Unconventional reuses for wire hangers

When we got married, my husband and I agreed that we hate wire hangers. Now that I am all crunchy and whatnot, I am sure that wire hangers are probably the most "green" choice, but I still hate them because they put weird dents on the clothes. Also, they look tacky. Which are very shallow reasons, but there you have it.

So we got rid of ALL our wire hangers and replaced them with wooden hangers. We bought huge packs of wood hangers from IKEA and from Bed, Bath & Beyond with coupons.

Occasionally, wire hangers would come back into our lives via consignment sale purchases and I would promptly donate them to Goodwill.

This week I realized that I probably shouldn't have given all those wire hangers away.

First came the Pinterest project. Being our first year to decorate our house for Christmas, I figured that we probably needed a wreath. I was horrified to find that wreaths cost something like $70 at Hobby Lobby? What?!! So, of course I went to Pinterest and found that you can make a wreath out of Christmas ball ornaments and...a wire hanger. I dug around in the garage and actually found one that escaped Goodwill. The result:



Not too bad!

And then...

I managed to outdo myself in the "weird" department today by flushing and entire cloth diaper down the toilet. You may have seen this tweet.

The kids were napping, so my husband was all set to leave work and buy a toilet snake (whatever that is? we are definitely the least handy homeowners EVER) and/or call a plumber when Facebook and Twitter suggested that I try a wire clothes hanger.

Guess what?

Yes, that is the previously flushed cloth diaper, a wire clothes hanger, and a needlenose pliers.

And there you have my eco-friendly reuse ideas for wire coat hangers: wreaths and fishing things out of toilets. Let me also pass along a little advice: do not throw out ALL your wire clothes hangers, no matter how ugly or annoying they are!


*NOTE: I was not paid by anybody to mention IKEA, Bed, Bath & Beyond, or toilet snakes. 

Cloth diaper Thurs: BumGenius Freetime

After receiving a number of free cloth diapers at BlogHer 2011, I started a feature on the blog called "Cloth Diaper Thursdays" where I review cloth diapers that I have tried recently or talk more about my cloth diapering journey. For more cloth diapering posts, make sure you check out my contributing posts to CottonBabies blog as well.

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I have to admit that BumGenius is really my go-to brand for cloth diapers (and, disclaimer, I write for their blog). For the first year of my son's life, our stash was exclusively BumGenius. We started out with what used to be called the BumGenius Organic All-In-One, which looked like this:

My main problem with this diaper was the drying time. I loved that there was no need to stuff inserts like pocket diapers but, due to the thickness of the organic cotton, it sometimes took up to 2 days for these diapers to fully line dry in humid North Texas weather! I could dry them in the dryer but that would shorten the life of the waterproofing PUL in the diaper. I found that I could reduce drying time somewhat by detaching one side of the Organic AIO, but eventually even that was cumbersome and I ended up selling all my Organic AIO's on DiaperSwappers.com.

Recently, BumGenius took the Organic AIO off the market and has replaced it with the BumGenius Freetime. Same concept -- an AIO diaper with no pocket-stuffing required, but this time the drying time is significantly reduced due to new materials, and now the inserts are "semi-attached", meaning they are each only attached on one end only:

I love this diaper! The drying time is still more than the BumGenius 4.0 pocket diaper, but not much. Fit is the same, and it does great with both poop and pee. I've also added hemp or cotton doublers underneath the inserts for additional absorbency.

Pros:

• No pocket stuffing
• Great BumGenius fit (one-size diaper that sizes in the rise with snaps)
• Double inserts provide a lot of absorbency
• Reduced drying time
• Super cute colors and patterns!

Cons:

• Longer drying time than a pocket cover & insert

And one more note -- right now CottonBabies is running a Buy 5, Get 1 Free sale on the Freetime diapers. So if you're looking to set up your stash for a new baby (or a 2nd baby!), I'd highly recommend stocking up now!

Rating: 5 out of 5

*NOTE: I received the BumGenius Freetime diaper free from Cottonbabies as a writer for their blog. All opinions are my own. Also, I don't receive any commission or affiliate fees if you buy from Cottonbabies :-(

Cloth Diaper Thurs: Applecheeks

Last year after receiving a number of free cloth diapers at BlogHer 2011, I started a feature on the blog called "Cloth Diaper Thursdays" where I review cloth diapers that I have tried recently or talk more about my cloth diapering journey. For more cloth diapering posts, make sure you check out my contributing posts to CottonBabies blog as well.

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I received the Applecheeks 2-size envelope cover and insert in Size 2 from Beth from Me as a Mommy while at BlogHer 2012 this year, and am just now getting around to writing a review! I'd heard a lot about this brand, which is made by a small company in Canada. The envelope diaper works just like a pocket, with the pocket opening in the middle instead of at the front or back (see picture, above).

First impression: the Applecheeks diaper is so plush and soft! The leg elastic is significantly gentler than other diapers I have tried as well. Not sure how this will wear in the long term, would it make the leg openings looser?

One major difference between this diaper and the other diapers I've tried: the pocket opening being in the middle. I didn't think much about it until Little Lady pooped in the diaper. As you might know, I am a HUGE fan of my diaper sprayer. When I went to spray the poop, the location of the opening caused me to be spraying poop INTO the pocket half the time. I was a little taken aback by this and asked Amy Appleton, founder of Applecheeks, what they recommend to resolve this issue.

