Monday, June 25, 2012

A Hot Summer's Day

So I go outside because the Schwan's guy is here and as I come back to the house in to grab my wallet I notice my son has mud on him and is naked.

He tells me (without being asked) that he left his clothes next to the door.

So like any mother I ASSUME they are covered in mud like the child and tell him to go put them in the washer. And he informs me they're still clean.

 ?????

 I raise an eyebrow.

"Well, I knew I only had one clean pair of clothes left so I took my clothes off before I went outside to go play in the mud."

 In my yard with a see through fence across the street from the biggest gossip in town and the only place to purchase groceries for 25 miles in each direction.

Gee....thank you.

I was trying so hard not to laugh I was purple. I sent him to take a shower.

This is what happens when you take tv and computers away from children....they make their own entertainment....entirely at your expense....

Wednesday, June 6, 2012

2 Weeks In

Okay - we're now officially two weeks in. I've done lots of laundry, accidentally stripped my diapers, and had a love/hate relationship with my Thirsties Duo Wraps.

Here is where I stand on the products I currently own:

Thirsties Duo Wraps: Maybe they have improved over time. Maybe I'm just now figuring out how to get them to fit. Maybe he just needed to get a few more pounds before the size 1 fit my skinny mini dude. Regardless, the last few times with them have been leakless, and for that I am grateful. I'm still not 100% sold on this cover, but it's not performing horribly enough for me to throw it out the window either.

Flip Covers: Holy I'm in love. 100% no leaks in 2 weeks of use. NONE. At all. No matter WHAT I put in there. No matter how wet it got. I've thrown in prefolds, pocket inserts, and just for fun some doublers with nothing else just to see what would happen. NO LEAKS. Also no red marks or other issues with fit. Loving these!!!! I will also say that even with "just" a trifolded prefold I rarely get poop on the cover. Maybe 1-2 times a week. That's pretty impressive. I've never run out of covers diapering now almost completely full time minus 1 disposable at night. That's impressive when you only have 5 and an EBF baby!

OsoCozy Better Fit Prefolds: Once these were prepped they have been a FANTASTIC addition to my collection. Their absorbancy is exceptional and I have never had a leak that was justified while using them. On average these prefolds last between 2-4 hours with just 1 prefold trifolded in the cover and no doubler at 6 weeks old. This is, of course, providing it didn't get pooped on within the first 5 minutes. :)

Gaia's Nappy's on Etsy: I purchased two products from my friend Elizabeth here: her Organic Hemp Fleece Zorb Cloth Diaper Doubler and her Super Zorb Minky Cloth Diaper Doubler. Let me first say her shipping was excellent and her advice is flawless. Beyond that, her products arrived beautiful and ready to WORK. They've been through a few washings and are holding up well. Their absorbancy is exceptional. I've used them to stuff my pocket diapers. I've used them behind and in front of a prefold. I've used them with no prefold!!! They have become my "uh...I don't have time to change a diaper for x..." solution. Tonight I'm trying the hemp doubler with a prefold for nighttime. So excited to see how well it works! :) Thanks Elizabeth for your EXCELLENT products!!!! (The ONLY problem I've had with these is no fault of Elizabeth - my son just does NOT like wet hemp against his skin. Lesson learned, put it behind something else!)

Kawaii Baby Snazzy Minky One Size Pocket: I love this diaper. The lining isn't very trim, but it's entirely too adorable and it still fits very well. The extra hip snaps do a great job at providing an exceptional fit, especially for the price of this diaper. I'm really blown away with how well it has performed! Though this comes with 2 inserts, it's just too much bulk right now for our little guy to be comfortable so we usually use this with just 1 insert. On average it lasts about 3 hours before it needs to be changed but we've only gotten to that once because for some reason the adorable camo diaper says "please poop in me". :)

BumGenius 4.0: I added this diaper after Week 1 so it hasn't gotten quite as much rotation time as the others listed above. That said, it's done an AMAZING job. I was astounded at how well it has functioned, how well it fits, and how amazingly TRIM it is. This has become our "go to town diaper. For the record, I live 45-60 minutes depending on whether or not you get caught in construction from town. So a "quick trip" consisting of a run through fast food, filling the gas tank, a quick run through the store, and maybe flying through the doc's office and then running home usually takes about 4 hours. I didn't have to change him and he STILL had plenty of room left for liquid to absorb. TOTALLY impressed. I need more of these - bottom line!

