Swaddlebees AIO Cloth Diaper Giveaway

**This Giveaway has ended**

I am hosting my first giveaway!

I recently ordered several Swaddlebees AIO* diapers and although I love how much they absorb, they run a little small for my guy. Since he won't be wearing them for very long I won't be keeping all the diapers I have purchased. I've decided give a way one to one of my readers!

This giveaway is for a BRAND NEW, NEVER WASHED, large lavender Swaddlebees AIO* stuffable diaper.


You have the chance to enter several entries by the doing the following:

• MANDATORY ENTRY-counts as 1: Have you used an AIO? What is your favorite brand?
• Follow my blog publicly.
• Blog about my giveaway, linking back to this giveaway. Leave the URL where you blogged.THIS COUNTS AS 5 ENTRIES!!! Leave a comment for each entry such as, "Blogged giveaway @_____ #1", "Blogged giveaway @ _____#2", etc.
  
• Grab my button. Leave URL where it is posted.
  
• Follow Smell_the_Rose on Twitter (link on right sidebar) and tweet about this giveaway. After initial "tweet" you may gain an extra entry each day you tweet. Limit to one tweet a day. Leave URL where you tweeted in your comment.
• Become a fan of Take Time to Smell the Rose on Facebook. Link on right sidebar.
• Vote for me at the Top Mommy Blogger by clicking here
  
  
  
  

**Leave your email on each comment**

Giveaway ends Monday, September 14th 2009 at 9:00 p.m.(CST) Winner will be drawn by the random number generator at Random.org and will be notified by email. Winner will also be announced on this blog. Winner will have 48 hours to respond or a new winner will be drawn.

This giveaway is open to continental USA residents ONLY. Must be 18 years old or older to win.

* September 7, 2009: Please note I just received an email from the company today about the diaper I am giving away. According to Swaddlebees this is a diaper made by the company, but it is not a "branded diaper". When I purchased the diapers I did not know this. In any blog or "tweet" please reference to as "AIO " or "AIO from Swaddlebees Outlet" per Swaddlebees company. I am sorry to my readers for any inconvience.

**This Giveaway has ended**

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Diaper Giveaway soon!

FYI to everyone I have a diaper giveaway coming soon!

Baby Dipper Bowl Giveaway

Check out Happily Domestic for a chance to win the awesome Baby Dipper Bowl!

First Birthday: Barnyard Theme

Ethan's first birthday party! It was so much fun and now I'm worn out! lol I think there was about 26 of us so it was a nice full house.

I have been planning this thing for MONTHS and have spent countless hours searching the net for ideas for the party, decorations and the cake. There isn't too much out there for a barnyard theme, although it is starting to get popular since there are a few barnyard party decoration supplies just coming out.

On to the pictures!

**click on photos to enlarge**

The table!

Cupcake Toppers I made
Party Favors. Brown was chocolate and the pink and white were cherry flavored.
Each one had a different enamel charm attached.
Cake and cupcakes! The cake was chocolate and I also made chocolate cupcakes both with chocolate buttercream and vanilla buttercream(the ones with the green icing) AND strawberry cupcakes with vanilla buttercream. All of it was baked and made from scratch.Close up of the cake. This is very close to a cake that was made by a cupcake blog I follow. No, I'm not linking or adding her picture because it makes mine look pathetic LOL. The animals, flowers, fence and sign are made of gum paste. It was my first time working with gum paste and I found it much easier than fondant. I also made two cows and two horses, but decided not to use them and threw them away. I need a little more practice first with figures! The pigs and ducks I made first and turned out better than the other animals! I made a "pond" out of the blue fondant and then covered it with the Wilton glitter gel. You can't tell it glitters in the picture, but it was really pretty!



After the party I opened up my mail to find this ADORABLE cow print cloth diaper from my friend Bethanne!! I was very sad I had not opened it up before the party because it would have been so cute to have him stripped down to his cow print diaper while eating his cupcake!!! Here's a couple of pictures from our little photo shoot today!

Ethan and his little cow :-)

Fluff Talk Thursdays- My Stash!

Ahh, this is totally the best part...seeing everyone's stash! FUN!!

