A Baby of the Cloth Part II

If you missed Part I, you can read it here.

Once I decided to faze out my disposable, I started using a few cloth diapers while at home, but stuck to the disposable when out. It just seemed easier. But then I found myself addicted to the cloth! I enjoyed doing it and some of the covers were just so darn cute that I wanted Isabella to sport them outside the house as well as in. And once I went out with them, I realized that it was easier than I had expected! I just toss the wet/dirty in a grocery sack and put it straight into the laundry when I get home -- no problems!

Another thing that scared me was the way so many people talked about how hard it is to care for the cloth diapers. One day a friend stopped by -- she is a Mama to one and has cloth diapered from the get go. Admittedly, her little gal is still exclusively breastfed, so things might be a bit easier, but she told me she just tosses everything in together and doesn't do anything special. Hearing this was like a wall falling down. No special detergent? No special cycles? I can do that! So now I just wash everything on hot, with the same detergent I wash everything else (I make my own, so I know it is free of dyes, fragrance, etc.). *Total Disclaimer* My diapering is made infinitely easier because I have two washers and dryers! One is now my designated "diaper washer" BUT that doesn't mean it can't be done. It only means that you probably can't get away with slacking on the other laundry like I do. And that is probably a good thing!

One thing in the washing that has made a world of difference is sunning the diapers. Sometimes, in the dryer, they weren't getting completely dry. And I think that it was allowing bacteria to grow and therefore causing rash. Once I started sunning them, the rash disappeared. Since sun is antibacterial, this would support my little theory!

I have to say, while my promary reason for switching was to save money, if I hit the lottery tomorrow, I would still use cloth. But I would buy every cute cover I could get my hands on!!

One final tip . . . while the gender specific covers are unbelievably cute, if you plan to diaper more than one child, get some gender neutral covers. PeterXavier (now finally potty trained, thank heavens!) was in the cloth for a short time. One day, I only had a pink cover clean, so I tossed it on him and headed out to meet some friends. Somehow the poor guy was depants, and there he stood in his crowd of friends wearing a PINK diaper. It was hilarious and he cracked up along with everyone else. But it might be easier just to avoid the issue!

Questions? Comments? I am definetly a novice here, but maybe that makes me more sympathetic to any questions!

I will try to add some pictures later, but I don't have any on this computer. Cloth wins hands down with its cuteness factor!

The Mountains Fell on my Excitement

Some how I am on the emailing list for Puccini's, a pizza place in West Lafayette. And today I recieved an email in which the subject line excitedly announced

"Come Meet Carl Landry!"

But I thought it said "Come Meet CARY Landry!"

And I almost jumped in my car to go meet him. Can you imagine?? Would they have a Folk

Group belting his much loved tunes?? What excitment.

But alas, I was wrong. I don't even know who Carl Landry is.

Maybe he's Cary's grandson??

A Baby of the Cloth

I have had this post brewing in my head for weeks now. And since it came up at Annie's place, I thought that now would be a good time to actually put to paper (screen) what has been floating in my brain.

About three months ago, my beloved Target diapers changed completely resulting in a higher price tag and way lower quality. This change spurred me to make a switch I never thought I would make -- I became a cloth convert. And now that I am here, I would never go back. But before my switch -- on my seven year stint with disposables -- I had a million and one questions that were easy to answer, but the answers weren't always easy to find. So I thought I would try to answer a few of my own questions here and maybe make the conversion experience a little easier for someone else.

*I also want to make it clear, that I am in no way a diaper snob. If you think I am crazy and you are in love with your disposables, more power to you! I just want to show that the option is out there and not nearly as daunting as it might seem at first!

Before I made the switch, one thing that held me back was the high price tag of starting out. While I could clearly see the long term savings, I couldn't stomach shelling out a couple hundred dollars to start something I wasn't even sure I would be able to handle! Once I decided that I really wanted to switch, I realized a few things. First, I didn't have to stop disposables cold turkey. I could easily faze them out as I gradually up my supply of cloth. The other thing I realized was that prefolds are EASY to make. I actually haven't purchased a single diaper -- I have only purchased the covers. So while I spent time sewing diapers, I gradually acquired covers and slowly fazed the disposables out over the course of a few weeks. In total, I have spent about $50 on diapers. When I started, I was diapering two and had been spending about $60-$80 a month on diapers. Not a bad savings!

The other thing that saved me a boat load was http://www.diaperswapper.com/ where I found a nice woman selling her homemade covers for next to nothing. I think I paid $20 for eight, shipping included! I didn't discover this site until after I had purchased a few other covers here (my favorite!) and here. What I got there was deeply discounted, but none the less, had I discovers Diaper Swappers earlier, I would have saved even more!

This is long . . . I will continue later!

I think if I were to rename my blog, I would call it "Poop and Circumstance".

Because that pretty much sums up my life these days.

(Not So) Hot Ideas

Just in case you (or your resident, insane three year old) ever wonders what might happen if you were the set the remote control onto the hot burner coil of the stove -- it melts.

And stinks.

And makes a huge mess.

If you need me, I'll be scrubbing plastic and trying not to asphyxiate.

Hip Hip Horray!!

We had a blast at Riverfest today!

Can you tell? And my boat won EVERY RACE it was in!

Bella had fun, too. Did you know we have sandy beaches in Indiana?

A Little Camera Fun

Andrew borrowed a camera to use this weekend for Riverfest. But someone had to learn to use it, right?

Luckily, that someone was me.

And my life will never be the same.

What fun! The pictures are SO CLEAR compared to my little point and shoot. And the "sport" feature allows you to take fantatic action shots. And there is no "delay", so you can just keep shooting. I took over 200 pictures of Andrew and his friends riding last night.
See how Andrew is clear and the background is not?? My dippy little camera would never to that.

Happy Fourth Of July
From Our Little Firecrackers To Yours!

And just a little firecracker hair, to make you smile!