Do I hear GIVEAWAY???

Yes! As soon as this blog hits 50 readers, I'll be hosting my first giveaway. I already have an item in mind for this giveaway, but I am not going to announce it until we get closer to the goal. You're going to want in on this though!! In the mean time, tell me what you would like to see reviewed and what you would like a chance to win here in the comments. I need your help to reach this goal, so tell a friend!

Oh and don't forget to "like" the face book page too! I may announce giveaways there also.

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Knickernappies OS Review

I was really excited to try this diaper. They come in a nice assortment of colors and have a wide fit range. The thing I found most interesting about this diaper was the side snaps. My little one isn't old enough to attempt undoing her diapers, but I'm sure the day will come soon enough. What actually was of more interest to me was the way that the side snaps appeared to make the front of the diaper nice and smooth, without any bulk. It looked like they might look nicer under certain clothes.....and they do! Another great thing about this diaper is that it's made in the good ol' USA! How awesome is that folks? If you are a HUGE supporter of all things made in the USA like I am, then these are the diaper for you. This diaper comes with two choices for inserts: the standard microfiber (which is what I bought) or the Loopy Do insert. The loopy Do insert is layers of microfiber and layers of hemp terry for extra protection. If you have a heavy wetter, the Loopy Do, or the Super Do might be your best bet. I went with microfiber just to try them out and save a buck. I'll definitely be getting more of these diapers in abundance. With MF inserts, this diaper rings in at $19.95, and with the LD insert $24.95. Not bad for a product made in the USA! Proof that we DON'T need to send everything to China to save a buck :)

Back to the review.....

I gave this diaper a 4 out of 4 stars. If I had an extra star to give, I'd give it 5!

1.) Quality/Durability. I have no doubt this diaper will stand the test of time. It still looks brand new after using it for nearly two months now. It's been used in heavy rotation, meaning it gets used and washed at least 3 times a week. Since these aren't aplix closure, there's no need to worry about the aplix piling or sticking to other things. The inside liner is made of a non-piling fleece and it's really soft. It's help up nicely in the wash so far, and truly hasn't piled. They also haven't stained yet. Poop rinses off pretty easily in the toilet, without leaving anything behind so there isn't much left to stain. Knickernappies even offers a two year guarantee on their snaps and elastic. They promise it won't fail on you! The elastic is snug without being so snug that it leaves marks!

2.) Do they work? Absolutely! The Knickernappies diaper has one more row snaps than most diapers I've noticed. The only one that compares would be the Rumparooz. The rise on the Knickernappies is taller though, so if you have a longer baby (like I do) this might be a perfect fit for you! There is a slight scoop in the front panel in order to allow for the Buddha belly that most of our babies have. The snaps are actually far more customizable than you would think at first glance. There are two snaps on each side of the diaper. You don't have to snap them each at the same location top and bottom. You can snap the top snap (the waist snap) in one position, and then snap the bottom snap (the thigh snap) either tighter, the same, or looser. Whichever works for your babe! This makes it similar to the Fuzzibunz diaper, but with one less snap to mess with......awesome!

3.) How do they look on my kid though? ADORABLE! They really do. I always forget to snap a shot of little miss fancy pants in her Knickernapies. I'm going to remind myself to do it because these diapers really are cute! They are a nice and trim fit, even with both microfiber inserts being used. They also come in a great variety of colors to make anyone happy. And the side snaps just add to the cuteness!

4.) Overall Value. I'd say these are worth every penny. There are other diapers out there that are of equal quality, but not made in USA and still cost more than a Knickernappy! Event the insert with hemp is a great value. It's hard to find a hemp insert for that low of a price. I can honestly say these diapers are worth every penny and then some. I could easily see these diapers commanding anywhere from 25-30 bucks!! So take advantage of the bargain prices they have to offer.

By the way....the color I have shown is Turquoise. I was messing with my camera settings and forgot to fix them before snapping a shot of these diapers. This isn't the actual color. I will try to post better pictures up soon!

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Modified all in one (AIO)

I solved our stink issues as mentioned in a previous post, with the exception of our Bumgenius AIO's. I tried soaking and some other things,and they got better.....much better. They are definitely usable now. But there has still been a faint ammonia odor lingering around ever since......very faint. You have to actually sniff the peed on diaper in order to smell it. But it's been bothering me. I know it's there, and I want it gone! So I thought long and hard about WHY this was happening, and how I could fix it.