Here's some more info about the Applecheeks diaper and poop spraying from Amy:

We strongly recommend using our fantastic flushable liners with the AppleCheeks envelope cover. Not only is this less messy than a sprayer but it also ensures the diapers does not sit totally saturated until wash day. If you feel you must use a sprayer, be sure to hold the diaper from the FRONT of the cover so that the overlap is such that the cover will remain closed. If you hold it from the back it will indeed just open right up.

Make sense? In my case, this means I just need to make sure I always use a liner with the Applecheeks diaper because I was unable to figure out how to spray effectively to avoid spraying poop back into the diaper.

In summary:

Pros:
Very soft!
Gentle leg elastic
Well made, high quality diaper
Snaps - always love snaps!
Insert is very thick & absorbent
You could use any brand insert in the pocket, versatile

Cons:
The pocket opening being in the middle (only for me - not everyone will see this as a disadvantage)
Cost of flushable liners add to the cost of the diaper

Regarding the "cons", you can also make your own liners out of old t-shirts, old kitchen towels, etc., spray the poop off and wash with your diapers, which completely eliminates the cost and waste factor associated with flushable liners. I have made some reusable liners of my own out of an old jersey material pillowcase and they work great.

Overall, I will still be putting this diaper in regular rotation and it looks super cute on Little Lady's little bum!

Rating: 4 out of 5

#clothdiapers: GoGreen Champ vs BumGenius elastic replacement

It's not even Thursday and I'm talking cloth diapers! I had to post because I have some interesting info for cloth diaper pros: last night I found one major differences between my favorite cloth diapers, the GoGreen Champ and the BumGenius 4.0 One-Size. As you may or may not remember, I've been cloth diapering now for a little over 2 years, and during the last year I've had two babies in cloth diapers simultaneously. This is, of course, quite a beating on the diapers - the PUL, the hook and loop, and the elastic. Fortunately, both these brands of diapers have held up great as far as PUL. I have had to replace all the hook and loop on the BumGenius (which were fully 2 years old or more), but it really wasn't too difficult - just time-consuming.

Minor differences first: for a while, the GoGreen Champ was one of my favorite diapers because a) they have double leg gussets, and b) they were my first diapers with snaps. Now that I've started acquiring some BumGenius snaps, though, I find that the BG snaps are actually less intimidating to childcare/daycare/relatives than the typical cloth diaper snaps because there are only 2 snaps instead of 3, and they are placed in a location on the diaper that is similar to hook and loop placement (and therefore, similar to disposables). That's definitely a score in favor of the BumGenius - snaps last longer than hook and loop and I can bring them to childcare/Mother's Day Out. However, the two diaper brands were still on pretty much equal footing until last night.

BumGenius 4.0,
elastic easily accessible

Here is what swung the pendulum for me: GoGreen Champ diapers have the leg elastic literally sewn into the leg. As in, you cannot replace the leg elastic because there is stitching through the elastic, inside the casing. This is kind of a game changer for anyone who plans to use the diapers for more than 2 years. After 2 years, elastic on pretty much any cloth diaper loses it's elasticity and the legs of your diapers will start to gape and therefore leak. When BumGenius released the 4.0 diaper, they made the leg elastic easily accessible without having to even open a seam. You just snip the old and sew on the new. I've done several replacements on BG 4.0's and it's a breeze! FuzziBunz are even easier, if you're interested.

I did manage to sew new elastic over top of the old elastic on the GoGreen Champ, but it's a messy job and isn't seamless in any sense of the word. It yielded some bumpiness that I don't love. You also have to cut through the PUL casing around the legs, which is going to cause some leakage and eventually will render the diapers unusable. This was a temporary solution for me and I would not recommend it. What most people would have to do is probably actually throw out a GoGreen Champ diaper when the leg elastic goes, or sell the used diaper to someone who wants to try and go through the trouble of adding new elastic.

The inner double leg gussets on the GoGreen Champ, while nice for containing poop, are another replacement issue. You can't replace the leg gusset elastic either without damaging the PUL. Now that I've rigged a temporary replacement of the leg elastic, the inner leg gusset is much more saggy than the legs. All kinds of weirdness in fit now, and the leg gussets are rendered pretty much useless.

In conclusion, I used to recommend GoGreen Champ on equal, or sometimes better, footing than the BumGenius 4.0 but now I definitely won't.

Have you found some way to replace the leg elastic on your GoGreen Champ? If so, I'd love to hear about it and be able to retract this post! It's a great diaper otherwise.


NOTE: Obviously, I did not receive any free product in exchange for the mention of these brands and diapers. As you know, I do write for the CottonBabies blog, which I choose to do because I love and believe in their products.

Potty training and cloth diapers

I've been making a huge effort in the last week not to cover my blog in potty learning updates as we've been working with Little Sir to use the potty. However, if you follow me on Twitter you have definitely be inundated by updates. Sorry about that.



I'll be doing a more in-depth outline of our methodology later - both on this blog and on the CottonBabies blog. Suffice it to say that we are not following any program exactly, it's something we have kind of made up as we go along to fit Little Sir's preferences and our family. I am sure it's a very AP-type tactic - go with your heart, blah blah blah. And I'm sure we'll use completely different methodology when we start Little Lady on potty learning.

I do have one quick thing to say about potty training and cloth diapers. I was told back in the pre-baby days, as I researched cloth diapers, that cloth would help my child potty train earlier and easier because he or she can feel wetness when wearing cloth diapers. The logic is that the child isn't going to like being wet and will therefore be more likely to want to learn to use the potty and less likely to have accidents in their underwear.

Unfortunately, the feeling-the-wetness aspect of cloth diapers kind of backfired on us.

