Cloth Diapering with the Cashs

This post has been a long time coming ... mostly because I have been asked so many questions about CDing, but haven't had the energy/time to thoroughly answer them.
So for all the believers, haters and wonderers .... here is what cloth diapering looks like for us.

Phoenix when we first switched to cloth

Cute little cloth booty (Taken this AM)

Why do you cloth diaper?
1. It is WAY cheaper. Our little family functions on a ministry salary, which means every dollar we save is a victory. Cloth diapers are especially economical for us because we registered for them, so we were gifted most of the diapers at showers. (a resounding "THANK YOU!" to anyone who bought us a diaper ... not a glamorous gift, but we are so grateful!)
2. It is WAY better for the environment. Granted, the extra laundry isn't the greenest thing in the world. But disposables (or, as we call them around here ... "sposies") are pretty much the worst thing you can do for the environment. It's fun to know we are doing our little part for Mother Earth, and we have less trash to haul to the curb each week.
3. It is better for Phoenix. No weird chemicals near her skin ... just soft fleece. She has only had diaper rash maybe 3 times in the past year, and its usually because of an all-night poopy diaper. We use cloth wipes too, so I'm not wiping things I can't pronounce all over my baby's skin. It makes a mama feel good.
4. It is so freakin cute. Ok, so that's not really a motivation ... just a side benefit.

Would you do it again? Would you recommend it?
I would do it again in a heartbeat. For all the reasons listed above, and because it's really not that big of a deal. For whatever reason, people seem to think that it is a huge time commitment - lie. Unless the 10 total minutes it takes to throw stuff in the wash, switch it out, and stuff diapers is time you don't have to spare. And it's not much grosser than sposies. Come on, people ... a dirty diaper is a dirty diaper.

How does Josh feel about cloth diapering?
Admittedly, it was a hard transition from disposables to cloth once Phoenix was big enough. But, when I just asked him if he would make the choice to do cloth again, he said yes. In his words, "Sometimes its grosser, but it's not a game changer. It's really not a big deal." Most of the men I meet are terrified by the idea of CDing ... if your man falls into that category, just have him talk to Josh.

Does Phoenix seem to prefer one way or another?
Because our diapers wick moisture away from her skin, she doesn't feel any wetter than she would with a sposie. So she really doesn't seem to care ... she doesn't fuss any more with cloth or disposables.

What kind of cloth diapers do you use? What would you recommend?
We have 3 Bumgenius and 11 Charlie Banana diapers -- all of them are one-size, snap, pocket diapers. It didn't make a lot of sense to me to buy sized diapers ... that just means more money. One-size diapers are meant to carry your baby from birth to potty training, which means they are really versatile. We chose snaps over Velcro because they hold up better in the long run ... Velcro (or "hook and loop") are a little bit easier to get onto a wiggly baby, but we are going for longevity. And we chose pocket diapers over all-in-ones (which are the most like disposables) because they are SO much easier to launder and you can customize the absorbency. During the day, she only has one insert/soaker in her diaper ... at night, sister has a serious booty with 3 inserts.
We really like both the Bumgenius and the Charlie Bananas, just for different reasons.

Bumgenius on the left, Charlie Banana on the right

Charlie Banana:

Pros -- They have adjustable elastic around the legs, so they are very trim under clothes. The pocket is at the front, which makes removing the insert much easier with a poopy diaper. The diaper itself has  little bit of stretch to it, which makes them fit really well (just like jeans with a little stretch).
Cons -- They aren't as big as the Bumgenius, which means you can't stick as many inserts inside (we almost never use these for nighttime). And Phoenix is almost to the largest setting on the leg elastic, so I am just hoping that they will be big enough to see her through potty training ... although, she does have some seriously chunky legs, which I imagine will thin out at some point.

