Beanstalk Days and nights....

Sale

2009-12-18T17:12:00.000-06:00

For the first 10 people to check out! Take 15% off your order! Use the code firstshoppers

I also have available but not on the site bath bundles which are ready for shipping tomorrow as long as they are ordered by 10pm CST tonight.
These are usually $20 plus shipping.
These will be $15 ppd.

Bundles include... See More
4oz Foaming Bath Frosting
4oz Goats Milk and Honey lotion
Wash Cloth / Wipe
Joyful Magic Wand (scented solid perfume, lip balm sized)

Scents Available:
Pink Sugar
Plumberry
Creme Brulee
Chocolate Drizzle
Clean
Pixie Dust (very clean earthy scent)
Lavender EO

Please email me if you would like to order a bundle. Paypal can be sent to paypal@jacksmagicbeanstalk.com

April Sale and new Carseat recommendation!

2009-04-02T09:52:00.002-05:00

First, I personally think this advice is late in being given but am so glad to see it finally being put out there.
Keep your children rear facing until they are 2 years old!
I have three kids. My oldest is 11 and rides in a high back booster, my 7yo rides in a Britax Wizard which is the old version of the Boulevard. My 5yo rides in a Boulevard but is about to the max for the height so we are moving her to the Regent.
We had a few reasons why we chose to put our children in seats such as the Wizard and Boulevard. Both seats rear face to 33lbs and forward face to 65lbs. While they are expensive seats, you can often find them on sale. Both seats would have been able to last our kids until they expired had we bought them when they were newborns.
My 5yo is rather tall so while she will not reach the weight for a long time she is getting to tall for her seat, the Regent is a forward facing seat only but goes to 100lbs and has a seated height that my 11 yo could still fit in!
There are other very good, yet affordable seats on the market such as the Graco Nautilus (again forward facing only) that will keep your children in a 5pt harness for a much longer time than most traditional convertible carseats will.
If you are in the market for a new carseat for an infant find a seat that has a rear facing weight limit of at least 30lbs and try to get one with a forward facing weight of 60lbs. If you or thier other parent are tall you should check out what the seating height limits are.
A good store to shop with is this one, the proceeds of this site go to the Kyle David Miller Foundation.
As a parent I have found carseat safety to be one of my biggest concerns. To share this with you I am offering all parents who have their children rearfacing past 1 year or harnessed past 40lbs or in a booster past the typical age of 8 years; a gift certificate to my store. Simply email me a photo of your child in their safety seat. I will not publish any photos if you would rather me not, however if you are ok with it I will put the photo in this blog.
If you are wanting to get your child in a safer seat but can not afford it the Kyle David Miller Foundation may be able to help you.
To all of my customers I am offering a coupon for 10% off. Enter the code aprilshowers when you check out!

CONGRATS to my friend

2009-01-07T22:59:00.002-06:00

A few years ago I met a woman at a local consignment store when I was doing a cloth diapering class. She came over to learn some more about diapers and I helped her along in her diapering adventure and new addiction;)
Over time she started helping me out with JMBS and was an invaluable help when she went with me to a LLL weekend show in late '07. Little did we know that about a year from then she would be welcoming beautiful twin boys into her family.
In a few days I hope to have the honor of delivering some Kissaluvs to her little boys and I might even get to love on them some!! I can get my baby fix in and hope that I don't catch baby fever to much. I *adore* newborns and they always make me long for another one.
I wanted to share with you this fantastic event though. Babies are such a blessing, forever changing our lives. Congrats to L & J again on the new wee one's. I am so happy for you guys!

Free Gifts!

2008-11-12T20:37:00.002-06:00

We are doing a giveaway with EVERY order placed!!
Go ahead and do your shopping, you will be pleased with your gifts!
Details can be found here.

This give away is good with all of our products including sale items and cloth diapering packages, however it is not good with gift certificates or layaway.

We just restocked bumGenius one size pocket cloth diapers. We do have a lot of boys wipes instock now also!