It's true that Little Sir could tell when he was wet. One of the ways I knew he was ready to use the potty is that he was starting to come to me and ask for diaper changes:
Him: "Need a diaper change!"
Me: "Do you have poop?"
Him: "No, just pee"

When we started the first potty-training day, he refused to go naked as most programs suggested. He insisted on wearing something on his lower half, and he was very enthusiastic about his "racecar underwear" which he had picked out at the store. This is where the wetness aspect didn't help us.

Instead of being shocked and uncomfortable when he peed in the underwear, it was normal for him. He was accustomed to feeling wet! No biggie. Why would I stop playing and go sit on the potty when I always feel wet when I pee? Gah. We had to explain to him over and over that wet underwear is NOT OK. What we want is to have dry underwear. He was clearly seeing underwear as just another form of cloth diaper, because even when it was dry he wanted a new pair after going to the potty. He just saw it as a cloth diaper change. Awesome.

Most likely, this is not the norm. I know by now that Little Sir tends to be the exception and not the rule. Most kids will accept being naked. Most kids will not enjoy being wet. He is just never like "most kids".

The good news is, he's really doing well so far. He understood after about a day that dry underwear is preferable (also there were bribes involved). He goes in the potty several times a day and has only a few accidents.

We're having a lot of trouble with going in unfamiliar pottys when we're out, though, so if you have any advice there - I'm all ears!

Cloth diaper Thurs: washing for two in cloth

It's a been a while since I did an update on our cloth diaper washing routine. I thought I'd post our most recent iteration for those of you wondering about cloth diapering two children at the same time. It's true that our routine for two in cloth diapers is different than just one. For one thing, I only had to strip our diapers about every 6-8 weeks when I had only one child. Now that there are two of them, I have to strip them about every 3 weeks. If you aren't sure what I mean by stripping, please read my post about how we all need to be stripping.

So I'll skip the stuff about stripping the diapers, which happens only occasionally, and go straight to the everyday washing.

When the diaper comes off the child, I spray the poop (if there is any) and put the diaper into a dry Mommy's Touch or PlanetWise wet bag in a regular trash can. I also throw our cloth wipes in there. These are the same 2 wet bags and the same trash can that I started out with 2.5 years ago. Nothing wrong with any of them, still working great! For the most part, there is really no odor in the pail. I do keep an Arm and Hammer baking soda pouch in the pail, which I have rigged to be refillable. If the pail itself gets stinky, I spray it with a mixture of tea tree oil and water and set it out in the sunlight. The only smell problem I ever have is the trash can I keep next to the diaper pail, which holds disposables. I do not understand how people can throw away disposables inside their house - those things STINK!

When the diaper pail/wet bag is full (about every other day since I have around 25 diapers in my stash), I take the whole thing out and dump it directly into our front-loading HE washing machine. I do not really ever touch the diapers themselves, unless one starts to slide back out the door (ew!).

I am still using Charlie's Soap, which I get on Subscribe And Save through Amazon. I do love Rockin' Green, but it's just too much more expensive than Charlie's, and we've never had any trouble with Charlie's. I also use it for all our clothes.

It goes like this: one "Quick Wash" Hot/Cold cycle, which I use as a pre-rinse. Then a full Heavy-Duty Hot/Cold cycle with Charlie's Soap. Every other load, I add a half scoop of Bio Kleen Oxygen Bleach Plus. I started doing this because it turns out that my HE machine water does not get hot enough to fully sanitize the diapers.

That's it for washing! I line dry the covers, either outside on our clothesline or on a rack indoors in our garage. I throw the inserts, wet bag(s) and cloth wipes into the dryer.

So it's actually really fast and easy! The most tedious part is re-folding all the diapers afterward. Just like folding any laundry, really.

How do you wash your diapers?

We should all be stripping!

Cloth diapering parents, I had no idea that so many of you were dealing with stink issues that I can solve for you! The first thing I ask when someone tells me they're dealing with stinky diapers is: how often do you strip your diapers?

I have been shocked lately how many have responded with some variation of "Um, never?".
Parents!! What are you doing?!! We need to be stripping regularly!!

Why do you need to strip?
Here's the lowdown: even cloth diaper-approved detergents leave some degree of residue on cloth fibers. Considering how often your diapers are washed, after several weeks (maybe as long as a few months if you're diapering only one child or have a large stash) that buildup is sitting on top of the cloth fibers. The result is 1) leaking because the fibers are coated with residue and cannot absorb, and 2) stink, because basically the stink is trapped inside the coated fibers. YUCK!

Stripping is easy!
There are several ways to do it, but I prefer the Dawn method. By this, I mean Dawn dish detergent, the Original formula. All you do is wash your diapers as usual, and then run an additional wash cycle with Dawn instead of laundry detergent. For a top loading (old school) machine, you'd use 1-2 tablespoons of Dawn. For an HE machine, 1-2 teaspoons. My HE machine only requires 1 teaspoon. After you've run the cycle, stick your head inside the washing machine. If you still smell Dawn, run another rinse cycle (for an HE machine that doesn't have a rinse cycle, just run a short cycle without adding anything) until you don't smell it anymore. The diapers should smell completely neutral.

That's it! See how easy it is?

Go! Do it NOW!

Real Diaper Week 2012: Just Do It

I'm proud to be emotionally and mentally supporting Real Diaper Week this week (April 16-21), as well as The Great Cloth Diaper Change on April 21st. "real" diapers, of course, being cloth diapers! On April 21st, cloth diapering mamas assemble all across the nation to simultaneously change their babies' bums with cloth. Once again, I slacked off and did not register in time for the Dallas/Fort Worth event hosted by the DFW Cloth Diaper Group. But I can guarantee you that I will be changing no fewer than 7 cloth diapers that day, as I do every day with two children still in {cloth} diapers!

