Birthday Loot and New Ink

Hey, guess what! I turned 30! Between traveling and dealing with moving, I haven't had a chance to share my birthday loot with you guys. I'm short on time, so here's a drive-by rundown of my gifts.

Custom Holly Aiken Auxiliary, which I got because I am a big believer in buying birthday gifts for myself. I bought it weeks before my birthday because I am also a big believer in being grossly impatient.

First gift of the day was some new Birks from the hubby. I started wearing Birkenstocks when they were trendy 15+ years ago (God, I'm old) but I never stopped because they're so damn comfortable.

Second gift of the day (and second gift to myself) was this tattoo. Seven seventeen represents Luke and Josie's shared birthday, July 17, and the lettering was drawn by my best good friend, Libby, so this piece is packed with meaning, in addition to being a memento of turning 30.

While I was at the tattoo shop I got a wedding band tattoo. I don't like to wear my rings when I travel, for fear of losing or damaging them, but I still want a visual reminder of my commitment, and all that other mushy stuff. Nothing fancy, just a simple line. I literally told him "You see the indention where my rings were? Trace that."

Later that night I had a small get-together, which turned into a good-bye party for the old house. My lovely friends brought me a candle, a vintage print and a Jonathan Adler owl vase for the new house. I have the best group of friends.

Lastly, the opal ring (my birthstone) I not-so-subtly hinted about for months that ended up arriving 2 weeks after my birthday because my husband still forgot to order it in time. This is why I nag.

Good Friday Ikea Trip + 2 Bedroom Updates

Alternate Title: Man, I Could Use A Nap and A Glass of Wine

My office was closed for Good Friday and I took advantage of the time off with a quick (ha! they're never quick) trip to Ikea. The closest Swedish Slice of Heaven is 2.5 hours away, so it's always a full day trip whether I need 1 thing or 30.

I had quite the entourage - my mom, my best good friend Libby, Josie, Luke and myself - so the 4Runner was pretty full before we even pulled out of the driveway. (This will come up later)

This was slated to be a kid-focused trip. Both kids are getting bigger and we're not going to have LESS toys anytime soon, so some furniture upgrades were in order. Now that doesn't mean I didn't pick up a few things for myself. I snagged a few trays, a laptop bag, a set of sheets, a pillow cover, and some kitchen towels. Don't ask me what happened. They just jumped right into my cart, and who was I to kick them out?

Any who, back to the kid stuff...

The main item on the list was a loft bed for Luke. He really likes puzzles, hot wheels, and general playing pretend, all of which need room to spread out. His current mattress-on-the-floor situation was taking up too much space so we decided to take advantage of his vaulted ceiling and build up! After some online research I settled on this one. As we were walking around the loft and bunk section Luke walked right up to the bed I had already picked out and said "This is my bed. I want to buy this one." He had no idea we were bed shopping, or that I had picked this one out, so it was a little on the eerie side. After I picked my jaw up off the floor I hoisted him up to let him give it a test-drive. Verdict: he loved it. Have you ever seen such a happy kid? No, no you haven't.

It wasn't on the list, but when I saw a Lack wall unit marked down from $50 to $30, well that threw itself in my cart, too. Luke loves books and didn't have anywhere to keep any in his room (the big bookshelf is in Josie's room), so now he has some book storage of his own

Here's a quick shot of the car after everything got loaded up. I told you had a car-full. To really round out the ridiculousness of the whole thing, we had to tie Luke's new bed to the roof. In the rain. And it rained the whole way home. Because it never occurred to me that the box for a bed might be slightly larger than the back of a small SUV. Thank god Ikea sells ratchet straps. Best $20 I spent all day. 

Mom and I started assembling the bed Saturday morning and Luke was so excited, begging to climb it the entire time. As soon as the sheets were in place Luke scampered up the ladder, grabbed a book and got right to reading. We gave him a clip-lamp (which he is equally excited about) so he can read in bed before he goes to sleep.

Every time I look in his "new" room, I scream "There's so much room for activities!" in my head. But yes, now he has tons of floorspace to spread out and play.

Now for the details:

Luke was very thrilled to discover that his metal bed is magnet-friendly, and he wasted no time adding magnets everywhere. I knew the time would come when Luke would have his own ideas about how to decorate his space, I just didn't know it would be this soon. Sob!

