Custom Nursing Covers!

My mother in law sews professionally, and we are now collaborating to create Custom Nursing Covers.
They have a rigid neckline made with boning to see baby while nursing, come in a standard cut or an extra coverage cut, Have floral detail, adjustable neck, and come with a Carrying pouch.
The feedback was great online, so we are going to roll out a couple more.  In most cases no two covers will be exactly alike. They will have gathered, pleated or plain necklines, standard or extra coverage sized, flowers or no flowers, ruffle or no ruffle, we can even add lace if requested!

Here is the tester:

This one is the full coverage version.

Rigid Neckline to easily view baby.  The cover shown has the pleated neckline.

Adjustable neckline.

Carrying pouch with metal ring so you can hang it from stroller or diaper bag clips

The extra coverage version is 4 inches wider on each side than a Hooter Hider brand cover.

And the extra coverage version is 4 inches longer

Fits nicely into its carrying pouch.

If interested in a cover please leave a comment below with your email address. I will update the blog when we have new covers available.

Animal Party!

We attended a friend's animal party this past weekend.  The kids had a lot of fun.  Aiden was dressed as a giraffe, and Landon as a lion.  I took the fruit ,and made a little 'fruit bear' to go with the theme. 

Cloth Baby Shower Gift

I am giving cloth diapers as a shower gift for the first time, and I feel corny and ridiculous, but I'm sooo excited!  LOL.

Here is the fluff mail:

If you have given cloth diapers or accessories as a shower gift before, what was your gift?  And how did you go about 'wrapping/boxing/bagging' it?

Crafty Party Decorating Ideas!

I've been in the works of helping to plan a baby shower, and although I can't post all of the cute things I have seen (I dont want to give away the theme!), I thought I'd share a couple!

These hanging Pom Poms look very easy to make, and would be great for any party!

I found that picture on http://blog.paper-source.com/page/2/

I found this picture HERE, along with the instructions.

I also found this banner, It looks extremely easy to make, and you could find some different BOLD materials to make it as upbeat as you want!  It looks as simple as cutting out triangles, using zigzagged scissors to give them the edges, and punching holes to run a ribbon through them.

I found these HERE.

Thanks for Looking!!

If you have seen any other crafty party ideas, Please comment and post a link!!!

Diaper Your Baby From Birth to Potty Training for $48.95!

Edited at 9:00pm :   This sale is already over! They have several others still going tho.

Wow! 
Cottonbabies.com has a Cyber Monday deal going on.  6 Econobum one size covers with 24 prefolds for $48.95!  With free shipping!
I know many of us prefer cloth diapers with more bells and whistles, but this is an amazing deal for a family that is having trouble affording disposable diapers, or as a great gift for an expecting family!
I believe this is only available until midnight.
Hurry over to cottonbabies!

Just For Kicks

Isn't he cute finishing off his banana?     ;-)

Eco Sprout Detergent Review

*Skip to the end of the post for my quick rundown on this detergent*

   Most people that have cloth diapered have experienced the stinkies.  You know, those loads of 'clean' diapers that seem to have a never dissipating smell of ammonia?  Fortunately, for most people it doesnt have to stay an ongoing problem.  Its often an issue of getting your laundry routine right, but that being said, different detergents work for different people, often due to the type of water you have and what types of material you are washing.

   Just so you know the conditions we are washing in...  We are in Knoxville, Tennessee. We have hard water.  I use a non HE top loader. Most of our diapers have microfiber inserts.

  So far we have used Tide Original powder,  Rockin Green Classic, Charlie's Soap, and now Eco Sprout.

     We quickly discontinued the use of the Tide at the beginning of our cloth diapering journey, due to many bad reviews regarding detergent buildup.  We then moved onto Rockin Green Classic (Rng).  We did a soak with some Rockin Green Funk Rock (their Ammonia Bouncer), and washed with the RnG.  It took a couple of weeks of stink issues for us to get what RnG told us was the Tide buildup out of the diapers.  But even towards the end of the bag, months later, we were still having ammonia issues every few weeks.  We then switched to Charlie's soap.  I have to say, we have not had any problems with Charlie's soap.  It did its job, it got the diapers clean. We did add a very small amount of Sun Oxycleaner to each load, due to Charlie's not being a disinfectant. But I felt they could be a little bit cleaner, so when we got to the bottom of our bag, We again had to decide what detergent we were going to use. I had tried a couple of samples of EcoSprout, but we hadnt used it continuously.  I have read some amazing reviews on the stuff.  So we headed over to Cutie Tooties and picked up a 48 oz bag of Eco Sprout.

