All Week

Aylestone Meadows: A walk by the canal.

 The sun came out this week: Hello sunhat.

 Baking: Black Bottom Cupcakes

 Shopping with Nana Bee: Trying on every pair of glasses in reach.

 And Bun.

 Bad Haircut: Still happy!

 Craft Fair: The Bee Hive Crafts and Sunflower Crafts.

'Sun'day: Garden

 Sunday Lunch: Lockwoods Tea Rooms

 Idle Fingers: Mr Bee's quilt squares cut

 Laughter a plenty

 Baking: Choccy Chip Cookies

A rundown of our week :)

Washing

The nappies have caught up with me... none left made up so it was definately time to sort the washing out!

All done! 5 night nappies (Stretchies, WNNN, Ecobubs) 17 day nappies (Easyfits, Grovia, LL Pockets, Fuzzibunz, Blueberry, Real Easys, Bambooty, Smartipants, Tutto)

Radiator

Easyfits on the radiator, winter drying!

G-Nappy Review

I have been aware of the 'G-Diaper' for quite some time now, as I believe that it is quite a popular system in the states. However, it has only recently landed in the UK. I did have the opportunity to see them at the UKAware show that I was at earlier in the year, however I didn't take the plunge then.

They were brought to my attention again recently, so I thought that I would get some of the basics so that I could try them for myself. I bought one G-Pant which comes with a waterproof G-Pouch, a pack of 6 G-Cloth inserts and 6 extra G-Pouches.

When my package arrived, I must admit, I was rather excited. I opened the package to a surprise. The G-Pant is just like a jersey cotton, just like normal pants. This is wholly unlike any other reusable nappies that I have come across. Inside the pant is a snapped in G-Pouch, which is the waterproof layer. Then you just lay the insert of your choice (cloth is my choice obviously!) and away you go. I actually really like the G-Cloth insert as it is a hemp/cotton mix, which means that it is a perfect absorbency and it has a fleece top so you don't need to worry about adding a fleecey liner as this will keep your baby dry.

What is rather unsual about the G-Nappy is the rear fastening. Where nappies usually fasten either around the waist or with side snaps, this fastens with velcro at the back. I did worry that it would be slighly fiddley to get it done up, but it is actually a godsend when you have a wriggly toddler. Mr Bee finds it quite fun when I ask him to wriggle one way then the other to fasten it. We also have great success getting the nappy on standing up, which is a bonus when your toddler is running away...! I do wonder whether it would be slighly more difficult to fasten on a smaller baby, but I don't think it would be a problem at all.

After a few trial runs with the G-Nappy at home, I decided to take it for a plunge on our trip to London. It was the main nappy that Nana used all weekend. She is a big fan, especially because the pant is just so soft and comfortable. All weekend we had no leaks using this system. The cloth inserts are very reliable and the G-Pouch is fantastic. I changed one nappy that was very saturated, and the pouch was retaining all of the moisture leaving the pant dry. I was impressed.

As Mr Bee had been poorly all weekend and on medicine, his nappies weren't his usual. I am happy to say that the G-Pouch held in even the most yucky of poos, which with other nappies may have not dealt with so well. All it meant was a quick change of the pouch and the pant was clean and dry.

Whilst I was at the Baby Show I visited the G-Nappy stand to pick up a packet of the disposable inserts. I was also enticed into another G-Pant, a Rugby shirt style one, with red and blue stripes. Lovely!

The disposable inserts are a lovely quality, very similar to the BumGenius ones, and decidedly better all round than the Smart Nappy inserts. What also is very handy about these inserts is that you can rip the outer casing and flush the middle, which is degradable in water. The inserts are also fully compostable.

We tested the G-Pant and the G-Pouch with other cloth inserts such as the Flip Stay Dry and Weehugger inserts and got on really well. The M/L pouch fits both inserts in just fine, which means that they will work well even if your stash is made up of other nappies already.

Overall I am really impressed with this nappy, I think it looks pretty trim and is really easy to use. It definately cuts down washing thanks to the G-Pouch, which is more effective than other two part nappies. My only misgiving for the G-Nappy is that it is a sized option, which inevitably means that it will work out more expensive in the long run. Mr Bee is currently in the Large option, although he is only at the bottom of the weight advisories and I know it will fit him better when he is a bit bigger, but this doesn't affect the usefulness of the nappy whatsoever.
The G-Nappies are available in such a wide range of beautiful colours and every now and then, some beautiful limited prints. I am so happy with my lovely little g-nappies, they are perfect for us.

Fuzzibunz Review

Newly landed at the Palace of Pants is the new and improved Fuzzibunz Elite.
I must say, I have never tried any of the Fuzzibunz range before, as I thought they were ever so slightly dated. However, after seeing how popular these new nappies seem to be, I thought I would have a try of one.

