A Newly Cloth-Diapering Mama

Numerous choices arise in the world of parenting, especially in children's infancy: bottle or breastfeed, attachment parenting vs. teaching early independence, staying at home or going back to work. On top of it all, every product choice we make seems to say something about what kind of parents we are, or at least what kind of parent we want to be.

On the decision between disposable and cloth diapering, I never gave it a second thought until I had my third child. My biggest reason for considering cloth diapers after so many years was that I had become more eco-conscious of the effects of all the waste and hazardous chemicals pouring into our environment (and on our little ones' bums) through mainstream disposable diaper brands.

I even went so far as to order a couple of cloth diapers about a year ago online, but when they arrived on our doorstep, I suddenly realized the implications of more laundry, feared a stinky diaper pail, and finally decided on returning the unused cloth diapers and eased back into the comfort of disposables.

As a compromise, I searched online and found a biodegradable eco-friendler brand, Nature Babycare, and have remained loyal except for the occasional emergency trip to the store for regular disposables.

But with paying over $100 a month for diapers and wipes for two children, and another baby on the way, a more economical choice started to look more appealing. As a woman who gets excited about clipping coupons and coming out under (our low) budget at the grocery store, I'm thrilled over the idea of providing even more for my family. I wish the money wasn't the thing that finally started changing my mind, but I hope to spread the word not only on the cost benefits but also the health and economical ones as well.

After getting over my initial fears of cloth diapering, I've realized that it's not just folding and pins anymore--there are some pretty cool products out there! And the best part is not only the fact that they're reusable, but that you can use them for more than one child. With the forecast of a house full of little ones, the more savings the merrier.

So right now my husband and I are navigating the sea of choices when it comes to all the different types of cloth diapers out there. Seeing friends who are already cloth diapering has given us more courage in venturing out on our own (my friend Lucy has a great blog where she talks about cloth diapering her daughter Greta). My good friend English has also let us borrow a bunch of her diapers, and we've ordered a handful of our own. We started Eleanor in them last week and so far it's really been a breeze! And maybe I'm weird, but I'm actually enjoying the laundry--it gets me motivated to work on the rest of our regular laundry, and I enjoy going outside to hang them. We haven't transitioned our two-year-old over to cloth yet (hopefully he won't need diapers much longer anyway), but we plan to after his disposables are gone.

If you still think there's no way you'll ever use cloth diapers, here are some things to consider:

• It is illegal to dispose of human waste in the trash--we should be rinsing the poo from disposables too!
• Regular disposables contain dioxin, a carcinogenic chemical listed by the EPA as the most toxic of all cancer-linked chemicals--not only is this exposed to our children, but also to the environment as they sit in landfills!
• For more diaper facts check out The Real Diaper Association
• Also read A Tale of Two Diapers--another interesting article on the history of research on Pampers vs. cloth
  

Stay tuned as I share more in our cloth diapering adventures!

New Items in Etsy Shop

I've slowly but surely been adding some of my crocheted items to my Etsy shop. Above is a photo of the crochet facial circles I use in place of disposable cotton ones to remove makeup and such. They're cute, absorbent, and easy to wash! I'll be adding more colors in my shop along with a bunch of washcloths I've made. Hop on over and check out the shop!

Homemade Purse Organizer

So it was my sister-in-law's birthday last week and I wanted to come up with something I could make for her gift. I began searching through the countless projects I have bookmarked on my Google Reader and finally remembered this one: The Purse Organizer Recipe at the Giving Flower. She has a pdf tutorial you can download and it's super easy. Here are some photos of my finished project:




I found the fabric on sale at Hobby Lobby (you also need to pick out some heavy-duty interfacing so it'll stand up in your purse). And I had enough to make myself one, too!




Here's a shot of the entire thing. You can make as many pockets as big or small as you want, but it's a good idea to measure out the items you'll be putting in it. And when you're done you can wrap it up as small as it'll go in your purse, or leave it open in your diaper bag (for you mamas).




Here's the one I finished for Katy wrapped with a bow of selvage. It got to her right on her birthday and she loved it (and I'm loving mine)!

Handmade Christmas

The one handmade gift I was able to complete this Christmas was a set of bookmarks with embroidered pictures that my eldest son, Skyler, drew of different family members. We met my in-laws from Tulsa in Austin for Thanksgiving and we had these ready for them then. I started feeling the pregnancy just a couple weeks later and didn't have much energy for many other projects; I did manage to make a couple more for my parents though.




This is one of the bookmarks of Skyler and Gran at the airport for his first plane ride. I found the project idea in Amanda Soule's book, Handmade Home. The tutorial features images of the family members alone, but Skyler decided to give me much more detailed drawings to work with.
A little tedious, but well worth the results:

Intro to Bento

Kindergarten Bento #266, originally uploaded by Wendy Copley.

I came across fellow crafty mama Wendy Copley's blog, Wendolonia, via her Taggie Monster tutorial featured on Craft Gossip. I loved the tutorial so much that I started perusing the rest of her blog and came across the wonderful world of bento.

I didn't realize what bento was at first, but I was giddy over the whimsical lunches she makes for her two sons. She uses everything from food markers, to cookie-cutter sandwiches, to sprinkles on fruit to liven up the everyday lunch box.

Maybe I'm just weird for thinking this is really cool (moms live in a very different world), but I love how she uses this as a creative expression to show her children how much she cares about them.

From what I can gather from searching online, bento is a Japanese meal tradition in which food is carefully prepared and is meant to be aesthetically pleasing. We could all use a little more art everyday, couldn't we?

I haven't even begun to delve into the depths of the world of artful lunch-making, so hop on over to Wendolonia--and check out her Bento Box FAQ page where she shares where she finds her bento supplies and why she's crazy enough to spend more than five minutes making lunch!