The Decision to try Cloth Diapers

For Calvin and I, the decision to try cloth diapers was as easy as us looking at, the cost of disposables, and the new advances in how cloth diapering works to say, “Let’s do it.” We were both I would say about 70% on board for this idea before we really knew anything about it. It really only took about one full weekend of internet research for us to feel like this was going to be the best way for us to diaper our child. Given that this is our first child – the good news is we don’t know any better! So we’re hoping it will be easier for us to work out the kinks with patience. 

Here are some of the pros that we expect cloth diapering to offer:

1.  No stereotypical sending the hubby running out last min to grab diapers at Target. 

2.  Did you know that newborns can go through 8-10 diapers a day? That’s a ton of disposables to go through.  Let’s see - that’s about 300 diapers in the first month alone. With cloth diapers we should be able to use one cloth diaper system from birth to potty. Isn't that awesome!

3. And because they now make them to fit your child from birth to potty, it should be only $200-$250 to get all we need to diaper our child for 2 full years. (not including $20/month for the disposables we'll need for daycare) This is compared to the estimated $3,000 for disposable diapers over 2 years. Plus, I've read that we should be able to use these same diapers on our next child as well! 

4. The cloth diaper system that we've picked out does have disposable inserts for weekend trips or daycare use. I’m not sure if that will completely work out for daycare. We’ll have to see what the rules are. But since Kathleen will only be in daycare 3 days a week starting in September, that leaves 4 other days for us to use the cloth diapers.

5.  And finally, with cloth diapers we've read that you can usually potty train your child a little quicker. In theory, you have the ability to change the diaper inserts to one that no longer keeps all the moisture away from the child’s skin. This allows them to feel the wet. But we’ll have to see if that really holds true for us when the time comes.

Here's a couple links to view the cloth diapers we plan to use. Cotton Babies is a brand that offers both Flip and Bum Genius diaper covers which are one size covers with interchangeable inserts. They offer both velcro and snaps to close the diaper plus a variety of colors to keep your baby's bum looking cute. Also if you haven't heard of a Snappi yet, these things are so simple yet so awesome. Someone basically took and ace bandage closure system and made it work for the cloth prefold diapers. It's way better than those dreaded diaper safety pins!

So wish us luck on the cloth diapering adventure! I hope it proves as easy as we expect it to be. This is one time where I am thankful that Calvin does a large majority of the laundry in our household. We’re expecting a medium sized load of diapers every other day. At least they’ll be easy to fold! 

Kathleen's room is done.

Things continue to go well for us. The spring semester at Duke officially starts back tomorrow. As we set for our goal over winter break, we have Kathleen's room completely set up with all of her furniture including the crib. (Thanks Mom and Dad for yet another wonderful and generous gift!) The closet, bookshelf, and drawers are empty waiting for her new baby items. We also emptied drawers built into the master bedroom vanity that will serve as her changing table with a convenient sink built in. In a very successful trip to Ikea we scored new floor and dresser lamps, wall hooks, a blanket rack for the wall, a mirror, fabric to make window valances with, and sparkling juice for me! I've also ordered very cute paper birds and flowers from Etsy to make a mobile to hang over Kathleen's crib. So now with all of this prep work done and 2 fun crafts to work on (the window valances and the mobile), we can go on about the spring semester classes and work to be done without a worry. My favorite way to spend time now is sitting in the room to read or talk on the phone in a quiet place. Here are pictures so you can see what's been done!

View from the door.

Nightlight.

The mirror and lamp were both from Ikea.
The floor lamp is an exact larger version of this dresser lamp.

 

The crib that will also turn into a twin bed when we need it.

This was my baby blanket quilted by Polly who just turned 93!

This is the fabric to use for the window valances.

The vanity in the master bedroom is also connected to our bathroom.

We're having a girl!

Wednesday Calvin and I had a wonderful doctor's visit. We spent over 30 mins in the ultrasound room watching the baby move and taking pictures. They checked out everything they could to make sure the baby was healthy. It was very reassuring and so much fun to watch her move around. The ultrasound tech was awesome - we were so pleased with the appointment. They had a big screen television mounted on the wall in front of Calvin and I so that we could watch everything she was doing on the computer very easily. It was the perfect balance of mixing the measurements needed to check out the baby's health along with letting us watch her move. I drank a big hot chocolate on my way to the appointment to help with activity, and it worked!

