You know you have a problem...

You know you have a problem - perhaps even an 'addiction' to cloth diapering when...

- you see a woman wearing a top and think "hey, that'd make an awesome diaper print"
- you arrange your childs outfit around what cloth diaper they'll be wearing
- you dream about cloth diapers, night after night
- one of the big excitements of your month is a diaper company releasing new prints
- you don't want to put pants on your baby, so that their diaper is on display all the time
- you rub a [clean, obviously] diaper on your face because it's so soft
- in a baby store you audibly squeal when you realise they're stocking a new brand of diaper
- when asked what YOU want for YOUR birthday, you ask for cloth diapers
- owners of cloth diaper stores know you by name
- the decision you put the most thought into is 'snaps or aplix'
- you sit at your computer with your credit card in hand, and your fingers poised to start typing upon the 9am release of brand new special edition diapers
- you naturally buy a size up in clothing to accomodate for the cloth bum bulk
- you know the difference between microfiber, microfleece and microsuede
- you buy a brand new washing machine just because you want a better wash cycle for your diapers
- you fake a headache at midday at work so you can go home to open your fluffy mail
- even though you have 100 diapers already, you can justify buying 'just one more'... fifty times...

a milestone most look forward to

... a milestone that all parents seem to look forward to, is their child being potty trained and out of diapers - a case of "yay, no more shitty diapers to change"... but for me, I am actually dreading when the time comes that Emersyn is ready to potty train.  I am loving cloth diapering so much, that I wish I could do it again and again and again, but considering the fact I have had my tubes tied - this is it for me, no more babies - which means no more babies to cloth diaper.

SAD.

I am trying to think of how I can continue my love of cloth diapering, when it is something that will no longer be a physical part of my life.  At the moment, I am hoping that maybe I'll have the sewing skill and ability by then, to actually make my own diapers to sell... at least then I can give the cloth diaper bug to others, even if I can't use them myself.

I guess there aren't many parents who can say "I am going to miss diapering", so I guess that goes to show just how un-terrible and un-disgusting cloth diapering actually is. 

we are family.... [an itti bitti family]

My sister [as I believe I have mentioned] has started using Bitti Tutto diapers on my niece, Bronte - and I finally got to have a proper play with them, last week when I had the honour of babysitting Bronny for the first time.  She - of course, was a total dream and if anything my own children were tougher... there was a rocky moment or two when Emersyn and Bronte both decided to reach fever-pitch with their crying, at the same time.

OF COURSE, being the clothaholic - and ittibittiaholic that I am, I couldn't resist putting the girls in their matching coloured Itti Bitti's [I have to confess that I had packed all of Emersyn's Itti Bittis, that I knew Bronte had the same colour of] in order to take their first matching-diaper photo.

It happened to be during the rocky moments I mentioned above - neither girl was in a great mood, but nevertheless here is the photo of the Itti Bitti cousins....

Emersyn in her D'Lish and Bronte in her Tutto

Rockin' her yellow Tutto

and just because I can, here is a photo of Bronte in her beautiful yellow Tutto [of which Emersyn has one in the same colour].  It was lovely to see both girls rocking the minky - but also doing their part for the environment, at such young ages.  Of course neither of them realise the impact they are having - but all the same, I think it's sweet.  I look at these luscious, soft, vibrant, utterly beautiful diapers, and feel so so happy that I made the decision to start using cloth... and that my darling baby sister eventually came to the 'dark but fluffy side' too

pining for pins

I decided earlier this week that I would give flats a go - that was all well and good until I realised that the fabric of my [single] flat is an 'unsnappiable' fabric, therefore I would need to do something I had refused even try.... I would have to use pins.... 

Thursday the girls and I traipsed around the mall, trying to find what I presumed would be an easy to find item - considering that up until awhile ago, they were the MAIN form of fastening a diaper.  But no.  Neither of the supermarkets had them, the two department stores didn't have them neither did the first baby store I tried.  I was shocked a BABY store wouldn't stock them... Baby and pin seem to go hand in hand for me [of course not literally...], apparently they are now an item that there isn't a lot of demand for.  Interesting.  Fast forward to the last shop on my list - Baby Factory - FINALLY I found the longed for pins.  Hallelujah.
 

my first prefold pinning attempt

I got home and couldn't resist having a go at pinning a nappy for the very first time... I got Emersyn ready, said a quick pre-emptive pin-stabbing  apology took a deep breath and away I went.  It was surprisingly a lot easier than I imagined it would be - I remember watching my Aunts when I was younger, and it seemed like there was a lot of force require to get the pin through the actual fabric, but it seemed quite effortless when I did it..  I did need to re-pin a few times, to get diaper tight enough and even, but I eventually got there.

I have been using only pinned prefolds for basically three days now, and have to say I REALLY love using pins.  I am not sure what it is about pinning, but I think it's to do with the fact you get a snugger fit around the waist, and they seem to bunch a bit less.  Today for the first time I didn't have to re-pin to get the right fit, so I think I am starting to become a little more skilled at pinning... not that that is a huge accomplishment that I expect praise for - but I am proud of myself, because it's a little bit of the 'back to basics' which seems to be something I am fond of right now.

