Speed Demon!

So we got a walker toy for Kylee from my MOM friend, Lindsay. Let me just say.. Kylee LOVES it! She looks for it when she gets up in the morning, after naps, etc. She has been so fast w/ walking from the very first time she tried it out. Steering on the other hand...she's gonna need some practice..or maybe take some driver's ed. But it's my go to toy when she's being cranky and normally it puts her in a good mood right away. Best $5 I've ever spent. We're working on getting a spare to have for grandma's house, aunt and uncle's house..pretty much anywhere that's not at home. Enjoy the video...Kylee does. She cried when I quit letting her watch it (she LOVES herself) and had her do something else (she watched it seriously 8 times!)


I apologize for the poor quality video..who wants to buy me an actual video recorder so I can stop using my camera? Eh?

She's a Smartipants!!

One of my favorite diaper wins from my latest blog giveaway obsession has been hands down.. Smartipants! I was so excited when I found out I won this diaper because I had heard many many wonderful things about it. We chose pink because we don't have any pink diapers and I think my princess looks great in a nice pale pink. Our diaper shipped quickly and I received 1 Smartipants diaper and 2 Smart Sleeve inserts. This is rarely my go to diaper during the day because it's my #1 go to diaper for overnights. Kylee sleeps between 12 and 13 hours a night and this diaper holds up and then some.

So what makes this diaper so great you ask?

WELL... first of all, one of my favorite features is that you don't have to take the inserts out when you put the diaper in the wash..they come out during the wash cycle! So no more touching of the icky and nasty to rescue your inserts.

Smartipants diapers also keep moisture contained AND your babies bottom dry at the same time! I love changing Kylee and seeing that her bottom wasn't just hanging out in a small puddle of her urine (which happens with disposables and a lot of AIO diapers). They are made with “breathable” fibers that are free from any chemicals or irritants which is great against sensitive baby skin. These are also some of the most absorbent diapers we've ever used.

(The only time we've EVER had a leak was when I chose to let Kylee sleep instead of waking her up to change her. She had been in her Smartipants with a single insert for 5 hours when all was said and done. Her bed and clothes were soaked. But keep in mind, we went to a playdate, shopping, and she napped for 2 hours in this diaper. NOT TO MENTION..she drank a whole sippy of water while on our playdate. I'm lucky leaking onto her clothes and bed was all that happened.)

Smartipants are also AMAZING on your bank account, wallet, piggy bank, or whatever else you store your precious earnings in. You can get a 3pk of Smartipants for less than $40.00 and each diaper comes with an absorbent insert. You can't get better quality for a better price anywhere. In fact I dare you to try and find a better diaper at a better price..and when you do let me know. (I don't expect to hear from you anytime soon...)

So needless to say..my family is a HUGE fan of Smartipants. (Even my fiance because they are so easy to put on, snap, and go!) So if you're still putting your baby in horrible disposable diapers and stinking up our already stank landfills... stop. Save our planet and save your wallet. Buy Smartipants. You won't regret it!

Holy 9 Months, Baby!

Well... as usual..time is still flying and my princess is growing older every day. This past week she turned the big 9 months. Well it's not really 'the big'..but putting that in front of 9 months makes it seem more unbelievable and crazy! She celebrated by having a playdate with her boyfriend, Ethan (aka being babysat by his mommy so I could go to a meeting). They had a great time which was to be expected. Those two are just too darn cute together!So what has Kylee been up to lately? Well..she has turned into quite the crawling machine! This girl is fast. One minute she's there..and the next minute she's gone. She has also gotten really good about going from laying, to sitting, to standing, to cruising along the furniture. She can also stand solo for about 5-10 seconds. So it's only a matter of time before she's cruising on her feet. She LOVES to dance. Oddly enough she really loves polka music (I blame that on endless hours at the St. Stan's Polish festival...meh, I guess it could be worse...) and can 'drop it like it's hot' like no other baby I've seen. She REALLY loves books. If you pick up a book and she's insight of you, she will crawl over and sit in your lap. She LOVES to help by turning the pages. This girl also loves nature. She is SO happy and vocal when she's outside and seeing different people. We also think she might be a little boy crazy already. She loves her Ethan but she also giggles and hides her face when she's around boys/men in general. We've also really gotten into cloth diapering with her. Her diaper rash issue has cleared up SO much since the switch too. Not to mention our wallets aren't as bare due to excessive disposable purchases. It's nice. AND as of two days ago, Kylee FINALLY has 2 teeth coming in on the bottom. I still can't picture my baby girl with teeth..like I never thought it would happen or something. She is also starting to sport some hair. SOME being the key word..but it's coming in. Light brown with lots of blonde in it. I can't wait to see it in its full glory. I'm not tooting my own horn or anything (toot toot) but I seriously have one GORGEOUS baby girl! She has also become food crazy. Anytime she sees anyone eating something..she MUST have it. It doesn't matter if she just ate not too long ago..clearly we never feed her..and she has to have everyone else's food. She's too cool for baby food most of the time and wants the real deal. This girl would live on toast, yogurt, and fruit if I let her. But alas..she must also eat meats and grains. I know..I know..what a horrible mommy I am for trying to make her eat balanced meals. I think one day she'll appreciate me for it.



