It seems as though nearly ever time I say I will be doing cloth diapers with baby #3, people are shocked and think I'm crazy! Okay, well I'm a little shocked I chose this route too, but I don't think I'm crazy. Over the last several years, I've been *trying* to do what I can to "go green". Baby steps I suppose - things like actually using the reusable grocery bags (which I love so much more than plastic!) and recycling pop cans to name a couple. But more so, I still find it quite alarming that we, a little family of four, can load up a giant trash can in week...only to be dumped in a landfill.
I am eagerly, patiently, nervously awaiting the day I have this baby, for numerous reasons. Foremost, I am literally counting down the days until I am done with work. I have been working at the hotel now for just over 6 years. It seems like forever, and a few of my co-workers feel like family. It'll be hard to say good-bye, but I know its for the better. Since I'll be leaving them, I'll be able to stay at home with my boys, and maybe girl?, and raise them myself. I've wanted to be a stay-at-home mom for quite a while, but we haven't been in the best place financially to do so. Although we aren't in the ideal place now, we're still going to be better off with me staying home.
I have a few personal goals that'll I'll be working on as a stay-at-home mom, but I won't get into all of them now. When it comes down to it, I need to find a way and make it a habit to save money. So with that said, a couple things to help out with that are things that I alone will be able to do, without the help of Perry. Those are a) Cloth Diapering b) Breastfeeding c) Making our own baby food. Okay, Perry might actually have to help with making baby food, but more realistically it will be me. I breastfed both the boys, but not for too long. Hunter was breastfed for a solid 3 months, and then after a lot of convincing, I went downtown for my 21st birthday and had to "pump and dump" the next day. From then on it was hard to keep up and I eventually dried out. I didn't get a maternity leave with JP. I took 2 weeks of vacation and then brought him to work with me. Feeding at work was a challenge to say the least, and he cried a lot more than Hunter did. He was probably breastfed for a month and a half. I'm not sure how long I'll breastfeed baby #3, but I'm hoping for a good chunk of time - formula is expensive!
But I think cloth diapering is really going to be the key to saving us money. They are a little pricey upfront, but will end up paying for themselves over time. It'll be nice to know that I won't have that ridiculous diaper bill hanging over my head. An extra $40-$60 a month can really add up for disposables! I don't know how we managed in the past! If we spent $60 a month on diapers and were done with diapers at 2 1/2 years, we'd have spent $3600 in that amount of time. That's basically an extra mortgage payment per year (which if we did would save us even a bunch more money!)
The first step on this new journey of mine was to actually buy some diapers. I did just that. I bought 11 used ones. A couple are blue, and the rest are green and yellow. After picking them up (I found them on craigslist), I let the boys boys check them out. JP exclaimed, "OH! These are cool! When I'm a baby, I'm going to wear these!" At least someone else in the family approves! If only he understood the concept of aging! When we arrived home, I demonstrated how they worked. He loved it!
Right now I have 11 cloth diapers, of one kind. I didn't want to buy too many of one kind, only to find out I didn't like them. But these ones are the All-in-One kind. For you generations above me, they have the liner sewn into the cover. There is also a pocket in them, should I want to add an extra liner for more absorbency, like over night. Not quite what you were thinking when I said cloth diapers, huh?
Here's what it looks like up a little closer. They are the most similar to disposable diapers too. Unlike pins and such, these have velcro and are very daddy friendly. The down side to these is the velcro tends to wear out faster than the rest of the diaper. But since these were only used for a few months, they are still in good condition. I won't have to worry about saving them for baby #4, because, there simply won't be one....unless something completely unplanned happens! After this baby, I don't know if I'll be able to handle another pregnancy anyways! : ) Anyways... there are a bunch of different styles of cloth diapers that all have different price ranges. I thinking I'm probably going to like this All-in-One kind the best. The ones I have have are size small, but they do come in a one-size, that has snaps on it, instead of velcro, so you can adjust the height and waist. I will probably be purchasing some of these as well.
In the little chat I had with the lady I bought these cloth diapers from, she explained that she was used these for about 7 months. The first two months she used disposables because her baby was super small. I will also use disposables when the baby is first born, mostly because of the the umbilical cord that will need to fall off, and the icky meconium poop they have when they are first born. We've have to get through that stuff first!
In the meantime, I've also been preparing the boys for another baby in the house. They helped me sort through clothes the other week too!
