Saturday, June 13, 2015

Babywearing and washing diapers, not for the faint of heart.

It's not as easy as it looks.

No, seriously. Today was the first, and possibly the last time I do this.

Let me start by adding that earlier in the day, my husband I had done a pretty intense workout, including squats, lunges, and sit-ups in an attempt to get healthier. So, I was feeling a burn in my thighs.

My husband had to work today, so I was alone with my 2 noodles at home. I get really bored at home; there's not a lot to do, except for finding SOMETHING to do in an already clean house. Well, I did know that I needed to finish the load of laundry already in the washer, and that I definitely needed to get the diapers washed today. Nothing too difficult. I'm a diaper washing queen! They boys were in desperate need of a nap as well, so I made them lay down while I started on my duties.

I grabbed my 3/4 full hamper of diapers and start to go down the stairs, when my 8-month-old decides that he wanted mommy in the room with him. I left the hamper by the washer and went back up to tend to him until he fell back to sleep. I went back and started my prewash and went on to find something to do in the meantime. As the prewash finished, the baby woke back up, and he was NOT happy. So, seeing that I needed to get things done, I grabbed my Moby, put it on, and went and grabbed him from his naptime spot. I went downstairs to unload the washer with the baby in tow. Then, I started having issues. He was wiggly, and wanted to turn his head to see what I was doing as I tried to balance him with one hand, and unload the washer with the other. I went and grabbed a toy for him, and continued about my business.

(Mr. Christian with Patch OTB)

I unloaded the dryer, folded clothes, while keeping the baby from turning around. I took my laundry up the stairs to put clothes away and noticed that he was sagging a lot more than he should from all the wiggling. I looked down, and I think to myself "Okay, we need to resituate things a bit here." So, I plopped him onto the floor to play while I retied my Moby. This time I made sure to make it extra snug. I placed him back in the Moby, and put the clothes away. A few minutes later, the washer was finished, so it was time to unload my diapers. I trudged back down the stairs to my washer, baby in tow once more, to once again unload the washer to put my diapers in the dryer. This time, it didn't take me as long with the prewash, but was still not easy. You can't very well grab with two hands, without risk of squishing your baby, unless you're tall, which I am not. (I'm 5'3".) So once again, I was grabbing with one hand, shaking it out as best as I could, putting aside, grabbing some more, and so on. What would have taken me 5-10 minutes took me about 20 minutes. By the time I got it all in the dryer, I was welcoming a break. While I enjoyed the closeness of my cutie, It made a simple, mundane task very tedious.

Time to take the kids to Grandma's! =)

Maybe when I get home, I can try babywearing and stuffing! (Ha ha ha ha...)

Tuesday, June 2, 2015

I'm Jennifer, and I'm an addict...

It's true. I'm an addict. Ever since November of 2014. I have been addicted... to cloth diapers.


And you thought I was talking about drugs, you sicko...


My husband and I are broke. We've been broke. Ever since we got married, and even before, we were broke. But we didn't care. We were in love and we wanted a family. So what do happy couples in love that want babies do? Well, have babies, of course!

I have always loved the idea of cloth diapers, but I never had any real resources on how to get started, nor the funds to do so. So, I did what most people in America do when I had my first child; I used 'sposies. My life was a lot like Jennifer Labit when she was first starting out, having to choose between paying bills, groceries, and buying diapers for the baby. Obviously, the baby wins, because he's cute and he can't go without diapers.

Let's fast forward two and a half years later.

I'm sitting in my living room, pregnant with baby #2, and I had recently discovered I was having a boy. I was still broke, but doing a little bit better. My son was approaching his third birthday, and we're living in a tiny one bedroom apartment. We are VERY cramped. I knew though, we needed to do something quick to change our lives for the better and get out of our situation. But I had no idea what to do.

And then, I went to my next WIC appointment.

Of course, when you're getting certified, or re-certifying, they bounce you around from place to place, check your iron, give you a nutrition lecture, and then, my favorite part of all, they pull you into the room for the breastfeeding peer counselor. Breast pumps in every corner, diagrams all over the walls, and beautiful portraits of moms feeding their babies. I love this room! I am ready to jump out of my seat and say "YES, ABSOLUTELY, I WANT TO BREASTFEED, GIVE ME ALL YOUR RESOURCES" And we start talking, and pretty soon, and I cannot recall how, we get on the subject of crunchy living. We started to talk about cloth diapers, and I say "I would LOVE to do cloth, but there's no way I could afford the start up cost" And I see a sparkle in the counselor's eye and she says "Haven't you heard about Share The Love?" "No?" And that's when she handed my.... the pamphlet. My golden ticket to cloth-dom. I must have read it a thousand times. That was the day I put in my application for my diaper loan. Two days later, I was accepted into the program. She just told me to notify her when I had my baby and she would get me set up.

After a very eventful third trimester, I had my second boy at 33 weeks gestation by C-section.  When I finally brought my baby home to our new home, (we moved while I was in the hospital to a 2-bedroom apartment with a lot more space) I was nowhere thinking about cloth, because I was healing from my surgery. It wasn't until the day I had to choose between diapers and gas for the car when I said, "Enough is enough, I'm calling my Share The Love Host,". Two days later, I picked up my fluff. Fifteen brand new out of package BumGenius newborn aio's. Eight Ribbits, Four Clementines, and Three Twilights. I had no idea of the value I held in my hand in the time. I had no idea that I was holding diapers worth HUNDREDS of dollars. What did I know? I knew that my baby was going to be okay, that I didn't have to worry about diapers anymore. That I would have extra money to go elsewhere. And I was thankful.

Since then, My husband and I have been able to get on a budget, save money, and live the life that we want to live. We're still not out from under our debts completely, but we're a lot better. I have now bagged up my current diaper loan, because now, I have made my own diaper stash. Sixteen beautiful BumGenius and Flips, and the same amount in china cheapies. And I am now able to build a rainbow stash. People may think I'm weird or gross for using fluff, but my fluff saved my family.

My name is Jennifer, and I'm addicted to cloth diapers.