Sign up, You Know You Want To....

If you ask anyone who knows me decently well, they'll affirm I'm not one for technology. I eschewed the smartphone as long as I could (and I'll admit, I do love the one I finally got for the business). I still love my Pink iPod (circa 2005). My undergrad laptop is still in storage, just in case I get the energy to rescue all of the files to a more current storage device (yeah, I know zip drives are so last decade). 

But guess what folks? I've finally added a subscription feature to the blog! That's right! Get the Bitsy Buzz scoop delivered directly to your inbox. At the right >>>> you'll find a sign-up box (labeled 'Get Bitsy Buzz Updates Via Email'). This will keep you in the loop with all that gets published to the blog - including special stockings, sales and the cloth diaper 411. 

Don't confuse this sign-up with the mailing list (labeled 'Get the Itsy Bitsy Bums Newsletter'). The 'Newsletter' signup is a direct-mailing list that I use 1-2x monthly to send out the lowdown on what is new in store, soon-to-be in store, and other goodies. 

But of course feel free to signup for both. 

Now who'd like to join me for a game of Oregon Trail on the IIe? 

Abby's Favorites: Week 4

The last week of Favorites has arrived. And why should diapers have all the fun?

What do I love? Behold, the Planet Wise Reuseable Food Storage Bag!

Why do I love them? Love anytime I can avoid throwing something in the landfill

And? The Sandwich Wrap doubles as a placemat! Brilliant!

Why else do I love them? With fifteen prints and three styles to pick from, you are sure to find the perfect option for you and your family. And so easy to care for - we just wash ours with evening dishes and hang to dry. 

Want to love them along with me? Through April 30th enjoy 25% off of all Planet Wise Snack and Sandwich Bags and Wraps. Not valid on previous purchases. No code necessary - discount already applied. No limit per household. Sale price limited to inventory on hand - shop early for best selection. 

Bitsy Bunny Hard at Work

Just a couple of hours until the search begins, and the bunny is hard at work hiding 20 eggs through the land of Itsy Bitsy Bums. 

Hints are always nice, yes?

• $5-$10 eggs are hidden one or two clicks off the homepage
• $10-$15, $15-$20 and $20-$30 eggs are hidden one to three clicks off the homepage
• The $50 mother-of-all-eggs is four clicks from the homepage. I will periodically post clues on Facebook through the weekend until it is snagged by one lucky hunter. 

Is all of the above Greek to you? Checkout this post. 

Happy Hunting, and Happy Earth Day!!!

ps. Check out Google's Logo for the day (be sure to move your cursor over it). Love it!

pps. Did you know you can explore the Doodle Logo archive? See here.

Abby's Favorites: Week 4

I'm sad April is almost over - time has certainly flown by! With the end in sight, it is time for the final favorite.

Your hint: Why should diapers have all the fun? 

See you tomorrow!

You Are Cordially Invited to Go Hunting

What?

An Easter Egg hunt in honor of Earth Day

When? 

Friday at 10am CDT - Sunday 10pm CDT

Where? 

Itsy Bitsy Bums

Why? 

A. It is fun 

B. The swag

C. The thrill of the hunt 

D. All of the above. 

How? 

Beginning Friday morning, several 'eggs' will be hidden through the website. 

These eggs will be marked by a golden egg, with a shopping cart button beneath.

To claim your prize

Add the drop-down item to your shopping cart. 

Spend $25 (before shipping). 

If you are the first to 'purchase' that egg, it is all yours!
Egg prize values range from $5 to $50.

Oh wait, want to maybe hunt for a bigger egg? But what if someone snags the one you found in the meantime? Oh friends, that is the fun part. 

Say what? 

In other words, each hidden egg represents one prize. If you are the first person to purchase it, then it is all yours. 

There will be many, many eggs scattered through the website.
Easier eggs will be smaller prizes. Motherload prizes will be much, much harder to find. 

