Archive for the ‘FuzziBunz Blog’ Category
Monday, August 20th, 2012
Melissa Smith and Jeniffer Smith are sisters-in-law and co-bloggers on Sisters in Cloth, a guide to cloth diapering, breastfeeding, babywearing, frugal and green living. Melissa, a mother of four, began cloth diapering her third child and eventually, inspired Jeniffer to do the same when her first baby was born. Together, they are passionate about living and parenting as naturally as possible — from homemade detergent to breastfeeding to…of course…using cloth diapers!
Q: How have cloth diapers changed your life?
JS: Using cloth diapers has made me realize how much I depend on companies to provide things I could make at home. I’ve become much more “green” since switching to cloth, and I’ve learned a lot of ways to keep my family healthier. Cloth diapers have been my “gateway green!”
MS: With my first two children I spent so much money on disposable diapers, even buying the “cheap” diapers that didn’t work as well. We were a young, struggling family, and there were many weeks where the money I had to spend on diapers made me wonder how we were going to buy basic needs like groceries. It is so freeing knowing that no matter how tight the bank account gets, my babies have clean diapers, and that I’m not taking money from our food budget or electricity to provide them.
Q: The first thing I do when I wake up is….
JS: Because I’m nearing the end of my pregnancy, I use the bathroom and then get breakfast and coffee made for me and my daughter.
MS: Normally nurse the baby next to me! As soon as my feet hit the floor I am on my way to brush my teeth, or I feel gross and can’t think. After that it’s time to start the coffee pot!
Q: No matter how much time it takes, I always….
JS: Spend way too much time online. The only way I’ve found to curb it is to stay off completely. That leads to me tweeting and checking emails more on my phone than online, but it’s easier for me to get off of my phone than for me to get off the Internet!
MS: Nurse my baby when he asks for it. At eighteen months this isn’t as often as it used to be, but it still happens a lot, and I still sometimes feel like all I do is nurse all day long!
Q: The most unusual thing in my diaper bag or purse is…
JS: I have a sample of laundry detergent in my purse. It was put there after I opened some fluff mail at the post office, and I haven’t used it or moved it since!
MS: At the moment I think it’s a matchbox car. My three year old loves to hand me random toys while we are out and about and they end up living in my purse forever.
Q: If I could live in one outfit for the rest of my life, it would be…
JS: Jeans and a t-shirt. I go for comfort most days.
MS: I’m really not picky about clothes. I love flowy skirts, but I’m just as happy in jeans and a t-shirt. The one wardrobe item I absolutely wish I could wear every day of the year are my flip-flops! I wear them as far into the fall and winter as I possibly can, and at the first sign of spring they are back to full-time use.
Tags: cloth diapers, fuzzibunz cloth diapers, jeniffer smith, melissa smith, Monday Mama, sisters in cloth
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Tuesday, August 14th, 2012
 By the time she’s ten, my daughter probably won’t have any vivid memories of her cloth diapering years. In fact, experts say that most people cannot recall much of anything substantial before they are three or four years old. All I have to say is that it’s a darn good thing I’m taking lots of pictures.
Hopefully someday, she’ll look back at her baby pictures and notice her cute, fluffy bum poking out of her adorable outfits (though it will be a different experience from my own because my daughter has literally thousands of baby/toddler pictures while her mama probably has about 30. Certainly makes me wonder how all of these digital pictures will affect the memory and recall of certain events for our children…But maybe that’s another discussion for another day).
Anyway, I know that she won’t remember actually being in cloth diapers, but I hope that somehow the knowledge that she was cloth diapered will remind her of a few things for the rest of her life:
- The earth is our only home and it’s up to us to take care of it. Big things, small things, it all makes a difference. And the difference cloth diapering makes really adds up. She can be proud of the environmental commitment her family made.
- She was a trendsetter. When she’s reflecting on cloth diapering (perhaps it will be when she’s considering cloth diapering her baby), I hope – for all of our sakes – that cloth diapering is a much more mainstream practice. She can tell her friends that she was cloth diapered back when wash-at-home pocket diapers were still in their infancy (or toddlerhood as the case may be) and they can ooh and aah and say that there is no way they would ever think about putting their baby in disposables!
