Cloth Diapers and Potties Make Me Happy

You know you're a mom when.......

I've been using cloth diapers with F for about 2mos now.  Seems odd that I would start so late in the game, but better late than never!  Actually, cloth diapering is something I always wanted to do.  I thought about it when I was pregnant with T, but washing them scared me.  So I looked into getting a service.  Found one in our area, and we signed up.  Well I hated it.  I could never get the hang of folding the prefolds, and the diaper covers seemed rather uncomfortable for T.  So we gave up after 3mos.  I did have Tyler go out and buy some of the prefolds for ourselves though, as they were handy to have around for messes!

After that experience I kind of got scared off of the whole cloth diaper gig.  I didn't realize that there were so many other options out there, and that washing them myself was really not that big of a deal.

When I was pregnant with F I gave it some thought again.  But then we decided to move, and money was tight, and I just never looked into it.  I always knew that cloth diapering would save money in the long run, but we just didn't have the money to drop on getting started up.  So once again I just forgot about the idea.

A few months ago I gave it some more thought.  This time I asked around, did a little more research.  It was definitely less intimidating after talking to other cloth diapering moms.  Since F is already older, I didn't need to buy nearly as many as I would have had to for a younger baby. 

I opted to try the Flip diaper system which is a hybrid system, meaning that I could use cloth inserts, but there are also disposible inserts available as well for convenience.  Well we got the hang of it right away, and right from the start I loved it!  It didn't take long to get our system in place.  After some great tips from the wonderful ladies on the Baby Whisperer forum, I was soon a pro at cloth diapering and washing.  I even got a great tip to cut up an old cotton t-shirt and use it for wipes, along with a spray bottle of water mixed with a bit of baby soap and some tea tree oil.  Thanks ladies!

Cloth diapering has been awesome, and I really am kicking myself for not getting on the bandwagon sooner like I had originally hoped!  Of course we are saving tons of money on diapers, and of course I feel good about not throwing so many diapers into the garbage.  Save money and the environment?  Win-win!  Oh, and F looks soooo cute wearing them, another win!

We are in the process of potty training T (well, we've taken more of an elimination communication approach so actually it has been an ongoing process for a very long time!), and things are going very well.  He is only in diapers for sleep times now, and soon I hope to have him in underwear all day including naps.  We have very few accidents, and he will use the potty on his own at home.  He is still not comfortable going when we are out and he won't tell me, but he will go before we leave and hold it until we get home.  Thankfully we are never out for very long, but I know that will change soon and we'll be out for longer periods of time.

So today Tyler's mom came over bearing gifts.  Some new Grovia cloth diapers for F, and a Potette portable potty seat for T.  Can I just say how excited I am?

Yes, diapers and potties make me happy.  Is it wrong to want to have another baby just so I can do the cloth diaper and potty business all over again?.....