Diaper De-Stashing

So here's a weird thing that caused more Feelings that I should admit: I sold our whole stash of cloth diapers.

Charlotte is potty trained, and Ali has her own, and... it was time.

I know this is a thing that parents should rejoice about, being out of the diaper phase. But mostly, I feel sad, a little bit because of the babies-all-growing-up thing, but mostly because I have loved these dang diapers.

Maybe more than I should have. I'm not sure that capital-F Feelings about diapers should be a capital-T Thing, but for me it is. I mean, LOOK AT THEM THEY ARE SO PRETTY.

I admit it. They made my days cuter, and made the unpleasant task of baby changing more fun. I'm not ashamed of my love.

I saved one cover to be sewn into Anneliese's baby clothes blanket, and saved one tiny/worn diaper for each kid, for doll and stuffed animal dressups. And I sent the beautiful Furman purple one to a very sweet Furman baby down in Texas.

But other than that, they're all sold (on various online diaper-selling forums and online swap groups) (yes, such a thing exists, in a very big way), and paypal collected, and shipped off to new owners. WEIRD, RIGHT?

Know what's also weird? Seeing the tiny baby, for whom most of these were purchased in the first place, suddenly a big kid helping you package them up to ship off.

Oh, man. It makes my diaper-loving heart go pit pat.

Cloth Diapers, Two Years In

Okay this will be a boring post unless you love cloth diapers (insert squeeee here) but I have gotten several emails asking how it's going and for more specific info so I thought I would do a little bloggity update.

Um, okay. I have been using cloth diapers for two years now.  A little more actually. Whoa. I have used them now on all baby ages from newborn to two and a half. And I have used them on multiple kids at once. I don't know everything, but I know what works for us, so... here's what I've got.

Still a yes on cloth diapering? Yes. I am not as excitedly googly-eyed about it as I was at the beginning, but I think that's because the newness has worn off and now it feels less like a hobby, and more like... life.  There are times (like after Charlotte was born, or right after we moved) where I used disposables at least half the time, and I'm okay with that. We now use cloth all the time except 1- when we travel (yes, you can do cloth on the road, we just choose not to), 2- if I get behind on laundry for a day or two (happens once a month-ish), and 3- at night (we just haven't found a good combination of cover/insert that doesn't leak for 12 hours of heavy wetting, and I've made peace with aborting the quest).

Best kind? I am still very sold on BumGenius 4.0 pockets. They grow with baby, they dry fast, they're cost-effective, they come in pretty colors (yes, the cute factor and diaper rainbow still matter to me). BG has also come out with a new all-in-one called the FreeTime which is better than their old all-in-ones because you don't have to buy a specific size; like the 4.0, it grows with baby. Also it dries fast like a pocket.  Basically these have everything the 4.0 has, but you don't have to stuff pockets after you do laundry. They're a stitch more expensive but if I were starting from scratch, I would probably build my stash out of mostly the FreeTime.

Two other all-in-ones I'd recommend are Tots Bots EasyFit and Ones&Twos. Like the FreeTime, they're both also one-size (adjustable to grow with baby) and they both have truly excellent velcro (I still prefer velcro, although I do understand why some moms are sold on the washability and durability of snaps -- but my BG velcro is hanging tough in the "good enough" category, which is fine with me). The TotsBots is a few bucks more, but one of the trimmest cloth diapers I've found. Both of these brands are worth owning a couple of, if nothing else for color variety. :)

Cloth on newborns? Totally doable. I did it with Charlotte about half-time (that's all the diapers I had).  Technically the BG 4.0's (and comparable one-size options) fit on newborns, but I'll be honest: it's really bulky. Under some clothes it works great, notsomuch on others. But hear this: the added bulk is totally worth preventing diaper blowouts. No disposable (because of the lack of elastic in the back) can contain newborn poops like a cloth diaper can. I promise.  If you don't want poop on you, start with cloth as young as possible. Seriously.

As far as type-specifics for newborns, one-size options should start fitting within the first month, but there are a number of "newborn" options available. I had two favorites. First the Tots Bots TinyFit, which is the Easyfit I mentioned above, but in a newborn size. These are tiny-tiny and worked right away on Charlotte, and were trim enough to hold her (tiny) newborn pees without leaking and still fitting under all her clothes without looking cray cray. My other newborn favorite was Happy Heinys mini one-size.  This is better than most newborn diapers, because it's tiny, but it also has some growability/size adjustment. These fit her for almost six months.

In my opinion the newborn cloth diapers were worth buying. I sold them for about the same price I paid for them (secondhand, on diaperswappers, yes there's totally a market for it). But if you can't get it up for buying or at least selling secondhand, it might not be worth it to buy newborn-specific diapers, unless they're the growable Happy Heinys mini ones.

two weeks old -- Charlotte's first cloth diaper!
(she loves it, I promise)

Ick factor? Look, if you have a kid, you're going to come in contact with pee and poop. It isn't exclusive to any diapering system. All will require wipes that sometimes don't seem big enough, and sheets and clothes that sometimes get leaked on. With disposables, you also have to account for the stinky mess permanently residing in your baby's bedroom wastebasket, oh and the aforementioned gross blowouts from the back of the diapers. And with cloth, the grossest part is rinsing off the poop into the potty (I have a diaper sprayer for that, which I only need to use about a third of the time -- most of the time it just dumps in, no rinsing required -- this will vary based on the baby's age and diet).  All diaper changes are gross. Make peace with it now and choose a handsoap you love and don't mind being well-acquainted with. Welcome to parenthood.

How many diapers? It depends on how many kids and how often you want to do laundry (see below).  For one kid, doing laundry every 3rd-ish day, I'd recommend about twenty. You could start with fewer (doing laundry more often) and build your stash up gradually with gifts and such.

