gDiaper Series Part 3 - Ways to Save Money on gDiapers (Yes You Can Afford It!) and More!

Continued from gDiaper Series Part 2 - gDiaper Anatomy andMy Routine/Wash System

What I love most about gDiapers:

- No chemicals/unnatural ingredients on my baby's bum - I realize that millions of babies have disposable diapers on their skin 24/7 for years and years without any problems.  However, I strive to be as natural as possible so I do sleep a little better at night knowing that Heidi doesn't have any (or at least as many) unnatural materials absorbing into her body.

- Carbon footprint/reduce waste - Obviously, being someone who considers themselves "green" this is huge.  I love knowing that we are contributing less to filling up the landfills and I'm glad my baby's poopy diaper won't still be around in the year 2300.

- Diaper rash - did you know that cloth diapers reduce a baby's chance of getting diaper rash?  It's true!  I'm not even sure that Heidi has had a full blown diaper rash outbreak yet!  We have had a few times where she looks red-ish but it usually goes away completely overnight. 

- No monthly expenses - This is a BIG one. (This almost deserves it's own post I think it's so important!!)  I think that there are so many people who believe that they can't afford to cloth diaper their baby.  This is SO not true.  I personally feel like between disposable diapers and cloth diapers, you at the very least breaking even with cloth diapering one child.  Now if you use your cloth diapers on future children that's when you really start saving money!  (Here is a blog I came across where someone actually sat down and did all the math!)  The big difference for me is that with cloth diapers you are paying for it all up front (with the exception of the added loads of laundry) as opposed to spreading it out over the course of several months/years.  I am a "rip-the-bandaid-off" kind of person, so I am TOTALLY okay with getting the cost of diapering out of the way all at once.  We have never had to sit down and re-work our budget to add in the monthly expense of diapers and wipes.  (Since I have breastfed Heidi since the day she was born almost 1 year ago, at this point we still have no monthly baby expenses.  I can't express how GOOD this feels!)  Along with this "no monthly expense" thing... Not once have I ever had to call Ryan on his way home from work and say "Hey can you stop and pick up some diapers!!  We're almost out!!"  I LOVE that that has never happened.  Sure there have been a few times where I had to grab an insert out of the dryer or I was a little behind on the wash and we had to resort to a disposable diaper until the laundry was done, but we have everything that we need right here.

- Less leaks/blowouts - it seems that the few times Heidi has pooped in a disposable diaper it has blown out of the top (up her back).  I also have friends who use disposables exclusively who have also run into this problem...I suppose we could blame it on the brand or size of diapers or something BUT it still seemed to happen too frequently (at least enough to reassure me that we made the right choice with our brand of cloth diapers!)  That's not to say that we never have leaks or blow outs, it just seems to happen pretty rarely.  When Heidi was pretty little, we had several leaks pretty close together.  I freaked out and immediately thought we had made a mistake and that the cloth diapers were't effective and we had wasted all this money etc. etc... I purchased 2 different types of BumGenius cloth diapers to try those out because I still wanted to try cloth but I thought maybe we had just picked a bad brand... ANYWAY.  I finally took a step back and realized that leaks/blowouts are normal and ARE going to happen regardless of what kind/brand/type/color/size diaper your baby is wearing.  However, if it is happening a LOT then maybe it is time to explore more options.  Also, by trying another brand/style of cloth diapers, my faith and confidence in our decision to use gDiapers was reaffirmed.  I truly feel like gDiapers works best for us.

Ways to save $$$ on gdiapers:

- Buy prefold inserts (as opposed to the gDiaper [or other] brand microfiber inserts) - Green Mountain Diapers sells 12 organic preemie size prefolds for $18.  ($15 if you just go with plain white!)  This is significantly less than the $33 for 6 inserts that gDiaper sells.  Keep in mind - preemie sized inserts fits into small gDiapers and newborn fits into medium/large gDiapers.  I believe that we have 2 dozen inserts which lasts us a couple of days.  (Honestly, I wouldn't recommend having more than 2-3 dozen inserts.  You really don't want an excuse to go longer than a few days between washes and let those dirty inserts sit around for too long.)

