Cloth Diapers 101

 Cloth Diapers: All the dirty details

Why?

I was one of those people who looked at moms that used cloth diapers and thought 

"eeewwww, hippie.."

I just couldn't understand why you wouldn't use disposables. They are easy and convent, right? I became a parent and discovered how messy diapers really are. I had a child that would have a blow out almost every time she pooped. Seriously. It got old really fast. We tried every brand out there. Honest diapers seemed to be the ones that at least caught more and even had times where there wasn't a blow out at all. (For you moms who have experienced blow outs, you can feel how disparate we were to find a solution). Then one day I had some friends who were interested in cloth and I tagged along. 

I was hooked. 

There were so many different kinds and brands and styles. But best of all they were CUTE. And we only had to buy them once FOR ALL OUR CHILDREN. 

What..? SOLD

My reason for switching was mainly cost. Josh and I had decided I was going to stay home with the kids for the first few years. This meant we need to find some ways to save money. Depending on what kind you get and how many you buy, you save around 2,000 for the first kid and 2,500 for all other children. You pay $0 on diapers for the 2nd and 3rd child. Throw in hand me downs and breast feeding and those kids don't cost you much! 

The second reason we switched was that cloth never has blow outs (unless the diaper is not tight enough then you could have a leak but nothing like a blow out), and the kid never gets a diaper rash. Our girl has some sensitive skin so this was just icing on the cake.

I'm not a big environmental person who uses cloth to save the dump, however, I only take the trash out in her room maybe once a week and it hardly ever smells because there is barely any poop in her trash or left on the diapers, It all goes down the toilet!

Finding the perfect fit

The best advice I can give you when it comes to picking a style and brand is to buy a few and try them out. Don't buy your entire stash all at once. It takes some trial and error to find the diaper that will work on your baby and for you. You can find gently used diapers on eBay or Craigslist. There are also a lot of cloth diapers stores popping up. They are great because what you see online is different in person. With that said, we thought Flips were going to be saving grace and it ended in a flop. 

The Flip is a cover with an insert. The cover is used many times, or until it gets soiled. They are a hybrid diaper. They can be used with a cloth prefold, microfiber or disposable insert.

Open prefold on the left and it folded in the "large" setting on the right. The picture on the right also has a cloth insert (Charlie Banana insert). Bottom picture is the prefold folded on the "medium" setting compared to same CB insert.

Problems:

It is a lot of material between the legs not matter how you fold it. Makena cried and became frustrated anytime she tried to stand because she couldn't really close her legs. It's a big diaper as well. 

The material bunches easily and can soil the cover. We were changing the cover almost as often as we were the inserts. 

Not a fan of the snap sizing. It's an all or nothing deal and it left material bunching at weird spots.

Stains easily.  The fleece seems to wash out poo spots very well while the prefolds don't. 

CB diaper on the left and Flip on the right

Advantages:

It's worked great as a night diaper for us. The prefolds are very absorbent, more so than most inserts. Since she was sleeping, it didn't matter that it was hard for her to move.  She has slept 12 hours in one diaper and not leaked before. However, I just have to make sure I make it tight enough or it will leak out the top. 

Traveling. I have heard CD (Cloth Diaper) users will use this one while flying and use the disposable inserts.

Our Favorite: Charlie Banana Pocket Diapers

First off, pocket diapers are a diaper that has an all enclosed "pocket" where an insert is put in to absorb all the mess. Each time you have to change the whole diaper since there is a fleece lining between the insert and baby's bum. 

You can see the flap on the top of the diaper where the insert goes in. This picture shows the CB orange one size diaper (on large sizing) on the right and the Large white sized diaper on the left. We love the one size as they have a large size range and can easily adjust with the baby. It has a bra strap like sizing on each leg so you don't have to pick a set size but can change it to fit your babe's legs perfectly. I bought a pack of the large sized diapers because they can fit a little bit bigger kid and I am pretty sure Makena is not going to stop her massive growth anytime soon.

The inserts vary in size as well. You will get one small and one large with each one size diaper. We got 2 large inserts with the sized diapers. They send you two so you can have a insert that fits with the different sizing, but also to double stuff the diaper for long naps or night time, which has worked for us. 

