Tuesday, November 9, 2010

WubbaNub Soothie replacement

I love WubbaNubs, the cute little animals attached to soothie pacifiers. The only problem I have with them is my girls tend to get attached to the animals in that if you wash it it will smell different and I won't sleep for a week kind of way. So when my daughter's favorite blue pony wubba's Soothie wore out, there was no way she was even looking at a replacement one. So being the crafty mama I am I bought another Soothie pacifier and found that with 5 minutes, a seam ripper and a needle and thread you can indeed replace the Soothie on a WubbaNub.

Here's how

Step 1 gather your supplies
You will need a new Soothie, a seam ripper, a needle and some thread.



Step 2 remove the old Soothie
If you pull back the wubbanub's "lips" you can see the stitching. Just cut the stitches with your seam ripper being careful not to cut the fabric or stab yourself in the finger (never fails I do it at least once a week and it hurts!)



Step 3 replace the old Soothie with a new one making sure that the WubbaNub plush is flush with the pacifier shield.



Step 4 stitch through both sides of the WubbaNub plush's mouth and the stump on the pacifier. 6 or 7 well spaced stitches with a good sturdy thread should be enough to hold it firmly. Using a thimble or solid surface to push the needle through or a pair of pliers to pull the needle through may be helpful if you are having a hard time getting your needle through all 3 layers. Tie off your thread and clip it short.


Pull on the pacifier to make sure it is tight. Be sure to check the WubbaNub for signs of wear, loose thread etc before each use.

Saturday, August 28, 2010

Soother clip tutorial

Soother clips are invaluble, we use them for everyday, to keep toys in the stroller, to make sure balnkets aren't lost, to keep a sippy cup off the floor and even to keep soothers handy and clean.
The thing is I alwaays wanted to have 3 or 4 of them and they are not cheap so I started making my own. It's super easy takes about 5 minutes can be done with or without a sewing machine, and each clip costs about $0.70 to make.

All you need is about 10" of 7/8" grosgrain ribbon, a clip, a couple of snaps or velcro, a lighter, a neddle and some thread or a sewing machine.

You can order plastic clips to make your soother clip or you buy metal ones almost anywhere sewing supplies are sold, check the dollar store, they are labeled as suspender or mitten clips.

Step 1 - cut and seal your ribbon
Cut a length of ribbon about 10" long, use the lighter to melt the raw edges of the ribbon so it will not fray.

Step 2 - attach your clip
Feed the ribbon through the slot in the clip, fold the ribbin over the slot an tuck the raw edge under so it is not visible. Sew the fold down using a straight stitch.

Step 3 - finish the other rw edge
fold the other end of the ribbon over about 1/8" from the end, then fold again incasing the raw edge. Sew down this seam with a straight stitch.

Step 4 - add a snap or velcro
fold the loose end under creating a loop to hold the soother, follow the directions for your snap tool to attach snaps or sew on velcro to close the loop.

Options and Cautions
- use a clip on both ends to make sure baby's blanket stays in the stroller
- use a toy link instead of a clip to attach toys to the stroller or infant seat
- to avoid entanglement the finished clip and ribbon length should not exceed 8"
- never use any kind of soother or toy clip in the crib.

Here's the full tutorial in video format, enjoy.

Wednesday, August 18, 2010

Can't Wait to Quest again!

I hope all of you participated in the first ever Green Quiz Quest. If not you missed out on an incredibly fun oppurtunity to win a ton of great prizes but don't despair I hear there are plans in the works for the second Quest to begin in Januray 2011.

"What is a green quiz quest?" you ask. Well simply put it is a "green" product scavenger hunt. Quest sponsers submit riddles which lead to a specific product or page on their website, it's up to the "seekers" to figure out the riddle and find the product page marked with the "riddle solved" badge. Once a seeker finds the pages, the URLs are submitted and as long as 80% are correct answers the seeker gets an entry for the awesome prize packages. This quest had a grand prize with an estimated value of over $1300 including cloth diapers, wipes, green cleaning products, reusable lunch bags, mama cloth, wetbags, even reuable glass drinking straws!

