Cloth Diaper Experience: Day 18

You might be surprised to read that I'm still in there! Worst part: dumping the dirty diapers into the washer (don't worry, it gets rinsed, washed, then rinsed again). Best part: seeing how CLEAN they get and hanging them on the line outside. I don't know why I love the line outside but I really do. I really think it's what keeps me going. Hardest part: being the only one who really changes her diapers. Here is a picture of the "twist" fold:

I thought this was great, Brielle's own gym.

Claps on Tuesday....First tooth TODAY, the day she turns 10 months old!

Last night we (Brielle and I) were up about ten times. No, I am not exaggerating! I seriously thought, "what have I done wrong?"
But, lo and behold. It was for a reason. Our little Bean was cutting her first tooth, of course! I've been watching it for days now, thinking my eyes were playing tricks on me. It's her top left tooth! I guess no one told her the bottom two teeth were supposed to come in first. But then...no one told Brielle much about how things were supposed to happen for her. She just sets her own standard, I suppose.
Here is her BRAND new trick. She is looking at Aunt Kelly during most of this video. It's just TOO cute!

MOVE!

(picture borrowed from the Rathes' Hawaiian vacation collection)
Tim asked us last night if we could define a mountain that was in our way and name it.
Did you know that God says this about mountains:
He replied, "Because you have so little faith. I tell you the truth, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there' and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you."Matthew 17:20
At first thought, I said my mountain would be the mis-perception of TIME. You see, when you have an out-of-the-home job, or are in school, you have time schedules to meet, breaks, class changes, lunch, and at some point you go home again. And it's all broken up to a degree of understanding and in relationship to and with time.
But when you wake up at an given time throughout the night (last night it was five times or so) and you never know quite when your day is going to begin (Saturday it was 5:40am, today 7:06am) or when you are going to get a break or a chance to *work, it gets quite confusing. My day, though somewhat predictable, can distort time in many ways. And I look at it, or back at it and wonder what of it? Did I take time for this? or that? Did I *make time? Or can one really do that? God makes time, He holds it in His hand. He gives it to us. You've heard "it is precious" or "it's a gift." So why does it sometimes seem like my enemy?
On further thought, those mountains could also be called "Mount Laundry" or "Mount Dishes" or surely "Mountain of BILLS" even "Mount List-of-things-to-do." Which would then turn into "Mountain of OVERwhelming ideas." These mountains need to get of my way!
Good thing that by Faith, I can ask God to move these mountains from my way and He will!

This morning I took a refreshing brisk walk in the cool autumn air: Praising God for giving me this life he has, this time to walk so freely, and no mountain to block my view of His Givingness to me.

Ode to my mom

How did you do it, I wonder each day?
those hundreds of diapers you washed
Always checking for a wet one
pulling down plastic pants
and poking diaper pins-
I remember how you held them in your mouth
while you changed the diaper
How did you do it through three children?
I remember the diaper soaking in the toilet
when I, just 7, had to use it !emergency! right then
you came in and dunked and swished
while I held my hand over my mouth and nose
And you- you say it was just the norm
just what you did.
Cloth diapering seems such a hard task-
for those of us spoiled with disposable paper.
But I'm sure my bum appreciated it then--
and I've certainly developed a level of appreciation for
your cloth diapering three little bums
and the work it involved.
No wonder we were potty-trained early!

Might I add that I recently recalled that you also

made our CLOTHES!

You GO Mom!!!

Cloth Diapering: Day 7

One question I do not have to ask myself on the average day: Did Brielle have a poopey diaper today?
One does not easily forget scraping, dunking, flushing, swishing, scraping.

