It's been awhile since I posted, and things have really changed around here! First off, Amos built a new, gigantic clothesline and It's been pretty fantastic. I can dry a load of diapers and inserts, as well as 1-2 loads of regular laundry all at the same time! I also got a really cool wall-mounted extendable drying rack to use on rainy days. It's set up over the tub so any drips will go right down the drain.
Our super big news is that Madelyn started walking!!! She took her first steps on July 10, at exactly 9 months and 1 week old. So early! M has been super ahead on all her motor milestones. It's been really great, and really scary at the same time. She is so cute when she waddles around the living room with her toys. She is now able to walk all the way across the room without falling, and she is even able to bend over to pick up a toy without falling. I can't wait for her well-check appointment next week so we can show her doctor.
Last night was really fun! I participated in my first twitter party, which was for #rumparooz #clothdiapers. They were giving away a few prizes to help celebrate their new website opening and their new prints (which they didn't reveal and we have to wait. what's up with that??). Anyway, I was chatting away with the mama who owns RG Natural Babies and suddenly my name was being retweeted all over my tweetgrid. I won one of the prizes!! I will be getting a $25 gift certificate to Franklin Goose to buy a Rumparooz diaper!!! I am so super excited because I've been wanting to try one of these for awhile now. Now I have to decide if I want to wait for the new prints to come out, or just go ahead and get one and then *maybe* get a second one with a new print... lol. I know what I *want* to do... :-D
Friday, July 23, 2010
Wednesday, June 2, 2010
Tuesday, May 18, 2010
tooth
I totally forgot to mention in the last post that Madelyn got her first tooth last week. :-) she's working on the second one now. Her gummers are super swollen and she's been pretty fussy this morning so I'm guessing today or tomorrow.
CD update
It has now been a couple of weeks and we are doing cloth diapers almost full time. We are still using some super heavy duty disposables at night because Madelyn sleeps through the night AND is a heavy wetter and I'm not exactly sure how to tackle that combination at the moment. I'm awaiting a free (hooray for #operationfluffy giveaways and deals!) Babykicks Bumboo diaper with hemp inserts and that might be the answer. Word on the street is that hemp inserts and doublers are a million times more absorbent than microfiber. I'm going to try it out one night and see what happens. I'm expecting a wet baby, but you never know. The diaper should be here sometime this week.
Normally I line dry the diapers in the backyard. I had to go to 4 stores until I found a stupid retractable clothes line, and the ones I did find are so cheap and crappy. I got 2 to use until Amos builds a good clothesline in the yard next month. I can barely fit 2 days of diapers on the line so I can't wait until I have a bigger and better one so I can also hang the cloth wipes, wet bag and laundry bag up to dry. Oh and one of the lines on the crappy set broke already and I had to MacGyver it back together. woo.. It's laundry day today and rainy. My first attempt at drying a full diaper load inside. I have everything hanging on clothes hangers on the shower curtain rod. Fun stuff!
(ignore the dirt.. the previous owners had a pool in the backyard and we're working on growing grass)
Normally I line dry the diapers in the backyard. I had to go to 4 stores until I found a stupid retractable clothes line, and the ones I did find are so cheap and crappy. I got 2 to use until Amos builds a good clothesline in the yard next month. I can barely fit 2 days of diapers on the line so I can't wait until I have a bigger and better one so I can also hang the cloth wipes, wet bag and laundry bag up to dry. Oh and one of the lines on the crappy set broke already and I had to MacGyver it back together. woo.. It's laundry day today and rainy. My first attempt at drying a full diaper load inside. I have everything hanging on clothes hangers on the shower curtain rod. Fun stuff!
(ignore the dirt.. the previous owners had a pool in the backyard and we're working on growing grass)
Friday, April 30, 2010
reaching for the stars
i got a big box in the mail today. well, 2 boxes. one box was a free sippy cup i got form juicy juice. i like free things. :-) but my big box was the exciting delivery. we ordered a dozen happy heiny diapers! hooray! they're on the last wash cycle right now and then i'll hang them up to dry. it's almost 90 degrees here with a light breeze so i'm hoping they dry quickly. either way, we will begin our semi-full time cloth diapering tomorrow. :-D starting on a saturday is extra great too because amos hasn't done too much with the diapers. this will give him some time to get the hang on it. yay.
