Breast Cancer Awareness

I am now selling Breast Cancer Awareness Survival Bracelets. These bracelets will be $12, and $6 will go to the Lower Alabama Chapter of the Pink Heals Tour.

They are made from 550 paracord. Right now the only option is a black side release buckle. I am waiting for my supplier to get white side release buckles and pink side release buckles in stock. So far those buckles are back ordered until at least the end of June. I am still searching other suppliers and will update when I get white and pink buckles.
There are 3 color options.Pink, Pink and White and Pink and Gray. Remember when you check out to select the color option that you want!
Shipping is $2.00 for the first bracelet and .75 cents for each additional bracelet with shipping cost topping out at $5 for 5 bracelets or more.

To order a bracelet go to the Breast Cancer Awareness page *hint* its at the very top of the blog home page!

Hello, My name is Amber and I'm addicted ....

to cloth diapers. Now I know that I am not spending as much on cloth as I would on disposables. But I am still spending more money than I am comfortable with. I was just using covers which I like because, well because I have everything I need to CD for 2 days without the necessity to do laundry. J has decided that he LOVES AIOs and as you might know those get expensive and I do not have enough AIO that I like to get through more than a day. Ok even using the ones I don't really like I don't have enough to go through a day. Well, my mom sews, not just oh my mom can do a straight stitch, my mom can actually sew. She made all of my clothes when I was a baby and makes pajamas for everybody every year. so she is going to figure out how to sew a cloth diaper. After some research I have found the fabrics, snaps and velcro that she needs. She is going to design a pattern taking into consideration the quality of my favorite diapers and combining them into one. I am super excited!

Loudest crawling baby ever

Well what do you know...

Looks like the rapture didn't happen, or everybody I know is just to bad to be raptured. Both scenarios are equally as believable!

In other news. I survived working this weekend. I'm still dragging but I made it through that one shift of overtime. I applaud everybody that I work with who had to work 3 overtime shifts this weekend and are now on day 6 of 7. You guys are my heros and I totally want to be like you when I grow up!

Everybody's working for the weekend....

For the first time since I was pregnant with Spiky I am working during the day! Noon to midnight gross. To make it better everybody that I work with is also working at least some today. Ok... enough of that.

So I keep hearing rumors that the rapture is today. First off I don't believe in the rapture, just because it doesn't make sense to me. If you believe in it go for it. However my main problem with the rapture happening today is that 1. I'll be at work and B. the bible says that no man will know the day or the hour, so where does this guy get off saying that he KNOWS when Yeshua will return? Seems slightly blasphemous to me.

But hey if we survive today Ill talk to you Sunday!

A month behind...

I just realized that I haven't posted about Spiky much recently. To catch you up he had his 6 month well baby check on April 13th. The failure to thrive label was taken off and he was taken off of the high calorie premie formula and is now on regular infant formula. At his 6 month appointment he wieghted 15 lbs and 6 oz. He was only in the 10th percentile on the growth chart; that is a lot better than he was at his appointments before then when he wasn't even on a chart. I took his 6 month pictures. It was the first time I had ever really used props but I think they turned out surprisingly well.

As I have mentioned before Spiky has never really acted like a baby. Ever since he started pulling up on stuff in April he has been trying desperately to walk. He does crawl around quite a bit but only to get to something he can pull up on. He is only 7 months old and I really don't think 7 month olds should be trying to walk. But I guess he can do what he wants. Who says he has to follow the average time line of milestones anyway? He can walk holding on to things a little. Mostly he does it while he is in his crib but has done it holding on to the couch a few times. The other night he pulled up on the couch, let go and tried to walk off. He fell of course and got mad, but it just makes me think he is getting closer and closer to walking. 

I also took a few 7 month pictures this week. I plan on taking a few more this weekend, I have to work at least one shift of overtime, but hopefully I get to take some and get them uploaded! 

Product Review : Lil' Bit Customs

Company: Lil' Bit Customs

Product: Diaper Cover, All In One (AIO) diapers

Price: Varies depending on type/fabric

In the past few months I have ordered several diapers from Lil' Bit Customs. So far I have 4 OS diaper covers and 3 OS AIO diapers (Groovy Guitars is one of the AIO) 2 of the AIO diapers have been made from T-shirts that I sent her (KISS Army).

I was virtually introduced to the mom behind Lil' Bit Customs in mid March. It took me all of a minute to decide to order a diaper cover from her. At that time I was really only using diaper covers; I had a few pockets and AIO,most of which I did not really like using, and a few covers that I loved using. the first cover that I ordered was a Mickey Mouse print. I only ordered one to begin with just so I could make sure that the diaper cover would work for Spiky. Needless to say it fit him better than any other cover I had purchased previous to this so I ordered 3 more covers; Sponge Bob print, an Airplane Print, and Green Argyle (you can find Lil' Bit Customs fabric options here)
I use econobum pre-folds with all of my covers and they fit wonderfully with the Lil' Bit Customs' covers. I also use unbleached Chines pre-folds that are slightly different from the econobum pre-folds but work just as well.