Below is the afore-mentioned $30 lack. I could have sat it on the floor like a boring person, but I could just tell this little shelf was crying out for a pop of color. $16 and a Saturday night trip to Home Depot later, I had the makings of these little orange feet. Tell me I'm not the only one who spends their Saturday nights at a hardware store. The surprise bonus was that the real estate under the shelf was perfect for puzzles and other too-big-for-the-cubbies items.

 Here's a zoomed-out shot of the bookshelf. I really want to get him a cushy seat and some fun curtains for a little reading corner slash fort action.

We stashed all the toy storage in the corner to the left of the loft, which helps with separating the zones of storage and play.

This wall... needs some work. The height ruler is staying but the paper globes have got to go. I bought them at a yard sale on a whim, but I've always thought they were too big for the room. So down they come. The blue thing isn't a beauty, but it was a cheap and easy way to display the never-ending wonderful art that comes home from preschool. The chalkboard will get hung where it's leaning so Luke can draw and practice his letters. Hopefully that will reinforce the whole "art corner" vibe we started with the blue thing. The fridge isn't standard issue for a kids' room, but we need a beverage fridge and his room is really the only spot in the house we can fit it.

But enough about Luke's room. Miss J got some upgrades, too! Luke was so excited about the bed we built that he volunteered to help build his sister's stuff. He was more helpful than we expected.

We recently sold the navy recliner I used as a nursing chair, which opened up this corner for some toy storage. We fell in love with the TROFAST system, and went with 3 of the tall-ish sections. I centered them under the 2 disparate  groups of frames, and I FINALLY re-hung the bunting from Luke's baby shower. I'm really happy with how it looks here - it helps to unify this group of stuff.

And the bins? I LOVE the bins. They hold anything and everything - books, toys, stuffed animals - and, because the bins come all the way out, cleanup will be a breeze.

It probably won't stay this way for long, but I made some mini-vignettes with some of the prettier kid toys.

Last, but not least, I hung this flamingo mobile in the corner by the changing table. I've been wanting to add some pops of pink to girl the room up a bit, and I was happy to give this gal a home. My mom saved her from my nursery, so I guess that makes it a bit of an antique. Wait, does that make me an antique? Don't answer that.

I think this was one of my most productive weekends, ever. Not only did I buy and build all that stuff (with some help from Mom and Steven), but I also organized both kids' rooms, did some laundry, scrubbed the hot tub, sold Luke's old mattress set and did some general house cleaning. Who am I and what have I done with the TV addict that usually lives in my house?

I Made A Tablecloth!

I got a sewing machine for Christmas and I wasted no time in breaking it in with a little project for my kitchen. Normally, posts about DIY projects would live on my (on hiatus) design blog, but this project was inspired by the kids, so I think I can post it here.

Ever since we moved into our house we have had the same dining table. It's a vintage table, passed on to me by my grandmother. It's the perfect size for our eat-in kitchen and is still in great shape. Or, it was in great shape until Luke was big enough to graduate from a high chair to his own seat at the table.

As to be expected, he's a bit messy when he eats. I bought some plastic placemats, maybe a year ago, but they just weren't cutting it. Don't get me wrong, I loved the pops of color they brought to the table but they weren't doing much in the protection department. Between the kids and the cats (that think the table is their sofa) the placemats never stayed put, making the table look cluttered and sloppy, and Luke had this incredible talent of somehow getting food UNDER the placemat. Oy.

The finish on my precious table was getting destroyed, and I would have another table eater stepping up to the plate before I knew it. Time to act!

I decided I needed a wipeable tablecloth, but not just the plastic kind you buy for a party and then toss in the trash. And to keep it from sliding all over the place - did I mention I have 2 kids and 2 cats? - I wanted it to have an elasticized edge to keep it from moving. 

Picture a giant shower cap, for my table.

After some googling I found that all the pretty ones are expensive all the cheap ones are fugly. So that meant my first date with my sewing machine was soon approaching.

First I went in search of oilcloth yardage. After a quick spin around Etsy, I found this great shop that sells loads of oilcloth patterns for cheap. I went with red and white polka dots to tie in with my red kitchen island.

Then I found this tutorial on making a fitted tablecloth and followed it exactly. It wasn't a bad tutorial, but if I were to make another tablecloth, I would make a slight modification. Instead of leaving the fabric rectangular, I would round the corners before I sewed the elastic casing. This would do 2 things: a) it would make it easier to pass the elastic around the corners and b) it would make the corners fit tighter. If you are using regular fabric, neither of those would be a problem, but oilcloth is very stiff and manipulating the gathers isn't easy.

