Thursday, August 30, 2012

Krista: On Soother Clips & Cloth Diapers

Hey everyone, I'm Krista ~ mom to serious but sweet Avery who just turned 5 months. I am also a teacher and I love to sew which led me to sewing the soother clips and bibs for Tiny TreeHugger.

Pam and I have been friends for a long time (I think 8 years but I might be wrong) and in the past few months as I have starting cloth diapering, and using the things I have been making for longer than I've been a mom Pam kept telling me that I should write a blog post about different things and now I have.

I always knew it was a possibility but although I make soother clips, my daughter is not a soother user. We have tried and it's just not her thing. But of course I have several soother clips around the house because I made them for her while I was pregnant. But regardless of soother use, I would be lost (or at
least her toys would be) without them. We use them to secure her toys like her O-ball, Sophie teether as well as others to her car seat and stroller. It means they are within the grasp of her hands and she can play or chew while we are on the go without the fear of her toys going flying.

In the past couple of months Pam and I have been discussing other designs for the clips to make them "little finger proof."
You might have seen some new ones if you were at the Grand Opening. Velcro works for some babies and situations but recently I have started making them with a sewn loop on the end and others with a smaller elastic loop. With these soother clips, once you have the soother on the strap it is virtually impossible for your little one to remove. These new soother clips will be coming to the website soon!

So cloth diapers. Honestly, some days I like them a lot more than others. We are what I call “part-time” cloth diaper people. Sometimes it's 50/50 while other times it swings to as much as 80% cloth but it can also swing the other way too. Often it depends on how busy we are and sometimes after wash day it takes me a little while to get back in the swing. My stash is made up of mainly Thirsties All-in-Ones with a couple pocket diapers including AppleCheeks, AMP and Thirsties Duo Diapers. We also have a cute little AppleCheeks Swim Diaper that my daughter has been wearing all week at swimming lessons. I think after doing this for several months already I determined recently that with my AIOs  that I really need to put an extra layer in there as our daughter is a rather heavy wetter. Part of what was discouraging me from putting her in cloth is that with those she would leak and I would have to change her so often (including her clothes). But when I use an extra insert I find she can go much longer and I don't find that it makes her diapers overly bulky which is a bonus, especially when she wants to wear her skinny jeans. The AIOs are built with a tunnel so that you can easily put another layer in there. Today it was an AppleCheeks insert in a Thirsties AIO in Mango. I am pretty excited that I've found something that works for our little girl.

But part of being a part-timer is that we also use disposable. Which means we have two bins in her closet. Garbage and cloth. Formerly in our stash was a very cute white Thirsties AIO. Unfortunately about 6 weeks ago I was counting my diapers because it seemed like I was missing one and I realized the white one was missing. I think that at some point it was laying on the change table and got deposited into the wrong bin. I will never know whether it was my husband or myself, or even when it got thrown out, but I was pretty choked when I realized that it was gone. We're definitely going to stick with colours and prints from now on.

Recently I starting having a small issue with my Thirsties and Pam encouraged me to go on their website and discuss the issue with their Live Chat personnel. Pam had told me their customer support was great and I learned that for myself in a huge way. It was far faster than email and much preferable for me than phone and the customer service was fantastic. She asked me some questions about when and where I bought my diaper, the nature of my problem, she also asked about my wash routine and type of detergent. After that conversation they told me they were going to replace my affected diapers and gave me the instructions for processing the return. Great. In a later email though they did tell me the detergent I was using could possibly be the problem but they stuck to the promise they had made me that they were going to replace the diapers. I was very impressed with that. So make sure you check with the website or with Pam to make sure the laundry detergent is approved by your diaper maker because if they had determined that initially it totally could have voided my warranty. But if you do have any questions or problems with your Thirsties I would highly encourage you to pop over to their website to chat with their staff. It was definitely worth it for me.
Until next time,

Krista

Saturday, August 18, 2012

Krystal's Journey to Cloth Diapering

August 20th, 2009: That was the day that our lives changed forever. That was the day my little girl ~ Alexa Faith ~ was born and we started buying diapers...and more diapers...and more diapers! Alexa has always had very sensitive skin and we could only use one brand of diapers (of course it was the most expensive brand).

Once Alexa reach 7 months (yes 7 months!! :S), my husband, Shawn, and I figured we were ready to venture into having another little one (Some days I really wonder what we were thinking). Well, it didn’t take long and we were expecting again! On March 14th, 2011, we had a little boy Casey Ezekiel, and we now had 2 little sweet cheeks in diapers. And what-do-you-know, Casey had Daddy’s sensitive skin too!

The cost of diapers was starting to drown us! We were spending over $100 in diapers every month!! (And that was a good month for us). When Casey was only 5 months old a friend of mine suggested that I try cloth diapers and I laughed at her thinking “Yah, right, just what this Mama needs ~ more to do, and as if I want to clean caca-poo outta the diapers! YUK!!”

And that was that. I had made up my mind; there was NO WAY I was going to give a second thought about stinky cloth diapers!