- (And along those lines…) She is the next generation in a long line of cloth diaper wearers. Her mama wore prefolds with pins and plastic pants in the seventies when disposables were all the rage, her grandfather was doted upon by his mother and childless aunts and probably never sat in a wet cloth diaper for more than one minute. And that brings us back to countless generations before that who were also cloth diapered because there weren’t any other options. That’s some serious tradition.
- Her mama loves her. I’m not – AT ALL – saying that somehow cloth diapering mamas love their children more. Not at all. But I hope that she (and all children) will be able to look at the pictures of her in diapers and be able to see and feel the love that surrounded her in those early years.
- It wasn’t easy, but we did it anyway. There are so many wonderful benefits to cloth diapering that her dad and I chose to plop, rinse and swirl poop into the toilet and wash diapers in our laundry room all in the name of protecting her cute little behind.
- She has our help with college. It maybe doesn’t compute dollar for dollar, but we did save money by reusing her diapers and we were able to start a college savings fund for her and her brother. Truth be told, I think it’s so important to start saving for their educations when they are young, so we probably would have started a 529 anyway, but every bit helps!!
What do you hope your children take from their cloth diapering roots (whether they actually remember it or not!)?
Sarah is a mom of two and blogs about her adventures in motherhood, cloth diapering and everything in between. Catch her “Cloth Diapering Unwrapped” series on the FuzziBunz blog every week.
Tags: Cloth Diapering Unwrapped, cloth diapers, fuzzibunz cloth diapers
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Monday, August 13th, 2012
Cara N. is ais a mother of two, wife, fitness instructor, personal trainer and nutrition consultant who blogs about her healthy lifestyle at Your World: Healthy and Natural. Since her first child was born, she has fed her passion for healthy living by learning even more about nutrition, fitness, natural personal care products (you guessed it…cloth diapers!) and ways to keep our homes and families safe and healthy.
Q: How have cloth diapers changed your life?
They have saved me loads of money with three little ones, and I love that I don’t have to worry about any nasty chemicals getting on my baby’s skin with cloth diapers.
Q: The first I do when I wake up is…
Drink a protein shake and go teach my fitness classes.
Q: No matter how much time it takes, I always…
Cook healthy food for my family. Their health is a huge priority in my life.
Q: The most unusual thing in my diaper bag or purse is…
Jeepers, that is a hard one! I guess probably it is an extra cloth diaper.
Q: If I could live in one outfit for the rest of my life, it would be…
Sweatpants and a cute T-shirt.
Tags: cloth diapers, fitness, healthy living, natural parenting, nutrition
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Friday, August 10th, 2012
Because it’s Friday…
Because we love our community…
Because it’s August 10…
We are offering a special, one day only online event: 10% off your entire FuzziBunz order!
Please use code AUGUST10ONEDAY when checking out (copy and paste code for best results).
Happy Shopping!
Tags: fuzzibunz one day sale
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Wednesday, August 8th, 2012
Photo Credit: Jodi Kendall
You know that we love FuzziBunz cloth diapers. The only thing we love more than creating modern cloth diapers for today’s families is hearing how much you love your FuzziBunz cloth diapers…and seeing beautiful photographs of your babies wearing them!
Lately, we’ve read a few great blog posts about FuzziBunz cloth diapers and cloth diapering in general. We thought we’d “share the love” and tell you about them! Be sure to check out these blogs for more great advice, anecdotes and stories about cloth diapers, parenting, and much more!
On Itchy Little World, Jennifer blogs about using cloth diapers instead of disposables as swim diapers…and includes some great glamour shots of her daughter modeling a FuzziBunz cloth diaper in Crushed Berries.
On Coffee with the Mrs., Amy blogs about her experience with FuzziBunz cloth diapers and shares the simplicity of adjusting the size of a one size diaper. She said “The elastic in the waistband and legs is numbered with button holes. Simply button the elastic into place on the size number you’re going for and that’s it! I love this idea and I love that they sent back-up elastic with the diaper just in case.”
