Cloth Diapering... first things first

There are SOOOOoooo many cloth diapering sites and blogs out there that are AWESOME, therefore, I won't even begin to try to explain the different diaper styles, fabrics, sewing techniques, best places to buy, cover choices, and the list goes on and on. What I am going to tell is how I would diaper if I were expecting another little one and how I diaper now.

I'm on a budget... a real budget, so spending $17.00-$40.00 on a single diaper just isn't happening with me; even with the overall savings I'm not doing it. If however you can afford it..... then do it and don't worry about it!

Newborn to 12 or 15 pounds-
prefolds with snappi's and pro wrap covers. For a cuteness factor some newborn Darling Diapers made from their free pattern using recycled receiving blankets and Birdseye for inner pad. If you can crochet or knit then by all means whip up some wool night time covers for all sizes of diapering.

15-36 pounds-
A mix of fitted diapers with back openings using various free patterns and mixing them to make my own pattern. for fabric use flannel, fleece, and any good finds that are diaper suitable. For inserts I just go to the car section of my local wal-mart and pick up those auto towels. Of course these diapers will need a cover and I would go with either pro wrap, dappi nylon wrap covers, or the dappi nylon pants. You can use Snappi, Aplix, Velcro, or snaps. I invested in snap pliers and LOVE it! Very useful for much more than just diapers!!!

For public and overnight diapers I used KaWaii One Size Pocket with snaps.

I think if I had the 15-36 pound time to do over I would also use single layer fleece covers using either 300 weight or windpro.

36 plus pounds......
Yes, we're there. We use fitted diapers that I made from my own pattern and the girls can still wear their KaWaii diapers, I use them all the time but they are too small for overnight wear now. For night time I've gone to the Blissful Booty AIO diapers with my hemp doublers and put a dappi nylon pant over them for wetness protection. If they don't potty train soon I might invest in some XL pro wrap covers.

Etsy Shop

Although the shop is not up yet (I'll let you know when it goes live), I'll be making some dipes to sell on Etsy under BaBlab Diapers. I plan on going about it from two different directions. 1) one set of dipes will be made mostly by upcycling material and 2) another set of dipes will be designed around shoes/flip flops/ shirts that I've made. More to come......

Websites I Enjoy as a Mom

This one is for preschool. I've just started using it to help with phonics. http://www.starfall.com/

Websites I Enjoy as a Mom

I forgot about this one until last night. I used it while I was still pumping/nursing; it's http://www.kellymom.com/

Websites I Enjoy as a Mom

On top of the dollar preschool books you can buy at the store I enjoy getting preschool activities from this website http://www.dltk-teach.com/. In my opinion it has just about all you need for preschool.

Websites I Enjoy as a Mom

This one I'm new to myself, but it's a good one! Visit The Sneaky Chef for some great ideas to "sneak" healthy foods into your kids meals. I made her lasagna this past week (with all the sneaky foods included) and my kids ate it; they didn't love it, but they ate it. I think next time I'll make it like regular lasagna.

Right now I'm using her free recipes found on her website; I plan on checking one of her books out from the library when it's available (it's out right now) and request the others to be ordered.

I found "The Sneaky Chef" through a blog I enjoy- http://www.multiplesandmore.blogspot.com/, she was featured under the "Expert Interview".

Infantino Recalls to Replace SlingRider Baby Slings; Three Infant Deaths Reported

Infantino Recalls to Replace SlingRider Baby Slings; Three Infant Deaths Reported click on the title for more information.

Websites I Enjoy as a Mom

Visit SafeMama at http://safemama.com/. This website really helps with quick finds including but not limited to recalls, skin care, and bottle/sippy cup choices. I really enjoy this website!

(This is my go to website and really helped me when I was having a post pregnancy melt-down about the girls bottles; I finally chose Evenflo glass bottles with sleeves to help prevent breakage. Plus, with these bottles, you can pump directly into them using the Medela Pump In Style...no transferring!!)

Also, if you go to the SafeMama website right now you can leave a comment (and do other things) to win their giveaway - a stainless steel ice pop mold from The Tickle Trunk! I did!

