Cloth Diaper Trial

after a few months of my cloth diapering experience, I had an epiphany - I am not limited to one type of diaper.  seems obvious, huh?  but I was very happy with my gDiapers and you know what they say about fixin' stuff that ain't broke, right?  well forget them... I decided to fix it anyway.  now, there are no bricks & morter cloth diaper stores convenient to my house so I was looking online at all of the options available and wondering what to try when I came across a post mentioning a cloth diaper trial programs. 

basic cloth diaper trial concept:

• pay a fee
• receive your assortment of diapers
• wash them, use them, etc for set period of time
• return what you don't want and get a substantial amount of your fee refunded or as store credit

I really liked the trial offered by Jillian's Drawers (www.jilliansdrawers.com) out of Ithaca, NY because it was a good assortment of products and a generous 21-day trial period.  Net out-of-pocket if you don't keep any of the diapers is about $30 (shipping 2 ways and $10 program fee) but you get free shipping on your next order from them to offset the return shipping charge.  not a bad outlay when you consider you could easily spend that amount on a single diaper and end up hating it. 

I was surprised at the end of my trial that the diapers I expected to like least are what I loved the most and some I thought i'd love weren't really right for us.

Here's what I got in the mail for my trial (left-to-right and top-to-bottom except for the Snappi):

 

•  BumGenius 4.0
• BumGenius Freetime
• Rumparooz G2
• FuzziBunz Elite
• Kawaii
• Bamboozle Stretch
• OsoCozy Prefolds
• OsoCozy Better Fit Prefolds
• Thisties Duo wrap
• Snappi fastener

Here are my quick reviews on each of the diapers keeping in mind that this is with a 14lb chubby-thighed girl so what works for her may not be what works for all:

• BumGenius 4.0:  seems like this would fit for a long time in keeping with their One Size (OS)claim.  Stuffing this was ok, not hard, not over easy.  the inside was very soft although the laundry tabs for the Velcro were a little scratchy.  we didn't use them long enough to say whether they would cause irritation. didn't leak for us. liked this diaper and would consider adding to our stash.
• BumGenius Freetime:  not surprisingly, this also seems like it would be true to the OS claim.  No stuffing required but the two overlapping flaps inside were a source of annoyance for me.  I found it difficult to keep them aligned while closing the diaper over my busy body baby. This was the only All-In-One in my trial (sadly) and in my mind, AIOs big benefit is ease of use for sitters, etc.  This did not seem like it would fit the bill for that need. I'd not buy these, as a matter of fact, I used it no more than twice before washing it and sticking it in the bag until the end of my trial.
• Rumparooz G2: This pocket has 2 elastic gussets on each side which really did keep in a mega-poo we experienced during the trial.  Not a trace of a leak.  It was like the Hoover Dam of diapers. I think the second row of elastic contributed to this being one of the harder ones to stuff since it gets narrow in the middle. Not impossible, just harder than some. It was extremely soft inside but more textured than some of the other diapers.  While I suspect this helped trap that poo inside, I also found it didn't come clean as easily as other diapers.  Definitely would like these in my stash.
• FuzziBunz Elite: I found this diaper hard to stuff. It was just a bit narrow.  It's also a OS but unlike the other OS pockets I got which has snaps to adjust the sizing, these have an elastic in them that you somehow adjust.  I didn't have to do it obviously but I like the convenience of the snaps.  I will say this diaper is more pleasing to the eye without the funny looking snaps, though. Performance was good, it fit well and didn't leak.  The inside was super soft and the stay dry really kept her feeling dry when the diaper was soaked. Didn't love or hate this diaper but not really on my consideration list.
• Kawaii: This was the easiest to stuff of the diapers I had.  The pocket opening is large enough that most dads (going with the assumption that dad has larger hands) could easily stuff it. I'm not saying they would, only that they could. This diaper is also a OS and I have no doubt it will be true to that claim.  jellybean is still easily in the small setting at 14lbs! I had a snap version and the snaps seemed secure but a little difficult to fully snap together. These are also the least expensive pocket in my trial. Definitely liked these.
• Bamboozle Stretch: I originally loved this diaper. aside from being gorgeous purple, it was also very soft.  we used it during the day and overnight with success.  bonus of the dark coloring is that it didn't show any stains even with runny breastfed baby poo.  they were very absorbant, even after overnight use, i could tell it was pretty much soaked through but baby's bottom wasn't all wet and wrinkly.  it is definitely not a stay-dry but was pretty good. I'd consider buying a couple of these down the line. 
• OsoCozy Prefolds:  I had no expectation of liking these because they just seemed too old-school, too much effort and everything.  As it turned out, they are very very soft and fluffy after several (maybe 5 or 6) hot prewash/dry cycles and very absorbant.  They do stain somewhat but, they are diapers.  Staining aside, I found these washed and dried very thoroughly.  I ended up picking these as the base of my stash.
• OsoCozy Better Fit Prefolds: similar in all senses to the larger ones just smaller.  These are sized for tri-folding and putting in a cover.  I found they worked well with the gDiaper covers I'd already been using.  I liked these as much as the others but didn't have a need for them. I'd recommend them though.
• Thisties Duo wrap: I really liked this cover.  It comes in 2 sizes and I actually found the size 1 seemed a bit snug even though my baby was only 14lb at the time. your mileage might vary. I didn't end up getting these but only because we were at that weird between size stage and I wanted a good fit.
• Snappi fastener: What a fun little device if you don't want to use safety pins.  Pins scare me.  I didn't want them near my little one.  Snappis are cuter and easier (if not physically easier, easier in my mind and that counts a lot) so I use them.  Basically they are rubbery T-shaped pieces with little teeth (similar to the teeth that fasten old-school ACE bandages together) to grap the diaper.  They don't work well with all diapers, I've heard they aren't great on very tightly woven fabrics.  They are great with the aforementioned OsoCozy Prefolds though. 

