Just Simply Baby #snugbug Sponsor Spotlight!

The Snug as a Bug Baby and Toddler Giveaway Hop is starting January 15th and I'm excited to share with you some more sponsors! Today I'm going to tell you about Just Simply Baby! 

Just Simply Baby was created by a mom of four named Katie! She started cloth diapering her youngest and was having a hard time find great diapers that didn't leak and didn't cost a fortune! This search soon became Just Simply Baby! 

Just Simply Baby carries a huge variety of prefolds, newborn, and one-size pocket diapers! They carry cloth diaper accessories such as wetbags, diaper creams, and extra inserts. They even carry natural mommy, baby, and home products! All at an amazing price!

Just Simply Baby is going to be giving away a $25 gift certificate in the Snug as a Bug Giveaway Hop! 

What's one item you would love to have from Just Simply Baby? 

Be sure to follow Just Simply Baby on Facebook to get a head start on giveaway entries! 

Teething Bling Review! #snugbug Sponsor Spotlight!

Teething is usually a big part of a growing baby's life. Some lucky babies (and their parents) get their teeth with little to no pain, but for other babies teething can be a very miserable experience. Even when babies are teething they love to put things in their mouth. Teething Bling is the original teething jewelry that moms can wear and babies can chew on! 

Teething Bling was created by a mom, Amy, and is family owned and operated! They understand what it is like to have little ones and they make themselves available a number of different ways for any questions and concerns you might have! Teething Bling pendants are made from the same FDA approved silicone as teething toys and infant spoons. They contain no harmful chemicals so it is ok for your baby to put them in his or her mouth.  All of the Teething Bling pendants come with a breakaway clasp as well, just as an added safety measure. 

We were given the opportunity to review some Teething Bling Pendants! We received an awesome variety of colors! There are so many beautiful colors to choose from so you can match your Teething Bling with any outfit you have! They also have a variety of shapes to choose from! 

Besides being super cute they work really great for teething little ones! Isaac is currently getting his molars, which make him pretty miserable! Whenever he's fussy and upset I just lay him on my lap and rock him and let him go to town on my Teething Bling! They also work as a great distraction when you need to keep baby still or quiet! They definitely come in handy waiting at the doctor's office! 

Isaac and I both really enjoy our Teething Bling! They are cute and fashionable, yet work great for teething little ones! They are not harmful to my baby, so I don't have to worry about anything when he puts it in his mouth! Mommies and babies both love them! 

Buy It!

http://www.smartmomjewelry.com/

Win It!

One lucky reader will win their own Teething Bling in the Snug as a Bug Baby and Toddler Giveaway Hop starting January 15th! 

What color Teething Bling would you choose?

Cloth Diaper Q & A Week 2- The Cost of Cloth Diapering and Do they Really Save Money?

It's week two of the cloth diaper Q & A and now that you know the different types of cloth diapers you have to choose from, you may be wondering what the price range is for each of these diapers. You may also be wondering, with the start up costs of cloth diapers, if and when they will save you money. Well I'm here to answer all of that for you this week! 

Diaper Price Ranges

Prefolds/Flats- I've found that prefolds run about $1.99 each and up. So for a dozen plain indian cotton prefolds, it would be roughly $25. Snappi's run at about $3.95, and covers to go over the prefolds run about $9 and up, depending on what kind of cover and what brand you purchase. 

Fitted Diapers- Fitteds have a wide price range of about $12 all the way up to the $30 range depending on brand, how they were made, and the materials they were made with. You will also need to purchase a cover for fitted diapers. 

Pocket Diapers- Pockets also have a wide price range. They go from about $7 all the way up to around $20.

All-In-Ones- These diapers run from about $15 to about $26. Even though the price is a little higher in some cases you won't need to purchase anything else with the diaper because it's all one piece and doesn't require anything extra. 

All-In-Twos- All-in-Twos range in price depending on the covers and inserts you want. Covers such as the Flip cover, or the Best Bottoms covers price at about $16.95. Then the inserts that lay inside the covers price from about $3 to around $8. You can purchase packages with both the covers and inserts for around $32 and up. 

When Will I Start Saving Money?

