Quick Update

Things are chugging along more or less as usual right now.

I'm a teacher and am now back to my regular work schedule after having the summer off and am still adjusting a little bit. So far I'm enjoying the new year. I seem to have a nice group of students and am looking forward to when we're settled into a routine as right now things still feel somewhat, well, unsettled.

We had a midwife appointment again last week and things are looking pretty good with the bean. We did get some abnormal test results (again) on our last ultrasound. This time it showed a small sac growing off of one of the kidneys. Our midwife reassured us that this is not uncommon and it usually resolves before birth, and if not then, shortly after. The most common side effect is UTIs and often babies born with this problem are put onto antibiotics right after birth to try to prevent this from happening. We really aren't too concerned, but we will be going in for another ultrasound in about a month to check on how things are progressing. I'm hoping it's a non-issue by then.

We picked up some more (used) MotherEase cloth diapers and a small assortment of diaper covers. Someone had them listed on Craigslist and we ended up getting them for a great price. I was telling one of my co-workers about having to go pick them up and she offered to bring me in some covers she's done with now that her kids are all potty-trained, so we got even more covers from her. They aren't all in the best shape, but I think it's nice to have the assortment.

A couple of things regarding cloth diapers. One, so many people I've spoken to and blogs I've read have talked about how CDing a newborn is so hard because you're so tired and they're so little and such poop so often, so I think we will plan on having some small disposable diapers for the first few weeks. Two, I have decided that covers with snaps wear MUCH better than covers with Velcro/hook and loop closures. I totally get that Velcro is quick and easy and probably lets you adjust to your baby's size a bit better, but I hate the way it seems to get the diapers all pilled and rolls and gets threads caught in it. I think we'll try to get covers with snaps when possible so that they stay in better condition for a longer amount of time.

I've had to restrain myself from looking at too much baby stuff (clothes/toys) online because so much of it is so cute and I want to get it for our little guy but I know it's not likely we'll need it, so I'm trying to hold back. I do hope to do an update at some point with some of the adorable items I've found on Etsy. If I give in, it's likely to be from something on there. :)

My laptop battery is dying so I guess that's about it for now.

Cloth Diapers

This post isn't going to be what I had intended it to be: a well-researched post listing the pros and cons of various cloth diaper options and seeking out real-life opinions and responses to said research. The real-life opinions are still very much welcome, but I haven't done the research I intended to.

Jen and I decided that despite my mother-in-laws strong favouritisim towards disposables (she cloth diapered but LOVED it when she would get disposables as a gift), we would like to try cloth diapering. Both of us hate the idea of filling a landfill with thousands of our child's diapers. We create enough garbage as it is, if we can reduce the amount by cloth diapering our child, we will try it. Not to mention that cloth diapering is supposedly less expensive and also better for the child in terms of being better for their skin and eventually toilet training.

My sister, who is a bit of a modern-day hippie, was pleased to hear that we were going to try to give cloth diapering a go. She hasn't had children but is very pro cloth diapering. Perhaps needless to say, there's a whole other story to this, but she had a good stash of cloth diapers that she was willing to give us. So we now have:
-11 unbleached MotherEase diapers
-6 bleached MotherEase diapers
-10 waterproof Kushies all-in-ones
-15 cotton Kushies all-in-ones
-3 Kushies covers
-1 gDiaper cover
-2 packages of gDiaper refills
-1 roll of flushable liners
-12 prefolds
All but four of the waterproof Kushies are from her.


It's a good start, but we know we're going to need to increase our stash, and the big question now is, with what? I think we'll definitely buy some MotherEase covers since we have quite a few of their diapers. We've also looked at Bummis, BumGenius, Thirsties, MonkeyDoodlez and gDiapers. I've read some not-so-great reviews of gDiapers so as much as I think they are super-cute and really WANT to like them, I'm quite hesitant. MonkeyDoodlez seem similar to gDiapers, so I'm not so sure about them either. My guess is that we'll end up with at least some of each of the other three options. I like that Thirsties appear to come in smaller sizes (for newborns), and Bummis offers a starter pack that seems quite good, and BumGenius are all-in-ones which seems like it might be easier than the prefolds. There's also Bumkins and about 100 other options out there though, so I really don't know.

Anyone with cloth diapering experience who wants to throw their two cents in would be more than welcome to right now!