The Youngest Monster Turns 3! Giveaway time!

In honor of her birthday, I've set up a GIVEAWAY!

I can't believe that in 2 short weeks, my baby will be 3!  When did that happen?  When did my baby become a sassy little toddler who has a mind of her own? 

Enter below!  I also have the same giveaway running on our facebook page so if you entered there, your work is done!  Remember that you can tweet once a day and keep getting more chances to win.




a Rafflecopter giveaway
  

Wordless Wednesday-Blanket Museum

I guess we don't build blanket forts in this house...

New Boy Prints!

I've felt like I couldn't find any super cute boyish prints lately.  Everything that caught my eye was veering towards girly.  I love girly.  I'm trying to put ruffles on anything I can right now but my original goal with The Eli Monster was to provide really nice, modern, diapers for boys since I had such a hard time when my own Eli was needing diapers.

I feel like I hit the motherload of cute boy prints lately!

Digger Newborn Hybrid Fitted

T-Rex Has Short Arms Newborn Hybrid Fitted

Rocket Science Red Newborn Hybrid Fitted

Flip Kick Hybrid One Size Fitted

Coupla Cute Vikings Newborn Hybrid Fitted

Grass Giraffes Hybrid One Size Fitted

I did break down and make a few girly diapers this week but wanted to get back to where were started and focus on some boyish things this week. 

Why All In Twos Rock

I used to make pockets a few years ago.  I used to LIKE pockets.

After a few kids and trying almost every diapering "system" known to man, I got tired of fiddling with everything day after day, laundry load after laundry load.  Inserts, liners, layers, extra inserts, snap down, snap up, pain in my you-know-what.

Poor baby's diaper is bigger than he is!
Photo:  E. Voll

I'm busy.  I do not enjoy spending the better part of an evening stuffing pockets.  I do not enjoy having to stick my hand in a soiled diaper to get the insert out.  Because, you know, Murphy's law dictates that you WILL get poop on your hand.  Every. Single. Time.  And don't believe the claims that they will wiggle out in the wash.  They never did for me.  I ended up with a stinky soggy insert ball in the shell at the end of the cycle each time I tried.  So then I had to rewash everything.  I was over diapering in general but especially over pockets.  ESPECIALLY one size pockets when I had 2 kids in them.  They were always snapped too little (or under/over stuffed) for the wrong kid and SOOOOOO bulky on the smaller sizes.  So, so bulky.

That's when I started making (and using) All In Twos (AI2s) as the bulk of my waterproof diapering usage.  It's as simple as putting on an All In One but has the adjustability of pockets since I can add insert boosters as needed for naps or nighttime.  No need to unstuff-just throw the whole thing in the wetbag OR (and here's where it was great for me once Adlai started eating more real food and her poops were more predictable and not every diaper change) unsnap the wet only insert, let the shell air dry for a bit (I liked to rotate about 3 shells during the day) and snap in a new one.  My diaper loads were cut in half, instantly!

Reasons why The Eli Monster AI2s are the bomb-diggity (I can't think of a better descriptive phrase here...)

• Waterproof, no separate cover needed.
• Adjustable absorbancy
• Easy to wash-since the inserts *can* be removed, you get a more thorough cleaning.  Even better, if you don't remove the insert, everything still gets cleaned since there's no place for the insert to bunch up.  
• Less laundry.  Since the inserts can be removed, you can reuse the shell a few times before washing as long as baby just wets (toss the whole thing in the wetbag when there's a dirty-dirty diaper)
• Easy to use.  Wears just like a pocket or All in One.  
• NO STUFFING!!!!  
• NO UNSTUFFING!!!!  Just a quick unsnapping, or for dirty diapers, toss the whole thing in the wetbag and forget it.
• Choice of materials next to baby's skin.  Most pockets have a microfleece or suedecloth inner layer to help wick moisture through it to the insert but since AI2s don't need that extra layer, you can have organic bamboo velour or stay-dry suedecloth, depending on your baby's needs.  
• Sized shells means that even smaller sizes are nice and trim.  You don't need a whole new wardrobe to accommodate the diaper bulk.  
• Less cost overall.  Since you can reuse the shells, you can buy addition inserts at a lower price than a full diaper.

