Cloth Diapers: Take 2…

Posted on August 19, 2014 by playinghousewi

So, after our first cloth diapering experience, the hubs and I have been avoiding them like a plague. In fact, I called our diaper service on Monday and asked them to put our service on hold.

With that in mind, Mark and I decided it was time to give them a try… Before we put our service on hold… And never took it off of hold. Anyway, our second run at cloth diapering has been way more successful!

In fact, we used them all evening yesterday (until bedtime when we switched to disposable) and I’ve been using them all day today. Honestly, I don’t mind them. I mean, I don’t like diapering in general… Because really, who does? But the cloth are no more difficult than the disposable.

The main difference I’ve noticed thus far is our sweet girl’s reaction to a dirty diaper. She’s never seemed to really notice or mind a dirty diaper. With cloth, that does not seem to be the case. Today she woke up from her nap in instant hysterics. Poor lovey. But, definitely makes sense why cloth diapered babies are potty trained sooner than disposable diapered babes.

On a somewhat relevant note, Charlotte tried her best to shoot me with poo today. I was tossing a wipe into the trash when I heard a noise and felt a breeze on my arm. It took me a quarter of a second before realizing that her pre-poop fart was a courtesy warning. I instantly grabbed a cloth diaper and tossed it over her tush. Thankfully, my body was protected, but the changing table cover wasn’t as lucky.

Here are some pics of the sweet pea all clothes up…

And the Nesting is BACK!

Posted on June 18, 2014 by playinghousewi

I’m not sure if it was the realization that my due date is next week, the fact that I’m starting half-time maternity leave, or my body doing it’s labor-prep thing, but I am back at the nesting game. I feel like the bulk of my pregnancy was spent at a pretty high level of nesting (minus that wicked first trimester) until about a month or so ago… maybe a few weeks? Whenever the swelling started. Once that hit, I was a puffy, sleepy mess with little drive to do much but wimper, ice, or lay. BUT, the past few days have brought me some serious levels of productivity. And not the kind of productivity I had before – where if it wasn’t baby-related, it wasn’t getting done… or at least not quickly – this was full-on, “A-Game” work! At work, at home, at my other work… I’ve been checking things off my lists, getting organized, cleaning up… it’s amazing. I feel really great about it! Last night, I actually unpacked my hospital bag and repacked it in a way that felt more organized. Yep, that’s where I’m at.

So now, it’s 5:10 and I’m working at a totally cleaned up desk with only one thing to finish… this blog! Then, I’m off! I will officially start my half-time maternity leave. Unfortunately, I have to work a full day at my other job tomorrow and a half-day on Friday, but whatever. Regardless, I’m feeling pretty excited. The uncertainty of this job was really starting to bring me down… not to mention the humidity. So once I leave here, I will head to the gym for my last pre-baby workout (they told me I needed to stop after today… I guess they don’t want to deliver my baby on the gym floor) and then go home to organize something. Or maybe fold some laundry? The bedroom could use a bit of organizing.

And despite all the loveliness of my nesting spree, I must mention that yesterday, it did inflict a little damage…

Yup… that is a HUGE chunk of paint that I gouged out of the wall that took us FOREVER to paint. Urgh. That caused my heart to ache a little…

Other than that, hubs and I did a little cloth diaper practice…

This is Mutsy, my childhood stuffed animal. Pretty cute in his little prefold diaper, huh?

Doesn’t he look excited to be using cloth diapers?

Symptoms
I will be so happy when…

The hot flashes stop. Holy smokes… if anyone looks at me too long, or says something weird, or exists, I start sweating. A lot. My thermostat is way outta whack.
I can curl up in the fetal position.
I can sleep on my back.
My hands are no longer numb.
My hands no longer resemble sausages.
My feet fit in all of my cute shoes. Oh how I miss wearing cute shoes.
I can run and jump into my husband’s arms.
I can run and jump.
I can give my husband a hug without having to be watermelon-distance apart.
I can put my shoes on without breaking a sweat.
My stomach doesn’t rest on my stomach when I sit.
MY BABY IS IN MY ARMS!

So, yesterday I was having very light Braxton Hicks contractions all day. I wasn’t really keeping track of them because they were random and all over the place. Today I’ve had more than I was having previously, but probably not as many as yesterday… at least not that I can remember? I don’t really think it means much except for the obvious, I am coming up on 39 weeks and this baby is coming out soon.