Fit

Makena is a chunk so I love the fleece that runs around all of the elastic (which isn't found with all pocket diapers). It should be snug but not too tight that it leaves big angry red marks. If it's too loose things will leak out, too tight is just painful. So it's a learning curve on finding the right sizing. One nice part is that cloth diapers sit like underwear do and not up high on the stomach/backs like disposables do. This seems a lot more comfortable to me, personally. 

Also, lesson learned that I should have read the print as my daughter is wearing "bad boy" dipes haha

Process/Set Up

We didn't switch to cloth until after Makena was eating food so with EBF babies, you can just take the whole mess and throw it in wash as it's water soluble. This means it will all wash out including out of your washer. When you move to solids, you will need to get the poo off before it gets tossed in the wash. So those who feel putting poo in you washer, you aren't. I have a comfortable stash of around 20 diapers, (though I did just 12 more as they were on sale we will are planning for baby #2 soon). But 20 is a comfortable number that lets me have enough for daycare and at home, while only washing every other day. If there are any messy diapers, I just wash that night so it doesn't sit for too long. I wash at night and then hang dry them over night. By morning they are dry! If there are any stains I put them in the sun to sanitize and bleach the diapers.

I can stuff all the diapers in about 10 minutes. It doesn't take long at all to get them ready. I keep them in a draw at the changing table along with the liners.

 

Liners

Liners are amazing. We don't use a spray. That just sounds dangerous. They feel like a dryer sheet. Very soft and very thin. I love the Osocozy liners. They are $8 for a roll of 100 and I cut those in half because they are huge. You put the liner between the bum and diaper.

Then you just take it and flush it along with the poo! No need to touch the poo or have any in your wash. This is great for when you are out and about since you can flush it and not carry a messy diaper around with you. 

WARNING MESSY DIAPER BELOW

I wanted you to see what it looks like AFTER you flush the liner.

Not bad uh?

Then I unstuff the inserts and throw it into the wet bag which can all go in the wash!

I recommend getting a smaller wet bag that you throw in your diaper bag for when you are running errands and such. It's just easier and it seals the mess from your car/stroller/diaper bag. 

Extra Clean

When the diapers are looking dirty I just do a soak overnight with Rockin Green soap and they return all white and fresh looking!

I do pre-wash any messy diaper so it doesn't soak with poo.

For everyday washing, I use Honest detergent. There many kinds out there but you have to make sure they are good on cloth diaper. Most that you find in the store is NOT good for diapers as it leaves a residue and makes them not as absorbent.

Just some cuteness to end the post:

Any questions or something I didn't cover and you are wondering about, ask away! I am open to talking about anything.

 

Next entry will cover other brands that friends have used and cloth wipes!

 

 

Baby Howard Week 1-10

When starting the blog, I figured it would be a great way to share our family adventures. And to be able to share the pregnancy with the family and not have to repeat the same story many times :) 

A woman doesn't actually get pregnant until around week 2. Weird, I know. Starting week 4 is when the baby starts to grow and make it's little home for 9 months. This trimester has actually been pretty easy for me. I've been exhausted at times and had difficultly finding food that both sounds good and is good for me. For awhile there I was eating lots of chili mac and ice cream. However, my body has adjusted and I feel very...normal. 

Starting last week, I started to notice my belly getting a little pudgy. Its not the nice round pregnant belly I was hoping for. It just looked like I ate too much ice cream and had developed a muffin top. I'm not one who deals well with being out of shape. I hated that my middle was expanding and I couldn't do much about it. I was working out still and my belly was still pudgy. I thought it was too early to be showing, I most really just be gaining weight. The scale disagreed. hmmm..

By Week 10, the pudgy belly started to take shape. I can feel it pushing out and growing sometimes. It is a very odd feeling but it's comforting too. I know our baby is in there growing and getting bigger. 