On Our Kids Mom, Lindsay blogs about the benefits of diapering her baby in FuzziBunz One Size Elite cloth diapers. She loves the one size adjustment on these diapers because there is “no more snapping down in the front and creating that unwanted bulk that she experiences with other one sized diapers.”
On Cloth Diaper Revival, Jenny shares a side-by-side comparison of the microfiber versus minky inserts. She found them both to be very absorbent…and of course, mentioned her love for her stash of FuzziBunz cloth diapers!
On Jodi Kendall’s Blog, Jodi included FuzziBunz cloth diapers in her “massive baby swag giveaway” that featured all of her favorite baby and parenting products.
Thank you to everyone who supports FuzziBunz!
Tags: fuzzibunz cloth diaper reviews, fuzzibunz cloth diapers, fuzzibunz in the news
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Tuesday, August 7th, 2012
Earlier this week, my twenty-month-old went pee-pee on the potty for the first time.
I think it surprised me almost as much as it surprised her. She had been showing an interest in her brother’s bathroom endeavors for a couple weeks and has definitely done the hiding-in-closet-while-pooping move for at least a month, so I knew she was on her way to being ready.
With my son I wasn’t as aware of the readiness signs, but with this child, I’ve started letting her go to the little plastic potty to “try” whenever I changed her diaper even though she’s only 20 months. Usually it’s a lot of fake grunting, some proud smiling and a perfectly dry potty. But this particular day, she sat down and went pee-pee like a champ and we looked at each other with matching looks of astonishment on our faces. We did the requisite high-fiving, doing the potty-dance, celebrating with daddy and giving lots of compliments to entice her to do it again, but that, it seems, was the first and last time for now that she’ll use anything but a diaper to catch her pee.
A friend of mine and mom of three who also babysits other children in her home, swears by a particular potty-training regimen that I’m beginning to think might have some merit. In her experience, toddlers, especially girls, need to start talking about the potty, trying to go on the potty, using training pants, etc., at about 20 months of age. Then, the minute they turn two, you start full-on potty training and you’ll have no diapers within about a week. There is a limited window, her theory goes, and if you miss it, the child may be in diapers for another 9 months or even a year.
Some say that cloth diapers make it easier to potty train because they are more aware of a wet diaper than their disposable-clad counterparts. Whether that’s the case with my daughter or not, I think I may subscribe to my friend’s method for potty training. She’s at the right age to try it, so come December and her second birthday, we may be saying goodbye to diapers forever.
Beyond making me proud, the thought of gone diaper-less also made me a little sad. Sad that my baby, possibly my last baby, might be almost done with her cute cloth diapers – and that I might be done with my cute cloth diapers – forever. It’s an odd feeling. On one hand, its complete excitement to be done with diapers but on the other hand, I’m already a little nostalgic for that pile of warm, clean diapers in the basket or a rack of sunning dipes in the backyard (not so much for flicking poop into the toilet or putting dirty dipes into the washer!).
What is your plan for potty training? Has your child already shown signs of potty training readiness? What has worked/not worked for you?
Sarah is a mom of two and blogs about her adventures in motherhood, cloth diapering and everything in between. Catch her “Cloth Diapering Unwrapped” series on the FuzziBunz blog every week.
Tags: Cloth Diapering Unwrapped, cloth diapers, potty training
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Wednesday, August 1st, 2012
How the heck is summer more than half over? Yes, the heat has been stifling – almost unbearable at times – but it seems like only last week we were still wondering if we needed a sweater and anticipating the last day of school.
Instead of getting caught up in thinking about school supplies and the crisp fall days ahead, I want to make the most of the summer we have left by doing the things that only happen in the summer. Inspired by a summer to-do list for kids I saw on Pinterest (which I am totally starting at the beginning of the summer next year and definitely getting my kids to help come up with the list), I decided to make a list of the things I’d still like to do with my kids before summer 2012 is over for good. There is definitely still time to accomplish most of these.
I’m making a commitment to our summer to-do list for the last few weeks of summer (and probably into September). I’m printing it out and posting it in my kitchen for inspiration, especially on the days with nothing on the calendar.
