Already a year! Where did the time go?

We are quickly coming up on our one year anniversary and I cannot fathom where the time went. We started off with 3 diaper brands and a few skin care lines and only one national brand.

Now one year later we have most of the national brands, we have established some really good relationships with both customers and wholesalers but more than that we have not lost our original vision.

The end of the year brings so many new and exciting things.

~We are receiving our inital stock of BumGenius 3.0 One Size pocket diapers tomorrow. We pursued selling this brand from day one because we truly believed in and used the brand. We waited 10 months but we were able to finally retail this brand. We could not be happier. My family and I do not use one diaper or one brand but a lot of many different styles, brands and materials but this is one brand that both hubby and I like using.

~In the first quarter we will be releasing our wet bags. These will be signature line and will be products that I am proud to have our name on. Our signature wipes are already available in the store. I used these personally for months before offering these for sale and I cannot find any other wipe that compares with them. They really get the job done.

~Fuzzi Bunz is releasing their new diapers over the next 30-60 days. Some stores will have them before us because we are new retailer for them but I truly respect that as loyalty is important. I respect that someone with a proven ordering (aka track) record gets to order before me and I think they earned it. I am patiently awaiting my turn to order however.

~We will be having our semi annual sale from Jan 1-31. All customers will receive 5% automatically however our newsletter customers will be receiving special additional discounts.

~Thirsties covers & Fab fitteds are on sale until 12/21. Most of the covers are sold out however there are still a lot of fab fitteds available.

~Knicker nappies are on sale as well. These side snapping trim fitting diapers are one of my favorites because they fit under jeans - without any issues and my son now wearing a large (AHHH he can't be that big) can't tear it off as easily as he can velcro/applix.

We have exciting plans for our second year, we will keep doing what we do best and try to improve on what we need to but I hope you have enjoyed our first year as much as I have.

Thank you for giving us a wonderful start in this business!
Kindest Regards,
Brandy & the LMD Family.... (AKA The Miracle Boys)

Luv of the Cloth

I never realized before cloth diapering how addictive it would become. I actually like doing my diaper laundry, I actually like "having" to buy new ones (I never really have to but keep doing it lol).

I cloth diaper for chemical reasons mostly but also enviornmental. I, like breastfeeding, am very proud of my decision to cloth diaper and tell the world about it. Some think I am crazy, others think its my sales pitch but actually its advocacy.

If more mammas cloth diapered the world would be a much better place for many reasons:

- more natural bums less chemicals
- less waste in our landfills
- less diaper rash/sore behinds

I will advocate cloth for baby bums well after my days of diapering are over (though we are a very long time from that) because I feel strongly about that. Just as I will be advocating breastfeeding long after my children wean.

What are you an advocate for?

Looks & Stares

Every time someone realizes that my son is in Cloth we get a wide array of comments/looks etc. My favorite was "Is that A Pampers cover?" Most moms say wow I could never do that or isn't that gross.

But I am a firm believer in optimism and good karma so I always act friendly and educational. Today it rewarded me.

We were in a store near my home (all 4 boys and I) and a woman noticed Marcus' cute Sock Monkey Just Ducky Baby diaper peeking out of the top of his yoga pants and commented "aww those are cute shorts" I smiled and responded "thats actually his diaper" she looked straight shocked. "YOU USE CLOTH, I have never heard of people in the states using cloth. That is AWESOME. Where do you get them" I responded that i sold them she asked me to please give her a card because her relatives all used cloth and she would love to get more.

I returned home tonight to a message on my work phone:
"Hello My name is XXXXXX, my sister advised me that you were a cloth user and sold them. Please call me back as I need to get the next size for my son. But also please keep doing what your doing- the more behinds in cloth the better"

That was my smile for the evening- it feels so good to have support in my advocacy of cloth.

So I was a pocket girl.....

I was a complete pocket girl- Marcus has over 30 pockets of various brands and styles. I was completely happy and felt no need to change.

Then one day Marcus got a raw area (chaffing) in his leg/groin area so I wanted to give the pockets a rest and let it heal so I switched to prefolds. they helped a bit but my covers were sitting on his leg in the same area so it was just irritated.

So I decided to break out the wool I traded for and never really used and try that for a few days. HOLY MOSES I am in love. I have 2 interlocken wool soakers and a Happy Heiny's Stacinator. I like the interlocken but they take too darned long to dry and they are hard to get on my wiggle worm.

So I started using the Stacinator wool cover the most. I am in love and ordered 2 more because there is just something about these wool covers that are so lovable. First of all - They snap on so I can get them on him easier, 2nd they are so soft no coarse wooly feeling and they are so stretchy. Marcus is 21 lbs and nearly 29 inches and should be going into a large and he fits on the smallest notch of a medium.

I have NEVER liked prefolds and never thought I would but oh how time and circumstance changes things!

New store Up now and Loving it.

We have been working feverishly for nearly a month to add our products and get it the way I want it. It's not done- not even close- I am getting there though.

This new site when completed will cut my work in half. It is productive whereas the other site was counter productive.

We have some great new products coming to the store in the next 30-45 days- including Thirsties Covers, Fuzzi Bunz, Restock of Bummis, Prowraps, Just Ducky All In One Onesize Diapers, Tiny Tush One Size pockets, and so much more.

We have limited stock of Happy Heiny One Size Diapers and can do some pre-orders they do take approximately 15-21 days to come in however.

I would love input on the new store- is it better or worse? Easier to navigate? I welcome positive and negative feedback.

Thanks again for all your support.