My husband is a huge KISS fan; if you don't know it is super hard to find KISS diapers (I don't know why). I had never mentioned to him that I had tried to find KISS fabric, but one afternoon when I woke up for work he asked me to find someone to make Spiky a KISS diaper. So of course I contacted Lil' Bit Customs. Thankfully it was as easy as finding a KISS shirt with a logo that would work for diapers, a few emails to Lil' Bit Customs, shipping the shirt to her (ebay/paypal) and then she made the diaper. My husband is in love with AIO diapers so of course he wanted HIS diapers to be AIO that is how I got 3 AIO diapers, The KISS diaper, an AC/DC diaper and Groovy Guitars. As I stated previously I am not huge fan of AIO diapers. Lil' Bit Customs has changed my mind on AIOs; while I still LOVE covers, I don't have a problem using the AIOs that she made us. The fit is better than any OS AIO that I have tried.

So if you ever find yourself in the need for a custom made diaper you should contact her. She is super to work with and the quality of the diapers is amazing. She has both a facebook fan page and a website, I think the facebook page would probably be the easiest way to ask her questions and set up custom orders. Also tell her Spiky sent you, I don't know if it will do anything but never hurts to try :)

Thin Blue Line Survival Bracelet

I recently started making Thin Blue Line Survival Bracelets. I am selling them as a fund raiser for the Police Unity Tour. All the money that is collected by the Police Unity Tour goes to the National Law Enforcement Officer's Memorial Fund.

The bracelets are made from 550 paracord and so far the only closure option I have is a 1/4inch shackle (as pictured) I do have side release buckles on their way. If you are interested in a buckle just let me know and as soon as they are in I will start making them.

I am working with Officer Jennifer Criteser; we are selling the bracelets for $12, $6 of every sale will be donated to the Police Unity Tour. Shipping is $2 for the first bracelet and .75cents for each additional. If you order 5 or more the shipping rate is $5 no matter how many bracelets over 5 that you order!  If you are local and would like to buy a bracelet you can email leave a comment and then you don't have to pay for shipping. Please put "survival bracelet" in the subject line. Officer Criteser will have a page set up so that if you would like to donate to the Police Unity Tour you can do so from there. Once her page is set up I will be posting a link!


There are now additional options available for the bracelets. You can choose either the shackle or a side snap buckle. Make sure when you add a bracelet to your cart that you pick the closure option that you want.

There are limited quantites of the shackle closure. There are
7 inch- 8
7.5 inches - 3
 8 inches -1
8.5 inches-2
9 inches-2
There are no plans at this time to order more shackles unless requested. If you request more shackles than I currenlty have expect a delay as I will have to order shackles before the bracelets can be made. Thank you for your continuing support

Sizes

7 inches shackle $12.00 7.5 inches shackle $12.00 8 inches shackle $12.00 8.5 inches shackle $12.00 9 inches shackle $12.00 7 inches buckle $12.00 7.5 inches buckle $12.00 8 inches buckle $12.00 8.5 inches buckle $12.00 9 inches buckle $12.00

To date $72  $90 $102 has been raised for the Police Unity Tour!

Product Review- The Green Panda Wipe Solution Soap Bits

Company: The Green Panda

Product: Organic Wipe Solution Soap Bits - Several scents available. Scent purchased Cucumber Melon

Price: $9.00 + $3.00 shipping

Directions for use: Dissolve one Soap bit (baby pin) in 1 to 2 cups of hot water

When I first got the soap bits in the mail I opened the package and was slightly overwhelmed by the perfume smell. This made mer nervous about trying the product. However upon further inspection there were 2 additional soap bits in the package of a different scent (Irish Tweed) . The free scent was either just not what I was expecting or a little to strong for my liking. The cucumber melon soap bits had a very slight and pleasant  cucumber melon scent.

In the directions for preparing the wipe solution it says to dissolve the soap bit in 1 to 2 cups of hot water. Initially I used 2 cups of hot tap water. I swirled the water around in a stainless steal bowl (plastic absorbs some smells) until the water was room temperature and the soap bit was still not dissolved. I think placed my stack of wipes in the bowl and absorbed all of the water. This generally requires flipping the wipes so the top gets solution. The 2 cups of water was not enough and since the soap bit was still not dissolved I added another cup of hot water and stirred until the soap bit was dissolved. This was enough solution for all of the wipes to become damp.

When I prepare my cloth wipes I fold my wipes (from Pretty Printed Diapers) in half and stack them in a disposable wipe case. I just put wipes in the case until it is full I have no idea how many wipes are actually in the case. The next time I stack wipes I will try to remember to note the total number of wipes.


Overview:
Overall I am very pleased with the soap bits from The Green Panda. It was more convenient than mixing my own solution;even though technically still mixing my own solution, but I didn't have to measure out anything but the water. I think the reason the soap bit didn't dissolve in the 2 cups of water is that my tap water does not get very hot, even at its hottest I can still keep my hand under the water. So next time I am going to heat the water on the stove or in the microwave prior to trying to dissolve the soap bit. Everyone might not need to use 3 cups of water the scent was a lot less noticeable with 3 cups of water than it was with 2 cups of water. But I don't really want my son smelling like overwhelming like cucumber melon so to me that is a plus.

This product is going in my list of products to suggest to new cloth diapering moms.