Cloth Diapering: My favorite diapers and why

I haven't done a post about cloth diapers in a while.  I thought I would do a little update since we are a year in to it.  I posted some tips for those looking into cloth diapers back in the summer so if you are looking for information like that, here is the post.  

First of all, we absolutely love them.  All of us.  Even my mom and mother in law who were tough to convince.  Lonnie thinks they are great and even tells random people that we use cloth.  They give him a weird look and then he tells them "these aren't your grandma's cloth diapers!".  It is cute.  

In my other post I didn't really mention what diapers I used, accessories I had or my routine.  I thought I would do that here just to let you all know what works for me.  

My stash is a mix of pocket diapers and all-in-ones.  I'd say it is about half and half.  I certainly have too many diapers...no doubt about that.  I could make do with about 16-20 diapers now and wash every other day.  However, in the beginning I was a bit obsessed with buying diapers.  While I was writing this post, I was estimating that I had about 35 diapers.  Then I remembered I took a picture of all of my diapers a few months ago.  I hunted that picture down and counted.  45 diapers.  Holy crap.  I am kicking myself because that is WAY TOO MANY.  The good news is that cloth diapers have a great resale value.  I should do that because there are a few in this picture that I never use!  I didn't buy all of these either.  I'd say about 8 of these were free.  Anyway!

These are my main diapers.  I have a few other random brands that I got for free or for a huge bargain but I'm not going to list them here in this post.    

Bumgenius 4.0 (one-size pocket)
Bumgenius Freetime (one-size AIO)
Fuzzibunz (one-size pocket)
Thirsties AIO

Now, a little bit about each diaper and what I like about it and what I don't like about it.  Keep in mind...I love all of these diapers (which is why I have many of each of these).  Maybe I will do a post later about the other random diapers I use but didn't like them enough to order more of for my stash.  

Bumgenius Freetime
This is my favorite diaper at the moment.  It has been for many months.  I had other favorites when B was only on breast milk or when I had to spray poop off of every diaper.  But right now I almost wish my entire stash was this diaper.  IT is so easy to use and wash.  

It is an all in one BUT it doesn't take forever to dry like most other AIO's.  It has 2 absorbent flaps sewn to each end so when you dry it you can just unfold the whole thing.  I put mine on a drying rack before I go to bed and they are completely dry in the morning.  In the summer I hang them outside and they are dry in a few hours.  And, yes, I do put them in the dryer occasionally.  No problems.  

The only con I can think of for this diaper is that when I had to spray B's poop (which was just a short period of time) it could be a bit difficult.  Sometimes one of the flaps would flop down in the toilet and it just made the whole diaper soaked.  I kept a wetbag by the toilet so this was not a huge deal.  If I had to take the sprayed diaper back into her room...well, that just wouldn't have happened.  

Bumgenius 4.0
This diaper is very dependable, easy to stuff, and easy to size.  I really have no complaints about this one.  It fits B really well and always has.  The only reason I say the Freetime is my favorite is that I don't have to stuff the inserts into those.  I don't mind stuffing pockets at all.  B actually helps me but sometimes I am lazy, ya know?  

One of the best things about the BG brand is the tabs are elastic.  I feel like I can get a better fit around her belly with this since most of my diapers are snaps and not velcro.  

Fuzzibunz
This was my go-to diaper for a long time.  My favorite aspect of this one is that it is so trim.  The BG's aren't huge or anything but they are bulkier than these and I had to size up in pants and shorts for those.  If B is wearing pants or leggings then I am usually reaching for a Fuzzibunz.  Here is a comparison.  

The purple is a Fuzzibunz and the other is a BG 4.0.  See how much more narrow the crotch is in the FB?  That makes for a much trimmer fit when actually on a baby.  

The main downfall of this diaper, and this is not a deal breaker as this is the diaper I have the most of, is they are somewhat tough to figure out how to size at first.  The BG's have a snap down rise and that is how you adjust to fit smaller babies up to toddlers...easy.  The Fuzzibunz have adjustable elastic in the legs and across the back.  When I didn't know what I was doing this intimidated me and I thought I was doing it wrong.  Once I got more comfortable with it, it was no big deal.  You get it sized right and then you don't have to size it up until your baby grows quite a bit.  I do think this type of sizing helps to get a better fit for a variety of different shaped babes!  

