MCNs Lots 8 & 9 - GroVia One SIze AIO

Before 2011 ended, I ordered two more lots of GroVia nappies for Jacob. This time from their US website. The US site actually doesn't ship outside the US so I had to think of a way to go around this policy. Haha! Good thing Jacob has a Godfather in California. So we had the parcels shipped to him and then he sent it to us here in Sydney. Voila! Nappies from America! :D I must mention that nappies are way cheaper in the US than here in Australia, even if you factor in the shipping fees. The RRP of a Grovia AIO here is AUD35, while it is selling for USD22.95. Go figure.

Anyway, back to the nappies. The first lot I bought was from their seconds sale. I was never wary of buying GroVia seconds because I've read reviews that there's nothing wrong with the nappies at all! It was USD36 for a 3-pack of AIO seconds so I ordered 12. Hehe. I ordered them in 4 different prints -- owl, nature, mod flower and planes.

I ordered the second lot because they had a promotion over the holidays -- for orders over USD50, you get a free shirt. I really wanted to get an owl shirt for Jacob so I made an order for 2 more AIO nappies in plain colours -- cloud & surf and added 2 sets of wipes, too!

Here are the pictures so you can see what I am fuzzing about! Haha!

Jacob's fluffy mail from the US

owl shirt & nappy set <3

US GroVia stash

Jacob's nappy count as at 12 January: 52 >> I think I need to stop buying more (for now!). This is fast becoming an addiction. Haha! I'll leave you with one more nappy shot! :)

my son's nappy stash in his cot!

More Stuff to Buy

*Updated 11 January 2012*

I'm creating a list of things that we still need to buy for Jacob and myself (in preparation for breastfeeding) just so I have a reminder. Up until now I only had an imaginary list! Haha!

Here it goes:

1. MORE modern cloth nappies -- Bumgenius 4.0 with snap closure, GroVia One Size All in One and itti bitti tutto are some of the brands I also want to try. Although I already have 2 GroVia AIOs, I want to add to it. To date, I have 38 nappies (30 One Size Fits Most & 8 newborn ones) which I feel is not enough if I plan to do the laundry every other day. So I definitely need more!
* 10% OFF GroVia website using code PTPA (valid until June 2012)* 
>> I have a GroVia stash en route to Sydney from the USA. It has 14 One Size AIOs, 2 sets of wipes and an owl shirt to match Jacob's GroVia owl nappies. :) I think I can stop buying nappies FOR NOW. I'm not saying I won't buy more LATER, though. We'll see how we go with our current nappy stash. :D

2. washable/cloth wipes -- Since I'm going to be using MCNs, I figured I might as well go the washable/cloth wipes route. Makes sense, right? :D The GroVia washable wipes doesn't look too bad and by far the cheapest branded ones I've seen. >> My mum & sister bought 2 lots of these cloth wipes from The Eco Baby Boutique. I'm hoping they are good.

3. curved car window shade for Honda Civic -- Jacob is going to be born in January which means it's going to be Summer here. I can just imagine how hot it's going to be. We're already experiencing extreme heat most days now and it's still Spring. >> Just bought a car shade set from Costco. Hopefully it does the job.

4. grooming set -- nail clippers, comb & brush, etc >> I asked my mum who's coming to visit us to buy from Manila. :)

5. health care kit/first aid kit

6. organic baby toiletries (body wash, shampoo, oil, lotion, sunscreen) -- I might try Burt's Bees' Baby Bee Getting Started Kit first. See if Jacob likes their range of products for bubs. :) >> I've decided to put as little product on Jacob as possible. I've read that water's fine in bub's first few months. Just the same, I have some sample goat soap on stand by which we got from one of the baby shows we went to last year. :)

7. nappy rash cream compatible with modern cloth nappies -- I'm leaning towards GroVia Magic Stick for convenience. I hope it's good. >> Bought one because of free shipping from GroVia website and also availed of the 10% discount. Win! :)

