The Flats and Handwashing Challenge: Day 5 and a Rockin' Green Review (UPDATE: GIVEAWAY!)

  The Flats and Handwashing Challenge continues! Day 5 just seemed to fly by! If you're new and just coming in on this challenge, you can head over to Dirty Diaper Laundry and read the Rules to find out more about what's going on.

Friday was an uneventful day - nothing dramatic or overly exciting happened. (I'm ok with that) I feel like I have gotten into a good groove with the flats and covers. I have found folds that work well for little man and I love practicing them. It has been really rewarding to see how I have gotten quicker and better at folding the flats. I was so happy that the sun was shining today and that I got another batch of flats and covers washed and hung out in the sunshine!

I am so thankful that washing the flats and covers has gone so smoothly. I was really worried that I wouldn't be able to get them clean enough or get the soap rinsed out. The last thing I wanted was a rash on little man's tushy or diapers that had to get re-washed multiple times because they hadn't gotten clean the first go-around.

Before the Flats and Handwashing Challenge started, I had contacted Rockin' Green about the Challenge and was so happy when they agreed to be one of my sponsors and sent me 4 different Hard Rock samples! 

Scent Descriptions from the Rockin' Green Website:

• Smashing Watermelons- this juicy watermelon blend is like a kick to your senses.
• Rage against the Raspberry- this raspberry and honey blend will have you running around the laundry room looking for the mosh pit! 
• Mötley Cleän - there's clean and then there's Mötley Cleän. This fresh blend has hints of ocean, fresh linen, and sunshine.
• Lavender Mint Revival- this medley of lavender and mint is like nothing you have heard or smelled before! 

I broke in my flats by boiling them on the stove and I used Rockin' Green to help me pull out all of the natural oils and whatever "funk" was in the diapers before I used them on little man. I decided to start with Lavender Mint Revival and it was wonderful! I loved the natural minty/lavender-y scent - it smelled so relaxing! When I scooped some in to the pots of boiling water, it almost felt like I was getting a mini facial with all of the steam rising and the scent in the air.   

Once the pots of water were boiling, I added a small scoop of Rockin' Green and then added 2 flats per pot. I let them boil for about 30 minutes, making sure to keep a close eye of my boiling diapers. When they were done, I pulled the flats out and rinsed, rinsed, rinsed with cold water to make sure that all of the detergent was out. I was really quite impressed with what Rockin' Green was able to pull out of the flats. The water was noticeably dingy. Ewww... I'm so glad I chose to boil my flats in Rockin' Green!

I also have been using Rockin' Green to wash my flats and covers for the first half of the challenge. My general routine is fairly simple. First I rinse the diapers with cool water. Then I fill the tub about 1/3 of the way up with hot water and added about 1Tbs of Rockin' Green. I swished the diapers and then let them soak for about an hour and finished by swishing and agitating again. Then, I drained the tub and rinsed the diapers thoroughly with cold water and wrung them out before hanging them outside on my portable drying rack. I was really pleased that the Rockin' Green rinsed out so easily. I didn't have a hard time getting the diapers to be clean rinsing at all. I was also really happy that after I brought them in from hanging outside, they smelled like...nothing! They smelled like clean, fresh flat diapers. There wasn't a hint of dirty diaper smell to them at all!

Getting their initial swish/agitation

About an hour later after a mini-soak and some more swishing/agitation. ...Is that some funk I see? Yay for Rockin' Green for getting the "yuck" out of the flats!

I felt like Rockin' Green was constantly hard at work on my diapers. I was really surprised that after the first wash, it still managed to pull out some more natural oils and "funk" from the flats. Rockin' Green was great to use with my flats and covers - it got my diapers clean and smelled so good while I was washing them too! Rockin' Green has some great scents (Lavender Mint Revival and Rage Against the Raspberries are my fave!). Initially, I was a little worried that Rockin' Green might not dissolve as well in the tub as it would in a washing machine. But, i didn't have any trouble and was impressed by how quickly it dissolved in the hot water - the Hard Rock formula was perfect to battle our hard water here in Southern CA! I also love that Rockin' Green uses natural ingredients -  that helps me feel good about using it for little man and his cloth diapers.  But most importantly, Rockin' Green helped to get my diapers CLEAN for the Flats and Handwashing Challenge!   

