Meet Venus

If you are familiar with the early days of Baby and the Chi's, then you've heard plenty about Venus! Jer and I bought Venus from a breeder we found on Craigslist. We had been together for almost a year, were living together, and I was in the semi with him all the time. We had wanted to start a family, but I was so discouraged about not getting pregnant, we decided we would have fur-children instead. It didn't take us long to decide that a chihuahua would be a good fit into our family. On October 10, 2008 we made the drive to pick her up. We obviously didn't do enough research at the time, because the signs of her breeder being a "backyard breeder" were evident, but we fell in love with this little girl anyway. She was just 6 weeks old, born on August 25th, when she came home with us and took a hold of a piece of each of our hearts. She grew up in the semi truck with us, which was incredible, but it also took a toll on the socializing we should have done. Venus is a blessing in our lives, but she cannot handle strangers. As she grew, we realized more and more that she wasn't a purebred chihuahua as we were told, but actually was mixed with a terrier. What we were told would be an 8 pound dog at her heaviest, is now (aside from being overweight as well...) a whopping 18 pounds!!! Yikes...

But alas, she is our baby. Even though we now have a real baby in our lives, Gabriel, who is now 2 years old, Venus will always be "baby girl."

2008

2008

2011

2013

2013

Softbums Omni & Echo Review & Cloth Diaper Giveaway

A big debate when parents first jump into cloth diapering is what brand to buy, or what brands to try out. Fortunately we bought a single brand for Gabe when I was pregnant and they worked great! Our needs and preferences had changed and we ended up selling those diapers, and have had a hard time finding diapers we love lately. Gabe is now 2, is skinny and tall, and super duper active! So many diapers fit him weird. The rise is too short, the waist is too small, the legs don't fit right... there are just so many variables we never dealt with before!

I would like to introduce you all to Softbums! This amazing company holds its home right here in Minnesota. Softbums offers two different types of shells, the Echo and the Omni. Both complete with their signature Slide2Size leg elastic system and fit 5-40+ pounds!

image from Softbums.com

The Echo is Softbums AI2 cover. Made to fit ultra-trim, with snug coverage, and more narrow crotch, this diaper (when paired with a bamboo insert -getting to those) is almost as trim as a disposable. This was never a concern for us, but I hear a lot of parents complain about cloth diaper bulk, and the Echo is a great solution if this is an issue for you!

with a one size bamboo pod

with a one size bamboo pod

The Omni is a double duty shell offering the ability to be an AI2 shell or a pocket. The Omni is also a bit wider cut, making it easier to stuff if you do use it as a pocket, and also a good option for larger or thicker inserts if you choose to use this as an AI2 cover.

with a super dry touch pod

with a super dry touch pod

As I mentioned earlier, we have been getting a weird fit with so many diapers lately. My default Flip covers are on the very bottom of our pile now as they no longer fit like they used to. I can make everything work, and I've never had a big problem getting diapers to fit correctly, but Softbums really are like a custom-fit diaper! And that customization grows with your baby, giving that perfect fit from birth to potty training that other cloth diapers can only dream of providing. I was sucked into the one-size phenomena while I was pregnant and felt that had to be the way to go when purchasing diapers. I was lucky (well, in the sense of diapering I guess...) to give birth to an 8 pound baby who fit in some one-size diapers from birth, so I didn't have to go through the headache of a separate newborn stash to supplement the OS diapers until they fit. I am now at the other end of that spectrum, however, where the OS diapers that claim to fit until potty training, are not fitting anymore!

over a trifolded Econobum prefold

 I tried both the Softbums Echo and Omni, along with one each of their bamboo one-size pods and their stay-dry microfiber one-size super dry touch pods. We rotated the covers almost exclusively for the past couple months lining them with tri-folded prefolds and the mentioned inserts.

over a trifolded Econobum prefold

I have to say, I am sad that I had not tried Softbums earlier in our diapering journey. Gabriel is now nearing the end of his diaper days, but Jer and I both agreed that Softbums will be our diaper of choice if we are able to have more children someday due to the adjust-ability of these diapers. Besides always being able to find a perfect fit, the aplix holds up great (ours still looks like new!), the fleece is very stain resistant, and the fleece doesn't pill easily (ours hasn't at all so far). I am very impressed with all of the products of Softbums line we were able to try out.

over a trifolded Econobum prefold

As far as my honest opinion goes, these are now our favorite diapers! They can be a cover, an AI2, or a pocket if you have an Omni shell. The customization of these diapers is endless, and nearly impossible to NOT get a perfect fit!

Softbums has very generously offered one of my readers their choice of in stock Echo or Omni shell paired with a Super Dry Touch Pod! Enter using the Giveaway Tools form below :)

Entry-Form

DISCLAIMER: We were sent the product(s) mentioned in this post for review purposes only. We were not offered monetary compensation for review, and our opinion is 100% our own. 

