Fluff Butt

I've been getting a lot of questions about cloth diapering lately and so I've decided to write about it.

 We decided to go with cloth not because we are these earth friendly, waste-conscious people but because we like to save money. Any way we can save money...we are all about it. The fact that it is good for the environment just happened to be another perk of cloth diapering.

A friend of mine decided to cloth diaper and I think my first question was "eeew why?"  ( a familiar reaction I now get)

When she explained all of the pros of doing it and broke down how simple it actually was...I was in. I didn't take very much convincing when I told my husband about how much money it could save.

We bought his first batch of cloth about 5 months into the pregnancy. It's not really necessary to buy them that early but we were excited.  I looked online for the best options and got my friends opinion and we decided to go with Fuzzibunz brand.  (They're lifetime guarantee on the snaps sealed the deal for me and has really come in handy) Now everybody in the cloth diapering community will tell you "Don't get just one brand" try a few out etc.. etc.. but for us...I'd heard great things about Fuzzibunz and so we just went with the same thing. Luckily they have worked out great.

They are amazingly cute and honestly they work the best for my lil stinky booty. He has mama's butt and will literally explode out of the top of disposables. Cloth keeps everything in. The only time we have leaks are when  we sleep through his night-time changing. This happens for obvious reasons.

I'll give you some facts in case you are wondering:

Q. Do you have to dunk the diaper in the toilet?

A: Absolutely not. Those days are over. We went with flushable liners to catch his poo and simply shake it into the toilet and put the cloth in the wet bag.

Q: Do you have to use safety pins?

A: No...yet again. Those are the old days. The new cloth diapers come with wonderful snaps (that adjust with your babies's growth from birth through potty training) or verelcro(sp?) and also adjustable leg adjustments to grow with your lil guy or girl.

Q; What do you do when you "go" places?

A: I still use cloth. I have a travel wet bag and bring his inserts and extra dipes. You store the dirty dipe in the travel wetbag and put it in the big wetbag when we get home.

Q: What's the worst part of cloth diapering

A: Well just like with disposables...Things get stinky.  If you store enough disposables in your trash you're gonna smell it.  Opening his wetbag nearly knocks me out everyday...but it's only when I open it. There is not a lingering funk. When it's time to wash I simply dump the wetbag into the washer and wash everything. I don't have to touch anything. (side note: I will be getting a pail soon because I washed my wetbag and it ripped :( ...it's a learning process)

Q: Does it cost a lot of  money?

A: At first maybe. The diapers can range from $7-$30 a pop. We shelled out about $400 up front for 20 diapers. But a pack of disposables is about $15+ and you'll go through one in a week.  Babies go through 8-12 diapers a day. In the end you'll save up to $1000+ a year.

Q: How do you take care of them?

A: I have to wash every other day usually. (It doesn't really increase my water bill by much honestly) and I use a special soap for cloth diapers called Rocking Green. I've been using cloth for 6 months and I bought 2 bags and I still have 1 entire bag left. You use literally teaspoons with each wash.

click on the picture for Rockin Green site

I opted to use liners because I didn't want to use a diaper sprayer and I like it a lot better. It also causes less staining on my dipes. If they do stain I just stick them out in the window to "sun" and the stains are gone. In the winter I tumble dry them on low heat.

Q; Do you feel like it's worth it overall?

A: Yes Yes yes! Absolutely. I NEVER have to run to the store for diapers or have to worry about running out. When I'm down to the last few diapers I just wash. Done and done.

The cloth are so cute and they really contain his "messes." I've tried disposables a lil bit and i'm definitely more fond of cloth. I like to match his lil outfits with his dipe and I don't feel like my kid looks trashy just sitting in his diaper.

 Since i'm staying home this is never an issue. If you are not going to stay-at-home it may not be an option. You really have to be dedicated. Also, other people may not want to get involved (ie: daycares, grandparents) But for me it's been great. My parents and in-laws know how it works and are all in.  My husband had never changed a diaper in his life before my son, so he really only knows how to do cloth. He can do it in his sleep. (it's important to have your spouse on board)

I definitely have to say " to each his own. " but for me this has worked out great. We love it and we will not go back. If you have any questions feel free to post comments and I will do my best to answer.  Google is also great. There is an entire cloth diapering community out there.

