the beginning of the end...

A year ago I had no idea how far I would have come... I would have laughed to think I had 14 amazing retailers and a waiting list of 20 more. Thanks to my amazing customers though that is where we began this new year. There were times when I had more work than I could handle and I got backlogged.. you guys were amazingly forgiving of my human-ness.

I am so very, VeRy, VERY sad to have to sit down and write out this post.

I don't know if you guys have heard about the CPSIA ruling... but it puts me out of business!

It is regulations for lead testing for items for children under the age of 12. I would have to send my diapers in for lead testing to a third party every time I use a a new batch of snaps or PUL. At $40 a pop I can't afford that. Plus I would have to have a tag on it that states the date, the batch, the lot #, the manufacturer, and contact info. I would have to keep track of each diaper I made... and when I used a different fabric it would be a different lot # and different snaps or PUL would b a different batch #. Sounds confusing? Well it is.. I am not very business oriented and I would have a hard time keeping track of all this... plus the tag would have to be like HUGE. :(

I can barely keep up as it is now ladies without all this added on!

I can't speak for others out there that are WAHM's... but I can't just ignore the law. Some will choose to, some don't even know about it, and some will manage to comply, but some that will be the end of.

I was so excited with were we were going! I had new products... care of products... soap nuts, a lanolizing potion, wool dryer balls, training pants.  I even have some new fabrics too. 

You all know how much I LOVE my diapers... and my retailers ... and my CUSTOMERS.

This is so hard for me to do. BUT in the end... I think it may be a good thing for my family.  My hubby is pretty burnt out on snapping diapers for hours a night. And my kiddos don't get to have things made by mama cause mama is always too busy. So maybe a blessing in disguise? I am trying to look at it that way or else I wouldn't make it through this.

I get all teary eyed when I think about not making diapers... not getting any more cute pics of your adorable little ones in their diapers... about losing some amazing friends I have made in the cloth diapering community.

I hope that last part doesn't happen... I plan on sticking around... Nifty Nappy will still be here.. just not in the same way. I do have some ideas rolling around in my head. I just will not be making and selling diapers anymore.

I plan on keeping my FB page... and my webpage... only there will be some changes of course... but I will keep promoting cloth diapers!

****** So the details? a month... that is how long we have... *******

on Feb. 10th I will stop selling my diapers.. (retailers may still have some in stock... but I will not take more orders after the 10th)

That gives you a month... if you have put off buying a Nifty Nappy diaper put it off no more or your chance my be gone!!!

Over the next month I will try to have some fun giveaways and stuff!!! Watch for sales from retailers and such!

I want to go out with a BANG!!! Can you help me do this? I need this to be a fun time... I need to not think about what I am letting go. :(

Thanks so much for all your support!  I am so happy you all love Nifty Nappy so much.

I have amazing friends and fans... SAPsMaMa: Natural Parenting in the Modern Worldand EcoFresh Baby got together and made up a button for me. :) I wanted to share it with you... 

<br /> <a border="0" href="http://niftynappy.com/retailers/"><img border="0" width="200" alt="Nifty Nappy Cloth Diapers" src="http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5169/5349212277_8853a82182_m.jpg" height="200" /></a>

Happy Diapering

Vilate Thacker
vilate@niftynappy.com
http://niftynappy.com

A New Year 2011!!

What do you have in store for the new year?  

I thought I would do a short post and share some of the ideas I have had.  
I know it has been whispered around that NN is gonna have some new products.  This is TRUE!  
I will not say what yet.  I am still in the process and what not.  
BUT I can say I am very excited about them.  This will be a new branch or two for our little NN family tree.  And they will fit right in!  
We are settled in our new home, and we fit very nicely in it.  It has been so nice to have a sewing space where I can have my stuff all in one place.  
I have also found a few ladies to help me with the sewing... I had considered going factory made for the convenience, but I want to MAKE the diapers!  I love to be able to make them.  I love when I hear from you guys that you love the diapers.  So I have brought a few other mama's from my area in and we sew away!  It has been fun to get to know these gals.  They are very dedicated and put their time and love into your diapers also.  
We have new prints that are now up on the webpage and we are working on adding Organic Cotton Velour to our inserts.  The Organic Bamboo will still be available when we do this... so don't fret if you love the OBV!  


How fun!  Do you have any thoughts to share?  


Happy Diapering

Vilate Thacker
vilate@niftynappy.com
http://niftynappy.com

Did we get the house? YES!!!!

We got the house we wanted!  I am so super excited.  This house is just right for our family.  It has enough room, I can have a sewing room and everything.

OUR house! 

