Taking over the world.

One person at a time.

Cloth diapering is addictive. And once you're addicted its hard to kick the habit.  You're the addict, you're an enabler, and sometimes even a dealer. An Addict because its hard to stop buying cloth diapers.  Occasionally you'll get on the wagon, but then fall off and binge.  An Enabler because you egg on other CD addicts.  "Buy it.  You know you want it.  you need it."  Sharing links to cute diapers, prints you know someone is looking for. The Dealer is a bit different. You aren't so much selling the diapers to the addicts, as much as giving the sample and getting someone else hooked. And oh boy is it an awesome feeling when you get someone else hooked. 

I've recently gotten my little sister Jessica hooked.  Shes 16. (As of an hour and 50 minutes ago.  No Joke.) When I first arrived to stay here for several months while my hubby was deployed my sister thought CDing was the grossest thing ever.  She didn't want anything to do with my cloth diapers at all. In fact her best friend enjoyed the cloth diapers more than she did. (She mainly just enjoyed oogling the cute prints.)  At one point I asked my sister to put a diaper on Mercy and asked her friend to hand her one.  She handed her a cloth one and Jessica said "No, hand me a REAL one." (meaning a disposable).  I shuddered inside.  Calling a sposie a REAL diaper?! 

Then the tide began to change.  She liked seeing the cute diapers I got.  She was willing to change a cloth diaper every now and then.  And then things REALLY changed.  She got a bit more excited about the fluff.  Mercy was in a sposie one day due to a rash and she told me how ugly it looked under her dress and she liked the cloth diapers better. Another night we had this conversation.

Jess: "What diaper is she wearing?  Is that a BaBushka or a Goodmama?"
Me: "A BaBushka."
Jess: "I hate you."
Me: (laughing) "Why? Because you know the brands of her diapers?"
Jess: "Yes."

 One day I was out of the house and needed her to stalk diapers for me.  They were stocking and I anticipated them going fast and I NEEDED them. So we were texting back and forth while she sat at the computer fingers poised to snatch that diaper and get it in her shopping cart quick.  She later told me what a rush it was and she loved it.  (Bwahaha)

Then she even told me that I was making her WANT to have a baby just so she could cloth diaper it! We would oooooh and awww over pictures of diapers online.  She gets just as excited about fluffy mail as I do.  I received 7 (seven!!) diapers in the mail the other day.  I texted her that morning that I was expecting them and she Squeed (via text, because she was in school) with me.  I got home and got them out of the mailbox.  She wasn't home yet and I knew she'd be upset if I opened them up without her.  So I waited, and went and picked her up from school, and we evenly divvied up the packages before tearing into them like kids on Christmas. Then we had a Fluff Fight.

Today I had a package in the mail and she texted me "FLUFF!!!!!!" I texted back "I have Fluff?" because I wasn't expecting any.  She texted me back "You have FLUFF!!!!!!!!!".  Unfortunately she was wrong and it was only my Rockin Green detergent.  Poor girl was so disappointed.

Anyways, thats the story of my little sisters conversion to cloth.  Shes not even a mom yet and shes got the cloth diaper jonesin.

Happy 16th Birthday little sister!  I wish you many days of Fluffy Mail!!


Auntie Jessa....Lovin on the fluff and using it as a pillow.  Its ♥

Oh dear.

I don't know if its because its 1 am and I'm really tired, or what.  But I found this HILARIOUS.  Literally gasping for air, sides hurt, convulsing, because I was laughing so hard.

http://cakewrecks.blogspot.com/2010/05/blunders-that-burn.html

I'm also especially amused by these.

