Grobaby Biosoakers

A few months ago, I was lucky enough to be able to be a tester for my absolute favorite cloth diaper EVER. I've mentioned them numerous times in this blog, so my love is well established.

GROBABY!

Seriously the best cloth diaper on the market right now. They came up with a great disposable option called the Biosoaker. This biosoaker can be stuck to the inside of your Grobaby shell and works WONDERFULLY! Here's some info on them (taken from the Grobaby biosoaker website):

Super Soft Lining

Certified natural, 100% Ingeo spunbound non-woven fabric.
Compostable to EN13432 (EU) standard and ASTM D 6400 (USA)
Core

Biodegradable Wood Pulp fibers, contains 3 grams of SAP gel (compared to 10-20 grams in other disposables).
Waterproof Outer

The Bio-Film used (fecula) is waterproof and 100% natural.
Compostable to the following standard: EN 13432 (EU)


As a tester, I fell in love with them. You get all the convenience of a disposable with none of the guilt associated with a regular disposable diaper, AND your baby will still have the cutest booty on the block with the outer (which, by the way, Grobaby has come out with some AWESOME printed shell options).

I loved using the biosoaker when we were on the move because I didn't have to worry about bringing a wetbag along everywhere, and if there was a poopy diaper with no diaper sprayer around, I didn't have to wonder if fellow shoppers would notice a little... *ahem*.... aroma wafting out from my bag.

If you haven't tried them, you MUST! If you want to try cloth but are afraid to take the plunge, this is the perfect way to ease into it. Baby steps and all that, right? To sweeten the deal, you can try them FREE right now! Just check out their facebook page to read about the current Biosoaker Blog Giveaway (I did!).

And the winner is....

..... Daniella! CONGRATS!

Thanks everyone who entered. There was such a great response that it's very likely I'll be doing another giveaway again in the near future. :)

***Baby/Toddler Giveaway!***

Yes, you read that title right, this is going to my very FIRST blog giveaway! All the reviews and recommendations I've done in the time I've been blogging seem to have paid off, for YOU READERS!

So what's the scoop? Here goes:

Any of you faithful mamabargains followers probably know the name Tourance by now. If you're scratching your head wondering what/who on earth Tourance is, you need to click the above link to check their products out. They carry some really gorgeous baby/toddler towels, ultra luxurious baby blankets, along with robes and blankets for mama!

Now I know you're wondering what you might win, and how on earth you might win it, so here's the deal:

Go to the website.
Peruse all of the baby blankets and towels (you can find them here).
Fall in love with one.
Post a comment on this blog about which one you love, and what you love about it. You can also ask any questions about the Tourance company, or post a review if you've already tried a Tourance product.

Each person can post up to FIVE comments to be entered in the drawing. You can, of course, post more than five comments if the conversation gets good, but only five comments will be counted in the drawing.

To pick a winner, each commenter will get a number 1,2,3,etc. Each comment will get your number put in the hat. If you make five comments, your number will go in five times. Then we'll let one of the little guys pick the number out of the hat and we'll have a winner. Why not use a random integer generator? Because it's way more fun this way!

We will let the winner know via email and through another blog post, so keep your eyes out and check that email regularly!

The winner receives ANY Tourance Hooded Towel OR Baby blanket. That's right, YOUR CHOICE!


GOOD LUCK!

As an added bonus, right now you can buy ANYTHING from the Tourance website for 60% off the list price. HOLY COW!

There are 2 ways to take advantage of this awesome deal:

- Place your order through their website,t then check out on our normally. However, please leave a comment on special instruction for vendor in Paypal instruction box - "Code 60%" with your email address so that they can credit you back the difference.

- Email them at info@tourance.com with your order, shipping address and credit card information. They will issue you the final invoice which will show 60% off for your confirmation before your order ships out.

This sale ENDS September 16th.

This CONTEST ends Friday, September 11th 2009 :)

Mamabargains

I get asked an awful lot where I buy such cool kid stuff, and pretty much every single time, my answer is Mamabargains.