I don't reach for it "as much" these days only because I have to change it more frequently.  B can soak both of the inserts in about an hour and a half.  Usually this isn't a big deal but if I know we are going to be out longer of something I put something else on her.  I probably should just get different inserts for them and I wouldn't even have this problem!  

Thirsties AIO
I bought these diapers when they were on sale and I needed some velcro for my MIL and for my mom.  They are not technically "one-size".  Thirsties actually has a size 1 and a size 2.  Both of these diapers have a snap down rise with three settings...just like the BG.  I never had a size 1 and, like I said, I started when B was 3 1/2 months old.  So if you were to get a size 1 you wouldn't be using it for long but I would assume you could use it on a newborn.  The size 2 will last until potty training as I don't even have the rise unsnapped all of the way yet.  

The absorbent material is sewn directly into this diaper but is left open on both ends.  This is a great perk because you can stuff another insert in if needed.  I haven't ever needed to do this because B isn't a heavy wetter but it would come in handy.  

This diaper does take a while to dry.  I find that it dries faster if you turn it inside out (another perk of it being open on both ends) before putting on the drying rack/hanging to dry.  I have plenty of diapers (obviously!) so it isn't a big deal for me to let these dry a bit longer.  

Most of the Thristies that I have are velcro.  The velcro is not the best quality and has started to wear out.  It still sticks and probably will until B is potty trained.  I will more than likely need to get the velcro replaced in order to use these on a second child.  She can undo it if she doesn't have pants on though...but that is any velcro really.  One of the reasons I prefer snaps.  

I don't usually reach for this diaper, not because I don't like it, but I just leave it in the drawer for my MIL, my mom or to be taken to the gym daycare.  They all prefer to use the velcro and these are the easiest velcro diapers I have.  It is more like a disposable than any of the above diapers.  I wish I had a few more in snaps.  

Here is a pic of all 4 diapers together just so you can see the differences in them.  They are all sized for how B wears them now.  

Top left: BG Freetime

Top right: BG 4.0

Bottom left: FB

Bottom right: Thirsties AIO

Ok!  So there is a run down of my fave diapers.  Next time I'll talk about my routine and the accessories I used.  When I was researching I found that I wanted to know more about the day to day cloth use...where you put the dirty diapers, how you store the clean diapers, how do you use them when out and about.  I wanted to know how I was going to fit this in with taking care of a baby!  It turns out it was much easier than I thought it was.  

Prayers for Gavin-UPDATED

As many of you know, Bridget from The Lost Stork, gave birth to her son Gavin a couple of days ago.  He was born with a birth defect known as diaphragmatic hernia.  In a nutshell, there is a hole in his diaphragm and part of his bowels are in his chest cavity.  They knew nothing about this abnormality until Gavin started having trouble breathing soon after birth. 

Gavin went back for his surgery to repair this about 30 minutes ago.  

Please say a prayer that this surgery goes well.  They are going to put his bowels back in the right place and repair the hole.  The hope is that once that is done his lungs will be able to grow properly and work as they should.  A specific prayer for his lungs would be wonderful.

He is such a little fighter and his mama is one of the strongest people I know.  I will update the blog as soon as I know something about the surgery.  Thank you guys so much.

Gavin is out of surgery and doing great!  Bridget hasn't seen him yet but the surgeons said that Gavin did really well during the surgery!!  I knew he was strong like his mama...and his sister ;)  Let's all pray that his little lungs start to work properly now that the hole is fixed!  

Advice on privacy...

At the end of last week I got a comment on one of my posts (from a long time ago) telling me that someone on Twi.tter was using pictures of B and leading everyone to believe it was her child.  This person gave me 2 links.  

I nearly fainted.  

Then I looked at the accounts of these 2 people.  One is a girl and the other is a boy...supposedly.  They are engaged...supposedly.  They have a child and she is pregnant with twins...supposedly.  I say supposedly because, in my opinion, most or all of the pictures on these accounts are stolen.  They are all cropped weird and you can tell people have been cut out of them.  For example, there is a maternity picture where the older child and male are cropped out...it just looks funny.  In one picture she looks very dark skinned with dark hair and in her maternity pictures she has very light skin with blonde hair.  She also uses multiple different babies saying that is her older daughter (including pictures of MY child).  