This is the one i'm on at Babycenter.com

Click on the logo to for more info

Fuzzibunz has an awesome buy 5 get one free sale every few months.

I don't have any of these but I might try some. They have cool colors

IF you're interested in Cloth and want to participate or jut get more info about it, the Great Cloth Diaper Change is happening Saturday April 21st around the world. 

I went to this while I was still pregnant and got a ton of info from retailers and other cloth moms. I will be there again this year to change my lil one's bum for the world record. Yay!

Click on the logo or here to find a location nearest you. Good luck!

WARNING: Graphic Content of Baby Getting diaper changed!!!!!

Coen in a disposable for his size

Look at that gap and how easily it pops open

The diaper and the insert (I usually pre-stuff these
after each wash...but for the sake of learning...)

Insert goes in the back of the diaper

Push it all the way to the front (especially for boys)

Tear off one liner
(I buy these from amazon for about $8 for a roll of 100. I get like 6 at a time.)

Lay on top of diaper

Fold up over "wee bits"

Snap 

snap

Snap

snap, snap
(You'll know where to snap according to how big your baby is)

I pull the back up over his butt cheeks
 just to make sure nothing is hanging out

No gap!

Done!

Here's the dirty one...

Knock liner into toilet

Flush!
(They are biodegradable and have not clogged my pipes if you're wondering) 

Shake insert into wetbag

Drop in diaper

Zip
(Wetbag's on Amazon)

Wash hands

Blue Dawn for "Power Soaks."
I soak the diapers once a month to remove any residue and buildup.
I learned about this online. If you get "ammonia" diapers...this will help.

Stay at Home Mom's

I saw this article online and it cracked me up. I only have one child and I can relate. I thought I would share.

This is what a stay-at-home mom does all day

By The_Stir | Parenting – Mon, Aug 8, 2011 4:06 PM EDT

• Email

Brittany Miller read this

I saw red when I read a letter to an advice column from a childless woman who suspects her friend is lying about being busy all day. "I'm feeling like the kid is an excuse to relax and enjoy," she says, so "why won't my friend tell me the truth?" She wonders what are stay-at-home-moms doing all day that they can't call or email?

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I know I'm preaching to the choir here, and the advice columnist seems to physically restrain herself from reaching out to wring the letter-writer's neck. Still, I thought I might detail a typical day alone with the kids. That way, when your friend whines at you for not answering her email about her roommate eating her potato chips (yes, that's real), you won't have to find the time and childcare to write her a reasoned response. You can just forward this to her.

Dear Person Who Wonders What SAHMs Do All Day:

I love my kids, and I am so happy. Also, I am very busy. Here's what I do.

5 a.m.: Baby wakes up in crib and wants to nurse. I nurse her and she goes back to sleep, but doesn't want to be put down. I bring her into my bed, where my sweaty toddler is already sleeping because she woke two hours earlier. Lying between them, I get only fitful sleep, because when I'm not getting a 2-year-old's foot to my head, I am worried about rolling over on the 10-month-old, or poking my husband to make him roll over so he'll stop snoring.

Both kids wake up for real at 6:30. This is actually nice and late for them. I change two diapers and try to get them both dressed, but the toddler wants to be naked for a while and rather than risk atantrum I let her run off. I get the baby changed and dressed as she performs the can-can, jamming my body against the changing table as I wrestle the top of the Baby Genie open because it's stuck again. Which means I have to change the bag. The fresh bags are in the kitchen. I take the full bag out and drag it to the front door.

I try to get food into both girls while making coffee. This involves pouring cheerios and blueberries onto the high-chair tray, making toast with cream cheese, and scrambling eggs. While I try to get the grounds out of the coffee maker, the baby climbs over to the oven and hangs off its handle. I use my foot to hold it closed. The toddler yells, "NO!" and knocks her down. The baby wails. I pick her up. This means I can't finish the coffee grounds. I put her in the high chair. The toddler pees. I help her clean up the pee. We go back into the bedroom, because now she wants to put a diaper on and I'm not about to let that opportunity pass me by.