Laundry? Okay, a little diaper math. I have two babies in diapers; Charlotte uses about five a day and Anneliese about one (remember they both sleep in disposables, and Anneliese now wears underwear except  for naptime), and about thirty-five diapers. So I do diaper laundry about once a week. They (who are "they?") say you shouldn't wait that long, but I do, and it's never a problem. I should probably do a smaller load twice a week, but... being honest, I usually don't get around to it. One of those things that will get better as I get my life back in order, which is still happening slowly. Anyway.

As diapers get dirty, I put them in  big wetbags (I have one in each of the girl's rooms, and one in each of two bathrooms). I like ones that zip close because it best contains the mess and (for the most part) the smell.  My favorites are Planet Wise which have a snap-handle to hook to closet doors or changing tables or shower curtain rods, etc.

To wash, I use only detergent I can buy at our normal grocery store, and here's how I wash them:
1- cold rinse cycle with a spash of bio-kleen bac-out (find it in the cleaning aisle)
2- hot wash extra-heavy cycle with  liquid costco-brand laundry detergent (yep), cold rinse
3- hot soak (my machine automatically follows this with a wash) with oxyclean, cold rinse, plus extra rinse
4- ten minutes on medium heat in dryer (to soften)
5- several hours outside in the sun (unless weather is bad) (or I'm too lazy to hang them)
If my diapers get stinky (as they do a few times a year) I do something called "stripping" -- my version of which involves washing all the inserts, then bleaching them, then doing about 8 rinse cycles to get rid of any buildup. There are special cloth diaper detergents and soakers you can buy to assist in stripping too, but I have only used them once. Bleach works just as well for me.

Where to buy? I have three favorite places.  The first is Diaper Junction, which does the best test-drive option on the market, for if you want to try out cloth without committing. The only cost is shipping, everything in the program is refundable for a full month. This was a lifesaver to me as I tried a bunch of different brands and sizes before settling on what worked.  I also like Abby's Lane which always has free shipping, always.  And then Kelly's Closet, which carries pretty much all the brands, has a huge variety in stock, and has excellent sales and promotions (lots of free diapers with purchase, etc).

And that's the story of how I cloth diaper.

To see another mom's perspective, read this post which my friend EMU wrote (for me) (kinda) (just sayin) (#namedrop) when I was considering switching to cloth.

Classin Up the Neighborhood

Our pool might be a hot mess, but we have clean diapers.

I'm sure our neighbors love us on both counts.

Goettsch family, keeping Anderson Heights classy since 2011.

(PS these diapers drying outside in the sunshine really do make me embarrassingly happy.)

First Cloth Diaper

Charlotte's cord stump fell off this weekend.  Which in some families would be a milestone in itself, but in our family, it mostly means mommy is super excited about putting her in her first cloth diaper.

!!!!!!!!!!!

She loves it.  I promise.

This one is a Happy Heinys Mini.  It's cute and soft and squishy, and despite my being a little nervous about the bulkiness, it totally fits her.  And it adjusts to get two sizes bigger, so I think these will last us a good while.  (Her Tots Bots Tinies also fit really well right now.)

Best part?  It holds all the poop in.  **mommy passes out from happiness**

Fluffy bums ftw!

Sprout's Nursery

I am fully aware that I owe the internetz some pictures of our lived-in house, now that you've humored me through all these renovation posts and we're finally moved in and (in theory) settled in our new home.

But, here's the thing.  It's never really clean.  And there might or might not be a few boxes and frames and things still lying around.  And lots of rooms that don't feel "ready" yet.  It turns out most of my nesting energy went into the renovation itself, and I keep feeling like we're not legitimately settled enough to take pictures and post them.  Which probably isn't true, and someday I will get around to it, I promise. 

But for now, pictures of Sprout's bedroom will have to be good enough, so... here you go!

(Before pic from when we first bought the house, click here.)

The purple rug with flecks of hot pink in it makes me insanely happy.  Also I have name-related art gifts coming from two friends* that I won't post pictures of yet, but I'm very excited about those too, and about her walls being a little less bare.  And while I wait, there are lots of other things in this nursery that make me excited to take care of my newest little one in here.

Getting your diaper changed in a dormer window?  Pretty sure she's living the infant dream.  Love all these cloth diapers, stuffed and ready to go!

Stripey crib bedding made from a friend of a friend on facebook who loves cloth diapers as much as I do and runs a sewing business called Fireflies in July.

Still lots of organizing and sorting to do in the closet, but I have a load of clothes washed and ready for Sprout so she has something to wear when she comes home from the hospital.  Okay that's a lie, it's not washed yet and the clothes bins in her changing table (above) are still quite empty.  Her to-be-worn clothes are still in the laundry basket.  But they're taken off the hangers at least.  And they will be washed!  Soon!  (As soon as the other four of us have clean socks and underwear again.  Laundry priorities, people.)

And now, because I have a baby due in two days, I'm going to go pack a bag for the hospital.  Yeah I'm totally doing that.  Probably.  Maybe.  Ahem.

Newborn Bumfluff

I have been making a diaper buying/selling/trading bonanza out of my life over the past couple of weeks.  Destashing a few things that Anneliese has outgrown (so long, well-loved Rumparooz) or we're not reaching for as much anymore (bye bye, luxurious Goodmamas with too many snaps).

To replace those, I've gotten another handful of newborn-type diapers for Sprout.  The new ones will help get us through the first few months of having two in diapers again, until she's big enough to legitimately share the same diapers with Anneliese.  I got them mostly secondhand, and they'll be thirdhand when I resell them again this fall, but in the meantime they are tiny and adorable and make me very very excited about having another itsy bitsy baby to snuggle with again.

In the meantime, I'm just having to make peace with snuggling the diapers instead.

Just kidding.  I would never do that.  Lying on the couch, covered in adorable squishy diapers while I open and close them, stuff them and unstuff them, smell their clean-laundry sweetness (be proud, Emily, be so proud) and stroke their softness against my face, happily and lazily daydreaming about my baby girl on the way?  That would be crazy. I mean, I probably didn't do that. I definitely didn't do that all afternoon yesterday.