So these start up costs may seem a tad bit high at first glance. I mean you can buy a pack of disposable diapers for $20, why would you want to spend $20 on just one diaper? But see, by re-using the cloth diapers, you are saving money by not having to buy disposables. After a few weeks or months you will break even from your purchase of cloth diapers  and after that you will start to save money! 

There's this really nifty Cloth Diaper Savings Calculator on DiaperPin.com and it will show you exactly how much money you will save using cloth! You just plug in the cost of the diapers you want to use, and the cost of the disposables you usually use and it will tell you exactly what you will save and when! 

For example, if you were to purchase two dozen prefolds, 2 covers, and a snappi if would cost you around $89.75 total.Say you used Huggies size 2 diapers at $19.77 for 76 diapers. If you changed your baby around 10 times a day you would break even in a month and a half, you'd save $337 in 6 months and over $1100 in a year and a half! 

Say you wanted to use all pockets. I calculated the cost of 10 BumGenius 4.0s and 12 Kawaii One-Size pockets. It would cost you about $298. You would break even at around 4 months, save $128 in six months, and $982 in a year and a half! 

Go try it yourself to see exactly how much money you would save using cloth diapers!

A Helpful Tip!

The start up costs of using cloth still making you cringe? It did the same to me. But I have a helpful tip! Buy what you can when you can! You don't have to buy a full stash right off the bat! I didn't! I purchased a few diapers here and there when we had the extra money. After a month or so I had enough to use all cloth for a full day, then it was a day and a half, and then I was able to go every other day before needing to wash! Even if your not using cloth full time, you are still using less disposables but using some cloth, which is still saving you money! You won't have to buy disposables near as often if you are using cloth even part of the time! By just buying a couple diapers at a time you will still be working towards saving money and doing something great for your baby! 

I found my price ranges using www.abbyslane.com and www.diaperjunction.com. All pricing is approximate. 

Weekend Getaways!

I always get stressed when we go on long trips. There's just so much to do with two small kiddos! So much to pack, and so much to prepare for! But Brian wanted to go see he Dad, who lives about 5 hours away so we packed up and went on a weekend getaway! It turned out to be a lot of fun! The boys loved it and I didn't forget anything too major! (I did forget my favorite new boots though :/) We had such a nice relaxing time! Here's a few pictures! 

He learned to slide down the slide! 

The four of us on the pier! 

The boys with their wonderful grandparents!

Brian and I on the pier! 

Dermagist Eye Precision System Review & Giveaway!

At my age (25)  I don't really have wrinkles yet, but I am a mother of two small children, so I do have puffy, tired eyes.  Even now that the boys are sleeping through the night again, I still  get the tired eye look. If I look at pictures of myself from before I became a mom and now, that is the first thing I notice. My eyes looks so tired and puffy. Plus I'm starting to get crow's feet! It's never too early to start protecting your skin against wrinkles so I've started using Dermagist's Eye Precision System!

 The Dermagist Eye Precision System consists of the Eye Revolution Gel and the Instant Effect Lifting Serum. The Eye Revolution Gel works to combat wrinkles around the eyes as well as dark eye circles and puffy eyes. It contains peptides which instantly attack the causes of dark circles and puffy eyes. The Instant Effect Lifting Serum instantly tightens wrinkles as well as works on them long term. Your skin will improve and tighten more and more with use. 

I've been using the Eye Precision System for about a month now, and I've noticed some nice improvements. As I said, my puffy, tired looking eyes were my big issue. I hated looking so tired all the time. So I mostly use the Eye Revolution Gel. I simply put it under my eyes every morning after I shower and have clean skin. It dries quickly and doesn't leave that filmy feeling on my skin like some gels do. I started noticing improvement pretty much right away. My eyes just looked more awake. I use the Instant Effect Lifting Serum for around the corners of my eyes and my forehead. I don't really have wrinkles yet, but I figure it will be a good preventative measure to go ahead and apply. 

If you have tired, puffy eyes like I did the Eye Precision System is for you! It works instantly and is light and gentle on the skin!And by buying the System instead of the two products separately you save $58.99! 

Not the greatest, but here's an instagram picture I took of myself back in November. See my tired eyes!

Here are some recent pictures of me after using the Eye Precision System for about a month! Even I didn't realize how well it really worked until I saw these before and after pictures! 

Buy It!

http://www.dermagist.com/shop/

Win It!