Graco Recalls Harmony(tm) High Chairs Due to Fall Hazard

Graco Recalls Harmony(tm) High Chairs Due to Fall Hazard

Infant Deaths Prompt CPSC Warning About Sling Carriers for Babies

Infant Deaths Prompt CPSC Warning About Sling Carriers for Babies

Websites I Enjoy as a Mom

Once a week, till I run out of the websites I use, I'll post links I find useful as "Websites I Enjoy as a Mom".

The first one is www.wholesomebabyfood.com, this website helped me a lot when the girls were first enjoying solid foods. With the exception of pureed prunes and travel food, I made ALL of my girls first foods-homemade. It's fun, satisfying, and easy.

With my son (first child) I bought only name brand foods from the baby/toddler section....that gets expensive, plus it's not very creative for the kids. I still use the site for fun foods for the kids to enjoy.

Diaper Review Time

I've got 5 different dipes to review, some I've already made mention of and have kind of reviewed them; but, I'll go into more detail now. In no certain order

1) The ones I've made- pocket Velcro (not my conversion diapers)
Price- around $1.80 per diaper
Flannel Outer
Flannel Lining
Birdseye Inner-sewn in pocket (had already)
I like them and think they are cute. They are not waterproof so you need a cover. I wouldn't put them on the girls for going in public or night time wear... I haven't tried a wool cover with them yet so the night time view may change.

2) Blissful Booty AIO-Velcro
Price-$7.83 per diaper
PUL Outer
Microfleece Lining
Inner- Microfiber Terrycloth in 3 layers
One of the diapers didn't have elastic in the gusset so they sent me another one size Large free of charge.

I bought X-Large, they fit the girls (@ 32 lbs) fine but the Large fits better. The X-Large does fit my son well- he's 50 pounds. I like these for church with the girls (the Velcro-hook n loop- is easier for their nursery class)and for use at night with my son. I know he had prefer something that resembles a pull-up or underwear. So, I may still look for something else for him to wear at night. They are bulky; therefore, do not fit well under jeans, but fit great under skirts and dresses. They also take a long time to dry.

3) Green & Comfy AIO-snap
price-$6.00 per diaper
PUL outer
Suede Cloth Lining
Micro Terry Inner
These dry fast and if changed in a timely manner do not leak. The snaps are reinforced. This diaper does it's job.

4) Green & Comfy One Size pocket-snap
price-$6.00 per diaper
PUL outer
Suede Cloth Lining
Dry really fast, not a bad diaper just needs an insert and you're good to go. The snaps are reinforced and the diaper seems well made.

5) KaWaii One Size Pocket- snap
price-$6.30 per diaper
TPU outer
Suede Cloth Lining
I'm unsure as to the quality of this diaper. The snaps are reinforced with material that started fraying after two washes and the snaps on the rise are not reinforced at all. The diaper is really small although they claim to fit One Size from 8-36 pounds. My girls at thirty-two pounds are on the last snaps, I really don't see them fitting up to 36 pounds. Hopefully my girls will be potty trained by then, they are really close.

With that being said, as of right now these are my "go to" diapers. Daytime, in public, and at night. I really like them, they come with 2 inserts each made of 3 layers of Microfiber. (I haven't had them long enough to say whether or not the Microfiber holds smell.) No Leaking. The dipes are really trim and fit well under everything. They also dry in lightening fast time. In my opinion, they're just good diapers and I've ended my search for diapers. If I ever need more and the prices are approximately the same I'll just buy these.

Twins Story Part 2

I had planned to keep nursing and pumping for Bo but then I started cramping pretty bad while nursing/pumping and just decided to stop cold turkey. It scared me to have the cramps. So, Bo finished out the frozen supply (about 2 weeks worth) and started formula.

Our 8 week appointment comes, we're waiting (Bo is with his Nannie and NeNe)we get in and start the ultrasound......... This is our 3rd ultrasound mind you... and several people have said "watch you'll have twins" to which my response was "I've already had two ultrasounds... there's just one in there".

Back to the 3rd ultrasound...I'm thinking "Wow, we really got the due date wrong.. this baby's big... wait a minute, that's two heads!"

