From the category archives:

cloth diapering

Were any of you around when I was completely crazy buying cloth diapers for Emma? Like to the point of insanity? Like to the point of completely spending more money on cloth diapers than I would have spent on disposables? It was bad. Really, really bad.

I was going to post a picture, but I deleted all of my diaper stash pictures when I simplified (right before Emma potty-trained) so I wouldn’t have to see evidence of the fact that I completely lost my mind for a while.

You see, one of the main reasons we cloth diaper is COST. Yes, the upfront investment is more than a few packs of disposable diapers. But the overall savings is swell. As long as you don’t go crazy buying every type of diaper out there. And believe it or not, there are a LOT of different types of cloth diapers out there!

So I’ve had a few people ask me what we use on Lucy, and here it is.

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(l-r) all in one’s (Bumgenius Organic One-sized AIOs and 2 XS Sposoeasy AIOs)
diaper covers (4 XS Thirsties, 2 XS Imse Vimse, 3 GroBaby (one sized), 2 Bumgenius Flips (one-sized)
prefolds (18 unbleached Diaper Rite – size small)

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That’s it! I’m quite proud of myself, actually.

As she gets older, the prefolds will be rotated out for larger sizes (we already have those leftover from Emma) and the sized covers will be rotated out for larger sizes (already have those, as well).

The BumGenius Organic AIOs are one-sized, so they will fit through potty-training.

I use mostly prefolds and covers at home during the day, while Ken uses the AIOs. I usually use AIOs when we go out.

When Emma was a baby, I actually did take her upstairs to her room for most diaper changes, but since we’re all downstairs most of the day, it made more sense to create a little changing area here.

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I just started using cloth wipes again (my spray bottle with solution was in the bathroom at the time of this picture), and that branchy fabric thing is our giant wetbag that acts as our diaper pail.

Since I’ve already cloth-diapered one kid, this hasn’t been hard at all. The only hard thing was waiting for Lucy to fit into the diapers that I had.

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And then before we knew it, she had outgrown those. This is all going by way too fast.

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links to purchase …

BumGenius Organic AIOs
Thirsties diaper covers
Imse Vimse diaper covers
Flip one-sized diaper covers
GroVia one-sized diaper covers
Diaper Rite prefolds

I also have a very comprehensive cloth diapering tutorial here, here, here and here.

And if any of you actually do wish to purchase anything I use, please be so kind as to use this referral link (or click the “diaper junction” image on the right side of my blog). Thank you!!!

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Man, cloth diapers can be SO addicting. I know, that sounds so very weird to people who don’t use cloth, but there’s just something about the cute little fluffy butt that makes me want to buy tons of them.

I’ve gone through many different phases, and at one time, I had way too many diapers for one baby. But I’ve gotten past that, and we now have only a few different kinds that we really like.

prefolds & covers — I love the simplicity of these, and now that I found Fishnoodles covers, I use this combo throughout the day and for going out.

Bumgenius organic AIOs — pretty much the easiest diaper out there. It’s just like using a disposable. Except you wash it when you’re done with it, lol.

Sustainablebabyish fitted diapers & fleece covers — this is my nighttime combo since I have what is considered a “heavy wetter” at night. She can leak out of a disposable at night, so I needed something seriously absorbent.

So I’m on Twitter, and I follow several of my favorite cloth diaper makers, one of which is @sloomb, the creator of Sustainablebabyish diapers. When I saw her tweet about a contest to win a free colored fitted diaper, I immediately went and entered — and WON! Woohoo! I never win ANYTHING!!

It arrived yesterday, and Emma flipped over it.

LITERALLY!
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Thanks so much, Erin! I can’t wait to get more!! ♥

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potty training

March 10, 2009

in cloth diapering,emma

I kind of thought Emma would be close to ready to potty train by now. She’s 6 days away from being 22 months old, and I hear about 18 month old kids who are potty-trained.

My mom tells me to quit reading and quit listening to others, but I don’t learn. Now we know where Emma gets it.

You see, Emma usually tells us when she pooped her diaper.