8. digital thermometer -- Still deciding which is best: ear, forehead or the good old under the arm one. >>  I asked my mum who's coming to visit us to buy from Manila. :)

9. Gro Egg digital room thermometer -- Kaartehan lang ng nanay ni Jacob! ;p >> Bambini Pronto had a 55% off SALE, so I bought one rightaway. :)

10. bottles, bottle brush, dummies, steriliser -- I'm leaning towards getting Avent. Also, I'm still not sold on using dummies but I'm putting it on the list just in case I might need to. >> We've been given Avent bottles on our first baby shower. I'm hoping I'd get the need to use them much later. :)

11. flat head support for sleeping -- I don't want Jacob to end up like his mum in terms of flat head. Haha! The one we saw at Baby Kingdom is called baby-head-rest.

12. washable/cloth breast pads, Lansinoh nipple cream, nipple shields

These are the things I can think of right now. I'll cross out/add to this as appropriate. :)

MCNs Lots 6 & 7 - GroVia Newborn & Bambooty

GroVia Newborn - Ice & Owls print

Before my mum & sister flew to Sydney, relatives and family in Manila were asking what gift they can give Jacob. At first I said whatever they wanted. I didn't want to impose. But then again, I thought what if they give me something I already have or don't like? Sayang naman, imported from Manila pa. Hehe. That was about the same time I learnt of an online shop for MCNs in Manila! So in the end I asked for MCNs, washable wipes, washable nursing pads and heaps more I'm sure I will be using for Jacob. So I'm one happy mum. :) They were only able to buy 4 GroVia newborn nappies. They wanted more but the seller only had these left. Too bad. Prior to having these newborn nappies, I only had OSFMs (one size fits most). But I got worried that they might still be too big for when Jacob comes out. So I wanted to get some newborn ones just to be safe. :)

I ordered another newborn lot of MCNs from Bambooty. Just like the GroVia newborn ones, they are too cute for words! Of course, I'm aware that I will only be able to use these nappies for about a month. But I don't care. :p

with the extra bamboo boosters

Jacob's nappy count as at 9 December: 38 >> I want more! :)

More Jacob Stuff

We've bought a few more things for Jacob these past couple of weeks. We're slowly but surely ticking off things in my (imaginary! :D) list.

convertible car seat from birth to 18kg

Fisher-Price i-Glide

The Fisher-Price i-Glide that we bought at the baby show was delivered this morning. It's good that the courier delivered it to our door (we live on the 3rd floor) because it's quite heavy. I've yet to open the box. I'm waiting for my husband to come home so we can open it together. :)

 

MCNs Lot 5 - Sunbaby Diapers

Jacob's 5th lot of MCNs was delivered this morning. This time I ordered from Sunbaby Diapers. It's a company based in Shanghai, China. I ordered 12 nappies + 12 inserts. They're relatively cheap ($60) and came with free shipping. :) I'm happy with the different prints I ordered. So far, Jacob's nappies are all different. No identical nappies at all. I like it that way. Hehe.

Notice the light blue nappy in the picture above? It's small because I snapped it to the smallest size possible. I just wanted to see if it would be small enough for a newborn. Well, I have no idea. Haha! I guess I'll have to wait for Jacob and see. 

Speaking of waiting for Jacob, I now have ONLY 99 days til my EDD! How awesome is that?! So exciting. :)


Jacob's nappy count as at 13 October: 30 >> might purchase some more, just because! :D

The Baby and Toddler Show Sydney

Last Sunday my husband and I went to The Baby & Toddler Show at Darling Harbour. We decided to leave our car at the train station near our house and just take the train to and from the city. It was raining that day and I made the wrong clothing choice in deciding to wear a dress. :( Good thing I thought to wear footless tights underneath. I was freezing during our walk from Central Station to Darling Harbour and from Darling Harbour to Town Hall Station! Thank God I didn't get sick.

