The Return of Fluff

I mentioned my blog hiatus but what I should have said was life hiatus. If you are all anything like me, when you feel crappy, the house should support that feeling. You want clean dishes and clothes and a picked up floor? Good for you- I want to stop vomiting! That is me during an illness. But I am back in full super mom mode in all its overrated and stressful glory.

And I am feeling inspired to jump back into cloth diapering. First off, let me say that I truly LOVE what it has to offer: a healthy, dry and happy baby, good for the environment, money-saving etc. etc. etc. but it is also one big thing that disposable diapering is not and that is time consuming. Not too much time, but extra time, nonetheless with the extra laundry. Like many moms, I am not a huge fan of laundry. Actually, the washing and drying is not bad, it's the folding and putting away part, and the cloth diapers don't really need this last step if you are short on time. The problem I have had lately is that it is winter and my lundry room is not heated and whenever I need to do laundry, I need to almost defrost the pipes before I start!! Not very conducive to almost daily washing.....
So our cloth diapering took a hit- we would wash and wear them and then use disposable for 4 days or so..... plus the diapers really needed stripped because they were started to stink. I switched detergents awhile back and the new one is good but still, a wad of cloth can only take so much pee before it starts to retain said pee smell. So I stripped them.

Diapers after the first round! Can't believe the soap buildup!

Diapers after the third rinse-- now we are getting somewhere!

If you have never stripped diapers before- it is easy, just tedious. Basically you wash them like regular and then you rinse repeatedly in the HOTTEST POSSIBLE water (even if you have to bring some in off the stove) until there are no more bubbles that come out. You can also add baking soda or vinegar etc if you are having trouble with smells, but this depends LARGELY on the type of water you have. What works for one person will probably not work the same for another.

Anyway, the whole point of this long post is that we are prepped and ready to recommitt to the cloth revolution :) It is warming up outside and the diapers smell fresh(er). Now three days in, I have only used one disposable and the stash is set to be washed tonight. This is good news for many reasons and lets face it- there is nothing cuter than a cloth diapered little bum (except "maybe" a ruffle butted bum)!

Bring On Spring!