a 'real' post

morning.
because i don't want to post a giveaway after giveaway after a giveaway. you'll have to wait. plus i know i have readers out there who have no interest in winning cloth diapers. mainly because they don't have kids IN diapers. :0) so here's a real post. and there will be some cloth diaper stuff too, i'll just save that for a bit later in my post. :0)

first off. amelya had her first recital last night. ahhhh. what a gem. also a learning lesson. ummm no chair to sit on. you know because i spent oodles of money on this costume and now they want my daughter to sit on the floor in it?!? um. no. so i made her stand by me. until a 'seasoned' mom came and said amelya could share the blanket with her daughter and color. ah thank you. and no i didn't have colors either. they should really give a class to all the first year dance moms! there is so much to learn!! i was relieved to find out a few of the other moms were breaking the 'absolutely no underwear under costumes' rule. WHAT!?! for a FOUR YEAR OLD!? so i never thought twice, she's wearing underwear. and then when the other moms said the same thing i felt like i wasn't the crazy one!!

amelya's class was five into the show. so we didn't have to wait too long and they were up! i stood to the side of the stage and watched my little ballerina. she did beautifully! and even better than rehearsal. and i must say so did the other girls. even the dress chewer participated! amelya said she loved being on stage! and i loved watching her. i composed myself and didn't even let a single tear that welled up fall. i mean i'm tougher than a crier. kind of. i was bursting with pride and with sadness. when did my baby grow up!?!? today is breigh and amelya. i'm so excited. it'll be a great day!! and a long one...this is the biggest show, which usually lasts three hours-ish. and breigh is in the first half and amelya is in the second half. no cutting out!

after amelya's recital we had a date. originally we picked red robin. until i couldn't pull into the parking space decent and was like almost sideswiping a car. and the worker of red robin was totally watching me. so i gave up. and told amelya, let's pick somewhere else. oh i was just too embarassed. so we went to culver's across the street instead. she didn't care. 'whew'. and culver's was fun. and so yummy. we ate most of our meals, and then had some ice cream. she had chocolate WITH SPRINKLES. and i had a banana split. yummy!! then we had to do some quick shopping at walmart. it was so fun to hang out with her all by herself. we had a special night and i think i'll have to make that more of a 'thing' a date night with the kiddos all alone.

okay. i was thinking. maybe some of you who are relatively new here...and don't have the time to go back and read all the fun stuff i've had to say before. i'll share you a 'cliff notes' version of the get to know me. k? k.
first off i'm a christian, a believer, a christ follower, whatever you want to 'label it as'. i'm 26 and have been married to shaun for almost five and a half years. we will be together ten years this month. we were high school sweethearts. and i get jealous sometimes that i was shaun's first girlfriend and first and only kiss. ((well not only onliest but YOU know.)) we got pregnant on our honeymoon. we were elated. a few months later we found out we miscarried that baby. we were sad. i also had a cyst removed. we couldn't start trying til may. in june we were pregnant. in march of 05 amelya was born. in sept of 05 shaun was crushed underneath a corn chopper. he was minimally hurt, god totally protected him. he was off of work for two weeks. like i said minimally hurt. in october we found out we were pregnant. in june of 06 breigh was born. in january of 07 i was feeling weird. and found out we were pregnant (the first test i officially took in the walmart bathroom while shaun and the kids were in the van. i HAD to know). in september of 07 caitlyn was born. then in february of 08 i still hadn't gotten my period. so i just took a test. not because i thought i was pregnant, but because i wanted to check. (side note to cliff's note::at the beginning of the month there was a date night.) well the date night worked. in october of 08 dustin was born. i had a lump in/on/near my thyroid. they did a biopsy. not cancer. praise god. and now we're here. pretty much. lol.

there is loads of other stuff i could say, but that pretty much covers it. i've been pregnant or nursing or both for most of the past five and a half years. and i've loved every minute of it. i wouldn't trade being a mommy for anything. amelya is four. breigh will be three in june. caitlyn is almost 20 months. and dustin is six months. the girls are all 15 months apart and dustin and caity are 13ish months apart. i get loads of comments about "all" of our kids in public. and lately they've been mostly nice. i like that. :0) so there you have me in a cliff's note.

okay. now for the few cloth diaper questions. ((i also want to preface this by saying i do not want to come off as some sort of cloth diaper high and mighty queen. some of my friends use disposables and i haven't shunned them from my life. cloth diapering is a choice, just like breast feeding and other parenting choices. i'm just sharing with you MY reasons why.))

