BUMMAS! (Review & Giveaway)

I have been using cloth diapers for a year now.  I have to say I'm pretty proud of myself because I didn't think I was going to make it very long in the beginning. But I love how I'm helping the environment and my daughter's little bum.  What I haven't been doing for a year is using cloth wipes. I know.. *GASP*.

So a couple of weeks ago I decided I was going to make the plunge.  No longer would my daughter's bum be wiped with a commercial wipe.  But where to start? What brand is the best? What brand to avoid? SO many questions.. So I contacted Bummas about doing a review of their wipes.  They came highly recommended to me so I figured why not start there? 

I was sent the Wild Ones and can I just say.. SUCH beautiful colors!  I was in love as soon as I opened the packaging! 

Bummas wipes are 100% Cotton - Woven Velour Terry Cloth milled right here in the USA. The perfect 5” x 7” size that won’t pill, shrink, or fade.  Plus they come in a variety of fun and vibrant colors.  The Girls .. the cute pinks and purples for that sweet princess in your life!  The Boys .. the blues and greens for that special little man in your life!  The Wild Ones .. which is a combination of everything and totally beautiful!  The Calm Ones.. very earthy and relaxing!  And NEW are the Tropical Ones which are bright and colorful! 

What I love about Bummas Wipes is the fact that you can use a wet wipe to clean up and then a dry one to help keep rashes away.  When I was using commercial wet wipes I always had to let Kylee's bottom dry out before putting on a new diaper.  I don't know about you.. but that's the last thing I want to do with a toddler who would rather be off and running.  With my Bummas wipes I give the wipe a little spray, clean up her bottom, then use a dry Bummas wipe to make sure her bottom is totally dry before putting on a new diaper. Simple!  Then I just toss the wipe and the dirty diaper (after a shake and swirl in the toilet if need be) in the pail.  It's so easy!  No more taking a diaper to the pail and tossing wipes in the trash!

Storing my wipes and solution is just as simple as it was before my switch to cloth wipes.  I keep my clean and dry wipes in an old wipes container and my wipes solution in a spray bottle.  I either use a solution or just plain water.  Both work equally well.  Once I run out of my solution ingredients I will just be using plain water.  No more running out to the store when I'm out of wipes!

Bummas wipes are also great for cleaning up messy faces and hands!  I keep some in our diaper bag for changes when we're out and about or to wipe up baby girl after she's gotten messy. 

So why should you use Bummas wipes? You can help eliminate irritating diaper rash without the use of powders, talcs, and ointments.  These wipes are SO soft and so gentle and who doesn't want that for the bottoms of their loved ones?  Bummas wipes are GREAT at wiping up and drying off.  They come in amazing colors and I personally love something that works AND catches my eye!  Plus.. if you don't use Bummas.. you'll be really bummed you're missing out on the best cloth wipe out there!  I can't wait to get a couple more sets myself!

SO.. lucky readers that you are.. Bummas has offered to give one of you a set of wipes of your choice! Awesome, right? 

Mandatory Entry:  Tell me what set of wipes you would choose if you did win!  (You must do this or you forfeit your chance to win!)

Additional ways to enter:

1.  Follow Bummas on Twitter  (2 entries)

2.  Follow me on Twitter (1 entry)

3.  Follow my blog publicly via Google Friend Connect (3 entries!)

4.  Add my button to your blog and leave a link to where I can find it (1 entry)

5.  Tweet this giveaway.  2x/day and at least 2 hours apart (1 entry per tweet)

6.  Blog about this giveaway.  Include a link to your post in your comment (2 entries)

7.  Make a purchase of Bummas wipes before this giveaway ends.  This will be verified. (10 entries)

Giveaway ends Friday, June 11th at 10:00PM .(CST). I will use random.org to determine the winner and notify the winner via email. The winner will also also be announced on this blog. You will have 48 hours to respond or a new winner will be drawn.

                                                                    GOOD LUCK!!!

She's An Artist

What a great way to spend 45 minutes!

She's An Artist!

An AppleCheeks A Day Keeps the Rash at Bay!

Many many months ago, Ilana, of AppleCheeks diapers was looking for blogger mommies to review her diapers.  I had been drooling after her super cute St. Lucia diaper for as long as I could remember. So..naturally.. I jumped on the opportunity.  I stalked the mailman pretty much every single day   waited sooo patiently for my diaper to come in the mail.  It wasn't the St. Lucia.  I was bummed.  It was Coriander.  BUT.. after trying on said diaper, I was in love! It looked great with Kylee's skin tone and it was really cute!  My diaper came with a one size rayon from bamboo insert which can be folded into thirds (hello six layers of protection!) and a booster as well! 

"Rayon from Bamboo is perfect for the heaviest wetter as it retains twice as much moisture as cotton alone for its weight! And plus rayon from bamboo's antimicrobial properties make it the healthy choice for your baby's bottom. Rayon from Bamboo is the cloth diapering choice!" 

I am that cloth diapering mama who is scared of anything that is not bulky.  I feel like bulk = a lot of absorbing action going on.  So I was kind of nervous about using only the inserts I received.  But.. I had a job to do.. must review this product.  So after doing my prepping of the diaper.. I put it on her for nap.  3 hours later.....

NO LEAKING! I was amazed!

(She gets her dancing moves from her daddy..)

Another issue I have with diapering in general is the fact that my girl has some chunky thighs and that usually results in her getting red marks on them from the diapers.  AppleCheeks? They passed the test! No marking on her legs! 

One of the REALLY awesome things about AppleCheeks is that you can use the envelope cover as just a cover or as an entire diaper.  So stuff it.. or don't stuff it.. and you still get great use out of it!  But whatever you do.. don't unstuff it! (Because the inserts come out in the wash all on their own!)

