Tag: Blueberry Diapers

Back to Cloth.

Published on by Darlene Dee7 Comments

With few exceptions, Babystar has been in disposable diapers for about a month now. I started when I packed the bag for the Women’s March last month and disposables were so much lighter. I kept her in disposables through a bathroom renovation that took away my access to the diaper sprayer for a week. Then we all got sick and now we are better but yet the disposable diapers remain on the baby.

I’m not gonna lie — I don’t hate them. They are not as cute as the cloth diapers, but they definitely have their benefits.

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But today we are back in cloth. Let’s do this!


We bought eleven packs of diapers during this glorious, lazy month. The Target brand was somehow always on sale for $4.99. Score! So $54.89 for almost a month. Eh. The fancy cloth we use costs $30-35 each. I think you CAN save money using cloth but I definitely did NOT.

(We still have disposables left but we also still use them at night and on Sundays in the church nursery.)

RAISING BABYSTAR: $14,738.38

#NaBloPoMo

Published on by Darlene Dee2 Comments

Have you heard of NaBloPoMo?

It is THE trendy new neighborhood in Manhattan.

I think it started after NaNoWriMo, which is National Novel Writing Month (or something close to that). NaBloPoMo stands for National Blog Posting Month, and participants commit to posting every single day in November. I like short-term challenges due to my short attention span, so I totally joined up.

I made it three days, y’all.

But I am not giving up. I’m hopping back on the horse, picking up my boots, or some cowgirl metaphor like that, and getting back to it.

Dude (get it, because cowgirl). Everyone in my house was SO.FREAKING.SICK.

I saw things. Gross things.

Babystar started puking on Halloween and the poor baby’s tummy is still not right. Does anything smell worse than baby diarrhea? Short of death itself? Name something, because I cannot think of a single damn thing.

You don’t want to read anymore do you? Don’t worry, I won’t describe it. I want to. No one here will let me share my pain with them. The Teenager legit said ‘Mom, we can talk about anything you want. Anything. Except that. No one wants to hear it.’

I know. BUTOMG. I even tried discussing it with Babystar and I KNOW she can understand me because even she looked at me like why are you telling me this? Which is totally unfair because SHE DID IT.

I put a cloth diaper on her last Wednesday when I thought the coast was clear. The coast was not clear. I almost threw the $35 diaper straight into the garbage. I didn’t; I traumatized myself for life instead. Hey Cloth Diaper Mamas, what do you do when baby is sick? I’ve been buying disposables. (Holy crap they are expensive to use all the time! Of course, that cloth diaper cost $35, which admittedly was the most expensive diaper I’ve ever purchased and I don’t know why I put THAT one on her as a test but still.) So far since Monday I’ve bought three packs of Pampers at $9.99 each from Harris Teeter.

So this weekend I’m partying with two long lost friends: Clorox and Lysol. I usually use less harsh things to clean, but this feels necessary. Get thee behind me, Germs! Besides, our parents cleaned with actual bleach and we all survived.

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RAISING BABYSTAR: $13,170.32

 

Shoes. Finally, shoes.

Published on by Darlene Dee1 Comment

 

I have been trying FOREVER to find shoes for Babystar. She freaks out whenever I put them on her feet. I did buy some tennis shoes but I really really really wanted some sandals that she would allow near her toes before our sunny vacation.

Nope.

No sandals. Nothing goes in between the toes. She’s a little weirdo but that’s fine.

I scaled back my dreams a little and went looking for some shoes that she could wear without socks. I sort of thought Crocs would be the answer, but I haven’t been able to find any (in a store) in her size. And I don’t want to buy them online without first having them pass the Scream Test.

The Teenager and I took Babystar to check out the local children’s resale shop that is going out of business. (Surprise, surprise.) I still hated them even at 75% off, but the children’s resale shop next door (slightly less awful but still not great) was also having a sale. And Babystar let me put shoes on her feet! And she walked around in them and did not even cry. I bought a pair of black Mary Jane-type shoes that she can wear without socks. Maybe she just needed another baby to break them in for her. Thanks, Other Baby. They are a brand called Scribbles and I cannot find them anywhere online. So she better never grow out of this pair. I also bought her a pair of $7 ballet slippers (actual ballet shoes OMG SO CUTE) because she wore them too and walked around and everything. Plus I just want her to feel comfortable in ballet slippers. I am Team Ballet and the Teenager is Team Gymnastics so I think this might give me an edge.

