A week in review

     I'll try to catch up on the past week or so.  Last Saturday Aunt Patty took me to lunch.  Matt stayed home with Adrian and I was able to enjoy a meal in peace for once.  We went to Grandmother's and it was pretty good.  It was my first time there and Patty hadn't been there since the 80's.  I asked her if it had changed much and she said not at all.  It still looks fine though, it's not like The Max. (Saved By the Bell)  I had a great time.  She came over to see Adrian for a little while too.

     I didn't realize that the annual parade was on Saturday, for some reason I expected it and planned it for Sunday.  Thank goodness Michelle asked me what I was doing!  We walked from our house to the parade and met Michelle, Caroline and Hudson.  If I hadn't been going to this parade for 14 years, I would probably think it was pretty lame.  As it is, it's like a piece of my childhood that still lives on.  I want Adrian to experience it too.  It is nice when the whole town gets together, it's the closest I'll ever get to a small town feel.

This is that dress I got from Modcloth for Christmas.  

I adore this picture.

     We went to church on Father's day and then Matt's parents took us to lunch at Cracker Barrel. Adrian did pretty well; it helps that it's a noisy place.  After lunch we went home to change and Matt wanted to make pens with his dad.  So while they did that I went to the furniture mart with his mom so she could look at couches.  There are so many nice sets, and I love seeing all the pretty contemporary fabric. I am in love with too many patterns.  We had dinner at my parent's house and my mom made a cake and brownies.  Score!  I'm still eating the ones I took home.

     On Monday we went to the splash park with Michelle and the kids.  Adrian didn't like the water, he prefers to be in a pool. I loved it, I soaked myself a few times to stay cool.  I hope Adrian likes it next year, it will be so fun!  We'll have two more toddlers running around.

These are from pictures I took at the park the other day.  My phone randomly started making these gifs out of my pictures.  I think they're kind of cool.

     Emilee told me there was a sale on Charlie Banana diapers at Target.  I justify my purchase by the fact that the more diapers you have, the less wear and tear you inflict on your diapers, and the fact that a couple brands don't work very well for us.  Also I used Christmas money.  But look at the pretty colors!

For the record, they came like this, in a box.  I did not tie a bow to make them look extra pretty for a picture.  

Mood: apathetic

     So this is embarassing.  I was having some trouble with my Fuzzibunz diapers leaking.  It turns out I was putting all of my diapers on incorrectly.  I was getting too much leg fat in there.  I found a video on the internet and I haven't had a leak since.  Since Matt and Adrian somehow manage to create the same amount of laundry, it will be nice to have a tiny bit less.  Seriously, I remember the days when I could get my laundry done in a weekend.  Now I do it every day, and not just because I have cloth diapers.  Yet I still manage to suck at folding.

     Adrian tried bananas the other day.  His reaction was akin to: "uh huh, what else ya got?" He made this face the whole time.  Mood: apathetic.  Points if you know where that phrase is from.

     I'm pretty sure Adrian would jump all day if I let him; only stopping for naps and food. However, this kid needs to learn to crawl eventually.  He is doing well at sitting with the boppy and he no longer leans in his high chair.  He doesn't need a blanket around him in his jumperoo anymore.  He just does not like to be on his tummy.  I'm thinking of bribing him.

We match! But not on purpose.

Watching a Justice League movie.

I LOVE cloth diapering

     Now that I've been cloth diapering for several months, I thought I would give an update.  I've had ups and downs; I've had trials, temptations and second thoughts.  I can say without a doubt that I LOVE cloth diapering.  I love to talk about it, I love to answer questions about it, and I love to get fluff mail (new diapers) although I've got a good stash and I haven't bought any in a while. If you don't want to read about diapers, at least have a look at my beautiful stash.  Here we go.

My cloth diaper stash:

On the left we have my Bumgenius pockets, the next two are Bumgenius All-in-ones, in the middle are the Fuzzibunz, then on the end starting from the top are Rumparooz, a Charlie Banana and a Kawaii.  Then my extra inserts.

Top starting from the left: Charlie Banana, Kawaii, Rumparooz
Bottom starting at the left:  Bumgenius pocket, Bumgenius All in One (AIO), Fuzzibunz 

Here's the inside of the Charlie Banana.  I think these seem like the most comfortable.  I love this blue, the elastic is wide so it doesn't leave marks and it conforms more to his body.  You can move the elastic to make it longer.  The downsides are: they're a little more pricey and when he poos it's hard to get the insert out without getting...dirty.

