Let me just say that cloth diapering is such an awesome thing! People who have not researched it probably think we're nuts, but with the options out there today, it's really not much different than using disposables.
Here is a link to all of my other posts on our adventure into cloth diapering. It is the progression of when we started with Eli (he was nearly 2) and on to cloth diapering Rachael who is now almost 11 months old. Eli is finally potty trained - though he does wear Target brand pullups at night because he refuses to wear anything cloth and I refuse to change sheets in the middle of the night since he isn't night trained yet - we're working on it.
We almost exclusively cloth diaper Rachael. The only times I put her disposables are when she will be in a nursery or someone else's care and need her diaper changed (church nursery, MOPS nursery, gym child care, babysitter, etc.). If we are going out and I'll be the one changing her, I just pack a couple extra cloth diapers and a wetbag. We go thru a little less than one small size package of disposables at month (Target brand costs just over $6).
So, here is what we currently have in rotation:
* 10 one-size BumGenius 3.0's (just yesterday purchased 6 of them from a craigslist ad and just started using them today, so we've only had 4 in our stash until now)
* 2 Thirsties pocket AIO's in size medium
* 12 diaper service quality infant prefolds with 3 Thirsties covers (size medium) - I would love to have one more cover though, because I frequently run out of covers and still have clean prefolds...
* 1 one-size Rumparooz
* 1 one-size Mommy's Touch
* 1 one-size Baby Kicks fitted (it's a fitted so I use a Thirsties cover with it)
* 12 Motherease fitteds with 2 Motherease covers (these were purchased for Eli from a craigslist ad and I only use them with Rachael if I'm doing a load of diapers and out of everything else because they don't fit her very well)
While I'm at home, I mostly use the prefolds with a cover. For naptime, I wrap a microterry doubler inside it for extra absorbency.
Night time is always a one-size diaper. My favorite for night time is the Mommy's Touch because it has snaps and she doesn't have to wear shorts over it when it's hot since she can't unsnap it, but I only have one of those, so I use whatever is clean (Mommy's Touch, BumGenius or Rumparooz). Rachael is not a very heavy wetter so I don't even double up the soakers.
Other than night time, I try to make sure I always have a couple one-sizes available for outings simply because they are faster to change. If I don't have any available, I usually go ahead and prepare a prefold in a clean cover so I don't have to do the folding with a wiggly baby (because she is VERY wiggly)!
I'll wrap this up for now and do another post on our washing routine in a few days.
**I was going to add a few photos in Rachael in some of her diapers but she would NOT cooperate with the photographing.**
Updated: Here's a subsequent post I wrote about my washing routine.
Tuesday, August 11, 2009
Thursday, August 6, 2009
Shampoo Free, Do-Over
I did it! I've accomplished going shampoo-free!! If you don't remember my first attempt, here is my fail post.
I had lots of problems figuring out what mixture worked for me and the time it was taking to get it applied to my scalp/hair, so I gave up. Then, a few weeks later I realized I can't stand shampooing my hair every day and the way my hair gets so dependent on shampoo, otherwise my scalp turns into an oil slick. So, I decided to give it another go - that was on May 19 and I haven't looked back.
I finally found what works for me. I know this will seem like a lot of baking soda, but I have fairly thick hair. I use between 1/2 and 2/3 of a cup of baking soda. Using a funnel, I pour the baking soda into an old 13 oz. conditioner bottle, then fill with hot water - then shake to mix. Once my hair is wet, I slowly pour the mixture over my scalp while massaging it in with my other hand.
This method seems to work wonderfully for me. I have been washing every other day (except a few days when I was in Florida and had been at the beach and needed to clean on my off day) and then on the days I don't use the baking soda mixture, I rinse my hair really well with hot water. I have had no adjustment issues or oil problems and my eczema completely cleared up within a week of going off shampoo!!
I am still using a super moisturizing conditioner and a leave in cream on my ends because I haven't been able to quit those due to breakage and severe split ends - even with trying the apple cider vinegar rinse and other options I found.
As of right now, I am extremely happy with my scalp and this new cleaning method and plan to continue it indefinitely.
