Grab 'n Go

My 'diaper bag'

At BW’s age {now 26 months}, I don’t always feel the need to take a diaper with us while running errands. Sometimes I remember and other times I don’t. And really, all I need to take is one diaper for emergencies. Even when BW was younger, 1 diaper was all I needed for short outings. Again, it was more for an emergency diaper change than a need for another diaper while we were out and about. Leslie’s Grab ‘N Go bags are perfect for holding 1 diaper plus a few wipes. They are small and fit in a large purse easily. I should also mention that their size is a plus since I’m not one for diaper bags. As soon as my babies outgrow the need for me to pack along everything plus the kitchen sink, I’m back to my regular bags. 


 As you can see in the picture below, I’ve placed a diaper in the outer pocket to show how a single diaper looks in the G‘nG bags. I think it’s safe to say that most diapers would fit well in the outer pocket. The yellow OS FuzziBunz is even double stuffed. There’s plenty of room for your bulky diapers and of course trim AIOs {All-in-Ones} will fit perfectly as well. 

 If you’re a cloth wipe user while away from the house, just put a few pre-moistened wipes inside the zippered wet pocket. You’ll be set to go for your short trip away from home. 


This morning I spent some time reorganizing my laundry room. I have a cart that stores shoes in cubbies, shelves for miscellaneous items, a hamper, and a little side pouch for other necessities. I love keeping my wet bags stored right where I round up the kiddos to leave the house. All I need to do is grab a diaper. {Ok, that’s a fib. I make CW get a diaper for me. I can even be brand specific. He knows his cloth!} So while the boys are putting on their shoes, I put a clean diaper in the bag, throw it in my purse, and then I’m good to go. And often I keep a wet bag with a diaper stashed in the van. This is especially handy since I’ve been so forgetful lately now that I’m in the last few weeks of my pregnancy. And I highly recommend having several wet bags. This keeps down on the wear and tear of the PUL & fabric. And it ensures that you’ll always have a clean one ready to go when you are. Leslie’s Grab ‘N Go Bags are $12.99 and come in cute prints. Green Baby Elephant also carries a wide selection of larger wet bags, wet/dry bags, hanging pails, and pail liners for all of your cloth diaper storage needs.

Easter Basket GBE Style

Call me crazy, but I keep the chocolate out of the Easter basket when my little ones are too small to eat it. I save it all for myself! No joke. But I do struggle with ideas of what to put in the basket. Often it is trinket-y toys or bibs or cute cups or crayons or PJ’s and the like. This year I thought how it would be super cute to make a Green Baby Elephant Easter basket. I made up a basket using Mr. GBE’s childhood Easter basket using different cloth diapers, accessories, and toys. And I just love the colors! It’s so spring-y. Since Baby Elephant #3 is still in the womb, this will be next year’s basket for sure!

In the Easter basket above are the following:

FuzziBunz One-Size Elite in Tootie Frootie

Thirsties Duo Diaper in Honeydew

Leslie’s Boutique Wet.Dry Bag in Day & Night

Eazz Wrap Burp Cloth

GroVia One Size Shell in Mandarin

Bummis Swimmi in Pizzazz

Thirsties Fab Wipes – Girl Colors

Hevea Pond Bath Toys

A few additional gift ideas for your baby bunny are:

Hevea pacis

Hevea Panda Teether

Rock-a-Thigh Baby Socks

Leslie’s Boutique Changing Pad

And of course an assortment of cloth diapers

All of the above and more can be found at Green Baby Elephant’s Shop. HappyEaster!!

