Wordless Wednesday: Queen Me

Queen Me

4 watercolor & acrylic ATCs

Slee Fenton, 2006

WORDLESS WEDNESDAY

My ATC beg.

Cora's Day

Today, Cora is four months old, and in her memory, Snapdragon is pinking it up, even if he's a boy.

Why do we wear pink on the 30th of each month in memory of Cora? Because we're helping Cora save lives.

You can read Cora's Story on my friend Kristine's blog, and then, in honor of Cora, put on some pink, and do something nice for someone else. I haven't found our good deed for the day just yet, but we're working on it.

Most importantly, let your children and loved ones know how much they mean to you. Take a few extra minutes out to play a game or go for a walk with the ones you love, and if you know a new mother to be, please let her know that many congenital heart defects can be detected with a non-invasive, simple, and painless pulse oximetry test.

Help Cora save lives, and make the world a better place for those living in it.

The Great Fluffy Review: essential saltes baby Fitteds

This is Snapdragon in his my favorite fitted diaper. I have, to date, made 2 fluffy purchases. We've been very blessed with hand me downs, gifts, and giveaways, but I recently sold my bumGenius, Rocky Mountian, GoodMama, and Smartipants so I could buy these. es baby OS fitteds were my first ever clothdiapers purchase and my only regret is that I couldn't buy more and sooner.

What's to love.

Everything.

First off, essential saltes baby, or es baby for the lazy typists amongst us, is owned by this awesome woman named Christine who went to a LOT of trouble to make up a chart explaining cloth diapers for those of us who find all the possible options in diapering a bit complicated. See? She rocks.

Christine makes a pretty all inclusive line of sized and OS diapers. She does fitteds, covers, OS fitteds, OS covers, special overnight covers called "lights out" covers about which I hear goodness and joy, AIOs, QD AIOs, OS AIOs, OS QD AIOs,and even a line of organic diapers.

So I'm going to tell you why I LOVE the OS fitteds.

We have been using her OS fitteds for months now, and I currently own five of them. We were lucky enough to be involved in her early testing rounds as she was developing the product, and have loved every single version she's created. We have one that's reminiscent of a lamb with fluffy and stretchy sherpa, two with boring but functional white knit bodies, and then the last two have a quilting fabric outer layer, so in order to make up for the non-stretchy nature of the fabric, Christine has slightly modified her pattern so that they have more stretch built in.

I mentioned we've been using these for months, right? Well, we have, and they've held up spectacularly, they wash up well, they don't retain the same odors that microfiber diapers do, and they absorb like nobody's business time and again.

Snapdragon tends to be a heavy wetter upon waking, and since we cosleep, I'm particularly keen on his overnight diapers working well, since I don't love waking up soaked in pee. As a result, these are my absolute go to for overnight. I have one other diaper that I regularly trust for overnight, but I know that barring a misplaced "fire hose," we'll be waking up in a dry bed, in dry pajamas on nights when he sleeps in his es baby OS fitteds.

Another thing to love- es baby diapers are so very customizable. Just check out all the options she gives you! OpTiOnS I know, deciding whether you want an extra soaker, the whole thing lined in velour and if hemp really means a lot to you, if you prefer side or front snapping, and all that can be a taxing thing, but it really gives you a chance to order what you feel will work best for you and your baby. The best part is, if you don't know, you can just go with the defaults, because they work spectacularly well for me.

But even then, the most fun part of shopping with es baby is yet to come. If you want a super spectacular fabric over the whole thing, she has some of the best fabrics EVER. Swatch-o-rama

These are the two on which I finally settled, after HOURS of decision making.

Did I mention that the OS fitteds have excellent coverage? They do. This means they're not the trimmest in the world, but they work so dang well, I don't care. Christine has developed a more trim fitting version, but I wouldn't change a thing in the world about these, so I haven't tried it.

More awesome.

It's called workmanship and artistry. Christine pays a lot of attention to detail. Remember when I went on about all the choices? Well, once I picked my fabrics for the two fitteds I recently ordered, I hadn't even put any thought to things like snaps. I mean, snaps are snaps, right? Wrong. She makes magic with the snaps. She's a snap goddess.

