Adventures in Cloth Diapering

Ever since I read about how much money cloth diapering saves and how easy it was, I figured why not give it a try? After running the numbers and talking to my cousin, Sarah, who cloth diapered her two children and soon to be third, we went for it. We bought a 24 diaper set from SmartiPants and received 2 as a gift so we have a total of 26 diapers on rotation. On their website it's about $280 plus tax and shipping for 24 diapers. We spent $120 on two packs of newborn diapers and three packs of size one diapers in the first month of Scarlett's life. I can't imagine continuing that trend.

So far I've received lots of questions regarding cloth diapers so I thought I would share. First of all, these aren't the diapers that your parents may have used to diaper you growing up (or that you diapered your children with, trying to cover all ages). We bought what are called pocket diapers. There is an insert and the shell as you can see below in the top right corner. The size of the diaper is one size fits all. It is supposed to fit from 8lbs to 35lbs (typically). Scarlett's little thighs were too thin for them at first, hence the need for disposable diapers. But she's chubbed up just enough now and though we've had some minor leaks due to that, I don't blame the diaper. It will be great once she's chubbed up even more! After they're washed and dried, you just put them back together again (bottom left) and reuse

I rigged up a line drying system using door handles, sweet huh?

 Cleaning is also a snap (ha, get it?). At each changing station in our house and in the diaper bag there are things called wet bags. These are the bags we put the used diapers in until they are cleaned. I should've snapped a photo because I love the pattern on the one set. Every other day or so, I take the wet bags and empty them directly into the washing machine. That's right, I don't take apart the diapers and I don't have to scrape any poo from them (at least not yet, this will come when Scarlett starts eating solid foods). I wash them on HOT with regular Tide powder with an extra rinse and what our washer calls power boost (or something like that). They come apart in the washer and I remove them to hang dry (or at the least, hang dry the shell, the insert takes longer to dry so if i'm short on time or diapers, I put those in the dryer). Simple as that!

And our model, Scarlett showing off her cloth diaper!

Check out these links for more info.

Jillians Drawers - Huge resource. Lots of different types of cloth diapers. Great explanations of each. They also sell lots of good nursing bras and accessories. Not to mention they have super fast shipping, esp if you're anywhere close to NY, where they ship from.
SmartiPants - We bought our diapers directly from the website instead of through Jillian's Drawers. Mostly because they had all the colors and Jillian's Drawers were out of stock on most of them. They also had a discount for buying larger quantities and we got a small wet bag for free.
PlanetWise - Wet bags in so many patterns. They have other things for sale on the site as well and this brand is on Jillian's Drawers too. Sometimes it's just easier to go direct though, so that's what we did.

Mommy & Baby :: Wants and Needs

Brown Knit Booties 1 & 2 : Baby Clutching Toy : Ring thing : Sophie : Felt Shoes

Itzbeen Timer : Mittens : First Aid Kit : Birthing Ball : Pack N Play : FuzziBunz Diapers

10 weeks remaining!

Thanks for the snap, Mike!

Yesterday marked Week 30! The big 3-0! Baby girl has made a position change and is now dancing on my bladder. So much so that I feel like I have to pee but then find out I actually don't. So that's fun! I hope the position change means she's more head down, as of last week at the ultrasound she was transverse (sideways) and I'd really prefer for her to get to head down and then stay there for the next 10 weeks.

This week she's about 15 inches and 3 pounds. Pretty exciting! Anyway, as I just mentioned, we had an ultrasound last week. It was our second at womb with a view since we didn't get the best look at her the first time. Well.. despite my best efforts to try to juice her up ahead of time, she enjoys sleeping on the pillow that is my placenta. Her face was in it half the time. Here are a couple of snaps though so you can see her again.

Mouth open.. she likes to sleep like that. During the Ultrasound we saw her drinking the OJ flavored fluid!

My little piglet! Her nose is pressed up against the placenta here.  She isn't a Penelope.

There's her little arm. Her face looks really shadowy though.

This might be close to what I posted last time. It was from the first session.

Anyway. things are still going well. Other than the bladder dancing. I've noticed that I don't waddle around on the weekends, mainly just at work. Not sure why? I made a nice list of things I probably want to take to the hospital and also went over my final project list for the nursery. I got a set of two really cute crib sheets from pottery barn on Saturday, so I won't have to sew any (or if I do, it will only be one). I couldn't pass up $8/sheet plus a 10% off discount! Alex is going away this weekend with friends which should give me lots of time to complete nursery projects!

So for my registry, I originally just went on Target.com to do it. Then after talking to someone about it (I forget who, sorry!) I went through to see how much of the stuff I chose was only available online. Answer? Most of it. So I printed it out and then deleted everything from it and went to the closest Target Sunday night and got a scanner and scanned away for an hour and forty five minutes. It was actually nice to see everything in front of my face. They didn't have everything, so when I got home I went on and added the things that I had on before that I couldn't find. Just in case. But at the store, I also added things I didn't think about or see online. So all in all it was worth it. And for those wondering, I'm not registered at Babies R Us because I like Target better. I like the clothes they have better and their prices are generally better. Nothing against BRU, I just chose Target.

At our class last night we went on a tour of Women's and Babies. I had higher expectations for some reason because the rooms felt cold. Obviously they aren't going to be super luxurious. They looked nice overall though and obviously Women's and Babies is a nice facility. It does however make me want to stay at home as long as possible while in labor before going in. Positive? 

