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But… there’s another blanket that your child is just got to have… an itti bitti minkee blankee!

I was totally surprised at how much I like this blanket as soon as it arrived in at our house.  I was having second thoughts about bringing another one in, voluntarily, until I saw the cute Carnivale print!  Then I noticed just how large it was, how soft it was, and how I was having to pry it out of Sophia’s hands so that I could wash it before she got too up close and personal with it!

I secretly wanted Sophia to be a blanket girl.  Although I know it would be hard to break as she got older, I wanted her to have a blanket or stuffed animal that she just couldn’t sleep without.  I thought it would be a cute addition to her nighttime routine.  Unfortunately, she nor her sister seem to have that type of personality.  But the itti bitti minkee blankee has been in Moreaya’s bed every night since we got it!

The minkee is super soft and surprisingly not too warm in these warm nights that we’ve been having.  I love the size {39″ x 29.5“}as when we go to my parents house, I can take the blanket and lay it on the floor for her to play on.  I also love the attention to detail by having the long rectangular piece at the top to compliment both sides of the blanket with contrasting colors.  I have yet to dry the itti bitti cloth diapers, but if they are as soft as this blankee – they are next on my list!

Time will tell if Moreaya becomes a blankee girl!

Buy It:  You can purchase the itti bitti minkee blankee on the EcoDistribution USA website for $39.95.  It comes in 4 lovely prints/colors.

Win It:  One lucky So Easy Being Green reader is going to win a minkee blankee for their child!

This giveaway is open to U.S. residents only.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Good nutrition is an important component of a healthy lifestyle and a healthy baby. The best time to review your nutritional status to make appropriate changes is prior to conception. A very important time of fetal development is during the first several weeks of pregnancy. This is the time all of the major fetal body systems are undergoing formation and rapid development. Here is a great article that can guide you through the proper steps for prenatal nutrition.

The Importance of Nutrition When Pregnant By Dr. Austin Abramson

Happy Birthday to my sweet baby girl.  I love her more than words could ever say and can’t believe how blessed these past 2 years have been.

I’ve been working hard at my Cloth Diapers 101 pages that can be found in my blog menu above, under Cloth Diapers.

My hopes for this section of my blog is a no-nonsense, easy-to-understand information about cloth diapers for people who are considering using cloth diapers on their children or even a quick recap for those of us that already use cloth options.

This week I added the section Traveling With Cloth Diapers FAQs.  I’d love for you to check it out and if I missed anything – let me know!

I’ll be adding sections as I get time.  Right now I have plans to add the following FAQs sections:

• Wool
• Inserts and Doublers
• Cloth Wipes
• Cloth Diapering at Night
• Washing Cloth Diapers

 Let me know if there are any other topics that you think I should include!

Be sure to check out the Fluffy Friday post on According to Jenny today!  She has an itti bitti changing mat that she’s reviewing – and giving one away too!

**Remember, these posts are all about menstruation and being comfortable with the topic and your body – if you’re not interested, please skip this post!

One of the things that scares people away from using cloth menstrual pads is the worry about washing them.  I promise, it’s not hard {or gross} at all!  If you cloth diaper your child, you’ll find that the process is very similar and you’ll probably use some of your cloth diaper accessories with your Mama Cloth too!

Prep:

I’ve read a couple of different opinions on prepping your cloth pads.  One says treat them like you would your cloth diapers – they need to be washed a few times so they’ll be more absorbent.  I just don’t see this really being the case since you’re not expecting your cloth pads to actually absorb the amount of liquid {or the rate of speed} that urine goes into your baby’s diapers.

I simply washed all of my Mama Cloth once before I used them.

Storage:

While I’m on my period, I store my pads here…

I’m sure there is an easier way to organize by different types of pads, but this works for me.  The basket sits on the back of my toilet just where I need it.  The other 3 weeks out of the month, the basket goes into our bathroom closet.

For storage after the pad is used, at home…

They go right into my Diaper Bag Wrangler wet bag that I hang from the same hook that my DIY Diaper Sprayer hangs on.

I purchased a Planet Wise Wet/Dry Travel Bag for when I’m in public.  I can fit a couple of clean pads in the dry side and put my used pads in the wet bag part of it.

Laundry:

Now, let’s go into laundry routines.  There are a couple of different ways to wash your Mama Cloth.  Some suggest throwing them in with your cloth diapers {if you cloth diaper} and others suggest throwing them in with your towels.  I do both.

It’s best to wash your used pads every other day, at the longest.  This helps with general cleanliness, I think.  So, put them in whatever load you wish – diapers or towels.  I would suggest washing in Warm/Hot water and just using a regular routine.  Once again, I don’t think you have to worry about build-up or any other concerns like you do with cloth diapers.  I haven’t had any problems at all so far.

If you worry about stains, and light-colored topped Mama Cloth will stain, you can even spray them off with your diaper sprayer.  I don’t worry about this step at all, because unlike Moreaya’s cloth diapers - no one but me will see my cloth pads.

I dry my pads in the dryer since I would have to have a lot of space to lay them out to dry.  It takes very little time for them to dry so that’s not an issue at all.

Did I miss anything?  If you have any other questions or comments about Prepping, Storing, or Laundering Mama Cloth please leave a comment on this post and I’ll address it in Part 3!

In the next post we’ll also cover the Low Down on Cloth Menstrual Pads – just exactly how they’re going {after 3 cycles} and a review of the pads I was sent from It’s a Girl Thing Period!