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The baby begins wailing because she's lonesome; I'm still trying to either convince or wrestle with the toddler, who has decided she does not like the pants she picked out. Finally we return to the kitchen, and I realize that the baby is wailing because she's pooped in her nice clean diaper (the girl likes a clean canvas). I plop the toast onto the booster-seat tray, strap in the toddler, and proceed back to the bedroom to change the baby. The poop is a blowout; we need a total outfit change. I realize I haven't replaced the bag in the pail. I fold the diaper into itself and bring it to the kitchen garbage. The toddler has flung her toast because she is done.

I still have not been able to make the coffee.

I turn on the TV and make the coffee and gulp it as the girls are momentarily quiet. I straighten up the kitchen, put away the clean dishes, put up a load of wash. Then I sit down with them and watch the end of Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. When it's over, the toddler asks for another one and I say no, so she shrieks at the top of her lungs for a half an hour. I bring the baby into the bathroom with me and hop in the shower, poking my head out to play peek-a-boo the whole time. Afterwards, both girls "help" me get dressed by placing items of clothes against parts of my body. This is very cute, but does not get me dressed.

The door buzzes: it's the UPS guy with the diapers from Amazon. I run down the hall wearing one sock and a bra and pray he really is who he says he is, because I am not about to open the door to check.

I resume trying to get dressed as the toddler begins jumping on the bed. She falls off and bonks her head, and leading to about 45 minutes of soothing and crying. The baby, meanwhile, appears holding a blue crayon and displaying a matching blue tongue and teeth. I attempt to fish pieces of blue out of her mouth while the toddler continues to shriek in my ear at top volume. I put the clothes in the dryer.

It is time for ballet class.

We pile into the car and I drive to my friend's house, where I put her car-seat into my back seat, then drive all the girls to the studio. I put the baby in a sling and hold both girls' hands. One toddler likes to run fast, the other ambles slowly. One toddler has to pee before class, the other is still in diapers. Helping the toddler pee involves holding her over the toilet with both hands; the baby is still in the sling; the other toddler is literally running in circles yelling, "bal-LET! Bal-LET!" We go upstairs; the ballet teacher asks me to put the girls' hair up and I punch her in the face. Sike! I laugh and say I did my best, and she says it's all right. The big girls go into the studio. The baby crawls directly to the top of the metal stairs. I pick her up and return her to the play area (train table, plastic kitchen, LOTS OF FUN STUFF). I sit down to read my phone. She crawls back to the stairs. I then spend 45 minutes dragging her back to the play area repeatedly, though I do manage to answer some emails.

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ARE YOU STILL READING?

A woman gives me the stink-eye for checking my phone when I'm with the baby. "Shouldn't you be paying attention to your child?" she asks. I run through several snappy responses. By the time I have come up with the perfect one, she has moved on.

The ballet class is over all too soon. I drive through McDonald's, hoping nobody sees me, because I am addicted to their smoothies and also starving. We head back to my friend's house where I unload the big girls, then the car seat, then the baby. The girls run off to play and the baby stares at the other baby dubiously. I "help" my friend make lunch, mostly just eating everything she tries to put on the toddlers' plates. We feed the toddlers, then the babies. Then we clean up the floor under the high chairs. The toddlers fight over who gets to go in the bouncy swing, then fall apart emotionally. It is nap time.

We head home. My toddler has dropped her nap, so instead, she throws a tantrum because she is disappointed at having to leave her friend's house. I pull over, open the windows, and sit five feet away on the curb, waiting for her to calm down. If I had a cigarette, I would smoke it. I dream fondly of cigarettes. I come back to the car and ask, "Are you done?" She blinks and says, "Yeah. I done. I sowwy I scweaming and scweaming." The baby is asleep!

At home, I let the toddler watch two shows while I whisk the baby into bed without waking her. This is when I get a little bit of emailing done, though I do not have the energy to call anyone. I pay several bills and finally, finally make out a form to change something with the kids' medical coverage. I realize the bank has charged me fees for something and I spend 45 minutes arguing with them on the phone. I start marinating meat for dinner and realize we are out of rice and pasta.