In summary, I ended up starting my stash with OsoCozy prefolds and Flip covers (not included in my trial but recommended by a friend) and then added a few Kawaii pockets because they'd be easier on occassional diaper changers (dad, grandparents, sitters, etc) when needed.

Adventures in kefir-ing...

ya know, i'm trying to remember how kefir even entered my vocabulary and I haven't the slightest idea.  really.  no idea.  but I bought it a few times last year and enjoyed it.  I also found that pid enjoyed it too.  he was a huge yogurt eater.  like a yogurt a day every day kind of kid.  which I think made his digestive system dependent upon the yogurt as he'd get sick if he went too many days without it.  weird, but yeah.

My first jar of homemade kefir

anyway, somehow I came to realize that kefir is chock full of probiotic goodness.  but I wasn't feeling the store prices for as much as pid and I consumed.  research told me I could make my own kefir right here in my house.  I figured why not.  what've I got to lose?  but then, it was a while before I started because I was quite leery about buying the required kefir grains from the mysterious sellers online.  who are these people?  do I trust them with my health and well-being?  then by chance a friend mentioned she had grains and that she'd be glad to share them with me.  I figured if her family hadn't suffered from them, they should be safe.  so began my kefir adventures at the end of December.

there are plenty of kefir sites online with instructions on making kefir so I won't detail that stuff again but here's one I liked a lot:

• http://www.tammysrecipes.com/about_kefir+

so far, i'm not super creative with my kefir - we usually have kefir smoothies because they're easy, they taste good and the fruit (and yes, some sugar) help mask the tart just enough for pid and the husband to drink it. 

Vegetable juice and bread

i'm not a fan of vegetables.  actually, I have pretty much hated most vegetables for most of my life.  they just don't taste good and I don't want them. that being said, I realize that I should eat them for a couple of main reasons:

1. vegetables are good for you
2. it's easier to convince your kids to eat vegetables if you eat them.

so I am making efforts to up my veggie intake.  having acquired a juicer in 2011, I am also trying to get it into regular rotation in my kitchen.  so after a trip to the market, I made a very... "interesting" vegetable juice.



recipe is a strong term but here's what I had: fennel, celery, cucumbers, ginger, carrots, green apples... I realize that a licorice-hater should avoid fennel. blech.




but i also found that after a couple of days, the flavors mellowed and melded and it was much more tolerable.  yeah you thought i was going to say it was "good"... not quite. but drinkable. 

so after juicing, there were tons of bit of veggie pulp with no purpose.  i also had a zucchini bread recipe sitting in my kitchen.  so i figured these bits are sort of like grated zucchini only much drier. so add some water and use them.  this bread was so tasty that pid, husband and i devoured it.  it was that good.  i think it would still be darned tasty with less sugar in it. will experiment with that next time.

cloth diapering... fun?

sometime before jellybean was born, i'd decided to reconsider cloth diapering.  this was something I thought about when I was pregnant with pid but for various reasons decided against at the time. back then I was considering gDiapers products and as it turned out they were still around when I considered it in 2012 so I did a little research and decided to go for it. 

i'll confess... part of the attraction was the cute factor.  gDiapers are just so much cuter than any disposable i'd ever seen.  so we started using them when jellybean was about 3 or 4 weeks old when we ran out of the limited newborn size diapers we had been given.  definitely a learning curve but the husband and I figured it out easily enough. 