How And Why I Started Cloth Diapering

It doesn't feel as long ago as it really was, but realizing that Gabe's second birthday is only three days away really puts the time-frame into perspective. I didn't have this blog yet when I was pregnant, but anyone who was reading my old blog at the time knew about the struggles we were having when we found out we were pregnant with our miracle baby. Jared's dad had just passed away (his mom had passed when he was 17) and so we had just moved back out here to be close to my family. It was almost a month exactly after we moved that I realized I was late. About 2 months late. And sure enough, a HPT showed up positive, and a Dr's appointment confirmed that we had conceived about a week before we moved! Things were going great, but towards the end of my second trimester Jer lost his job, and we needed to figure out how to save as much money as possible. I was in a birth group from americanpregnancy.org and another mom started posting pictures of her cloth diaper stash. I was intrigued. What better way to save money than buy diapers once instead of more disposables each week! I started searching around and ended up winning some blog giveaways and received our first cloth diapers totally free! I got a Babies 'R' Us gift card for Christmas that year and bought 2 new bumGenius 4.0 pockets, and got 12 small SwaddleBees prefolds and 3 Econobum covers from a lotto on DiaperSwappers.com. We also received a gift of 6 handmade newborn fitteds and 2 size 1 Thirsties Duo wraps from a friend on APA. We were set!

Once Gabe was born I was winning more giveaways and found a good deal online on used BG 4.0's and ended up with a stash of about 30 pocket diapers by the time he was 3 months old. Of course we ended up changing up our stash completely over the past couple years, but we've stuck with our goal of saving money.

Kael&Kaed Un-Paper Towels Review and Discount Code

I was selected back in February to review a new product made by Kael&Kaed, which happened to be something I was really wanting to try, but too cheap to make a formal purchase. I was sent 4 un-paper towels (meaning, cloth and reusable VS paper and trash). I'll elaborate what I mean by being to cheap to make a formal purchase of un-paper towels, by saying that I've basically picked up a back of 12 washcloths from the local dollar store for about $3, and that's what I use for "un-paper towels" around the house. For cleaning, for wiping dirty faces, hands, and messes. Even for draining fried foods. Sure, they aren't anything cute to look at, but they do the job! So being able to try something that is cute to look at was just icing and sprinkles on a long waiting cake.

Aside from the cotton prints, and the super soft woven fabric on the opposite side, I love that these un-paper towels have snaps. If you're new to these like I was, you're probably wondering right now why on earth there are snaps on a piece of cloth that's to be used as a paper towel. Well, it's actually a pretty genius idea, especially in a family environment where people will be looking for a roll of paper towels, not a stack of cloths. Yeah, that's right, it's to snap the towels together so they can be formed into a roll.

The only problem I had was that these were so much smaller than a paper towel (measuring 6.5"x10" each), that even with 2 layers of cloth I didn't find them to absorb very much. Not that I wouldn't use them, but this smaller size worked best for wiping dirty tables or countertops, or cleaning up the baby, instead of soaking up a spill.

Aside from that, they have made a permanent addition to out kitchen. Tasha, the mama behind the scenes at Kael&Kaed would like to offer you all 20% off instock items in her shop, by using code JUNE20OFF.

You can visit Kael&Kaeds' shop (and use the discount code), and "like" them on Facebook :-)

DISCLAIMER: We were sent the product(s) mentioned in this post for review purposes only. We were not offered monetary compensation for review, and our opinion is 100% our own. 

Prayer and Thought Request

I know it seems like things are always up and down around our household, but I need some support from anyone willing to help. Jer has been suffering from back pain and swelling since he was last home 2 weeks ago. He was diagnosed with a pulled muscle and sent back on the road with an anti-inflammatory medication. Through his phone calls each day he expressed how nothing was helping and made an appointment to be seen when he came home again. He made it home last Friday but couldn't get into the clinic until this morning. He had an ultrasound to check if he was having issues with his gallbladder but the tests came back negative. Another appointment this afternoon, he was given x-rays, which showed fluid filling his right lung and part of his left, as well as starting to surround his heart. A consult with another Dr in the clinic and a call to a Dr (which happens to be my dads Dr) from an entirely different clinic/hospital group gave the potential diagnosis of either Lupus or Leukemia. 

Jer is going in for surgery tomorrow afternoon so the surgeon can attempt to remove as much fluid as possible from his lungs and heart, and explore the area for a potential mass that may also be in the area of swelling on his back.

Please keep him in your prayers, and you don't pray, just please think of him and that he makes it through everything alright tomorrow. Please hope/pray that his health is not as terrible as they are thinking it is, and if it really is Lupus or Leukemia, that they are able to treat him and his health doesn't deteriorate.

The few years we've been able to be together and start a family together has been the best of both our lives. I ask you all to please use the power of thought and prayer to keep us together as a family, and for a quick recovery for Jer.