Quick Before I Get Sidetrack'd

Okay, so I haven’t blogged in…well, in forever. I wish I had a really good excuse, like I was caring for a newborn, but, alas, not yet.

So here are a few random pieces of information concerning the baby girl

~In November we bought a minivan. You might remember that I was having a really hard time with the idea of driving a minivan; I have to admit, however, that it really isn’t bad. We ended up getting a Honda Odyssey, and I like it a lot.

~Last week I washed several loads of laundry to get all of her tiny little clothes ready to wear, blankets ready to wrap up in, and burp cloths ready to spit up on. We have approximately 3 dozen burp cloths…is that normal?

~Her crib is in her room and the bumper pads are washed, but there is no sheet on the bed, the changing table is filled with non-baby items, and Little’s name is still hanging on the wall. Guess we still have some work to do there before she moves into the crib.

~She is well stocked on diapers. We should have plenty of tiny disposable diapers to get us through the first week or two, and I’ve got the GroBaby and BumGenius stash waiting in the wings.

~The infant car seat is installed in the van just waiting to bring her home from the hospital.

~I am 39 weeks 4 days pregnant. Officially the longest I’ve ever been pregnant. And she doesn’t seem to be in any hurry to make her appearance. I figure she’s waiting until later in the week when it’s supposed to snow. Or possibly for Spring.

~I alternate between being extremely ready for her to arrive and perfectly content for her to stay right where she is. I think this has more to do with the potential reactions of the 3 year old and 20 month old than the baby herself.

~That said, I can’t wait to meet her. To hold her. To see what she looks like.

And I think that about sums it up. I’ll keep you posted.

A few months ago I was given (free of charge) a Gro Baby shell set to try out with Boo. I must say I love the Gro Baby diaper – the ease of snap-in liners versus “stuffing” pocket diapers, no problems with leaking (even overnight), and a trimmer fit than our Fuzzi Bunz. In fact, Matt likes the Gro Baby system so much better that he has requested that we use them with the new baby girl when she arrives in a few months.

And now Gro Baby has made it even better by introducing their Biodegradable Soaker Pads.

Bio Soakers, as they’re known, are biodegradable inserts designed to use when you are out and about, traveling, or any time you desire a liner that doesn’t requiring laundering. Just like the cloth soaker pads in the Gro Baby system, you can remove the soiled Bio Soaker liner and insert a new liner as needed while using the same shell.

The Biodegradable Soaker Pads are made of a soft certified natural, 100% Ingeo spunbound non-woven fabric that touches baby’s skin, a core of biodegradable wood pulp fibers (contains 3 grams of SAP gel compared to 10-20 grams in other disposables), and a 100% natural waterproof outer.  They attach to the Gro Baby shell using a sticker adhesive that holds the liner in place without damaging the mesh interior of the shell.

Bio Soakers are a great addition to the Gro Baby package, and will be a great addition to my cloth diapering stash.  I’m looking forward to trying out this new product!  In exchange for publishing this post The Natural Baby Company will provide me with a Bio Soaker Intro package free of charge.

Thank you to The Natural Baby Company for providing a quality cloth diapering product and an opportunity to try out their new product free of charge.

I’ve officially been a cloth-diapering Momma for almost 7 months now, and the longer I do it the more I like it. In fact, Matt’s even come around to it and admitted not long ago that it wasn’t nearly as bad as he had thought it would be. As for the babe in cloth – he’s doing great: no diaper rashes, no terrible eczema outbreaks, and he looks too darn cute running around in his Fuzzi Bunz. To further make our point about cloth for Boo, every time he’s in disposables for any length of time (more than 24 hours usually) he ends up with a yeast infection.

All of that to say that I am totally sold on cloth and will definitely be using cloth from the beginning the next time around. We love our Fuzzi Bunz, but I’ve seen a new diaper around lately called Gro Baby and I am very intrigued by this diaper. They are a one-size which would be great starting from birth, and they have a reusable shell with a snap-in liner which would reduce laundry.

Anyway, my wonderful SIL introduced me recently to a new blog (well, new to me at least) called Green Kiddos, and there I found a link to a Gro Baby giveaway. So, this is my post entering said giveaway. I would love to try these diapers!

For more info on the diapers check out The Natural Baby Company; for more info on the giveaway, check out the Gro Baby Facebook page.

Sometimes you can be thinking about a thing and then events conspire to force you into action. That happened to me recently.

For several months I’ve contemplated switching Boo to cloth diapers. I didn’t really have a firm reason for making the switch but just felt like it was something I would like to do eventually.  That along with the fact that Matt was pretty adamantly opposed to the idea deterred me from taking the plunge and ordering some.

Then, Boo’s eczema got bad.  And then it got terrible.  And then it got even worse and wasn’t responding to the usual course of treatment, so I took him to the doctor.  Verdict – really bad eczema (thanks for the official diagnosis, doc) and contact dermititis…from his diapers.  Treatment – topical steroid.  Suggestion – switch to cloth diapers.  Matt’s response – “So, I guess you get your way.”

Because I had been researching cloth diapering off and on for a while and had talked to a friend of mine who cloth diapers, I had a pretty good idea of what I wanted to use.  I did consider doing a trial program, like the one offered by Jillian’s Drawers, where we could try several different types/brands of diapers and see what worked best for us and Boo.  But, since we needed these diapers, like, yesterday, I opted to stick with the pocket diapers that I’d decided on previously.

I ordered a dozen Fuzzi Bunz pocket diapers and off we went.  I opted for Fuzzi Bunz over other popular pocket diapers because they snap instead of velcro.  With Boo being 8 months old I figure it won’t be long before we get into the “oh wow, I can take my diaper off by myself” phase, and I’ve read that the snaps on Fuzzi Bunz deter little fingers better than velcro diapers.  I’ve also read that velcro is sometimes difficult to keep “clean” (free from dryer lint, etc) and that it wears more quickly.  The snaps do take longer to fasten than I imagine velcro would, but when you’re wrestling an alligator what’s a few more seconds?

One of the intimidating factors about switching to cloth was how to handle poopy dipes.  I can’t exactly say that it is a pleasant experience, but it isn’t really any different than dealing with a potty training toddler.  I dump, rinse, and throw it in the wash pile.  I do laundry every day right now, but with a few more diapers and inserts I could do every other day.  We double “stuff” diapers for nighttime and usually at naptime and rarely have we had an issue with leaks.  He does occasionally leak during the day, but generally it’s because I haven’t gotten his diaper changed in a timely manner.

But the big thing is that his skin issues started to clear up immediately!  In addition to the eczema, he’s always (as in since he was about a week old) had some bumps and spots on his lower abdomen where the top of his diaper hits.  Within 24 hours of switching to cloth they were all cleared up.  With the combination of topical steroids and cloth diapers his eczema was on the mend quickly as well.

I’ve been quite pleased with the Fuzzi Bunz diapers and the cloth diapering experience as a whole.  Now that we’ve jumped in and made the switch, I don’t plan on going back (at least not long term).  And for that, Boo’s legs thank us.