In honor of Day 1, Cloth Diaper 101, I am going to be lazy and list the posts I have done on this topic for the CottonBabies blog, and only one from my own blog. This is because the posts I've done in the past about my diaper stash and washing process are outdated and need to be updated!

So, check out these great basic tutorials:

• Cloth Diapers 101: Air drying indoors [Cottonbabies blog]
• Cloth Diapers 101: For the love of pockets [Cottonbabies blog]
• Cloth diapering: cloth wipes [this blog!]

Have fun, and change a real diaper (or two, or 500) this week!

Cloth diaper Thurs: ones&twos AIO

Time for another cloth diaper review! I had heard a lot about this new brand, ones&twos, from some blogger friends. The company really aims to make an affordable cloth diaper so that more people can enjoy cloth. I tried the pink diaper on Little Lady:

The reason I tried it on Little Lady is not just because it is pink, but because these diapers do run a tad small. I wasn't sure it would stay on Little Sir (he's currently 2 yrs, 4 months). Little Lady wears the diaper with the rise completely unsnapped - she's 19 lbs. at exactly 1 year old. So when she gets too much bigger, we'd probably need to retire this diaper. I feel like this diaper would make a GREAT newborn diaper!

I love how the diaper fits her now, though. The leg elastic is so nice and snug and I love how grippy the velcro is.

I'm going to give you the image from their web site to show you what the inside of this All-In-One looks like:

As you can see, there is an included soaker. We never use the diaper without the soaker because Little Lady is an extremely heavy wetter. One thing I love: the soaker is so super soft! I just want to sit there and stroke it. It's silky or something! I am sure it feels good on the baby's bottom.

Pros:

• Soaker is very soft
• Love using the soaker because you can pull it out and spray poop off it instead of having to spray the inside of the diaper
• Nice, comfy fit (makes the fluffy bum look super cute)
• Great price!!
• Nice, bright color options
• Adjustable rise
• Great newborn diaper

Cons:

• Diaper does run a little small
• Only comes in aplix/velcro right now
• Typical AIO issues (i.e., you can't stuff a pocket)

Overall, I really like this diaper!

Rating: 4 out of 5

Check me out on CottonBabies' blog!

Unfortunately, I have acquired some kind of awesome stomach bug that comes with a fever and constantly feeling like I'm going to yarf but never actually yarfing. It's almost exactly like being pregnant! Except I can assure you that I am not. The toddler and the almost-1-year-old that beat me on the head all day yelling "Mommy! Mommy! Mommy!" when I laid down have reminded me how thankful I am that is not the case right now.

In lieu of writing anything new here, I wanted to formally announce that I'll be writing occasionally for CottonBabies' blog over the next year or so! I am super excited about this! Today my first post was published: For The Love of Pockets. If you aren't familiar with CottonBabies, they are the creators of BumGenius cloth diapers, which comprise the majority of my stash. I order from their online store regularly for things like flushable liners and most recently, a Flip potty training pant for Little Sir.

I am only one of numerous contributors to this blog, and the topics are pretty precise. It's kind of first-come, first-serve whether you get to attempt to write on a topic or not, so I can't guarantee when or how often I'll be able to write in the future. But I hope I can! I am a big fan of the company and the direction they'll be going with this blog, so be sure to subscribe.

And, if you're one of those natural remedy gurus - any suggestions on getting rid of the stomach bug ASAP?!

Cloth diaper Thurs: Thirsties Duo

I started Cloth Diaper Thursday to review all the diapers I received at BlogHer 2011. The Thirsties Duo is the last diaper in this series!
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My daughter, Little Lady, has finally reached the weight she needs to be to help me test out the Thirsties Duo* I received from Kelly Wels at BlogHer 2011 last year! I was excited about this because the diaper is sooo pretty.

We have been having some issues with Little Lady leaking through ALL of our stash. I've been scouring cloth diaper sites and emailing friends, but all I can think is that right now her legs are so thin compare to her tubby tummy that I can't get most of our diapers' legs to close tightly enough to prevent side leaks.

We've had to resort to using only our snaps diapers, which hold the legs more tightly. The one exception: the Thirsties Duo! Because it has double leg gussets and extra elastic in the front under the tummy, it's one of the only velcro-closure diapers in our stash right now that doesn't leak. Bonus that it's one of the cutest, too!

The Thirsties Duo is unique because it is a pocket diaper that could also be used as a cover. Either stuff the pocket with an insert or... don't! You could just use a prefold and use the Duo as a cover.

One note about sizing: although this diaper comes with snaps that adjust the rise, it is also a sized diaper. Usually diapers with snapped rises are one-size, but the Thirsties Duo comes in two sizes. Size 1 is for 6-18 lbs and Size 2 is 18-40 lbs. I received a Size 2, which is why I had to wait until Little Lady was about 9 months old to start using it.

Pros:

• Two sizes of diaper means your toddler won't outgrow the Size 2 diaper until potty training
• Love the double leg gussets!
• Inside of the diaper is super-soft cotton, not polyester like most of our pocket dipes
• Comes in so many cute prints!
• Adjustable rise
• Extra elastic in the front of the diaper holds it flush to the baby's tummy even if the baby is tubby, like Little Lady
• The pocket opens on both the front and back of the diaper, so the insert is certain to come out in the wash, meaning you won't have to touch it to pull it out before washing! 
• Can be used as a pocket diaper or a cover only

Cons:

• The sizing does mean that you'd have to buy the diaper twice as your baby grows
• Not sure how you would go about replacing the leg elastic if it gets worn

Overall, I have been very impressed with this diaper! I would love to have been able to use it earlier, but now I know we'll be using it until Little Lady is potty trained for sure. Thank you so much, Thirsties!

