Hibernate Blog

I remember being interviewed a few years ago for a radio show. I was asked if I had any final advice for folks just starting out in the entrepreneurial world? Without hesitation I answered,

“There’s only one person on the planet who is going to care enough about what you are doing, and that is you. Don’t expect someone to come along and make it happen for you.”

Cooperation is a wonderful and necessary thing, and no one can become successful without some harmony between like-minds to bring ideas to life. Even after all these years, however, I have found that the amateur advice I was giving has held true. If there’s something you really, truly believe in – at the beginning and at the end of each day there’s only one person who is going to make it happen. And that is you baby! Every hearty entrepreneur learns this lesson very quickly.

On that note, I’m not one to toot my own horn but will always make noise for our diaper caddy, which has become one of the most gift-able and useful baby-care products out there today, making diaper changes easier for new parents for over 5 years now! Here are a few recent reviews from customers at Target Stores for the SaraBear Diaper Caddy… Thank you!

A MUST HAVE ITEM I love this basket! It goes everywhere in the house baby goes! Bath or diaper time everything you need will fit neatly into the basket. Its extremely durable. I found my nephew standing in it (don’t ask) and can find no sign of damage done by this assault.

BEAUTIFUL and FUNCTIONAL! The liner is beautiful and the basket is top quality. The middle pocket fits a wipes container perfectly and the basket’s handle folds down to be out of the way if you want! One side of the basket has 4 smaller pockets and one of them is shallow (perfect for fingernail clippers!) I highly recommend this caddy to everyone, it’s perfect.

OUR FAVORITE! We received this basket as a gift when our 1st baby was born. Our 2nd baby is now 6 months old, and we still use it every day. It’s a staple product in our house and I don’t know what we’d do without it! I usually keep it in the family room where we end up doing many of our diaper changes…:) I recommend it and it’s always my gift for new mommies…

One of my other babies I believe in…Sara before her Spring dance recital

sus·tain·a·ble (adj.) : To keep up or keep going, as an action or process. The capacity to endure.

en·dure (v.) : To hold out against; sustain without impairment or yielding.

I had a magical little conversation with a friend of mine the other day. A successful inventor and self-made Entrepreneur, he has the attitude and wit of a child yet the negotiation skills and sales abilities of the seasoned executive he is. He is always thinking, stewing on ideas, creating. He’s a problem solver and a positive thinker.

Unbeknownst to him, he inspires me.

Also a writer, he recently signed with a publisher to submit some chapters for his first book. As we exchanged stories about the latest in our lives he shared that he has hit a “writer’s-block” and this is yielding a wee-bit stressful situation for him.

Some family chaos is taking center stage in his life and, thus, his creative thoughts are clouded by necessary obligations. Time will mend this and anyone who has ever written knows the writing process ticks to its own clock – it is authentic and organic. One cannot force the creation of communication and tale.

“So what about you Melissa?’ he asked. ‘You haven’t posted in a long time.”

Well, maybe one could say I’ve also hit a writer’s-block of sorts. My emotional, creative energy has been channeled elsewhere.

Maybe I’ve just been incredibly busy – softball practice, softball games, driving to, driving fro, dance practice, dance recitals, managing SaraBear – my own necessary yet cherished duties.

I suppose one could also say that I’ve been intentionally vague, metaphorically communicative, purposefully vacant.

All accounts would be correct.

Pleasantly, this conversation and the exchange of our words birthed a realization (a badly needed one at that). A thought shifted from my peripheral to tunnel vision. Although rather intuitive and likely foreign to many, the jist of which was this:

Sustainability isn’t something you earn, are given, or even work for. It is a quality that you ARE. It is a feature you have likely always possessed and is at work for you, whether splashing on the surface or resting in the undercurrent, all the time. In the right hands, endurance is not selfish. It is selfless.

Thank you friend. I hope your road-block opens up soon.

Our new Soul-Sista – Cassandra, Miss Sandra B., “Sandi”. Likely not pondering the emotional qualities of sustainability.

Whatever the virus of choice permeating through her school was Thanksgiving week…Sara caught it. Hitting her like a brick wall the morning after our Turkey-fest…she awoke with the flu. That night, with tissues, the barf-bucket, Vaseline and flat-gingerale with a sippy straw at her side, I tucked her in – cozy in my bed.

In her fever-induced fog, she whispered softly to me, “Mom. If there was magic in this world and we could use it, I would only ask to use it once. I would bring Grandmom back to take care of me when I was sick, because she would make me feel so much better.”

April 30, 1943 – December 7, 2005

In Blackwater Woods

Dancing Princesses Avery, Finley and Briar Magee

Sometimes in life you get taken by surprise, as natural milestones blossom like miracles. About three years ago we did a photo shoot for new packaging for our diaper caddies. We had two models in a local mom and her daughter. The baby was as beautiful as we could have hoped for, with twinkling eyes, a radiant smile and toes so edible they made it onto the packaging.

Looking back, I realize that it was a pretty magical convergence of life parallels— a photo shoot for mom and baby, forever capturing the magic of a moment in time and the earliest days of a new product. You might think it’s a stretch to compare a baby and packaging, but little Avery, barely 9 months at the time of the shoot, was coming into her own, beginning to gurgle and kick at the activity around her, while the diaper caddies were beginning to take off, that particular round of packaging was targeted at the goal to reach wider distribution.

Now, three years later, Avery is a pre-schooler, walking home each day with breathless tales of tag on the playground and learning new songs in the classroom. SaraBear diaper caddies have exciting tales of their own, first tentatively crawling into boutiques, then walking into Target Stores throughout the country and now running into Babies “R”Us and Babiesrus.com – the world’s leading baby products retailer and the #1 Baby Registry site in the U.S.

We always knew that things would change, babies would grow up and new frontiers would be explored as a company, but it still takes our breath away.

Our gorgeous little model has grown up so much, with a baby sister taking on her own role in SaraBear photography, but to us the laughter of that 9 month old during a photo shoot one winter will endure like the first caddies crafted in a basement in the Adirondacks of New York.

Read our press release

Avery’s timeless baby face

where we stop nobody knows…

I hope they’ll be friends forever.