I had really hoped to have my Christmas Morning video edited and published before 2013 but that just wasn’t meant to be. I finished editing it last night and got it uploaded but by then it was too close to midnight to publish here. I was already in “party” mode and by that I mean I was in my pajamas laying in bed eating a bowl of chex mix while watching a movie with my husband. You wish your night was that exciting.
One of my traditions is to make a video of our Christmas together. I love looking back at these and as always these videos are my way of preserving the memories for my children who will hopefully cherish these mementos. Our 2011 video is also viewable on YouTube.
I hope by sharing my person videos that it can inspire others to take a stab at making their own. Last year I posted a tutorial on how to make a “Kick Butt” home movie for anyone wishing to start their own family tradition of video making.
There is no way it has been 2 years since Everett joined our family. With two children now Everett’s life has gone by at warp speed. Before he was born I was terrified that I wouldn’t be able to love him as much as his brother. Now I don’t remember life without him. Everett has completed our family and I honestly love having my two boys and wouldn’t trade them for the world.
Everett came into the world quickly after being 10 days overdue. We had a beautiful homebirth after a short 5 hour labor {our homebirth story}. His brother woke up, then just shy of 2 years old himself, and met him minutes after his brother was born. That day we turned into a family of four. Now Everett is no longer a chubby cheeked and bald baby but a true toddler. He has a mind of his own and is possibly the most stubborn child I’ve ever met. One day I will get to tell him how I bounced him to sleep every day and night for 20 months of his life.
Watching Everett and Fletcher play makes my heart explode. If only I could convey how well my boys get along and the love they have for one another. Every day they race their cars around the house, pretend to be Transformers together, wrestle, read books, dance together, and make each other laugh. They fight too but that’s normal for brothers. I definitely hit the lottery when it comes to my two boys. Fletcher was meant to be a big brother and Everett was meant to be in our family.
There are many, many days where I tire of Everett’s relentless cuddling and nursing. Tonight on his last day of being a 1 year old I reminded myself to linger while he slept next to me in his big boy bed. I let him have his way and allowed his arms to stay on top of me; this is his insurance that I won’t escape without waking him up. This tactic normally annoys me to no end that I am trapped but this time I savored his baby-ness for the last day before his 2nd birthday.
This year I decided I would push myself to film video footage of my time in NYC at BlogHer. I’m learning more and more about video editing and wanted the excuse to edit a video not related to cloth diapering. NYC has all the excitement and views a videographer could want. Add to that the mega-conference known as BlogHer and the parties and friends….. I knew I would leave with some good footage.
My first day in town I was studious and filmed every few minutes. The next day I was hungover…. and the next…. and the next…. each day was filmed a little less. I didn’t even film my last day in town when my roomie Julie (Cloth Diaper Geek) and I wandered about NYC sightseeing. We visited the WTC Memorial, a random part of town when he got lost and wound up under a Kmart from the subway (no joke), the American Indian Museum, Battery Park, SoHo, Canal Street, Chinatown, Little Italy, Broadway, and Times Square. I also didn’t film during any of the sessions, during most of the parties I attended (how can one hold a video camera, a wine glass, a purse, and grope strangers all at the same time?), and during many keynotes and lunches/dinners.
I’m sad that there isn’t a shred of evidence that we hung out with Anna and Jen from Hahas for HooHas. I bet you don’t even believe me but we did hang out and I did fold a napkin into the Jo Fold. Or that there is no footage of the late night bar hangout after Queerosphere with Amanda from Eco Friendly Family, Annie from PhD in Parenting, Diana from Onya Baby, and @Palinode. I am glad there is no evidence that I danced or that I kept rubbing Jamie from The Grumble‘s dress and telling her how much she looked like a mermaid. The camera missed me ooooing and awwwing over photos of Think Feminist‘s adorable daughter and ogling the TDF shoulders of Jenny from Conscientious Confusion. I really saw so many people and regret that I didn’t have a camera crew around to follow me so that I could remember them all.
The shots I do have will show you, I think, that BlogHer is more than sessions and Geek Bars. It is more than special celebrity speakers and swag. To me BlogHer is the only place where you can feel at home with people just like you. These are MY people! They know what I mean when I say “Google Juice” and they know how important what I do is to me because what they do is that important to them. Being that much of my social life involves the internet it is nice to feel normal once a year.