Rating: 5 out of 5

NOTE: I was given the Thirsties Duo for free at BlogHer 2011 by a blogger sponsored by Thirsties. All opinions are my own, I'm the one who has to clean up the poop, people!
* Links to Kelly's Closet are affiliate links. I get, like, 10 cents if you order from them. Oooo. 

"Changing Diapers" by Kelly Wels

According to Klout, I am influential about cloth diapers? When you consider the big names in cloth diapering out there, that's pretty laughable! But at least here, on my little blog, I do enjoy telling you about my experience cloth diapering my kids. I've also had several of my friends and readers come to me over the last year with questions about cloth diapering and challenges they have experienced in the process.

Today I am so excited to be able to share with you the answers to all your questions in one book!

Obviously, not written by me - but by Kelly Wels, who is known as "The Cloth Diaper Whisperer" from her blog by the same name. I had the privilege of meeting her in person at BlogHer 2011 this year and she is way cooler looking than that cartoon on her web site!

Her book is called "Changing Diapers: A Hip Mom's Guide to Modern Cloth Diapering". Not only does it start out with the basics such as the different kinds of cloth diapers (prefolds, pockets, AIO's, AI2's, fitteds, covers...etc.), but it goes into more depth in the areas of washing diapers and setting up a workable system.

I think my favorite thing about this book is the illustrations! When I was first researching cloth diapers, I was able to cobble together sufficient nformation by Googling, but I always got long text-heavy explanations perhaps broken up by pictures of someone's child in the diaper. Or, I would get YouTube videos of questionable quality where someone rambled on and on and the picture was grainy. In this book, Kelly includes some incredibly simple and effective illustrations that show you exactly what she's talking about so you don't have to guess!

In addition, the book is full of quotes from real-world moms and dads about their experiences cloth diapering.

I just love the design and simplicity of this book. And it's small enough to fit in your purse for on-the-go reading!

No matter where you are on your cloth diapering journey, and especially if you are just now considering the possibility of cloth, I highly recommend this book.

I considered giving away my only personal copy, but I actually like it too much to do that. So, all I can do is point you to her site where you can buy the book for $17.95 (free shipping), or Amazon where it is going for around $12, or you can buy it for the Kindle for $10.

Please let me know if you do get it, and how you enjoy it!

*NOTE: I was given an advance copy of this book for free to review before it came out, but I am so slow that I didn't get around to writing this review until it became available in wide release. All opinions are my own.

Cloth diaper Thurs: KaWaii Baby

I actually did not receive this week's diaper at the #HauteGreen party at BlogHer. Instead, I received it free with an order of over $39 at KellysCloset.com*.If you sign up to receive their emails, they will let you know when they have these specials running!

This is the last week of Cloth Diaper Thursday, as I have run out of new diapers to review. We take you back to you regularly unscheduled Thursdays starting next week!
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Kawaii One-Size Cross-Over Squared Tab Snap

My first impression of this diaper is that it is almost exactly like the BumGenius 3.0 One-Size pocket diaper in design. Same insert, same shape, same elastic configuration, same snaps. (It's not necessarily comparable to the BumGenius 4.0's available now, because the 4.0's have additional features that the KaWaii doesn't have).

Things that are different from BG:

• inside fabric is softer
• the PUL seems "looser", not as tightly woven as BG
• fit might be a bit bigger

Because of the softer fabric inside and the looser PUL, unsnapping the snaps stretches the fabric quite a bit - to the point where I am afraid the snaps might actually pop off eventually. However, there's no way to know if that would really happen.

As for performance, this diaper works great! No leaks to complain of, and the poo stains bleached right out in the sun, just like BG. Because the fit is looser, I have tried this diaper only on my toddler so far, not the baby.

I'd recommend it as a great lower-cost alternative to buying used BumGenius.

Update as of 9/2012: The "loose-ness" of the outer shell of this diaper did prove to be it's undoing. Somewhere around July of this year, the snaps popped right out of the fabric. Before then, the stitching of the diaper had already started to unravel in several places. The total life of this diaper was less than one year, and that was only on one baby. By comparison, my BumGenius diapers lasted a total of 3 years, one of those years diapering two babies simultaneously. While this diaper looks like a BG, don't be fooled. It is not the same. I recommend spending the extra $2 and getting a higher quality diaper.

Revised 9/2012:
Rating: 3 out of 5

* Affiliate link, if you buy products from Kelly's Closet using that link I get, like, 1 cent or something.

Cloth diaper Thurs: BabyKicks 3g Bumboo Pocket Diaper

Due to all the great diapers I received at the #HauteGreen party at BlogHer this year, I have about 6 new brands I've been able to try! I am going to review them every Thursday for around 6 weeks.
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Lest anyone ever think that all I do is give positive reviews, I will point you toward this one. I really hate to say I don't like a cloth diaper, but this one is pretty much useless to me. Perhaps I am doing something wrong? Feel free to let me know in the comments.

