I’ve been browsing around other websites and found several places where you can buy information such as – how to wear a sling, how to cloth diaper, how to decide which carrier or diaper is best for you, how to use family wipes, how to use cloth mama pads, etc.

But here at Wallypop, ladies and gentlemen, you get all that great information for FREE!!

So we’re drastically changing the way we handle Made to Order items around here. When we re-open on January 4, you will need to reserve a Made to Order spot, and then you will be allowed to actually order your items (however many you want).

My process before was working alright. I allowed MTOs to be placed without restriction. Sometimes this meant that the wait time for MTOs was 3-4 weeks, or longer. However, most of you seemed to be OK with that (considering that so many of you expressed willingness to wait that long). But it wasn’t working all that great for me!

First, I get sooo stressed out knowing that people have given me money and are now waiting for their things.

Second, I ended up sewing MTO items and not having any time to work on restocking. This made for a bad, bad circle. No time for inventory = no inventory. No inventory = customers have to order MTO. Customers have to order MTO =  all my time is spent sewing MTO. All my time spent sewing MTO = no time for inventory. And so on.

We’ll see how this new system works. I’m going to give it a go for a few months. I’d appreciate feedback on the whole thing if you have a moment. And in a few months, I’ll see what we all think before deciding whether to make it permanent.

So… in case you did not know, we are expecting a baby in October.

Consequently, Wallypop will be taking a leave of absence October, November, and December 2008. I will re-open early January at the latest, potentially in December. We plan to play it by ear.

I know some WAHMs choose to keep their stores open following the birth of a new baby, but that is not me. Our family will need time to adjust, and I don’t need the added stress of keeping up with orders and providing good customer service. Plus, I know from experience that my hormone levels will seriously hamper the providing of good (or at least friendly) customer service, lol.

I’ve thought of hiring someone to run things here for me, but I know myself well enough to know that I would remain overly involved.

The details of what this means:

- I will stop accepting MTO items either September 1 OR once I fill my schedule to the end of September, whichever comes first. If Sept 1 gets here and I have open time in my schedule, I will take MTO orders on a case-by-case basis.

- I will post a full list of Wallypop retailers (those who wholesale, not those who dropship), as well as other stores I’ve done business with in the past and stores whose owners I know to be excellent, for your diapering, babywearing, and natural living needs while I’m closed. While I hope your experiences with these stores are excellent, I also hope you choose to come back to Wallypop in 2009.

- You may feel free to email or call with customer service needs, order inquiries, or product questions while I’m closed, as long as you do not expect overly prompt responses.

Thank you for your understanding during this time. I’ve struggled for a long time over what to do, and my husband and I have decided that this course of action is what is best for our family.

Yes, yes, I’m on vacation. But I wanted to make myself a new pouch for the upcoming new baby, and decided while I was at it, I may as well restock pouches for the store. (Particularly since I seem to have lost the ability to make just one of something. I work best in an assembly line, it seems.) I was taking some pictures for the website of the new pouch inventory and Wally wanted to help model. That’s not the world’s best pouch placement on my shoulder, but we were quite comfy.

You can see the uber-fun pouch I made for me over at Boulevard Designs.

PS, this photo also serves as evidence that:

1. Fleece pouches are not too hot for toddlers during the summer. (Babies who have most of their bodies covered by the pouch – yeah, probably too hot.)
2. Wearing a four-year-old in a pouch is not too terribly uncomfortable, even at 6 months pregnant.
3. Sometimes, four-year-olds just want to snuggle into a sling.

I am more caught up right now than I have been in MONTHS. Since December, when my mom first went into the hospital, actually.

I have every single “made to order” order completed and out the door.

I have a stack of wool covers all cut out, waiting to be sewn next week.

I have one repair job that I need to go shopping for, and one instock order that I’m waiting for more information from the customer before I can ship. And one wholesale order of MT carriers. That’s IT!! That’s IT!!

THAT’S IT!!

Don’t get me wrong, I totally love having orders and taking care of customers and making stuff for you guys. But being so far behind has been such a burden on my shoulders. I finally feel like I might be able to get caught up before July!

So if you’re wondering, here is my PLAN.

Week of May 25: restock wool covers

Week of June 1: wholesale order, MTO orders (if any), gift for my niece

Week of June 8: restock pouch carriers and pail liners.

Week of June 15: MTO orders (if any), restock Mama pads, some clothes for me

Week of June 22: restock mama pad bags. Work on some new products (secret!)

Week of June 29: Restock doll dipes

What’s missing? All in Ones. I’m saving them for later. Please keep in mind this is JUST a PLANNED schedule. Not a promise. Things get bumped all the time.

OK, I’ve changed the way that Fitted Diapers work. Now, all fitted diapers are made to order. I have several fabrics that are pre-cut, reducing the time it will take to make your diaper and saving you some money, but you may, as always, choose from any of our available fabrics if you wish.

This change doesn’t necessarily make things easier for me, but is in response to consumer demand. Very few people are buying the instock fitteds, most have preferred to choose the options they want – an edge-sewn soaker and snaps, or a lay-in soaker, or whatever. We’ll see how this works out for now!!

I finished the pockets and AIOs today, and will list them yet this weekend.

This weekend and next week, I will be working on the custom orders that came in during the past week. I have approximately 3 days worth of worth there. Then I will start on the next round of instock items:

• Cycle Pad Bags
• Pail Liners
• Small Wet Bags (actually, these are out with another sewer)
• Onbuhimo Carriers

I hope to have the Cycle Pad Bags and Liners listed by next weekend, but we’ll see if I make it!

I wanted to be sure to thank the many wonderful mamas who let me use their kids as models, or who allowed me to photograph them with their babies, for the latest version of Wallypop. I’m not sure that most of them want to be named publicly, but you know who you are and I very much appreciate your help.

Wallypop is celebrating is Grand Re-Opening! As you might know, we
closed last week to enable us to put the finishing touches on our
brand-new website. Now we're done, and we'd love to have you come
visit! www.wallypop.net

In addition to the new look, we've also got new products!

- Patapum structured carriers. The only structured carrier I've found
to be comfortable!

- Gypsy Mama Bali Baby Stretch Wraps - actually a "hybrid" wrap - the
stretch is along the width, not the length, so baby doesn't sink as
she gets heavier! These wraps are hand-batiked in Bali and are
gorgeous.

- Citrus Circles deodorizing discs.

- Snappi fasteners and Dritz diaper pins

- Wallypop Basic Covers - a simple PUL cover

- Wallypop Cycle Pads - long-awaited and finally here!

- Wallypop Pail Liners

- Wallypop Training Pants (not stocked yet, though!)

Come check us out today!

There may be a few bugs in the system still. If you find one, let us
know, and we'll toss a free gift in with your order.

Also, local customers, don't forget about our drawing for Business of
Being Born tickets! Place an order of at least $10 between now and the
end of the month, and your name will be entered into a drawing to win
two tickets to the sneak preview of this movie, which is hosted by
ICAN and sponsored by Wallypop. Thanks!

A new mailing list manager! I don’t expect anyone else to jump for joy with me here, but I recently downloaded, uploaded, installed, and configured phplist – a PHP-based mailing list manager – on my website all by myself. And it works! I was not super happy with Google Groups or Yahoo Groups as a solution for my newsletters, and sending announcements just from my email account didn’t seem to be actually working. I didn’t want to pay a service to do it for me, either, because I’m too much of a cheapskate.

So I found phpList, which is open-source and free, and learned how to do it. Yay me!

So if you want to subscribe to our mailing list, you may do so here.