Tomorrow we have an appointment at the doctor (or should I say, midwives since I have yet to see a doctor). It'll be nice to get confirmation of exactly what position she is in! I need to start thinking of some questions to ask.

It really seems like 10 is such a small number (compared to 40) but when I think about the time in terms of months, it seems longer. January 23rd still feels pretty far away, even though Thanksgiving is next week! Next week we'll be in the single digits! So excited to meet her!

The Nursery {Part 2}

Let's talk about furniture, shall we?

My parents were generous enough to lend us the crib and changing table from when we were babies. My niece used the same crib and changing table when she was a baby as well. (I'm aware of the current crib safety standards). They both started out a vintage yellow gold. We decided to spray paint them white. I don't have a picture of the crib yet because we can't figure out how to put it together, but when we get it together, I will post it. In the meantime, here is the before and after of the changing table.

This next piece, I found while shopping at a consignment sale with Erin. I couldn't believe it was still there when I arrived because I got there rather late and it's a very nice piece. I need to redo the drawer liners but it will definitely hold a lot. We weren't planning to buy a dresser so this is going to work out perfectly! And it fits right inside the closet.

We bought this shelf from Ikea and Laurel lovingly helped me put it together. I need to figure out what's going to go in the shelf holes but I think it's going to fit really nicely in the room overall. Plus, you can't have enough storage, right?

Please ignore the changing pad, it obviously won't be going on this.

And last but not least is the rocking chair we just got off Craigslist for a steal! It's such a nice chair. I'm actually sitting in it right now bc our computer chair is broken. I thought for a minute about painting it white as well but I just can't. Regardless of the fact that it doesn't really fit into the room, I just can't disgrace it like that. I'll be putting a nice cushion on it though for comfort, hopefully that'll tie it to the room a little bit better.

This weekend I went to AC Moore and Michaels to get some supplies to make a mobile. That will probably be featured in part 3 of this nursery series along with another craft I plan to do for one of the walls. Still on the list of things to do is sew crib sheets, curtains, a crib skirt and recover a bumper for the crib. I also want to recover the bassinet that Jess is letting us borrow. It's frilly and white and I don't really like the styling. Lots more to do but it will all definitely make the nursery more cozy for the little one.

Updated to add the Crib image on 10/9/11:

Here is the crib all put together with a little help from my parents! It looks great in the room and I'm very excited to sew the crib sheets, recover the bumper and eventually put the quilt on it. Eeeee!

Want vs Need

{link}

I saw it here. {Awesome blog by the way} And now I think I need it. 

Alex has informed me that this is a want. And a pretty unrealistic one based on the price tag.
{he's right on both accounts}

I told him we could find the chair part on craigslist and we can make the bottom part.

His reponse was that we probably couldn't find a chair that someone didn't pee on.

I find that false but haven't been able to find a chair similar to this or remotely what I would want. 

At least not on the Lancaster craigslist.

Doesn't it look so comfy though?

Do people do yard sales in the fall??????

16 weeks 3 days and Nursery Inspiration

Today is 16 weeks and 3 days into pregnancy.

Things are still going quite smoothly and I couldn't be more thankful. I've had a couple of small stretching pains but nothing other than that.

The bump is getting a bit bigger as you may have seen yesterday. Here's a picture today so you can see it went back down! :)

There really isn't much else to report at this point. Just chomping at the bit to find out if it's a boy or a girl.

Moving onto the Nursery Inspiration.

{pin}

When I saw the top image on pinterest, I really liked it. Obviously the colors will be a bit different since our room is currently aqua but I do plan to decide the other colors when we know the gender.

For a girl, I think orange, pink, purple and light yellow would be great and contrast well with the rest of the aqua room.

For a boy, I think orange, lime, teal and maybe silver would be cool looking. I'd obviously have to get some swatches together to make sure.

Then I saw the second image. Which shows exactly what I was thinking about doing. Squares are cool but diamonds are better. I would make them bigger then shown in this picture though since they'll be multiple colors.

{pin}

I still need to figure out how i'm going to get my tape that straight on a 45 degree angle and how i'm going to make sure the paint doesn't get under the tape. More googling is in order I guess.

{pin}

This is, however, why I love love love Pinterest.

And just for good measure. Here is another thing I love and plan to do in the nursery. What a great way to display books!

I could show you way more on my baby board, but if you want, just take a look for yourself. {here}

After this friday, when my sister moves out, we'll be rearranging furniture and I'll start sanding the crib pieces and the changing table to prepare to spray paint it white.

Does anyone know the rules about painting while pregnant? Obviously I want to paint a wall and spray paint some stuff, which i'll be doing outdoors when I can. But I think I might just rely on good ventilation when painting the wall. It shouldn't take too long anyway!

Baby Finds {Pinterest Edition}

I love this website. I peruse it all the time, and not just for baby stuff.. for everything. I can't even describe it's awesomeness with words, just go there!

{Adorable Hat}

{Adorable Hat #2}

{Cutie Booties}

{Ruffle Swimmy}

{And.. something for me}

Alex's mom wants to knit us a couple hats so I found some that I thought would be really cute. There's plenty more where that came from but those two are my current favs.

How cute are those booties? Apparently there's a diy tutorial on how to make them. I might just have to do that because they're adorbs.

Even though we don't know what we're having juust yet, i thought this swimmy was cute so I pinned it.

And then of course, I pinned a stylish nursing top. It's another diy and you just throw it on over whatever shirt you're wearing and get down to business.

Again if you want an invite to pinterest, leave a comment!