Happy Lunar (Chinese) New Year to all of our customers!!! Welcome the year of the Dragon!

I am not sure if all of you are familiar with the Chinese New Year? If you go to a chinese restaurant, you will often see a paper on the table that states the 12 animal Zodiacs & it does tell you what zodiac you are base on the year you are born. This year, it is the year of the dragon. According to some, the year of the dragon is to welcome longevity, wealth and prosperity and to eliminate negative chi from the past.

We went to Tzu Chi, our son’s pre school to celebrate the Chinese New Year. They had a play and were explaining what is Chinese New Year and what do people do during those times.   The 3 year old performed the Lion Dance and the 4 year olds had a play, explaining to everyone what Chinese New Year is and what do people do. 

Basically, December 22^nd is where the Chinese celebrates the Winter Solstices.  After that till Chinese New Year, they begin spring cleaning. Then, the night before Chinese New Year, the family would gather around to have the family reunion dinner.  We had 2 this year to make up for last since my parents were not here last year.  We did a lunch in the restaurant and a dinner at home. 

Here is a picture of the 12 animal Zodiacs that people often see in the Chinese restaurant.

Also, here is a special dish we had called the “Yee Sang/ Loh Sang”.  Basically, the Yee Sang is a Fish Salad, but in Chinese, it means the “Prosperity Toss”.  It is only famous in Singapore and Malaysia where I grew up and of course, I wanted to make sure that I did the Prosperity Toss J

Did you know that people celebrates the Chinese New Year for 15 days?  But what are the tradition and things they typically do during these 2 weeks?

Well, here a little summary that I’ve gathered:

First Day:  Welcome the gods of Heavens and Earth, during the ancient times, many would stay away from meat and would just eat vegetarian food because it is believed that this will ensure happiness and longevity for the family.

Second Day: This is the day where the Chinese will pray to their ancestors as well as all the other gods.  Yes, we do have many different gods, the Kitchen god, the Earth God, etc.

Third and the Forth Day:  It is time to visit the in laws.

Fifth Day:  People usually stay home to welcome the God of Wealth. 

Sixth through the 10^th day:  People will visit one another and also going to the temple to pray for Good Fortune and Health.

Seventh Day:  It’s called “Yan Yat”, which means, it’s everyone’s birthday.  They usually eat noodles to promote longevity.

Eigth Day:  The Fujian people usually have reunion dinner and prepare for the big night.  As soon as it passes midnight, it is the ninth day and that’s when they pray to the God of Heaven (Tian Gong). 

Ninth Day:  That’s when people make offerings to the Jade Emperor, the ruler of the heaven.

Tenth through the 13^th day :  Again relatives would visit one another.

Fourteenth day:   That’s when people start preparing for the 15^th day, which is the last day of Chinese New Year. 

Fiftheenth Day:  This is the last day of Chinese New Year.  I believe some said that it is also the Chinese’s Valentine’s Day.  A lot of the single people would go to the river side to throw oranges to hope for a good partner in future. 

Yes, the celebration is really big and fun back where I was born but not so much here in US.  Though, we are planning to bring my son to see the Lion Dance so that they will remember our culture.  Things that I missed are the sound of fire crackers and also the red packets called the “Ang Pow”. According to the ancient times, the sound of the fire crackers would scare away bad luck.  As for the red packets, it’s basically like Christmas gifts during Christmas times but for the Chinese, they would put cash in the red packet and distributure them to the kids or people that are single. 

Happy Chinese New Year to all of our customers and friends who celebrates the Chinese New Year, may this Dragon year be another great and prosperous year for all!!!

How to prolong/ lengthen the life of your Baby Cloth Diapers/ Nappies?

The purpose of us using cloth diapers is so that we can save money.  Of course, the ideal world is for the baby to use from newborn through potty training and then, if they have other sibblings for the sibblings to use as well. Actually, this is how my mama managed to prolong our prefolds for 3 of us.


