So long Pampers, Hello Cloth!

Well, I did it. I became a cloth diapering mom. Thanks to my friend Angie whose status a few weeks ago read, "I love cloth diapering... so wonderful not to have to go spend $30+ on diapers for the month. Just need to pull em out of the dryer!! :)"

It piqued my curiosity and I got sucked in! Not that it took a big fight; I'm easily swayed towards anything that saves us money. It's just my way of pitching in! Ok, maybe it's a subconscious fear of my husband sending me back to work for my old boss. Just kidding, he loves me way too much to do such a tortuous thing!

Anyway, let me start by saying that when I was pregnant with Julia, we planned on doing cloth diapers because it seemed the way to go as far as saving money. I knew nothing about it besides what I remember my mom doing with my younger siblings. I envisioned having to handwash them myself, which was disgusting, and that got us looking into diaper services. Well, at least around these parts, they don't realy exist anymore, and if you do find one, it's not much cheaper than disposables. Some well-meaning family members ended up talking us out of it, and supplied us with several months worth of Pampers, which we felt was a huge blessing! So, we never looked back.

Fast forward to a few weeks ago, when I read that post and started wanting to know more. I really didn't think I would change my mind that easily. But, the more I researched and got my questions answered, the more I realized that it's not at all what people think. Actually, it was a no-brainer.

Disposable diapers for one child, from birth to potty training, cost an average of $3000. Cloth diapering, on the other hand, can cost as little as $300, and the diapers can be reused for additional children.

Cloth diapers are nothing like what they used to be when our parents and grandparents used them. Just take a look at some pictures online and you'll see that they really have come a long way. In fact, they are SO much cuter that it's actually FUN. AND, some of them are adjustable/one-size so you don't have to keep buying all new ones as your baby grows. They are much more absorbent than they used to be, and way better for the environment. Now I'm no green freak, but it's pretty staggering to think about all the landfills that disposables are filling up because it takes then 500 years to break down.

"But what about washing poopy diapers?" I think that's what turns most people off. Well, so far I haven't had to touch any poop yet, and I'm no expert. In fact, it seems like I'm actually touching LESS poop because it stays in the diaper instead of on Josiah's bum. And because he's not eating solids yet, it can go straight in the wash without doing any harm to the diaper or the washing machine. When his poo starts getting harder, the only extra step is dumping it in the toilet first. Big deal, I'm already doing that with Julia's panties when she has an accident.

"What about all the extra laundry?" I already do 4 loads of laundry a week, so why not just make it one a day? I won't go into details, but diaper laundry is so much easier than any other load. If you do the math, that saves about $70/hr to do cloth instead of disposables. I don't know about you, but that's a pretty penny.

Just like any other time I find out about a great money-saving strategy, I always wish I'd known about it sooner. Well, that's definitely the case here. I wish I would've learned the truth about modern cloth diapering 3 years ago and done it with Julia. Would've saved us a chunk of change!

Don't get me wrong, I still have some Pampers to use on occasion. But for the most part, I've made the switch and am SO glad. It feels really good to know that I'm doing something positive for the environment, plus it probably feels a LOT softer on Josiah's skin!

I do realize that I have just become part of a minority group. I don't have a single friend around here that does cloth. But, I do have a couple in other states/cities, and there are plenty of online mommy communities that have been helpful. I had no idea how many options there were out there for doing cloth. It was pretty overwhelming until I decided to just jump in and try it out!

I'm not saying it's for everybody, but it's definitely worth looking into if you have a child that isn't potty trained yet!

Ok, so here's a couple pix of my little prince in his new duds:





Questions, comments, cheapshots? ;)

TWO months!

to say that the past 9 weeks have FLOWN by would be an understatement! i almost cried the other day when i saw a 5 month old bouncing baby boy and thought, wow, josiah's gonna be that big, like, tomorrow! it's so different this time around. i always wanted julia to get to the next age, and now i just wish josiah would stay little forever! not that i don't look forward to the next age with him (after all, he just keeps getting cuter every DAY!), but i savor each moment more.

ANYhow, on to the update:

* he's smiling now! sometimes i have to really work for it, but it's so worth it. his smile is so big-mouthed and cheesy! love love love it.

* i kept thinking he wouldn't sleep through the night until much later, because he wasn't really slowing down with the night feedings. but, last night he slept till 5am! yay! let's hope for more of that. =)

* from 2 to 6 weeks, he gained 4 lbs. seriously yall, that's double the norm. he's finally slowed down (a little) but he's still in the 75th percentile for his height and weight. who would've thought i'd have a skinny little girl and a hoss little boy?! (um, have you seen their parents?!) ok so at his 2mo checkup yesterday (which he passed with flying colors!) he was 12lbs11oz (one more pound and he'll be double his birth weight... crazy!) and 23.75 inches. yah, he's grown almost 5 inches since birth. no wonder he's outgrown everything!

*he still grunts. a lot. i try to just let him squeeze it out but sometimes he gets so fussy i have to help him out a little (holding him upright works well, sometimes i just have to nurse him again, which may be why he's gaining so quickly).

*still doesn't have much hair... i wonder if he'll be bald till he's 2, like julia. guess we'll see!

*his eyes are still blue... i wonder if they'll turn green/hazel like julia's (and riley's) or stay blue like mine. that would be cool, because every other part of him looks just like his daddy!