I've had it in action over a week and I wish I had made/bought one of these sooner. I love the cheery print and it is AMAZING how easy it is to clean the table now. No need for coasters and placemats, which means I don't have a dozen things to move out of the way to do a quick wipe down.

In the end it wasn't a difficult task, but I'm proud of my first sewing project* and very pleased with the results. That said, oilcloth is not easy to work with so if you come to my house please don't look too closely at the seams.

*This wasn't my first sewing project ever, just my first with this machine. I have borrowed other people's machines for sporadic projects in the past, but never often enough to really claim "oh yes, I sew."

P.S. If you like the ease of an oilcloth table covering but don't have the time/patience/equipment to make one yourself might I recommend this one I found by Modernjune. When I was shopping I thought that was too much to pay for a tablecloth, but after having fought the oilcloth beast myself her price seems WELL WORTH IT.

Veronica and I are trying this new fad called jogging.

I believe its 'jogging' or 'yogging', it might be a soft 'J', I'm not sure. But apparently you just run for an extended period of time.



First of all, if you don't know that quote, you are missing out on one of the best movies of all time. Go watch Anchorman, right now.

Secondly, like Ron and Veronica, I now consider myself a jogger. I got tired of driving to and paying for the gym when I have a perfectly good neighborhood I can run around. For free. I'm not hardcore enough to say I'm a runner, because runners don't have to take frequent asthma breaks. But I think the jogging community won't be too offended if I include myself among them.

Of course, every new hobby requires some amount of accouterments. Can't be a wizard without a wand and a broom; can't be a potter without a pottery wheel and Patrick Swayze. So of course, now I feel like I need jogging stuff. Namely a jogging stroller.

As of a few weeks ago I thought jogging strollers were part of the conspiracy to get parents to buy crap they don't need. See: wipe warmers. I mean, what is so special about a jogging stroller? But after talking to some friends and attempting to jog with our regular stroller, I am now a convert. Jogging strollers have several features that separate them from regular old baby hauling devices, namely an enormous price tag. I did some googling and found that jogging strollers cost between $150 - $500. Um, I don't think so.

Don't ask me why, but Saturday morning I felt compelled to wake up and go yard sale hunting with my in-laws instead of my regularly scheduled sleeping in. Apparently I was driven by fate because I found a jogging stroller for $40. And because you can't shop at yard sales without haggling, I talked the seller down to $30! Luke and I have already taken it for a test-drive and we are both big fans.

Have you gotten any crazy deals on baby/kid gear lately?

DIY Baby Toy

Last week I made Luke a rice puzzle. Since I was inspired by the ladies at GeekMom, click here for their post.

Long story short, to make a rice puzzle you just put rice and small toys/random stuff in a clear container. My container was a parmesan cheese shaker, but I might switch out for a glass jar when I go through some pasta sauce or something.


Here's my stuff: colored buttons, the top to a broken ring, large metal nut, rubber ducky, assortment of beads and charms, and 2 poker chips.


Once I had my stuff assembled, I just dumped everything in my container.

TA-DA!

After I had everything assembled I decided my rice to stuff ratio wasn't what I wanted, so I went back and added stuff 2.0: broken ring, carpet samples, paper clips and a jingle bell.


Yay for cheap and easy baby toys!

Bib Pimpin'

I don't think of this little storage solution as a craft project. It's more of a "Why didn't I think of this sooner?" moment.

I'm a fan of plastic bibs. Huge fan. I have clung to them ever since Luke started eating solid food. Have you ever tried to get carrot stains out of white cotton? I don't know about you, but I don't like bleaching things that hang close to my baby's face. Therefore plastic bibs rock my world.

To cut down on machine washings, I rinse the bib between meals. I also like to air dry the bib after machine washing to cut down on wear and tear. This leads me to my problem: where to hang dry the bib?

Sometimes I would hang it from the neck of the kitchen faucet, but that's completely in the way and often just keeps getting wet again.


Sometimes I hang it in the laundry closet. It's not a terrible solution, but I'd rather have something a little closer to where he eats. P.S. - I hoard those baby-sized clip hangers. They are perfect for line drying all sorts of delicates. And, um, speaking of delicates, just ignore mine.