WHY
I decided it was most likely because they insert is sewn into place, making it very difficult to agitate sufficiently in the washing machine. I am going to guess that some amount of pee always stays behind. I also assume that some amount of detergent is left behind as well simply because it's harder to get a good rinse on it in the washing machine, or even by hand washing.

FIX
I tried hand washing, and soaking. No luck. I tried turning it inside out, and then right side back again during my multiple wash cycles.....no luck. It became clear that the only real solution was to get that stinkin insert free from the diaper! But I didn't want to loose the convenience of the AIO. I took out my trusty seam rippers, dusted off the sewing machine that I can only straight stitch with (because I don't know how to sew) and go for it!

*WARNING* THIS WILL VOID YOUR WARRANTY WITH COTTON BABIES!!! Don't do this unless you don't care. Try one first to see if you like it before doing your whole stash!

Steps:
1.) Use your seam ripper to carefully rip the seam between the inside liner and the insert. Be very careful not to rip the actual liner. Take your time.
2.) Rip all the way around until you have only one short edge of the insert sewn in place. At first, I decided to leave the edge that's closest to the front of the diaper in tact......I have since changed my mind. Doing this still requires you to turn the diaper inside out, and I want to avoid that. The next one I do I will leave the edge that is near the pocket opening. This way I can just pull out the insert just like you would any other pocket diaper, but it will stay attached at that one seam.
3.) Since you just ripped up the seams, you will have to reinforce the one seam you have left. Use your sewing machine to straight stitch as best you can along the edge you left sewn down. Don't forget to go forwards and backwards over it a couple times to prevent the thread from coming loose.
4.) Admire your handy work! Aren't you a resourceful little thing! Or if your me....laugh at your handy work while you realize sewing will never be your thing!
5.) Use modified diaper
6.) Wash as normal and smell the ammonia free benefits of having a clean insert!

I will add pictures of this tutorial, but my first try was really bad looking. Only because my stitch went off to an angle instead of following the original seam. It's quite embarrassing, but still totally functional!


Attention Cotton Babies: If you're listening......can you maybe do a little makeover on this diaper?? I LOVE IT!! Just not the part about it being hard to clean. Could you think about making them this way? Maybe with one edge sewn down and the others free? Or maybe a snap in insert or something? I WOULD LOVE YOU FOR IT!! :)


If you have tried this, or will in the future, let us know how it works for you.
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Seriously feed your stash!

In case you haven't noticed, Diaper Junction is one of my favorite stores to buy all things fluff at. They are so nice and helpful! They also host wonderful giveaways regularly for their blog readers. Their current giveaway is the "Super Stash give away"!! Just click on over to see what it's all about and how to enter, I've entered. If I win the big bucks, maybe I'll be able to share the wealth with one of my readers through a give away of my own :) And if I don't win, well I certainly hope one of you does!! If you decide to enter (or already have) come back here and tell me you did! Giveaways are more fun when there's more people involved, so spread the word about Tidee Bums to help me make it possible!


Have a great weekend. I'm off to do diaper laundry.......

Facebook fan page

Ugh! Busy day today! Last week was really busy in general as far as life and work goes, so I had no time to blog. I'm clearly making up for it today! :)

I created a Facebook fan page for this blog in hopes of gaining more interaction with my readers. It seems that's the only real way to reach more people these days. If you have a facebook account, go check out my fan page!

Cloth Diaper Checklist - Where to start

My blog post was featured on Diaper Junction's blog "The Cloth diaper blog"! I wrote a checklist of the bare basics that you need to get started on cloth diapering. You can read it here!


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GroBaby-Now GroVia *Review*

I wanted to try this diaper, but it was out of my price range. That is, until babysteals.com had it as their steal of the day a while back! The price was $47 for a 3 pack. Pretty good deal! I was really excited to try these out. All in all I like them, but they have a few draw backs. They aren't the first diaper I grab in my stash, but they do get used regularly. I accidentally threw one away, and I really miss it, so I guess that says something! The package I bought contained three shells, three snap in soakers, and three booster soakers. The whole thing is made mostly of organic materials, which is probably why they are so expensive. These diapers can also be used with a disposable insert, making them a hybrid diaper. I haven't used the disposable option, so my review is only for the cotton soaker. The idea behind the snap in soaker is that you should be able to just swap out soakers as long as the outer shell didn't get soiled. These come with snaps or velcro, which ever you prefer. They come in a wide variety of 10 different adorable colors and prints. I purchased the one size version, but they also make a sized diaper as well.