I have even started to enjoy using the prefolds and pins so much, that I have been having vague ideas of selling most of the rest of my stash, and then buying some more prefolds and extra covers... but I don't know if I can bring myself to part with my stash, especially with all the effort I've gone to to build it [aka, after all the money I have spent on it].  I think there are some I would definitely keep - but maybe I should go through and get rid of the diapers that I don't LOVE.....

food for thought....

I believe the children are the future.. of cloth!

"Mummy, what's the point in buying ugly nappies you have to throw away, if you can buy pretty nappies you can use heaps?"

This innocent (and utterly adorable) statement made by Gaby yesterday got me thinking about the fact that in reality, those of us who use cloth diapers are raising the next generation of cloth users.  I know from my own parenting choices that a lot of what I do, I do because my parents did with me & my sister... therefore what I do as a parent is going to have an impact on what my girls do as parents, or at least what their thoughts are on various aspects of being a parent.

That thought then got me thinking that by using cloth diapers - Gaby is going to think of cloth diapers as the natural choice for diapering when SHE is at the stage in her life that diapering is a reality for her (please god, make that in at least 20 years!)... and then chances are that'll be the same for a LOT of other children whose parents have used cloth diapers.

We are raising the next generation of cloth users.

But not only is it the children of parents who have used cloth diapers, it's also going to be any children who has had contact with someone who uses cloth - my cousins for instance.  Jasmine (13) & Alice (10) stayed with me for a week this summer, and BOTH were fascinated by my use of cloth diapers - they showed a real interest, and loved helping me stuff them & fold them after they'd been washed... it even got to the point that they argued over who was going to be the one to change Emersyn's diaper.  And before the week was up, both had told me that when they were 'ladies' they were 'so totally' going to use cloth on their babies!

2 more converts to the fluffy world of cloth!

Thinking about all this has got me thinking (I'm doing a lot of thinking right now!) that it is almost our 'repsonsibility' to make young'ens aware of the fabulosity that is cloth diapering, and to make a little impression on them, so that in 10, 15, 20, 30 years time when they are having babies themselves, they think back to how cute the diapers were, how easy they were to use, and how passionate WE were about them, so that they themselves think "hey - I might give cloth a go!".

What if for every 1 of us that uses cloth, 10 kids decide to use cloth when they are having children... in 10, 20, 30 years time there could be 10x as many parents using cloth - heck, cloth diapering could even be something that people don't screw their nose up about, and think people are 'crazy' for doing.

I can't wait to see my girls, using cloth diapers on MY grandchildren (oh god.. grandchildren... scary...)

Cloth Nappy Week 2011!

There are special days & weeks dedicated to pretty much everything now - even 'steak and blow job day' *rolling my eyes*, but one of the most exciting 'awareness' days/weeks for me is Cloth Nappy Week!!!  It is run in New Zealand between May 16 & May 22nd, and is basically a special time for celebrating cloth nappies (y'know - diapering), and for raising awareness about the wonderful awesomeness that is the cloth nappy!  Many 'nappucnios' are being held throughout New Zealand & I am extremely excited to be attending one of the Christchurch ones, for the first time!  Back tracking a little thought - 'nappucnino' is basically a 'coffee group to discuss cloth nappying' - I adore the little play on words!  Nappucino.. it just rolls off the tongue!

Many fabulous brands are supporting Cloth Nappy Week 2011, and I wanted to mention some of them here, on the off chance that anyone who is interested in cloth nappying in NZ stumbles upon my blog & want to know where to get their nappies from!  There are some of my favourites - www.ittibitti.co.nz, Real Nappies, PeaPods,  Tweedle & YoYo Nappies & others I've heard a lot about but haven't tried yet - Fancy Pantz, Boon, Baby First, Mothers Instinct, Cheeky Cherubs, Naked Baby, Nudey Rudey - and no doubt others I've not mentioned.

One of the activities they are doing is creating a mountain of disposable nappies (I think I've mentioned this already!) - to give a visual idea of how many disposables ONE baby will go through in a year, and basically the money that gets thrown away at the same time.  I cannot wait to see the result, or to hear about the impact it has on people who use disposables - whether it encourages any of them to convert to cloth, or to at least consider it.

You Know you have a problem when...

I just remembered a dream I had, the night that the big tsunami hit Japan - and I'm a little embarassed about the dream, because it may indicate that I have just the *slightest* problem with my love for cloth diapering.  In the dream, everyone was upset because all of the cloth diapers in Japan were getting swept out to sea.....  They weren't sad because of the utter destruction & plain devestation around them - no, they were sad because Japan's entire supply of cloth diapers was gone.......

I think I have a problem....

I also cannot tell you how many times I have woken up during the night with Emersyn, and while trying to get back to sleep have been intently thinking about cloth diapers - about a particular brand I wanted to try, about a new brand I'd just purchased, about a problem I was having with stink, about what I would name my own cloth diaper manufacturing company...

Again - a problem?  Perhaps just a small one...