Sometimes, if the bib is sopping wet, I hang it from my cabinet and let it drip into the sink. This actually works fairly well, but it's not a very elegant solution. Especially if I forget it's there and get a face full of wet bib, which does wonders for my hair. Heh.


This morning I was once again faced with the dilemma of where to hang the bib. Then it dawned on me: just put a hook on the side of the cabinet. Duh. I have no idea why this didn't occur to me sooner. So, just a few command strips later and I had the perfect place to dry a bib.

ta-da!

I even got fancy and put one on the other side for his other plastic bib. That's right readers. We're a two-bib family. Drink in the luxury.


So that's my a-trained-monkey-could-do-this, why-didn't-I-think-of-this-sooner project from this morning. Any stupidly simple projects going on at your house?

Mommy Friendly Swimsuit [UPDATED]

I may have lost the baby weight (and then some) but I'm still not ready for a bikini. Stretch marks and all that. However, I can't yet resign myself to wearing a frumpy old lady swimsuit. Enter this beauty* from Old Navy. The print distracts from any bulges and lined cups give plenty of support for Blanche and Dorothy. Cute, right?

*I would link to it for you but it sold out really quickly. Glad I got it when I did!

UPDATE: Old Navy re-listed the swimsuit. You can get it (in limited sizes) here.

Busom Buddy

Over the weekend I went to Asheville for one hell of a bachelorette weekend. One of the things on our to-do list was to swing by Victoria's Secret and buy the bride some lingerie. Also on our to-do list: sit on the floor and eat Mediterranean food (check); make a breast-print painting* (check); smoke a hooka (check); get tarted up and dance with gay boys (check); throw dollar bills at drag queens (double check). Calm down, no one smoked pot. It was only flavored tobacco in the hooka. Geez, MOM. Oh yeah, this post was supposed to be about underwear. My bad. While we were in VS I decided to get a fitting and buy a new bra. You know, to cheer up Blanche and Dorothy. It turns out the girls weren't as sad and small as I thought they were. Yay! All my bras are just old and stretched out. Boo. At first I tried on some supportive, yet practical bras. Then I decided "What the hell" and bought a push-up bra. I normally think push-up bras are unfair false advertisement. But, I'm already married and Steven knows what I'm packing. So I might as well jack 'em up to my chin, right?

Dream Angel bra by VS

This is the bra I got, and I look just as hot in mine. HA. I'm not always a fan of lace, but this seemed like it would lay smoothly and not be bumpy under a t-shirt. Plus, I liked that it has a whiff of naughty french maid. I find it's easier to justify the purchase of a $50 bra if it looks sexy. Men don't tend to look at receipts if they're drooling.

*You know how you would make art in elementary school by carving a potato then using it as a stamp? Well, it's kind of like that. We painted our boobs then smooshed them on a canvas. I've asked the bride for a photo of my canvas and I promise to share it with you so you can see what I'm talking about.

Introducing: Carolina Pear Paper Goods

This is where I shamelessly plug my new business...

I recently launched Carolina Pear, a paper goods company, with my best friend Brettany. I couldn't be more excited about it!


Our love of all things paper blossomed when Brettany and I designed our own wedding invitations, programs, place cards, etc; you name it, we DIY'd it! After we said our "I Do's" and settled into married life with our hubbies, we still had the urge to create. When friends and family got engaged, we were more than happy to lend a creative hand with their paper goods. Last fall, with many weddings under our belts, we felt we were finally ready to start the business we had always talked about.

As much as we adore weddings, our business doesn't stop there. Carolina Pear offers full service stationery design - party invitations, holiday cards, birth announcements and more!

Our bodies may be firmly rooted in the South - hence the name, Carolina Pear - but we would love to help brides and families all across the country! Please check out our website and feel free to recommend us to those in your life. To make it easy for you, I've added a Carolina Pear button to my sidebar, so you don't have to go rooting around the blog to find the link!

GDiapers, You Had A Good Run

This post is long overdue, but it still needs to be said.

Not two weeks after I wrote a lengthy post about our life with gDiapers, I gave up on them. I still love them and plan to use them with future babies, but it got to the point where it was a HUGE hassle to keep using them. In the end my sanity is worth more than my pride.

Break-Up Reason #1: We had absorbency problems again.

