Blissful Weekend Get-away

Hubby, RaeRae, and I returned from a mini-vacation late this (Monday) afternoon. The rest of my family go home tomorrow. We had to come home a day early because my hubby has to work. But the short trip was truly amazing.


We have a family vacation spot called Irish Beach up in Mendocino area, in California. We have been going there for about 16 years, since I was 10 years old.


We left late Saturday morning for a nearly 5 hour drive (3.5 turned into 5 hours with gas/bathroom stops as well as a baby who doesn't quite nurse well when we travel on the road) and arrived around 4pm to my family already at the 3 bedroom house we rented for a few days. This house has everything--kitchen, bedroom, blankets, bathrooms, and perfect for this cloth-diapering mama, a washer and a dryer.


We saw gray whales (doing the whole tail flipping/jumping into the water too), horses on the beach, seals, bunnies, deer, quail, and so many different kinds of birds. We had a beautiful view of the ocean from our deck. 


We had our own beach...seriously. Often when we go to a beach, there are hundreds of people. But this beach, we counted maybe just ten people or so and that's usually a lot because of summer vacations.
I love Irish Beach. I wish we didn't have to come home so early. We went there for our honeymoon and will continue to go there for family trips. It was RaeRae's first but not last visit there.


Hubby and I even got to go on a nice walk to a nearby pond, just the two of us. It felt like a date almost. 


A blissful weekend get-away. It was perfect.

200 Facebook Fan Giveaway Winner!

Time to announce a winner!


There were 26 entries into the second giveaway and random.org picked number 26!


And the winner is....


Dawn Sanford!!!




Congrats! You have been emailed. Since I am going out of town this weekend, you have until Monday evening to respond. If no response by then, I will have to pick another winner.


Hope you all have a great weekend!

Traveling with cloth

We just returned from a 5 day trip to San Diego. We flew there (hubby, RaeRae, and I) and drove back with a rental car since we had the in-laws with us that time. I thought I'd write about my experience traveling with cloth because I know it is often a question for cloth-diapering or considering-cloth mamas:


How do you travel with cloth diapers?

Flying there was easier than driving--just over an hour flight versus 12 hours on the road due to traffic and some road closures (sigh). 


The one thing that made a difference was the Grovia Go-to-Go Kit I bought from Everything Birth, Inc.. This kit came with three Grovia shells, 3 packets of Tiny Bubbles detergent, and a box of 50 Bio-soakers. I used the biodegradeable bio-soakers while at the airport and on the long road back.  But while I was at my SIL's house, we used regular cloth diapers since she had a washing machine and dryer we could use.


For the bio-soakers, we tested them at home first so I could get the feel of them. The inner cloth parts can be flushed down the toilet but we had to use scissors to cut it out. This part was difficult. Maybe I was missing some information on how to better separate the part that's flushable from the part that's not. So while we were on the road and at the airport, I ended up throwing these soakers in the trash. They have less chemicals than regular disposables and can break down easier, so I felt somewhat better than using a regular disposable on our trip. Yet, I wished I had better instructions on how to dispose of it through the toilet. 


The nice thing about the Grovia shells and bio-soakers is the convenience and size. I didn't have to pack too much for the carryon and it was easier to do diaper changes in the changing tables in the airport bathrooms. There are two sticky tabs on the back of the soakers that you pull off so it sticks on the shell. They contained the mess well--no leaks out of the diaper, and only one leak into the shell from a massive poop. My daughter is exclusively breast-fed so I wasn't worried about washing it soon at the house.


When we arrived at my SIL's house, I quickly got RaeRae out of the Grovia Shell and put on a regular cloth. Felt so much better! I love my cloth and only packed enough cloth diapers for about 2 days since we were limited on space in our one large suitcase and I knew I could do laundry whenever I needed to. Plus, my SIL had one of those fancy smart front-loaders that could do the job well.


