Silence

Sorry for the silence since I posted the review. Things have been a little crazy here the past week. School has gotten more hectic, and I'm trying to fit in summer play dates and activities for Cooper. Blogging just has to take somewhat of a back seat for a little while. You will hear from me when I have the time, but the silence may continue on and off for a while longer. (But I promise to annouce the winner of the giveaway on time!)

You only have one more week to enter my first giveaway so hop on over to that post and get to it! The entries are low so there is a good chance YOU could be the winner!!

Plum Organics and Boon Spoon Review & Giveaway!!

Here it is! My first review! I reviewed the Boon Spoon for the Plum Organics pouch and of course the Plum Organics food through EcoMom. EcoMom is a great online store for Eco-friendly baby products! They have a wide range of products from cloth diapers to organic baby food.

The Boon Spoon is so convenient! It comes in this cute little case that clips easily onto your diaper bag or purse. When I first heard about the spoon I was skeptical. First, I figured it would be made of cheap, flimsy plastic that would wear out quickly and have to be thrown away. This is not the case AT ALL! It is made of high quality and BPA FREE plastic. I know this spoon will last a LONG time!

It is so easy to use! You just unscrew the cap off the Plum Organics pouch and screw on the spoon!

See! How easy is that?? The second thing I was worried about was all the food just running uncontrollably out of the pouch. Boy was I wrong!

The way this genius little thing is made, food doesn't come out until you squeeze it!

Cooper is in a stage that he is VERY picky about what he allow in his mouth. Except of course if it is something that shouldn't be in his mouth! He is especially picky about eating off a spoon. So it took some coaxing to get him to take a bite. I think it confused him that there was no bowl, also.

But once I got some in his mouth, he loved it! See how he is leaning forward for a bite?

Notice the Boon sippy cup? I ordered that from EcoMom before I was asked to do this review. It is definately our new favorite cup! Boon and Plum Organics offer a wide range of products. Boon makes high chairs, toddler utensils, and even a potty seat! Plum Organics offers the purees like those compatible with the spoon, but they also offer snacks such as the fingerfuls and fiddlesticks!

I love that this food is convenient. But I love it even more because it is organic! I can be sure I am giving him the best, while it is still a breeze for me! And, yes, I did taste the food. It is YUMMY! I even enjoyed the savory flavors like the sweet potatoes, corn, and apples!

EcoMom also has a special promotion right now called the EcoPass. For only $99 you get 15% off of every order and free shipping without the $75 minimum order! And it lasts for an entire year! Also, for a limited time you get a free $50 gift card with the puchase of the EcoPass!

BUY IT!
EcoMom is generously offering my readers a 15% discount on their first order with the code SBBL410. This code is good through July 30, 2010 so take advantage!

WIN IT!

One of my lucky readers is going to win $15 worth of Plum Organics and/or Revolution foods!

MANDATORY ENTRY:

Head over to Eco-Friendy Baby Products - EcoMom and let me know something in their store you would like to try! Please remember to leave your email address in your mandatory entry so I can contact you if you are the lucky winner!

Extra Entries:

• Follow my blog! (2 entries, please leave a separate comment for each)
• Follow EcoMomCEO on Twitter! (1 entry)
• Follow me on Twitter! (1 entry)
• "Like" EcoMom on Facebook! (1 entry)
• Join the EcoMom Newsletter! (1 entry)
• Blog about this giveaway then come back and leave a comment with the URL! (3 entries, leave a separate comment for each)
• Tweet about this giveaway! One tweet per day! (1 entry PER TWEET!) You may either use your own creative tweet or use this one:

Win $15 worth of Plum Organics/Revolution food from @coopers_mommy09 and @EcoMomCEO #giveaway

This giveaway is open to residents of the US and Canada. I will close the comments at midnight on July 5 and a winner will be chosen via random.org. A winner will be annouced the next day!

Good luck to everyone!

I was not compensated to do this review. I received product to form my opinion and only product. These opinions are my own and honest.

Big Things Coming!!!

Big things are in the works for my blog! I have been asked to do my first couple reviews!!

I am so unbelievably excited about this! I've wanted to do it for awhile, but just didn't know how to get started. Well now I am! I have 2 lined up now, with I hope many more in the future!

I am going to keep the products I'm reviewing a secret until I publish the review. Because, well, it's more fun for me that way ;)

Keep looking for them! It shouldn't be long!

While you are waiting on my reviews, go check out Jessi's review and giveaway of the Baby Be Blessed dolls! You will be glad you did!

Just An Observation...

I have come to the conclusion after several conversations I've had lately, and my own observations over the past few years, that your proximity to "civilization" is determined by how close you live to the closest Walmart. I think this is kind of sad....

Have you noticed anything like this is our society? Just curious :)

The Lovely World of Prefolds

Tuesday, I received my order from Cotton Babies and spent the rest of the evening and well into the night pre-washing so I could use them on Wednesday. With prefolds, they must be washed 3-4 times to get out the "natural oils" and to reach maximum absorbancy. At about 3 AM Wednesday morning my prewashing was finished, and I folded the diapers and went to bed.

Wednesday I got up excited to put him in his new diapers. The Thirties covers I got are so cute!! I will talk about them first. They dry QUICK, have adorable colors and a few patterns, and are easy to adjust/fasten. Unfortunately Cooper figured out very quickly how to unfasten them, but I snaps get on my nerves. I like being able to get the perfect fit with the aplix(velcro). It was fairly easy to remind (over and over at first) that we do not take off our diaper and show our pee-pee. He is getting it. I don't think it will be an issue. And even if it turns out to be, I will be using my pockets (Smartipants) mostly when we are out and about and they have snaps.

