Cloth Diapers.

This is a very “only Moms will care” post, be forewarned.

I use cloth diapers. And I love the heck out of them. When I was extremely nauseous/sick earlier this pregnancy I just couldn’t handle them [too many smells! too much work!] and it saddened me.

The #1 reason I love them??? THEY ARE COST EFFECTIVE. Seriously, you can pay less than $500 to diaper 2++ kids. And you’d be out $500 in just 10 months of diapering one child in disposables (if you’re averaging one $50 case of diapers per month). Yes, there is more work required, but with kids you’re already doing tons of laundry so…what’s the diff? That’s how I feel anyway.

first day in cloth, 3 weeks old!

There are a bajillion cloth diaper blogs and resources out there, which is why I haven’t felt the need to post anything about my routines and such. However, I have noticed a trend in these online sources….THEY ARE SO WORDY. Granted, there can be a lot to say about cloth diapers and wash routines if you care or are trying to solve a problem. But if you’re just curious or are a new Mom just starting out??? You don’t need to know all of that crap! [ha. ha. ha.]

So I present to you:

Rachel’s Condensed Cloth Diaper Guide [or, how I contain my child’s excrement in a sanitary fashion]
complete with links to specific products, if you’re interested!

1. I use covers and prefolds [or inserts].
   • Covers are waterproof and re-useable, as long as they are not slathered with poo inside
   • The prefold or insert is the absorbent part that collects the pee/poo. This is the part you swap out during a normal diaper change
   • I have about 5 covers in each size.
   • I have about 12 inserts for my 20 month old, and 18-24 prefolds for when she was younger
   • There are other types of diapers. All in Ones [AIO], All in Twos [AI2], and Pockets are the most popular.
2. I also use cloth wipes. They are made of flannel cut into squares, and baby washcloths.
   • Wipe solution = 1C water+1T liquid castile soap+1T coconut oil+10 drops tea tree oil
   • I soak a stack of folded wipes in the solution, and store in a plastic container
3. If baby is exclusively breastfed, I don’t rinse the poo. It’s water soluble.
   • If baby is eating solids, I dump what I can into the toilet, I don’t worry too much if something won’t come off
4. I store the diapers in a hanging wet bag, which I wash with the diapers.
   • I own two, so that I can have a clean one hanging while the other is in the wash
5. I wash dirty diapers every other day. Here is my wash routine:
   • Dump dirty diapers into top-loading washing machine
   • Set water level to low, temperature to cold
   • Add a towel if there aren’t enough diapers to make up a small load (you want it to be like diaper chili, not diaper soup. but don’t take it all the way to stew, either. too much OR too little water can prevent diapers from agitating properly. HE/front loading washers regulate this for you automatically)
   • Sprinkle a small amount of regular Tide detergent, run a “casual” cycle (AKA quick cycle)
   • Add a full scoop of Tide, run a “heavy duty” wash cycle
   • Take diaper covers out to line dry, put inserts and everything else in the dryer
   • Run for 1-2 cycles on bulky/high heat
6. If the diapers ever smell a little stinky after they’re clean, I dump some bleach into the bleach dispenser in the washing machine during my normal wash routine.
   • If that doesn’t take care of it, I soak the clean diapers in bleach for 30mins and run a wash cycle without soap
   • For a bleach soak I use approx 1T bleach per 1gal water
   • You can do a bleach soak in the bathtub or in a top loading washer

 

Ta-da! There it is. The condensed how-to guide, according to me. There is a LOT more I could say, but I won’t unless you’re curious! Feel free to ask any questions in the comments. I loooove talking diapers so much. So so much.

love, rach

stream of consciousness

I feel terrible about neglecting this blog lately…I haven’t hardly had time to sit down and type anything up since my baby girl was born [on this OR my other blog]!

So, here is a stream of consciousness and some fun facts for you.
[spoiler alert: you’re in for a real treat]

001. When I am in my own home, I rarely close the door to the bathroom when I’m using it. Usually this is only when I’m by myself [or with one of my two family members], but sometimes I forget that it’s not considered a socially acceptable practice when company is over…Luckily, the toilet is strategically placed to not be visible from two out of four rooms in the house, but I apologize in advance if any of you ever come to my house and catch me on the pot. It could definitely happen.

002. The name of this blog is derived from the food my hubs and I chose to have at our wedding reception….Belgian waffles and a variety of breakfast cereals. It was delicious. And awesome. We love breakfast foods so much that our favorite celebratory dining spots are iHOP and Denny’s.