The dining room, off the Kitchen

The kitchen

The living room

the master bath

the family room

the yard... there are lots of fruit trees!

the house from the back

Happy Diapering

Vilate Thacker
vilate@niftynappy.com
http://niftynappy.com

moving up...

We are changing hotels!

We found out that they have this suite rented out for the 28th and 29th.  

We would have to move out and find another hotel for a couple nights then move back in.  Too much work for us we decided.  so we called around.  There are some cabins up in South Fork that they rent out, and the once place has a little apartment too.  

We are going to rent the apartment.  We are hoping for only a few more weeks of this and then to get into a house, but we know how we really have no control over the timing of somethings.  

In the meantime I am really excited to be moving because this place will have a kitchen.  YAY!  With room for my table so I can start sewing again on Monday!  

So we are moving on... this is a trial for sure, but we can make it work! 

Happy Diapering

Vilate Thacker
vilate@niftynappy.com
http://niftynappy.com

Adventures in our home!

It is adventure after adventure at our house.
On Thursday night we finally had everyone home and we were doing the bed time "ritual".  All the kids were in jammies, and had just finished brushing their teeth.  my shining "son" decided he had to go potty so he was kicking everyone else out of the bathroom.  My little Miracle didn't get all the way out before the door slammed sut.  Her finger was what was left behind.  :(
So then she comes out screaming.... I told her to calm down, it wasn't that bad.  She held her finger still and looked at it.  It was bleeding, so she freaked out.  She started shaking her hand and screaming, "I'm gushing, I'm gushing!"  with droplets of blood splattering everywhere.  When I finally got to her and stopped her she was bleeding more.  I grabbed one of my bamboo velour wipes and wrapped it up.  Found hubby... put my Right-hand-man (#1) in charge, took a minute to have family prayer...and then headed to the ER.  To make a long story short we were there for 4 hrs.  While there she fell asleep.  She was so brave and when we left they gave her a teddy bear.  All I had with me was my phone camera, so the pics aren't great!  But here they are:

so 4 stitches later:

Pretty nasty huh?

*******************************************************
Then the next day we had a Birthday party for the 3 little girls!  :)
Fun was had by all!

  

She had moments she was tired ....  but for the most part she had FUN!  

Didn't the aprons and hats turn out cute?  They got to take them home.  

My helpers!  

My birthday girls!

   

The cake.... not as good as Amelia's but it was cute! 

Happy Diapering

Vilate Thacker
vilate@niftynappy.com
http://niftynappy.com

A Birthday Post for our little Miracle

Today is my #5's birthday.  She is turning 5!  She is so excited about it, she keeps saying "I can't believe I am 5 today!", "Why can't I go to school today?", "Do I have to take a nap today?", "My favorite part of the day is the presents after dinner!"  

She is so excited to be growing up!  I have to stop and remind myself what a blessing it is that we have her.  Some of you have read this on my personal blog, but I have updated some pics and added some stuff here and there.  

I couldn't help but think about my little one that I am so blessed to have here today. So I thought I would share my story of my little Miracle.
*warning this is going to have lots of photos!


This is my little Miracle's first picture. She was born emergency c-section because she was friendly and had to wave to the world. Literally, her hand was the first thing in the birthcanal! When the nurse was trying to figure it all out my water broke and the cord prolapsed. So then it was an emergency c-section!  When she came out she couldn't breath on her own. We had her in a little hospital in ND. They didn't have a NICU or even a respirator machine, so a nurse bagged her for 4 hours before the helpicopter came to get her. When I came to they took me to see her through the nursery window. The Dr. talked to me and explained what was going on. They wanted to send her to Minot (2 hrs. away) to the NICU where they could take better care of her. The only thing I could think was that I wanted my baby to have a Priesthood blessing. I told my nurse to tell Hubby to make sure she had one before she left. My nurses name was Walta, she is so wonderful. She told Hubby even though I'm sure she didn't know quite what I was talking about. We had only lived there for a month and a 1/2 so Hubby called the only person he felt comfortable calling.  An amazing man, Pres. Guy Schiessl, a member of our stake presidency. -his wife had taken our other kids for the night! This wonderful man got out of bed at 3 a.m. and put on his suit and came to the hospital. He helped Hubby give my little baby a blessing and then they came and gave me a blessing of comfot to help me got through the ordeal. Our cute nurse thought it was so touching she even took a picture of them giving our little Miracle her blessing. She told me the next day that in her opinion that blessing is what saved her little life. She said she was so lathargic and white before the blessing and shortly after the blessing she started to pinken up and even coughed and tried to start breathing on her own. When the helpicopter got there they redid her breathing tube and then took her away.

