We're on Day 5 of cloth diapers. We've had ups and downs, but neither M or I have broken out the disposables yet. My first pre-fold took about 10 minutes to put on. I had M and my mother laughing in the background, so that didn't help much, but I finally got it on without gaps. I even had trouble with the cover. It was a rough start. The next change was another pre-fold. This time I was better, it probably only took 5 minutes. The cover went right on, no problems. I've tried different folds since then and am finally getting into a groove and figuring out what works best for AJ.
Saturday I went out all day shopping with AJ and my mother. We were out for 7 hours, and it went pretty well. We used our BumGenius diapers this time. One change in the back of a car and one in the Walmart restroom. Unfortunately we did have leaking issues on the second change though. AJ fell asleep half an hour before I needed to do another change, and I let her sleep. (The thing about AJ is she doesn't fall asleep easily, so when she finally does go down, no one wants to wake her up again). I figured we'd have a wetness issue, but I was willing to risk it for just a short time. So the Walmart change was a full outfit change, but even that wasn't bad. The BG were so easy, there was no difference between those and the disposables.
Sunday was another story. Since we were close to home all day, we went back to the pre-folds. First diaper, poop. Then bathtime, another poop. Second diaper, poop. We had to go to church, so we put a BG on, with an extra insert insure we'd have no leaks. As soon as I sat down I smelled more poop (Yeah, I know, AJ is full of it). I waited until the readings to leave to change her. I also realized we had forgotten to pack the wetbag. I stand up for the reading and notice my pants are now wet. So are AJ's of course. Along with forgetting the wetbag I also forgot an extra outfit. I mean we live 20 yards from church, I really didn't think we'd need it. So a quick run home, change both our outfits and her bum of course, then back to church for communion.
After all this poopy drama, we notice AJ's bum is really red and she's squirming away from the wipe. Fantastic. M tries to let her air out, but she can crawl, roll, pull herself up on things, so just hanging free isn't really an option since our floors are untreated wood. So we go with a little A&D and a no cover pre-fold. M attempts to feed AJ a bottle. I advise to put a chuch between her and him, but he didn't think he needed to. So now there's another outfit change for him, and a new diaper for her. That is pretty much all the excitement Sunday could hold.
I figured after all that, if we were still using cloth, we meant to keep it up. How could it get worse than that? NEVER ASK THAT QUESTION!!!
Alex had Shepherd's pie for dinner last night. I know this because some form of that is what came out today, in a truly disgusting mess. We don't have the toilet sprayer, so it's dunk, dunk, dunk. Now I know for certain, since she's still in cloth, that we won't be going back to disposables. I know that mess, and before cloth, that mess would have been from her hair to her toes. We've seen it before, and I hope to never see that again.
Now if I could just find a clothesline.
Monday, April 26, 2010
Friday, April 23, 2010
Easily Excited
Yesterday morning I couldn't sleep. I was awake at 5:00AM. I had the day off work, AJ and M were still sleeping. I, however, felt like a kid at Christmas. Yesterday was delivery day. Our new couch was set to be delivered. After 11 years, there finally would be no more futons being used in my home. That should have been what was keeping me awake with excited anticipation. However, it was not. I was also waiting on two other deliveries, in the form of Fluff. I took the plunge and ordered cloth diapers for AJ. After discussing it with Matt, we came to the conclusion that this was worth an attempt.
I had never seen any of the items being delivered. Hence my excitement. It was the fear and excitement of the unknown. I had nervous knots in my belly all morning. I was stalking the tracking websites, waiting for my deliveries. Finally, the first box came. 12 prefolds and 2 Snappis. How exciting? It wasn't much, but I ripped that box open with a gusto I haven't shown since the days of Santa. Once I saw the first part of my new plan, I was even more nervous. It was real. I was actually going to do this. Eeek!
Less than 20 minutes later, the second box of fluff came. This was amazing. I was oohing and aahing over everything in the bag. The covers, the one-size, fitteds. Everything was amazing, soft and so darn cute. All the nervous-ness was gone. I now couldn't get these puppies in the wash and prepped quick enough. I didn't want to wait to see AJ with a fluffy bum.
After going through the stash, I packed up AJ and we got the remaining items we'd need to make the switch official. AJ was in her first cloth diaper in time for bed. I took so many pictures, and was extremely excited about the whole thing. I spent the rest of my TV viewing time stuffing one-sizes and trying to figure out where to put everything.
Oh, and the couch is nice too.
I had never seen any of the items being delivered. Hence my excitement. It was the fear and excitement of the unknown. I had nervous knots in my belly all morning. I was stalking the tracking websites, waiting for my deliveries. Finally, the first box came. 12 prefolds and 2 Snappis. How exciting? It wasn't much, but I ripped that box open with a gusto I haven't shown since the days of Santa. Once I saw the first part of my new plan, I was even more nervous. It was real. I was actually going to do this. Eeek!
