Exciting news: I'm speaking at BlogHer 2013!

I'm so excited to officially announce that I've been invited to speak at BlogHer 2013 in Chicago this year!



The panel I will be part of is the Beginner Marketing & Monetization Track, the title of the session is "Perfect Pitch":

From your stats to your ‘special sauce’, learn what to include in a pitch to catch a potential partner/client’s attention and earn their business.

As you know, this will be my 4th year at BlogHer, and I am super excited and honored to be speaking! I will be representing not only this blog, but also The Green Sisterhood, offering insight and experience from our collective niche blogging perspectives over the years.

If you are planning to be at BlogHer this year, please make sure you stay in touch via email or Twitter so that we can plan to meet up. I've never been to Chicago, so this is going to be an adventure!

Cloth Diaper Thurs: Applecheeks

Last year after receiving a number of free cloth diapers at BlogHer 2011, I started a feature on the blog called "Cloth Diaper Thursdays" where I review cloth diapers that I have tried recently or talk more about my cloth diapering journey. For more cloth diapering posts, make sure you check out my contributing posts to CottonBabies blog as well.

~~~

I received the Applecheeks 2-size envelope cover and insert in Size 2 from Beth from Me as a Mommy while at BlogHer 2012 this year, and am just now getting around to writing a review! I'd heard a lot about this brand, which is made by a small company in Canada. The envelope diaper works just like a pocket, with the pocket opening in the middle instead of at the front or back (see picture, above).

First impression: the Applecheeks diaper is so plush and soft! The leg elastic is significantly gentler than other diapers I have tried as well. Not sure how this will wear in the long term, would it make the leg openings looser?

One major difference between this diaper and the other diapers I've tried: the pocket opening being in the middle. I didn't think much about it until Little Lady pooped in the diaper. As you might know, I am a HUGE fan of my diaper sprayer. When I went to spray the poop, the location of the opening caused me to be spraying poop INTO the pocket half the time. I was a little taken aback by this and asked Amy Appleton, founder of Applecheeks, what they recommend to resolve this issue.

Here's some more info about the Applecheeks diaper and poop spraying from Amy:

We strongly recommend using our fantastic flushable liners with the AppleCheeks envelope cover. Not only is this less messy than a sprayer but it also ensures the diapers does not sit totally saturated until wash day. If you feel you must use a sprayer, be sure to hold the diaper from the FRONT of the cover so that the overlap is such that the cover will remain closed. If you hold it from the back it will indeed just open right up.

Make sense? In my case, this means I just need to make sure I always use a liner with the Applecheeks diaper because I was unable to figure out how to spray effectively to avoid spraying poop back into the diaper.

In summary:

Pros:
Very soft!
Gentle leg elastic
Well made, high quality diaper
Snaps - always love snaps!
Insert is very thick & absorbent
You could use any brand insert in the pocket, versatile

Cons:
The pocket opening being in the middle (only for me - not everyone will see this as a disadvantage)
Cost of flushable liners add to the cost of the diaper

Regarding the "cons", you can also make your own liners out of old t-shirts, old kitchen towels, etc., spray the poop off and wash with your diapers, which completely eliminates the cost and waste factor associated with flushable liners. I have made some reusable liners of my own out of an old jersey material pillowcase and they work great.

Overall, I will still be putting this diaper in regular rotation and it looks super cute on Little Lady's little bum!

Rating: 4 out of 5

7 Quick Takes Friday #44 - BlogHer 2012 Edition

BlogHer 2012 Recap Edition

--- 1 ---

I am already/still missing some of the friends from BlogHer!

I wish I had a picture of Kim Rosas from Dirty Diaper Laundry, she is the best. 

--- 2 ---

Yes, I did actually see New York City for about 30 minutes, as I walked from place to place.

--- 3---

I actually missed my kids. I spend so much time talking to toddlers that it was weird to talk to adults. And sometimes, when there is adult drama (and by that I mean, on Twitter), I really appreciate the pure and simple love of a toddler.

--- 4 ---

The first full day back and full-time with my kids all day, I stopped missing them immediately. I think it stopped when the screaming and fighting started. Which was probably about 7:30am.

--- 5 ---

Here is the obligatory picture of me with a life sized licensed character. This year, The Lorax.

It is blurry because I had some random passerby take it.

--- 6 ---

You know what is cool about New York? They require all restaurants with more than 5 locations to list the calorie count of each dish on their menu! I loved this at Dunkin Donuts because sometimes I forget which is the least bad choice: bagel, croissant, or english muffin.

--- 7 ---

Now that BlogHer is over for this year, did you know that Blissdom 2013 is going to be in the Dallas area (FYI: Grapevine is NOT Dallas. It is near Dallas. That is completely different)?! I would really like to go but I'd need a sponsor.

~~~

Well that's all for this week, be sure to visit Conversion Diary for links to more 7 Quick Takes Fridays.

BlogHer 2012: Part 2 of recap

I'm officially BlogHer exhausted! Still sharing the love on Twitter and reading about people traveling home, seeing their kids, and unpacking swag. I got a moderate amount of swag but I was so busy this year that I actually didn't make it to the Expo hall until the last day about 2 hours before it closed. Many vendors were completely out of handouts by then. Which is fine because really, many of the vendors I wouldn't work with anyway (I am looking at you, LYSOL). The only one I was really sad to miss was SoDelicious, who makes my son's favorite coconut milk. I heard they had coupons, but I never found them in the Expo hall.

We are going to power through a review of the rest of BlogHer 2012 because you and I are both anxious to get back to our regularly scheduled blogging topics, right?