I have various types and brands of diapers. When I was pregnant I decided for the first stage to do half FuzziBunz and half prefolds with covers to see which type I liked the best before purchasing anymore.

I have 10 small FB, purchased at Fuzzi Bunz Seconds. I got them for $10 each. For inserts I bought microfiber towels from the automotive section and folded them to fit into the FB.
I also purchased 1 dozen newborn (orange) prefolds from Green Mountain Diapers.
I had read great reviews on their prefolds. I went ahead and bought 2 dozen of their small (yellow) prefolds because I thought I would continue to use prefolds/covers and I would save on the shipping by making one purchase. I made 3 diaper covers using the Rita Rump free pattern and purchasing the PUL from Wazoodle.

We didn't start using cloth diapers until baby was about 1 month old. By that time the diaper covers I had made were too small (I later had read reviews of people saying the pattern ran small, yes it did!). Plus I didn't realize I needed a new cover everytime I changed a newborn! The FB fit well, but now I had all these prefolds. Since I didn't want them to waste I purchased 10 of the cheapest diaper covers I could find, Prowraps, direct from the manufacturer. I wasn't too impressed in them, but they worked.


We grew out of the FB around 15 pounds. The prefold system just wasn't for me or my baby. He is the type that screams after one pee in the diaper until he is changed with a dry diaper. The pocket diapers kept him feeling dry and could stay on longer. I decided to try some one size diapers. I was skeptical but heard great reviews from friends. I snatched up 10 Haute Pockets (the periwinkle ones) at Nikki's Diapers for about $10 each. They are really showing their wear because this is all I had and end up using sposies some as well.

A few weeks ago I bought a 3 pack of the smartipants. See my review. They are much smaller than most one sized diapers. I would also add now to that review, that because of the one row of snaps they slip a lot more than the two row snap diapers. They are my least favorite diaper and would not recommend them to anyone for several reasons.

Still lacking more diapers to my stash (you must admit, it's difficult to have a stash of 13 diapers!) I snatched up a super deal on 16 large swaddlebees in their outlet store just a couple of weeks ago. They are the AIO diapers (the lavender and maroon diapers). One again, the sizing runs really small, so these are fitting my tall baby like the highest setting on the smartipants! I decided to keep 8 maroon and 1 lavender (I washed the lavender one first to try out) because even though they are getting too small, they absorb nicely and I still need enough diapers for this "stage" for the next child. If anyone is interested in 7 unwashed lavender AIOs let me know! I'll be putting them on diaper swappers soon.


Just last week I recieved a one size Happy Heiny cow print diaper from a friend for my baby's one year birthday! This is my favorite diaper so far !! It runs much larger than the Hautes so he can actually wear this for a while!

I want to also add I'm still using the same microfiber towels I did in the small FB! I never sewed them together or cut them down to size. It makes the diaper a little more fluffier but much faster to dry.

That's my stash! I'm now on the search for a good deal on the next "size up", thinking about either Happy Heiny's or Fuzzibunz sized diapers. Whatever I can find a good deal on.

Fluff Talk Thursdays- Why Cloth

I'm excited in join in the new Fluff Talk Thursdays at Happily Domestic !

Why Cloth?
This is the easiest question for me to answer! There is nothing cuter than a baby in a cloth diaper. Yes, you heard me, that is reason why I decided to use cloth diapers, I'm serious! (feel free to laugh). Everyone that uses cloth is for either budget reasons or/and environmental. Those are just bonuses to me :-) When people find out I cloth diaper they always talk about how great it is for the environment and how 'green' it is. Yeah, yeah, ok...

My husband and I were both cloth diapered growing up. As soon as I found out I was pregnant I begin researching all about cloth diapers. I had no idea that cloth diapers have changed so much from just using diaper flats! I have spent many, many hours searching for a good deal on my stash and also have sewed up a few covers and pocket diapers myself.

Off topic here, but aren't you CDers sooooooo sick of hearing Sposiers complain about how much they spend on sposies?? I think they just use sposies so they can complain about it!

I look forward to sharing more about various CD topics. I'll leave you with a picture of the cutest baby ever......in a cloth diaper, after all, it was the vision I had seeing our baby in a cloth diaper that made me use them :-D

Make your own Cupcake Stand

I wanted to make a cupcake stand for my babies first birthday coming up in a few days. There are several directions online on how to make one, but I figured out how to make one a little cheaper.

