Happy Holidays

I hope everyone has a wonderful Holiday and you get to spend time with loved ones and friends.

The Diaper Debate

I'm determined to use cloth diapers once Squirt arrives.   So this debate isn't even whether I use cloth or disposables.  The issue is do I use a diaper service or buy them ourselves. 

At first I was set on using the all-in-one kind and getting enough that we would only have to wash every 2 or 3 days.    Then I talked to a friend who used a diaper service and she recommended it.  Even though she is a stay-at-home Mom she was happy not to have to actually clean the diapers off and wash them herself.   Knowing that Husband was going along with the cloth diaper idea but not looking forward to cleaning the diapers I looked into a diaper service.   

We compared the cost of the all-in-ones and the cost of the diaper service.  We factored in both of us working 40 hours per week and needing to find time to do all this laundry.  We factored in the cost of running our washing machine and dryer every couple of days.  We went away leaning towards the diaper service.   Since Husband only wants one kid, we wouldn't get as much use out of the diapers as other parents who re-use them for multiple children.  So it came down to the cost not being that much different.  We leaned towards the diaper service so that I wouldn't be stuck doing the extra loads of laundry and we wouldn't have to clean the diapers before putting them in the laundry.  

Then I did some more reading and saw that the diaper services use pre-folds.  First off, we already have the day-care reserved and we'll be using in-home daycare.  The lady we decided to go with is perfectly ok with cloth diapering and says she did it with her kids.  So I actually think she'll be ok with pre-folds.  However, if we ended up not being happy with her and wanted to put Squirt in a daycare center, they would require the all-in-ones.  So that could be an issue.    The other thing is that I wasn't too happy with the pre-fold idea.

This past weekend we went to a store called Cotton Babies.  I'm pretty sure they're my only option for a store that I can go into and buy cloth diapers instead of using the internet.  They have several different kinds so we tested them all out on a doll.  We came up with a way to do the pre-folds that makes me happy. I walked out saying ok, let's do this diaper service.   

Later that night Husband brought up the cloth diapering and mentioned that if we're doing pre-folds we should look into buying everything and doing it ourselves instead of using a diaper service. He thought the pre-folds were pretty inexpensive and it would be a lot cheaper.   So I ran numbers again.  Even though he insists on only one child, so knowing we'll only use these diapers for one kid, it's still a heck of a lot cheaper for us to purchase the pre-folds and covers than to use the diaper service.

Here's what is holding me back.  Again, we both work 40 hour weeks.  Doing it all ourselves just means we'll have to do more laundry.  We'll be exhausted.  We'll want to spend time with Squirt and not doing laundry.   Plus I had gotten really happy about the fact that I could just put soiled, poopy diapers in a bag and put it on my porch once a week and they magically get replaced with clean ones. 

So here's my question to all you Mom's out there who used cloth diapers.  You have experience, what can you suggest?    Was doing a load of diapers every 2 days a big pain in the butt and you wish you used a service or was it something you got used to pretty quickly and it wasn't an issue.  Is cleaning the diapers a pain, to the point that the idea of just throwing soiled diapers into a bag and forgetting about it would be heaven? Or is that something you quickly get used it?

Oh, and let me add in that we've run the numbers and we've erred on the side of things being more expensive and the cost of the diaper service is very management for us.  So while keeping cost down is important, it's not a deal breaker (if that makes sense).    I've also had people tell me that they were going to use cloth and lasted 2 weeks or a month, and switched to disposables because it was a pain (all these people have older children, so they weren't using the clothe options available these days). I don't see us doing that. Not just because I think it's the best option for my child and for the environment. But also because I'm pretty stubborn and since everyone is telling me I won't last and I won't like it, I'm determined to prove them wrong. haha

Mastercard + cloth diapers?

I don't normally watch commercials.  I'm one of the millions in love with their DVR because I can record all my programs and watch them later, when I can skip adds.  However dealing with insomnia often finds me watching tv when most people are asleep. This means I'm watching, or listening, to a lot of commercials.

I just happened to catch a MasterCard commercial and I was just staring at the screen, not really paying attention, when I noticed something.  The toddler in the commercial is wearing a cloth diaper.  At least I assume it's a cloth diaper.  It certainly looks like the toddler is probably in a pre-folder with a cover.  I was surprised and then excited.  It's so nice to see a commercial for a major company showing this.  I don't know how many will notice that it's not a disposable.  I don't know how many who do notice will bother thinking "hmm..that's not a disposable. It's cloth. Let me look into this."   However, it's a start.  Even if the commercial gets one person to think about cloth and make the switch to cloth, it's worth it.  I can only hope this will be a trend and we'll see this more often.

Here's the commercial in case you haven't seen it yet. Not that I'm promoting the company, they aren't paying me for this, but it sure would be nice if they did.

 

Frustration

I don't think it will come as a surprise to any of you when I mention how much I like to workout.  Even a bad workout is preferred over no workout.  It's not that I'm that vain and want to keep my body in the shape that it is, it's more that it's a huge stress reliever for me.  I don't usually have a lot of stress, but a workout can still be very calming.

So that's why I'm struggling with working out while pregnant.  It's not that I can't workout, because I'm still working out roughly 5 days a week.  The issue is that I can't do the intensity that I need.  As luck would have it, my relatively stress free life is currently very stressful (both home and work).  I'm nursing an injury so I'm not able to run, but I'm able to do a lot of cross training.  I'm spending my time riding a bike, swimming, and doing strength training.  All are great workouts.  It's not the same as running.  It doesn't calm me the same way.  To make matters worse, I have to keep my heart rate at 155 or below, which means I can't get in as tough of a workout as I would like.  I think this adds in a bit of stress.

To add to this, trail running is a huge passion of mine.  I had 3 trail races planned for this winter. Due to being a huge klutz and tripping every time I trail run and falling a lot, I'm currently not trail running while pregnant.   I realize that this is all for the best, seriously I do.  It's still hard to not be able to do something you love so much.  I live 5 min from the park I prefer to run at, so it's not even like I can avoid it.

Yes, I realize I need to watch my hear rate.  Yes, I realize it's best to avoid situations that I know would be harmful to my body.  Yes I'm still stressed out about it.  Yes I do realize how that sounds.  Husband and I dealt with infertility and it took 20 months for my body to actually work properly.  So feeling upset because I can't do the races I wanted to do and feeling upset because I can't trail run or workout to the intensity that I want is also causing a lot of guilt.  I shouldn't be stressed about it, I should be happy about it because of the reason why.  Yet, it's hard on me.  I wish it wasn't.  I kinda hope this is a normal reaction that people have, just being a tad upset but I feel like I'm alone in this.  Which causes more guilt. Which stresses me out.  This is a viscous cycle.