If you are a blogger thinking of attending BlogHer and you haven’t yet I would urge you to go at least once. See what the fuss is all about. Forget about scheduling and swag and private events. I had more fun while wandering the hotel and bumping into old friends and meeting new ones. Grabbing an unexpected dinner and chatting for hours, crying my eyes out with friends about how much our lives used to suck and then laughing together, and searching for water at 2:30 am because THERE WAS NO WATER IN THE HILTON IT WAS LIKE THE SAHARA. I still don’t know if I will go back next year but after watching my own video I kind of want to go back right now!
My trip wouldn’t have been possible without my sponsor- Rockin’ Green Soap. If you are still trying to find that perfect detergent to wash your cloth diapers you should give them a try! Especially because they have a formula for every water type!
How can you possibly find time to wash cloth diapers? Isn’t it hard? These are questions I am often asked by the people I meet in real life when they learn that I use cloth diapers. Washing cloth diapers only adds a tiny bit of extra work into my life. What people without kids don’t realize is that washing diapers is the easiest part of my day. Just raising the kids is the hardest. Retreating to my laundry room for two minutes to add detergent or toss my diapers in the dryer is a quiet oasis away from the children. I know that when I emerge I’ll come out to one kid screaming because he is locked inside of his toy box or another kid jumping from the coffee table onto the couch exclaiming “I’m Spider Man!.”
Washing cloth diapers is easy. Keeping my kids alive, fed, my house clean, my sanity in tact; these are all things that are difficult. Since cloth diapers save money and waste less I’ll choose taking my washer and dryer’s time for a few hours. Because let’s face it- your washer and dryer do the dirty work! The time I actually spend on laundry is about 10-20 minutes. I’ll take it.
To show you what washing diapers really looks like I filmed everything that happened in my day while I did my laundry. You’ll see that my time “working” on laundry is overshadowed by the time I’m doing other things in my home. It’s a brutally honest look at my daily life. I am in pajamas during the entire film and my house isn’t ready for company. I get a little pass though since I just moved in a couple of weeks ago!
I want to send a special thank you to my cloth diaper laundry detergent of choice, Rockin’ Green Soap! I’ve been using their products since they came out and buying them when I run out (I don’t get free soap, ya’ll). They also happen to be my BlogHer 2012 sponsor and are generously covering the cost of travel and lodging for my trip next week! Their detergent makes my job a little bit easier by not having to worry about repelling diapers and other issues that happen with grocery store brands. Thanks RnG!
I’m excited to introduce you to a fold I just recently learned about thanks to an awesome reader, Trisha W. She sent the link over and I immediately knew it was going to become my new “go-to” for the 2nd Annual Flats and Handwashing Challenge!
The original tutorial with photos can be found here on Pepper Place. She has a perfectly square terry flat so her fold looks very neat compared to my handwashed, skewed, less than square flats. Not having a square flat did give me a chance to show how you can “square-up” a flat by folding in one side to create the square. You can also size the flat down to better fit smaller babies since with a 30×30 flat this fold is gigantic. To size the flat down fold in two sides to the size you need, then complete the fold.
The Jo Fold for flats essentially makes your flat into a prefold, which you would then perform the “Angel Wing” fold- my personal favorite way to use prefolds.
Now that bumGenius has a well rounded line-up of One Size cloth diapers you might be wondering which BG product is right for you and your family. I’m here to help. I’ve tried the bumGenius 4.0, bumGenius Freetime, and bumGenius Elemental cloth diapers so my purpose is to show you the differences and similarities of each so that you can decide.
And before you all ask- I do have a favorite. I love my bumGenius Elemental and have since the first time I used it 3 years ago. When I buy a new diaper for son it is almost always an Elemental in a color I don’t own. Second favorite would be the trusty bumGenius 4.0. Whike the Freetime was an exciting idea I find the application process on the baby to be a bit tedious, especially if he moves and shifts the position of a soaker while I’m putting it on the baby.
If you found this video and chart helpful and decide to make a purchase I’d love you to use one of my affiliate links. I use sales from those links and the commission to buy new diapers to review. I am an affiliate of Kelly’s Closet(use code SPRINGBLOG for free standard shipping on orders over 25$ excluding Rockin’ Green and Ruby Moon, expires April 15), Sweetbottoms Baby Boutique, and Diaper Junction.
