Cloth Diaper Trial - Results!

Okay, so I slacked on reporting the rest of my diaper trial. We traveled two weekends in a row and thus washed diapers at someone else's house. That was a bit of a pain, and one washing was more successful than the other (fabric softener residue and a rogue dryer sheet), but I feel like I could handle it for traveling in the future. Having a full stash of diapers will help quite a bit, and a wetbag large enough for travel will also be a nice addition.

Our trial set has been successfully returned to Jillian's Drawers, and I've been slowly purchasing our stash. When all is said and done we'll have:

• 4 Grasshopper (light green) BGs
• 4 Butternut (yellow) BGs
• 4 Clementine (orange) BGs
• 4 White BGs
• 2 Noodle (vanilla, off-white) BGs
• 1 Meadow (green) Thirsties fitted
• 1 Honeydew (yellow-green) Thirsties fitted
• 1 Meadow Thirsties snap cover

The best part is that even though that sounds like a lot, we'll break even with Isabella even though we started really late and save quite a bit of money with a second baby! And then, once we're finished with the diapers, they can be sold to get part of our money back.

Cloth Diaper Trial - Day 7

Today I had to work, so Isabella's first cloth diaper didn't go on until 6:30 PM. She's also sleeping in cloth (BG 4.0). Luke and I have discussed what we think we'll be purchasing once our trial is done. We really like the BG 4.0s, so we'll probably end up purchasing around 15 of those (and getting 3 free thanks to BG's current sale!). My favorite for nighttime is still the Thirsties Duo Fitted with a Thirsties Duo Cover, so we'll likely get a couple of those, too. These next two weekends we'll be traveling, so we'll be trying out traveling with cloth diapers, and I'll make sure to do reviews following each weekend.

Cloth Diaper Trial - Day 6

All's well that ends well. Nothing eventful today, except that I purchased some BG 4.0's today.

Cloth Diaper Trial - Day 5

Today Isabella and I went to the Sedgwick County Zoo. First we met with a sweet babywearing mama to give ring sling tips, then we got to spend the morning running around the Zoo! I even changed a cloth diaper on a park bench (and was very glad there wasn't any poop in it). I wish I had pictures, video would be even better, but it is difficult to take pictures of yourself and baby while alone. Let's just suffice to say that Isabella rode on my back looking over my shoulder. It was nice because I could tell exactly what she could see since her sightline was almost identical to mine! Because it was early morning during the week, there weren't very many people there and it was so nice to just walk and talk to her and tell her what we were looking at.

In cloth diaper news, we finally braved the world of prefolds today. The larger prefold worked fine with the snappi, but the smaller one wasn't wide enough for the snappi to reach both sides! It won't be my favorite method, but I would seriously consider them for a newborn (since newborns don't try to run away while you're wielding the snappi like a toddler does). I really like the Thirsties fitted with cover for nighttime since it's so soft and the whole thing is absorbent. I may try just using the fitted with no cover if the ouside of it isn't wet tomorrow morning since I would like Isabella to get some time without a pul cover.

Cloth Diaper Trial - Day 4

Today was a good cloth diaper day. Even the church nursery did well with the dipes. Here's a couple pictures from tonight right before bedtime:

Cloth Diaper Trial - Day 3

After calculating how much money we could save with switching to cloth diapers, Luke and I decided to do a cloth diaper trial from Jillian's Drawers. They sent us a variety of diapers to keep for three weeks, all for a measly fee of $10!

I'm starting on Day 3 with my "report" because days 1 and 2 were used to prep the diapers (washing on hot 3 times and then drying). Nothing too exciting there. I spent yesterday evening trying to figure out sizing on the one-size diapers that were sent in the trial.

Today was the first day of real cloth diapering! When Isabella woke up I changed her out of her pampers diaper and into a BumGenius OS 4.0. She promptly pooped in it less than an hour later. The next victim was a Happy Heiney OS. I hate the abundance of snaps on this diaper (4 per tab, or 8 total). She also pooped in this diaper, which seemed fitting since I didn't like it. Then we tried a Rumparooz diaper. I like the design on this diaper, and it's user-friendly, but it didn't seem like the rise was as long as some of the other one-size diapers and I had to let all the snaps out to make it look like it fit correctly. This doesn't bode well for the future with this diaper since Isabella is only 15 months and 23 pounds. Next was a SmartiPants OS. This design has a pocket on both the front and back of the diaper, which wasn't as "clean" a look as I was putting it on. It also has only a single line of snaps to affix the tabs to the front of the diaper, which at first I didn't like, but it didn't seem to affect the usage. Our last daytime diaper today was a Fuzzibunz one-size. The sizing on the Fuzzibunz was quite confusing to me, but it is a nice look without all the extra snaps on the front. To round out our day, Isabella pooped in this one, too! :-P We put her to bed tonight in a Thirsties OS fitted with a Thirsties cover.