BabyKicks 3g Bumboo Pocket Diaper - Natural Hemp Fiber cloth diaper

What I love about this diaper is that it is ALL natural fibers. Unfortunately, that's also what seems to cause the problem. Although the manufacturer's site says the outer shell of the pocket diaper is PUL, it doesn't look like any PUL I've seen - there's no waterproof material, that I can see.  Therefore, when the insert soaks through... the pocket shell is next. My toddler peed right through the Joey-Bunz insert plus the shell in the first hour he wore it (yes, I washed it multiple times beforehand, as directed). I added an additional cotton/hemp insert to help with absorption but that made the pocket very tight-fitting and it still wicked some moisture into the air flow vents which are touted as being helpful in preventing diaper rash.

The other weird thing about this diaper is the way it snaps. As I've mentioned, we're still getting used to snaps. The snaps on this diaper are the opposite of other snap diapers - usually you pull the back over the front, like you would with a disposable or with hook-and-loop. But this diaper, you put the front over the back...

Can you see the design difference a little better in this pic?

I realize that this design is attempting to circumvent the issue of tab hangout that happens with snaps. I hate that too, so I wish it worked better in this design.  Unfortunately, it's a huge "husband hangup". He can't figure out how to use them and it's intimidating - part of the reason many people skip snaps altogether.

I really wanted to like this diaper, but I think I'll probably end up giving it away to someone who likes this brand better. If you're a fan of this brand and would like a free {gently used} diaper, you can have it for whatever the cost of shipping. First come, first serve - whoever leaves a comment or emails me first!

Rating: 2 out of 5

NOTE: I was given the BabyKicks 3g Bumboo Pocket diaper for free at BlogHer 2011 the Haute Green party. All opinions are my own, obviously, since I'm sure this won't be their favorite review ever...

Cloth diaper Thurs: itti bitti d'lish and bitti tutto

Due to all the great diapers I received at the #HauteGreen party at BlogHer this year, I have about 6 new brands I've been able to try! I am going to review them every Thursday for around 6 weeks.
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I have two versions of itti bitti diapers:

the bitti d'lish (in size Small)

and the bitti tutto

First of all, I had never seen a minky diaper before I was given these itti bitti's! For those of you not familiar with "minky", it means the outside of the diaper is made of the kind of fuzziness that stuffed animals' fur is made of!  When my son first saw the itti bitti tutto, he carried it around hugging it for a while because he thought it was one of his stuffed animals.

The minky-ness makes a little girl baby look soooo cute!

I have to say that I have only tried both of these on my little girl, and neither on the toddler. I didn't think the blue-green of the tutto would look great on him and the d'lish is waay too small for him.


The biggest difference in these diapers is not the minky, but the insides. They are really kind of All-In-2's because theoretically you could remove the snap-in inserts when they are dirty and reuse the outsides. Theoretically, because unless you have an extremely light wetter, and no poo at all, that would not happen. I am not a fan of All-In-2's for this reason. To me, you should just call them All-In-One's because you are going to wash the whole thing, every time.

But, I digress. Take a look at the insides of the bitti tutto:

So... yeah. All those pieces snap inside the diaper, somehow. The bitti d'lish has 2 pieces as well, they just look a little different. The baby's bum is not against a solid piece, but against 2-3 difference snap-ins simultaneously. I thought it was really weird at first, but it seems to work fine. I have never had a leak with itti bitti!

Pros:

• CUTE! Hugable! Seriously, you would not believe how cute a baby in a minky diaper is.
• Very absorbent
• Customizable with the snap-in soakers
• Customizable with the waist and leg sizing (bitti tutto only)
• Very soft soakers
• Virtually no staining - the soaker material must be really stain-resistant because we've had some solid-food-poop messes in them and they never even discolor!

Overall, I really like this brand of diaper. My only complaint is how confusing the soaker inserts are (I am always wondering if I've "done it right"), and the fact that they are All-In-2's.

You cannot beat the hugability of these diapers!!

Rating: 4 out of 5

NOTE: I was given the itti bitti diapers for free at BlogHer 2011 the Haute Green party and from a friend who let me have one to try. All opinions are my own, I'm the one who has to clean up the poop, people!

Cloth diaper Thurs: Charlie Banana

Due to all the great diapers I received at the #HauteGreen party at BlogHer this year, I have about 6 new brands I've been able to try! I am going to review them every Thursday for around 6 weeks.
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I had heard a lot about Charlie Banana diapers before BlogHer 2011 and was excited to try them. I was even more excited about this design:

Sorry it's blurry, but can you see what it says?

"goodbye disposables hello cloth"SO ADORABLE!

I received two of the One Size diapers. These diapers are designed to work as either all-cloth or a hybrid of disposable and cloth. All you need to make them hybrid is these disposable inserts. I haven't tried the disposable inserts, only the cloth.


A word on sizing
One thing that I found really weird about this diaper is that, although it purports to be one-size-fits-all, it can't be sized up and down in the rise, or tailor-fit in any way other than fastening the snaps to close it. So, are they just assuming that one size rise will fit all babies and toddlers without any adjustment? That is a weird assumption to make. It did fit my toddler pretty well - no leaks - but it appeared smallish on him. The 16 lb baby, while looking super cute in that picture, actually must have been a little too small because it leaked for her. It did look pretty huge on her.

I guess I am just accustomed to one-size diapers having snaps that allow you to size them up or down in the rise.

Also, the 2 inserts that came with the diaper were a little confusing size-wise. One looked slightly larger than the other, but not significantly so (maybe 1 inch difference). I was left confused as to which to use for which child. And since the diaper didn't size down, if I used only the smaller insert, what happens to the extra inch of uncovered space inside the diaper? Maybe that was the cause of the leak for the baby.

