Cloth Diapering Update

I started this post many months ago and then never finished it. I decided to finally do it in case anyone was wondering how it's going.

Our diapers:

Just out of the wash.

Stuffed and folded.

One of the changes between starting this post and actually finishing it now is that I no longer stuff the diapers ahead of time. We keep them all on a shelf near the changing table. One pile of covers, another pile of inserts. We stuff as we go each time. We've gotten pretty fast at doing it and finding the time to stuff them all when they come up from the wash got really annoying. (Another change is that we have gotten a few fun patterns since this picture was taken!)

Cloth wipes.

We use a wipe warmer for our cloth wipes. I make our wipe solution- using knickernappies baby bum drops- then dunk the wipes in it so they are all wet. Then just add them to the wipe warmer and they are ready to use whenever you need them. It's really easy.

Our wipes are a combination of babykicks, thirsties, and cotton babies. I like them all for different reasons and recommend having a variety, but if I had to choose just one for a toddler bottom, I would choose the thirsties. They are thick and really soft.

We also have some of the Prince LionHeart Warmies bamboo wipes, but I do not recommend them. They started to fall apart after just one wash. We still use them sometimes, but I would never buy more.

I added this picture when I started this post many months ago. Awww....he looks so little!!

We use bumgenius all in one, one size, 4.0 diapers. We used some Fuzzibunz for the first few months, but as he got older we started having problems with leaks. We've found BumGenius to be much more reliable.

For nighttime, we use BumGenius with a regular insert plus a Thirsties hemp insert and we have not had problems with leaks.

We use the diaper sprayer to clean the diapers before putting them in the diaper pail. We haven't had problems with stains.

The only time we have had a problem with smell is when I tried a new detergent once. After a while the diapers had an awful smell, even right out of the dryer. We stripped them using a small amount of blue Dawn dish detergent. We went back to using Rockin Green detergent and haven't had any problems since. We also use Thirsties pre-wash during the cold cycle. We dry the inserts in the dryer and hang the outer parts to dry.

For a diaper cream, we've been using coconut oil! I love that it is cloth diaper safe and it seems to be working very well!

One of the best things about cloth diapering (that I didn't anticipate when I started) is that they help keep his pants up! He grows out of pants in length and the waist is always huge. Cloth diapers are the only things keeping his pants up!

Of course the money we've saved is also a huge positive. When Jayden was sick with a stomach virus recently, we had to buy disposables. I can't believe how expensive they are. I don't know how anybody can afford them!

Overall, cloth diapering has been great...and much easier than we thought. I highly recommend it to anyone, even if you think it would be too much for you. We were nervous going into it, but I am so glad we did it.

Update Post

No Shampoo (Previous Post)

I quit. I know. I suck. I just couldn't do it anymore. It wasn't getting any better and it made me feel really bad about myself. My hair felt like an old dirty wet mop. I felt dirty and awful all the time.

I'm sure it would have turned around eventually, but I am already fighting depression as it is so I felt like it wasn't the right thing for me right now.

But, I am showering a lot less. And when my shampoo runs out, I will be going to the local natural foods store to find a better shampoo for the environment. Any suggestions on what I should be looking for?

Financial (Previous Post)

Unfortunately, there's nothing new to report here. I only have one part time child left. I haven't had any success with getting new kids. What has always worked in the past is putting an ad in the paper in late August. Things are going to be really hard between now and then.

I had hope that two kids would be coming back when their Dad found a new job, but that is not looking good. Their parents had them still getting on and off the bus here everyday with the goal of them coming back soon, but just last week they changed the bus stops to their own house to save gas money. I understand why they did it, but it was heartbreaking. They kids gave me a card that said they will never forget me. They had been coming here for four years.

We contacted our student loans about getting a forbearance. Adam was able to get 7 months. I was only able to get two months. That was disappointing. But at least we have until the Fall for Adam's loan. I hated doing it, but it needed to be done. We'll be paying his loans until we're in an old age home anyway...what's 7 more months, right?

It's hard to cut more from a budget that was already cut when we made the decision to adopt, but we're trying. The biggest change we've made is that we've stopped all eating out/ordering in and I have been cooking a lot more.

Thanks to H from Soldier To Mother for helping me with making my own laundry detergent!

