Stain Remover

Ok, So I bought something online like 2 weeks ago and was pretty excited to try it... I was SO pleased with how it worked I decided to go ahead and blog about it :)

This bad boy is FANTASTIC! Wanna see it in action? good.

So if you cloth diaper you probably know all about staining... it's pretty gross. Sorry if this is TMI but Miles has some BRIGHT yellow poo... It's the strangest thing. anyway, here are just some before and afters!

All I did was wet the diaper, rub the stick on the wet diaper and then lather it in my hand. I could watch the stain come out, after rinsing it well I put it out on the line to get some sun. After an HOUR in the sun they looked BRAND NEW!!! basically I recommend this to everyone. It apparently gets any stain out of anything!

After

Before

Before

After

After

Before

Happy December!

I get my husband home this month!!!!!!!! That is the ONLY info I can give right now.

This weekend I decided to clean out my closets and get rid of quite a few items that I don't understand why I still have them! So far just from posting some stuff on facebook I have made $170.... Which pretty much covers the Christmas shopping damage I did this weekend for the small child (sorry Riley) hopefully I can get some more of this stuff out of here! Cause I need to make room, Miles is slowly taking over all the free space in the house :)

I went to the craft store this weekend to get some supplies for a few projects, a welcome home sign, Miles' 3 month onesie and some other super fun craft stuff.

I really wish I was blogging more, BUT I use all my free time to work on projects. Why do I ALWAYS overwhelm myself with projects while Rye is gone. I have to get our new bed built in the next like weekish (that is my timeline I gave myself) When Rye gets home he is going to help me sand down and stain this table as red as I can get it!


I WAS going to put some pictures there but apparently I ran out of storage space on my blog for pictures... Anyone know if I will attain more storage at the beginning of the year. or am I going to have to purchase storage? I mean $2.50 isn't a terrible price a month, But how many people actually read my blog anyway... Is it worth PAYING for pictures? I know Riley reads it, and when he is away it is nice for him to keep up to date... We will revisit this issue.

Miles is going to be 3 months old the day after tomorrow. Time sure does fly! He rolled onto his belly for the first time today. Riley was able to see him do it over Skype! Well we both actually missed the first time... little Roman saw it instead. He pulls up to stand, and holds his head up like a champ! He's VERY physical and has been trying desperately to become mobile for WEEKS. I fear we may have an early crawler on our hands. I am NOT ready for him to be mobile. Deezul is just getting used to him, and I know he is not ready for Miles to be able to go after him. Lord help us all when the day finally arrives.

Cloth diapering is still going awesome. I only use disposables with the babysitter now. She MAY be cool with cloth, but I haven't ever asked her. I don't want to burden her at all. Also she is very well priced, and Miles only goes 2 days a week for like 4 hours, I think I can afford diapers for that time!

Speaking of cloth diapering, have I mentioned that it is addictive yet? Yikes. Wait until you guys see my next post about my stash. I would include pictures... But blogger hates me, and your curiosity.

The house is being decorated for Christmas and I am beyond excited. I cannot wait to see Riley and Miles on Christmas morning :)

Also I think I am A-OK if Riley decides to get out of the Marine Corps. I know that it is really hard on him to be away from us (especially Miles(And Deezul)) I really really like Rye, so I wouldn't mind having him around 24/7 again. He's my best friend :)

I really do love blogging, I have just been so busy. I will try to stay on top of it though!

Cloth Diapering

Alright I've been Cloth Diapering for nearly 7 weeks now. This will be my first official reviews and tips post. Keep in mind, every baby is completely different. I am still super new to this and don't pretend to know even HALF of what I need to know. So please be understanding. This is just what is working for ME at the moment. This will be the first of MANY cloth diaper posts, and hopefully if you were thinking about cloth diapering or currently are, I will be able to provide some kind of insight. I will include pictures as well!