Here's the Bumgenius pocket.  A pocket has inserts.  You stuff the insert into the pocket to absorb the moisture. Then when you change the diaper you take the insert out and throw everything in the bin.  I normally stuff my diapers once they're clean, then they're all ready when he needs them.  Bumgenius is probably my favorite diaper.  They are a decent price, they seem comfortable, they are generously sized so I'm sure they'll fit through potty training, and they're easy to use.  Also they come in lots of cute colors!

This is the Bumgenius AIO.  Instead of stuffing inserts into the diaper, they're sewn  in.  This can make them harder to clean and they take longer to dry. I do like having them to grab if I'm in a hurry though, and I don't have to worry about stuffing them.

This is a Fuzzibunz.  It's also a pocket diaper.   I normally use these if I want a more trim diaper.  I love the colors that Fuzzibunz offers. This is the diaper he wore in those Christmas pictures.

This drawer has my prefolds and covers.  It also has my wet bags.  The solid green is a liner for the diaper pail.

Prefolds are more like what cloth diapers used to be.  You fold the prefold (there are many different ways) and you can either lay it in the diaper or use a snappi to keep it on. (instead of pins)  Then you put the cover over it.  This is one of the cheapest ways to go.  I have Thirsties covers. I like to use these on washing day, or if I need more room in my diaper bag.

The blue is an Itti Bitti wetbag.  I got it for free; I think it might be a small.  The green one is Planet wise, size medium.  I like how planet wise has lots of patterns to choose from but both of these wet bags work well.  The purpose is to store dirty diapers in them while you're out of the house.  I like having two.

My wash routine:

     So when a diaper is dirty I spray it with an odor remover and throw it in this dry pail.  It's just a kitchen trash can with a washable Planetwise pail liner.  It normally only starts smelling if I wait too long to wash. Or I've gotten used to the smell, in which case I hope my friends tell me my house smells like diapers ;) Anyway, I wash every two days or so.  I take the bag downstairs and dump everything into the washer, then toss the liner in.  I don't even have to touch the diapers.  I have an HE machine so it took me a little while to troubleshoot.  HE machines are supposed to use less water, which is the opposite of what cloth diapers need.  First I do a rinse for 20 minutes.  Then I add a tablespoon of Fuzzibunz powder detergent, and a capful of Calgon water softener because hard water makes it harder to get diapers clean.  I wash on the "Normal" cycle on the settings: Heavy, Hot, Medium spin.  This is an hour and twenty-eight minutes. Then I do two more 20 minute rinse cycles.  I dry all of the inserts, wetbags, liners, prefolds and covers in the dryer. I dry all of the pocket diapers on a drying rack because it will make them last longer than if I always put them in the dryer.  I just do this in the living room because I don't have room in the laundry room.

A Dirty History:

     A couple months ago I did have some stink issues, and Adrian got an awful diaper rash due to ammonia problems.  That's when I had to strip the diapers.  I put my inserts through a sanitation cycle, soaked my diapers and rinsed the crap out of them.  Then I switched to a more cloth diaper friendly laundry detergent without any additives (like brighteners, enzymes etc).  I started using Calgon and I got some hemp liners, which are more absorbent than microfiber. I love them.  

A conclusion and a look into the future:

Cloth diapering is not for everybody. If it wasn't for the tree hugger in me, and the fact that someone said I "wouldn't last" cloth diapering, I may have given up at some point. Thank goodness I'm stubborn. It took a little while to get into my groove but now I really love it.  Adrian is starting solids though, so some things are going to change.  I'll have to decide between using disposable liners, getting a sprayer for the toilet, or swishing his soiled diapers in the toilet to get the poop off.  It won't be so washer friendly anymore. 

I'm considering using cloth wipes too, because it seems like it would be easy to just throw them in the wash.  I'll have to do some more research.  Thank you for sitting through my rambling; I hope you learned something today!  Also I hope I didn't accidently give any wrong information.  The reviews are just my opinions. Every baby is different, that's why I would recommend getting at least a couple different kinds before investing in your favorite.

I can't remember if there was anything else I wanted to talk about.  So I'll end with my sweet, messy baby:

Not your mama's cloth diapers

Besides the few “are you crazy” looks I have gotten, I have mostly felt support for my decision to cloth diaper.  In case anyone still thinks I am crazy, this post is about why I chose to cloth diaper, and what cloth diapering is like nowadays.

Why cloth diaper?