Back in the swing of things

2008-10-21T22:33:00.002-05:00

Hello everyone!
I am starting to get back to normal life after the last 5 weeks. Everything that has happened with my friend and her family has reminded me that I need to be thankful every. single. day that my family is healthy and happy. My children are a true gift that I need to be grateful for.
I have this pleasure of being their mother, of being able to teach them, love them, play with them, and be an example to them. While that pleasure is hard some days, really, really hard, I am working very diligently on remembering that.

With all that said, I do need to get back to working more. My husband has been quite a gem these last few weeks as he has done all the work I usually do in the store.
I am going to go ahead and post a coupon code that will be good until the 25th.
Take 10% off your order with the code "gettingback" the coupon can not be used on cloth diapering packages or sale items.
Leave a review and I will send you a coupon for $5, good on any sized order!

Are you a fellow retailer or do you know of a store that should carry our Rash Magic products?
If you are a retailer email us and ask about our new retailer special! If you are a customer that knows of another store that should carry our products have them contact us, when they place their first order you will receive store credit to our store for $20!! The other store must mention your name when they sign up for an account with us.

Sensitive information, but help needed

2008-10-06T10:12:00.004-05:00

Hello all. I have not been working much the past 12 days due to the below post, this has taken precedence over just about everything else in my life. I hope to return to work in the next few days, until then my husband has taken over everything. Please read the following and consider helping out if you can. Thank you.

Hello All,
It is with a very heavy heart I am sending out this email. The following information may be upsetting to some people as it involves the death of a teenager.

A friend of mine who used to attend The Crossings Church with me is going though a very tragic experience. Her 16yo son has struggled with depression and other mental health issues for years. On Tuesday September 23rd he attempted to take his own life.

That night he had watched a movie with his Mom and a friend of ours, told them both he loved them then went to bed. She was woken up around 2 AM by a knock on the door, it was the police with Tim. He had been found at a party and was intoxicated. Tim was also taking Seroquel which should never be taken when one is drinking alcohol as it impairs the ability to have rational thought.

His Mother sent him to bed and went to check on him a short while later and found him unconscious and without a pulse. He was able to be revived and is currently at Cardinal Glennon Children's Hospital.

Unfortunately his brain was very damaged and he will not be able to pull though this. He was taken off life support on Monday 9/29 at 5:30pm. As of now, 10/2/08, he is still breathing on his own because his body is very strong but he is non responsive and is in an altered state of consciousness, we expect him to go soon.

(edited to add, Tim passed away 10/4/08 about 8:30pm. We desperately need help with his funeral costs now.)

Tim was an awesome kid. He had friends from all sorts of cliques at school rather than just being friends with one group of kids. So many kids have come to the hospital and said how much Tim would help them when they were sad, how he would carry their books, help them to the counselor, give them a shoulder to cry on and more. Tim however, took on all of their pain and had no healthy way of letting go of their hurts, so he was carrying their burdens along with his own. He loved people so much he just couldn't turn away from their hurts and took them to his heart.

When Timmy was 8 his father took his own life, the loss of his father has always haunted him. All of this along with his mental health issues just made it to much for one child to deal with rationally.

The reason I am emailing this to you is that his Mom has no life insurance on him. She is very recently single and has no source of income. While that is difficult on its own, this has made finding a job, taking care of 4 small children and keeping her head above water is almost impossible. Her other children are 11, twins age 4, and a 3yo- she will need to be able to take time help them cope with the loss of a big brother they all adored. She also feels she can not go back to the house she was living in, its just to hard on her to be there, so she will also be having to find a place to live.

We are trying to do all that we can to raise funds to cover funeral costs and to help her be able to get back on her feet, yet have time to grieve her son and help her other children.

If you can help please go to any US Bank and ask to donate to the Tim Barnfield Donation Account. Every small amount helps. Please also send this along to your friends and family so we can all band together to help this family deal with this tragic loss.

Please also, if you know of anyone struggling or considering suicide please get them help right away. If you are struggling with suicide please call 1-800-Suicide (784-2433). Life can get better with help.

Thank you for reading,
Nichole Ave-Lallemant

Diaper Rash

2008-09-18T16:29:00.003-05:00

I just typed this up on a board I am on and thought I should C&P it for you to read.

How to get rid of a rash without cream?

