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Disclaimer: Of course, this is NOT scientific and the worst scenarios (poop explosion, rash, running out of diapers, etc) do not happen all the times, and the usage of biodegradable liners and dryer are only examples but still… our point is that having a kid in diaper requires some work, weather it is cloth or disposable so why not going for the economical/environmental/better for baby option?

I don’t blog often because others do it much better than I do.  At first, I really wanted this Website to be fully dedicated to cloth diapering but something happened to me last week that has changed me so much that I HAVE to share it with as many people as I can. In the world we live in now, blogging is, in my opinion, the best way to go. 

I want to talk about my new friend Paul (fictive name), and how he changed the way I look at things since we’ve met.  Paul is 8 years old and has just started 3rd grade like any other 8 year old.  We met for the first time at my son’s school bus stop 2 weeks ago.  His older brother and my son go to the same school, but Paul does not.  The first time I saw him with his mom and brother waiting for the bus I did not really look at him.  I was too uncomfortable.  The next morning they were there again, then again the day after, so inevitably his mom and I started to chat.  She asked me what I was doing for living etc. etc.  She then asked me if I could help her with Paul because of a conflict with her schedule and Paul’s school bus.  All I would have to do is go back home with him and wait 10-20 minutes for his bus, and that’s it. 

At this point you must think: “What is the big deal and where is she going with that?”.  So let’s track back a little.  I said that I was uncomfortable to look at Paul.  Well, Paul is in a wheel chair.  He has cerebral palsy and is earing impaired (he has implants).  Bottom line, he doesnt' walk and he doesn't talk.

To be really honest, my first thoughts when his mom asked me for some help were: “Why in the world did I say I was working from home?!?!”  Yes, I admit it, for a few long seconds I was trying to get out of that situation so I wouldn’t have to do it.  Since I only had irrational reasons I accepted.

My first morning alone with him was last Tuesday.  The entire week-end before, I was really nervous and hundreds of questions were going through my mind. Let's call a cat "a cat", I was scared. Well it turned out that Paul is the sweetest thing: and I really mean SWEETEST.  He is such a happy boy!  He plays tricks, laughs at little things, is excited to go to school every morning, tries to play with my 3 year old, looks happy to see me in the morning. It is really difficult to explain how he makes me feel, but lets say that every time I think or talk about Paul I get goose bumps.  Not only he makes me, as a parent, realize how lucky we are to have such healthy kids, but as a person, he makes me see things differently.  How can I be complaining about trivial things like running out of salt or having laundry to do when this kid, who can barely do anything by himself, is so happy all the time?  It does not mean that I won’t get mad or complain ever again, but it definitely puts things in perspective.  So from now on, my only complaint is that the week-ends are too long and I don’t get to see Paul for 2 entire days!!!

Thank you little man for opening my eyes!  See you Monday morning...

***GIVEAWAY IS NOW CLOSED***  Congratulations Allie!

I know, cloth diaper giveaways are usually organized by bloggers after they have performed a product review.  But hey! Why wait? I am really excited to announce that our WETBAGS are here and therefore, we are putting a together giveaway ourselves to promote it! 

Wetbags are a “must-have” item to any clothdiapering parent, grand-parent, caregiver, you name it!

Our Wetbags are simple yet cute, well-made (fabric and manufacture), resistant and the perfect size for a day out: 29cm X 37cm (11.5” X 14.5”).

Win One!

Prize – Win a MINIMAESTRO^TM Wetbag!

Rules
Contest open to Canada and US only, ages 18 +
Contest ends January 16, 2011 11:59 (EST).
Please leave a separate comment for each entry! The comments must be left on our Website and not on Facebook
Leave your email address in all comments.

Mandatory Entry
Visit MINIMAESTRO^TM and tell me your favourite diaper colour!

Additional Entries
Like MINIMAESTRO^TM on Facebook +1
Follow MINIMAESTRO^TM on Twitter +1
Tweet this contest +1 (ea. Up to 3X per day with at least 1 hour between each tweet)

Enter @minimaestroCA #giveaway to #win a wetbag! http://bit.ly/hIDL0o #clothdiapers

Register to our website and subscribe to MINIMAESTRO^TM newsletter +3
Blog about this giveaway & link back to www.minimaestroweb.com +5
Upload a picture of your little one wearing a MINIMAESTRO^TM diaper on our Facebook page +5 (per diaper color).

Mandatory entry MUST be done before any other entries will count. All entries must be verifiable; if they are not, they will be deleted. Additional entries are not required, you may do all or none of them. Any comments that do not follow the rules will be deleted. Winner will be selected by random.org and will be notified via email.  Winner will then have 48 hours to respond before a new winner is selected.