Here are some of the ways where you can think of to try to prolong the life of the cloth diapers:

• Do not use bleach, I know that there are some brands of cloth diaper tells their customer to use just a little of bleach but we think that in order to prolong the life of your cloth diaper, it is best to not use bleach.  Baking soda and vinegar is definitely a good substitute to whithen your cloth diapers.
• Do not use fabric softener!  I guess all CD moms and manufacturer say that this is a big NO NO.  The reason is because the chemicals in the fabric softener will cause the diapers to lose its absorbency.  Also, if there is microfleece inside the diaper, it will repel moisture when rinsed in fabric softener.  Most diapers now are made out of PUL outside, and causes the PUL to break down faster causing wicking to occur.
• Line dry your diapers.  I guess for those CD moms who lives in tropical countries like Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, etc, it is ok for them since it is hot and humid all year round.  Therefore, it is perfect for them but not for countries with 4 seasons, it's just hard.  I do have customers that tells me that I live in Maine, I cannot line dry my diapers but you can still hang dry them overnight or just partially dry them in the dryer and hang dry them?  For example, my own clothes, I never do put them in the dryer but I hang them in the laundry room.  The room is so hot when the dryer is turned on, it is perfect to hang your diapers there.
• Maybe try not to use Dreft?  A lot of people think that Dreft is a detergent for baby but a lot of CD mom advise us not to use Dreft for baby cloth diapers.  Some say that Dreft is not ideal as Dreft contains scents, enzymes and brighteners.  According to most of them, Dreft contains softener, which is not good for diapers.  I think the best thing is to try out to ensure that it works for you and your cloth diapers.

Of course, there are many more things we need to do to prolong the life of your cloth diapers.  Share with us so that we can share it with other cloth diaper parents!

The pregnant sisters!

Being 3 years younger and already done with 2 kids, I never imagined that I would be pregnant at the same time as my sisters. She is 3 years older than me and because her son is a little more clingy and whinny, it scare her but because my brother in law really wants more kids, they have decided to try again. 


Growing up, I've always wanted a family like my parents.  That's why I choose to get married on their anniversary and I wanted to have kids pretty much the same age my mom had us but too bad, it didn't happen till later for me.


Though.... my mom and my aunt were pregnant the same time.  That's why my cousin brother is 4 days younger than me.  Aunt told us that she was preparing to go visit my mama and I at home and that's when she herself ended up in the hospital having my cousin.


SherLi, my sister's baby girl will be 10 weeks older than Leyron (DS3).  Just wanted to share this special sister thing will all the mom who happen to share the same thing.  I am sure SherLi and Leyron will be good buddies.

Cloth Diapers (30 years ago Vs. now) - That's why I cloth diaper my kids :)

I knew that I grew up with cloth diapers.  30+ years ago, all mama used was the prefolds and diaper pins on me.  This was me 30 + years ago.  Didn't realize that I had that much hair, wish it stayed.  All of my sibblings grew up with cloth diapers.  We were using prefolds with diaper covers.  Back then, mama would wash and since we grew up in a tropical country, we have always lined dry the diapers.  No dryers and therefore, the prefolds lasted for a very long time.  Managed to find some pics of me in cloth diapers and shoes crochet by my beloved mama :)

Fast forward 30+ years.... here is my little baby wearing cloth diapers.  I wonder 30+ more years, what would my grand children wear? 

Traveling with Cloth Diaper - Road Trip - How to Travel with Cloth Diaper on Road Trips!

Life is too challenging.  Hubby lost his job end of January and finally has an offer and starting his job beginning of June.  It is hard to move the family especially with my parents living with me, taking care of my boys and brother is recovering from cancer.  My oldest son is so attached to his dada and we wanted him to spend every moment with his dada before he starts his new job.  Since my hubby has to bring his car there, we all went with him, so, instead of traveling on a plane with 2 boys + cloth diaper, this time, road trip + cloth diapers.  Again, I have my check list.  From my previous traveling experience, base on my lesson learnt, I remembered to bring EXTRA Diaper Inserts and laundry detergent :)

1. BubuBibi Bamboo Cloth Diapers(16)
2. Diaper Inserts (24) - Enough for more than 3 days :)
3. Remaining of my diaper liner roll
4. Large Wet bags - 3 of them
5. Lotion
6. Detergent
7. Thermometer
8. Medications

Day 1: It took us 11 hours the first day from Dallas to El Paso. We had to make several stop, milk, diaper change, snacks, lunch, etc.  We first went to to Laynce's (DS1) swim class.  It starts at 9am and ends at 9.30am.  After that, we went straight from there.  We made sure that Laynce has his DVD player, that way, he can watch all his cartoon and his favorite WWW.  I always call it world wide web :)  But it's actually Wow Wow Whubbzy :)  That is one of this favorite cartoons, of course, we won't forget about Barney, Wonder Pets, Nemo, Bug's Life (he watched twice) and etc.  As for little Laynden, he was doing great.  He wasn't that fussy except for when he was about to sleep, he was just fussing a little but he would just fell asleep himself.  Yes, I did bring another DVD player for him to watch his little Einstiens BUT.... instead of watching, it became a bouncing ball for his cute little toes and he wasn't watching.  So, we decided that he did not need to watch anything.  He did great.  We stopped by near Abilene, TX for lunch.  That was our first stop.  Perfect time for diaper change.  We ate Subway.  Unfortunately, we I went in there, there wasn't a diaper changing station and I know that he has poopy diaper, I didn't think it was appropriate to change his diaper while eating.  So, I ended up having to change his diaper in the car instead.

