Aren’t they all epic wetting?, you might ask. I’m sure toddlers in general produce plenty of wet diapers the globe-’round, but I have reason to believe that DanO and I hath borne a particularly large-bladdered boy.

5:40am yesterday, OBaby is awake. And unhappy. I discover that the unhappiness is due to the fact that the ostensibly absorbent disposable diaper he is wearing was full and he had quite literally soaked through the entire front of his pajamas from his feet to his chin.

(Allow me to remind you that it was before 6 am. If there had been a(n unnamed brand of disposable diapers) executive within arms reach, I probably would have punched him. And I’m not a violent person.)

So, the kid. He pees like it’s his job, and we’re also still kind of heavy handed on the water consumption because of the 2010 Diaper Rash Debacle that became the 2011 Diaper Rash Debacle of which dehydration seemed to be the catalyst (and a formidable foe). With winter skin and dryness in general PLUS that rash, I’ve been a water vigilante. But I think it’s time to stop.

Because a 5:40am urine-soaked start to the day is no one’s cup of tea.

We had been using cloth diapers with great success until The Rash this winter, at which point we got some medicated cream that would gunk up cloth, so we used disposable for quite a while. We made the official switch back to cloth in January, but it has been a very, very bumpy (read: leaky) road since. I would double the absorbent layer inserts, I would change him as often as possible, I would constantly check the leg fit… but still he was just soaking through the diapers (and his clothes) at an unreasonable rate.

One grim afternoon I changed him IMMEDIATELY before putting him down for a nap, from which he woke 1 hour and 15 minutes later because he had soaked through the cloth diaper and subsequently through his clothes.

(Again with the desire to punch someone despite my natural non-violent tendencies.)

So we broke down and bought a whole case of disposable diapers from Costco. An entire case. $40. FORTY DOLLARS. $40 to save our sanity… except it wouldn’t just be $40… it would be $40 this month, and another $40 next month, then ano…

Because I already have a cloth diapering system, inserts, laundry soap, wet bags, etc., plus I am used to and have no problem with keeping up on the laundry for diapers, it tied my stomach in knots thinking about setting that all aside and dropping $120 on disposables in the next 90 days.

That day I put out an SOS to my friends (some of which I haven’t met yet) on twitter, looking for something to make cloth diapering fit our new, heavy wetting situation. Several friends (::waves hi:: to Blair and Sidnie) suggested Fuzzi Buns brand cloth diapers. They are all-in-ones (AOIs) and have fleece material covering the entire inside of the diaper, which helps with leaks, but they are also pocket diapers, which means you can stuff them good and full of absorbent stuff.

I figured if I spent less than 2 months worth on disposable diapers in order to get a handful of re-usable diapers, it was worth the money. And at this rate, we have another little bottom on the way that will need fluff, so if it doesn’t work for our toddler, it’s not a waste.

The diapers came on Monday. I’ve never really been a “diaper stasher” – someone who gets excited about getting pretty new cloth diapers in an array of colors – but when I saw these I totally got the stashing fever.

OoOoOoOoOo… preeeeeetty.

Pretty, yes. But effective?

YES! The very first time he used one, there was some minor moisture escaping around one leg, but I think it was me not fitting it quite right because the diaper was by no means ‘full’. But since then? Not a single problem! In fact, I’ve had more issues with the night time disposables (which we are still using while feeling out these new diapers’ limits) these last few days than with the cloths!

The only downside I’ve noticed so far? Their name. Fuzzi Bunz. I just can’t take myself seriously when I say it.

But did I mention that they’re pretty?

Yes. Pretty poo catchers and posts about toddler pee. That is exactly what keeps you coming back for more on O My Family.

Happy to oblige. See? More pretty:

{for the curious: I bought these Fuzzi Bunz brand diapers new, but at a discounted rate from here.}

(PS: A little secret, if you see my hair in the loose side braid, I either haven’t showered in a while or I just showered and didn’t have time to blow dry. I’ll let you guess which one is the case here.)

*Misspeak: I mean to say that there are no disposable wipe fibers in the wash, not diaper fibers.

I cannot tell you the number of people who rolled their eyes at the glowing 30 weeks pregnant woman making such a lofty claim.