As for wipes, we used disposable wipes we had bought about four months ago (since we do cloth wipes at home too--makes sense since they can be washed with the diapers). I did not like using the disposable wipes on my daughter's bum during our trip because they got a bit linty. Maybe it was the brand but I started to think my diapers will pilling! But when we got home and switched immediately back to the cloth wipes, the lint on my daughter's bum went away. It was just the disposable wipes. 


Washing the cloth diapers at my SIL's was a bit tricky at first because I was not used to her machine. I figured out the Rinse and Spin cycle for the cold rinse and then the hot wash. The hot wash took over an hour though! I think it was because it took a while for the water to fill up. The water had to be heated through the water heater as it came through the pipes before going into the machine. That was my understanding.


So in the end, this is what I learned that helped us for traveling with cloth:
1) Hybrid diapers (Grovia AI2) work great for when you don't have access to a washer/dryer!
2) Use the biosoakers the day before so you don't have wet diapers waiting at home for you.
--On another note, we used a prefold and a cover for her nighttime diaper the very night before we flew and rinsed-rinsed-rinsed in our sink and left out to airdry so we'd have a less chance of bacteria growing on it. It was fine when we came back.
3) Bring just enough soap that you need, not the whole bag. I had a bag that was almost gone and it was just the right amount to do 3 loads of diaper laundry at the house.
4) Have more than one wetbag.

No more paper towels!

Welcome to the First Annual Freedom of Cloth Carnival

This post was written for inclusion in the Freedom of Cloth Carnival hosted at Natural Parents Network by Melissa of The New Mommy Files and Shannon of The Artful Mama. This year’s carnival will run from Sunday, July 3rd through Saturday, July 9th. Participants are sharing everything they know and love about cloth diapering, including how cloth has inspired them.

***

No more paper towels! Looks of bewilderment like I've gone insane or become a hippie.

No, really!  It makes sense to not use paper towels because they only fill up landfills and hurt our trees.

My husband and I stopped buying paper napkins and paper towels months ago, about the same time we started cloth-diapering. I honestly got tired of buying them at the store only to use them and throw them in the trash. We were already using cloth diapers as part of an effort to "going green."


My family was supportive of our decision to do cloth diapering when they saw how cute the modern options were. But when we had family members visiting, there were looks of concern that maybe we had gone too extreme with cloth. My grandmother actually bought us paper towels on purpose and left them in our kitchen one time when she came to stay the night one time to help out when RaeRae was born. She is almost 5 months and that one roll of paper towels is still sitting on top of the fridge. 


I'm not here to point fingers but I do want to say that since we started doing cloth diapers, we have been inspired to think more about the other products we use in our home. While we still use toilet paper, we use cloth napkins and towels everyday. I posted a blog a couple of weeks ago about D.I.Y. cloth napkins. I learned how to use a sewing machine and sewed about 50 cocktail sized napkins with my kitchen colors. They are easy to use and wash! See that blog here. We also use cloth wipes--the same sewing concept as cloth napkins if you were to D.I.Y.


The only thing I don't quite like about the cloth napkins is if I need to microwave something that requires you to cover the item with a paper towel. I have put cloth napkins in the microwave if it was under a minute and it was fine. But I'm not sure of how safe it would be for longer periods of time.


I someday want to try family cloth. I haven't tried mama cloth yet because I haven't needed to, yet. That will be another world to explore. I am at least open to it.


But for now, I encourage all my readers to consider trying or adding cloth napkins into your home for the effort towards going green.

***

Visit
Natural Parents Network for the most up-to-date news on the Freedom of Cloth Carnival!

