Browsing the archives for the cloth diapering category.

Easy 5 Min Cloth Diaper Elastic Repair Trick

I’ve been on a mission to repair all my cloth diapers. You see, they are 3 years old now, they’ve been washed a TON since Everly was a baby and now Adalyn is using them and for the most part they are working great… The laundry tabs are a bit haggared but still work and they are just a bit stretched out but aren’t an issue for short periods of time.

The main issue is I’d like Adalyn to be able to wear them without leaking overnight but the leg elastic is so loose that abundant wetness isn’t being kept in the diaper any longer. So I got my cloth diaper repair kits from the diaper manufacturer and have been meaning to gradually repair them but I’ve been super intimidated about how to thread the new elastic through the already-sewn-closed holes. The last thing I have time for is disassembling and reassembling 24 diapers. So I’ve been brainstorming…

Yesterday I finally figured out how to make this repair easily, after trying a few other bloggers trick for the repair. Here is how I did it:

Easy 5 Min Cloth Diaper Elastic Repair Trick was published on August 8th, 2012, with the tags , , , , , , under the cloth diapering, living simply, parenting, posts with video category. There are currently no comments on this article so far.

Dry nights and outings? Nope, we aren’t talking Depends folks.

I’ve neglected to mention much about the girls these days. Problem is there just isn’t enough time in the day and when I finally have a moment to kick out a post I’d planned, they go and do something else that is equally post worthy. So then I just post nothing and instead enjoy being totally in the moment with them.

I am so relieved to report that Everly is still happily jogging down the big girl path. She has not shown any signs of back tracking and hasn’t reverted in terms of potty training or big girl bed sleeping.

Actually, we are making a good bit of potty training success still. She’s totally diaper free during the day, even while she naps. No accidents at nap time, plus she poops and pees in her potty no problem when diaper free.

It has become obvious that we need to “man up” and take one for the team in terms of public outing potty training. Now she’s started telling us “pee-pee coming” while we are out in public. Like lazy parents we tell her to pee in her diaper that she has on even though we know it is only going to set us up for trouble in the future.

I’ve been particularly reluctant to try pottying her in those nasty public restrooms. Heck, we don’t even frequent public restrooms while out. When you are trying to help someone else use the public toilet it is even more anxiety inducing. Man those toddlers sure want to touch everything and they are at eye level with lots of grossness to explore. Plus, girls have to sit to pee. Gah! I need one of those travel potty seats for her already.

Also, we are also slowly diving in to nighttime toilet training, at just 2 1/2 years old, Everly seems to be ready and in control. Now we need to give her the chance to try it out, even though we haven’t been in a big rush to toilet train.

Like the day time potty training, I’ve decreased her cloth diaper’s absorbancy so she’ll feel the wetness more when she does go.

Now that she has a grasp on feeling the pee coming and she is also able to hold it until at the potty I am transitioning the diaper to “fall back” status with it’s absorbancy so that it catches any accidents but isn’t so absorbent that she forgets to try using the potty.

Her nighttime pee, when she’s not wearing a super absorbancy, over-stuffed diaper, can blow out a diaper easily and leak everywhere. This fact will guide her and myself while we take steps to nighttime potty train. My plan is to decrease absorbancy gradually so that she is noticing (and hopefully taking control of) when she goes at night. Then eventually we will take the plunge and go 100% diaper free at night and see how she does.

This method seems to have worked well for making nap time a dry event so I am hopeful it will also work for nighttime. Fingers crossed!

What potty training tips or tricks worked best for you and your kiddos?

Dry nights and outings? Nope, we aren’t talking Depends folks. was published on December 15th, 2011, under the cloth diapering, parenting category. There are currently 3 comments on this article so far.

Mama cloth and my thoughts about making the eco-friendly switch.

Last month I took the plunge. I decided to order a set of cloth pantyliners that were on sale at one of the online diaper shops I frequent. They were only like $9.00 for a set of six and I’ve been curious to try the whole cloth menstrual pad thing for a while now (better known as “mama cloth”).

I already wash Everly’s cloth diapers so why not add a few cloth pads to the mix once a month? Everyone says they are sooo much more comfortable and heck they’d sure save money.