There are pictures of B on both accounts and "she" cropped out my watermark.

At first, the mama bear in me started raging.  I looked through every single tw.eet these 2 accounts had.  How dare they steal pictures of my child?  Who is this person acting like this is their child...again, HOW DARE THEY???  Who is the person that commented to tell me?  How did they know?  Their blogger profile had just been created and had 2 views...both me.  I stayed up for hours thinking about what I could do.  

I am not on Twi.tter and I know absolutely nothing about it.  I do know that this person posted these pics of B last November and none since then.  There are quite a few of her and they are all from only one of my posts...no other pictures from any other post have been posted on this account of Blakely.  The accounts do have pictures of other babies (I am sure stolen) and "she" says they are her daughter as well.  

The fact that they are from only one post makes me think "she" just found my post through a  Go.ogle search, downloaded the pics and then moved on.  What do y'all think?  Both accounts still actively tw.eet but nothing again of B.  

I am torn about what to do about this entire situation.  

In the beginning I was pissed.  I almost took my blog down.  I wanted to call the fucking owner or whatever of Twit.ter.  I nearly called my cop friend.  HA!  My husband was a bit more chill about it.  He says it was just a picture.  It wasn't like she was pretending B was her daughter and stealing all of her pics.  (Side note....if she was stealing only pictures of Blakely, I am pretty sure he would have flipped.  He would probably still be hunting this person down.  He has connections!)  She was pretending she had a daughter and stealing a bunch of baby pics to fake it...she did a terrible job of it by the way.  I think anyone who follows her should be able to tell that it isn't the same child!  He is in favor of me watermarking all of her pictures though.  

So what to do?  I am not versed in all things blog.  I am not sure if I need a copyright and I still don't know if that would stop people from taking my pictures.  I looked into it but that is mostly for your content...which doesn't bring out my mama bear side.  Just the pictures...

I do use a watermark...sometimes.  I should do better.  From most of my research since this happened that is the best thing you can do.  I have been going back and putting the watermark across her face in every single picture.  That way if someone does take it then it can't be cropped out or hidden. 

I love blogging and I want to be able to do it and protect Blakely as well.  I don't care if people take MY picture.  I am able to make that decision for myself.  I do care, however, if people steal pictures of her and use them.  Blakely is not able to make the decision as to whether she wants to put her face on the internet.  I am making that decision for her.  As her mother, I want to do the safest thing for her.  I want to protect her.  That is my job.  

So, advice?  Is a watermark the best thing?  How do you recommend doing that?  I have an app on my Mac but I don't really like it.  I want something that will watermark an entire folder of photos but then I can manipulate each picture so it is over her face.  I don't have Photos.hop but I am willing to get it.  

Should I get a copyright for my blog?  Do you have one?  Is it easy to get?  

Have any of you ever had this experience?  Did you get mean to a bitch on Twit.ter like I want to?  Did you call your cop friend?  ;)  Seriously though...help!  I want to feel comfortable blogging.  I will do whatever it takes to make it that way.  

I love when my husband is off work.

Lonnie had some days off last week and there is seriously nothing I love better.  We get to have major family time, lazy days, and lots of snuggles.  

Last Friday was the best.  I had been meaning to get Blakely some new shoes because she had outgrown every single pair.  I realized this when I went to put on her Ug.gs and she just wouldn't stand up.  I thought she was being sassy (as always!) but then when I picked her up to a standing position she just kept playing with her shoes.  So I checked it out and her toes were basically curled under.  Way to go Mom....

So we took her to get fitted for some good tennis shoes.  We dropped the dough on some nice ones that she will outgrow in a month or so.  But totally worth it for her to not walk with her toes curled up!  

She likes them but she would rather not have shoes on at all.  She does like showing them off to people when we go places...cute.  

After that we decided to take advantage of the warmer weather.  We haven't been to the park in a looooong time....like I think it was before she could even crawl.  So we took her and let her run around like a crazy toddler.  She though it was super fun.  We slid down the slide and crawled up the steps multiple times.  

She wasn't a fan of the tunnel.  

Her favorite was this swing though.  It was getting close to nap time and I think she just wanted to fall asleep in the swing.  Every time I tried to take her out she would cry cry cry.  FInally we got her home and she took a great nap.  

