Cloth Life

Last week my mom cleaned out her linen closet and had this pile of old sheets:

The benefit of old sheets is they are really soft from lots of washing & drying which means they make wonderful wipes & liners to use with cloth diapers! Since my friend, Bekah, and I made these little dolls for our LO's I've really been wanting to use my machine more and wipes/liners is a great beginner project!

Just cut out squares {for wipes} & rectangles {for liners} and sew, sew, sew! I got 3 liners & 6 wipes out of just 1 pillowcase!

The benefit of cloth liners is that when you're expecting your LO to go #2 you can put in a liner & "save" your diaper. Less staining means prettier diapers and greater resale value!

Speaking of pretty diapers check out this adorable new Charlie Banana I just got from Target!

 I used my Red Card & that made this diaper around $15 which is about a $5 savings from ordering from CB's site plus no shipping & no waiting anxiously for a new dipe to arrive! Yes, CD mamas wait anxiously for new dipes! Ha!

Another new diaper I'm LOVING right now is our Imagine fitted! It is a wonderful overnight diaper & the only cloth diaper we've ever used overnight that didn't leak! The cover is large enough to actually cover the whole fitted! I attempted to get a picture of Anderson in it but he had The Sillies & this is the best I could do:

Some great news about Imagine diapers is that you'll be able to find them IN A STORE soon! This is huge since most CD's are only available online {hence the anxious waiting}. 

My friend, Kristy, is opening a fabulous children's consignment store that will have all sorts of wonderful clothes, toys and baby gear PLUS Imagine CD's PLUS essential oils PLUS amber teething necklaces & anklets! It's pretty much going to be FAB!

And speaking of The Store...she wanted some pictures of our playgroup in their cloth diapers for the store. Most of y'all have probably seen the pictures on Facebook or Instagram but here they are again!

This series of pictures makes me literally Laugh Out Loud:

"Ready, Set the babies"...

"And RUN!!!"...

"And laugh at how they sat there for .72945 seconds"...

But despite 8 splashing, crying, walking, wiggly toddlers Kristy managed to get this:

{L-R: Anderson, Annalise, Emma Kate, Isla, Thomas, Selah, Ava, Anna Beth}

Which was worth all the {literal} sweat & tears!

If you want more info on Cloth Diapering check out my friend Ilia's 3-part blog series! She's awesome!

My Mommy Must-Haves

Every mommy has their favorite things for their baby! With so many friends expecting I thought I'd share what my favorite things (thus far) have been! Be sure to share what your favorite things are too!

1. EARTH MAMA ANGEL BABY

This company has wonderful all natural products! These are the ones that I have (Bottom Spray, Baby Lotion, Baby Wash, Happy Mama Spray, Nipple Butter, Bottom Balm)!

The body wash is the only wash we've used on Anderson. They even used it for his very first bath in the hospital (per my request)! It smells like orange & vanilla and is so gentle on his soft skin. I love everything I've had from them. 

Oh yeah! And I have their coconut Lip Balm as well (not pictured) which is WONDERFUL to keep your lips moist but safe for sharing kisses with Baby!


2. SOPHIE

Seriously, is there a parent with a teething baby that can survive without Sophie? Her legs are just right for chewing on plus she's easy to clean when she gets dropped on the floor. Just a little soap & water!

3. BABY BULLET

I love my bullet SO MUCH! My mom got me one for my baby shower & I was so excited. Although Anderson has been on a "food strike", before that happened I was cooking up a storm. One sweet potato made about 10 servings! It is SO economical. Obviously you don't have to have the "Baby Bullet" specifically to make your own baby food. But I just really like mine. I love the little storage containers & I won the steamer from this great site! 

Maybe I should just make the steamer it's own category. I love it that much! Not only is it good for steaming sweet potatoes and the like but also I can steam my pump parts & bottle parts & pacifiers & Sophie! When I first got it I was looking all around for new things to steam. It's AWESOME!

