Finally

My diapers are getting some much needed sun.

Lots of Laundry - part three

I've been using cloth diapers for almost a year now.

I have a clothesline as of a month ago.  It helps a lot because they dry faster than when I have them all snug together on my drying rack.  I'll be sad when it's too cold outside for drying.  Drying in my basement in the winter takes days.  Yes,  Two days.  I put these diapers on the line at 10:30a.  The covers will be dry by 3p.  The inserts will be dry by 8p, if not earlier.

We did take a couple of cloth diapering breaks.  The month of January was spent trying to get rid of a diaper rash.  I stripped my diapers and she seemed to be happy in the cloth again.

In June we moved to Camp for a month and a half.  I decided I wanted a vacation from diapers.  I was lucky that this coincided with a surge in Huggies coupons.  I got most of them for super-cheap.  After I got caught up with laundry again, it was time for mini-holidays to Grand Haven, Big Star Lake, etc.  I wasn't ready for cloth then yet either.

We started the cloth again last week.  Yep, I took almost 2.5 full months off.  It was a nice break and I enjoyed the smaller amounts of laundry.

My stash has changed a bit.  I know have two BumGenius All-In-Ones sized medium.  I still prefer the (now discontinued) 3.0s, but I got them for a steal.  I'm using disposable wipes exclusively.  It just works better for us.  And, last week we decided to use disposable diapers at night.  I need to stuff them so full at nighttime and it just didn't feel comfortable to me.  I'm really happy with our day/night combination.  It doesn't half to be all or nothing.  I miss the way her clothes fit over disposable diapers though.  They just fit so much better.

Lots of Laundry - part two.

We've been using cloth diapers for 6 months now.  I'd say it's gone pretty well.  I'm thrilled that the weather has turned and I can dry my diapers outside again.  They dry faster, look better and smell great.

During the months of January and February, I was having a lot of problems with diaper rash.  Tillie spent a good amount of that time in disposables while I tried to sort it out.  One thing I did was strip my diapers.  One easy way to do this is to use the dishwasher.  (Wash them how you normally do first.)  Since all my diapers are pockets, I just did this to the inserts.  I placed them in the top rack and ran a normal cycle without detergent.  The water in the dishwasher gets hotter than in the washing machine so it can help remove any build-up on the diapers.  Just be careful that nothing touches the heating unit on the bottom of the machine.  I used just the top rack to prevent any melting.burning mishaps.  I ran the dishwasher twice, using the sanitary rinse.  Then, I used the spin cycle on the washing machine before hanging them up to dry.  This can also be beneficial if you have leaking/repelling issues.

I could tell this helped the diapers, because they were "fluffier" and looked nicer.  But, we still were having some trouble.  I then bought the BumGenius detergent.  I'm not sure that it's making a difference, but I needed more detergent anyway.  We also are using disposable wipes at the moment.  I had been drying my wipes in the dryer, without fabric softener.  But, I'm sure there was some build-up in the dryer that could be causing some issues.  Especially when they were washed with the diapers.  Once we have a clothesline built, I'll try line drying them.  (I really just need to start using wool dryer balls for everything.)

One of the strangest discoveries was that the California Baby Calendula Cream (yes, the one made for sensitive skin and kids with eczema) seems to give her a rash.  The cream dries in a layer on skin that peels off leaving weird flakes and bright red skin that looks to be rubbed raw.  When we stopped using any cream at all, it got better.  (Yes, I know my child is weird, but look at her parents.  She didn't stand a chance.)

And, with that, we seem to be back in business.  And, because I know you come for the pictures of my gorgeous girl, I leave you with this.

 That's Tillie in her Palm Sunday dress. (What? We have a lot of Spring dresses.)

Lots of Laundry

A few people have asked me to post my cloth diapering system.  I feel a little silly posting it, because basically I e-mailed Rebecca to see what she did and I do pretty much the same.