I had a blast trying to figure out the riddles, some where easy and some not. I got my mom involved and even my husband started trying to solve a few. I learned about a bunch of products that are availible and a few things I had to buy. Waiting for the winners to be announced on the facebook fan page was the best part, even my son was practically vibrating off his chair as I refreshed the screen every 10 seconds.

So long story short if you missed the first quest make sure you don't miss the second. I can't wait for January.

Back in Action


Well Hailey, our newest addition, arrived in early June and wow having 2 under 2 is crazy! Things are starting to settle down now and I have a few posts planed for the near future including
- Raves for the recent green quiz quest
- My experience with the rockin green hard rock formula; will I actually be able to use microfibre again?
- A quick tute on dying wool in the microwave
and more.....

Thursday, May 20, 2010

My Diaper Stash is now complete......... for now

I'm done. I now have way more then enough diapers for both babies and an efficient storage / display method for them all. And of course, I have to share.



Here is my Stash, changetable / dresser and spanky storage cube system DH installed for me.



Some of this stuff will go into the top drawer of the change table once it's fixed. This crib and change table have been through a few kids and one of the rollers on the drawer needs to be replaced...... I'll get to it eventually.



Here is a close up of all the storage cubes, my MIL had this little shelf unit thing in her store years ago, and it works great for diaper storage.
Front top to bottom, right to left I have Small covers, All in Ones, Medium covers, medium Gdiapers, Newborn covers, newborn prefolds, infant prefolds, pockets, small G inserts, more newborn prefolds, more infant prefolds, med/large g inserts, small gdiapers, small fitteds, medium fitteds, large gdiapers.



A close up so you can get the full effect of just how much I like my labeler. Everything is labeled in order to make it easier for Daddy or baby sitters or anyone else.



Of course I have way more diapers then what actually fit in the storage cubes, so the extra's go in the top drawer.
Left to right I have medium fitteds, extra newborn and infant prefolds, small fitteds, flats, and toddler prefolds.



This is where I keep all the assorted diaper accessories like extra gdiaper liners, fleece liners, wet bags and what not.



Again labeled for Daddy.

I love my diaper addiction.

Tuesday, May 18, 2010

Cloth vs Disposable - Real Sustainable diapers

This post is part of the Real Diaper Facts carnival hosted by Real Diaper Events, the official blog of the Real Diaper Association, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit dedicated to cloth diaper education. Participants were asked to write about diaper lies and real diaper facts. See the list at the bottom of this post to read the rest of the carnival entries.

So most people have heard about the problems parents have been having with the new pampers diapers and the lack of concern and support from pampers. Recently an article showed up on the pampers village site myths and facts

So here is my response to pampers "facts" about diapers

Myth: Cloth diapers are better for my baby.
Pampers “Fact”: Disposable diapers like Pampers were developed to offer babies benefits that cloth diapers could not meet. That goes beyond convenience to helping keep babies' skin dryer and more comfortable by reducing leaks and locking wetness inside the diaper in a way that cloth doesn't. As a result, doctors and parents simply don't see the same level of diaper rash that used to exist before disposable diapers