http://cakewrecks.blogspot.com/2008/08/cakes-for-all-ocassions.html

Homecomings past

I got to talk to the hubby today.  He is finally back in the same country, with cell service.  Me and Mercy will finally get to see him again before too long, after three months apart.  Not as long as last time, but still pretty long.  Thinking about this homecoming got me thinking about last homecoming and I ended up going back and reading all my Tweets from that day.  For your viewing pleasure- A Homecoming in Tweets.
-------------------------
5:20 AM  Anybody else think that 5 AM is really freakin early?  Painting my nails.
5:52 AM   Trying to use a manual pump without a baby attached to the other side to help with letdown, really sucks. I give up. off to do my makeup.
6:35 AM  Nails-check. makeup-check. hair-checked. baby fed-checked.
6:55 AM  Loadin up the baby then off we go!
7:02 AM  Haha almost forgot deodorant. Welcome home honey, take a whiff!
7:05 AM  Car keys would be a good idea. Is my head on?
7:08 AM  Ugh not even to the pier yet and all the welcome home signs are making me bawl!
7:35 AM  CRAP! i forgot tissue
8:21 AM  Still waiting. Caught a glimpse but then they disappeared again.
8:29 AM  Of course I wouldnt think of sun screen for Mercedes. Poor girl I hope she doesn't get a burn.
8:31 AM  I spy with my little eye... A ship!

6:20 PM  I love my husband.
--------------------------------

My first homecoming I had just turned 19, had only been married for 6 months, had only actually been with my husband for 2 of those months, no babies.  I waited at the pier with a group of wives who were nice, but that I didn't really fit in with.  No pictures, no tweets, no blogs or anything really commemorating the event.  He got off the ship and we had to walk quite a ways (with a full sea bag) to the car because novice navy wife that I am parked on practically the opposite side of the base. Luckily a friendly sailor man stopped and offered us a ride the rest of the way, so it wasn't too bad.  

Last year Mercedes was 6 months old, her main accomplishment was rolling over, I spent the days before picking out an outfit, figuring out my hair and makeup and Mercy's outfit, cleaning house, participated in the whole Homecoming Hoopla at the pier, etc.   


 This time Mercedes is 15 months, walking all over the place, talking up a storm, I will spend the days before trying to pack up the last three months into a suitcase and preparing for a cross country flight with a toddler, our outfits will be comfy clothes good for traveling, and he will be the one picking us up instead of the other way around.  And if there is any balance in the world he will spend the days before going crazy trying to clean the house. 

SCORE!

It appears that the Myths and Facts section regarding cloth diapers on the Pampers website has mysteriously disappeared.  I am beyond thrilled.  I'm guessing they got a flood of emails from cloth diapering mommas who were unhappy with the lies they were spreading.  Hooray for them removing their heads from their, er sposies!

Sources

I was asked to list my sources for my entry the other day, specifically about the Disposable diapers take 500 years to decompose comment.  I realize now that I should have taken the time to find and list my sources within that entry, but I was upset with Pampers "Facts" and wanted to address them immediately, even if it was only with my anecdotal arguments.

I found multiple sites that said the same thing, disposable diapers take 500 years to breakdown, a few sites listed anywhere from 250-500 years, based on a study by Ann Link, Disposable nappies: a case study in waste prevention.  April 2003.  Women's Environmental Network. The EPA site states 450 years. After further looking into it I found that these are educated guesses seeing as disposable diapers have only been around for roughly 60 years, so no one knows for sure.  Also when guessing, most appear to be basing that on ideal circumstances with optimal exposure to light and oxygen.  Considering disposable diapers are most often rolled and secured into a tight ball, placed in a plastic bag, then in a garbage bag, before they are tossed into the landfill where they will soon be buried under more trash, I doubt they are getting the ideal light and oxygen required for breakdown.

http://www.realdiaperassociation.org/diaperfacts.php
http://www.epa.gov/gmpo/edresources/debris_t.html
http://behealthyandrelax.com/2007/11/how-long-does-it-take-to-decompose/http://www.greenlivingtips.com/articles/311/1/Waste-decomposition-rates.html