My supplies:
22 Bumgenuis 3.0 diapers.
2 Planet Wise pail liners.
2 Medium Wet Bags
1 Small Wet Bag
Planet Laundry Detergent
California Baby Diaper Area Spray
30 homemade flannel wipes
20 homemade jersey wipes
6 circo washclothes
Little Spray Bottle
12 fleece rectangles

Here you can see my set up.  I keep the diapers on the second shelf of the changing table.  The clothes in the current size she wears is kept in the bins of the changing table.  I use a disposable wipes container to keep my flannel wipes in on top of the changing table.  The second shelf holds another container with the jersey wipes and the cheap washclothes(Literally jersey knit material cut into squares.  It doesn't fray, so no sewing is needed.  They're thin, and sometimes needed for clean-up, or for when I've used all the flannel wipes.)  Some people just use all cheap washclothes.  I wanted to make wipes because I'm not a very good sewer, but I can do squares!  The fleece rectangles are a liner of sorts.  I just place it in the diaper when I put it on her.  Most of the poo goes on to the fleece, so I don't really get stains on the diapers.  Now that she's on solid foods I just drop the poo in the toilet.  When she was just taking formula everything would just wash out in the machine.  I only have 12 fleece rectangles because I'm too lazy to cut the rest of the fleece up.  (Yes, I realize it would take all of 2 minutes.)

The wipes before I used them, they're a little stained now.

The spray bottle holds a mixture of distilled water and the California Baby diaper area spray.  The trash can is the kind that you push down on the top and it will pop open.  I can open it with my knee or elbow.  It's line with the pail liner.  I have two of them so when I do a load of diaper laundry it goes right in there with them.

There are two detergent charts online that helped me chose what detergent to use.

http://www.diaperjungle.com/detergent-chart.html
http://www.pinstripesandpolkadots.com/detergentchoices.htm
I decided on Planet because I can buy it locally at D&W.  I've also ordered Planet powder from Drugstore.com, but I think I like the liquid better.  CottonBabies.com offers free shipping on the detergent they sell.  All of it is recommended for cloth diapers. I've been tempted to buy some Nellie's because the tin is so cute.


I wash the diapers twice with 1/4 the amount of detergent the bottle calls for.  The first wash is cold, the second is hot.  I do an extra cold rinse after that.  I line dry my diapers because I don't want to worry about fabric softener build-up  from what could be lingering in the dryer.  Plus, it uses less energy.  In the summer I would dry them outside and it only took one day.  If I washed them mid-morning they would be dry after dinner.  Now, I wash them and it takes about 24-36 hours to dry.

Bumgenuis 3.0 are a one-size pocket diaper.  The come with two inserts, one regular and the infant/doubler. I use just the regular insert during the day. I have 5 white diapers and I stuff those with a regular insert and the doubler for bed.  She stays in that for 12 hours at night and doesn't leak at all.  Should she start leaking at night, I could add another doubler, or look into other types of inserts.  I've heard that bamboo is very absorbent.  The inserts I have are microfiber.  Right now I have them snapped down to the smallest size.  They should fit her until around 35 lbs.  I had to wait until 4 months to start using them because she was so small and had skinny legs.  A lot of people use prefolds and covers for newborns and small infants.  I may do that with future children, but I didn't want to deal with cloth at camp with my first baby.

The smaller wetbags I keep in my diaper bag for used diapers when we're out.  I do use disposable wipes for that, but she can wear cloth diapers for longer.  I rarely have to change her unless it's a long day our.  Trips to the mall or Target are just fine.

I think that's about all.  We really like them.  I haven't had a blowout  since we started using them.  I did have one leak, at my cousin's wedding.  But, that was because I forgot to change her diaper and she wore it for abour 6 hours.  Oops.  She hasn't worn a disposable since we started using them.  They were an investement, but I got a few as gifts, Rebecca found a bunch on sale for me and I bought some others in bulk.

Let me know if you have any questions or if it seems like I left something out!

Farm Fresh

Just this week I realized that Metro Health Hospital has a Farmer's Market on Thursday mornings. It started in May and goes to next week. So, my discovery was a little late...

My mom bought a huge bouquet from this seller for $5. The best part? The money goes to help students in El Salvador go to college




I bought potatoes from Visser Farms for a stew I'm going to make next week.


I just liked how the radishes looked piled on the table.


The only problem is that it's just a little to far to walk to with Tillie. Maybe next summer we'll have the bike attachment for the Chariot and I can take her that way.

Daddy's Little Green Girl