Canada

Apr 6,2012 / By Maria / 14 Comments

Welcome to The Great GroVia Giveaway, sponsored by Diaper Junction! Diaper Junction is giving away fantastic GroVia prizes on multiple blogs. Be sure to check out the other blogs, since each one is awarding their own prize, and you can enter every one to increase your odds. A total of 8 prizes will be awarded.

Diaper Junction has a wide selection of GroVia products, including tons of packages, shells, disposable, organic and stay dry inserts, and my favorite, GroVia wipes. They also have GroVia wet bags, pail liners, trainers, AIOs and more.

I’ve used (and reviewed) the GroVia H&L shell, organic inserts, wipes and newborn AIOs, and I’d love to try the snap closure shells and stay dry inserts.

Diaper Junction has discontinued prints on clearance as well, and you can get free shipping within the U.S. when you spend $49 or more. You also earn 5% back in stash cash and they will reward you with a coupon for your next order when you write a product review.

Shop Diaper Junction, “like” Diaper Junction on Facebook and follow Diaper Junction on Twitter. You can also subscribe to Diaper Junction’s mailing list, their blog and their Youtube channel, so you don’t miss a thing!

Giveaway: One winner will receive a GroVia One Size Diaper “SAMPLER” Package (shell & 2 soakers) in his/her choice of stay-dry or organic soaker, print or color and closure, subject to availability (ARV $31.50) Entries go in the Rafflecopter form.

Be sure to enter the giveaways on the other blogs as well, to increase your chances of winning: Cloth Diaper Blog, Cloth Diaper Geek, Kelly Wels, All About Cloth Diapers, Dirty Diaper Laundry, Padded Tush Stats and The Cloth Diaper Report. Each blog has their own prize to give away and you have to enter on each Rafflecopter form to be entered for their prize.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

This post contains affiliate links. If you click and make a purchase, I will receive a small portion of the sale. Thank you!

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Giveaway

April “Top Fans” Alternate Runner Up Prize – Daily Entry

Apr 1,2012 / By Maria / 2 Comments

Read my post from last month if you haven’t already heard about the Booshaka app on Facebook to rate “top fans” each month. This form allows you to enter once daily for a runner up prize. I know not everyone likes to participate in Facebook activity, or maybe you just want a random chance to win. If so, here it is!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

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Swaddle Designs Angry Birds Baby Products Review & Giveaway (CLOSED 4/10) US/Canada

Mar 29,2012 / By Maria / 4 Comments

In case you missed my Swaddle Designs review last year, we love their swaddling blankets. They are soft & cozy & plenty big enough for a snug swaddle. We swaddled my son constantly in the first few weeks, at at night until he was nearly 11 weeks old. We had to buy extras so we’d never be without one!

Swaddle Designs now has adorable Angry Birds Baby Products! They have long & short sleeved bodysuits with a large or small bird, in blue, yellow or red, from 0-3 to 6-12 months. They also have Ultimate Receiving Blankets, Marquisette Blankets, Swaddle Duos, zzZip Me sacks, lovies, burpies and gift sets!

I received the short-sleeved 3″ red bird bodysuit in 3-6 months and the multi-bird marquisette swaddling blanket.

Even my husband commented about how nice the bodysuit is. It’s nice and thick, well made and sturdy, which I can’t say about a lot of baby clothing.

The blanket is cute, soft and lightweight, perfect for swaddling, playtime and covering a stroller in warmer weather!

From Swaddle Designs:

SwaddleDesigns® is introducing the Angry Birds Baby Collection!

Angry Birds have found happiness with SwaddleDesigns baby products! We are honored that Rovio chose SwaddleDesigns to manufacture Angry Birds Baby items based on our high quality products.

Angry Birds by Rovio is a phenomenally popular game. Angry Birds is the fastest growing brand in the world with over 600 million downloads. Boys, girls, men, women, grandmas and grandpas – all love playing Angry Birds. The game is entertaining to people of all ages, genders and geographies.

SwaddleDesigns was founded by Lynette Damir, RN, Designer and Mom in 2002, and SwaddleDesigns was the first company to introduce the large square swaddling blanket to the US and many countries around the world. SwaddleDesigns is known for their premium quality fabric, fabulous colors and prints, decorative edge, and the innovative 123 Swaddle® instructional label that helps new parents master the art of swaddling. SwaddleDesigns blankets come in a variety of weights and are perfect for many uses such as a privacy throw for breastfeeding moms, a tummy time play mat, a cover over the stroller as well as swaddling.

The Ultimate Receiving Blanket® is a lightweight premium cotton flannel blanket – for moderate to cooler environmental temperatures.

The Marquisette Swaddling Blanket® is a very lightweight openweave high quality cotton blanket – for warmer environmental temperatures

Angry Birds by Rovio is a phenomenally popular game. Angry Birds is the fastest growing brand in the world with over 600 million downloads. Little boys and girls, teens, men, women, grandmas and grandpas – all love playing Angry Birds. The game is entertaining to people of all ages, genders and geographies, and is fun for family members to play together during snuggle time

Angry Birds is just one of the many collections SwaddleDesigns offers. We have many new exciting new prints and a variety of blankets and other products for 2012!

Visit SwaddleDesigns.com/how-to-swaddle to view “How to Swaddle” and more information regarding sleeping environments and the benefits of swaddling.

Shop Swaddle Designs, “like” Swaddle Designs on Facebook and follow Swaddle Designs on Twitter.

Sign up for the Swaddle Designs exclusive e-mail club and be the first to hear of Swaddle Designs special, limited-time offers, and receive a promotional code to save 10% off full priced items on your first purchase!