The average women goes through about $150 – $200 worth of menstrual products a year, every year for around 30-40 years – That’s over $6,000! from: http://labyrinth.net.au

Besides, one of the main arguments against disposables (pads, diapers, etc) is the environmental and health impacts. The bleaching of paper products is one major health issue that stands out for me. There is also the huge amount of resources it takes to produce these disposable products (cut trees for wood, water used turning the wood to pulp and then paper, etc).

Having a set of reusable pads sure would save money over time and it would also leave less of an environmental impact over the course of my life. I figured why not? It can’t hurt to try.

N wasn’t that thrilled, I know the idea seems a bit gross right? Wont there be unsightly stains, goopy chunks and all around vomit inducing stench? Most people would think so but the answer is absolutely not!

Let me use my cloth diapering experience to illustrate why: At any time I’ve got a few of urine soaked diapers (that sometimes have poop in them) waiting to be laundered in the diaper pail already.

Frequent washing (with my favorite all natural “cloth diaper safe” detergent, Planet) and hanging outside to dry is the best way to keep cloth diapering from being a gross experience.

You just flip the diaper inside out over the toilet so the solids fall off, the rest goes right in the wash. The right detergent rinses and dissolves the “pieces” and it all goes right down the drain. No stinky washer and no yucky remnants in the washer. People can’t believe this but I assure you it is true.

After washing if there are any unusual stains the bleaching effects of the sunshine will leave everything good as new. I know this too is hard to believe since we are all conditioned to think we need heavy duty stain removers for the laundry. Truthfully most mass-marketed laundry detergents cause more laundry problems than they fix. So, hanging your stained stuff outside in the sunshine to dry is great for removing stains and for saving on energy costs.

By the way, just last week I also learned that cloth diaper detergent and sunshine removes vomit mess from bedding and clothes. Even a white nightgown was stained orange from Everly’s mac & cheese puke but now it’s 100% stain free folks!

Basically any bodily function kind of stain or laundry mess can remedied by washing “cloth diaper style” like I described above and I put this to the test about two weeks ago with my new cloth pantyliners.

First thing I noticed with them was how darn soft and nice they felt. Very soft and comfortable unlike plasticky disposable pads. The next thing I noticed was the absence of my cramps and back pain. I didn’t even attribute this to the cloth pads until reading more about other women’s experiences making the switch to mama cloth.

Remember how I only got 6 pantyliners? That is all I needed for 5 days! My cycle was crazy light which isn’t characteristic for me so I was able to do my usual two loads of diaper/ pantyliner laundry over the course of the 5 days. Adding mama cloth didn’t impact my laundry routine at all.

The best part is the cute pads are still cute and stain free!

I am super impressed with cloth pads so I decided to grab four regular size cloth pads and a little mama cloth wetbag so I am all set now. I am totally making the switch for the long term. Now the only thing left to make the switch on is “family cloth”. That is another messy issue for pondering another day though.

Mama cloth and my thoughts about making the eco-friendly switch. was published on May 1st, 2010, with the tags , , under the cloth diapering, do it more naturally, Featured, living simply, personal stories, recommendations category. There are currently 9 comments on this article so far.

The wheels are a turning…

I’ve come across something that is a very good idea for the world of social media and the internet that I’ve not been able to find done elsewhere. I am kind of excited about it and have purchased several related domain names. Hint: it is calendar related.

I am searching high and low for web based, multi-user calendar scripts. I’d love to find one that works with wordpress (or is stand alone), one with sidebar functionality, I want calendar data stored via database like wordpress blog data is. The site will just be a calendar with user submitted data (possibly moderated) that serves as a resource for visitors.

The wheels are a turning and I can’t wait to unveil my creation and begin working to grow it. This could be very good stuff. Exciting!

Wheels are a turning for Miss Everly too. She got herself in to the kitchen chasing after me yesterday. It’s the first time she’s left the living room without one of us transporting her. It took her a while to wiggle-worm there but she was dead set on doing it.

When she succeeded I scooped her up and kissed her and was promptly horrified by the lint, dirt and loads of crap covering the front of her white onesie all thanks to the apparent condition of the floors, that I was sure were mostly clean.

