So many things to tell you and the worst run ever

This may be a long post because I have so many things to update you on.  A lot has happened since we last "chatted" and since we are practically best friends I feel like I need to give you the full update.  Hold on to your seats people, it's gonna be a long ride.  But don't get too excited because I haven nothing of real importance to tell you.

First, what is this update with out a mention of Halloween?  I know I am late on this and should have posted on Friday with the rest of the blogger world, but I was swamped at work and by the time I finished all I wanted was to rest my eyes from the computer screen.  However, Evan was the cutest monster ever.  Don't you agree?  My niece was an adorable Angelina Ballerina and I went as myself, so don't make any comments about what my costume might have been.

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I bought Evan's costume second hand and mainly because it looked nice and warm.  Figures it was practically 60 degrees that night, but he didn't seem to be too hot.  And yes, we had to go trick-or-treating with his Easter basket because I dropped the ball on a Halloween basket.  I also didn't have a Halloween shirt for him to wear that day either.  I am trying to keep on top of things but I obviously wasn't on top of everything.  We only got candy from a few houses because I didn't want piles of it waiting to be eaten by me.  So,  I had pretty much eaten all the candy by Friday...maybe I should have let him go to a few more houses!

This weekend was a blur of many things.  Saturday started out nice and slow because it was the first weekend with no First Tee!  No getting up at 6am to get ready for golf!  I wish I could say I was productive and did a ton of other things but no, Evan and I slept in.  We walked the dog and had some breakfast and took the morning slow.  Then when Ivan came home I went to take a shower...and read my Runner's World magazine for the first hour (no worries, the water wasn't running).  Ivan caught me though and he came to see why my shower was taking two hours!  Evan and I decided to do a little shopping and banking so the two of us headed out (Evan refused to nap so I gave up after 30 mins).  After the bank we went to my favorite baby consignment store.  I bought Evan the cutest clothes ever.  Seriously, so adorable.  I also got him some puzzles and a new sippy cup.  I then went next door to the upscale dog store for some glucosamine pills for Dolce.  He has a limp that won't go away and I think it is a bit or arthritis.  I had really wanted to buy myself a new pair of pants, but after shopping for toddler and doggie I decided to call it quits.

On the way home Evan fell asleep and when we got home Ivan was sleeping.  I put Evan in his crib and thought I'd make my favorite cookies, great pumpkin cookies, since everyone else was napping.  I have wanted to make these for a while but never found the time.  I put the flour and oats in the bowl and then realized I needed a cup of brown sugar and I only had a few tablespoons. So off to the store I went...all by myself.  Yay - party at the Giant.  When I got home Evan was awake though...so no cookies were made...until that night when he went to bed.  I think I started around 10pm - but the time was changing that night so I figured I could stay up extra late.  And it was worth it.  I love these cookies!!

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Sunday was an even more productive and pumpkin day!!!

First, we came off daylight savings time, which is my favorite thing to do.  An extra hour in the day! My dream come true!  I thought I'd get an early run in since Evan would be up early, but I was mistaken.  Evan slept until 8:15am!  I got bored and actually folded and put away our large stack of clean clothes.  After Evan woke up, we headed out for a run.  The worst ever.  It was sunny and when I checked the weather I thought it said 55 degrees.  NO WAY!  I think that was the high, it was more like 46 degrees.  I bundled Evan up but I was wearing shorts and a short sleeved t-shirt.

I can tell you, it was too cold for this outfit.  The second bad thing about my run?  It was WINDY.  So windy!  So I was extra cold.  Plus, the route I went on was kinda hilly and pushing the BOB through the wind, up hills, was ridiculously unfun.  At one point the wind was blowing the stroller sideways and I was having to use all my arm muscle (which, honestly, isn't much)  to keep the stroller on the path.  Then Evan's blanket blew away and I had to run and get it.  On a few of the hills where the wind was blowing directly into my face I felt like I was running in place.  It was one tough run.  It was also the longest run I've done with BOB - 5.5 miles.  I finished the run without walking though and feeling returned to my legs and arms eventually.  And the biggest accomplishment?  Evan didn't cry at all!!!  Usually he starts crying at about the 4 mile mark and I can stretch out another half mile or so, but he was content pointing to every tree for the entire run (and eating a smoothie I made him for the road).  Let's hope this run wasn't a preview of what my winter training runs are going to be!

