Saving Money, Saving the Earth, and Saving... My Babies' Bottoms?

My family and most of my friends know this about me. I'm not an activist, but I wouldn't say I don't encourage others to do it. Can you guess what today's post is about?

Yep... I'm talkin' about CLOTH. Nappies, dipeys, CD'ing... whatever you call it or however you know it by- I love it! I've been cloth diapering for over 18 months. I began this journey when Phoebe was ready for potty training and we started with lots of different stuff (prefolds and wraps to pocket diapers to fitteds and more!). With Stephen we spent about $20/week just on newborn diapers and even after we started cloth-ing he was still in disposables at night and on the go. Needless to say our grocery store bill went down drastically when we stopped 'sposies and even MORE when we went to exclusively using cloth wipes.

Obviously- I used disposables for 18 months exclusively with my daughter and part time with my son for 10 months. There was one main reason I didn't do cloth... POO! My original thinking was I hate dealing with the brown yuckiness and that's why it took until potty training Phoebe for me to realize that getting a bit of poo on your hands is not the worst thing in the world. That's what soap is for. I figured if I can handle big girl poo then I can handle baby poo. Seriously- cleaning poop off a toilet-training toddler is MUCH worse than handling a poopy diaper. The second objection to cloth diapering was it's confusing! SO much information lies in wait on the internet and it's quite overwhelming. What is this whole "dry-pail" anyway? We ended up experimenting with different "systems" before finalizing on Stephen's fitteds and prefolds with wraps with a dry pail method. Third, most of the cost is up front. You buy the "stash" and necessary supplies to start out and thankfully with Phoebe most was given to us by retired cloth-mamas. With Stephen we spent about $200 on his stuff and most of it came from Craigslist. After that initial expense the only thing that cost us was water and electricity and cleaning detergent which actually comes out to pennies per diaper per month and of course my time and energy in washing/drying/putting away (but since I love it so much this doesn't phase me one bit and I've learned just to put it into the regular home routine). My last objection was "But my house is going to stink like crazy!". How in the world could it smell any worse than it did? Disposables stank up the house more than any cloth diaper could. I can't smell the pail until I open it and honestly- it doesn't smell any worse than a room with a can containing one or two sposies.

Here I am 18 months into cloth diapering and 6 months into exclusive cloth-ing (no disposables except the ones given to us for those newbie meconium diapers). With the upcoming arrival of Baby #3 (within the next month or so), I've been researching how to be even "cheaper" when it comes to diapering. Let me explain... Stephen's stash contains about 6 wraps (about $13 each), 18 fitteds (about $7 each), and 10 prefolds ($2 each) along with supplies like a pail, wet bags, cloth wipes, and snappis (probably $300 total). The thing is that all these are size specific and won't fit little Abby. Thankfully we have a few wraps for her along with 8 newborn fitted diapers and 10 small fitteds. Depending on her size she might not fit into any of them for the first month. A side note: newborns can go through 10-12 diapers per DAY so obviously we wouldn't have enough for day one and I'd prefer not to wash diapers twice in a 24 hour period. So what am I to do while staying within the $125 Abby's cloth-diapering budget? Sounds meager now that I think about it, but that's all we can do at this time.

Is a $125 budget even feasible? It sure is!!! You wanna know how? FLATS!!! Yeah- I'm headed OLD SCHOOL! These are the diapers our grandmothers and great-grandmothers used way back in the day and flats are a staple in third world countries when it comes to diapers. I'm getting mine from www.greenmountaindiapers.com and at $25/dozen this is a steal. You can actually purchase flats for far less (maybe $12/dozen), but without the quality and chem-free-ness. I'm also putting three wraps (in GIRL COLORS!) in the budget... these are the Thirsties duo wrap which cost almost $13 each but can fit a newbie to about 15lbs easily. Add a triple pack of snappis for $7.55 and the total comes to $121.55 plus the $6.95 for shipping. Okay so the shipping puts me a little over budget, but I don't include that in my calculations.

Can you tell I love cloth diapering? Yeah- I'm pretty much a nerd, but that's okay. I'm saving money, the environment, and my little people's behinds. I can't imagine NOT CD'ing actually. It's so much fun and my kids love the cotton feeling on their bottoms (my son would actually try to take off the disposables I'd put on him sometimes). I have to say that cloth-diapering was the reason Phoebe was fully potty trained at 2 years old. :-) So if anyone has been thinking about it- maybe this dispels alot of questions or objections you may have. Let me add that this has been one of the best decisions I've made in raising my little ones and if I could I would start from the very beginning with my first. :-D I hope you've enjoyed my little woop-dee-doo rant because I certainly enjoyed talking about it.

Father's Day

There's always a certain sadness when it comes to Father's Day. I haven't spent this day of celebration with my own dad for many years. I think the last time I spent this day with my dad (while he lived in Texas) was in 2000 when we were in the Rio Grande Valley on a mission trip. Yeah... I actually bought his card while there at a Wal-Mart. That was 11 years ago and as I reflect on that fact I feel as if I've missed out on something. From 2001 to 2004 I spent each Father's Day leaving on yet another mission trip to somewhere in West Texas. In October 2004 my family moved to North Carolina and from 2005 until 2008 I was here in Texas, but something or another happened where I couldn't be with my dad for this special day. FINALLY in 2009, I was able to spend Father's Day with my Dad-e-o because my husband, our 13 month old daughter, and myself were in North Carolina on vacation. It was awesomeness.