My girls are early risers and I’ve always been an early riser, so waking up in the morning isn’t hard for me.  I don’t drink coffee for the caffeine, but just enjoy it.  I normally drink my coffee black, but I recently had the chance to try out Natural Bliss from Coffee-Mate and have really been enjoying it with some creamer added in!

Before I even headed to Walmart to pick up Natural Bliss, I looked around for coupons.  I found an awesome one too!  This coupon is for $1.00 off of 2 bottles of Natural Bliss.

Although I didn’t use the coupon on this trip, I definitely will use it now that I really like the addition of Natural Bliss in my morning coffee.

I picked up the Vanilla flavor from my local Walmart one afternoon while I was out shopping by myself – grocery store trips alone are also a great Me Moment!  I was a bit disappointed as I was really hoping to try the Caramel flavor, but the Vanilla seemed like a good choice too.  Since I usually drink my coffee black, I was quite surprised at just how many coffee creamer choices there were!

The clean look of the white bottle of the Natural Bliss definitely drew my in.  I also loved that each flavor had a different colored band around the top so it was easy to choose out of the flavors that were stocked.

You can see even more pictures from my shopping trip in my Google+ Album.

The main reason that I wanted to try Coffee-Mate’s new Natural Bliss creamer was because of the All-Natural ingredients.  I’m sure you’ll be shocked, just as I was to read the back panel and find only FOUR ingredients listed – yes, 4!

Nonfat Milk
Heavy Cream
Sugar
Natural Vanilla Flavor

All the ingredients themselves are natural which makes the creamer all natural!  What a nice change from most other products in stores that have so many ingredients that you can’t even pronounce, right?!

The taste is pure and simple and adds just a bit of creaminess flavor to my morning cup.  I might just be a Coffee with Natural Bliss creamer kind of girl after all – even after all these years of straight black!

Be sure to connect with Natural Bliss on Facebook and don’t forget your $1.00 off of 2 bottles of Natural Bliss when you head to your local Walmart to try it!

 This shop has been compensated as part of a social shopper insights study for Collective Bias. #CBias

I promised a few tutorials on some of our decorations, games, and party favors and those will come.  It takes awhile to edit all of the pictures so I’ll do a few posts on the party throughout the next few weeks.  Today you’ll just get a glimpse of the Birthday Girl and some of the decorations and party favors!

Dress was made by my best friend!

Sister's Outfit to match - also made by my best friend. This is their Mamaw, my Mom, holding her.

The Clubhouse Sign!

Party Games: Fishing for Gooeyfish and Digging for Pluto's Bones

Party Drinks! Blue Cream Soda & Strawberry Crush

Enjoying her Birthday Cupcake with Mama.

I’ll be back later with lots more!

As their website states… you can’t stop bottles from falling over – but you can save money, time from cleaning up spills, and your carpet!  The SpilSTOP caps are genius and so simple that you’ll wonder why you {or I} hadn’t already thought of these caps!

The original SpilSTOP cap was the first in the SpilSTOP line.  It’s a simple plastic cap – comes in a ton of fun colors – and fits on a variety of bottles and drink bottle types.  The caps work with a regular straw and really stop spills even if the bottle falls completely on it’s side.

My only complaint about the original SpilSTOP’s was the fact that it wouldn’t fit everything.  Well, Jeff {the Engineer and Dad behind this product} has already started taking car of this problem!  The new line of SpilSTOP Sport Caps are now available and have opened up a whole ton of other ways to use your SpilSTOP’s!

Regular SpilSTOP caps fit: Standard baby bottles (Evenflo, Playtex, Dr. Brown’s, Gerber, etc.), 8-oz plastic bottles of Pediasure, Ensure, Glucerna, Equate and Parent’s Choice nutrition drinks, Store-brand nutrition drinks (Wal-Mart, Kroger, Meijer, Target)

NEW SpilSTOP Sport caps fit: Many single-serving bottles of Gatorade, Vitamin Water, Sobe Lifewater, Powerade, Boost, Mott’s juices and more

These caps don’t make claim to make your drinks spill-proof – if a bottle of drink lays on it’s side for an extended amount of time, the drink will come out of the straw, BUT I can totally trust Sophia to walk around the house with a SpilSTOP cap on her drink without worrying about stains on our carpet at all!  What a nice relief for this Mama of 2 who worries about everything!

The SpilSTOP Sport Caps would be a perfect addition to your summer drinks as your kids are running around outside and playing fun, outdoor sports!

Buy It:  The new SpilSTOP Sport Caps come in the same colors, along with a new Bright Colors Pack, as the original SpilSTOP’s.  A single SpilSTOP Sport Cap retails for $2.25 or you can get a fun 3 pack for only $5.99!

Don’t forget to save 15% off your order with the code SEBG15 – expires July 15th and is unique to only So Easy Being Green readers!

Win It:  Right now you can win a 3 pack of SpilSTOP Sport Caps in the Summer Splash Giveaway – As if that’s not enough – SpilStop is offering 2 more lucky readers  a chance to win a 3 pack of their own!  Just enter below!
a Rafflecopter giveaway

Moreaya had her first taste of bananas and pre-packaged baby food all at the same time!  I’ve actually been making all of her baby food {more on that in a later post} and she’s been loving it!  I had attempted this with Sophia but found it overwhelming, which I’m not sure why because it’s super easy.  But in times when I’m not able to whip up a new food for her or for when we’re not at home and it’s time for her to eat – I’ll be offering her some fun foods and snacks like the Earth’s Best Organics Infant Puree Pouches!