* Since I've been going thru quite a lot of baking soda I started buying the bulk (10#) bags at Costco and it seems that one bag will last between 4 and 6 months, depending on how much baking I do*
I had lots of problems figuring out what mixture worked for me and the time it was taking to get it applied to my scalp/hair, so I gave up. Then, a few weeks later I realized I can't stand shampooing my hair every day and the way my hair gets so dependent on shampoo, otherwise my scalp turns into an oil slick. So, I decided to give it another go - that was on May 19 and I haven't looked back.
I finally found what works for me. I know this will seem like a lot of baking soda, but I have fairly thick hair. I use between 1/2 and 2/3 of a cup of baking soda. Using a funnel, I pour the baking soda into an old 13 oz. conditioner bottle, then fill with hot water - then shake to mix. Once my hair is wet, I slowly pour the mixture over my scalp while massaging it in with my other hand.
This method seems to work wonderfully for me. I have been washing every other day (except a few days when I was in Florida and had been at the beach and needed to clean on my off day) and then on the days I don't use the baking soda mixture, I rinse my hair really well with hot water. I have had no adjustment issues or oil problems and my eczema completely cleared up within a week of going off shampoo!!
I am still using a super moisturizing conditioner and a leave in cream on my ends because I haven't been able to quit those due to breakage and severe split ends - even with trying the apple cider vinegar rinse and other options I found.
As of right now, I am extremely happy with my scalp and this new cleaning method and plan to continue it indefinitely.
* Since I've been going thru quite a lot of baking soda I started buying the bulk (10#) bags at Costco and it seems that one bag will last between 4 and 6 months, depending on how much baking I do*
Tuesday, August 4, 2009
Garden update
I thought it was time I give you all an update on my garden. The following photos were taken about a week ago and everything is a bit bigger now.
* In the back, on the far left and just left of center (the tallest plants) are all tomatoes. This year I started them from seed in my kitchen window - they are all large red cherry and there are 5 plants. I started them a little later than I should have, but was still able to transplant them in mid-May. They have done really well so far and have a lot of fruit on them, I imagine they will be starting to ripen soon!
* In the back, just to the right of the tomatoes are 2 jalapeno plants but you can't really see them because they are hiding underneath the giant tomato plants. They are producing nicely and I'm harvesting about 2 peppers per week.
* In the center (the staked plants) are potatoes. I started them on my own from organic red potatoes - I did not use seed potatoes so I have no idea how they will turn out - it was more experiment than anything... They have not been hilled properly but they are quite tall and staked up to save ground/walking space.
* In the back right corner are Elite White peas that have not done well. I planted them mid-May also and they still aren't very tall and definitely are not producing. I haven't yanked them yet because I'm just waiting and I don't need the space yet.
* Just below the peas is a patch that has lettuce and cilantro. Yum! The cilantro is just about finished and I pulled up all but 2 plants today. The lettuce continues to be wonderful!
* The bushy section in the middle right in front is carrots. These are doing wonderfully, as well. I have dug up carrots 2 times since this photo was taken so they are starting to get a little sparse. I realize now that I really should have thinned them when they first sprouted because they are quite interesting looking. Some are curly and squished together and some are even twisted together because they were too close. They still taste yummy, though!
* Just to the left of the carrots is a strawberry plant. It's a bit hard to see because of the squash leaves. It's a very pretty plant that has grown nicely, but has only produced 3 strawberries, all yummy, but I'm not sure what's up with it...
* The last thing I want to tell you about is that squash plant. Here's a better photo:
YIKES! It's out of control. First off, this is actually only 2 plants. And they are from some seeds that Eli planted in a cup as a preschool activity. When he brought them home, I never in a million years thought they would amount to anything. But, then it sprouted and began to grow, so I transplanted it into the garden and apparently it REALLY likes it there! It was suppose to be a "pumpkin" plant (at least that's what the cup said), but it turns out it's yellow squash. It is producing nicely with about 10 squash on it right now. We will never be able to eat it all so we will be giving some of it away. Right now, there's one that needs picking that is nearly the diameter of a basketball and oval shaped. It doesn't have the long neck that squash usually have, but it's definitely squash and NOT pumpkin!