I vacuum the darn carpet every day, now it looks like sweeping and moping the kitchen is another daily thing I’ll need to find the energy and time to squeeze in. Obviously she managed to pick up all that mess on her clothes after, oh-say one minute of crawling on the kitchen floor.

Speaking of dirty floors, remember the shower curtain lined cat room? You can go read about it in: The score- Cats: 1986358 – People: 1 (possibly) if you missed it.

Well I didn’t win. They shredded the shower curtain and pissed everywhere still. I just finished dealing with that madness. Mopped up the river of cat piss and ripped the shower curtain out of there while my bath was filling. After the bath I cleaned the covered cat box, did away with the uncovered one and got the cat room re-situated…

Don’t worry, it’s not all bad housekeeping and disgust around here though. We do have pretty spring bulbs in the garden that offset the nastiness.


The wheels are a turning… was published on April 9th, 2010, under the cloth diapering, domestic disasters, Life in Evansville, parenting, personal stories, Uncategorized category. There are currently 2 comments on this article so far.

Road trip adventures Everly enjoyed.

Whew! After a week on the road we needed a day to decompress after getting back to Evansville. Yesterday we sat around in our PJ’s, did many loads of laundry, scrubbed cat vomit from the carpets, cleaned cat boxes… You know all the chores and stuff that go undone while you are away.

Everly was a doll during the trip. The plane ride wasn’t an issue, she nursed and played and sat in our laps for the 10 hour travel day. She did well on the road also. We drove 6-10 hours a day for three days and and she just slept or played with her toys in her seat. As long as we made frequent stops for diaper changes and feedings she was happy.

We did crazy things to entertain her and ourselves when it was time to stretch the legs. Here is an example:

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Speaking of changings… We made it the whole trip on just the twenty or so cloth diapers I have. We only had to wash them once right before we hit the road to head home. 7 days, 20+ diapers = 1 wash. When we got home E had to sleep in a disposable overnight while every single diaper we had was being laundered. I am proud to have cloth diapered the whole trip though. It was a breeze!

As for feedings, I just breastfed her as usual and supplemented with baby foods and snack puffs as usual. Now, she’s really getting in to being involved in meal time though!

When we stopped for a snack at the mall with my mom Everly grabbed my straw right from my mouth and even sucked juice from it (which she’s never been given the opportunity to do). She is hardly doing the sipply cup thing so we were pretty surprised at her instinctual straw drinking.

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I was just glad I was pinching the straw and holding on to it tightly or she would have successfully gotten a mouthful of sugary strawberry lemonade up it and in to her mouth. No sugary lemonade for baby! Luckily we have a straw type sipply cup thanks to Maiden53, time to bust it out.

Now she’s getting more adventurous with her foods too. She’s just starting to get the hang of her sippy cup and is having “juice water”. She’s also enjoying sampling new flavors on the go. Like the skinless tomato chunk I stole from my mom’s plate and gave to her…

She would gladly try more things like our coffee and over processed junk food we are enjoying if we let her. We are being super selective about what we let her have, we are overprotective parents :-P

We have moved through all the organic stage one flavors of food and are progressing to more exciting flavors (not more sugary though). I am a sugar natzi, sugar has had a major impact on my brothers as they were growing up. One has a sugar addiction still. So we are trying to get her in to the bland flavors before the sugary ones are introduced, so she’s not always expecting her foods to be sweet and sugary.

Thanks to her meal time interest we were even able to brave a Denny’s one morning for breakfast. She sat in a yucky high chair like a big girl and we ate a meal together.

everly-eats-at-dennys

She of course didn’t order off the restaurant menu, she opted for boobie and a nap while we finished our meal. It was progress though.

As scary and anxiety ridden the idea of taking a trip with baby seems I am glad we did it. Once you are in the thick of it you realize it’s really not all that insane and it provides baby with much needed stimulation and the opportunity to adjust to changing situations.

We’ll probably be taking many more trips as a family now that we know how adaptable and well behaved E can be (if money permits).

