Leslie's Latest

Saturday, March 26, 2011

Our Featured Retailer of the week is...Circle Me of Lincoln, Nebraska!

This week's featured retailer is CircleME! CircleME is owned by husband and wife duo Jennifer and Bo! I got a chance to ask them a few questions and I have shared their answers with you below.

Tell us about yourself and your family, where you live, any hobbies, if you have little ones in cloth diapers, etc.
We are originally from GA. Currently live in Lincoln, NE. Bo is a chiropractor and I take care of the household, and our 2 boys. We love to spend time together with our children and each other. We love our family. Our boys are 4 and 18 months. 1 in cloth diapers. We enjoy each other and close friends.

Tell us about 'Circle Me' and how it came to be that you started a cloth diaper business? We used cloth from the beginning with our first child. Jen had seen 3 other families by now using cloth so thought why not? After realizing that the only place to purchase hybrids was online….we saw the need to open a brick and mortar for our surrounding area and city. We desire to be resource for families in health care and life choices, so felt as if cloth diaper store would enhance that overall vision. We prayed and sought advice and felt very strongly about opening up this retail business.

Do you have a physical store or showroom? Are you online only? Do you offer consultations, demos, deliveries? Any special services? A physical store. We are not online, yet J We offer consultations, demos, and yes we have delivered before! We offer array of classes and other resources such as birth kits and supplies, birth pool rentals, doula kits and traveling baby registries (we’ll take what you put on your registry to a location so your guests can shop for you on the day of your baby shower)

What's your favorite part about being a cloth diaper retailer and being involved with the industry? Seeing all the amazing creativity God has given so many families in this industry. Cloth diapers change every day!! Also the customers. Watching their eyes light up when they realize that cloth diapering is very doable and very affordable. Then watching them get excited about all the fun options and designs and colors and styles, and…….

What's your favorite style of cloth diaper? I prefer and hybrid pocket diaper.

From the Leslie's Boutique line of products what is your favorite product and why? I love her Grab and Go wet bag. It is the perfect size for my diaper bag. All the wet bags are great, and a large is going to be perfect to have this summer while swimming.

What piece of advice would you give to a mom who's getting ready to make the switch to cloth diapers? Call and ask for advice from a trusted source. Do a trial package of different styles BEFORE you make your large investment. If your best friends diaper fits her baby well, it does not mean it will fit your baby well. Buy a wet bag!

Special Offer: Free Shipping on Orders over $75 and 15% off for local shoppers who shop in the store.

Become a Fan of CircleMe on FaceBook for more details and to stay connected. They're also sponsoring the local Great Cloth Diaper Change so if you're a Lincoln, NE resident make sure you rsvp to attend and help set the World Record for Cloth Diapering!

Also, make sure you check out their Blog, My Natural Family, it's full of tons of great articles and resources!

Wednesday, March 23, 2011

Listen to Leslie: What's the difference between an insert and a doubler?

Leslie's answering some more of your cloth diapering related questions!

Question: There are so many types of diapering accessories that it's hard to know what makes one different from the other. What's the difference between inserts and doublers? Are they the same thing?

Answer: Great question and for the most part, cloth diapering accessories are all pretty interchangeable.

Originally doublers were like thinner versions of an insert, depending upon the brand. You could add one to your normal diaper and insert and make it more absorbent by stuffing it into the pocket with the insert.

There are also doublers that are made to lay directly in a prefold or fitted and those generally are topped with a stay dry or soft material so as not to irritate babies sensitive skin.

Recently, manufacturers have begun making their inserts with a stay dry top so that it can be used as either an insert, doubler or even just laid inside a diaper cover in lieu of a fitted diaper. This is convenient and really helps you to make the most of all of your cloth diapers and accessories and makes all the different styles and accessories interchangeable.

So yes, for the most part inserts and doublers are pretty similar. You can determine which you like to use and how you like to use them in order to meet your baby's specific needs.

*If you need to purchase additional inserts or doublers please make sure to visit one of our retailers for all your cloth diapering needs!

Thanks!

Monday, March 21, 2011

Grab that Bag: Enter to win a Leslie's Boutique Wipes Bag! CLOSED

Welcome back to another "Grab that Bag" Giveaway!

This week we're giving away a Leslie's Boutique Wipes Bag!

This week's prize:

Our Wipes Bags measure 10x6 with a top zipper and snap handle. Perfect for wipes, mama pads, make-up, toiletries, baby food utensils and more! Want to purchase one? Find a retailer at LesliesBoutique.com!

