Cloth Diapering- The beginning.

Here are some things that you must consider when deciding if cloth diapering is for you and where you want to go with it.

Why do you want to or NOT want to?
Are the other caregivers in your life willing to participate?
Do you want to save money?
Do you want to help out the landfills?
Do you want to experience the cuteness??
Can you handle the poop?
How easy does it really need to be for you to do it?
Are you a one kind of diaper person or a little of everything kind of person (can you guess which kind I am?)?
Does it really matter to you what they look like or is simple better??
Used or New?
All of these things will impact the "system" you choose and where you start. You are about to enter a whole new world you never knew existed...I warn you- you may start doing it for one reason and find that you continue for a completely different one.

I will do a series of informational posts on the different systems which will roughly be these:

1. Prefolds, pins and snappis
2. Fitteds
3. Covers- pul, fleece, and wool
4. Pockets and Inserts
5. All- in - Ones (or twos) (AIO;s and AI2's)

After we cover the systems we will move to:

1. Storing clean and dirty diapers
2. Washing
3. Sewing them!
4. Whatever other questions might arise in the process...

The rest of this post will be about myself. I started cloth diapering M when she was about 4-5 months old. I got increasingly more irritated about the trash I was creating with disposable diapers. I wasn't sure B would be into it, so I just got a few to see if it would even work for us. I am sure now that B sees that day as the beginning of a long obsession....woops. We started with the easiest way to cloth diaper and progressed to the hardest. Now we fall somewhere in the middle. We each prefer different diaper systems so we have a little of everything. I actually quit cd'ing M when she was a year old because she has "peanutbutter" poop that must be scraped from the diaper and her rashes were totally out of control. This would be ok would it be once a day, but 3-4 times a day is a little much. We have since gotten the rashes controlled and I have discovered flushable liners and we're now back on track! It's feeling good...

What I found after I started cding for the trash reason was that I could become absolutely obsessed and need to try out everything possible. It has become my hobby and I truly enjoy it and feel good about it. Have I saved money in the process...I think I can pretty much say no, but has it been worth it- to me, yes. To B, probably not...but I do feel it is good for the kids health (who on earth REALLY knows what's in a Huggies/Pampers) and good for the environment.

So we'll start whenever I get a chance... HA!

33 Miles

This song is really speaking to me lately. Every time it's on the radio I get goosebumps all over. This is just the chorus...

You only get just one time around,
You only get one shot at this,
One chance, To find out,
The one thing that you don't wanna miss,
One day when its all said and done
I hope you see that it was enough,
This one ride,
One try,
One life,
To love.

I am really trying to remember the lyrics when I get upset with M or need some time to myself. What if something happened to her and G or just one of them?? Did I get everything out of each minute that I need/want? I don't want to miss anything- not one single second. It's true- we only get one shot at this- one shot to make it everything we ever wanted...words to live by.

Man oh man...

He is so damn cute. I can't get over it sometimes. While M was sleeping today G and I had a diaper shoot. SO HAPPY. A lot of these look the same, but they are each special in their own way. If I had to sum up G in two words they would be "truly delighted." He loves life! The only time he fusses is when he's hungry, tired, or just wants to be close to someone. His face lights up when he sees B and he giggles. It's really cute. When I get home after work he'll start crawling out of the chair to get to me. Look how skinny!!! 15 lbs 8 oz!What's remarkable about this one?? He's standing- not leaning on anything. Stood there for about 10 seconds!You're so silly mama.You can see his cute teeth :)Loves to push and pull things.Something else looks good over there to play with.After trying for an HOUR to get the stupid video to upload I had to quit...sorry.

Sorrow

My heart hurts tonight for my friends Ryan and Heather who lost their son Wyatt today. Life just isn't fair. Wyatt has touched my heart as have they. Sleep peacefully sweet boy.

8 Months

Wow. That really sums it up for me. I can't fathom that he's been here for that long...The shoot didn't turn out as well as I had thought. Oh well. This shopping cart is the perfect height for him to push around. I think he might actually start walking later than M even though he crawled earlier. He's much more content to crawl that she ever was. He pushes stuff around really well though. We'll see! Getting creative with the sign placement!
A boy and his truck. G LOVES to push trucks around.An ariel view!

Here they are!!

My little Dorothy and the Scarecrow. They were seriously cute. They didn't mind their costumes AT ALL because they were pretty much just like clothes!!Crawlin' Scarecrow!M on the hunt for candy!! At every door she'd look up and say "Open it fo' me??" I kept saying- well we have to get MORE! So then she'd go on. Eventually she'd start collecting and then look at me and say "Maybe later."M with the babysitting kids- Sawyer, Nila, and Sloan.M with the kids at the H party- Delaney and Annie.It was a fun night!!

Fun, Easy, Educational.

This is an activity I did with M today. I've been stressed about her colors, even though I know that colors is a THREE year old milestone and M isn't even TWO. Anyway. I colored 2 big note cards with each color- wrote the name on one side and colored the other. M and I did it together, but I think it would work better if your child was older because they would understand that only ONE color can be used on each card. After that I used contact paper to laminate. M isn't getting the colors, but it's fun to use them for a match game. I laid out one of each color on the floor and then held the other set. She picked one from my hands and then matched it with the same color on the floor. She does amazingly well at matching!! The colors will come soon enough...