Cloth Diapering - Survived Week One!

Through a week (well, now nine days) of cloth diapering, and could not be happier that I made the switch.  When I posted last Monday, I was feeling like this might end up all being more trouble than it was worth (i.e. the cost of disposables is totally worth the extra money) but after a week, I have done a complete 180.

I am thrilled with cloth diapering.  The phrase "smooth as a baby's bottom" does not come from babies in disposable diapers, but rather from the ones in the comfy cozy cotton lined dipes with super-absorbent micro-fleece lining!  And, I am proud to say that after a week neither the dipes nor the liners are stained (thank you, BumGenius sprayer) or smelly!  I have been using Charlie's Laundry Soap, and love it, there is absolutely no "scent" to laundry when it comes out of the wash, it just smells clean (and not artificially clean, just clean).

The yellow ones are not quite as cute on this little guy as the turquoise, but still rockin' the cloth dipe...

Things I have learned since "Cloth Diapering - Day One":

• The BumGenius AIO diaper with an extra micro-fleece liner is perfect for overnight!  We need another one of these, so on the nights this one is not yet clean we use the Fuzzi Bunz pocket diaper with the BumGenius one size micro-fiber inserts.  Love these inserts because they snap down in size, so you almost have a triple layer at the front of the dipe (need that for the little guys).
• The laundry part is not nearly as overwhelming as once imagined.  They come clean so easily!
• We are going to save so much money!  I have already noticed the cushion show up in the budget and actually purchased some Frappuccino at the grocery store yesterday (yay for treats!).

Cloth Diapering - Thoughts and Lessons From Day One

Yes, we are venturing in to the world of cloth diapering!  No, not the Gerber cloths with pins that you find at Target.  I would like to say that we made this decision to be environmentally conscious (sorry, Al Gore), but our main motivator was to save money (thank you, Dave Ramsey).  The amount we spend on diapers is incredible, and with two little guys in dipes soon, why not?! Little by little we accumulated the supplies that we needed and started Matthew on the cloth diaper path today and will probably start "the Little Guy" on them right away.  Now the money is spent and I can take dipes out of the monthly budget.

We opted for the Fuzzi Bunz One Size Diaper, another that we liked was the BumGenius brand.  My favorite part about the Fuzzi Bunz is that, pending unforseen circumstances, we will be able to use them with Matthew, baby #2 and any future children.  The elastic sizers are replaceable, so there are no worries about the elastic wearing out.  With the other brands (at least those that I was introduced to) if the elastic wore out they whole diaper needed replaced (or, if you were crafty you could re-sew new elastic in).  With Fuzzi Bunz (lovingly referred to here as "Fluffy Butts") you just slide the old elastic out and the new elastic in, because it is secured by a button.  Another reason we picked Fluffy Butts is because they are snap dipes, and we don't have to worry about worn out velcro.

I did take advantage of a great coupon at Kelly's Closet that provided us with a free BumGenius diaper just for spending $10 on cloth diapering accessories - couldn't pass it up!  Just took the BG off of Matthew right before nap time and it was dry-dry-dry, those microfiber inserts are awesome!

But, I haven't made it to 2:30 p.m. on the first day without some lessons learned:

• When leaving your child at the church nursery for Bible study, bring a change of clothes and/or additional insert for the diaper.  Nursery was packed today, and I came down to some soaking wet Osh Kosh's.
• The poo sprayer is totally worth the investment.
• Make sure said poo sprayer is completely tightened where the hose meets the sprayer or you will soak your own pants and the bathroom floor in the meantime.
• Cloth dipes are the cutest thing I have ever seen on a 16-month-old kiddo!
• They sure are a lot cozier than a Pampers (or in our case the cheapest diaper we can find at the store - btw I think Luvs might be the worst diaper of them all).

I will try to post a photo of Matthew in his handsome new diapies sometime soon.  It's so stinkin' cute (pardon the pun).

World Vision Wednesday

Today, I am replacing our Wordless Wednesday post with a World Vision Wednesday post, inspired by Jessica Turner's blog "The Mom Creative" which is a blog I love to follow!  She and her husband are preparing for a trip to the Dominican Republic to visit one of their sponsored children.

We sponsor a child, Thallison, through Compassion International. Thallison is from Brazil.  We had nearly sponsored a child through World Vision at a Casting Crowns concert, shortly before Matthew was born.  But, we had not prayed about it and also wanted to sponsor the child in Matthew's name so that he would have a "brother" and know him through pictures and letters as they both grew up.  So, we prayed for a while and then ended up sponsoring this little guy.  He has the same birthday as Matthew (only in 2004, so is four years older).  Someday, we hope to take Matthew to visit him!