You can use powder to get rid of a rash as long as its not yeast. I wouldn't suggest corn starch though, on the off chance it is yeast it will feed it. There are some great clay powders out there that work wonderfully.

How to prevent the rash from starting in the first place?

Rashes are generally caused from being wet or soiled to long. Which for some babies is just 2 mins, others can go for hours (not that I am suggesting that) they can also come from food upset (things in your breast milk) yeast, along with teething, viruses, etc.
To prevent it make sure your diapers are totally rinsed clean, watch what you use on her, some chemicals in disposables are really harsh on the skin. My ds would get chemical burns from disposables. Keep her skin nice and dry and use a protective layer of a salve that is cloth safe. You can use a liner too if you worry about stains.

How to now care for my dipes that I have used rash cream (I've done a full diaper strip today... 1 hour soaking with some soappy hot water, rinse, full wash with baking soda and a double rinse with vinegar) Is this good enough to strip the diapers??
Some rash creams are totally cloth diaper safe, as in they will not cause build up if used normally. Anything with zinc has the potential to stain because zinc is a mineral and can react with the minerals in hard water.

If the cream didn't build up there is nothing to worry about, if it did you will notice her diapers don't hold like they should.
Baking soda shouldn't be used if you have soft water, vinegar shouldn't be used if you have hard water. Baking soda softens water, vinegar hardens it. I am not a big fan of either when it comes to washing. I used to use baking soda as a water softener when I used diapers but eventually switched to borax or calgon.

This of course is all my opinion and from my life experience and dealing with cloth diapers. A good rule of thumb when it comes to rash creams and cloth diapers is less is more. You want to avoid anything with any type of Cod Liver Oil in it. While it is soothing for the skin and such it will make your diapers reek of fish...YUCK! Petrolatum is another thing to avoid, it tends to build up on diapers and to be honest I am not a huge fan of where it comes from and some questions about its purity.
Lanolin is a toss up. It is great for skin (as long as your not allergic to wool) but it can cause major build up and is really hard to get out.

Its been a while

2008-09-15T17:26:00.000-05:00

Things have been so busy around here, I need a big nap!
The last month has honestly just blown by. Its starting to be cool here, which is fun for us to break our kids new fall clothes, well fun for me, I have a love obsession with clothes for my kids. It got really bad once they were all out of diapers and I was no longer obsessing about buying fun new diapers.
Fun? Diapers? Did I really just say that? Is that what you are thinking?

Yep, I loved buying, using, showing off our cloth. I was honestly sad when my youngest potty trained. I actually still have some of her diapers that I will never get rid of. I have the very first diaper that she ever wore. It was a tester diaper made by a brand new WAHM (work at home mom-- like yours truly) so tiny, so cute and while not sewn perfectly it fit her so well and worked like a dream.
I wish those diapers were still around, I would try to get them for the store. Of course, I only had one of those but I have a slew of Kissaluv's which I loved on her. She never once had a blowout (that's where a bowel movement blows out of the back or leg of the diaper, something most disposable Moms know a lot about- I sure did with my older two!) and they weren't huge on her.
Newborn diapers are one of my favorite things to talk about.

So lets play, What would Nikki buy if she was having a brand new baby! (I am not doing so, just to clear the air! LOL)

24 Kissaluvs in colors because I love the colors.

12 XS and Small Thirsties Covers (if you are wondering, yes you can mix sizes on packages when you order from me)

18-24 Premie Prefolds (to use as backups and doublers at night. They are also great for burp rags, breast pads, pantie liners, etc. Worth their weight in gold)

wet bag one cute one plain

2 pail liners (gotta have one to use while the other is being washed)

24 wipes ( I have boy ones available now, I just need to add them)

Rash Magic

Wipes Concentrate

A newborn will go though about 10-12 diapers a day, this will make it so I can wash every other day. I might need more wipes though if I end up being heavy handed on the wipes when using them.

Of course I would have to treat myself to the following too, after all being the Mama to a brand new baby is not easy!
Great soap
Comfy Pads
and because I want to spoil myself a stunning baby sling of course this carrier will work great too

Up late to restock!

