Summer Baby Loving Event

Welcome to the Summer Baby Loving Blog Hop Giveaway, hosted by Cloth Diapering Again, The Inquisitive Mom, and Our Piece of Earth, in celebration of babies and mamas! There are two grand prizes up for grabs, one open to US and Canada, and one open just to the US.

Don't forget to enter the grand prizes!

I am really excited to be able to be apart of the Summer Baby Loving Blog Hop! There are a lot of fabulous bloggers who are all giving away great prizes! So be sure to go and check those out at the bottom of this post. Now on to the giveaways! 

Etsy is a project I have talked about and wanted to do for quite some time now.
However, for one reason or another it was never the right time and so it hadn't happened.

Until now.

I am very excited to announce that my Etsy shop is officially open!

This shop isn't just about me making money though.

I love to do crafts and this gives me a great excuse to do them.
It also gives me something to do that is just for me.
I plan to run my shop on my time, whatever that may be.
One of its main purposes is to be relaxing and fun for me.

As a stay at home mom I think this is so important to have something you do just for you.
But its also going to be used to bless others which is so exciting for me.
I'll post on that part more later but to celebrate the opening of my shop I'm doing a giveaway!
WOHOO!!!

I am giving away a $25 Credit to my shop.

Currently I am opening the shop with custom children, toddler, and infant tees.
Eventually I will also be adding paper crafts as well. 

Born out of a mommy's need to create and a little boy's need to fly comes a custom superhero tee for the little hero in your life.

I currently offer sizes ranging from 0-3 months all the way up to a children's 2x.
(Color options vary between Toddler's and Children's sizes.)
I will also be adding other custom applique items to the shop very soon.
So help me celebrate by getting the perfect gift for the little hero in your life.

This giveaway is open to US and Canada!

a Rafflecopter giveaway  

Go here to enter to win a grand prize!

Each blogger has a prize worth at least $25 on their blog, so hop around on the linky and enter to win some summer baby loving.

Cloth Diapering Again, The Inquisitive Mom, Our Piece of Earth, and Summer Baby Loving Blog Hop Giveaway participating bloggers are not responsible for prize fulfillment.

A year gone by.

Dear Bug,

 Today you turn one, and I can not believe that a year has gone by.
It feels like just yesterday I was still pregnant, 6 days overdue, and anxiously awaiting your arrival.
I know when you wake up and I see your smiling face, I will think through everything we have gone through over the last year.
I have already been thinking through the events leading up to your very eventful birth.
I know that when I come back to here and now I will look at your sweet little face and realize you grew up over night, right before my eyes.

I love everything about you.
Your goofy smile when you're being silly.
Your genuine smile when you're happy and daddy is playing with you.
The way your face lights up when your brother walks into the room and says hi to you.
The way in which you love your brother so much and willingly kiss him every chance you get. (Even if you wont give me a kiss!)
I love the way you play with my necklaces and try to share the teething necklace with me.
The way in which you get so excited when it's bedtime and end up with the nighttime sillies and we laugh and play for an extra 30 minutes.
I love how you are my little shadow.
And with your piercing blue eyes you melt my heart every single day.

You have such a great personality already and it is so much fun to watch you learn new things every day.

There are still a lot of unknowns as to why you weren't growing properly but we're looking forward to your upcoming 1 year checkup to see just how much you have grown over the course of this last month.
I have gone through so many emotions with you over this last year.
From the moment you were born and I heard you get a Zero for part of your Apgar score I knew this would be a rollercoaster year.
We've had some lows but more than anything you bring so much joy into our lives and you make our family complete.

And I have to tell you more than anything I am so thankful to and for your daddy with how hard he works so I am able to stay home with you and your brother and watch you both grow.

I pray for you every single day my sweet boy.
I'm praying for the man you will become.
I'm praying that you will love God with all of your heart and follow Him wholeheartedly.
I pray that your daddy and I listen to God's promptings and raise you in a Godly manner.

I am so looking forward to spending your birthday the four of us and spoiling you a little bit.
Know that no matter what, no matter what mistakes you make, or the roads you take, I will always love you with every fiber of my being.

When life gets overwhelming.

If we were sitting down over a cup of coffee right now and I were being totally open and honest with you I would tell you I am tired.

Physically, emotionally, and spiritually tired.