Despite all the parties and socializing this year, I did attend sessions! A few were not my personal choice because I was Mic Wrangling, but I still enjoyed them. The first of the day was Advocacy: Blogging Across Issues and Borders. I am not an advocacy blogger or a Latina but it was interesting to hear women who were so passionate. Takeaway: This panel was a good reminder not to give up on blogging when it gets difficult, but to surround ourselves with others who encourage us to keep going.



Of course, the big deal on Friday was Martha Stewart speaking at the lunch keynote. I am not going to lie, I stayed for about 5 minutes and then left. I really do respect Martha and all she's done - she's a powerhouse and soooo talented! But the lunch was so crowded and people were literally pushing each other out of chairs in the ballroom. I'm not a craft blogger, and I don't do Martha-type stuff, so when I got claustrophobic I just left. I ate lunch next to this adorable baby right outside the ballroom!



I was excited to see another Room Of Your Own about small blogs this year, since I am definitely considered a small blog by anyone who looks at size. Takeaway: In the Celebrate Your Small Blog session I was encouraged to keep doing what I'm doing and not be influenced to change my topic/convictions just to make more money or gain more followers. I was also reminded that I could probably work harder on ways to allow my followers to comment on the blog posts more easily from mobile devices.

Me, Carrie, and Alex from LateEnough (I was starstruck!)

After that session, I walked a few blocks and took a class at SLT NYC, a Megaformer Pilates class just like the ones I teach here in Plano. I love taking classes from other instructors because it gives me great ideas for new moves or moves I've forgotten. Of course, the class kicked my butt (in a good way)!



I arrived at the annual Voices Of The Year keynote all sweaty and wearing workout clothes, but it was a beautiful and inspirational experience, as always. A big shout-out to my fave Fearless Formula Feeder who did a great presentation of her manifesto about feminism and formula feeding. If you were part of the Twitter fiasco following this keynote but did not actually get a chance to hear the reading, I'd encourage you to read it for yourself before taking a stance. I saw several people on Twitter misquoting things that Suzanne read in her post. It's important to take this post in the context of its entirety.

After the keynote, it was up to my room to shower. I had several parties that night that I ultimately decided to skip so I could spend time with my friend Mica from MayBooks, who was in town for BlogHer as a vendor. We skipped the super crowded line for Hasbro and went to a cute Italian place with my roommate Jenn from Punky And The City.

All 3 of us spend dinner on our mobile devices ;-)

It was 10pm when I got back to the hotel but Sparklecorn was just getting started!! I might have had a lil more to drink that usual, and danced way too late into the night.

The dark, thumping dance blob that is Sparklecorn

Calley and her husband gettin' down on the dance floor!

Rock on, Calley, Chris, Julie, Amanda, Alex, Carrie, and Blessing!

I was up super early the next morning for absolutely no good reason. Oh well. I do have to say that the food at BlogHer was not as good as previous years, and there was a lot less of it. I had to actually purchase food, which I've really never had to do before.

First session in the morning (after opening keynote) was the one I was most excited about: Pro Tips: Branding and Blogging Professionally. I was stoked because my friends Jill and Gina were leading this panel!! It was a great panel, as expected - lots of laughs but lots of practical advice. Takeaway: Do not drink so much at Sparklecorn next time or you will forget what you learned in the panel your friends led.

Next I was back to Mic Wrangling for When It's Time To Spend Money To Market Your Work. I am not going to lie, by this time my energy was draining fast. It was a good session but about 3/4 of the way through I almost fell asleep. Takeaway: When is it time to start spending money to market your work? Probably not yet, for me. All the panelists assumed you make money at all - hahahahaha....I don't.

Although I dearly wanted to go up to my room and nap, I was also hungry so I went to lunch and the lunch keynote with Katie Couric. Surprisingly, this lunch was less packed than the Martha Stewart lunch. Huh? I thought Katie was amazing - very personable and her upcoming show sounds really interesting.

I met up briefly with Stephanie from City Moms Blog, who is the umbrella organization for Dallas Moms Blog (you know I write there too, right?). I would like to apologize to Stephanie for my zombie-like state. I was literally about to fall over. I barely crawled up to the 42nd floor where there were free massages being offered by RosaceaFacts.com. Then I oozed back down to the 26th floor and took a good long nap. Unfortunately, I was forced to get up so I could stop by the Expo Hall before it was time to Mic Wrangle the closing keynote. This is why I didn't get much sponsor swag - it was so late in the conference that many of them were packing up. Oh well, I still got Beth Terry to autograph my copy of Plastic Free: How I Kicked The Plastic Habit And How You Can Too, which I have already started reading and IT IS AMAZING.

The closing keynote revealed that next year, BlogHer 2013 will be in Chicago and it will be in July (2-27) instead of August. So excited!

For dinner, I got to eat at a local Asian fusion place with all the wonderful women I met and some who I just totally admire/stalk like Gina The Feminist Breeder and her husband.

The Feminist Breeder and Hyphenated Husband (!)

Powerhouse of feminist blogging: Think Feminist, The Feminist Breeder, and Danielle Elwood

When we got back to the hotel, I packed up for a super early exit (6am!) in the morning. I was so sad to leave my friends, old and new.

Saying "bye" to Calley for another year - our third BlogHer together!

Overall, this BlogHer was another new and great experience. I am exhausted more than I've ever been in past years, but I'm also seeing even more opportunities on the horizon.

If I met you at BlogHer and you have any great pictures or would like to say "hi", please do! I miss you all already!