*he's holding his head up really well. doesn't really hold it straight but i can hold him on my lap like sitting up facing me, and he can look at me without his head flopping down or back.

*he's "talking"... usually when i'm cooing at him or trying to get him to smile, he'll coo back. it's really cute. i don't get enough of that!

*still haven't given him pumped milk in a bottle yet. trying to build up a stockpile of that so i can leave him longer than 2 hours!

*he almost always takes a good nap when julia does, so that's nice, and makes up for the fact that i don't get a full night's sleep.

*i just started cloth diapering him on wednesday, but i'll probably write another blog entirely about that instead of going into detail here! it's going great though.

*his eyelashes are getting prettier! when he was first born they were really short and blond, but they've been gradually getting darker and thicker. julia's did this too (maybe every baby does) and hers are gorgeous now so i'm sure his will be too!

*he looks like a boxer. like his waist is really thick and he's got these big punching hands. it's awfully cute.

well i can't think of anything else for now so i'll just leave you with a recent pic of my handsome little man and his adorable big sister!

My knight in shining armor!

Can I just say that I have THE most WONDERFUL husband in the WORLD?!

Thursday night was rough. Like, I don't think I really slept at all. I'm sure I laid my head back on the pillow as I nursed Josiah, but seriously... every time I put him down, he started crying again. He wanted to eat. all. night.

This was after having a headache all day Thursday so I really needed the sleep. But, no.

So of course Friday morning I was a zombie and absolutely nothing got done around the house, besides trying to keep Julia from cracking eggs on the floor, opening 10 cups of yogurt, pouring salt all over the stove, dropping Josiah on the floor, you know, everyday stuff.

Well after lunch we ventured out to Wal-Mart (which I rarely go to anymore) because Julia needed more diapers. I swear, every time I buy a box, I think, hopefully this will be the last box. Guess the potty training has taken a little detour lately.

Anyway, it was horrible as I expected, but necessary. We got home and as I was pulling Josiah out of the car, I noticed a white Malibu in the parking lot. Well, that's what Riley drives. I checked the license plate, and it was his. Did he not take his car to work today? Duh, of course he did. I checked my phone because I figured he would've called if he was coming home early. Sure enough, he had and I just didn't hear it.

YAY! I was so excited that he was home early. Especially because I'd had such a rotten night and morning.

When I came inside he was washing the dishes that had stacked up the day before and I just didn't feel like doing, and lo and behold was a wonderful surprise!

Beautiful sunflowers and a super sweet card. It was EXACTLY what I needed... he is always there to lift me up at just the right time! (I was reminded of the day I had a horrible wal-mart trip with a killer headache...hmmm, is there a theme here?... and when i got home, he was there! turned out i had meningitis!)

Anyway, I am so grateful and thank God for giving me such a loving, sweet, strong, gentle, smart, generous, fun, dorky, helpful hubby. I love you Riley...you are AWESOME!

Dollar movie adventure!

So, last night after dinner Riley suggested taking the kids to go see UP. I figured hey, it might be a special treat for Julia and we could at least see how she does at the theater. A little worried about how she would behave, but we'd eventually have to give it a try anyway!

It took forever to get Julia ready to go, I don't think she realized what we were doing or she might've been more excited and got those pants and shoes on in a jiffy!

Well, somehow we got there in time and $3.50 later we were in our seats ready for the show! I just held Josiah in my arms and they had cool booster seats with cupholders so we got one of those for Julia. She settled in pretty nicely after a trip to the potty (although she didn't actually pee and i didn't bring a clean diaper to the restroom so she was stuck in a really wet one).

Josiah was happy the whole time of course. Julia got a little antsy and went back and forth between Riley and me. I can't speak for the other people there, but I don't think she was too disruptive. Of course, it's a kid movie, and it's only $1.75 so I wouldn't feel THAT bad even if she had been a little terror. I'm glad we brought her sippy cup, snacks and blanket. I think that helped her enjoy it more!

Not sure if she actually paid much attention, half the time she was bouncing back and forth between Riley and me, half the time walking back and forth through our aisle (that we had all to ourselves), asking for more lemonade, etc.

Eventually she fell asleep in my lap, but was uncomfortable and started crying so Riley and I made the final switch for the rest of the movie and she slept on his chest. So sweet!

Well I'm not going to review the movie here but it was good!

After it was over, we realized we needed to figure out how to get Julia's diaper changed so we wouldn't have to do it at home and risk waking her up. It's been a real challenge getting her to sleep lately so we wanted to protect that at all cost!

We ended up laying her down across the blankets-covered-booster and Riley changed it there while I held Josiah. What a sight. Good thing the theater was empty by then! (except for the cleaning boy) I'm glad we're such a good team! If it had just been one of us, it would've been so frustrating and impossibly difficult!

Well the jeans she had on were really too small so I told Riley to look in Josiah's bag for some extra pants since i hadn't packed Julia an extra outfit. They were newborn sized and probably would've fit since she's so tiny, but Josiah had 3mo shorts on and i thought those would fit her better. so we took his shorts off, put them on Julia, and put the extra pants on Josiah. What an ordeal! She stayed asleep the whole time. Even getting in and out of the car, and into bed, all night! It was work but it was fun and a great adventure... just like Mr. Frederickson in the movie!

The whole experience was definitely positive. I think it's safe to say we can take Julia to the movies if it's a kid one, especially if it's the dollar theater!