Cute, Soft Things + BBR List Update

You may recall that once I hit the 100-days-until-Burt-Reynolds'-birth, I made a list, now called the BBR (Before Burt Reynolds) list. Here's an update for you:

Find a doula. DONE! Just sent in the deposit tonight.
Figure out insurance/birth center mess. (IN PROGRESS)
Go to Bradley class every week. (IN PROGRESS)
Do Hypnobabies home study course. (IN PROGRESS)
Write birth plan.
Read birth books. (IN PROGRESS)
Pack birth center bag.
Pack just-in-case bag for transfer to hospital.
Pack overnight bag for Charlie for his stay with family.
Make quilt for Burt Reynolds.
Make Christmas stocking for Burt Reynolds.
Go through all emails from birth center and print out relevant ones.
Get Charlie's Halloween costume together. (IN PROGRESS)
Set up house to accommodate two kiddos. (IN PROGRESS)
Go through all baby stuff: wash, sort, and hang up. DONE!
Dye Moby wrap.
Finish organizing the house and garage. (IN PROGRESS)
Get rid of stuff: have a yard sale, sell big-ticket items on Ebay/craigslist, donate the rest. (IN PROGRESS)
Convert all velcro on diaper covers to snaps. (IN PROGRESS)
Shred all confidential documents.
Organize computer: photos, documents, bookmarks. (IN PROGRESS)
Edit all unedited photos on computer. (IN PROGRESS)
Book a photographer for maternity, birth, and newborn photos. (IN PROGRESS)
Get finances under control. (IN PROGRESS)
Get addresses organized for birth announcements.
Scan in old family photos. (IN PROGRESS)
Set up Burt Reynolds with our pediatrician.
Finish babyproofing. (IN PROGRESS)
Finish bucket list.
Clean out email inbox. DONE!

And now for something much more fun.

Diapers! We had a rather meager newborn stash when we started using cloth diapers on Charlie. So we decided to bulk up our newborn stash for Burt Reynolds, because let's face it, the less disposable diapers that end up in a landfill, the better. Last week I bought another mom's entire newborn stash for $75 (and she threw in some baby clothes). That's one of the many cool things about cloth diapers - you can buy used and save a bundle.

Here's our new and improved newborn stash:



I'll break it down for you. Without links, because I'm lazy. Sorry. Google is your friend.

3 dozen or so prefolds (some from Green Mountain Diapers, some from Jillian's Drawers)
4 Mutts fitteds
1 Spooky Kitty fitted
7 Kissaluvs fitteds (some unbleached)
1 All-in-one purchased from here
a variety of covers, 11 total (wool, fleece, Bummis, Thirsties, Bumkins, Diaperaps)

We should have enough diapers to easily get us through two days (hopefully three), and I am super stoked that I didn't spend an arm and a leg bulking up what we already had. All we need to do now is give them all a wash and organize the changing table to accommodate two kiddos in diapers.

And now for more cute, soft things...

Mama cloth (otherwise known as cloth menstrual pads)! I've decided to go with all cloth pads for my postpartum bleeding. At the beginning of the year, I experimented with using a cloth pad while on my period and found that I liked it. I'm also thinking that I want to find a better monthly method than disposable tampons and pads, so I may use mama cloth once I get my period again. Otherwise, I may go for a DivaCup, which is supposed to be awesome (but can also have a steep learning curve).

Anyway, I ordered some cloth menstrual pads from here and here, and they are really cute!




And while I'm on the subject of cute, soft things, here's a close up of the one new diaper I purchased for Burt Reynolds:



I die at the cuteness of this diaper. Do you see that rather big-bellied person lying on the ground over there? That's me. Dead. Killed by cute overload.

Oh, and just when you thought I couldn't be any more of a Crunchy McCruncherson, I made my own laundry detergent. We're using it on everything, not just diapers. So far, so good.

I am so excited to have this baby. Tonight I was hanging up all his little clothes (most of them hand-me-downs from Charlie), and all of a sudden, I could visualize him so clearly. I almost started crying because it was just such a powerful feeling of excitement and anticipation and knowing. I can't wait to expand into a family of four (seven, if you count the cats). Only 10 more weeks until my guess date!

Our Cloth Diapering Adventure: Getting Started

There have been a few people out there who have asked me questions about cloth diapering. Since I absolutely love using cloth diapers, I figure I'll also love writing about them. I plan on writing several posts on our cloth diapering experience thus far. And of course I'll be sharing random pictures of Charlie in some of his adorable diapers. I hope you enjoy!

A lot of people gave me the side-eye when they found out we planned to use cloth diapers for Charlie. For some reason most of the comments were negative. One person got downright pissy when she found out. She kept telling me that there was so much poop to deal with when having a baby and why would I do that to myself and then I just kind of tuned out. I didn't understand her reasoning. Babies poop no matter what kind of diapers they're in.

And yet people ask me all the time, "But why would you want to deal with all that poop?" And I just have to wonder, "You mean the poop that comes out of all baby butts, no matter what kind of diaper they're wearing?" I don't get it. If you're a parent, you're going to be dealing with poop. You're going to have poop on you at some point. It's inevitable.

I think that a lot of people don't realize how easy cloth diapering is. It's just like using disposables. You put on a clean diaper and take it off when it's dirty. The only difference is you don't throw away the cloth diaper. You wash it. And then you dry it. And then you put it away and use it for next time.

It's simple, really. There is none of this rolling around in poop that people seem to think goes along with using cloth diapers.

But getting started can be really overwhelming. It definitely was for me. Gone are the days of plain ol' prefold diapers with diaper pins and plastic pants. Today, there are choices upon choices for cloth diapers. And with all those choices come lots of abbreviations and confusion.

So what I did to get started was email Jill, who writes the ever popular Baby Rabies blog and ask her a ton of questions. She's written several good posts about cloth diapering. She directed me to some good sites. And then I spent a lot of time doing a lot of research.

We decided that the best thing to do was to not commit fully to one type of cloth diaper, but to try several different ones instead. This is something I would recommend to everyone, because you never know which diapers may or may not work for your baby. I'll get back to this point in a later post.



To start our newborn stash, here's what we purchased:

-four size 0 Kissaluvs fitted diapers (which are excellent for newborns)
-two Drybee's stage 1 fitted diapers
-a dozen Chinese prefolds
-a dozen Indian prefolds
-three XS bumkins diaper covers
-three Thirsties diaper covers (one XS, two small)
-two small Bummis super whisper wrap diaper covers (one of which is in the first picture in this post)
-four BumGenius one size diapers
-two wetbags, which are used for storage of dirty cloth diapers when you're out and about (we have one Mommy's Touch and one Wahmies)
-two Wahmies diaper pail liners
-two Snappis

I'd say we spent about $300 on all this. (I got some of the items on sale.) Yes, that's a lot of money to throw down for diapers. But when you take into account the fact that we plan on using these diapers and accessories for multiple children, it makes more sense. In other words, this is $300 we'll never have to spend again, like we would if we were using disposables.

And while we're on the subject of disposable diapers, I don't think that people who use them are evil. I've had several friends tell me why they are using disposables and not cloth, as if they felt the need to justify their choice to me, and honestly, I don't care what kind of diapers they use. I like to think that people make these decisions based on what works for their families. Yes, the huge amount of waste that is generated as a result of disposable diapers is troublesome, but I also think that there are other ways to be eco-friendly.

Cloth works for us, but it doesn't work for everyone (obviously). I do think that people should at least educate themselves on cloth diapering and the benefits of it, but I don't exactly lose sleep over it at night. We are doing what is best for us, and I'm very happy with that.