“No, but look! These aren’t your grandma (or mom’s?) cloth diapers. There are these gPants and they have little snappies where you attach a liner that is plastic-free and holds a cloth insert so that you just have to wash the insert and not the whole pant, OR they make these disposable inserts that you can even FLUSH…”

…and I lost them. I was simply an over-zealous, ideological preggo who probably thought she could have a natural childbirth too, but she clearly didn’t know what she was getting herself into.

But here we are, 6.5 months into the cleaning up someone else’s body fluids gig and I am absolutely in LOVE with our diapering system: gDiapers with gCloth inserts.

I wrote a preliminary explanation of how they work last year, you know, when I was inexperienced and didn’t have a realistic perspective on parenting.

[A brief pause while I go deflate my crunchier-than-thou attitude... Thank you.]

~~~~~~

I want to make something clear, though: we don’t do cloth diaper because I am just O So Awesome, we do them because it really isn’t that difficult. Believe me, I would not have continued doing it if it weren’t worth it. Sure, they’re a little more work than disposable, but that increased amount of work has not at all outweighed the benefit.

{OBaby’s 1 month old cloth diapered bum}

Now please allow to me to explain said benefit. It won’t be very hard.

We will spend half as much on diapering with gDiapers cloth inserts as we would using disposable diapers, just in the first 18 months.

Another way to state that: supplies for the first 18 months of using these diapers will have paid themselves off by the time OBaby is 9 months old (by the way, that’s this April).

Yes, you heard read correctly. I actually did the math, including everything down to the extra loads of laundry and water usage that these diapers will require, and they STILL will more than pay for themselves in the first year.

{This picture is supposed to be an artsy one of his cloth diaper, but I know that all you are thinking is “O MY KNEE ROLLS.”}

It is not hard to convince me that walking up and down the stairs to my basement about 5 extra times a week is worth that. Plus, didn’t you hear? Doing cloth diapers got me a remodeled laundry room out of the deal.

By the by, have you seen my laundry room lately? I added a little something above the washer and dryer:

And with that, congratulations! You have now survived a riveting post about baby-poo-catching contraptions complete with pictures of a laundry room.

You are so, so welcome.

“Praise Jesus, I finally weigh enough for my Earth-lovin’, cloth diaperin’ mommy to put my little bum in gDiapers! Now if Daddy could just keep up his end of the laundry room deal…”

Could you please let this be my last pregnant “not me! Monday” for a while?

Amen.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

What are public assertions of our own embarrassing quirks and choices good for if not laughter? Also, if the laughter resulting from my “not” confessions is equal to or greater than the amount of embarrassment I should have in telling them, you best be prepared. You may even want have some of these on hand, because this week was a doozie.

I did not take the shirt off my very back and begin scrubbing it in the bathroom sink after dripping caramel sauce¬† down my front. I did not claim to do this “so that the stain doesn’t set” when in reality I was doing it so I could wear it again to church the next day.

Similarly, I have not worn this camisole top a handful of times since I last washed it [see also: my laundry room].

Also related, I did not eat ice cream with copious amounts of caramel sauce and whipped cream on top after lunch on Saturday. Noon is far too early for that many simple sugars in one sitting.

I did not pay $6 for a large iced tea at the Cirque Du Soleil show we went to yesterday. Who pays that much for corn syrup and frozen water?! Not me!

I did not squeal and break DanO’s ear drum over the phone when he told me that the package containing our gDiaper gCloth inserts (as opposed to the disposable inserts we got back in March) had arrived. I did not then scurry home and try said diapering system on a teddy bear for practice.

I did not impulse buy morning glory sparklers while at Menard’s getting a dryer vent. I did not then proceed to bring them to a very mature, all adult 4th of July party and allow my husband to run around someone else’s yard with a friend, one sparkler in each hand, arms extended, making rocket ship noises and calling them their jet engines.

::please take a moment and picture that::

You’re welcome.

This is not the chair from which I cheer on DanO as he whips me up a laundry room, ex nihilo. We did not bring it down from the guest room a few weeks ago so I could have sufficient lumbar support while my husband drilled out cement to install a dryer vent.

