30 Day Challenge: Day 1! Something I'm Looking Forward to This Year

The first thing that popped into my mind when I saw the topic for today was seeing Niblet in her newborn diapers! I hope to start using cloth in the hospital (as long as they allow us to; if not, we'll start as soon as we get home), and I'm in love with the (few) tiny diapers we have. A friend of mine loaned me some Thirsties newborn covers and some newborn fleece covers, which are adorable. We'll be ordering 20 Green Mountain Diapers Workhorse fitteds in September, and already have a few Kissaluvs size 0. The Kissas have a snap-down notch to accommodate the cord-stump those first few days, which just adds to the cuteness of them. I took a picture this last week of a fitted and cover that Monkey is currently in, snapped to her current size, next to a picture of a fitted and cover that Niblet will wear when she arrives.

Of course, I'm also looking forward to Monkey's birthday next month! We decided to go with a monkey theme (it's only fitting) and will be celebrating with a big group of friends and family. I'm not allowing myself to stress over her party; after all, the whole point is to enjoy her big day!

How to make a Cloth Diaper....Or waste an afternoon

I set out today to sew a diaper using this pattern and the brand spankin' new sewing machine my mom got me for Christmas. I had bought my fabric and elastic a few weeks before Christmas, knowing I would probably get a machine as a gift. So this morning, I threw my flannel in the wash, thinking I would be able to knock out the diaper in the half hour the instructions say it takes to make.

Mind you, I haven't sewn since junior high school, and that was an apron and a surfboard pillow.

Thank God for snow! My aunt, the same one that bought all the pumpkins, decided to come down into the valley this afternoon, as a blizzard was expected in her hometown, and she didn't think she'd be able to make it down the mountain in the morning to get to work. She came over to visit (read: to see the baby) and saw what I was doing. At that point, I had the sewing machine set up on the dining room table and was attempting to figure out what the heck I was doing. She immediately asked where my thread was.

Oops.

So we made a trip to JoAnn's for some thread, and ended up getting some pins, a marking pencil, and a ruler as well. We also got one of those tomato pin-cushions. I named him Bob.

As soon as we got back to the house, we set to work. She started taping the pattern together (it's a PDF that prints on 4 pages) and cutting the fabric, while I got the bobbin and needle threaded. As I type this, we have the sewing machine and fabric ready to go, and we're hoping the snow continues tomorrow, so that she can come over and we can attempt to finish the diaper!

Day 12: Whatever Tickles My Fancy

I'm THRILLED about what tickles my fancy today. We'll be cloth diapering and we finally got Princess' first cover! We don't have a good place to buy diapers here in town, so we'll be using gDiapers. I haven't heard much bad feedback on gDiapers, and I'm thinking the all-in-one style is really going to work for us. When we told my in-laws we were primarily going to cloth diaper (I don't mind using disposables if we get any at our shower, but I'm not going to make a point of spending money on them), my mother-in-law got this scared look on her face. She'll be taking care of Princess once I go back to work in mid-January, and she's TERRIFIED of CDs! Thankfully, the gDiapers are pretty similar to sposies, and even have disposable liners, which we'll keep in the diaper bag. Part of the reason we bought the single cover is so that we can show HubbyButt's family how easy they are to use.

It's basically a three-layer system. On the outer layer you have (of course) the cover. Covers come in a whole bunch of different patterns and I really would like to try to make a couple of my own covers, just to save a bit more money and so I can match them to Princess' outfits without having to shop all over the internet. The covers are washable, which is awesome. The second layer is a vinyl liner that snaps into the cover. This layer is supposed to catch anything that leaks through the final inside layer, the liner. gDiaper liners come in two styles: reusable and disposable. The reusable liners are hemp, and these are what we'll be using while we're at home and running around town. The disposable liners are what I'm really super excited about. You can toss them, flush them, or compost them, so there's no waste if you decide to compost (I probably won't be composting just because we're renting and I don't want to start a compost pile in the backyard, but once we buy our own home, I'll compost for sure!). Like I said before, we'll keep the disposable liners in the diaper bag and use them for long trips and whatnot, when it's not pleasant to keep dirty liners in the car. The disposable liners are way more worth the money than sposies: gDiaper sposie liners come in a pack of 40 for about $15.

A big part of our decision to cloth diaper (well, my decision really, since HubbyButt doesn't care either way) is that we'd like to have a large family - 5 kids or more. We'll only have to buy all the cloth diapering supplies one time, and then we're set! Sure, I'm sure I'll buy more covers and liners with each child, but we'll really only be spending a lot of money one time, rather than a couple times a month, like we would with sposies.

If anybody has cloth diapered in the past, or is now, and has any tips whatsoever, PLEASE let me know! I'm sure Princess, HubbyButt and I will have quite a few adventures in cloth diapers, so I'll keep you updated once she arrives.