My mother in law was at our house when we got home so we dropped B off for her nap and then Lonnie and I went on a little day date.  Those are seriously the best.  

We drove around for a while just looking at houses and stuff.  Then we randomly decided to shoot pool.  There is a little pool hall on our side of town.  We have been there once before with some friends and it was fun.  Since it was like 2 o'clock there weren't many people in there.  I had so much fun!  I never knew watching Lonnie shoot pool could be so sexy.  It totally was.  We will be doing it again :)

We were super lazy all weekend.  It rained all weekend long....blah.  We went to breakfast on Sunday at our place we always go to and then just watched football!  Go Patriots!!!

When Lonnie is off we get our schedule totally messed up.  I am usually pretty happy to get back into our groove come Monday.  Also, when he is off he quickly realizes how hard my job is!  He says he could never stay at home with B.  So basically he is worshipping me right about now and I don't mind it one bit ;)

Happy Monday!

15 months

B-bug is 15 months old today!

Okay.

It is time, I guess.  

Time for me to admit that I have a toddler.  She is no longer a babytoddler.  

I think what has made me finally come to this conclusion is that she RUNS everywhere.  Sometimes it takes me a second to actually catch her....she is fast!  

She has learned so much this month.  It amazes me how much she knows.  It just proves that she picks up on things constantly.  

A few new things this month....

She has a book with pictures of animals in it.  She can pick out the cow, horse, chicken, owl, pink flamingo, dog, rooster, cat, and fish.  If I point out and name five or six things from a book and then ask her where one of them is, she can pick it out.  She loves this book.  She would be happy if we just sat all day and pointed to the animals and made animal sounds.  I like the book because they are pictures of real animals and not cartoon animals.  The animals are also separated so I fee like it helps her to remember them?  I got it from Ama.zon and it is called My Big Ani.mal Book.  

I can't believe the things that she understands.  For example, she got a suitcase/backpack for Christmas.  The other night she picked it up, turned to us, said BYE-BYE, and walked to the front door!  I was shocked!  She obviously noticed that we pack that up when she goes to Gran Di's on Sundays.  

New words: chicken (sounds like chi-chin) and turkey (sounds like tu-chin)

Teeth: she got her bottom right molar on 12-19...she probably had it for at least a week before I even noticed.  One day she opened her mouth real big (probably to yell) and there it was.  She got her top right canine tooth on 12-28 and her bottom left molar started coming in on 1-2.  

She has started nodding.  It is the cutest thing ever.  Sometimes she just nods for the heck of it but if she means yes then she nods more excitedly.  

She is trying to cut out the morning nap.  I will be so happy when she does.  We will be able to do so much more during the day.  As of right now she gets it about half of the time.  If she wakes up before 7 then she gets the nap or we have crazy toddler by 11.  If she sleeps past 7 then I try to avoid the nap.  If we go to the gym or do something else in town it is much easier for her to skip the nap.  I should probably just suck it up and cut it out completely but I try to avoid angry Blakely :)

She walks backwards.  I'm not sure when she started this but she does it a lot.  Usually it happens riiiiiiight before she turns and runs away from me because I am trying to get something from her.  

As I mentioned above she runs everywhere.  There is very little walking up in here.  It is cute but she absolutely does not watch where she is going.  She doesn't look at the floor (which is usually covered in toys) so there are a bunch of falls and trips.  Most of the time she jumps right back up like nothing happened but other times she gets the pouty lip and cries.  

She is loud.  Like really loud.  She runs around yelling most of the day.  I guess she just likes hearing her voice?  

She is so messy.  I feel like she needs a bath after every meal.  She is learning how to use a spoon and fork and mommy pretty much hates it.  She knows how to put it in her mouth but she just doesn't want to sometimes.  She wants to fling the food across the room because that is fun!  Maybe I will just feed her myself forever?  This is a short stage, right??  

She hates for me to wipe her hands and face after meals.  She covers her face with her hands.  It is a struggle every single time.  What can I say?  She likes to be dirty.  

Her favorite thing to eat these days is cheerios with milk.  She likes them when they get soggy and I think she would eat half of the box.  She definitely eats the best/most at breakfast.  Lunch is usually ok but dinner can be tricky.  When she wakes up from her afternoon nap, around 3 to 330, she is so hungry.  I give her a pretty big snack but she wants to eat constantly until bedtime.  We end up eating dinner around 530 and she doesn't eat as much of it as I would like.  Maybe she just needs a heartier snack in order to make it to dinner time.  

