So I've had quite a few questions about cloth! I wanted to write a
little overview about my cloth experience this past month and my overall
feelings about the whole thing. I plan to write a more comprehensive
post about the different brands that I've tried and my likes, dislikes
etc!
First of all I LOVE CLOTH!!! When I got pregnant and before that even I swore up and down that I would never do two things.
1.) Use cloth diapers (yuck yuck yuck!)
2.) Bed share. (scary and dude I need my space)
Bed
sharing is a whole nother turkey which I'm sure I will blog about at
some point. I'm still very anti bed sharing because dude I need my space
but... lets just say it happens. When Its 3 AM and you've only slept
about 3 hours since 9 PM, you do whatever you can!
Back to the fluff though (cloth diapers are often called fluff-weird cloth diaper slang)
A few things you need to know
CD=Cloth Diaper
PUL- polyurethane laminated fabric (this is what makes the diaper waterproof)
Gussets-You know the ruffles on disposable diapers that keep all the nasty in? Thats a gusset
trim/bulk-Self explanatory
(these terms will be used in my cloth
Heres my cloth story.
I was completely anti cloth before I had Henry. I had a definite no way no how attitude.
Why
in the world would I want to be near another humans waste? Its so
confusing and gross whats the point? I'm not that green or
environmentally concerned so whats the need?
These
were my thoughts. Even after Henry was born, I went to go visit teach
and the girl (who had just had a baby as well) was telling us all about
how shes using cloth and its not even gross.
Ya right I thought, and then commended her on her efforts.
A
few weeks passed and we got our washer and dryer!! I absolutely LOVE
our washer and dryer! Lets just say that I have the best daddy in the
whole world!! I just wanted to wash EVERYTHING! One day as I was
perusing facebook my friend Lisa (shout out) posted about her experience
with cloth. I was like "dude no way!" It looked so fun and her little
boy looked SO cute in it! His butt was extra fluffy and so stinking cute
crawling around. That same day I had to run to the store to exchange
some boxes of disposables that I didnt want for some that I actually
liked and did want. This took forever long and it was annoying and not
exciting! When I got home, I did a little cloth research. Oh they were
so cute! I just had to buy some. Why not right? might as well try it. If
I hated it I could always sell them! (cloth sells extremely well and
really holds its resale value!) So I ordered some. Then they came in the
mail. Then I put them on Henry. Holy cow did he look cute! I started
with four type. My diaper outake was getting significantly smaller and
Stephens room was smelling a lot better! (we have no room for a diaper
pale so we just use grocery bags, yuck) Plus I got to use my new washing
machine!! WIn win!
Needless to say I became obsessed.
We now have 18 pocket diapers of varying brand, 6 prefolds and 1 cover.
I plan to buy 1 more pocket (because I just love the rumparooz and want
another!) another cover for when the other gets dirty, a diper sprayer
and wipe solution.
There has never been a time when I
said "whoa, this is ridiculous and gross and I dont know why I'm doing
it." I thoroughly enjoy everything about CDing. Today came pretty close
when we had a massive blow out in a prefold but the cover held it all in
quite well so no worries there! I enjoy not taking the trash out every
day. I enjoy spending nothing on disposables that will simply go into
the ground and pollute the earth (look at me being so green!) I enjoy
the quite time of stuffing the diapers. I enjoy washing the diapers and
hanging them up to dry ( I feel so motherly!) I enjoy how much better
they are for my baby. I enjoy how he looks in them! I enjoy how easy
they are. Basically I just really enjoy them and they have become
something to keep me occupied and they are just oh so dang fun!
Cloth
is quite a large investment but can definitely be done on a budget.
I've allowed myself to go a little crazy but you dont have to be me!
Stephen and I plan to CD every baby we have and therefore paid a little
more upfront in order to get the best, highest quality brands that we
can find and that works for our baby. We figure that if we can make most
of these dipes last for two children (so 4 is years) we will be saving
at least 1,000 if not more money. That's good enough for us!
Just found this little charmer! Henry is completely sold on CDing, Will... still up in the air!
Gotta love these friends!!
So I'm officially done with school and I couldn't be happier! I didn't know that it was so exciting to stay home and change dirty diapers and do lots of dishes and laundry. I didn't realize that I could get so excited over such things but I really, truly am! Even though its not the life style many would choose, I can't imagine living any other way. It has been very difficult for me to leave Henry with a sitter ever day (no matter how amazing you are Lauren!) But now its done and I never have to leave again. I know some may say that I need to keep working to support my family but I say screw that! It might not be popular but there's no way I'm going to miss out on my babies first few years so that I can be popular! I am absolutely THRILLED to be a mommy and can't wait for the adventures that it brings!