BlogHer 2012: Part 1 of recap

Another BlogHer has come and gone: amazing, overwhelming, encouraging, and EXHAUSTING. Every year is a slightly different experience, and this year was my first without being pregnant or bringing a baby. As a result, I stayed up waaaay too late dancing and eating and talking (ok, and drinking...) with women I only see "in real life" every 1-2 years, and some I had actually never met before, except on Twitter.

While I was in New York City, I also took the time to take a Megaformer Pilates class (the kind I teach in Plano) at the SLT NYC studio. Because a 50 minute hardcore strength and cardio workout is definitely what you need after you've eaten crap for 24 hours and drunk sodas to stay awake (I don't normally drink soda at all).

>Unlike last year, I did remember to take actual pictures this year. Not many, because all I had was my iPhone, but I think they are representative.

First, one of the things I was so excited about: President Obama addressing the BlogHer attendees on Thursday afternoon.



Sure, what he said was pretty campaign-y but if you look beyond that, I think what is obvious is that he (and presumably more and more politicians) acknowledged the power of our voices as bloggers. What we say matters in the larger sphere, even when we're "just" blogging about our families or our individual efforts towards sustainable living.
Takeaway: Those in power are taking notice of what we do as women and bloggers, and that is encouraging.

Thursday night there was a party for "green" bloggers hosted by Stonyfield and Healthy Child, Healthy World>.



Following that party, we had the opportunity to view a wonderfully educational film, Toxic Baby, produced and written by Penelope Jagessar Chaffer. It contains a lot of great information on the toxins that surround us in our everyday lives and how they affect our bodies.



I enjoyed the movie and a wonderful discussion afterward between Penelope, Gigi Lee Chang, CEO of Healthy Child, Healthy World, Dr. Shanna Swan, Vice-Chair for Research, Department of Preventative Medicine at Mount Sinai School of Medicine, and Dominique Browning, co-founder of Moms Clean Air Force.



Takeaway: A reminder from the ladies that we have to combine our personal purchasing (or NOT purchasing power) with legislative action to speed the process of making the world a safer place for our children. "Safe until proven dangerous" is not the right approach to take when introducing new chemicals.

Wow, this post is long and I haven't even gotten to the parties or the sessions. I'm exhausted already. How about Part 2 another day?

Everyone else is doing it: BlogHer 2012 schedule

All of the bloggers that I stalk my other blogger friends are posting their schedules for BlogHer 2012, detailing what sessions and parties they'll be attending. So I guess if I want to be cool, I should do it too.

I'm working as a volunteer for BlogHer again this year, this time as Mic Wrangler. That means I get to run around the sessions with a microphone to anyone who has a question or comment for the presenter, so that everyone in the room can hear them and we can make sure to get their question or comment recorded on the podcast for later. So some of the sessions I have no choice about, because I've  been assigned to "work" that session.

I thought I was all cool to be getting into NYC as early as noon on Thursday, more than 17 hours before the conference starts, but it actually turns out that with all the pre-conference parties, that is actually LATE. I'll miss more than one party by not being there on Wednesday. I put my foot down!! I am not getting there 2 days early, people! Unless someone else is paying for it...

Anyhoo, here it is, as it stands now:

Thursday:
12 noon - Get in to LaGuardia with Real Posh Mom
4pm - BlogHer Volunteer meeting
5pm - Stonyfield/Healthy Child event
7pm - screening of the movie Toxic Baby (can't wait!)

Friday:
8am - Breakfast
9am - I might skip speed dating and go to the Expo Hall, because honestly I will have met so many awesome bloggers by then and have so many parties still to go that I am going to get overwhelmed by an additional onslaught. I believe in quality over quantity, but that is a rant for another time.
10:30am - Sin Fronteras - Advocacy Blogging Across Issues and Borders (Mic Wrangling)
11:45am - Lunch Keynote featuring Martha Stewart! Also, sitting with #clothdiapers bloggers - if you're interested, follow #ClothBlogHers12 on Twitter for our meetup location (organized by @MommaWords)
1:15pm - ROYO: Celebrate Your Small Blog
2:45pm - Not sure if I'm attending this one or if I am going to step out and take a class at SLT NYC, which is a certified Lagree studio teaching the same Megaformer Pilates that I teach here in Dallas
4:45pm - Voices of the Year Community Keynote - MY FAVORITE PART!! I turned down a party with free locally produced wine for this one, people.
7pm - Babeland party (I know you want to hear about this one!)
7:30/8 - Hasbro party
9pm - Sparklecorn! I have never been, but I am excited. Going to try to borrow a tiara for this one.

Saturday:
8:30 or 9: Breakfast
9:30am: Pro Tips: Branding and Blogging Professionally - so excited about this one, which will be presented by my friends Jill from BabyRabies and Gina, The Feminist Breeder!!
11am: When It's Time To Spend Money To Market Your Work (Mic Wrangling)
12:15pm: Lunch Keynote, featuring Katie Couric!!
2-3pm: note sure if I'll be attending this session or possibly taking an SLT NYC class if I didn't on Friday
3:15pm: possibly How to Price and Value Your Services? Not sure.
5:15pm: Closing Keynote (Mic Wrangling)
6pm: BlogHer Come As You Are party
10pm: CheeseburgHer?

As you can see, my Saturday has some gaps so if you know of anything going on or want to hang out, let me know!

How NOT to DIY a t-shirt for BlogHer

Procrastinate.
I knew I would procrastinate too long to order a t-shirt with my blog name and logo from a respectable t-shirt company like Vistaprint in time for BlogHer next week. I just took it as a given. I have my business cards and I was going to give up there. But then I was looking at Pinterest late at night one night and became convinced that I could make my own branded t-shirt! Of course! I bought 2 blank t-shirts from a craft supply store and a package of paper that goes in the inkjet printer that makes anything you print on it into an iron-on transfer. 

