My Quiet Day

I’ve been getting very frustrated lately, mostly because I’m so tired. I’ve raised my voice way too much, so I decided that I would spend a whole day whispering and talking quietly. I still got frustrated, but rather than getting louder and louder, I got softer and softer, and sometimes I just wouldn’t say anything. Like once, when Lizzy head butted my nose so hard that it made my eyes water. Normally I would very loudly say, “Ow, that hurts!” But instead, I said nothing, held my nose until it stopped hurting, and then kept cuddling and playing with Lizzy.

Lizzy was still her rambunctious self, but she seemed to be happier, and I was better able to understand what she wanted. I was so quiet throughout the day, that when Michael came home, his regular speaking voice seemed very loud. When Michael was doing the dishes, rather than raise my voice so he could hear me over all the noise that causes, I decided to wait until he was done to tell him what was on my mind. I feel like my voice got a nice break, and my family really enjoyed the calmness it brought into the house.

Fix the Hem on Michael's Shorts

Michael asked me to let out the hem on his shorts, because they had shrunk and were starting to look like short shorts. I tore out the stitching, and sewed a new hem, adding about an inch to the length. They look a lot better now. I finished this goal on September 9, 2011.

101 Goals in 1001 Days

I found this and thought it would be great for me. Basically, set 101 goals to accomplish over the next 1001 days, which ends up being about 2 3/4 years. It gives you the flexibility to get the small things done and plan out the big things as well. Also, have fun with it. Don't just make everything something serious to accomplish. I think my favorite goal that I've seen someone set so far was "Start a fire with a magnifying glass." Here are my goals.

Start Date: Sept. 9, 2011
End Date: June 5, 2014

1. Fix the hem on Michael’s shorts. (9/10/2011)
2. Make 36 newborn diapers.
3. Make Lizzy’s Halloween costume. (10/25/2011)
4. Organize fabric.
5. Read the New Testament.
6. Read the Old Testament.
7. Finish reading Sense and Sensibility.
8. Finish Lizzy’s dress.
9. Memorize Reverie.
10. Go to Bryce Canyon.
11. Grow a garden.
12. Buy a house. (12/1/11)
13. Get out of debt.
14. Buy a second car.
15. Print wedding pictures.
16. Strictly follow Dr. Gunn’s diet for 1 month.
17. Teach Lizzy how to read.
18. Finish Lizzy’s first year book.
19. Make a first year book for Leah.
20. Finish first scrapbook. (12/24/11)
21. Don’t eat ice cream for 1 month. (1/1/12)
22. Don’t eat sugar for 2 weeks.
23. Lose baby weight.
24. Decide on a date night.
25. Graduate from college.
26. Go to the temple 25 times. 24 to go.
27. Enroll Lizzy in dance lessons.
28. Make Lizzy and Leah Easter dresses.
29. Make 10 small diapers.
30. Make 10 large diapers.
31. Learn 10 new recipes. #1
32. Get a year supply of food storage.
33. Do the dishes everyday for a week.
34. Go on a family bike ride.
35. Watch Stargate: Atlantis.
36. Finish the campaign for Starcraft 2.
37. Make 72 hour kits.
38. Have 10 songs memorized at once.
39. Teach Lizzy the alphabet.
40. Teach Leah the alphabet.
41. Potty train Lizzy.
42. Go on a church tour.
43. Plant a flower garden.
44. Spend a day with each of my siblings.
45. Go on a special trip with just Michael.
46. Go on a hike.
47. Have a family picture taken and hang it on the wall.
48. Have FHE every week for 3 months.
49. Don’t drink soda for 6 months.
50. Have a concert for friends and family with my 10 songs.
51. Read the Book of Mormon.
52. Host a sewing retreat.
53. Pay for someone else’s food in the drive thru.
54. Complete visiting teaching every month for a year.
55. Pray every night for 3 months.
56. Learn how to wash diapers by hand.
57. Practice washing laundry by hand for 2 weeks.
58. Organize important documents in a fireproof box.
59. Learn how to make my mom’s bread.
60. Make a snowman with the girls.
61. Visit a state I have never been to.
62. Get my extra license.
63. Read my ham radio manual.
64. Play through the entire hymn book.
65. Play through the entire primary song book.
66. Get Lizzy down for bed by 8 pm for 2 weeks.
67. Go to the Days of ’47 Parade.
68. Have a 4th of July party.
69. Do our own fireworks show to music.
70. Write my memoires from high school graduation until the present.
71. Make a popcorn chain for the Christmas tree.
72. Make juice popsicles and eat them with the girls.
73. Complete 1 “no spend” month. Attempt #1
74. Get all my scales up to 120.
75. Go see the lights at temple square as a family.
76. Go to a Jon Schmidt concert.
77. Read the constitution.
78. Organize the shoes by the door. (12/24/11)
79. Make a piñata.
80. Make play dough.
81. Donate to the perpetual education fund.
82. Give someone in need $100.
83. Start a savings account for Lizzy and Leah.
84. Get a 3 month savings.
85. Learn how to play all the board games we own.
86. See the tulips at Thanksgiving Point.
87. Go on 25 dates with Michael. 24 to go.
88. Learn to play 3 hymns on the guitar.
89. Finish crocheting a blanket.
90. Don’t say anything negative about anyone, including myself, for 2 weeks.
91. Don’t whine for 2 weeks.
92. Read the Doctrine and Covenants.
93. Learn Spanish.
94. Get a 10 gallon salt water fish tank.
95. Organize the filing cabinet.
96. Make my own granola.
97. Go to bed by 10 pm every night for 2 weeks.
98. Visit Arches National Park.
99. Visit Dinosaur National Monument.
100. Ride on the Heber Valley Railroad.
101. Go on a drive in the mountains in the fall. Collect pretty leaves to press.