My kiddos, especially my son, are at an age that they are starting to appreciate learning and have a little longer attention span, but I think this is a great concept and can be tailored to any family, any age kids and any time frame.
So here goes:
- Stargazing. We are visiting my parents for a little vacation in an area where the stars are so much brighter and more visible than they are at home. I’m planning to let my 4-year-old stay up late one night to go out and look at the stars. He’ll be amazed.
- Summer time capsule. I love Jenn’s idea at the Clean and Scentsible Blog for creating a time capsule of the Summer of 2012. I think it has the potential to be a summer tradition for years to come!
- Use the pool. While I am pretty sick of slathering on sunscreen and chasing two energy balls around the pool, I think it’s necessary to continue using the pool and getting my kids in the water as much as I can while the weather is still warm. Swimming is a life-skill that they both still need to master and I think the more time we spend in or near the water, the better.
- Practice shoe tying. It’s time. My son is ready and wants to learn. We have more time to focus on it in the summer.
- Line dry the dipes. I always say I love the way my diapers look and feel after drying on the rack in the sun outside, but I can usually find an excuse not to haul them downstairs and outside to actually do it. My to-do list includes getting them out in the backyard, in the sun on a regular basis, before winter makes it impossible.
- Bubbles!
- Visit grandparents. I have still have two living grandfathers. One is almost 101 and the other is 90 and they both live several hours away from us, which makes it difficult to visit them when the rhythm of the school year gets the best of us. I think it’s very important for my kids to get to know their great-grandfathers and important for me to spend time with them, so we’re road-tripping it this summer!
- Watch the Olympics. It’s a great chance to talk to both of my kids about geography, different cultures and especially to expose them to different sports. Not to mention the dedication and physical commitment the athletes have made to their sport and their country. We have the DVR set!
- Nature scavenger hunt. Saw this one on Pinterest too from Chrissy at The Taylor House. Such a great idea, especially while we are visiting my parents in a more remote, rustic part of the country. And will be fun for both my preschooler and my toddler.
- Paint rocks. This is sort of a selfish one, but I’d love a little homemade décor for the garden, so I’m planning to enlist my über-creative kids to get painting, gluing and creating!
- Make s’mores. Preferrably over a campfire.
It’s not a huge list, but definitely doable for the remainder of the summer. Yes, there is still time! What will be on your end-of-summer to-do list?
Sarah is a mom of two and blogs about her adventures in motherhood, cloth diapering and everything in between. Catch her “Cloth Diapering Unwrapped” series on the FuzziBunz blog every week.
Tags: Cloth Diapering Unwrapped, cloth diapers, summer fun
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Tuesday, July 31st, 2012
We love reading about your own experiences with your FuzziBunz cloth diapers on our Facebook page as well as on your blogs and social networks. Now, we’re looking to add a few new columnists to the FuzziBunz blog and we want to hear from you!
As you may know, Sarah F is our “Cloth Diapering Unwrapped” writer. Now, we are looking for a few additional writers to talk about various topics related to cloth diapering – diapering multiples, green living, frugal living, traveling mom, etc. Send us your topic ideas.
If you’d like to be a regular writer for the FuzziBunz blog (and can contribute at least one article per month with a 450 word minimum), send us a note!
Here is what we need you to send us by 11:59 p.m. on Wednesday, August 15:
- Your name:
- Number/Ages of Children:
- What topic you’re interested in writing about and why (limit 2 sentences):
- Proposed column name/topic:
- Why do you want to write for the FuzziBunz blog? (limit 2 sentences):
- Your website or blog (if any):
- One writing sample of a 250-400 word blog post about the topic of your choice (bonus points if it’s about cloth diapering!)
If selected, you will be invited to write one article per month for the FuzziBunz blog. We will also encourage you to include one link in each of your articles to your personal website or blog. You will be compensated with a $20 gift certificate to use at FuzziBunz.com for each article that you write and is approved by our blog editor.
Serious inquiries only. Due to large volume, not everyone will get a response and not all bloggers who apply will be selected to write for the FuzziBunz blog. Please allow us 2-4 weeks to return your email. Email press@fuzzibunz.com.