Then Dr. L says "Look what you two have been up to"

About that time my hubby is standing over me saying "I gotta sit down".

I start shaking. Dr. L has to tell me to try and not shake so she can get some good pictures. WOW, and off we go back to all our friends and family (who live close anyways) to show them our ultrasound....A....B, we just let them ask why there's an A and a B in the picture and then figure it out for themselves!

So many questions, so many fears... fears of all kind creep in from babies coming too early to finances to daycare.... daycare alone would be $1380 per month because don't forget our oldest is in the infant I room and would only be in the Infant II room when the twins arrived. Will I have to have a C-section? Turns out Dr. L is in the only practice in my town who are willing to allow a "V" delivery with twins as long as you're already in the operating room with an epidural and baby A is head down.

My pregnancy was filled with braxton hicks contractions from May on *stress* , none of which made cervix change thank goodness. I was absolutely certain I was having twin boys... the 17 week ultrasound showed girls! Too excited!!!!! At 30 weeks I practically begged Dr. L to take me off work, she agreed. 34 weeks non-stress test showed I was having real contractions not braxton hicks, but still with no cervix change. A shot of terbutaline stopped the contractions. 34 weeks also showed baby B (Audrey) feet first. 36 weeks came, Audrey decides to go head down... I thought I was going to die the night she did this... to all who do not realize it's unusual for a baby to have the room to do this so far into a twin pregnancy.

Then 37 weeks came... and passed..... 38.... then at 38 weeks 2 days we were induced Thursday, November 29,2007. Over the course of this pregnancy my waist had grown from 29 to almost 49 inches.

They started pitocin around 5:30am then stopped it by 5:45am. The nurses had their reasons I'm sure, but only told us the babies didn't seem to like it. Dr. L came in at 8:20am and broke my water then had the pitocin started again. No problems. I honestly thought the girls would arrive by 11:00am (I based my timeline off of my first delivery with Bo), I was over an hour off. Brady arrived at 12:29pm via 1 and a half pushes weighing in at 7 lbs. 1 oz. and Audrey took her time arriving 30 minutes later 12:59pm with just one push weighing 6 lbs. 6 oz. Easy Peasy and Perfect babies, Thank you God!

Nursing the girls was not so Easy Peasy, very hard for me... probably the hardest thing I've done in motherhood so far. Especially with a 16 month old whacking their poor heads when I nursed. So, most of the time during the day instead of nursing I pumped and then nursed at night. I did this till the girls turned one year. Looking back now, I wish I had nursed and pumped longer but at the time I was very ready to stop.

I'll find pictures and post them some time next week.

My Twins Story

Ok, reading about babies and pregnancy has made me want to write about my own twin experience; plus, I haven't even started my girls baby book so I can cut and paste this into a digital scrapbook for them (bad I know). So, this will be split into 2 or 3 posts; here it goes.

Our son Bo turned 8 months old the end of March and I had suspected that I was pregnant so took a pregnancy test....negative. Ok, sad I was but it was ok, after all I had an 8 month old.

The feeling that I was pregnant never left me, so here comes Monday, April 9, 2007 and I'm at the pediatrician's office with Bo whose had a hard cough since November on and off and nothing was working to get rid of it so they go to x-ray him and I just couldn't let myself go in there with him; I just had that gut feeling I was prego. We left there and went straight to get Bo's medicine and a prego test for me. It barely got to the line and it was turning positive. Bo and I told Daddy by writing him a card out "from Bo" saying he was going to be a big brother.

That Tuesday I called the doctor and they got me in right away because I had no idea how far along I could possibly be 6 weeks, 10 weeks, 12 weeks no idea (hadn't gotten my "flo" back b/c of nursing). I had been having to pump more often for Bo (pumping and nursing for Bo) just to get enough for him and take Fenugreek to increase my supply so that made me think I was further along in my pregnancy. Anyways we get in there, yes I'm pregnant, but the ultrasound shows 4 weeks and a few days... we see a sac and that's it, no heartbeat..no pole. they prepared me for the possibility of a miscarriage since I had thought I was a lot further along than that and took my blood, the paperwork I left there with said "threatened spontaneous abortion" cruel I thought to have on my sheet for me to see. My HCG was 5400 or 5463 somewhere along in there, I'll have to go back and look at my scribbling's and my progesterone was low so I took a little pink round pill for the first trimester.

