Cloth Diapers: Part II
31 Mar 2011 Leave a Comment
in Children, Infant, Money, Saving, Toddler, Uncategorized Tags: cloth diaper, diaper reviews, pocket diaper, Smartipants
SmartiPants
These diapers aren’t well-known but they got great reviews at diaperpin.com. In fact, they are the diaperpin’s #1 rated one-size pocket diaper. And the average cost that reviewer’s paid was $13.08, which is cheaper than the 18-24 dollars that most pocket diapers cost. With such great reviews, and at such a low-cost, I thought I would give them a try.
Overall Adjustability: This category refers to how you make the diaper longer or shorter (from front to back, not side to side). It’s what makes one-size diapers able to adjust as baby grows. Smartipants diapers have 2 rows of snaps with 2 snaps in each row. This is less than almost all the other diapers I have found, which have a total of 6-9 snaps. It works for us right now because Kennedy is in a medium size setting. But when I tried the diaper on Kaylynn on the biggest settings, it seemed very small. I’m afraid that this diaper won’t fit during Toddlerhood for Kennedy.
Adjustable Waist Snaps: There is one row of snaps with 2 snaps coming from each side on the back. Like I said yesterday. Most diapers have 2 rows and 3 or 4 snaps to snap into place on each side. I hope this makes sense, its hard to explain. If you are confused, look at the pictures from today and yesterday and count the snaps. A picture can explain it better than I can. But to conclude, this diaper doesn’t have as many snaps as the others.
Absorbency: They leak. When I put this diaper on Kaylynn, it leaked around the legs. We haven’t had any leaks during the day with Kennedy. I’ve tried them on her twice at night and both times they leaked at the top in both the front and the back. This diaper only comes with one insert (most come with 2), so at night I put in an extra insert from the other diapers and they still leak.
Bulkiness: These diapers are probably the most trim, but that is probably why they leak.
Longevity: It’s hard to tell, because there are no reviews at the diaperpin from anyone that has used them for a year or more. Maybe for good reason. The longest user gave them a 5/5 rating and she has been using them for 10 months. However, she does say that she doesn’t use them at night or ever put two inserts in and that they have a smaller fit (which is a good thing for her baby).
Warranty: From their website, “Snap defects: 24 months; Elastic/ Materials defects: 60 days; Sewing/ Workmanship defects: 60 days.”
Patterns available: This is comparable to Fuzzibunz. 13 colors; no fun prints.
Cleaning: This is what makes these pants smart. Most pocket diapers have one opening in the back of the diaper to place the insert. This diaper has one in the front and one in the back, which allows you to throw the diaper in the wash as is without having to touch the insert. The insert comes out all by itself in the wash.
The directions for care are easy to follow, but there’s not a lot of tips or details on the packaging. When you go to their website, you get a little more information, namely that you should use 1/2 the recommended amount of detergent. By now, you should know why I like this idea. I’ve had a few problems with stains not coming out the first time through the wash, but nothing yet to make a big deal over.
Overall: I’m not a big fan of this diaper. Its special feature is that you never have to touch the dirty insert because it comes out in the wash. However, this hasn’t been a big issue yet with the other diapers. Maybe when Kennedy starts eating more solids or wetting more, I’ll hope for this feature, but right now, it’s not a selling point for me. It fits small, isn’t as soft as the others, and the insert seems too big for the pocket causing it to bunch up in the middle. Because of the lower cost, I might be able to overlook all these flaws, but the diaper also leaks and that is probably the most important aspect of any diaper cloth or not.
Sorry there aren’t any pictures of Kennedy in this diaper. She wore it last night and I was waiting for the other diapers to get dirty to do a load. By the time she got them all dirty and I was able to wash and dry them, she was already in bed (she’s wearing a disposable tonight). There will be pictures of her in tomorrow’s review of the Happy Heiny’s diaper (I’ve already taken them).
Wives that Submit
03 Mar 2011 Leave a Comment
in Uncategorized Tags: appreciate, Ephesians 5, family, God, husband, men, spouse, submissive, submit, wife, women
I have a friend that started a discussion about wives being or not being submissive on her facebook. My response is too long to put as a comment and I want to share with everyone, so I made it a note on facebook and now I’m sharing it on my blog since it pertains to being a wife:
I used to hate the idea that women were suppose to be submissive to their husbands. I found ways to interpret the scripture so I could leave that part out. But my viewpoint has changed throughout the years as I have heard sermons, read books (including certain scriptures), talked with different Christians, and prayed. I hope that no one feels attacked as they read this. I just want to share my viewpoints and spur on some friendly discussion. Also note that I’m not good at making things short and to the point. This will be long…
Alright, so one of the most well-known and quoted scriptures about wives submitting to their husbands is in Ephesians 5. And it starts in verse 21 with “Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ.” God wants everyone to be submissive to someone. He puts authority in our lives so that we can learn to obey. If we can’t obey the authority that He has given us on earth, how are we going to be able to obey him and respect his authority? This part of the scripture is given to all Christians, not just wives.
