Fluffy Bums

Before the girls were born, I had planned on cloth diapering them. I'd bought a bunch of BumGenius and Thirsties and stashed them in the diaper drawer all ready to put on their bums the day we arrived home. But guess what happened? A big, capital-F, FAIL! Between nursing one preemie and spending hours a day trying to teach the other to nurse via SNS tube (and pumping  like crazy when she wouldn't), coupled with my own recovery, I didn't have even have time for sleep, showering, or my own laundry let alone cloth diaper laundry. So they sat, all pretty and new, at the back of the diaper drawer until the girls finally outgrew them, and I sold them on Craigslist and forgot all about cloth diapering. Last month though, after a diaper run to Costco, I started thinking about cloth diapers again and I realized that... hey! I actually think I have the time now to cloth diaper! I'm fairly environmentally conscious and I've always felt kind of bad about going the disposable route. Then I thought...gosh, would it even be worth it now that the girls are getting so close to potty training? We spend about $80.00 a month on diapers for the both of them. If they were potty trained a year from now (2 1/2 years old), that'd be $960.00 worth of diapers I'd be buying between now and next year. Even if we were able to get them potty trained by 2 years old, that'd still be $480.00. Sick! So I (oops I mean WE ;) decided to make the switcheroo.


Since they're the cheapest, I went with the prefolds (fancy word for a big white square of layered cotton fabric that you fold around their bums and pin Snappi), and the waterproof covers that go over them. I bought a dozen prefolds and 4 covers and spent $68.00. When I got them, I was sooo excited! I pretty much sat in front of the washer while I was prepping them for their first use because I wanted to see them shrink down and get all quilty and soft. See how excited I am? :)

I won't lie and say cloth-diapering is pretty. It takes getting used to, especially after using disposables for 18 months. I have to change them more often when they're wet. I have to dump the poop in the potty instead of just rolling up the disposable and throwing it out (no, my hands don't have to get dirty). And I have to do one load of cloth diapers laundry a night. But after about a week of practicing how to put them on right and learning the best ways to wash them (thanks to THIS cloth-diapering momma to twin girls for answering my silly wash questions), I think I'm sort of... kind of... used to it. We still use disposables when we go out and at night. But we aren't flying through the disposables like we were before. Here's a few shots of the girls in their new dipes:

Cute bums!