My hubby, Bo, and I went straight to get a t-shirt made that said in big blue letters "BIG BROTHER" and just went around to every ones houses we knew and took his sweater off to reveal the t-shirt and just waited for responses (it was fun).

That Thursday went back for another blood check, we wanted the numbers to double. They didn't double... they only went up 61%. The numbers at the least need to go up 60% to ensure viable pregnancy. Wait and see..... 6 week appointment, we go in we see the fetal pole and a heartbeat, yea!!! The doctor did make the comment "yep, there's just one in there" as though we had been suspecting two... no. (I had no idea my "numbers" were actually high) We are scheduled for a regular 8 week prenatal appointment, all is good.....

I LOVE

I LOVE when babies laugh so hard they toot!

Nap-Time Productivity

My kids are sleeping so I've got some time to research Kawaii diapers more by reading reviews and diaper forums. Their website is LuvYourBaby, they seem to be well liked in the cloth diapering community so I placed my bid on e-bay. I like suede cloth better than microfleece and snaps before velcro, so I'll buy the snap suede cloth. It only comes in black... I have no idea why not other cute baby pastel colors, oh well. I decided to place the bid on e-bay instead of buying directly through the website because it seems as though a lot of people are having problems getting their order filled correctly when placed through the website... at least this way I can send feedback and rate seller if I do come across a problem with my order. We shall see....

3rd Round of Diapers & Wool Diaper Covers

I bought some flannel from Hobby Lobby yesterday for $4.00 to make round three diapers. This last diaper I made has really turned out and given me hope of sewing diapers! It's too cute, I made it last night and didn't have much hope that it would be a diaper I was proud of but I was wrong. This one I posted a picture of just because I'm not embarrassed by it! It's kind of addicting too, I'll end up making probably three more with the fabric I have here... but will stick to buying more off e-bay. In my opinion you can't beat the e-bay prices with PUL, TPU, the right elastic, and snaps for the diaper plus inserts. I can't make a PUL/TPU diaper for as cheap as I can buy them new off of e-bay.





since the diapers I've made require a cover I want to make some wool covers for the 3rd round of diapers I'm making. (I have Dappi's but want something else to try out.) I'll use the tutorial "Make your own baby bum sweaters" found at Born to love

I went to a consignment shop here in my town a week or so ago and was able to pick up two men's Gap 100% lambswool XL sweaters for $3.50 each. I also visited the local Goodwill store, as luck would have it I found 2 sweaters there to work with for $3.00each . I felted all the sweaters before cutting.

The Conversion Is Over

I've finished converting my prefolds into fitted diapers. I made a total of eleven. I messed up on some of them but I can still use them and they get the job done. I've also got to go back on all of them and extend the front flaps so the velcro doesn't scrape my girls legs.... learned this the hard way! I used two prefold diapers to make each fitted diaper and some of them have another prefold as the insert for extra absorbency.

Since we're going to give our bathroom a tiny makeover I used more of my old towels (old towels = 8-13years of use... it's time for new ones)and receiving blankets to make a few more diapers, for the pattern I just took a pocket AIO I already have and drew around the edge with enough room for a seam allowance. A picture of the pattern is below, it still needs to be tweaked b/c the diapers didn't turn out that great... I'm going to buy a little material this week to make 2 more diapers and then I'm finished. I'll just purchase some One Size AIO pockets off e-bay to complete my stash, they'll be good for the next baby so I'm not worried about how much use the girls will give them and will not be wasting money.




I have not been using disposables lately (proud of myself) I use the Blissful Booty diapers or Green & Comfy at night with two Night Stay-Dry Hemp Doublers from Green Mountain Diapers When we go in public I just use one Stay-Dry Doubler with the Green & Comfy. The Green & Comfy AIO diapers work really well and dry fast, if they were One Size I'd be buying more of them. I like the Blissful Booty AIO diapers but they take a really long time to dry and I have decided that I really prefer snaps to velcro. The velcro is much easier to get on a wiggle baby but I have a hard time laundering them without getting a diaper snake in my wash, even with the laundry tabs.