Three weeks ago is when it all officially started, but I guess it had been going on for even longer. I finally got Bug to the doctors on July 10th. Due to a lot of extenuating circumstances, Bug hadn't been to the doctor in months. We ended up having to switch to a totally new office and thankfully a friend of mine who is a doctor was happy to take my kids on as patients. I had known for a lot time that he was really small...but hearing words like "failure to thrive", blood work, and specialists had me feeling broken, drowning, helpless, and alone. My husband was at work and I had to keep my composure.

After having had my first be 9lbs 5oz at birth and by his first birthday being around 25 lbs; I never expected to have my second be such a little peanut. Bug was 8lbs 5oz at birth but at 11 months weighed in only at 16 lbs. They want babies to double birth weight between 4-6 months and triple by their first birthday. Now what?...

It took me a couple of days of crying and praying to be able to face reality and really be ready to deal with whatever we need to do.
Then the next week hit.
Tuesday the 16th my husband started to not feel well and by the time he came home from work I could tell he was really sick. We ended up sleeping downstairs most of the night, Dowe on the rocking recliner and me on the couch. It's the room with the AC and our room was so beyond hot it almost felt hard to breathe even for me.
I ended up driving him to work on Wednesday as he wasn't up to driving himself. After taking him to work I took Bug to the hospital for his blood to be drawn...

I wanted to cry.
My sweet little boy, not even a year old, was being poked and prodded and I had to help hold him down for the whole thing. But he was a little trooper. He cried during the initial poke but once they were just collecting the blood he just looked at me with these sad little eyes that said "Mommy, this hurts and I don't like it but I know you're holding me and that I'm safe. I know you would never let anything hurt me for no reason."

After that was done we went to the library for a few then off to get the rest of our camping supplies. And begin the process of packing for 4 people by myself to go camping for 3 days.

My husband's breathing got worse on Thursday and I told him if he wasn't substantially better by Friday morning we would be taking a trip to urgent care for either a Nebulizer treatment or an inhaler. He has a history of asthma and there was no way I was going camping with him like that. He thankfully woke up Friday morning feeling 100% again and off camping we went.
Camping ended up being a lot of fun. Crazy but fun. I'll do a post just on camping soon.

Needless to say soon after that the 2yo I babysit began to be unusually difficult and I've been burning the wick from both ends. And to top it all off my dear sweet friend who was adopting a little girl got to 71 out of 72 hours and the birth mom changed her mind. My sweet friend and her husband went home empty handed and brokenhearted to a home with a nursery awaiting this baby girl.

But on the days when I'm feeling the most pulled in every direction, emptied out, and I begin to get frustrated if I can just hide away for a few minutes to spend alone with Jesus I am able to feel the most at peace and the most grace.

Even in the midst of the craziness of it all, if I am just able to sit down with a cup of coffee and my Bible, quiet myself before Him and remember that he "daily bears our burdens" (psalm 68.19) I am able to feel centered once again and can make it through the day much better than when I try to do it on my own.

I'm not saying it's easy but at least I feel I am then able to finish well.

What do you do when you are feeling tired and overwhelmed in every area of your life?

Summer Baby Loving Event.

Have yourself a fluffy little Christmas!

Merry Christmas!! 

Actual Christmas is still months away, but, to celebrate Christmas in July, The Parenting Patch and other participating blogs are giving away a Best Bottom Diapers cloth diaper prize pack to one lucky winner!!

 Heather and Poppy are huge fans of Best Bottom Diapers. Even James prefers Best Bottoms over other cloth diapers. From the double leg gussets to the inserts that snap in, Best Bottom cloth diapers are an all around winner in The Parenting Patch household. a Rafflecopter giveaway The Parenting Patch Christmas in July Best Bottom Giveaway is restricted to legal residents of the United States of America and Canada. The Christmas in July Best Bottom Giveaway ends at midnight EST on July 25, 2013. One winner will be chosen at random via Rafflecopter. The winner will be sent an email and will have forty-eight hours to respond. If no response is received within forty-eight hours, another winner will be chosen.

One lucky winner will win a Best Bottom Diapers cloth diaper prize pack. Just look at how cute these are?! The Christmas in July Best Bottom Giveaway begins on July 11, 2013 and ends on July 25, 2013. Sponsored by The Parenting Patch, the Christmas in July Best Bottom Giveaway consists of one (1) Best Bottom shell in color/print of choice (in stock at Nicki's Diapers), one (1) Stay Dry insert in size of choice, and one (1) microfiber doubler in size of choice. The value of the prize pack is $24.40. To enter to win, simply use the following Rafflecopter form. The first entry is free. All other entries are optional. But, the more entries you have, the better your chances are to win. Good luck! Happy Christmas in July!

