I can't please everyone for free!

My son, D, has a few different care providers. I try to keep it to as few different providers as possible, but with my work schedule not everyone is available when they need them.

Here is HIS schedule and providers:

Monday: Daddy

Tuesday and Wednesday: Auntie E (a family friend)

Thursday and Friday: Grandma J (my maternal grandma)

Saturday: Auntie L (my sister in law)

Date nights: Candace (she's new)

Now, if you think that's hard to keep up with in itself, my daughter has a different schedule of providers. Finding ONE person for two kids for the hours I need is actually as hard as finding TWO people for two kids. It's really frustrating. No one wants to watch a three year old and a baby allllll day while we're working. Except daycare, but thats another story.

Anyway, at first I tried to be lenient about cloth with the care providers because I had a ton of extra diapers from when our daughter was a baby; size 1 and size 1-2. But now he has outgrown them, and I am NOT going to buy more just to make people happy. So for Auntie E, I taught her to use my AI2's, fitteds, and pockets, just so she was well versed in CD application. But I know she prefers the ease of use of pockets, so I try to make sure those are clean for her.

Auntie L was shown how to put on all diapers, but I try to keep her to AI2's so I have the pockets available for Auntie E. I'm not really letting Auntie L have a CD preference because thats just more work for me to make sure that type is clean and available for her.

I just started insisting Grandma J use cloth and not disposables, and told her he outgrew our disposables and I'm not buying more. I try to make sure she only has pockets available to use, because I know they are easy. But the poor woman is over 90, and she told me she'll use the CD's, but that she really hates them.

Mmmmkay, I feel great now!! I thought she'd be the most understanding since she ONLY CD'd her kids. AND I know all of my diapers are easier to put on and are less bulky than the kind she used...

So yesterday she informs me that I have a diaper she prefers to use most. She just loves it. Okay, good, we're using the word "love" in reference to CD's now. Grandma J loves her some Bumgenius with Aplix.

¡¡¡Problemo!!!

I only have ONE BG that was sent to me for free when someone took more time than was expected to send me a used diaper I'd purchased from her.

I tell Grandma J, "Uh...ok. Well, let me try to see if I can buy more but it probably won't be for a few weeks when I can afford it."

So she tells me she'd be happy to give me $100 to buy as many BG's as possible. Wow!!! Someone is ENCOURAGING me to buy diapers. Way to go, Grandma J!

I am super excited. So this week I am searching everywhere to find a good deal on BG's. After thinking about it a bit, I've decided I prefer to buy new. I found them on kellyscloset.com for about $87 for six, and an additional one by itself brings me to a total of about $104 with free shipping. The free shipping is what's selling me. I'm cheap when it comes to shipping.

I also know someone who has a couple of new ones she can part with and I am willing to pay my own money for them so I won't have to wash them every day.

I'd like to invest in some nice inserts for them. I have a WAHM-made hemp/obf insert from hyenacart.com/daisies. But I'm not sure I really want to pay $30-40 (they're $5 each) for those when they come with their own inserts. We shall see, we shall see.

So this is a fun week, resarching BG's. Look forward to a review in the near future. Besides Thirsties covers, BG's are/will be the only commercial brand I have.

And the first diaper review is....M and M Diapers!!!

M and M Diapers is run by WAHM Cassie. Her hyenacart store is currently inactive, but she also stocks on the Baby Bums congo, the Bliss congo, and is a guest vendor on the Cuties With Cloth Booties congo. She can also be contacted through her Facebook business page. Her diapers go for $14-$18.

According to M and M's "About Me" section on the Cuties congo page, Cassie is a mother of two who strives to give good customer service. I can attest to that, and confirm that, indeed, she does give great customer service. I left a message on her Facebook business page asking if she could do a custom, and she almost immediately responded that she could! She had some fabric images available in the form of pictures of past sold diapers on her Facebook page, and she sent me a link to her Flickr page with additional fabric images. I also appreciate the fact that she let me wait a few days before paying without kicking me off her customs list. I will admit that I was broke at the time, but was very appreciative that she had a spot for me.

Cassie kept me updated on the status of my diaper, and informed me when it was shipped out, which was mere days, as in less than a week, from the day that I paid. Actually, I received it about a week after I paid, which is the fastest turnaround time I have experienced with a custom order from a WAHM*.

I received my diaper in a timely fashion with no hangups from the USPS. Here it is:

The first thing that I pay attention to on all diapers is the materials they are made of. This diaper simply feels like it is made of high-quality material. I'd like to sit here and tell you that I KNOW it's made of the best of the best, but I wasn't there when she bought the fabric so I'm not going to make things up. I wouldn't BS like that about anyone's diapers. But, I will tell you that it feels ultra durable. The print is a nice tight weave, and the suedecloth inside is super thick. The PUL is also my favorite kind, the thick, white kind. Not sticky at all when I go to stuff it!

The second thing I notice on all diapers is the topstitching. I am SUPER picky about topstitching. When I was learning how to sew way back in my 4-H days, I was taught to take my time during the topstitching and do it right. It is so visible, I really appreciate when diaper makers take the time to do a good job. This diaper has near-perfect topstitching. No flaws to be found, and I love how close to the edge she gets while still maintaining a straight line, even around the elastic.