Interested in getting some Rockin' Green for your diaper laundry? You can SHOP their website for Soft Rock, Classic Rock or Hard Rock to take on whatever water type you have. You can also connect with Rockin' Green on Facebook or Twitter.

-UPDATE- CLOSED -

Funny thing happened to me the other day... I got a mystery package of 4 sample size Rockin' Green Classic Rock Bare Naked Babies in the mail! I contacted Rockin' Green and they weren't sure why I had gotten it and told me that I could either keep it or do a giveaway! So, what am I doing...a GIVEAWAY for my lovely readers!

TWO of my very lucky readers will each WIN 2 sample size packages of Rockin' Green Classic Rock Bare Naked Babies! Each sample size bag will do 2 loads in a Toploader and 4 in an HE machine!

Here's how to enter:
Mandatory Entry:

• Leave me a comment letting me know your favorite cloth diaper detergent!Easy Peasy!

*This mandatory entry must be completed for the rest of your entries to be valid. I will be checking/verifying your comments, if you say you signed up for something or did something, you do need to actually do it for it to count as an entry*

 

Extra Entries:

•  Follow Rockin' Green on Facebook, please leave your Facebook name in your comment (1 entry) 

•  Follow Rockin' Green on Twitter, please leave your Twitter ID in your comment. (1 entry)

•  Publicly follow my blog via GFC and leave me a comment here letting me know (2 entries)
• Add my button to your blog and leave me a link (2 entries)

• Follow The Little Hedgehog on Facebook. (1 entry) 

• Follow me on Twitter: @lttlehedgehog then, comment here with your Twitter ID to get your entry. (1 entry) 

• Tweet about this giveaway. Comment with a direct link to your tweet so I can see it to get your entry!  You may use this tweet or make up your own:  #Win 2 Samples of Rockin Green on the @lttlehedgehog blog! 2 winners! Safe for #clothdiapers! http://bit.ly/igfKVo {Ends 5/10} #giveaway  (1 entry per day)

• Sign up to receive The Little Hedgehog emails via feedburner and have your subscription verified. (2 entries)

• Blog about this review/giveaway. Be sure to include a link to this review/giveaway. Comment with a link to your blog post to get your entry! (2 entries)

*Don't forget to put your email address in each comment so I can get a hold of you if you are the lucky winner! If I cannot get a hold of you, I will have to draw another winner! Also, I will check to make sure that the winner filled out the mandatory entry.

 

*I will be sending the winner’s prize item to them directly.*
***Open to the US with shipping included.***

I'll accept entries until Thursday, June 9, 2011 at Midnight PST. I'll select a winner using random.org's random number generator, then email the winner. The winner will have 48 hours to respond to my email and if I don't get a response, I will have to choose another winner. Again, make sure you leave your email address in your comment!

Thank you to Rockin' Green who provided me with samples of their detergent to use during the Flats and Handwashing Challenge. These samples were sent to me free of charge for review and has not influenced my opinion of the product. I have sought to give my honest review and experience with this product. Special thanks to Rockin' Green for sponsoring me with Hard Rock samples to use for the Flats and Handwashing Challenge and for also sending me samples free of charge to use for a giveaway!   

Feed Me Friday ~ Email Subscription Hop (I'm This week's Features Blogger!)

I'm being this weeks featured blogger for Feed Me Friday ~ Email Subscription Hop! I was thrilled to have been chosen as the blogger of the week!

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Welcome to Feed Me Friday Blog Hop, hosted by Oh So Savvy Mom and From Chalkboards to Strollers!  It's a Blog Hop to help you meet new bloggers and build your e-mail subscription.  Want to be a part of Feed Me Friday?  Just follow these simple rules:

- Add your blog link to the linky


- Subscribe by email and follow via GFC the two hostesses (Oh So Savvy Mom and From Chalkboards to Strollers) and the Blog of the Week.  Make sure to leave us a comment and  we will return the favor.