In review
Friday 10am - Sunday 10pm Central Time
Dig through the website. Some eggs will be in plain site, while others will be accessible via link only.
Find an egg, decide if you want to claim it.

At checkout, be sure to include your baby's gender and approximate weight, or the bunny might to forced to go on his own hunt to track you down. 

Fine Print

• All purchases and prizes will ship when the hunt concludes.  
• I will do my best to mark eggs that have been found. However, we have a busy holiday weekend ourselves so I will not always be online to make these updates. If an egg has been purchased, you will get an 'out of stock' notice at checkout. This alert means someone else has claimed that particular prize. 
• Prize values range from $5 to $50. You will know the approximate worth of your egg, but will not know the exact item until you open your package next week. Yup, like a real hunt. 
• Limit three 'eggs' per household. Each 'egg' must be purchased on a separate transaction. 
• I am happy to refund any purchases, as always. However, after you have purchased three 'eggs' any subsequent 'eggs' purchased will be removed from your order and rehidden. Aka. Please play fair. Decide which egg you want to 'claim' and make your purchase. Do not purchase ten eggs to try to get bigger and bigger prizes. The bunny does not take kindly to cheaters.  
• Note - it costs you a penny to purchase the hidden egg listing. I promise to refund this to you when I ship your purchase. 

Abby's Favorites: Week 3

The Favorites continue!

What do I love? Fishnoodles and Bright Star Baby All-in-Ones 

Why do I love them? Super-duper-über trim diapers

And? So many amazing colors and prints (and matching tees as well!)

Why else do I love them? Want a full run-down of my FN/BSB love? Check out this, and this.

Want to love them along with me? Now through April 22nd enjoy 10% off of Bright Star Baby AIOs and 20% off of Fishnoodles AIOs, both solids and prints! Not valid on previous purchases. Sale limited to diapers - tees and doublers not included. No limit per household. 

Peach (14mos) and Avalee (22mos) in size 1s

ps. Just after the above photo shoot we hung our afternoon project up to dry. If you've ever considered dyeing playsilks, I highly recommend it! 

Abby's Favorites: Week 3

Favorites month continues! Your next hint...... 

Isn't it always sad when your favorite fish swims away? But then again, sometimes another star comes along that makes it all better. 

I call this the cat-who-swallowed-the-canary look.

Abby's Favorites: Week 2

In honor of my favorite I'm spending the month of April sending shout-outs to some of my favorite products. Now I try not to be partial when it comes to diapers, but you know how it goes. There will always be a few that you just cannot help but love more than others. You try not to let on to the other diapers that there might be a favorite in the crowd, but there is. So without delay (and quickly, while the other diapers aren't listening) let me add to the hallowed halls (one favorite spot already taken by GroVia's All-in-One)..... 

What do I love? Softbums One-Size All-in-Two

Why do I love it? The Bamboo Pod is super absorbent yet still very trim. Also love the aplix closures - they make quick work of diaper changes when the last thing a toddler wants to do is stand still. 

And? The Miss Kitty print is one of my all-time favorites! I smile every time I see the diaper peaking out the top of my daughter's  pants. And how great is it that I can just reuse the outer, and stare at that great print all day long!

Why else do I love it? I love the idea behind One-Size systems. What a great way to make one purchase and be set from birth to potty training. While this notion is lovely and good in theory, rarely does a one-size system actually work in reality. Instead, one-size diapers often start to fit (and function well) at 9lbs (sometimes even 10lbs+, depending on baby's build).

So what is one to do? Enter IBB's Newborn Diaper Rental, a great way to cover that newborn period for a sweet price tag. But what if you want to buy once and be set? Enter Softbums, and its completely adjustable (and patent pending) Slide2Size elastic leg gussets. 

Baby Oscar at one month - just shy of ~6lbs

This Echo shell has a Bamboo Mini Pod laying inside.