Bumgenius:

Pros -- These are a workhorse diaper, for sure. We have never had issues with leaking ... they are incredibly absorbent. They adjust solely with snaps, which makes changing sizes a breeze. The pocket opens really wide, which means I can just shake the insert out into the diaper pail. And we have some cute prints.
Cons -- Biggest con? They are bulkier. Which means Phoenix has to be wearing stretchy pant/shorts in order to fit the diaper. And they don't seem quite a comfortable -- the lining isn't as soft, and the snap-sizing results in folding that seems like it would be bothersome.
We also have one "itti bitti tutto" diaper, but we don't like it. At all. Just don't buy one ... they are insanely expensive anyway. We bought it when we were trying to solve some nighttime wetness issues, but it was a massive fail.
When Phoenix was really small, we also used some old school diapers (prefolds with waterproof cover). Freshies poop ALL THE TIME, and our pocket diaper stash couldn't keep up with her. I really didn't mind prefolds at all, though it is a little bit more complicated to get them on and they don't wick moisture. But they are by far the cheapest way to CD, or a great way to pad your stash. We got sized prefolds and covers, so we don't use them anymore because they don't fit. (But, if you are wondering, we LOVED our Thirsties covers).
Whew.
When baby #2 comes closer, I will probably buy a lot of Kawaii diapers. They are a lot cheaper (around $7/diaper as opposed to around $17 for Bumgenius and Charlie Bananas), and I have heard good things about them.

How often do you do diaper laundry?
About every day and a half. When we are down to 4 clean diapers, we start the laundry process. You really don't want to leave dirty diapers sitting around for more than 2 days anyways, so having 12-18 diapers is great for one babe.

What is involved in washing the diapers?
After I take a dirty diaper off Phoenix, I:
1. Dump poop into the toilet (which, by the way, you are supposed to do with disposables too). Now that Phoenix is eating solids, it usually will just fall right off of the diaper. If not, we have a diaper sprayer/bidet attached to our toilet (we have THIS one, but I am sure they are all pretty similar). If your baby is exclusively formula/breast fed, than you can skip this step. Sorry to be graphic, but their liquid poop just dissolves in the laundry.
2. Pull/shake the insert out of the pocket into our diaper pail, and then throw the pocket in too (at this point, the cloth wipe is already in there) We just use a regular trash can and a Planet Wise Pail Liner, which we just throw into the wash with the diapers.
3. When we are down to 4 clean cloth diapers (which is just what works for us), I take the liner out of the trash can, dump the diapers into the washing machine, turn the pail liner inside out and throw it in too. We do a cold rinse, a hot wash, and a cold rinse. I tried to skip the rinses in the early days, but the diapers didn't get as clean and it affected absorbency. I promise, our water bill is totally reasonable!
4. When the washes are done, I put the inserts in the dryer and lay the pockets on a drying rack (preferably outside, if the weather permits). This is why pockets are so much better than AIO's (all-in-ones) ... the waterproofing layer is damaged by the dryer, but inserts take forever to air dry. So if they are stuck together, you are talking about a really long drying time. I also use wool dryer balls, which cut down on drying time for all our laundry, and thus save us more money.
5. Theoretically, I then stuff the dried diapers with clean inserts and bring them upstairs to Phoenix's changing table. Sometimes they never make it upstairs, and we just grab a diaper from the basement when we need one.
See? Not that hard.
Just make SURE to use a clean-rinsing detergent ... most regular soap leaves residue, which will seriously hinder the absorbency of your diapers. We use Charlie's soap powder for all our laundry (which I order from Amazon), and LOVE IT. It's biodegradable, non-toxic, clean-rinsing and good for sensitive skin. And cheap, because a tub lasts forever.