The Great Cloth Diaper Change will take place on April 21, 2012 in various locations across the globe. This year we will be attempting to break the record set last year.
The Great Cloth Diaper Change is the finale of what is being called “Real Diaper Week.” Participating areas will be hosting cloth diaper focused events all week long.
This year I was asked to make a video to promote The Great Cloth Diaper Change once again. I had a lot of fun making the video for last year which involved my own baby and multiple changes in front of a green screen. Watch last year’s video.
Because the theme for this year was “Real Simple. Real Diapers.” I had the idea of showing how simple and easy modern cloth diapers can be. I asked the owners of Basic Baby if I could film willing babies and parents after their first Real Diaper Circle meeting in Syracuse, NY. I had quite a few participants. Most of the diapers you see belong to the babies and only 2 diapers belonged to myself. I asked people to use those to make sure we showed a variety representative of the cloth diapers available.
I have been toying with the idea of filming a video showing flats, pins, and rubber pants in comparison to modern cloth diapers. I always envisioned the scene of pinning to be in the style of an old film movie. I finally got the opportunity to do it for this video. Fun Fact: I actually pricked my finger when pinning that diaper.
Thank you again to all of the mothers, fathers, and babies who came out to be filmed!
Please share this video and spread the word! This year’s Great Cloth Diaper Change is going to be amazing!
One of the diapers I was able to discover at ABC Kids Expo was the Smart One, part of the Smartbottoms line. I had heard of this brand but previously it was only sold through home party consultants. Now you will be seeing it available at a few retailers and online. I really enjoyed meeting with Christy and her husband. I also LOVE their logo and design scheme/colors and had some fun making my intro to the video demonstration. I will admit that this diaper is not my favorite but maybe it will be yours. Make sure to view click over if you are reading this through email to view the embedded video demonstration.
Ease of Use ✩✩✩✩ The Smart One from Smart Bottoms is a true All-in-One cloth diaper. This diaper only comes in snaps, and there are 3 snaps per tab. I will say that the hip snap was hard to get used to, the position was not where most other cloth diapers have them and I had to remind myself to snap it closed each time. It was easy to forget. Taking the diaper off is easier since there is no unstuffing or need to attach laundry tabs. You can just toss it into your wet bag or pail. Bang for the Buck ✩✩✩✩ You can order the diaper for 20.00. The price is higher than some other true AIO‘s but less than organic AIO‘s (like the bumGenius Elemental.) It uses organic cotton for the soaker and is made in the USA. They also sell primarily through diaper consultants so if you purchase through those women you are supporting their families and Christy (the mom behind Smart Bottoms) in one swoop. Nice. Performance ✩✩✩✩ My son is not a heavy wetter which meant the amount of absorbency was enough for us except on one occasion when I had a leak from the leg after he saturated the diaper. It is sufficient for longer car rides and naps, not nights. Fit ✩✩ I have to say that I was not crazy about SOME of the features of this diaper and how they related to the fit. The snaps are positioned very close to the top elastic (and exposed on the inside of the diaper, a pet peeve of mine since I don’t think that is the most comfortable thing in the world for babies). Couple this with the soaker that stops before the top and you get a poof in the crotch. I also thought the width of the crotch was a bit too wide which added to the “bunchy” look. The soaker is rather stiff and I wasn’t sure if it was comfortable for Ev. The hip snap is a great idea and I like the concept but it is really better for babies with skinny legs. To avoid red marks I couldn’t snap it at all and that wasn’t great for the fit. If Ev had been a tad smaller in the legs the diaper would have fit better, it was roomy enough in the stomach area. For the review we were testing a Medium (16-24 pounds.) I remember really liking the design of the XS when I saw them though. Overall: I really want to love the diaper. The owners are wonderful people. There is a lot of thought in the design of the diapers, it just so happens that they weren’t a good fit on Everett. I would say skinnier babies will have better luck, although I would still like the crotch to have less width. The soaker is sewn in and takes over 60 minutes in my dryer. To take the drying time down you might want to consider wool dryer balls. I just let it air dry after the other diapers were dry. I am always happy to meet with diaper makers and my visit with Christy was really great. Where to BuySmartbottoms.com
Dirty Diaper Laundry has recently improved the Cloth Diaper Finder to allow everyone to submit their own reviews. And this just isn’t any review system! With this tool you can rate a cloth diaper based on 5 categories on a 5 star system. You can also use the sliding scales to represent your baby-this covers height, Skinny or chunky, light or heavy wetter, and even the span of time your baby has been using the diaper. On top of that you can select the Pros and Cons from a handy list which will display along with your written review of 1,000 characters or less. But wait, there’s more! Reviewers can even add a photo of their baby/toddler in the diaper as a visual reference (or to show off that cute patootie).
