6.24.2009

taking the plunge

Standard warning: This post is allll baby crazyness. Feel free to move on. And come back from vacay, gal pals, so I can have some adult interaction and not blog about diapers. Thanks.

A few weeks ago, I took the plunge to cloth diapering (well, mostly, I am "hybrid" cloth diapering if you want to be specific) for a few reasons:
1. We're trying to save money.
2. For whatever reason, I have become hyper-aware and irrationally afraid of the chlorine in disposable diapers. (Think about it... that's a LOT of chlorine on your baby's cute little toosh.)
3. I still don't have both feet on board the Global Warming Express but after five months of throwing out the Diaper Genie's sausage link bags of soiled disposable diapers and knowing how long they take to break down... I feel just a little bit guilty from time to time. Not always but there are times.
4. I cannot deny this as a small piece of my silly reasoning: they just make baby booties look so dang CUTE! Help me.

So... after I waited for those five hours at the hospital for my embolization, only to be sent home, Paul and I had the rest of the day wide open so what did we do? Well, he went to the golf store while I went on my mission at Babies R Us (Two random things we do not have in the "Classic City"... O'Charley's and a Babies R Us.). How adult of us. I toyed with the idea of "hybrid" cloth diapering for a while. (There is just not way I could ever go straight to cloth because I've been spoiled by disposables for the last five + months.) So in my research I landed on gDiapers, a hyrbid cloth diapering "system." (Why do they call them "systems?" Is that supposed to sound more interesting like it's an XBOX or something? Baby terminology baffles me. But, obviously by this post, I fall prey to it in some areas of my life. I need a life.) Anyway... these little diapers are basically a cloth cover and snap-in liner BUT they also make disposable inserts. Which would defeat the whole purpose of this little "system" in the first place except that they are flushable, compost-able and they decompose much faster than regular disposable. So you've basically got three options (flush, compost, dispose) but either way, they break down much faster, they're chlorine-free and they're still almost as quick and easy as disposables once you get the fit down.

I don't flush anymore. One too-full diaper and I was literally taking the plunge. (Not to mention our guest/G toilet is the spawn.) No casualties to speak of but it could've been a close one. If I use the disposable gDiaper liners, I just dipose of them as normal to let them break down naturally. But, the best part cloth-wise is that the little g covers hold your regular ole cloth panel. Which is great for the wet diapers, easy to wash in its own load. For the poop? Ohmygoshhelpme I will never ever EVER use cloth again if Gray is even maybe going to be pushing one out. Never been so grossed out, I don't know how people do it. I still use regular disposables for that and for when we go out... they are just easier to tote around and no clean-up necessary. And G goes much longer without a diaper change (because I guess they breathe a little better and keep the moisture away from his skin which = no diaper rash = a happy Graybaybay) so I'm already noticing a huge decrease in diaper waste. Win.

But really... how cute is his bum?





They come in a lot of bright colors which is fun. You know, if you consider colored diaper covers to be "fun."






And just for cuteness... my little guy snoozing. My heart could just explode.

1 comment:

stephleighjenkins said...

In the picture where Grayson is sleeping, he looks like Emily!!