I'm not exaggerating when I say that this squash plant grows at least an inch a day!
* In the back, on the far left and just left of center (the tallest plants) are all tomatoes. This year I started them from seed in my kitchen window - they are all large red cherry and there are 5 plants. I started them a little later than I should have, but was still able to transplant them in mid-May. They have done really well so far and have a lot of fruit on them, I imagine they will be starting to ripen soon! * In the back, just to the right of the tomatoes are 2 jalapeno plants but you can't really see them because they are hiding underneath the giant tomato plants. They are producing nicely and I'm harvesting about 2 peppers per week.
* In the center (the staked plants) are potatoes. I started them on my own from organic red potatoes - I did not use seed potatoes so I have no idea how they will turn out - it was more experiment than anything... They have not been hilled properly but they are quite tall and staked up to save ground/walking space.
* In the back right corner are Elite White peas that have not done well. I planted them mid-May also and they still aren't very tall and definitely are not producing. I haven't yanked them yet because I'm just waiting and I don't need the space yet.
* Just below the peas is a patch that has lettuce and cilantro. Yum! The cilantro is just about finished and I pulled up all but 2 plants today. The lettuce continues to be wonderful!
* The bushy section in the middle right in front is carrots. These are doing wonderfully, as well. I have dug up carrots 2 times since this photo was taken so they are starting to get a little sparse. I realize now that I really should have thinned them when they first sprouted because they are quite interesting looking. Some are curly and squished together and some are even twisted together because they were too close. They still taste yummy, though!
* Just to the left of the carrots is a strawberry plant. It's a bit hard to see because of the squash leaves. It's a very pretty plant that has grown nicely, but has only produced 3 strawberries, all yummy, but I'm not sure what's up with it...
* The last thing I want to tell you about is that squash plant. Here's a better photo:
YIKES! It's out of control. First off, this is actually only 2 plants. And they are from some seeds that Eli planted in a cup as a preschool activity. When he brought them home, I never in a million years thought they would amount to anything. But, then it sprouted and began to grow, so I transplanted it into the garden and apparently it REALLY likes it there! It was suppose to be a "pumpkin" plant (at least that's what the cup said), but it turns out it's yellow squash. It is producing nicely with about 10 squash on it right now. We will never be able to eat it all so we will be giving some of it away. Right now, there's one that needs picking that is nearly the diameter of a basketball and oval shaped. It doesn't have the long neck that squash usually have, but it's definitely squash and NOT pumpkin!I'm not exaggerating when I say that this squash plant grows at least an inch a day!
Sunday, August 2, 2009
Burns of the second degree variety
This weekend was Michael's section camp out. It was suppose to be Friday night thru Sunday, but we opted to skip the camping part and instead decided to head to Denver's Cherry Creek State Park to meet up with everyone for the cookout yesterday afternoon.
We packed all the gear - and snacks - we would need to spend the rest of the evening visiting friends and having fun. We arrived just before 4:00 and unloaded. Michael took the boys for a walk around the camp site, then they came back and roasted their own hotdogs over the open fire while our host grilled up everything else. (The face painting was from the zoo in the morning).
Our hosts allowed the boys to use their camper to watch movies, so they spent a bit of time watching a movie, then outside playing and eating and were really well occupied and safe since there were so many adults and older children present. And Rachael was her normal, happy self!!
We enjoyed our evening, but figured that by the time we had driven the hour home and gotten unloaded and everyone settled it would be pretty late, so at about 7:30 we began packing up. We had EVERYTHING packed and were ready to load the boys in the van (Rachael had already been buckled in and was snoozing!), when Eli said to me "mommy, that was hot" and pointed to a stray hot coal on the ground outside the fire pit. By this point he was squeezing his finger with a panicked, painful look on his face...
I took a look at his fingers and asked him what happened and he told me he had picked it up. Yeouch! I immediately sent him to dunk his hand in a cooler full of ice and water. Then looked over to Jacob and it turns out he had done the same thing. Repeat.
