Priorities

Lately my mind and my hands have been busy.

I've been trying to get reorganized {okay, to just GET organized at all!} and for some reason I have a desire to make this house our home {just in time to leave in a year!}.

So I've been looking into a few fun DIY projects and I've been on top of things like laundry and meal plans {okay for like...the past few days...but it's a start!} and I'm only opening my laptop when the boys are napping/sleeping/in "room time", ie. when they aren't around.

I'm focusing on the important things.

And right now cloth diapering is NOT one of those things for me/us.

Despite what all the cloth diapering junkies say, it DOES take more time. Time that I'd rather spend washing the sheets and towels {which I don't wash NEARLY enough as it is!} or cleaning our floors {same deal here, too! In fact, just insert "cleaning the house" and you've got an accurate picture.} or reading my Bible or looking up new recipes of healthy food that my family will like or playing outside or reading books with my sweet ones.

With both boys still in diapers, it's just too much for me right now.

So yes. I'm an environment killer {if you want to get all extreme on me}, but I'm a family lover. And right now the two ARE mutually exclusive.

Props to all the Mommies who can do it all, but right now...it's just not in the cards for me.

I'm not selling them {yet} as I can see myself picking it up again down the road, but right now, they are nicely boxed up and put away in the boys' closet.

In the meantime, we'll love on the environment in other ways. And focus on each other.

materialistic

Recently I've discovered a few online addictions.

1. Etsy

2. eBay

3. Kijiji

4. Random online shops

My current wants/loves:

Gorgeous necklace from The Vintage Pearl - among other things on this website.

Then there's this:

Beautiful necklace from Etsy store Andromedii. LOVE.

Or this beaut:

Hello love.

And then there are the random cloth diapers I drool over on eBay, cloth diaper accessories, make up, jewelery, watches...my materialistic side pops up from time to time and it's often when I'm feeling home-bound and unable to get out (read: winter!). So yeah.
Here I am. Materialistic.

Cloth Diapering Journey Part One

So I bought 6 prefolds and 4 Bummis Super Whisper Wrap covers from Diaper Days a couple days ago.

Then I started scouring Kijiji and eBay for better deals because I felt like I should be able to find some.

And I did.

Wouldn't ya know in my wonderful wonderful hippie city (of course in the downtown core) I found several ads on Kijiji for cloth diapers. At less than 1/2 the price.

So I went to check one ad out yesterday. 6 barely used Happy Heiny pocket diapers plus 9 inserts, 5 more prefolds and 2 more covers for 2/3 of what I paid for the prefolds and wraps at Diaper Days.

Well, I put Jude in the prefolds yesterday and despite getting peed on because I wasn't ready with the diaper fast enough it went okay. I still used disposables at night because they just hold more than regular cloth diapers. I'll look into getting soaker inserts for nighttimes.

Today I put Noah in a cloth diaper after his nap and he was NOT happy about it. To be fair, the Pampers diapers with Elmo, Cookie Monster and Winnie the Pooh are a lot more exciting to a 2 year old. But I stuck with it, adjusted it because he said it was "hurt my bum" so I figured it maybe was a bit tight and then went on until I smelled poop.

It was a major blowout. From Noah. And surprisingly it all stayed in the diaper! It was disgusting as all get out because it was diarrhea (sorry, TMI) so I couldn't exactly just "dump" it in the toilet, so I had to spray it down in the laundry room first. But...he accepted the second cloth diaper much more willingly.

Jude's experience today was also filled with poop. But his didn't stay in the diaper. Not a lot got out, but still, if he had been wearing a disposable it wouldn't have leaked. So that was frustrating. he's on his third (fourth?) outfit today. Oh laundry.

As for fit - well, cloth diapers are WAY more bulky than disposables, but it's bearable.

I also went out and bought three garbage bins. 1 for Noah's room (because the one in there is cracked and broken), 1 for Jude's room and 1 for the downstairs bathroom (because I don't want to have to traipse upstairs with a dirty diaper every time I change one downstairs). So we'll see how it goes. Not sure of the best cleaning method for the bins yet...probably a wash out and then a wipe out with disinfecting wipe or something?

It seems like a lot and there's definitely a learning curve, but I do want to stick with it because I KNOW it will save us money down the road so I think that in and of itself is worth it.

Let's see...current $ spent on cloth diapering: ~$200

How quickly would I spend $200 on disposables with two in diapers? I'm guessing around 3 or 4 months.

More to come on my cloth diapering journey I'm sure...

cloth

So I think I'm turning into that crazy home birth hippie I was so proud (why? Not sure. I just like bucking the trend I guess) not to be!

I'm thinking about switching to...

cloth diapers.

That's right. CLOTH.

Who am I? For reals.

Anyway, so my reasons are singular really.

Money.

I guess it's nice what they do for the environment, but really...I guess I'm just not that environmentally friendly. It's certainly not my motivating factor, that's for sure.

But all that to say, I am looking into and researching cloth diapers.

Um, slightly overwhelming!

Seriously. There's prefolds, pocket diapers, AIO (All In Ones - don't get me started on the acronyms!), liners, cotton, bamboo, wet bags, and oh my goodness it keeps ON GOING!

But I decided to do a tester. I was browsing around on eBay and found some AIOs and decided to purchase 2. They go from 16-35lbs so likely will fit both boys. They were only $7.50 each and there were no shipping costs (I'm all about free shipping when buying things on eBay).

Anyway, so we'll see. I should get the diapers next week sometime so I'll definitely update. Oh and they're called EcoBumz - a Canadian company makes them in Alberta. So we'll see.

I'm leaning towards prefolds for a more economical choice, but we'll see. I'm going to talk to the ladies at Diaper Daze here in Guelph (a baby boutique that sells cloth diapers) and see what info I can glean from them.

So...we'll see. I think especially with two in diapers it's worth the investment. And since we'll likely have more kids I think it would be wise to think about doing cloth.

Oh and I'm planning on making my own baby food too.

(Who AM I?)