I also think this baby girl is going to be in swim lessons before we know it. She craves her baby pool and stalks the bathroom door until she's given a bath. The second she hears the water running she bolts for the bathroom door and when it's time to come out, she's sad faces and tears. Gosh I love my little water baby.



Anyways..that's 9 month Kylee in a nutshell. Her little personality is growing and developing so much every day and it's so fun to experience. She's such a happy and outgoing baby and I couldn't ask for more. (Although I would like her to stop bullying the smaller babies in our playgroup.....sorry Fi and Alex..) I can't wait to see what the future has in store for our precious hunk of amazing wonderfulness. I know it's going to be great!

Stats

Weight: 21lbs 13oz (90%)

Height: 29 inches (70%)

Head Cir: 47.5 cm. (97%) --yikes!--

Dream Eze AIO Review

So thanks to the Fluff Friday giveaways over at The Cloth Diaper Whisperer website.. I was able to win 2 Dream Eze AIO cloth diapers a few weeks ago. I hadn't tried an AIO on Kylee before and was really excited to see how they held up. So as soon as they were delivered I popped those babies in the washer and gave them two good washings on the hot cycle and dried them. We received a Mandarin and a Blackberry and the color did not fade a bit in the washing machine. After a few hours of waiting..I snapped one on her precious bottom. So..how did they hold up? What are the pros and cons? Well... let me tell you. BUT first, I'll give you a few facts and whatnot on the Dream Eze AIO diaper.

*Convenient -- no pockets to stuff/unstuff.

*Simple to use --great for dads and daycares

*Certified Organic peroxide bleached, cotton inner, no synthetics.

*Absorbent. The most absorbent AlO available on the market today

*Waterproof soft TPU outer

*Unique soaker design means your Dream-Eze AlOs will be easy to clean and quick to dry

*Durable snap closures..no worry about fraying

Alright... you still with me? So those are some basic facts about the Dream Eze AIO. The nice thing about AIOs is they're are SO simple and anyone should be able to use them without complication.

Now..how do we like the Dream Eze in this house? Well..I have mixed feelings about them. At first I was ready to toss them in the trash or turn the liners into rags for cleaning around my house because I was fed up with the quality of the diaper. I put one on Kylee for 2 hours and when I changed her the first liner was wet..but not completely soaked and the 2nd liner was barely even damp. I was pretty amazed. THEN came nap time. I figured since the Dream Eze had held up so great for the previous 2 hours, surely it could hold up for nap time. So, I put another one on her bum, put her in her crib, and officially began "Operation Dry Sheets Naptime".. or so I thought... almost 3 hours later I went and got my princess. What did I find? A SOAKED sheet!!! I rescued my daughter from her small lagoon very wet bed and removed her diaper. The top liner was wet, the bottom liner was dry..which led me to believe that my poor tummy sleeper baby had fallen victim to a leak coming straight from the top of her diaper. I tossed both diapers in the washing machine and washed them 4 cycles on hot and dried them again. Next day..repeat Day 1..another leak!! Not as bad..but still wet sheet! Ugh! So I held off on this diaper for nap time for a while and just kept it in the daytime diaper cycle. Well.. today after these diapers had gone through many hot washes..I decided to try one for naptime again. So almost 3 hours later..I go in.. and what do I find? DRY SHEETS!! So I'm guessing these are the kind of diapers that need lots of hot washes before they start becoming absorbant. I'm glad they finally are starting to do their job!

SO..aside from needing many washing before becoming absorbant..what are the other downsides to this diaper you ask? Well... there are only 4 color options to choose from. Which isn't a horrible thing..but I do like some variety in life. Another thing is the elastic that is at the back of the diaper is SO tight that it does leave some markings on my daughter's back. They're not terrible..but it's a reason that I don't grab for this diaper first. Another issue I have is that these diapers take SO long to dry. Which I know is very common with AIOs. But it is something that is a negative in my book.

Dream Eze AIO diapers have a very narrow crotch which I thought I was going to hate and it was going to leak because of this reason. Well..it turns out I have grown to like the narrow crotch and it makes for a better fit. SO.. overall.. this diaper isn't horrible. But it's not the first diaper I go for..maybe the 3rd or 4th. It's great for daytime and naptime but I don't dare use it for overnight.