Eco Sprout is $1.75 for 2oz samples, $7.98 for 24oz bags, $13.98 for 48oz bags and $24.98 for 96oz bags.

It comes in a cute little drawstring canvas bag, with a zippered plastic bag inside.

Here are some pictures of the ingredients and instrustions.

Eco Sprout is environmentally friendly, biodegradable and 100% natural. The formula was created by a work at home dad.

Our seasonal scent is Pumpkin Pie Spice.

Now here is the part you MUST MUST follow!!!
You need to do the presoak, to get any residue out of your diapers.
I filled the washer with HOT water, added the 3 tbsp of detergent, and let the diapers soak all night, for 11 hours,then drained.  Then I did the recommend 2 hot washes with cold rinses.

The backside of the above paper had a chart for how much detergent you should use, for some reason my picture is missing.  But here is what the chart says:

Type of Machine            Water Type                       Amount of Detergent

HE front loader                Soft water                            1-2 TBSP

HE front loader                Regular Water                      2-3 TBSP

HE front loader                Hard water                          2-4 TBSP

Top Loader                    Soft Water                            2 TBSP

Top Loader                   Regular Water                       2-4 TBSP

Top Loader                   Hard Water                           3-4 TBSP

        *See website for load size and washing tips www.ecosproutsoap.com

Now I have read that many people are able to see their water change from clear to murky during the first soak.  I however didn't have that experience. (Hopefully that means mine weren't too bad to begin with!!)  Here is the before and after pictures of the water:

Our inserts came out with absolutely no smell at all.  The desired product.  

EDITED:
We have been using the detergent for about 3 1/2 months now.

We have had no ammonia issues or build up issues.
For an extra large load, we use 3 tbsp, for a slightly smaller load I use 2 tbsp.  We do a cold rinse, Hot wash with the detergent and a regular rinse, than a cold extra rinse.   *For a particularly poopy load I will put a couple of sprays of biokleen BacOut in the prerinse*
It is a bit pricy, since I have very hard water I have to use more than some people.  My 48 oz bag lasted about 3 months, washing every other day.  But well worth it when I have no worries about the stinkies showing up.
I can not stress enough, if you have hard water, or have had ammonia issues, Try this Detergent!!!
*Remember to do the overnight soak before you switch!!*

Have YOU tried Eco Sprout?  What were your results? (Include your washing conditions!)

Disclaimer:
All opinions are my own, I was not compensated for this review, all products used were bought myself.

Day at the park

Aiden, 2 1/2, and Landon , 14 months.

Flip Training Pant Is Here!

It arrived a few minutes ago, and a thumbs up to Cottonbabies, I ordered the product (which still says it is a preorder) on a Tuesday and it arrived on Friday!  We ordered the new color Mirror, with Clementine tabs.

Now for the pictures....

In packaging:

Straight out of the box,With the Introductory special (Running until the end of Dec or while supplies last), you get 5 organic cotton inserts and 1 cover. :

Inserts showing the front and back:

Insert compared , from Left to Right- Econobum prefold (trifolded), Flip Trainer insert, Bumgenius one size insert. :

Compared to BG 4.0, on the smallest setting:

Compared to BG 4.0 on the medium setting:

Compared on the Largest Setting possible for both:

Side by side , open, on the largest setting:

Pictured of tab removed, has 2 rows to make it tighter or looser:

Outside:

Inside:

Picture of the front aplix strip, located under the flap :

Picture of the Back aplix strip:

The insert folded to the Small setting:

You place the strip of aplix against the aplix inside the diaper:

And attach the opposite end of the insert to the strip of aplix on the back:

Insert attached to cover:

Comparison with BG 4.0, both set to small setting, Flip trainer is much trimmer:

Trainer, set to the smallest setting, on my 2 1/2 yr old 26lber:

We have yet to actually use it, so I will do a review as to its performance later.
I will note , although the sizing seems great, and it really is easy to slip on and off, he only wore it for all of 2 minutes, and the insert was bunched up.  We will see how this effects performance after they are washed.