Overestimate your skills.
I couldn't find an organic cotton t-shirt at the craft store, so I decided to tea stain the white t-shirt. This actually went well, which gave me a false sense of hope that this was going to work out well and be easy.

Putting a t-shirt in a pot of Earl Grey tea bags smells yummy,
makes the shirt brown, and deceives me into thinking I can do this.

Don't be a designer.
Nevermind that I have absolutely no graphic design skills, which is exactly what prevented me from importing artwork to a t-shirt site and having it created by professionals in the first place. I spent hours and hours just trying to figure out how to get words centered over a logo and change the colors in this Photoshop knock-off program that we have. I had to ask 3 people to help me design it. I am still a little uncertain about it, but it was taking so much time that I decided it was good enough.

Buy the wrong paper.
I bought iron-on transfers for dark t-shirts because one of my t-shirts was black. I assumed it would work the same on black and white t-shirts. WRONG. The iron-on for dark t-shirts has a white outline around anything you print, like so:

UGLY...so ugly

It's a good thing I put this on a test t-shirt first!

Spend too much.
When I went back to get the correct iron-on transfer paper, I tried Target first instead of Office Depot. It turns out that the exact same products that I paid $20 for at Office Depot cost only $8.99 at Target. It's great to know that not only did I buy the wrong product the first time, but I spent over twice what I should have.


Do not read the instructions.
There were some very clear instructions in the new package of iron-on transfer paper specifying that for light t-shirts, you'll need to reverse the printing of your design. I would have noticed this if I had read the instructions, which clearly stated that I should read the instructions first.


Do not know how to iron.
When I finally got the transfer printed correctly and read the instructions, I interpreted them incorrectly. I was unable to get that stupid design to go onto the t-shirt. I ended up having to get my husband to do it, because he knows how to work an iron. He is the only one who irons anything in this house, by the way.

Learn from my mistakes. Order custom t-shirts from Vistaprint. (Special offer below this post.)

See you at BlogHer!

Just letting you know that I was thinking of you

Blog readers, thank you for sticking with me lately. I enjoy being unpredictable and posting randomly. There have been a lot of great products I want to share with you, but at the same time I don't want to overwhelm you with giveaways and reviews. I am not that kind of blogger, and I think you know that.

What have I been up to?

BlogHer 2012 is only a few weeks away! How many? I refuse to acknowledge. But close. Probably too close for me to redo my business cards or make a t-shirt with my URL as I had originally planned. Oh well. I have been spending ridiculous amounts of time stalking the #BlogHer12 hashtag on Twitter and making lists of people to meet.

Doing Pilates. Of course.

Source: Uploaded by user via UltimatePilatesPlano on Pinterest

Being very hungry. Pilates makes me much hungrier. I keep forgetting to account for this and there is never enough food in the house.

Reading other peoples' amazing posts. Make sure you are following me on Facebook because I post links there and on Twitter.

Cleaning up poop. My son is still not pooping in the potty despite the amount of money I have spent on Amazon buying books about how pooping on the potty is OK. I do not have any book recommendations for you. However, if you are an illustrator of any kind, I would be interested in working on a book with you where I write it and you illustrate. It will be about how pooping on the potty is OK.

Selling ads. Yep, you heard correctly: Conscientious Confusion is now selling ads. I promise that I will only work with companies who fit with my conscientious lifestyle and I will not accept any product advertising that I would not or do not currently use. Also, if you're another blogger and would like to trade advertising, I'm up for that too! Let me know!

I'm hoping to be back on schedule later this week with a nifty instructional video on how to apply crystal deodorant.

I'd love to hear in the comments (or Twitter, or Facebook) what other topics you'd like me to cover in the days before the BlogHer madness starts. Ideas?

Why I go: my personal BlogHer experiences

A good friend of mine recently began blogging about marriage and asked me a few really great questions about my BlogHer conference experiences. These are great questions to ask if you're considering going to BlogHer, have already purchased your tickets and are experiencing anxiety, or just want to know what to expect. Of course, this is only my personal experience - everyone's experience is different, and that is the beauty of such a diverse conference. Here are her questions and the answers I gave in an email:

How many times have you attended?
This will be my third year - 2010, 2011, and this year

Are you still in touch with people you met there?
Yes, mostly on Twitter although I do also stalk their blogs :-) You actually meet SO MANY bloggers there that you can't follow them all closely. I find it's easiest to follow almost everyone I meet personally on Twitter (I make a Twitter list for it because I can't keep up with my 600+ stream of everyone), but I'm selective about whose blog I put into my Google Reader because my RSS feed gets OUT OF CONTROL otherwise.

What have you gotten out of 1) the conference as a whole 2) specific educational sessions 3) any other part of the experience?

1) conference as a whole - overall, encouragement to keep going and the inspiration that what we are doing is worthwhile, and that we all have something to say. It's like being all pumped up and warm and fuzzy. Oh my goodness, Voices of the Year is so amazing every year. It's when bloggers who have been selected get up to read their winning posts. You laugh and cry and get angry. It is awesome.

2) that said, I have also been encouraged a lot by the various sessions. I have typically picked topics I already knew something about but wanted to know more. I loved "Loving your Small Blog" in 2010. Last year I went to a bunch of sessions that talked about how your social media influence impacts how you work with companies because I was being paid to go on behalf of a social media company (the one I worked for at the time). Hearing what big brands and big agencies thought of bloggers' social media influence and then knowing the philosophies of the company I worked for was a little eye-opening. This year I am excited to be able to pick my own sessions again. You basically get out of it what you want to get out of it. Some people actually go and avoid sessions altogether, they go just to socialize and drink. That is not what I do, I like the sessions. I have also been pregnant or nursing both times so I couldn't really socialize much (too tired, squirmy baby with me). I would recommend looking at the most recent preliminary sessions list to see what is out there. That schedule is without the Room Of Your Own offerings, which are sessions suggested and put together by attendees. However, if you want to learn things like photography and managing your site and tech stuff, they have Geek Bar which teaches very nitty-gritty stuff too.