Piggy Toes

So.. my latest obsession of blog giveaways has been very rewarding to me so far this month. One of my wins was a $20 gift card to Piggy Paint. Piggy Paint is a non-toxic fingernail polish that is designed especially for precious little girls. The best part is.. there's no smelly odors and none of the toxic chemicals that are in other fingernail polishes!

My experience with the people working for Piggy Paint was wonderful! I was having an issue with getting the code for my gift card to work and Laurie Marcolla, the marketing director, remedied the situation immediately without any hesitation. I received our order a few days later and I give major props to her and the company for giving great service to their customers.

ANYWAYS..back to the wonderful product that this post is all about!

Here are the ingredients of Piggy Paint (from their website..so straight from the source!)

Piggy Paint™ Ingredients:
Water, water-miscible acrylic resins and thickeners (well below 100 parts per million), glycol ethers. May contain mica, D&C red lake, ultramarine blue, iron and titanium oxide pigments.

Piggy Paint recommends using 2-3 thin coats and allowing 60 seconds for air drying. For me..I have a 9 month old daughter. Asking her to sit still for 60 seconds is nearly impossible unless she is sleeping. OR...eating! So it was perfect timing that our Piggy Paint was delivered minutes before Kylee was due for her afternoon bottle. So while my little princess was devouring her bottle like a savage consuming her bottle like a lady..I was giving her a little pedicure!

We chose the Fight Breast Cancer gift pack because I loved both shades of pink that came with it PLUS it's for a good cause. It's also very reasonably priced at $16.99 and comes in a very cute package! But let me tell you..this was not an easy decision. Piggy Paint has SO many fun colors!! They have everything from Clouds of Candy (Pastel Blue) to Sleepover Polish (Midnight Black) with some Mac-n-Cheese Please (Vibrant Orange) on the side. So you really can't go wrong in picking out a color because they are all so great! And if you really like living on the wild side..I'm sure you'll love picking one or many of the awesome gift packs Piggy Paint has to offer!

Your order won't be complete though without Piggy Paint™ Nail Polish Remover! This is a must have!

Why is Piggy Paint™ Nail Polish Remover the best choice for your little girl you may ask? Because it's...

Safe

Odorless
Made from natural ingredients
No Acetone

Hypoallergenic

Biodegradable

AND not to mention it comes in a really cute bottle!!

So why are you still reading this? Take yourself on over to the Piggy Paint website and get your many bottles of oh-too-cute fingernail polish and pamper yourself and the princess in your life now.

Look at my princess' precious toes!!

Is it Nap Time Yet?

Well for Kylee it is..which means I can actually sit down and think about a post for more than 2 minutes. She started crawling a few weeks ago...which means nothing is safe and everything is up for grabs. At first it was this really awkward zombie-like-movement crawl and then the next day she was off and gone and we were 'eating her dust' so to speak. And now..she's crawling from dawn to dusk and repeats it all the next day. She is also pulling up onto things and moving along furniture and people..so I've been told it's only going to be a matter of time before she's WALKING..Is it nap time yet? I knew this was all bound to happen but I thought maybe I'd have 1...2...8 years to prepare..boy was I wrong.

In other news...we have joined the cloth diapering world. It all started because of this woman I know..let's call her Megan..who eats, drinks, and breathes cloth. Well maybe she doesn't eat it ..or drink it...but I'm pretty sure she breathes it and lives it. So I started looking around and checking out some fluffy butt covers and decided prefolds and covers were the only thing in our budget. THEN I won this lovely giveaway from here and now I'm addicted to the 'fancy' cloth diapers and live on giveaways and can't wait until I can start building the most amazing and wonderful stash ever! I'm pretty sure part of Kylee's 1st birthday is going to contain gifts of cloth from 'mama' and 'dada'..she'll love it as well as her mama! I've also discovered a love for this soap which smells SO amazing that you pretty much have to force yourself not to eat it..or bath in it..or stick some under your pillow at night just so you don't forget how wonderful it smells. (Okay..that's a bit much, I agree..but I'm telling you...AMAZING!)

In other news outside of cloth diapering... I have been going crazy (only somewhat) trying to come up with ideas for Kylee's 1st birthday party. Yes..it's a little over 3 months away but this isn't something you can just throw together overnight. I've already found a lovely boutique online that I'm going to be ordering her dress from in a couple of months and I've talked to my friend Jess about cake/cupcake ideas..but I still haven't decided anything official and I don't want to stress and pull out my hair the closer her birthday gets and I have nothing planned other than a BEAUTIFUL dress and amazing friends and family who will celebrate with us. I've been thinking pink, light purple, and maybe even a pale yellow as colors and a cupcake theme... but then I also love the idea of ladybugs and butterflies and I know this amazing lady..Jess..who could for sure help me create an amazing cake if I ask nicely.. Again..no idea. So what have the 1st birthday parties for your little ones been like? Did you go big? Small? Did you have a theme? Or just colors? Save my sanity..