The root of the problem is the fact that the absorbent core of the g-insert is made of hippie stuff like paper pulp which doesn't wick moisture like a traditional diaper. In a disposable, when Luke pees the moisture gets pulled away from Luke wherever the diaper is still dry (usually toward his bottom). With a gDiaper, the moisture doesn't get pulled anywhere and just overflows as soon as the top part is saturated. When I had this problem before I just switched to a larger size and it solved the problem. That wasn't an option this time because we were already using the largest insert size. I read that some moms put one and a half inserts in the diaper to help with overflow but that became a cost issue. Not including the cost of the liners and pants, using gDiapers cost us about the same as using traditional disposables. Multiply that by 1.5 and there was no way we could reasonably afford that.

Break-Up Reason #2: The poo was too hard to handle.

The plastic liner is trimmed with elastic which means the edges have lots of little pleats and crevices. When Luke had a dirty diaper the poo typically got on the liner and into the little pleats. This wasn't a problem when he had runny, newborn poo (God bless it); I could just clean it out with a peri-bottle over the toilet. Once he started eating rice cereal and baby food the blessed newborn poo went away. The new poo was thick and much more stubborn about coming out of the crevices. I tried soaking them in warm water, running and extra rinse cycle in the washing machine and scrubbing them by hand but the only places the poo wanted to be was in the crevices or on my hands. Gross! I know touching poo and other bodily fluids is part of the mom territory, but I'm not willing to let that happen every time he has a dirty diaper, which is often.

pictured: lots and lots of crevices, not pictured: lots and lots of poop

In the end it was just too much of a headache to deal with. Steven got tired of them way before I did, but he was a trooper and waited until I threw in the towel myself. I think if we had only one of the two issues I might have searched for a solution, but with two problems to overcome it was too much to handle. I am all for being environmentally friendly, but I can only be so patient when my sanity and quality time with my son are on the line.

Bottom Line: I completely plan to use gDiapers in the future with other babies. The absorbency didn't become a problem until Luke was older and his output was greater. For newborns they still work great. I have also heard boys have more diaper leaks than girls (moms - yes or no?) so maybe I can use them longer if I ever have a girl. The poo problem will probably happen again, but still very easy to deal with when diapering newborns.

My compromise was to switch to Seventh Generation disposables. From a post-consumer standpoint, they're just as bad as traditional disposables. They spend way too much time in a landfill, but I try not to dwell on that. The benefit of the SG's is that they are just as absorbent as Pampers or Huggies, but they are hypoallergenic and free of chlorine, latex and fragrances. Meaning the process in which they are made is better for the environment. As an added bonus for a design snob like me, the SG's are a plain, natural brown color with no flowers or cartoon characters in sight. I still happily use any diaper that comes my way - freebies, gifts, whatever - but when I'm shelling out my hard earned dollars, I am happy to spend them on earth-friendly(ish) disposables.

As usual, nobody paid or perk'ed me for talking about diapers. I just wanted to share the poop, er, scoop with you!

Luke's High Chair

I wanted to pop in to tell you about Luke's high chair. We chose the ANTILOP from Ikea and picked up the optional tray and support cushion. No, we don't display it in the living room; that was just a nice place to get natural light for the picture.

We've actually been using it for almost 2 months; I wanted to wait until we'd lived with it before I gave you guys my official opinion.

The verdict - I LOVE IT!

The chair, with accessories, only cost us $30 - much less than traditional, bulky high chairs. The tray can go right into the dishwasher and the seat is smooth molded plastic - no crevices for hiding crumbs! If we have a messy feeding all it takes is a wet rag to get things cleaned up. The frame is lightweight and easy to move yet surprisingly stable.

The designer in me loves the clean lines and adult-friendly color palette - no cartoon characters here. Overall I would give it two thumbs up and my mommy seal of approval!

Mom Jewelry For Moms That Hate Mom Jewelry

I love my son. I love my husband. I love them so much I want to write it on billboards. I can't afford that, so I have to settle for wearing it around my neck. The only problem: I can't stand mom jewelry. There are some more modern, unique versions on Etsy but even those are a little cliche for me. Yes, I'm a snob.

I figured I'd try my hand at making my own "Mom" necklace, and this is what I came up with:


What's that? It doesn't look like mom jewelry? Thank you, you are too kind. Don't let it's looks deceive you, this is one sappy necklace. Each strand is a message written in morse code. One says "Steven, my love" and the other says "Luke, my son." D'awww, isn't that sweet?

It doesn't look perfect, so I would like to re-do the beading, but I'm a busy gal and the odds of that are slim.