Why do you use cloth wipes? How do you wet them?
We use cloth wipes just because it is easier. Instead of having a separate trash can just for disposable wipes, everything goes straight into the diaper pail. And, as I mentioned earlier, I don't have to worry about what is coming into contact with my baby's skin. You can wet them with just water, but I make a solution of mostly water with a tiny squirt of Burt's Bees baby soap, some olive oil and a few drops of tea tree oil. The soap gets her real clean, the olive oil helps the wipe slide across her skin (and leaves it soft) and the tea tree oil is antibacterial and it smells amazing. After the CD laundry is done, I just wet all the wipes and place them in a regular wipes container.

Other tricks of the trade?
- Make sure to give new diapers a few hot-water washes before using them. I learned the hard way that they are not absorbent until they have been stripped of any oils.
- You can't use regular diaper cream with CDs ... because the oils make them repel wetness (bad thing). Since cloth is so good for baby skin, you might not ever need diaper cream anyways. But the few times Phoenix has has diaper rash, we just use disposables until it clears up.
- Cloth diapering on the go is really easy if you have a wet bag, because you can just wash them with the diapers. THIS Itzy Ritzy one is my favorite that we have, but our Planet Wise ones work well too.
- The sun is magical. When you leave wet diapers or inserts (or any clothing, for that matter) outside to dry, the sun bleaches out stains. This has been invaluable knowledge since Phoenix has started some self-feeding ... I just put her clothes outside to dry, and they end up stain free (unless the stain has been set in the dryer, or it is a grease stain)!

Do you ever use disposibles?
We make life easier on the nursery volunteers at church by putting Phoenix in sposies on Sunday mornings. We also use them when we go out of town (and I am thankful to come home to cloth), and on the occaision that we fall behind on diaper wash. So we probably use around 4 disposables a week.

The fact that this post was so long probably makes cloth diapering seem really complicated. But once you get into a rhythm, it is so easy!

Culinary Adventures

I have been meal planning for a while now ... really, ever since we got serious about our budget. The first several months of marriage, we ate out A LOT and purchased whatever we really wanted from the grocery budget. It is kind of embarrassing to admit that we were somehow spending around $450 a month on groceries while simultaneously eating out for quite a few meals each week.
Now, we are down to $300/month (not including formula ... thank goodness we are almost done with that!), and being intentional about our grocery list is the only thing that makes that happen for us. Especially because I have really started to prioritize organic produce and dairy, hormone-free meat and nothing overly processed. Having a baby and realizing that I will be the one to choose her food and form her eating habits has given me a whole new perspective on what we eat. Especially now that she can eat a lot of our "table" food, I have really overhauled a lot of what is in our pantry.
I finally finished this book at work last night:

There was a lot of interesting history about how Americans relate to and talk about food, and it served as a sort of expose of food science and its shortcomings. In the end, he advocates for "whole foods," providing a set of helpful tips for navigating the modern market. If you want to skip the history and get right to the practical advice, you could read this instead:

And you have to take it all with a grain of salt ... for example, he spends much of the book suggesting that speaking in terms of nutrients and not whole foods is a destructive, while simultaneously suggesting the importance of omega-3s over omega 6s. I know that we can't do everything he suggests -- we have a budget, I have a husband who hates vegetable and I don't have the time to track down food that is all local and organic. But it is definitely worth reading, if for no other reason that to help identify the ways that you have bought into an improper perspective on food.

Sorry for the long tangent.

Back to the meal plan ... I usually only meal plan 7-10 days at a time. The fact that I plan at all is a feat for me, so the ideal of having a monthly plan is overwhelming and stifling to me. I get recipes from cookbooks, magazines, blogs, random internet searches, and Pinterest. And Josh and I both have an aversion to leftovers, so I usually plan 6 meals/week (something usually comes up at least once a week that steals us away from dinner at home). We will either half the recipe, or I will eat the leftovers for lunch (takin' one for the team, people).

I always appreciate when other people share their recipes/strategies, so I figure I would try that as well!

This past week was an epic meal-planning fail in our house, because our blender died. Several of our recipes required its use, so we ate some weird/lame stuff as a result.
But we did have a few big wins:

• Asian Turkey Meatballs with Lime Dipping Sauce (click HERE for source/recipe) -- neither Josh or I are all that into meatballs, but these sounded good ... and they were! We served them over brown basmati rice, and had quite a few leftovers for lunch the next day.
• Avocado Basil Pasta (click HERE for source/recipe) -- I used some fresh, pretty red pasta from the farmers market and this was AWESOME. Josh told me his mind was blown ... in his words "This looks like something I wouldn't like, but it's actually pretty darn good." And, considering there is very little meat in this recipe, that is quite the compliment from my carnivore.  

• Jerk Chicken and Snow Pea Salad -- Josh loves Jerk, but usually uses a bottled sauce. This recipe came from the "Everyday Food" magazine, and was totally from scratch ... and ridiculously good. The snow pea salad (from the same magazine) is the only form of vegetables that has Josh coming back for seconds. It's just thinly sliced snow peas, Dijon mustard, vinegar, olive oil, and shallot. 

 Other cooking wins this week:

• Lemon cupcakes with blackberry frosting (just randomly searched recipes and didn't save them. Bummer, because they were very tasty)
• Homemade baked potato chips, from this book (which is my new favorite purchase ever):

•  Cinnamon ice cream, with the ice cream maker that my sweet husband got me for my "birthday" (recipe HERE) -- Really rich, and somehow warm (even though it's frozen).

 Hope you enjoy!

Lunch Lady

I have really terrible eating habits when it comes to lunch ... if there aren't dinner leftovers, I usually just stare at our fridge hoping that someone will reach out and hand me a salad from Panera. But, since that has yet to happen, I usually end up eating something terrible like nachos. This had to change -- not only because I am a few pounds heavier than I would prefer, but more so because of the way that kind of food makes me feel. Trust me, I believe there is a time and place for nachos. But fatty, starchy foods just suck the life right out of me.
I have already solved this problem for breakfast -- I wasn't eating in the morning, mostly because I didn't know what to make. Now, almost every morning, I have been drinking a smoothie of: frozen bananas, Greek yogurt, peanut butter, spinach and milk. Lean, full of protein, and I get lots of good green spinach eaten before 9 AM. (Don't stress ... you don't taste the spinach. Click HERE for a link to a recipe).
I have learned the one trick to eating more healthy food: make sure there is plenty of it around. In tasty and convenient forms. I have been working really hard to create dinner menus that are tasty, semi-healthy, and Josh-approved. But I had not put any effort into taking care of myself when it comes to eating lunch.
So, when meal planning for this week, I added a lunch to the list. If I just make one or two things at the beginning of the week, I can eat on them for several days. The best part of this lunch food endeavor? I can indulge in all the flavors and foods that Josh won't eat. So I eat better tasting food, and it's better for me. Holla!

This week I decided to make:
1. Quinoa salad with curried cauliflower, pine nuts and raisins. O Lord, it is so freaking good. Here's a picture ... and click HERE for the recipe.

Not the prettiest looking food, but DELICIOUS. I didn't use any red quinoa (it's expensive), and I was short on raisins, since I had eaten most of them when my blood sugar was low. Next time, I would use less quinoa (for a higher goodies to quinoa ratio) and maybe a little more curry.
2. Lettuce wrap sandwiches. Saw it on Pinterest, and ended up at THIS website. Really, it's just sandwich stuff on lettuce instead of bread. This is PERFECT for me, because then I don't have to worry about giving myself insulin for carbs. I put turkey, avocado, tomato, cucumber and mushrooms on mine. No soggy bread from the tomatoes, and it tasted great!

After coming home from the farmer's market yesterday, I put away loads of fresh produce, herbs, cheese, meat and milk. Then I stopped and stared at my fridge, moved almost to tears. I am so thankful for all those good eats ... I try not to forget what a luxury it is! Thankful for the margin in our budget to eat healthy, great places to find organic food, and the internet to help me cook it all!