Let me tell you about my Dad. He was almost 21 when my twin and I were born and I remember him telling me that when he held us for the first time his whole world had changed. See, his own birth father was abusive and when my dad was a kid that man left my grandma and died soon afterwards. Thankfully, God blessed my dad with his "real" dad- the man I call Grandpa. It's no small thing for a man to raise another man's child and Grandpa raised my dad as his own. Sure my dad was rebellious and lived a little crazy, but when my sister and I were born my dad held us and prayed to be a better man for us. 4 years before we were born he gave his life to Christ and I know that's what really made the difference. My dad could've easily given into the reasoning that since his birth father was so awful that he couldn't break that cycle. But he didn't. My dad isn't perfect, but he's a great dad. In fact he turned out to be a father figure to many kids whose dads weren't present and I know that they were made better because of it. The greatest thing that I could say about my dad was that he pointed me to Christ. Many people had an incredible influence in that journey, but it was important for me to see the parallel between my earthly father and heavenly Father. Some of the biggest lessons I've learned in life came in the conversations with my dad, whether I listened or not. Like this guy I dated in high school and college- I knew my dad didn't like him all that much, but tolerated him because I liked him alot. I should've listened to that seemingly small thing. I learned eventually... when I introduced Larry to my dad- I knew that Larry was it. I'm sure it was a hard thing for my dad when Larry asked if he could marry me because it solidified the fact that I would never return to living under their roof or sharing those face to face conversations over the dinner table on a regular basis. My dad made lots of sacrifices for my happiness.

I suppose the reality of fatherhood never dawned on me as much as it has since Larry and I welcomed our first- our little Phoebe and it continues to dawn on me on a day to day basis what my dad went through. Phoebe's now three and those moments when she runs up to Larry after he gets home from work and grabs onto his leg and won't let go or when Larry rocks Stephen to sleep after a hard day's work... those moments are priceless to a child. I remember feeling my dad carry me half asleep out of the van growing up and putting me in bed after a crazy day and how safe I'd feel. When dad would read books to us or a few verses at the dinner table- that means alot to me. And even when he'd have to spank us when we lied or broke something... honestly my heart would break over him saying "I'm very disappointed." and not so much over the spanking, but I'm glad he disciplined us. I am very blessed to have a great dad who was there and who did things with us kids.

I know many people who didn't have that experience. I know many mothers who have to be fathers too and that breaks my heart. I learned alot of things that only my dad could've taught me... like what kind of man I wanted to marry. Larry tends to be alot like my dad in many ways and I'm thankful for that. And as a mother of a son- I know it will be important for him to learn manhood from a real man. I've been coming back to certain verses in Psalm 68 that says God is a father to the fatherless and a defender of widows. That God places the lonely in families. That's an incredible hope for those who don't have an earthly dad or who have a dad who just isn't there for them whether it's physically or spiritually. And whether my readers believe it or not- God is a better father than mine- a million times over. The times when my dad wasn't there or couldn't be there, I could always lean on the Lord for comfort and guidance. There have been many times that I simply couldn't talk to my dad about certain things, but I've never known a moment when I couldn't go to God.

So on this Father's Day, sadly I won't be able to be with my own dad and grandpa, but I'm no less thankful for them. And I have to add that I'm very blessed to have a husband who is a great dad too. :-) Above all- I'm incredibly thankful for the ultimate Father who no matter what happens or how far we stray, He's always there. If you have a great dad- tell him. If you don't- know that God wants to be if He isn't already.

Second Sonogram

Today at noon we had the second sonogram. They told me to drink 32oz of fluid (water for me thanks) 30 minutes before the appointment and I got there 15 minutes early. Let me tell you... I was DYING! I have NEVER needed to go to the bathroom so bad in my life. Totally worth it because they needed to see my little one's head to take pictures to see if the choroid plexus cyst had resolved itself. When they called me back to the ultrasound room, I was on the verge of tears because I was so uncomfortable. The technician said she'd take pics and then let me relieve myself before they did measurements of the rest of her. Those were the longest moments of my life... not only because I wanted to know if the CPC was gone, but also because I had to use every ounce of strength and determination to keep from exploding on the gurney. Let me just say that I've never felt such relief after using the restroom. Sorry if this is just TMI, but I told Larry I'll probably have a similar experience in the minutes after our little one is born (yes it was THAT bad).

So I returned to the room after doin' my business and we continued with the ultrasound. Larry came in the room (he was running a little late) and the technician took measurements and pictures for us to gaze on whilst we await our precious child. So here are some things we found out:

*They put my due date at August 12th, 2011 (which matches the due date I come up with when I figure it from the date of conception). I'm 31 weeks and 5 days! :-D

*We confirmed that our little person is a GIRL! (yay! I don't have to switch everything back!)

*Abby (the short version of her 95% sure name) is measuring 4lbs 3oz now... which means that if she doubles her weight between here and delivery time she could easily be 8lbs (YAY!!!)

*And most importantly the CPC is indeed gone and nothing is present that could hinder our plans for a home birth. :-)

We are so thankful for the prayers and thoughts. God is good. If you would please pray for a healthy remainder of this pregnancy and a safe and smooth delivery- they would be MUCH appreciated. :-)