The next part of the scripture says (and this is from The Message) “Wives, understand and support your husbands in ways that show your support for Christ. The husband provides leadership to his wife the way Christ does to his church, not by domineering but by cherishing. So just as the church submits to Christ as he exercises such leadership, wives should likewise submit to their husbands.”
First of all, because this is found in the New Testament and it was written after Christ died and rose again, I believe that it isn’t like Old Testament law that we are now free from. I also don’t believe that it is a cultural statement (like telling women to keep their hair long so they wouldn’t be confused with the prostitutes). I believe that it is still applicable to us today.
I believe that the word ‘submissive’ has a different connotation today than it used to. When most people hear it they think of being dominated and ruled over, but that isn’t what this scripture is saying. This version gives a better explanation of what submissive means. It says to “understand and support your husbands.” It also says that husbands should not be domineering but cherishing and it uses the word leadership. I don’t know of many good leaders throughout time that were successful by mistreating and not taking into consideration the needs of the ones they were trying to lead.
Alright, on to the third part of the scripture “Husbands, go all out in your love for your wives, exactly as Christ did for the church—a love marked by giving, not getting. Christ’s love makes the church whole. His words evoke her beauty. Everything he does and says is designed to bring the best out of her, dressing her in dazzling white silk, radiant with holiness. And that is how husbands ought to love their wives. They’re really doing themselves a favor—since they’re already “one” in marriage.”
Wow! To me that sounds so romantic. Going all out, evoking beauty, marked by giving. So often people focus on the directives to the wife in this scripture, but you can’t leave out the directions that God gave to the husbands. I think it’s the most critical part. Husbands are to love their wives as Christ loves the church—and He died for His bride! That scripture says that the husband should bring out the best in his wife. If my husband loves me so much that he is willing to die to bring out the best in me, then why would I NOT want to submit to him? If he is willing to go to such lengths for me, then would it not be like a slap in the face to him by not doing as he asks? Just like it’s a slap in the face to Christ who died for me when I disobey his commands?
I once heard a sermon on just this part of the scripture. Like I said earlier, I used to hate hearing that I was supposed to be submissive. It seemed like a horrible concept to me and I still struggle with the thought of it sometimes. But when I remember that God told me to be submissive and told my husband to die for me, it puts things in a whole new perspective.
The next point that I want to make is that men and women are different. Uh, duh, right? Ok, so hear me out on this one. I believe that God created the sexes differently, with different needs, desires, strengths, weaknesses, gifts, talents, abilities, tendencies, etc. When Adam and Eve sinned the curse wasn’t that man would rule over the wife but that they would now fight to control the relationship. But because of God’s great love, He gave them a solution to this (just like he clothed them when they realized they were naked). He chose one of them to be the leader based on how he had designed them, and that was Adam aka the husband.
In the book For Women Only by Shaunti Feldhahn, over 400 men were surveyed so us women could learn about them and better meet their needs. The first thing Feldhahn learned from this survey is that while women need love, men need respect. Over and over again in scripture men are told to love while women are told to respect. Go back to Ephesians 5, the last verse sums up all the submission talk with “each one of you also must love his wife as he loves himself, and the wife must respect her husband.” God knows how he designed us and he knows what we need. While it’s hard for me to be submissive sometimes, I trust that God knew what He was doing when he commanded me to submit to my husband. It’s just one huge way to show Matt the respect that he needs.
So, this is what submission looks like in the Mann household (well ideally this is what it looks like). We have a big decision coming up. We pray about it, come together and discuss it, weigh the pros and cons, pray about it some more, and try to come to an agreement. If an agreement can’t be made, I humbly tell Matt that I will trust and support his decision, then pray that he sees it my way. Haha. Seriously I do that, but I also pray that God will make it clear to him what the best choice is even if it’s not the way I see it.
God teaches us so much through this. When we can’t come to an agreement together I really have to humble myself and trust not only Matt to make the right decision, but I also have to trust God to guide Matt in the right direction. This can really be hard sometimes, okay everytime. Then, once Matt makes the decision, I learn to follow and obey, again, not only Matt but also to follow and obey God.
Hopefully this is where the process would end. But I won’t lie. There have been times, not many, but times that the wrong decision was made. When this happens, every part of my flesh wants to get angry and cry out “I TOLD YOU SO!” But again God uses those moments to teach me. He teaches me humility and how to be supportive and understanding despite the fact that we made a mistake. I can’t tell you what Matt is learning during all of this, but I hope and pray that throughout this process he is feeling my love and respect in a big way and thus we are creating a stronger marriage.