It's really hard not to spend any money when things come up. Like needing a new frying pan. Or Adam's shoes getting worn down so his socks get wet anytime the ground is wet at all. Or our good sheets getting worn down resulting in a giant rip in them. Hopefully those are things we can take care of when we get our tax money. We did our taxes earlier this year than ever before!

I bought discount Valentine's Day chocolate yesterday and I have felt incredibly guilty about it since. I guess that is the really hard thing. Always feeling guilty. Always feeling like I'm doing something wrong. We are in this financial situation because of me.

 

Co-Sleeping (Previous Post)


It's still going very well. We love having Jayden right with us during the night and knowing he is getting the sleep he needs. It's a lot less stress overall.

There have been sacrafices. Like giving up watching TV in bed until I fall asleep. For as long as I can remember I have always fallen asleep watching TV. That was a really hard habit to break.

It does give a new meaning to parenting being a 24 hour a day job, but it won't last forever and I know when we move him to his own bed I will miss this time with him.

Best of all- We all get SLEEP!

No Shampoo

I have been doing the no shampoo thing for a week and a half now. Any of you tried it?

I want to like it. I really do. It's cheaper and so much better for the environment.

But, it's really not working for me.

I feel like it's really hard to cover all my hair since the baking soda and water don't lather up like shampoo does. And it doesn't seem to be cleaning my hair at all.

In the beginning it was okay, but now my hair just keeps getting more and more oily. I thought maybe adding more baking soda would work, but it's just getting worse. My roots are fine, but the rest of it feels like I left conditioner in and forgot to wash it out.

I've been mixing baking soda and water to clean my hair and then rinsing with apple cider vinegar and water. Last night I tried putting some baking soda straight on my hair and then rinsing it out and then washing with the baking soda and water mix. Even that didn't work.

If any of you want to talk me out of quiting now...please do :) Am I doing something wrong?

Diaper Chemicals...Anyone Else Worried?

For the most part, we use cloth diapers, but we do have disposables in the house for when I don't time things out well and can't finish the laundry in time.

Whenever Jayden is wearing a disposable diaper, I can smell the chemicals.

I said something to our pediatrician about it and she said there really are a lot of chemicals in diapers. She said she doesn't use cloth, but she does use the more natural disposables they sell, with less chemicals.

I have done only a little research into this, but apparently if you ask diaper companies, they won't tell you what is in their diapers. But many websites have some of the chemicals listed and they are scary. Chemicals that are linked to things like asthma and even cancer.

Have you noticed how much thinner diapers are now than they used to be? I work with older children and haven't diapered babies in many years. Not since I was a teenager doing baby-sitting. When we bought diapers for Jayden, I was shocked at how thin they were. I thought maybe we bought the wrong kind, but they are all like that. I found online articles about the proud diaper companies announcing their new diaper innovations that are so much thinner than before. But, they aren't made using magic. They obviously have to be made with more chemicals.

I feel like that is something a lot of people don't talk about. I mean, baby books push for you to feed your baby organic food, but then you should diaper them in chemicals 24 hours a day? I wish diaper companies would make changes in the other direction. Less chemicals instead of more.  I bet mothers would be okay with thicker diapers or diapers not quite as leak proof if it meant healthier.


And even beyond the chemicals being against your baby's skin, these same chemicals then go into the ground....and eventually our water. Think of all the used diapers out there in the world.

I know I worry more than most people, but isn't this something we should be scared of?

Our First Couple Weeks of Cloth Diapering

Thank you for all the advice on my last cloth diaper post! You were all a huge help!!

The rest of our supplies arrived and we began cloth diapering about two and a half weeks ago.

It's going very well. Suprisingly well.

Last night Adam and I were talking about how it's really not as bad as we thought it would be. He was making me laugh as he was doing impressions of different people's reactions to us saying we were planning on doing cloth diapering. It was like we had told them we planned on swimming with sharks.

My mom always supported us in it and kept reassuring me it was not a big deal and she did it for me and my sister and brother when we were babies. And back then they didn't have all the cool stuff we have now like diaper sprayers and all in one diapers. I am so glad we listened to her and did it. 

I have a low tolerance for gross stuff. I am the kind of person who gags when cleaning up cat throw up. I really worried that I didn't have the stomach for this, but it's really not bothering me at all.