My truth: Diaper rash can happen to any baby no matter what type of diaper they are wearing. I admit my first was in disposable diapers for most of his diaper days. He didn't get diaper rash, not from Pampers not from Huggies, not from store brands, not from cloth. The boy just really does not have sensitive skin at all. My second baby on the other hand wore disposables for the first 7 months of her life, at that point she developed a bleeding, blistering, awful rash out of nowhere in a matter of two days. No changes in her diet, not teething absolutely no changes in any other aspect of her life but every time we changed her diaper it was worse and worse and she was crying and in pain and we knew we had to wash off her bum and put on cream and change her more often but it hurt her so bad that I said enough is enough. I went out to the shed and found the “cloth diaper bin” now I'll talk more about these diapers when I address the environmental aspects of this diaper debate but these were my diapers, not my diapers that I bought to use on my first child, or my diapers that I thought I would use but didn't end up putting on my kids, these were my diapers that I wore as a baby! So after a quick wash and dry I wrapped my poor baby girl in a super soft 100% cotton, 33 yr old, cloth diaper added a pair of pull on waterproof pants since that's all I had and you know what happened? In 12 hours of being in cloth the rash was better by at least half, she only had one small open sore and the rest of her diaper area was just red. In 24 hours there was just a slight discoloration left and she was no longer in any pain. At that point I put her back in a disposable for her nap, when she woke up I went to change her diaper and found it cracked open and bleeding again. So looks like my little one is allergic to pampers, maybe we'll try Huggies..... same issue, what about these really expensive “natural diapers” same problem. After doing some research I found that the one common ingredient in almost all disposable diapers is super absorbent polymers or SAP for short. One of the common SAP is sodium polyacralate. I recognized that chemical compound, where had I heard that before? Oh yes in the fake snow product I had used in a school aged daycare for a science experiment. This same stuff gave me a rash on my hands, and come to think of it I'm pretty sure it had a whole list of warnings about how to safely handle it. Back to the Internet I go to find the material fact sheet for
sodium polyacralate

ok so it says to avoid inhaling it, avoid contact with skin, rinse immediately if skin contact occurs, don't allow contact with clothing....... um haven't I been putting this next to my babies skin for the last 7 months? No wonder she got a rash. The more reading I did on the chemicals in disposables and the possible adverse effects of all these chemicals the more I wished I could back in time and never have a disposable diaper on either of my children. I just finished emptying the cupboards of any and all cups containers bottles and what not that had been recalled due to BPA and now I find out I've been swaddling my precious little baby in an entire cocktail of potentially harmful chemicals many of which have been linked to the very same type of hormone disruption not to mention infertility and cancer.
Diaper facts

Are cloth diapers better for my baby? Yes, Yes, Yes!!!


Myth: Cloth diapers are better for the environment than disposables.
Pampers “Fact”: In October 2008, the United Kingdom's Environment Agency published an update to its 2005 Life Cycle Assessment study on cloth versus disposable diapers. The update confirmed the earlier study's findings that there is no clear winner in terms of environmental impacts between disposable and cloth diapers in the U.K., once all factors such as water, energy, detergent, and disposal are considered.

My truth: Ok I admit in all my research I came across this info as well, and honestly I had to shake my head, how in the world could there be no difference between the environmental impact of using a plastic diaper once and tossing it out or using the same cloth diaper over and over for years. Keep in mind the diapers I was using were 33 yrs old, my mom used them on my brother and then used them on me, then I used them part time on my son and now my daughter was wearing the very same 100% cotton diaper and the very same pull on style waterproof pants over top. Yes washing laundry takes a lot of water, but I have a spanky new HE washer and energy star water heater and dryer, and these same diapers are on their 4th child. Common sense lead me to check into the study and low and behold I find article after article about how the study was (obviously) flawed. Here is great one from whatawaste.info
flawed impact studies review

And yes I have now purchased more modern diapers and have made many new diapers from new and recycled materials as well, but I still use those now 34 yr old diapers and I will use all of our diapers on baby #3 who is due to arrive any day now, and when I'm done with diapering my kids I will keep my favorite all hemp fitted diapers to pass onto my grandkids like my mom did, the diapers in the best condition will get sold or given away and I know there will be fights between my dad and my brother over the old worn prefolds which just happen to make the best shop rags in the world. None of my babies' diapers will end up in the landfill.

Myth: Developing countries prove that cloth diapers are better than disposable diapers.
Pampers “Fact”: Our product provides key benefits in terms of skin health, dryness, and even sleep. In China, for example, we've learned that babies and parents are frequently awakened during the night each time the baby soaks the bed, because the baby has no diaper or a very thin piece of cloth. As a result, studies have shown that a disposable diaper can help a baby there get a better night's sleep. In another test, we have also seen less fecal contamination spread around the home using disposables versus cloth or nothing.
Clearly, we have a lot to learn about how to help with basic hygiene needs in countries that have very different access to clean water to wash with, and how to best dispose of products after use. We've also learned about hygiene for older children through our Always feminine care business – where in many parts of the world girls are forced to miss school one week each month during their period because they don't have enough pads or fresh water.
We are working in those regions to better understand what they do with products after use, and how to work with local agencies and other businesses to ensure the best long-term system to manage it.