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Oh, and we bought two more outfits. They were on sale. $6 each and super cute.

She definitely digs the shoes. She insisted on toddling around Target while ‘back-to-school’ shopping with the Teenager. She did not protest the shoes at all.

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I think she wants me to buy her a slide. I did not.

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I did, however, buy her a cute purple shirt with a star on it ($4.50), a pack of Luvs diapers ($7.39) for the plane ride and to get us started on vacation, and a box of jumbo crayons ($2.99) to maybe entertain her for twelve seconds of our plane ride.

And I MAY have ordered two more rainbow Blueberry diapers when they were listed on Lil Tulip’s website last night while I was drinking prosecco and watching the Olympics. I had a $15 credit so they were ‘only’ $54.90. Shhhhhhhh. I’ll just put it here at the bottom of this post and hope no one notices. OMG I’m officially a cloth diaper addict. Ok. Here we go. Cold turkey.

So does anyone know where to buy Scribbles baby shoes? Or did Babystar actually decide she only likes this rare, out-of-print, like Icelandic or something brand of shoes? Ugh, she’s such a hipster. Any help is suuuuper welcome.

RAISING BABYSTAR: $11,834.93

Rainbow Bright.

Published on by Darlene Dee4 Comments

Ok, this time I SWEAR I am done buying cloth diapers. I was really sad that I only bought one of these bright pretty rainbow Blueberry Diapers at MommyCon so when I saw them for sale at Holistic Parent, I bought one. Just one. So now I have two. I kind of want three. WHAT IS WRONG WITH ME?!

(I’ve decided I have to sell the bumGenius Elementals. Love the colors. Love the prints. Do not love that she overflows them with pee. I am not trying to convince you to buy them or anything. I am really just trying to justify this purchase. To my family, maybe. Who might be reading this. STOP JUDGING ME.)

So pretty, tho.

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RAISING BABYSTAR: $11,456.81

MommyCon 2016 + GIVEAWAY.

Published on by Darlene Dee25 Comments

Babystar and I went to MommyCon DC yesterday and had so much fun!

(I was NOT a member of the media team or blog team or whatever it was called and I did purchase my own ticket.)

We actually volunteered Thursday and Friday behind the scenes, and that was also a blast. (Yes, WE. Babystar came along too and even had some playmates her own age.) Everyone involved with Team MommyCon was really nice and great and seemed all about the cause. By the time Saturday actually arrived, I was already exhausted. But luckily very excited, and the excitement trumped the exhaustion.

We arrived early because my son (home from college for the summer) and his girlfriend were working the event. If you attended MommyCon DC and checked your stroller, you met my firstborn. Thanks for being nice to him. (I know you were nice because he told me he was surprised how nice EVERYONE was. I wasn’t surprised but thank you anyway.)

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The best thing about having him working there was dropping off Babystar for five minutes at a time so I could PEE ALL BY MYSELF. Stroller check was located conveniently right next to the restrooms.

Babystar helped by stacking things. Also, LOOK AT THAT MOUNTAIN OF GIFT BAGS!

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We attended last year and I definitely noticed a lot of improvement. The layout inside the convention center was smarter this year. Last year the vendor space was a bit cramped and the diaper changing area was ridiculously big and far away from the action. That was not the case this year, and the addition of a Quiet Room and Toddler Play Space was great. (Note to the convention center: that door to the Quiet Room needs some WD-40. Whoops.)

The best improvement IMO was the offering of speaker sessions. There were six different sessions happening at any time, which made it difficult to choose where to spend our time. (This is a good problem to have!) I really enjoyed Steps Toward Sustainability with Yvonne Brown, Dear Baby XO: Why Mom Fails are Good for You with Sarah Showfety, and Ring Slings 101. By far my favorite session was Why Toddlers Fear New Foods with Dawn Winkelman of EZPZ. I have raised two picky eaters already and learned a lot of ways to prevent this pickiness with Babystar, hopefully early enough to prevent any food issues. (I know Cloth Diapering 101 with Jenn Labit was great because I attended last year, so I felt ok about skipping it this year EVEN THOUGH I know she gives out cool gifts.) I wanted to attend the Babywearing Yoga and Babies at the Barre sessions, but. But. But I was so so SO tired from working while babywearing the previous two days AND Babystar was conveniently asleep in her carrier during both of those session times. So I shopped instead.