Tags: FuzziBunz, fuzzibunz blog, fuzzibunz cloth diapers
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Monday, July 30th, 2012
Cristy S. is a stay-at-home mom to a fast-growing six month old daughter, Amalia and two stepsons, ages 4 1/2 and 2 years. Cristy loves spending time with her family, cooking, crafting and figuring out ways to cut down her growing family’s budget…including using cloth diapers!
Q: How have cloth diapers changed your life?There are so many ways! It of course, has been a huge money saver. We always planned on cloth, but started out with disposables because cloth was so bulky on our newborn. We saved some in the beginning with Amazon mom, but transitioning to cloth is now definitely saving us in the long run – once those tiny disposables were gone the larger sizes are so much more expensive.
Cloth diapering is also a conversation starter with other moms, whether you meet a kindred cloth spirit when they spot your baby’s cute diaper, or introduce a mom to the new and improved cloth diapering systems out there. So many women stick to disposables with prefolds and pins in mind, and are really thrilled to find out there are cloth diapers like FuzziBunz out there that are so easy to use, and fashionable to boot!
Not to mention, by way of researching cloth, I discovered attachment parenting, babywearing and so many more things that I had no idea existed that just felt instinctually right to me, and which we practice with our family.
Finally, I have met so many people, online and off, that I would never have met if not for cloth who are amazing people!
Q: If I could travel anywhere, I would go to…
Italy, hands down. My father’s family is from Northern Italy and Sicily and I have always wanted to visit. I grew up hearing the Italian language, eating my grandparents’ regional foods and hearing the comparison to the cultural differences between their generation and our Americanized Italian culture. I would love nothing more to explore it all in person, where our roots came from! And of course, eat the food!
Q: What do you think is the best invention of all time?
The internet. No seriously. It sounds cliche and silly, but the internet is an extremely valuable tool that allows us all to connect to people all over the world in real time, for minimal cost. So much of what the media portrays is the internet being this scary place where danger lurks around every corner - and you certainly do have to be careful - but there are communities and support for every single person, every issue and every cause. There is a wealth of information out there for anyone to find and educate themselves. As a new mom, I am especially thankful for the internet. Without it, I would never have discovered alternatives for prefolds, breastfeeding support, communities of women going through our pregnancies together, and so on. You get instant information on every product imaginable from reviews to recalls. The entire world is now at our fingertips and we take it for granted!
Q: If I could live in one outfit for the rest of my life, it would be….
That one pair of comfortable Gap jeans and a black v-neck fitted t-shirt. I like classics and a really nice quality T-shirt can be very versatile. That sounds so incredibly boring, but I am definitely a jeans type of girl. You can look casual, chic, trendy or bummy depending on what you add or remove from the outfit. Sneakers and a studded belt? Pumps and a dressy jacket and necklace? Boots and a flowy sweater? Yes, please.
Q: If you could offer one piece of advice to a new mom/dad, what would it be?
Be flexible, Be flexible, Be flexible! You can make all of the plans and decisions in the world when preparing for your baby, but just like life, babies are unpredictable. Some of your plans will fly right out the window! I was so black and white about everything I planned on doing, but once Amalia was born, I realized that she was a little person and some things needed to change or compromised. But also remember, if you are passionate about something that becomes difficult for you but you really want it to work, stick through it! I was determined to cloth diaper, became exhausted and intimidated by it in practice and kept falling back on disposables. But…I kept going, using diapers that I was uncomfortable with and trying new types. Once I found pocket diapers and AIO/2′s, everything finally fell into place.
Tags: cloth diapers, how to use cloth diapers, Monday Mama
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Tuesday, July 24th, 2012
Both my son and daughter love it when I “write” letters on their back with my finger. In fact, it’s my favorite way to get them to drift off into peaceful sleep. At nap time today, after a morning at the pool, I didn’t make it past “T” with either of them, but it got me thinking. Here’s the A to Z of what cloth diapering means to me:
Air dry: Getting the wet diapers out in the sun as often as I can to bring out that bright white is my preferred drying method. Air-drying inside on a drying rack in bad weather is my second favorite method.