So, we gave them cups of ice water to keep dunking their hands in on our drive home - it was quite an interesting journey home with two boys crying and in quite a bit of pain. We made a stop at Walgreens for some BurnStuff and proceeded home to bandage them up. Turns out they both have 2nd degree burns in small spots on their fingers. Eli has blisters on his left thumb, index and middle fingers. Jacob only managed to touch it with his thumb, but his blister is a bit larger and looks worse.
(Bedtime last night with bandages on fingers.)
They both seem quite a bit better today and aren't in nearly as much pain. It's funny how these things happen just as you're getting ready to leave, when you think you've made it through the outing without any injuries...
We packed all the gear - and snacks - we would need to spend the rest of the evening visiting friends and having fun. We arrived just before 4:00 and unloaded. Michael took the boys for a walk around the camp site, then they came back and roasted their own hotdogs over the open fire while our host grilled up everything else. (The face painting was from the zoo in the morning).
Our hosts allowed the boys to use their camper to watch movies, so they spent a bit of time watching a movie, then outside playing and eating and were really well occupied and safe since there were so many adults and older children present. And Rachael was her normal, happy self!!
We enjoyed our evening, but figured that by the time we had driven the hour home and gotten unloaded and everyone settled it would be pretty late, so at about 7:30 we began packing up. We had EVERYTHING packed and were ready to load the boys in the van (Rachael had already been buckled in and was snoozing!), when Eli said to me "mommy, that was hot" and pointed to a stray hot coal on the ground outside the fire pit. By this point he was squeezing his finger with a panicked, painful look on his face...
I took a look at his fingers and asked him what happened and he told me he had picked it up. Yeouch! I immediately sent him to dunk his hand in a cooler full of ice and water. Then looked over to Jacob and it turns out he had done the same thing. Repeat.
So, we gave them cups of ice water to keep dunking their hands in on our drive home - it was quite an interesting journey home with two boys crying and in quite a bit of pain. We made a stop at Walgreens for some BurnStuff and proceeded home to bandage them up. Turns out they both have 2nd degree burns in small spots on their fingers. Eli has blisters on his left thumb, index and middle fingers. Jacob only managed to touch it with his thumb, but his blister is a bit larger and looks worse.
(Bedtime last night with bandages on fingers.)They both seem quite a bit better today and aren't in nearly as much pain. It's funny how these things happen just as you're getting ready to leave, when you think you've made it through the outing without any injuries...
Thursday, July 23, 2009
Why I need diapers with snaps...
Most of the time I use infant size prefolds with a Thirsties cover on Rachael. I save our fancy (one size pockets) diapers for outings and night time. All but one of her diapers/covers have a velcro closure....
It's pretty warm around here these days since we don't have a/c in our home - we are currently at 80ยบ inside - so there are days when Rachael only wears a diaper around the house. I don't find this to be an issue yet because she is only 10 months old, however, she has been playing with the velcro lately, so I'm not sure how long this will last!
Anyway, I put her in the highchair for a snack while I was preparing lunch a couple days ago and all she had on was her prefold and cover. I heard her fiddling with the velcro, but was totally surprised when I pulled back the highchair tray and found this:
She had completely unfastened the diaper!! I'm thankful she was sitting and couldn't actually get out of it (even though it was dry), but I'm thinking I will have to start actually dressing her during the day if this continues.
It's pretty warm around here these days since we don't have a/c in our home - we are currently at 80ยบ inside - so there are days when Rachael only wears a diaper around the house. I don't find this to be an issue yet because she is only 10 months old, however, she has been playing with the velcro lately, so I'm not sure how long this will last!
Anyway, I put her in the highchair for a snack while I was preparing lunch a couple days ago and all she had on was her prefold and cover. I heard her fiddling with the velcro, but was totally surprised when I pulled back the highchair tray and found this:
She had completely unfastened the diaper!! I'm thankful she was sitting and couldn't actually get out of it (even though it was dry), but I'm thinking I will have to start actually dressing her during the day if this continues.
Friday, July 17, 2009
Awesome babywearing scene!