PROS -

• adorable.  seriously.  these are the cutest.  I know you won't believe it without a picture so here's one. see... adorable, right?
• trim fitting.  ok, i'm not sure why they make skinny jeans in size 3 months.  i'm even less sure why I bought them.  but I did and gDiapers fit under them.  can't say that about a lot of cloth diapers from what I've read. 
• several parts to the system... if the absorbent insert is just wet, put it in the laundry, give the liner a rinse or wipe and reuse the liner and pant.  less laundry!
• hybrid system also has disposable, no... FLUSHABLE inserts available.  I used these when we traveled out of town and were in a hotel for Thanksgiving the other week. they flushed fine and were very convenient. 

CONS -

• counter-intuitive fastening... the Velcro closes in the back.  though if your kid is anything like a friend of mine's daughter, this is actually a pro because her daughter was a diaper Houdini and liked to break out of her confines on a regular basis.
• several parts to the system... outer pant, snap-in pouch, absorbent insert.  it can be a pain sometimes to put them all together. 
• learning curve on preventing leaks but once you master it, leaks are very, very rare

oh baby!

september 11th... not necessarily a day that stands out as "happy" for the average american.  but as of 2012, it's a good day for me.  september 11th 2012 is the day i welcomed my sweet daughter jellybean to the world.  7lb and 14oz of precious girliness packed into 20.5 inches.

Blog Resurrection...

after almost a year, i'm going to try to get back to my blog.  a lot has gone on over the last year and it's not getting covered today. 

i didn't get a chance to start my container vegetable garden this year as i've been too busy and preoccupied with this thing called "life" to have the time.

the small one just graduated from preschool - it was an adorable ceremony and my parents both made it to help celebrate. 

going to try to get 2012 beach badges today if i can find someone that has some.  time for the big 4th of july beach day!

that's all!

Strawberry Harvest Festival

so in the spirit of getting the kid out of the house for something a little more out of the ordinary, we decided to take him to a local-ish farm that i found online.  we weren't sure what he'd think of it but it turns out he had a GREAT time!

the corn castle (really a shed with corn kernels inside instead of sand) was ok and the bounce house was a hit (surprise, surprise!) so we did ok for the first couple of activities for the day. 

took some encouragement for pid to warm up to the very friendly farm animals. it actually took encouragement, the purchase of a bag of food for the animals and a few minutes of dad feeding them for pid to try it. he befriended a little white goat and fed it most of the veggies we bought. lucky goat.


after the animal feeding, we took a break for lunch and to rest a little before heading out to the strawberry patch to pick the berries. the hayride there was uneventful but once we got there, pid was very concerned that we would miss the hayride back. eventually he got into picking berries though. 


and boy did we get berries:

they were sweet and juicy and i made some fun things with them:  strawberry jam, strawberry curd, and strawberry shortcake. we also at lots and lots of fresh berries. a definite outing to keep on the list! fortunately they have various pick-your-own items through to pumpkins in the fall.

mmm... salad!!!

tonight's dinner features a salad with lettuce and tomatoes from my very own little garden. both are delicious and made even more so with the addition of some buffalo chicken bites! i'm so happy that my garden experiement has some successes in addition to the several not-quite-successes! can't wait until next year to try again!

From train of thought

Deeper Waters...

we finally got pid out into water that was a bit deeper this past weekend. he truly loves the lake but is pretty committed to the shallowest waters. as luck would have it, there was a friendly young boy from the neighborhood that owned this little floatie car deal in the picture below. he must've noticed pid eyeing it as he came and told my husband that they could use it. still stuck in the shallow end but loving the car, we eventually convinced him to venture deeper into the water and he had a blast! yay! i'm very much loving the decision to live near the lake. it's a great little bonus in nice weather!

First tomato, the reprise

It finally ripened!

Harvest!

wow!! i didn't get out to harvest yesterday due to heavy rain and thunderstorms so i went out this morning and lo and behold - cucumbers! they grew a lot in the last two days - good thing i didn't forget about them! i saw some more little ones, too. hoping those will grow well now that these aren't sapping energy! will update later on the taste of these two.

UPDATE - the boy approved of the cucumbers once sliced, however i felt they were a little bitter... not overly so, they were definitely edible! a link i found on causes of bitterness in cucumbers (http://www.hort.purdue.edu/ext/bittercukes.html) suggests that i might have better results if i water them more evenly and mulch them. might give that a go...

Independence Day 2011

we had a nice relaxing independence day 2011 - it was our first day to go hang out at the lake and re-meet some of our neighbors. weather was great and we had a nice few hours outside. the kid was on cloud nine and called himself "swimming" though he was really just scooting along on the sand in the shallowest part of the water. but it was good to see he is much more at ease in the water after swimming lessons last winter!

veggies ahead!

i was a little worried about my cucumbers a week or so ago... there were NO flowers in sight. but then suddenly there were tons of blossoms all over the thing and today, 4 little cucumbers! cute little specimen below! that's the largest of them right now and i think they were pickling size so will probably take it off in a day. had to get some stakes for that plant though - it was running off on its on agenda!