1. As I shared a few posts ago, I am a tree hugger.  I would never actually chain myself to a tree because I’m way too high maintenance for that but I do want to lessen my imprint on the earth.  The only problem with this is, you can either use disposables and add tons of waste to the landfills or you wash cloth diapers and use a lot of water and energy. I’m picking my poison.  So I don’t think there should be a huge debate about who is better, it’s just a personal choice.  This isn’t really helping my case a lot though.

2.  Have I mentioned how ADORABLE cloth diapers are?  They come in so many colors. I think Matt could even get excited about buying them.  I’m not a fan of prints though.

3.  Personally I think they seem more comfortable.  The ones I purchased so far are made of soft cotton on the inside.  There’s a debate about which method causes more diaper rashes but I think as long as you change the diaper when the baby needs it you are probably pretty safe.

4. Cost.  I am nothing if not frugal.  There is more of a cost upfront because each diaper costs around $18 but if you take care of them you can use them for all of your kids.  I am buying “one size” diapers which you can use the whole time the baby is in diapers.  It has tons of snaps so it can grow with the baby.  Let’s just say we have 4 kids.  If I buy about 30 diapers at $18 each it will cost $540.  Then you have to add energy costs and special detergent. So that might add up to $150. I might not be completely correct about all the costs but there is a difference.  Also, I wont really know how much I need until baby gets here.  Also, we are technically going to use disposables for the first couple weeks or so.

     I suck at math so I found a chart.  The cost of disposable diapers depends on the size of the diaper; also the baby needs less as he gets older so the chart I found had a grand total of $2577.35 from birth to potty training (2 1/2 years) with an average cost-per-change of $0.36.  If these calculations are correct and I have 4 kids I will pay $10309.40 by the end of our diapering days.  That’s about how much I will pay for daycare in a year if Matt doesn’t agree to let me stay home. (hint hint Matt)

How have cloth diapers changed, and why do you presume to know anything about my mama?

The first time I heard that people still cloth diaper, my first thought was “yuck.”  My second thought was “wow that’s old fashioned, and even though I like old fashioned things there is a reason people moved away from that practice” 

Besides being a frugal tree hugger I am also really curious.  So I did tons of research on cloth diapers and it took me awhile to figure out what the heck everyone was talking about.  There are so many different kinds now. 

Prefolds: These are the kind one normally thinks of when they think of cloth diapers.  They consist of absorbent cloth folded into a rectangle that you cover the baby with, and then you secure it and put a cover over it.  For the most part, gone are the plastic pants and safety pins. Now the covers are cloth (with a water proof outer layer) and instead of safety pins you have these things called “snappis” that are a kind of a T shape.  They stretch and grab onto the cloth and keep everything together with claws.  The baby can’t remove it.  These are the cheapest so I’m going to add some to my collection.   

Snappis

Prefold

All in One: This is a cloth diaper that doesn’t need any prepping.  You just put it on the baby.  It has a waterproof outer layer and the absorbent layer is on the inside.  The downside of these is that they take longer to dry.  They would be good for babysitters who are okay with cloth diapers though.

Pocket Diapers:  You can get different sizes of pocket diapers but I like one size (OS) diapers because then I don’t have to buy as many; although I’m not sure if I can get away with this yet.  Anyways, with a pocket diaper you can use inserts which help absorb waste and you put them into the diaper pocket.  So you can put two inserts in for night time if you want.  So all you have to do is stuff the insert in the pocket and snap the diaper on the baby.  Then you take the insert out when you wash it and it takes less time to dry.

Fitted: These are similar to prefolds, only they are contoured like a diaper and either snap or Velcro closed.  Then you put a cover on them.  These are more expensive than prefolds but less expensive than pocket diapers. 

There might be more kinds but this is quite enough for now.  These are the only kinds I’m going to use.

How do you store/wash dirty cloth diapers?

Most likely you don’t want to know all of the details but I will be washing them myself.  Actually I don’t even know all of the details myself yet, I mean it’s still 5 months away.  I do know that you store dirty diapers in the trash can and just wash them every 2 or 3 days.  Breastfed baby’s diapers can all go in the wash without rinsing them in the toilet.  Once they eat solid foods there is a sprayer you can attach to the toilet so you can spray solids off instead of swishing the diaper in the toilet.  So some of it is a little gross but technically you are supposed to dump all solid waste into the toilet before throwing a diaper away anyways; it’s just that no one does it. 

I’ll have to work out a system for when we leave the house or travel.  I will write an update once we’ve been using these for a few months.