I will say though, I’m getting a little sick of over analyzing every contraction, movement, etc. To the point where I was even considering skipping my internal exam tomorrow. BUT, I’ve decided that I’ll let her check me and if I’ve made no progress, which could totally be the case, then I will skip my 40-week exam. My appointment is tomorrow and I just really hope there has been some progress. I think I feel different. I haven’t had to pee much more than normal (I already pee all the time), but I have had more pressure in my pelvic area and hips. It could just be that this baby is getting HUGE and weighing down on me, but who knows?

I can’t believe this baby is coming soon. I think I’m back to feeling really confident. I spoke to a friend from high school who I had kind of lost touch with and she is just a god-send. She had a natural birth and is just so open and honest about everything. It’s SO nice talking with her. It definitely gave me a boost in confidence. The hubs and I have also been doing the perineum massage, which I think is helping. I don’t know if it will ultimately prevent me from tearing, but it is helping my husband and I in terms of boundary breaking (it was pretty awkward at first), and just in terms of working together. It’s opened up conversation regarding what helps me focus versus what breaks my focus and so on. I know this is a very, VERY mild version of what I’ll actually be feeling, but it at least gets us thinking of ideas.

How to Clothe That Cute Little Baby Tush

Posted on February 19, 2014 by playinghousewi

The cutest unborn baby tush ever!

If it wasn’t obvious by my ultrasound pictures, I think there is something so dang adorable about a miniature baby tush (aka: butt). Seeing this cute little butt on the ultrasound was a good reminder for me of all the trouble/work/poop/laundry/stank that little tush will be causing me. It also reminded me that I wanted to look into… dahn dahn dahhhhnnnnn… cloth diapering.

Now, I know this is a subject that provokes a lot of love/hate emotions, but being the “need to know all my options” kinda gal that I am, I’ve started to do some digging on the subject.

So, why do people choose cloth diapers over disposable?

It takes 20 trees to provide diapers two years of disposable diapers for a child… and then all 20 of those trees – now filled with poop and nastiness – go into landfills.
To save some dollars! By the time a child is out of disposable diapers, covering that cute little tush can cost parents $1,600 to $2,500. Including the cost to wash disposable diapers, this compares to about $425-700 for cloth diapers… that’s a savings of $1,200 to $2,100 for three years, or $400 to $700 per year.
It is said that cloth diapers reduce diaper rash! Also, because a cloth diaper can absorb less liquid, it is more obvious when you need to change said diaper and thus, your sweet babe isn’t wallowing in his or her own filth for hours on end.
The cloth diaper fanatics say that kiddies in cloth diapers are potty trained in much less time than “those other kids” in the disposables.
I don’t really know why, but these same diaper fanatics claim that they have SIGNIFICANTLY less diaper blow outs with cloth. (Oofta… am I ready for diaper blow outs? Not to be a total girl, but I don’t like poop. Especially the all over kind.)

I’m sure there are other reasons why parents choose cloth, but that’s the extent of my list for now.

I think the reasons for disposable are pretty obvious, but here’s my quick, unresearched list of reasons:

There is limited handling of nasty soiled diaper.
Just wrap it up and toss…
Did I mention the amount of laundry you have to do with cloth diapers?
It seems easier and just kind of like the thing to do.

Now, from what I’ve heard, the laundry thing isn’t the biggest deal… you do the wash at least every other day and you get used to it. By adding a little sprayer thing to your toilet (imagine a vegetable sprayer), you can easily get the poop and nastiness from the diaper to the toilet, and in terms of the stink, the diaper pails work just as well if not better than those for disposable diapers.

So where am I at with my research and my decision? I have no idea. I’d love to hear from people who have tried cloth diapers because I’m still very intrigued. I’m all for saving money and protecting the bum… but at the same time, I don’t really love laundry. BUT, maybe it would be a good reason to get a high-efficiency washer/dryer. We could use the money saved on disposable diapers to upgrade. Hmmm… that sounds like a good idea!

I think my next step is to talk to some people who have used cloth and maybe do a little more research on the actual diaper options. I’ve heard that once you decide to go cloth, there are about 5,000 other decisions to be made. Brand, Style, etc. Based on my initial research, though, I want to look into bumGenius, Kissaluvs and gDiapers.

Wish me luck and, if you’ve used them, let me know what you think!