Before diaper change

 

During diaper change in the hot car

 

Playful little baby after diaper change in SUBWAY! Finally, after 11 hours, we made it to El Paso, TX. Since I stay in the hotel 3 nights out of a week, I had a lot of hotel points, I managed to get a free night stay at the Double Tree with some nice view, check it out.  We were too tired and lazy to drive out, so, we ordered pizza in and little Laynden held on to his food and put it in his mouth the first time :)

 

Day 2: Started our journey at about 9+, headed all the way to Phoenix.  Yes, we saw a lot of In and Out burgers on our way, we just recently had 2 In and Out in Frisco and Allen, TX, so, it was a big the Texans but as we pass by AZ, there were quite a few of them with short lines, compared to TX.  DS2 did so good until towards the end, we were about 20 miles from Chandler, he started fussing.  Had to do almost all of the diaper change in the car.  Thank goodness for the wetbags, I almost filled up wetbag 1 as I have been putting his wash cloth, dirty clothes in the bag too.  So, after a total of 18 hours in the car, we are FINALLY there in the hotel.  I was very excited because Charity is right, Chandler is a really nice place and it reminds me of Dallas.  We were just in Williamsburg, VA a few weeks ago and it seems to be very different compared to Dallas but I feel right at home when we were in Chandler.  We did not do much that night. 

Little Laynden was so happy to finally be OUT of the car.  He was tired.  We ordered Chinese to go and came back to the hotel as we were all exhausted.
So, here are the cloth diapers for the 2 days.  Not too bad.

Day 3: Since it was Memorial Day and we were exhausted from the long drive, we slept in that day.  Though, we still managed to go out in the afternoon, we went to Ikea to check out some necessities and I went to craigs to look for furniture, so, we stopped by several places, I think we even went to Mesa, Scottdale and finally ended up at a place that had floor models that wasn't too bad and best of all.... it was Tax Free! 

I wanted to share with mom that Ikea provides excellent services to mommy and babies.  They have a really nice changing area and they even provide FREE DIAPERS!  Too bad, they were the disposables but I would like to thank them for providing such clean and nice place for us mommy to help change poopy diapers.

Check it out, the nice changing table and my husband even got to rest on a nice cozy chair while I changed little Laynden.  Yes, I always use the BubuBibi  Biodegradable/ Flushable Diaper liners especially when I go out.  Check out the next pictures why I am so thankful that I did.  Though.... in order to save $$$, for those diaper liners that does not have poopy on it, I usually reuse them a couple of times, at least 2 for sure.

Yes, this is a bad bad blow out!  Even with the liners, it was pretty bad, see the flushable liners (Sorry, I know it is a little gross!)

We got back to the hotel and yet, we managed to bring the boys to the pool.  Silly me, guess what, I forgot the swim diaper for little Laynden so, I used his regular cloth diaper without the liner.

Yes, it's true, there are some people who advise not to use the cloth diaper as swim diapers.... sorry, I was very desperate and I didn't want him to not be able to go since his older brother gets to be in the pool. 

Yes, he is done with swimming!  Though... day 3 ended with everyone super exhausted, baby Laynden was fast asleep with his brother!

While the kids were knocked out, it was time for mama to make sure that we have enough diapers.  I figured out that if I do not wash them, then, we will be out of diapers.  I laid them all out to soak because some there were a couple of them had some poopy stain. Yes, thank goodness we used the BubuBibi Diaper Liners, if not, there will be even more stains.  I let it soak for a while before bringing it to the laundry room to wash and dry them. 

Yes!!! I finally remember detergents this time!

Day 4: I had to work from the hotel on day 4, but since baby Laynden and Laynce were exhausted, they continued sleeping till late but my husband had to go to the leasing office of the apartment to get the keys. 

Yes, while the boys are still sleeping, I took the opportunity to fold the laundry. 

Check out my cloth diapers - No stains because I usually like to soak them for a bit first and also thanks to the BubuBibi Diaper Liners!

Ok.... yes... they were having fun in the room after they got up. 