3) I am not going to lie, it is a great opportunity for me to get away from my kids for a weekend! Well, except last year when I brought my baby. But not only am I getting some "me" time, I am also getting some time with other people who understand what I do. I don't have to downplay what I do ("Oh, it's just that sometimes I blog...") or explain what I do ("Oh, Twitter says that she might have croup!... what's Twitter? Um, just some friends... who blog... that I talk to... on my iPhone...nevermind"), or any of the other things I feel obligated to do when I talk about blogging in a non-blogger environment. It's great to be in a group of people who understand when you say "Hold on, I have to upload this to Instagram - thank goodness it also posts to Twitter and Facebook because that totally saves time, amirite?!"

Why would you recommend it to new bloggers or first-time attenders?
I would recommend it to anyone who is wanting to connect and learn about and from other bloggers. I would recommend it for anyone who wants to really kick off their blog as a "real effort". I would recommend it for women, in particular, because it is very empowering even for a small blogger like me.

How did blogging change for you after you attended?
On a super practical level, my blog traffic goes up after each conference, haha! But honestly, as long as I stay connected with most of the people I meet, it stays up for the most part because we tend to link to each other and maintain relationships. It has also given me more opportunities for PR (reviews, free products). Which, since I do not get paid, is the closest I get to making money off my blog right now. But mostly, it encourages me to keep going even though I am a very small fish in a big pond.

~~
So that was my summary to a blogger who has never been.
Do you have any questions I could answer? Will I see you at BlogHer 2012 in NYC this year?

7 Quick Takes Friday #38

--- 1 ---

You might have seen me mention on my Facebook page that Ashleigh found me a bread machine for $5 last weekend from a garage sale. I have made 2 loaves of bread already this week! It's totally amazing. The first was a small loaf using the recipe in the book that came with the machine. I did not take a picture of it, and I ate it all within 48 hours (Christian helped).

The second loaf I made from Ashleigh's recipe:



This was a larger loaf and the bread is almost exactly like store-bought. I had a sandwich made from it today!

--- 2 ---

In other making-my-own-food news, some kind of animal has gained access to our back yard despite our 6 foot wooden fence enclosing the entire yard. When I went to check the plants after this week's storms, all of the sproutlings previously in this picture were gone completely. Even some of the larger plants looked like this:



I actually suspect our very own cat, who likes to roam a bit outside when the kids are out there playing. She enjoys eating green things and then barfing them up in unexpected places in the house. But, she is also very fat and sedentary. I can't see her climbing up into the raised bed just to chew on green things when she is typically perfectly content chewing on grass, which is more on her level.

What is eating my plants?!! I will kill it!!

--- 3---

If you are going to BlogHer 2012, I am SUPER EXCITED that my friend Jill from BabyRabies and Gina, TheFeministBreeder whom I cyber stalk will be leading a panel called "Pro Tips: Branding and Blogging Professionally". See all the Room Of Your Own topics here. I hope that I get to mic-wrangle at this session!

--- 4 ---

I am also excited (although not AS excited) about the session called "Celebrate Your Small Blog". I went to one similarly named at BlogHer 2010 and it was very encouraging. As wonderful as I truly believe my readers are, you guys are a small bunch compared to what most bloggers can report. I am very thankful for each and every one of you!

--- 5 ---

We are now on track to get two chickens and a chicken coup from some friends of my parents a week from Saturday! Little Sir is going to be so excited when he sees the chickens. We have talked about the chickens we are going to get a lot in the last few weeks. He just loves farm animals. I am excited to have fresh eggs from our back yard! Not as excited about chicken poop, but it kind of just comes with the territory.

--- 6 ---

The Schwann's man just knocked on my door and I didn't answer it. I am out of grocery money AGAIN. I always feel bad telling him "no" because he doesn't take it well. He isn't mean, he just seems so genuinely crushed.