in other news, madelyn has started pulling herself up to standing this week. amos found her standing in her crib a few days ago. since then i have watched her pull herself up in the crib twice, once on me, and just a few minutes ago she did it in the pack and play. the next step would be for her to sort of walk alongside stuff while holding on, and then full on walking. we suspected madelyn would be an early walker since she has been ahead on all her milestones since pretty much day one, but now it's looking even more probable. scary! we have the baby gate up (she's been crawling for awhile now) but we still need to get corner bumpers and some drawer/cabinet latch thingies.
in other news, madelyn has started pulling herself up to standing this week. amos found her standing in her crib a few days ago. since then i have watched her pull herself up in the crib twice, once on me, and just a few minutes ago she did it in the pack and play. the next step would be for her to sort of walk alongside stuff while holding on, and then full on walking. we suspected madelyn would be an early walker since she has been ahead on all her milestones since pretty much day one, but now it's looking even more probable. scary! we have the baby gate up (she's been crawling for awhile now) but we still need to get corner bumpers and some drawer/cabinet latch thingies.
Thursday, April 22, 2010
more cloth diapering: day 2
i washed all the diapers before bed last night. i did a cold rinse with no detergent, then a hot wash with detergent and a cold rinse. it will be great when we have enough diapers to only need to wash every 2 days and not every night. i hung everything up on the drying rack and stuck it in the bathroom so that cats wouldn't mess with it overnight.
in the morning, all of the inserts and diapers were dry.. except for the prefolds. they were still pretty damp. so i left them on the rack and moved it out to the back deck for some more drying time.
i decided to stick with the same order of diapers, so in the morning we went with the bum genius. today i used the same insert, but added a doubler. i also was extra careful to check the diaper and make sure everything was tucked in right and that madelyn's clothes weren't stuffed in anywhere. after our bottle, play time and nap we had dry sheets! and a dry baby! hooray!
we changed into the happy heiny, also with an insert and doubler. off we went for another bottle and play time. we had visitors today and madelyn got to play with kayley for awhile. they're 4 years apart (almost to the day) and it was really fun to watch madelyn stare, wide eyed, at kayley while she played. :-) the girls had fun. then it was time for a nap! when madelyn woke up again we had dry baby. :-)
when i started to change her i noticed her bum was a little red and i decided to give her some nakey time to air out. then she started getting really fussy and was scratching herself. on closer inspected, i realized we had the start of a yeast rash. so unfortunately we are taking a short break from the cloth diapering until we're done with her bum medicine. hopefully some major amounts of air time combined with some lotrimin/triple paste will clear it right up. there's a chance that the redness is from some residual detergent left in the diapers after washing so i will start adding an extra rinse from now on. this rash looks identical (but more mild) than her last yeast rash though so i'm pretty sure that's the problem. i don't have enough cloth diapers to last through a bunch of extra changes, and i don't want to fuss with stripping diapers that i've only had 2 days so i'm going to use some sposies until we get this cleared up and then start up again super soon!
i also need to get a retractable clothes line for the backyard. while i've been typing this the (light) breeze blew my rack over 3 times... lame.
in the morning, all of the inserts and diapers were dry.. except for the prefolds. they were still pretty damp. so i left them on the rack and moved it out to the back deck for some more drying time.
i decided to stick with the same order of diapers, so in the morning we went with the bum genius. today i used the same insert, but added a doubler. i also was extra careful to check the diaper and make sure everything was tucked in right and that madelyn's clothes weren't stuffed in anywhere. after our bottle, play time and nap we had dry sheets! and a dry baby! hooray!
we changed into the happy heiny, also with an insert and doubler. off we went for another bottle and play time. we had visitors today and madelyn got to play with kayley for awhile. they're 4 years apart (almost to the day) and it was really fun to watch madelyn stare, wide eyed, at kayley while she played. :-) the girls had fun. then it was time for a nap! when madelyn woke up again we had dry baby. :-)
when i started to change her i noticed her bum was a little red and i decided to give her some nakey time to air out. then she started getting really fussy and was scratching herself. on closer inspected, i realized we had the start of a yeast rash. so unfortunately we are taking a short break from the cloth diapering until we're done with her bum medicine. hopefully some major amounts of air time combined with some lotrimin/triple paste will clear it right up. there's a chance that the redness is from some residual detergent left in the diapers after washing so i will start adding an extra rinse from now on. this rash looks identical (but more mild) than her last yeast rash though so i'm pretty sure that's the problem. i don't have enough cloth diapers to last through a bunch of extra changes, and i don't want to fuss with stripping diapers that i've only had 2 days so i'm going to use some sposies until we get this cleared up and then start up again super soon!
i also need to get a retractable clothes line for the backyard. while i've been typing this the (light) breeze blew my rack over 3 times... lame.