Ahem.

Anyway.

For Sprout I got one more all-in-one BumGenius in a new-baby size (this is the sized version of what Anneliese uses most of the time; hers are adjustable, but really bulky when adjusted down that small).

And four Happy Heinys Minis.  These are like our BumGenius adjustable pocket diapers, just in a smaller-but-still-adjustable size.  They should fit her from birth, and then for at least several months, until she's big enough for our normal one-size adjustable diapers.  (Can you tell I got these from a mom who has a bunch of boys??)

For Anneliese (and eventually Sprout to share) I got another Tots Bots (I bought the last one mostly for the color and then fell in love with it, in general).  This one is bright orange, because, um... go Tigers?

And the other is a normal one-size (adjustable) Happy Heinys.  Yes, I did try these out at the very beginning of my cloth diaper adventure, and I wasn't thrilled with out the way the back pocket opened and didn't close well.  But I'm glad to give it another try, because I have some Kawaiis (BumGenius knockoffs) with that type of pocket and it works just fine.  And also because this purple color?  Is awesome.  I'm dreaming in this color for Sprout's room.  And also, of course, go Paladins!  Our kids need more Furman stuff! (Right Kelley?)

And last but not least, a shiny brand new BumGenius, the staple of our diaper stash.  I won a contest on my friend emu's blog.  For being the best reader/commenter in the blogosphere.  (Just kidding.  It was a random draw.  By her daughter who clearly loves me best.  Kidding again.  But I still won!)  And this diaper was my prize.  She knows me too well.  And knows how cute Anneliese looks with a sweet lavender fluffy bum.

We now return to our regularly scheduled diaper snuggling.

Itti Bitti Fluffy Mail

My new ups guy has officially gotten a taste of my fluff-stalking crazy.  I might or might not have been anxiously awaiting a package for days, and I might or might not have bolted out of the house and down the driveway as soon as I saw his truck outside.  (Thank you to my sweet husband who thought it very necessary to take a picture.)

I would sing the praises of the diaper sprayers I have been waiting on (you know how much I love me a good diaper sprayer) but even more exciting than that is the freebie diaper I got with them!  The Itti Bitti diapers were kind of a big deal (in diapering circles) (yes, there are diapering circles) when they came available in the US a few months ago, but they weren't on my must-try list because the snaps seemed sort of complicated.

But for free with a purchase of something I needed anyway?  Yes please.

And y'all, it's gorgeous.  (Is it weird to say that about a diaper? Oh, who are we kidding, nothing I say about diapers is weird anymore.)  And so soft.  And because it's from Australia, the packaging says nappy all over it instead of diaper.  Which makes me like thirty kinds of happy. I don't know why.

This is the Tutto version of Itti Bitti, which is a one-size nappy (see what I did there? nappy?  good job, me) which means it grows with baby.  The soakers snap in, instead of stuffing a pocket like most of our stash.  With all the soakers in, it's still trim (hemp is like that, apparently), and it held Anneliese through a loooong nap.  Even before prepping.  I know you're supposed to prep new diapers to make them more absorbent, but I am one of those straight-from-the-mail-to-the-bum kind of moms.  Don't judge.

But yes, the snap system is kind of complicated.  It made a lot more sense after watching this video tutorial.  It's a good system, once you get the hang of it, but I'm not sure it's helping the whole "cloth is as easy as disposables" cause.  This one isn't.  But that's ok.  It can be a mommy diaper, and dads and sitters can reach for the velcro ones.  Doesn't break my heart to have a variety. 

Especially when they're this cute.  (Isn't that always what it comes back to?)

Sprout's First Fluffy Mail

It will probably surprise no one that the first thing I bought for Sprout was a handful of teeny adorable cloth diapers.  (I know this picture provides no sense of scale, but trust me -- they're teeny and adorable.)

Most of the diapers I'm using for Anneliese are the one-size variety, which means they'll work for Sprout too.  But since one-size diapers can sometimes be bulky on newborns, and since I wanted a few extra dipes if I'm going to have two using them full-time, I went ahead and got some smaller ones. 

These are BumGenius, the same as the majority of our stash, but these are all-in-ones instead of pockets.  I loved the all-in-ones when I was trying out options for Anneliese a year ago, but only bought a few because the pocket version (with adjustable sizing) made more sense for long-term use on growing babies.  These don't have a size adjustment (they're just designed to fit babies 8-16 lbs or something) so they're just... teeny and adorable.  And will eventually be outgrown, but that's ok.

I probably shouldn't admit this, but these sweet little diapers make me look forward to my sweet little baby even more.

2010: Year in Review

I'm supposed to be in Awendaw right now, ready to ring in the new year like I did so many times in my Furman years -- on the intracoastal waterway, with fireworks and bitch beer wine (we're classy now) and friends. 

Happy New Year 2002! Awendaw, SC - Sarah, me, Katie, Emily and Betsy

And this year we had an added bonus: in-house volunteer childcare (in the form of my friend Sarah's awesome parents, like they don't do enough for all of us and our new year hootenanny tradition) so we could have a fancy adults-only dinner in downtown Charleston.

But.

Some sort of g/i bug that hit both of my children in the last 24 hours stopped those plans.  Seriously, Nathan and Anneliese are so rarely sick.  Why this week?  Why? Really? Really?!

(In other news, kiddie imodium is my new bff.  Just sayin'.)

Yep, Mark and David were there that year too! (Wow we all look not hott.)

So now instead of relaxing in Awendaw, I am sitting at home, one kid in bed and one in my arms (heck yes I can type while soothing a sick baby* in my lap, I'm supermom, how did you multitask today?) and pondering the past year.  That's one of the bonuses of writing a blog, you know: it provides a written account of my year and what (I thought) was worth writing about, which leads to retrospection and pondering.  Which is good when you're home with no plans on new year's eve and have time for such things.