--- 7 ---

I have heard that it is going to get up into the 90's later next week. I guess that means we missed our window for camping AGAIN. Our children are not going to know anything about camping until we drag them on trips as teenagers and they complain the whole time. Or was that just me as a teenager?!

~~~

Well that's all for this week, be sure to visit Conversion Diary for links to more 7 Quick Takes Fridays.

I'm going to #BlogHer12!

I am so excited to announce that I am officially going to BlogHer 2012!

I will be going as a Mic Wrangler volunteer, which means I will work designated sessions helping bring the microphone to attendees as they interact with the panelists, so that everyone in the room can hear and everything is recorded for the podcasts that a released after the conference. In 2010, I was a Volunteer Wrangler, meaning I organized all the volunteers. So I have an idea what I'm going into.

This will be my 3rd BlogHer conference (previously 2010 and 2011), but my VERY FIRST where I won't be either pregnant or have a baby with me! I also will not be officially working for anyone except in my volunteer position (unless I find a sponsor).

All that to say: I'll be able to socialize freely this time and I can't wait! If you're a blogger and you're going, please leave me a comment or @ me on Twitter to make sure we meet up!

Meet my roommates
Since I'm paying my own way this time, it was most cost-effective to find 3 other bloggers to split the room. I am so excited to be rooming with the fabulous Valerie from Charmed Valerie, Jennifer of Real Posh Mom, and another Jen aka Punky from Punky and the City.

I can't wait to meet up with these ladies and compare our experiences! If you have some time, go visit their blogs today!

...and if you know a company looking for exposure to thousands of bloggers by sponsoring me - introduce me!

7 Quick Takes Friday #36

--- 1 ---

After publishing my post about raw milk, I made the mistake of going to the CDC web site and reading what they think of raw milk. I am not even going to link to it because it is too depressing. Let me sum it up for you: they are pretty adamant that it is going to kill everyone. I got freaked out about that, now I am not sure if I want to continue with the raw milk thing. We are still working on the gallon we have. I wouldn't be able to drive somewhere to buy it for almost a week, so I guess we have a little while to decide.

--- 2 ---

I am so excited to announce that I am officially going to BlogHer 2012! I think this warrants its own post, so I'll be talking more about it later.

--- 3---

We finally got the dirt put into our raised bed garden! Here is a super cute picture of Little Lady and Little Sir helping me fill it up.

 

He was digging up dirt from the yard with his sand trowel and walking over to the garden to dump it in. The cuteness kills me! Little Lady was eating dirt. Yum.
 

--- 4 ---

Here are some more things to be confused about: I signed up for SproutRobot emails and it is telling me that I need to wait 2 weeks to let the bed "settle" before I can plant anything. At the same time, it says that the planting time for my area for most of the things I want to plant is RIGHT NOW OMG DO NOT WAIT YOU HAVE TO DO IT BEFORE SUNDAY. What?!

There is no way I can win with this stuff. This is hard work! I want to take a nap!
Whine, whine, whine.

--- 5 ---

I have read Book 1 and Book 2 of The Hunger Games series in the last week and they continue to be more awesome than I thought. I am waiting to borrow Book 3 from a friend. If I am not able to borrow it by this weekend I may actually go ahead and buy it on Kindle like I did with Book 2.

I am sad that I probably won't get to see the movie until it comes out in Netflix, but oh well. That is how things work with 2 small children. Movies = Netflix.

--- 6 ---

I'm really working on trying to take this blogging more seriously, but I know that only posting twice a week is really not helping with that goal. We are missing the income from my part time job much more than I thought we would.

--- 7 ---

All the other things I wanted to put in this spot had to do with my kids. I am really trying to keep this blog from being all about them. So, have a great weekend everyone!

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Well that's all for this week, be sure to visit Conversion Diary for links to more 7 Quick Takes Fridays.

Bringing a baby to BlogHer

It's that time again -- the last days of Early Bird Pricing for BlogHer 2012. I'm hoping to attend as a volunteer, but I haven't heard yet. I know that a lot of my fellow bloggers and readers are trying to decide as well. If you are pregnant right now or have just had a baby, you might be wondering whether it's a good idea to bring your baby to the BlogHer conference in New York City in 2012. Last year I brought my 6 month old baby to BlogHer 2011 in San Diego. I traveled alone by plane from Dallas, Texas to San Diego, California with my baby and our luggage. I'm here to tell you about my experience and hopefully give you some things to consider if you are considering bringing your baby to BlogHer this year.

How was the flight and transfer to the hotel? 
It was a little brutal, I'm not going to lie. But when is traveling a baby ever as enjoyable as traveling alone? If you're flying, consider whether it would be worthwhile to bring a spouse, partner, or friend with you to the conference to help with the travel aspect of the trip. Even if you pack lightly for the trip, you might have as much as an entire extra piece of luggage just for swag on the way home. I also recommend bringing your baby's car seat on the plane so that you can attach the car seat to the taxi for the ride from the airport to the hotel. I brought our infant car seat and a lightweight stroller that attached to it.

Here's what it looked like in the airports: I wore the baby in my Ergo. I assembled the empty infant car seat into its attached stroller stand and used the empty stroller/car seat to hold my carry-on luggage. My main piece of luggage was a giant roller suitcase. So I was pushing the stroller and pulling my main luggage piece.

How did you feed the baby at the conference?
I was still breastfeeding, so I fed her anywhere and everywhere. I did use the Lactation Lounge at the conference space but I also just nursed right in the sessions without covering up. At one point, Little Lady got a bit rowdy and I had to remove her from a session. I sat on the floor outside the conference
room and nursed her. Everyone who walked by either encouraged us or didn't even bat an eye that I was sitting on the floor with my boob out.

If you are breastfeeding: you must be comfortable nursing in public. The Lactation Lounge is rarely
