Wordless Wednesday-- Who Does Destructo Look Like?

Okay so it is actually Thursday. But I totally forgot to publish this yesterday. Whoops! So who do you guys think Destructo looks like?

Tuesday Baby: Week 36

Welcome to the Tuesday Baby Link Up!

Welcome back guys!  Hope everyone is having a great week!  Be sure to enter the two giveaways I have running if you haven't already.

Grab the Badge

  <a href="http://www.growingslower.com/search/label/Link%20Up" title="Tuesday Baby Link Up Blog Badge"><img alt="BabyLinkUp500px" height="150" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-kJO22kYRKOc/UHNNJDlm68I/AAAAAAAAAhk/7Gch0yTBz-U/s200/BabyLinkUp500px.jpg" width="150" /></a>

Your Hosts

Shannon at GrowingSlower

Jennifer at Every Breath I Take

Charise at I Thought I Knew Mama
Christine at African Babies Don't Cry
Melissa at Adventures of Captain Destructo

Featured Post

This week I am featuring an article about baking with your toddler over at Lemonade Mouth.  It looks so much fun to make Jello cookies.  I really need to try baking more with Destructo.  He really enjoys being a helper, but it takes so much longer.  I know it is good for him though!  Swing by and check out her recipe!

Ten Books that Make me a Sappy Sentimental Ball of Emotion

Reading is huge in our house.  Destructo loves books and being read to and has since birth (or at least once he wasn't a ball of eating, sleeping, and pooping.)  Typically we read books about trucks, construction equipment, trains, planes, or Clifford.  But every once in a while, he just wants to be read to and will just sit and cycle through a ton of books.  Well tonight it hit me how many books make me tear up when I read them to him.

Here are the top ten books that make me a crying ball of tears.

1)  Wherever You Are my love will find you by Nancy Tillmann.  This book talks about how no matter where the child goes, the parents love will always follow him or her.  Tears.

2)On the Night You Were Born by Nancy Tillman.  Typically the tears start at the line "Life will never be the same" because that truly is how I felt when Kai was born.  And it is so very true.  My life is so much better for him being in it.

3)   Goodnight Moon by Margaret Wise Brown.  I read this book to Destructo every single night for the first year of his life.  Now I still read it regularly, but not every night since his interests have devolved into things with wheels and alligators.  But I will never forget reading this book to my itty bitty baby even though half the time he was asleep in the early days.

4)  Love You Forever by Robert Munsch.  If you mommies have ever read this book you know exactly why I cry when I read it.

5) Guess How Much I Love You by Sam McBratney.  Such a sweet story.

6)   Runaway Bunny by Margaret Wise Brown.  This one is because it reminds me so much of Destructo since he is always threatening to run away.


7)  I'll Love You Anywhere, My Love by Nancy Tillman.  This woman sure knows how to make me cry.

8) I Love You Through And Through by Bernadette Rossetti-Shustak.  I love the line in this book "I love you through and through... yesterday, today, and tomorrow, too."

 9)  I Love You, Every Little Bit.  The pictures in this pop up book are so sweet.  I especially like the line "I love your eyes that shine so bright" since Destructo has so much live and excitement in his eyes all the time.

 10)   Oh, the Places You'll Go!  by Dr. Seuss.  I first learned of this book from and ex boyfriends mom.  On each kid's graduation, she would sit them down on the couch and read them this book.  I always found that so cool.  Destructo go this from his godmother on his baptism and the few times he has obliged to let me read it, I can just picture all the places life will take him.  And in all of them, it involves him growing up and not needing his mommy quite so much anymore.  Sob.  Read this post to really see my musings about Destructo growing up.  Sob again.

This post contains affiliate links which compensate Adventures with Captain Destructo with a % of the sale. Using these links doesn't cost you anything extra, but it helps support this blog and my family. Thanks!

 Linked up at:
Babies and Beyond
Tuesday Baby 

Wordless Wednesday-- Oh Gabbie Cat

Tuesday Baby Link Up: Week 35

Welcome to the Tuesday Baby Link Up!

Welcome back!  Be sure to enter the three giveaways that are going on right now if you haven't already.  There is a 100 dollar gift certificate to Kelly's Closet, a Flip diaper, and a Tots Bots Easy Fit diaper up for grabs.

Also if anyone has any amazing organic remedies for snails/slugs that are destroying my cucumbers, let me know.  I had the healthiest looking cucumbers when I came home from work today.  I went out right before dark and literally they had no leaves.  I might cry.  A quick google search says the culprit is most likely snails or slugs.  Boo.