My Stash

• 14 Bumgenius 4.0- I LOVE these... can I just say how much I LOVE these! I stuff them with the large adjustable insert with the fatter part up front since boys tend to pee towards the front of a diaper. I have not had ONE leak in these. They are the first diapers that I reach for. I have 8 or 9 that are snaps and the others are velcro. I will always try to set aside the velcro so that I have them ready for the middle of the night change. It's much easier to slap the velcro closed than to try to line up the snaps on the right setting in the dark. 
• 3 fuzzibunz pocket- So far I give these 1 1/2 stars... I had leaks EVERY time I put these on. I hear nothing but awesome reviews on these so I have been super frustrated. But I just adjusted the settings and I THINK AND HOPE AND PRAY that I fixed the issue. the first time I put him in it after the change and I didn't have a leak... So we will see. I really want these to work. So stay tuned, I really do believe they have the potential to be amazing diapers
• 5 flip Covers- No complaints about these. HOWEVER no one told me that there are special inserts you can put in the flip that is able to touch baby's skin (cause normal microfiber inserts CANNOT touch baby) I think I may end up ordering some of these (shhh don't tell Riley)
• 2 bumkins pocket-I loved these. They were in my most used pile. They are super cute, I especially love his turtles print. Recently though they started leaking, so I am actually stripping them right now. Hopefully stripping them fixes the problem. Cause I love these. I try to stuff these with the same bum genius adjustable insert. If I don't have any left I use 2 smaller inserts
• 2 Grovia All in One's- I have 1 infant and 1 one size. These are fantastic. They are normally a little pricey, but I got them both on a Grovia seconds sale. The infant one has leaked the past 2 times. I'm stripping it right now but honestly, I think he may have just outgrown it... This makes me sad. I really love his little robot diaper.
• 3 MG baby pocket (I think it's cool that it says MG baby... get it... Miles Gardiner... Yup I'm a nerd)- Love these. I got through all 3 with every load (which I do every other day) I stuff them the same way. I am also able to use these as night time diapers, which is always a plus! 
• 3 lotus bumz pocket-I like these, but don't love the colors that I have... which is a stupid reason not to use them, but I find myself passing it for a cuter one... other than that I don't have any complaints about how they work. I don't worry about these leaking and just stuff them the same way.
• 1 small Baby beehind cover- This cover is AWESOME I absolutely love the velcro on it. It's not normal velcro and sticks to every part of the diaper so I am not limited to the small velcro tabs. 
• 3 random brands that came in the mail and I don't love the colors... So I will probably pass them on to someone---- Honestly I've never used these.
• 3 large and 2 medium workhorse- I am going to try the medium and see how it works, he might still be too small, but we shall see. 
• about a dozen infant prefolds- I use these with a snappi under a cover. Sometimes I will just fold it in thirds and set it in the cover, that seems to work as well. You just have to make sure you change it within the 2 hours. 
• about a dozen and a half newborn prefolds- I WAS using these... I suppose I could use these to stuff diapers now. 
• a billion microfiber inserts- I know a lot of people complain about these inserts. They come with virtually every diaper you order, and so far I haven't had any issues... however I am very new at this. 

Also I have some new additions to my stash... Cloth diapering is an addiction. So please know that going into it! 

These are my new Thirsties covers.

I am SO excited to try the thirsties. I hear awesome things about them, and I got the inserts to go with them.

Alva baby pocket diapers

I was wanting to try these and so I am pretty stoked to be able to do so!

My poor little robot diaper... You lived a good short life... I'm sure the next baby G will love you. 

Also did you notice my new rug... I love it!

Wash & Care

Currently I am doing laundry every 2-2 1/2 days. I WAS using charlie's soap but when that ran out I decided to try and make my own. I ended up making some with Borax, Washing soda, and oxi clean. I also added a little peppermint oil. So every time I do laundry my whole laundry room smells slightly of candy canes (LOVE). I use 1 TBSP of this in each load. I even started using it for my normal laundry. I am completely in love with this. It is also much cheaper than paying $30 for a tub of soap that will only last 80 loads. I throw my diapers in on the sanitize setting and then dry the inserts and hang all the covers and diapers out to dry over night. So far so good. I only have slight staining on a few of the diapers and I need to try and sun them to bleach them out. I am curious how well sunning actually works... anyone know? 

I still highly recommend having a wet bag (or 3). I need to get a big one for the nursery, but so far my three little bags have worked out great! 

I am only using disposables when I go to church (his church clothes fit better with them) and if I'm out and about in town for a long period of time. I find that he will have blow outs and leak in disposables, and NOT in cloth

So far I am in LOVE with this whole thing. It's working out awesome for us. If you have any questions of tips for me, leave a comment! 

Cloth Diapering In Practice

So I have been researching cloth diapering for YEARS, no I'm not exaggerating. I first wanted to do it in 2008, Riley shot down that Idea... thankfully he came around once I showed him the research and the truth about how it actually works.

My total cost to this day is $320 for all the cloth diapers I have. That includes my stash of about 35-ish pocket & All in One's, 7 covers, and 30-ish prefolds (just newborn and infant size at the moment). I have only 1 snappi, but have a package of 10 in my cart on amazon right now.

