"Nothing More to Say" Wednesday or Sisters

(my grandmother and her sisters circa 1914)

(my sister and me)

My Favorite Princess by Miss M

I like to read Barbie books.  I like playing my magnet Barbie fashion.  I also like Baby C.  I also like the colors pink, purple, blue, orange and yellow.  I like Baby C and me to do all of things together because we are so sweet.  My favorite letters are M A and E.  My favorite show is Strawberry Shortcake.  My favorite songs are Strawbbbberry Shortcake and Old McDonald Had a Farm and Pol la la ly.  I love ice cream and a lollipop.  I like all my friends like Roo, Veronica, Joey, Grace, Josh.  I also like my other friend Grace and Joe and Tyler.  My favorite toys are Polly Pockets and Barbie.  My favorite mermaid is Barbie and the Mermaid.  That's it.

Body Butter GIVEAWAY! You Could Be A Winner! CLOSED

Sprout Baby: Love Your Baby Love Your Planet is an online store that offers a variety of healthy, eco-friendly products for your family.  As they state on their website: "We spend a great deal of our time making sure the products we present to you are the best, the healthiest and the safest alternatives around."  They began their store with offering Sprout Foods baby food but now also offer toys, diapers, feeding tools, home care, mom care, and finally baby care.  Which brings me to my giveaway!

Sprout Baby : Love Your Baby Love Your Planet has given me the wonderful opportunity to try out a product from the baby care section of their online store.  Episencial Body Butter is a luxurious body lotion for the whole family.  It truly is an all-natural product with such ingredients as: organic lavender, organic olive oil, shea butter, and sunflower seed oil.  What really makes their bottles stand out is the Eric Carle artwork.  This helps to make the bottles instantly recognizable to children who have read his books.

So What Did I and Miss M Think?  Well, the moment I opened the box, Miss M had me put some on her hands.  She then could not stop smelling them.  She kept saying, "My hands smell so good!"  I definitely agree with her on this.  The smell is not overpowering and I am a person that does not like a lot of smell to my lotion.  It is non-greasy and is quickly absorbed into the skin.  The bottles themselves are just the right size for smaller size hands since Miss M was able to use the bottle herself after bath-time with no problems.  I find myself using it on myself as well as on the girls.  It has been great during these dry months.  Definitely a winner in our house!

BUY IT!  I know you are dying to try this right now!  Well, you are in luck because Sprout Baby is offering a 15% discount off of your first order when you use code SBBL147 at checkout.  (Coupon code good until the end of March).  Also, if you order $75 or more you get free shipping with those items that qualify!


WIN IT! Sprout Baby is offering one of my lucky readers their very own bottle of Episcencial Body Butter!  Here's what you have to do to enter:


MANDATORY ENTRY: Visit Sprout Baby's online store and tell me in my comments section something (besides the body butter) that you would like to purchase.  Make sure you put your e-mail address in the comments!


EXTRA ENTRIES: (Please Note: Must do the mandatory entry FIRST!)

• Follow Sprout Baby on twitter (leave username so I can verify)
• Follow Queen of the Snot Princesses on Google Friend Connect or tell me if you already follow.
• Subscribe via e-mail (see box on right side) to my blog (be sure to validate or it won't count) or tell me if you already subscribe.
• Follow Queen of the Snot... on twitter  (leave username)
• Tweet about this giveaway.  Must have @sproutbabyclub @yeahhappy #giveaway and this web address in tweet. Place your status link in the comments.  You may tweet once a day.

This giveaway is offered to US residents 18+ and will end on March 8th at 11:59pmCST.  Winner will be chosen through random.org.  Winner will be notified via e-mail.  If they fail to respond within 48 hours then a new winner will be picked.  Please leave your e-mail address in all your comments so that I can contact you.  I will not share your e-mail with anyone, it is strictly for me to notify you if you win.  GOOD LUCK!
Full Disclosure:  I was given this product by the supplier at no cost to me but the opinion here within is entirely my own.  You may experience a different result upon using this product.

Gotta Do the Laundry...

One of the most common questions when considering cloth diapering your child is the laundry. Don't you have to do it all the time? Doesn't it take up a lot of your time? Doesn't it use up a lot of water and thus cost money? These are some common questions that I myself had and that I have encountered since writing my last post about cloth diapers.

When I first started to cloth diaper, I just had the ten or so diapers that I bought through Jillian's Drawers. So with those few diapers, I ended up washing them every day. I also didn't use cloth diapers at night, which kept down the amount of washing. Since the average diaper can cost around $17 each, we didn't want to buy a lot in case it didn't work for us. After a month of just having these few diapers, I started finding some on sale online and slowly built up our stash. We now have about 15 diapers, which is a reasonable and manageable amount but I am always looking for deals to add to it. With this amount I am able to do laundry every third day and also to use the diapers at night. So this week I washed our cloth diapers (by themselves) on Monday and Thursday.

My Washing Routine:

1.Brief soak diapers in cold water for about 15 minutes.

