Sunday, October 31, 2010

Baby's First Halloween and 9 months Old :)

We went to the doctor on friday for our 9 mo well baby check. Holy cow he's gonna be 9 whole months old in just three days!! Anyway he weighs 15lbs 9.6oz now. Still below the 5th percentile in growth BUT growing He is still on meds since he still seems to need them but it won't be forever We had to do blood work which was awful. I am a wuss and made John hold him for that. I He had this GIANT bandage on his poor little finger where they poked him b/c he wouldn't stop bleeding. So we got a bit of blood on our first halloween onesie :( but hopefully I can wash it out. We'll see. Afterwards he chowed down on a whole banana which was cute and funny. Oh yeah, that reminds me he's sprouted teeth!! He started that about a month ago and has two so far and I won't be sad if the rest of them take their seet time coming in. I am DREADING the day when he has two that come together - ouch! The bright side to that is he is learning to chew/mash with his gums so he's eating more of what we eat at dinner. I don't have to make baby food so often now and we've only bought canned food once to take into the parks at Disney this past month.

Halloween was fun. We started celebrating early a couple of weeks ago at Mickey's not so scary halloween party at Disney. Oh yeah, we took him to Disney haha, but that post is still being written and will have cool photos :)
 
Last week I joined a new mommy group made up of moms "like me" for lack of a better phrase. Attachment parenting, babywearing, cloth diapering, peacful parenting type ladies. It was really interesting to get to talk to them and realize that I am nowhere near what extreme could be in any of those concepts He also got to play for the first time with other kids and he's never met a stranger. He was the youngest and the smallest and he crawled right over (oh yeah he's crawling and cruising heaven help us!!) and jumped in with both feet. He's so social. He smiles all the time and loves to interact with people so I guess I shouldn't be surprised that he is the same with people his own size/age. He went with me on Thursday to the fair to talk to people about responsible dog ownership. He spent a lot of time playing with Jazz and trying to slobber on granny but when he wasn't busy with that he was smiling and flirting with strangers.

Tonight we went trick or treating for a little while and everyone loves his costume. He was in two costume contest thingies and looked adorable for both. He also played in the little baby playground and met a couple of other kids to interact with. It was cute!

So of course you opened this to see pictures not read about us lol here they are :P Pics below are of ;
1-3 today at mall
4 is him with our pumpkins before heading out for trick or treating

Attached Thumbnails
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Tuesday, October 26, 2010

Ragababe Winner

 CONGRATS !!!!!!

According to random.org Ashley Reynolds will be receiving a brand new aqua diaper. Ashley, I'm e-mailing you at the address specified and you have 48 hours to claim your RaB :) I'm going to offer my congratulations although I know you have really been cursed. *evil laugh here* Rags are like 'tater chips, you won't be able to stop at just one!! Mwhahahahaha ENJOY your new addiction! ;) 

Monday, October 11, 2010

Ragababe Easy All In One Review and Giveaway


For the last month I have been testing out a new easy all in one Ragababe diaper with the intent to do a review. The whole thing came about when my Life Plus Baby was chosen at random to receive, review, and give away one of the new Ragababe diapers. Another blog was chosen to review the Ragababe Organic 2 Step diapers and reviews for ragababe products have since appeared in other online venues as well. Honestly it's no wonder, they are a new company unveiling a truly amazing product line. This review is simply about the diaper itself as I see it and my experiences with it. Sooo lets get to it shall we?

First of all my diaper arrived in the mail last month and it aside from being adorable, (and by adorable I really mean ADORABLE), it is obviously well made. Nice fabric, sturdy construction, and you can see the sewing and design was well thought out at just a glance. First thing I did was begin comparing it to a couple of my other diapers. Ok, Ok, who am I kidding, we all know that is a big fat lie. First thing I did was slap it on baby Nicholas and post a photo to the ragababe facebook page lol. Second thing I did was begin really looking it over and setting it up next to the all mighty (pain in the butt to snap on) Rumparoo and the great (gosh darn it it came undone again) Thirsty's Duo diaper. I left the Flip diaper out of the line up. The ragababe has a sturdy velcro closure, elastic in the legs and waist, a sewn in soaker with a pocket for you to add inserts to if you so desire, and all in all is daddy approved for ease of use. I thought I loved my rumparoo's and my Thirsties but as it turns out I didn't know just how great a cloth diaper could be.