The baby wakes. I nurse her. Then we're off to the grocery store. After returning eight bottles of ponzu sauce to the shelves, I wise up and give the toddler a pack of brightly-colored hair clips and she spends the rest of the trip placing them carefully all over her head.

A woman gives me the stink-eye because I have the toddler in the basket of the shopping cart while the baby rides in the baby seat. "That's unsafe," she tells me. "Well, I forgot my leash," I respond wearily, tucking a pack of toilet paper next to the toddler and taking a plastic bag out of the baby's mouth.

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When we are paying, the toddler asks to "boop this," and the checkout woman is remarkably patient about letting her push various buttons, then gives us some stickers. "Where are the rest of these hair clips?" she asks, as she rings them up. "Oh, you're wearing them all!" My toddler is proud.

I put the baby into the car first, and notice people looking with alarm at my toddler, alone in the cart. I hurry back and put her in the car before they call CPS on me. I load the groceries into the car. I roll the cart back to the corral, car-doors open, again worrying that someone will yell at me for leaving the girls alone.

I get a text from another friend -- can the toddler have a post-nap playdate? Sure! I drive to his house, which is stunningly beautiful and remarkably un-childproofed. I spend the next hour assisting the baby in walking up and down, up and down, up and down their wooden staircase as the older kids whip each other into a frenzied crescendo. I worry about the groceries in the car and when it's time to leave, I have to carry the toddler out because she's again upset about leaving her friend. More screaming ensues.

We arrive home. I unload the groceries. I set the baby at the foot of the stairs and watch her start up. I get the toddler, who agrees (for once) that she does not need uppies up the stairs. I unload the groceries. My husband texts: he is home and can carry them up. Thank effing god. I arrive at my door and am greeted by the dirty diaper bag. I do not even care.

Do you have friends who think you eat bon-bons and relax all day? Do you even bother trying to make them understand?

Easter!

My sister came over to dye eggs with my nieces. They were so tired that they all ended up spending the night. I wasn't sure how the whole "Easter bunny" thing works. Does he come in the night like Santa Clause? I don't even remember.  I set up their baskets and left them out to find but I guess i'd better have it figured out by next year huh?

We went to Mike's uncle's house and grubbed and hid eggs. They have Menudo every Easter. OMG I love Menudo. I swear it can cure anything. Then we went to my parents and also grubbed and hid eggs. My sister and found some Hula Hoops and  had a blast trying to remember how to do it. It's been years!

It was a beautiful day and I'm pretty sure I gained 40 lbs!

PhotoBomb

Mike dyed one egg and then drew this from the dye spots LOL

Happy Easter!

Sunday Confession

I think that other girls think that I'm weird. I think i'm kind of weird anyway but the reason is because  I don't have many girl friends. I don't really get along with girls that well. I come from a family of crazy aunts. Sometimes they are hard to read. You could say something wrong and snap...all hell breaks loose. Whenever i'm introduced to a new girl or our paths/circles cross I always feel awkward.  I end up talking too much. Revealing all kinds of info where they are like "Damn girl..." or I realize that I do this and reveal nothing....We sit there in awkward silence. It's always been easy for me having guy friends because you can say nothing and they don't get all bent out of shape. They don't assume that you hate them or that something is wrong.

As hard as this is to say...girl friends=drama. One way or another it happens. The ones that say " I don't like drama." Usually are the worst ones. This is why I only have a few close females friends and I've known them 10, 20 years.

