Cloth Blog Hop: How & Why I Started Cloth Diapering

I'm excited to be participating in a blog hop about cloth diapers!  Since one of my goals for 2013 is to write in my blog more often, I thought this was the perfect thing to do.  It is my hope this will help accomplish my goal and help you learn about fluff.

Before I became pregnant, the only thing I knew about cloth diapers was what a lot of the uninformed think of: prefolds and pins.  After I became pregnant, I joined the Children & Family portion of the military support forum I belonged to and saw quite a few posts about cloth diapers.  For the most part, I ignored them.  They were too full of abbreviations I didn't understand and I wasn't too interested. 

Fast forward a few months to baby registry time.  I'm on the website for Babies R Us adding some items to my registry and an advertisement for g Diapers comes up.  It piqued my curiosity.  I did some research and thought they sounded really neat.  I talked to my husband, who had never changed a diaper in his life, about wanting to try cloth diapers.  My request was met with a resounding no.  So our sweet little girl started her life in disposables. 

We fortunately didn't have too many leaks or blowouts and I bought most of my diapers when they were on sale.  But jeepers creepers those things are expensive.  When my daughter was about five months old, I added up the money we had spent on diaper.  At that point I had spent around $300 on diapers alone.  The figure would have been quite a bit higher if I had added in refills for the diaper pail and wipes.  Since my husband would only change Addie's diapers when he was the only one home, I started researching cloth diapers again.

I joined Diaper Swappers and started stalking posts and reading some blogs about cloth diapering.  I came to the conclusion that they looked very simple and it was something I wanted to try.  I searched for websites that offered some sort of money back guarantee and some diapers in my budget.  I found Cotton Babies' website and thought the idea of Flips was pretty neat.  After talking to my mom, who was watching my daughter while I was working, I purchased a Flip Daypack, a package of Rockin' Green detergent, and a trial pack of Econobums.  A few days later I bought 3 BumGenius 4.0s because there was a buy two get one sale at the time.  I figured if I didn't like them, I could always send them back for a refund.

Well, I didn't particularly love the Econobums, but I didn't send anything back.  I fell in love with cloth and now can say that I am a bit addicted to cloth.  My stash no longer consists of either the Flips or Econobums due to a sensitivity to the elastic that Addie later developed, but it slowly grew.

When I first started I was afraid of leaks and fit issues and that I wouldn't find the right washing routine, or that I would hate the diapers.  I guess I got lucky, because in the beginning, I didn't have any problems at all.  Maybe I got lucky, maybe I just did enough homework before I made my first purchase.  Either way, I'm glad I did.  No more stinky disposables going into a landfill.  My daughter has fabric instead of chemicals touching her delicate parts, and ultimately, I am saving money.

It has been almost a year since I started cloth diapering and it is the best decision I think I have made for my daughter so far.  I truly believe that we are saving money and being more green. 

When Why did you start cloth diapering?  How did you come to the conclusion to start?  Are you a blogger and want to link up?  Write your post about how and why you started cloth and go here to link up.

New Year, New Goals

Hey it's that time of year again.  The time of year when everyone (okay, maybe not everyone, but a lot of people) set goals for the new year.  We set goals such as losing weight, paying off debt, being more green.  The sad thing is that a lot of people don't acheive their goals.  Well, we're getting ready to start a new year and I'm going to set some new goals and hope that this year, I can acheive them

Goal Number 1: Write in my blog

Yup, that's on my list.  I started this blog for a reason.  Because I like talking about ways to be green.  Namely, I love cloth diapers and talking to other people about them.  And I want to share the love with other people.  Nothing wrong with that, right?  So I've made it my goal to write often and write well.  I appreciate any and all feedback.  Something you want me to write about?  Just tell me!

Goal Number 2: Get Bunny's Fluffy Bum going

At the suggestion of a WAHM, I started a Facebook page for the fleece soakers I'd been making for my friends.  I've sold a few once in a while.  The truth is, I would love to be a WAHM.  I'd be able to see a lot more of my baby girl that way and do something I enjoy.  I'm currently making some fitteds for a friend and have had another ask me to do the same.  I'd love to get the materials I need and make some fitteds for testers to add them to my lineup as well.  I'd also like to get the official liscensing and such needed to run an online store and hope to do that in the very near future.  If you feel so inclined, please feel free to check it out at www.facebook.com/bunnysfluffybum

Goal Number 3: Be More Green

I'm always hoping to find little ways to make a difference.  So I'd like to find at least three ways to be more green this year.  Last year I started using cloth diapers and wipes, making my own cleaning supplies, and using a Lunette cup and mama cloth.  This year I would like to switch myself to family cloth fulltime (I don't have enough wipes right now), switch over to unpaper towels (I got some for Christmas!), and start using greener hair and skin care items.  And of course, all of these changes will give me something to write about!