When they got to Minot she was already breathing on her own. I had to wait until the next day before they would let me go. They told me they would release me if I would only go to the other hospital and then stay as close to it as possible. We had called Hubby's parents and they dropped everthing and came running out to aid us. We couldn't have done it without them! They stayed with our kids for the whole week. We had to get our baby to eat. That was a little hard. Since she didn't start nursing right away my milk hadn't come in.  My milk finally came in and then she started to nurse. After she was eating good enough and everything had checked out they said we could take her home. A week after I had her we got to bring her home!

She was a good baby. The first while was kinda unnerving though. She didn't cry out like my other babies had. She would wake up at night and just lay there and make little sounds. I didn't know if I should get up and feed her or just leave her be. It was odd having a baby that didn't cry. She was also a big baby she was 9 lbs. 2 oz. In the NICU she was a monster compared to the little 4 and 5 lb. babies! She was a beautiful baby. She was very smiliey.

Just a little photo shoot we had with her.

Her first b-day!

This is another little photo shoot we had -we were living in NV here.

She wasn't always so stinkin' cute! Sometimes she was just a stinker!  LOL
This was a camping reunion.

But then there are the time when like this...

...she was going to bless her cake and ice cream! Adorable huh? *2nd b-day

She doesn't like fireworks either, as you can see neither does our Bookworm.

Look at how grown up she is looking.  :(  It goes by so fast!

Here is a recent picture (7 yrs old in this picture).  She is the one front on the right, the little blondie in the blue striped shirt.  Our family wouldn't be the same if we had lost her.   I can't imagine what life would be like without her!  We love our little Miracle!

Happy Diapering

Vilate Thacker
vilate@niftynappy.com
http://niftynappy.com

Beautiful baby girl!

I am just so excited, so I am gonna share!

Say hello to Illyana Marie
She was 6 lbs.  5 oz  19"

She will also have a fluffy bum!  :)
I can't wait to go and see her in April!  Such a long time away...


Happy Diapering

Vilate Thacker
vilate@niftynappy.com
http://niftynappy.com

Happy Valentine's Day!

First though... Another Giveaway:  Newly Wed! Newly Bred!  a $35 gift certificate! -thanks for an awesome review!  :)

So it is Valentine's day!
My baby who is adorable, and almost a 3 yr old, said to me today,
"I don't know why Daddy likes you so much!"
Well honestly little D-doo neither do I!

My hubby is an amazing man!  you will all be jealous, but here goes!
My hubby cooks, clean, plays with the kids, helps with homework, changes diapers (yep cloth ones!). He even supports my obsessions... ie-diaper sewing, scrap-booking, sewing, crocheting, needle felting, reading, quilting, music, cross-stitching....I could go on and on!
He does the dishes and the laundry, he makes breakfast every morning and lets me sleep in 20 min's more.  He makes pizza for everyone the kids invite over to our pizza and movie night!  He puts up with my silly celebrating, like Chinese New Year!  ( we are NOT Chinese!)
So here is my list of ten things I love about my Husband:

1. I love the way he sticks his tongue out when he is concentrating on doing something.
2. I love that he is such a good father to our children. They have a wonderful daddy.
3. I love his cooking, he is a really good cook. he enjoys making up concoctions for dinner and then naming then "concoction 267", or something like that.
4. I appreciate that he puts up with my crafting obsessions. He lets me get up to my elbows in material and doesn't get to frustrated with me.
5. I love him for trying to be excited for me when I make something new and fun, or when I come home with my amazing DI finds. He sits and looks through my swap pages and tells me that they are nice. (And he manages to not sound to fake about it.)
6. I am so thankful that he has a desire to work and to provide for our family. I am so happy that I get to stay at home with my babies and be there when they need me.
7. I love that he is a worthy priesthood holder and the head of our eternal family.
8. I love that he likes to crosstitch and not leave me to go hunting or fishing.
9. I love his silly grin that he flashes my way once in a while.
10. I love that he loves me!

He isn't perfect, but I am glad he isn't yet. He will be someday though I know he will be! I love him with all my heart! 


So for Valentine's Day this year he did something fun!  
On Tuesday I got this:

Then on Wednesday I got this:

Then on Thursday :

On Friday he said he going to bring home a real rose, but instead he got this!

How fun huh?  I love real plants!  This is so much better than just a rose!  I also got a surprise gift from my dear friend.  She is an amazing gal and has a great blog!  You can visit her here.  She gave me this handmade gift--

Cute huh?  My initials and my hubs initials are both VT!
So, here they are all together!

I wish you all a Happy day of LOVE!

Make a Smilebox greeting

Happy Diapering

Vilate Thacker
vilate@niftynappy.com
http://niftynappy.com