Colorado Baby - “Where moms become who they aspire to be”

One mom’s story of becoming who she imagined she’d be since she was a little girl:

When I was a child, I was constantly “starting a new business.” Of course, I had the standard lemonade stands throughout the years, but my very first “business” was coloring on rocks and selling them as paperweights to my parents and neighbors when I was around 4 years old.

From ages 4–18, I was always selling something: coloring pages that I traced, coloring pages that I colored (haha) AND laminated (those were premium price), bookmarks, friendship bracelets, beaded animals, jewelry, snails, gift wrapping (I ran the business out of a room in the basement—my only customer was my mom), and the list goes on and on. It’s safe to say that selling and running a business is in my blood. It’s part of who I am and always has been.

It’s also important to include that in this childhood version of myself, I was always “mothering” small things—whether it was chicks, butterflies, salamanders, hamsters, baby dolls, or stuffed animals. I always knew I wanted to be a mom, but I wasn’t quite sure what that would look like for me. I just knew I loved the “little babes” in my life and wanted to take good care of them…and also “sell all the things” and run a business.

When I became a mom to my oldest son in February 2006, I simultaneously started my cloth diapering journey. At the time, my husband and I were living in Mexico and did not have many options for cloth diapering other than what I was able to bring down from the USA (where options were also limited).

In September 2007 (a month before the birth of our second son), we made the decision to move back to my hometown of Grand Junction, CO. I was shocked that there wasn’t a local place to buy cloth diapers. The diaper service that had diapered me as a baby had just gone out of business a few months before we arrived. It was from them that I had bought my first son’s diapers to take down to Mexico.

Because there was no easy way to purchase cloth diapers locally, I knew something had to be done. I saw an opportunity to “sell.” As you can see from when I was a kid, my mind is constantly looking for ways to bring value to others through business.

I founded Pampered Buns in January 2008, focused on educating parents about modern cloth diapers. I operated it out of our home through internet sales and personal consultations with inquiring parents. The products I sold at the start were cloth diapers and relevant accessories. It worked well, but after almost two years, my husband and I made a big decision to give Pampered Buns the wings it needed to grow.

In November 2009, we moved our fledgling Pampered Buns business into an office building on Grand Avenue in Grand Junction. It was then that we rebranded to Colorado Baby in order to be more encompassing of natural parenting products. I operated the store out of that location for two years as it steadily grew. Our family was growing, too; in June 2009, we had welcomed our third son.

Throughout every stage of the business, we had strong convictions about running it debt-free. It was all I knew, as I had run my previous “businesses” (haha!) on a complete cash-only basis. Every sale from Pampered Buns and then Colorado Baby was put right back into the business to cover overhead and grow inventory. We originally started the business with $250 cash we had left from our 2005 wedding gifts. We’ve had challenging years, but all of it has ultimately brought great reward and peace. Running a debt-free business is something I am passionate about and love to mentor others in.

As the business continued to grow, so did our family. In January 2012, our fourth son joined us while we were also in the process of moving the store to its home on Main Street. We’ve been in historic downtown Grand Junction since April 2012. Main Street was always where I envisioned Colorado Baby residing.

We welcomed our fifth child and first girl in October 2013. The store was now six years old (dawwww) and was finally starting to pay me a regular salary of about $200 every other week (humble beginnings). I had also had employees working for me for about a year at that point.

In August 2016, just hours after hosting one of our biggest events of the year, we welcomed our fifth son (sixth child) into our family. A few of our kids practically could have been born at the store at that point!

All along the way—now over 18 years in business—we have been blessed with incredible employees and amazing customers. Colorado Baby wouldn’t be what it is without all of these people. If only they could all be mentioned by name. We don’t ever want it to come across as though we built this on our own, because that simply isn’t true. We have had so much support and encouragement along the way, and we are incredibly grateful.

In December 2019, we grew our family by another boy—our seventh child. Just a few months after his precious arrival, the world was turned upside down by COVID-19. 2020 was a wild ride for us, as it was for most people, but our community was incredibly supportive. We love serving you and working with you, and the years of 2020 and 2021 made that even sweeter and more apparent.

Our family’s focus in 2022 was on our seventh child’s diagnosis of Pediatric Feeding Disorder. We learned a whole new way of life with an NG tube-fed child while he worked through feeding struggles for much of his two-year-old year. With the help of talented specialists and a lot of work together at home, he was able to overcome those challenges and is now living a tube-free life. In the midst of all of this, in March 2022, we welcomed our eighth child (our seventh boy) into the family.

In 2026, we celebrate Colorado Baby becoming “an adult”—18 years old. We can’t thank you enough and look forward to the next 18 years.

Thank you for stopping by our shop online. If you’re ever in the Grand Junction area, we would love to have you visit us in person.

You can find us at:

560 Main Street
Grand Junction, CO

Or give us a call: 970-242-0132

Megan Alfaro

Owner of Colorado Baby