Goal Number 4: Lose Weight

Yup, this is the one that so many people set as a goal and so many fail to do.  I've been overweight for a lot of my life and it's not the example I want to set for my baby girl.  So I would really like to get back into a healthy weight range this year.  I would love to lose about 60 pounds, but I'm going to start with the more obtainable goal of 20 pounds.

If one of your goals this year is going green, I hope I can help you take some baby steps towards doing it.  If there is anything you would like to see me write about, let me know!  I am open to suggestions!  Happy New Year!  What are your goals this year?

Product Review: SeatPak

 

I recently won the 10,000 Facebook Fan Giveaway for Bundles & Buzz.  I wasn't 100% sure I would like the item I won until it came to my apartment and opened the package.  What did I win?  I won a brown SeatPak.  Please let me apologize in advance.  Blogger is not properly uploading my images so they look funny.  The  SeatPak is actually a chocolate brown solid with tan piping.

What's a SeatPak?  Essentially, it's a mini diaper bag for when you only want to bring a few essentials with you.  It circular about 9 1/2 inches across and three inches deep. It was made by a mom who was tired of carrying an infant seat and a diaper bag for quick trips.  So she reduced the number of items she had to bring with by creating the SeatPak.  It has two sets of hook and loop straps on the back as well as an adjustable strap with hooks on each end.  Using either of these methods you can attach it to the handle of your infant seat or to your stroller.

Beacuse of it's size, I didn't think the SeatPak could hold that much when I first looked at it.  I was pleasantly surprised by what I was able to fit inside.  The front is a perfect pouch for Mommy's cell phone.  Inside, the main compartment, I was able to fit a cloth diaper, small wetbag, wipes, small spray bottle for the wipes, a rolled up receiving blanket, my wallet, a 9 ounce Avent bottle and a small baggie of snacks.  Wow!  I did not expect to fit it all in!

I was really surprised.  My daughter is not in an infant seat anymore, but this would have been very nice to have on hand when she was.  And the fact that it comes in neutral colors of black or brown means it will match almost any design out there.  And best of all, they retail for only $29.99 at www.babybindle.com.  And right now, get them for even less!  They are currently on sale for $19.99!!

**I received my SeatPak in a giveaway.  I was not provided compensation for this post.  All opinions are strictly my own.

Fluff Review: GroVia Bamboo Prefolds

Many of you may have seen the announcement during the start of the ABC Kid's Expo about GroVias new products that will be released in the next few months.  I had the pleasure of being a tester for their brand new Bamboo Gauze Prefolds that will be released for sale next month.  It has been very hard to keep my mouth shut, but now that I can talk - here's my thoughts on this new product.

GMD vs GroVia (GMD on top)

Let me start out by saying I am not a big prefold user.  In fact, unless you count Flip Organics as prefolds, I only have 4 in my stash - 3 GMD yellow edge (older style) and the new GroVia Bamboo Prefold - infant sized.  The GroVia prefold is much trimmer and much softer.  I got the GMD prefolds used, but even after just a few weeks of use, the GroVia has a lot more pilling.  Doesn't bother me, since no one is looking at it, but I know some people care about these things.

As a tester, I tried my prefold in as many ways as I could think of.  It folds narrow enough that you can actually stuff it into a Fuzzibunz Elite. I tried it at night and at nap-time.  It worked amazingly for naps.  By itself at night, we had leaks, but when paired with a doubler, we had no leaks at all. 

Compared to the GroVia soakers, I was quite impressed by how trim these prefolds were.  I can barely tell the difference between the soakers and the prefolds when used under the GroVia shells.  My model was being a tad bit difficult in posing for pictures, so I apologize that these are not perfect.

GroVia Bamboo Prefold

The only complaint that I made to GroVia was that the prefold was too narrow when trifolded into a Bum Genius 4.0.  Of course we now know that there are four different sizes for the prefolds.  I only wish that the larger sizes had more layers,  so I could use them without a doubler at night, but that's okay.  I have enough doublers laying around.  Of course, you also can't use the shell as long, because there is no TPU backing, but for those on a budget, they are more cost effective than the soakers.