You will also note that all of these links go to Sweetbottoms Baby Boutique. I have found in ordering recently that this is my favorite cloth diaper store, hands down. Their customer service is exceptional, they ship on time and for FREE, and every package arrives like a present. Over and above that they also provide free repairs of hook and loop diapers for 2 months if there's any problems and warranty all snaps for the lifetime of the ownership! Ya gotta love Sweetbottoms!!!!

Which is why I decided to treat myself. I've been using these diapers for 2 weeks. Tonight I'm even trying my very first overnight solution because I do laundry tomorrow morning anyway and strip the sheets so I figured why not? LOL For the record, the initial run of diapers (minus the BG 4.0) was $89.84. Since we started cloth diapering, I have been counting the number of diaper changes I have done and the $$ saved by doing them and laundering the diapers. Thus far, I have saved $33.75 worth of disposables - not counting the nasty stuff going into the environment if that's what bothers you. I would have used approximately 135 disposables during that time. Instead, I have used less than 40. To recoup my initial cost, I still need to save another $56.09 plus the cost of the BG 4.0. That said, I'm VERY proud of myself and also have decided if I want to do this full time, I need a few more diapers. Sure, I can do laundry almost daily, but let's be honest, it wears on me after awhile and a large part of that 40 diapers was me throwing my hands up in the air and saying "I can't do this - I need a break" for a few days.

So, I have purchased 2 more diapers to try out. They are scheduled to arrive tomorrow from Sweetbottoms. I promise to take pictures of the box when it arrives so you can see just how cute their packaging really is. I'm seriously in love with boxes from Sweetbottoms. :)

The new members to the Diaper Drawer Club will be relatives of the two pocket diapers I already own. I will be getting the Kawaii Baby One Size Snap Closure Pocket (in a jean print - how cute!!!) and a BumGenius Freetime. SOOO excited to play with these and see where we're going with the future of our stash. I think somewhere in here is the long term solution - I'm just not wanting to have buyer's remorse down the road so I want to make 100% certain what I purchase will lead to happiness for all of us. :)

I'm still debating how many more diapers I need. I'm torn between purchasing them in larger numbers to get bulk discounts or purchasing them in smaller numbers so I can slowly add to the stash until I feel it's adequate. Truthfully I'm sure I'll be adding here and there for many months to come, but I would definitely like to increase our "holdings" in the near future without losing my mind in the process. :)







(Please note I have been in NO way compensated for any of these products or retailers. These aren't affiliate links. This is just my honest opinion about what I have received, how it has really worked, and what I think. If I wanted to sell you a bunch of junk, I would gladly write positive reviews about everything on earth here just to get free stuff, but the bottom line is I care far more about ethics than I do about getting a bunch of things I may or may not need. I don't ever plan to be one of those places that will let people "purchase" good reviews with free products. Sorry - not buying. In fact, I would much rather you know you're going to get a REAL opinion here from a real mom rather than a pack of questionable lies.)

Saturday, June 2, 2012

A 12 Step Program for New Cloth Diaperers

In case anyone needs a tutorial on how to accidentally strip diapers that are only a week old, I felt I should be kind enough to enlighten you.

Step 1: Purchase a new laundry detergent (Rockin' Green in my case).

Step 2: Put regular diapers that don't need stripping in the washing machine. Run through a rinse cycle.

Step 3: Add the minimum recommended amount of detergent.

Step 4: Wash as a 1/2 load on hot.

Step 5: Run extra rinse on full size and notice bubbles.

Step 6: Rinse again. Notice just as many bubbles.

Step 7-10: Continue to repeat Step 6. Keep noticing bubbles.

Step 11: Email detergent company and end up on the phone with customer service rep.

Step 12: Laugh at yourself with her and realize eventually the bubbles will end. Continue to rinse until clear. Use 1/2 the recommended detergent until you own more diapers.