A Year+ in Cloth Diapers

*ETA - Check the comments for Justin's take on cloth diapers.


After my first post on how we were using cloth diapers, some things have changed and some stayed the same. So I thought I would do an update for those who are interested. If you're not interested, see you around!

Ok, so let me first start off by saying I still like cloth diapers but there are times when I use disposables. I have a big enough stash where I don't need disposables. But sometimes, I'm just too lazy to get them from the laundry room or get them washed in a timely manner. It happens and I don't beat myself over it.



These are BumGenius All-in-Ones. When I did the first diaper post, Jules was wearing the little yellow one (size small). He now wears the large. He was in the small from 1 month to about 4 or 5 months. Then he moved to the medium and wore those til almost 10 months. The large is still big on him and he could squeeze into the mediums but I was ready to streamline my stash.

So, what have I learned?

1. There was a time when we got a HORRIBLE ammonia smell. I thought it wouldn't happen, but it did. It took a while to really get them clean and figure out a washing routine that worked for me and the diapers. So until I did get them sorted out, I used disposables. (and that's ok!)

2. Our stash has changed. We mainly had AIO's (all-in-one's) and pockets (all BumGenius brand diapers.) We also had kissaluvs (fitted) but he grew out of them. Oh, how I can't wait to use those on a new baby. I LOVED them.

AIO's have a downside. Once used, that's it, time to wash. So if you want to do an entire AIO stash, you need a lot of them. After Jules outgrew the mediums, I moved onto a new diaper that just came out, the Grobaby hybrid diaper.

Grobaby (now, rebranded as GroVia) on the largest setting:


This has a snapable insert made from 100% organic cotton, a cover that is breathable (no PUL), adjustable, and aplix (velcro) that is very flexible.





I really like these inserts because gusset has elastic sewn in the insert, not just the cover. If you are sizing the cover down to small or medium the insert will fit as well. On the small setting, you do have to tuck the insert in since it'll pop up the top. But it's not a big deal.

Grobaby also has a disposable insert option. These biosoakers are flushable and have a sticky backing to hold it in place. However, I don't use it because it leaves a sticky residue. We took this system to London with us and had no issues at all. No leaks, no nothing. The inserts are very small and we carried enough for a week on our trip to London without taking up tons of space.


Biosoaker folded up (super thin) on the left, snapable insert on the right.



Disposable inserts also have elastic to help contain messes. To dispose of them, shake off any solids then tear the side, shake the interior contents in the toilet and toss the shell of the insert. Or you can throw the entire thing away.

I have more inserts than covers because we can reuse a cover a few times before washing. I do have two issues with this system:
1. The elastic on the covers are thick and leave marks on Jules' legs. But, elastic on cloth diapers are vital in my opinion. Without it, leaks can happen and you might as well use a disposable. 2. The rise is very short. So if you have a kid who's really tall in the torso, these might not work. But the Grovia version solved that with a higher rise.

Also, the inserts for Grovia will fit with the Grobaby covers. Grovia inserts are slightly different. They have a waterproof backing so you can use a cover even more often.


Up next, the Flip (from BumGenuis).



This is basically an adjustable cover with an adjustable insert. The insert is microfiber with suede cloth one one side (the side that should be placed next to baby's skin).





I really like this system because they are very trim. I wish I had more covers but I really don't need anymore diapers! The Flip cover works really well with prefolds and the best part are the snaps. Jules can't undo this diaper and the velcro doesn't snag on his jammies.

So those are the two new diapers that we've been using in addition to the BG's.

Now that Jules isn't nursing, washing diapers is a bit different. A friend of mine sent me her entire diaper stash along with a diaper sprayer. For the longest time, I told myself I didn't need a diaper sprayer. But after having so many issues with diapers not getting clean and winding up super stinky even after washing, I figured I'd try it.


It took all of five minutes to install and it makes a world of difference! Now, a soiled diaper is brought to the bathroom, we switch the water on, spray everything off, and drop the diaper in the hanging wetbag I had made from a seller on etsy.com.



On wash day, I grab the bag from his room and the hanging wetbag, take everything down stairs and toss it all into the washer. I do a presoak with a cup of vinegar, then a hot wash with soap (Dropps), and a double to triple warm water rinse.

Honestly, use whatever soap works for you. People have success using Tide, others stick to diaper safe detergent. Some say don't use vinegar, others say it's ok. I've been using vinegar for over a year and haven't had any issues. Like I said, use what works for you.

And just for fun, here are pictures of the diaper drawer:


At the top are the BumGenius 3.0 (one size pocket diaper). The row below that are my new hybrid diapers, Grobaby. To the left of the Grobaby are four extra inserts for Grobaby. And to the left of the dark blue diaper are Motherease one-size fitted diapers. I'll talk about those at another time.

The other side of the drawer:


Top right are the Motherease again and below are covers. In the container to the left, all my extra Grobaby/Via, Kissaluv and BG inserts. Inserts are good for nap time or if your kid is a heavy wetter.

So that's it. (phew!) A year+ - almost 2 years - in cloth diapers. I'm no expert, but if you have any questions, just ask.

Croissant Challenge Part 2

Ha! Michelle and Todd were right, these are tough! And I'm insane now.

Let's do a recap:
Friday (I don't work on Friday's) I started around noon with the recipe. And I immediately had baking fail. Honestly, that doesn't happen to me but I totally blame the recipe. The ingredients were translated from grams into what we know as "traditional cooking measurements" and I should have been leery. The dough in the mixer was VERY dry even after incorporating the wet ingredients. So I let my mixer throw it around for a few minutes and then I called it good.

Mistake #1 (luckily, there were only a few.)