See? Not only did she pick out the perfect snaps to compliment the prints I chose, she went a step further and made them two toned and awesome. I love that kind of attention to detail.

Also, I love the snap layout on the front snapping diapers. The leg adjusting snaps are in the perfect spot to keep the legs snug without leaving weird (and potentially painful) marks on baby's thigh/hip (unlike some OS fitteds I've sold...) and they overlap ensuring that you can get the dipe just right on little ones. As opposed to a lot of OS diapers with a snapping rise area, these allow for four different size adjustments, so there is more room to grow without the diaper fitting poorly!

Downsides? Can't think of any.

Does Snapdragon love his es baby fitteds? What do you think?

So if you ask me if I can recommend a good overnight diaper, this is what I am going to say.

If you ask me what to put over it? I like the Nifty Nappy woolies best, and otherwise use my GroBaby shells or Wonderwrap. In a pinch, an AMP pocket, a Large Fuzzibunz pocket work pretty well too, but like I said, I LOVE the wool.

I almost forgot the best part. es baby OS fitteds are less expensive than their competition. How can you beat that?

You can pick up some es baby diapers at the es baby website, or the es etsy shop. You can also follow the es blog, because Christine is made of awesome, and if you sign up for the mailing list, you can get spiffy discounts too.

I was not compensated at all for this review, so yeah, I love em completely.

Boikido Blocks Giveaway!

CLOSED

I've been pondering what to get for Snapdragon and Mongoosine's birthdays for a while now. I had the brilliant luck to have children with birthdays less than two weeks apart, so it means trying to think tween and toddler at the same time. (No, he isn't toddling yet, but he will be soon!) One of the hard things about thinking in both directions is finding places that let you shop in both directions. Well, I have gotten quite a few ideas from AllChildrensFurniture.com. I mean, their kids bedding section alone has over two THOUSAND options from little bitty baby bedding up through the trendiest of teen options... one of which, just might involve sock monkeys.

See? How PERFECT is that?

And talk about toys! The number of options AllChildrensFurniture.com offers is positively mind blowing. Even better? They've generously offered to give away something delightful to one of my readers!

It's something fun for the kidlets, and since I love color, natural materials, and things which inspire the wee ones to be creative, I'm quite excited about this!

(drumroll please)

The Boikido 50 piece blocks set.

Cute? Do you heart them as much as I do? Well, All Childrens Furniture has generously offered to give a set to one of my readers. This is one of those giveaways I wish I could win!

The Boikido 50 piece blocks set are hand made and hand painted wooden wonderment. Did you catch the car and the moon? I love these.

You wanna win?

Mandatory Entry:

Head over to the CSN Stores sites and tell me what your favorite thing is that they carry. Okay, that's impossible, how about something you really really like instead? Leave the description or the link in your comment along with your email address, unless your email is linked to your blogger profile and easy to access. If I can't contact you, you can't win.

Extra Entries, because we all like to benefit from trying harder. *Leave a separate comment for each*

1. Follow my blog.

2. Subscribe to my blog via email and confirm said subscription.

3. Blog about this giveaway linking back here and to the host. (3 extra entries)

4. Grab my button and let me know where you put it.

5. Tweet this giveaway, up to twice daily. Tweet must link to this post and include @fentonslee. Leave the permalink to your tweet in your comment. (get the permalink by clicking on the time beneath your tweet)

6. Leave a comment on a non-giveaway post somewhere else on my blog, and then leave a comment here letting me know where to find it! (unlimited)

Contest is open to US and Canadian residents or people who live elsewhere but plan to have the item shipped to a US or Canadian address.

Contest will close April 12th 2010 at 11:59 CT

Winner will be selected via a random number generator and notified via email. Winner will have 48 hours to respond to said email. Should winner neglect to respond for whatever reason (chased by rabid iguanas, not caring, or overwhelmed with tax season) a new winner will be selected using whichever method seems the most amusing at the time. Tongue twister tweet off, perhaps?

DISCLOSURE- I wasn't compensated for this giveaway.

Scrub a Dub

Scrub a dub, a boy in a tub sink...