- Visit as many blogs on the list as you can.  If you like the blog subscribe to their email (feel free to follow on GFC too, if you want)

- Leave them a comment with your blog link so they know you are subscribing from Feed Me Friday. Be sure to confirm your subscription!

-Subscribing back is not mandatory, but it is recommended.  It is a great way to build blogging relationships.

Since this is an e-mail subscription blog hop, your blog must have a place for people to subscribe to your email.  If there isn’t an e-mail subscribe option, your link will be removed from the linky. 


Every Friday we will put up a new Feed Me Friday linky, so be sure to stop by and add your blog.  Each week we will choose one participant from the previous week’s blog hop to be the Blog of the Week.

Welcome to my blog! I am so happy you are here!

The Flats and Handwashing Challenge: Day 4

The Flats and Handwashing Challenge continues! I can't believe that it is day 4 already! If you're new and just coming in on this challenge, you can head over to Dirty Diaper Laundry and read the Rules to find out more about what's going on.

How is today going? Well, let's just say, "Holy Poopy Diapers Batman!" Little man gave me 6, count 'em 6 dirty diapers between last night and today to wash. :) They weren't tooooo bad and hubby actually did most of the dunking and swishing. He asked me today if he was taking away any of my joy from experiencing the dunking and swishing. I assured him that I was just fine with him handling the dunking and swishing part. So sweet of him to ask though. 

All of the dirty flats and 3 of my covers got a good soaking in the tub and then went outside to soak up some rays. I was really impressed with how quickly everything dried today. Today was the nicest day so far with warm sunshine and a slight breeze. All the flats (including the bamboo and hemp ones) and the covers were dry in about 2.5-3 hours.  

My EcoFluff bamboo flats and Swaddlebees flats drying in the sun!

Today I'm excited to be trying the Diaper Bag Fold! You can check out some videos of how to do it HERE and HERE. I really, really like this fold and I think it is perfect for little man - especially since it has plenty of layers in the front! I still have some "perfecting" to do, since I seem to have a hard time getting the fit nice and snug around little man's legs, but once he has a cover on, there's no problem. One funny thing that I found with the Diaper Bag Fold, was that I had an easier time doing it with pins and hubby was able to do it just fine with a Snappi. The Snappi and I must still be at odds.

Voila! Daddy is a pro with the Snappi and the Diaper Bag Fold!

I've really been having fun learning all of the new folds. I think that the Origami Fold and the Diaper Bag Fold are my favorites so far! So, aside from the little poop-splosions that happened today, it was a good day. The diapers got clean, they saw some sun and little man is quite a good sport when it comes to mommy's learning curve with flat diapers. 

Mommy's version of the Diaper Bag Fold with pins

Things I learned today: 

• Don't give up: I wanted to give up on the Diaper Bag Fold when I couldn't get the Snappi to cooperate, but I kept trying and found that pins work better for me with that fold.

• Rinse the diapers before you store them: I just started rinsing the flats in the tub (except for the lucky ones that get dunked in the toiled first) and keeping them in a little bucket until I wash them. I'm hoping that that will help to keep stains from setting.

• Wear gloves *correction* Wear Better Gloves: My gloves are too short, so I get a lot of water sloshed in and my hands and knuckles have gotten really dry. 

This leads me to my next discovery 

• Take Care of Your Hands: I started using Eco Fluff's Organic EcoButter this afternoon after washing the diapers and my knuckles are already starting to heal. Diaper rash cream isn't just for little booty's!

So, how did Day 4 of the Challenge go for you? Did you learn anything today?

Green Mama Blog Hop - I Was Featured!

I was the featured blog at this weeks Green Mama Blog Hop! 

The Green Mama Blog Hop is for blogs who consider themselves "green" - no matter what shade of green you are! So if you are a green blogger, hop on over and link up. If you are following me from the Green Mama Blog Hop - Welcome! Thank you so much for stopping by to follow my blog, I am so happy you are here.

If you leave me a comment, I will make sure to follow you back!