GroVia Stay Dry Soaker

These are amazingly soft and I am excited to buy more when they are released in November.  And I saw this morning that my favorite cloth diaper store, Kissed by the Moon, will be carrying them.  According to GroVia's website, they will retail for $8-16 for a pack of three.  This week only, you can enter to win these or any of the other new GroVia products in their giveaway.

If you buy these next month, let me know your thoughts!  Hope you'll love them like I do!

Wordless Wednesday: Epic Pout

This one speaks for itself.  Today was a very crabby day and while this wasn't taken today, it is very fitting for Addie's mood today.

All About Fleece

Okay so a lot of people in the cloth diapering community rave about wool.  I don't blame them, it's pretty awesome.  But it's also pretty expensive, especially if you're buying mainstream stuff.  There is an alternative that you can use and while not quite as effective as wool, it works well and still lets your baby's bum breathe - fleece.

Addie's Packer Outfit

A while back I won a pair of fleece longies in a lotto.  I finally started using them because they fit now and it's getting cooler out.  I recently made my daughter a Green Bay Packer outfit and wanted to make her some pom poms to go with, so I bought some Green & Gold fleece.  Well, needless to say, I have a ton of dark green fleece left.  So I'm setting out to making some soakers.

It turns out they're pretty easy to make.  I used the Katrina's Sew Quick Soaker pattern.  The only goof I made was accidentally sewing a leg on inside out.  Oops!  Well that didn't take too long to fix.  A yard of blizzard fleece, on sale, is about $5.  You can easily make 5 or more soakers out of that yard of fleece!  Five wool soakers would run you a couple hundred dollars, so there is immediate savings right there!

Another benefit of fleece over wool?  Laundry is so much easier!  You wash it like any other laundry.  And to help it be more water resistant you just throw in a dryer sheet.  You don't have to worry about lanolizing and the wool taking forever to dry - just throw it in the dryer!  And if you're washing cloth diapers, you're doing it every few days anyway, so no extra laundry to be done.

My first soaker - not bad, huh?

Yes, there are a few downsides to fleece.  The main two are that you can't reuse them over and over like you can with wool.  Once they get peed on, you have to wash them.  The other is that they are not absorbent like wool, rather they repel the pee, hopefully sending it back into the diaper and preventing wet sheets.

Don't get me wrong, I love wool.  I have one soaker that I won from a WAHM and I really love it.  But it's getting too small and I wool isn't in my budget.  Hopefully once winter gets closer I can find some wool sweaters at GoodWill and make some upcycled soakers, but for now, I enjoy my fleece.  Just a warning though, I've heard from many mamas that if you start loving your fleece, you will eventually move on to wool!

I haven't been using my fleece long, and would love to hear from mamas who use it regularly.  What do you love about fleece?  What do you dislike about it?

If there's anyone out there who can't sew that would like some fleece soakers or longies just send me a message!  I enjoy sewing and would love to make some for you for a decent price.  I am not an official WAHM but would love to be someday.



 

Homemade Baby Food - Chicken & Noodles

So part of trying to be green has caused me to make a lot of Addie's baby food.  First stages it's so asy, steam puree, add liquid if needed, and go.  Once they like more substantial food you have to get more creative.

One of my co-workers gave me a bunch of Gerber stage 3 baby food that his son didn't like.  One of them was the Chicken and pasta one.  Addie LOVED it.  So it was time to make it at home.

Homemade Chicken & Pasta Baby Food

Ingredients
Canned Chicken
Small pasta - such as stars or the small ring pastas
Frozen Peas
Carrots
Campbell's Cream of Chicken & Herbs
Cheese, if desired

Directions:
This is pretty basic.  Cook the pasta, steam the veggies (if you're really short on time you can get a bag of Frozen Peas & Carrots).  Chop up the carrots if needed.  Drain and shred the chicken.  Mix everything together, adding the soup last.  Add enough soup to hold it together but not be runny.

Variations:
Use brown rice instead of the pasta and use broccoli instead of the peas & carrots.

This is nice because it freezes and thaws well, so you can make a large batch and freeze it for later use.  I tried some and trust me - It was much more edible than the Gerber variety!