Yep, that's a bottle of toxic behind his shoulder, so no wonder he doesn't look exactly thrilled. Okay, truth? He's irritated because I took his cup away from him for a second. But yes, that's what I have been, on occasion, scrubbing my boy with. I just don't know what to use that doesn't contain nasty chemicals.

I have washed him with baking soda, I have washed him with water. I have washed him with way diluted cloth wipes solution by WeeEssentials (which is to date my favorite). But we have this ridiculous J&J crap, and I am not good at wasting things, and I keep going back to it.

So I'm asking, what are you using to wash your baby that is safe and leaves them smelling like something other than... well... butt? Because I'd like to replace the yellow peril with something a little less, well, evil.

Blue Monday: Trouble

As of Thursday, March 25th, Snapdragon has figured out the whole crawling thing, and so the trouble begins. Now neatly arranged books on low lying library shelves are no longer safe from disorder. Cans, neatly arranged by contents and expiration date on my pantry shelves are now mere building blocks.

The days of setting down and stepping into the other room are well and over, and a new era of exploration is upon us!

For more Blue Monday, head over to Smiling Sally.

Spring Cleaning

Okay, I just cleaned up a huge mess on my side bar. It was a button-tastrophe. Buttons with broken links, buttons with missing pictures, buttons where the blog had since moved or changed it's name, buttons which no longer bore any resemblance to the blog... it was awful.

So...

1. If I deleted your blog button, it isn't personal. I will likely regrab it next time I'm by and in a button grabbing mood. I still like you.

2. If you DON'T know how to make a button for your blog, then CLICK ME to go to the best ever blog button tutorial in the known worlds. You'll thank me.

Obsession & Birthday Cake

9 Mandala ATCs, colored pencil on card stock, Slee Fenton, 2006

I'm one of those people who gets interested in something and gets kinda myopic about it.

At the moment, other than Sock Monkeys!!!! I'm kinda obsessed with Artist Trading Cards.

I know. Nutty.

But I'm NOT THE ONLY ONE.

My daughter is obsessed with them too.

So here's my super secret plan that makes me hope she's not secretly following my blog:

I'm doing a ATC drive for her birthday.

What does this mean? It means I'm trying to help her grow her collection for her birthday, by asking people to make and send her an Artist Trading Card.

Woah, what's an Artist Trading Card?

They measure 2.5" x 3.5" (the size of a playing card or trading card) and are no more than 1/4" in depth. They are original artwork or prints in an edition. They can be fiber art, they can be paintings, they can be clay, or a collage, photographic, digital art, or some awesome multi media piece. I've even collected ones made of glass.

So why am I telling you?

Simple, I'm trying to get more people involved. :-)

So if you'd be interested in creating and sending Mongoosine an Artist Trading Card for her birthday, email me or leave a comment with your email addy so I can email you the details.

Think this is something you or your kids might enjoy? There's a GREAT group on yahoo for trading ATCs.

Wordless Wednesday: First Time by the Water

Wordless Wednesday

With the Clarity of Youth

"There can be no secrets in a hoise with children."When I first read those words in Diane sutterfield's novel, "The Thirteenth Tale," I thought it was silly. Of course there are secrets. I have children. That doesn't mean my entire life is an open book, does it?
Of course not, or so I told myself.
Anyone else uncomfortable with this notion?
But it's true. There are no secrets.
Ears in other rooms always perk up when their names are mentioned, and it makes me wonder, how many other words are like a dog whistle, demanding instant and complete attention? More than any of us want to think, I am certain.
Why do I say thois? Bee our children see us. They truly see us. We, as mothers, have been the most constant point in their environment for their entire lives. There is nothing they know better han us. They know when we're trying top a happy face on. They can tell when we're irritated, and they know that they can learn the most aboutfrom pushing those buttons with which they're so familiar when we are. They know what songs we like and which guy on TV we think is hotter than daddy.
Sure, they come off as oblivious, but then, out of the blue, they will do or say something that proves they were always paying attention, and that they see us with this clarity that we forgot we could be viewed with.
It never fails to touch my heart, and it also, invariably reminds me that I need to try harder and be better, because they are watching, and learning.