After I got home, I hopped in the shower and off to church we went.  I bought Evan the cutest church outfit at the consignment store the day before and I was so excited to put him in it.

Sorry for the crappy iPad photo, but he wouldn't stand long enough and at a good enough angle, so this was all I got.  I thought it he looked pretty dapper.  After church we headed to brunch with some friends and then finally headed home.  Evan went down for a nap and I started to do some major cooking.  I made pollo guisado (a Honduran dish) for Ivan and then was going to make pumpkin muffins and spinach and quinoa patties for Evan...however, when I looked in the fridge there was only one egg left and I needed five.  So, quick change of plans.  I ended up making pumpkin pancakes and pumpkin soup for Evan.  I had found some canned pumpkin with BPA-free liners and bought a bunch, so I just happened to have all the ingredients for those two dishes.  I guess I was on a pumpkin roll or something - cookies, soup, and pancakes!  I then decided I had enough energy to organize all of Evan's clothes and pull the clothes that don't fit him anymore and put the larger and more wintery clothes in his dresser.  And then I actually stuffed his diapers!

But with all that cooking and organizing - I didn't do my two Chemistry assignments and I didn't clean the bathrooms....some things never change.

And this morning I woke up refreshed from the extra hour of sleep (don't worry, my body will adjust in a day and it won't feel so exciting anymore)!

Happy Monday!!!!

Diapering Baby Evan

 

I’ve meant to write a post on cloth diapers, mainly because when I was thinking about using cloth I was always so interested in what other people did.  I didn’t want to write it too soon, when I was still figuring things out, but I feel like I have a good handle on things.  So, there is no better time than now!

Why I Chose Cloth

I am not 100% sure why I chose cloth diapers.  I just new that I always wanted to use cloth if I ever had children.  Part of my decision is based on the chemicals and synthetic fibers that are put in disposable diapers (although I am away you can get chemical-free diapers from places like The Honest Company).  Another reason was because I didn’t want to pollute the environment with even more disposable diapers (although I am aware of the argument that washing cloth diapers uses up a ton of water).  And lastly, cloth diapering is way cheaper than disposable.  Yes, it was a bit pricey at the start-up but it is great not having to buy disposable diapers all the time.  And it will be even greater if we decide to have another child and we can re-use our diapers again.

 

The Diapers

I have a mix of a bunch of diapers.  I wasn’t sure which brand to use and so many people loved and hated different diapers that I had no idea which to go with.  When I had jury duty one of the other jurors said him and his wife loved FuzziBunz.  I had had another friend who used these also, so I figured they must be good.  I had also heard really good things about BumGenius and I had a friend who had used their organic AIOs (All in Ones – meaning, no stuffing liners into diaper pockets).  So, I decided to go with a few of these too.  So, I started building my stash and I registered for both FuzziBunz and BumGenius, just in case other people wanted to buy them for me (at about $20 a diaper, I needed all the help I could get).  The BumGenius come in Velcro and snap but I had heard people complain about the Velcro we stuck with snaps (although I did end up buying one Velcro and it’s fine – but I still like the snaps the best).

In addition to these diapers, my amazing aunt made me a bunch of diapers (the dinosaur diaper in the above picture is one of the ones she made me).  Yes, I said made.  She had found a pattern and her Jo-Ann Fabrics had all the material needed to sew up a few diapers.  I was super excited and hers were very adorable.  She made a selection of both snap and Velcro – both work really well but if I don’t remember to Velcro the diaper back shut, all our cloth wipes get stuck to them in the wash.

