Cloth diapering 101: what you need to know

I'm guest blogging this week over at Pure Natural Diva. The subject? Cloth diapers, of course! Remember way back when, I promised to bring you a more in depth look at the health issues associated with disposables? It's all covered in my post over at PND.

Check it out!

Forever and ever, Amen.

Justin and I were married four years ago today. Some days it feels like we've been married for decades and other days it seems like yesterday we were teenagers passing notes in church.

We had this poem read at our wedding. I loved it then and I love it even more now.

Happiness in marriage is not something that just happens.
A good marriage must be created.
In marriage the little things are the big things.
It is never being too old to hold hands.
It is remembering to say "I love you" at least once a day.
It is never going to sleep angry.
It is at no time taking the other for granted; the courtship should not end with the honeymoon, it should continue through the years.
It is having a mutual sense of values and common objectives.
It is standing together facing the world.
It is forming a circle of love that gathers the whole family.
It is doing things for each other, not in the attitude of duty or sacrifice, but in the spirit of joy.
It is speaking words of appreciation and demonstrating gratitude in thoughtful ways.
It is not looking for perfection in each other.
It is cultivating flexibility, patience, understanding and a sense of humor.
It is having the capacity to forgive and forget.
It is giving each other an atmosphere in which each can grow old.
It is a common search for the good and the beautiful.
It is establishing a relationship in which the independence is equal, dependence is mutual and the obligation is reciprocal.
It is not only marrying the right partner, it is being the right partner. ~Wilferd Arlan Peterson

We've certainly had our good days and our bad days, but we are unequivocally committed to each other. For better or worse, we're partners for life.

Forever and ever, Amen.

Rocky Mountain cloth diaper giveaway

GIVEAWAY CLOSED. The lucky winner is #65, Katie!

In the 4 months since I've started this blog, I've been privileged to "meet" so many amazing women. I'm so grateful for the opportunity to network and share with moms who share many of the same ideals that I do.

Mary is one of those moms. Some of you may remember that she was kind enough to share her amazing homebirth story with me about a month ago. You can find it here and here. She recently started a new blog, The Rosie Layne, which is now among my favorite blogs to visit. It's full of lots of useful information, healthy recipes and other ideas for living naturally. Today is "Wellness Wednesday" over there, so you should totally go visit.

Mary is just such a sweetie, that she sent me TWO fantastic diapers from her store. One for my Peanut and one to giveaway to my readers.

Let me tell you a little bit about the Rocky Mountain Diaper. First of all, the print is adorable. I am in love with animal print diapers and this one just might be my favorite. Secondly, this pocket diaper has an absolutely ingenious internal snap system that makes it a one-size-fits-all diaper. An elastic band extends through the leg gusset and it can be gently pulled and snapped into one of three different sizes. Some one size diapers come with literally dozens of snaps on the front of the diaper and it can be quite confusing. Not a problem here - just one neat row of snaps. Take a look at the difference in the smallest size setting and the largest setting!

This diaper has been in our diaper rotation for over two weeks now and I just love it. It's cute, it has snaps, it performs great and it'll fit her until she's potty trained. What more can you ask of a diaper?

You can find more pictures of Peanut sportin' this fabulous diaper in my last post.

To enter: I'm going to give your four ways to enter - you can choose one or choose them all!

(1) Become a follower of Mary's blog, The Rosie Layne, and then leave a comment on this post letting me know that you did.
(2) Follow Mary on twitter, then leave a comment letting me know!
(3) Tweet about this giveaway using @MommaMolly and @RosieLayne, then come on back here and leave me the link.
(4) You can tweet about this giveaway once daily - just be sure to come back here and leave another comment letting me know that you did!

I'll stop taking entries on August 24th. I'll announce the winner sometime during the Monday night cloth diaper chat on Twitter and then contact the winner on Tuesday, the 25th.

Happy Entering!

Real Diapers, Real Babies Photo Contest

The Real Diaper Association (RDA) is an organization dedicated to providing support for parents who use reusable diapers. Their website is full of great information and valuable resources, so if you haven't already - make sure you check it out!

The RDA just launched a photo contest called "Real Diapers, Real Babies". Twelve photos will be selected to for use in the 2010 RDA calendar. The rules are simple, and anyone can enter. Check out the fabulous prizes while you are over there - certainly worth playing for! You can check out some of the entries that have already been submitted by clicking here.

Okay, so you know I'll be entering Peanut in this contest! In fact, I may have gotten just a bit carried away the other day trying to get a decent photo to enter. So carried away, that I can't seem to narrow it down to just one photo.

So, I'm looking to you, my dear readers, for some help. Which of the following photos is your favorite?

#1



#2



#3


#4



#5

Please leave me a comment with your favorite! I'm secretly favoring one photo and I'm wondering if you all will pick the same one.

Oh, before I forget! That adorable one-size Rocky Mountain cow-print diaper Peanut is sporting? How would you like to win it? (Well, not the exact same one she has one, but you know, one just like it.) Stay tuned, new giveaway coming soon!

Headbands and horses

Note: I wrote this like two weeks ago and I just now realized I never posted it. *sigh* And you should just see the headbands I've been making lately. Ridiculously huge flowers. Makes this one look tiny. Really.

