Author Archives: Maria

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Maria is an aspiring "fit mom" of 3 children, writing about cloth diapers, going green, and her life as a single mom. Maria works with many companies within the cloth diaper industry and beyond, providing social media management, product development, and other services.

Giveaway Review

Inspired by Finn Baltic Amber Jewelry review and giveaway/discount! CLOSED 5/2

Apr 18,2010 / By Maria / 162 Comments

Inspired by Finn sells Baltic amber and hazelwood jewelry, including the beautiful teething necklace I was given to review.

The first time I heard “amber teething necklace” I thought people must be nuts. Then, I learned about the benefits of Baltic amber. I figured out that no, people weren’t allowing their children to chew on jewelry. When Baltic amber is worn on the skin, the skin’s warmth releases trace amounts of healing oils from the amber. These oils contain succinic acid and are absorbed into the skin.

Read more about the benefits of Baltic amber and check out the available shapes and colors.

I asked Inspired by Finn to choose the shape, color and length of my son’s teething necklace for me.

It came in a cute gift box.

All jewelry is lead-free and phthalates-free and it meets all US legislative testing (CPSIA) requirements for children’s jewelry.

Each bead is individually knotted and while it isn’t “stretchy,” it does have a tiny bit of “give” to it. It will break if pulled, which is good for safety’s sake. Even so, I, personally, did not put the necklace on my son for naps etc.

The necklace has an easy to use, secure closure.

After I took these photos, I tucked the necklace under his shirt, so it was in contact with his skin.

The necklace is absolutely beautiful, and I want one for myself, if only because it is so pretty!

I couldn’t resist taking this photo, he gave me the biggest grin when he saw the camera!

My husband says he looks like a hippie, and the cashier at Old Navy thought he was a girl. My mom said it was because of the necklace, but several weeks ago, a Dad at the park told me he was “too pretty to be a boy” because of his big brown eyes and long lashes, LOL. I think he looks adorable!

I can’t really say whether it has eased his teething pain. However, since he started teething, he has never really napped.

After wearing the necklace, he napped for an hour and a half!! So yeah, I love my Inspired by Finn teething necklace!

~~Want it?~~ ~~Buy it.~~ ~~Use coupon code BLOG68 for 20% off your entire order!~~

~~Or, win it! Inspired by Finn will send the winner of this giveaway one item 16 inches or SMALLER that is in stock.~~

~~How to enter:~~

~~1. Visit~~ ~~Inspired by Finn’s store~~ ~~and select the item (16″ or smaller and in stock) you would like to receive (mandatory entry).~~
~~2. Follow my blog (current followers count). Comment saying you’re a follower to get your entry.~~
3. ~~Fan me on Facebook~~ ~~(current fans count). Comment saying you’re a fan to get your entry.~~
~~4. Blog about this giveaway and link back to me. Comment with a link to your blog post to get your entry.~~
5. ~~Follow me on Twitter. Comment saying you follow me.~~
6. Tweet about this giveaway. Comment saying you did so, to get your entry. 1 tweet/entry per day. “RT @chgdiapers Enter to win an Inspired by Finn Baltic Amber teething necklace (or other jewelry) until 5/2. http://bit.ly/98R6Ub #giveaway”

~~Note:~~ ~~Inspired by Finn has a Facebook page now~~~~. It would be awesome if you beame a fan, but I can’t add an entry option for that this late in the game, since it wouldn’t be fair to those who already entered.~~

I will accept entries until Sunday, May 2nd at 9 P.M. EST. I’ll use random.org’s random number generator to choose a winner. Please make sure to leave your email address in your comment if it isn’t in your profile.

Thank you to Inspired by Finn for providing the products for the review and giveaway. The freebie in no way influenced my review.

Edit August 2010: We stopped using this when my son kept lifting it from under his shirt, over his chin and putting it in his mouth. I have been wanting to buy a short one but haven’t yet!

Giveaway Winner Winner Chicken Dinner

Winner of the Five in a Row Baby Leggies!

Apr 18,2010 / By Maria / 2 Comments

Congratulations to the winner of the Five in a Row Baby Leggies.

The lucky # is 27.

Congrats SAPsMaMa!

Natural and Organic Food Review

Ricemellow Fluffernutter

Apr 17,2010 / By Maria / 6 Comments

Go ahead and make a corny joke about this being “fluff” in my blog. However, this fluff is anything but “corny.” In fat, it has no corn syrup at all!

Regular marshmallow fluff contains: corn syrup, sugar syrup, dried egg whites and vanillin or Corn Syrup, Sugar, Water, Egg Whites, Artificial Flavor, Cream of Tartar, Xanthan Gum, Artificial Color (Contains Blue 1), depending on brand.

I found this 10 oz package of Ricemellow Creme by Suzanne’s Specialties at my grocery store, for just under 5 bucks. Outrageous compared to regular fluff I know, but it contains only brown rice syrup, soy protein, natural gums and natural flavors.

The only sweetener is the brown rice syrup, there’s no corn syrup, no cane sweeteners, no refined sugars. There’s also no gluten, no animal products (it’s vegan), no fat, cholesterol, added salt, preservatives or artificial additives.

Despite the lack of preservatives, the jar is good until August.

To be honest, with all that, I didn’t have high hopes for it’s taste!

A two tablespoon serving has about the same nutrition facts as it’s corn syrup-y cousin.

When I opened it up, it wasn’t what I expected to see and I was thinking I was going to end up throwing away this $5 experiment.

