Shoe Sale at Papoose

Check out the shoe sale that they are having over at Papoose, but hurry because if is over tonight at midnight.

They are making room for their fall collection! Save 30% OFF all summer and discontinued styles! Yes, you got it! $7.00 off each pair! The sale is on all their summer and discontinued Robeez soft sole shoes and Robeez Tredz toddler shoes!

Our First Giveaway Contest

I am so excited, we are having our first Giveaway contest and we have partnered with Papoose and they are givingaway The Ah Goo Baby® Plush Pad®. Even if you don't have a baby that needs a changing pad anymore, this would make a fantastic baby shower gift that any expecting mom and their new baby would love. The pad comes in a choice 6 great patterns to choose from. So here's how you enter:

TO ENTER >> It's quick and easy. During the month of March, subscribe to receive email updates to my blog. Do this right here on my blog, and be sure to verify your subscription. If you've already signed-up, you'll be automatically entered.

DOUBLE YOUR CHANCES, DOUBLE ENTRY >> Visit the Papoose website then come back and leave a comment on this post telling us what your favorite product was. You must also be subscribed to my blog for the extra entry.

ONE subscriber will be drawn at random on 04.01.08 and be sent The Ah Goo Baby® Plush Pad® from our friends at Papoose.

Rules: Entries must be received by 03/31/08 11:59 pm EST. One entry per household. Eligible entries must include a valid and activated subscription to www.place4mommies.blogspot.com. Winners must live in the United States and be able to receive USPS First Class mail. Winners will have 7 (seven) days to respond with shipping information. Share the joy: you can only win one prize from us every three months.

Thinking About Going Cloth?

Are you like me and thinking about switching to cloth diapers? This is something that I have been considering doing for some time now. With the birth of my second child, I started thinking about all those disposable diapers again. Plus until recently I had two children in disposable diapers, Allie is now potty trained and I have now decided to switch to cloth diapers. This has been a big decision for me, I wanted to make sure that they would work and fit our lifestyle, fit our budget, and be better for the environment (this was kind of a given). To get the answers to my questions I started doing some research on the Internet and this is what I found.

Cloth diapering is a whole world out there to be explored, there are so many different choices to choose, from cotton pre-folds to the super convenient pocket diapers. I am not going to go into all the different cloth diaper choices, the following are some of the sights that I used to help educate myself about the different cloth diapers available; Papoose (which is also a retail store in Norwich, CT), The Maine Cloth Diaper Company (which has a retail store in Maine), bumGenius, and Kelly's Closet. The current issue of Mothering Magazine has two great articles on cloth diapers- Dumping Disposable Diapers and The ABC's of Going Cloth, plus they have a bunch of archived articles on their website.

After collecting all my research on cloth diapers, I decided that I wanted to actually put my hands on some and I lucked out because Papoose in Norwich, CT carries and extensive line of cloth diapers. When I went to Papoose, Holly one of the co-owners was extremely helpful. She spent lots of time with me answering all my questions. If you live in the Norwich area or even near it, this is a great resource. They even offer Cloth Diapering 101 classes. After I had a chance to get all my questions answered I decided that I wanted to try the bumGenius diapers and I bought 3 to try. I really wanted to try them out before investing in a whole set. So I have been using them for 4 days, as much as I possibly can and in as many different situations as possible. So far, I have only had only one leak and it was at night and I didn't have the “doubler” in. Since using the “doublers” at night I haven't had any more leaks.

Getting Started:
18 diapers (I may need to get more, but I am going to start with 18 and judge it from there)

18 doublers (which are included with the bumGenius diapers)
Diaper Sprayer
Flushable Diaper Liners (for when you need to use diaper cream, you don't want the cream directly on the diaper, because it will decrease their absorbency)
Charlie Soap (or an additive free soap of your choice)
Wet Bag (one for the diaper pail and one for on the go to put those used diapers in)

So, for less than $400.00 I will be on my way. In 6 months my new cloth diapers will have payed for themselves and if Jack goes until he is at least 2 ½ before being potty trained we will save around $1200 and tons of waste in our landfills. Did you know that by the time your child is potty trained you will have used enough disposable diapers to more than fill your house with dirty diapers.