Silly me to think dough that was hardly mixed would rise. Oh, did I say I had to be somewhere at 6pm? Yes, I figured I could easily get to the part where it could rest overnight by the time I had to leave.

Mistake #2

The dough didn't rise after 3 hours (THREE HOURS!). So I said screw that recipe and did a quick search for "Julia Child Croissant Recipe" and found this one from Mamaliga. After reading through and drooling over the pictures, I realized I could salvage the dough.

I took it out of the bowl, kneaded it by hand, plopped it back in the bowl and set the oven to the "hold" temp (175 degrees) and placed the bowl on top of the stove. (read that Todd? On top, not in it ;) )

I WIN, it ROSE, but it was 6pm! So I shut off the oven and left it there to finish rising while I went out for some culture (and evening at the Orchestra). When I got home it tripled and I put it in the fridge to stop the yeast from covering my stove with dough.

Saturday: Let's just say I gave up on dough #1 and tossed it. While it started off promising (I let it get to room temp), the dough was just so dry. Rolling it was difficult and it was missing something.

So at 2pm on Saturday afternoon, I started over with the new recipe and already felt better about it. It mostly looked like her photos. I didn't expect it to be perfect but it was close!

Someone needs to tell me that I live in Minnesota and it's freaking freezing here. There's a good chance that's why my dough (for any recipe) takes forever to rise. Same case here. Not a big deal, just takes a long time.

I didn't follow her directions for the butter. I used recipe #1 for the butter directions and felt it worked just fine. All the turns worked nicely but by the last one, it was hard to roll out. Fourth turn and into the fridge overnight for my dough to rest.

Sunday: The dough was cold and while it was a little tough to roll out, it wasn't impossible. I really had to put some effort into it but I got it 20 inches long. I cut the dough the best I could and lol'd at myself because they were gonna be small. At this point though, I didn't care. I got 12 croissants just at the recipe said I'd get.

I let them rest for about 2 hours (where they puffed up), egg washed them, baked and got these beauties:



Not too shabby, eh?



Masterpiece? Ok, so two came out a little funky. They tasted fantastic though. They were very buttery and had lots of flaky layers. Justin loved them!



They were still hot and the middle kinda came out when I split it open. The inside is always my favorite :)

Ok, so after the challenges I had in the beginning, I would make them again. (Yes, I'm insane.) There really isn't a lot of hands-on action going on, it just takes A LOT of time. But why spend 3 days doing this? So when I do it again, I'll double the batch and freeze the dough for the future.

Worth the effort, meh, not sure. But I like challenges.

Croissant Challenge

I've been wanting to make homemade croissants for a long time. Justin's Grandma used to be a baker and is always bringing "Grandma Rolls" to family events. We love them! But, they are more American (very bready and dense, but really, really good) and I really want one from France :) So I've been looking at recipes for the French versions. All the recipes I've found, they are very labor intensive.

My friend Todd and his friend Michelle decided to tackle homemade croissants in a "he said" "she said" way. While their outcomes were mostly the same, the process was, well, a process.

But since they were both brave to try it, I figured, why not? So that's what I'm tackling today. They used this recipe (with photo goodness!) so I'm using it too.

So, I guess it's not really a challenge with anyone, but a challenge for myself. Anyone else care to join? I'll be back later!

21 Months

You surprised us with lots of words this month! I guess all we had to do was ask if you could say something. Because you can!


(us: Show us your teeth! you: TEEEEEETH!)

Done, eat, bee (ha!), bath, more, beer (sounds like he's from Boston), bike (more like biiiee but not to be confused with bye-bye), whoa, moon, and yum. Scully is just an Szzz sound with a giggle.


(Epic face)

You're really quick to learn new signs too. Home, leaf, strawberry, night-night, tree and the most adorable sign you do yet, baby. It's so sweet when you sign 'baby'. We'll go through a list of words and ask you the sign. You first make the sound, then the sign. You're a little sponge!

You have a fake laugh. HA HA HA AAHHHHH. You start laughing when other people are laughing. You totally get that from me.





You're a good singer. You know the theme to Thomas the Tank Engine and will sing it in your bed at night and whenever we ask. We never showed you how, but you somehow figured out that microphones are for singing. You love to dance when music is on and when we ask you to roll over, you do a few circles and then roll to the ground. We ask Scully to do it first, but you want to do it too. (You don't get a treat, though.)



Not many can say their kid wants to brush teeth, but you'll ask to brush as well as ask for medicine, both with made up signs (finger on the teeth for brush and finger in the mouth for meds - no idea how I figured that one out!).

We got your hair cut and now you look like a BIG little boy! It's almost too short! But you still look really cute.






Poor Szzzzz.

Help!

I don't fit in anywhere. Specifically, clothing sections in stores. I'm finding it more and more complicated to shop for myself because all the clothes in the "Juniors" section are a bit too "not work friendly" but clothes in "Women's" are a little to "frumpy mom". So where do I buy clothes?

When pregnant, you shop the maternity for the most part. Or just find something that you already own that will suffice until the little bundle is born and you're back in your favorite clothes.

I'm lost.

I'm at the in-between age of clothes. Too old for "Juniors" and too young for "Women's". Even Old Navy is beginning to bother me. In the past, I could easily hit Old Navy and find 10 things I wanted. Now, maybe just a pair of pants and a top.

I actually do a lot of online shopping for clothes. I can sort by the item I want (shirt, pants or jeans) as well as sort by size. It's the trying on part and feeling the fabric I miss out on.

So, am I the only one who feels stuck between "Juniors" and "Women's"? Got any great stores or suggestions? Because, I need some new clothes!