Summer Blogging Challenge- Catch Up - Part Deux.

So, I am doing the Summer Blogging Challenge! 

Day 5- Short term goals for this month.

Well, as this is almost the end of the month, let's start with next month. 

I'd like to: 

1. Make an appointment with a Lactation Consultant about my very low milk supply. 

2. Have Sullivan checked for tongue/lip tie. 

3. Successfully explain to someone the awesomeness of cloth diapers.

4. Keep the apartment clean! It's kinda hard with a newborn, but I'm getting more used to wearing him, it should help a bit! 

Questions? 

Day 6- Nicknames & Why You Have Them:

I have a couple nicknames. 

Rin- Given to me by one of my best friends, Corinne. Her nickname is also "Rin", simply a shortened version of both of our names. I actually really like it. Especially in high school when there were several other "Aaron/Erin" sounding names. 

And Jinx. A shortened version of my WoW character name. My Priestess was my WoW character for quite a long time, until I finally gave up on having a computer and internet good enough to play it at the same time. 

So there. 

Day 7: Something That Makes Me Happy.

My Family. Cheesy, but true! I love these boys! Does this really even need an explanation? 

Day 8: Favorite Guilty Pleasure. 

Let's see. Lately, my favorite guilty pleasure is cloth diapering. And really, it's not that guilty. 

I mostly feel guilty for parading it around. It makes me proud. I love it. As I said in one of my previous blogs, I really am a  supporter for anything that's going to prolong the earth's life. I feel like it's really not that much more difficult than disposables, and the money you save more than makes up for the work you have to do cleaning them. My favorite thing lately is taking a look at diapers made by WAHM's (Work at Home Moms) and planning out ways to make our own, just for fun. The accessories are fun too, a travel changing pad, and a changing pad cover are on my list of things to try my hand at making. It's really an addiction.

Second Guilty Pleasure: Babywearing.
I know, I know. I'm totally one of "those" moms. But there are benefits of babywearing, other than showing off your awesome baby.  I admit, this is one of my favorite parts of babywearing. I -LOVE- showing him off. Babies love to be close to mom and dad. Babywearing totally allows you to keep them close, but lets you do what needs to be done. It calms them down, and you can be much more in tune with their needs this way, eliminating the need to cry almost entirely. Babies cry as a last resort, so if they're on you, it's easier to recognize the signs of  whatever is going on and fix it before they start to cry. Another awesome benefit of wearing your children is that when they're itty bitty like mine is, it stops people from touching them. Especially before you vaccinate (if you choose to do so), you don't want them exposed to dangerous contagious illnesses-- like Pertussis (whooping cough). It's not fool proof, but definitely helps! 

Disregard the cliche bathroom photo, including a toilet. Especially disregard the toilet. 

Day 9: Worst Cooking Disaster

It involved Southern Comfort and an upside down pizza on the oven element. Let's leave it at that. 

It sort of looked like this. Well, I imagine it did. We were a little bit tipped.

Day 10: Cost Aside, What Piece of Famous Art Would You Have in Your Home?

I actually like local artists and like to purchase their work and support them. My friend Shannon has some really awesome art/photography that I'd like to purchase sometime! :)  Click on her name to check out her stuff! Her photos are amazing! She also paints and draws. <3

Anyhow... That's enough for today. It's taken me several hours just to get this done! 

Summer Blogging Challenge! (Waaaaay Late Start)

So, I thought this might be pretty fun. I love trying to do things like these. Also, I need things to do besides just clean while Sullivan is napping :). I'll also be adding a blog about his birth. Probably later this week.

Even though it started on June 1st, I'm going to try to do a few of these. And I'll start where they are now. Go Here: Summer Blog Challenge if you want to follow along as well.

This will be Day One & Day Two. And Day 3 & 4 :)

Day One is an explanation of why I'm doing the challenge.

Day Two is a picture of me smiling. So Here.

Day 3: 15 Interesting things about myself.

1. I used to Ghost Hunt.
2. I used to work at Spencer's Gifts.
3. I have had Pink, Purple, Blue, Red, and Green hair.
4. I'm a brand new mommy!
5. It's taken me more than 2 hours to write this blog, saving/updating multiple times to make sure it doesn't get lost.
6. I secretly know the words to almost every old school Disney song from all of their musical movies.
7. I secretly know a LOT of Broadway musicals.
8. I LOVE cloth diapers. Everyone knows that, though.
9. I clean with Vinegar, not 409 or anything like that.
10. I don't use shampoo or conditioner.
12. I love babywearing. :)
13. I'm an atheist.
14. I am a cheese fanatic.
15. I absolutely love sushi. Yum!

And 16. I believe that everyone should do what they can to be "green" and conservative. Not only is it leaving a better earth for our kids, but it's cheaper. Go figure.

Day 4: The meaning behind my blog name:

I'm geeky. I like girly chic things. And I'm a mom :) My hubby and I always try to think things through before making parenting decisions. Vaccinations, Cloth Diapers, etc. These choices weren't made on a whim!
So, let's see how many of these I get done!! <3

I've spent $300 diapering my baby. What about you?