Tonight I took the littles out (Michael and Jacob aren't home from Australia yet [they'll be home late tonight!!!!] so I only have the other 2) so I could gas up the van, grab a coffee and get our mail. We were driving back from Starbucks when I spotted an awesome babywearer!!
There was a family (mom and 3 children) who looked to be of African descent (the mom seemed she might have grown up there because of some cultural things I noticed) walking on the sidewalk on the opposite side of the road... let me paint you a picture:
9ish year old boy in front carrying a box on his head. A girl that seemed a couple years younger than the boy, carrying a grocery sack. Then mom with a young child (1 or 2 y/o) in a sling on her back - mom was also carrying a grocery bag in one hand and had another sack balanced on her head! The mom was dressed in what seemed to be cultural attire (long, printed skirt and matching top, with some sort of head covering).
It truly was an awesome and moving sight. Beyond the fact that her older two seemed very well behaved and they were out on foot walking along the sidewalk of a very busy street (Academy for you locals), they were not ashamed of their culture/heritage.
As I drove away from the light, I began to ponder her uniqueness and how extremely practical those things are. Truly, it might be beneficial if we all had proper posture and stride so we could balance things on our heads! How many times have you seriously wished you had an extra arm or two? And wearing the baby, well, we all know some of the benefits to babywearing (closeness, security for baby, free hands for mom, etc.). Modesty in dress, that doesn't really need an explanation.
** I do not personally know this family and cannot attest to anything about them. My speculation of ethnic origin is based on the cultural things I noticed and the very beautiful, dark skin tone they all had. I could be COMPLETELY wrong and I am aware of that. It's just a hypothesis, OK?**
There was a family (mom and 3 children) who looked to be of African descent (the mom seemed she might have grown up there because of some cultural things I noticed) walking on the sidewalk on the opposite side of the road... let me paint you a picture:
9ish year old boy in front carrying a box on his head. A girl that seemed a couple years younger than the boy, carrying a grocery sack. Then mom with a young child (1 or 2 y/o) in a sling on her back - mom was also carrying a grocery bag in one hand and had another sack balanced on her head! The mom was dressed in what seemed to be cultural attire (long, printed skirt and matching top, with some sort of head covering).
It truly was an awesome and moving sight. Beyond the fact that her older two seemed very well behaved and they were out on foot walking along the sidewalk of a very busy street (Academy for you locals), they were not ashamed of their culture/heritage.
As I drove away from the light, I began to ponder her uniqueness and how extremely practical those things are. Truly, it might be beneficial if we all had proper posture and stride so we could balance things on our heads! How many times have you seriously wished you had an extra arm or two? And wearing the baby, well, we all know some of the benefits to babywearing (closeness, security for baby, free hands for mom, etc.). Modesty in dress, that doesn't really need an explanation.
** I do not personally know this family and cannot attest to anything about them. My speculation of ethnic origin is based on the cultural things I noticed and the very beautiful, dark skin tone they all had. I could be COMPLETELY wrong and I am aware of that. It's just a hypothesis, OK?**
Wednesday, July 15, 2009
Confession
I'm having a really difficult time betting back into our normal routine since we got back home from our trip. I'm having trouble getting to bed at a decent time (which is mostly because I'm missing Michael terribly and am so happy he and Jacob will be home on Friday) and then because I went to bed too late, I don't get up when my alarm goes off in the morning. This throws me off even further because I'm not starting my day with my normal quiet time. Sigh.
I also mowed, weed-whacked and raked the entire yard along with weeding all the other landscaping yesterday and think I may have over done it a little because I'm super sore this morning. Therefore, I didn't go to the gym which is normally a staple of my routine.
I'm on a mission to get to bed at a good time tonight and then actually get up in the morning and having an appointment at 10:00 is a really good motivator!!
I also mowed, weed-whacked and raked the entire yard along with weeding all the other landscaping yesterday and think I may have over done it a little because I'm super sore this morning. Therefore, I didn't go to the gym which is normally a staple of my routine.
I'm on a mission to get to bed at a good time tonight and then actually get up in the morning and having an appointment at 10:00 is a really good motivator!!
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