Then in May, just after Casey turned one, I had another friend, who happens to own a fantastic little store called ‘Tiny TreeHugger’ message me about them and me not wanting to be rude figured I’d try to be polite and open-minded, and it went something like this:

May 28th
Pam: Hey Krystal,
Just thought I would send a note and see if you were interested in cloth diapering to save some $$.
Me: I might be interested, but I don't think that we would have money to invest into cloth diapers right now, and Casey will only be in them for about 9 months or so.....although I wouldn't mind getting a little more info on the cost of cloth diapers!
Pam: So right now I have Sweet Pea Diapers on for about $12. They are a one size diaper that come with absorbent inserts. Even if you started with 6-8 and went from there, you could be washing every day [or every other if you diaper part time], then you would just need a wetbag for putting the dirties in. Voila! Just imagine if you diapered for like $100 - $150 bucks until Casey was potty trained?!? Then sold them after or even gave them to a mamma who couldn't afford to diaper! Let me know your thoughts.

Well, that was the end of that. But I started thinking, and thinking, and thinking....how bad could it really be??

I started looking into it a little bit more, and it started to sound a bit better. One fact I learned was that EVERY disposable diaper we use will sit in our landfills for 550 YEARS!! So I decided to get a little more information. Next thing you know my conversation with my friend went something like this:

July 17th
Me: Ok, I have a thousand questions about it. Would I be able to meet with you sometime and actually see they product and what you have to offer?

Well, I went down and checked them out. I spent only $200.00 and got a ton of diapers and fell IN LOVE! It has been such a great experience! It has been so much simpler then I thought it would be. Shawn is totally good with the cloth diapers too, which has been a blessing. I got the flushable liners, so when Casey ‘number twos’ in them I just take the liner out and into the toilet it goes! We have less leaks and WAY less bum rashes! We are helping the environment for our kids and our kids' kids and our kids' kids' kids, and ... well 550 years is a lot of generations! And on top of all that we are saving BIG bucks!!! We have even been able to put extra ‘diaper money’ to the side and take a trip to the States just Shawn and I! How great is that!??!

If you are still using disposable diapers, let me tell you, from a girl who would NEVER have considered it, I’m telling you, “YOU ARE MISSING OUT ON SO MUCH!”.

Pam with Tiny TreeHugger has been fantastic and there for me every step and with every question! It has been overall an unbelievable experience for us and I now am wanting #3 just so I can use my cloth diapers again!

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Thank you Krystal for your blog contribution and sharing your journey with us!  We know that if your babe is in diapers, you're never too late to start cloth diapering...

Wednesday, August 15, 2012

Back to School

Time to start thinking about back to school!!

We are only a few weeks away from returning but I have been seeing photos of friends sending their little ones back already.

Think about packing lunch and snacks in a reusable bag like the KangaSacs.
Muffin, banana, sandwich? Sure!
My favorite colour is the turquoise, what's yours?

How about the NEW AppleCheeks All Purpose Storage Sac? These babies can be used for A LOT too.

Available your choice of the Wild Child print or Cherry Tomato.


Sac can also be used for:
Wipes & spray, clean or soiled diapers & swimmers, baby essentials, pacifiers.
• Art supplies, pencil case, loot bags.
• Small electronics or portable gaming systems.
• First aid kits, hiking essentials, camping or beach gear.
• Toiletries, makeup, travel supplies, menstrual products.
• Credit cards, pocket change, receipts, jewellery.
• And so much more!

Besides snacks what would YOU use these bags for? 

Thursday, August 2, 2012

GRAND OPENING ~ August 16th

Tiny TreeHugger GRAND OPENING
Thursday, August 16th, 2012
~ 11am-5pm and 7-9pm
Come and celebrate with us! The shop is getting the final touches in our sunroom as we speak. Come and see our HUGE selection of items, as well as enter to win great door prizes and get extra chances to win silent auction items! Visit our facebook event page & RSVP or contact us for more information.

Right now we are appointment only
 but Thursday August 16th we will be open from 11-5 and 7-9.


You won't believe the amount of items we have out on our shelves! There is bound to be a type of diaper to suit everyone's need with our variety. We have Fitted & Pre-Fold Diapers, Pocket Diapers, All in One Diapers, One Size Diapers, Diaper Covers, Swim Diapers ~ and of course all of the Inserts and Liners to go with them!


And for those of you who still don't know what we have to offer aside from cloth diapers this will be your chance to see for yourselves!

We have cute little baskets adorned with products such as nursing pads, wet bags, snack & sandwich bags, bibs and Wubbanubs [serious cuteness!].

We have a laundry shelf stocked up with our two different brands [and various different scents] of detergent ~ Rockin' Green and Laundry Tarts. Not to mention Thirsties Laundry Pre-Wash, dryer balls and stain removing sticks!






There is also a beautiful display of our many Delish products, including [but not limited to]:

*Deodorant
*Mango Mama Bump Butter
*Pucker Lip Balm
*Yum Yum Butter

And that's just a glimpse!





And of course we can't forget about the Boba Baby Carriers, Maxwell Diaper Bags, Amber Necklaces and of course our specialty Pea Pod necklaces by Jolie!

Phew! Is your head spinning yet? Take advantage of this opportunity to come see all of this product in person and let us help you sort it all out. There is something for everybody and we'd be delighted to have you join us at our GRAND OPENING! Hope to see you there!