The differences between man and woman, the art of submission, and all that we learn and gain through the process “is a huge mystery, and I don’t pretend to understand it all” (Ephesians 5:32, The MSG) but I have to trust that God knows what he is doing.
Appreciating Matt
09 Feb 2011 Leave a Comment
in Uncategorized Tags: appreciate, children, christianity, daddy, family, husband, MattMann, spouse
In my last post, I promised I would let know how I was doing with the task “deliberately appreciate Matt on a weekly basis.” Before I tell you what I have done to accomplish this the past 3 weeks. Let me tell you why he is so very worthy of my love, respect and appreciation.
Matt works several hours a week at 2 jobs so that I can stay home with the girls. He is well-respected at both jobs. After only 4 days working at the Boys and Girls Club, he got promoted and now runs his site. I wish that I could see him in action while he is there, but I get a glimpse of it when we teach children’s church together or when we see one of his B&G club kids at church or out in public.
He does such a great job working with those kids. He can get even the rowdiest ones to behave and kids are always having fun when he’s around. He’s such a goofball with them and I love it. He’ll ask a 5 year old if they have gotten married and had any kids since the last time he saw them. Haha. The look on their faces is priceless.
His other job is youth and outreach pastor at our church. He is so well-respected here too, and not just at our church alone, but all over the state of Missouri. When we took our youth to a state-wide youth conference a few weeks ago, everywhere we went, we heard ”MATT MANN!” One of our youth pointed out that he has an easy name to remember and a fun one too, because it sounds a lot like Batman. He hears the na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na MATTMANN theme song all the time.
But I don’t think that its just his name that makes him known by youth and their leaders throughout the state. If he was a real jerk, people would not want to have a conversation with him no matter what his name was. (A rose by any other name…) People like him and respect him because he is so relational, real and (hmmm… I can’t think of another good ‘R’ word).
Besides being a hard worker and good at his job, he is a wonderful husband. Here’s a story to demonstrate. Before Kennedy was born we had to go to the hospital 2 or 3 times for pre-term labor, and then of course when I was in real labor. Every single time, the nurses commented on how supportive and friendly he was. They told us a few stories about other dads being jerks and how often they see that. But they could not stop complimenting him on how well he was taking care of me. And it wasn’t only one nurse or only one time. Almost every nurse that came in our room gave him a compliment.
He’s also a good daddy: practical, fun, and caring. He has never been afraid to change a poopy diaper. Not even the biggest blow-outs (practical). And he is helpful with the girls in other ways too. For instance, he is watching both girls right now while I type this and I can hear Kaylynn laughing hysterically (fun). And here is one of my favorite stories. One night as he was putting Kaylynn to bed, he asked to hold her hand as they walked up the stairs to her bedroom. From the other room, I heard him whisper “I’m gonna cry the day you get engaged” (caring).
There’s so much more to Matt than what I can write in one sitting. He’s creative, visionary, encouraging, funny, sweet, attractive, wise, good at video games, a spiritual leader, a go-getter, talented, diligent, genuine, and I could go on and on.
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He does so much for our family and for others. That is why I want to make sure he knows just how much he means to me. So each week I plan on doing one thing (beyond the things I do on a daily basis) to show him my respect.
In week 3 my plan was to rub his feet for 45 minutes. This is a pretty big deal in our house because my hands usually get tired after about 5 or 10 minutes and he’s always asking for longer foot rubs. So we turned on a movie and I started rubbing his feet. 20 minutes later he was gone, asleep on the couch. I rubbed for another 5 minutes, but decided to stop because he wasn’t getting to enjoy the full effects anyway.
In week 4 my plan was to learn everything I possibly could about football so he could talk with me about it during the Superbowl on Sunday. I started doing my research and discovered that there is a lot of information about how its played, the rules, and then the actual teams that were going to be playing. The only thing I really picked up is that there is a guy named Troy that plays for the Steelers (I think) and his hair is insured for $1 million by Head and Shoulders. I decided to hold off on this one until I have more time to learn about the game. So instead, I sent him a text message with 3 reasons I’m thankful for him.
In week 5 I wrote a long post on my blog about how wonderful he is so the whole world could know. =)
What do you love about your significant other and how do you plan on letting them know this week?
Ask the readers:
20 Jan 2011 7 Comments
in Uncategorized Tags: appreciate, ask the readers, husband, ideas, spouse, wife
What simple things do you do to appreciate your spouse?