Wednesday, April 21, 2010
it's a long one... my first attempt at cloth diapering...
okay this is super long, but i wanted to record everything partially for anyone who is interested and so that i can remember which diaper i like better and why so i know which ones to order more of! :-D I'm typing this up throughout the day as we swap diapers , eat and play so this is also a slight peek into my daily life.
My cloth diaper experience:
I ordered all one-size pocket diapers, and one diaper cover:
1 fuzzibunz, white. came with two inserts and replacement elastic sizers
1 bun genius 3.0, pink. came with one big insert and one infant/doubler
1 happy heiny, yellow. came with one big insert and one infant/doubler
1 thirsties cover, floral.
1 roll of flushable, biodegradable liners bu Kushies. it's basically a toilet paper roll but thicker, more like a paper towel.
i washed everything in super hot water with a teeny bit of detergent. i have a front loader and used tide HE free and clear. i hung everything to dry on my back porch. and hour later, all the diapers and inserts were 90% dry. i was pleasantly surprised. the thirsties cover was totally dry, but it didn't have any cotton or microfiber to hold any water.
from my research it seemed that i had 3 options for prepping the liners to maximum absorbency. i could either wash them once and see what happened (most likely leaks) wash them many many times, or boil them for 20 minutes and then wash twice. yeah… i boiled. i then washed them with no detergent and added an extra rinse and called it a day. i hung them to dry in front of a fan (it started raining) and they were completely dry within 2 hours. i stuffed the dipes with their corresponding inserts (left out the doublers) and called it a night.
Day 1: Using each pocket diaper with only one insert and no doublers.
in the morning i woke madelyn up and got her set up in the bum genius.
:-) the inside was very soft so i felt bad about putting the liner in. she didn't seem to care though, as she was totally distracted by the velcro tabs. we did our morning routine of a bottle and some playtime in the exersaucer. i checked her diaper before naptime and it had some poop. i removed the liner and threw it out. the diaper seemed okay so i just went ahead and fastened it up and put her to bed. we had been changing sposies just after naps so i wanted to see how this would fare for that length of time. when she got up from her nap, the crib sheet was dry. yay! i brought her to the changing table and then noticed her shirt was damp on one side. i *think* the shirt might have been tucked into the diaper or the liner was sticking out or something. so i'm not sure if this is technically a leak. i also read that cloth diapers will frequently leak when you first get them until they are cleaned many more times. so we shall see. maybe i should have changed her completely before her nap, but time will tell. i shook out the insert and tossed that and the diaper in the washing machine and put it on rinse, but no spin. i still need to order a wet bag… then i'll be able to skip that step
Our next diaper of the day is the yellow Happy Heiny.
i prefer the overall feel and appearance of this diaper to the bum genius. it was also easier to attach, even though both the HH and the BG are velcro. the tabs on the HH are larger. Time to test it out! this awake time we had our bottle (which madelyn held almost entirely herself!) and some butternut squash. yum. after her tummy settled, it was play time. she crawled all around her little baby jail and gave this diaper a work out. after she wiped herself out for the morning, it was nap time again. i didn't check her diaper before this nap.
lunch time for mommy! (a.k.a. mommy drinks a slim fast with one hand while emptying the dishwasher and cleaning the kitchen with the other hand…)
After madelyn's nap, i was greeted with wet sheets. madelyn tends to nap on her belly so i think we had some leakage out of the front of the diaper. i cleaned her up (easy since she just slept in her diaper) and put on our fuzzibunz. this was my first attempt with snaps. the only issue i had was that madelyn is long and skinny and her super trim waist was on the small side for this diaper. the best fit actually had the tabs overlapping each other so i had to get creative. luckily there are plenty of places to snap into so i think i found a way that worked. i didn't try adjusting the leg elastics yet so we'll see how that goes. after madelyn had her bottle, it was time for mommy-daughter playtime. :-) and then another nap. i have a good feeling about these fuzzibunz so i'm hoping for a dry baby when she wakes up!
okay now i'm really going to put the dishes way… i totally got distracted during lunch and ended up shopping online for a wet bag.
okay we are up from nap time. the fuzzibuns leaked. but only a little! there was barely any wetness on the sheet so i didn't have to change it this time. when i picked her up i discovered the leaking from from the leg holes. i will shrink those up for tomorrow. so far, the fuzzibuns are in the lead because even though it did leak, it was an area i had not fitted specifically to madelyn. the other two diapers i did size for her and they leaked anyways. but again, they probably all just need extra inserts. madelyn is currently lounging in a thirsties cover stuffed a tri-fold prefold, an insert on top (the second insert from the fuzzibunz set) and a liner.