I am such a good helper.

(Wait. Are those WALLS in your laundry room?! Oh yes they are! Stay tuned!)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Perhaps you can relate to a little mid-day caramel sundae, over-priced purchase, or obnoxious diapering behavior (ok, that last one is less likely). Feel free to confess it in a comment or link to your own not me! post if you have a blog. Embarrassment loves company, no? Or hey, if you’re the kind of person that would rather laugh at than laugh with, hop on over to MckMama’s blog.

Just, don’t say I didn’t warn you.

Both are $30+ items made out of nothing but cotton fabric. Well, organic cotton fabric.

They’re both also all the rage in attachment parenting circles, and if you’re really quiet, you can hear them calling my name.

Hear that?

“Buuuuuuuuuuuuuuy meeeeeeeeeeee Allison!”

And buy them I did. Online with promotion codes and free shipping coupons so I felt better about myself, but I bought them nonetheless.

You see, I set about on this parenting/pregnancy/baby adventure wanting so badly to do it the right way.¬† I didn’t register for one (or seven) of those crazy entertainment sensory bouncers because “babies don’t need all of that jazz and plastic to be happy if they never get used to it”. We’ll do cloth diapers because it will be cheaper, better for our world and baby’s skin, and baby will be potty trained earlier (nothing motivates a little one to keep their bum dry like a lack of modern chemicals that… well… keep their bum dry). We even worked hard to find a biblical name that is not already used in DanO’s family and that isn’t overly popular.

Oh yes, I am doing things the right way, there’s no question about it.

Just, please don’t look any closer.

Because, if you look closer you’ll see that we do in fact have an entertainment bouncer. It’s borrowed from friends and is stored upstairs because I plan on resorting to it when everything from tummy time to calling down the Holy Spirit have failed to calm a hysterical Nugget. Then, on top of that, we paid just a wee bit extra to get our own fancy soothing rocker chair with a wooden frame. How is it different or better? I’m really not sure, but it’s wooden and classy and screams ‘natural mama’, so I sprung for it.

Yes, it is appropriate to stop here and acknowledge my hypocrisy.

Ahem.

Our cloth diapers are the overpriced, high-end kind. No, seriously. They appeal to certain markets, including people who make far more than we do, who live in tiny Manhattan studios with huge Manhattan mortgages, and who are willing to pay top dollar to use the latest earth-friendly, organic product. We are, in fact, none of those things. If I were a little less of a ‘back-to-basics’ phony with a little thicker skin, I would have tried a more simple diapering system with a more reasonable price tag. I guess you could say I was sucked in by all of the Manhattan diapering glamor.

Yea, go ahead and let that one sink in: “Manhattan diapering glamor“.

And as for our not-overly-popular Bible name?

Ironically, we aren’t the only ones these days who like its “lack of popularity”.

So, am I as much of a phony as I feel like I am?

Yes.

ThereIsaidit. In fact, let me say that louder, because I think it’s healthy:

Yes.

That’s really all I’ve got this morning: just a little piece of humble pie to start my day.

Mmm, tasty.

After a contact paper ordeal like you would not believe (3 stores not carrying any, Walmart not carrying any that belongs in my house, and an¬† “I’m sorry, it seems that our inventory database is down” at Target all led to me almost but not completely having a pregnancy breakdown in the kitchen storage section), I finally found the paper. The paper, you guys. Sage green, white leaf pattern, and perfect.

Naturally, this was followed by giddily filling drawers with adorably microscopic onesies, which was followed by trying 4 different ways of folding onesies, which was followed by obsessively rearranging stacks of onesies and feeling so.incredibly.happy. In order to accurately picture this, you should also know that every few seconds I stepped back, surveyed my handiwork, and released a contented sigh.

::siiiiiiiigh::

See, there it is again.

Speaking of adorable and microscopic, these are Nugget’s diapers (uhm, those don’t look like diapers, Allison). Well, they’re gDiapers to be precise, which I have hailed the glories of before,¬† here. Arranging these little bloomers in this basket complete with a perfectly patterned liner took second only to the onesie brigade of earlier in enjoyability. What I’m trying to say is: I am so pumped to change some poopies!