Cloth Diapering Experience: Day Two

It is becoming the “norm” quickly. The Velcro pads are unfortunately scratching our little speed crawler’s thighs. I’m trying different fastening techniques to hopefully help. So far, not much luck. She pees so much! I never knew! I can’t say how thankful I am that someone invented snappis, Velcro covers, and good quality (and cheap!) prefolds. BabyBestBuy.com Total cost for the diapers, covers, and snappis: $45.00. So…for it to be comparative to the cost of disposables, I will need to use the cloth for THREE FULL WEEKS (ironically, the same length of time it takes to make or break a habit). Everything beyond that is just money in the bank (Cha Ching!) Honestly, if it weren’t for the Internet, I’d not even be using cloth diapers. There is just a plethora of information about cloth diapering on here. The only people I’ve ever known in real life to use cloth diapers are my mom, aunts, grandparents, and such. Now, if I were to ask them, or even just go to the store myself, I would end up buying what they sell there: 12pk Gerber Birdseye diapers (12.97) plastic pants (4.97 for 6) and diaper pins (.97 for 4). Total cost: $36.00 (tax incl). And I would hate it! Diaper pins and pulling off plastic pants 20 times a day??? Plus, I would have no idea what the best methods for washing are, which detergents work (and don‘t - for non absorbency issues), how to store and dry the diapers, or even the “best tricks” for color and odor. I have yet to meet a cloth diaper user here in Clarksville (that I am aware of). I’d be so excited if I did! I feel like a lone struggler. But also a trailblazer. I feel frugal and less off. But also like I’m a part of earth conservation awareness. Giving a message for the younger generation to give too: learn; and then just try something different that is for the better of relational society and environmental responsibility (and a budget!). It may not be the easiest thing ever, but it’s worth trying for!

By the way...I can't figure out which one of these diapers was the poopey one! That is a GOOD thing, right??? :)

Cloth Diapering Experience: Day One

I’m getting quicker and better at changing the cloth every hour. That would be because I have to changer her every hour (or more than). By 11am I felt like we’d done nothing but change ten diapers. By 3pm, we had actually changed fourteen. I say “we,” but I really mean “I” because Will is having nothing to do with changing the cloth. Since the plan is to use disposables when we are out and overnight, he’s fortunately got a supply to change her into if he has to be the one to change her.
At 10am on this first day I was already scraping off the poo into the toilet. It was not as bad as you’d think. Okay, maybe it was. But it didn’t bother me much. In fact, dunking it in the swirling waters of the toilet brought back memories of when I was seven and my baby brother was in cloth. Nostalgia.
She is getting a rash though. It may be the detergent, I’m going to look into that.
By 5pm I was excited that we were leaving for football practice and our “date night” just so I could put a disposable on her. This is hard work!!!

I'm not getting OLD, just older in my thinking...

I think it is a sign of aging when you think really hard about something and just get MAD about it, or frustrated really, especially when it has to do with the thinking of some people. I'm not saying I'm getting old, I just feel frustrated when people don't see things they way I see them (considering I'm a fairly open-minded person). Okay, that sounded "old." But, it's not the young people, it's the older people. It is frustrating when people want to stand back, pull their hands back, and say "that's not my problem" or "we don't need to go there." There is a younger generation following our lead, whether they want to admit it or not! And if we don't have some "crazy" people (obviously like myself) coming out and say, "you know, there is a better way to do this," or "don't do it that way just because everyone else is," or even "I've been there. And I've learned this: ______"
If the older and middle-aged generations do not learn new things (and learn from what they've experienced) and actually teach it to the upcoming generation, then we will not progress. Not a a society, nor as people. And by progress, I mean taking it back to the natural. When human beings were in touch with this earth, it's Creator, it's animal inhabitants, and with each other.
Why is that so hard to get past? To move toward? Why do we put up boundaries that are anything but natural?
I was so frustrated that I actually hand washed my dishes on purpose, just to calm myself down!