this diaper cover seems more like a sposies with the gussets in the leg area. this cover was the easiest of all to put on and madelyn seems pretty comfortable in it. i plopped her on the floor and gave her a bottle, which she held up herself again, although she did it laying down. such a big girl! she is now sucking on some grapes through her mesh feeder. time for me to make dinner while she plays!
okay- nap time over. and we have leakage! just a small little puddle. not sure where it came out of. i took out the prefold and insert and wiped down the thirsties cover. this time i folded the prefold in what i think is the "newspaper fold" with the last microfiber double inside. i then wrapped everything in the thirsties cover once more. If we have time for another cloth diaper tonight i will try the twist bikini fold. and then it's back to a sposie for night time.
tomorrow i plan to do pretty much the same thing, except change diapers before nap time and see if a fresh one prevents leaks. i might try adding extra inserts and/or prefolds as well, but i'm currently limited on my insert stash so we'll see how far that gets us.
during the day i found out from my lovely babycenter friends that babysteals' steal of the day was a gro-baby diaper set! i contemplated this purchase for about 3 nanoseconds, hopped over to the gro-baby website for price comparison and more info, and then bit the bullet and ordered the steal. so whenever that shows up we will have 3 more cloth diaper shells, and 150 disposable liners. those liners will be great for traveling, between laundry loads or if amos and I are sick and totally just don't feel like it. lol. or if madelyn is having a serious case of the craps… ;-) anyways. in addition to the disposable liners, these shells can go over prefolds and fitteds, just like the thirsties cover so that will be extra helpful in increasing the number of changes we can do with what we have. all we need now are to buy/make several more microfiber inserts and get a few more pocket diapers and prefolds. then we should be set until madelyn is potty trained! for the next kid we will probably need to add a couple more diapers to the stash, but nothing compared to the cost of disposables. it will be fantastic!
on a side note- for now, we are planning on using sposies during the night. we use 12 hour+ baby dry pampers and she fills those up. I'm not sure how she compares to other babies, but i have a feeling madelyn is a heavy night wetter. we might try CD at night in the future, but for the time being we're just going to work on mastering daytime. :-) we also plan to use sposies during trips as well, simply due to the convenience of not needing to mooch someone's washing machine.
this concludes today's novel.
My cloth diaper experience:
I ordered all one-size pocket diapers, and one diaper cover:
1 fuzzibunz, white. came with two inserts and replacement elastic sizers
1 bun genius 3.0, pink. came with one big insert and one infant/doubler
1 happy heiny, yellow. came with one big insert and one infant/doubler
1 thirsties cover, floral.
1 roll of flushable, biodegradable liners bu Kushies. it's basically a toilet paper roll but thicker, more like a paper towel.
i washed everything in super hot water with a teeny bit of detergent. i have a front loader and used tide HE free and clear. i hung everything to dry on my back porch. and hour later, all the diapers and inserts were 90% dry. i was pleasantly surprised. the thirsties cover was totally dry, but it didn't have any cotton or microfiber to hold any water.
from my research it seemed that i had 3 options for prepping the liners to maximum absorbency. i could either wash them once and see what happened (most likely leaks) wash them many many times, or boil them for 20 minutes and then wash twice. yeah… i boiled. i then washed them with no detergent and added an extra rinse and called it a day. i hung them to dry in front of a fan (it started raining) and they were completely dry within 2 hours. i stuffed the dipes with their corresponding inserts (left out the doublers) and called it a night.
Day 1: Using each pocket diaper with only one insert and no doublers.
in the morning i woke madelyn up and got her set up in the bum genius.
:-) the inside was very soft so i felt bad about putting the liner in. she didn't seem to care though, as she was totally distracted by the velcro tabs. we did our morning routine of a bottle and some playtime in the exersaucer. i checked her diaper before naptime and it had some poop. i removed the liner and threw it out. the diaper seemed okay so i just went ahead and fastened it up and put her to bed. we had been changing sposies just after naps so i wanted to see how this would fare for that length of time. when she got up from her nap, the crib sheet was dry. yay! i brought her to the changing table and then noticed her shirt was damp on one side. i *think* the shirt might have been tucked into the diaper or the liner was sticking out or something. so i'm not sure if this is technically a leak. i also read that cloth diapers will frequently leak when you first get them until they are cleaned many more times. so we shall see. maybe i should have changed her completely before her nap, but time will tell. i shook out the insert and tossed that and the diaper in the washing machine and put it on rinse, but no spin. i still need to order a wet bag… then i'll be able to skip that step
Our next diaper of the day is the yellow Happy Heiny.