The very first thing you notice, if you look past the cute Hero print I was lucky enough to snag, is that this puppy has a velcro closure, not a snap in sight. Hey now, speaking of puppies, maybe ragababe could find some puppy print for their diapers. (Hey I'm a dog trainer so zip it! I can dream can't I?). Anyway back to the diaper review, which is the whole reason we are here. Where were we... ah yes Velcro. Now from my past, and somewhat limited experience with velcro I kind of hate it and was wary to say the least. The thirsties after all HAS come off all on it's own via poor velcro in the past. I am a snaps kind of girl and like I've said I was skeptical. The moment I tried to pull the velcro apart to open the diaper my skepticism vanished, vamoose, right down the drain. The ragababe velcro has some serious hold. We're talking way better that grand finale hair spray in poodle hair kind of hold... amazing. What's better is that even with a bit of lint from washing and drying several times stuck in the velcro it still holds just as well. The same cannot be said for the other guys, see above comment about the thirsties. Not sure what cloth diapering planet this stuff came from but good job ragababe for putting it to good use in these diapers. Another plus with the velcro is the strip along the front of the diaper is nice and wide as are the matching pieces on the fastener portion of the diaper. Lots of surface area to grab. The laundry tabs on this diaper actually function and have done so for a month now... when I remember to put them to use that is. :)  To add to the cute factor if your baby happens to be a bean pole like mine and the diaper is closed about as small as it can go the velcro tabs come together to form a star in the front of the diaper. Not a function of the diaper really but half the fun of cloth is the wow and cute factor. Amazing Velcro aside the real gem of this diaper is the sewn in soaker which is made from, according to their website, quick drying, light weight, ultra absorbent bamboo rayon. I'd have to say I am in agreement with the adjectives describing the soaker. Ultra absorbent it most definitely is. The very first time Nicholas wore this diaper we got caught away from home longer than expected and he spent almost 5 hours in it, rather than the 2 hours which is normal for us, and he did not leak nor was his skin all that wet when I changed him. Nice. I did try out this diaper overnight with no added absorbency and the first time it did leak. However I also feel compelled to add that it was a 14 hour deal and it only leaked a tiny bit. When I went into the nursery at the normal time I wake Nicholas up he was dry but made it very clear he was not ready to wake up. You know how a sleeping baby can be so I left him to it and had a little extra sleep myself and a nice quiet breakfast. A disposable can't hold my little one for 8 to 10 hours and this one only leaked a half dollar sized amount onto a sleeper at 14 hours so I'd say that qualifies this as a good option for overnight use, especially if you add an insert to the pocket (if you have a really heavy wetter). The second time I tried it Nicholas was not allowed to sleep longer than 11 hours and the diaper did not leak and we did not need any additional insert. Quick drying is also a spot on description. It dries just as quickly as any of my pocket diapers and their separate inserts apart from the Jersey hemp insert that the good people at Thirsties came up with. That thing takes forever to dry! I mentioned above that this is a well made diaper and yup I got a chance to test out theory as well courtesy of my standard poodle who snatched it off the clothes line and tore around the yard with it bent on destruction. It passed the Saleen test so I feel pretty safe in assuring you that it isn't going to fall apart in the dyer or anything lol. If it can stand up to a large puppy I'd say it's high quality for sure! It is also super easy for dad's or babysitters to use. Especially if you have friends or family that are unsure about their positions on cloth diapering. This diaper is just as easy as a disposable and all a sitter would need to do is take diaper off deposite into wetbag and stick a new diaper one. Because there are no snaps it functions just like the average pampers.

