Cloth Diaper Wish List

While we certainly have everything we need for the moment, (in fact we are currently going on three days without washing) I do have a mental check list of things I’d like to have or try for Nikolay, things we may need to get for Nikolay if he gets too tall or heavy before potty training, and things I’ll want to get when we are expecting #2. As we didn’t begin cloth diapering until very recently, we have no newborn or small diapers or covers. It makes me ache to think of all the money we threw into the trash along with the disposable diapers that he wore for the first sixteen months of his life. If only we had started out with cloth! But thankfully, as we are intending (Lord willing) to have several more children, any money spent on new, smaller diapers will not be wasted.

Without further ado, here is my list of things I’d still like to try for Nikolay:

1) Wool covers (soakers and longies)

Ideally, I would like to use these for night-time diapering. Wool is said to keep you cool in the summer and warm in the winter, and can absorb a third of its weight in moisture. We currently use Smartipants one size pocket diapers with two inserts for nighttime, but I’m not happy with how we occasionally wakes up with a damp pajama bottom.

2) Muslin Flats

Also called “Euro Flats,” these are large (80 cm x 80 cm) squares of muslin fabric which quilt up nicely after washing. I purchased a dozen birdseye flats at a local cloth diaper store and haven’t been all that in love with them, but these look VERY different. The photo above was posted to the Green Mountain Diapers group on Yahoo, and compares a washed and folded muslin square to the same birdseye flats I own (even bought at the same store). You can see for yourself how fluffy they are!

Imse Vimse Organic Muslin Squares.

3) BumGenius, BumGenius Organic Cotton, and GroBaby

These are a real challenge for me. There is a part of me that says “You already have nine Smartipants, which were inexpensive and work just fine as Daddy/Babysitter diapers. Stop coveting already.” Then there is the voice that reminds me of the little things I dislike about the Smartipants, both practical (the one row of snaps, the risk of inopportune leaks) and impractical (the pastel colors), which reminds me that BumGenius will soon be coming out with a snaps version of their one-size pocket diaper, and also offers colors like THESE, which just happen to be my favorite. (This is a customer photo from Amazon.)

Diversion, in which I attempt to talk myself out of my passionate desire to try the Gro Baby System:

As for Gro Baby, the voice of reason has JUST about talked me out of them. In truth, though they are economical they aren’t as economical compared to prefolds once you factor more than one child in diapers into the equation. At this point, prefolds and covers win because Baby #1 can be using the medium or large diapers while Baby #2 is in the newborn or small ones. The “ease of use” argument may well be won by using prefolds in Booroi covers. That would require no pins or snappis, and they could be prepped in advance for the Papa or a babysitter. In both cases, the cover would have to be washed if it were soiled, but such is life. The other covers (Thirsties) would not need to be washed each time they were used. Of course, newboorn poop is another animal entirely, but over a month and a half of Thirsties cover use (both v. 2 in medium and the Duo in sz. 2) has yielded only one case of a soiled cover. In general, a snappied (or pinned) prefold will hold just about anything in. As for the snazzy Gro Baby colors … while I may not find precisely the same ones elsewhere, I can find bold colors in Thirsties and Booroi covers.

Another argument for me is the durability option. One reason I love the prefolds over more expensive fitted or all-in-one diapers is that they have a proven track record. They last and last and last. Especially for me (as I own a serger) the risk of a prefold coming “undone” is very, very slim. Over the years they may thin out – but they’ll still be quite useful around the household and for other baby purposes. I would find it hard to imagine using a busted pocket diaper shell as a burp cloth!

I don’t know how Gro Baby soakers and boosters will hold up over time. They are too new to have a proven track record – but one thing is certain: assuming I have 24 Gro Baby soakers and 24 in each size of the prefolds, each soaker will see far more wear and tear than the prefolds, because as part of a one-size diaper system, they’ll be in use far longer. Add to that that I could buy several prefolds (anywhere from three to six, depending on the size and brand) for the cost of a single Gro Baby booster and the value argument seems stacked in favor of prefolds again.

Another thing that I must consider is the durability of the covers. Two things that have a nasty tendency to wear out are elastic and velcro/aplix. (Snaps less so.) The type of elastic used in Thirsties covers is a fold-over elastic which I could purchase and replace more or less easily. The velcro bands, while not my first choice (I would prefer snaps) are also a simple repair job for anyone who sews. Not so much internal elastic (such as that in my Smartipants or in Gro Baby or BumGenius); this would require opening seams and repairing them … much more annoying than fixing some fold over elastic.