4. BUMMIS TOTS BOTS EASY F1T

For all you CD'ing mamas out there! This is by far my favorite diaper! It's very absorbent with it's hemp insert. It's not bulky like the BG's & it's one size! I found them at a wonderful store in Huntsville, A Nurturing Moment! Seriously, THE BEST!

So there you have it! My favorite Baby Things. What are yours???

Rear Gear

So, Hannah Jo posted today about how she is starting her cloth diapering adventure which reminded me that I need to get my rear in gear & share my cloth diapering experience!

That's right, we cloth diaper. Save the eye rolls & "ewww, that's gross" comments. I've rolled my eyes & said "ewww, that's gross" enough for all of us. BUTT (pun intended) my friends Allison & Chloe convinced me to just try it.

So, I figured if it would save us money there was no way I couldn't try it.

AW was very anti-cloth diapering due to the ick factor but since Anderson is EBF (exclusively breastfed) it really isn't all that ick. I mean, think about it...what do you do when they get that seedy, yellow poop on their clothes? You put it in the washing machine, right? So...what difference does it make if it's on the clothes or in a diaper? 

Now, I am not even close to being a cloth diapering expert. But some of the benefits are saving money, the cuteness factor, saving money & new friends! That's right! I've made new friends since becoming a CD'ing mama! Speaking of, Delice, we still need to hang out!

Saving money is my #1 motivation for CD'ing. I had quite the sticker shock the first time I went to buy Anderson diapers after we had gone through all of our diapers that had been gifted to us. I spent $85 on approximately 1 month of diapers! Ridiculous. Don't worry as I review the diaper types I also review the cost!

Reason #2: Look at all the pretty colorrrrrrrs....

Reason #3: New friends! I joined the Cloth Diapering of Alabama facebook group & those ladies have been SO very helpful in my CD'ing journey! They got me to this video & if you're interested in CD'ing I highly recommend you watch this before you look at the millions of webpages out there. It's by Tara at www.paddedtushstats.com http://m.youtube.com/watch?desktop_uri=%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DUQDyF9ObuYQ%26feature%3Dplayer_embedded&feature=player_embedded&v=UQDyF9ObuYQ&gl=US

Now, I've only used 3 brands & so far I've been pretty happy with all 3.

The first brand is Charlie Banana. I got a pack of 6 diapers / 12 inserts from Target for $110.

These are "pocket" diapers which means you stuff them with a microfiber insert. I really like this brand because of the soft fleece lining. Also, they are One Size which means he can stay in these until he's 35 pounds! The only thing I don't like is the snaps. I prefer velcro. The benefit of pockets is you can double or triple up on inserts if you have a heavy wetter or for overnight!

The second brand I have is Bum Genius. I bought 2 diapers with 2 inserts from BuyBuyBaby for $18/ea.

These are also pocket diapers but I LOVE the fact that they're velcro (Hook and Loop)! They work just like a disposable except cuter & re-wearable! These are also One Size. Those snaps in the front allow you to adjust the size as Baby grows (in this picture it is on the biggest size).

The third brand I have is Flip. Now I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE these! They are One Size, velcro shells! I bought all 4 of mine on sale so I got 4 shells for $42!

Now, I just bought the cheap Gerber cloth diaper pack (10/$13) at Wal-Mart & I trifold them & use them as the liner. The neat thing about Flip is once Baby takes care of business you just take out the cloth, wipe the shell & you can re-use it more than once before it needs to be washed!!! Sometimes if I'm expecting a poop or know he might be in a diaper a little longer length of time I'll add an extra one of my Charlie Banana inserts for more absorbency!

So, there you have it! Easy-peasy if you ask me. And I was the biggest "ewwww-y" nay-sayer before! And look how cute this boy is in a cloth diaper...

By they way, the estimate is that you will spend $3,000-4,000 on diapers from birth to potty training PER CHILD.

So far I've spent about $200 for our stash which is now large enough for us to be "full-time" & I wash them every other day. Future children can use them, plus cloth diapers have great resale value!