The diaper sprayer is a must have. I read a few reviews that made me nervous, but it was very easy to install and we have had no problems with it. And it makes the poopy diapers so easy to clean. We love it.

We're using mostly BumGenius diapers. We also have a few FuzziBunz. I highly recommend both of them. They're great. So easy to use and no problems with leaking.

We're using Rocking Green detergent and it seems to be working well. We also bought thirsties pre-wash. We haven't used it yet, but I figured we would use it on really dirty loads.

I stuff the inserts in the diapers all at once after bringing them up from the wash. That way they are ready to go when I need them. I put all the stuffed diapers in a diaper stacker next to the changing table. We use a diaper pail and liner from Cotton Babies and that is next to the changing table too.

We decided to use a wipe warmer for the cloth wipes. It takes a long time for water coming from our faucet to warm up, especially in the winter, so we thought it would be too much of a hassle to do it that way. It's much easier to have the wipes ready to go. I make a batch of the wipes solution, dunk the wipes in it, then roll each wipe and stack them in the wipe warmer. It's lasts a few days. I wash the wipes right with his diapers. He has had no issues with diaper rash since we stopped using disposable wipes. He used to scream when he got his diaper change, now he smiles when we use the warm wipes on him. He loves it.

If anyone out there has been considering switching to cloth, I encourage you to try it. I am so happy we did.

Please Tell Me Everything You Know About Cloth Diapers

I am about to start cloth diapering (finally!) and I need all the help I can get!

We will be using BumGenius One Size 4.0, plus a couple Fuzzibunz. We have a mix of velcro and snaps.

We have ordered this diaper pail and pail liner. We also ordered the diaper sprayer that hooks up to the back of the toilet.

I think we are going to use Allen's Naturally detergent, although we have not bought any yet. I might order some Rockin Green too.

The thing I have no clue about is washing. Help! Any and all information/advice you can give is welcome!

You have to wash them before you start using them, right? More than one time?

Then once they are dirty, what is a typical wash cycle like? I have a top loading washer that is about 8 years old.

Do you hang the diapers to dry or put them in the dryer?

Oh, and one last thing-- What about wipes? What kind do you use? Do you just run them under water before using? Do you use a wipe solution? Make your own? Put them in a wipe container and keep them moist all day? Or do you use a wipe warmer?

Meatless Monday Buffalo Nuggets

It's Meatless Monday!!

If you are vegetarian and miss the taste of Buffalo wings, this is a great alternative.

I use Quorn Chik'n Nuggets.

I add Frank's Red Hot Sauce to a little bit of melted butter.

(Adjust the hot sauce/butter ratio depending on how hot you like it.)

Then pour the Red Hot mixture over the chik'n nuggets.

Add some blue cheese on top.

Cook following the nugget package directions.

Serve with celery sticks.

This is a great Meatless Monday article, if you are interested: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/chris-elam/meatless-monday-the-prote_b_578253.html

Meatless Monday: Black Bean Burgers with Mango Salsa

It's Meatless Monday!!

This week's recipe is Black Bean Burgers with Mango Salsa

This is a Cooking Light recipe that my sister made while we were visiting her in Boston last month.

Yield: 6 servings (serving size: 1 burger)

Ingredients

2 (15-ounce) cans black beans, rinsed and drained

3/4 cup finely chopped fresh cilantro, divided3/4 cup (3 ounces)

shredded Monterey Jack cheese

1/4 cup panko (Japanese breadcrumbs)

2 teaspoons ground cumin

1 teaspoon dried oregano

1/2 teaspoon sea salt

1/2 medium jalapeño pepper, finely chopped

2 large egg whites

Cooking spray

1 1/4 cups chopped peeled mango (about 1 medium)

3 tablespoons chopped shallots

1 1/2 tablespoons fresh lime juice1 avocado, peeled and chopped

1 garlic clove, minced

6 (2-ounce) whole-wheat hamburger buns, lightly toasted

6 green leaf lettuce leaves

Preparation

1. Preheat oven to 350°.

2. Place black beans in a medium bowl; mash with a fork. Stir in 1/2 cup finely chopped cilantro and the next 7 ingredients (through egg whites). Shape bean mixture into 6 (1/2-inch-thick) patties. Arrange patties on a baking sheet coated with cooking spray. Bake at 350° for 20 minutes, carefully turning once.