Since I was a little girl, I have always preferred the company of boys.  As far as I can remember, in the school yard while the other girls were playing skipping rope, I was playing kick ball with the boys. Even in university, I chose a discipline where the ratio girl/boy was something around 1 to 15! I suppose you get my point: I’ve never been a ‘girly girl’, and was somewhat proud of it.

Until I had my kids...

Unfortunately for the tomboy in me, parental leave are taken mostly by women.  Wherever I went with my children (play group, pool, library), there were moms.  A real nightmare!  Don’t get me wrong here.  I was not sexist or something like that, I just found men more interesting.

As you all know, I started my cloth diaper business while being a SAHM with my 1 year old.  One day I decided to promote my products while attending the play group.  Why not?  I would be stupid not to do so right?  THE perfect target audience.  Anyways.  That is where I met Vanessa Dewson from Vanessa Dewson photography + design and her wonderful little boy.  She told me about a group of entrepreneur moms that met and had events once in a while in Ottawa and invited me to one of their meetings.  First of all, I thought that Vanessa was really nice to:

1- talk to me ;-)

2- inform me about this group

3- invite me.

But Vanessa’s kindness was only the tip of the iceberg.  I went to the Entrepreneurial Moms Ottawa’s (EMO) meeting and met wonderful women, mothers, and entrepreneurs that gather together to help each other whenever they can.  They promote each other, share experience and expertise, organize workshops to help on different aspects of being an entrepreneur and organize trade shows.

Since September (when I joined EMO) I had the great pleasure of working with Vanessa to organize a Baby Model Search, had a product review and giveaway organized by Amanda DeGrace of DeGrace Energetics, attended not one but three “women oriented” trade shows (Women Entrepreneurs in Orleans, Entrepreneurial Moms Ottawa and Shopping and Sweets), partnered with Danielle Boucher from Eco Bebe Boutique who is now offering MiniMaestro diapers on her online store, was introduced to Anna Belanger from Anna Belanger & Associates who agreed to display diaper samples and brochures in her Clinique, and the list goes on and on…

I am literally blown away by the solidarity and the will to help each other that exists between women.  I have a strange but strong feeling that men who are starting a new business would not get that much help and would probably struggle more to get to the point I am today.

I hope that one day I will be able to give back (or forward) all that help. And I am now proud to say that I enjoy very much the company of women.  My only regret is that it took more than 35 years to figure that out...

Doing the laundry is something everybody does. It is part of our weekly routine.  We can’t get around it.  No big news here.  As a mother AND cloth diaper user, it is almost part of our DAILY routine.  Again, this is not a big scoop.  However, I’ve just discovered the best thing ever, and I am here right now to share it with you.  It is called Soapnuts.  Some of you may have heard about it but have you tried?  My daughter’s diapers, which were starting to leak, smell funny and feel scratchy now look, feel and perform like new, and all that at the lowest cost. 

I’ve been rinsing, rinsing, rinsing, and rinsing the diapers, there was always soap coming out.  So I thought I would use less soap, but then the diapers would have a pee smell.  That is when I read about SOAPNUTS!

Soapnuts are organically certified products straight from the mountains of Nepal.  They are the dried fruits (cones) from the Ritha (sapindus mukorossi) tree, which contains very high amounts of saponin. Saponin is the substance which gives the soapnuts their cleaning power.

I was a little sceptical at first but after using them only twice, I am totally sold.  I mean REALLY.  I will probably start doing all my laundry with them, and even try a few other things (visit http://www.superiorsoapnuts.com/recipesusingsoapnuts.html for more ideas). 

Honestly, this is a true revelation.  Just drop 4-5 nuts in a cotton bag or even a sock tighten at the top and throw it in the washer.  And the small bag can be reused 4 to 8 times, depending on the water temperature.  It even eliminates the need for fabric softener (not on diapers, you all knew that right?) since your clothes are left naturally soft.  Towels, wash cloths and diapers are more absorbent because of the absence of soap residue.  And everything smells fresh.  Ok, it is not a strong stain remover.  Heavy stains will still need to be pretreated with a stain remover. But I already do that anyway…

Oh! and one more thing: you have to find your little bag through the wet clothes before throwing them in the dryer.  Small inconvenience as compared to the great benefits. I am so amazed that I am almost looking forward to doing more laundry ... 

This is the start of our blog. We are really excited about this new store and we wish to share with you our commitment to our clients, to our products, to the MiniMaestro brand, and to our driving principles.

Through this site we will promote a better kind of re-usable diaper, a more environment friendly approach to diapers while keeping in mind baby's confort and needs.

Please feel free to comment on anything you wish related to MiniMaestro or diapers in general but keep in mind that we reserve the right to filter out or remove what we may deem inappropriate or offensive user contributed content.

MiniMaestro Management Team