Prefold Party Day 3!

Welcome to Day 3 of The Median Mommy's Preference for Prefolds Party!  Prize Pack #3 is another amazing pack, full of wonderful handcrafted cloth diapering goodies!

Green Mother Crafts is the result of Jo and Angela's more than 20 years of experience cloth diapering!  Founded with a commitment towards the earth, Green Mother Crafts' goal is "to make affordable products that are functional, stylish, and have a positive impact on our environment."  Selling locally for 3 years, Green Mother Crafts recently expanded to begin selling their earth-friendly products online.  GMC's beautifully crafted items range from mama cloth, to wet bags, to cloth diapers and covers.  I had the opportunity to try one of GMC's Hybrid Fitted diapers (and LOVED it), you can check out the review here.  You can check out her latest creations and special offers on her Facebook page here.

The beautiful creations of Rumor Has It are the handywork of Constance.  I was drawn to Constance's Etsy store by the beautiful fabrics and designs she uses to create her handbags, wallets, burp cloths and blankets. You can also find her on Facebook here.

Gotcha Covered Diapers is the handiwork of Emily Hicks, having started creating diaper covers for her cloth diapering daughter.  Once she started, Emily said that she "fell in love with designing and making these!" You can purchase any of her fun and funky prints, with sizes fitting 2-40 lbs., in her Etsy store here.  You can also see her latest additions special offers posted on her Facebook page.

Amy Washington is the talented seamstress behind Mama Bear Baby Wear.  Mama Bear Baby Wear offers a range of items appealing to natural parenting aficionados: carriers, wonderful wool covers and homemade lanolizing spray, training pants, diaper covers, hybrid fitted diapers and more!

Snappi Baby, makers of the gadget that made diaper pins obsolete -- The Snappi!  Check them out on Facebook!

One lucky winner will receive:

1 Diaper Cover & 1 Set of Cloth Wipes from Green Mother Crafts
1 Diaper Cover from Gotcha Covered
1 Beautiful Set of Prefolds/Burp Cloths from Rumor Has It
1 Hybrid Prefold Diaper from Mama Bear Baby Wear
1 Pack of Snappi Baby Diaper Fasteners

Enter through the form below:

Entry-Form

Giveaway Form:

Entry-Form

From the Stash anniversary sale AND an exclusive coupon!

I have some very exciting news for you all plus an exclusive coupon code!

As you all know I am very pro-cloth diapers.
Having personally started our family out on a tight budget; cloth diapering is what made it possible for us to have me be a stay at home mom.
1 in 3 families struggle to diaper their babies and we were the 1.

And while we started out with a very simple and inexpensive cloth diaper stash some families struggle to even do what we did.
Which is why I am such a big supporter of Cloth For A Cause.

From The Stash which offers quality used cloth diapers and more is celebrating their one year anniversary in an amazing way! $1 from EVERY sale in the month of July is being donated to Cloth For A Cause!

Now you might not think that $1 is going to make a huge difference but it really can. 

It could go towards getting new elastic to replace dead elastic in diapers, new snaps, or even shipping costs. I even found some Brand New Prefolds on From the Stash's website for $1.

So a dollar can go a lot farther than you might think.

I actually asked one of the lovely ladies from CFAC how does a dollar help and this was her response:

"Every dollar that is donated to CFAC goes to helping us get diapers out to needy families. Before a cloth diaper is loaned out, it's stripped and repaired. A dollar can buy us a spool of thread to help us replace elastics. It can go towards buying elastic and buying detergents to make sure that the diapers are free of contaminants and safe for use. It also allows us to set families up with a bit of detergent so that they can safely start using their diapers (and washing them) right away."

How awesome is that?! Every diaper that is sent out is completely ready to go directly onto baby! No washing and no prepping needed!

So up above you saw the Buy More Save More percentages, HOWEVER, I have an exclusive coupon for all of you! For being one of my readers you get 5% off your purchase with NO minimum! So spend $5 and still get 5% off AND $1 gets donated to CFAC! Everyone wins!!!

Come on...you know it would make you happy to get some fluff for your own baby's bum AND help another momma put some fluff on her baby's bum too!  Just enter "THANKFULFORTHORNS" at the check out to get 5% off your purchase no matter how big or small it is!

I would love for you to comment if you use this code and let me know what you got!
Don't forget they don't JUST sell cloth diapers...there are also lots of other goodies on the website so go check it out!