When their daddy came back, I had to quickly rush out.  I brought over 15 diapers as I was supposed to meet with a customer, her name is Charity, she has a pair of twin girls and I was supposed to meet her and her family in an In and Out Burger.  Yes, it is my first time.  That's why I got to take a picture and post it to show off! 

My First In and Out Burger!

Ok, I got back from meeting my customer and saw more dirty cloth diapers.  So, I decided to hand wash them, since there was just 2-3 of them and I just hung them in the room like we did with the other trip. 

Day 5:  We finally moved into the apartment. I managed to get some good deals in Ikea and furnished his apartment in about $1,000.  Yes, I have another blog that shows what I did to furnish his 1 bedroom apartment within $1,000.

BEFORE

AFTER

Day 6:  The boys are starting to get a little bored at home, so, we brought them to the mall.  We brought them to the Chandler Fashion Mall?  It reminds me a lot of the Stonebriar Mall here in Frisco, TX.  There, the boys played at the play ground and guess what, we met another cloth diaper mama.  I had some pictures of the little girl behind the background with her leggings.  So cute!

Day 8:  Time flies when you are having fun but of course, it's time to come back to the real world.  What is the real world?  Well, 3 of us were to leave Arizona while my husband will stay there going forward.  He drove us to the airport early that morning.  Yes, we were all feeling so sad and I just didn't know how Laynce would react.  He lived with his dada all his life and now, it's time to leave him and only see him once every 2 weeks?  I feel so bad :( 

He waited for our flight to head back to Texas!

The boys were sad but it was time to head back home!

Conclusion with my Road Trip with Cloth Diaper:

It really isn't that bad at all.  Yes, compared to disposables, it was a little more trouble since you don't have to bring a lot of the disposables, you can keep on buying as needed but then again, it is so much fun traveling with the cloth diapers.  There are things that is a MUST HAVE to travel with the cloth diapers.  First of all, my advise is to make sure that you find a hotel with laundry services if you are staying in a hotel, if not, check with your friend/ relatives if it is ok to do your laundry at their place.  Remember to bring your laundry detergent, yes... that was one of the thing that I forgot the last time.  The diaper liners were definitely a great help when it comes to poopy diapers and of course, the wet bags to store the diaper diapers.  Then, we still have not come out with the BubuBibi Wet/ Dry bag, therefore, we didn't get to use the wet/dry but I definitely think it is a plus since it is better for me to bring that to the mall.  Even though the cloth diaper took up more space in the luggage but since he can just wear the cloth diapers, it saved me from having to take his shorts, so, I guess it's just a wash in terms of space. Other than that, it is really a fun thing to have a road trip with cloth diapering!

I HATE CLOTH DIAPER!!!!

Oh no... that's not us.... but, while I was surfing the internet, I saw some comments like that made me wonder why people have such comments.  Then, thinking about it, some parents do not want to even give Cloth Diaper a chance.  In fact, my sister is one of them. She has never tried cloth diaper before, she sees what I do, what I go through and her only comment is "I rather pay and throw away the diapers".  Well, since this time around, she will leave her baby girl with us (my mom) during the day, I will help convert her to a cloth diaper mom :)  

So, back to the statement again, "I Hate Cloth Diapers!"  Why? According to the comments from a lot of the mom, they did give cloth diapers a try but just failed, so, I would like to list what reasons they gave when they boxed their cloth diaper up or sold them away.

·       

• First try was on a newborn and he/ she pooped more than 5 times a day everyday!

       Having 2 babies, I do agree, I want to say the first 1-2 weeks of their life, they poop a lot!  I  didn't know why but read that in the early days, a newborn's bowel movements are thick and dark green in color. This is due to a substance called meconium that has been building up in her intestines during pregnancy. So, what can new CD moms do?

Option 1: Choose the hybrids, they can still use the diaper covers but disposable diaper inserts, just throw out and continue to reuse the diaper covers.

Option 2: Use flushable diaper liners, lay a layer on top of the cloth diaper, just throw the liners away and put a new diaper liners on top unless there are poopy over the cloth diapers, if not, just continue to do that.

• It stinks, it smells so horrible, I cannot stand the smell

Usually, when people complain that their cloth diaper stinks, it is most likely the ammonia smell.  It is very common with cloth diaper because the baby’s urine gradually turns into ammonia as it sits. 

Option 1:   Use odor remover spray – There are odor remover spray out there that you can spray a few squirt on the cloth diaper before putting in the pail. 