I also ended up getting about 8 Lil’ Joey diapers – they are adorable, tiny newborn sized diapers (in the first picture Evan is wearing a Lil’ Joey).  I love them!  My aunt also made newborn-sized diapers for the early days when Evan was too tiny for the regular sized ones (regular-sized were 8lbs to 32lbs or something).  When Evan was a newborn we also used pre-fold diapers with covers.  I didn’t mind these at all but it did take a bit of work to fold the diaper and secure it with the Snappi fastener, and then put the cover on – so hubs was against it.  So, once Evan outgrew the newborn size I didn’t buy more of the pre-folds.

My System

I have a pretty basic system – nothing that comes close to rocket science by any means.  We have two wet bags (to put the dirty diapers in) that hang on the door knob.  I bought two because when one was being washed I didn’t have any place to put the dirty diapers.  I usually wash diapers every day or every other day – it depends on what I’m doing and how low our stash is.  I think I have about 20-25 diapers, but I’m not sure because there are always some in the wash, some in the wet bag, and some drying.

Washing the diapers is pretty simple – I dump the contents of the wet bag (and the bag) into the washing machine and run a rinse cycle on cold.  Then I run a wash/rinse on hot/cold and I put the detergent in.  I usually use Rockin Green detergent but I left it in Vermont so I’ve been using our regular detergent (Honest Company brand) and it is working just fine – no smell or absorbency issues.  I then hang-dry them on our drying rack.  At first I dried them in the dryer but that took too long and I felt like it was a waste of energy.  Now I only use the dryer if I waited too long to wash them and I have no clean diapers.  They all air dry really quickly, even the few AIOs that I have.  Oh, except for the one BumGenius Organic AIO – this one takes a while and it is super stiff if it air dries so I always put it in the dryer when I’m drying other things.  Other than that, drying is never a problem.

Wipes

At first I thought I was going to use regular wipes, but then someone mentioned it’s more convenient to use cloth. And it is.  It’s much easier to throw everything all in the wet bag together rather than find a trash can for the wipe. I just use cheap baby wash cloths and soak them in water and then put them in a wipes warmer. The warmer keeps them moist (and warm – but that is a luxury on Evan’s part). I know some people have a diaper mix that is water with baby wash, but I just use water. It seems to work. And if I get lazy and don’t have a chance to soak and fold the wipes to go in the warmer – they just go in a pile and I use a squirt bottle filled with water to wet Evan’s tush.

Issues

So far I haven’t had too many complaints.  I had problems with the FuzziBunz leaking but someone suggested double stuffing them, so I did that and it seems to have prevented any more leaks.  I also re-adjusted the size just in case they weren’t fitting well.  I haven’t had any stink issues yet – all the diapers come out of the wash smelling clean (some are stained but I figure in the summer I can set them in the sun and that should get most of the stains out).

My one main complaint is the bulkiness of the diapers.  It doesn’t bother me that they are bulky, but it’s really annoying because Evan’s clothes doesn’t fit all the time.  Right now he’s in 3-6 month clothes but sometimes the bottoms are a bit tight pulled over his big, bulky diaper.  It’s not the end of the world but I sure wish there were more tush space in the bottoms of baby pants.  I think I might get some onesie extenders so that his onesies aren’t so tight – maybe that will help.

*****

So, that’s pretty much it.  I don’t regret doing cloth diapers and I’m really enjoying it.  When we are going out we sometimes use disposables (mainly because we have some that people gave us and I don’t want to never use them) because it is nice to throw them away.  However, we did use cloth when we went to my parents’ house – they didn’t mind us washing the diapers in their washing machine.  I think if we went on a vacation that didn’t involve staying at my relatives’ houses we would probably use disposables – I wouldn’t want to have to pay to use the washer/dryer at some hotel or something.  My favorite disposables are Naty by Nature Baby Care Chlorine-Free Diapers.  My friend gave us two packs for my baby shower and I like them a lot.  If we bought disposable diapers, I would definitely buy these.

What type of diapers did/do you use?

If you had a baby – would you use cloth or disposable?