You can browse our selection of All In Twos here.

Wordless Wednesday-They're Coming

There's more................

Wordless Wednesday-Happy Valentine's Day!

What we've been doing lately.

So I took off from any attempt to blog this whole fall and into winter because, well, I've been busy.  REALLY busy.

Kiddo started kindergarten and one would think that having 1 less child around the house for 2 1/2 hours a day would aid in my productivity but one would think wrong.  It's just more stuff added to my daily schedule.

Oh.  OH!  And I forgot to mention my new mode of transportation.

Yup.  I bought a bike.  A cargo bike.  Fits the kids, groceries, international packages.  All in style.  Since Kiddo's school is 3/4 of a mile up the road and the post office is just over a mile, I thought I'd give it a go.  We went everywhere this fall.  Our weekend trips to downtown Minneapolis or up the Mississippi river on the plethora of trails are definitely some of the better parts of living here.  So easy to get everywhere (I've even loaded the bike down from trips to Target a few too many times).

They love it.

And then winter happened.  It happened hard.  What did I expect?  I live in Minnesota...

But Kiddo still needed to get to school.  

So we built a snow cover. In our kitchen.

Frame being formed and secured to the bucket.

Cover being sewn on.  

I made a window!

Then it got REALLY cold!  Bitter cold.  I can handle riding in temperatures down to about 21.  That's my personal threshold.  After that it hurts to breathe and I want to punch someone at the end of the trip.  No bueno.  So the bike is parked for a few weeks till it gets up in the 20s again and maybe even stops snowing (wishful thinking).

Yes.  I rode like that a few days.  With 2 pairs of gloves.

That's a glimpse into what's been going on around here behind the scenes.  We've been busy with sewing and keeping orders going out.  I have a few new things in store (y'all should go join the newsletter to find out what new products are coming!) and am constantly searching for new prints/designs/inspiration!

The many lives of my DayTrip Wetbag

We just got back from camping this weekend.  It was hot, muggy and buggy up here in MN.  I brought 2 DayTrip (Medium) Wetbags with us since Kidlet is only daytime pottytrained (and, YUP we camp with cloth diapers too).  So I have one bag for diapers and the other one just to have around in case we needed it.

And boy did we.  A few trips to the beach, trips back and forth to the bath house, lots of little kid general stinkiness, that extra bag was worth twice its weight in gold the last couple of days.

As a general beach bag, it was superb!  It kept our phones/keys/etc sand and splash free and when it was time to pack up and go back to the campsite, the wet swimsuits (or whatever clothing the kids managed to run into the lake wearing, *sigh*) popped inside and the trunk stayed nice and dry for the trip back to the tent.  Then out came the suits, they hung out to dry and the bag's lining was undone and the bag also hung out to dry, all ready for the next trip.

The bag was a great size to pack up particularly smelly children's wear for the drive back home this morning.  It kept odors locked away and made our ride home pleasant.

But the BEST use of our wetbag this weekend was going to the bath house to shower.  We like to camp in state parks and every park has a slightly different setup as far as the buildings are concerned.  Some have completely separate facilities for each shower and some are the more traditional showerstall/changing area.  This particular park has the little stalls with a changing area in front and the shower in the back.  There was no curtain between so any splash from the shower reached into the changing area.  Well, the wetbag solved the wet clean clothes problem!  I walked up to the shower area with my clean clothes in the bag, the bag kept the clothes dry while I washed and then afterwards, the dirty clothes went in for the walk back to the tent!  Perfecto!

DayTrip Wetbags are A-MA-Zing!

Wordless Wednesday

This is what happens when I'm answering emails.

I ♥ Chevrons!!!

There was some serious squeals of joy when we finished up our new chevron diapers and I finally found some time to photograph them.  How can you NOT love playful zigs and zags???

 How adorable are these???

Available in our main shop (also available as Covers or All In Twos) and in special listings in etsy shop.

I have more prints and photos to share but right now I'm off to enjoy the weekend and the cooler weather with the Monsters!