HATRED.

I would be lying to you if I said I at all liked, appreciated, or wanted to continue using gDiapers with flats. I suppose that in retrospect the whole system would be much more efficient if I had more of the actual diapers to use; I have four snap-in liners, a decent number of foldable flats, and an entire unopened package of the biodegradable, flushable liners that I could use if I wanted to.

The problem is that I DON'T want to use the liners. I might be acting like a stubborn animal about this, but to me the point of going cloth was to actually use cloth, not to use a mixture of the two. I'd consider it if necessary but at home, with easy access to a washer and dryer, I don't see the point of not going all-out. But the flats, well, pardon my French but the damn flats don't hold a damn thing! This child pees once and it's over. It bunches itself up a billion times over and he squirms and gets uncomfortable. It doesn't matter how I fold them, although I've found a method that has so far worked rather well for poop (there's a detail I know you wanted), at least, which is progress:

And that would be it. I'm sure there's a name for that fold, like "the pocket" or something, since I knows I saw it somewhere and didn't just make it up all on my own, but I forget. This seems to work relatively well, and to a degree it even almost fits in the gDiaper's liner. Unfortunately, it doesn't absorb well for a boy, and I worry that if I try to fold it almost any other way I'll regret it, because it'll either be too thin in the back and poop will soak through, or it'll be too thick in the front and it will be uncomfortable for him. I don't really want to put him through any undue stress. I just can't find a fold for flats that I like - and at this point I'm pretty much thinking that after this, these damn things are going back to being burp rags. I am soooo finished with them.

In other news, I've been doing a lot of looking online as to how to construct my own cloth diapers. This poses two problems for me: 1) I would have to buy very expensive outer cloth from a few exclusive online stores to use as an outside cover to keep the diapers waterproof, and 2) if I decided NOT to do that, I would have to buy plastic diaper covers that would end up ruining my hard work and wouldn't be see-through anyway!

So I have to ask, that being said: how do moms who don't use waterproof diapers work with this problem? Is there a website that sells special covers that are see-through? Do you just not use covers while you're at home and risk the aftermath of wet floors, clothes, etc? I could see this being an option for a mobile baby, but for my little three-month-old ("Little," she says! Ha!) this seems .. I dunno. Nobody will ever see the diapers, you know? It seems counterintuitive. But I'm still curious. So if anybody has an answer for me, that'd be great.

But that hasn't stopped me from making the attempt:

Yes, I know, I haven't done anything with any of it yet, and none of the cloth I bought will provide for one of the one-size-fits-all diapers that I've been longing for and that are my ideal diaper. I also know that metal snaps are a no-no, but it's all Wal-Mart had at the time, dammit.

I can't promise that I actually have the intention of following through with this. At the very least, it'll likely be a while, because I don't have an answer to my plastic covers issue (Wal-Mart only sells opaque white covers), and at the moment my sewing desk is covered in baby clothes that haven't yet been properly sorted from the move.

I know I was also going nuts over the BumGenius 3.0 diapers - because they've gotten some good reviews and also because they're one-size-fits-all (OS) diapers. I'm kind of big on the idea of only having to get a few actual diapers during my baby's lifetime, and then only have to replace the prefolds occasionally, but I'm starting to lean toward looking through the Thirsties diapers. They offer an OS dipe, although it isn't TOTALLY OS because there are two different diapers to buy - but the latter diaper goes up to 40 lbs! That would still fit Gabe! They're also slightly cheaper than the BG 3.0, and the Thirsties diapers go up another five pounds.

Why do I freak out about this? Well, I don't want to make my own plastic covers. Yes, I am lazy. No, I do not want to have to cut up a shower curtain (nor buy a shower curtain, for that matter). I can't sew all that well as it is and I don't really think I want to fail even more on a bunch of vinyl.

So I'm going through all this in my head. I've decided I want to go with Indian prefolds for now, and 20 of those is about $35 from Cotton Babies. So that much is pretty set in stone. The same site sells a "kit" of BG 3.0 dipes, 6 for $104.70 (or $105 for the sake of making more sense in my head). Plus the prefolds, that's a one-time expenditure of about $140 without shipping, since Cotton Babies would offer free shipping on an order that large. Six Thirsties diapers from the same store would retail at $12.75 each, so $76.50 - and the free shipping would still qualify. Add in the prefolds and that's $111.50 - a savings of almost $30 on diapers. That $30 I would've spent on buying the BG 3.0 dipes could be spent instead on a bunch of things: more prefolds, or maybe one of the Thirsties cloth diapers and one of their covers to see how I like that combination. Or I could save the $30 in general.

Ooh, options. I love saving money and the Thirsties diapers have gotten pretty good reviews, too. We shall see where this all takes me.

PS HATE FLATS

Cloth Diapering Extravaganza!

Whew, I haven't updated in a while. Apologies for that. Life here has been absolutely insane!