All that being said? I still LOVE the colors, they are said to be super absorbent and fit well, and they are coming out with new prints in a few weeks, as well as new colors this winter. If someone were to buy us a Gro Baby kit with a few shells and soakers, I certainly wouldn’t say no. For now, I am talking myself out of it in the name of reason and thrift – especially as I already own and use some prefolds and covers.

So, without further ado, the current wish list for Baby Numero Dos, whenever the time should come (also found on Amazon, and subject to change):

2-3 dozen Muslin Flats (Imse Vimse, 80cm x 80 cm, 100g)

2 dozen NB (orange edge) Cloth-eez Bleach Free White Prefolds (Green Mountain Diapers)

2 dozen SM (yellow edge) Cloth-eez Bleach Free White Prefolds (Green Mountain Diapers)

4 Thirsties sz. 1 Covers (Probably Green, Blue, Orange, and either Yellow or White …though color choices may vary if #2 should prove to be a girl)

4 Booroi sz. SM covers (Blue, Green, White, … Red? a new color? TBD)

2 Aristocrats sz. SM covers

All this, pending shipping costs and such, would total around $350. Assuming that Nikolay doesn’t need larger sizes, we should then have everything we need. If he does, we may have to order 2 dozen LG (brown edge) Cloth-eez Bleach Free White Prefolds from Green Mountain Diapers, as well as a couple more Thirsties Duo sz. 2 covers. (We already own 2)

Tiny Bubbles

Switching from disposables to cloth has had a steep, but enjoyable learning curve. One of the things I’ve learned most about is the ingredients of laundry detergent. For a long time, I’d already avoided dryer sheets, using dryer balls instead to decrease static and soften and fluff up the fabric. I’ve used “free and clear” detergents for years, but I never really knew about what they were really free and clear of. These days, we had been using the Kirkland (Costco) Environmentally friendly detergent, but it turns out that the scent and enzymes aren’t good for baby’s bum, and hence not good for washing cloth diapers. There have been recipes posted about how to mix your own detergent, but most of those have been pretty heavy on the borax. Even the cloth diaper chat boards are filled with confusion.

Lately, another option has become available: The Natural Baby Company has launched their own detergent, free of all the nasties but perfectly capable of cleaning the nastiest soiled diaper. Oh, and they’re giving some away!  See here http://www.thenaturalbabyco.com/tiny-bubbles-p-732.html to find out more about Tiny Bubbles! Powerful, environmentally friendly, and free? It doesn’t get much better than that!

Principles vs. Rules

“Anxious, inexperienced writers obey rules. Rebellious, unschooled writers break rules. Artists master the form.”

from the Introduction to Robert McKee’s Story: Substance, Structure, Style, and the Principles of Screenwriting.

Small Events and Tension in Storytelling

The following quotation comes from the director’s commentary on the DVD of “Doubt,” written and directed by John Patrick Shanley. Though it applies specifically to the difficulty of putting a ten-minute “tea scene” in a modern film, it applies equally well to writing fiction. Like literary fiction, the film “Doubt” is a highly character-driven piece. In fact, it is based on Shanley’s four-actor play by the same title. As such, it does not rely on heavy action scenes to keep the viewer’s interest. Rather, the plot is moved by smaller incidents and the effect these have on the characters:

“It’s funny, these tiny things have to be dealt with in the same way that a car crash and gun fire would be in another movie. Any event has significance – or should – when you’re telling a story, no matter how small: the pouring of a cup of tea, the spilling of tea and drying it off. Every one of them inspires a camera move, and every camera move keeps the scene alive.”

Home Alone

Why, oh why, do I never actually go to bed early, as I always threaten to do when my husband is away in the evening? Instead, I read the internet from beginning to end and back again. Sigh.

St. Patrick’s Day

We didn’t do anything special for St. Patrick’s Day, though everyone wore green and I bought some Kerrygold Irish Butter at Costco. I avoided the heinous (and illegal!) pinchings I received last year, and made sure to get mine in before my husband could don his green funky socks. Thinking back, though, to this day last year, it occurred to me how very much my son and his cousin Joshua have changed.