2008-08-15T02:06:00.000-05:00

Its 2 AM. I am so tired! Off to bed, but wanted to update what I have been doing all night!
First, I finally got the Go With the Flo pads restocked. These our my personal favorite pads of all time! Super soft, comfy, and beautiful!
The colors on the new pads are just amazing. I love them all but think Starry Night is my favorite!

I also added more Kissaluvs in both natural and colors! We added all the colors so we have Lime,
Purple, Lemon, Melon, Blue.

And finally, we added bumGenius One Size diapers and bumGenius Organic One Size All In One diapers!

And with that, I am headed to bed for the next 5 or so hours. Sweet dreams everyone!

New items on the way and stocked

2008-07-31T16:20:00.000-05:00

Quick update!
Diva Cups were just restocked
I just received a shipment of wet bags, pail liners and Wonder Wraps, they will be stocked tonight.
Go With The Flo pads are on the way, I hope to have them this week.
We are waiting on a shipment of bumGenius Onesize and bumGenius Organic Onesize All In One diapers.
GSE is being restocked tonight also.
New training pants have been added too.

We added a bedwetting section to our store! Our family has personal experience with this, it is very important to me to provide you with products to help your kids deal with bed wetting in a way that will help them keep their dignity and hopefully keep it to where they are the only ones that know about it when they are with their friends.
Please remember, bed wetting is not something your kids have control over, they are not doing this to punish you. Please don't punish them or embarrass them when they wet the bed. We have found the best way to handle it in our family is for us to enable our son to be as independent as possible when it comes to the clean up. We ask him to tell us that there are soiled linens to be washed but other than that we don't mention it unless he brings it up. It is very embarrassing for a child of this age to be wetting the bed, I do not in any way want to add to his shame over something he can't control.

Simple things to make one smile

2008-07-15T00:23:00.000-05:00

I was pulling clothes out of the dryer tonight and found 2 lego guys and 2 pebbles in there.
The pebbles were smooth and pretty in color.
I smiled because I know my son carefully chose both of those pebbles and slipped them into his pocket while happily playing, the lego guys probably went in shortly there after too, I am sure the pebbles were cannons or chairs or something for the lego guys.
I try to remind myself to smile at those simple things, they will be gone before I know it and I will miss finding trinkets of fun in my dryer one day.

disclaimer: crayons are not trinkets of fun that make me smile in the dryer, nor are stickers that were left on shirts that I missed. Anything that melts in there dryer makes me frown. LOL

Its Friday!

2008-07-11T17:14:00.000-05:00

Just a few things. The Diva Cup presale is ending tonight so get them at 20% off while you can!
Also I just restocked Happy Tushies wet bags and will be adding mama bags and bed pads tonight or tomorrow.
Thirsties will be restocked sometime this up coming week also!
My family will be enjoying some awesome blueberry / blackberry cobbler I made yesterday with berries I picked on Wednesday, and cause I am nice I will share the recipe!

Ingredients:
2 sticks Sweet Cream Butter (use real butter)
2C flour
1 1/2 C white sugar
1C packed brown sugar
2C milk
4tsp baking powder
1 1/2 tsp Cinnamon
4-6 C fresh fruit (I used 3C blueberries 2C blackberries)
Raw Sugar (optional)
oven 350

melt 2 sticks sweet cream REAL butter in 11x14 pan

mix together
2C flour
1C white sugar
1C packed brown sugar
4tsp baking powder

add in 2C milk

pour batter onto melted butter, do not stir.

Mix fruit with 1/2C sugar and cinnamon. Carefully put fruit mixture on top of the batter evenly.

bake 35-45 minutes until batter rises to top and browns, sprinkle with raw sugar granules, allow to cool before tasting!

Blogging...

2008-07-02T20:14:00.000-05:00

So I am just getting started on this. I am hoping to post at least once a week if not more about work, life, and more.
Currently my husband has taken all 3 kids out to the mall to shop...my birthday is tomorrow:)
We are going to go blueberry picking in the morning and I am unsure about the rest of the day. I hope to go to the yarn shop to pick up some yarn for a girl I know to make my daughter a sweater with.
I have some new stock I need to add to the store. I just got in a few Wonder Wraps
that I need to add to the store along with some new wipes and other accessories that I need to count up and add.
Well, I am going to enjoy the end of my quiet time.