Murphy's Laws for Moms

After researching all about cloth diapering, I learned a lot about the different covers, ways to fasten, cleaning, and everything else associated with the diaper except the actual diaper.  What goes under the diaper cover is by far the MOST important aspect of cloth diapering.  After all, it's what (hopefully) holds everything in.  I was amazed when my eyes were opened to the worlds of diapering differences. When people think of cloth diapering, many people look at what's available in the stores and then assume that Gerber is the primary brand for the prefolds and flatfolds.  And, while it may be true that Gerber is the leader in positioning amongst many store shelves, in my opinion, they are not the leader in quality and cloth diapering efficiency.  This is where Cloth-eez comes in. Let's start by taking a closer look at the Gerber diapers.  Just for this blog, we'll focus on the prefolds.  There are several different types of Gerber prefolds (differing in thi

The question of baby registries recently came up while I was talking with a group of friends.  I mean, really, how many things can a tiny baby actually need ??  Of course, there's shelter, food, clothes, and diapers, but all that other stuff that the stores tell you that you can't live without??? My husband and I went in to register for our baby with two different thoughts in mind.  My husband thought that we should only register for the absolutely necessary items.  I thought that we should register for a few "extra" things.  There's nothing wrong with wanting both a crib and a Pack n' Play, a high chair, a couple of different strollers, as well as all the clothes, mattress pad, changing pad, diaper bag, carrier, toys, etc. etc. etc.  Needless to say, we spent nearly four hours at the store trying to agree on what to register for. After all the hassle of trying to register, after our baby came, we realized that many of the things we thought we needed (i.e., bo

Last year I read a great book, In Defense of Food by Michael Pollan.  This book changed a lot of the ways that I look at nutrition both with myself and with my baby.  So, when it came to the first stage of nutrition for my child, I immediately knew that I wanted to breastfeed her.  While I think that formula is great for some children - and sometimes the only way they can receive nutrition - I thought that the best thing for my child would be to get her nutrition directly from the source...me.  However, that was easier said than done. As a warning, we're going to get into some of the meat of breastfeeding during this post.  So, if you are a little squeamish about breastfeeding, then you may not want to continue reading.  However, I hope that you do. My primary care doctor told me that, as I prepare to breastfeed, I should use a washcloth and "rough up" my nipples during pregnancy so that they would be "ready" for after Baby arrived.  I thought, "Hmmm...tha

As mentioned in my previous blog, cloth diapers are not your momma's cloth diapers any more.  Now, the lingo can be daunting.  There are AIOs, AI2s, diaper covers, doublers, fitted diapers, flat diapers, hybrid diapers, inserts, liners, one-size diapers, pocket diapers, and prefolds. When I first began my cloth diaper research, all of the different options overwhelmed me, and I didn't know where to begin.  So, I did the only thing I knew to do...I asked other moms! While every mom will have a different story to share with cloth diapers, you still get some very good information.  I learned why moms liked the diapers they chose, some of the downsides, and the costs to the different diaper systems.  I also began to develop my own decisions on how I wanted to start the cloth diapers.  When I first thought about using cloth diapers, I was dead set against anything that wasn't an all-in-one (AIO).  These are the Porsches of the diaper world.  There's no messing with diaper pi

The choice to use cloth or disposable diapers is easy for some people, but for me it was not.  My husband is a very frugal man.  I am a woman who looks for convenience.  It was an obvious choice for me...disposable all the way!  So, why am I now the biggest fanatic of cloth diapers???  While it is better for the environment and saves us a lot of money (with which I can make additional appointments at the spa), these aren't the reasons I decided to switch.  It wasn't even for the fact that cloth diapers supposedly makes potty training easier (I have yet to verify this myth, but will hopefully be able to add a post in the future).  No, I chose to use cloth because it works for my baby and, after hours upon hours of research, I learned how to make it just as convenient as disposable. Cloth diapers are no longer involve diaper pins and plastic pants like our mothers used to use.  While all of this is still available, I quickly decided it wasn't for me.  Nowadays, there are hund

When my husband and I first found out that we were expecting, we were excited.  We had desired a family for a while and thought that we were as ready as we could be; however, we quickly learned that we had a lot to learn about raising a child.  We began researching libraries, the Internet, and questioning friends and families about raising a child and determined that a. there is no manual for children and b. every thing you read or every person you talk to will tell you different information - information which is often times extremely divergent. From pregnancy to labor and delivery, whether or not to use cloth diapers, setting up sleep schedules, breastfeeding vs. bottle feeding, and so on and so on, the advice is too numerous to count.  As I have read about all of the numerous ways you can grow your baby, I have - at times - become completely overwhelmed with the possibility of messing up my child.  Thankfully, I have come across some wise mothers who have reminded me that there are