Happy Birthday Party- ReannaLily Designs!

Jen of ReannaLily Designs is having a Birthday Party!! Starting today she is having 5 giveaways in 5 days, one each day. The contest will be open until Monday 23. I'm sure she has some great stuff in store for us! Run over there and join the fun!

Review #1 of Garden Tea and Giveaway!

Our container garden is not doing well. We have gotten several cucumbers, a few okra and 3 hot peppers. That's it. I thought it was time for an intervention or all our hard work was for nothing. I had heard about Authentic Haven Brand Natural Brew Soil Conditioner Tea on a gardening blog and really wanted to try it out. I think our main problem is that we grow our plants in containers, not in the ground. Even though we put manure in with the potting soil, we had not fertilized it at all this year. In past years we did a bit of fertilizing but with nasty chemicals. I really want to do it different this year. The Soil Conditioner Tea helps your plants roots to absorb more nutrients from the soil.

                                  

I contacted Annie at Authentic Haven and she sent me several samples of her "tea"! There are 3 different types of tea: Cow Manure, Horse Manure and Alfalfa. The first two, Cow and Horse, are used for all your plants and gardens. The third, Alfalfa, is for use on your Roses. Haven Livestock has only raised natural grass fed livestock. The livestock is free of antibiotics, growth hormones, and pesticides.

It is very easy to brew your tea. Fill a 5lb bucket with water, place one tea bag inside and cover. Leave it to sit for 1-3 days until it is a dark brown color. Then just water your plants! You can use the tea every time you water or at least 4 times during the growing season.

Please be careful when you have a bucket of water around children because they could fall into it and drown! Ours is kept covered and Ethan is always supervised when outside.

I can't wait till my tea is brewed and I can get to watering my plants! I will treat them with the tea at least once a week for the next 4 weeks and then post on the progress our garden has made.

Now for the best part! Annie sent me several samples of the different types of tea to review on my blog. Among them was a tea bag of the Alfalfa tea for Roses. Unfortunately I don't have any roses :( so I want to give it away to one of you!! Visit Authentic Haven Brand's Blog and tell me why you want to try out the Alfalfa tea on your roses. I'll pick a winner on Augs 17th.

On a side note- I have a new Toad!! Can you see the little guy?

He jumps away pretty fast so it's hard to get a good pic of him. I've seen him twice now near my herbs and "house" plants. I also saw a larger toad near the container garden this morning. They must have heard that our yard was a safe, happy place to live! I hope this little guy sticks around for awhile.

A Woolie GIveaway

I'm so excited to find this Giveaway (thanks Carly). Beccalynn from Makin' it has an Etsy store- Bunny Tails- where she sells her handmade wool shorties, longies and upcycled cloth diapers! She is giving away a custom made (read: anything you want!) wool soakers!

I would love to win one of these for the new baby! Are these not just the cutest things you have ever seen??

You could win too! Check out Makin' it and enter to win.

Curiosity Saved the Human- My Friend Jess

Photo By Jess Koehler

My good friend from Los Angeles, Jess Koehler, is the most gracious and generous person I know. From the time that I met her she has been searching for someone to help. Starting with the homeless on the streets of LA to her first mission trip (that I know of) to Zambia and now Haiti.


She is also a wonderful photographer. You can follow her on her blog, Curiosity Saved the Human, where she writes about her amazing adventures and shows off her breathtaking photographs.

She is giving away a Free print! Take a look how to enter here.

Thank you, Jess, for showing us the world from your eyes and behind your lens.

Winner!! And another TT Trim Giveaway!

Congratulations to Carolena @Three Graves! She is the winner of the Tiny Tush Trim Diaper. She has been emailed and has 24 hours to respond or I will pick a new winner.

Thank you to all who entered. Welcome to my new followers!! Ethan and I are visiting my parents in Oklahoma and will be traveling home tomorrow. I have lots of great photos to post of our trip!

If you didn't win my giveaway go over to Dirty Diaper Laundry because she is giving away a Trim! I would love to have another one so we can use one every night.

Last Day for Giveaway!!

Today's the last day to enter my Giveaway for the Tiny Tush Trim fitted diaper. It's still proving to be a great diaper and I can't wait for one of my followers to win!

