Last week I was feeling kind of adventurous.  I kept reading about how everyone loved their flats because they were easy, trim, and the washed & dried up really quickly.  I don’t own any flat diapers (large square piece of birdseye cotton), so I thought that I’d be a little silly and try with a receiving blanket.  Heaven knows we’ve used them for spit up, to clean up poop blow outs, and when Kitten would pee while I was changing her.  They all washed up fine, and no one will know that we used them for that (until now!). 

I looked online for folding instructions, and found a few sites.  My blankets are more rectangular than square, so it made folding a bit of a challenge.  I settled on the Origami fold, as it was easiest to do with a less-than-square piece of cloth.  It took me a few times to figure out how it actually worked, to get the soaker to a rectangular shape, and not just rolled up.  At first, I didn’t have any pins, so I just tied the two ends in a half knot and put a wrap-style cover over top.  It worked pretty well, and she even had a nice big poop in it. 

The next day I was still really excited about my shenanigans, so I went out and bought some pins.  I’ve had less success with those, as I tend to get the droopy legs, but I’m sure it’s just a practice thing.  I’ve also found out that you can’t just use one pin - that means even worse drooping!  However, I did experience that if you fold up the diaper, and put the pins in the center portion, you can thread the ends of the diaper through the pins and just tuck them away if you are going to cover the flat.  I’ll have to take pictures of this - it’s hard to imagine!

I have to say that my experience with receiving blankets has promted me to buy some flats.  I am not sure where I’m going to get them yet, but I’ve been looking at these.  I thought that maybe I could dye them into really awesome patterns, and she would be the coolest kid on the block (in diapers, anyway). 

Tags: flats, pins

Two days ago, I was surfing Diaper Swappers, and came across a sale by a Work At Home Mom (WAHM), for discounted diapers and free shipping.  I went to her site, and was THRILLED!  She had cute diapers!  They were really well priced!  I could totally afford one and support a WAHM (I always think this is important, but I have rules on how much I will spend on a single diaper).  So I drooled over her site looking at every single diaper trying to decide which one I wanted.

The problem is that she makes a one-size diaper, which comes in two sizes.  Confusing, right?  Well, not really - one is aimed at small babies, and one is aimed at older babies/toddlers.  She had both sizes in the diaper I wanted (red outside! cow print inside!), and I initially ordered the smallest one.  About 2 minutes after I hit “check out”, I had instant buyer’s remorse.  I should have bought the bigger one!  So, I emailed her, and she was soooo sweet and said that she would refund me the money, but the bigger one had JUST sold.  I was so disappointed!  I knew that I should have bought that one when I first thought about it! 

She did say that she was going to sew a whole bunch more up this weekend, and that she’d have new stock next week.  I’m really excited to see what she has, but I’m worried.  What happens if her “regular price” diapers are out of my price league?  I was really thrilled for the quality and size of diaper that I would be getting at the sale price, but what if it gets out of my range?  I’ll be so sad.  Presently, I do know that she doesn’t have any more cow print (cry!!), and possibly no red (I don’t remember what she said), so I’m not sure what I’ll be looking for, come next week.

If anyone is looking for a smaller-end expandable pocket diaper, be sure to check out Happy Cheeks Diapers!  I haven’t used these yet, but they look fantastic!  Also, if anyone has any rants/raves about HCD, let me know - I’d love to go in to this a little less blind! 

Tags: Pocket Diapers, sale

One of my latest CD purchases arrived in the mail this week. May I present our Swaddlebees diaper cover in all it’s glory:

So far I like it. It’s a little big, but that’s great because Nicky’s bumGenius diapers are almost too small. I’ve been using a Snappi to hold the pre-folds in place under the cover. I know this isn’t necessary, but I prefer to secure the diaper because they start sagging really bad when ‘accidents’ happen. My only complaint with Swaddlebees so far is that they don’t have gussets. There’s a lot more potential for poo to escape, but so far, we’ve been solid and A-OK. Also, it was pretty expensive so probably won’t buy more covers from this manufacturer.

I have a really hard time using prefolds on Nicky because I can’t keep him on his back long enough to fold the diaper, secure it, and put the cover on. A lot of extra effort goes into using prefolds at my house. I wish I could use them more because I like being able to only replace the prefold and re-use the cover. It makes me feel like I’m not wasting a clean diaper.

