip  it open of course!

   So out of the package I pull out 2 diapers. Anyone care to guess what they were? I was hoping for a Tots Bots London print..or turnips, I wanted to try out the Swaddlebee's Simplex in the dino print, something bamboo or a prefold and the Blueberry Coveralls. ....Anyways.... I got the Tots Bots London print (WOW) and the Swaddlebee's Simplex 2.0 in a swirl print. Oh and a liner was hidden in one of the diapers! Uhm can we say mind  reader! I bet if I hadn't chosen gender neutral I would have gotten the dino print!

How cute is the dino print!

     You think 2 diapers and a liner arent worth the 50 bucks I ultimately paid? Did you know Tots Bots was a UK company and this diaper runs for $25? Also Swaddlebee's seem to be rare in Canadian Cloth stores  but probably would run for about 25$ since the O/S goes for 29$! So yeah it was worth it even without the nice  bonus of the liner. Would I buy again? A better question is, will my husband let me?



Do you like surprise mail?

Bump, Baby and Toddler Expo

     This weekend was the  Hamilton Bump, Baby and Toddler Expo. I was super excited to go. I whined about plans being changed and my super amazing husband grumbled but  took us even though he had game tickets. We drove the hour to the event and Alek acted so so well in the car, sitting quietly looking out of the rear window or sleeping!
        What I learned was that I should not have purchased tickets ahead of time because I paid full price and at the door they were 2 for 1, oh well that's 7$ I'll never see again but even still it's a great price to attend an event like this, and next time I'll know to buy tickets at the door.

   We came late because we had still been discussing plans in the morning so we weren't part of the first 200 guests that god goody bags. Even still vendors were giving away samples  and brochures and we still got quiet a bit of stuff to try out, including Arbonne products, a Buncha Farmers stain stick, Punkin Butt teething oil, baby bottles, creams, vitamins and so on.

When we  walked inside we immediately saw the changing table area. It was awesome that the event had those but it was very close to the door and it isn't hot outside yet, I wish they were further away. On the other hand it was amazing to have the tables and I was pleasantly surprised to see wipes there for everyone to use, 2 different types  including Bamboo baby. I have been wanting to try these wipes out before (yes I use cloth wipes at home but my husband doesn't plus I use disposable when on the go), it was also awesome that I got a sample of these from a vendor in a baby sample bag!

  The place was packed!!! There was a fun area set up for toddlers to play, a vendor had an arts and crafts type tables for children and there were demonstrations, events and the like to keep toddlers busy. There was a cafe set up were you could get some food or beverages on the go. There was a breastfeeding area which was great. But  best of all were the various vendors from children's furniture, doulas, children's saving funds, clothing, cloth diaper stores and services, childrens' general/toy stores, the police, slings and all things children galore, mommys were not forgotten either. Questions were answered information given and new options presented and products shown for all parents and future parents, great food for thought. Oh and I almost forgot about the complementary photo booth and the raffle for giveaways that most vendors had!

    I really enjoyed the Nature Bumz display. The owner was very nice, answered questions and knew her products well. Her booth was nicely organised, with many products but was set up in a way that it was not intimidating or felt like too much. She gave me a sample of Punkin Butt teething oil and Buncha Famers stain stick. I am super excited to try out the teething oil since......Alek FINALLY had a tooth pop out after the bad nights and teething pains!!!! I hope this teething oil will help make the next appearence of a tooth less painful. Nature Bumz had a great big giveaway (with fluff and a carrier!) that they had a raffle open for. The booth had a wide range of cloth diapers, balms, swimwear, wetbags, recycled plastic toys (cool plane submarine etc.), bink links and the list just goes on. I bought a Stay Dry Grovia snap in insert and Grandma El's Diaper Balm. During the expo all the items were tax free! I love that mommy's to be could SEE and TOUCH modern cloth and see it is nothing like it used to be and the owner even offered to show a diaper change. 

    The Springy's area was very cool also. There were so many cool baby items: bassinets, swaddles, toys, strollers. We found a toy accordion and spin top that my husband found awesome so bought those. The accordion is for ages 7+ so Alek still has some time before he gets some use out of it  but it was awesome and we couldn't just walk by. Plus they had Wheely Bugs which look like the coolest present to get a 1-3 year old! Oh, and items were 10-15% off during the expo.