Today was my first ultrasound. Josh was out of town and was sad to have to miss it. But with cell phones these days, it was like he was there :) We got to see the little one moving around. They were SO excited! Both arms and legs were kicking. It was really cute. I tried not to cry and my doctor laughed. I guess they aren't normally that active this young lol I got to see the heartbeat. This machine doesn't have audio so we couldn't hear it. Plus, it's harder to this early on. Seeing the heartbeat drops your chances of miscarriage down to 3%, great fact from my doctor today :) By the measurements of the baby head to rump, I am actually a few days ahead of where they had guessed. Putting me at 10 weeks and 2 days instead of 9 weeks and 6days. It projected my due date for January 8th, however, since it's so close, my doctor isn't going to change the Jan. 11th due date. 

2 weeks left in the first trimester! Next ultrasound is in 4 weeks! Hopefully we will be able to see more of the baby by then!

Projects and Babies

Well, I'm not sure where to start. There has been a lot going on here. I'll start with Josh's man projects. It's so great to married to man that is good with his hands :)

This is his Ohio State cornhole boards. I managed to find the OSU bean bags online for him. It's a really fun outdoors game that's big in his home state. I had never heard of it before, but find it's a great way to spend sunny Sunday afternoons.

The next project was one that I had some influence on. Our master bathroom vanity was in bad shape. To top it off, the sink kept clogging and it was starting to smell. Really bad. So we decided to replace it. The homeowner picked up all the costs so it made it a lot more fun to do. We replaced the mirror and the ugly little shelf above the sink. Here is what the final product looks like:

It turned out to add more space in our bathroom without getting rid of any drawer space. 

I didn't blog for fear of spilling our secret before we told our parents. We had found out that we were pregnant. It's kind of a funny story on how it happened. We had been trying for a baby but I think anytime you see the 2nd little blue line appear, it surprises anyone. It was a normal work day for us. Josh left just as I was getting up and getting ready. I took a test that morning since it was around the time that we could find out, but I wasn't really hopeful that it would be positive. I had seen enough negatives ones to not get my hopes up. I looked down at the little stick and noticed a 2nd line forming..

I freaked out.

I started running down the hallway calling Josh's name. I could hear his truck and was hoping he was still inside. He wasn't. I called him and found him driving down the street already. Now that week, one of dogs had been really sick and was at the doggy hospital. When I called, I was out of breath and asking if he could come back home. He started to get nervous thinking one of the other dogs had gotten sick as well. Knowing that he would want to know why I was acting odd, and that I can't keep a secret to save my life, I told him,

"We're pregnant"

He was just as excited as I was. We both wanted to tell everyone right away. However, Josh's parents were coming to town in a few weeks for a visit and we were going to see my parents then as well. We decided to wait until then to tell them. We wanted to do it when we could tell them in person and when they were all together. It worked out perfectly. We told some of our friends to tide us over until the big announcement.

Here is the reaction to telling our parents :)

Baby Howard is Announced!  

It's pretty cute and worked perfectly. We went shopping that day and got the crib and some other things for the baby and the nursery. Now that everyone knew, it made it so much more real! 

One Year Down

I was laying in bed yesterday on a rare Saturday when we could sleep in. Josh has been working late nights this week so he really needed the extra rest. Laying there awake, I really looked at my husband. 

The reality of our first year of marriage coming up, I have been thinking more about this past year. Within 10 months of meeting this amazing man, we were married on a beautiful beach surrounded by our family. I've heard many times that Josh and I seem like we were high school sweethearts, our relationship is so natural. I do think we were made for each other. 

I am continuously amazed at the man that Josh is. His ability to love is incredible and I am so lucky to be the woman on the receiving end. He is thoughtful and considerate. He is extremely sweet, while at the same time such a strong and brave man. The person that Josh is makes me so proud to be his wife. He risks his life for people he doesn't even know. How can you inspire to be anything better than that? You can't.

He pushes me to be a better person, a more loving wife, a stronger friend. I love who I am with him. 

I get asked often I can handle being a military wife with Josh's schedule. I don't really think about how to survive each deployment. I love Josh. That's the answer. I love him so much that each trip is worth it because in the end, Josh is home. That's the big secret- love. 

The best part of the deployments is it extends our newlywed status. At this rate, we will probably be newlyweds for the rest of our lives. 

Here's to the best year of my life so far and to the many others that will only get better.

Fun Filled Weekend!

I just can't get enough of these little pigs. They are so cute!