I cautiously gave it a sniff. Hmm…smells pretty good. Sweet. *sniff* Almost like a melted marshmallow. Reminds me of something I can’t put my finger on.

I put a teeny bit on a spoon and gave it a taste. It was pretty good! Sweet, a bit like fluff, but much lighter and airier. I had hubby taste it, and my daughter too. Both liked it.

They both thought it had a consistency more like whipped cream than fluff. My daughter said “It’s TOO YUMMY.” She also hugged it to herself and said “It’s mine and I’m going to eat it ALL UP because I love it SO MUCH.” She also told me she liked it better than regular fluff, but later told me she wasn’t sure.

I made a ricemellow creme fluffernutter. (It’s a little messy since I didn’t use a clean knife to cut it)

It was definitely lighter and easier to spread than regular fluff. My daughter gobbled her half of the sandwich. I did too, and while it was tasty, it just didn’t have that gooey, gloppy meld-with-the-peanut butter texture that I love in a fluffernutter.

I will definitely continue to buy this for my daughter, but I will probably still buy the old fashioned stuff every now and again, when I get in the mood for some gooey goodness!

On another note, I ended up buying some brown rice syrup to try to use in place of corn syrup. I found a great recipe for home made marshmallows I want to try (though I’m going to try them with corn syrup first to work out kinks, the brown rice syrup was expensive!!)

Cloth Diapers Fitted Diapers Made in the USA One Size Diapers Review WAHM made

Licorice Lane Fitted Tester Diaper

Apr 16,2010 / By Maria / 9 Comments

I recently got to test a sized, fitted diaper for Licorice Lane.

The owner makes baby leggings, blankets, hats, booties and lounge pants, but has just recently gotten into diaper making. She used them on her own child, as well as friend’s children, but needed feedback from more mamas with different age babies, different sizes, wetting habits and so forth.

What made testing for Licorice Lane especially fun was that she was truly looking for honest feedback to make a better product that would work for more families. She wasn’t just looking for pats on the back!

I paid a small sum (as did all testers) to cover shipping, and a portion of the materials. The diaper came quickly.

This is a sized, medium diaper, so I was pleasantly surprised to see that it also had a fold down rise with an extra set of snaps.

The mediums are supposed to fit 15-25 pounds, but I imagine they could fit a much smaller baby with the fold down rise.

The diaper is made with a cotton flannel outer, a hidden layer of French terry, and a cotton velour inner.

She is working on a few soaker styles, so testers received different ones. Mine was 2 layers of French terry and 2 layers of cotton velour.

Overall, the quality of construction and stitching were good.

I had to really scrutinize it to find a couple places where the stitching could potentially be a smidge straighter. Still much better than many WAHM products I’ve seen.

My personal preference would be to have the overall diaper be a bit larger. Slightly longer wings, slightly wider crotch and slightly larger diaper overall. However, I realize that I’m just trying to turn it into a one size fitted, LOL. She did say that she may work on a one size in the future.

Here is the Licorice Lane medium in comparison to my favorite one size fitted.

I felt the soaker was a tiny bit wide for the diaper, but she was trying several soaker styles in her testers.

My son really could still wear the diaper on the smaller rise setting. (16.5 lbs, 27.5 inches)

I prefer it hit him a bit higher on the belly. Just what I’m used to I suppose.

If you notice the gap at his right thigh, I had a bit of trouble fitting the diaper. It’s as if I needed snaps where there weren’t any. Pulling the diaper to the overlap snap was too tight.

If I got the outer snaps where they needed to be to make the diaper snug, there was one snap just hanging out.

I ended up just leaving the middle snap of that wing undone, and it worked just fine.

One reason I really enjoyed testing for Licorice Lane is that Brooke looked at the pictures, thought it over and tried to come up with ways to solve this. I think I just needed a snap where there wasn’t one. Or, it could just be operator error. Wouldn’t be the first time!

It fit nicely.

Babyish prints aren’t really my favorite, but this was very cute.

This is a fitted diaper, so the whole diaper is absorbent, and it needs a cover to be waterproof. I know from experience that this soaker style (especially a single with no doubler) doesn’t work well for us coverless. Still, I wanted to test it out.

As I expected, when he wet it, it was soaked right though. When I tried it again with our Flip Cover over it, it worked wonderfully, The diaper was able to absorb more throughout, instead of just soaking through the wetzone.

I do still prefer a 2 petal style soaker with an added doubler. I realize that I am comparing/trying to turn this into my favorite fitted, but really, if I am buying/shopping for a fitted, that’s what I am going to be using as my benchmark!

Licorice Lane was just wonderful to test for. She was receptive to my suggestions and preferences, summarized to make sure she understood all of my input, and sincerely thanked me.

As a tester, I know that other Mamas may have other ideas and preferences, and she can’t please everyone. Therefore, her fitteds might not end up being what works for me. However, the feeling I got from testing for her makes me very willing to try another diaper after tweaks, or any other products from Licorice Lane!

Right now, the Licorice Lane store is set to open on May 1st, though that may change!

Edit August 2010: Since fitted diapers aren’t my favorite, I passed this along to someone who could better use it.

Winner Winner Chicken Dinner

Winner chosen! Lil’ Outlaws, Almost Heaven Diaper Company & FuzziBunz Changing Set Giveaway

Apr 16,2010 / By Maria / No Comment

I’ve used random.org’s true random number generator to choose a winner for the Lil’ Outlaws, Almost Heaven Diaper Company & FuzziBunz Changing Set Giveaway.

The lucky winner is fancygrlnancy!

Congratulations!!

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