But here's the thing about my retrospection and pondering: I kind of don't know how to neatly sum up this year. 

The last three months have been so consumed with house stuff -- flooding, burglar-defending, repairing, selling, trying to buy -- that it's hard for me to even remember what I used my brain cells on for the first three quarters of the year. So part of me says this has been the year of the house.

Oh, I remember now.  The potty.  I thought about the potty.  Namely, getting Nathan to sit on it, stand by it, defecate** into it, aim towards it, etc.  Aside from the fact that he can't go all night without a diaper, is on a pooping strike, and still won't pee in front of anyone but Mark or me (meaning we still have potty obstacles ahead in 2011 too), I'd be tempted to call this the year of the potty.

Lots of people in my family jumped into the next generation of cell phones this year -- a Blackberry for my mom, an iPhone for Brad, and Droids for Nick, Barbara, Emily, Trey, Mark and me.  Lots more pictures and messages going back and forth between all of us than there used to be, and I now feel so much better connected to my out-of-town family.  That feeling is totally worth being a textaholic.  And it might just lead me to call this the year of the smartphone.

And considering the number of hours I spent shopping for, trying out, lusting after, and writing about Anneliese's awesome fluffy bum, I could probably call it the year of the cloth diaper.

Still, the week Simon died is what really stands out for me in my memories of this year.  I think a part of me will always remember 2010 as the year we lost Simon.

But we did good stuff this year, too.  Mark and I took a lovely cruise, we married off my sister and one of my best friends, we took lots of road trips to see new and old friends, AND get this: everything both things I resolved to do last January, I totally did: I cooked with Nathan (way more than once a week actually) and I definitely did not make any promises or hints or goals about being a better wife (ahem).  Done and done.  So.  I think that means 2010 is officially the year I kept all my resolutions.  It has been spoken.

(But it's also kind of the year of all those other things too. And the year of the not-awendawesome ending.)

Happy 2010!

*I am also an expert at nak-ing.  Nursing at keyboard.  You have no idea how many blog posts have been brought to you by a good latch. You needed to know that.

**I'm very sure mine is the only Year in Review post you will read this weekend that uses the word defecate.  You're welcome.  And I win.

Diaper Sprayer, How I Love Thee

You know what the worst part of having two out of three bathrooms (plus an entire floor of our house) out of commission for a month was? 

Not the tripping over furniture, not the racing upstairs every time Nathan needed to potty, not all the skipped baths because it wasn't worth the hassle of migrating to the master, not the lack of quiet playspace, not the fact that our office was basically our couch, not the missing guest room which meant Mark had to sleep in our bedroom during night shift and be woken up by kids and dogs all the time.

Nope.

All of that stuff sucked.  But the suckiest part was having to take poopy diapers upstairs to the master bath, only mediocrely (it's a word, just go with it) dunk them for cleaning, and then take them back down to the wet bag in the laundry room.

I missed my diaper sprayer so so much!

And now that I have the kids' bathroom back, and I can spray dirty diapers again, it's like a liberating joyful clean poop-free treat every time I get to do it.  (You're judging me a little for saying that, but it's ok.  You just... you don't even know.)

Let the record show: Daddy sprays diapers too!

It's the small things, you know?  Three cheers for no more construction (for now)!!

Five Things You Need to See

I'm having a Day. 

But no one wants to read about my pissiness, and honestly I don't feel like articulating it for the blogworld even if people did want to read it (so there). 

So in the absence of real writing, I'm sharing  five nuggets of internetty goodness which are totally amusing me and helping reverse my mood.

1.) All you other BSC fans out there (you know who you are, the ones who didn't need to google what BSC means) -- this slideshow from The Frenemy is hilarious.  (Read far enough to get to Jessi; hers might be the best.) 

2.) This picture from failblog makes me like thirty-five kinds of happy.  Serious win.  (Even if you don't live with a Nathan, it's a win.)

3.) Astronauts tweeting pictures from space?  Yes please.  Can you imagine looking out your window and snapping a picture like this (Hurricane Earl a few weeks ago)???  And the rest of the pics are equally stunning. 

4.) For all of us who grew up in the IM and texting generation (yes, I count myself in that us! What? I'm not even thirty* yet!), this video is funny because it's true:

5.) I'm internet-famous again.  (In some internet circles anyway.)  I wrote an article a few weeks ago for a site called The Cloth Diaper Whisperer.  (Yes, that's really a website.)  The content will seem familiar, since it's mostly recycled from a couple of posts I've written here, but you should go read it anyway.  Because getting comments on other people's websites makes me feel even more important and loved than getting them here.  You want to make me feel important and loved today, right?  Especially today. 

So there you have it.  Today's post: lazy blogging at its finest.  You're welcome.  :)

*Brace yourself, I plan on saying this as much as possible over the next month.

Global Fluffy Bum

So, there's this diaper. 

It travels around the world and makes baby bums happy and fluffy.  It's like... The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, but maybe a teensy less cool.  (What?  Those Pants girls are cool!  And no, I am not too old to think that.  America Fererra?  Alexis Bledel?  If either of them knew me in real life, we'd totally be friends.  Just sayin'.)

Anyway.  There's also this website which follows said diaper around the globe in blog form.  I might or might not have been following it in my google reader for the last six months while I happily read about all the fluffy bums in new and exciting lands.  (Texas! California!  Brazil!  And, um.. New Hampshire.  Whatever, it's exciting.  It is.)

(Don't judge.  We all have our things.  Apparently a traveling cloth diaper is one of mine.)

So anyway, a few weeks ago, this diaper came to Raleigh.  And because I am a dork, I got embarrassingly excited that Anneliese got to wear it.  Which she did. 

And oh yeah, she rocked it.  If you want to read our entry to the Worldwide Fluffy Bum site, click here.  (Anneliese wrote it herself. She's a genius baby. But then, you already knew that.)

Yep, I can rock a blue diaper, some toy trucks and planes, and still be a pretty pretty girl!!