There was also a question about my statement regarding the detergent.  I do not have any statistics or figures or studies to support that statement.  However, cloth diapers need to be laundered with special cloth diaper detergent because  a lot of the ingredients in regular detergent will cause build up in the diaper, making them less absorbent and water repellent.  Commercially available cloth detergent (Charlie's Soap and Rockin' Green to name a few) are made with natural ingredients, non toxic, and biodegradable.  Overall better for the environment than regular detergent. Its also important to factor in that cloth diapers are washed with less detergent than regular clothes, a general rule of thumb is less than half of what you normally use.  I personally use Rockin' Green and use 2-3 tablespoons for 1 load of diapers.  So while the statement I made is not backed up by statistics and studies, I feel it is a safe assumption that parents who cloth diaper are not out there using detergent that could damage the diapers. 

I hope this helped clear things up for anyone who was confused, and hopefully for now at least has helped keep me from sounding like a crazy extremist who makes things up as she goes along. ♥

Name Art Giveaway!

Check out an awesome give away for name art here!  Hurry fast, ends tonight at 10 pm CST!

http://www.alannainsuburbia.blogspot.com/

Pampers "Facts"

*UPDATE* It appears that Pampers also felt the heat of angered cloth diapering parents because they have removed their Myths and Facts section regarding cloth diapers!  Hooray!

Apparently Pampers is feeling the heat of the cloth diaper trend.  They have gone on the so called Offensive and have a Myths and Facts section on their website, listing different "Myths" associated with cloth and disposables and given the correct "Facts". While I was reading it, I couldn't decide whether to laugh out loud or gag.  I am parphrasing them here, to read their complete responses go here ---> http://www.pampers.com/en_US/diapers-myths-and-facts . 

--------------

Myth- Cloth Diapers are better for my Baby.

Pampers "Fact"-  Sposies were invented to meet needs that cloth diapers couldn't, beyond convenience. They keep baby dryer and contain leaks and parents and doctors see less rash.

  

The only thing sposies have over cloth is convenience.  And even that is debatable.  I used sposies for the first 6 months before I converted to cloth and I don't think there is a noticeable change in work, except for an extra load of laundry here or there.  Talk to any parent who cloth diapers and the response is overwhelmingly that their baby has less instances of rash since using cloth. The reason?  Parents can feel when their baby is wet which means the baby isn't sitting in a pee soaked diaper for hours on end.  And containing leaks?  Speak to cloth diaper parents and again they will tell you that they have less explosions of poo since using cloth.  Wet leaks don't happen if babies are changed in a timely manner.  How exactly do sposies keep baby dryer? The chemicals in the sposie absorb the liquid.  Chemical reactions taking place right up against the delicate baby skin better for the baby? I think not.

Myth- Cloth Diapers are better for the environment.

Pampers "fact"- There was a study done in the UK that showed no clear winner in terms of environmental impact, once factors such as energy, water, and detergent are accounted for.

Really?  I can't even believe they are trying to make this argument.  Disposables take 500 years to decompose.  Every single sposie that has ever been used since the invention of disposables is sitting in a landfill somewhere.  Not to mention the energy used to manufacture and deliver disposables to the stores, and packaging.  Oh, and then there is also the contamination of ground water from people not shaking the poo off of the disposables into the toilet like they are supposed to.  The energy and water used to wash/dry cloth diapers is minuscule. Most people line dry their diapers, and barely see a change in their utility bill at all, if any.  As for the detergent?  The majority of cloth diaper users also use earth friendly/natural detergent, or make their own. 

Myth- Developing countries prove that cloth diapers are better.

Pampers "Fact"-  Sposies are better in terms of skin health, dryness, and sleep.  In China we've found that parents and children frequently wake up due to a soaked bed because they have no diaper, or a very thing piece of cloth.  In another test we found that fecal contamination around the home was reduced when using sposies.