3. Combine remaining 1/4 cup cilantro, mango, and the next 4 ingredients (through minced garlic) in a medium bowl. Place a patty on bottom half of each hamburger bun; top each with 1 lettuce leaf, 1/3 cup salsa, and top half of bun.

Lisa's Notes:
 
*Use a potato masher instead of fork to mash the beans.
 
*Definitely toast the rolls. It makes a difference. The burgers are soft, so it's a nice contrast to have a toasted roll. It's also why a big crisp leaf of lettuce is nice.
 
*Personally I would rather have the garlic cooked in the burger than raw in the salsa.
 
*I would use parsley in the burgers instead of cilantro, but that's because I don't really like cilantro.
 
*We left the shallots out because I hate them. I hate anything in the onion family. I don't think hate is a strong enough word. :)

April 26, 2010

Today is 21 months that we have been homestudy approved and waiting.

Today is the one year anniversary of when I joined twitter. I had no idea when I joined how life changing it would be. I am thankful every day for my twitter friends.

Today is the day we are trying to make #infertility a trending topic on twitter to kick off National Infertility Awareness Week. If you are on twitter, join in by adding #infertility to all your tweets.

Today is Meatless Monday.

This week's meal is calzones. I'll be using pizza dough from a local bakery, ricotta cheese, mozzarella cheese, garlic, spinach, and mushrooms.

I think the key to a really good calzone is using good pizza dough. Find a local place that sells dough that you like. Put some flour down and roll the dough out with a rolling pin. Add whatever veggie ingredients you prefer to one side of the dough. Fold the empty side of the dough over the full side so it's covering all your ingredients. Make sure you close it tight so the ingredients do not leak out while cooking. Before putting it in the oven, I like to add a little vegetable oil to the top and sprinkle parmesan cheese on it.

I usually cook it at 375 for about 25 minutes. It all depends on how big your calzone is. You should be able to tell when it's done. Keep checking on it.

One last thing...

I just want to say thank you for all the support on my last post. I still get very nervous when I pour my heart out and hit the "Publish Post" button. I feel so vulnerable and embarrassed that my secret feelings are all out there for everyone to see. Then the support comes pouring in and it's like a giant hug. A great big "everything is going to be okay" hug. I really appreciate it. Thank you.

Happy Earth Day!!

I've been meaning to write about reusable bags for a long time now. I figured Earth Day would be the perfect time. Using reusable bags takes very little effort and has a big impact.

Not only is it easy to do, but I actually like using them better. They hold more, which means less bags to carry in the house after grocery shopping.


Here are the facts:

•Approx. 380 billion plastic bags are used in the United States every year. That’s more than 1,200 bags per US resident, per year.


•Approx. 100 billion of the 380 billion are plastic shopping bags.


•Thousands of marine animals and more than 1 million birds die each year as a result of plastic pollution.


•Only 1 to 2% of plastic bags in the USA end up getting recycled.

•An estimated 12 million barrels of oil is required to make that many plastic bags.

 •The United Nations Environment Programme estimates that there are 46,000 pieces of plastic litter floating in every square mile of ocean.

•Plastic bags are often mistakenly ingested by animals, clogging their intestines which results in death by starvation. Other animals or birds become entangled in plastic bags and drown or can’t fly as a result.

•Even when they photo-degrade in landfill, the plastic from single-use bags never goes away, and toxic particles can enter the food chain when they are ingested by unsuspecting animals.

•Greenpeace says that at least 267 marine species are known to have suffered from getting entangled in or ingesting marine debris. Nearly 90% of that debris is plastic.

•Americans consume more than 10 billion paper bags per year. Approximately 14 million trees are cut down every year for paper bag production.

•Most of the pulp used for paper shopping bags is virgin pulp, as it is considered stronger.

 •Paper production requires hundreds of thousands of gallons of water as well as toxic chemicals like sulphurous acid, which can lead to acid rain and water pollution.
(Source: http://www.envirosax.com/plastic_bag_facts)


The first step to using reusable bags is to find ones you love. If you love them, you will remember to use them. Here are a few of my favorite bags:

Lilly wanted to be a reusable bag model :)

Brinkley can never resist a comfy bag.