the main reason i started cloth diapering was to save money on diapers. i was a pampers snob and was spending close to TWO HUNDRED dollars a MONTH on diapers. when i saw i could buy two bummis kits and a few covers for four hundred dollars and then never again. i was sold. in two months our diapers would be 'paid for'. and i would keep using them over and over again!! ((fact from "realdiaperassociation.org/diaperfacts.php" the average baby uses 6000 diapers for the first two years of life (or if is like breigh more because she doesn't want to go on the potty) average cost of disp. is 25.5 cents/diaper. that equals about 1600/year 66/month on diapers. not including wipes cost. and add that by two or three and that's a huge number!! for me it would be 4800/year if i figure it out with what i was spending that's close to 7300/year!))

then i got home and researched more about cloth. and found out some scary truths about disposable. did you know that disposable diapers contain traces of the carcinogenic toxin, dioxin. the EPA lists dioxin as the most toxic of all cancer linked chemicals. dioxin is banned in most countries, but not the US. The chemical sodium polycrylate is added in powder for to the inner pad of a disposable diaper to make it super absorbant. SAP was banned from tampons due to links to TSS. this chemical can cause skin irritations and severe alergic reactions. for me that all hit me. what?! in our babies diapers?!? so i felt better about the choice i had made. i just feel it's important for parents to be educated in these things. and then make our own educated choices.

of course there is the environment factor as well. one disp. diaper can take up to 250-500 years to decompose. an estimated 27.4 BILLION diapers are used in the US every year. over 300 pounds of wood and 50 pounds of petroleum feedstocks are used to produce disp. diapers for ONE baby EACH year.

i also wanted to say that i found on average it will cost about 625.00 for the two years of diapering to wash and dry your diapers. (that's for water and electricity) if you have a well like we do, you don't pay for water at all. and if you have a clothes line and nice weather you can hang your diapers outside. so i'm sure that average is different for everyone.

cloth diapering has changed since 'we were in diapers'. companies have made it SO easy. i use prefolds or contour diapers with covers at home. and when we go out and about and i know i'm going to be gone awhile i will use all in ones (AIO) or pocket diapers. my favorite AIO so far is bumkins. and i LOVE fuzzi bunz for pocket diapers. (and will post a giveaway for them soon!!) all three kids wear a fuzzi bunz overnight as well. we stuff it with a microfiber and a hemp liner. i rarely have leaking. and if i do, it's usually because I am being too lazy to change them right when they get up. so it's my fault, not the diapers. with the AIO and pockets you change the entire diaper every time. so it's more like a disposable. the prefolds you can use the same cover all day or more than that. i have enough covers so i usually just use one cover all day and then throw it in the bag. i've also found a new diaper by 'dry bees'. it's considered an AIO but also let you have the pocket to add more absorbancy. i have only used it once, but it worked fantastically!!

when i am out and about i use a planet wise 'wetbag'. it's a nice little bag that zips, (some snap, some toggle tie) i love my wet bag. (and get to give away one of those soon as well!!) it stores the diapers for me until i get home, and contains the smell wonderfully. so i don't walk around smelling like dirty diapers. :0)

at home i use two different bummis wet bags. i have a smaller sized one for my covers and fuzzi bunz covers. then i put the prefolds,contours, and inserts in a different bag. the fuzzi bunz diapers say to be stored seperately. i'm not really sure on the reason why but i like to follow most rules.

i've also started using cloth wipes! they have sites where you can make your own 'wipe juice' or if you're lazy like me you can buy bottles of wipe juice. i just mix it with water and pour it over my wipes. when i first started cloth dustin was breastfed only. and had the poo to prove it. i basically got sick of pulling out poopy wipes and love the fact i just throw it all in a bag and don't get poo on my hands anymore. i'm all for that! if you're at all crafty you could sew your own wipes, and diapers for that matter. but i'm only 'scrapbook' crafty. so i leave the sewing to you. and then make you money by buying them. so i'm helping out the economy. :0)

did you catch that comment up there. i'm lazy. and i cloth diaper. it really is no more work than disposable. except instead of throwing the diapers away i wash them. with kids i wash pretty much do wash every day. this is just an extra load. i try to wash the diapers every other day. there are tricks to washing. i've 'mastered' my machine and have had no issues. if you are interested in the washing tips and tricks i have let me know. i could dedicate an entire post to it really! and since i've rambled on and on about this already i'll save you from wanting to pull your eyeballs out.

does all that stuff answer your questions?! let me know. please. :0) i've actually felt a leading from the lord to start offering cloth diaper classes. i've gotten some 'kits' or rather will be getting some, from a few cloth diapering companies and am going to start doing classes. my first one is at the mom and pop place on may 14th at 11 am. i'm looking into doing some at some other places as well. so far they're free. :0) i've debated offering my services to parents in their homes for a minimal cost for my time. one on one learning is the best for me. i was thinking like a small charge for me to come into your home and be at your 'disposable' about cloth diapers. so we'll see where god leads this. i'm truly excited.

so like i said, any more questions? ask me and i'll be sure to answer them. thanks for sticking through this entire post if you have. have a great weekend. and be sure to enter my bummis giveaway below if you are interested!! ;0)