i prefer the overall feel and appearance of this diaper to the bum genius. it was also easier to attach, even though both the HH and the BG are velcro. the tabs on the HH are larger. Time to test it out! this awake time we had our bottle (which madelyn held almost entirely herself!) and some butternut squash. yum. after her tummy settled, it was play time. she crawled all around her little baby jail and gave this diaper a work out. after she wiped herself out for the morning, it was nap time again. i didn't check her diaper before this nap.
lunch time for mommy! (a.k.a. mommy drinks a slim fast with one hand while emptying the dishwasher and cleaning the kitchen with the other hand…)
After madelyn's nap, i was greeted with wet sheets. madelyn tends to nap on her belly so i think we had some leakage out of the front of the diaper. i cleaned her up (easy since she just slept in her diaper) and put on our fuzzibunz. this was my first attempt with snaps. the only issue i had was that madelyn is long and skinny and her super trim waist was on the small side for this diaper. the best fit actually had the tabs overlapping each other so i had to get creative. luckily there are plenty of places to snap into so i think i found a way that worked. i didn't try adjusting the leg elastics yet so we'll see how that goes. after madelyn had her bottle, it was time for mommy-daughter playtime. :-) and then another nap. i have a good feeling about these fuzzibunz so i'm hoping for a dry baby when she wakes up!
okay now i'm really going to put the dishes way… i totally got distracted during lunch and ended up shopping online for a wet bag.
okay we are up from nap time. the fuzzibuns leaked. but only a little! there was barely any wetness on the sheet so i didn't have to change it this time. when i picked her up i discovered the leaking from from the leg holes. i will shrink those up for tomorrow. so far, the fuzzibuns are in the lead because even though it did leak, it was an area i had not fitted specifically to madelyn. the other two diapers i did size for her and they leaked anyways. but again, they probably all just need extra inserts. madelyn is currently lounging in a thirsties cover stuffed a tri-fold prefold, an insert on top (the second insert from the fuzzibunz set) and a liner.
this diaper cover seems more like a sposies with the gussets in the leg area. this cover was the easiest of all to put on and madelyn seems pretty comfortable in it. i plopped her on the floor and gave her a bottle, which she held up herself again, although she did it laying down. such a big girl! she is now sucking on some grapes through her mesh feeder. time for me to make dinner while she plays!
okay- nap time over. and we have leakage! just a small little puddle. not sure where it came out of. i took out the prefold and insert and wiped down the thirsties cover. this time i folded the prefold in what i think is the "newspaper fold" with the last microfiber double inside. i then wrapped everything in the thirsties cover once more. If we have time for another cloth diaper tonight i will try the twist bikini fold. and then it's back to a sposie for night time.
tomorrow i plan to do pretty much the same thing, except change diapers before nap time and see if a fresh one prevents leaks. i might try adding extra inserts and/or prefolds as well, but i'm currently limited on my insert stash so we'll see how far that gets us.
during the day i found out from my lovely babycenter friends that babysteals' steal of the day was a gro-baby diaper set! i contemplated this purchase for about 3 nanoseconds, hopped over to the gro-baby website for price comparison and more info, and then bit the bullet and ordered the steal. so whenever that shows up we will have 3 more cloth diaper shells, and 150 disposable liners. those liners will be great for traveling, between laundry loads or if amos and I are sick and totally just don't feel like it. lol. or if madelyn is having a serious case of the craps… ;-) anyways. in addition to the disposable liners, these shells can go over prefolds and fitteds, just like the thirsties cover so that will be extra helpful in increasing the number of changes we can do with what we have. all we need now are to buy/make several more microfiber inserts and get a few more pocket diapers and prefolds. then we should be set until madelyn is potty trained! for the next kid we will probably need to add a couple more diapers to the stash, but nothing compared to the cost of disposables. it will be fantastic!
on a side note- for now, we are planning on using sposies during the night. we use 12 hour+ baby dry pampers and she fills those up. I'm not sure how she compares to other babies, but i have a feeling madelyn is a heavy night wetter. we might try CD at night in the future, but for the time being we're just going to work on mastering daytime. :-) we also plan to use sposies during trips as well, simply due to the convenience of not needing to mooch someone's washing machine.
this concludes today's novel.