What are the Guidelines for entry?
-In order to participate in our weekly contest and validate all extra entries you must first complete the mandatory entry question or task.

-Please, be sure to be logged into your email account when you post your comment for us to be able to contact you if you win (that is with the option called OpenID). If you have a blog, be sure to be logged into the account linked to your blog for an easier way to contact you....Becoming a Fan of Leslie's on FaceBook is also recommended so that you'll be extra sure to see the winners announcement.

-Each Giveaway will run until Sunday and end at 11:59pm EST.

-Winners are chosen using random.org, notified on Mondays and winner's name also posted on Blog and FaceBook.

-Winners have 7 days from contest end to claim their prize.

-Participation is open to mamas and papas worldwide! Anyone and everyone is welcome to join in the fun, however we are not responsible for lost packages and prizes that do not reach their destination and they will not be replaced. A shipping notice will be sent to the winner.

Mandatory Entry:
Use this link to find your nearest Leslie's Boutique Retailer and leave a comment with that stores name and link!

*Please leave a separate comment for each entry that you qualify for.

Extra methods of entry are:
-(1 entry) Follow the Leslie's Boutique Blog
-(1 entry) Follow Leslie's Boutique on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/leslieswetbags
-(1 entry) Follow Leslie's Boutique on FaceBook at http://www.facebook.com/lesliesboutique
-(1 entry) Locate your closest Leslie's Retailer and comment with which retailer it is.
-(3 entries) Tweet this "Win a @Leslieswetbags #clothdiapers Wipes Bag Visit the Blog to enter: http://ow.ly/4iH0m #win" *Limit one tweet per day*
-(3 entries) Blog about the Giveaway or post to FaceBook. Tag our @Leslie's Boutique FB Page in the post and include a link to the giveaway and also use the giveaway graphic at the top of this post. Comment with a link to the post on your blog or facebook. *Limit one per day either blog or facebook.)
-(3 entries) Be a new subscriber to our Youtube Channel.
-(5 entries) Submit an article for use on the Leslie'sBoutique Blog! Email shethinksmedia(at)gmail(dot)com for more details.
-(5 entries) Share our WetBag Demo Youtube Video on FaceBook or embed in a blog post! Come back and make sure to let us know where you shared it.

Thursday, March 17, 2011

Listen to Leslie: How do I know how many cloth diapers I need to use cloth full-time?

Good Afternoon and Happy St. Patrick's Day! Welcome to another Listen to Leslie post where Leslie answers some of the most frequently asked cloth diaper related questions.

Question: I'd like to use cloth diapers full time but I'm just not sure how many diapers I will need to have?

Answer: How many diapers you will need depends on a lot of different factors. For example, younger babies tend to go through more diapers per day then older ones. Little ones also tend to need less absorbency but much more frequent diaper changes, that's why prefolds are often a method preferred by moms of newborns.

You also need to decide how often you'd like to be doing your diaper laundry. If you want to wash every night then you need enough to last you longer than 24 hours. While the diapers are washing you'll need diapers that you can use and you also want to take into consideration that baby might get sick or experience more frequent bowel movements than usual and you don't want to run out.

The diaper bag? It's important to plan on keeping 2-3 diapers in your diaper bag at all times. Great for going out and about and as backup in the event that something happens at home and you need a clean diaper fast.

I can't tell you how many times I ran out of clean diapers because my diaper laundry got put into the dryer but I forgot to turn it on!

What about wear and tear? If you keep the exact amount of diapers that you need for each day and no extra, AND you're washing daily. Then you can expect to be washing those same diapers 365 days a year. That's a lot of wear and tear and you may not be able to rely on those diapers for use with future children.

The more diapers you have the larger your rotation which means instead of every day, each diaper would get used every other day. That cuts your wear and tear in HALF!

Styles of Diapers? For prefolds, fitteds and covers you can pretty much count upon the fact that you won't have to change the cover with every diaper change unless it gets smelly, too moist or soiled. So you can get by with 2 dozen prefolds and 4-6 covers just fine. With Pockets and AIO's you know that the entire diaper including the outer shell, pocket, inserts, etc. need to be changed at each diaper change.

Phew! That's a lot to take into consideration isn't it? Well I hope this post helps you a little and gives you a better understanding of how many diapers you'd need.

What are your thoughts, suggestions, comments?

Tuesday, March 15, 2011

Leslie's Featured Retailer: Emily of NoPinsRequired!

Time to feature another of our Fabulous Leslie's Boutique Retailers!

Today we're interviewing Emily, the owner of No Pins Required!