Seriously?  Better for skin health and dryness? They are dryer because of toxic chemicals.  How is having those harsh chemicals right against baby's skin better for them?  Oh right, its not.  I don't see how they are putting No Diaper or a Thin Piece of Cloth in the same category as cloth diapers.  Cloth diapers are much more than a "thin piece of cloth".  They are made up of multiple layers of absorbent material, and also a water resistant material.  No soaked beds unless they aren't being used properly.  As for the fecal contamination?  Another user error.  I can promise there is no fecal contamination in my house from using cloth diapers.  That claim is just ridiculous.  Any fecal contamination in these developing countries is from general lack of knowledge about hygiene, NOT from the cloth diapers.

Myth- Disposables are bad for the environment.

Pampers "Fact"- All of the component materials in Pampers diapers are gentle to consumers and safe for the environment. Pampers diapers are made of materials that are also frequently used in a wide range of other consumer products. We are committed to continuing to reduce our environmental impact. For example, Pampers has decreased its diaper weight by one-third and packaging weight by two-thirds.

How is that a Myth?  500 years to decompose and they want to argue that they AREN'T bad for the environment? They have reduced their diaper weight by one-third? Know how they did that? By taking out some of the layers between the absorbent chemicals and the baby.  Have you heard of the chemical burn problems that a lot of people are having with the "New" Pampers?  That is why.  Because now those chemicals are even closer to your baby and causing rashes and burns. So yeah, they've made them a little better for the environment, but make it less safe for your baby. About their ingredients being safe for baby- disposable diapers contain Dioxin, a byproduct of the bleaching.  Dioxin is directly linked to causing cancer and compromising the immune system. 

To sum it up- Pampers is delusional.  Their Myths, are all actually TRUE, and their "Facts" are just word vomit they are using to try and salvage their reputation and win people back to their side instead of natural cloth diapering.  Epic fail Pampers.  The sad part is that I know there are people out there who don't know better and will believe their bull.

Blogs to come

So many blogs rollin around in my head.


Benefits of Extended Rear Facing/dangers of Forward Facing too soon.

Cloth diaper converts.

Response to Pampers ridiculous claims about cloth diapers.


I don't even know where to start.

"What Would You Do?" Part 2 (Spoiler)

"What Would You Do?"

Uh, for starters, I would rewrite that entire segment.  I was SO disappointed with how they did the nursing in public scenario.

It took place in a little cafe.  A mom purchased a cup of coffee then sat down, unbuttoned the top couple buttons of her shirt and started breastfeeding her baby.  A man walked by (the manager) and proclaimed (in a disgusted voice) "Oh god. Excuse me, could you do that somewhere else?" and proceeds to tell her shes disrupting customers, hes trying to run a business, etc.  A lot of the customers sat and watched at first, most didn't say anything, until the Manager told the woman "Well if you wanna put milk in everybody elses coffee.." at which point several people spoke up and told him that he crossed the line and needed to stop.  The Manager was asking people passing by if it was bothering them.  One lady said "I have several young children and I wouldn't do that in public." Another man said "I'm not offended, but it makes me uncomfortable."  Several people responded that the conversation/the way the manager was talking to her made them uncomfortable.  One man, told the manager that he was not uncomfortable, it didn't bother him at all and she was fine.  One woman got very outspoken and said she wasn't buying anything from his store because of the way he was acting and that it is a blessing to see a mother breastfeed in public.

While I was pleased by (most) of the reactions of the customers, I think they went about the scenario the wrong way.  The first thing I take issue with is that they had the Manager be the one attacking the nursing mother, instead of another customer.  While I, personally would probably stand up to anybody going after someone breastfeeding, I can also see how most other people would be intimidated when it is the manager/owner of a business, assuming "his business, his rules" etc.  I think the reactions would have been different if it had been another customer going after the mom. 

The "mom" was an actress, and the baby was actually a doll (that amusingly enough had a fake pacifier in its mouth).  I would have preferred that it had been an actual baby and that the mom actually nursed, instead of pretended with a doll.

I also think it would have been better if they had not only done a "newborn" scenario, and had used an older baby to see what the different reactions were, if people were more offended by the nursing of an older baby or a toddler.