The Flats and Handwashing Challenge: Day 3

 

Today is Day 3 of the Flats and Handwashing Challenge! Day 1 and Day 2 have gone pretty well so far, with only one leak yesterday at nap-time. If you are interested in reading the Rules of the Flats and Handwashing Challenge, you can find them HERE.

So yesterday I practiced the kite fold over and over and over. I even tried using pins for the first time! I don't think I pinned very "properly" or neatly, but, it stayed on! (If anyone has any tips, I'd be happy to have them) It was really neat to use the pins, I definitely felt like I was doing something from a lost art form. I had read that keeping them in a bar of soap helped them slide through the fabric better and I think that it was really helpful. I am also happy to report that neither little man or his mama were injured in the application of pins in a diaper! Woohoo!

 

   We used the Econobum cover yesterday with the kite fold and it was pretty good. It's definitely a thinner cover, but it holds everything in. I had a little bit of a hard time making sure all the edges of the kite fold were tucked inside the Econobum cover, but that's probably because I'm not very "neat" when I do my folds. I'll keep practicing though! For the price, an Econobum cover is a good option.

I felt like overall the kite fold was a good fold for little man, except for nap-time! I had done a kite fold with a pad fold inside of it and when he woke up from his nap his pants were slightly wet and the cover was pretty damp. Little man is a stomach sleeper, so diapers really have to be well padded in the front. So, it seems like the Origami fold with a pad fold in it was the best for him so far. I posted on Twitter yesterday that little man leaked with the kite fold at nap-time and Kim was quick to respond and help me out. (Thank you!) She recommended the Diaper Bag Fold and I am going to be practicing it today so that I can try it on little man tomorrow! Today we are doing the Pad Fold, which is super easy-peasy!

We used a Flip diaper this morning with Swaddlebees flats and I think that the Flip diaper is great for holding the pad fold in place. For nap-time, I bulked things up with a Zabi Baby bamboo flat and a Hemp Babies flat diaper folded together in a pad fold and then I covered that with our Zookies cover. We shall see how it holds up!

Yesterday during nap-time, I was able to wash little man's diapers, some wipes and a cover in the tub and then hang them outside in sun. It was nice to be able to get them out there while the sun was shinning. I am really happy that my flats and covers seem to be getting really clean with being washed in the tub. I was a little worried that I might not be able to get them "clean" enough, but both sets of washed flats and covers pass the "sniff" test! They look clean, they smell clean and fresh... I think they must be clean! I feel like I spend quite a bit of time washing and agitating since I am hand washing in a tub. It is time consuming, but, I think the time is worth it knowing that the result is clean diapers.

While I was washing my diapers, I really thought about how fortunate hubby and I are. We have each other, a wonderful, happy son, I get to be a stay-at-home-mommy, we have a home, cars, a washer and dryer, food, clothes, plenty of diapers and things for little man - we are truly blessed with so much. We may have a tight budget at times and we may not always have all the things we wish we could have, but we have enough to have the things that we need and we have enough to have a comfortable life.  I also am appreciative of challenges like the Flats and Handwashing Challenge that help me to really contemplate what things would be like if we were struggling to buy diapers, if we didn't have easy or affordable laundry access or if we didn't have enough money for the necessities. I truly am so very thankful that God has blessed us with so much.

Zookies provided a cover, Zabi Baby provided a Snappi and a Bamboo Flat, and Ju-Ju Monkey provided Hemp Babies Flats for me to use for the challenge. Special thanks to Swaddlebees for sponsoring me with two dozen flats to use for the Flats and Handwashing Challenge!

Wordless Wednesday

Hubby just had his birthday and I thought it would be fun for little man to color Daddy his first picture! I set out a piece of paper and some jumbo crayons and this is how little man says "Happy Birthday Daddy!" in color:

Little man really loved coloring and he knows right where we keep the crayons and paper. He will take one of us by the hand and lead us to the drawer and ask (in 18 month speak) for crayons. He loves to just hold them and try to say the names of the colors too! "Blu" and "Puple" are his favorites so far. I think he's fascinated that these "things" leave colors behind when you move them across (or stab them at) paper. He will sometimes stop and scratch at the lines of color with a little fingernail, then examine the color under his fingernails, as if he's contemplating far greater things than a crayon on paper.