The past 2 1/2 days I have put Miles in cloth during the daytime when we are downstairs. After his bedtime bath I put him in disposables for the night and until the late morning that is what he stays in. We still have lots of disposables that were given to us, no use in wasting them! I had to buy an extra pack of newborn diapers with the umbilical cord cutout, 1 package of huggies cost $13 for 60 something diapers.. .That is ridiculous! How do people afford to diaper a child?! He waits till I change him to finish pooping! So now I have to wait a good 10 minutes after the first sound to make sure he's done.

So far we have had 1 leak. And it was a user error. I did not tighten it properly, or he may still be too small for that particular one. So far it's been pretty easy! My only issue is that I can't tell when he's wet. It seems to stay the same bulkiness, and I don't want to have to test it with my finger... So I will go off and do my research for another way! I didn't think that I would like doing prefolds, but I don't mind it at all! it's nice to be able to just wipe off the cover with a wipe and stick on another pre fold, rather than have to put on a whole new diaper.

I highly recommend wet bags! I need to order a big one, but so far my little ones have worked. I'm doing my first load of dirty diapers tomorrow. I'm using Charlie's soap. I've been using it on his clothes and I really like it so far!

If you have zero interest in cloth diapering... I'm sorry for boring you with this post... but I'm sure you'll get over it! Tomorrow is my first day back working out. So I will be posting my first post-baby body picture... It won't be pretty, but it will be good for accountability!

I'll leave you with pictures of Miles in his cloth diapers. If you follow me on instagram, these may look familiar!

 This is Mr G in his first cloth diaper ever! A pre fold with a flip cover. It's a one size cover, and I was able to get 5 of these on seconds sale for I think $5 or $6 a piece. These were the first cloth diapers I purchased, so it seemed fitting to be the first I put him in! These are still a tiny bit loose around his legs, but still fit snug enough that I haven't had a leak yet.

 Mr G is sporting a prefold, and a Bee cover... I can't read the full name, it might be Bee Baby. it's a size small cover. This one worked REALLY well, and the velcro was able to be pulled super tight and it stuck to any part of the diaper which was nice seeing as it overlapped the other strap by a bit. I also got this one on zulily I believe.

 This one is not a diaper one.... This is Miles drunk on milk, and I love it!

He started screaming (for no reason I might add). So being the awesome mom I am I snapped a picture before picking him up and setting his world right again. He's wearing a MG Baby pocket diaper... I bought a few of these on zulily for I think $10, So far I love these, I've used 2 of them, they fit well and zero leaks. This one was REALLY full when I changed him since he wore it on our evening walk. So this is one I would recommend if it comes back on zulily!

Stubborn Child

I awoke this morning excited! The day had arrived that I would get to see Miles in 3D. I remember my sister in law getting her 3D ultrasound with Jaxon, And It was crazy how he ACTUALLY looked like his ultrasound picture.

We had planned on leaving base by 7:30AM to make it to Aiea by 8am. I made the mistake of not protesting when Riley took the keys to drive. I always forget how stressed I get when he drives and we have to be somewhere, you know Church, Dr appts, The dolphin show at the sea life park. We are on base driving the 2 miles from our house to the front gate, he is driving 5 under... took us 6 minutes with no red lights and no traffic to make it to the front gate. THEN he needed me to run inside and grab him a drink. Surprisingly we were only 6 minutes late to our appt.

I laid on the table, ready to see my little guys face... and here is all I got.

For seriously 30 minutes, we poked and poked trying to get him to move his dang hands! No dice, We moved me from side to side, poked him had me stand up and wiggle. Finally she had me stand at the end of the bed and bend over and just stand there for a good 3 minutes... And then we had a little more luck.

So without further ado, here is my stubborn child.

Ya, he just needs to fatten up for about 13 more weeks and then he is all mine to squish!

He was getting really irritated at all the poking and started punching and kicking really freaking hard! And then he would make this pissed look... Not the cutest face but it was funny only cause he would make it every time we would poke him.

He's still definitely a boy! Thank goodness, after all the prep work we have done it would be hard to make the switch from a room filled with boy stuff, to a room of girl stuff...

After the ultrasound we headed to home depot to get the stuff for a DIY diaper sprayer for Miles room. That will make doing cloth diapering a real option for me. Then we tried out this pub & pizza place downtown. I bought a groupon from them a month or two ago, So lunch cost us nothing, and was pretty good. And I don't know why but my legs are KILLING me today. It feels like I had charlie horses all night and am recovering today. So I was more than grateful to be home and be able to put my feet up. I'm now chillin in Rye's home gym while he works out and Deezul stands at the top of the staircase staring down like there is someone or something there... He's too weird.