 

Please take time to read the submissions by the other carnival participants on the following themes. Articles will go live on the scheduled theme day:

• Sunday, July 3rd, 2011: Cloth Related Recipes — Writers share their best cloth-related recipes and tutorials.
• Monday, July 4th, 2011: Choosing Your Cloth Style — Today’s posts discuss parents' individual journeys to finding the cloth diapering "style" that best suits their families.
• Tuesday, July 5th, 2011: Cloth Diapering Must Haves — Parents talk about the most important items in their diapering “stash” and why they love them.
• Wednesday, July 6th, 2011: Wordless Wednesday, Inspired by Cloth — We asked parents to share their favorite cloth-related photo with us and turned them into a fluffy Wordless Wednesday photo montage on Natural Parents Network. Link up your own Wordless Wednesday post there!
• Thursday, July 7th, 2011: Cloth Through the Stages: From Infancy to Potty Independence — Today’s participants explain how cloth diapering has served their families throughout one or more stages of their children’s lives.
• Friday, July 8th, 2011: Cloth Troubleshooting and Laundry Day — Seasoned cloth diapering parents share their best tips and tricks for handling common cloth problems and tackling the diaper laundry.
• Saturday, July 9th, 2011: Inspired by Cloth — For today’s theme, we’ve asked writers to explore the ways cloth diapering has inspired them to become "greener" overall.

200 Facebook fans giveaway!

Since we have now reached 200 fans on my facebook fan page (yeah you!) and had enough interest for another small giveaway, here it is!

I am just starting out so I am giving away another sample of Tiny Bubbles Cloth Diaper Detergent.

And for the first time, I am trying out Google Docs for the giveaways. Comments are welcome, but they are not entries. I just hope the doc works!


If anyone has any trouble, pls do email me at jenniferc at diaperparties dot com. Good luck!! Giveaway will end when I reach 300 fans.

Mandatory entries: Follow me via GFC publicly (see on the right side of blog) AND follow me on Facebook at Diaper Parties by Jennifer.

Extra possible entries:

(1) Follow me on Twitter at DeafDiaperParty (Leave your twitter handle in the extra entry info on form)
(1) Follow Everything Birth, Inc on Facebook.
(1) Subscribe to my emails.
(1) Vote for me on Picket-fence.
(1) Share this giveaway on your facebook, tagging Diaper Parties by Jennifer.

Weekly Giveaway: Kissa’s Newborn AIO Cloth Diaper!

Weekly Giveaway: Kissa’s Newborn AIO Cloth Diaper!

100 FB fan Giveaway Winner!

There were 36 entries for my first giveaway since reaching 100 fans on my facebook page. You guys rock!

Random.org picked #4:

addictedtocloth said...

Right now my favorite cloth diaper is a toss up between my BabyKicks 3g and my Fuzzibunz
what_mama_wants at yahoo dot com

Winner has been emailed and has 48 hours to respond. After no response after 48 hours, a new winner will be chosen.

Congrats!

Finding our cloth style

Welcome to the First Annual Freedom of Cloth Carnival

This post was written for inclusion in the Freedom of Cloth Carnival hosted at Natural Parents Network by Melissa of The New Mommy Files and Shannon of The Artful Mama. This year’s carnival will run from Sunday, July 3rd through Saturday, July 9th. Participants are sharing everything they know and love about cloth diapering, including how cloth has inspired them.

***

Our cloth diaper journey began when I was just a few months pregnant with RaeRae. Hubby and I knew we wanted to try cloth-diapering because it was good for the environment and better for the baby's bum.

Starting with prefolds...

We first started with prefolds from a local diaper service and covers that we bought on our own. We had received a gift certificate to get started so we thought we might as well try it. The diaper service brought us clean prefolds once a week and took away the dirty ones to wash for us. This was a great solution since we lived in an apartment complex with coin laundry. I started shopping around for covers on the web and reading posts on Baby Center in their Cloth Diaper Group. I participated in the Great Cloth Diaper Hunt in November 2010. I read as much as I could, asked questions on boards and facebook pages, and even had a few friends who cloth-diapered and gave me advice. 