Of course this diaper isn't free and price is an issue with me, hence the reccent addition of Kawaii's to my stash. When I first looked at it on their facebook page and website I was a little tiny bit miffed at the price, which is on the higher end of normal for a good quality diaper that is going to last. It's not nearly as expensive of some crazy fitted diapers I've seen online and not nearly as cheap as my darling Kawaii's. It's right at the same price I paid for the rumparoo. To be quite honest had I been in my right mind and thinking clearly when I bought the RaR I wouldn't have dared to spend that much on a diaper. Clever diaper store owner though... she didn't have prices listed on the actual product and left it up to you to ask how much it was, which I didn't. Where the RaR is bulky the RaB is NOT. It's a very trim diaper, especially considering it is an all in one. Sizing for this diaper is also great in my opinion. The sizes overlap by a lot. A small goes up to 20 lbs and a meduim fits babies 14 ro 30 lbs. I love that. You are sure to get a good fit this way and as we all probably know a good fit is a big part of making sure you have no leaks. When you think of it that way, the wide range of fit alone is well worth the price. The awesome performance of the diaper itself, joy reccently posted on the Ragababe fan page she had weighed a diaper after an overnight use and it was almost a pound of potty with no leaks, I'd say the diaper is well worth the asking price... maybe even more. I'd pay more but Shhhhh let's keep that our little secrete so nobody gets the idea to raise the price of these babies.I'd personally go and turn tricks on the street corner if that is what it took to get more of these. Come on October 21st!! Birthday Birthday Birthday!! Hoping I get some diaper cash lol

All in all I really really like this diaper. The velcro has changed my mind about velcro diapers and I am looking forward to using these as an easier than snaps option for babysitters and daddy's. Is it any wonder that over the last several weeks I have fallen in LOVE. The cute print, the awesome quality, not having to worry about leaking... it all adds up to a momma who would be willing to go turn tricks on the street corner if that is what it took to acquire more of these. Baby Nicholas likes them as well and I am able to wrangle him into one even on his most wiggly days. It is simply the best diaper I have tried and I am saving my pennies until I can get more. Lucky for me my birthday is at the end of this month!
  My suggestion to you would be to head over right now to read more about the Easy All in One features one the Ragababe website and check out all the colors and adorable prints this diaper comes in!

Baby Nicholas wearing the Ragababe Hero Print Easy All In One

Lucky you, dear reader, you're going to get a chance to win an easy all in one diaper from Ragababe in your choice of color or print. Be advised though... they are like potato chips, you won't be able to stop at just one and you and I might just be fighting over street corners in the future lol. Entering is easy, see below, and we'll run our giveaway through October 24.

Give Away mandatory entry
Please understand you have to complete all of the mandatory entry requirements and THEN leave your comment.
1) Publicly follow our blog via google friend connect or network blogs on facebook
2)Become a Fan of the Life Plus Baby Facebook page and the Ragababe Facebook page and leave a comment to tell Ragababe who sent you!!
3) View the Ragababe website and pick out your an easy all in one diaper in a solid color or a print
4) Leave a comment on this blog after you've done all of the above with your name, e-mail address, and which diaper you'd like to receive (and if you were referred by a friend leave their name as well). 

Additional entries
Pick any or all of these to receive additional entries, each is worth one extra entry.
1) Share a link to this review on your facebook, twitter, favorite forum, but don't spam please! (post link to your post in comment section each link is worth 1 extra entry)
2) Refer a friend, for every friend you send who completes the requirements to enter the giveaway and leaves your name along with their comment you'll get an extra entry
3)Blog about this giveaway and post a link to your blog entry

Give away run through October 24 and entries will close at 11:59  on the 24th. Winner will be announced on October 26 and will be contacted via the e-mail address they provided (Definitely check the blog on 10-26 to see if you've won just in case you don't get your e-mail). Winner must respond to e-mail within 48 hours or a new winner will be chosen. Good Luck!!

More Ragababe reviews
Revies on RaB's FB page
Coupon Mommy of 3's Ragababe Organic All in Two review (giveaway running until October 13)
All About Cloth Diapers