Tiny Tush Trim- Review and Giveaway-CLOSED

Yes, that's right! I'm doing my very first giveaway! (Don't worry, Family. I'm not turning into a giveaway blog. I just couldn't resist saying yes to trying out this fabulous new diaper from Tiny Tush and give one away to my followers!)

A little About Tiny Tush (taken from their web site):

Founded in 2000 and based in Baraboo Wisconsin, Tiny Tush is a manufacturer, wholesaler and retailer of cloth diapers, diaper covers and other diapering supplies. Our family-owned business is passionate about the benefits of natural and environmentally friendly choices and we seek to educate others about these important decisions. We personally test each product for quality, durability, comfort and fit and are dedicated to providing the highest quality products at affordable prices, backed with outstanding customer service.

I can say I have "spoken" online with Charlene, the owner, and ordered from their store and they are great to work with. Customer service and quality products are defiantly top priority for Tiny Tush.

Tiny Tush just came out with a new One Size Fitted Cloth Diaper called Trim. It is made of custom fabric that is 80% hemp and 20% organic cotton. This diaper is TRIM!! When I first got our diaper I was really amazed how trim it was and was a little skeptical about how well it would absorb. While our new Trim went through it's 3 or 4 wash and drys to get it ready, I did some online searches and found that everyone was so impressed with the diaper that it had quickly become their trusted nighttime diaper.



For us cloth diapering Mamma's and Daddy's we know how important it is to have a well fitting, absorbent diaper at night time. Your baby is going to be in this thing for 12+ hours and you don't want to have to change a diaper, clothes and bed sheets at 3am!



I thought, what the hey...let's use it tonight!

We used a Thirsties cover for that first night. The next morning we got up around 6am but I'm not really able to do much more then check email before my morning coffee so Ethan stayed in his diaper for another hour. When I finally got around to changing him everything was great from the outside, no leaks or messes. The Trim was wet from the front to the middle. The back of the diaper, both the insert and the diaper itself was totally dry!! I've never had a diaper that has been on Ethan all night be dry in anyway. So I tried it again the next night and then again the next. All three times were the same, wet in the front and middle but dry in the back. Yay!!! I have a new trusted nighttime diaper. We did use it during the day with great results but nothing beats a good night time experience.We have used the Trim with a Thirsties cover, a Flip and a Sassy Cloth cover and they have all looked....well... trim!


I could list all the great features of the Trim but why when you can just read about it on their site? What I will tell you are my favorite features and what I found to be so special about this diaper.

• 
  
  The elastic is sewn to the diaper itself instead of in a casing. This is great for two reasons. One- It doesn't create a big bulge that cuts into your babies legs or back and Two- The elastic won't snap and you have to go digging around to find it and sew it back in. (Ask me if I've had to do this before.)




• The snap in liner snaps in the front instead of the back. I couldn't figure out why until I took it off of Ethan after he had poo'd. I'm pretty sure that's why they made it that way. It's much easier to un-snap when the snaps are not covered in poo!




• It drys really fast and you can put it in the dryer! Don't get me wrong; I love to hang my diapers on the line outside but the natural fibers tend to get really stiff and crunchy. Drying in the dryer makes it nice and soft.

Tiny Tush want to give one of my followers a Trim diaper all their own!! I'm going to make this really simple on both you and me:)

1. Leave a comment to let me know you Follow me Publicly. Current Followers count, too!


2. Join Tiny Tush on Facebook and leave them a comment on their page letting them know your favorite feature of their new Trim diaper. Then come back here and leave me a comment to tell me that you did.

That's it! Please make sure I can reach you either through your blogger or leave your email in the comment. If I can't reach you, you can't win! The giveaway will run from April 1-12. I will pick a winner randomly and announce it on Tuesday April 13. The winner will have 24 hours to get back to me or I will pick a new winner. Good luck!

A big Thank You to Tiny Tush for sending me the diaper to review!

Disclaimer: I was sent a free diaper from Tiny Tush. The opinions are my own. Don't try to sue me if you don't win because I don't really own anything worth any money so you won't get anything anyway.

A Year of Cloth Diapering-Part 2 Plus a Giveaway on Thursday

Did I tell you how much I love my Tiny Tush Elite One Size diapers? Well, I do! They work just as well as those more popular brands but the company is family owned and operated. I Love supporting those types of businesses. It was our first pocket diaper with snaps and I love that they don't all stick together in the wash.