One of this week’s tasks is to create a list of ways that I can show my appreciation to Matt. I’m confident that I show my appreciation in small ways without really thinking about it; saying “I love you” or giving him a hug as we pass in the hallway. But I want to deliberately do something that takes a little more time and thought on a weekly basis. Here’s my list so far:
- Make him a card
- Rub his feet
- Learn the rules of football and watch a game with him
- Give him a pretend sick day
- Tell others how wonderful he is
- Make sure the house is clean so he can relax, then take the girls out for the afternoon
- Cook his favorite meal
- Write him a thank you note (maybe even mail it)
- Write a note with 3 reasons I love him, appreciate him, am thankful for him, respect him, etc.
Alright, now its your turn. Ideas need to be simple and free (or super cheap) and have a PG or PG-13 rating. Give me your best ideas!
Budgeting
06 Dec 2010 2 Comments
in Uncategorized Tags: budget, craft, craigslist, earn money, envelope system, family, finance, God, hobby, housekeeping, mommy, save money, wife
So far the majority of my posts have been related to housekeeping because that is the area I struggle with the most and I’ve decided to work on it first. But there is more to being a wife and mommy than keeping a clean house. I have several other goals that I’m working on, too. A couple of those include saving money and earning money.
Budgeting
I’ve learned that no one can do it all and when it comes to making changes you have to take it one step at a time. I know how to really bargain shop. I can match coupons with sales and stockpile when prices are low, making our grocery bills super low. However, at this time I have added real true bargain shopping to my list of things I’m not doing (also on this list is planning creative learning activities for the girls and meal planning among other things). This doesn’t mean that I don’t keep my eyes out for good deals, but I’m not taking the time to clip coupons, make a pricebook, research sales, or shop at multiple stores. I plan on doing these things in the future, but for now I am focusing on organizing and cleaning the house.
However the past few months, our house has added budgeting back in the list of things we are doing. We have gone through Financial Peace University and want to follow Dave Ramsey’s advice for budgeting. It just really makes sense to us.
If you aren’t familiar with Dave Ramsey let me explain his principles in a very small nustshell. Dave wants everyone to live completely debt-free and pay for things with cash. Delayed gratification reaps greater rewards, so if you can save up and pay cash, you end up paying less and you don’t have to worry about creditors knocking at your door later. Financial Peace University teaches you how to get out of debt, budget your finances, and save for the future. Dave’s motto is “If you will live like no one else, later you can LIVE like no one else.”
So, what are we doing right now to be like Dave? Since October we have created a budget where we allocate every dollar we make. Our budget includes all the basic necessities (like mortgage, utilities, groceries, and gas) and other items (like blow money, childcare, and clothing).
In October, our budget was just done in theory. It was made but not really followed. In November however, we started using the cash envelope system. We had 4 envelopes labeled groceries, clothing/diapers, blow money, and babysitter. Each envelope had a weeks worth of budget (in cash) placed in it. When the money ran out, the money ran out. It’s easier to follow a budget when you are only spending cash.
We did pretty good. A couple of weeks we forgot to pull out the cash so we used our debit cards, but we made sure to stick within the budget. And we did make a few big purchases on credit (like a new-to-us minivan and computer). We justified both of these with different excuses and we know Dave wouldn’t like it, but neither purchases were made on impulse and we are aware of the consequences that come with them (like being in debt longer). I have a feeling December is going to be really tough to stay within budget because of Christmas, but we are going to try. Be sure to ask me in January how we did (a little accountability always helps).
Earning Some Extra Money
In my last post, I briefly mentioned how studying for calculus is helping our budget. Let me explain. It is very important to me to be able to stay home with the girls. (Not to mention that paying for quality childcare for 2 under 2 would cost almost as much as I would probably get paid at any job I could find). So I have been doing some research on ways to make some extra income at home.
I came across a website that hires online tutors. Right now they are only hiring for advanced science and math tutors, and since math has always been my favorite subject, I think I would do well as a math tutor (probably not science though). I took calculus in high school and again in college and really enjoyed it. Yes, you read that right, I enjoyed calculus. But, that was 8 years ago and I haven’t needed it since, so I’m pretty rusty. I’ve recently started studying calculus to refresh my memory and to become an online tutor.
I’ve also been trying to sell stuff on craigslist. Check out my listings by searching for “km061409101010″ on the Springfield, MO page. So far I’ve had lots of people interested, one no-show, and one sold item. So its not going too well, but I plan to add more items and it might pick up during this Christmas shopping season.
I also spent some of my Thanksgiving break making headbands and hairclips for babies, girls, and adults too! My mom and I are going to take them to a Santa’s workshop to sell (but let me know if you want to buy one directly from me).
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There are more ways that I plan on bringing extra income to the family, but again that’s not an area I’m focusing on right now, so these 3 things are it for now. They won’t bring in a lot, but every little bit helps.
What is your financial plan? Do you make and follow a budget? Have any creative ideas for bringing in extra income?