003. My hair is getting ridiculously long. And also, it is falling out [postpartum bodily changes are FUN]! And lately it has spent 75% of the time in a braid, the other 24% is bun time, and there’s about 1% of down time. I reckon I ought to get it legitimately cut/styled soon…

004. This is still one of my all-time favorite pictures, crappy cell phone quality and all:

She is SO BIG now [3.5 months!] and babbles, giggles, and cries louder than any other baby I have yet to hear…but she’s happy a vast majority of the time so that’s okay 🙂 she loves reading stories and being sung to. My favorites are Sandra Boynton books and Puff The Magic Dragon. I’m sure she’ll voice her preferences soon.

mean muggin’. she’s a straight-up G.

005. I made a new duvet cover! Pictured beneath ‘zee in the above photo.

006. And I actually DID find the time to write a little something for my new favorite blog, it was published today! Click on over to Hourglassy if you want to hear about some of my happy swimsuit memories [and see probably the most hysterical photo of my sister and I that has ever existed]. I just loved Darlene’s prompt for us to think of positive, happy memories associated with swim wear – rather than obsess over how our bodies are shaped and how self-conscious swimsuits can make us. Absolutely loved it.

007. I made this for Father’s Day, and yes it was as good as it looks. Ice cream pie based on Ben&Jerry’s “Everything But The…” [my Daddio’s favorito]:

008. Here is a picture that I just found while uploading that one. It’s pretty old, but it’s always been one of my favorite photos of myself. For a lot of reasons. One of them being the fabulous garage sale find that I am holding. Foam parrots are such a treasure, don’t you agree??

thanks to my seester for capturing this treasured moment

009. I had a dentist appointment today. And you know what? I think I finally found a good dentist. I had absolutely zero anxiety prior to and during this appointment [which is a first for me] and felt zero pain whatsoever [and he was placing a temporary crown – that business is not fun]. I am beyond thrilled.

010. Movies I have yet to see, but really want to: The Croods, Star Trek: Into Darkness, Man of Steel, Jurassic Park 2 & 3 (yeah somehow I missed them growing up).
Movies that I am super stoked about: Turbo, Monsters University, Cloudy With A Chance of Meatballs 2, Despicable Me 2, The Hobbit: whatever-the-next-one-is-called, How To Train Your Dragon 2, The Lego Movie, Happy Smekday!, and Me and My Shadow (whenever it eventually gets released).
Movie that I recently saw that was better than I anticipated: Escape From Planet Earth.
[yes….we love kids’ movies around here. that’s what you get when your hubs works for Dreamworks and is an animation buff, and I absolutely love it. also I guess sequels are just getting better these days??]

So, yeah. There you have it. I told you it was going to be wonderful! I promise I’ll make time to write up some good stuff soon. I have an update about my hippie shampoo recipe, and lots of things to say about the cloth diapers I’ve been using [and LOVING]. Plus maybe some recipes. And maybe some photos of my house and my mediocre-at-best interior design/decorating skillz [if I can ever get it together]. 🙂

love, rach

I am turning into a hippie…

….or something like it.

1. my husbands’ grandpa has basically converted me to the Prius. it has great gas-mileage, the way it works is SO COOL, and it’s eco-friendly!
2. I talked said husband into getting some herbal tea to help him sleep better. he loves it. and it works. we drink tea together every evening now.
3. I’ve been researching cloth diapers, thanks to my lovely friend Hannah who’s been blogging about them recently and sharing her experiences! [she has SO many posts about cloth diapering, check them out if you’re interested] I’m totally sold. they save you money, make potty-training easier, and they’re better for the earth!
4. the hubs and I [who already ate a lot of whole/un-processed foods] decided to change our diet for the better. I went to WinCo today and came home with huge bags of bulk quinoa, flax seed, and organic rolled oats – somewhat smaller bags of raw almonds and dried fruit – fresh almond butter and honey – and more fruits and veggies than you could shake a proverbial stick at. YUMMM.
5. in conjunction with the aforementioned dietary change, I’m also considering giving up sugar completely [and using Stevia/agave/honey instead]. any thoughts on that? I’ve done sugar-free before, for a few weeks, with my Momma.
6. I’m kinda-sorta finally getting back into my daily yoga routine! Still a bit hit and miss, but I’m getting better. I’ve missed yoga so SO much.

I think what seals the deal though, is that we have officially decided that when the day comes that we have our own home…we are going to keep our own bees.

plus the fact that I plan on living somewhere warm enough that I never have to wear shoes ever again.

but you know what? I think I’m 100% okay with being a hippie.

Peace out — Rach