Want to see what I bought?

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  • All the Smart Bottoms stars plus the teal Blueberry diaper in the front row from Lil Tulips: $139.31
  • The three striped diapers (SO PRETTY in person!) and the squiggly rainbow diaper from Blueberry Diapers: $96.80
  • Swim diaper from GroVia: $12 (MommyCon special price!)
  • Stuffed ninja that Babystar pointed out and then bit so I had to buy it (smart baby) from Wrap Scrap Creations: $20
  • Two Ubbi Tweat Snack Containers (you can see that one was used for Cheerios right away): $15 (MommyCon special pricing!)
  • Navy blue mesh ring sling from Cute Awakening: $35
  • Ziggy Stardust t-shirt for Babystar from Jammy Jams: $18

Merch total was $336.11 plus $84 for tickets (general admission plus the Feed the Baby VIP session on Friday) so my grand total was $420.11. Which is almost exactly $100 less than last year. I wanted to buy much more but restrained myself. I wanted more more MORE cloth diapers and a Tekhni ‘hip sack’ (which is really just a pretty fanny pack for fancy mamas) and a woven ring sling and and and. You get it.

I chatted with several of the vendors; again, everyone I talked to was so nice. Everyone. Of course they were, right? They are vendors. But everyone was SUPER above and beyond nice, and excited to chat about their products or just about babies or life in general.

Life Tip #1: Get some Oh My Yog! Organic Yogurt from Stonyfield in your life as soon as possible. Stonyfield gave some out during the VIP sessions on Friday and I cannot even tell you how delicious it is. You will thank me. Unless you really hate yogurt. Then you might not like it. But you might — it’s that good.

Life Tip #2: Find out where to buy Brewla ice pops near you and get the coffee flavored one and eat it immediately. They had samples on Saturday and they were SO GOOD. The Strawberry Hibiscus was also delicious. But that coffee flavored one tho.

Life Tip #3: (If you have a baby or a toddler.) Attend a MommyCon near you. I think it is finally worth traveling for, and I wouldn’t have said that last year. Xza and her team have been on a steep learning curve and the entire convention is really really good now.

Everyone always wants to know WHAT IS IN THE SWAG BAG?

Everyone gets a gift bag. And if you attend a VIP session (held the day before), you get another special individualized gift bag. I attended Feed the Baby with Jessica Martin-Weber from The Leaky B@@b and it was great because she is just adorable and funny and great. And all of this was in my VIP gift bag.

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You guys, look! There is a coral EZPZ mini mat! Just like the one I gave away last week. And just like the one I already own and reviewed and wondered if it would work better if I never put it in the dishwasher. I’m going to do a blind ‘sticky test’ soon and I’ll let you know how it goes. I will also tell you all about the BiteSizers and Re-Play dishware and GOOtensils once Babystar uses them a bit.

(That can is tuna. I don’t know. Special you-can-eat-it-when-you-are-pregnant tuna but still. What?)

And everyone got a General Admission gift bag with some variation on these goodies.

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Well technically, the Kind bar, Babyganics samples on the left, and GoGo applesauce were handed out by vendors in the exhibit hall. The rest was in the swag bag. Highlights included two types of reusable food pouches (Sage Spoonfuls and Little Green Pouch), an adorable doll sized cloth diaper from Nicki’s Diapers, and a Maya & Max by MOBY baby hat. Plus lots of other cool stuff, as you can see. I actually got another bag with a variation of these things at the end as a thank you for volunteering, so I’m going to give THIS one away. I’ll even pay your shipping costs, so US only please and sorry. Immediately after taking the above picture last night, I tied up the bag and set it aside for you.

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I’m leaving this giveaway open until the middle of next week, because I will not be able to ship this out until August 5th.

THIS GIVEAWAY IS NOT AFFILIATED WITH OR ENDORSED BY MOMMYCON.

I’m just gifting you my super cool swag bag. 🙂

WE HAVE A WINNER! Gabriela, I just sent you an email. CONGRATULATIONS! And thank you to everyone who entered!!

Enter to win a MommyCon Swag Bag here!

 

RAISING BABYSTAR: $11,149.67