Save money, save the planet!

(Update: Contest closed. We didn't win, sorry guys! But you can check out the winning posts here. Congratulations to all of the winners!)

When I was pregnant and I told people that I planned on cloth diapering our baby-to-be, I got a lot of different reactions, almost all negative. Most people thought I was crazy. I heard things like...

Really, are you serious? Gross! Good luck with that! We'll see how long that lasts.

But the most common question was- WHY?

Well, there are quite a few reasons...

Environmental:

• A disposable diaper can take up to 500 years to decompose.
• One baby in disposable diapers will contribute at least 1 TON of waste to your local landfill.
• If you chose to cloth diaper you are saving the earth from a whole lot of waste, and that feels good!

Economic :

• The average (total) amount parents will spend on disposable diapers for one child is anywhere between $1,500 to $2,000. That's a whole lot of money going in the trash, literally.
• My stash of cloth diapers was $265, the initial cost may sound high, but that is all I will EVER spend on diapers. I even plan to use them to diaper our future kiddos.
• What would you rather pay, up to $2,000 or $265?

Health:

• Diaper rash? Not with cloth diapers (at least in my experience). We used disposable diapers for the first three months, until Sienna fit into her cloth diapers a little better. During those three months, from time to time I saw some redness and irritation on her bum. With disposable diapers, it's the "norm" to have to use diaper rash creams to help irritation. Since switching to cloth diapers, I haven't seen any redness or irritation at all and I haven't had to use any cream, not even once!

Convenience:

• Save time, no more running to the store for disposable diapers!
• Blowouts, leaks, outfit changes, so inconvenient! When we were using disposable diapers, nasty blowouts and leaks happened often. I had to throw out many outfits because I couldn't get the poop stains out. Since switching to cloth diapers I haven't had ONE blowout or leak, not one! Isn't that amazing!?

Emergency Situations:

• While I was pregnant this past summer, most of Southern California, Arizona and part of Nevada had a massive power outage. People were in a panic. Crowds rushed to stores and cleared  shelves within the first few hours of the blackout, since no one knew how long we'd be without power. Everyone wanted to stock up on things like water, food... diapers. Most people don't buy boxes and boxes of disposable diapers in case of an emergency. What happens when the unexpected happens? Well, if you cloth diaper, you're covered. Just hand wash, hang dry and there you go!

I think those are a few pretty good reasons, don't you think? Still not convinced, have more questions? Well, keep reading...

My favorite source for cloth diaper products and information is over at Cotton Babies. There we found many different kinds of cloth diapers. After a LOT of research, the Hub and I decided that we wanted to go with bumGenius Elementals. We chose this diaper for one reason- it seemed to be the easiest to deal with! It is an All-in-One diaper, no inserts or covers, just as easy as a disposable diaper!

photo by cottonbabies.com

The design of this cloth diaper is essentially the same as a disposable diaper. The organic cotton inside is so soft, much softer than any disposable I have used in the past. Plus, the diapers come in tons of really cute colors and prints! 

So now you know my reasons WHY I chose to cloth diaper, I'm sure you're wondering- HOW? How does it work? How do you get rid of the poo? How do you get the diapers clean? How do you store your dirty diapers until they go in the wash? Well, keep reading...

My husband and I thought the switch to cloth was going to be much more difficult! But to our surprise, changing cloth diapers isn't much different than changing disposables. It's as easy as 1,2,3.

1 For a wet diaper, instead of throwing it in the trash, I place it in a Planet Wise Wet Bag that hangs on the back of Sienna's door. The wet bag is leak-proof, smell-proof and machine washable/dryable!

2 For a dirty diaper (poo), I take it to the bathroom for a quick spray with our bumGenius Diaper Sprayer that hangs on the side of the toilet. Then I place it in the wet bag. The diaper sprayer was super easy to install, it only took Isaac a few minutes!

3 When it's time to wash the diapers, I throw the diapers in the washer along with the wet bag. Then I machine or line dry them, simple as that! It's really no trouble at all to do one extra load every day-and-a-half, since I'm constantly doing Sienna's laundry anyway.

