Tales From the Box

Just a quick one today to share some Etsy love.

I bought these goodies recently from Moose Art, an awesome little Etsy store. 4 different rolls of fabric tape, sweet little designs. This stuff is really good value, as you really only use a little bit at a time, so it goes a long way.

I loved the packaging that my goodies arrived in – not too fancy, but a sweet, personal touch. It’s the little things that make certain sellers stand out, that little extra bit of effort that makes you remember them.

FYI: we weren’t paid to promote this Etsy seller, I just randomly found them and decided to purchase their products.

When we last posted about our cloth nappy journey (here), things were going swimmingly. Unfortunately, things took a bad turn (don’t worry, this story has a happy ending).

The first batch of cloth nappies we purchased for the Widg were Peapods, which are a pocket nappy that comes in 3 sizes (small, medium and large) depending on the size and age of your baby. We bought a bunch of the smalls, and they were awesome. He was starting to grow out of those, and so we bought a bunch of the mediums. They worked great for about a month, and then they started leaking inexplicably. I had followed all of the instructions and directions from the manufacturer about fitting, washing and caring for them, and I even called the manufacturer to see if there was something they could recommend.

Now, I should explain that it isn’t uncommon for cloth nappies to have a “build up” of washing detergent over time, which can cause the absorbent part of the nappy to repel liquid, rather than absorb it into the nappy. But this is normally quite easily fixed by different washing and rinsing techniques, specific to each brand/type of cloth nappy. Initially this is what I thought the problem was, although I had never had that problem with the smaller size nappies that we had been using for months. But nothing I tried worked to “strip” away the build up. I eventually worked out that the absorbent material was still absorbing, but it was the outer, waterproof shell that was the problem. It wasn’t actually waterproof anymore – the liquid was leaking straight out. The only conclusion I could come to was that the batch I had was faulty in some way.

Unfortunately, the manufacturer would only replace my faulty nappies with proof of purchase – which I no longer had. Although the people that I spoke to at Peapods were very polite and friendly, they made it clear that there really wasn’t anything more they were willing to do to help me. We considered just buying a new batch of the medium size Peapods. But we decided that, if they weren’t willing to guarantee their own product, then we weren’t willing to invest more of our money in it. It was still really important to us to use cloth nappies on our little man’s butt, so instead of “we’ll just use disposables from now on” we decided to get back on the horse and find another brand of cloth to use.

We ended up with bumGenius, specifically their Elemental One-size All-In-One.

This was actually the brand I had originally wanted to use when I was pregnant with the Widg and researching cloth options, but I couldn’t find anyone that would ship to Australia at the time. As the name suggests, they are a one-size-fits-all, which means they would have fit the Widg from the very beginning (negating the need for small size, then medium size), and will easily fit him until he is potty trained (fingers crossed that isn’t too far away!). The all-in-one part of the name means that there aren’t any separate parts to the nappy – the liner, insert and cover are all one piece (check out their website for a more thorough explanation of how they work).

How do they compare with the Peapods, in their day to day use? They do take a little bit longer to dry than the Peapods, since there is more bulk to them (being all one piece, rather than being able to separate the parts for quicker drying time), but I have enough of them (16) that I can wash every second day and hang them out to dry, and they are ready in time to use again. Occasionally there was a particularly wet and cold winter’s day where I had to throw them in the dryer, but that really only happens when I’ve been too lazy to wash often enough. Apart from that, they work just as well as the Peapods did (but without the leaking problem).

Also, I should add that the bumGenius website recommends a regular washing routine of washing the nappies twice each time you wash them – once in cold water and once in hot. I only wash once in cold water, and about once a month I give them a hot wash. So far this is working fine for me.

Overall, I am bummed that the Peapods didn’t work out for us, although I am sure many many people use them without any problems at all. But I am very happy with the bumGenius’s. I wish I had been able to purchase them from the very beginning. The worst part of this situation was the money we had already spent on the Peapods. At least the small size ones still work just fine, so we will be able to put them to use with any future children we might have, especially since newborns go through a lot more nappies than older babies and toddlers – with the 20 small Peapods and the 16 bumGenius, we’ll be set!

And again, we’re not being paid by anyone to say any of these things – these are just our own opinions and experiences, and we try to blog truthfully about both negative and positive experiences.

One of my favourite nursery trips is to the Imperial Garden’s complex in Terrey Hills – which is located about 45 minutes north on Sydney. The complex contains The Buddha Belly restaurant,  Imperial Gardens Bonsai, Imperial Gardens Landscape Design, Mr Bamboo Nursery, Gazebo Direct and Hidden Orient.

I remember treking up to Imperial Gardens bonsai in 1999 as Ken Lamb (Managing director of Imperial Gardens Landscape) was constructing the Balinese pavillions that became Buddha Belly/Imperial Gardens Landscape/Hidden Orient. I usually return once a year and am struck by how authentically the gardens and constructions have aged. The whole area was mostly a dumping area 15 years ago and now feels like a landscape that has been their for 100 years.

We live in the Lower Blue Mountains. That means we travel. Lots. So we are thus used to and experienced in trekking all over to find useful places to source things around our home. I am bringing you some of my favourite and not so favourite garden nurseries from around Sydney.

Thus we traversed the lengthy and expensive toll roads of Sydney’s north to this subtropical seaside suburb of the Northern Beaches. I had previously ran past this on a Metrogaine in 2008 and thought that i should come back. Nearly 18 months later we return on a strikingly humid day too.

What impressed about this nursery is the varied amount of stock on offer and the low prices across their range. I usually steer away from all Flower Power nurseries due their almost default position of doubling the prices relative to what one would reasonable expect from a large chain. Warriewood Flower Power gladly has steered away from this with a generous selection of plants on sale and non sale plants still reasonably priced given their size and health.

Anyway the top 5 reasons that you should go to this nursery are:

1. Tropical style plant stock – good varied ferns, palms, large leafy under storey types.
2. Homewares and outdoor/indoor accessories – most nurseries attempt to have some indoor pots /general nice knick knacks but mostly fail. Not only is the indoor accessories area massive- the homewares are really nicely choosen , stylish and contemporay
3. Native varieties – plenty of choice of varieties and sizes. Different cultivars too – I counted 11 different Lillipilly’s.
4. On sale items – i picked up two 200mm pot banksias for $9.99 each from $19.99 – both over 1metre high. They had 200mm pots of Liriope for $3.25 down from $9.99
5. Lots to see – as nurseries go it is quite spacious, has lots of different areas (natives, formal gardens, tropical/indoor, aquatic, fish, landscape, indoors, mature trees etc)