My truth: ummmmm let's break this “fact” up into a few key points.

  1. "In China, for example, we've learned that babies and parents are frequently awakened during the night each time the baby soaks the bed, because the baby has no diaper or a very thin piece of cloth."

  2. - Yes this is true because it's the cultural norm to practice Elimination Communication or early potty training. This statement from Pampers is not only misleading it's also a little offensive. In China and other Asian countries Elimination Communication has been practiced for as long as time, and in fact the practice is now gaining popularity in western and European countries as well.

  3. "In another test, we have also seen less fecal contamination spread around the home using disposables versus cloth or nothing."

  4. - Is this for real? There is less fecal contamination when using disposables vs cloth or nothing. Seems to me there is quite a difference between using cloth or using nothing, so did this test compare fecal contamination levels while using disposables vs cloth and disposables vs nothing or just disposables vs cloth or nothing grouped together? If the later is true then the test is pretty meaningless, I mean of course you are going to have more fecal contamination in a household if your baby is wearing nothing, that's why we have diapers in the first place.

  5. "We've also learned about hygiene for older children through our Always feminine care business – where in many parts of the world girls are forced to miss school one week each month during their period because they don't have enough pads or fresh water."

  6. - what does this have to do with disposable diapers? Disposable pads are just another problem for women's health and the environment. I could start in on this argument but let's try to stay on topic shall we?

  7. "We are working in those regions to better understand what they do with products after use, and how to work with local agencies and other businesses to ensure the best long-term system to manage it."

  8. - We haven't been able to figure out a decent long-term system to manage the waste from disposable diapers and feminine hygiene products here in north America, how are you going to ensure proper disposal in a developing country that has fewer resources available?
Myth: Disposable diapers are harmful to the environment.
Pampers “Fact”: All of the component materials in Pampers diapers are gentle to consumers and safe for the environment. Pampers diapers are made of materials that are also frequently used in a wide range of other consumer products. We are committed to continuing to reduce our environmental impact. For example, Pampers has decreased its diaper weight by one-third and packaging weight by two-thirds. And innovative technologies, raw materials, and product design improvements have led to significant reductions in energy, water use, emissions, and waste at our plants. We are working so that our diapers in the future will have less impact on the environment than even today's diapers.

My truth: Gentle to consumers and safe for the environment. So is that the same as safe for consumers? What is considered safe for the environment? “We are working so that our diapers in the future will have less impact on the environment” But I thought you said they are safe for the environment already. Are they safe or not? Is it enough for a product to be gentle on my baby or do I need it to be safe? Are disposable Diapers harmful to the environment? No more so then a wide range of other consumer products except those other consumer products can often be recycled, oh and those other consumer products are usually not found in landfills covered in human waste, what about the environmental impact of tons of untreated urine and feces in a landfill instead of the sewer where it can be treated properly?

Myth: The materials that make up Pampers diapers are depleting our forests.
Pampers “Fact”: The pulp used in our diapers comes from well-managed forests in North America. In some cases, we source our pulp from scrap wood chips from lumber and saw mills. Our pulp suppliers are required to be certified by an independent third party as practicing sustainable forestry. Certification includes standards and criteria for replanting trees, protecting biodiversity, water, air and soil, and for obtaining broad stakeholder input into the forest management plan.

My Truth: Coming from a community and a province who's economy is very dependent on forestry I can appreciate the fact that P&G is ensuring their suppliers are engaged in sustainable forestry practices, that being said there is still a lot of demand placed on forestry to produce disposable products, and as that demand increases so does the burden on our forests. That wood could and should be used for more important things then a one time use diaper that can't be recycled.