Since my conversion adventure began, my oldest has been consistent with going to the potty when "C" is not here and AB has decided that panties are for her not diapers! All three of the kids are doing quite well with going to the potty. BA is almost there. It figures!

Let Me Crash You!

"C" came barreling down the hallway on one of those riding toys (not the battery powered ones) with BL (on a riding toy also) hot on his tail yelling "LET ME CRASH YOU!!!".

Free Behavior Charts, Free Chore Charts, Free Potty Charts, Free Teeth Care Charts, Kids Charts

Free Behavior Charts, Free Chore Charts, Free Potty Charts, Free Teeth Care Charts, Kids Charts

Diapers and something cute

Another prefold converted



It's taking me a lot longer than I thought to make my fitted diapers. I'm averaging a diaper a night...when I work on them. This is only my 2nd diaper to finish. They are all cut and my tabs and soakers are sewn. I just have to sew the diapers together.

CUTE
Bo came running to me today with a play sword in hand yelling "Look at me, Look at me. I'm turning into a knight in shining farmer!"

Help Save Handmade Baby/Children's Products!

Although I don't sell any homemade children's products it is a dream of mine to sew well enough to be able to sell my cloth diapers or learn to make beautiful Waldorf Dolls for sell or make matching little girl and doll dress'. Unfortunately this dream as well as many others and their business/way of life/WAHM's business will all be just an unattainable dream in America. Please take action, please post on your blog, tell your friends, write letters, make phone calls or e-mails, whatever. Don't let this be the end to our well loved handmade toys, crafts, clothing for children made here in America. Please visit http://www.handmadetoyalliance.org/ for more information and take action.

Lovin' My Diapers

I converted my first prefold to fitted a few days ago. (The picture is below) I made the tabs too short on that one, so on the rest I'll just make sure the tabs are longer. I've gathered all my prefolds, old receiving blankets, burp cloths, and an old towel to use as a soaker. I'm keeping some of the really nice tri-fold burp cloths because they are the perfect size for a newborn diaper. Prefolds no more. I love fitted diapers; it's really nice to have the fitted's that don't leak! Even at night!!.

I hope to have finished my "conversion" within a few days.

The Girls' Dresses

I was in Hancock Fabrics about a week ago and found some really cute material that already had the shirring at one end. It's perfect to just sew together and add some ribbon to make cute little sundresses. I've got enough ribbon left over to cover 4 alligator clips for their hair. I can't cover the clips until I buy a hot glue gun, hopefully Friday I can make them.

Ok, Everything's changed with my diapers

For now, I'm not going to make Bo's night pants. Why? Because I received the Blissful Booty diapers this past Saturday... they are HUGE (I did get the XL which is for 35+ pounds, my girls are only 32 pounds) The girls leak with them because they are so huge (at least during the day they do), but Bo can fit in them quite nice (He's 50 pounds). I put Bo in one with a doubler last night - just checked on him and he's still dry! Yeah! I also put Brady in one with two doublers and a nylon dappi over the diaper just in case. We'll see when she wakes in a few hours how it held up at night.

Next week I may buy 4 more Blissful Booty AIO diapers in size (L), just depends on how well I like the Green & Comfy AIO's and Pockets. I won auctions on four of the Green & Comfy's, two AIO's and two Pockets, they should arrive this week.

With shipping and competing for the Green & Comfy's I spent $24.00, so an average of $6.00 per diaper. My Blissful Booty diapers were an average of $7.83 per diaper.

I've decided I no longer want to use my prefolds. When I say prefolds I don't mean the nice ones. Mine are the ones from your local retailer that should only be used for burp cloths. I've used these for 2 years with a snappi and nylon dappi covers. I'm just tired of them and they leak unless I put extra aborbancy in them. I have so many prefolds it would be a waste to just stop using them, so I'm attempting to turn my prefolds into fitteds with old receiving blankets as the outside and extra absorbancy sewn in. I should have my first one finished tonight after the kids go to bed.