the one about being thankful

Never have I been more thankful for using cloth diapers

Never have i been more thankful that my husband has a great job

Never have I been more thankful that my daughter is healthy

Never have I been more thankful that I have good friends

Thank you.

G Diapers Vs Gro: Or what I have learned about cloth diapering so far...

I would like to give you an update on our cloth diaper journey. I think I have might have mention that we did not have success with using covers and prefolds. It was a bad combination of things really...the weather, Charlie's Soap and horrible diaper rash that was not clearing up. About 2 weeks later, we move onto G Diapers. The diaper rash cleared up very quickly. She went from crying and mad baby all the time with the prefolds to happy, joyful baby that enjoyed diaper changes now. She loves getting naked. Anyone can attest that my baby loves her g diapers. Since, we were off "cloth", the G's were the perfect comprise to cloth. It would biodegrade by 150 days. I feel really good about using them.

One of the things that I love the most about cloth diapering is the colors. I love the different colors that are on the covers. I can put her in a black one day or a pink one the next. I love that I can just switch them out very easily. All the ones in the picture above are the medium size which is from 13-28lbs. That is a really long time. I kinda weighted her this afternoon at the Children's Museum and she is at 18lbs roughly. So 10 more pounds could be 6 months from now. I started putting her in the mediums in September at about 3 months. I love that she will be in all these fun colors for a long time. Also, I do not have to keep buy diapers like some of my counterparts that are always worrying about the next diaper size.

Okay, now you must be thinking there must be some cons to your lovely cloth diapers. One thing would be that we are using biodegradable. I would have prefer to use cloth but again at the time, we did not know about Gro. We did just buy cloth inserts for our G's. They are in the dyer right now so I will tell you how that goes. i really do not like making the extra trips to the trash can. We did try to flush just the poopy ones but that really clog up the toilet so again more trash. But since you are really not suppose to throw away poop, we take it and flush that down the toilet. There are leaks with G. I am not going to lie but most of the time it is human error. We just did not change her diaper within 2 hours. But it will happen to every type of diaper in some form or another either human error or the bad quality. Also, we were having problems with overnight leaking but we fixed that by doubling up the inserts. We got it to work.

I love our G's but I have found a new love for a diaper called Gro...tune in tomorrow for Gro

Almost Gone

The little diaper rash is almost gone. Angel Baby Bottom Balm is awesome. It cleared it up right away. Highly recommend for cloth diapers & that is why I chose it. Anyway time for bed.

I jinxed myself

On Monday we went back to Carol's (the lactation consultant) and we were talking about how relax and chilled out Dylan has been since she was born. I brought her home and she would not settled down. She was in such a mood that she just would not want to nap until much later that night. So maybe she was over tired because we spend so much time at Carol's or maybe she is just gaining weight so she is staying awake more. I thought yesterday was a fluke. But today, she pulled the same thing this afternoon. Also, her schedule is messed up because she is now exclusively BFing until Thursday. We are going back to the pediatrician and we want to see if she is gaining weight by BFing rather then using a bottle.

She is gaining weight. She is back to her discharge weight 6 lbs 4 oz. She is feeding more on demand rather then on a schedule which is harder for me. I don't get a chance to recover and pump. Also pumping has been reduced to 5 times a day. Yea for me!!! She also has a small diaper rash. I had to run out to the school and get some diaper cream. Hopefully that will clear up. I was reading that it is more common with the hotter weather or it could be the laundry soap that we are using. But hopefully, it is nothing and it will clear up in a few days. I don't want to use a new detergent. Again, I have said this before, if her skin is super sensitive from cloth diapers, we will switch to gdiapers.

Speaking of diapers, I was taking a picture of her getting change last week and she was the most modest little girl in the world. It was super cute. She also gets modest when I am feeding her. She will move her free arm over her eyes and face. She is like "Mom, Stop watching me feed. You are super paranoid. I am getting enough to eat now." Well, I better wake her up so she can eat.



Plus, when I do want her to sleep, I moby wrap her. I love this wrap.

8 more weeks

Pink ink=it is done

As of tomorrow, there will be about 8 weeks left before the little one arrive (hopefully she won't come earlier) and I have a super mess in her room right now. Granted, there is about 4-5 items that are going to be donated/garage sale in a few weeks. The bikes will be stored in someone's garage soon. But we have nothing that makes it a baby's room in that room. So here it is, the list that need to be done in the next 8 weeks.