You may or may not know this already, but DanO and I have had Nugget’s name chosen since we were shown the “boy parts” (to quote our ultrasound tech) on the black and white screen back in February. It was a name we had loved from the beginning of the pregnancy (yes, I bought one of those books), and it never had any real competitors for the #1 boy name position. So once his, ahem, ‘proof’ was there for all to see, the name was set and the next day I went out and bought letters to spell it for the nursery wall.

Oh, and his name is not actually “Nugget”. Sorry to disappoint.

It is also not WACIO, OIWAC, or ICOWA, just to save you the anguish.

I’m not ready to disclose it just yet, but maybe you can put something together based on the clues above. Unless you already know it, in which case¬† shush. Please don’t ruin the fun.

This reminds me of that game in the back of Highlights® magazines as a kid where you tried to figure out what the object was in the macro zoomed-in picture. Enjoy!

[A legible picture of his name is forthcoming. Get excited!]

]]> http://omyfamilyblog.com/2009/05/nuggets-nature-inspired-nursery/feed/ 6 http://omyfamilyblog.com/2009/03/the-dirty-diaper-debate/ http://omyfamilyblog.com/2009/03/the-dirty-diaper-debate/#comments Tue, 24 Mar 2009 13:20:23 +0000 AllisonO http://the.olfelts.com/?p=443 Just to clarify, the debate is dirty, not the diaper (yet).

We’re doing cloth diapers. ThereIsaidit.

Maybe it’s to hug a tree (did you know that Christopher Columbus’ diapers would still be sitting in a landfill if he’d used Huggies? Those suckers take more than 500 years to break down), maybe it’s to save a buck (or $800 a year), or maybe it’s so I’m not soaking my baby’s bum in chlorine and chemicals 24 hours a day for the first 2 years of his life, but we’re doing the cloth thing for nugget, for our budget, and for the earth (Whoa there. Me thinkest my Oregonian roots are showing).

We’re not the only couple on this bandwagon, either. Cloth is making such a comeback right now that there are literally dozens of brands of cloth diapers and even more styles/models/features/colors. These are not your mother’s pinned cloth diapers complete with the rubber-pants, either. I have recently familiarized myself with technical vocabulary like pocket diapers, AIOs/All-in-Ones, tri-folds, inserts, liners, and prefolds, Oh my!

After exhaustive research online, in magazines, and with other cloth mommas, we’ve decided on a brand and a type of diaper. I know you’re on the edge of your seat, so without further adieu, I introduce to you the gDiaper:

gDiapers is a Portland, Oregon based company (You would, Allison.) that makes these adorable and, for lack of a better term than the ‘S’ word, sustainable diapers (When did that happen? Now I’m the quintessential pregnant lady and the I-want-to-be-cool-so-I-talk-about-how-green-I-am lady?¬† ::yikes::).¬† I’ll save the non-diaper-enthralled readers the pain of an exhaustive review, but I do want to hit some highlights of why we chose to go with ‘the g’.

The main component is the ‘little G pant’, the cute bum-swaddling green thing in the picture above. Don’t you just want to squeeze them? Then, the gDiaper company sells chlorine-free, plastic-free, biodegradable diaper inserts to catch, well, you know, what diapers catch. These can be thrown away (break down in 150 days) or flushed down the toilet when they’re dirty. An alternative (or in our family, alternate) to the disposable inserts is to use a cloth one, which can be laundered and reused infinitely. Ok, so not literally ? uses, but a lot more than you’ll need. (Unless you’re Octomom, who’s really not just Octomom, but nobody knows the numerical prefix for 14.) Wash and re-use is where the money savings come in. We plan on using cloth when we’re at home or with family and disposable when we’re oot ‘n aboot because they’re just so darn convenient.

So, as giddy as can be, I officially ordered the mother load of diaper supplies last week. By coupling a free shipping promo on the website right now and a 20% off coupon code found in a parenting magazine, I pretty much hit the cloth diaper jackpot. It was like Christmas in March or a Wells Fargo Wagon delivery or the  first time I tried french fries dipped in a Frosty: glorious.

Enjoy it now, Dan-o says, in 6 months you’re going to want to never see a diaper again.

And oh how I’m enjoying it! Look at all those adorable colors! Can you believe Nugget’s bum will be that teeny-tiny? The fabric is so soft! What great design! Have I told you about gDiapers, complete stranger in the baby aisle of Target? ::continues on in praise of gDiapers::

This is where you ask yourself: Has there ever been a woman more excited to use a waste removal system?! I think not.