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Sunday, April 4, 2010

How to use a prefold

So in my travels around the internet I have explained to a ton of new moms how to use prefold diapers with and without a diaper wrap, it's a little hard to explain without pictures so I decided to just make a blog post with step by step photos so next time the question comes up I can just link to here.

Please note there are several ways of using a prefold diaper I haven't included instructions on "doing the twist" because I just don't like doing it that way, I've never made it work right, if it works for you great, but for some reason I just can't get it to lay right and it looks uncomfortable.

Diaper fold and snappi - For use with a diaper wrap or pull on style cover, woolies or basic "rubber pants"

Step 1 - Find one cute baby who needs a new diaper



I found this one watching Mickey Mouse in my Living room, don't mind the bed head, it's early in the morning and she has curly hair.

Step 2 - lay out the diaper



You want the diaper back about level with baby's belly button

Step 3 - fold or roll in the loose edges





Fold or roll in the edges at and angle so the back is flat but the front is tapered.

Step 4 - pull diaper up between baby's legs





Bring the diaper up between baby's legs, folding down the front as needed for a proper fit. *note if you have a baby girl who tends to leak out the back of her diaper, fold down the excess at the back of the diaper before putting it under your baby in step 2, that will get you more absorbancy at the back to catch anything that would otherwise leak out.*

Step 5 - pin or snappi





Snappi is by far the easier way to go, and the only way I do it if at all possible. Fold the wings over to the front of the diaper and hook one side, then the other, and then pull down and hook the middle.

Add a cover and your all done.



Alternate (easy) Method

If you want to be quick and don't want to mess with pins or a snappi then you can simply trifold your prefold diaper and lay it in a diaper wrap. This method is more effective with older babies, if you do this with a newborn or EBF baby you will end up with poop on the cover amost of the time because there is nothing to contain it.



Here I have a basic PUL diaper wrap and an infant prefold

Basic Boy trifold

As we all know boys and girls need the absorbancy in different places. If you have a boy the best way to trifold is lengthwise so the majority of the absorbant layers run front to back.


First fold in one of the thin edges

Then fold in the other side.

Lay the folded diaper in the diaper wrap and your ready to go.

Some people like to tuck the front edge of the prefold under the flap in the cover, totally not nessasary, but if you want to go for it.

Basic Girl fold

If you have a baby girl you want more absorbancy in the middle so you just fold the prefold the opposite way

Fold bottom edge up about 2/3 of the way

Fold top edge down to meet the folded edge

Pop it in the cover and your all done.

Sunday, March 21, 2010

Do I have a cloth diaper problem?

Ok so I know I have a lot of cloth diapers, but I'm not really sure how I ended up with so many.
I started out with just the old ones my mom had saved from when we were little and now I have around 150 changes in total. That's two compete sets but still when did this happen?
I've just finished getting my newborn stash all ready to go for baby #3 and I was sure I needed to get 24 preemie prefolds and a bunch of small gdiapers. I ordered 20 of the fabulous hemp fitteds from tidy tushees diaper service and that was it. add in the doublers I had made for DD that just happen to fit great in the small g's and with a set of small homemade fitteds I was given that put me over 60 changes in just my small stash. After stripping all the diapers a week ago I counted and had 8 dozen in my medium stash, not including all the dipes at Grandma's.

I think I need to start destashing a bit but I have no idea where to start, I love my Gdiapers and the whole reason I started collecting them is because I can fit more g inserts and prefolds in a load of laundry and with two in diapers soon I want to be able to fit as many in a load as possible, Our fitteds are a mainstay in our stash, the only diapers DH will use, and other then that I have 4 AIO's that I've collected from here and there. What do I get rid of?

Please someone tell me I'm not alone in this, there are other mama's out there that have ridiculously huge stashes of diapers right? right?

Friday, March 19, 2010

20 minute diaper cover

As you may or may not know, we have our third child due to arrive this June, I've never cloth diapered a newborn before, but since DD developed such a sever allergie to disposables, I don't want to risk using sposies for even the first few weeks this time. Good news is I got to build a newborn stash, bad news is I needed everything and with DH not working I didn't exactly have a great budget for new diapers. I couldn't bring myself to buy a bunch of newborn covers since this will likely be our last baby so I sat down at the sewing machine and this is what I came up with.

