This is all I have

I remain committed to posting every day this month. Having spent the day with a better but still sick little boy I don't have too much to write about, so this is what you are gonna get, a post about Harry's wool soaker.

When I learned about the whole concept of using wool as a cover for cloth diapers I was skeptical. It just seemed strange that something as non watertight as a knit garment would work to keep the baby's clothing dry. I am now a believer after having seen a wool soaker in action for myself.

I bought an ultra cute soaker off of eBay for a nice price. It was so cute that I could not resist. It had to be lanolized to make it work. Lanolin is naturally in wool it is sheep sweat. When wool is processed it is removed and saved for skin creams and things like that. After reading a bunch of different websites I gather that the lanolin chemically reacts with the urine and forms a soap like product which cleans the soaker continually. You only need to wash a soaker when you get it dirty or it starts to smell. The smell is a signal that the lanolin has been used up and generally only happens about every two to three months.

All I really know is that it works and works quite well. Harry took some really long naps today. I did not want to change his diapers and disturb him, so I just let him sleep. He never had a leak when he woke up but he did have some really wet diapers for me to change. Right now some very simple things are what thrill me.

Cloth diaper update

You may remember that I recently made the switch to cloth diapers. You may also be wondering how things are going. Have I gone nuts, drowning in laundry? Do my kids smell of pee all the time? Read on and all your pressing questions will be answered.

Things are going very well. I had to work out a few kinks in the system but now things are smoothing out. I had to get used to changing diapers more often. I had a bad tendency with disposables to not change them until they almost fell off. I bought more diapers off of a friend that was switching to a different kind of diaper so we stopped running out and I could wait longer between washings. I also bought some fleece and hemp (hee hee hemp) doublers for nap time and the times when we are going to be out of the house for longer periods of time. The fleece helps keep the skin dryer and the hemp is incredibly absorbent and it also make cleaning the poo much easier.

I had to figure out a diaper pail system. We ended up using a really nice diaper pail liner in a regular trash can. I soak the super stinky poos in a bucket upstairs in the laundry area. The pail liner is nice because you can wash it with your diapers instead of having to wash out the pail every time. It also doubles as a handy bag to bring the diapers upstairs and back down again.

Laundering is also a little more tricky than regular clothing. You can't use a lot of detergent as it will build up and reduce absorbency. I also use a vinegar rinse to help get the pee smell out. Fabric softeners are a big no no as it reduces absorbency. The wraps are hung out to dry. I only have to do a load of diapers every other day so my laundry while a bit more tricky is not excessive. When I was not so careful about frequent changes I did have to change clothing a lot but now that I have it down my laundry load has settled down.

I must say that I actually like cloth diapering a lot. How else can you have ultra cute customizable diapers? I love that if you are handy you can make everything yourself. I also like that if you are not handy then there are loads of choices out there at good prices. I also love that my diapers will last through many kids and still be going strong. I am thinking about picking up a few fun diaper covers in the future. I am also having one of my sisters knit me some wool covers as a Christmas gift. I sent her the wool and pattern. She is a student and short on cash so I thought it would be a great way for her to help me out and I would get something that I really wanted. She is a better knitter than me and does not have to deal with little kids interrupting her all the time. I really can see how some people have actually become addicted to cloth diapering.

I think I may be a little bit crazy

This weekend I started a grand experiment. It all started when my husband mentioned that the cost of diapers shot up a whole ten dollars per box at Costco. I was shocked that they would do such a huge jump in price. My brain reeled and while I was still stunned from the shock I went out and bought a bunch of cloth diapers.

I had been toying with the idea for some time but the start up cost and thought of the extra work kind of put me off. The cheap woman that lives inside of me liked the fact that I would not be throwing money away with each disposable that I used. She also loved the fact that we could use the diapers for other babies. While my brain was reeling Cheap Woman came out and took over.

So far only Harry had been changed over to cloth diapers. We have fewer disposables for him, plus we have diaper covers for him. Awhile back I picked up a bunch of them from a local recycle group. I had intended on keeping them as a sort of back up diaper plan in case of some awful calamity (this is a bit like my food collecting thing). The lot only included small and medium covers so there were not any big enough for Evan. Truth be told, all Harry has to do is gain a few pounds and even those will not fit him. This led me to bid on some diaper covers on Ebay. I got a pretty good deal on a huge lot of large and extra large covers I am patheticaly eager to be getting them in the mail.

You may be wondering how the experiment is going. Well so far not too bad. Harry did pick this weekend to poop up a storm again. Some of the covers were not as water tight as I would have liked, but I did get them for free so I can't complain too loudly.

When I told my mom I was making the switch she had a bit of advice for me. It was sweet but simple: don't put the diapers in the toilet to soak. She tried cloth diapers with my sister H who was number three of four, but number four had yet arrived. Back then it was common to put the diapers in the toilet to soak all the poo off. My sister E and I were given strict instructions not to flush when there was a diaper in the toilet. One Sunday morning my sister E forgot what my mother had told her and flushed a diaper.

I actually remembered the incident. I clearly remember having to use the potty training potty when I had to go to the bathroom. I was quite embarrassed. The savings of using cloth diapers was quite literally flushed down the toilet since my poor parents had to call a plumber in on the weekend to get things fixed.

I have figured out that I am pretty much going to have to stick this out for at least six months. Hopefully by then I will have all the kinks worked out and I will be happily saving money with my cloth diapers.