All of this style comes with snap closure, which I know many people love. I am still getting used to snaps, myself. This diaper has helped me in my journey by being ridiculously cute so I am forced to use it.

The pros of this diaper are:

• Very soft on the inside! Much softer than what I am accustomed to. Like a minky blanket, almost.
• Very soft insert! A lot of times the inserts are thinner or even rough (like when they're made of hemp), but these inserts are super plush. I wanted to hug them.
• Opening for the insert in the front - this is supposed to be to keep you from having to touch poop. I don't think there is anything that can keep poop completely at bay, but it's a nice touch.
• Cute design! And other colors and prints, also cute.
• The hybrid option is a definite plus. 

Overall, I still like this diaper and we use it regularly on the toddler. I wish someone would explain the sizing issue to me, but whatever - it works and it's so cute!

Rating: 4 out of 5

NOTE: I was given the Charlie Banana diapers for free at BlogHer 2011 the Haute Green party. All opinions are my own, I'm the one who has to clean up the poop, people!

Cloth diaper Thurs: GoGreen Diapers

Due to all the great diapers I received at the #HauteGreen party at BlogHer this year, I have about 6 new brands I've been able to try! I am going to review them every Thursday for around 6 weeks.
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The first diaper, and one of my favorites, is the GoGreen Pocket Diaper.
I was given the Champ model:

 

I had never heard of this brand before, but I am so glad I got the opportunity to try it!

Things I love about this diaper:

{pic of leg gussets and openings on both ends}

• So soft inside! I love to feel it and I'm sure it feels great on the baby's bottoms.
• Special inner leg gussets really hold in the contents of the diaper.
• I am still adjusting to snaps but this diaper makes snaps much easier because they are color-coded! No more guessing if I've aligned the snaps correctly while the child attempts to escape from the changing table!
• The largest size on these is the largest I've seen - Little Sir is 22 months old and 24 lbs and he still wears the rise snapped on the last snap. In our other cloth diapers, he is wearing the rise at the maximum.
• I love that they come in many different colors and patterns, unlike most of my favorite pocket diapers!

Other features

• Openings on both ends of the pocket so that the insert comes out in the wash. This is nice, but my other diaper inserts come out in the wash without this feature so it doesn't really matter to me
• A snap on the end of the insert and inside the pocket that allows you to use it as an AI2 - meaning you can keep the insert attached to the pocket in the wash if you'd like. I don't really care to do that, but it's a nice feature to have.

I find myself wishing I had more of these diapers!

So yep, I highly recommend this one.

Rating: 5 out of 5

NOTE: I was given the GoGreen diaper for free at BlogHer 2011 the Haute Green party. All opinions are my own, I'm the one who has to clean up the poop, people!

7 Quick Takes Friday #20 - BlogHer 2011 Edition

BlogHer 2011 Edition

--- 1 ---

I still haven't blogged comprehensively about BlogHer because it is too overwhelming, so I am just going to go over some of the details in this 7 Quick Takes and then do one more post about the logistics of bringing a baby to BlogHer for anyone who might be Googling it next year. I looked for posts about it before I left but they only addressed whether or not to bring the baby to parties, not the actual logistics of being in the sessions with a baby.

--- 2 ---

Despite the fact that our plane was on the tarmac for 2 hours on the way to San Diego, Little Lady did very well on the plane. It was tiring for me to keep her busy in my lap for 6 hours straight, but she never really cried much. She also didn't nap at all, on either flight. Which is completely normal for my children, who do not sleep or nap when traveling. In case you don't follow my family blog, here is a picture of the Southwest flight attendant who was using Little Lady to help greet passengers coming on for the second leg of our flight home!

--- 3---

Here's a pic of me and Galit Breen from These Little Waves! I was so excited to finally meet her in person, I have stalked read her blogs starting back when she blogged as Minnesota Mammaleh and watched her writing develop as she is moving into writing some beautiful fiction lately!

--- 4 ---

I ran into the Jimmy Dean sun while waiting for the elevator on Saturday. Yes, this is the guy who does the commercials.

--- 5 ---

Sunday morning before we caught our flight back, and after all my green blogger friends had left, Little Lady and I hung out by the firepit near the beautiful tropical pool at the Marriott and I ate a huge breakfast burrito. It was so cool in the morning that we had to stay by the firepit for warmth and Little Lady was wearing a sweater!

--- 6 ---

San Diego is a lovely city, which I hardly got to see because I was in the conference the whole time. I'd love to go back some time for a visit.

I just love California so much.
I have never been to LA or to Sonoma/Napa, but I am sure I would love it too. The weather is so beautiful, no wonder so many people live there and raise the cost of living, even though it is totally going to fall into the sea one day.

--- 7 ---

I feel like the 7 Quick Takes has gone so fast this week! Usually it's a beating to come up with 7 things, but with BlogHer, it's easy. I want to cram in so much more! But I know you are all tired of hearing about it.

One final thing I'm thinking of doing as a result of all the free cloth diapers I received as swag this year is starting a "Cloth Diaper Thursday" where I review a different brand of diaper each week. This will only last about 6-7 weeks, but still might be worth it. If you don't have kids or don't cloth diaper, just skip Thursdays. See you next week!

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Well that's all for this week, be sure to visit Conversion Diary for links to more 7 Quick Takes Fridays.

Cloth diapering at a hotel

 We took a short trip to South Texas this weekend to see family, and stayed in a hotel. When I started to pack our backup disposable diapers, I realized we'd have to have 2 bags of 'sposies - one size for each kid. When I go places with the kids during the week, it's so easy because I just bring a few BumGenius One-Size diapers and adjust the size to whichever child needs them.