Tickets normally cost $20 each but we got 2 complimentary tickets. I got one from my Mother To Be bounty bag and the other I think from Babies 'R' Us. Bottom line, we didn't pay for entry and that is a pretty good deal to me! Hehe. The doors open at 9AM but we were told that those with complimentary tickets get to go in at a later time of 9:30. But when we got there at around 9:15 we were able to go in anyway. Upon entry, my husband and I were given empty tote bags and vouchers for free Bio-Oil. The tote bags proved useful with all the free samples we got throughout the day! More on that later.

The first purchase we made was the Fisher-Price i-Glide Cradle 'n Swing. It normally retails for $329.95 but Fisher-Price had it on special just for the show. We bought it for just $69.99 including delivery. Pretty awesome deal right?! The show's facebook page announced this deal a couple of days prior to the opening day. I showed it to my husband and he immediately said NO. He said it's too big for our tiny house. I didn't push the idea. I knew I would get the right time to do my convincing. *evil grin* What do you know, the first stall we went to was Fisher-Price's. The cradle wasn't too big at all! An assistant showed us a demonstration of it's features and from there it wasn't too hard to convince my husband to buy Jacob one. Success!!! :D

photo credit

The only other purchase we made was a Snotty One. It's a battery operated nasal aspirator and we got it for $40. My husband was the one who really, really wanted to buy it but he also says he'll be so happy if we don't get the need to use it, EVER. :)

Now onto the free samples. Most of the samples we got were different brands of disposable nappies. I will be using cloth nappies for Jacob but since all the nappies that I bought are one-size, they might still be too big for a newborn. For this reason, I'm happy to start with disposables. :)

My husband and I really enjoyed the show. It also served as a bonding time for us. After the show we went to have our belated anniversary early dinner at PANCAKES on the Rocks. Yummy food! It was a great day indeed. :)

MCNs Lot 4 - Alva Baby

My husband and I picked up Jacob's 4th lot of MCNs from the post office yesterday. I ordered these nappies off Alva Baby, a nappy factory in China. These nappies are by far the cheapest in our stash (about $5 apiece). And as they say, you get what you pay for. The quality is not so great plus they stuffed up my order and sent me a PINK nappy!!! I cannot, for the life of me, fathom how they think I'd want a pink nappy when everything I ordered are obviously for a baby boy. I already sent them an email complaining about it but to be honest, I don't expect them to do anything about it. You may be asking why I even ordered from them. Well, I just wanted to check if I would like the quality since (almost) everything is made in China anyway. Now I know! Haha! I probably won't be using these nappies often, just as back ups in case I run out of nappies.

:(

Aside from the nappies, I also ordered leggings/leg warmers off Alva Baby. I'm satisfied with them, they're so cute. Yay! :)

panda leggings

Cars leggings

frog leggings

Jacob won't probably be able to wear these leggings because the size range says 0-12 months. Hopefully he can fit into them by winter next year when he'll be about 6 months.

Jacob's nappy count as at 14 September: 18 >> including the pink one. :(

MCNs Lot 3 - GroVia

I just came back from the post office. I picked up Jacob's third lot of MCNs -- GroVia. I bought these 2 brand new nappies off eBay because it's cheaper that way. Haha. Too bad the seller was only selling these two. I would have wanted to buy more but I guess 2 is enough to try if Jacob will like this brand.

GroVia AIO One-Size Cloth Diaper, Vanilla

Jacob's nappy count as at 13 September: 14 >> according to what I've read I need at least 24 nappies for full time use. We're getting there! :)

MCNs Lot 2 - Cushie Tushies

The second lot of Jacob's MCNs was delivered this morning. This time the nappies are from Cushie Tushies. No, I didn't buy directly from their website. On Monday night while I was trawling through eBay for modern cloth nappies (in bed beside my sleeping husband!!!), I found out that Cushie Tushies has an eBay account and that's where they sell their seconds for half the retail price. This is the note they put on each nappy's description : The Cushie Tushies currently listed on eBay are seconds. This means that there is an flaw with the Nappy and we do not wish to sell it at full retail price. We can not list the specific fault with each item we list however the faults are usually a smudge in the printing, some messy or missed stitching in the sewing process or slightly out of shape variations. The Fault should not affect the use of the Item however. They may also be in Perfect condition but are an older version that needs clearing.