Grab the Badge

  <a <span class="goog-spellcheck-word" style="background-color: yellow; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">href</span>="http://www.<span class="goog-spellcheck-word" style="background-color: yellow; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">growingslower</span>.com/search/label/Link%20Up" title="Tuesday Baby Link Up Blog Badge"><<span class="goog-spellcheck-word" style="background-color: yellow; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">img</span> alt="BabyLinkUp500px" height="150" <span class="goog-spellcheck-word" style="background-color: yellow; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">src</span>="http://2.<span class="goog-spellcheck-word" style="background-color: yellow; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">bp</span>.<span class="goog-spellcheck-word" style="background-color: yellow; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">blogspot</span>.com/-kJO22kYRKOc/UHNNJDlm68I/<span class="goog-spellcheck-word" style="background-color: yellow; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">AAAAAAAAAhk</span>/7Gch0yTBz-U/s200/BabyLinkUp500px.<span class="goog-spellcheck-word" style="background-color: yellow; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">jpg</span>" width="150" /></a>

Your Hosts

Shannon at GrowingSlower

Jennifer at Every Breath I Take

Charise at I Thought I Knew Mama
Christine at African Babies Don't Cry
Melissa at Adventures of Captain Destructo

Featured Post

This week I am featuring post about natural birth stats in the United States over at Growing Slower.  Everyone knows my strong desire to have a completely natural, unmedicated birth next time around and how long I fought to get that with Destructo.  (If you don't, you can read his entire birth story and see how I tried and failed after 70 hours to achieve my goal.)  

Bummis Tots Bots Easy Fit Review

I was given a Bummis Tots Bots easy fit for review by the Bummis company.  And let me say as a side not that their customer service is awesome!  This diaper in a very few words is everything I had hoped it could be and more.  You guys know my love of all in one diapers that you don't have to unstuff before washing.  Well this is one of them.

What I wasn't expecting is a diaper so soft and plushy that I kind of wish I could have underwear made in a similar material.  It is made of a very soft minky material which dries very quickly and this is another huge perk of this diaper.  The fold out insert is attached on one end which makes stuffing it effortless and as I mentioned above there is no need to unstuff it which is awesome when dealing with a poopy diaper.  It agitates out in the wash 100% of the times I used it.

This is a smaller diaper with the size going from 8-35 pounds and I truly believe it would work well for those size ranges.  Destructo is at 29 pounds in the picture below and it still fits him well on the largest setting.  And it is a bit smaller than some of my other pockets so I could also see it working well on an newborn/younger baby.  It also comes in aplix or snaps which is nice if you are using it on either a younger baby or an older one since I loved velcro with a newbie and love snaps now since it takes him longer to take a snap diaper off.

Destructo showing off his pooper hero diaper

I had no leaks in the many trials I put this diaper through even during 3+ hour naps.  I do have to say I didn't try it overnight, but that is because Destructo picks this diaper nearly anytime it is clean because he is in a super hero phase and I told him it was a super hero diaper.  And that is nice since he is really starting to potty train and doesn't want to wear diapers.  (In fact he told me that the diapers can fly away in a airplane port which is his equivalent of cursing his diapers out since he uses this for anything that angers him greatly.)  But because he likes his super hero diaper, he will wear it which works well for outings when I really can't have him having an accident.  I might need to buy another ten of these haha.

All in all I highly recommend this diaper for convenience, the softness factor, and no leaks.  Another perk is that it is not manufactured in China which I love.  It is manufactured in Scotland.  Check it out at Kelly's Closet and get one for yourself.  You will be amazed at the softness just like I was.  Or even better take a chance of winning an Easy Fit because what is better than winning something awesome?

Linked up at:
My Pregnancy Journal


Disclosure:  I was given a Easy Fit diaper for free to review and keep.  I was not paid to review them and all opinions are honest and my own.    See my full disclosure policy tab for more information.
 This post contains affiliate links which compensate Adventures with Captain Destructo with a % of the sale. Using these links doesn't cost you anything extra, but it helps support this blog and my family. Thanks!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Wordless Wednesday-- Pizza Delivery

Destructo told us he was delivering pizza

Tuesday Baby link up: Week 34

Welcome to the Tuesday Baby Link Up!

Welcome back guys!  Be sure to enter the two giveaways running on the blog if you haven't already.
Flip diaper
100 dollar Kelly's Closet gift certificate 

Grab the Badge

  <a href="http://www.growingslower.com/search/label/Link%20Up" title="Tuesday Baby Link Up Blog Badge"><img alt="BabyLinkUp500px" height="150" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-kJO22kYRKOc/UHNNJDlm68I/AAAAAAAAAhk/7Gch0yTBz-U/s200/BabyLinkUp500px.jpg" width="150" /></a>

Your Hosts

Shannon at GrowingSlower

Jennifer at Every Breath I Take

Charise at I Thought I Knew Mama
Christine at African Babies Don't Cry
Melissa at Adventures of Captain Destructo

Featured Post

This week I am featuring the blog Mommynificient and her tips for flying with toddlers.  Destructo is going to get to fly in a plane very soon and is quite excited about it.
 