Oh, and I promise this is not turning into a craft blog. Promise.
_______________________________________________________________

I've been a little obsessed with making little crocheted headbands for the Peanut girl lately. She still doesn't have enough hair to put a clip in, but she's in a phase right now where she loves "pitty" headbands and hats, so I'm taking full advantage.

Last week I she wore one of her new headbands when we went to our church rodeo where Justin volunteers each week. She obliged me by keeping it on her head the entire evening.

Peanut has absolutely delighted her daddy by showing signs of being a horse lover just like him.



*Sigh* I just love to watch my little girl exploring the world.

I am so blessed.

Summer sewing project - Reversible sundress

So, I'm still on my crocheting/sewing kick.

I'm having a blast creating things for my little one to wear. I've always had to follow a pattern for pretty much everything, but lately I've been venturing out into uncharted territory and doing some pattern making of my own. Last Friday my 14 year old sister Hannah came over and we decided we wanted to sew something. I still had some fabric left over from the last dress that I made Peanut, so we decided to make a dress for one of Peanut's little friends that had a birthday coming up.

I had some ideas in my head from dresses that I liked and some pictures of things I wanted to try, so we pulled it all together and made a sweet little reversible sundress. I was so tickled with the results, that I scrounged up enough material to make a second dress for Peanut.

This is seriously one of the easiest sewing projects I've ever done. Even with some silly mistakes that involved extensive seam-ripping, we still had both dresses done in 3 hours.

By sewing strips of coordinating fabric around the hem and armholes, the dress is completely reversible. I used very lightweight cotton, so even with two layers these dresses are super light and comfortable.

The fact that these dresses are reversible just makes me grin. I love playing with colors and my sister and I had so much fun sorting through my considerable stash of scrap fabric to find just the right match for each dress. The fabrics weren't purchased to be used together, but I think they work well.

Peanut wasn't pleased when I told her that the "ahfly" (apparently the bumble bees look like butterflies to her) dress was for her friend and she would have to settle for the green one. She managed to get over it. And her little friend's mother was equally pleased with hers.

The best part? When my little Peanut inevitably spills or smears something on her new dress, I can just flip it inside out and keep right on going with our day.

The Diaper Sprayer - Review and Giveaway

GIVEAWAY CLOSED. The winner is lucky #162, Denise!

If you've been reading my blog for even a week, you've probably figured out that I'm a pretty big cloth diaper advocate. They're better for baby, better for the earth and super cute.

But even I must admit that there is one big downside.

You can't wash a diaper full of poo. Which means something has to be done with it before you can wash it. In the "olden" days, this involved dunking the soiled diaper in the toilet to remove the poo (Try doing that without getting something suspect on your hands). Up until a day ago, this was the method I used too. Well, my poo removing method just catapulted into the 21st century.

Let me introduce you to my new best friend. The Diaper Sprayer.

The diaper sprayer is a nifty contraption that looks like the spray nozzle from your kitchen sink. It attaches to the plumbing behind your toilet and hangs out there just waiting for a stinky diaper that needs to be attended too. It has an adjustable nozzle so you can control the pressure of the spray and just high pressure wash that poo right where it belongs - the toilet.

I could have asked my hubby to install the sprayer for me, but I wanted to test out the ease of installation for you all. I did have to ask him to find me a wrench, but other than that, I installed the sprayer from start to finish in just under 10 minutes. All by myself. Easy, peasy! And it works great. Peanut afforded me the opportunity to test it less than an hour after I installed it and - seriously - I have NO idea why I never invested in one of these before!

These should be a staple in every cloth diapering home. There are officially no more downsides to cloth diapering.

Here are a few of things that set The Diaper Sprayer apart from it's competition.

Quality. Plumbing is one of those things that needs to be done right. If you install a sprayer with plastic fittings, chances are you'll be dealing with leaks. The Diaper Sprayer is manufactured with metal fittings that are even covered by a one year warranty.

Price. You get what you pay for. And for $34.99 and free shipping in the US, you get an awesome, well made product that will last.

Customer Service. I sent an inquiry to The Diaper Sprayer and literally heard back from them within 10 minutes. If that's not amazing customer service, I don't know what is.

So....want to win one? Thought so!

The awesome folks at The Diaper Sprayer have donated a classic white diapers sprayer for me to give away to one of my readers.

To enter: Visit The Diaper Sprayer website and take a look around. You really should check out the adorable dog shaped nozzle heads they have available! Post a comment and share your current poo removal system and why you want to try the diaper sprayer. This comment is mandatory and must be posted before any additional entries will be counted.

For additional entries:

(1) Become a follower of this blog and then leave a comment.
(2) Become a subscriber and then leave a comment.
(3) Follow me on twitter and tweet about this giveaway (make sure you come back and leave a comment with your tweet link!).
(4) You can tweet about this giveaway once daily - just be sure to come back here and leave another comment letting me know that you did!
(5) Blog about this giveaway and then leave me a comment with the URL.

I will be reviewing each entry, so make sure you follow the rules!

I will close the comments on this post at midnight on August 22nd and announce the winner on this post sometime the following day. If I can find your email address on your blogger profile, I'll also jot you an email letting you know you're a winner.

Happy Entering!