You likey?

Product Review - gDiapers

I've already given you guys the basic run-down of our gDiapers, but I promised you guys a follow-up review. So, a review you shall get. I apologize in advance for the long-windedness. I know I had lots of questions when I was trying to pick a diaper system, so I am hoping to pay it forward with my new diaper knowledge.

For the first 3 weeks Luke was in disposables, for several reasons. Firstly, we had to wait until his cord stump fell off. (The newborn sized disposables the hospital sent home had a handy cord notch built right in.) Secondly, we had to wait until he was big enough. The size range for a size Small gDiaper is 8-14 pounds, but they still seemed too big until we was around 8.5 or 9 pounds.

NOTE: gDiapers does make a diaper for newborns but I didn't buy any. Mainly because they were insanely hard to get. At the time, the company only carried a limited stock and they ALWAYS ran out within a few hours of re-stocking their shop. Also, it seemed impractical to invest in cloth diapers he would outgrow at 8 pounds. Lastly, I thought the first few weeks would be crazy enough without the extra step of learning how to use fancy-schmancy diapers. I was right.

After his stump came off we switched to the gDiapers and I have been very happy with them. Here's how we use them:

AT HOME: When Luke is home, we use the gDiapers exclusively. We have a stash of 11 pants and 17 snap-in liners and that will typically last us a week. So, no, I'm not constantly doing laundry (see below). Sometimes I pre-load several diapers ahead of time or sometimes I just load them as I need them. It's such a simple process it doesn't really matter which way I do it. All wet inserts get composted. I flush the dirty inserts, but Steven thinks that's a pain so he tosses them in the trash. They biodegrade quickly, so it's not a big deal.

AT GRANDMA'S: We bought some extra gDiapers for Grandma to use at her house. Last I checked, she has 3 pants and 5 liners. She does laundry more often than I do, so that small amount does her just fine. Because she keeps multiple kids, flushing and composting is more than she has time for so all of her inserts go in the trash. Yes, in a perfect world, I would collect them at the end of the day and then flush or compost them myself, but this isn't a perfect world. I've got better things to do with my time.

ON THE ROAD: I only carry disposables in the diaper bag. I am not partial to a particular brand. I use any free diaper that comes my way - samples, gifts, "hand-me-downs" from other moms, whatever. If I have to buy them myself, I go with an eco-friendly brand. If I know we'll be away from the house for several hours, I change Luke into a disposable before we leave. It just makes changes easier if I don't have to figure out what to do with the used gDiaper should it get soiled. If the errands are going to be quick, I take him out in a gDiaper and hope we can get home before he needs a change. I also stick with disposables when we travel. There is enough baby gear to cart along without having to worry about the cloth diapering stuff.

PERFORMANCE: So far, I have no complaints. We've only had 1 or 2 blow-outs, but I am confident they would have been messy no matter what kind of diaper was in the line of fire. With a wet diaper, the liner and pants stay clean and only the insert is replaced. With a dirty diaper, sometimes the liner stays clean and sometimes it gets dirty. This is built into the system - the liner is detachable so it can be replaced if the pant is still usable. With a really messy diaper, all bets are off and everything ends up in the laundry. But, like I said, diaper explosions happen no matter what and you can't fault the gDiaper for that.

We did have an issue with absorbency as Luke was on the verge of switching from Small to Medium. Several times a day he would pee so much that he would saturate the insert and leak onto the pants and his clothes. I found that cutting an insert in half and placing it in the front of the diaper, underneath a full insert, would give us a boost in absorbency. As soon as we switched him to size Medium diapers the problem stopped. With future babies, I might size them up before they officially outgrow the small if I have the same problem.

LAUNDRY: Everything with poo on it gets pre-treated before it goes into the laundry hamper. The pants get a few squirts of Spray-N-Wash and the poopy liners get hosed down over the toilet.* Then I machine wash and air dry both the pants and the liners. gDiapers recommends air drying because it will extend the life of both products. It's really not a hassle. In warm weather I hang them on a clothes line outside and when it's cold/rainy I hang them on a drying rack in front of a window. Not only does this protect the gDiapers and save me some dough on my power bill, but there is an added bonus: natural sunlight has wonderful bleaching powers and my diapers look brand new after a few hours of sunbathing!