I decided it would be easier to pack 15 BumGenius diapers than to pack all those disposables, and I wouldn't have to worry about throwing away all those diapers. The hotel web site said it had laundry facilities, so I just packed my Rockin' Green Remix soap and we should be good to go.

When the only clean diapers left were the ones on the kids' bottoms and it was naptime, I took my stash to the hotel's laundry room. It turns out that the machines were coin-operated old-school top loaders, and there was no rinse cycle. Also no hot water wash - only "warm".
I decided to go ahead and try it.

By the time we pulled them out of the dryer (we don't normally machine-dry, but this was just for time's sake) - the whole stash smelled like poo!

We ended up having to re-wash the diapers at my sister-in-law's house after naps and put the kids in the only disposables we brought. Fortunately, she uses cloth diapers too, so she knew exactly what cycles to use with her machine and even had some Charlie's Soap for us to use.

Moral of the story: probably not a great idea to rely on hotel laundry facilities when traveling with cloth diapers.

I was considering using cloth when I take Little Lady to BlogHer in San Diego on Thursday, but the reality is that even if the laundry facilities at the Marriott are awesome and free, there are 3,000+ other bloggers staying there and I think it would be a little unrealistic to assume there would be a free machine at exactly the time I would need it. I don't have any prefolds-with-covers that fit her anymore, and it's just not in the budget to purchase a bunch right now.

My compromise for BlogHer this week is going to be gDiapers. We've used them in the past and they are particularly usable for younger babies who don't poop a lot. The flushable inserts take up less room than the equivalent package of disposable diapers, and I can still re-use the cloth covers.

Greening your baby

People who formerly feared "being green" often end up asking me how they can become more green when they start to have kids. Something about having kids makes people want to eliminate chemicals and waste from their lives... go figure!

As you know, I currently have two children under the age of two, so this list was put together quickly and off the top of my head. Ask me again in a year and I might have something more comprehensive!

Cloth diapering - Obviously good for the earth but also cost effective, as are many "green" lifestyle changes. In addition, I have never experienced a late-night moment when we've run out of diapers (I actually didn't realize this happens to people until I heard another blogger talk about it). I am not going to go into details on how to cloth diaper in this post, but I've done previous posts on my cloth diapering regime as well as cloth diaper reviews and you can also find me writing for the CottonBabies blog. My #1 recommendation for learning about cloth diapering is Kelly Wells' book "Changing Diapers: The Hip Mom's Guide to Modern Cloth Diapering".


Make your own baby food - when I bought the Beaba Babycook Baby Food Maker it was an investment, but it was definitely worth it. I use it to make purees to hide veggies in food now that Little Sir is a toddler, and I'll use it again when Little Lady starts solids. Making your own babyfood is also cheap, and with an all-in-one appliance like the Babycook, it's super easy.

Washable towels and cloths for everything - Let's face it, paper towels and Kleenex are actually pretty flimsy - you can use a roll or box on just one mess. You can upgrade and also be more "green" by replacing them with washable cloth versions. I did a recent post about getting rid of paper towels by using absorbent washcloths from Ikea. I'd also recommend tons of microfiber cloths for cleaning up spilled milk and scrubbing things - you can buy microfiber cloths at the dollar store! When my son was born, I bought a huge amount of old school cloth diapers that I use for burp cloths and cleaning up all kinds of formula, milk, and runny noses. Little Sir recently learned to "blow snot" into these burp cloths and now whenever he sees a cloth diaper, he tries to blow his nose into it!

Consignment sales/preowned clothing - The "reuse" part of "reduce, reuse, recycle"! Twice a year I go to our local huge consignment sales and stock up on gently used clothing for the kids next season. Recently I also discovered Kid to Kid, which is a franchise of kids consignment stores for in-between consignment sale season. At least half of Little Sir's clothing is pre-owned. As for Little Lady, because we have two nieces who are older than her, and friends who have older girls, I don't think ANYTHING she has is new - it's all hand-me-downs! Which is awesome for me since I am not great at picking out girls' clothing.

Snacks - This is the part where I tell you to do things I am failing at... If you have toddlers, you know that you should NEVER go anywhere without snacks! Instead of using plastic bags and pre-packaged treats, it's always greener (and cheaper) to buy larger boxes of treats or put fruit into reuseable snack bags. I say this, but I own only 2 of these bags, so currently I do use waaay too many pre-packaged snacks.

Cleaning products - Usually when people ask me the "green" question, they are asking about how they can replace their conventional (toxic) cleaning products with more green (kid-safe) versions. When you see your little darling gnawing the floor or the chair leg, you can't help but think whether they might be ingesting some of that chlorine bleach/ammonia cleaner/Lysol you just sprayed on it. There are a lot of greenwashed products out there, but I'd recommend using vinegar, baking soda, Bon Ami, and essential oils like tea tree and Thieves Oil to replace conventional cleaners. Young Living also makes an entire line of Thieves Oil household cleaners.

Avoid phthalates - If you read my blog much, you might know that this is one of my pet peeves. Phthalates are used in making plastics and also in body care and makeup products. Phthalates are endocrine disruptors and can cause hormonal imbalances in young children and infertility in adults. Unfortunately, manufacturers are not required to specify if they use phthalates in their products. In plastics, avoiding anything using PVC can help reduce phthalate exposure. In personal care products, most often the ingredients list only "fragrance". Make sure that the products you buy are either unscented or use only essential oils for scent.

Those are my quick tips for going green for your new baby!
Do you have anything to add?

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