Left: Fuzzibunz Right: Bumgenius V3

'Grape'

When I first got my hands on the Fuzzibunz Elite, I was very shocked as to how petite the nappy looked. It would be an understatement to say that I didn't think that it would fit from Birth to Potty, let alone fit Louie at 21 months! However, having a play with the unique leg and waist elastics, which adjust with concealed buttons and elastic (like you get in kiddies and maternity waistbands!) I managed to manipulate the sizing really easily, and drastically. I can imagine that this nappy would fit a newborn beautifully, providing great containment thanks to the great elastication around the legs.




The nappy comes with two Minky inserts. This was quite a new thing for me, and I think it is one of the only nappies which has minky on the inside instead of the outside. I decided to use the nappy with just the one, larger insert to see what it was up to.


With the nappy on in a medium/large setting, I was surprised at what a beautiful fit the Fuzzibunz was on Mr Bee. It has three poppers in a triangular formation, which means that you can get a really adjustable fit both around the waist and the legs.

Once Louie stood up, I gave it a good inspection and was really happy with how slim fitting it was. Once I put his vest on, you would have no idea that it was a cloth nappy underneath.




 I was adamant that I was going to give the Fuzzibunz a good test, as Louie isn't a very heavy wetter. We were going on a day trip so what better time to do a nice trial. After a good play on the play park and a big roam around the gardens of Calke Abbey, Mr Bee finally had his nappy changed at around 1:30. To my surprise, the Fuzzibunz had lasted all that while without any leaks! I was actually really quite shocked at how soft the nappy still felt after it was completely saturated.

Luckily, it was wash night that evening, so I managed to get it washed quite quickly, which meant that I could test the drying time of the minky inserts. My was I impressed, the minky insert was dry quicker than my usual microfibre inserts!

My only misgiving with this nappy, is the size of the pocket. From the first photo you can see that it is considerably slimmer between the legs than the Bumgenius, which does make it slightly more difficult to stuff. It was alright with my small hands but may prove a little more difficult for Daddies to do.

I think I might have a new favourite nappy! I really am so impressed with the nappy overall, the fit, the snugness, the absorbency (even with just one insert) and the quickness of drying. At £14.95 they are fairly reasonably priced, and are honestly worth every penny, and Fuzzibunz have even treated their customers with some cute printed designs too.

Get yours today from Fill Your Pants!

Friday

So Nana Bee has gone on holiday to visit family in Ireland, so Papa Bee, Mama Bee and Mr Bee are all at home on our own for once. It is nice when we get to be a little family on our own.

So first things first, there was NO food in the house at all. The freezers were empty, all but a pack of meatballs, and a pack of stewing beef. So we decided to visit Attfields Farm Shop in Whetstone to do our shopping.

Shopping at a farm shop is really important to me. I like to know where my food has come from, and would rather know that a local business has taken my money rather than a huge corporate supermarket. I have been searching for a farm shop local to us with no success. The nearest farm shop to us is about a mile away but it only sells eggs and potatoes, and they are a little hit and miss with the quality. We do shop there for our spuds and always pick up eggs when we go too, but the bag of spuds lasts us at least a month, so we don't visit that regularly.

When Dan and I went out for a meal last week, we went to Mai Yango, our favourite bar and there was a Leicestershire magazine that I sat and thumbed through. There was an advert for Attfields Farm Shop that looked like heaven, a proper little supermarket style farm shop. And with it only being in Whetstone, we had to check it out.

Even Papa Bee was impressed with the selection, we managed to do the majority of our shopping there, only needing to pick up a few things like rice from Sainsburys on the way home. So this week we have a menu ready. I did this so that I knew exactly what we needed to buy from the shops and not buy unnecessary items, or need to keep running to the shops every 5 mins.

So tonight, Papa Bee has made a gorgeous Chicken and Chorizo Paella, yum yum yummy!

It started off such a bright and sunny day, so once the nappies were washed they were hung out to dry on the line. Only for it to rain as soon as they were all out... typical! Hopefully they will dry anyway!

Whilst Louie was having his sleep I cracked on and got my skirt finished! I will write another post about that though so keep your eyes peeled for that one ;)

And this evening, we are having hot choc chocs with cream mmm, and watching My Family and Miranda! Perfect!

Tumble Drier...

Probably not  a good idea to tumble dry the waterproof wraps of your nappies. 

This was a bib, backed with PUL. I retrieved this from the back of my tumble drier. I imagine this is what would happen to nappies too!

Mr Bee

As a few of you will know, Louie has been fondly referred to as Mr Bee for as long as we can remember! And we have been collecting Bee things along the way, most recently a pair of gorgeous Inch Blue shoes. But it seems that we have an abundance of Bee things at the moment!!

Cloth Bottomed Babes...

they make my rocking world go round!!!

Cloth nappies come in the most beautiful colours and prints - a far cry from the dingy old terry squares your mother will remember! These days, cloth nappies are as much of a fashion statement as anything!

I think the photos say it all really!