completely empty and you won't have time to go up to your room every 3 hours or so. If you are a person who needs to be completely alone in a room to nurse, bringing a baby to BlogHer might not be for you.

If you bottle feed: you might need to be prepared to defend your decision. Formula feeding isn't exactly embraced in this environment. Little Lady was only getting one small bottle of formula as a supplement to take her medicine at night, but I was too scared to ever whip out that evil powder anywhere but the safety of our hotel room. I leave this up to your discretion, but please know that I have warned you that you might experience some pushback for formula feeding.

A mic wrangler wearing a baby

Did you attend the parties?
 A few, but not many. I am a big nerd and I attend the conference to actually go to sessions and listen to the speakers. Many attendees go only to attend parties and socialize. There is nothing wrong with that, but if you are going to attend parties and socialize, you might have some challenges bringing your baby. Some of the parties are baby-friendly (I went to one sponsored by Eden's Fantasy in a hotel room that was a lot of fun and perfectly baby-friendly), but others are definitely not (i.e., very loud music and not much space). It might be difficult for you to tell ahead of time which you'll be able to attend. You don't want to be looking forward to a party only to realize last-minute that you'll have to cancel. That would also be a little unfair to the other attendees since most parties have long waitlists and other bloggers have been denied access due to size limitations.

I can almost assure you that the BlogHer-sponsored parties that occur right at the end of the conference day both days are baby-safe, and they don't go too late into the night because there are other parties starting after them. Plus, these end-of-day parties have free food! You'd almost definitely be safe going to those with your baby.

How did other attendees feel about the presence of a baby?
I cannot imagine a more baby-friendly conference than BlogHer. If your baby gets loud in a session, nobody even bats an eye. The only reason I left one of the sessions was because I was critical of the amount of noise I was making -- no one around me even cared. Several times when she got a little vocal during sessions, I had women who were complete strangers offer to take her and walk around the room. One time I actually did accept the offer, since my job was to be live-tweeting the session and the baby was causing issues for me doing my job. I exchanged several really sweet emails with the kind lady who helped me out after the conference ended.

The baby is also a great way to start conversations, since most bloggers have left children of their own at home or just enjoy seeing a cute, friendly baby. I was much more likely to start a conversation with strangers when I had my baby with me than I did the year before when I didn't.

Tips based on my personal experience:

Little Lady napping at BlogHer
with her sound machine giraffe

• Babies who aren't active yet are the best age. My baby was right under 6 months, which was probably the maximum age I would bring either of my children into sessions, because they have both been extremely active after 6 months and refuse to sit still unless they are asleep. I understand that most kids are OK sitting still at older ages, and every child is different. If you've got an active (moving/crawling/walking) baby or toddler, there is on-site childcare that might be worth looking into so that you can actually attend sessions without the distraction of chasing them around.
  


• If your baby sleeps while being worn, GREAT! That is probably the best scenario. I did wear my baby, but she has always hated being worn and won't sleep that way. There were a lot of other bloggers wearing their babies.


• If your baby sleeps best in the infant carrier (car seat), bring a stand for that and use that as your main stroller for the conference. That way, the baby can nap during sessions. The conference area should be handicap accessible, which also means "stroller friendly".


• If your baby loves sounds machines like both of mine have, bringing a portable sound machine is a great idea. I love the Cloud B giraffe (in the picture, right) that attaches to a stroller or car seat. It helped to soothe my baby to sleep in crowded conference areas.


• Realize you may miss some sessions or lunches or other events. Sometimes the little ones just get overwhelmed and need down time in the hotel room. I found it was better to give her some quiet down time rather than push through with a fussy, upset baby and a stressed mama. If you have a sponsor, make sure they know there is a possibility that you might miss a few things and make sure that they are OK with that.


• All the usual tips about flying with a baby: nursing during takeoff/landing, bringing plenty of toys for them. A personal plug for my own products: one of the ladies in my local green living discussion group suggested using Peace and Calming essential oil blend on the babies' feet helps them be more mellow on the plane. I don't know that for sure because I haven't tried it, but I do love that oil blend. I use it on my son at night (he's 2 years old & has trouble calming down for sleep). I would also recommend Lavendar as an alternative.


• Accept help, if you are comfortable doing so. When someone offers to hold the baby while you eat a meal, or help soothe in a session, let them! Of course, this depends on the age of the child and whether you are concerned about germs, etc. My baby was 6 months old, so I wasn't too worried but there were also a few babies less than a month old, which is obviously a different story.


• Have fun! Don't worry about how cute the baby looks or whether the baby is behaving. Make sure he/she is happy and comfortable, and then enjoy the time together!

Overall, I had a great experience. I must add that it was also extremely exhausting. I am really looking forward to BlogHer 2012, if I do indeed get to attend, because I will not have either of my children with me and I won't be pregnant (as I was in 2010). I'm looking forward to having a few drinks and going to more parties this year. If you're going, let me know! Let's meet up!

Have you attended a conference with your baby? Do you have any tips to add?

Cloth diaper Thurs: Thirsties Duo

I started Cloth Diaper Thursday to review all the diapers I received at BlogHer 2011. The Thirsties Duo is the last diaper in this series!
~~~~
My daughter, Little Lady, has finally reached the weight she needs to be to help me test out the Thirsties Duo* I received from Kelly Wels at BlogHer 2011 last year! I was excited about this because the diaper is sooo pretty.