Road trip adventures Everly enjoyed. was published on January 25th, 2010, with the tags , , , , , , under the Arizona to Indiana Road Trip, breastfeeding, cloth diapering, Featured, Life in Evansville, parenting, personal stories category. There are currently 7 comments on this article so far.

I need to get all this crap from point A to point B… without paying a ton!

Looks like we’ll be trying to get a weeks worth of stuff for us and E in to two carry on bags, a diaper bag and a laptop bag. Yeah, I know. Go ahead and laugh in my face now… I’ll wait. :o

I am a Tetris master which means I rock at utilizing every available free space when packing, I’ll do well at really loading up the bags we are able to carry on the plane. I still think we’ll just have too much crap though.

We are flying out to Arizona and then driving the 1800 miles back to Evansville later that week. Translation= Airline hell + road trip hell + hotel hell.

We’ve already decided we need to bring the Pack N Play to Arizona since there is no way E will sleep in an unfamiliar bassinet or crib. We are going to ship it there in advance via FedEx since it will be cheaper for shipping than it will be to pay to check the thing.

We also had to figure out how to get the car seat and stroller out there. The car seat is obviously for the road trip back, the stroller is basically our bassinet on wheels for E’s naps and transportation during our full day of airport fun. We have a pretty long layover before we get on the big plane and make our way to Arizona.

Plus, we are holding E on our lap for the entire flight so the last thing we are gonna want to do is hold her some more while we walk the airport and wait for our connecting flight.

Turns out we can indeed gate check the stroller and car seat free of charge for the flight down… I’ve heard talk of some airlines only allowing an umbrella stroller, others don’t specify a stroller type. We are flying Delta and I am hoping we can take our bigger, travel system stroller since E is able to recline, be covered and easily nap it it.

I am not excited about how all this will impact little Everly’s sleep schedule. Poor thing is going to be so overstimulated and confused by the change in routine. I hope she is adaptable.

The other thing I am weighing is cloth diapering on flight day. Cloth is bulky, much more than disposables which will limit how much we are able to fit in our bags. Plus there is the lugging around soiled diapers on flight day. Although, I might get a kick out of someone searching my pile of soiled diapers at security. LOL.

We will need all our diapers and also our diaper detergent for washing them throughout the week. What I can’t determine is whether or not it would be cheaper to cloth diaper on the trip or not. We could ship the diapers and detergent down with the pack n play, we could carry it all on with our belongings, we could just buy disposables…

I am just not in the mindset to be making decisions or weighing any options it seems. I am too tired, overwhelmed and would love to just pretend like I don’t have to decide or figure anything out. It’s too bad I can’t hit the pause button on life until I am ready to resume and go forward.

I need to get all this crap from point A to point B… without paying a ton! was published on December 30th, 2009, with the tags , , , , , , under the AZ, cloth diapering, parenting, personal stories category. There are currently 3 comments on this article so far.

As poop watch 2009 draws to an end steamy good news arrives.

For those of you following on Twitter, Poop Watch 2009 brings good news today!

After a week and a visit to the doctor Everly has finally pooed. Remember last week when N and E hung out at home and scarfed a jar of sweet potato in absence of boob? Well, she hasn’t pooped since then.

I searched the internetz about baby poop habits at 6 months. Apparently breastfed babies can have this lack of poop thing and it’s not a sign of issues.

Today at her well baby checkup we talked about her increasing crankiness and lack of poop. She didn’t even sleep last night which means neither did I. The doc said a little rectal “stimulation” with a thermometer and some Vaseline would get things going.

But before we did anything rectal we both came home and took a nice long morning nap. Functioning on 1 hour of sleep wasn’t working well for either of us.

When we woke I gathered up all the rectal supplies and headed in to change her diaper… Low and behold…

SHE POOPED!

She did it on her own in her sleep. All the grunting, fussing and trying to force it was useless. She just needed to be so tired she would zonk out and not wake to try forcing it some more. A bit of relaxation and rest let it come right out.

It was thick, sticky, semi-solid, smelly and such a relief to see! The consistency resembled those first meconium poos but it was brownish orange and not black. I knew you wanted to know! LOL.