Finish buying cloth diapers/Diaper Pail for Cloth diaper and everything else that we need for it
Prep Cloth diapers
Wash all baby clothes
Get a dresser (as in it will be moved in here soon)
Get a Crib (if that does not happen yet, we do have a pack-in-play (thanks janie and bob) now and the baby can sleep in our bed)
Get some baskets that Tori will not ruin
Hopefully get a comfy chair
nursing bras and tops
put together email/call list for after the birth
pack hospital bag

For the Cloth Diapers:
What We Needed
12 Cloth Diapers
Large Pail
1 Large Liner
1-2 Smaller Liners
4 Doubles
3 Pul Covers
Diaper Cream-Zinc Based, Organic, no Fish Oil
Spray Bottle
44-94 Cloth Wipes

What We Have

12 Indian Prefolds
Mini-Spayer
2 Snappies
2 Fleece Covers
Charlie’s Soap
2 doublers
1 Medium Liner
6 Cloth Wipes
1 Pul Cover (Blueberry is a great cover because it is an all-in-one cover)
(This will be edited and changed as the list get shorter and/or longer)

Left to still do:
Sign up for more pre-natal yoga or the pre-natal water class (really liked the water class) Taking the water class
One more shower for my side of the family (invites should be out soon)
Maternity Photos (need to find the money for that)
Doula (that as well) currently finding the money
Finish cleaning out the baby/second bedroom (will be need a big car to get some of that stuff out)
Hanging up the photos/posters
Write thank you cards from first shower
Get some actual work done (instead of being sick with a sinus infection)
Attend the breast-feeding class and the CPR class.

With all this scare with the swine flu (which both my high school and middle school are close, go batavia) I am so glad my sinus infection did not turn into the swine flu. Also, good thing I do not eat pork/ham. hehehe  edit: I was not scare that I will get the swine flu but I just did not want the sinus infection to get worse so people thought I had the swine flu.

Change old habits

I am very proud to say that I am changing old habits. I am going with cloth diapers for the baby so why don't I go with cloth menstrual pads for myself as well. So we are changing our habits and going green one step at a time.

Speaking of going green, I rediscover my love for etsy.com. I forgot how creative people get out there. I wish that if people would like to get me or the baby some different and creative, please check out etsy.com. I found cute slings, booties, burp cloths and clothes. There is something for everyone and you are helping out a local artist or a DIY SAHM. you never know who you are helping out but you are putting money back in to a local economy that is ten times healthier then putting it back into the big system. So please check them out for christmas, birthday and other random presents. Remember, we got your wedding gifts from sellers on etsy.com. Thanks.

Super Cute

Okay this would be something I would love if a few people when in on this.

http://www.greenearthmama.com/catalog.php?item=89&catid=6&ret=catalog.php%3Fcategory%3D6

For the more affordable one:

http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?ref=sr_gallery_5&listing_id=20479369&ga_search_query=prefold+cloth+diapers&ga_search_type=tag_title

Cloth Diapers

Last Sunday, we took a class about cloth diapers because we would like to save the environment and lower our cost with buying diapers. But cloth diapers are so much more then that. The baby will feel healthy around their bottom so not as many diaper rashes and so on. Also, the teacher told us to compare a human adult to wearing plastic underwear for 3 years and see how comfortable you will feel after that. Potty training should be easier because they will notice the wet and poopy diapers that they are sitting in and want to do something about it. Plus they will potty training up to 6 months earlier then the average. Plus, she just loved cloth diapering because it was easy and fun. So cute as well. Diapers today are not your momma's diapers.

We learn that going out and about should not change with diaper changes. We should do the diaper change as normal then throw the dirty diaper into our wet bag and take care of it when we get home. Also, same would go with our child being babysat by a friend or family member. They should take the wet cloth (water is fine), wipe the bottom then take the dirty diaper into the wet bag and put on a fresh one. We will go over the diaper routine with family members before they watch our little one. For diaper cream/diaper rash, there should be a protective barrier to the diaper and the bottom to make sure the cream does not touch the diaper. Also, if they wake up all red that we should let them run around for an hour to see if the redness clears up before the diaper change.

The really bad diaper rash might have been from anything and if our child gets that, then we are going to be using g diapers for the disposables. http://www.gdiapers.com/

The different types of diapers are: prefolds, fitted, contour, pocket diapers, and all in one. We are going to be using a mixture of all of them because the diapers are cute and fun. Prefolds are the same type that was used on us or 20-30 years ago. For example: http://www.greenmountaindiapers.com/prefolds.htm Next is Fitted Diapers that would be hugging the child and you would not have to do any folding but just put the diaper on then the cover and go. http://swaddlebees.com/products/fitted_diapers and lastly there are contour diapers that I just do not know that much about due to not have an example in class to show us. But she recommended for newborns that prefolds and fitted diapers were the best. Also, with this diapers you would need a cover for them. It would just protect from leakage and other joys like that.