They look great on our dining room table. The little blue box also looks amazingon the table :)

This weekend was packed with lots of fun things. However, Josh and I could sleep for about a day and then finally be caught up on sleep! It was worth it, being able to hang out with our great friends. The adventures started with getting a new treadmill! We were looking around at a few different places, we when came across a great sale and a treadmill that meets all our needs! It was half off! We couldn't believe it. Josh put it together for me that night and I went on a nice little 5 mile run the next day :)

We set it up in the garage. Once Josh gets his cage and weights, our little home gym should be complete! We are working on getting rid of the four wheelers so we will have more space in there, no worries! It's been so nice to be able to work out at home, especially with all the rain we have been having.

Friday was actually a beautiful day in Washington. The sun was out, it was warm and Josh worked a half day. He tortured me all day talking about how nice it was outside, and how great it felt to be working outside on the yard. I was stuck at work and just hating life. I finally got off and came home to this:

I love having a husband who loves working in the yard (which includes dog poo duty!) You can see the puppies running around. Kane's little white paws turned green! It was pretty funny. Josh got some time to relax after all his hard work and try on his new finger shoes.

We have missed the sun so much this winter. Let's hope spring is actually here!

Another new addition to the house is a giant rug for the living room. I have been wanting to get one for awhile. With all the traffic and the dogs playing. I wanted something down to help protect the carpet. Plus it helps hide some of the dirt :)

Saturday we went to a Sounders game with some friends.

We had great seats, like always. It was the perfect day for a game. Sun was out, it was warm and an early afternoon game. I got see my bestie, Kelsey, who I don't see as often as I like.

Casey was also free. Love these girls! Always a fun time when they are around. All of us girls got to love on this little cutie:

He is such a little sweet kid. We were so glad he felt up to coming. Jared and Josh are great friends. I think Josh would have felt a little out numbered if they hadn't come.

Then us of course :)

After an amazing weekend, it's always followed by a busy work week. No rest for us! But Josh's busy week will give some time to figure out what to get him for our anniversary...hmmmmm

Our one year anniversay is approaching! I can't believe how quickly that went. However, time spent apart and busy schedules tends to speed up life. I'm not sure what we are going to do for that weekend (5/10) but Josh has something in mind, so I'm sure it will be super sweet. With Josh keeping up his amazing present giving, he got me an amazing, beautiful wedding band from Tiffany's! It's not the best picture since it was taken via my cell. I will work on getting better pictures when I have the time. It's got diamonds all the way around and is just perfect.

 We went to Seattle this past weekend with Madde, who was in town visiting us. We made him to visit the Tiffany's store with us and watching me giggle like a school girl while Josh picked out and bought the ring. But then we did more "manly" stuff like hit the Mountain Hardware store and Pike's Place Market.

We had the best time at Kell's Irish Pub with Ms. Kelsey.

We also love seeing her! I wish we lived 2 streets away again like in college..good times.

This are the little piggy banks that we so love from Pike's Place. We have a bigger one which we titled "Retirement fund". We are going to retire as millionaires at the rate our piggy is being filled :) The little green one was a gift for Madde so he could have a little something to remember us by. There are actually 2 blue ones which are salt and pepper shakers, so cute.

The weekend was packed with lots of eating out, late nights and great conversations. Seeing Madde is always a great time, even though the visits are so far apart.

Now that we have had so much fun the last few weeks, its time to get back to work and studying. I am actually looking forward to getting into a schedule again. It will be nice. Josh is studying for his Tech Sgt exam this week. I love having him study so I can do mine as well without him distracting me! I really hope he makes it on the first go! It will nice to have the extra money, but really I just love seeing move his way up.

Well I thought we should join the crowds and start a blog. Josh agreed, or maybe he just snorted in his sleep. Either way, here we are. As a warning, I will probably be the one doing most of the writing for all of you wanting to hear from Josh. However, I'm pretty good at adding in his thoughts/opinions. With most of our family living aways from us, we figured this would be the easiest way to share all our trips and adventures without having to repeat them over and over again! Posting pictures online doesn't tell the whole story and my captions are starting to become mini novels.

I hope you all enjoy keeping up with us and sharing our adventures! You never know what life will bring you next!