2.Pre-Wash in cold with a teaspoon of detergent (currently I use Charlie's Soap)

3.Wash in hot with cold rinse with about a tablespoon of detergent

4.Use Second Rinse option on washer (if available)

5.If warm weather, take diapers outside and air dry them. (The sun is a natural brightener and bleaches out stains). If not warm outside, place in dryer under medium heat.

Mostly, the washer and dryer do all the work and I just have to remember that the diapers are in there!

With regards to our water bill, I have not seen a dramatic increase in our bills. I'm sure it has gone up a bit but not enough to give me pause. In Downers Grove, we pay for our garbage pickup so it has been nice that we haven't had to purchase more stickers for the garbage since we have begun cloth diapering Baby C. I remember with Miss M we were having to put the garbage can out every week filled with diapers. This time around, the garbage goes out usually every other week like it had been before Baby C was born.

Overall, with the right amount of diapers and a little extra time in your day, washing your cloth diapers is pretty straightforward and easy.  
Please ask more questions!  I love to help pass on my little knowledge to interested parties.

A Girl's Gotta Eat! or "Nothing More to Say" Wednesday

Princess Belle by Miss M

I like Baby C. I like the picture that I picked out. One picture that I like is the one where Baby C is on top of me. And I also like Baby C and me with our favorite toys. I like Barbies and Polly Pockets. I also like hanging out with my cousins. All different kinds of things I like are hanging with my cousins at the stair railing at Aunt Mimi's house. I also like hanging out with Daddy's friends.

I also like the valentines I got from my friends at preschool. I like the ones with Tinkerbell and Rosata on it. I also like the picture I colored for Mommy and Daddy. A rose was on the picture.

The best part about Valentine's Day is Hershey's Chocolates!

I also like going swimming. I like dipping my head in the water. That's it.

Guest Blogger: Miss M (as dictated by her to AEK)

Why We Use Cloth Diapers-Our Story

I didn't use cloth diapers on Miss M.  When she was born in 2004, I didn't even consider it.  My only consideration was which brand of disposable I was going to use...Pampers or Huggies.  She was in disposables until she was potty trained by the age of 3.
In 2007, we went to visit our friend Heather in Asheville, NC.  While we were there she changed her baby girl's diaper.  Well, while she was changing it both my husband and I noticed that the diaper was not a Huggies or Pampers.  It was cloth.  My husband asked, what is that?  Heather replied that it was a cloth diaper, specifically a Fuzzi Bunz.  This was not the kind of cloth diaper I had heard my mother and her generation complain about.  It was cute.  There were no pins.  Afterwards she showed a diaper to us and explained how easy it was to use.  We were intrigued.  Both my husband and I thought that if we would have another child, we would try cloth diapers.
Fast forward to 2009.  I was pregnant with Baby C.  I started to search online about cloth diapers.  I discovered another world that I didn't know existed.  My head started to spin with all the choices out there. I emailed Heather for some advice, which she gladly supplied.  I then stumbled upon Jillian's Drawers and their 10 diapers for $10 trial program.  We decided this program would be good way to start the process and to sample a variety of diapers.  We also decided we wouldn't start cloth diapering C until she was about two months old.  Newborns go to the bathroom a little too much for a newbie like me.  I wanted to give myself a good enough success curve.  The trial program worked like a charm and really helped give us a running start.
So here we are seven months into cloth diapering and it is going great!  I love the fact that we don't have to run out to get diapers.  If we are out of diapers, I just have to do some laundry.   I love the fact that we are helping the environment in however a small way.  I love the fact that through this endeavor I have met some really nice and helpful mothers who have also decided to cloth diaper.  Of course, I can not forget the biggest fact I love about cloth diapering...the savings.  It is huge!
Cloth Diapers...they are not your mama's kind.  They are better...and more.

"Nothing More to Say" Wednesday

Princess Thumbelina by Miss M

I love my cousins. I love them because they call me different names and they are so cute!

And I like unicorns. The princess with the unicorn is named Unicorn Popia.

I like all my toys and all my favorite stuff. My also favorite thing is to play with my baby sister.

I also want to go to the planet Mars when I grow up. I like to play with my Polly Pockets and I like to listen to music. Also, I like to go to school. My most favorite thing I like is the Polly Pocket and Barbie websites.

My favorite class is Miss Mary. I like to play with the cymbals there.

I like to play with my animals. My favorite animals are Hello Kitty, Bear Bear, Elmo. My favorite princesses is Ariel. She is a stuffed animal. I like her too. I also like TinkerBell. I like my friends. I like Valentine's Day and my mommy and daddy. My favorite songs are "We're going out tonight" (by me) and "The Bottom of the Sea" and "The La La Song."

I like my cousin Savannah. She likes to play with me.

And that's it.

Guest Blogger: Miss M (dictated by her to AEK)

The Name

So why is this blog called "Queen of the Snot Princesses?" The reason is simple. Miss M loves all things "princess" and Baby C seems to always have a runny or rather "snotty" nose. Thus the name "snot princesses." It is not because I think my girls are snotty. Far from it. They just have a tendency to be full of snot more times than not. I guess they get this lovely genetic trait from their mother. The Queen.