Now on to the prefolds... I opted for Indian prefolds instead of Chinese because they require less prewashing. They are VERY absorbant. I love that about them. But they are also very thick and kinda bulky. (I got the premium ones. Maybe that is a contributing factor to the bulkiness.) The first time I put one on Cooper and set him down to walk, he took one step and stumbled because he just wasn't used to the bulkiness between his legs. He quickly adjusted though, and seems perfectly happy in them now! They have some disadvantages, namely the bulkiness, but for the cost and to mainly use around the house, I am very happy with my purchase! I will post pictures of Cooper sporting his new dipes as soon as I get a chance. With the lovely Summer semester starting, my blog posts may start to be few and far between, but I will try my best to do better than that!

In other potty related news...

COOPER PEE-PEED IN THE POTTY!!! on Wednesday morning. He is by no means potty-trained and I know that, but this is one step closer and that makes for a very happy mama :D

Wordless Wednesday

A VERY Fluffy Butt!

I attempted cloth for the first time overnight Sunday night. I double-stuffed his Smartipants diaper and hoped for the best. Look how fluffy that butt is double-stuffed!!


When we woke up, guess what! He was DRY!!! Well the diaper was soaked but our sheets were dry!!! It didn't leak! His disposables leak overnight frequently so I am excited about this!! I have something else in the works for overnight, but I will blog about it when the time comes. For now I'll leave you with this picture of the sleeping baby :)

Cloth Wipes

I had another "out" I had given myself when deciding to try cloth diapering that I didn't mention before, and that was that I didn't have to use cloth wipes, too. I could still cloth diaper and use disposable wipes. Well, as I've started cloth diapering I've realized it just makes sense to use cloth wipes, too! Its actually more work for me to use disposables! I can hear what you are thinking. "WHAT?! How are cloth wipes easier??" and let's don't forget "That is SOOO gross!!"


Well let's think about this, shall we? Yes, we shall because it's my blog. hehehe

• When I change a disposable diaper with disposable wipes, I take off the diaper, wipe his bottom, put the wipes in the diaper, and throw the whole thing in the diaper pail.


• When I change a cloth diaper with disposable wipes, I take off the diaper, wipe his bottom, make sure to keep the wipes separate from the diaper, put the diaper in the pail, and throw the wipes in the trash.


• When I change a cloth diaper with cloth wipes, I take off the diaper, wipe his bottom, put the wipes with the diaper, and throw it all in the pail.

Now, if I'm going to cloth diaper, which of those sounds the simplest to you?? Yes, I have to wash the wipes, but I'm washing the diapers anyway!! Its a no brainer for me. So this week I ordered more dipes and I also ordered some cloth wipes, and then I thought, I can MAKE wipes! So while I will be keeping the wipes I ordered, I also made some this weekend! They are not perfect. I have never claimed to be a seamtress. The seams are not straight, and that is fine with me. They are going to be wiping his bum for goodness sake!

I also made some wipe solution. I used witch hazel, jojoba oil, tea tree oil, and lavender oil. It smells pretty good, and it gets the job done! I put it in a spray bottle, spritz a little on his bottom and wipe! Some people dipe their wipes in the solution and put them in a wipe warmer, but this is what works for us. Its also much easier on-the-go. I have a little 2 oz. bottle of my solution with my wipes and I don't have to worry about putting the clean wipes in waterproof bag. (The ones I made are too big to fit into a wipes case.) I just throw the dirty ones in the wetbag.

So this is the newest update in our cloth diapering journey! I hope you are enjoying taking the journey with us :)

Wordless Wednesday

Today...

Has not been a great day for my anxiety. For a number of reason. First, I have missed a couple of my Zoloft this week. That does not help at all. Second, today was the first day of my summer semester and that brings A LOT of stress. To top it all off, my professor from one of my online classes wanted his class to email him to confirm our attendance. So I did, but from my person email, not my school account. Well, that wasn't good enough for him. Guess what? My school account has NEVER worked. I have never gotten even one email to successfully send. I sent one though. I just hope it sent :/ In the middle of this little personal crisis, Cooper was playing by himself and being quiet. Great, right? WRONG! I look over and he has put my mp3 player in my glass of tea and is splashing around in it! Well, I was going to use that mp3 player tonight to record my lecture class. UGH! So I tried to save it, but it just wasn't happening. I took it apart and took a hair dryer to it, but it was ka-put. So what did I do? I took it back... I had just bought it like 3 days ago. Yes, I know. I do not need a lecture on the Ethical nature of my decision...

I admit that I took out my anxiety on Cooper more than I should have today. I usually don't do that. I take it out on everyone else, but not him. I put him on the couch while I cleaned up his mess, and then tried to continue with email crisis. He kept finding something to get into. So what did I do? I put him in his crib. Which he hates. He SCREAMED! And I ignored him. At least for a few minutes. My mom heard him and got him out of his crib. As soon as she brought him back into the living room, he crawled up in my lap to nurse. So she took him to get a milkshake while I solved my crisis. I have apologized profusely to him since I have been home and he seems to have forgiven and forgotten. I hate anxiety. And I'm sure Cooper does, too.

Did I mention I have added several classes since I last updated you on school? I don't think I have. When I last told you the classes I would be taking classes was just class. Now it is classes, as in 4. I am taking A&P II (online), Sociology (online), Strategies for Nursing Success (online), and Abnormal Psychology (lecture). I had my first Abnormal Psych class today and so far I really like the instructor. He is funny, and even though it is a 4 hour class, it did not drag on like I thought it might. That makes me feel better about it.