Giveaway #5 -- Gift Certificate to Earth Angels Diaper Company

I recently found myself in a very unusual predicament. It was a place I vowed I would never go. I had encountered a situation that I was having a hard time remedying.

And so . . . I resorted to plastic. You know, disposable diapers. Gasp!

I had taken great pride that no plastic had touched the glorious bum of my Mr. Smiley. He had made it approximately 15 months with his bottom only covered by soft cloth.

But then teeth came. August heat came. And a slight weening came. After which, the rash came. I pulled out all of my natural and not so natural tricks to heal the nasty nuisance that plagued my gentle little boy.

Finally, I took a trip to Walmart and bought some supposedly environmentally friendly disposable diapers. The manufactures lured me in with their enticing white and soft green packaging, ensuring me that 100% organic cotton was used. It worked. I shelled out the extra money to sooth my guilty conscience. I really felt like I was letting the world down by contributing to the landfill. To those of you who use disposables, forgive this post and move on, but I was genuinely mortified to buy disposables. I prayed that no one would see me purchasing the equivalent to a bad word in our household!

I know that I am being dramatic. But this was a serious mothering challenge to me. Embarrassment. And it dented the organic budget. I seriously don't understand how people afford disposables . . . even if you buy the cheap kind.

And not to mention the smell! I could go on, but I'm going to "shut it," and explain our next giveaway.


Enter Julia from Earth Angels Diaper Company. Carisa (who else?) from 1+1+1=1 and Lil' Ladybug, had listed a bunch of her favorite diapering resources. I looked through the various websites, but Julia's site stood out to me . . . there was a big, large and in charge, comment/question form.

And I used it.

I must admit that it really required some squelching of my pride to ask for help. I've been doing this gig for 5 years now . . . and to run into a cloth diapering problem that I couldn't solve . . . well, it brought my self-esteem down a bit.

Julia graciously replied with several questions, of which I answered . . . and set about putting her suggestions into action. I am happy to say . . . the problem is resolved and we are back in the cloth diapering business. But because I had such a great experience with Julia, I really wanted to bring her WAHM business some attention and asked if she would do a giveaway.

She said YES!

In exchange, I had to do a cloth diaper review. Can you believe it? (Secretly, I was overjoyed at the opportunity to review a diaper. I really hoped it would be a diaper with all of the bells and whistles, since I mainly use prefolds.) Julia didn't disappoint!

I was sent a Large Green Acre Pocket Diaper. When I first received this little diaper . . . I laughed and thought that it was a joke. There was no way it would fit on my 30 lb child! But it did. In fact, it is a perfect fit with a little room to grow in.


Having sewn my own diapers before, I initially questioned the construction of the diaper, but as I used the diaper . . . I think they are geniuses. For starters, the diaper snaps shut on the waist opposite of any diaper I have ever used. As a result, you don't have leaks because the side of the closure that is near "pee" stays close to the skin, and the dry part of the diaper overlaps with the snap closure. Get this, no snap touches the skin so no tattoo snap marks! The pocket for the insert is slightly recessed below the waistline and keeps the liner from creeping out of the diaper. The fleece that Mr. Smiley's bum comes in contact with, is so soft. Too bad underwear isn't made out of that stuff! (Is it wrong to think that?)

And probably the best part about the diaper . . . no leaks . . . none.

I am going to ask for some for Christmas. (For Mr. Smiley, not me.)


Oh, and on a side note. I also tried Charlie's Soap . . . we have officially switched to this brand. You won't believe how clean my diapers are. Plus, my laundry room smells naturally good. And Julia also threw in some amazing smelling baby wipe solution beans. I used to only use water, but I actually began to look forward to poopy diapers, because the wipes smelled so insanely good being immersed in the Baby's Breath Wipe Bean solution.

OK . . . maybe I'm going overboard.


Want to know what you're playing for?

Giveaway #5
$25 Gift Certificate from Earth Angels Diaper Company

RULES

Please, please, please . . .do not put more than one entry per comment. I will be using www.random.org to pick the winners. So if you would like for your comments to count, leave individual comments.

All options are worth 1 entry, unless otherwise stated.

1. (Mandatory) Visit Earth Angels Diaper Company and leave me a comment telling me what color Green Acre Designs pocket diaper is your favorite.
   
2. Tweet about this giveaway, making sure to include @GranolaMom4God and leave a comment back at the blog.
   
3. Become a follower through Google Connect on Julia's Diaper Discussions blog page (I am counting on you being honest). While you are at it, become one of my fan's if you aren't already!
   
4. Become a follower of Julia on Twitter or Facebook . . . leave separate comments for this.
   
5. Purchase something from Earth Angels Diaper Company and receive 5 extra entries. Be sure to leave 5 comments stating that you did buy from Julia. Tell us what it was!
   
6. Find another blog post I wrote about cloth diapering and share with me something that you learned.
7. Leave a comment and tell me how you would use your $25 at Earth Angels Diaper Company.
   
8. Put my blog, http://www.granolamom4god.com, on your blog roll in a continuously visible location, not just a blog post.
   
9. Grab my button and place it on your blog for all to see!
10. Grab Julia's button and place it on your blog.
    

Remember, only #1 is mandatory. The rest of the entries are optional, but you MUST comment separately for each one.

The Fine Print: I will email you when you have won. You cannot win more than one giveaway. I must have your email address to alert you to your prize. You can include that in your comment or email me separately at thegranolamom4god@gmail.com. You must respond within 24 hours.

Contest ends 10/5/09