I've been really pleased today with how well the diapers worked today, especially considering how much poop was involved! No leaking at all. All today's diapers are in the washer downstairs getting ready to go again...so until tomorrow...good night!

Texas Caviar!

Texas Caviar
Mix in large bowl:

• 1 can pinto beans, drained
• 1 can black eyed peas, drained
• 1 can white shoepeg corn, drained
• 1 can black beans, drained
• 1 cup chopped green, red, yellow peppers (I read this as 1 cup of each color)
• 1 cup chopped celery
• 1/2 cup chopped onion
• 1 small jar chopped pimentos
• 1 small can diced jalepenos

Combine the following, bring to boil, then immediately cool:

• 1 cup salad oil, not olive
• 1/2 cup cider vinegar (this is smelly stuff!)
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp pepper

After cooling liquid mixture, pour over top of bean mix. Cover and refrigerate a few hours to overnight. Serve with tortilla chips.

A couple of notes about making this. It's delicious, but don't make it on date night with your new girlfriend/boyfriend because your resulting breath could definitely be a turnoff! When heating the vinegar/oil mixture, make sure your fan is turned on. As soon as the mixture boils, take it off the burner immediately, but don't move it too far from the fan, as it will still be emitting stinky fragrances. Storing this dip in glassware is the smartest thing to do, as it won't hold onto the smell like plasticware will. If served within a few hours of making, it will have more of a sweet flavor. Once stored overnight it takes on a more twangy note.

Bottom line: Just try it once! I think you'll love it!

Fingerless Gloves...

I'll get to the gloves in a moment...

Today was a really fun day. My mom and grandparents came to Wichita today from Southwest Kansas/Northwest Oklahoma. We had a great day together, just hanging out and enjoying playing with Isabella. My sister also joined in the fun since she lives just across town from us. My granddad helped Luke start a growth chart he's making for Isabella. I'll post pictures when it's finished. It's rather involved (thanks to a Mommy with a great imagination), so it might be awhile before it's all finished. I honestly hope it will be something we keep in our home forever; that's how special I want it to be.

After the rest of our family left, Leslie stayed and hung out with Luke, Isabella and I. Once Isabella was in bed, Luke pulled out our Guitar Hero 5 game and we did our best to rock from our seats in the recliners. We recently turned our heat down a couple of degrees, and while playing my hands and fingers were getting so cold! I said, "I wish I had some fingerless gloves so I could keep my fingers warm and still play." Then it hit me! I bought a couple pairs of cheap knit gloves last winter (2 pairs for 50 cents cheap) and I could make my own fingerless gloves! After hunting through the hall closet I found 3 gloves (who knows where the other one has gone). I cut the fingers off one pair, and whala! fingerless gloves! I don't think they'll last long like this since they're already fraying a little around where I cut them, but they did help keep my hands warm while playing!

Tomorrow I'm making Texas Caviar for the Super Bowl, and I'll share the recipe, too!

The highlight of my day!



There is no better feeling than having your baby sleeping on your back!



Dinnertime Struggles and Bedtime Snuggles

The highlight of your day as a family is supposed to be the family dinner, right? Sometimes, our family fits that mold. Other times, well, not so much. Tonight, for example, Bella chose to throw handfuls of food off her tray onto the floor while crying, screaming, begging almost for her paci which had fallen off to the side earlier. She did drink a decent amount of milk (maybe 4 oz), but I think only 2-3 bites of food crossed her lips. Was it just that she didn't like the food? I don't think so, because the crying and pitching food started before any food even touched her mouth. Was it because she drank a little juice when she and Daddy got home, before dinner was made? Was it that she just wasn't hungry at all? Who knows. Whatever it was, it was a stressful dinner for sure.

Bedtime is Isabella's primetime, in my opinion. She gets all cuddly and just sits on my lap smiling and "communicating" in her own way. Nursing snuggles are the absolute best, and I think she likes it more than I do. Bedtime makes me wish that she could be a baby forever and ever.

Being a mother is never easy but always worth it!