So that's pretty much it for today! Till next time!

My Cloth Diaper Stash(so far)

So the other night I was in Miles' room organizing and going through clothes, just trying to consolidate all the gift bags and shopping bags into a few bins. I then decided to organize my diapers on my changing table as much as possible before I get the containers I need for the table.

So I brought my whole stash onto the ground with me to do a quick inventory of what I have, and then put them away in a somewhat clean looking way. Holy cow... I have a lot more than I thought I did. 

I've been only buying diapers when they are on a really good sale online. Because of that, I have been able to keep my cost very low, and get a variety of brands to try out! This being said, let me just show you the magnitude of how many I really have. 

Ya when my last 2 arrive today in the mail I will have 31 total... And my total cost thus far has been $300. I'm pretty proud, especially since I have 12 BumGenius 4.0's that I only paid $140 for, they usually cost $203 for that many. 

Anyway, another post to come VERY shortly, we have our big 3D ultrasound this morning. It's about 2 weeks sooner than I originally planned on getting it done, but we wanted Riley to be able to be there. I'm excited to see the little guy and get to kind of see what he actually looks like! 

Cloth Diapering

Yea, you read that right... I'm a weirdo.

I have had interest in cloth diapering since probably around the time we started trying for kids (2007). However at the time I knew nothing. I assumed I would have to go through a diapering service to do such a thing and then would it REALLY be cost efficient to cloth diaper. I'm not really the "go green" type, So it has to prove worth while money wise for me to make a "green" decision. Riley shot that idea down right away, said it was gross and he wouldn't do it and bla bla bla. So I dropped it, for a while.

Nearly 2 years ago my friend from middle/high school gave birth to twin girls. To save money (A LOT of money) she decided to cloth diaper. I've been reading her blog since she was pregnant, and it made me want to look more into the modern cloth diapering options. I would read her blog posts about using cloth and would root for her when she was having a tough time, and get so excited when she would post a tips or stash post. So that I could see first hand what was and wasn't working for someone that I knew personally, not some stranger on the Internet getting paid to do a review.

When I first found out I was pregnant back in August I mentioned to Rye that I was still thinking about cloth diapering. Went over a few of the options on HOW to do it, and then gave him the price rundown. If we potty train at 2 1/2 years (I could be dreaming) then for the 30 months IN diapers it would cost between $40-$72 a month for diapers which adds up to $1200-$2160 spent in diapers alone. However I can build an AMAZING cloth diaper stash for well under $400 and then be set for and children we have. Laying out the numbers for him was ALL it took and he was game. So I started my research and felt SO unprepared and under educated. I spent hours upon hours reading or watching reviews. We had a deal that we wouldn't buy ANYTHING baby until I was 12 weeks (which didn't happen). After my mourning period I got back into the game (fertility appts and such) and decided I should still try to gain as much cloth diapering knowledge as I could before I became pregnant again.

So here I am, 6 months pregnant and feeling ready for the challenge. I want to say I have 20-ish diapers and so far my cost is at $200. I've been watching the online sales and every time one strikes I buy 2-3 diapers. I am hoping to have a stash around 30 diapers (plus a stash for newborn) Which means I'm almost there, then I only have to worry about the newborn stash. I'm holding out for a big purchase of the "best of the best" I keep hoping they will go on sale, but if not I have an amazon gift card waiting in the wings ready to help me make the cloth diaper purchase I am most excited about.

Riley will be installing our diaper sprayer either this weekend or next, Cause I want to make sure it's done before he leaves. He also has to move OUR washer and dryer into the new house and move the ones that belong in housing out to the garage. We bought our fancy front loaders 3 years ago and it has the sanitize setting on it (which was another reason Rye decided to go along with this). Rye has been a champ about this, the man has never changed a diaper in his life, and yet is is totally game to do cloth diapering. I am hoping that when he gets home from deployment he will follow through and learn how to change diapers like a pro, I'm sure he's so looking forward to that.

I'll take pictures and post my "stash" in the nearish future. It'll be interesting to see how well it works vs my expectations of the entire thing. Overall though, I am excited. The money we don't spend on diapers can go towards other things (you know like race entry fees)... Speaking of, Rye has a half marathon this weekend, so I will be blogging about that this next week!