  Another cool vendor was Nest Above My Chest. This vendor sells slings, she is one of very few who can sell these slings. The slings have gorgeous prints and have a pure silk option. I told her I always kind of felt weary of slings and have never tried one. I worried they wouldn't feel sturdy. She put one on me adjusted it and we put Alek in to see how I liked it. It felt awesome, sturdier then I imagined it would (I even felt like I could let my hands down and not hold him). A big bonus is Alek didn't cry, he normally hates being in carriers and I tried to put him in a sling like contraption once and he lost it. If I have another baby when Alek is still small I will definitely want to invest in a sling, its so much lighter then carrying them in your arms (plus you can multitask with this because you can have your hands free). 

Lastly, here is a picture from the photobooth:

Cloth Coming to a Store Near You?

      A question I see over and over lately on cloth diaper forums and cloth diaper store fan pages is, "how do you feel about cloth diapers beginning to be sold in big box stores?". Some brands like Kushies have been sold in places like Babies R Us and Walmart and the like for a while, but great new modern cloth diapers have pretty exclusively been sold in online cloth or green stores as well as specialized or green brick and mortar stores. Ever since Charlie Banana made it into most Targets there has been discussion, is this good or bad? This major step in the cloth diaper world has pros and cons, what do you think of it? Yay or Nay? Do you want to buy your Grovia's online from a small WAHM (Work at Home Mom) business or from Walmart?
   What are some of the pros of having cloth in big box stores?

• Making cloth more accessible!!!

•  Cloth awareness, more people finding out about cloth diapers and that there are options to disposables

• Dismissing the stereotype of cloth being flats used with pins. Modern cloth has many CHOICES.

• Locations where there are no brick and mortar cloth diaper stores having a place where they can go and buy cloth without ordering online

• Being able to see and feel the different diapers (aids in making the choice about which to buy)

What are the cons of having  cloth in big box stores?

• Employees of big box stores do not have knowledge about cloth and give the wrong information to those interested in cloth

• Misinformation about how to use or wash cloth can lead to people abandoning cloth and thinking it does not work well

• This can possibly decrease the amount of work or drive prices lower for cloth that WAHM make or sell (or at least not increase it)

      Personally, I think it is nice that more awareness will be brought to modern cloth. Just months ago I shuddered at the thought of cloth. I thought, why? I thought about pins and what if you poke the baby. I thought about hand washing  boiling and the like. I thought about leaks and blow outs. Hence I love that people would know they have a choice other then disposables that is not that much more work, that actually reduces the quantity of rashes, reduces leaks/blowouts, and are beyond cute to boot! I like that people not only can hear that modern cloth is different but go to a store and actually touch and feel the cloth and see it with their own eyes. The negatives are huge though. I heard one person say they asked a Target employee about cloth (to test their knowledge) and were told to wash the diapers with the regular clothing, in the same detergent AND that ANY diaper rash cream would be fine to use. This type of advice can be detrimental to those interested in using cloth, they will waste a bunch of money, the diapers wont work and they will give up. Not everyone goes online and researches first, many would trust that a sales associate knows this information. This can be a big problem in gaining more cloth popularity. though this can awaken peoples interest to seek out cloth diaper stores, classes and forums. It is inevitable though that some will try it out using bad advice and HATE it.

    Will I go to Target and get some cloth? I may, especially if I do not want to pay shipping and only need one diaper and am there already. Personally I would prefer a cloth diaper specialty store. I am hoping that this major step in cloth will lead to more research online about HOW TO USE/WASH cloth and participation in Cloth 101 classes that Cloth Diaper stores offer. Plus the wonderful ladies/famillies holding these specialty stores can answer very specific questions and help you troubleshoot if you have a cloth related problem.

What do you think?

Baby on the Go!

     This post will be short and sweet. I am beyond excited...then again I am exhausted thinking of whats to come. My son has begun crawling!!! For over a month and a half he was getting up on all fours, then he began rocking and I kept thinking any day any day. Then he just continued to rock. Then came lifting one hand while rocking, then the other. Then he learned to move his legs but this movement was not coordinated with his hands. Of course we had the crab crawl down, he moved backwards rather then forwards. I should have expected things but somehow I was so shocked.

 

      In Alek's baby journal I write, on March 18th , "he scoots and crawls every chance he gets, he still is not full out crawling (though he can move a few millimeters forward).". Next thing I know on March 23rd I am writing that you crawled about half the carpet length forward. JUST that morning you could not crawl. Now you crawl though you need to have some stimulus like your favourite sheep toy or the cat. When I cal,l you forward you give me a sly smile and stop. You have even learned to pull up and get onto your knees by yourself  You are mobile!!! You are growing wayyyy too fast!

When did your child become mobile? Did they crawl or walk first?