Lets Talk About Cloth Diapers

*this is not a sponsored post**

Lets talk about cloth diapers. As part of a green living family cloth diapering only makes sense. I didn't discover cloth diapers until Amar'e was 10 months or so old (when baby A arrives,  in October, will be starting off strong with cloth). I started to use them and I loved it. Although I did have a few hiccups that I'm pretty sure I've worked out. At first I think that I was using too much soap to wash them in and it wouldn't wash out properly during the rinse and she would get an awful rash. To combat that problem, I did a really good pre-soak and went light on the soap during the wash.  I also made the horrible mistake to treat that rash with Desitin (I no longer use products like this on my family see the calendula salve post to find out why). That is a total no-no in for cloth diapers. Some of them still have some build up residue that didn't strip out when I tried to stripped them. I am still unsure what to do if you little has a rash and you are using cloth. I did use a tiny amount of the calendula salve I make with the cloth diapers, and didn't seem to ruin the diaper, and it washed out pretty well too. Any cloth diapering mother out there, feel free to hand over some advice! The other hiccup I had was not being able to get her through the night in a cloth diaper, for some reason she would always wet through. Once again, cloth diapers mothers....HELP! I have to switch her over to a disposable for nighttime and I also would only use disposables when we were away from the house for more then an hour. I am hoping I can be more confident with cloth diapering baby A because I will be doing it from the beginning. (Currently, Amar'e is working on potty training and is making great progress. In the mean time we are using disposables on her.)

So, Andrew and I are ready to give cloth diapering another shot. We have our supply ready and waiting for the newest member to arrive. I decided to go with gDiapers to start off with. I found a great deal on a newborn package and couldn't pass it up. When little baby A is grown out of the ones we have we will either stay with gDiapers and purchase the next size up, or switch over to another brand. The brands that we used for Amar'e were Charlie Banana, and Simply Baby. I would probably go with one of those brands and obviously use the one that Amar'e is not fully grown out of as well.

I am just hoping I will be able to handle a newborn, a demanding and adjusting two year old, and an 11 year-old who probably will be very sick of being asked to help out along with the extra laundry demands of the cloth diapers. Laundry is not my strong point. I still have a pile of clean laundry covering the entire couch waiting to be folded since our return from Florida. We did get the compostable, biodegradable, flushable liners to use for a while we all adjust to baby A. I have enough for about two weeks of use.

I am open to all and any advice. Please tell me a little bit about your experience with cloth diapering.  Feel free to leave a comment below!

P.S.- I came across this article on cloth diapering that was extremely helpful to me. Check it out!

Officially Weaned

As of mid-April, Amar'e has completely weaned. To my surprise, this went remarkably smooth. She hadn't been nursing a whole lot so the transition was natural and pretty easy. It involved very little tears or an upset toddler, which was ideal because I wanted the wean to be as easy on her as possible. I truly never had a set idea of how long I was going to nurse her, I just let it happen. I wrote about the thought of weaning and a little bit about my breastfeeding experience here.  I am not sure what caused her to give it up in the end. I am assuming it was a mix between the taste of my milk getting salty because of the hormonal changes my pregnant body is going through, and me suggesting another activity when she would ask for her bubba. She was always willing to give the other activity suggestion a try and forgot all about wanting to nurse. One day I realized that she hadn't nursed in over a week. At this time I do believe I gave into a request of hers to nurse, I guess to just give it a try after a week of not doing it, and it was extremely uncomfortable for me. That must of been my turning point of physically not being able to nurse her anymore. Probably due to the hormonal changes once again, and the thought of tandem nursing is frankly overwhelming to me.  I give those mother who nurse a baby and a toddler credit because I don't think I would be able to handle doing that. How would I get anything done? Other than nursing children? Although, if Amar'e were still nursing when the baby arrived, I'm pretty sure I would be a tandem nursing mother, most likely, not getting anything done (besides feeding children) and that would be OK.

Anyway, I could not be more happy that the wean was done smoothly and without any problems. I also could not be more proud of myself for nursing my lovely little baby for over two years. Nursing doesn't come instinctively for every mother, but it did for me (don't get me wrong, it wasn't overly easy to learn). I am very happy that I never was met with any negativity about our choice of extended-breatfeeding(I guess it's the official name for nursing a child after the age of one). Maybe it isn't viewed as harshly as I thought it was viewed. I'm pretty sure seeing that Time magazine that featured an article on extended nursing set my mind on the course of thinking that is was thought of as negative. Or maybe it is, and I  never found myself in a situation where I noticed negativity about nursing a toddler. Either way, when it comes to what's best for my family, I let my feelings guide me and not the opinions of others. Now I have four more months until I start the next chapter of nursing another child.

This is the outcome of an exclusively breastfeed vegan child:

Results: Perfection!!!!

I want to hear your story...did you breast or bottle feed. Were you happy with your decision? Any regrets?

A Birthday Party.

This weekend (March 23rd) Amar'e turned two. It's hard to believe that the little tiny baby, I once held in my arms, in now two years old. It it bittersweet watching her grow up. It's hard to see your baby get older, but it a joy to see them grow. My latest read is Buddhism for Mothers of Young Children and this book is helping me be a more mindful parent. It touches on such things as dwelling on your children growing, and how it should be celebrated and not mourned. This also helps with dealing with Damien, who has grown up so fast, right before my eyes. I've come to realize that being a mother is all I've ever really known. It has become my identity in some sort of way. I was a mother before I was an adult. I was a mother before I was an employee. I was a mother before I could drive a car. I was a mother before I was me. I don't know how it feels to not be a mother. I've never really gave it thought as to whether I wanted to be a mother when I was younger, like some young girls know that they want to be a mother and have have a family. For me I never thought about it, so I guess being a mother chose me. I'm glad it did...

*Sorry about some out of focus pictures. I was in a hurry when taking a few of them knowing that the moment could be over in seconds. *


Now, for some more fun, I asked Amar'e 20 questions on her birthday. (Elisabeth Stone gave me the idea):

1. What is your favorite color? Blue
2. What is your favorite toy? Baby
3. What is your favorite fruit? Apple
4. What is your favorite tv show? Dor (Dora)
5. What is your favorite thing to eat for lunch? Soup
6. What is your favorite outfit? Blue Shoes
7. What is your favorite game? Yup
8. What is your favorite snack? Cookie
9. What is your favorite animal? Baby puppy
10. What is your favorite song? La la la (Itsy Bitsy Spider)
11. What is your favorite book? Up
12. Who is your best friend? Baby
13. What is your favorite cereal? O's
14. What is your favorite thing to do outside? Jump
15. What is your favorite drink? Apple Juice
16. What is your favorite holiday? Birthday
17. What do you like to take to bed with you at night? Buba (Breast milk)
18. What is your favorite thing to eat for breakfast? Soup
19. What do you want for dinner on your birthday? Soup 
20. What do you want to be when you grow up? Big