Cloth Diapers So Far

So, its been a week now that we have been using our new cloth diapers and so far, so good. We are using them part-time right now for a couple reasons

1. We purchased 6 shells and 12 inserts to start with just to get a feel for them, and although we only use 2 covers and 4-6 inserts a day, there is not enough to use them full time unless we constantly do laundry (which we already do anyways)
2. We use disposables at night time due to absorbency factor. With Palmer going 12 hours through the night without a diaper change, disposables just seem to hold (a lot) more.  I am doing research as to what may work best for overnight.
3. We use disposables for various "going out" occasions, depending on what the outing is, how long we will be, time of day (close to bedtime we will use disposables)

My thoughts so far on cloth diapers:

• They are in no way more "gross" than disposables. 
• The amount of garbage our house produces has drastically decreased since starting cloth diapers. I don't get the oh-please-don't-let-this-bag-rip terror while carrying it down the stairs!
• Cloth diapers are super cute! Palmer has been wearing less pants this past week!
• There is NO smell at all when Palmer is wearing cloth. No soiled smell. No urine smell!
• We have yet to have a single blowout! No more poop-stained monstrosities and the OMG how did it get on your neck  problems anymore (Hopefully I'm not saying this prematurely as its only been a week, but I can honestly say, we use to have a blowout a week)
• I really have had no problems with our new cloth diapers. There have been times I put a brand new disposable on and the tab rips off and I have to get another one - waste of $0.22!

I'm not sure where we will go from here, whether we continue to part-time cloth diapers or if we will make the switch to nearly 100% of the time, but right now I can say, I'm glad we made the switch!

Not sure how she got here, but she looks cute nonetheless

6 Months: Palmer's Life

Tomorrow (July 21) marks Palmer’s “half birthday.” 6 months. Already!

6 months,16 lbs 12 oz, 25 1/2"

Sleep:

Palmer continues to have a really great night time sleeping routine – she still sleeps 11+ hours a night. The day time naps however aren’t always so fantastic. Some days we can get 2 great naps from her. Other times naps don’t happen at all, which makes for one tired, grumpy little girl and a tired mommy! Her new thing for sleeping is sleeping on her tummy. With her being so active and moving so much, there isn’t too much I can do as far as positioning her, but we are OK with that because it means she isn’t sleeping on her flat spot anymore!

New Skills and Developments: 

1. Sitting up! Palmer can sit up so well now! I’m amazed at how much strength her little back has! She can sit for long periods of time and just play. I hardly have to worry about her falling over much anymore.
2. She is so active and mobile. Although she isn’t crawling yet, she sure is trying! She rolls all over the place. We can’t keep this girl still! We can put her down in one spot and not long later, she has turned herself upside-down, backwards and across the floor or crib! Guess we need to get on those baby gates, pronto, because I don’t think it will be too much longer before this little girl is moving at full speed!
3. Independent play. Palmer is content just playing by herself for short periods of time, which is good for both Palmer and Mommy! She will lay on a blanket and play with her toys or lay in her crib and just giggle and sing to herself.
4. Temper Tantrums? It’s beginning already. It’s mostly only when she is tired, but it still happens. If she doesn’t get her way, she’s not happy!
5. Curiosity. Palmer has become so much more curious in the past month. She wants to see everything that is going on. She likes to watch Leaf outside. She wants to watch me in the kitchen. She likes to see what’s going on everywhere. But, with this curiosity comes distraction. Since she is always wondering what’s happening elsewhere, she gets distracted very easily which can make feeding time or nap time a challenge!

