Super Bowl Makes Me Think...About...

Have you ever heard this song and truly, TRULY let the words of the entire song seep into your soul? The events of this day make me think of this song. I'm not diggin' on anyone who loves to watch a good ol' American football game. It's the surrounding events and the pomp and commercialism that screamed this to me today.

Lovin' the Cloth!

I finally took the plunge into the Land O' Cloth Diapers when Keiki (#4) was around 18 months (? I think?) I was pretty much "sold" immediately, and wish I would've gone that route with all the boys. I remember having considered it with Spunky (#3.) However, thinking he was the last baby (HA!!) decided against it. I thought of it again when I was pregnant with Keiki, but again, thinking he was the last one (HA!!) talked myself out of investing in the endeavor. Finally, after listening to several friends sing the praises of cloth-diapering, I decided to give it a whirl, even though potty-training would be in the next year or so.

I went with Kawaii pocket diapers, as they seemed well-made for a relatively small investment. I l-o-v-e-d seeing our then-tot trotting around in those colorful, puffy pants!

It took a little research, talking with friends, and trial-and-error, but overall, the transition was smooth. It felt fantastic knowing it was healthier and so much more cost-effective than paper diapers. Keiki was a fairly early potty-trainer. So, when he was finished with his Kawaiis, I gave them a good stripping, and packed them away for Little Bro, who was soon to be born!

Now, as many of you know, we don't exactly make the teeniest of babies. However, apparently even our size newborns don't fit real well in regular-size Kawaiis. Rather than invest in the special smallest size, which we wouldn't be able to use for long, I've been waiting it out for Little Bro to grow into the regular size. I tried him in them at around 3 months, then again at 4 or 5 months, but they leaked. FINALLY, at 7 months, he's in 'em!

The only thing I have against my Kawaiis, is their velcro closure. The velcro has held up, in that the diapers still fasten splendidly. However, there are these little microsuede "laundry tabs" that are designed for the velcro to stick to in the wash. This is so that the diapers don't all stick to one another and/or cause damage to the covers during washing. The laundry tabs went ka-put after about 6 months of use SO I was wishing I'd have gone with the snap closures.

Because the velcro thing is sort of annoying, and...it's so fun to buy NEW things for NEW babies, I went ahead and bought a few new snap-closure diapers for Little Bro. LOVE these colors!!

I'm trying out a new brand, Thirsties. They have, of course, snap-closures, and instead of being a pocket diaper (where you stuff the pad into a pocket,) they are all-in-ones. This means there's no stuffing, and the absorbent pad is attached to the cover. It has this little tunnel underneath the pad so that water can get through to launder effectively. They do take a little longer to dry because of this.

In addition to buying these new diapers from Arctic Baby Bottoms (shameless plug,) I also decided to try some cloth wipes!

Isn't the owl print adorable? I decided to try these, because it's sort of annoying when you change a cloth diaper, pop it into the diaper pail, and then are stuck with the dirty wipes. With a paper diaper, you just wrap 'em up in the used diaper. With a cloth diaper, the wipes either sit (yucky) on the changing table until you're done, or they accidentally get thrown in your diaper pail and need to be removed later (yucky.)

I just started using the wipes this weekend. I made up a cleaning solution in a small spray bottle. When it's time for a wipe, I spritz the wipe before cleaning up Little Bro. I find that I need to use only 1 wipe instead of who-knows-how-many of the disposable wipes. I use a wipe, and toss it in the trusty diaper pail to be washed with the diapers. What I especially love, is that the cleaning solution works SO well, and is so gently on bums! Here's what's in it:

1 cup water
1/2 tsp oil (I used pure jojoba oil)
1 tsp baby shampoo (I used Burt's Bees)

Here's what's in our disposable wipes (eeoo!):
water, vitamin E, aloe vera gel, disodium cocoamphodiacetate, polysorbate 20, propylene glycol, disodium phosphate, disodium EDTA, polyhexamethylene biguanide HCL, sodium hydroxymethylglycinate, lanolin PEG-75, citric acid

I will still use the disposable wipes when out and about.

What I've learned with laundering, is to run the diapers through on cold/cold with plain water for one cycle. This gets the majority of the nasty off. Then I run them through again with hot water and detergent. This disinfects, and scrubs/deep-cleans. The type of detergent you use is very important. You can check out how yours ranks here. They all go in my dryer for about 45 minutes. This dries the Kawaiis completely. The Thirsties will still be a little damp. I hang them up for a 1/2 hour or so, then turn them inside out (remember they have the tunnel thingy) for a few hours. I think I could dry them longer in the machine, but I want to be kind to them so they last a long while, 'cause let's face it--he won't be potty-training for awhile! (And I'm fine with that.)