I gave this diaper a 3 out of 4 stars.

1.) Quality/Durability. GroBaby got the highest possible marks in this category from me. There is no doubt at all that this is a quality made diaper that will last easily through at least two children. I might even guess three. I have been using this diaper for 4 months now, and they show almost no signs of wear. The only signs being in the velcro area. But it's not even a big deal. I have one snapping version, and it's easily my favorite snap diaper. The snaps are the most durable compared to others. They obviously used a quality snap that isn't going to break. The material is also clearly a high quality material. It doesn't seem to snag at all (who doesn't get the occasional hang nail?) and it doesn't show any signs of wear after repeated washings. The elastic around the leg casing seems to be a thicker width, which makes it fit and lay nicely on my little one. There is no velcro "landing strip" to worry about on the velcro version. The tabs just stick anywhere in the top portion of the rise. It's made of a soft feeling material that the hook portion of the tab sticks to really well. This makes for an excellent fit, and also makes the front of the diaper look nice and smooth. The soaker is made of 6 layers of organic cotton, so not only does it absorb well, but it takes a beating in the washing machine well too. The craftsmanship on this diaper is excellent, not a seam out of place on any of the three diapers I have.

2.)Do they work? The short answer: Yes. The longer answer: If you are expecting a diaper that you only have to change the inserts out of to use less shells......then probably not. I don't use my diaper in that way. Once it's been used, I toss the whole thing in the diaper pail, even if it was just pee. The reason being, there's a "quick dry mesh" liner on the inside of the shell. It doesn't dry all that quick for me, and the soaker doesn't have anything to protect wetness from the shell liner it's self. I understand that when the company switched names from GroBaby to GroVia, they might have fixed that problem by adding a waterproof backing to the soaker. So, if you buy the new version, you might have better luck in that department. But for me, if I can't wipe it clean with cloth wipe or towel, then I'm not reusing it. I guess it's just a sanitary thing for me. My little girl gets diaper rashes really easily, so I don't want to put anything with bacteria-dried or not- on her bottom. This doesn't change the fact that I like the diaper, it just changes the fact that I don't think they can be used the way they advertise. Again, this may have been fixed in the newer version. The laundry tabs on the velcro are ok, but they always come undone in the wash. This is another feature that appears to have been fixed by the addition of little loops to slide the tab under for washing. That makes them that much better if you do buy the new ones! As far as leaks go, we have never had a single one in these diapers. They fit and absorb so well that leaks just haven't happened! Not even a blow out. The soaker was designed to have elastic around the edges to help contain poo. It doesn't really work that way, we always get poo on the shell. But the important thing is, it doesn't escape the diaper and run down the leg! Over all, they work.

3.) Cute Factor. They have it. They fit so nicely, and aren't too bulky which makes them cute under clothing. But the prints and colors that they have are also cute. GroVia uses nice jewel tones as well as some softer tones so you get a nice variety with this line. The prints are modern and adorable which will make you want to own them all! Weather you buy snaps or velcro, you will find that the front of the diaper has a nice smooth look when it's on.

4.) Overall Value. This is the part where I shy away. If I hadn't come across the package deal on baby steals, I may not have bought this diaper. It retails at $24.95 and you only get the shell and one soaker, no booster. I know it's organic, which is great, but it's still too expensive in my opinion. For that price, they should at least make the booster part of the deal. There are packages you can buy to save money, but I wouldn't recommend blowing all your stash money on a big package until you try one first. I always give that advice though. What works for me, might not work for you! I love the three I have (well....two now), but won't be buying more unless they get cheaper soon.


Another note about this diaper. The soaker is great, but it doesn't dry very quickly. I dry most of my soakers and inserts in the dryer, and this one is never dry at the end of the cycle. I always have to finish it by air drying. It's not that big of a deal, but I know for some people, especially us working moms, we don't have time to wait around for soakers to dry! If you line dry this diaper completely, you are lookin at a very extended drying time. I tried to line dry once, and the soaker wound up being very stiff. Since I have to pay to dry, popping it in the dryer to soften it up isn't an option. The organic cotton can be scratchy against baby's skin, even when dried in the dryer, so I avoid these when my little one has a rashy bum. In fact, the soaker in this diaper has caused irritation spots on my little girls inner thigh from where it rubs, so we don't leave this diaper on for too long.

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