Bum Fluff Rainbow

Happy July!  I'm ringing in the month with new bum fluff!  Exciting!

Don't question me on this.  It is exciting.

I had been wanting to add just a couple more diapers to our stash so that I can comfortably go one more day between washings, so I finally got serious about finding some.

First, I got very very excited about the idea of a turquoise diaper.  It might or might not mostly be because Annie-Bop came swimming and she wore the prettiest diaper I have seen in a long time, in a sweet and bright turquoise.  (Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's cutie diapers?  What's that now?  Huh?)  I just couldn't get that color out of my head.  I explored lots of options, did lots of hunting, and eventually decided on diaper that's new to the market, which I had been wanting to try -- the Tots Bots EasyFit.  It's similar to the other pocket diapers in our stash, but on this one, the insert stays attached to the diaper (it agitates out on its own in the wash).  And it has bamboo in the absorbent layers, which makes it really soft, and a little trimmer than our other pockets.  And, more importantly, it comes in a gorgeous shade of turquoise.  It arrived on Saturday (after several days of mailman-stalking) and so far I can say yes, it's everything I hoped and dreamed it would be.  {happysigh}

Then, my lovely internet friend soul mate Erin decided she could live without some of her pocket diapers (what?!)... so I managed to talk her into unloading a BumGenius (still the staple of our stash), and she talked me into also taking a Rumparooz (which she originally introduced me to) in a pretty red and orange swirly plush fabric.  Ummm it's awesome.  Yes, it's a little bulky.  But it's soft enough to snuggle with.  No joke. And ohmygoodness it's so cute!  (Picture here, in case you missed it earlier this week.)

Then, BumGenius announced yesterday that they're upgrading our beloved BG3.0 diaper to a 4.0.  Apparently they fixed the velcro and elastic and made it fit bigger babies or something?  I didn't really get bogged down in those details, I just saw a pretty light green sage and a pretty lavender and then I got this funny bubbly feeling in my tummy that has been welling up for the last twenty-four hours until I hit the preorder! button.  Yes, I ordered them before they're even technically available... I'm That Person.  (Hey, one man's iphone is another's awesome cloth diaper.  Don't judge.)

Lest you think I'm some kind of cloth diaper nutjob (ok I can see now that nothing I say at this point will really convince you I'm not), you should know that both of these purchases came with free (!) diapers that I am not keeping.  I already sold one online and I will do the same with the other when it comes.  I'm caught up in the cuteness, but I'm also still caught up in the frugality.  Kind of.  ;-)  

So the lesson of the week is, don't make diapers in awesome colors I don't have yet, or I will want them to complete my diaper rainbow.  I was actually hoping that BumGenius was coming out with some brighter colors (not that I'm not excited about my bubble and sweet; I so am).   But the second they make a paladin-colored diaper, I will own it.

Yes, actually, I do continue to be amazed at my own fascination with pretty pieces of fabric for my daughter to relieve herself in.  Thank you for asking.

First Swim (and First Swim Fluff)

We took Anneliese swimming for the first time today! Since we didn't put her in the water at the lake this weekend, we had to rectify her swimlessness pretty quickly. In my family it's kind of a rule: you have to like to swim. Otherwise we might not consider you one of us. True story. You wanna be a Bumgarner... you gotta swim.So, good news... Anneliese liked it! A lot more than Nathan liked his first swim (to be fair, he was a lot younger... and now he likes it just fine). She's a keeper!

And more good news... I have a fun cloth swim diaper for her! (Stop groaning. You knew I was going to talk about diapers. Come on. The word fluff up there in the title should have tipped you off.)

I knew what I was looking for in a swim diaper -- something that snaps or ties (since velcro would catch on her cutie swimsuit and mess it up), something without the waterproof PUL lining that most cloth diapers have (I heard the chlorine would mess up the waterproofing, plus I didn't want it trapping water inside and filling up like a bag), and something that would dry really fast (since I only want to buy one, and might need a couple days in a row, or even more than once a day).

So I settled on this one from Applecheeks -- no velcro, no PUL, and it's made of mesh (mesh!! how cool!) so it dries really fast. The verdict? I love it. It's exactly what I wanted, and it's super-cute. It should fit her for two more summers I think, and it cost me less than two packs of the disposable swimmers -- score.

We got her all diapered up and suited up and took her swimming! She was happy. And she was, by a long shot, the prettiest baby at Uncle Nick's pool. Just sayin'.

Lest you think we got so blinded by Anneliese's pool cuteness (which we totally almost did) that we forgot about our other little fish of a child, don't worry. We had fun with Nathan too. He loves swimming. Well, splashing. Uncle Nick and Daddy are good for that. :)

My Name is Erin and I'm a Fluffymailaholic

I have a confession to make. I started out with this whole cloth diapering thing just to save some money. But now I'm also totally in it for the cute diapers. It's true. Better for the budget, better for the environment... sure, ok, whatevs. But they're stinkin' cute, people.

I might even admit (... I'm scared to put this on the internet but here goes...) that I secretly might maybe actually kind of enjoy changing diapers now. I get some kind of weird rush from choosing a diaper from the stash, feeling how soft it is, and putting the wet one in a bag (where I get to use it again and again and again... yes, being frugal is definitely part of the rush). Dorky but true.

So in the last month I have spent a lot of time and energy in the cloth diapering online community (yes, there is one, and it's surprisingly huge) hunting down new colors and patterns and kinds of diapers I want to try. I have been buying and trading online like it's going out of style (oh, it's already out of style, you say? ok then, um... oops). I have been stalking websites and facebook fan pages and chatting with other moms online who want to buy/sell/trade like I do. It's like some kind of weird non-hobby. And by non-hobby I mean addiction. But a fun one!