Thumbnail of uploaded image. Can be clicked to enlarge.
Lastly, you get to say a simple “Yes, No, or Maybe I would buy this diaper again.”
A completed review ready for submitting!
Each diaper will have a review snapshot to give you the overall averages based on reviews submitted by users. This snap shot will show the overall Star Rating averages, the top 3 Pros and Cons, and the percentage of people who would buy that diaper again or not. This is a super simple way for cloth diaper users to find out if this diaper is for them or not.
And you can even sort the reviews by those voted “Most Helpful” by other users.
Example Review Summary
A view of a few submitted reviews.
It does sound complicated but it takes very little time to select the options. The most time consuming portion is dependent on the reviewer and how much they want to write.
This system is all a part of the larger Cloth Diaper Finder- the ONLY all encompassing, searchable cloth diaper database. With close to 200 cloth diapers the Cloth Diaper Finder lets users search for a diaper based on what they want to see. Price Range, Diaper Type, Closure Type, Materials, even where the diaper was made. There are infinite ways to search and the results are always fun! It isn’t just for consumers- cloth diaper bloggers and retailers/manufacturers can easily get information on diapers by using this database. Almost every tiny bit of information is included.
The details of one diaper
You can also sort your results by the Top Rated diapers. If you decide you want to buy the diaper there is a Buy Me link to a retailer who carriers it or to the WAHM’s website. I’ve also taken the liberty of including links to my video reviews for diapers who have been covered. In addition, if you love my videos and are looking for videos for just Pocket Diapers, or just diapers with snaps, you can do that! I don’t know if I could have crammed more into this thing if I tried!
After the initial launch I had a few changes made that were highly requested. There is now a filterable option to select diapers with natural fibers (against the baby’s skin- this does not mean the entire diaper is made from Natural Fibers or that it is Organic), Side Snapping, and you can find which diapers are available in prints. Another improvement is that you can select multiple Closure Types, Diaper Types, or Outer Material Types.
The results show up in list form and you can sort them by top rated as well.
Top 3 Results for "All-in-One"
I have filmed a guide to help you navigate the Cloth Diaper Finder and how to submit reviews.
A video walk through of how to get the most out of the Cloth Diaper Finder.
A video walk through of how to submit a review on the Cloth Diaper Finder.
The Great Cloth Diaper Change is only 2 weeks and 1 day away and that makes me think about what I will be changing my son out of, and into, for the event! If you aren’t already aware of what the event is, watch this video I made:
Of course I want both diapers to be absolutely fabulous because we will be in a large crowd of people!
At first I had planned on using my Medium Tie Dye Ragababe Easy AIO and maybe one of my Artist Series bumGenius! 4.0′s, but then Charlie Banana released this limited edition print:
And I fell in love! Ok, so I said “Goodbye Disposables” a long time ago (technically I never really started using them) but the message behind it is crystal clear. Plus, I am in love with the font and coloring, I think they hit the nail on the head with that combination. I wish I could convey to you how much I am swooning over this diaper. I can’t wait to see photos of babies wearing these soon.
Unfortunately these went on sale on Zulily.com and then sold out super fast. I went to the park, came home to order a Medium, and those were sold out along with the One Size. They will be available on Charliebanana.com and select retailers on April 10 and will run 25. Assuming Zulily ships in time, and the other retailers, those ordering these should have them in time.
Fuzzibunz also announced that they are offering a print in honor of Earth Day as well. These will be 21.95 and are hitting stores very soon.
GlowBug Diapers, TushMate, Kiwi Pie Fitted, Bummis Potty Pant, bumGenius Elemental (new)