Cloth Diapering Advantages A to Z

A-- adorable, addiction,always on hand, always stocked up
B-- budget friendly, bright colors, baby bum friendly, better than a belt at keeping pants on skinny babies on
C-- cute, cotton, chemical free, cost much less
D-- diapers always available, (No) diaper rashes
E-- expense saver, extra uses on future kids
F-- fun patterns, fun prints, free of chemicals, frugal
G-- great for nighttime diapering, green, geared towards green living
H-- hemp inserts rock, happy heiny, healthy obsession, healthy
I-- irresistibly cute, innovative
J-- just add's up (better for your family's bottom line), junk no more, justifiable
K-- keeping baby's chemical exposure down, keeping diapers out of landfills, keep for many babies
L-- lasts through more than one baby
M--microterry, microfiber, and microfleece, many options to customize absorption
N-- natural fibers, never runs out
O-- owl diapers (okay I have a bit of an owl addiction)
P-- poo splosions contained well
Q-- quick absorbing microfiber
R-- reusable, reduces carbon footprint, reduced waste, really super totally cute (love how this one covered all three letters that day!), resale value
S-- stylish, soft (no plastic on your babies butt), swim diapers (any cover can double as a swim diaper in a pinch)

Grovia cover that doubled as a swim diaper

T-- tushie protection when learning to walk from the extra padding, toxin free, too dang cute
U-- useful for multiple kids, unbelievably cute
V-- very cute, value
W-- wash easily (rather do diaper laundry over regular), what's waste when using cloth (just the poop), who wants a crumply ole paper butt when you can have a cute fluffy butt
X-- Xtra? protection against leaks
Y-- you get what you put in (often times they don't lose much value over time if taken care of properly so they can be sold when you are done with them)
Z-- zen???  I have no ideas for Z.


So there you have the A to Z advantages to cloth diapers as compiled by me and this blog's Facebook fans.  Do you guys have any more?   Comment and I will add them to the list!

And now to celebrate hitting 1000 fans on this blog's facebook page, I am giving away a Flip diaper.  It is brand new (although I did take it out of the package to see what Flips were all about.)  It is a light blue color as well.

Linked up at:
Mommy Brain Mixer
Teach Me Tuesday


a Rafflecopter giveaway

Stripping with RLR (with pictures)

For more info on stripping with other methods, check out this post.

First step is you click here and order your RLR capsules.   They also come in a pouch, but I always order the two pack since I have enough diapers to have to do around three loads.

Then, you sprinkle the entire pack/capsule over top of you clean diapers.  (Always start with clean diapers when stripping.)

Sprinkle, sprinkle, little RLR how I wonder what you are

Next you let the diapers soak for an hour or so in the hot water/RLR.  

Tons of bubbles nearly an inch deep in some places

After they soaked for an hour

Next you keep doing hot washes until you see no more soap suds and the water is fairly clear after you let it agitate for a few minutes.  Now my washer always does a cold rinse after a hot wash so if I am busy I do hot, cold, hot, cold.  But this is a bit of a water waster since I only check for suds with hot washes.  So I try to leave my pantry/utility closet door open and listen for it spinning and stop the cycle before it can rinse with cold water.  Typically it takes about 3 hot rinses to get all the soap out, but if they have a lot of buildup it can take more.  Today it took me six hot water rinses (and one cold that I didn't catch in time) to get all the soap suds out.  I hadn't stripped in a very long time and we have hard water and I use ointment with nearly every diaper change since Destructo has very sensitive skin so I do have more build up than some.

Still a good amount of soap and cloudy water

Still soap

And still soap

And yet again still soap

No soap suds and clean water!  Yay done!

Okay so there you have it, easy peasy.  I prefer RLR stripping to blue Dawn because typically it takes about half the rinse cycles and saves me water.  Now onto the more pressing question for my readers. How do you recommend cleaning your washer?  I have ran hot water with bleach through and there is still lots of stuck on grime as you can tell from the pictures.  I want to clean it next weekend when I am finished stripping my diapers.  Share your tips, tricks, and wonder cleaners with me.

This post contains affiliate links which compensate Adventures with Captain Destructo with a % of the sale. Using these links doesn't cost you anything extra, but it helps support this blog and my family. Thanks!

Linked up at:
Tuesday Baby  

Wordless Wednesday-- Cool Dude Ready for the Creek WahWah(Water)

Linked up at:
Wordless Wednesday

Tuesday Baby Link Up: Week 33

Welcome to the Tuesday Baby Link Up!

Hey guys!  If you haven't already checked it out, check out this post for chance to win a 100 dollar gift certificate to Kelly's Closet!  You can stock up on all your summer essentials.  There is also a coupon code in that post that is only available on my blog (and other affiliates blogs) and not the Kelly's Closet website!

Grab the Badge

  <a href="http://www.growingslower.com/search/label/Link%20Up" title="Tuesday Baby Link Up Blog Badge"><img alt="BabyLinkUp500px" height="150" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-kJO22kYRKOc/UHNNJDlm68I/AAAAAAAAAhk/7Gch0yTBz-U/s200/BabyLinkUp500px.jpg" width="150" /></a>

Your Hosts

Shannon at GrowingSlower

Jennifer at Every Breath I Take

Charise at I Thought I Knew Mama
Christine at African Babies Don't Cry
Melissa at Adventures of Captain Destructo

Featured Post

 

I am featuring a post on going gluten free and temper tantrums.  I have noticed a small difference in Destructo since I cut out artificial colors and would like to go gluten free in his diet, but with working full time it just hasn't happened yet.   Check out the post over at One Organic Mama.