Product Review: Green Bees Diapers

I'm a cloth diaper user.  I LOVE cloth diapers!  These are not your grandmother's cloth diapers.  The cloth diapers nowadays are just as easy to use as disposables, are just as easy to wash as your regular laundry (though have a system all their own), and are waaaaaaaaay cuter than anything you throw away!!!

(Sorry for the blurriness of this picture.  My 6-month-old is already pulling up to standing and is impossible to keep still!)

I have several brands of cloth diaper in my stash.  My typical go-to has always been Fuzzi Bunz.  After going through 3 children, my size medium Fuzzi Bunz are getting fairly worn-out.  Fuzzi Bunz are a great diaper.  However, they are on the pricey side, so I was hesitant about replacing them.

While playing in the Great Cloth Diaper Hunt earlier this month, I learned about Green Bees diapers. They're a one-size pocket diaper, fitting a child from 8-35 pounds. You can't beat the price, so I decided it was worth it to order one and try it out.  I'm so glad I did!!  I ordered mine from Bottoms & Beyond Boutique.  (I also found her through the Great Cloth Diaper Hunt, and she has great shipping prices!)

I started out with a solid brown one.  It fits my daughter GREAT, even though she's a tiny and petite little thing.  Here she is modeling it for you.

There are snaps to adjust the rise (height) of the diaper, snaps to adjust the tightness around the thighs, and snaps to adjust the waist.  Each diaper comes with one or two microfiber stuffers (depending on which diaper you order).

Once I realized how much I LOVED that diaper, I went ahead and ordered some more.  The giraffe print diaper in the first picture above is also a Green Bees.  It is minky (soft and fuzzy) and so cute!

So, if you're wanting to try pocket diapers and the cost is making you think twice, or if you're needing to replace or add to your current stash, definitely try out Green Bees diapers.

I'm sorry if this post sounds like a commercial.  Green Bees has no idea I'm writing this post (and neither does Bottoms & Beyond Boutique).  I only do product reviews on products that I use in my personal life and strongly believe in!

Drinkbands

Some things are more challenging than others when you have a large family.  One of those challenges is cups.  So many times a day you hear, "Which cup is mine?"  Or "Where did my cup go?"  Or "Who moved my cup?"  Or "Can I get a new cup?"  My youngest is too young to worry about cups yet, but when you take my 5 other children and have them use 2-3 cups in a day, that's 10-15 cups in one day-- just for the kids!

Then I heard about Drinkbands.  They are silicone bands (no latex!  YAY!!!!), come in packs of 9 gorgeous colors, and help everybody keep track of their cup.

(In case you're wondering, yes, those are Polaner All-Fruit jars we use as glasses.  They make PERFECT drinking glasses--especially for the kids.  They're a nice, strong glass, they don't break easily, and if they were to break, they are abundant.  The little ones are the perfect size for the littles, and the large ones are even a good size for adults.)  =)

Drink bands also add a grip so that the glass isn't slick, even when wet.  Plus, the kids had fun choosing their colors.  Right now, the glasses go on the counter in between meals.  This weekend, my hubby is going to build a rack we can set them in so that they're not easily tipped.  (If you haven't seen his handiwork, check out my hanging fruit basket he built for me on a whim.)

To make things even simpler, Drinkbands can stay on the glasses and go right into the dishwasher!!  We ordered one package of the small size, but I think we'll soon be ordering a package of the large size, as well. 

I know I'm sounding like a commercial, but I'm not trying to.  Drinkbands doesn't even know that I'm writing this blog post.  I just like passing on the word about products I really like.  My life is busy and chaotic enough.  Anything that helps to streamline things and make it easier is a bonus.  Drinkbands are a big bonus around here!  

What new products have you tried and wonder how you lived without?

Laundry--Charlie's Soap

At the risk of sounding like a commercial, I sometimes like to do product reviews of some of my favorite must-have items in our household.  Most of them I've found by trial-and-error, but it's nice when you learn of one by word-of-mouth before all the trial parts.  So I like to pass on the good info to you!

If you've read many of my posts, you already know that we have a ton of allergies and sensitivities in our family.  One of them is to soaps/lotions/detergents/etc.  For showers, baths, and hand washing, I make all of our soap.

My kids all have super sensitive skin.  This is my son's back when I washed his shirt in a load after I had washed a load of hand-me-downs.  The hand-me-downs had been previously washed in Tide, and it left enough residue in my washer to get into my son's clothes and cause this:

The same thing happens if I even just throw a dryer sheet in the dryer.

I know many people who make their own laundry detergent.  But for me, nothing works nearly as well as Charlie's Soap.

Non-toxic and green, this stuff is good on the clothes and great on my kids' skin.  I've had great results with it, and we use nothing else for our children.  As you can see, we buy it by the 32-lb, 1000-load bucket.

A large load only takes a 1 Tbsp scoop of Charlie's.

Ok, I'll get off my soapbox now!  (Pun totally intended.  hee hee)  Check out their site for more info and answers to FAQs.  They can explain things far better than I can!  =)

My Tot Clocks

Ok, so this isn't a craft I've made or anything, but this is a product that I couldn't live without.  No, I'm not getting any kind of monetary (or any other) compensation or anything for this, but I thought that those of you with kids--especially toddlers--might appreciate knowing about these, too.  It's called My Tot Clock and we own two of them, considering getting a third.

(Sorry for the crooked picture--it's me that's crooked, not the clock.)

These clocks are absolutely amazing!  Our older kids knew from a very young age that they're not allowed to get out of bed (except to go potty and then right back to bed) until we went and told them they could get up.  But then they'd wake up and call us to let us know they were awake--usually way before we were ready to get up.  The little ones don't understand clocks and how they work, so telling them not to get out of bed until a certain time doesn't work--they don't know if that time has already passed while they slept, and a digital clock doesn't work if they are still too little to know their numbers.

This clock changes colors.  It turns dark blue at bedtime (you program in your bed time), then it turns yellow when the kids are allowed to get out of bed in the morning.  There's also a light blue you can use for nap time (again, you set how long nap time is).

There are also red and green lights for time outs or clean up timers or play timers or whatever.  We don't do time outs in the bedrooms and we don't play in our bedrooms, so I have all the "daytime" timers set for two hours.  Then, at nap time, I let the kids choose whether they want a light blue, red, or green clock.

Anyway, it's so nice for us to know that the kids are in bed and not going to get out of bed until 8:00 in the morning.  It's so nice for the kids to be able to glance at their clocks and know whether it's time to get up or not--plus, they have a nice, pretty colored night light.  You can change the face plates for different bedroom decor, too.

These clocks also play music and bedtime stories.  They will not wash dishes or do your laundry, but other than that, they're perfect!!

If you have kids, and especially if you have toddlers, these clocks are must-haves.  They have graciously given us the discount code MTCMBL11 to get 10% off the My Tot Clock at Amazon.com.

What tips and tricks do you have to help the kids stay in bed when they should?