Bag (wet bag): I’ve said before that my wet bag is my favorite cloth diaper accessory. They keep the dirty diapers out of my way until wash day and they do double-duty on-the-go…even for wet swimsuits!
Cash: Lots of the green stuff saved by using cloth diapers on our second child!
Diaper rash: Haven’t had much of the stuff around this house (if you don’t count irritation from ammonia, which is not happening any more either!).
Elite: The newest pocket diaper model from FuzziBunz with lots of fabulous features. The Cadillac of cloth diapers, in my opinion!
Fleece: The soft and fluffy lining that fits right up next to my girl’s sensitive skin in her cloth diapers. Really makes me appreciate how hard and crinkly disposable diapers were.
Green: The way I feel when I reuse our cloth diapers instead of hauling bag after bag out to the curb on trash day.
Home: Everything I need to diaper my baby is right here at home. I never need to make an emergency-run to the store for diapers (though I have been know to run an emergency wash load!).
Insert: The super-absorbent pad that literally gets inserted between the water-resistant outer layer of the pocket diaper and soft and fuzzy fleece layer. This is the guts of the pocket diaper and why I love pocket diapers so much. The ability to customize the absorbency based on the situation is fantastic and the ability to remove the insert makes washing (and drying) so much easier!
Justifiable diaper addiction: How could you NOT have a diaper addiction? These things are so darn cute!
Kumquat: My favorite FuzziBunz color (this week!).
Leaks: Something I haven’t thought much about lately!
Microfiber: The material that makes the inserts so absorbent.
Natural resources: We are saving quite a few of these by not purchasing very many disposable diapers (yes, I still buy them once in a while for night time). But think of the resources necessary to run the factory that produces diapers, the actual materials that make up the diaper and the fuel to transport them to your local store (and then back to the landfill when they are used).
One-size: The adjustable version of the FuzziBunz line and the workhorse of my cloth diaper stash. They are fully adjustable around the legs, hips and waist to almost guarantee a snug fit.
Poop: A part of my everyday life, especially when I’m plopping it off diapers and into the toilet.
Questions from non-cloth moms: As all cloth diapering moms do, I get a lot of questions from my disposable-using friends. The ones about poop are always my favorite!
Reusable wipes: Either sitting on my changing table in a nice bath of water and a little baby wash or in with the dirty diapers waiting to be washed.
Snaps: The closures on FuzziBunz and some other cloth diapers. The keep the diapers on tight, yet are easy to fasten and unfasten – perfect!
Third baby: Though we are still undecided about whether another baby is in our future, sometimes I think… “well, at least the diapers would be free …” Since we already own them, that would be one cost we could avoid with #3.
Useful after: I’ve heard people talk about so many great other uses for cloth diapers, especially the microfiber inserts, when the diapering years are over. From soaking up spills on carpet to sweeping up wood floors, I have a feeling they are going to be floating around my house for years to come!
Very cute!: Cloth diapers are just cute and darn cute. Nothing else to say.
Wash routine: I finally have a wash routine that I can live with, and more importantly, that works! With the right combo of detergent, rinse/wash cycles, washing is a breeze.
Xtra rinsing: One of the keys to my wash routine success – lots of rinse cycles (one before the wash/detergent cycle and one, sometimes two, after the wash cycle is complete). A lot of water will do your diapers good.
You should cloth diaper too!: My refrain to anyone I meet that seems interested in cloth diapers… you should do it! It’s really not that hard!
Zzzz: I sleep easy knowing my baby has soft, absorbent, chemical-free diapers next to her skin… and I save money doing it! (A lame “Z” word, I admit… I had a really hard time coming up with a Z!!)
So there you have it, my cloth diapering A to Z. What does cloth diapering mean to you?
Sarah is a mom of two and blogs about her adventures in motherhood, cloth diapering and everything in between. Catch her “Cloth Diapering Unwrapped” series on the FuzziBunz blog every week.
Tags: benefits of cloth diaper, Cloth Diapering Unwrapped, cloth diapers
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