Palmer’s Favorites

1. Leaf! Palmer LOVES Leaf! She giggles when she pets him. She giggles when he chases the ball. She giggles when she rides him like a horse. She giggles when he lays in the grass. Palmer loves him and I think he is really starting to warm up to her more! It’s so cute to watch! They will be best friends soon (until she starts to torment him I guess!)
2. Swimming! This girl loves to swim. Whether it’s at the Henderson outdoor pool, the little blow up pool in the back yard, or the bath tub, she loves the water! Now she is learning to splash and play in the water more. She gets pretty excited – it’s too cute!
3. Her Jumparoo. Palmer is now learning to jump while in it. Before she use to just play with the toys on it and listen to the music. Now, she jumps and dances and squeals because it’s so much fun!!
4. Bananas. This girl loves food and I think bananas are her favorite! She has yet to really dislike anything we have given her. I’m not sure if we got lucky and she won’t be a picky eater or if she just loves anything she can get in her mouth.
5. Reading stories. We read Palmer a book nearly every night. She is so attentive to the stories. She sits so nice and still and watches you read and touches the pages. Super cute!

We also started cloth diapers this month. We’ve only been using them just a few days, but so far, I like them. I’ll have to make a post dedicated to cloth diapers again once we’ve used them longer!

Our Thoughts:

Rewards: It’s so great to see how much Palmer is developing. I am amazed at how much this little girl can do already! She surprises us more and more every day. People told us “She may be a month behind and may take some time to catch up to other babies” but we haven’t seen this at all. In fact, she was quick to roll over, quick to sit up, quick to do many things. I’m sure she will be quick to crawl, walk and talk too. This little one doesn’t let anything stop her!

Struggles: I am having a hard time finding activities that are age appropriate for her which will encourage learning. Yes, I know she is always learning, but I find if I don’t come up with new things for her to be doing, I get bored. 12 hours of daytime with her, most days is super amazing and fun, but it’s also exhausting and can get boring if I can’t find things to plan!

Friday - Our Week In Fabulous Photos

Played outside

Sat in my Grandpas' cars

Played outside some more

ate bananas

Played on the swings at Henderson Park

Mommy went camera happy (as usual)

Played outside with Daddy

and Grandpa

and Grandma

and went swimming in my pool

mmm...pickles!!

slept in my new "supergirl" jammies

tried out my new cloth diapers

at Alberta Children's Hospital in Calgary

crazy clouds before yet another storm

after the storm, outside our house

mmm...peaches! Yummy!!

after eating peaches!

I'm Done With Blowouts!!!

I have recently been considering switching to cloth diapers. I always thought they were “gross” and I was turned off by the fact you had to clean poop into the toilet, but I have come to realize, baby poop is not nice no matter what so why not save the environment and a few bucks?!?  What really opened my eyes was a fellow baby steps mama, nurse, and blogger who posted about it here. She made so many valid points. Not only do they pay for themselves after 6 months, but you can use them for a second baby, use the shells for swimming, and the list goes on and on. Of course, there is quite a large upfront cost, much more considerable than buying a box of diapers, but by starting them now, we could save ourselves $1500 or more in disposable diapers over the course of Palmer’s diaper-wearing days!

Here is a (small) list of reasons I’m considering the switch:

1.  NO MORE BLOWOUTS!!! Just tonight we had poop all the way up Palmer’s neck! Who wants to clean that up? Who even knows how to clean that up? Trying to take the onsie off that is poop filled up that high without getting it all over baby, I had it on the bathroom rug, her head, myself. It’s a gross mess! Cloth diapers = no blowouts!!
2.  Saving the environment. If you read the post from the blog I linked, you will see it takes 250-500 years for a diaper to decompose! NASTY!
3. Better on baby’s skin. Disposables are full of chemicals. Cloth diapers are natural and soft on baby’s bum. Way less diaper rash too!!
4. Cost savings. Like I mentioned, there is a bigger upfront cost, but after you’ve bought everything you need, that’s it for the 2-3 years of diaper-wearing by baby. Disposables cost us roughly $0.25 each, using approx 8/day = $2/day. Multiply this by 365 days/year  = $730/year on disposable diapers. Palmer will be wearing diapers for another 2-3 years….that’s a lot of money spend on diapers!

So, although we are still on the fence, I am heavily leaning towards making the switch to GroVia diapers. Plus, they come in super cute colours and patterns!