This morning, while trying to get the diaper on Nicky, I suffered a Snappi injury. Man, the teeth on those things are vicious. They went right into my thumb and literally removed a chunk of flesh. I almost took a picture for you, but it was pretty gross. You may thank me for sparing you.

Tags: Diaper Covers, prefolds, Snappi, Swaddlebees

Remember when I told you that I was able to score a sweet, used goodmama fitted diaper off a lovely lady on Diaper Swappers over the weekend?  Well, it came in the mail today.  Squee!

This makes me all kinds of excited.  Yes, it is a used diaper so the “silky” factor of the bamboo velour has long since went bye-bye.  I’m okay with that.  It’s still soft and squishy as heck.  And, to be honest, a lot heavier than I expected.  There are quite a few layers of absorbent material here, folks.  It also has about a bazillion snaps on it and I think I need to work at perfecting the snap regimen with these.

Still… it’s very exciting.  I’ll go into more detail about them as I get used to how they work and put them through their strides and see how they work.  So far?  I like them pretty well.  Time will tell how well they work but I expect them to work pretty darned well.  I put a prorap cover over them but it makes for a rather dense ensemble.  I’d like to try them without a cover, actually, but I don’t feel quite that bold today.  We’ll see how this initial “outing” goes.

Oh yeah, and Evie seems to think they’re pretty alright too.

Tags: Fitted, fluffy mail, Goodmama, used

I feel out of my element a bit on this blog. Cloth diapering is not something I spend a lot of time thinking about unless we’re traveling or like this weekend going camping.

I don’t do cloth diapers on camping trips…it just seems excessive to carry poop home with you for five hours in the car. Not to mention storing it for several days in the tent or car. Yum.

I think the trend toward cloth diapering these days is admirable. I also think cloth diapering is a lot like dieting.

Dieting is hard. It’s hard to start. It’s hard to not just have that One! Last! Cookie! Come on!! Who’s it gonna hurt? But while your first day of dieting like your first cloth diaper is hard, at the end of the day you feel..Successful! The happy feeling of completing a goal, even if it’s only one diaper or one day, you did it!

And dang it! You’ll do it again. Tomorrow. You’re pretty sure.

And you do. Day Two of Cloth diapers, and touching poo with your hands and dumpin it into a container…for later. Ew.

And then suddenly it’s been three days then a week then three weeks. You are a cloth diapering Mama! (or Dad! ). Hurray.

But we were speaking of camping, or was it dieting…maybe it was cookies. Yes! Cookies!

No. Camping. Right.

The crux of the issue, in my opinion is that cloth diapering is not widely embraced no matter how many like minded folks you surround yourself with. People don’t expect you to show up with four days worth of cloth diapers (and frankly I don’t have four days worth of cloth diapers) and then to store the smelly thing anywhere near them. Campgrounds don’t come equipped with toilet sprayers, or tight fitting trash bags. Rest Areas don’t have washing machines to soak your diaper for quick clean up. And rarely do I visit someone who embraces me washing poop out in their washing machine. (It’s Rinse! Wash! Repeat! I swear!)

The lack of cloth diapering support I think speaks to a deeper issue that we don’t have time to explore today but I’ll briefly throw it out there anyway. And that is societies seeming lack of support to mother (especially of young children). Rarely do you find places (restaurants, conference centers, bathrooms) that have specified breast feeding rooms. I have a friend who has actually made it her mission to kick the teenagers out of the breast feeding room that her church provides because no one else will do it. Even when the rooms are in place women are made to feel that it is a superfluous request.

And changing stations in bathrooms. Why are they always right in front of the door? You end up blocking the door with your kids bottom (the first thing other see) and holding (in my case) your other child between your knees? It is rare that we find a restroom situation that allows my husband to shoulder the diaper changing responsibility. So when he is out alone with the boys he is often forced to change diapers ON THE FLOOR OF THE SUPER HYGIENIC BATHROOM!

Hurray.

What is it about our society that is lacking that we don’t seem to recognize the rights of our most precious group of people? The wee ones who need the most support from our population? And why? I ask myself on many occasions did none of these things occur to me before I had children? What are we doing wrong that new mothers seem to have to figure this all out for ourselves?

Life is a journey. For some of us that journey is littered with cloth diapers. I’m okay with using disposable diapers on road trips, but maybe what I need to be okay with is bringing up subjects with other people about why I have to make those allowances.

Because I’m certainly not going to sit at home and not going anywhere just because my kid is in diapers.

Just like I’m not going to have that next cookie. Not today anyway…

Tags: camping