First off I bought a piece of silver foam board at Hobby Lobby for 40%. I cut 3 circles, 8", 10", 12". I found bowls in my kitchen in the approximate sizes, traced around them and used a small knife to cut around.

The directions online call for buying cake dummies (or styrofoam rounds) for the centers. However, It was going to cost at least $12 to buy enough foam for the centers. I went to my local Dollar tree and found 2 square styrofoam and a green styrofoam round (like you would use to make a floral wreath with).

I hot glued all the layers together with the circles. Then I took scrapbook paper and wrapped around the squares and taped in the back. I glued ribbon on the edges of the circles.

Here's a picture of the finished stand. I am making a 6" cake to go on top and the bottom two layers will have cupcakes. I will have fabric drapped around the bottom so it will cover up the green styrofoam. The party is barnyard theme and I used what ribbon I had to glue to the edges. It would be cute to do all in red if I had it, but I am using green and yellow in his party decor anyway, so it will work.

The scrapbook paper and ribbon can be taken off easily and replaced with something to match another occasion.

The stand seems sturdy enough, but I will find out when I add the cake and cupcakes! I will share pictures after the party.

Britax car seat giveaway!

Go to The Cloth Diaper Report

Ends tonight!

Cloth Diaper Giveaway

Go to Happily Domestic to enter to win a Haute Pocket Diaper! This is one of my favorite diapers!! Contest Ends Friday, August 14th! Go enter now!!!

Show us your life- Reception & Honeymoon

There were four main rooms in the mansion where the reception was. Here is the largest room with all the tables. The whole mansion smelled like flowers and chocolate...it was wonderful! We had a topiary on each table. Here is a closeup of one, with a friend :-)

Another room.


Another room had the cake, punch, etc. This is one side of the room.

The cake on the other. Not only was the most gorgeous cake I have ever seen, but it is the best tasting cake! Usually wedding cakes are blah.....dry and just, tasteless. This cake is from Ludgers.
It's a bavarian cream cheesecake. The cheesecake cream is between two layers of light cake. It's wonderful and there were so many compliments about the cake. Before we ordered this cake, there was a picture of this exact cake on their website (not now, I guess it's not modern enough!) so it was easy to order. My florest did an awesome job with adding the flowers to look just like the cake I wanted!

The grooms cake was the same bavarian cream, but just chocolate flavored. It's even better than the white! We also had a bowl of raspberry sauce they could pour over the cake. For the couple of anniversaries that we have been home on our actual anniversary I always order a small chocolate one. It was nice to order a fresh one for our first anniversary than to have to eat a yucky frozen one!
Pictures by the cake.
I LOVE this picture! This is an 8 x10 that is in our photo album. I wish I had a scanner because it is so clear and pretty. Click on photo to enlarge so you can see it better.
In the other room was a chocolate fountain. So yummy. It also was nice because it gave guests something to do while we finished up pictures after the wedding. We had marshmellows, pretzels, strawberries, pineapple pieces, graham cracker sticks and apples to dip in it.

Here's some more pictures that were taken I really like.
He's bustling my dress :-)
My sister and cousins chasing us in the limo as we're leaving. As long as we can remember when ever we left each other houses we would run along side the car down the road. It's cute that they did it here :-D

We stayed our wedding night at the Renaissance Hotel. Andrew still says that it was the best bed he ever slept on (and that's serious, not because it was our wedding night lol) and we've stayed at some other Renaissance and other high end hotels since then! Since our wedding was early afternoon, we got to our hotel around 5:00 and were starving. We ate in the hotel restaurant and it was completely empty the entire time we were there! It was like it was just for us. Andrew, Mr. Picky eater, just wanted "steak and fries" and it took a little talking to the waiter to get that! After dinner the chef brought us out a beautiful creme brulee with fruit and congratulations written out in chocolate on the plate. How sweet!

The night was still early so we decided to go see a movie since the theatre was just a few blocks away. We watched "Soul Plane" and it was the worst movie I have ever seen, or what I did see of it...I was exhausted and kept falling asleep haha!