Speaking of elastic, this diaper has cased elastic, always a plus in my opinion. The pocket opening on the back is just big enough to fit my super wide hand, and is nicely elasticized to contain messes.

There are three rise adjustments on the front of the diaper. I love how the tightly woven nature of the printed fabric allowed me to create a nice fold when I snapped down the rise to fit my 22 lb five month old son. He is on the middle rise setting and the legs and waist fit well with no gaps. It was easy to find a snap placement, and I realy appreciate that the rise snaps did not pop open while fastening the waist on him.

I chose not to have an insert included in my diaper purchase. A microfiber towel insert was available for $1, but since we just bought a big package of them for our home, I did not feel the need to tack that on. With this insert, Darwin wore the diaper for approximately an hour and a half before I changed him. He had wet probably just once, and the suedecloth kept his skin nice and dry and there was no leaking or wicking.

All in all, I give this diaper a great review. I love the construction and quality of materials. It fits well now, and I am sure it will fit well for us for a long time to come. My baby seemed to be comfortable in it, and customer service was awesome. I hope to order more M and M diapers in the future.

If I had to mention anything that would be considered negative, I'd like to say that I wish an insert was included, or that something other than a microfiber towel was offered. It's not a problem that I used a microfiber towel, but in a perfect world I'd prefer all my pocket diapers to come with an insert. Make that a hemp insert. But one can dream....

*This was the fastest turnaround I have experience with a WAHM purchase with the exception of a PLUMP auction that I won for a no-wait custom. I received it the morning after I paid for it, but that is only because she is local to me.

My little guy is having a sleepy day, so why not review The Sleepy Wrap!

Shortly after becoming pregnant with D, I joined Cafe Mom, focusing my online-community-building energy towards a due-date group (women all due in October 2010, like me), and a cloth diapering group called Cuties with Cloth Booties. Mostly, I joined the group because my cloth-diapering friend was a member. But it truly provided a wealth of information and an inner-glimpse to the life of the "crunchy mama".

One of the hot topics in Cuties: babywearing.

Baby Bjorn does not count as babywearing, apparently. (Although, if you prefer a Baby Bjorn, fine by me.) Babywearers have Mei-Tais, Mobys, Ergos, ring slings, etc.

My thoughts??

Eff that. I love pushing my stroller. Why do I need to "wear" my child everywhere?

The truth is, you don't need to wear your baby. But after you try one of the options mentioned above, you just might want to! All the time.

After about five months of reading about different babywearing options and doing some research, I decided to buy one. I narrowed my preferences down to an Ergo baby carrier or a Moby wrap.

¡¡Problem!! Ergos are like, crazy expensive. And Moby's are not only a tad bit expensive for my tastes, but I also started reading that the fabric on them isn't as nice as

The Sleepy Wrap.

So, Sleepy Wrap I did buy at a maternity store an hour away from home. (come to find out later, Mobys are available at your local Target store in the baby section. but, still, I like the fabric better on a Sleepy)

The Sleepy Wrap, or any wrap-style carrier, is five yards of fabric that you wrap and tie around yourself to fashion a baby carrier. No complicated straps involved. The fabric may or may not be stretchy, but the Sleepy is. It's made of a comfortable, breathable cotton jersey and comes in a variety of colors.

The Sleepy Wrap comes in a nice box with a big, color instruction book. Instructions are also available on their website, and you can also use your favorite search engine to find videos of happy customers wrapping up their little ones. I used both the instruction book and videos. The first time I wrapped up D was about a week after he made his debut to the world. He was at most 9 and a half pounds and fit well in the newborn hold.

I fell in love with my Sleepy Wrap immediately. I had purchased the gray color, which matches almost anything, and it was so comforting to me, and I'm sure to D, to have him so close and cozy. I wore my Sleepy around the house a lot, but really put it to the test when we took our first trip to Disneyland when D was six weeks old.

There, for your viewing pleasure, is Me and D all our babywearing glory at Disneyland. Love his hat? My mom got it for him at Build a Bear, despite my adamant reminder that it would probably only fit him for the three days we were there, and that he'd never wear it again. Yeah, it's adorable. I took a double-stroller with me to Disneyland, but used the second seat as storage as it was just so comfortable carrying my sweet boy in the carrier, I didn't need to put him down. Eff strollers! (unless you have a three year old with you who gets tired of walking) Two hidden bonuses to babywearing at Disneyland: 1) baby stays away from other peoples' germs  2) you can lose a lot of weight from carrying around the extra load!

We still use the Sleepy all the time. D is now 5 months old and weighs 22 lbs and I put him in more of a side hold. I also do not tuck his legs all the way into the outer part anymore. He loves it. In fact, we just went to Target last night and I put him on me in the Sleepy instead of in his carseat in the cart. He loves to look at stuff, I love to look at him, and he stays away from the germies on the cart. Also, I love how the wrap hides all my baby weight when its wrapped on me nice.

If you've given thought to babywearing, check out the Sleepy Wrap. If you haven't given thought to babywearing, maybe you should. I still don't fully believe all the "benefits" and "studies" that they've done that say that babies who ride in the Sleepy Wrap are smarter and more adjusted blah blah blah. But I DO know that D loves it, and so do I.