Time Saving Tips for Uber Busy Moms!

Being a mom is synonymous with busy! Many of us not only work full time in the home but also work outside the home - which means time is at a premium for us. I read a statistic in one of the Canadian papers that 80% of mom's who work outside of the home have missed witnessing first hand at least one major milestone in their child's life. Finding an extra few moments where ever we can is a bonus! Here are a few tips I have complied that I have found useful, hopefully you will too!

1 - Invest in a Crock-pot. Yes one of those old fashioned slow cookers your Gran might have used. The beauty of this is two fold: it doesn't heat up the house while it cooks AND you can just throw everything in frozen before you leave the house in the morning, when you get home at supper time VIOLA! dinner is ready! Be sure to get a crock-pot with a removable 'pot' part it washes up a lot faster. A quick search on the internet will reward you with loads of recipes if you feel you need them!


2 - Throw a load of laundry in anytime you leave the house. With a 16 month old and cloth diapers I find the piles of laundry never end. But instead of wasting a whole day to laundry I simply throw in a load anytime I plan to leave the house. I then fold the laundry in the bathroom while my monkey is taking a bath. That way I can still supervise him and get something done as well! Also investing in a sectioned laundry basket helps cut down on the time to sort laundry - simply drop it in the correct compartment when you bring it to the laundry room and its ready to go!

3 - Borax. See my post here on the joys of Borax! http://mommyslilmonkey.blogspot.com/2009/04/why-i-love-borax.html

4 - Cloth Diapers don't have to be a lot of work. See my post here for some great tips! http://mommyslilmonkey.blogspot.com/2009/02/diaper-care-tips-and-tricks.html

5 - Toy Boxes. Keep a toy box on every level of the house to help keep clutter to a minimum. The added bonus of this is that your little one will eventually learn themselves to put the toys back too! We even keep a mini laundry basket in the bathroom for the monkey to place his bath toys in when bath time is all done!


And of course you can save time gift hunting by going to Mommy's Lil Monkey for all your baby, toddler and parenting needs!

Happy Almost Summer!

Mommy's Lil Monkey hopes you have all sorts of wonderful adventures planned with your little monkies for this summer! Whether it's a trip to the zoo, a back yard picnic or fun in the park - enjoy the beautiful weather (and don't forget your sunscreen!).

MLM is working hard on making the site even better and more user friendly (as always please send us your feedback). And we are thrilled to be in the development or production stages of two new and exciting products: Momma Earth pads and Banana Bum pants!

As always our focus is to bring you earth friendly products that are fun, funky and fabulous at a price anyone can afford. We are gladly accepting custom orders and whole sale orders over the summer months. Just drop us an email with details of what you are looking for and we will see what we can come up with!

Be sure to check the site regularly, new products are being posted every day! Happy Summer from Mommy's Lil Monkey!

Why I Love Borax!

My little monkey is addicted to blackberries - and being at that stage where he cannot stay still you can imagine the mess he makes!

We had been using Borax on his cloth diapers for a few months and it never occurred to me to use it in the rest of the wash. Faced with a brand new white shirt stained purple with blackberries I didn't want to use bleach or any other harsh cleaning agent - so I decided to try a cup of Borax in his wash.

WOW - not only did it remove ALL of the blackberry stains, but it took out old stains from other items in the wash. Pasta sauce, jello, juice it was all gone! And I feel good knowing that it's gentle enough to use on his laundry and not extremely harmful to the environment.

And on his diapers we don't even need to pre-soak them any more. Just a cup of Borax and the diapers come out clean and fresh. They also feel softer then when we use just laundry detergent on them - which is an added bonus.

Guess that's why Borax has been around for so long!
http://www.purexcanada.com/index.cfm?page_id=430


Just a quick mention that our new Sping Line is slowly being posted on the site - be sure to check it out! http://www.MommysLilMonkey.com (and yes I now prewash all the fabrics in Borax instead of detergent!!!)

Up Coming Mommy's Lil Monkey shows!

Sat. Apr 25:
10 AM - 4 PM
SPRING CRAFT AND BAKE SALE
At Stamford Presbyterian Church
3121 St. Paul Avenue
Niagara Falls, ON


Sun. May 3:
12 PM - 4 PM
“JUST-IN-TIME” FOR MOTHER’S DAY CRAFT/ARTISAN FAIR
To Support the La Leche League Toronto Downtown Group
St. Alban’s Boys and Girls Club Gym
843 Palmerston Avenue
Toronto, ON M6G 2R8
(Palmerston/Bathurst and Dupont)


Sun. May 24:
12 PM - 4 PM
MADE WITH LOVE
Spring Artisan Craft Show
Lithuanian House
1573 Bloor St. West
Toronto, ON
(right by the Dundas West Subway Station)

For more information visit http://www.MommysLilMonkey.com

Introducing the "Princess P" Dress

Yippee! I finally had a chance to test out my prototype design and it worked! So I went ahead and started sewing even more! Here is my first completed dress.

Princess P Dress features

- 100% serged edges/seams

- ribbon tie is stitched into

- dress so that you won't loss it in the wash or to curious little hands

- hemmed to your desired length at no additional charge

- machine washable and dryer safe

- made with unique fabrics and high quality ribbon

- arm holes and neck line is completely faced for a clean look

Available in sizes 6 months - 5 years. Custom orders accepted on 6 years - 10 years size. Hope to have them up live on the site within a few days www.MommysLilMonkey.com - you can always email us in the meantime customerservice@mommyslilmonkey.com !

Shown is "Princess P" dress in Birdies (Size 3T+)

Lil Monkey Bum Care

Any parent knows how miserable diaper rash is - for baby and mommy. Knock on wood with some special attention and routine my little monkey has only had one bout of diaper rash. Here are some tips to help you keep your little monkey's bum happy!

Cotton - any product that touches your wee ones bum should be cotton. This includes wipes, liners etc. Even though you are using it to wipe the bum any polyester blend product such as minky, fleeces or poly-cottons just don't breath and clean like cotton. Same with liners, although I find fleece liners useful for super soakers, I recommend using a cotton/flannel over top or a flannel liner filled with fleece. Think about what the best undies are to wear for your health - yup you got it cotton!

Natural Wipe Solutions - we use a recipe that I made through trial and error that contains all natural products (and comes free with any wipe set purchased from www.MommysLilMonkey.com). The best part is this recipe has ingredients that help kill/fight yeast (the #1 cause of diaper rash), soothes the skin and moisturizes without petroleum (which doesn't allow the skin to breath).

Fresh Air - sure it can get messy, but the best thing for a bum is to get some fresh air whenever possible! Consider some diaper free time before your little monkeys bath or before changing them for bed time. Of course keeps some wipes handy to clean up any 'accidents'.

Diaper Rash Creams - stay away from any products that contain petroleum, glycerin and chemicals you have never heard of! We use a great product called Weleda (http://shop.weleda.com/SearchByCategory.aspx?CategoryCode=MotherAndBaby) - it also works well on cradle cap.

Frequent Diaper changes - especially if you use cloth diapers. Because cloth is just not as absorbent as disposables the liquids can sit at the surface leaving baby's skin damp. It's important before putting on a clean diaper to make sure your little one's bum is dry - of course baby powder is great for that!

I hope you find these tips useful in keeping bums everyway happy!

Flyer for Mom 2 Mom Show in a Few Weeks

The flyer I recently designed for goodie bags at an upcoming Mom 2 Mom show in Hamilton. It's been converted into a .jpeg so it shows blurrier then it actually is!