HH One Size- A new Addiction is coming

I like all cloth diaper users can justify one size diapers- I find that they don't always fit perfect at every age but over all they are such a good deal. However, I found that there were not many options both for brand and style but also colors.

UNTIL NOW. Just released this week is the Happy Heiny One Size diapers - these diapers are going to retail for $18.95 but not only are they an one size diaper- valuable in itself they come with 2 inserts- a small and a med-large- and THEY SNAP TOGETHER> so you can use small for the little babies then medium/large insert for older and BOTH at night- this is a truly universal diaper.

I plan on buying many of these for my son. They are in limited availability at the moment however they will get a lot more as time goes on.

I throughly like my Bum Genius and was lucky enough to get some 2nds however i find that hes in a wierd sizing right now and they don't fit as well as they used to... Not BG's Fault they can't fit every baby...

The Busy Schedule

It's funny to me how much a mamma can get done in a day compared to some daddy's. I work a full time high pressure high stress job- from 8-430 my commute is 45 min each way so I tend to leave by 7am and not return before 600 or so. Then I work my business, feed the kids, play with the kids, do the laundry, clean up the house and take care of our pool and garden.

My hubby can't even get his own school work done in the same day he has the kids and works- he has to turn things in late etc because "He just can't find the time". It makes me wonder how he makes it in the real world.

The plus side of this though- I am like the perfect employee as I can multitask like no other. Last week I was training 3 new employees, still working towards my quotas, processing other policies, etc. It was a challenge too but like motherhood if I didn't get it done who would?

My husband has it very easy- I keep everything in the house in order (physically but also bills, doc appts etc). When I get sick or anything its a standstill so my new mission is going to be to delegate more to him. He spends his days watching tv, playing games, or playing with the boys- not much else on a regular basis. BUT my husband isn't lazy if I ask him to do anything he will do it without complaint, I tend to think its easier to just do it versus asking.

Adventures in Pee!

My son is the ultimate heavy wetter- someone once described a certain hemp diaper as bulletproof and my son peed through it in less then 2 hours.

So we are constantly searching for new brands, new diapers, and new inserts. The only system I have found that works with him is a microfiber/hemp combo - so we go back and forth from Loopydo's which work GREAT by themselves during the day and both a microfiber and a hemp insert at night. The Stuffin is my next insert to try- I hadn't heard much so I didn't try them in my original shopping spree but after a few recomendations I want to try them. I truly love the diversity of Pocket diapers but I am so tired of trying things... I just want it to work.

I think I am a fitted/cover girl at heart - my kushies (the first diaper I ever bought) are an old faithful on the weekends when daddy doesn't do diaper duty- as he's at work!

A heavy loopdo will be what he needs and I can't wait to see one... Its the perfect insert in a lot of ways.

My son doesn't have big stools yet as most of his intake is breast milk but every so often he has a nasty one and its got me on the fence about the sprayer? Any insight ? Is it worth it?

Right now I have been just spraying them off in my laundry tub after I shook out the nasties- and its worked pretty good.... I bought some paper liners but haven't used them yet-

I can't wait until I get our Bioliners from Bummis In stock to try! They are supposed to be softer.

The Love Affair

I fell in love with cloth quite accidently. I purchased the classic starter diapers while pregnant with my 4th son and thought- I will do my part to help the environment. I read a bit on the chemicals and other negatives but didn't get heavy into it.

Then at 7 months we almost lost our son- we fought to keep him inside me for 7 weeks until he was born at 35 weeks. He was huge- 7lbs for 35 weeks but had trouble expelling the fluid from his lungs and was in intesive care for 8 days. He made a miraculous recovery- at day 4 he was on a cpap machine and came home at day 9. All the while I was whispering in his ear that we needed him home, mommy couldn't loose another baby, and kept reminding him we could cuddle all day if he came home. I guess it worked.

Well after all the stress of that experience I was just happy he was home and really didn't think about the cloth- (Honestly was a little scared of it). Fast forward 2 1/2 months I went back to work as planned and was told that they were laying me off (with 5k other workers) but they were going to give me severance and insurance for 3 months, then unemployment would follow. I was estatic. They were going to pay me to stay home with my newborn. Life couldn't have gotten better.

All the while this is going on Marcus has a re-occurring diaper rash that started in the nicu and would go away for a week or so and come back and no matter what I did it returned. So one morning - after spotting my previously washed and prepared cloth diapers sitting there, I thought "I will just try it for a week" and started cloth that minute.

It didn't take but a few days for his rash to be gone entirely and has not been back. But I also loved the softness of the fleece/flannel/cotton against his skin. IT made me feel better knowing it wasn't chemicals.

Then everyday I started noticing how much better I felt, he felt and the family could see we were happier. It seems completely corny but the conversion just sat well with us.

Now I know that I will NEVER use disposables longterm on my children again. Will we use them once in awhile? I doubt it but I can't predict the future nor my husbands whims HAHA. But I go out of my way to never use them because I feel better about it.

I have changed so much from my first birth 10 years ago and my last 7 months ago. With my first I got a drive by epidural, thought that breastfeeding was cool if it was easy, and just thought disposables are what you did. Now, I prefer natural birth, breastfeeding is the only way for me, and I won't use anything disposable for myself or my baby.

How did you fall in love with diapers? What is your weakness?
My weakness is a fat tushy in a cloth diaper that just screams! Like my Lime Green Knicker nappies or my Black Happy Heinys.

Its supposed to be a money saver but we won't break even anytime soon because we buy way to often- they are so cute I just can't resist.