Every time I have new diapers on the way, I get a little antsy watching for the mailman. I'm pretty sure he knows we're stalking him. When he pulls into our street, we all pile out of the house (mommy, puppies, babies) and gather 'round the end of the driveway to see if he has anything fun (fluffy mail!) for us. I'm letting him believe that the stalking is completely about Nathan's obsession with his mail truck, even though that's only about 50% true. Really I am just crazy excited (way more excited than is normal or appropriate, I'll admit it) that he might have a package for me with some super soft fabric in pretty colors or patterns for my kids to poop on. I feel very sure I should not admit to our mailman what's really going on every day at our mailbox -- that I'm a fluffymailaholic and he's an enabler.

So what kinds of diaper bliss has my fluffy mail addiction brought into our lives of late? Well I'm glad you asked. (Because I am an addict and I have diaper mentionitis and I really really want to tell you.)

My new friend Erin (who had a baby like two weeks ago but somehow knows more about cloth diapers than I do) recommended trying Rumparooz, so I did. My original motivation was just to get a lavendar diaper, since BumGenius (the staple of our diaper stash) doesn't come in purple. Anyway I loved it. It's basically just like a Bumgenius 3.0 (similar rise snap settings, closes with velcro, stuffs with a microfiber insert) except that the fabric is a lot softer, and it comes in more colors, and there are double elastic leg gussets which keeps poop in better. Not that I have any problems with poop leaking out of the BGs (it's still never happened since we switched to cloth) but I imagine for some people or newborns with really runny poo, that's handy. Anyway I love love love love them -- I have the first purple one I bought secondhand and also a hot pink one that's furry on the outside like a teddy bear (apparently this is called minky. who knew). And since I liked them so much, I waited for a sale and bought two new (which I wouldn't normally do since they're more expensive than the BGs) in brown and bright blue. Also (and here is where you're going to think I am nuts) I made a video testimonial for Rumparooz and they sent me a free red diaper for doing it. Yes, I basically got paid in diapers. I do recognize that that should be sad and pathetic but instead it's just really fun.

Also I got a got a couple more (secondhand) Goodmamas since I liked them so well before. I can see these diapers being dangerous for me. Since she only makes a certain amount in any one fabric (doesn't come in standard colors like most other diapers), I find myself saying "oooh, I want that one! And that one! And that one too!" And I just need to stop it very very soon like right now. I love how squishy the Goodmamas are, and all the fun colors and designs, and how luxurious they feel (again, my bum is jealous of Anneliese's) but Mark is just not a fan since they close with snaps instead of velcro. (I admit I don't love that either, but come on. It's not that complicated. If you can snap baby PJs, you can snap a diaper. I promise.) But he does seem happy that we finally have an orange diaper. The other "orange" diapers we had were apparently not the right orange. To the extent that Mark wouldn't let Nathan even call them orange. {sigh.}

Goodmamas in orange and giraffe spots, and a red Rumparooz.

I do take some comfort knowing that I am not the only mom going through this addiction. I have three friends who also frequently include fluffy mail updates in their emails to me. Also, even though I know I am a legitimate contender for the Internet's Dorkiest Mom right now, I do feel better knowing that my fluffy mail addiction will have to stop soon. Even though I am not spending out of our working budget on diapers (just "extra" money like commission checks, consignment cash, etc, plus trading of course!), I still recognize that the whole point really is to save money, despite what the dangerous half of my brain tells the logical part of my brain about how Anneliese needs to have the cutest fluffiest bum in town. Plus, I think I'm driving Mark nuts. :)

And I am officially one of Those Moms who I mocked just a few short months ago. You can now mock me now; I know I deserve it. But I can totally take it, and it's totally worth it.

Anneliese's Feet

Anneliese's newest obsession is her feet. Whenever she's lying on her back, she grabs on to her feet and toes and just grins and squeals.

I mean, can you blame her? They're really cute feet.Clearly she's a fan of getting changed.

I mean, can you blame her? They're really cute diapers. :)

Pipe Dream Washing Machine

I thought it was time to write a post to inform/fill in/catch you up on our family's Issue o' the Week. A couple of you have already read most of this via email (sorry about that), but... if you hadn't heard yet, earlier this week Mark and I suddenly found ourselves in the market for a new washing machine. Ours died about two hours after our living room rug was hauled out to the dumpster after another Simon + poop = poopy vomit on the rug incident... oh yeah it was a great night.

My original plan was to just switch the kids to disposable diapers for a few days/few weeks until we could get a new machine in place, and do a few loads at my neighbors' houses in the meantime. But on day one, I had Anneliese in disposables all day and it was a disaster: she had blowouts on like three outfits (since when does Anneliese poop three times in one day anyway? once again she proves herself the Queen of Bad Timing) and I was in and out of my neighbor's house all day. I'm pretty sure I was driving her nuts, since I had only originally asked to finish up the one load that was in the washer when it broke. Anyway, I realized it was easier just to use cloth diapers (which manage not to leak all over what Anneliese is wearing and sitting on) and schedule some laundry dates with friends, than do surprise loads every few hours. Because here's the thing: poop in a diaper is contained, I have a system for it, I can manage it. Poop on the car seat... not so much. So anyway I am now putting Nathan mostly in disposables, and Anneliese in disposables only if she's not due for a poop, and doing laundry every few days with friends. Yes, even with no washer I am continuing with cloth. I am That Mom.

Washing machine shopping was frustrating. I went to an appliance store (both kids in tow) recommended to me by some people at my church, but it was a big fail because the people working there didn't know very much about washing machines, despite the fact that selling washing machines is their job. I have worked in sales, and they were just... not good at sales. Not informed about their products, not really interested in what my needs were in a washer, didn't even ask for my budget, just tried to get me to buy the most expensive one with the selling point of "if there's any model that can do what you want, it's this one." Um, hello not helpful. Peace out.

They made it seem like what I was looking for (1- doing a cold soak, hot wash with cold rinse, and extra rinse -- all without having to go back into the laundry room, 2- avoiding that central agitating post like old-fashioned washers, 3- at least 4 cubic feet of space, 4- a super spinner, and 5- paying less than $800) was a pipe dream.