The next afternoon we left for Paris! To this day, that was the worst nightmare flight ever!! We were married on Sunday and the next day was Monday, Memorial Day observed. It was mass choas at the airport and every flight was delayed everywhere. The guy in Tulsa moved us around and upgraded all our flights to first class for us...but at each layover we would have to change flights once again and didn't get to fly first class until our flight from London to Paris. We weren't even supposed to go to London to begin with, we were to change in Frankfort, Germany!! Andrew doesn't like flying anyway, so this was just wonderful :-)

This was my 2nd time to go to Paris. Although we did all our booking through AAA travel for our honeymoon. Advice, never let a travel agent do a honeymoon booking to a Eurpeon distination :-) Our room was very tiny, to say the least. We still had a wonderful time though. I didn't take many pictures at all, partly because I had been to Paris before and secondly I'm not to fond of trying to figure out which tourists speak english so they can take our picture. I do have one of us by the Eiffel tower, I am happy I have that!

Show us your life- Wedding Party & Flowers

It's been really fun going through all the links of women sharing their wedding pictures today on Kelly's Korner. So many pretty weddings! I'm still partial to mine though ;-)

Here's a picture of our invitation. We got married at Harwelden Mansion and since it was located back in an older neighborhood, the parking was limited, and there was some construction on some of the streets I created a little card with the picture of the mansion on one side and a map on the back, then had them printed at Kinkos to enclose with the invitation. We had one of the invitations framed next to the guest book.

**click on photos to enlarge**

In case you don't notice, everything was square....the diamonds in my engagement ring, the invitation, the neckline on my dress, the cake, the favor boxes, etc.

We got married at 2:30, Sunday, May 30, 2004. We were engaged the end of November 2003 so most places were already booked solid for June. There were a couple of spots left in May and that Sunday was one. What was cool about having it on a Sunday is that we got the mansion for the day, unlike if it was on a Saturday you only got half a day, because obviously there would be two weddings held on Saturdays. I think it cost a little more, but it was worth it not having to be rushed. May 30th is also Memorial Day, I bet not many people know that all they care about is when Memorial Day is observed haha!

It was a beautiful day despite having been up til 1:00 am the night before because there were tornadoes. We (Andrew, two friends from out of town, and I) were huddled in the bathroom during the storm and sirens were going off. So...I actually saw Andrew on our wedding day! He left after the storm had passed and knew we were ok.

Here are some pictures taken before the wedding. We did our pictures as a couple after the wedding of course.

With my bridesmaids, my sister and Andrew's sister.

With my brother and sister

With all the guys. There was two groomsmen, and 2 other guys that were to help with the food etc (I heard it didn't work that way...) and my brother and nephew were the doormen. I remember how difficult it was to breathe in this picture!! That dress was so tight and I had to sit down on these stairs kind of hunched over and smile. ahh!
Andrew and his best man, his brother.
Andrew with his best man, his brother and groomsman, his brother in law.
Andrew and my nephew.
All the guys.
Andrew with the girls.

Andrew with his brother and sister.
This picture is cute. My dad and Andrew. They were supposed to be serious, but they were having a difficult time :-)

OK, now on to the ceremony! I show the picture below not for the wonderful quality lol, but so you can see what the mansion looked like inside. We had greenery and flowers over the banister. The wedding party and ceremony took place on the platform above, the guests watched below. Family sat across from the platform upstairs (kind of difficult to describe). The window is the front of the mansion and the door here is the front door you see in the picture. Not only did we have flowers on the banister but also had beautiful topiary on all the tables in the other rooms where the reception was. The WHOLE place smelled wonderful!!! Just like flowers...oh, yeah and CHOCOLATE. We had a chocolate fountain, which I will show pictures of next week.

I ordered english roses, but got regular roses! It think it was the only thing that "went wrong" in the whole wedding. My mom warned me when she saw them, but before I did. I was a tad disappointed, but the roses were still very pretty, at least the colors weren't wrong! Here's a picture of what english roses are.

We had a string trio, harp, cello and violin play during the ceremony and reception. It was wonderful to have beautiful live music playing! So romantic and definitely went well with the style of wedding.

Here we are waiting around the corner from going down the stairs to the platform!
The kiss :-)
Mr. and Mrs

I have a lot more pictures, but I'll share them next week!