It took a little while for us to get the baby to pose for the confirmation, but she's all girl! Her name will be Kathleen Margarette Dickenson. She's named after both mine and Calvin's grandmothers. This is a name that Calvin and I have had picked out since before we were married. We do plan on calling her Kathleen. Oh, and we have a great 4D profile picture of Kathleen playing with her foot! (In the 2nd picture below)

This week Calvin and I have been working hard at getting the baby's room ready. We have all the furniture rearranged, drawers cleared out, and closet cleared. I plan on decorating a little more throughout January, and I believe now that the space is created the objects will start to fall into place as we set up the crib and plan for the other baby stuff to fill the apartment. It is a fun type of "spring cleaning" and we've been happy to do it. This mixed in with baby reading and research has kept us pretty much wrapped up with baby the majority of each day. Calvin laughs because it's the one thing that gives me energy these days. I can stare at stroller options and reviews for hours.

A White Christmas

Christmas this year was just as wonderful as I expected it to be. I am so grateful for my family and if I haven't said it yet on this blog - my parents are awesome. We went home on the 23rd. Hung out with the women on the Fender side of the family on the 24th for small shopping errands and lunch. Then the whole clan filled up the last two rows of Bethlehem UMC at the Christmas Eve service. (Calvin went to the 4:30 service at Salem UMC where he is working this year and came back for a 9 p.m. double header in the same night.)

Then on Christmas day Jason and Brandy came over late morning for gifts with our family and the entire Fender family came to my Mom's house this year for Christmas dinner. It was a big Christmas as usual, but not very stressful. My mom did an excellent job at keeping it all running smoothly. To top it all off, on Christmas morning it started snowing beautiful large snowflakes and didn't stop until the following morning. Church the next day was canceled and we spent an extra day relaxing with mom and dad before heading back to Durham! The snow had to be at least 6 inches or more by the time it was done. It was so beautiful mainly because it was all snow as it fell without the usual freezing rain that accompanies it.

Below is a picture of us in front of Mom's Christmas Tree. Also, Calvin had fun making a couple videos of my favorite Christmas traditions with our new HD camcorder that we were given for Christmas. After Grandpa tells the Christmas story and gives us his thoughts for the year, Santa always comes to visit us to pass out presents. Here's a link to view him passing out the presents to the kids. These guys represent the 4th generation of the family that all still get together on Christmas night. Also typically each year we have a "gag gift" or two passed out. Melissa's family hit the proverbial nail on the head this year creating a Bah Humbug shirt for Dad and giving us all Nerf darts to shoot at the biggest Scrooge in the room! We all really got into it, and it became a Nerf dart fight with the whole family. Here's a link to view the fun!

 

We’re on vacation: whoooohooo!

The fall semester has come to an end, and this is one of the times where I love that Calvin and I are both on the Duke semester calendar. This past Thursday Calvin took his last exam then on Friday I went to my last day of work. I’ll go back on January 4^th and Calvin heads back to class on the 12^th. So we’re currently enjoying two full weeks of vacation here at the apartment together.  It’s wonderful having this much time to just be together in the apartment, check off a to-do list and catch up with friends over delicious meals. So far on the list we’ve finished up the Christmas baking and shopping, Christmas cards are sent, presents have been shipped, and I’ve set up and done as much as I can for now on the baby registry at Babies”R”Us. Plus, last night I got to see my two favorite ladies in the whole world – my roommates from college. Brandy, Lucia and I all went to dinner at Four Eleven then the UNC game v. William and Mary. We were in the rafters, but it was still a great time to catch up in a nostalgic atmosphere. And 5 years after graduation there’s nothing like singing "Hark the Sound" with one girl on each arm to bring a tear to your eye. (Here’s a view from our seats below.)

Today the goal is to finish my Christmas craft, wrap the remaining presents, enjoy lunch with the Doi family, and clean the apartment. Tomorrow we’ll be going home to visit my family in Davie County, returning on Sunday. 

The goal for the following week: Clean out the office and make it nursery ready! We’re expecting preparations for figuring out the best way for baby to fit in our 925 square feet to pretty much take all week. Calvin is also in charge of research on car seats, strollers, and baby monitors so that we can make decisions there. But with perfect timing as we are making these preparations we’ll be finding out the gender of our little bun in the oven on Wednesday the 29^th. This will also allow us to give a name to our baby and energize our efforts to organize before the spring semester starts. 

I hope everyone has a very merry Christmas with the ones you love.