Giveaway: One winner will receive his/her choice of an Angry Birds Marquisette swaddling blanket OR bodysuit in choice of size and bird, subject to availability (ARV $15-20.)

a Rafflecopter giveaway

FTC compliance: I received product samples for review purposes. I was not otherwise compensated for this post, and all opinions are my own.

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Changing Diapers Book Review

Mar 27,2012 / By Maria / 10 Comments

Kelly Wels is the former owner of Kelly’s Closet turned cloth diaper advocate, and author of the award winning book Changing Diapers: The Hip Mom’s Guide To Modern Cloth Diapering

The book touches on everything a hip mom needs to know about cloth, but the information isn’t overwhelming.

From why choose cloth (I definitely giggled about the “secret club” and being “addicted to cloth!”)…

to cloth 101, including types of diapers and how to wash them. Each chapter is illustrated with beautiful photos and easy to understand diagrams. I think every cloth diapering Mom should have one of these books handy to lend to people who ask about cloth. The information is concise, easy and fun to read, and I don’t think it would be overwhelming even for someone who was totally new to cloth!

The book retails for $17.95, but it’s available for $11.98 right now, and a limited number of “seconds” are available for $7.98.

Shop the Kelly Wels store or find a retailer including my affiliates: Kelly’s Closet, Diaper Junction, Clothdiaper.com and Cloth Diaper Outlet. “Like” Kelly Wels on Facebook, Changing Diapers on Facebook follow Kelly Wels on Twitter, Changing Diapers on Twitter and follow the Kelly Wels blog.

Giveaway: One winner will receive a Changing Diapers Book and 2-pack of Lil Joeys newborn diapers in Kelly’s choice of colors (ARV $47.92.)

a Rafflecopter giveaway

FTC compliance: This post contains affiliate links. I was not compensated for this post, and all opinions are my own.

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Softbums Omni Cloth Diaper Review

Mar 22,2012 / By Maria / 8 Comments

I posted my Softbums Echo review way back in July 2010! I just washed the wipe they sent along with that diaper; we’re still using it. Although an all-in-two isn’t my favorite (I prefer pockets) the Softbums Echo was one of very few diapers that worked for us when my 3 month old was a newborn. It gets sooo tiny that it fit him well (not true about most o/s diapers) and the insert was actually absorbent enough for him (not true for most newborn diapers!) It was a dream come true for our tiny super soaker!

Now, Softbums makes the Omni as well. It’s everything you love about the Echo, but it also has a pocket opening, so you have the option of using it as an AI2 or a pocket diaper. I received a solo pack with a super dry touch pod (retails for $24.95) plus a dry touch mini pod. The mini pods retail for $2.95 and can be used in the smaller size settings, or as a doubler.

The super dry touch pod (“dry touch” because it is topped with soft, stay dry fabric) is 3 layers of microfiber (6 when you fold it over), so you’re unlikely to need the mini pod too! A smaller, 4 layer dry touch pod retails for $4.95, and additional super dry touch pods sell for $5.95. You can also purchase organic bamboo pods for $9.25 and organic bamboo mini pods for $3.95. Whichever “pods” (soakers) you use, this can be an affordable all-in-two system.

You can choose hook & loop closures or snaps. The snaps are easy to use, so they are Daddy friendly, even when said Daddy prefers Velcro.

The size adjusts via a toggle on each leg’s elastic. On the one hand, this is a little intimidating, but it also allows you to get exactly the fit you need. I held the diaper up to a diaper that fit each boy and adjusted. The opening is in the front, and was large enough for me to do additional tweaking as I put it on each child. This type of adjustment means it won’t be as easy for babies of different sizes to share diapers, but that’s not an issue for me. Each of my boys has their own diapers, so I don’t have to fool with size adjustments at every diaper change. (I have all of my “diaper bag” diapers snapped down to small, so if my older son needs one, we just unsnap it!)

The diaper fits thighs from 4-14″ and there is a formula to figure out where to set the elastic, though I haven’t tried it!

The size adjustment means that I really can’t measure every size for you like I usually do. Instead, I adjusted the diaper as large as I could, while still leaving the elastic with some stretch…

Then measured the diaper folded & stretched. (This is about as inexact as you can get!)

Here it is next to a Bumgenius 4.0 on the large setting:

Here’s that setting on my 2 year, 10 month old, 29ish pound son (the legs could be a bit tighter on him):

Next, I set the diaper really small. Sorry, there’s no “really small” setting, LOL. I just tried to make it tiny, but not crazy tiny!

Then I measured it folded and stretched:

I adjusted it similar to a small one-size diaper, then put it on my 3 month old son, who is around 11 or so pounds (that’s a guess; he was 10 lbs at 2 months.) Once I put it on him, I just fished the toggles out & adjusted it further.

That’s with the super dry touch pod in the pocket, so it’s a little bit bulky, but what do you expect with 6 layers of absorbency in such a small diaper? I know the mini pod isn’t absorbent enough for my son, but it would be nice & trim on a small baby that isn’t such a heavy wetter. The regular (non-super) dry touch pods are 4 layers of microfiber topped with microfleece, so they would be another good choice!

The Softbums Omni is versatile and quite cost effective when used as an AI2. They are also made in the U.S.A.!

Shop Softbums or find a retailer, “like” Softbums on Facebook, follow Softbums on Twitter and follow the Softbums blog.

Giveaway: One winner will receive a Softbums Omni solo pack with super dry touch pod in his/her choice of color & closure, subject to availability (ARV $24.95.)

a Rafflecopter giveaway

FTC compliance: I received product samples for review purposes. I was not otherwise compensated for this post, and all opinions are my own.

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