The Different Kinds of Cloth

There are so many different kinds of cloth diapers now. The first thing you need to figure out is what kind you want to use or make. As you know, pockets are my favorite. The other two diapers most similar to a pocket are all-in-ones (AIOs) and all-in-twos (AI2s). AIOs have the three layers that I described in my “How pocket diapers work” post all sewn together. AI2s have the PUL layer with an insert placed in it. There is no wicking layer. AI2s, also, have disposable inserts that you can place in the PUL layer.

Then there are and flats and prefolds. These are the “old school” kind of diapers that everyone thinks about when cloth diapers are mentioned. Flats are just a flat piece of absorbent material that you fold and wrap around the baby. Prefolds are sewn in such a way that the very middle is more absorbent than the sides. Snappis are used instead of pins to keep the flats and prefolds closed. Most people like to have a cover made from PUL to go over their flats and prefolds so they don’t have to deal with leaks.

All of these types of diapers have variations. The most notable variation is one size vs. fitted. I bought my pretty baby one size diapers, which can grow from 10 lbs to 35 lbs using snaps or adjustable elastic. I made her fitted diapers, which she will grow out of soon, and I will have to make her more. The one size tend to be more bulky and the fitted more trim, but ultimately they get the same job done. The only reason I am okay with making fitted diapers is because they are so incredibly inexpensive to make.

From there the variations are more design features than anything else. You can use snaps or hook and loop (Velcro) to keep the diapers shut. Some covers are the typical plastic pants while others actually open up like a disposable diaper. There are many different materials that can be used for absorbency. I’ve already mentioned cotton, bamboo, and hemp in a previous post. Then there is wool, zorb, and microfiber blends, all of which I have less experience with. Linen should work as well, and technically silk should, too, but that would be a very expensive diaper, and I don’t think anyone has ever tried it. There are so many different ways to cloth diaper, and they all work.

How Pocket Diapers Work

We are expecting our second little girl in November, and now that we cloth diaper, I have been trying to figure out how to cloth diaper a newborn. I don’t like covers or all-in-ones (AIO). Pockets are the diaper type for me. Unfortunately, getting newborn or even preemie pocket cloth diapers is very expensive; especially when you consider that they will only being using them for 2-3 months. To remedy my problem, I have decided to make my own cloth diapers, tailored specifically to my needs and wants.

I have learned a lot about how my pocket diapers work, while trying to figure out what I need to buy to make these diapers. First things first, the shell, is made of polyester, on the outside and the inside. The outside material is very fascinating. It is called PUL fabric, which is abbreviated for polyurethane laminated fabric. Basically, it is polyester material on one side, and plastic on the other. This material has proven wonderful for keeping fluids from leaking out. PUL was originally developed for the medical industry as a way to make disposable things reusable, and is able to be sanitized at very high temperatures.

The inside of the shell, the layer which touches the baby’s bum, is also polyester. Micro suede and micro fleece are common materials used for this layer, because they are soft and have “wicking” abilities. Wicking is when a material can pull a liquid through it from one side to the other. Having this wicking function on the inner layer is important to avoid rashes. It helps to keep their bottoms dry.

Next, the insert, is usually made out of a natural fiber material. The three most absorbent, from least to greatest, are cotton, bamboo, and hemp. Cotton is sufficient for most daytime use, where hemp comes in very handy for 12 or more hours of sleep. The polyester wicks the fluids away from the baby’s bum, and the natural fibers of the insert store the fluids until the diaper can be changed. Then the insert can be washed and sanitized separately from the shell, insuring that all bacteria is killed, thus reducing rashes and smell.

Those three components, the outside PUL, the inside wicking, and the absorbent insert make up a lot of different types of diapers. My preference for pockets comes in that I can wrap a hemp flat around the microfiber insert and keep our baby dry and sleeping for over 12 hours. You can stuff a pocket with just about anything that will be absorbent.

