Quote of the day

Amid all of my decluttering in an effort to streamline things and make this move just a smidgen smoother on the un-packing side, I'm getting rid of a TON of stuff. Seriously, if we had a dumpster all to ourselves, I'd probably have filled it four times over with stuff that's been cluttering closets, storage rooms, and every other nook and cranny of this house. Just ONE of those little decluttering projects included doing some rotation in my cloth diaper 'stash'; getting rid of the ones we don't use or CAN'T use (Dani staged a one-baby coup against all things velcro, so any diapers with velcro closures have been nixed) and making way for a new itty bitty stash for what now looks like yet another bundle of pink.

Oh yeah....teeny little announcement that got lost in the chaos of the week--the new little one is yet another GIRL! God indeed knows what He is doing here...we have very little to buy, that's for sure! Ah yes, and a name has been settled on--Stefani Kathleen. MUCH better than Quinn Marie, which is what Daddy, Jon, and Kelsey wanted to name the poor child. I just couldn't get past the mental reference to the Queen Mary.....we're not bringing an oceanliner into the family here, ya know!

Back to the day's story--I've been listing a bunch (like a whole 48-gallon Rubbermaid "tub" full) of cloth diapers on the internet's biggest cloth diapering marketplace, Diaper Swappers, and I've already made enough on the resale of diapers I used gently with Dani and Jamie to buy everything I need for Stefani! No, used cloth diapers aren't "gross", not anymore so than clothes you get at a thrift store, because in a lot of cases, the diapers have actually been cared for really well and come to you stain and smell-free! Anyway, though, I had to make a trip to the Army Post Office on base today (which, by the way, is now open only three hours a day, five days a week, thanks to this "transition" thing we're going through as the base closes), to ship off two of the packages of diapers I'd sold.

The clerk took one look at the customs forms and shrieked, "CLOTH DIAPERS???? Who uses those anymore, seriously???"

He then proceeded to tell me (without letting me get a single word in edgewise) that when his wife brought up the topic of cloth diapers with their daughter nine years ago and that she'd wanted to cut costs, he said no way and told her to "invest in the disposables" because with cloth you have stink and grossness, with disposables, you just wrap the thing up and toss it in the trash.

Yeah, ok. RIGHT.

Over the last two months, as we've traveled and fought illness, crazy schedules, and the lack of available washing machines, we've resorted to the cheapo disposables. We've got two in diapers right now. In fact, we've had no less than two in diapers for the last 38 months. In the time our girls have worn paper diapers these last few weeks, they've had more rashes, more "blowouts", and more leaks than we have in the last year with cloth. And oddly enough, even though no one actually does it, there is a note on the side of the disposable diaper package that states each soiled diaper should be emptied of all waste BEFORE disposing of it. Meaning you still *SHOULD* be scraping poo off of Junior's Pampers before you roll and toss them in the trash anyway. NO thank you. Oh, and the smell? Shoot, I have been able to smell our trash can from halfway across the HOUSE since we've been using disposables; I usually can't smell anything coming from our diaper pail until I open it to take the diapers to the wash!

I'm not a big environmentalist. Sure, we do our part as concerned citizens, but I'm not into earth-worship. But the more I've thought about it since my postal clerk's rude and uninformed little comment today, I'm seriously thinking about why on earth cloth diapering hasn't had a bigger "push" from environmental folks? I have seen TWO Earth Day-type specials on TV lately that detailed what Americans can do to reduce their impact on the earth, and no mention was made whatsoever about cloth diapering. Why not? Of course, putting cloth on a baby's bum is a bit more time-consuming than disposable diapering, but it's so CUTE nowadays, with so many more convenient options than the pins and plastic pants of my babyhood. You'd think the word would be getting out a bit quicker! Just LOOKie how cute these things are!

Dani at about five months in my favorite diaper (that I'm trying to find someone to replace elastic on....it's breaking my heart to see it sitting lame in the drawer!), a blue Hawaiian print Mudpie Babies diaper:


At about three months in the most "pettable" diaper we've ever owned, a Fuzzi Fanny furry fleece diaper:

This is how the old-school prefold diapers (fastened with a gizmo called a Snappi instead of pins) are covered nowadays--in cuteness like this Wiggle Worm Bottoms cover:


And for all-time favorite prettiness, this is it. Another Mudpie Babies creation:


I'll have to snap a few pictures of what this "obsession" has done to us...but right now I'm just barely managing to keep track of all visible floor space while stuff gets cleared out! You know what's really odd? By the end of next week, I'll have received all the diapers I need to keep Stefani's bum covered (in cuteness, I might add) until she's six months old! And all for less than $50, total. This is one "obsession" that is definitely paying off!