I asked my husband's opinion first if it's ok for us to buy nappies that are seconds. At first he was apprehensive but after a little convincing from me, he gave in. That's how persuasive I can be. Haha! Also shows you how cheap I am. :)

I bought 9 nappies in total (5 couture or printed ones and 4 basix or plain ones) and 1 waterproof cloth nappy bag. Here are the pictures:

Dude cloth nappy bag

basix sunflower, couture snow fall & couture lady bird

couture candy cane, basix tangerine & basix ruby red

basix denim, couture giraffe & couture bumble bee

All the nappies are in great brand new condition despite the seller's disclaimer. There's just some smudges on the the bumble bee's print. I hope they'll all come off once I wash the nappies. Of this lot, my favourite is the bumble bee for Bee!!! :)

Jacob's nappy count as at 9 September: 12 >> stash is slowly but surely getting bigger. 

Shopping for Jacob

Shopping is fun but shopping for Jacob is way, way more fun! We have been buying bits and pieces for Jacob these past few weeks. Nothing major yet, except for his pram. I saw this pram on sale while I was browsing through Baby Kingdom's website. I then showed it to my husband who said it looked fine and I could order it online if I wanted to. I had apprehensions about ordering the pram online though so I didn't. First, there is a delivery fee of $70 which of course I didn't want to pay since there is a Baby Kingdom about 20 minutes away from our house. I also wanted to see the pram and be able to test it as well. So a couple of weeks after I saw the pram online, my husband and I decided to go to Baby Kingdom in Penrith. We saw the pram and had the sales assistant demonstrate its features. My husband was satisfied so we bought the pram. Catch is the pram was only available in one color -- electric blue. Keep in mind that this happened way before we found out that we're having a boy. My husband 'convinced' me that the pram's color is more purple than blue. I, being a sucker for anything purple, heartily agreed. Haha! And so, we took home Jacob's pram that day, a Quinny Buzz 4. We got a great bargain because we also got the matching Quinny Dreami Carrycot, all for $440.

Daddy  with Jacob's pram

My husband assembled the pram just so we can check if there is any defect and if all the accessories are complete. I took the picture above before he dismantled and put the pram and dreami cot back into their boxes.

Meanwhile, Jacob got his first gift over the weekend -- Dr Seuss Alphabet Frieze and Mobile. Auntie Jeana's children, Kuya Liam & Ate Sam gave it to him. Liam even wrote the note himself. How sweet is that?! :)

MCNs Lot 1 - Baby Beehinds

My first lot of MCNs was delivered today. I think I scared the postman because I opened the door to answer his knock straight from bed -- bedhead and all! What a start to his workday. Sorry. :D

Let me tell you, the Baby Beehinds multi fits are oh so cute!!! I bought the nappies online on a special, buy 2 get 1 free. So for the price of 2, I got 3 nappies. Yay me! :) Because we don't know our bub's gender yet, I chose unisex colors -- orchid and metropolitan. I didn't get to choose the freebie's color though, but I sent them a note to give me a unisex one so they gave me a mint green-ish one. I don't know the exact color name. Sorry. Hehe.

The package came with a Product Care and Info Booklet. I will thoroughly read it so I'll have all the information I will need about MCNs. I am also looking at buying other brands of MCNs just so I can test which ones bub will prefer when he/she is already here. :)

Here are the pictures:

multi fit orchid

multi fit limited edition metropolitan

freebie multi fit :) -- dew