A Story About Disposable Diapers

In all my research about cloth diapers, I have learned that many people use cloth diapers as a way to avoid the chemicals in disposable diapers. These chemicals are used to absorb liquid and keep the baby’s bum dry. Some baby’s are allergic to the chemicals and some chemicals are too harsh to be used on a baby and can cause serious problems. That is not our reason for using cloth, however, and this story is simply an antidote I remembered while researching.

When I was in fourth grade, we were given a disposable diaper, a plastic sandwich bag, some water, and some bean seeds. We were instructed to pull the diaper apart until we got to the fluffy stuff inside. Then we put the fluff in the plastic bag and added water. The fluff swelled and turned into a gel. We put our bean seeds inside the gel, closed the plastic bag, and taped them to the window. Then we would check them every day to see what was happening. Our seeds grew marvelously in the diaper gel. There was enough water for them that we never had to worry about them drying up.

Cloth Diapers

I knew that I had cloth on my little bum when I was a baby, and I certainly knew that disposables hadn’t been around forever. Something had gone around our tiny tushes since the beginning of time, and it definitely wasn’t plastic and who knows what else. But when my friend first introduced me to cloth, I had the same gut reaction that everyone else does. “Why in the world would you use cloth? They take so much time to clean, and you actually have to do something with the poop. We have disposables for a reason, and they’re cheap enough.”

Soon after finding out that she was using cloth, we decided to hang out for the day. She showed me her large stash of Sunbabies pocket diapers, in an adorable array of colors, how easy it was to dump a bunch of soiled diapers in the washing machine, and how the same diaper that fit her 6 month old also fit her 2 year old toddler! What? Now I completely understood the money savings aspect of it. If I only had to buy diapers once during the course of my children’s lives, I would obviously save money.

I still wasn’t totally convinced, though. I began doing my research, because I wasn’t about to invest over $400 in something that could save me money, but might ultimately cause me more problems than it would be worth. I talked to other ladies on forums and read blogs about cloth diapering. I found as many retailers as I could, so that I could see as many different kinds of cloth diapers as I could. I decided that it might be worth a try. My friend was more than willing to let me try one of her diapers for the night to see if I liked how a pocket worked. I found it to be just as easy as a disposable diaper.

Now I just had to find the right diapers for us. Thankfully www.diaperjunction.com has a 30 day trial program, so I felt I could safely take the leap into experimenting with cloth. My first purchase was 1 BumGenius 4.0 with snaps, 1 FuzziBunz, 1 GroVia wet bag, and 1 box of BumGenius cloth diaper detergent. At first glance, I loved the FuzziBunz, but when actually on my daughter, I really loved the BumGenius. They fit her perfectly, and we didn’t have any problems with leaks, except for at nights.

I decided that both diapers were worth keeping, and wanted to try some different kinds. My second purchase was 1 Happy Heinys, 1 Flip, and 1 BumGenius 4.0 with hook and loop (a.k.a. Velcro). As well as cloth wipes and spray, another wet bag and more detergent. I was very excited to try the Flip, as it was a different type of cloth diaper (not a pocket). It turned out to be the cloth diaper to give all cloth diapers a bad name. We never use this diaper anymore. It is just not worth the time for us. The Happy Heinys and the hook and loop BumGenius had us dying to get more just like them. With our squirmy little girl, the hook and loop turned out to be the most like using a disposable diaper.

Cloth wipes were a total dud for us. We tried them and decided that disposable wipes were easier and gentler on the skin than the cloth wipes. We can’t just throw the disposable wipes away in a diaper now, so we usually wrap the used wipes in a clean wipe and throw them in the garbage. The price is also very manageable, since we buy them in bulk and only have to buy them every 2-3 months.

Our most recent purchase was six BumGenius 4.0 hook and loops, a very large wet bag with a zipper, 3 Hemp Babies Little Weeds and 2 Hemp Babies Bigger Weeds. The large wet bag is double lined, and the zipper keeps the smell inside the bag, so our laundry area never smells like stinky diapers. I wrap a little weed around the insert of a diaper at night so that our daughter can go for over 12 hours without leaking. This works better than any disposable I have found for the nighttime. Also, the hemp is so absorbent, that many times the diaper layer that touches the skin feels completely dry, even though you can feel how heavy the diaper is because it was used a lot.

Occasionally, when we run out of clean cloth diapers (10 is not quite enough to be comfortable), we have to use a disposable diaper at night. The poor diaper doesn’t stand a chance with how often it is used during the night, and we end up dealing with a wet little girl in the morning. Disposable diapers simply cannot absorb as much as organic fibers, such as cotton, bamboo, and hemp can.

So, we are cloth diapering family now, and we enjoy it. It takes maybe a minute to shake the poop off into the toilet, usually less. It really depends on how runny the poop is. You wash your hands after you change a diaper just like you would with a disposable. And it takes practically no time at all to set the controls on my washing machine so that my diapers come out clean and sanitized. We had a slight issue with clean diapers smelling, but after switching detergents, we have fresh smelling diapers again on our cute little baby’s bum.