*My hospital sent me home with a wonderful little peri-bottle to clean my lady parts while I was still too sore/swollen/mangled to use toilet paper. I tell you this because that spray bottle is PERFECT for rinsing poop off of diapers.

PURCHASING: As far as I know, gDiapers are only available on-line. There may be some baby boutiques that carry them, but I haven't found a list of such stores. I buy all my gDiaper products (pants, liners and inserts) from Diapers.com. They carry just about anything you'd ever need for a baby with fast and cheap shipping. They also keep track of previous orders and offer a "quick re-order" option. I cannot recommend them enough.

The pants are sold as singles and in packs. It's more economical to buy the packs, but you only get orange and cream colored pants. If you want other colors you have to buy them individually. I went the cheap route, because he's a boy and nobody sees his diaper. However, I could understand wanting to buy cute patterned diapers if they're going to show under a girl's dress.

Each diaper comes with 1 snap-in liner. Since the liners generally need washing more often, they are also sold separately. (I have bought an extra pack of liners in both sizes - a life saver, really.) The inserts are sold in packs of 40, or you can buy a case of 160. Trust me, always buy in bulk. You can never have too many inserts. It's not like they don't keep. As you get started with a new size, definitely buy a bundle. You get 6 pants and a case of inserts at a discounted rate.

Whew. That was longer than I thought it would be. I feel like I have covered every angle, and then some, but if you have any questions leave me a comment and I'll try not to talk your ear off. If you need more info or want to talk to other gMoms and gDads check out their website and Facebook page.

As usual, nobody (not even Spray-N-Wash) paid me or perked me for this review. It's just little old me and my experience. I love gDiapers and diapers.com so much I had to spread the word!

Udder Covers and Hooter Hiders

As a follow-up to my breastfeeding post, I want to talk about taboo-est of mommy taboos: nursing in public. dun dun DUNN!

I firmly believe that a woman has the right to breastfeed her baby in public. It is a natural act and there is no reason any woman should be made to feel uncomfortable about it. In fact I have nursed Luke at a football game, in a restaurant, at his pediatrician's office and in more parking lots than I can count. That being said, I understand that many women are too modest to do that and this is why some clever person invented nursing covers.

I have one and I have used it a few times. It was nice when Luke was really small before he learned to latch quickly. Now he and I have developed a routine and the nursing cover is more of a hindrance since I can't see what I'm doing and it's hard to juggle it and the baby without someone to help me.

Perhaps my biggest problem with my nursing cover is that it seems to result in the opposite of discretion. I think most people are uncomfortable with public nursing because they don't like the idea of exposed breasts, not because they're actually offended by the view. In fact, most moms can nurse so discreetly strangers aren't even aware that it's happening. Unless, of course, she is wearing a nursing cover.

My nursing cover doesn't remotely look like an article of clothing. It does look a little like a smock, but it's clear I'm not doing arts and crafts. When I used to wear mine, I felt like I was screaming "DON'T LOOK OVER HERE! I'M BREASTFEEDING, BUT PLEASE IGNORE IT!"

So now I nurse au naturale and I leave the nursing cover at home. Moms, how do you feel about it?

I Love A Good Deal

Friday morning I went to a children's consignment fair. Thanks to an early bird pass, I got first pick of all the gently used goodies. Because I can't help but brag about what I got, here's a breakdown of my score:

$40 - inSTEP bike trailer

$35 - Baby Bjorn (looks brand new)

$16 - 22 various board books

$5 - Graco Tot-Loc feeding chair

$4 - 2 name brand winter beanie hats

$4 - 10 pair of socks
$2 - Munchkin dishwasher basket

Just in case you're not convinced of my deal-finding prowess, the bike trailer alone would retail for around $120 and Baby Bjorns go for at least $60, so yeah I feel like I robbed the place.

I Save, You Save

Attention Moms and Moms-to-Be: If you haven't been to Diapers.com yet, you should go. Now!

I have been shopping with them for a few months and I am in love. They carry all the brands I need - diapers, strollers, clothes, and more - and offer loads of ways to save on your order. One of the savings programs is the refer-a-friend deal. If you create a free account with them you save 15% on your first order, and I get a $10 credit for referring you. It's win-win, right?

I added the handy button to my sidebar to get you started. Happy saving!

Please note: I did not get paid or perk'ed for mentioning this program. I joined on my own and wanted to share the love with you guys!

Tulip Tote Bag

I am so excited - I just bought this sweet vintage tulip tote bag!