Here is Nikolay, demonstrating one of his earlier smiles.

Ah, the good old days … when they both just stayed put. Now, one is running hither and thither (Joshua, on the right) and the other is learning to walk, but crawling just about anywhere he wants to go.

As much as Nikolay and Joshua have changed, however, the award for most changed in the past year has got to go to someone else.

I have written before about young Mr. Charlie: he was born on March 17, 2008 weighing in at a mere 1 lb, 14 oz. I got to see him in the hospital, when he was already a bit bigger – and he made my own little man (who was 5 lbs 10 oz at birth) seem like a veritable giant. You can read Charlie’s story here: http://charlieduff.blogspot.com

As he is still on his preemie quarantine, we didn’t have the chance to hang out with him on his first birthday, but by all accounts it was a grand old time (with green velvet cake, to boot!) Here is Charlie in his most recent blog update:

We wish you the happiest of birthdays, Charlie. We thank God for the miraculous first year he has already given you, and pray that all years henceforward will be far more boring – at least as far as hospital visits are concerned!

How to Parent on a Shoestring

So. I haven’t written in ages after daring myself to write every day this year, but frankly there’s been a ton going on and I’m just sort of emerging from our February Fun Days. To wit: we have had four houseguests, one grand first birthday party, a lovely dinner and ballet date, and I’ve been to my first hockey game since 2004 when I was hit by a hockey puck in the first sixty seconds of play. To ensure that that didn’t happen, I arrived just in time for the first intermission following the first period. Okay, there may have been a little traffic on the way to the babysitter and a little bit of plain, old-fashioined getting lost involved, too. Either way, I missed the first minute of play and escaped mostly uninjured. The fact that I sustained a nasty bruise on my thigh from a freak run-in with the washing machine that same day was purely coincidental.

All that being said, I’ve got a ton of things to write about swirling in my head, but I’ve been challenged by a friend who recently found out that she and her husband were expecting their first child (CONGRATULATIONS!) to title my first post “How to Parent on a Shoestring.” It should be noted that we are hardly experts here. We’re one year into this whole parenthood thing, and I can assure you that my son already has far too many toys. We’ve also chosen to spend more on things that could easily have been obtained cheaper (such as his crib and dresser) because we’re style snobs. (That being said, his nursery furniture, bought at Wally World and Ikea, was still far cheaper than comparable “high fashion” items from “mod baby furniture” makers.)

So here, in three words, I present my theory of parenting on a shoestring:

Free – Gifts, Registry stuff, hand-me downs, Freecycle or Freepeats, and even (gasp) Bulk Trash.

Clearance – Use the internet, find cool prices. Get free shipping and it’s even better. Stores, of course, have good clearances, too – but I have a hard time dealing with stores, especially with the baby in tow. Also, I really love to receive packages, especially boxes. Even when I already know what’s in them, it feels like Christmas.

Craigslist – EBay would be a close second here, but I’m the type who would prefer to drive clear across town to pay $40 for a $300 juicer (used “once if at all”) rather than pay for shipping and wait for the item to arrive. Though I do love to receive packages. (See previous item.)

So there you have it. Further thoughts (like on buying groceries in bulk and cooking rather than eating out) forthcoming.

Big Boy Car Seat

I installed Nikolay’s new car seat today, a convertible seat that can accommodate children from 5-100 lbs. Now they tell me! Well, actually, I really liked the convenience of the carrier/car seat, especially in the evenings when he fell asleep on the way home. We’ll miss that little convenience.  Nikolay, though, was pretty stoked to be able to look forward and see where we were going.

Sorry, Papou

…but we love Trader Joe’s. What can we say, we are easily bribed.

Teach Your Children Well

I decided to stop by our local Border’s megabookstore because I had a $25 gift card to spend, and wanted to see if they had any Specific Carbohydrate Diet cookbooks in stock. While there, I found this lovely little board book with loads of flippable tabs, which my son loves.

I was delighted to discover …

Huzzah! At least somebody still knows what cows are supposed to eat.

I was not, however, delighted to discover (while standing in the checkout, no less!) that my gift card was not, in fact, for Borders but rather for Barnes and Noble. Whoopsies! Ah well, they didn’t have any SCD cookbooks, anyhow.