So far I've only made newborn covers with this pattern but I think I will make some Large ones soon as DD's medium wraps don't fit over a premium prefold very well and I want some matching for both girls.

20 minute diaper cover
Materials Needed
Sewing machine
Fleece or wool interlock (upcycled wool suit jackets work great) and thread
12" length of 1/2" wide elastic
6 socket snaps and 5 stud snaps and and caps
Snap pliers or press
or
7" loop and 3" of hook aplix or touch tape and your choice of fastener for the cord snap down

Step 1 - make your pattern
I will post the pattern I used once I get it digitized, but in the mean time you can make your own pattern to fit by simply tracing one of your fitted diapers and adding 1 1/2 inches all around. You may find it easier to make a pattern of half of a diaper folded lengthwise so that is fits on a legal sized peice of paper, or you can use a paper grocery bag to make your pattern.


Step 2 - cut your fabric
Cut two peices for each cover. layer the fabric wrong sides together and pin.

Step 3 - sew your 2 layers together
Using a straight stitch on your sewing machine stitch around the outside of your fabric staying as close to the edge as you can. Start on the top edge of the front wings and go around to the other top edge leaving a 4 or 5" opening in the front top edge. Turn fabric rightside out.

Step 4- Elastic
I prefer to make elastic casings vs stitching the elastic directly into a project, mainly because no matter how much I practise I still always end up stitching through the elastic and redering it useless. Elastic casings are just easier and more fool proof for people like me. If you prefer you could stictch the elastic directly in and save a couple of steps, or you can play it safe like I do and sew in 8" elastic casings in each leg opening and a 6" one in the center of the back edge of the diaper cover. Use a safety pin to feed the elastic into the casing. Secure one end of the elastic with a straight stitch. Pull the elastic tight and secure the other end with a straight stitch, trim excess elastic. Repeat for both legs and back edge.


Step 5 - Finish
Top stitch the opening you left in the front of the diaper cover and add your snaps or aplix. I prefer snaps so that is what I've done here. I have placed 7 socket snaps, caps in, along the front edge of the diaper cover, 2 studs, caps out, on each tab, and a single stud, cap in, directly under the center snap of the front in order to secure the cord stump fold down.


If you are using aplix you will attach a 5" strip of loop along the front of the cover, 1 1/2" of hook on each tab and 1" of loop on the inside of the back edge to secure the aplix in the wash. You will also need to attach some sort of fastener to the center front of the cover to create a cord stump dip, that could be a button or a sew on snap or you could even sew it down if you really want too.

Wednesday, March 17, 2010

Converting Gdiapers from Aplix to Snaps

My newest cloth diaper obsession is the gdiaper. Since we are about to have 2 in cloth I wanted to find something that I could fit more of in a load and the solution turned out to be gdiapers and prefolds. I picked up a small starter set and 2 medium starter sets on sale at London drugs for $26 each and a few good vibes at nature's fair (my local whole foods type market) for $13 each and then filled out my stash with used Gpants I bought from local and online mamas. Since I was searching for the best possible price I got quite a few dipes that had old shot aplix fasteners. I could either replace the aplix with new strips from Gdiaper Head Quarters or I could just convert them to snaps. Since I love any excuse to use my snap pliers I opted for snaps. I had some old and some new style pants to convert, the process is slightly different for the different styles but the basic principles are the same.

Step one - Remove the old aplix strips Simple remove the old aplix using a seam ripper, when you take the aplix off the back of the gpants the little snap tabs that you attach the liners to will come off as well, make sure you don't lose them, stitch them back on with a straight stitch on the sewing machine or just by hand with a needle and thread.

Step two (NS only)- tack down the fold released when the aplix is removed when the aplix is removed you will find a loose flap of fabric at the edge of the elastic waist band, simply tack it back down using a straight stitch on the sewing machine or by hand using a needle and thread.