RaeRae will be 5 months on July 6th and we have been cloth-diapering her bum she was 10 days old. I would have started from Day 1 but I felt too overwhelmed with the demands of being a new parent and recovering from labor and delivery pains. When RaeRae's umbilical cord stump fell off at 10 days after birth, I felt ready to start trying the prefolds. 


The first time I put a prefold on her bum was exciting yet I didn't like the "bubble butt" that it created. We got used to that quickly though. We still stuck with disposables at night time because we weren't quite confident with folding the prefold with a snappi when it was dark and we were tired from waking up every two hours for feedings. It took a couple of weeks until I felt ready to take the plunge to go cloth full time. It became easier with practice.


Prefolds were easy to tell when they were wet because all we had to do was just touch a part on the side of the diaper under the cover and if it felt wet, then we changed her diaper. We changed her diapers about 10-14 times a day then it reduced as she got older.


Let's try pocket diapers...

When she was about 5 weeks old, she started sleeping longer at night. I decided to try pocket diapers very part time to increase absorbency with extra inserts and to have that "stay-dry" feeling from the fleece. I slowly bought more pockets over time based on reviews and sales. 

When RaeRae became three months old, I had bought enough pocket diapers to go full-time and stop our service. I also learned how to wash them using the coin laundry machines on our apartment complex. That is another story to tell, but to this day in a basic summary, we do a cold wash with no detergent, hot wash with Rockin Green detergent, then a rinse. The rinse is already part of the wash. Then I either line-dry everything if it's warm enough or put just the inserts in the dryer and line-dry the covers/pockets. 


I fell in love with pocket diapers for their convenience and more print options. I still love them to this day. Our stash mostly includes bumGenius 4.0, GoGreen Pocket Diapers, and one to two of other brands. and I bought some unbleached prefolds to use occasionally though.


A few things I have learned about pocket diapers:
-Aplix is easier for my hubby, esp at 2 or 3 in the morning if she needs a change.
-One-sized pocket diapers are the best instead of sized options. They last longer and have more flexibility in sizing and absorbency. 
-I'm trying hemp inserts along with microfiber for night-time diapering and it works well.  But still learning on what works best.

New options?

We are now trying a couple of fitteds for the hot summer days although we still use pockets full time. 


We have yet to try All-in-ones and maybe someday I will try one or two. We do have some hybrid diapers in our collection but they aren't my go-to diaper because I don't have a lot of the inserts for them yet.


Our cloth-diapering journey continues.


"Hi, my name is Jennifer and I'm a fluff addict."

***

Visit
Natural Parents Network for the most up-to-date news on the Freedom of Cloth Carnival!

 

Please take time to read the submissions by the other carnival participants on the following themes. Articles will go live on the scheduled theme day:

• Sunday, July 3rd, 2011: Cloth Related Recipes — Writers share their best cloth-related recipes and tutorials.
• Monday, July 4th, 2011: Choosing Your Cloth Style — Today’s posts discuss parents' individual journeys to finding the cloth diapering "style" that best suits their families.
• Tuesday, July 5th, 2011: Cloth Diapering Must Haves — Parents talk about the most important items in their diapering “stash” and why they love them.
• Wednesday, July 6th, 2011: Wordless Wednesday, Inspired by Cloth — We asked parents to share their favorite cloth-related photo with us and turned them into a fluffy Wordless Wednesday photo montage on Natural Parents Network. Link up your own Wordless Wednesday post there!
• Thursday, July 7th, 2011: Cloth Through the Stages: From Infancy to Potty Independence — Today’s participants explain how cloth diapering has served their families throughout one or more stages of their children’s lives.
• Friday, July 8th, 2011: Cloth Troubleshooting and Laundry Day — Seasoned cloth diapering parents share their best tips and tricks for handling common cloth problems and tackling the diaper laundry.
• Saturday, July 9th, 2011: Inspired by Cloth — For today’s theme, we’ve asked writers to explore the ways cloth diapering has inspired them to become "greener" overall.