Please tell us about yourself and your family, where you live, any hobbies, if you have little ones in cloth diapers-
My husband John and I live in Ferndale, Michigan. We have one son, Jack (2.5) and another baby on the way, due in October. We are big Detroit Tiger fans and I am an avid scrapbooker.

Tell us about 'No Pins Required' and how it came to be that you started a cloth diaper business.
A local online cloth diaper store closed right after I had my son, and I didn’t have a local place to buy diapers. We bought her store, and opened online only in August of 2009. In April of 2010, we opened our brick and mortar location in Ferndale, Michigan. We had so many local customers, it made a lot of sense. We started out as only a cloth diaper store, but we are really a natural baby store at this point, with tons of natural products that aren’t diapers. We are moving into a new location soon that is much larger than our current location.

Do you have a physical store or showroom? Do you offer consultations, demos, deliveries? Any special services?
We have a brick and mortar store in Ferndale, Michigan. We offer cloth diaper classes twice a month and Moby demos once every couple of months. We have a gift registry that is really popular and we also offer layaway.

Store hours:

Sunday/Monday - Closed

Tuesday 12-5

Wednesday 10-3

Thursday/Friday 12-5

Saturday 10-2

Our address:

22446 Woodward, Ferndale, Michigan!

What's your favorite part about being a cloth diaper retailer and being involved with the industry?
I love promoting cloth diapers and getting more people using them!

What's your favorite style of cloth diaper?
All in ones, where the absorbency flips out in the wash so they dry quickly!

From the Leslie's Boutique line of products what is your favorite product and why?I love all of the Leslie’s products, but I really love the wet/dry bags and the pleated dry pocket!

What piece of advice would you give to a mom who's getting ready to make the switch to cloth diapers?
Try a variety of diapers! You never know what you will like the best! Try both Velcro and snaps too!

Special Offer: Visit No Pins Required and us Discount Code LESLIES10 for 10% off your order!

Want to stay connected with No Pins Required? You can Become a Fan of theirs on FaceBook!

Monday, March 14, 2011

Tips for those who frequently forget their diaper bags!

I don't know about you all but I was terrible at remembering to bring my diaper bag along whenever I left the house. Every time I turned around I was having to deal with a poopy diaper, leaking diaper, soiled clothes and overall diaper changing catastrophe.

My forgetfulness was always the topic of converstaion...er discussion with my husband. Never failed, we'd decide to take a drive, run some errands, etc. and next thing I knew the baby would need a changing and I'd realize I left the house with nothing but my breasts for feeding her, thank god they're attached or I'd probably forget them too!

Hindsight is always 20/20 so here I will share with you some tips I've come up with or tips that had been volunteered to me in order to help me prevent those really embarrassing and inconvenient diaper bag dilemmas.

You hear it all the time but having extra diapers, maybe a few you don't use all that often, a change of clothes and some extra wipes in your car for those emergencies really is the way to go. You never know when you might have your diaper bag with you AND still run out of the supplies you need.
Keep two diaper bags packed or handy so that even if you forgot to pack one you can grab the other and run out the door if you're in a hurry.
Always re-pack the diaper bag as soon as you unpack it. A great little habit to get into that will help you save time.
Keep your diaper bag by the door, attach your keys, or keep it by your purse or some other item that you are not likely to forget.
If you want to, make your diaper bag your purse! This is a great excuse to go ahead and purchase one of those super cute and trendy diaper bags that you've always wanted. Temporarily move out of your purse and into the diaper bag and you'll almost never forget it again!

Do you have any tips or suggestions for mamas who frequently forget their diaper bag? We'd love to read them!

Saturday, March 12, 2011

Saturday Mom Blog Hop! Add you blog!

Here's how it works...

In order to join the hop and add your link you have to first

First, follow the first (2) Blogs on the list AND the last (2) Blogs on the list. Why the first and last? Well normally I see blog hops where you must just follow people at the top, but that doesn't seem all that fun when those never change and there's no guarantee anyone else will get new followers. So I decided to play by my own rules and ask that you follow the top two and bottom two.
Second, grab the code for the linky and create a new Blog post on your blog. Please also use the Cloth Diaper Geek Blog Hop graphic and copy/paste these instructions if you can so that others will know the rules and how to play along.
Optional, it is not "required" but if you'd like other bloggers to follow you back through this Hop then it's suggested that you leave them a comment saying so on their blog so that they know you stopped by.

*To grab the code and place this Blog Hop on your blog you must click the link below that says "Get the code here..." or copy/paste the code from the iframe box below.