One lucky reader will win the Dermagist Eye Precision System! 

Giveaway is open to US residents only.Must be 18 years of age or older to enter. Only one entrant per household allowed. 

Cloth Diaper Blog Hop! {How and Why I Started Cloth Diapering!}

I'm really excited to be participating in the Cloth Diaper Blog Hop hosted by My Cloth Diaper Stash! Each week there will be a different topic and blogs can link up their blog posts on that topic! This week's topic is: How and Why I Started Cloth Diapering! I think I've wrote about this before but instead of trying to find it I'm just going to write it again!

I didn't start cloth diapering Noah until he was 7 months old. When I was pregnant I knew about cloth diapers but I just wasn't that concerned with them. But then after Noah was born, some of my new mommy friends were using cloth and I became a little bit interested. I started doing a little bit of research and saw the initial start up costs for cloth diapers and my interest was quickly shot down. I knew that wasn't something we could afford, especially if it was something I didn't stick with or didn't like. So I gave up that idea. 

Then a month or so later, I was talking to a mommy friend who used cloth diapers and she told me about a local store that did a trial program. It was only $10 for you to pick out different kinds of diapers to try and see if you like them for two weeks. What you didn't like you could return, and what you did like you would purchase. I knew this would be perfect! So I explained to my husband how cloth diapers would save us a ton of money and how the trial program would give us the chance to try them without spending a whole bunch of money. He went for it!

So we went to the local store and talked to the owner about cloth and getting started! She was very helpful and explained to us how they worked and what detergents we needed to use with them and how they needed to be washed. Then we picked out some cloth diapers to try for our trial program! I picked out one of everything! From prefolds to AIOs! 

I went home right away and washed them how she explained they needed to be washed! The very next day, which was Thanksgiving of 2009 I tried my very first cloth diaper on Noah. It was a prefold, held together with a snappi, with a Thirsties cover over it! 

Here's a picture of Noah in his very first cloth diaper!

I was hooked! Even my husband liked them, and he really liked how much money they would save us! I slowly purchased my stash, one or two diapers each paycheck, and was able to get a decent stash built within a few months! I cloth diapered Noah until he potty trained shortly after he turned 2 and then cloth diapered Isaac from birth and he's still in cloth diapers! I love cloth diapers!

If you want to link up, write a blog post about how and why you started cloth diapering and link up over at My Cloth Diaper Stash! 

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Mama's Got A New Look Giveaway Hop! #mamasnewlook

Happy New Year! With a New Year comes the chance to develop a new YOU!  Welcome to the Mama's Got a New Look Giveaway Hop Event. Let's face it, us mama's don't always spend the time we need to on ourselves and our health because we are always taking care of everyone else.  The Blogging Mamas Network, along with over 30 other fabulous bloggers, want to give all of you special, deserving Mamas a chance at getting a New Look for the New Year!

This Event will run from January 3-17 and each blogger in the hop has a great prize, worth at least $25, to help you achieve that new look!  While you're hopping be sure to check out the TWO Grand Prizes for this Event - the Active New Look and the Fashionista New Look for Mamas!  Enter the Grand Prize HERE.

Here at The Not-So-Secret Confessions of a Second Time Mom you have the chance to win a Beauty Prize Package from Sarah O'Donnell- Avon Independent Representative worth $41.50!

I absolutely love Avon products! All of the makeup I use is Avon and a lot of the skin products I use as well! I even use some Avon hair products! They have everything from beauty, to skin products, to men's and children's products! They even have the cutest clothing, shoes, and handbags! Their items are greatly priced and you can order the products online for only a flat standard shipping rate of $3 or FREE shipping for orders over $30!

Included in the Beauty Prize Package is:

Ultra Color Rich Brilliance lip gloss in Bordeaux Glow {$8RV}

Super Drama Mascara in Waterproof Black {$9.50RV}

Glimmersticks Eyeliner in Blackest Night and Flashy Steal {$14RV}

Luxe Clutch Eyeshadow {$9.99RV}

That's five amazing beauty items worth $49.50 to give you a great new look for the New Year!

To enter simply fill out the Rafflecopter form below! You only have to do the mandatory entry to enter but the more entries you do the better your chances of winning are! Must be 18 years of age or older. One entrant per household allowed. Giveaway is open to US residents only.