And she wears cloth diapers, so she can feel the wetness. She’ll sometimes walk uncomfortably to me so that I can change her diaper.

All things that are supposed ‘signs’ that she’s ready to potty train.

But nope.

Apparently, she told Ken this morning that she needed to pee-pee, and he ran and got the potty. She dribbled a little on the floor but finished in the potty. YAY! She got candy and cheers and hugs and more candy.

But then later this morning, she peed all over 12 of her toys.

I don’t think “naked time” is the method I want to use. I am tired of cleaning up pee.

Clearly, I should have learned from my past “trying to get Emma to do something on some ridiculous schedule” mistakes.

I tried to rid her of the bottle at 12 months, but she dropped the bottle at 16 months. On her own.

We tried and tried to get her to sleep through the night from 9 months on, but she slept through the night at 18 months. On her own.

She does things on HER schedule, and there is nothing we can do to make her do anything she doesn’t want to do. It ends up making things a hundred times harder than they need to be.

Guess I better get used to the diapers.

caught!

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Twenty-four months ago, I looked like this …

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27 weeks along

I loved being pregnant. Now, I was one of the lucky ones – no morning sickness, no obscene weight gain (34lbs), no stretch marks, light heartburn, little to no discomfort (other than my ribs). The only downside of being pregnant was that it couldn’t last longer. Oh, and the restless leg syndrome that had me putting bars of soap at the foot of our bed and doing crazy stretches at 3am.

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on our babymoon to disney world

I understand if some of you now hate me and never want to read anything I write ever again.

And that’s okay. I understand.

I mean, you can hope that whenever I have baby #2, I’ll be sick as a dog 24 hours a day.

But please don’t.

Being pregnant for the first time was really amazing. In fact, it was so wonderful that I often think about trying for baby #2 JUST to be pregnant again. But then reality sets in, and I realize that we are paying our bills and that’s about it. Babies just don’t fit into the equation at this point in our lives. We’re okay with what starting our own business has done to our bank account, but we also know that having a baby right now just wouldn’t be smart.

But the actual point of this post was to say that twenty ONE months ago, I looked like this …

the parents-to-be

And then like this …

so now what do i do?

And then like this.

finally getting some sleep

Even labor and delivery was a piece of cake …

6:15pm – water broke at our house
7:15pm – arrived at the hospital
11:45pm – got epidural
5:00am – started pushing
5:59am – Emma Grace arrived

Ever since then, life has been anything but easy.

I have no idea

But just as my pregnancy and then delivery was wonderful and amazing, so is our life with Emma.

She’s not the kid that’s going to entertain guests and make everyone laugh. She’s not going to be the kid who screams and yells to get attention. She won’t strive to be the center of attention or the class clown.

last one

Instead, she will be the kid that everyone is drawn to because she’s so quiet. She’ll be the old soul that everyone falls in love with. She’ll be a listening ear and a strong shoulder for her friends. She’ll love everyone, no matter their faults or shortcomings. And she’ll be generous and kind.

watching

Happy 21 months on this earth, my sweet soulful child.

soulful

You have brought us more joy and peace than we ever thought possible.

When I die, she said, I'm coming back as a tree with deep roots & I'll wave my leaves at the children every morning on their way to school & whisper tree songs at night in their dreams.

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I love browsing through Flickr – I’ve really learned a lot from the abundantly talented people there, and I am in constant awe over the pictures I see on a daily basis. I only hope to be able to take pictures like that one day.

While perusing and browsing some of my favorite photographers, I learned about “Love Thursday” which is all about seeing the love around us in the middle of a normal day.

I see love from Emma every day. Just tonight, she was walking up the stairs to go take a bath, so her diaper was off – but she was still in her dress. I pulled up the back of her dress to pinch her nekky heiney, and she put her hand back there and giggled. Like she was embarrassed! My little monkey.

Although, she was not embarrassed earlier today when she peeled off her shirt and diaper and ran around the house naked.

Ah the life of a 20-month old.

Anyway, I am surrounded by love, but Love Thursday is a nice reminder to look for it everywhere.

Even on the ground.

for love thursday

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