- Purchase large gDiapers at the same time as you purchase the mediums - Each gDiaper comes with the gPants and one pouch.  You will need approx. 2 pouches PER gPant.  That being said...pouches for medium and large gDiapers are the same size, so by purchasing both size gPants at the same time, you won't have to purchase any additional pouches.  Just pull the pouches off of the larges and use all pouches towards the medium gPants.  When it's time to move up into the larges, you just continue using all of those same pouches! (This one might make a little more sense after you visit the supply list at the end of this series - but by doing this you will save $23-$46!!)

- REGISTER - is this your first baby?  Do you have a baby registry?  Will there be a baby shower thrown in your honor?  By knowing exactly what you need ahead of time, you will be able to add all that you need to your registry and (hopefully) have the majority of the items you need gifted to you.  I went into cloth diapering so blindly, I added a few pairs of gDiapers to my registry, but hardly anything else.  We ended up spending a lot of our own money on all of the diapers and supplies (which was FINE) but knowing that things could have been different had I been more educated/prepared... my own fault.

And now for just a few more unrelated tips:

- Wait until meconium has passed before you break in that cloth diaper!  Trust me on this.  In those first few days as a new parent... things are already crazy enough.  The last thing you are going to want to add to your plate is trying to figure out how to scrape off that damn tar poop.  I would suggest making a commitment to start cloth diapering baby 1-2 weeks after delivery.  This is what we did and I am grateful we gave ourselves a few days to get into a "routine" (haha) before adding another new thing to the mix.  No matter how dedicated you are... it's okay to use disposable diapers until you feel ready to switch to cloth.

- When placing the gPants into the laundry, make sure all velcro tabs are "closed" or folded over.  If not, the rough part of the velcro will stick to everything and ruin that super cute dress you just bought on sale for baby at Target.

- Try them out!  You don’t HAVE to go crazy and spend a crap load of money right off the bat if you aren’t 100% sure this is for you.  You CAN buy a couple of diapers and just try them out. You don’t have to commit 100% to a certain brand or style to try them out (however be ready to commit roughly $20-$30 a piece on each “experiment"!)

- Don't use any oxyclean or other type of oxygen cleaners or bleach as they can ruin the absorbency (and softness!) of your inserts.  If you are looking to get the stains out of your inserts, you can lay them in the sun with some lemon juice to bleach out!

- gDiapers also sells "liners", which can be confusing.  Don't get the "liners" confused with the "pouches" or "inserts" - they are all different things!  Liners are little sheets (similar to a dryer sheet or dried out disposable wipe) that are placed inside the diaper on top of the insert.  This is to help with transition poop!  The idea is that when the baby poops, you just remove the liner, flush/compost/dispose of and then go about your regular routine.  This sounds like a good idea... but we really didn't like the liners.  Everytime Heidi peed in her diaper it seemed to almost shed little tiny pieces on her.  (I guess it disintegrates TOO easily!)  I definitely would feel comfortable flushing the liners, but they were creating more work for me by making me spend more time wiping Heidi down - trying to get all those damn shreds off of her hiney!

My favorite gBooty!

Continued here: gDiaper Series Part 4 - Registry Checklist!

San Diego - First Family Vacation!

We took our first family vacation together (with Heidi on the outside) to San Diego!  (The last trip that we went on was our babymoon to NYC before Heidi was born, so she was technically with us then too.)  We had a fabulous time and can't wait to go back!  Here's what went down:

Day 1

After a LOT of planning and packing the day was finally here!  We took the first nonstop because it fit in with Heidi's schedule best, and honestly when traveling with a baby - the earlier the better!  I was so nervous about how Heidi would do... even though she isn't walking (or really crawling for that matter) she is still pretty squirmy and even just having her in my lap/in the boba wrap for an hour and a half at church is starting to be a real struggle!  So anyway... we woke up early and just popped Heidi straight into her car seat, hoping that she would go back to sleep.  She didn't (which was fine) so when we got to the airport and parked, we let her sit on her potty, changed her diaper and put on her outfit for the day.  Getting through security was a breeze.  I wore her through in the Boba wrap (as long as there is no metal in the carrier/wrap then you're fine)!  They do test your hands so make sure to not put on any lotion (apparently that alters the results).  We got on the plane no problems (even had time to stop and grab some food and coffee - THANK GOODNESS).  Some airlines will allow you to wear your baby during takeoff and landing - but apparently Southwest is not one of them!  As we were taking off, Heidi looked out the window and waved bye bye.  Shortly after takeoff, Heidi fell asleep!  However, since she wasn't in the wrap yet I was just holding her while she slept.  After a while (can't remember how long... maybe an hour?) she woke up, I nursed her and then we played for a bit.  Eventually, I could tell she was starting to get bored and a little fussy and I started worrying that we weren't going to make it without her getting frustrated.  However, she started getting sleepy and as we were landing she passed back out.  The landing LITERALLY put her back to sleep!  

We arrived in San Diego around 10:30/11:00 a.m. or so California time.  Heidi stayed zonked the whole time we were waiting for our bags and walking to the car!  Once we got to the car she started waking up, so we changed her and then headed out to lunch!  We ate the world's BEST BLT EVER at Stone Brewery (Liberty Station).  After lunch, we of course had to make a pit stop at Chuao, the local chocolatier!  We grabbed some mochas (and chocolate duh) and headed to the house.  Once there, we were able to just take the afternoon to relax, get settled and take naps. We had a nice dinner at home that night.  Here are the pictures from our first day!

On the plane ready to go!!

Heidi reading her book (very loudly) to herself before takeoff. 

So tired!!

Waiting for bags.... still sleeping....

BLTs at Stone Brewery!!

Chuao mocha :)

Trying out this new carseat in Nana's car!

Heidi you will hate me for putting this on the internet one day... but you're just too cute!!

Nap time.

Day 2

The next day we got up and headed to La Jolla - a nice little beach city right on the coast!  We saw seals, had lunch and walked around! After lunch, we headed back up the coast, (pit stop a Chuao obviously) and had dinner with my mom and her boyfriend, Jay!  Then we went back to Chuao for some gelato ;) hehe.  (Hey - it's vacation!)

Ready to go!

La Jolla.

Sushi and champagne - what better combination??

California coast.

Enjoying the sun!

View of La Jolla from a little higher up.

Back at our favorite place....

...you guessed it.  Chuao!!

Some after-dinner gelato.

A cute baby and a chocolate goatee. 

"All you need is chocolate."  My life motto.

Day 3

The following day, my mom and I had a private yoga session together!  At this particular studio, they have a rope wall which allows for plenty of inversions as well as lots of new and different stretches.  Felt so good!  After yoga, we went and grabbed some AMAZING donuts at Leucadia Donut Shop.  (If you are ever in the area and are into that sort of thing - CHECK THEM OUT!)  The donuts are huge and super tasty.  We then went and realized a lot of things about ourselves at the "Self-Realization Meditation Gardens" at the Self-Realization Fellowship Temple.  I don't know much about this religion but in the little shop they had there, it seemed like they had a lot of items from a pretty wide variety of religions.  It was pretty interesting.  Later that afternoon we headed to the beach - Heidi's first time!  At first she was having fun... until the water came.  Guess it was a little cold ;).

Rope wall!

Namaste.

Cool trees near the meditation garden!

My loves!

View from the meditation gardens.  They have a lot of quiet and secluded benches and little nooks all over the place, and most of them have incredible views!  If I lived nearby, I think I would spend a lot of time there praying, thinking and just relaxing.  It's so cool!

The beach is fun!

The water is not.  "No thanks mom!"

Beachin.

Day 4

Day 4 started with a 5 mile run along the coast.  It was beautiful!  After our run, we went and grabbed some GIANT breakfast burritos. (Are you sensing a theme here yet?)  After we got cleaned up, Ryan, Heidi and I went down to a nearby beach town and just walked around and checked out some shops.  It was a nice low-key relaxing day!

Morning surf. 

Burrito.  Baby for scale. 

Mochas and cappuccinos all day every day!

Zumbar. 

My favorite baby-wearing baby daddy.