I've saved a crap load shopping with them, received some crazy awesome stuff, and made some great e-friends by getting to know other mama's in the playground. So if you're a mama, papa, grandma, grandpa, or just have kids in your life, you've gotta check them out. Here you can see some in-action shots of some of the stuff I've bought from them:

Honey-Do List Update

As anyone who is on facebook knows, Bill has been chipping away at his Honey-Do list rather quickly, and we've made some big decisions as he's been working, so here is the updated list of things to do, and things that have been done:

1. Back room:
a. demolish closet- DONE!
b. level floor- DONE!
c. run wiring for light- DONE!
d. replace door with the one from bedroom- Not done, but only because we made the executive decision to knock that whole wall out and create a dining room where an unused bedroom used to be.
e. patch/paint
f. hang light
g. lay new flooring
h. install trim

2. Kitchen:
a. replace door- DONE!
b. fix trim by door
d. finish patch over sink/skim coat over bad areas
e. paint walls and cabinets- Walls are still being painted, but the cabinets.... We're getting new! HORRAY!
f. strip and wax floors- Same with this, no need to fix them because we're installing all new!

3. Bathroom:
a. remove sink, vanity, mirror and light above existing sink
b. patch/paint
c. run plumbing for new sink
d. install new pedestal sink
e. build shelves in existing sink area
f. install new lights
g. install ceiling exhaust fan
h. replace ceiling tiles
i. clean/paint bathtub
j. new tub surround
k. lay new flooring
l. install new trim

4. Living room:
a. remove carpet- DONE!
b. patch/paint
c. install new ceiling fan- DONE!
d. lay new flooring
e. install new trim

5. Our bedroom:
a. remove carpeting
b. run wiring for ceiling fan and start wiring for three way switch in boys room
c. run wiring for new plug
d. run cable line
e. patch/paint
f. install ceiling fan, plug, and switch for boys room
g. install new flooring
h. install new trim
i. move tv from boys room to ours

6. Boys bedroom:
a. remove carpet
b. replace door
c. run wiring for ceiling fan and finish wiring for three way switches
d. run cable line
e. patch/paint
f. install ceiling fan
g. install new flooring
h. install new trim

7. Install new outdoor lights/rerun wire for Living room outdoor light to other side of roof

So while it seems like there is still a lot of stuff that needs to be done, the biggest things are already accomplished. The new wiring and removal of carpets is easy peasy, and then we've just got finish work.

We've decided on colors for the living room, bedrooms, and bathroom.

Living room- "Almond paste"- It's sort of a light yellowish brown. Neutral but still nice.

Bathroom- "Ice rink blue" since all the fixtures in the bathroom are either porcelain or silver (including lighting fixtures) I wanted to paint a really cool color that would still flow well with the bathroom color. Ice rink blue it is :)

Bedrooms- I don't recall the name of this paint, but it's a slightly deeper blue than the icy blue of the bathroom.

Kitchen and Dining Room- I haven't decided yet because we're still undecided on flooring for the kitchen, so I don't want to pick out a wall color then find a great deal on flooring that doesn't match at all, so I'm going to wait until we decide on what tile we want to use, then go ahead and pick a color. Since the kitchen and dining room flow into one another, I'll have to either do the dining room the same color, or a really similar color so they don't clash with one another.

Less than a week into the mini-remodel and that is where we are with it all :)

It's Been A While!

I am so terrible about keeping up with blogging, but I'm going to try to be more consistent with things, because the other day I read back through some of my archived entries, and it was fun to be reminded of things I had forgotten about. I guess that's one of the cool things about blogging (or journal keeping).

Since I last blogged, Jakob turned six, and finished kindergarten. Bill finished his job with the lab and has NINE WEEKS off before he starts working in the school district full time. In the time he's off work, we've planned a big renovation of our place to make it nicer and update stuff that needs updating. Luckily he can do pretty much anything (plumbing, electrical, construction, etc, etc, etc) which will save us a ton of money. His list of things to do looks a little something like this:


1. Back room:
a. demolish closet
b. level floor
c. run wiring for light
d. replace door with the one from bedroom
e. patch/paint
f. hang light
g. lay new flooring
h. install trim

2. Kitchen:
a. replace door- DONE!
b. fix trim by door
d. finish patch over sink/skim coat over bad areas
e. paint walls and cabinets
f. strip and wax floors