As far as I can tell, she is drinking about three 9 ounce sippy cups of milk a day.  At her one year check up he told me she needed to drink 16-24 ounces a day.  I think she is a little over that now.  I only give her milk and occasionally water.  She will only drink water out of a regular glass with a straw.  I am thinking I should giver her more water so she isn't just getting milk all the time.  I need to keep better track of how much milk she gets.  I know it is enough but can she get too much?   

This has been such a fun and fast month with our girl.  With Christmas, the Christmas countdown activities, the new year, Lonnie's birthday, and our family weekend it has just FLOWN by.  I can't believe I have a 15 month old.....

We are going to do it...IVF #4

After talking with Lonnie, we decided to go ahead with IVF #4 to expand our family.  We did not see any reason to wait a few months.  I mean...what would we be waiting for?  January and February are pretty slow months for us so it just makes sense.  We have vacations already planned for April and May so we don't want to wait until then and have to worry about that.  

We had an appointment on Tuesday to discuss things with the doctor.  I thought it was not necessary but I am actually glad they made us come in for a consult.  

We talked to Dr. M about some medication changes.  I wanted to do the same thing we did for our third IVF that was successful.  On that cycle I took Follistim and Luveris together and I had not done that previously...just the Follistim.  He said that they do not make Luveris anymore so I would need to take Menopur, which I have heard of through blogs but have never taken.  Menopur is made to be taken with Bravelle, another med that I have never taken.  So I can either take Follistim & Menopur (not made to be mixed together so it would mean another shot), or Bravelle & Menopur (made to be mixed together so only one shot).  

The reason I didn't take Bravelle and Menopur the first three IVF's is because I had insurance coverage and they only paid for Follistim.  I have since met my lifetime infertility max on my insurance so nothing is covered for this cycle.  Wonderful.  I do realize how lucky we were to have any coverage at all so I am trying not to be frustrated with that.  But writing that very large check was hard....but will be so worth it I know.  

He basically left it up to us as to which meds to take.  He said they use the Bravelle and Menopur combo with most of their IVF's because it is cheaper but, in his experience, there is no difference in ovarian response between the two medications.  I am not sure how to decide this.  I just want to respond well and have plenty of eggs.  I responded well with the Folli so I am a bit nervous to try something new.  But if this is what they use most of the time and have success then why not use that and save a few bucks?  I just don't know...  If any of you have taken both of these medications, could you tell a difference?  Did you have a different response?  

So the plan is this...

I will call them when I start my period.  I am on day 18 of my cycle right now.  I will go in for labs on day 3.  Since I haven't had day 3 labs since 2010 they want to just check my hormones and make sure I will respond to the meds in a similar fashion.  As long as that looks good I will start birth control pills on day 5.  The IVF nurse will send me a calendar and get my meds ordered that day.  I have to decide on what medication (Follistim vs. Bravelle) by then.  I guess I will do some research and have Lonnie do the same.  I'm just not sure how to decide.  

I am excited and totally nervous at the same time.  I feel like a seasoned IVF veteran.  I know what to expect so I do think that helps me.  I know what to expect so I think that stresses me as well!  I'm definitely not looking forward to that huge bloated feeling or getting a needle shoved through my vagina multiple times.  Ouch.  But I will do whatever it takes.  I can do this and I will do this.  I am excited and hopeful that this can work.

We are not keeping this as much of a secret as we did with the FET.  I mean we aren't shouting it from the rooftops (or blasting it on FB or Ins.tagram) but some family members and some friends will know.  I have to have help with B while going through all of this since there are so many appointments involved.

There ya go.  IVF #4 will be underway in about 10-14 days.  

My hope for this cycle is this.  I hope that I respond well to the medication and they are able to retrieve many eggs.  (I have had 14,14, and 19 eggs retrieved before).  I hope they are able to make healthy embryos.  I hope this is the cycle that I get pregnant with Blakely's sibling.  I hope getting someone to watch Blakely through all of this is easy.  I hope that Lonnie getting off of work for the necessary appointments is easy.  I hope I am able to stay calm and not get too stressed out about any one little thing.  I hope I stay sane and stay nice to my husband.

I just hope this works!  