Day 5

The next day we had to pack our stuff up and get ready to leave.  Our flight wasn't until the afternoon, so we had a little bit of time to kill in the morning.  We were grateful for the extra time to explore and relax!  We grabbed some coffee/breakfast and made one final stop at Chuao for some breakfast chocolate (just kidding. kind of. I saved most of it for later.) Heidi did GREAT on the flight home!  I thought it couldn't get any better than our flight TO California... but I was wrong!  She literally passed out AS we were taking off and slept for 2 hours!! After she woke up, she nursed for about 30 minutes and then played the rest of the time.  I could not BELIEVE how well she did both to and from California and I am so SO proud of her.  She is just the best.  

Princess Heidi waving to her kingdom.  

Passed out on the plane!

Good afternoon!  Awake and refreshed. 

Our first vacation as a family of 3 was definitely a fabulous one and we really enjoyed our little getaway!  I am so proud of my little angel for being such a GREAT traveler and we are looking forward to more family trips together in the future.  

gDiaper Series Part 2 - gDiaper Anatomy and My Routine/Wash System

Continued from gDiapers Series Part 1 - Why I Chose to Cloth Diaper and Why I Chose gDiapers!

(Note: a full supply list for a registry will be be provided in the last post of this series if you are wondering "What all the crap do I need if I'm going to do this!?") 

Onwards. Anatomy: With gDiapers, there are 3 pieces.  There is the outer cloth part referred to as “gPants”, then the white inner liner called the “pouch” and then the third piece which actually absorbs everything called the “insert”. 

Here is a picture of some gPants and the inner “pouch”. 

 The pouches snap in and out of the gPants, so this is what it looks like with the pouch snapped in...

Now, when it comes to inserts, there are three options:

1. gDiaper disposable inserts - These are allegedly biodegradable, compostable and flushable.  We do have a package of these on hand which we have used in emergency situations, but they aren't my favorite.  I have also read of some horror stories where people have caused some big time plumbing issues by flushing in an unfamiliar toilet so we have never attempted this, even in our own toilet. 

2. gDiaper cloth inserts - These are microfiber hemp inserts produced by gDiapers.  Because of the material, they do require a little more "specialized" wash routine.  The detergent must not contain any softeners or added enzymes so as not to affect the fibers of the insert.  I definitely don't dislike the gDiaper inserts, but they are probably my second choice for inserts. 

3. Cotton prefold - These are my top choice and what we use 100% of the time currently.  I purchased organic cotton prefolds from Green Mountain Diapers because they are half the cost of the gDiaper brand inserts for TWICE as many and I feel like the work JUST as good, if not better.  (gDiaper inserts are roughly $33 for 6 whereas Green Mountain organic cotton prefolds are $18 for 12.)  However, note that with the Green Mountain brand prefolds, their preemie size fits best in the small gDiapers and newborn fits best in the medium/large gDiapers.  (I have been meaning to test out what the small prefolds are like, because there are some days now where Heidi can soak that newborn size pretty good!  But I'm not sure if the small would fit inside the gDiaper pouch or if it would be too big/bulky.)

From left to right: disposable, gDiaper cloth and cotton prefold.  (Please excuse the poop stains.  Yes, no matter what you do your inserts WILL stain!  You can put lemon juice on them and lay them in the sun to bleach them out, I just haven't gotten around to doing this yet.)

A fully assembled diaper: gPants, pouch and cloth prefold insert! (And some greyhound feet!)

The organization: Here is what our top drawer looked like right when Heidi was born:

You can see (from left to right) disposable Honest Company diapers and wipes for backup, gPants with pouches already snapped in, extra pouches in the front center section, prefold inserts in the back right and the gDiaper brand inserts in the front right. (I found this set of 6 drawer organizers at Ikea for $7.99!  And apparently they also now come in pink and black too!)  I used to fold the prefold inserts before placing them in the drawer but after a while I found that this wasn't really saving me any time and was just creating more work for me when putting them away.  Now I just lay them all out flat in one stack. Also, since we are now just using the prefolds exclusively, we obviously don't have a spot for the gDiaper cloth inserts anymore. 