~Tonya

A Non-Cloth, Cloth Diaper Baby Shower Gift

Want to give a baby shower gift that shows off how great cloth diapers are, but are worried about giving a gift that won’t be used? Or you don’t want to be pushy about how great cloth diapers are to a new mom? I remember registering for my first baby and being completely overwhelmed. It took me months to research and register for everything that I needed and thought I just had to have. Keeping that in mind, it’s no wonder that I never seriously considered cloth. My brain wouldn’t have been able to make any more decisions after choosing a stroller, car seat, blankets, crib, pacifiers {there are about 1,000,000 of those to choose from}, etc. So without causing a new mama’s head explode, I have a great, green gift idea for you. GroVia Shells in hook & loop and a package or two of GroVia BioSoakers. It’s seriously the best of both worlds. Earth friendly, disposable inserts paired with cute, easy to use cloth covers. It’s the perfect match to let a new mama experience the best of cloth without using cloth. Huh? Think about it. She will get to experience diapering a newborn without blowouts. {Isn’t this really the best part of using cloth diapers?!} Chances are she doesn’t have firsthand knowledge about blowouts at her baby shower, but she will by the end of the first couple of weeks of her precious baby’s life. Desperate for an answer to her problems, she’ll vaguely remember the set of “hippie” diapers {her words, not mine} you gave her at her shower and give them a shot. And like the miracle she was searching for, she’ll find the “transitional” cloth diapers you gave her are perfect. Then wanting more of these hippie miracle diapers, she’ll call you. Hearing her tired and desperate voice, you’ll let her know all about cloth diapers. And of course you’ll tell her to shop at Green Baby Elephant, which is where you found out about this fabulous baby shower gift in the first place. And we all lived happily ever after. *sigh*  

See pictures of how BioSoakers work with GroVia shells here.

Also, for the month of August 2011, every GroVia diaper {Shells, AIOs, Newborn AIOs} in Ice {light blue} and Cosmos {light pink} are buy 2 get 1 free. So now is a perfect time to stock up for future baby shower gifts. No scrambling around last minute at a baby store searching for items off a registry! And want to add more to your gift without actually gifting cloth? You can add any combination of the following to your gift to really show how useful cloth diapering accessories are: cloth wipes {can be used a washcloths}, a wet bag {to hold poo covered clothes while disposables are being used, which will then convert to a true wet bag utility after cloth diapers are used}, diaper rash balm {Magic Stick or Rockin' Delish}, and/or cloth diaper safe detergent {Tiny Bubbles, Thirsties Super Wash, or Rockin’ Green as an alternative to Dreft to be used on baby’s clothes}.  Now pat yourself on the back for putting together a unique and green baby gift!

~~Tonya~~

Cloth Wipes 101

When I first started cloth diapering, I was totally clueless. I didn’t know anything other than the directions that came on the packaging. No knowledge of cloth wipes, diaper sprayers, liners, or detergents. As I began researching more and more about cloth diapers, I began stumbling across cloth wipes on blogs and online shops. At first I scoffed. I always scoff and resist change. No surprise that once I tried them, I liked them. {Note to self: Change is good!}

Once again, there was so much information and so many choices for something as simple as cloth wipes. I was immediately overwhelmed. After wading through the info, I discovered an easy way to make wipes pop up out of a disposable wipe container. That was the deciding factor. Once I found a way to make cloth wipes easy, I knew I had to give them a try. Plus, I was getting tired of picking disposable wipes out of the diapers before washing. So I knew that cloth wipes would be a nice solution. Everything gets washed at once, and no extra trips to the garbage can with poopy wipes. I couldn’t wait to get started.

 As soon as I got my wipes in the mail, they were promptly folded to pop out of an old disposable wipe container. Next up was making a wipe solution. Ugh. Again I was overwhelmed by the onslaught of wipe solution recipes. Because I like things to be simple, I use 1 cup of water and 1 tsp of Dr. Bronner’s soap in a spray bottle. I don’t bother with any essential oils or things like that. This is something that you’re making a couple of times a week. I don’t have the time to pull out a bunch of bottles and put a lot of effort into a solution to wipe my son’s rear. Keep it simple.

Surprisingly, Mr. GBE took to using cloth wipes without a hitch. No complaints. Remember mamas, if it’s the only option at the changing station, then it must be used. Plus, I think at this point, he’s cool with my “hippie-ness” as he calls it.