Sorry to over share but this seriously makes my day. Here is the obligatory poop pic:

As poop watch 2009 draws to an end steamy good news arrives. was published on December 22nd, 2009, with the tags , , , , , , under the breastfeeding, cloth diapering, parenting category. There are currently 2 comments on this article so far.

Leaving on a jet plane- with baby. Oy!

I am not a huge fan of flying. We don’t travel by plane often, thankfully. We’ve never really had to as most places we visit are within reasonable driving distance. Unfortunately, now that we’ve moved so far away that’s changed.

We are heading back to Arizona very shortly for a visit with friends/ family and to pick up our car that we left behind during the cross country move. We are flying there and the thought of flying with baby is a touch overwhelming.

First there was the question “do we buy her a seat on the plane or just hold her on our lap”? The airline with the cheapest prices also does not allow infants to have a free or discounted seat fare. They’ll let us stow the car seat as carry on luggage and hold her on our lap but we wont be able to buckle her in without paying full ticket price.

Of course she wont be even remotely interested in sitting in her seat during the all day flight. She’ll be nursing, especially if the altitude and air pressure bothers her ears. This puts her smack in my lap anyway… and if the plane does crash, will the car seat do any good? Not to sure about that.

So we’ll be playing musical baby during our flight which is going to be trying I am sure. Car seat or not she’s gonna be fussy since she wont have her bed to nap in that day.

Speaking of beds… We have a pack n’ play and all this baby gear to bring along for the trip. You see, we are flying to Arizona and then driving back to Indiana in our newly repaired car. This means a 2-3 day road trip with hotel stays on the way back.

So we are toying with the idea of just FedExing our baby gear to Arizona to avoid paying hefty baggage fees at the airport. Anything that is not needed on the flight and not free to bring is gonna be shipped their instead, to save money and stress.

Now help me out here, we’ve never traveled long distance with a baby. What else should I be thinking through and planning for with all this?

Leaving on a jet plane- with baby. Oy! was published on December 21st, 2009, under the breastfeeding, cloth diapering, parenting, parenting advice, personal stories category. There are currently 5 comments on this article so far.

Cat gifts and adorable baby accessories I love

I made the mistake of spending some time on Etsy drooling over all the handmade cute baby accessories the other day. I ended up there thanks to one of the people I follow on twitter. She had just shared that she snagged some adorable baby legwarmers that were on sale and she shared the store link. They were only $4.50 a pair and there were many cute designs so I snagged 2 pairs for Everly.

Baby leg warmers are great when you are using cloth diapers from what I’ve heard. Obviously cloth diapers are a bit bulkier than disposables and often times that results in baby camel toe when you try to have them wear pants.

Leg warmers pretty much eliminate the need for baby to wear pants as the leg warmers keep baby’s legs warm. Plus, leg warmers don’t even need to be removed when baby needs a diaper change, unlike pants.

So I was already eager to try a pair of leg warmers on Everly to see how we like them and when I saw some on sale I snagged a few. While I was shoping for those leg warmers I thought “man, my cart total is only $9.00 and I’ve been really looking for a nice headband for E…”

Then I went looking at adorable headbands like this one. The headband search led to adorable tutu’s like this fall themed one and then I was looking at cute ruffled bloomers like these. *sigh* baby girl stuff is just so freaking cute!

Luckily for our pocket book I did resist the urge to buy all the adorable things I found. I added them to Everly’s baby registry as possible holiday gift ideas though (hint, hint mom and others who have asked what to get Everly for Christmas).

After I placed the order for the leg warmers I thought about the two large boxes of yarn I have waiting to be made in to something and thought, leg warmers can’t be that hard to make right?

So Now I am trying my hand at making up some leg warmers for E… I am the queen of unfinished projects though. I mean I still have this blanket I started while I was pregnant that I’ve knit her name in to, it’s still not complete along with a ton of other knitting/ crocheting projects.

I am excited about the leg warmer project though and am hoping it’s a small enough project for me to actually complete. I am thinking about sharing the pattern here on the blog too.

(if you are eating or drinking I suggest you stop now)

Oh and since I’ve signed up for BD 365 and committed to taking a photo every day here is what was lovingly left for us on the deck by our outdoor cat, it is our happy-you-made-a-baby-one-year-ago-today anniversary present I bet!