On any given day, we typically have 2 diapers in rotation.  (By "diaper" I mean gPant/pouch combo.) The pouches are breathable and sometimes make the diaper slightly condensation-y so we will usually air one out while she has the other on.  (This also came in very handy when she was little because SPEED is important when the diaper is OFF! We had one diaper 100% ready to go before removing the one she had on. Luckily we only had one explosive diaperless poop episode when Heidi was just a few days old...hehe.) 

The changing: When it's time to change Heidi, I get the fresh diaper, load in the insert and brace myself (just kidding.  We're way past that.)  I remove the diaper she is wearing and pull the insert out and place it in our diaper pail/trash can. 

When changing a gDiaper, essentially you remove any/all pieces that are dirty.  If Heidi just peed, then I just pull the insert out and throw it into the pail.  The gPants and pouch then get a break and usually just sit on top of our diaper pail until the next change.  If it's more than just pee (and poop has gotten on more than just the insert) then I unsnap the pouch and throw the insert AND pouch into the diaper pail.  100% breastmilk poop is water soluable, so there is no need to scrape or spray or wipe off any poop - it all just goes straight into the washer.  I used to separate the pouches into a lingerie bag that was draped on the inside of the pail, but I found that they didn't get clean all the way when in the bag.  So now they just get tossed in with the inserts which is a lot easier anyway.  If the gPants get poo or pee on them (or if Heidi has been wearing them for a few days without incident) then they get put in the regular hamper and washed with her clothes like normal.

Here's where it gets fun: Now that we have started incorporating solids into Heidi's diet, there IS an extra step in the routine.  Transition poop is hard because it's not solid enough to peel out of the diaper just yet, but it's too chunky (sorry) to just throw into the washer.  SO... when Heidi poops in her diaper (which thanks to early potty training at this point is less than 50% of the time!!) we then must scrape the poop off of the insert and into the toilet.  They do sell diaper sprayers that attach to the toilet that you use to spray the poop off of the insert, but this seemed like it would be really messy to me.  A friend suggested using a spatula and this has actually worked surprisingly well!  We just keep our designated poop spatula in the little trash can that sits next to the toilet and pull it out when it's time to use it.  We have had to do this for a month or two now, and we are SO close to not having to use it at all.  Between Heidi pooping in her potty more that half of the time and her increased consumption of solids (3 "meals" of solids a day at this point) I'm guessing/hoping we have just a few more weeks of this before she is either pooping in the potty 100% of the time or the poops just peel out.  So THAT ladies and gentlemen is how you clean a transition poop cloth diaper. Good times. (But really... it isn't THAT bad.  I promise.)

Let's continue, shall we?  We purchased this can at Bed Bath and Beyond (don't forget your coupon!) and the can is lined with a Planet Wise diaper pail liner found on Amazon!  We have 2 liners and it has been sufficient.

We also have chosen to use cloth wipes. Because honestly, why not?  No but seriously it actually makes so much more sense to cloth wipe when you are cloth diapering.  They just go straight into the pail with everything else!  If you use disposable wipes with cloth diapers, you will need to have 2 receptacles near the changing table - one pail for diapers and one trash for wipes. Plus, it's one less thing you have to go out a buy over and over again. Once a week or so, I make a solution similar to this, dunk the wipes in and lightly wring them out.  I then place the fresh wipes into the wipe warmer and then put the extras in a ziploc bag in the refrigerator.  Placing them in the refrigerator prevents them from mildewing while they wait to be used! (See the registry supply list in the last post of this series if you're curious what we actually use!)  I personally really enjoy the times I get to make the wipes.  I use it as a time to focus, relax and just enjoy how GOOD it smells!  It's very therapeutic.

The washing:  When we're down to a few inserts (or every 2 days or so) and the diaper pail is telling me that the time has come - it's time to wash!  I grab the whole wet bag and head to the laundry room  (leaving the diaper pail open to air out a bit).  I turn the whole bag inside out into the washer, dumping all of the inserts, pouches and wipes.  I throw the inside out bag into the washer as well.  I run one rinse cycle first.  (This allows the water during the actual wash cycle to be not quite so dirty.)  Once the rinse cycle is complete I go back and put the smallest amount of detergent into the washer and run a full cycle, with extra rinse.  (You really need the smallest amount of detergent, and the extra rinse helps remove any extra suds. If you open the washer after the wash cycle and the inserts still feel soapy then you can run another rinse cycle and you know to use less detergent next time!)  I do all pouch/insert washing on "warm".  A "hot" cycle could compromise the waterproof-ness of the pouches and wetbags and could even possibly melt them. 