Option 2:   Check on the detergent that you are using – There have been advise to use a little of Calgon into the rinse cycle if you live in the “hard” area.

Option 3:   You can try stripping your diapers.  This simply means running a full hot wash cycle without detergent, repeating until the water is free of suds. Then dry as usual.

Option 4:  Replace your inserts

• I hate doing laundry and now I have to do more laundry?

        This is one of the easiest solution…. Get more Cloth Diapers so that you don’t have to do laundry that often!  Of course… that means spending more money.

• I have not been successful, the cloth diaper leaks!  
  There are a lot of reasons why cloth diaper leaks. 

Option 1:   The right settings is really important.  You don’t want the diapers to be too tight nor too loose.  My personal experience was with mama.  She cloth diapered us when we grew up, of course then, there were no fancy cloth diapers like what we have today.  every one of us used prefolds with pins.  I want to say when it came to my youngest sister (there are 4 of us we the age difference between the oldest and youngest is 17).   The Bububibi diapers were new to mama.  We didn’t know why each time she puts the diaper on for  him, it leaks but when I do, it doesn’t.  So one day, I looked at the way she prepares the diaper and put on my son.  Immediately I saw the problem.  He was so young and she had the largest setting on him and everywhere was loose.  I told her, this is not the right setting.  She said I don’t want it to be too tight on him.  I had to educate her that it is unlike the prefolds, these are gussets on the leg and bag, it really is not tight at all.  She thinks that it has to be loose fit and I said no, this has to be a perfect for the baby, if not, it would leak.  Now that we’ve got the right setting, we don’t have leak problems any more. 

Option 2: Did you include enough inserts and or did you insert them correctly? Sometimes, especially when we are in a hurry, the other kid is demanding for something or the baby is crying, you had to rush and quickly put his diaper on so that you can attend to the other kid, you just stuff the insert into the pocket without adjusting correctly.  That could make certain part of the diaper not have the insert  and cause leaking.  Also, if you have a heavy wetter like I do, 1 insert wasn’t enough for us, we had to use 2.  Lastly, the placement of the inserts do matters for boys or girls. Since I only have boys, I made sure that the inserts were always on the front and not the back.

Option 3:  Change your baby more frequently.  Some babies just need more frequent diaper change compared to others.  Just change them more often.

Option 4:  Did you damage your diapers by using bleach OR softeners?   That is one of the biggest NO, NO for cloth diapers.

• Too much work to save the environment
  I guess this is one of the hardest but then again, nothing comes easy.  At least that’s what I learn in life.  If we want something, we have to work hard for it, so, if we want to save the environment, make sure that our future generations still get to enjoy what we have today, we have to do our part.
  
  
• My husband/ family is not supportive
  This is another one where I personally do not have experience with.  My husband and family has always been very supportive in everything that I do.  I guess this is what people can do:
  
  Option 1: If $$$ is one of the things that they care about, explain to them and show them how much you can save by using CDs.
  
  Option 2:  Explain to them on how much this means to the environment.
  
  
• They are too expensive upfront
  There are many diaper brands out there.  Some cost $18- $22 each, some half the price.  That’s why as a mom, I offer the lowest price that I could.  Everything stock that I own is out of my personal  savings.  I try to offer as low as I can but often people’s mindset is CHEAP = LOW QUALITY.  I hope moms out there would understand that it’s not that most of the case and would give our BubuBIbi diapers a chance.

Option 1:  Find cheaper alternatives, try to test other diapers out there that are more towards your budget.

Option 2: Purchase used cloth diapers, sometimes you can find used branded cloth diapers on craigs, ebay where people are done with their cloth diapers or totally gave up the cloth diapers, you can purchase them at half the price.

Option 3: There are a lot of nonprofit organization out there provides free cloth diapers for those who are in need of them.  BubuBibi actually are going to be sponsor a few of them, providing free diapers every month.  Please check them out.

Cloth diapering is really fun, the thing I love most is looking at his cute butt.  It is colorful and it sticks out, makes him look like a chubby baby.  Give it a little more time, I am sure those who said this statement before “I hate Cloth diapers” would in turn tell their story and say, “I love cloth diapers” and thank goodness I gave them a little try!

Pictures of Babies in BubuBibi Bamboo Cloth Diapers

Over the years, we have many mom that helped us review our BubuBibi Bamboo Cloth Diapers and other products.  I would like to take this opportunity to thank all of the mom out there who helped us review our diapers.  Happy New Year to all of you out there.  I would like to share pictures that 
they posted for us.