You see, now that I am a working mama I have to bring my breast pump to my office but I don't want to look like I am carrying my breast pump. This bag allows me to shuttle my pump in style and leaves room for my purse, my water bottle and the occasional sweater. Yummy.

Product Review: Onesie Extenders

Luke is growing so fast he is already too big for some of his 0-3 month clothes, even though he's not even 2 months old yet! I had seen some onesie extenders on someone else's blog so I had to try them for myself.

I bought a pack of 10 - 2 each of 5 different snap sizes. Supposedly the different snap sizes correspond to various clothing brands. To tell them apart I marked each pair with a symbol using a permanent marker.

After I marked the extenders I tried them with his wardrobe and discreetly tagged each onesie with the appropriate symbol.

Here you can see how an extender adds a few needed inches to a onesie.

Now take a gander at an extender in action. Admittedly, Luke looks a little silly wearing his extended onesie...

... but with shorts on, no one is the wiser!

The $10 price tag is well worth it to extend the life of his wardrobe! Tell me, moms, are there other miracle products out there?

Just so ya know, no one paid me or perked me for mentioning this product. It's just something I found on my own and wanted to share with you guys.

What's better than cheap ad space? Free ad space, that's what!

Do you run a small business from home so you can be with your kids? Do you have a new kid-friendly Etsy shop? Promote your business here, for free!

That's right, free.

I have decided to offer advertising space here at The Peanut Stand, but since I'm new to the ad game I want to ease into it. While I'm learning the ropes I am going to give free ad space to any qualifying business.


Do I qualify?
I am looking for small businesses run by and for moms. I want to support you!

What do I get?
A 150 x 150 ad - of your own design - at the top of my sidebar for 3 weeks. Ads will be distributed on a first come, first served basis.

What's the catch?
No catch. The ad is absolutely free. All I ask for in return is a little blog love. If you like something I post, please share it on your blog, Facebook or Twitter. If you don't like it, then don't post it. There are no minimum linkbacks required. It's that simple.

Where do I sign up?
E-mail me at gimmeakiss dot blog at gmail dot com and tell me a little bit about yourself and your business. If you have the type of business I'm looking for (don't worry, I'm not too picky) all you have to do is send me a jpg and - BOOM! - you have yourself a free ad.

Feel free to share this opportunity with your friends and readers!

Review of gDiapers - Week 1

Before I could try out the gDiapers I had to wait until Luke's umbilical stump fell off - newborn belly buttons are adorable, btw - and since it fell off last Monday we have been using them for a week now.

So far I am pretty pleased.

As long as I keep one or two diapers pre-loaded with an insert the act of changing and fastening the diaper is no different than using a disposable diaper. If the insert is only wet, it goes straight into the compost bin. If it's dirty it has to be flushed. It's somewhat of a pain to go through the steps to flush the insert (yes, there are steps), so sometimes I get lazy and just throw it away. However, I don't feel too terrible about it because it is plastic-free and will biodegrade quickly.

In my opinion, there are a few hiccups in the system.

1) Newborn poop is runny. Really runny. This means that when he poops, he almost always gets a little poop on the plastic liner that holds the disposable insert. The gDiaper people consider that part of the design, so it isn't considered a 'leak'. As often as he poops, I end up having to wash all the liners every few days. Luckily I don't have to watch the cloth pants nearly as often. To combat this, gDiapers sell additional packs of liners - which I just bought two of - to keep the supply up.

2) Diaper changes out in public are a wee bit difficult. So far, I only carry disposable diapers in my diaper bag. Each cloth diaper costs $17, so I don't want to "waste" one by keeping it as a back-up in the bag. Even though I have the clean diaper sitch under control, I still have to put the dirty diaper somewhere when I'm done with it. If it's wet, I flush the insert and put the cloth diaper in my diaper bag, no problem. But, if the plastic liner or the cloth diaper is soiled I have to wrap it in a plastic bag and put the smelly mess back in my bag. This isn't a deal breaker, but it's an inconvenience.

But like I said, for the most part I've been happy with them. I am concerned about how they will handle "blow-out" poops once he gets bigger, but we will stick with them as long as they are working for us. When he gets up to 15 pounds we will have to switch to the next size up - which means a whole new set of pants, liners and inserts - and we will decide whether or not to stay with the system when it's time to invest more money.

I'll keep you posted once I go back to work and we add the childcare wrinkle to the mix.