For any future girls I meet or come across:

-I'm sorry i'm weird.
-Sometimes I'm quiet for no reason. I'm just in my own head.
-I don't know when to hug people sometimes so I hug you once and not the next time...this doesn't mean I hate you...maybe I think my armpits stink or something.
-I honestly forget to speak sometimes. Especially now that I have a kid. I will go somewhere and completely forget to greet people. This also doesn't mean I hate you. I'm normally not that rude.
-I'm sorry if you think I wear a lot of makeup. I don't get out of the house much and this is my one time to feel like a normal human being that doesn't wear sweats everyday. Also...I have zits that I like to cover up.
-Girls Night Out sounds awesome...but I have a kid. If you have kids...it works...if not it probably will not really happen. My parents have jobs and I don't like to leave him with anybody else. I have to be a responsible adult these days. Not saying never...just not right now....
-I do not want to come to your "dip party", "tupperware party" or any kind of party where I can find it at walmart for cheaper or make it myself. Scentsy and Slumber Party's...maybe
-I'm not mean. My eyebrows just make my face look scowly and i'm all out of contacts and I squint a lot and it makes me look pissed.  I'm honestly normally an upbeat person. (If I don't wear makeup people normally ask me if i'm in a bad mood or sick...thus another reason I wear it...)
-It takes me awhile to warm up....so don't give up on me...

Snuggle Smothering

I am a little claustrophobic I'll admit. I can't sleep in a sleeping bag. I can't hug people for too long. I don't like to wear a shirt too tight and sometimes I don't wear my seatbelt. I hate the feeling of being trapped. I got trapped in a laundry shoot when I was a kid and I don't think I've been the same since.

I used to think I was a snuggler. But I guess I'm not. I will snuggle for a full 3 minutes...then usually roll over or scoot away. Well my husband and my son are snugglers. So much so that at the end of the night, I usually end up falling off the bed. My knees are in my chest and I'm holding on to the side of the bed with all of my might.

Since I get up frequently to feed the baby, my husband "sleep searches" for me in the middle of the night and ends up on "my side of the bed." (Lets just be honest here: There is no "my side." If I go around to the other side...same thing happens) So usually I'll just roll him over and get back in bed. Sometimes I bring the baby with me so he can eat and then I fall back to sleep. My son also searches for me. (Thus the reason he won't sleep in the crib the entire night)

So I have these two wonderfully loving snuggle bugs that just want to be close to me and although I love the fact that they want to be near....I get no sleep! LOL

I'm starting to realize that I may never sleep again. I don't know why I'm still holding on so tightly to the notion. I love sleep! But I guess as long as my loves are getting sleep while "snuggle smothering me to death"...than I'm ok with it! 

...exactly!

Young The Giant

The concert was on Tuesday and it was AWESOME! I forget how much I love live shows. Mike and I usually get there early and find a spot up front on the left side of the stage, but not this time. We had to wait for the babysitter and quickly feed our faces, put air in the tires.  You know...grown up stuff. We didn't get to our usual spot because it was super crowded. I'm glad we didn't though. Those kids were squished like no other. I probably would've punched someone in their face.

I tried to enjoy the show and act like I wasn't a parent...but it's just not possible. I had Mike text his mom after like every song to see if Coen was being a good boy. She always assured us that he was.

GroupLove opened up for Young the Giant. I honestly had never heard of them, but they were pretty good. They came and hung out in the 21+ section with us and I got a pic with the guitarist and bassist.

Andrew Wessen & Sean Gadd from GroupLove

Then Young the Giant came on.

They were so good live. I hate paying to see a band that sucks live. If you've never heard of them, you should check them out. I pretty much like all of their songs. My favs are: Street Walker, Strings, West Virginia, and I Got. 

Now usually I like to stick around and see if they do a meet and greet....but I just wanted to get home to my baby.

When we got home Coen was just waking up from a nap. He was still breathing. Still had all of his fingers and toes. Didn't miraculously start walking or crawling or anything. I know Mike's mom raised 7 kids of her own...but I still worried as I'm sure all mothers do.

Glad our first outing was as success. Now maybe we'll do this again....in 6 more months! :)

Sunday Confession

So this one is kind of weird, but I must confess...

I tasted my breast-milk the other day. 

Is that weird? Am I some sort of cannibal?

My husband's friend asked him if he ever tasted it and (he hasn't) it got me curious.

I went to work and was kind of engorged and had to squeeze some out into a cup.

There it was in my hand and curiosity just took over.

I only took a lil taste. It was actually pretty sweet. I guess I thought it would taste like regular milk. It tasted like  horchata or something. 

No wonder this kid is hooked.

I still feel weird about it...but whatever. Now I  know!

Don't judge me!