A big birthday and a family weekend.

My honey turned 40 last Thursday.  We had a pretty low key night.  He had to work (and had a horrible day, I might add) and he isn't into big celebrations just for him.  One day I will talk him into a party but this just wasn't the year.  

When he got home from work I had Blakely in this shirt that I made.  I can't tell you how long it took for me to get a picture of her where she wasn't either scowling at me or had her mouth wide open yelling.  What is it with the yelling these days?

These were the best I could get.  

yelling

pouting

We enjoyed some nice wine since it was a special occasion and I cooked a super yummy dinner of chicken, spinach and white bean quesadillas.  It is a pretty healthy recipe that I found on P.interest...the recipe is here.  I love it because you can do so many things with it.  I have made the quesadillas multiple times.  You can put it on spinach and eat it as a salad.  I have also eaten it cold, straight from the bowl the next day for lunch.  Blakely is a fan as well which is always good!  Since we are trying to eat healthier around here I decided not to make a cake.  That always means that we have an entire cake leftover to eat..not good.  I got Bett.y C.rocker individual chocolate molten cakes and stuck a candle in it.  They are actually really good!  

We were having my brother in law, Marshall, his wife Kristen, and their 7 year old twins down for the weekend so my mother in law came on Friday to help me clean my house.  Yes, I totally won the MIL lottery.  The others weren't coming until Saturday so me, Bob (MIL), and Lonnie played monopoly on Friday night.  Lonnie isn't really a gamer so I was surprised he agreed to play.  We only had the "updated" version.  The only difference is the properties have different names and the money is larger (think 1 million instead of 1 hundred).  After a few cocktails the math got a lot more difficult for everyone for me!  

Saturday morning the family arrived.  Bob does a treasure hunt for the kids each year at Christmas.  This year she decided to do it at our house.  Basically they start with a clue which leads to another clue.  They does this through 4-5 clues and then at the end is a present for each of them.  There are a total of 5 treasure hunts so they each get 5 gifts.  Bob was making the clues on Friday night and Lonnie and I were telling her how easy they were. So we decided that Lonnie would make the clues for the 5th treasure hunt.  His clues were super fun and made them think and work together.  It was hilarious to watch!  Just to give you an idea about the clues....one of them was frozen inside a block of ice and another one was hidden in the fireplace which had a "child proof" lock on it.  They loved Uncle Lonnie's hunt!  I would have taken more pictures but it was total chaos.  Collier and Syble were running around the house and I was just trying to keep Blakely out of their way and also keep her from falling down the stairs because they kept leaving the door open.  I was actually quite happy when it was all over!  

Here they are trying to unscramble the letters to mailbox..which is where the next clue was hidden.   

Our tradition for this weekend get together is to drink excellent wine and eat excellent food.  We decided a few years ago not to buy gifts for each other but to spend the weekend eating and drinking together.  A few years we made crab legs, sometimes we have caviar, but this year we decided to make lobster.  I must stop here and say that I do no cooking.  Marshall is a fantastic cook and would put any of those Food Netw.ork cooks to shame....like seriously.  He cooks the food for sure.  So he cooked some wonderful lobster and my MIL made potatoes for a side.  Lonnie and I are responsible for the appetizer each year.  This year we ordered some cheeses and made a cheese plate.  It was amazing if I do say so myself!

We had 5 different cheeses, 2 types of salami, grapes, crackers, jam (onion garlic blackberry!), pickles, wasabi almonds, and honey.

I can't believe I didn't take pictures of our lobster dinner!

We all slept in the next day.  Well, except Blakely.  Although she did sleep until 745 so that was good.  Bob and Lonnie got up with her so I did get to sleep in.  When I finally made it upstairs this is what I found.  

I am not sure there is anything more adorable than cousin love.  Syble was completely happy pushing B around on her tricycle and playing in her princess castle.  It was awesome and made me tear up more than once.  I am so glad Blakely is going to have such great role models in Collier and Syble.  Blakely was just giddy to play with the big kids.  

Marshall made brunch for us on Sunday with the leftover lobster.  I mean....there really are no words for how that turned out.  Lobster scrambled eggs, crab and corn bisque and mimosas?!?  You're crazy if that doesn't sound amazing!  

Lonnie is off this week so we are looking forward to a week of relaxation and family time with just the three of us!