But they were wrong; it does exist (we found it somewhere else, needless to say), and was even well within our budget. But we found a nice high-efficiency top-loader that does almost as much stuff, for several hundred dollars less. Meet the newest member of our family:

GE Profile Energy Star Colossal Capacity High-Efficiency Washer

Yes, I know it needs a better name.

If I want to soak and wash at different temps, I do need to make one extra trip into the laundry room, but if I am ok soaking and washing at the same temp, then I can do my whole diaper load in one trip. Since my laundry room is about ten feet from my couch, I figured it wasn't worth it to spend a couple hundred more dollars just to save that one extra trip. It does have the HE energy star rating, and doesn't have the center pole agitator, so it's like a front-load option turned on its side. And it spins really hard (I might or might not have said "spins like a mother effer" when I was telling a friend about it). So that means I don't need to use the dryer much (if at all), which is the more important factor for cutting down on energy bills.

Even better news: although I had scheduled the delivery for next Saturday, they called Mark's phone and asked him to confirm delivery for this Saturday. Like, today. So... he did. Which means our washer should be here in just a few hours!

After all the effort that went into replacing our old washer, and as much time as I will be spending with our new machine (at least until the youngest is potty-trained), I think it needs a (better) name. Send me suggestions, please! (Bonus points if the word "colossal" is still included; Mark finds that bit particularly hilarious.)

The Glamour in Homemaking

Even though most days I feel confident in our family's decision to have me leave my job and work full-time at taking care of the kids and our home, there are still days when I feel that my work here is trite and unproductive, and I worry that society looks at me and sees someone useless. And I know, I know, that creating a happy home to parent my children is far from useless. I also know that no one told me it would be glamorous. Furthermore, I know I shouldn't care what society thinks, especially considering my family is so much happier and so much less stressed in my current home executive job position.

But these are the things that have been swimming in my brain this week:

1.) The whole SAHM circuit here in Raleigh is starting to wear me down a little. Why do I have so much trouble making mom friends around here? The ones with jobs are awesome but usually don't have time to be friends with me. Yet many of the ones who do have time (home with their kids like I am)... well, I have a hard time relating to a lot of them, honestly. I know it sounds weird but I just don't feel like I have that much in common with them. Yes, I left my job. Yes, I am breastfeeding. Yes, it reduces me to tears if my kids have to cry in their cribs. Yes, I put my kids in cloth diapers. But no, you absolutely may not call me a crunchy mama. I find myself leaning more and more on a handful of online friends (both friends in real life who live far away, and friends I only know through the internet... yes, I have friends I know only through the internet and seeing as it's now 2010, that's not creepy, I promise) as my support system. These are moms who don't look down their nose at me for doing "crazy" things like vaccinating my kids or shopping at wal-mart or (gasp!) getting an epidural to help manage pain during my (gasp!) hospital births -- even if those friends made different decisions themselves. I really need some people in Raleigh I can relate to as well. My friends here in town seem much more career-oriented than I am... which is great, except for that whole career thing getting in the way of the hours I want to hang out. :) That, or some of you online buddies need to high-tail your relocation to the Triangle, mmmkay? You know who you are.

2.) I am having milk supply issues. For the first tme in almost three years, I am making too little, instead of too much. I'm assuming this has something to do with Anneliese now drinking a bottle a day, and the pump (which I use to replace any milk she drinks, so my body gets the memo about that meal) just isn't stimulating milk production in the same way her mouth would. Fortunately I have a freezer full of milk, so it's not like I'm going to run out or anything (see exhibit A, to the right), but I don't like it when she latches on and off and can't get all she wants and gets frustrated. Which happens pretty much every day, by evening time. I went to Whole Foods yesterday and found some tea with fenugreek which should help (according to some of the scariest sites I have ever seen on the internet... for all the praises I can sing about my own great online friends, there is also a very large population of crazymommies out there and they're mostly lurking in forums on breastfeeding and how to do diaper laundry, turning simple questions into political platforms... consider yourself warned). Anyway I had to get some tea and mach schnell out of the store before they thought I was one of Them. :)

3.) Nathan has his Valentine's Day party at school last week when we were out of town, so today they sent us home with a bag of cards and goodies from his classmates. In that bag was a blow-pop. A blow-pop. In case you forgot, those have gum at the center. Can two-year-olds chew gum now? Is that a massively inappropriate treat for a toddler, or do I live under some kind of naive-parent rock? And these didn't come from some ill-informed-but-well-meaning loved one, they came from the parents of another two-year-old. I'm not sure what to make of this.

4.) Our neighbors sold one of their cars last week and Nathan has been very concerned about where it went. He asks about it every day. Drew's car? Drew's car went to work. Drew's car is at the ressah-dront (restaurant, in case you're curious). Drew's car is all gone. Mommy, where'd it go? It's kind of sweet, except I know he's not nearly that concerned when *I* am away.

5.) I did some good shopping today. Spent lots of time with men's dress shirts, then got a bunch of kids' clothes (12 things for $40 - yes, I am a rock star, thank you for asking) and a new purse for myself. When I got home I traded a gift card for a Rumparooz diaper, and also traded for another Goodmama diaper. Even though it sounds trite and banal, shopping for bum fluff actually always makes me happy. These diapers are still new and exciting for me, as dorky as that sounds. :)

And there you have it: a week's thoughts and worries from the exciting-in-the-most-mundane-way-possible world of a home executive. From another perspective, if these are the biggest things weighing on my mind right now, then my life is pretty ok.

Pretty. Darned. Ok.