Next would be Pocket Diapers that have a little pocket inside of them to have the leakage contain the leakage. You can put almost anything in there if you need a temporary solution to the issue. But these diapers are great for overnights. You can put a doubler in the diaper so the diaper will last up to 12 hours instead of 3 to 4 hours with just a regular insert. For example: http://swaddlebees.com/products/pocket_diapers Lastly, there are all in one that are great because they look like a real diaper that even the most low tech cloth diaper user can use so people who are not using cloth diapers or just don't know anything about them. They have liners already in them and cannot be taken out. These diapers are popular with people who want to cloth diaper but do not want to do anything else with them. For example: http://www.cottonbabies.com/product_info.php?cPath=98&products_id=1279

To Prep the prefolds, they need to be washed 5 times and dried 5 times to get out any natural wax. This is for unbleached diapers and that would be the only ones that we would use. Or you can boil them for 20 minutes in a big pot. No detergent when prepping the diapers. PUL is a great fabric that most of the covers are made from and great for long car trips. Fleece would be the other fabric for covers that are great for overnights. Doubler are use for overnights because it makes the diaper last 12 hours and hemp is the better option for them.

How many diapers and What do you need for cloth diapering:

12 diapers for a newborn per day x 2 = 24 diapers for a newborn for 2 days worth (combo of prefolds and fitted)
3 covers for prefold/fitted per day x 2 = 6-9 covers for a newborn for 2 days
6 doublers for a 2 day period

6-8 diapers a day for 6 months and up
5-6 diapers a day for 2 years and up

We would need a diaper pail that locks shut, a liner with PUL fabric and a few wet bags for laying around the house and for the diaper bag.

4 sets of Snappies to hold the prefold closed. http://www.cottonbabies.com/product_info.php?cPath=37&products_id=100

a Diaper Sprayer for the toilet (Mini-Shower or Bumgenuis sell them)

Non-Residue Laundry Detergent for washing the diapers (Charlies's Alaen's)

50-100 cloth wipes and Spray Bottle (less then 6 months use water and after 6 months add a drop of baby wash with tree oil)

Diaper cream should have zinc based, organic and no fish oil.

For more questions just ask. The links were example by no means you have to purchase the items from them.

Here is a list of Links that would provide further information about cloth diapering.
Support Boards
http://diaperpin.com
http://diaperswappers.com
Prefold Magic
http://diaperpages.com/pf_folds.php

Double Classes Yesterday

We had double child birth classes yesterday. We went to a cloth diaper class which I will give its own update and review about later today or tomorrow. We went to our weekly Childbirth prep class. Last night we mainly talked about partner support and watch "The Business of Being Born". I love this documentary because it really opens your eyes to how much the insurance companies and doctors really do not care about women. Now, I am not saying all doctors do not care about women but a good chuck of them do not. It is really sad that we do not have more midwives and they are not treated with proper respect. In my ideal world, we would have enough money to have a midwife/home birth. But so much of that would depend on cost. Since insurance companies do not really cover midwives or they fight with you about it, you would need so much of that money up front and hope that you will be reimburse later. Also, if we would not moving, we could have talked about it more freely but at last we are moving and I really do not want to deal with it right now. BUT IF (big if) we do have a second child and are living somewhere that we are not going to move and had the money and midwives were more legal then we would totally go that route.

Anyway, the moral of the story is check out this documentary because it is just awesome. Now my second point of the post would be partner support. The more I think about it, the more I would like to have a doula to be present at the birth. Being a rape advocate, I have come to realize that it is really nice to have someone who is not tie to you emotionally in the room with you. They are not going to flip out or be scare for you like someone who has emotion ties to you. Also, I would like to have Nick have some support so he does not feel like he needs to be everything to me and he can be able to check out if he needs to. Birthing and labor do not need to be a big circus. Between myself, Nick and the Doula, I would think that we would have our birth plan cover so everyone is on the same page and we will know who to ask for what and when. I think it will all be fine and in a orderly fashion for the most part. It would be like the wedding, I really had a loose plan going into it but everything worked out and nobody felt overly rushed. Or at least I did not feel overly rushed, bored maybe but not rushed. Bored would be pre ceremony in which I was left alone for a good majority of it. It was just me and the photographer and he was taking pictures of the things I asked him to. Hence, the labor will have my hubby and a doula so I am not alone.

Cloth diapers are coming next plus a 22 week picture. :)