Baby Thoughts

So, I know that I have not blogged forever. I feel like there is not much going on. I could complain some more about feeling crummy, but who wants to hear about that? Or about how all 4 of us have been passing around a nasty cold. Or about how Emmy and Pooky are constantly arguing and annoying each other. That is fun. Hitting is the new problem. All I ever hear is "moooommmmm..... (insert name here) just hit meeeeee........". SO annoying.

No, instead I will write about Baby Gummy Bear, who is currently about 14 week gestation. Truly, I am feeling a lot better, but still not 100% and I am not sure if I will be any time soon - but I am okay with that. For the most part I am fine - I feel like I am back to doing my regular schedule, just with a few breaks and naps when I get the chance.

I am still very, very nervous about Gummy. Even though we had a good heartbeat at my 12 weeks visit a couple of weeks back (no ultrasound that day), I am still worried. I know that I really don't have any control over it - if something goes wrong and Gummy is not okay, then there is not anything I can do about it - but I hate the possibility of not knowing. Until I can start feeling regular movements, I will worry. However, today I decided to rent a fetal doppler - so I can check the heartbeat whenever I want for peace of mind. Hopefully I will have it by this weekend, and I really think it will help me relax a bit.

On a positive side, my next ultrasound is the 1st week of August. I have been very back and forth about whether or not we should find out the sex of little Gummy. Since we have already had a boy and a girl, I have plenty of clothes and supplies for each gender. And it might be a fun surprise to wait.... but I really don't think I want to. Even though I already have all the baby stuff, I still want to plan ahead and know what to have ready. What do you think??

I am also considering starting cloth diapering again with Gummy. We did it with Pooky for about 4 months last year and it was okay. I had problems with leaking, especially if he was riding in his carseat longer than 10 minutes and at bedtime. We tried a couple of different covers, and I used doublers over my prefolds during those "high-leak" times, but it still wasn't perfect. I did not mind cleaning the diapers, and I loved not having to buy disposibles. However, I got lazy and went back to them because of convenience. We'll see if I try it again, this time right from the start.

I look like a beached whale. Not pregnant, just fat. That is all I have to say about that.

And I am tired. Nap time for everyone.... :)

Cloth Diaper Update

Since I posted the picture of our cloth diapers on the clothesline yesterday for Wordless Wednesday, I thought that it would be a good time to do an update as well. It has been about a month since we first started, and we are still trying to works out the kinks - it hasn't been easy!

I think that a big part of the transition for me is that I am used to disposables and have been using them for the past 3 1/2 years. And cloth diapers are WAY different. I didn't worry too much if my kid was in a wet diaper for a while - I would change it when I had a minute, no big deal. Car rides and trips to the park - I would just change the diaper when we got home. With the cloth diapers, I need to be a lot more diligent about changing the diaper on a regular schedule, because sitting in a wet cloth diaper all the way home will result in leaks, wet pants, and a wet carseat.

I also had some trouble finding a good diaper cover. I tried 3 different brands before finding a good one. In my opinion, the first two brands I tried, Swaddlebees and Bummis did not work very well. The cover would be completely soaked almost immediately after the diaper got wet. My friend Kelli at Gohn Crazy recommended Thirsties covers, and I tried them next - and I LOVE them! I can't say enough good things about them. Since I started using the Thirsties covers, leaks and wet pants are a lot less common around here, and it has made this transistion a bit easier.

I don't mind the extra laundry. It really isn't that much. I am used to laundry being an almost every day project anyway, so an extra load every 2-3 days is not a big deal. And I LOVE using my clothesline for drying them, and I plan to start drying a lot more of my clothes out there too. Can't beat that fresh air/sunshine smell in the clean laundry!

I do still have some disposibles. And I have used one here or there for convenience (long car rides and once when I didn't have any clean diapers), but I am using cloth about 95% of the time, including naps and overnight. I am hoping that over the next couple of months I will get more and more used to this, and I won't even need my emergency stash of disposables.

One good thing is that I have definitely noticed a big difference in how much trash we are throwing out. Previously, I would just toss all wet diapers into our kitchen trash can. Now that we are using cloth, I think that we have about 1/2 bag less of trash every week. It may not sound like much, but that's 2 bags a month, 24 less bags a year of trash we are producing, which I think is awesome.

Anyway, it is still a work in progress, and I still am learning a lot about this process, but I am so happy that we have switched. By the way, anyone looking at switching to cloth check out Baby Cotton Bottoms - they sell the Thirsties covers, as well as many others, and they have a flat shipping rate of $5.00 per order, which is awesome. I will update again in a few months, after we are hopefully totally used to our new diapers!

WW - All my Diapers Hanging in a Row

WW - Sportin the New Diapers and Haircut

Cloth Diapering Take 1

OK, well after doing much research and shopping, and with lots of help from my friend Kelli @ Gohn Crazy, I am ready to officially begin my cloth diapering adventure. We attempted it a few times over the last couple of weeks and I was having trouble with the covers getting very wet and soaking through - so I am trying a few new things, including some new covers that I just got in the mail today. Wish me luck - here we go!

I May Be Crazy

So, I have been thinking about something new. Kelli at Gohn Crazy has inspired me to start thinking about cloth diapering. It is not something I have really considered before. When we had Emmy, I automatically used disposables. Ray had mentioned it to me once, but like I said, I really didn't give it much thought. Now, here I am, now with 2 kids, probably a 3rd one in the future, a gazillion diapers used and thrown out with no end in sight. Maybe cloth diapering would be the way to go....???
The cloth diaper world is a bit overwhelming to me right now. I have been doing some research and trying to figure out terms like prefolds and AIO's. My biggest concern, other than learning the basics, is start up cost, although I realize that in the long run, it would be much cheaper to use cloth.
The cleaning and laundering process doesn't bother me. I do a ton of laundry now, so what is a few more loads a week? And the cleaning of poopy diapers is nothing new, and doesn't bother me in the least. The use of pins sounded scary, but now they make these cool Snappi things that you can use instead of pins. Even the plastic diaper covers that we all wore as babies have been replaced with cute, comfy covers.
There a lot of options out there, and I am still trying to decide if this is worth a shot. Pook is 16 months old, so we still have another year or so of diapers for him, plus diapers for a future baby to come.....
What should I do?? Have you ever used or considered cloth diapering?? And the real question is, am I really crazy?? Maybe you shouldn't answer that. :)
And if you have ever considered cloth diapering, check out Kelli's blog, she has a LOT of really good info there. Thanks Kelli, you rock.