As you can see from this picture, you can store all your bags within one bag and it won't take up much room at all. You can keep one of these bundles of bags in each of your cars. Every time you go shopping, you will have them ready to grab and bring into a store.

We've been using reusable bags for about four years now and all of the original bags we bought are still good. None of them have broken or gotten too worn down. We use them for all shopping: grocery store, Target, shoe store, clothing store, pharmacy, etc. Once you get in the habit, it's easy to remember to grab them.

 

One last thing...

The kids and I watched Sesame Street's Being Green today.

It's a great DVD. I bought it for them to watch on Earth Day last year. I highly recommend it.

I know Sesame Street is usually geared towards young children, but I work with school-age children and they learned a lot from it.

They explain what it means to reduce, reuse, and recycle.

They show how a woman in Africa makes really nice bags out of old plastic bags.

A group of kids make paper out of old jeans.

Another group of children in NYC grow a vegetable garden.

And it has Paul Rudd in an earth costume. How can you pass that up? :)

Meatless Monday: Bean Quesadilla

It's Meatless Monday!!!

Click these links for more information:

Why Meatless?   Why Monday?

This week's Meatless Monday meal is an easy bean quesadilla. The kids have off from school this week, which means I will be working long hours, so I won't have a lot of time for cooking.

There are a lot of choices for what you can put into your quesadilla. What I usually do is put beans, green chiles, and cheese between two tortillas. Then I heat a pan with some olive oil. Then put the quesadilla in the pan and cook each side until the tortillas are crispy and the cheese inside is melted.

You can use any kind of bean you like. I usually use Ortega Refried Fat Free Beans.

Of course you could cook your own pinto beans and mash them, but I am going for easy here. I sometimes make it with black beans instead.

I usually use the ortega fire roasted green chiles and cheddar or pepper jack cheese.

I use the MexAmerica flour tortillas. Although the wheat or corn ones are healthier.

Once it is cooked, cut it up into slices and serve it with salsa, rotel, tomatoes, lettuce, sour cream, gaucamole, hot sauce...whatever you like.

Meatless Monday: Tacos

It's Meatless Monday!!!

This week's meal is tacos.

You can start by mixing together some of your favorite taco seasonings, or use a packet like this:

Mix the seasonings with about a cup of water in your skillet. I know the packet says less water than that, but I think at least a cup is better when working with meatless veggie crumbles. You can add more as you go if it looks like it needs more.

I heat up the water and seasonings and then add the meatless crumbles. Don't cook the crumbles too long. Just heat them up. You can use any brand of veggie crumbles you like.

These are my favorite:

We also often use these:

There are many brands to choose from. They're all great.

I recommend breaking it up with your hands while it's still in the package, then dumping it all in the pan with the water and seasonings. It's frozen so you just want to break up the big frozen pieces.

I also like to add green chiles at this stage. If you like it hotter, you can add jalapenos or whatever hot pepper you like.

This is what it looks like when it's cooked:

You can use any kind of taco shells that you like. Scoop the cooked veggie crumbles into the shells and add cheese on top. This time I added a mix of cheddar cheese and pepper jack cheese. The pepper jack cheese is a great way to add extra flavor.  

I cook them in our toaster oven. It saves electricity and they come out great.

Cook them until the cheese melts:

Then add whatever taco toppings you like. Lettuce, tomato, salsa, sour cream, gaucamole, etc.

I really hope you try these tacos. Even if you are not vegetarian, I think you may make the switch to these after trying them. Many of my meat eating family members have.

Meatless Monday: Pistachio Crusted Goat Cheese Salad

It's Meatless Monday!!

If you would like more information about why I am doing Meatless Monday, click here.

My sister made this salad for us over the weekend. It's a Cooking Light recipe. It was so yummy, I decided to share it with all of you. You start with whatever kind of mixed greens you feel like using. Then slice seedless red grapes in half and add them. Then form goat cheese into balls, and roll them in chopped pistachios. I had never had goat cheese before, but it turns out I love it. Especially with pistachios and grapes.

You can then add whatever kind of vinaigrette you like and enjoy. :)