Step three - measure out the snap placement Using a cloth measuring tape mark out the snap placement. you want 4 studs on each of the back sides and 2 sockets on each of the front tabs. A total of 8 studs on the back and 4 sockets on the front. I space the snaps 3/4" apart on the smalls and 1" apart for mediums or larges.

Step four - Apply snaps Follow the directions for your snap pliers or press to attach size 20 resin snaps. Make sure the snap caps are facing out on the front and in on the back.

Here is the full video tutorial. Happy Snapping.

Saturday, March 13, 2010

Stripping diapers with RLR

My latest shipment of diaper paraphernalia arrived today (well yesterday if I hadn't been in the hospital with an IV in my arm)A new pail liner, some new to me prefolds and 5 little packets of RLR.

For those of you who don't know what RLR is, it's a laundry treatment made by Cadie, and I had heard from many a cloth diapering mam that it works wonders to remove buildup on diapers. You just throw it in the washer with your clean diapers and run a hot wash with no detergent and rinse until there are no bubbles left in the water.

I have been battling stink with my bamboo fitteds for a little while, they were fine during the day but when we used them overnight they would have the worst ammonia stink come morning. I had tried my regular 3 hot washes with no soap method of stripping them but it wasn't helping so I ordered the RLR. I figured I would split up the diapers and first run just my fitteds, microfiber gdiaper inserts and the few AIO's I have in the first load, I threw all the clean dipes in the washer dumped the little packet of white powder on top and started up the washer. Keep in mind all of these diapers where recently washed in hot water 3 times with no soap and there were no bubbles in the washer.

Here's what I got by the time the rinse was about to start.





I scooped out all the extra bubbles and then continued to run 2 rinses and then another 2 full wash and double rinse cycles until all the bubbles were gone, all the diapers came out of the washer without a hint of stink.

Next I ran a load of prefolds, none of these had any stink issues, but I figured just in case I might as well run them through with the RLR too.




And those were the diapers that (I thought) had no buildup. Now I need to find a Canadian retailer for RLR if anyone knows of one with good shipping I would love to know.

Human Again... I think

Oh what a day. 10:00 Thursday night I started to feel ill, threw up and went to bed, 45minutes later back up vomiting, 25minutes later sick again. Every 15 - 30 minutes from there on. Finally at 6:00am I decided DH should take me into the hospital. All was fine with baby but I could already feel how dehydrated I was. They pushed 1/2 L of saline and gave me a graval, another 1/2 L of saline and I managed to sleep for an hour. Even after 1L of fliuds I was still thirsty. Thank God DH took the day off work and kept the kids busy, I slept all day and night and now I think I'm human again, for sure the worst is over but I'm still afraid to eat.......

Thursday, March 11, 2010

Welcome to my chaos

Hello all
So here I am sitting at my kitchen table looking around at the three loads of laundry that needs to be folded, the dishes that need to be loaded into the dishwasher and the cheerios on the floor. Sound like your house? I hope so, I can't be the only one who lives like this can I?

It's spring break here, 2 weeks of no school and since I work in school aged childcare that means 2 weeks of full days full of up to 20 6 - 11 yr olds all day at work and then my own 2 at home and I'm in the third trimester of this pregnancy.... long story short unless I find a house elf in my back yard the cheerios are staying on the floor.

In the next 2 months we have a lot of work to do around here. We currently have 900 square feet, 2 bedrooms, 2 kids, 2 cats and a dog, things are getting cramped so we are adding on, problem is our back yard is somewhat of a swamp until mid April and we can't start building until it dries up a bit but then oh how wonderful it will be to put my 7 yr old and all his toys into a room I can close the door to and not go in unless something starts to smell. The babies are going to share the room DS and DD have been in, but it's getting smaller, in order to have a back door still we will need to build a hallway between the existing kids room and DS's new room and did I mention we also need to put a new window into a different wall in our room. All this has to be done before I can even think about sorting baby clothes and setting up beds. May is going to be nuts and honestly not really looking forward to the process, wish me luck.