Two Fluffy Bums

Cloth diapering update, for those of you who are hanging on the edges of your seats:

1.) With 15 diapers in my stash, it turns out I still couldn't quite make it two days between washings. But since Nathan uses fewer diapers than Anneliese, I do have just enough to cloth diaper both kids full-time... as long as I do laundry every day. So... both kids are now in cloth. Yep, that makes two fluffy bums in our house these days. And no, I did not order any extra diapers in boyish colors for Nathan -- we just took a few from Anneliese's stash and (un)snapped them to his size. And no, he's not using all the blue ones. I let him pick, and he went with a light blue one, an orange one, a dark green and a yellow. And yes, it would have been fine with me (and yes, Mark too) if he had chosen pink. 2.) About ten minutes after I put Nathan in his first cloth diaper, he came and told me it was wet. He told me his diaper was wet. I'm pretty sure that's step one towards potty training, folks. I'm thinking we're onto something here. Never mind that he hasn't done it since. :)

3.) My main hesitation with starting Nathan in cloth was total intimidation by his toddler poops. But it really hasn't been that bad. (Even in a week with lots of blueberry poops. And you know blueberry poops are the worst of all the toddler poops.) Don't get me wrong, I am definitely ready for my new diaper sprayer to be installed so I can just rinse into the toilet with ease... but in the meantime it's still very manageable using just tp or a wipe or something. Which gives me confidence about keeping him in cloth when we're on the road without a sprayer and the other conveniences of our system at home (this week will be a test! wish us luck). Bonus: he loves taking his dirty diaper into the bathroom and flushing his poop. I think it might be making him a little less scared of the toilet. If nothing else, it's reinforcing the idea that poop goes in the potty.

4.) Nathan is still sleeping in disposables, since he hasn't been doing so well at night and we want to wait until that gets settled out before switching up his nighttime routine. And he is still wearing disposables to school as well. Although, since they don't really ever have to change diapers except for poops (it's only three hours), I did send him to school once in a cloth diaper since I knew he had already pooped that morning. And his teachers thought it was super-cute -- they thought maybe he was wearing underwear when they saw the green peeking out from his jeans, so they checked out the situation and were pretty impressed at how far cloth diapers have come in the last fifteen years.5.) I wanted a few diapers for Anneliese's diaper bag (which I like to leave packed pretty much all the time, so it's ready to go when I am). I wanted enough for 2 or 3 changes, but I didn't want to spend the money (or space) on 2 or 3 extra BumGenius diapers if they're going to live in a backpack most of the time. So I decided on the gro-baby system for the diaper bag. (That's what she's wearing in the picture above.) These are like a nicer version of the flip diapers that I trialed earlier. It has a cover that closes with really soft velcro, and inserts that snap in and out (so they stay in place really well!)... The good part is I don't need to change the cover, just the inserts (unless she poops). I don't think I would want this system all the time, but for a compact alternative, it works great for an on-the-go diaper. And the even better part is I traded Target store credit for a secondhand one from Merritt. Yay for having friends to trade with! And technically the addition of the gro-baby brought my stash to 16 (plus 2 extra inserts for 2 extra changes).

6.) The owner of Diaper Junction has been so awesome and so helpful and I am so in favor of the way they do their test drive program (which is way better than other companies I looked into) that I decided to be an affiliate for her store. That means I am officially sending business their way. So if you need supplies or want to do a test drive on cloth diapers, you should totally link to them from here. You'll be giving your business to a great family-run company in Virginia, and making me look good in the process. :) Also she gave me a discount code (AFL550) that I can give to as many people as I want (one use per person) for $5 off a $50 purchase. (Or you can spend $75 and get free shipping, and 10% off your entire purchase by joining their mailing list, but still link to them from here, mmmkay?)

7.) Anneliese has not had one single blowout or explosive poop since we switched to cloth. That's right, zero poop on the clothes. That's a bonus I was hopeful about but didn't want to bank on, and now I am frankly in some sort of strange and wonderful new world where all poop is contained in the diapers. It's like... a blissful poop nirvana.

8.) With one of my recent orders, I got some free cloth wipes. They're like double-layered washcloths with a jersey material on one side and a fleece material on the other. They are so much nicer than the ones I made from a cut-up receiving blanket, which are now at the very bottom of my stack. (Those do work fine, but when they fray in the wash the little strings get stuck in the diaper velcro, which is kind of annoying.) The "real" cloth wipes are something I would never have bought, but since I have them I have to admit I really do like them much better.

9.) Mark seems totally on board about the whole cloth diaper thing now. He was apprehensive at first, but now that we've been able to reduce our monthly grocery budget pretty substantially (no longer buying diapers or wipes), and now that he trusts that I really can stay on top of the laundry (I needed to learn that too!), he agrees that it's working out great. His favorite part? Not taking out stinky trash from the kids' rooms every day!

10.) I had to know what all the hype was about with Goodmama diapers -- seriously there is a black market for these things, apparently. So I found a secondhand one and bought it. And let me tell you... I totally understand the hype. I wouldn't want a whole stash of these, since they're pretty pricey to buy new (and sometimes even used!)... but man, is this diaper nice. It combines a lot of my favorite things from other diapers: the user-friendliness of an all-in-one, an insert that snaps in, and the adjustability of a one-size diaper. But most of all, this thing is posh. It is so incredibly soft -- the insides are bamboo, which is really squishy... and then it's lined with velour. Velour. Anneliese is living in the butt of luxury when she's wearing this thing. Click that picture below to make it bigger and you'll see the plush softness I'm talking about. I almost feel bad that she poops on it. And my own butt might or might not be somewhat jealous. The only thing I don't love is that it closes with snaps instead of velcro. But there are a ton of snap settings so it's still really easy to get a good fit. And it's very trim in the back, as you can see by the lack of "back" in the picture above. :)

So the goodmama brings my stash to 17, which is enough to do laundry every other day with Anneliese... but seeing as we're now saving money by using them on Nathan as well, I'm willing to keep doing laundry more often and keep him in cloth, in the hopes that this will get him potty-trained sooner. (Fingers crossed.)Bonus points for anyone who is still reading this post. Especially considering the number of times I used the word poop.