Below are pictures to help demonstrate how to make your wipes pop out of a wipe container. It’s pretty easy. These are Thirsties wipes. They are unbelievably soft. Once you feel them, you won’t be able to resist them. No joke! They are perfect for more than wiping bottoms. I can see how they can easily be used as washcloths for the entire family! And bonus…all Thirsties products are USA made. Sweet! You have to try them. They’ll quickly become a fave with every family member, so good luck keeping the wipes next to your changing station! {So that is my brief sales pitch. Buy your Thirsties wipes here.}

Cloth Wipes

This week I started to use Thirsties cloth wipes. I never thought that I would be a big fan of them, but I am! I absolutely LOVE them!!! I even made my own wipe solution and have 2 spray bottles full of it. The wipes are so soft, it's amazing! EB's skin seems to be really sensitive and once I made the switch I noticed he didn't cry anymore when I changed his diaper. Two major benefits that I have noticed are the fact that I can just toss them in with the cloth diapers to wash and the other is that the wipes are so large and absorbent that I can spray half of it with the solution and use the other half to dry him off. I normally use 1 wipe per diaper change. This has already been saving us money!  I know that all of this cloth diaper/wipe talk can make a Momma nervous...especially a new Momma, or one that has never considered using cloth until now.  I was a nervous Momma, then I tried it, and I am so glad I did!

~Nina~

One major reason that I made the switch to cloth wipes was that EB and I have had the misfortune of dealing with thrush...yuck! The disposable wipes were seriously irritating to his raw bum, and made his skin super wet. Then I would have to have a towel nearby to dry him off {excess moisture makes yeast grow}. Within 2 diaper changes with using the cloth wipes his bum went from fire red to light pink!!! Such a relief for us both! Also in making my own wipe solution I was able to customize it to his needs. For thrush it is advised to use grapefruit seed extract. So along with Dr. Bonner's soap, grape seed oil and water I added several drops of grapefruit seed extract, as an antifungal. It has worked miracles around here for EB! As for me, not as much, I ended up having to use the medicine prescribed. You win some you lose some. I am just relieved that it has worked for EB. Also, the Dr. advised using disposable diapers for a couple of days during treatment. I now know why I love the cloth. It actually got worse with paper diapers. The day we switched back to cloth it got so much better. For those of you wondering, the cloth diapers did not cause the yeast rash. It is caused by the thrush in the baby's mouth. Apparently during our first week of breastfeeding I got it and passed it onto him, and it got into his poo, causing the rash. Major pain, but we’re getting better every day!

Well, it finally happened, EB has outgrown his adorable little newborn diapers. I was still in denial when I could barely pull the front up far enough and I had to use the last snap. It was only after he peed out of 3 of them that I knew it was time to say goodbye and pass them on to another newborn.  It was a sad day at our house. My son is growing at an incredible rate. He somehow managed to gain 7 ounces in 2 days!!! This is unheard of for most newborns, but mine is apparently the exception. I remember at his 2 week appointment, the Dr. told me that normally it takes 2 weeks for a baby to get back to their birth weight, but somehow EB had gained almost a pound over his birth weight! We call him our chubby lil' duck. : ) Even though we didn't use the newborn diapers for long, I have to say that they were SO worth it!!!! I loved how there was almost no bulk and they fit his tiny little legs so perfectly.

Right now we are anxiously awaiting the arrival of BW's old diapers! Until then I have been using the Thirsties Duo Diapers, and love them! Not only are they easy to use, but I have not had a leak yet! They are bulkier than NB diapers, but that’s to be expected with a OS system. I have also been using Thirsties prefolds, fitteds, and wraps. I love using the Thirsties products. While bulky, it’s a diaper that works without leaks, and EB has plenty of room to grow in them. You can read more of my Thirsties review when diapering newborns here. And even though, EB had outgrown his newborn diapers I will still be reviewing the newborn diapers that I used on him. Those blog posts will be coming soon.