We have been having some issues with Little Lady leaking through ALL of our stash. I've been scouring cloth diaper sites and emailing friends, but all I can think is that right now her legs are so thin compare to her tubby tummy that I can't get most of our diapers' legs to close tightly enough to prevent side leaks.

We've had to resort to using only our snaps diapers, which hold the legs more tightly. The one exception: the Thirsties Duo! Because it has double leg gussets and extra elastic in the front under the tummy, it's one of the only velcro-closure diapers in our stash right now that doesn't leak. Bonus that it's one of the cutest, too!

The Thirsties Duo is unique because it is a pocket diaper that could also be used as a cover. Either stuff the pocket with an insert or... don't! You could just use a prefold and use the Duo as a cover.

One note about sizing: although this diaper comes with snaps that adjust the rise, it is also a sized diaper. Usually diapers with snapped rises are one-size, but the Thirsties Duo comes in two sizes. Size 1 is for 6-18 lbs and Size 2 is 18-40 lbs. I received a Size 2, which is why I had to wait until Little Lady was about 9 months old to start using it.

Pros:

• Two sizes of diaper means your toddler won't outgrow the Size 2 diaper until potty training
• Love the double leg gussets!
• Inside of the diaper is super-soft cotton, not polyester like most of our pocket dipes
• Comes in so many cute prints!
• Adjustable rise
• Extra elastic in the front of the diaper holds it flush to the baby's tummy even if the baby is tubby, like Little Lady
• The pocket opens on both the front and back of the diaper, so the insert is certain to come out in the wash, meaning you won't have to touch it to pull it out before washing! 
• Can be used as a pocket diaper or a cover only

Cons:

• The sizing does mean that you'd have to buy the diaper twice as your baby grows
• Not sure how you would go about replacing the leg elastic if it gets worn

Overall, I have been very impressed with this diaper! I would love to have been able to use it earlier, but now I know we'll be using it until Little Lady is potty trained for sure. Thank you so much, Thirsties!

Rating: 5 out of 5

NOTE: I was given the Thirsties Duo for free at BlogHer 2011 by a blogger sponsored by Thirsties. All opinions are my own, I'm the one who has to clean up the poop, people!
* Links to Kelly's Closet are affiliate links. I get, like, 10 cents if you order from them. Oooo. 

"Changing Diapers" by Kelly Wels

According to Klout, I am influential about cloth diapers? When you consider the big names in cloth diapering out there, that's pretty laughable! But at least here, on my little blog, I do enjoy telling you about my experience cloth diapering my kids. I've also had several of my friends and readers come to me over the last year with questions about cloth diapering and challenges they have experienced in the process.

Today I am so excited to be able to share with you the answers to all your questions in one book!

Obviously, not written by me - but by Kelly Wels, who is known as "The Cloth Diaper Whisperer" from her blog by the same name. I had the privilege of meeting her in person at BlogHer 2011 this year and she is way cooler looking than that cartoon on her web site!

Her book is called "Changing Diapers: A Hip Mom's Guide to Modern Cloth Diapering". Not only does it start out with the basics such as the different kinds of cloth diapers (prefolds, pockets, AIO's, AI2's, fitteds, covers...etc.), but it goes into more depth in the areas of washing diapers and setting up a workable system.

I think my favorite thing about this book is the illustrations! When I was first researching cloth diapers, I was able to cobble together sufficient nformation by Googling, but I always got long text-heavy explanations perhaps broken up by pictures of someone's child in the diaper. Or, I would get YouTube videos of questionable quality where someone rambled on and on and the picture was grainy. In this book, Kelly includes some incredibly simple and effective illustrations that show you exactly what she's talking about so you don't have to guess!

In addition, the book is full of quotes from real-world moms and dads about their experiences cloth diapering.

I just love the design and simplicity of this book. And it's small enough to fit in your purse for on-the-go reading!

No matter where you are on your cloth diapering journey, and especially if you are just now considering the possibility of cloth, I highly recommend this book.

I considered giving away my only personal copy, but I actually like it too much to do that. So, all I can do is point you to her site where you can buy the book for $17.95 (free shipping), or Amazon where it is going for around $12, or you can buy it for the Kindle for $10.

Please let me know if you do get it, and how you enjoy it!

*NOTE: I was given an advance copy of this book for free to review before it came out, but I am so slow that I didn't get around to writing this review until it became available in wide release. All opinions are my own.

7 Quick Takes Friday #20 - BlogHer 2011 Edition

BlogHer 2011 Edition

--- 1 ---

I still haven't blogged comprehensively about BlogHer because it is too overwhelming, so I am just going to go over some of the details in this 7 Quick Takes and then do one more post about the logistics of bringing a baby to BlogHer for anyone who might be Googling it next year. I looked for posts about it before I left but they only addressed whether or not to bring the baby to parties, not the actual logistics of being in the sessions with a baby.

--- 2 ---

Despite the fact that our plane was on the tarmac for 2 hours on the way to San Diego, Little Lady did very well on the plane. It was tiring for me to keep her busy in my lap for 6 hours straight, but she never really cried much. She also didn't nap at all, on either flight. Which is completely normal for my children, who do not sleep or nap when traveling. In case you don't follow my family blog, here is a picture of the Southwest flight attendant who was using Little Lady to help greet passengers coming on for the second leg of our flight home!

--- 3---

Here's a pic of me and Galit Breen from These Little Waves! I was so excited to finally meet her in person, I have stalked read her blogs starting back when she blogged as Minnesota Mammaleh and watched her writing develop as she is moving into writing some beautiful fiction lately!

--- 4 ---

I ran into the Jimmy Dean sun while waiting for the elevator on Saturday. Yes, this is the guy who does the commercials.

--- 5 ---

Sunday morning before we caught our flight back, and after all my green blogger friends had left, Little Lady and I hung out by the firepit near the beautiful tropical pool at the Marriott and I ate a huge breakfast burrito. It was so cool in the morning that we had to stay by the firepit for warmth and Little Lady was wearing a sweater!

--- 6 ---

San Diego is a lovely city, which I hardly got to see because I was in the conference the whole time. I'd love to go back some time for a visit.

I just love California so much.
I have never been to LA or to Sonoma/Napa, but I am sure I would love it too. The weather is so beautiful, no wonder so many people live there and raise the cost of living, even though it is totally going to fall into the sea one day.

--- 7 ---

I feel like the 7 Quick Takes has gone so fast this week! Usually it's a beating to come up with 7 things, but with BlogHer, it's easy. I want to cram in so much more! But I know you are all tired of hearing about it.

One final thing I'm thinking of doing as a result of all the free cloth diapers I received as swag this year is starting a "Cloth Diaper Thursday" where I review a different brand of diaper each week. This will only last about 6-7 weeks, but still might be worth it. If you don't have kids or don't cloth diaper, just skip Thursdays. See you next week!

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Well that's all for this week, be sure to visit Conversion Diary for links to more 7 Quick Takes Fridays.