Miracle Diapers

For those of you who are keeping track: I applied also at www.miraclediapers.org (they do this very cool thing: they send donated cloth diapers to applicants who qualify) and was accepted, but there are no diapers because of lack of donations (you do have to send them back when you are done too). So, they asked us applicants to get the word out to the diaper people! Do the diaper people read my blog??? I don't know! But here is what they said:
In the meantime, you could help us by spreading the word of MiracleDiapers' need. Miracle Diapers is completely dependent on donations from private parties. Through the generous spirit of hundreds of donors we have been able to help cloth diaper over 500 babies in less than 3 years!
However word seems to be spreading of us faster to our applicants than to our donors, and we have depleted our entire stock of diapers and supplies.
Hopefully our shortage will be brief (as we recently had a HUGE donation of diapers that needed minor repairs from a very generous donor and oversewing volunteers are working diligently on those), and we will be able to help you get your little one in cloth diapers before you know it!
AND, my mom also bought liners and Snappis for us! I love you people who read my blog!

Two things I never thought I'd say

Two sentences I thought I’d never type: “I think I may plant a garden in the Spring” (something I thought I’d never consider until Brielle was say…four?) But, inspired by the produce and the natural relationship between human and earth (thanks Phil and Tiff) I’m considering it. They have already been harvesting from the Harvest Network Garden, and have shared with us many potatoes, squash, tomatoes, cucumbers, and a green pepper. There were also yummy blueberries there! It was so exciting to pull weeds and dig up potatoes (even when it was really HOT) and the prospect of feeding my family healthier produce for less cost is really very appealing! If you want to know more about the economical reasons to garden: ask Phil!

On to sentence #2: “I think I’m going to switch to cloth-diapers.” I know, I know, it seems like an insane statement. I’ve actually read about it here and there on the internet…then one day I was reading some nice lady’s breastfeeding BLOG (I can’t find it again for anything) and she did a whole breakdown on the cloth diaper business. And it made sense. At least at the moment when the $$ savings were calculated! Since then I’ve been reading, reading, reading about cloth diapering and here is how I’ve come to see it:
There are basically three economical ways to cloth diaper: the expensive way, the cheap way, and the in-between way. Some GENUIS CALCULATED it all for us! The cheap way is to buy a bunch of prefold cloth diapers (the kind mom used) and basic covers, maybe a few snappis, and call it a day. The in-between way is to learn how to make those really cute diapers yourself! Hey, and once you do that you can even keep right on making them and sell them on hyenacart.com as many moms do. Regardless, with any of these systems you have to have a pail to put them in, dry or wet, with a washable liner. You can have a sprayer (this is cool) that connects to the back of your toilet for solid-fed babies. You also have to wash them every few days, and from what I’ve read there is a PROCESS involved.
But here is what really got me: the environment. It takes 500 years for one diaper to decompose!!! I think of all of the thousands of diapers I threw into landfills when I ran daycare (a 13 gallon bag a day usually) or worked in the 2 yr old preschool classroom. I feel bad. But hey, I didn’t know, just like I never thought of recycling or the fact that breastfeeding uses so many LESS cans of formula (um, 0) and since Brielle likes table food over jarred baby food, we just keep on with the roll (okay the last two were unintentional). But maybe that helps, one step at a time, to preserve our beautiful earth. And maybe it will encourage others to consider it as well (here’s hoping!).
Then, after researching, reading, and reading more… I began to kind of chicken out. It just seemed like so much more WORK! However, when I told my mother-in-law about my idea, she was so supportive. She said, “I give you one month.” ???? What ???? She challenged me! grrrrrrrr….. J So, now I’m on mission.
My parents offered to start us out with the basics: 24 pre-folds, and 6 diaper covers. Cheapest place we could find: babybestbuy.com. Total cost: 32.18. While I think those are the only necessities we need (I’m using old cotton cloths for wet wipes) the other items mentioned would be SUPER great to have (i.e. the sprayer, the snappis, the pail liner, or even more diapers) if you are feeling donatious. I’ll keep it posted on this blog what we have/get and how it goes for REAL once we get the cloth diapers delivered!