Got a super chunky cute baby?  Well.. fear not.. AppleCheeks to the rescue!  Enter.. waist extenders!

"AppleCheeks™ Waist Extenders allow you to get even more life from your gorgeous AppleCheeks™ envelope covers. Sold in pairs, simply snap one on each side of your trim fitting diaper cover and, voila, you get up to approximately 2 inches of extra space for baby's cute rolls! Available in all 10 permanent collection colours, can be mixed and matched with other colour envelope covers for ultimate cuteness."

Are you getting the picture yet? This is an AMAZING diaper system! You really can't go wrong.

I was also sent a Size 1 storage sac to review.  I love it!  It can easily hold 8 diapers or more (depending on how full you pack your storage sacs).  It's easy to wash and I just hang it to dry. Simple. Easy. And it has some great stretch to it!

My final test to my oh-so-cute AppleCheeks diaper was overnight use.  And some of you may be saying oh what's the big deal? Well my friends.. my daughter pees. A LOT! At night! And we use uber thick inserts for nighttime because she pees so much.  So.. I put her in her AppleCheeks and I added one additional bamboo insert.. put on some fleece longies... and prayed as I put her down to sleep.  I expected to hear screaming at 4am for a diaper change.  I expected to get her up in the morning and find a bed soaked in urine.  I expected to regret my AppleCheeks overnight decision.  Boy was I wrong. She was wet in the morning but not soaked and we had no leaking!  I was one happy mama and so was my baby girl! 

So there has to be SOMETHING wrong with this diapering system, right? Well.. I was going to say the price.  AppleCheeks cost a tad bit more than diapers I usually buy.  BUT, I really feel they are worth the money!  So.. my only wish for AppleCheeks is more color options and maybe some prints??  Because this mama here loves her some cute prints!

(If anyone wants to donate a St. Lucia to us.. that would be totally rad... just sayin!)

Pretty Much Wordless Wednesday

2009 ... When I could put her somewhere and she stayed put for a picture!

2010 ... Always on the move!

Inspired by Mooky Diaper Review

My kid pees.

Often.

And in large quantity.

So I've been struggling to keep her in cloth during the nights.  She's been peeing through everything I toss on her.  I had actually switched her back to disposables at night.  They were gross by the morning but they worked.  Yes they weighed like 5 pounds and were just a mess of cold urine but I wasn't having to change sheets every morning.  I started asking around about what people were putting on their heavy wetting toddlers at night and someone recommended Inspired by Mooky.  Something new to me.. but I decided to check it out anyway.

I am SO happy I did.  Pam makes some of the cutest and softest diapers ever!  She made me a super cute monkey print with polka dots diaper. I was in love.  The crotch area was too narrow though and I was super bummed. Fear not.. Pam had me send that diaper back to her and she made me a new one and shipped it back in just a couple of days! Now that is some great customer service!  Let me tell you about this diaper..

It's a One Size AI2 Fleece Night Time Diaper and the outer part is made up of 2 layers of anti-pill fleece.  The inner part of the diaper is organic bamboo raylon velour and it is SO soft!  The soaker (WHICH I LOVE!) is 2 petal style (for quick drying) and each petal has 3 layers of organic bamboo raylon fleece topped with velour.  It's trifold style and when folded over you get 16 absorbent layers!!  This diaper does NOT require a cover.

What I really love about this diaper is that it stands up to my super-wetter overnight, doesn't leave ANY red marks on her at all, and it's super cute and VERY soft!  It's made of quality materials and the work that goes into this diaper is so apparent!  We have it on one of the lowest settings so I know this diaper is going to be sticking around until Kylee doesn't need diapers anymore!  And then it will be passed on to the next sibling when the time comes. (Even if it's a boy.. because boys can wear cute polka dots!..And I'll be the only one seeing their bottoms at night anyways!) 

Pam also carries longies, shorties, skirties, wet bags, changing pads, etc in her Cutzie Designs shop.  So make sure you check out both of her shops on Hyena!  Tell her I sent you!

The Gymnastics Express

Yesterday morning Kylee and I joined up with some mamas and kiddos from our playdate group.  We met up to let the kids play on The Gymnastics Express! 

"The Gymnastics Express is a gymnastics facility - on wheels! Perfect for today's busy parent, we bring The Gymnastics Express right to your child's preschool or daycare center, and teach them our innovative gymnastics curriculum right on our customized bus!" 

If you've got kids and they've got energy ... you can't go wrong with this bus o' fun!  If you're in the area I highly recommend getting in contact and finding out how your kids can get their jump and tumble on!

(Jack is going for the gold in tumbling!)

Now I feel like I must say that 18 months+  were allowed to play on the bus yesterday.  Kylee won't be 18 months for 12 more days.. but I figured she was close enough.  (There were another babes around her age there as well.)  In my personal opinion I think 18 months may be a little too young for The Gymnastics Express.  Kylee did not want to sit and sing songs in the beginning.  She was much too distracted by all the fun tumbling equipment.  She cried. And cried. And cried until I came and held her and then she watched the other kids singing.  Once it was time to play on the equipment though she was ALL about it.  A few other kids that were her age also cried and didn't want to stay on the bus long.  So I would recommend this for ages 2 and older. ( I am really glad Kylee got to experience this though and when it was time to play she DID have a great time!)

(Kylee enjoying the zip-line and the kids jumping hoops!)

So if you're in the area and looking for a way to entertain your kids this summer or any other time of the year, get in contact with staff at The Gymnastics Express. You'll be able to put together the best playdate ever!  Best of all? The bus comes to you!