3. Bathroom:
a. remove sink, vanity, mirror and light above existing sink
b. patch/paint
c. run plumbing for new sink
d. install new pedestal sink
e. build shelves in existing sink area
f. install new lights
g. install ceiling exhaust fan
h. replace ceiling tiles
i. clean/paint bathtub
j. new tub surround
k. lay new flooring
l. install new trim

4. Living room:
a. remove carpet- DONE!
b. patch/paint
c. install new ceiling fan- DONE!
d. lay new flooring
e. install new trim

5. Our bedroom:
a. remove carpeting
b. run wiring for ceiling fan and start wiring for three way switch in boys room
c. run wiring for new plug
d. run cable line
e. patch/paint
f. install ceiling fan, plug, and switch for boys room
g. install new flooring
h. install new trim
i. move tv from boys room to ours

6. Boys bedroom:
a. remove carpet
b. replace door
c. run wiring for ceiling fan and finish wiring for three way switches
d. run cable line
e. patch/paint
f. install ceiling fan
g. install new flooring
h. install new trim

7. Install new outdoor lights/rerun wire for Living room outdoor light to other side of roof


We're hoping that the heavier construction work will be done within 2 weeks, because the idea of spending the whole summer living in a construction zone gives me hives!

The New Love of My Life

Alright so maybe that sounds a little dramatic, but I think I've made my mad love of cloth diapering really clear. We've tried pretty much all the diapers, and had fairly good luck. I mean, we never had the nightmares that some people seemed to have, although we did have to change Jericho constantly, and he often leaked through with pocket diapers (even with two microfiber liners).

We were to the point where he was leaking through often enough that we were putting him in disposables at night and if we had to leave the house in order to cut down on the amount of laundry we were doing, and keep him from waking up soaking wet and freezing at night. The only diapers we had luck with were prefolds with a Thirsty's cover. The only problem with those NOW is that he won't even stay in place while sleeping, there's no way he'll stay still long enough to get a prefold put on.

So when the all new Grobaby cloth diaper hit the scene, I was interested but a little skeptical. We'd already spent a small fortune on Happy Heiny's, Fuzzi Bunz, Bum Genius, you name it, we probably own it. After reading reviews of mama's who tested the diaper before it got released, we decided to take a leap of faith and order some.

I couldn't have been more thrilled with them. The colors are SO FUN and can be seen here. At first I figured we would just get the Mandarin and Kiwi colors (yellow and green) but I liked Blackberry (purple) so much I figured that real boys rock colors like purple and pink, so we got some of them too.

We have twelve shells (four of each color), 24 soakers, and 16 boosters (with ten more soakers on their way after they were offered for 10% off yesterday). I love that we don't have nearly as much washing to do with the GB as we did with the pocket diapers. I also love never having to stuff a diaper! I hated sitting there for what seemed like hours with my hands prickling from the microfiber.

Some people have said that the system is expensive, but I see it as being cheaper than buying a pocket diaper. For example: A grobaby shell set (which includes the shell, booster, and soaker pad) costs approx. $24.99. A Happy Heiny OS costs $18.99. Once the HH has been soiled, it's done and you have to put a whole new one on. And btw, the HH's are not organic, the GB soaker/boosters are all organic cotton.

So for one full day of cloth diapering with 10 diaper changes, pocket diapers will cost you around $190 a day.

With the GB system, we typically use two shells a day and 10 soaker pads. For two shell sets, it's $50, and for four double-packs of soakers it's approx. $68. So totally you're only spending $118 per day.

Now, for the record, you aren't going to be spending $118 EVERY day for the rest of your CD'ing life, just until you have however many days of diapers you want. I like only have to wash every four days, so the total for my family to use the GB's for four days would be $472. The four day investment for HH's is $760! People THINK the GB system is expensive, but as you can see, once you break it down the investment you need to make is far less than you'd make with other pocket diapers.

Plus, they're trim. Getting an absorbent, trim cloth diaper is next to impossible, but the folks at the Natural Baby Co have made it happen!

A little side note- I am in NO WAY affiliated with TNBC, I'm just a really happy customer. I have had little issues where I've needed the help of the customer service department, and have been treated impeccably every single time. In my opinion, a product is only as good as the people who make and sell it. These people happen to be a million shades of awesome. I strongly recommend checking them out on facebook, and ordering direct from them!


And for your viewing pleasure, here's our very own GroBaby!