Less than 20 minutes later, the second box of fluff came. This was amazing. I was oohing and aahing over everything in the bag. The covers, the one-size, fitteds. Everything was amazing, soft and so darn cute. All the nervous-ness was gone. I now couldn't get these puppies in the wash and prepped quick enough. I didn't want to wait to see AJ with a fluffy bum.
After going through the stash, I packed up AJ and we got the remaining items we'd need to make the switch official. AJ was in her first cloth diaper in time for bed. I took so many pictures, and was extremely excited about the whole thing. I spent the rest of my TV viewing time stuffing one-sizes and trying to figure out where to put everything.
Oh, and the couch is nice too.
Tuesday, April 6, 2010
The Bum Debate
Recently I've been toying with the idea of switching AJ to cloth diapers. I don't know anyone in real life who does this anymore. Most people who I've mentioned it to shudder at the mere thought of attempting something so archaic when disposables are so available and easy. Parents, grandparents, and basically anyone who has ever pinned a cloth diaper or attempted to get the foul remains of a toddler with an upset stomach into the toilet then the washing machine looks at me like I've suddenly grown a second or even third head. "Why would you even consider this?!?!"
In my online life however I know many people who cloth diaper. They are forever extolling on the wonders that are cloth diapers. They are great for the baby, the environment, the wallet, and make you feel like a better person for having done something so wonderous. Maybe I'm easily persuaded. Ok, there's no maybe about it, but I feel like I'm a worse person for going so willingly to disposables.
I have at least one year left before the words "potty training" will even enter our home, and that's being very hopeful on my part. So make that closer to two years of purchasing and tossing those oh so convenient bum covers. Then there's the idea of adding one, or more, baby to the mix in the coming years. It makes a person think.
How does a mother make the switch mid-game? After months of change the baby, toss the diaper I'm actually thinking of having to spray, wash, dry, sun-bleach, fold. Then there's the thought of trying to salvage a diaper after a particularly bad BM. I've seen some blowouts where I've seriously considered whether the onsie was worth trying to save, or just toss it with the diaper as a total loss. My stomach is turning just contemplating going through this as par for the course.
I think it would have been an easier decision if I didn't know the alternative. I know how easy life is now. Sure the CD Mamas, as they are known, will say how cloth is no more difficult than disposables. I can't imagine how this is true though. I don't have to worry about doing laundry every other day for fear the house will smell like a men's room at a concert in July. I don't have a hose attached to my toilet, so I can spray those poopies right off. Seriously, some of the vileness I've seen come from my beautiful little girl took so many wipes I lost count. I have wanted to take her outside and spray her down with a garden hose and the best part was wrapping the diaper up in it's neat little triangle shape and throwing it in the trash, wiping my hands of the whole mess. Had she been in cloth... [shudder]
So, the jury is still out. I'll have to price out the diapers we're using now and see what the best option would be for us. Actually, that's just to make me feel like I'm a well thought out person. The real reason holding me back is the though that AJ (and any future baby) won't be able to wear jeans. For some reason, that's what I'm still holding on to. I'm going to go hang my materialistic head in shame.
In my online life however I know many people who cloth diaper. They are forever extolling on the wonders that are cloth diapers. They are great for the baby, the environment, the wallet, and make you feel like a better person for having done something so wonderous. Maybe I'm easily persuaded. Ok, there's no maybe about it, but I feel like I'm a worse person for going so willingly to disposables.
I have at least one year left before the words "potty training" will even enter our home, and that's being very hopeful on my part. So make that closer to two years of purchasing and tossing those oh so convenient bum covers. Then there's the idea of adding one, or more, baby to the mix in the coming years. It makes a person think.
How does a mother make the switch mid-game? After months of change the baby, toss the diaper I'm actually thinking of having to spray, wash, dry, sun-bleach, fold. Then there's the thought of trying to salvage a diaper after a particularly bad BM. I've seen some blowouts where I've seriously considered whether the onsie was worth trying to save, or just toss it with the diaper as a total loss. My stomach is turning just contemplating going through this as par for the course.
I think it would have been an easier decision if I didn't know the alternative. I know how easy life is now. Sure the CD Mamas, as they are known, will say how cloth is no more difficult than disposables. I can't imagine how this is true though. I don't have to worry about doing laundry every other day for fear the house will smell like a men's room at a concert in July. I don't have a hose attached to my toilet, so I can spray those poopies right off. Seriously, some of the vileness I've seen come from my beautiful little girl took so many wipes I lost count. I have wanted to take her outside and spray her down with a garden hose and the best part was wrapping the diaper up in it's neat little triangle shape and throwing it in the trash, wiping my hands of the whole mess. Had she been in cloth... [shudder]
So, the jury is still out. I'll have to price out the diapers we're using now and see what the best option would be for us. Actually, that's just to make me feel like I'm a well thought out person. The real reason holding me back is the though that AJ (and any future baby) won't be able to wear jeans. For some reason, that's what I'm still holding on to. I'm going to go hang my materialistic head in shame.
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