5.25.2011

Day 3, Part 2

Please scroll down or click HERE to read what I wrote this morning about last night and this morning.

Well, we didn't end up going to that friend's house today.  My daughter went, but me and the little ones stayed here.  We are down to one vehicle at the moment, so when Hubbs is gone, we stick pretty close to the house.  Little man wore an origami fold with a pad fold in the middle down to nap and did great.  I've tried other folds, but I just don't like them as much on him.  This fold gives us enough "wing" to actually wrap around his pot belly. 

Once he woke up, I had to bust out my 3rd cover because both of the wool soakers needed a rest.  Hopefully one of them is ready for bed-time or else we'll have to start on cover #4.  I was thinking earlier, too, a person would have to have several regular covers in rotation, because eventually you have to wash the wool and it takes a couple days to dry.  Unless you are like some CD mommas I know and have several wool pieces in a rotation.  For me, I prefer to wash all my wool on the same day and for a mom who would NEED to use flats, she probably wouldn't be able to afford to have more than 1 or 2 pieces of wool.  Long story short, I will suggest 3-5 covers besides any wool, but I will still promote wool being as it's completely amazing.

I guess you can't see it very well, but here is little man in his GenY minky cover.  So cute!


Church went fine, I ended up changing him before we went in and again afterward, but I changed him in front of the nursery worker who is a senior in highschool.  Her best friend just had a baby and it opened a conversation about the benefits of cloth vs disposable.  She didn't realize that sposies have chemicals in them and my bet is that most people don't.  I'm not entirely sure I *knew* that before I started my cloth diaper journey, though I'm sure I would not have been surprised to hear it.  She was very interested in the Snappi and was surprised by how easy it was.  SCORE ONE FOR THE FLATS TEAM!!  We will show this whole town of new moms how to cloth diaper and love it yet!

Kim @ Dirty Diaper Laundry addressed in her blog today WHY she is doing this.  I wanted to touch on why I'M doing this again for anyone who didn't see my reasoning HERE.  

The short of it is, I saw my favorite retailer, Itsy Bitsy Bums, advertising flats at a discount in recognition of this challenge.  She linked the challenge and I clicked through to read.  What I read broke my heart.  There have been news reports of moms leaving their babies in soiled diapers for upwards of 12 hours or even blow-drying used diapers to re-use because they couldn't afford to diaper their babies.  Because of this, the challenge arose.  Sure, we could SAY these people should use cloth all we want, but are we willing to figure out the best ways to use the most affordable cloth solutions ourselves?  So I decided I would give it a go-one week of nothing but flats, only 5 covers in rotation and handwashing to simulate what it would take to diaper a child from birth to potty learning for $60.  I ordered those discounted flats and bought some used ones from a good friend of mine and fellow local CD momma and made a camp-style wash bucket. 

I aim to prove to myself that I can set out to do something that other people (myself included 10 months ago!) consider gross or ridiculous.  More than that, though, I pray to someday be able to teach a class to new moms that I call "Childbirth and Beyond."  I want to empower young moms (primarily teens...our town has one of the highest teen pregnancy rates in Texas) to be intentional mothers who trust their instincts and can rise to become great moms, despite what society tells them.  I don't expect they'll all run head first into natural childbirth or using flats, but I want to open their eyes to the possibility and let them know they DO have choices.  I would also like to have CD items available for cheap or free for those interested in them. 

Please join me in praying this comes to fruition.  I talked to a friend today who was a teen mom and she said she would have done many things differently if anyone had SHOWN her that it COULD be different.  And ultimately, that is what this is about for me...fine-tuning things (like...now knowing to NEVER use a wooden plunger handle in a camp wash bucket!) so that I can make the information as fun and easy as possible to someone who feels completely out of control and insecure.

And with that, I will update that one of my little man's soakers WAS ready for the night, so we are still-going into Day 4-on only 3 covers.  WOOT!!  Check back with me tomorrow.  I'll be homeschooling my daughter AND her friend who is staying the night and using only products I would be able to find at WalMart to diaper the little man.  Good night and God Bless!

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