Pickles - July 7th

in other good news - there are now 20 tomatoes or more on the tomato plant - can't wait until i see some red ones for harvesting!



Tomatoes - July 7th

my potatoes are a whole other issue - they are no longer displaying the yellow leaves that i decided meant i should fertilize them - i think that's a good thing. BUT... they are looking a bit sad and pathetic overall. i did just come across a comment online (http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/1428862/yukon_gold_potatoes_are_a_great_potato.html?cat=32) that yukon golds are short season so perhaps they are simply approaching harvest time already? [article quote: "Yukon Gold potatoes are a great choice for a private home garden potato. Yukon Gold potatoes are an early variety of potato so that means it needs a shorter growing season. They are a great potato choice for people who live in an area where the growing season is short. Yukon Gold potatoes have small eyes that are receded into the potato therefore they are more resistant to sprouting then other potatoes. Since the Yukon Gold potato is resistant to sprouting they are good for storing for a long "]

Garden - July 7

YA or you?

yesterday walking out of daycare:
pid - mama, i love ya
me - i love you too
pid - no mama, i love YA
me - ok then i love YA too

in other news - had our first official parent teacher conference which went very well - the kid does well those things he should be doing well. he needs better conflict resolution skills, but to paraphrase my mom - i know some adults that could still use better conflict resolution skills.

Bedtime Reading

i think i must have the sweetest little boy in the world... tonight after his bedtime story, the following conversation took place:
pid: ok mama, i'm going to read this book now.
me: we just read a book i'll read that one to you tomorrow
pid: no i'm going to listen to my songs and read it myself and you're going to go downstairs
me: ok but when i tell you it's time to put the book away and turn off the light you need to do that ok?
pid: ok.

--- fifteen minutes later ---

me: ok, it's time to go to bed now
pid: ok, mama!

--- sound of feet padding around and then the light goes out upstairs ---

me: ok now get in the bed and go to sleep
pid: i am in bed, good night!

aaaw....

Chasing Fire - Nora Roberts

this is my first time reading anything by nora roberts. to be honest, it just looked interesting in the list of e-books available at my library so i figured why not.

it focuses (more or less) on a group of fire jumpers in missouri. particular central characters are rowan tripp (experienced fire jumper, daughter of legendary fire jumper), gull (newcomer to the group, former firefighter from california), rowan's father, and various other jumpers on the base.


the story follows the group from training through the majority of the wildfire season including several intense wildfires. this season is unlike others due to various suspicious fires, odd occurances on the jumpers' base and deaths in the local town. it all ends up somewhat intertwined in a you might or might not have expected it sort of way. there's a little bit of romance for those romantics around and a little more sex than i'd want my hypothetical tween-aged daughter to read.


overall, i enjoyed the book, i'd recommend it.

First tomato!

isn't it cute?? can't wait to see more! they should pop out soon since i see a few more flowers on the plant already!

My garden

so i decided this year to test my skills at gardening with a little container garden. my mother has a large plot in her community garden and, i'll go ahead and admit it, i'm a bit jealous of her fresh veggies! i got these planted a little later than planned, early/mid may. the tomato i tried to start from seeds did NOT fare well but on a recent visit, my mom blessed me with a little tomato plant that is doing well so far.

so from top left to bottom right: peppers, carrots, tomato, onions, potato, lettuce, cucumber, spinach. all planted in plastic planters with miracle gro moisture control soil and osmocote fertilizer at planting. the peppers, carrots, lettuce, cucumber and spinach were from seeds; the onions and potato were from sets and the tomato, as mentioned was purchased.

the potato plant has been growing marvelously, but then it started to get a bit yellow - not sure if it is sick and diseased or just malnourished since i neglected to fertilize them again since the initial planting. OOPS! gave them all a bit of miracle gro tomato/vegetable plant fertilizer. we'll see how that turns out in a few days.

diving right in...

wow... this is it... blog post numero uno! whew. that wasn't so tough, i guess. welcome to my blog... i thought for quite some time now about starting a blog but could never settle on a topic that i thought i would write about consistently enough to keep it up. i'm just far too random for that. i think about too many things at once or jump from thought to thought with no warning. so i figured i'd just let my blog do that as well. it will be what it will be. i'm sure there will be topics that come up frequently (my family, food, rants about bad drivers) but it is more or less, as entitled, my train of thought at any given point. comments welcome!