After reading many great reviews I finally bought Rockin Green Soap and fell in love!! Rockin Green just came out with their new "Hard Rock" version for hard water. I saved up my Pay Pal and bought a bag the day it went on sale. It's great! A must have for every Cloth Diapering Mama. In October we went on several long weekend trips and used Gdiapers loaned from a friend. We used disposable inserts on both trips and had a great experience. I have recently bought 4 to use on our trip to Folly Beach this summer.

I also had to have the new Flip diaper! The flip diapers are a cover and insert combo where you can just change the insert each time. I have 2 covers, blue and green, and 5 or 6 of the microfiber inserts. They are really trim but don't hold a lot. They tend to bunch up in the middle when he has them on for too long. If he poo's I have to change the whole set up so we only use these when we're hanging around the house.
I can keep him in only a diaper because he hasn't figured out how to un-snap them yet!

This was my second attempt to make recycled wool longies and I still haven't finished the waistband or lanalized them yet. Eli thinks they're too girly. My first attempt I fleted the sweater too long and had to make them into newborn longies because they shrunk so much!

Ethan got some money for his birthday so I bought him two diapers that I really wanted to try out. This one is a Happy Heinys One Size with Snaps. I can't wait for their new "Beta" Organic One Size to come out!

I have also recently won a yellow Happy Heiny's from Mama Dweeb! I don't have any pics of it, though.

This is a Rump-a-Rooz in Whales Tale, also a One Size Pocket. This diaper can go super small and starts to fit around 6lbs and fits up to 35lbs. I will be investing in a few of these for the next baby. I can't get away without mentioning my favorite place to buy Cloth Diapers: Abby's Lane. They have almost everything you could ask for to cloth diaper your baby. They have awesome customer service ( I really think Stephanie, the owner, is online all the time!) and FREE Shipping! If you sign up for their mailing list you get an email about once a week telling you all the great specials and new items. They even have a code to get 5% off just for getting the newsletter!

On April 2 I will be writing as part of the Cloth Diaper Carnival VII: Newborn Cloth Diapering. I didn't cloth diaper Ethan until he was two months old but I look forward to starting a birth the next time around!

Now for the good stuff: I will be doing my first official Review and Giveaway on Thursday April 1!!!! This little fitted number Ethan is modeling is a dream come true:) I can't wait to tell you all about it and one lucky winner will get one all their own!

Fluff The Bum Cloth Diaper Event

The Eco-Cheap Mom is having a Fluffy Event! April 1-30 she is giving away 22 cloth diaper related items! I'm excited to find this giveaway and her blog. Go here to join in the fun!

Fluffy Giveaways!!

Here's a new one: Mommy and Sweet Pea Make a blog is giving away Wollybottoms!! I've been working on making my own wool longies and will post about them soon.

Don't forget the other giveaway fluff:

Win a Rumparoos!

Ethan in his Rumparoos!

I have recently been able to buy and win several new brands of diapers for Ethan. One of those is a Rumparoos. I was very excited to try this diaper because of all the great reviews. I even waited to order it until they had the print I wanted (whale tale). This is a one size diaper and I'm told it fits newborns really well. Rumparoos also have a new diaper, Lil Joey, that fits only newborn. The rise on the diaper seems really short compared to my BG 3.0. Thankfully Ethan got his daddy's tall and skinny build! I would love to have several more so I could really get a feel for them. Emi at The Cloth Diaper Report is giving on away! Jump over there to enter.

Daddy Diaper Event!

One of my favorite blogs "Mama Dweeb" is having a Daddy Cloth Diaper Event! Her husband is vloging his reviews of all the cloth diapers. There's no greater review then that of a Cloth Diapering Husband! Jump over to Mama Dweeb and check it out! It starts February 1.

One Size Cloth Diaper Event!!

Take Time to Smell the Rose is having a One Size Cloth Diaper Event starting January 1st!!! She is reviewing and giving away 22 One Size diapers!! A one size diaper mostly fits 8-35lbs so you save on having to buy new diapers as your baby grows. One size diapers is all we use so I'm excited to find this blog and enter all these great events!!

Jump on over to Take Time to Smell the Rose and join in on the fun! Her first review just went up today. It's a Happy Heiny! I just got one for Ethan so I'm excited to see what she has to say about this great diaper. And maybe I just might win another!