*A small note regarding detergent:  With cloth diapers, (especially anything with microfiber/hemp) you can't just use any old detergent.  After what felt like hours and hours and days and days of research, I ended up going with Charlies soap - a popular cloth-diaper friendly "detergent".  However, after using this for several weeks/months I just really felt like it didn't do a very good job and things weren't getting as clean and they should be.  Once we quit using the gDiaper microfiber/hemp inserts and switched to the cotton prefolds, I changed detergents.  We now use "All Fresh and Sensitive" (found at our local grocery store) for not only Heidi's diapers but her clothes too!  (I like it because it's dye-free and "sensitive" but it also smells SOOO good!  You lose that fresh scent with most "free and clear" or organic detergents.)

Once the wash cycle is complete, I move the inserts into the dryer.  The pouches ARE heat sensitive, so they get removed from the washer and placed on top of the dryer to air dry.  The wet bag gets turned back right side in and placed in the dryer.  (The "inside" of the wet bag is the shiny side, or if you have a pattern that's the inside - the side that the dirty diapers actually touch.)  Our dryer usually takes two full dry "cycles" to dry the inserts and wet bag.  Once the inserts are dry, I grab the wet bag out of the dryer and put all inserts inside.  If the pouches are dry I also put them in the wet bag too.  I then head upstairs and put all items away!  (By now I have usually changed Heidi at least once, so the second wet bag that we own is inside the diaper pail by now. The freshly washed wet bag gets folded and placed in the dresser drawer for use once it's time to wash the other one.)  Here is a link to a page on the gDiapers website which gets more into the suggested wash routines for the gDiaper brand cloth inserts.  Again, if you go with cotton prefolds the system is a little less complicated.

I realize this seems a LOT of information to take in, but TRUST me it's SO simple.  (Especially once you have done it once or twice!)  Even my practical engineer husband is now 100% on board with our choice to cloth diaper and with the routine.  Trust me - if this was a complicated system or if it took a lot of time to learn/do neither of us would be into it!  Every system/routine is different from person to person, but this is what has worked for us over the course of the last 11+ months.

Continued here: gDiaper Series Part 3 - What I Love Most and Practical Ways to Save Money on gDiapers

Month 11 - Heidi

Month 11: Baby!

Age: 10 months

Weight: 20 lbs.

Major calendar events:  Trip to San Diego; Easter; Daddy's birthday

Milestones:  First family vacation and first plane ride! 5-6 teeth have made an appearance so far

Sleep:  Still sleeping through the night great, napping in mommy and daddys bed most of the time

Likes: picking things out of the carpet, chatting, acting like a dictator, loves to say something that sounds like "beetle" or "bee-do" and "dubai" over and over again 

Dislikes: Vegetables!  Pretty much anything that is green...

Eating:  Nursing 4 times per day and trying solid foods just for fun. 

More bathtime smiles.

Playgroup.  "Back off dude!"

I promise they do like each other... although it usually seems that Scotland is more into Heidi than she is into him ;).

Post car nursing session smiles!

Jail.  "Get me outta here!"

Went to the kite festival at Hermann Park, then walked through campus to the Rice baseball game.
A picnic pit-stop was a must!

Playdate with baby Niko.  We usually make it out of our jammies but I guess this was an especially lazy day.

How we do walks.

She's getting so big!!

Easter bluebonnets. Heidi was not really feelin the bluebonnet pics.

Family bluebonnet picture!

Happy Easter from the Krestas!

Easter bunny. 

Easter egg hunting!!

Heidi did SO great hunting Easter eggs and once she figured out the grab the eggs and put them in the basket she had a BLAST!  (Except when she got her hands dirty.  She's such a lady.)

Bathtime smiles.

Friday  yall.

Birthday lunch with daddy for his bday!

First plane ride on the way to San Diego!!  For more pictures from our trip click HERE!