An now a palette cleanser or two:

Now you have had your does of disgusting and cute for the day. LOL.

Cat gifts and adorable baby accessories I love was published on October 3rd, 2009, with the tags , , , , , , under the Animals & Pets, cloth diapering, outdoor pets, parenting category. There are currently 3 comments on this article so far.

Cloth diapering fun, blowouts and opinions

I am a cloth diapering mom and proud of it. Cloth diapering really isn’t as bad as it seems and there are tons of good reasons why cloth is better than disposables.

  • Cloth diapers save you money! Instead of buying package after package of disposable diapers you only need to invest in a set that will be reused over, and over again.
  • Disposable diapers are the 3rd largest single product in the waste stream (behind newspapers & beverage containers). Using cloth diapers cuts down on this waste.
  • Single use Disposable diapers use 37% more water than diapers laundered at home! All the wood pulp used in them takes much more water to produce. Using cloth diapers save water.
  • Disposables contain Dioxin (a result of the bleaching process), Dioxin is listed by the EPA as the worst cancer linked chemical. Using cloth diapers is safer for your baby and the environment.

There are oodles of reasons why cloth is the better option. For more cloth diapering facts you can visit: http://www.realdiaperassociation.org/diaperfacts.php

Anyway, on my cloth diaper quest I had the opportunity to try GroBaby, BumGenius, Organic Caboose, Skoon, Knickernappies and Bumpkins diapering products.

I like my BumGenius pocket diapers best but have noticed some issues with them. For starters we had a huge diaper blowout right at the start of band practice last week. We are talking poop just oozing out the diaper and down my shirt! I even tweeted a photo of the mess just to share the awesomeness with my followers. Following me on twitter brings all sorts of perks, lol!

She was wearing a BumGenius diaper when this happen, it turns out the diaper wasn’t on tight enough! Oops. Wont make that mistake again.

Cloth diapers can and do have blowouts when they are filled to capacity, put on wrong or when they have buildup and need a stripping. I am now aware of this, live and learn right? So my BumGenius are great but as her shape changes the fit is getting somewhat tricky.

As for the GroBaby, I am in the process of talking with them about a problem with their diaper. It’s velcro doesn’t stay stuck when Everly is wearing it. It curls back and loosens as it rubs her clothes, this isn’t a good thing for a diaper. You want those suckers on tight so you aren’t covered in poop every day!

I like the GroBaby because it’s not a pocket diaper but it is just like one! It has a snap in soaker that comes with it but once the soaker is soaked or soiled I use my Skoon inserts.

It’s kind like you would use a prefold diaper but instead of pinning the cloth I just tuck it under the GroBaby shell, saves me a few loads of laundry and gets good use out of all the products I have on hand.

Speaking of shortcuts and prefolds, I use them and various inserts with the shells of the diapers I have. It helps me save money too because those inserts and prefolds are way cheaper than one complete pocket diaper.

I’ve even started laying a terry cloth/ cotton insert over the top of my pocket diaper’s pocket and just using the pocket diaper as a cover (you know instead of stuffing the diaper). This way E can wear the same pocket diaper many more times.

Shoot, if you are really desperate you can even reuse a pocket diaper as a diaper shell once it’s been soiled, that will save you even more loads of laundry.

Now that Everly is 3 months old I am looking at possible diaper investments for the mobile phase of her development. I’ve heard that tot are known to un-velcro diapers and that certain diapers are prone to leak when baby gets crawling around.

What are your cloth diaper tips or brand suggestions for a new cloth diapering mom whose baby is 3 month old? I am looking for diaper short cuts, tricks and brands I should consider. Let you opinion be heard!

Oh speaking of BumGenius. I am busting my butt to win this awesome contest: Win Six bumGenius 3.0 One-Size Cloth Diapers

If you cloth diaper you could enter to win these, if you’re not cloth diapering you can enter to win them and just send them to me when you win, lol. :-P

Cloth diapering fun, blowouts and opinions was published on September 16th, 2009, with the tags , , , , , , , , , under the cloth diapering, parenting, personal stories category. There are currently 7 comments on this article so far.

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