Happy Wednesday! I hope your day is full of color!

 

The Flats and Handwashing Challenge: Day 2

Well, it's day 2 of the Flats and Handwashing Challenge! I was really happy that yesterday went so smoothly and we didn't have any leaks. Last night I did put little man to bed in his normal night-time diaper. I'm just not sure if I'm quite ready to use flats for night-time and worry about him leaking during the night...I may try to work up to using flats at night though. It is nice that the Rules do allow for us to still use his night-time diaper. Last night after little man was in bed, I washed the flats and covers that we used from the day. He didn't poop yesterday, so washing was pretty easy and straightforward. I'm washing my flats and diaper covers by hand in the tub because I did want to learn how to wash diapers by hand. I also chose to wash diapers in the tub so that I would be able to show others how to do this with the items that everyone has in their home - a tub (you could use a sink), water, detergent and two hands. 

First, I rinsed the diapers with cold water and let them soak for a little bit. 

 

Next I filled the tub up about 1/4 of the way with HOT water (we have a huge soaking tub, so that's why I didn't add more water) and added 2 tsp of Rockin' Green. I wasn't sure exactly how much detergent to use, so I used a small amount, since the diapers had only gotten wet during the day and I didn't have that big of a load to do. 

Then, I let the diapers soak for about an hour in their Rockin' Green bath. I agitated them a bit when I came back an hour later, and was actually pretty surprised to see that the Rockin' Green had pulled out a little funk already! Hazy water...eww. So, I drained the tub and rung the diapers out. Then I rinsed the diapers with cold water and filled the tub 1/4 of the way up with cold water and swished/agitated them for a little. Then I drained the tub, wrung the diapers out again and I hung them up to dry overnight on my portable drying rack. 

I wore gloves to help protect my hands from getting too dried out, but found out that if you buy the cheapest gloves that Target sells...you get what you paid for. The gloves were pretty short on me and I sloshed so much water in them that it really didn't matter that I wore them. So, I would advise buying longer gloves...or maybe I'm just a vigorous washer. :)

This morning, I checked to see if the diapers were dry. The Swaddlebees flats were dry, but the bamboo flat from Zabi Baby was still a little damp. So, I out the drying rack outside for a little cloudy, breezy time so that they could finish drying. 

Today, I learned how to do the kite fold! I think it is actually pretty fun and so far hubby and I both like it.

The Kite Fold

  Well, this morning, little man made up for not pooping yesterday. He went twice before nap-time! It actaully wasn't too bad not using my diaper sprayer. Without giving you more information on little mans bathroom habits than you ever wanted to know, I'll spare you the details and just say that only one of the two dirty diapers required a little dunking and swishing. Since little man is down for a nap right now and the sun is trying to peek out from behind the clouds, I am going to wash the flats and wipes from this morning so they can soak up some sun and hopefully there won't be any stains that set. 

So, today we are off to a pretty good start! I've been impressed with how absorbent the flats are so far and they are really pretty trim too (unless I add extra flats for nap-time). For nap-time, I have little man in a Swaddlebees Unbleached flat (origami fold) and a Hemp Babies Flat (in a pad fold) all wrapped up in a Thirsties cover. So far, day 2 is going well - poopy diapers and all. Little man is pretty good at diaper changes - he's wiggly and likes to try to get up mid-change, but that's normal. I just try to make sure he has something to play with and ask him to give mommy a little extra time while she's learning something new! 

 

Ta-daaaa!

So, how is day 2 of the Flats and Handwashing Challenge going for you? 

Zookies provided a cover, Zabi Baby provided a Snappi and a Bamboo Flat, and Ju-Ju Monkey provided Hemp Babies Flats for me to use for the challenge. Special thanks to Swaddlebees for sponsoring me with two dozen flats to use for the Flats and Handwashing Challenge!