My baby can READ!

No, not really. She's only 8 1/2 months! I do have to share all the new things she can do though. In the past month, she has gone from baby to nearly a toddler- it's crazy. In mid May, she finally started rolling over, which eased my mind tremendously. I was beginning to think something was wrong with her, haha. Shortly thereafter, and I mean within days, she began to crawl. I think I figured her out- she didn't roll because there was no purpose. Now, rolling from her back to her belly meant she could get up and go. She wasn't behind, she knew that rolling around would be pointless if she couldn't do anything with that. Things just started to snoball after that. She started pulling up on things; by things, I mean everything. She began to cruise along the sofa and "walk" around her activity table. She's now little miss mobile, but again, only when it suits her. She won't just crawl around...no ma'am. She needs to lock eyes with something she wants, usually something she shouldn't have, like the cord to my cell phone charger, and she's on the go.

Aside from those leaps and bounds that she's grown, she has started doing other things- like clapping. I was at a coffee shop with her and a friend, when all of a sudden, she started clapping. I had no idea this was coming. I used to look up all the developmental milestones, but got lazy. I was shocked. We clap and say "YAAAAAAAAAAAAAY" to her all the time. She's like a rock star in our house. I just, I don't know, I just didn't expect her to do this yet. It is beyond cute. She even claps in context now- after she picks something up or when someone says "Yaaaaaaaaay". About a week after she started clapping, she did something even more incredible- she waved! She freaking waved! Again, I am floored by these milestones. I had no clue when to expect them, and still don't. She could be months behind for all I know! I am thrilled either way. She likes to show people her tricks too. She'll wave and clap for strangers at the store, and sometimes do it on command, but she's certainly letting me know that she is not my puppet. Now, I don't want to give K too much credit, but I *think* she can blow kisses as well. It doesn't look like she's blowing a kiss. She just kind of opens her mouth, but she makes the "mwah" sound, and she does it after we blow her a kiss. Such a sweet baby genius! :)

Saint Luis

That's my husband's blog and twitter name. He's taking this online class about the internet, and one of his projects is to get...well, to get interwebz famous; at least moreso than he is now. Soooo, he's taken to blogging, and he's quite funny, and additcted to it. He never understood why I did this, but now he understands. Anyway, it would be a great help to him if you'd stop by his blog from time to time and leave him some comments. You can read about a brother and sister getting married!!

Saint Luis

Oh, and if you have twitter, follow him. Thanks.

I like fluffy butts and I can not lie..

That’s right. I’m one of those mom’s who cloth diaper their child. I did not set out to cloth diaper, much like I did not set out to have a med-free birth. After reading up on them though, I really wanted to give it a shot. It took me months to convince Luis to even entertain the thought. So, I had plenty of time to research…and let me tell you, I needed it. There are so many kinds of diapers, so many brands, so many different washing instructions. There are so many blogs, websites, stores, villages, etc. devoted to cloth diapering. I began to drown in a sea of fluff- I basically had to learn a new language (AIO, BG, OS). Finally, I sorted through all the mess and found the easiest places to get info. I don’t know if anyone reading this is considering CDing (see, a whole new language), but I’ll share the sites that helped me the most, then I’ll share what I do.

Green mama’s pad: this blog post is Cloth diapering 101- or better yet, remedial cloth (that's for sure what I needed). She really spells everything out for you.

Baby Rabies: a great site; she has a few posts that are brutally honest when it comes to cloth; informative and funny.

Pinstripes and polka dots is a great place to find laundry/detergent info. They also have a ton of information here.

Oh, and Abby's Lane and Sew Crafty Baby has free shipping all the time!

Now, onto what I do. I’m a pretty simple kind of girl. I don’t want things to be too complicated. I love cloth diapering (who else can say they love anything about diapering!!), but I wouldn’t have done it if it were too much work. I started out buying a few pockets and prefolds with covers. I didn’t want to spend too much money, but I liked the convienece of pockets for Luis. To this day he doesn’t use the prefolds..whatevs.

Anyway, I got them and prepped them by boiling the prefolds and washing the pockets. As far as washing, there isn't much to it. Cold wash NO detergent, followed by Hot wash/cold rinse(sometimes warm..no reason, I just like to mix it up) with a 2nd rinse. There are many options for detergent, but I went with simple and cheap. Purex Free and Clear. I also tried out Crunchy Clean, which smells fantastic (seriously..buttercream cupcake detergent!!), but I don’t use it all the time due to the “it’s not as cheap as purex” factor. All diapers then go into the dryer with NO dryer sheets. I’m working on getting Luis to put up a line so I can dry them outside; from what I understand, that’s better for the diapers and of course better the environment.

How do I use them? Like I said, I’m pretty simple. I fold the prefold and lay it in the cover…then, the cover goes on exactly like a disposable. It looks like this:




The pocket diapers are a little different- and easier. I “stuff” them with either an insert or a prefold, and put them in the drawer. When it’s time to use them, they also go on exactly like a disposable. When I’m changing her, all I do is throw the wet diapers into the pail (which is a garbage can with a wet bag lining it). The poopy diapers used to go straight into the pail when she was only getting breast milk, but now that she’s getting some solids (not much though..she hates food!), it’s a little more work. I use a flushable liner in her diapers, and then I use a wipe for whatever is left. Is that the best way? I don’t know, but it’s easier than going rinse it off in the sink/tub/toilet or wherever. And, for now, it works. It’s no grosser than dealing with a disposable. As a matter of fact, I can contend that I dealt with poop much more when she was in disposables because we’d frequently have blowouts. Those are virtually unheard of in the cloth world…you know what else is rare- diaper rash. You know what else…they’re cheaper. I can afford to play around sometimes and buy her “nice” diapers because even if I spend 25.00 on one diaper, it will last me through potty training, and baby number two..well, it will be FREE for him/her. Only, if it’s a boy, he’ll for sure be rocking some pink. ;)

So, there you have it. I don’t think this will convert anyone, but I thought I’d put this out there in case someone was considering it. Oh, and my husband- he’s now 100% on board and recommends CDing to others!! If nothing else, you can’t deny the cute factor of them: