What Our Diapers are Telling Us

On our Saturday jaunt to Lawrence (no one told me we were only half an hour away) we found ourselves on Mass street. 

Someone at work told Rico that there was a baby store that would be right up his alley. We knew we had found it the second we walked in. 

There is a possibility they were talking about the other store, the one with the fancy lighting, multiple rooms, a photography studio in the loft, a nursing center complete with glider downstairs, pristine white walls, perfectly pressed onsies hanging on displays around the wall of ironic baby accessories with a perfectly polished floor and a meticulous window display...

- but if they know us very well, I am pretty sure they were ACTUALLY talking about...

Doodlebugs. 

It isn't glamorous. 

It isn't polished.

It isn't "minimalist" or "simple" in any way. 

It IS, however, EXACTLY the kind of store I can't control myself in. 

At one point, I was literally stepping over playing children and pushing consignment strollers out of the way to try to reach a rack of wraps. This is the place you go for a deal. Ahhh! Mama is home. Let the bargain hunting begin (literally HUNTING- there is just SO much merchandise.)

That's not me, in fact, we never even made it to the clothing- it is pretty pointless when we don't know a gender. 

Then Rico found them. 

With a serious face, "Alli, come here"

"In a second- look at this Bumbo chair....oooh or these Boppy covers!"

"Alli, you'll want to see this"

The cloth diapers. 

Yes, Rico is on board. In fact, he's been the "finder" of all our diapers. I'm sure he would secretly prefer that we do just one thing the "normal" way and just save money by becoming couponing masters. Once I showed him a few charts detailing the savings he was basically sold.

We hunted through the baskets looking for the types we wanted. I literally sat down on the floor to sort through them for about 10 minutes.

If you don't know much about cloth diapers here are a few basics: 

We are NOT talking about these. 

Most people who find out that we are cloth diapering want to IMMEDIATELY lecture tell us what a bad idea it is. The sad thing is, they are usually basing their very strong opinions on a 20-30 year old knowledge base so I get an earful on how cloth was a nightmare for them even though 

we aren't even talking about the same thing 

(unless you want to go old school..in which case, knock yourself out. 

I support you. 

I do not want to lecture you and make you feel judged for your parenting choices even before you have a child. 

Hooray for you.)

There are LOTS of kinds of "modern" cloth diapers. 

They range from very simple and a little more work:

 

Prefolds that you fold into a diaper and hold with these t-shaped Snappi's. You then use these cute covers to hold it all in place and provide an extra layer of protection. Cuteness optional.

to the "fancier" ones that basically do it all for you and should fit your baby from birth until potty training (cloth diapered babies tend to potty train a little earlier than disposable- an added bonus):

An all in one "pocket" style where you slide in a maxi-pad (for lack of a better descriptor) shaped absorbent cloth into the diaper.  The snaps (or some use Velcro) adjust the diaper size as baby grows. The legs are either elastic or snaps up the front that allow you to adjust the leg size to the baby. You slide the pocket part out before putting in your pale to make washing/ drying more efficient.

I won't bore you with the rest. Although there are some cool gadgets that we'll use too- including a spray gun (think the sprayer attachment on your kitchen sink) that attaches to the toilet. 

Come on- that's cool.

We made our first diaper investment before we technically even knew we were pregnant. Rico saw a woman on a Facebook selling her whole lot. We jumped on it. 

Now, at this point you are probably putting together that these would be used diapers. 

Some of you are gagging right now. 

I realize that used is not for everyone. 

Rico even tries to keep this hush hush. 

Sorry babe. 

Here's my thought on it: cloth diapers are MEANT to be used. They are designed to get clean. 

Once you use them once they are used anyway. 

I will "strip" all the diapers (a little more hard-core cleaning) before using them- so I am not worried- or ashamed. 

It saves money. I love saving money. Saving money is what will allow me to stay at home with my babies- so yeah, I'll buy used diapers if it helps us to reach that goal.

I love the feeling of getting a deal. 

I'm not sure that I have bought a full priced clothing item in the last 5 years...maybe longer. Even at Target. 

So, we bought a WHOLE lot of diapers from this woman- for quite the deal. Many were the simple prefolds and covers (which now we just plan to use in emergency situations- and Rico has said he will NOT use), and then there were quite a few of the heavenly "all in one pockets" (Just like the fuzzibunz picture) that are onesize. 

Yes, the fancy diapers. 

Oooh la la.

Well, at Doodlebugs we found MORE of the fancy ones! The top and middle row are the most ideal  and the bottom row are two that we could have lived without- but they were too good of a deal to pass up.  

I also found a Hooter Hider (in the pattern I have always wanted) and some herringbone maternity dress pants for work (technically the maternity pants are from a City Thrift that we stopped at on the way there. 50% off Saturdays. I even get deals at the thrift store!) 

So what ARE our diapers telling us? 

First- let's look at the diapers we actually plan to use from day 1- assuming that our baby is over 7lbs- which in my family, we can put pretty good money on. 

Arranged. By colors.  Specifically, 

Pile 1: boy-ish colors

Pile 2: girl-ish colors

Pile 3: gender neutral colors

 

Our diapers say, "You're having a boy!" 

or maybe that we are having a girl that likes baby blue and HATES pink. 

Thanks for solving that mystery for us diapers- waiting until Thanksgiving to find out sure was getting old.

We are a little over half-way to having all our diapers (ideally 28-30 for a newborn)

In theory, all the diapers we will need for the rest of our lives. 

I went ahead and put the rest of them in the under-the-crib storage too, but they are either larger sizes or the higher maintenance pre-folds with covers (on the right.) 

Sneak peak at the nursery colors too...it's a woodland theme. Think BEYOND owls and into foxes, porcupine, raccoons, garden gnomes, mushrooms,  maybe even a deer. 

We could actually be fine with just these diapers. It would mean doing laundry every day instead of every other or using the pre-folds and covers, but it would be do-able. We'll just see if more of those fancy schmancy pocket all-in-one one size diapers find their way into our lives. 

A parting thought. 

I know most people think I am crazy and that this will be a train wreck that I will quit after a few weeks of frustration. 

That's fine. 

If you are right, then you are right- but there is no point in trying to bring me down now. 

Let me learn on my own. 

But, I WOULD like to remind you that I am VERY cheap and VERY stubborn. 

Those are two powerful traits to have in my corner. Add that to all the people I know that cloth diaper that I can bug with questions, and the amount of investigating I did before making this choice and I think we'll be just fine.  

We always are.

And if not, you can "nanny-nanny boo-boo" in my face all you want- just wait for me to fail FIRST- no jumping the gun here people.