So now you know WHY I chose to cloth diaper and HOW I do it. Still not sure about cloth diapers? Well, check out this happy face...

She LOVES her cloth diapers and so do I!

Here's the bottom line- cloth diapering may not be for your family and that is perfectly fine!

 BUT I want people to know that it's inexpensive and easy, anyone can do it!

I have not received any form of compensation for this post. I've been wanting to blog about this subject for a while, so when I found out about Jenn Labit's (Owner of Cotton Babies) contest, I figured this was the perfect time! She's asking bloggers to spread the word about how awesome cloth diapers are. Jenn will choose her favorite post and the winning blogger will receive 12 bumGenius cloth diapers, PLUS 12 for one of my readers!

If you would like a chance to win, all you have to do is post a comment telling me why!

First Sunset

The other day we took Sienna to Seaport Village for the first time. Her Daddy and I showed her all of our favorite shops and restaurants, then she got to watch the little boats and big ships float under the Coronado Bridge. She seemed mesmerized by the ripples in the water, I can't wait for her to see the big waves at the beach! It was another beautiful day and an amazing first sunset for baby!

Baby number 2?

A couple days ago, a thought popped into my head that stopped me in my tracks.

"I think we should try for another baby soon."

I couldn't believe I was actually thinking this, considering I just went to the doctors to get birth control. But for a second, the idea made so much sense.

-I'm not working right now, it's perfect timing!
-Sienna LOVES when we visit her cousins, might as well give her a sibling to play with all of the time.
-The clock's a tickin'. We aren't getting any younger, we need to have our kids NOW.

But when I said all of this out loud to the Hub I instantly knew, I'm so not ready.
I'm not ready to be pregnant again... it's absolutely amazing, but it's hard work!
I'm not ready to give birth again... that's REALLY hard work!
oh, yeah, I don't think we are financially ready either, seeing that I just got laid off!
But mostly, I'm not ready to split my attention between two little Loves.

So after a moment of clarity, not even enough time for Isaac to respond, I retracted my statement. Never mind hunny, just kidding! The thought of not being able to give Sienna my undivided attention, quickly changed my mind. I'm not ready for that. I love marveling over all of her "firsts". I love that right now she is the center of our world. This is the only time that we will have only one child, this is our first time being parents, I want to relish in this moment for a while. One day we'll add to our family (God willing) and I'm excited for that day. But right now, I am happier than I've ever been and I am going to enjoy our family of three until we're ready to become a family of four.

Rub a dub dub

 

I love how she splashes like crazy with her feet, or when she tries to drink the bath water.

But the funniest part of bath time is... when she laughs at her fart bubbles. This kid cracks me up!

Happy ZOO Year!

Happy 2012 :) I hope you all had a fun New Year's Eve! Isaac and I kept it low key this year. We got in cozy pajamas, went over to Isaac's brothers house and spent the night in with his family. My brother-in-law and sister-in-law also have a new baby girl, Trinity, who is only 3 weeks older than Sienna. After the the older kids went to bed, the babies and the grown ups watched the ball drop. My New Year's smooch was the best one yet, the Hub on one side and my munchkin on the other. It was a really fun and relaxing night, enjoying time with family. What a difference from our NYE's in the past, but it was just as fun!

The Hub and I spent New Years Day with three of our favorite people, Serena (my BFF and Isaac's cousin), her husband Paul (Isaac's BFF) and their baby girl Mckenzie (Sienna's BFF :) ) who is three months older than Sienna. We all packed up and headed to the San Diego Zoo, for the girl's first trip. It was a gorgeous day, 80 degrees and bright blue skies, picture perfect! It was a pretty epic day for me. As we walked through the exhibits, I watched Isaac holding Sienna, pointing out the animals to her, it really started to sink in that... whoa, I'm a MOM! I couldn't believe that I was at a place where I spent time as a child with my mom, now I have a child of my own. Suddenly, Sienna seemed like such a big girl, no longer a tiny newborn. She's seeing the world for the first time, learning so much, so quickly. I can only imagine what its like to see through her eyes, everything is new, so fascinating and amazing! Seeing the wonder in her eyes is an overwhelming feeling, one of the best feelings. It was a great day!