So. It's been two months since I blogged. I had totally intended to post photos and the birth story, blog about our daily stuff... Yeah. Nice plan. Poorly executed. Anyhow. 

Some (ok, probably everyone) knows that after about 2 weeks we chose to cloth diaper (with some prompting from Pat's mom, but it was something I had briefly considered before he was born). Sullivan was having some pretty ugly reactions on his little bum to the chemicals used in disposables to make them absorbent.  Something had to be done.

I had a lot of misconceptions about cloth diapering at first.  I really was hesitant because I thought cloth was gross, and a huge pain. The biggest thing is making sure you don't screw up the diapers with waxy detergents, and stripping the stank out of them. I thought they were messy, and expensive. Pretty much everything I thought about cloth was wrong! 

I thought they were gross. I thought ew... touching the poop. Washing the poop. SMELLING the poop. But you know what? You do all of that anyway! There's no way to avoid smelling crap when you have an infant around. It's going to happen. And, unless you make a daily trip to your dumpster, you're going to have a poopy diaper sitting somewhere. Because disposables (a.k.a. "sposies" in the CD community. "CD" meaning "Cloth Diapers") were intended for us to use them just like cloth-- rinse out the toxic shit and then toss in the garbage in stead of washing them.

I didn't KNOW that. 

I don't know of ANYONE who does that. 

Do you? 

No, I didn't think so. 

I thought they were expensive. WRONG. They are SO not. If you take into consideration how many diapers an infant uses per week-- Newborns use between 80-100 on average, sometimes more. That costs about $25 per week. Expensive.

Firstly, if you're too lazy to wash you cloth/don't have your own machines, in the Salem area, Tidee Didee will bring you 100 diapers for 20 bucks a week (plus gas, but that's not too much). So, that right there ends up being about the same as disposables. But wait! If you purchase your own diapers (we waited until he could fit into "regular" sized cloth-- which typically start at 10 or 12lbs and run to toddler size) it's even less. Yeah, you have to pay up front. But depending on how often you're willing to wash, that dictates how many you'd need to buy. 


We have around 7 dozen prefolds, I think. That's a lot. We don't have our own washer/drier-- so we go twice a week to wash at grammy's. Most people do NOT need this many. At $32 a dozen from Little Bums & More, you'll spend a little over $200 if you buy that many. I think most people can probably get by with 2-3 dozen. You'll need covers(otherwise the poop goes everywhere, thus defeating the purpose)-- which again is dictated by how often you wash. We have 5 printed fancy covers, and 2 plain ones for back up, we only wash twice per week, though. Most people can get by with many less! The covers can be anywhere between 12 and 30... let's say you buy 6 (the recommended amount for starting) at about $18 each.  

That's $224 for the prefolds.

Plus $108 for the covers.

So, we've spent approximately (Grammy included. Thanks Grammy! <3) $332 on cloth diapers. Ever.  These will last until we have our second (theoretically 3 years or so from now). Like I said, not everyone is going to need that many. So you'll probably spend less.


Now, that sounds like a lot. But, think about this. Cloth diapers get reused. You'll maybe have to replace the covers. Maybe have to buy some new diapers now and then. That's still less than what you spend on disposables.


But cloth diapered babies on average potty train a year ahead of disposable diapered kids. Truth. 
So, factor in that $25 per week on average (because even though kids use fewer diapers, they also sell fewer diapers for the same price as they grow.) and that's approximately $1300 per year. PER. YEAR. On diapers. You're literally throwing your money in the garbage. 

And, multiply by 3 years (that extra year) if your kid isn't stubborn on potty training or a heavy wetter-- You're spending $3900 PER CHILD. Ridiculous.

I'd also like to add that disposables take over 500 years to decompose. When exposed to the elements. Most diapers are in landfills, so we don't really know how long it's going to take them. If they ever do. Fucking disgusting. If disposables had existed when Christopher Columbus was an infant, his shit would be sitting in a landfill somewhere in Europe.

I won't go into how disgusting the chemicals are on our children, or on the environment. Instead, here's an article. How Disgusting Disposables Are. 

Plus, cloth diapers can be really cute. And addicting. I mean, just look at how cute these little cloth diaper bums are? Freaking ADORABLE.

I'd like to add, if you're handy with a sewing machine, you can totally make your own covers, or even All In One diapers. Which is even less expensive still. Even if you get addicted to the "fluff" (CD term for cute cloth diapers and accessories), you will still save THOUSANDS of dollars over disposable. That alone is worth not using disposables. 

And if you're feeling extra creative (or extra frugal) you can make your own wipes as well, and just wash them along with the diapers. Easy Peasy. You'll save an extra few bucks, that way!
Anyway. Let me step off of my soapbox now. I really do love our cloth. Sullivan was in disposables until his cord fell off, and constantly had a rash. It was so heartbreaking. Once we got him in the cloth. Gone. 

I really think everyone should give cloth a try. It's better for baby. Better for your wallet. Better for the planet. I'm not an expert, but I do know some! So if you ever have any questions about this-- or other ways to be Eco-friendly and save a ton of money, please don't hesitate to ask me. I'll be glad to help out! We also have a group for this- Green Team: Salem! Please feel free to join for more money and planet saving ideas :)