So, on the home front, I have finally begun my official exposure to the cloth diapering world. Before Alex was born in July (by the way, he was three months old yesterday!) we found some gDiaper starter kits and disposable liners on sale at County Market. I had wanted to start cloth with Gabe, but had never gotten the opportunity as we had no easy access to a washer and dryer, so at half off the regular price we swooped in and bought the last starter kit and second-to-last package of inserts. I washed them once and promptly forgot about the entire thing, a victim to the lazy-ass disposable trend.

Fast forward to yesterday. We were running low on disposables and I knew it would still be a few hours before my mother would be taking me shopping and providing me with more. My dear husband looks at me and calmly points out, "You know, we still have the gDiapers." Boom, I'm off.

I stripped the few cloth flats that I have and immediately figured out a do-it-yourself folding method that involves the little "butt pocket" for poop. I'm proud to say that even with incredibly flimsy flats, we have made it through an overnight, one poop, and several pee diapers with no huge complaints! Of course it isn't as convenient as disposables in a lot of ways: baby needs to be changed more often because he's more aware of when he's wet. But at the same time, every time I put him in cloth, he grins at me. He's a happy baby and I know it!

So now we're discussing purchasing a six-pack of the BumGenius 3.0 diapers, along with 20 Indian prefolds. I'm excited about the prospect of using prefolds instead of flats, especially since supposedly they're more absorbent (I bet they are)! I'm also happy about trying out one-size-fits-all diapers, because while I do like the gDiapers, I'm not particularly excited about spending almost $18 on one diaper when I know I'm going to have to replace it with a bigger size. However, I've also heard that some people find the BG OS to be flimsy and have noticed that people are reporting that it doesn't always hold up that well, so we shall see. Either way, I'm pretty sure all of our future prefold orders will be coming from the same site I plan on ordering the BG diapers from, because 20 Indian prefolds are only $35! Woo hoo!

In other news, I've recently been made aware of a WAHM momma who is getting herself all ready to go with a cloth diapering business. She's also working on some "momma cloth" style tampons that looked positively ADORABLE. I highly suggest everyone check out Clever With Cloth as she makes the transition into a home business. She makes receiving blankets into cloth diapers - how adorable is that?!

For now, I leave you, my nonexistent followers, as I have a screaming, unhappy baby who currently needs to be fed.

Some Background

I think the urge to crunch came with finding out we were expecting our first child. I originally anticipated a lot of things about his birth and how we would raise our first child: I wanted a "natural" (read: intervention- and drug-free) birth, even though it was my first child, I was intent on breastfeeding, we weren't going to circumsize him, we were going to use cloth diapers (without easy access to a washer or dryer, by the way), we were going to make our own baby food .. The list went on for a while. I had taken on the idea that being a crunchy family would be easy.

Naturally, Fate had other ideas. Our firstborn proved a stubborn creature, and it took 36 hours of labor, the maximum dose of pitocin I could be given, and a lot of frustration for all involved to bring the little bugger into the world. The whole thing was a badly-managed battle further confused by my inadequate, ill-educated "support team" (my mother, a medically-minded LPN who fully believes in the power and purpose of modern medicine, and my dear, sweet husband, who knew exactly as much as I had told him and nothing more). Our first few weeks at home were the rollercoaster ride from Hell: the baby was severely jaundiced and my milk never came in enough to sustain him, our cloth diapering dreams were destroyed by our extra four days in the hospital (our minds, as new parents and confused twentysomethings were admittedly elsewhere), and the first month or so was generally unpleasant. We ended up the stereotypical American parents, feeding formula after being told breastfeeding wasn't a viable option, using disposable diapers left and right, and trying to come to terms with when and why everything stopped going according to plan. I resolved, then, to try to do things differently the next time around, if I was destined to be given a second chance.

Unexpectedly enough, two years after the birth of our first child, we found out that we were expecting again. During the pregnancy we resolved to do things differently, and in homage to the spiraling economy we played our parts as irresponsible consumers and moved (albeit by force; our apartment was being torn down) into a small house we can't afford. We reacquired the washer and dryer my husband had been keeping in storage in his brother's basement, made a few new commitments, and started over again.

So who are we and what are we doing? Well, my name is Kayleigh (or Kay). I've been with my husband, Colin, since February of 2000, although we've been married since April of 2007. We met over the Internet in 1999, and in 2002, Colin moved 1600 miles from his home state of Maine to live closer to me here in Illinois. Our first child, Gabe, was born in March of 2007, and at the end of July of this year, we welcomed our second child and second son, Alex. I am 23 and celebrate my birthday on Earth Day in April; Colin is 25 and will continue his journey toward middle age (he hates it when I say that) in September. We seem to constantly be in the midst of financial turmoil, although that isn't the focus of this blog. Mostly, I note this as a warning, in case anyone notices that I seem to mention our financial problems a lot. The bad thing is that we have extremely limited resources when it comes to what aspects of our lives we can "crunch". The good thing about this is that we're not alone in this aspect, and I hope that I not only give ideas on going crunchy (which can sometimes require a sizeable initial investment before you see the eventual return) on a limited budget, but that other crunchy moms share their ideas with me as well.

So, for now, join me in the journey to being crunchy, and even if you're just along for the ride, I hope you enjoy the trip. I know I will.