It fits his adorable skinny legs snuggly, and the elastic isn't even at its tightest-possible setting! 

Want a Tip? For the best fit, aim to have the Pod's rise hit approximately an inch below the top of the shell. This will be low enough to ensure you don't have leaks up the front of the diaper, while still high enough that the velcro will hold the insert against the torso thereby keeping the diaper as trim as possible (if the Pod is folded to a shorter rise you'll likely have some front bulk from the insert sliding forward). 

Want a Fun Tidbit? Softbums are made just 8ish hours north of IBB-land. I even had the opportunity to meet Sarah, the lady behind Softbums at Christmastime! Turns out she is a hop, skip and hour away from my parents' house! 

Get them while they're hot! Through April 15th Softbums are on sale at IBB - 15% off individual shells and inserts. Shop fast, sale price limited to the stock I have on hand. 

Abby's Favorites: Week 2

Ready for another favorite? Since Favorite #1 was so well received (and sold out!) I thought I'd roll out #2 a day early. Check back tomorrow (Thursday) evening for the specifics.

In the meantime, a hint...... Do you think babies love their super soft bums as much as their parents do? 

Much Ado about Making Do

Do you ever feel restless? Like something just isn't quite right? Most often when I feel restless big changes are on the horizon for our family. Feeling restless spurred me to leave my corporate job to return to the world of academia, it shifted the sights set on a dissertation and professorship to those of family and eventually a return to the business world. But when I think about our switch to cloth (while equally significant in our lives, hello IBB!), it was not caused by restlessness. Nope, I was mostly just MAD. Throwing away something we had just spent good money on. Again. And Again. And again. 

In short - our switch to cloth not only literally decreased our carbon footprint, but it also marked a shift in mindset as well. This change did not occur overnight, certainly. Instead, it was a gradual shift from an all-out-unchecked-consumer-centric life to one of quiet awareness. And eventually I found myself nearly landed in minsumerism.

'The Minsumerism Manifesto' (the sharply-observed and keenly-written outline penned by my newest favorite blogger Miss Minimalist) beautifully sums up most of my feelings of restlessness. I think I especially respond to her writing as her focus is not only about organizing and purging your current holdings, but also about reconsidering your relationship with consumption and the environmental consequences of these decisions.

I found I lately begin most of our dinner-table conversations with phrases such as 'Miss Minimalist says...' or 'I read on Miss Minimalist today....' To me this is a sign that so much of what she says has resonated with how I'm thinking and feeling. Whenever I'm researching a new idea, item or choice, if I read something that clearly doesn't suit us I give it due diligence and move on. But when something leaves me feeling restless, I know there is more work ahead of me. Good work. Work that will move us forward, and into a better place. 

With that, I'd like to introduce you to a new series on Bitsy Buzz - Much Ado About Making Do. Through these posts I'll chronicle our journey to further to pare down our lives, beyond our usual recycling and other 'green' choices. Now that I've devoured Miss Minimalist's primer, The Joy of Less, I'm ready to start the process. While we've been very good about decreasing our consumption over the last almost-two years, there still remains the evidence of our past life: scores of clothing, shoes, purses, vases, graduate school notebooks and the list goes on and on.

I don't purport that I'll end this journey with 100 possessions or be able to travel with just a carry-on. But I do hope to find a healthy balance between our old- and new-selves. 

Want to take part in this crazy journey? I highly recommend borrowing or downloading The Joy of Less  (after all, why buy until you know it will be a favorable contribution to your permanent library?). It is a quick read (I think I finished it in three bedtime-reading sessions). If it resonates with you and your place in life, it will likely cause some introspective rumblings (be forewarned, you'll likely be so inspired you'll actually considering getting out of bed at 3am to start purging). If it doesn't cause you to look around with new eyes (or you already are living the lifestyle she describes! go you!) then shut the book and know you've done your due diligence. 

With that, dear reader, I ask you - are you restless?