They usually do several different versions of each scenario.  With this one they did White Mom, Black Mom, Young Mom, Mom drinking a beer while nursing.  In the drinking a beer scenario a man started lecturing the mom telling her how bad it was and that he didn't think she should be drinking a beer while breastfeeding.  She said "its just one beer its fine, and he sleeps better at night" ugh, I couldn't believe she said that.  They said they included that variation to see what would make the mom lose the support of the customers.  I think a much better (and realistic) variation would have been how much of her breast the mother was exposing.  A mom nursing quietly and discreetly not showing anything, vs a mom with her entire boob pulled out, or something similar.

Overall I was happy that most of the patrons supported the mother and stood up for her, it was much better than I expected.  I expected that the reactions were what would upset me, not the poor writing of the scenarios.

Here is a link to the video in case you missed it,
http://abcnews.go.com/whatwouldyoudo
(under the WWYD Recent Reports)

What did you think?

"What Would You Do?"

There is a series on ABC called "What Would You Do?".  It is a hidden camera show that shows how the average person would respond when confronted with various situations.  One was "What would you do if you saw a man verbally abusing a woman in a park"  Then it swapped to "...a woman verbally abusing a man in a park"  another was "...if the waitress was very obviously hitting on your husband in front of you" or "...if you witnessed obese abuse".  Its a pretty interesting show and I try to catch it when I can.

I saw a commercial today for the new episode airing on Friday. "What would you do if you saw a mother breastfeeding in public?"

I am very interested in catching this one, to see what the general response is.  I seriously hope that it would be a very bland boring one.  Mother sits on bench breastfeeding.  People walk by.  Maybe smile.  Whoopee.  Unfortunately, since it is airing (and is featured in the commercial) my guess is that it is much more interesting than that, because people smiling as a mother nurses wouldn't get good ratings.

In fact, I'm inclined to think that it is going to make me mad.  Are people going to give the mother dirty looks? Confront her and tell her to cover up or go to her car or a bathroom?  I hope that isn't the case, but uh, I'm not getting my hopes up too high.  The fact of the matter is that while women are LEGALLY allowed to nurse their baby anywhere that they themselves are allowed to be, it is generally frowned upon by the general public.  Mothers are ashamed to nurse their babies in public because they don't want to get dirty looks, or confronted, or told they are doing something dirty or indecent.  When really they aren't.  They are feeding their baby.  NewsFlash- thats what boobs were made for.

I am a firm supporter of nursing in public. Nursing in public, in private, in your car, with a cover, without a cover, upside down, in a plane, in a train, here or there, anywhere. 

I feel like this was a very poor choice of subject for this show.  I for one would have been much more interested in a segment of "What would you do if you saw a mother being attacked for breastfeeding in public?"

So readers, What Would YOU do?

My camera hates me

My camera has all of a sudden decided that it does not want to upload pictures.  The computer is not recognizing it when I plug it in.  I can still take pictures just fine, but can't share them with the world wide web :( .
I tried looking up the error message online but nothing really came up.  I tried calling customer service and tech support but it was of course not during business hours.  Harumph.

I'm really disappointed by this because I've taken some awesome cloth diaper stash pictures lately.  I've really gotten into sewing my own diapers and I'm really liking how they are coming out. Until I'm able to share my recent stash pics I will share the ones took two weeks ago.  I have added to my stash since then, and the only ones picture are my GoodMamas, which accounted for most of my diapers.




This kid loves her fluff.  She will grab it from me while I'm folding it and just walk around carrying and hugging it. I love it.






and my GoodMama Pyramid of Fluff.


I've added quite a few diapers to my stash since this pic. (shh, don't tell my husband) 

Hopefully before too long I'll be able to share pics of all the diapers I've made.  For now, I'm off to cuddle with my precious girl.  I hope all the mommas out there had a wonderful Mother's Day!

*sigh*

Dear Blog,
I'm sorry I'm so neglectful.  I will try to be better. I promise.  Unfortunately its 2 AM and I'm not feeling like now is the time.  Just wanted to let you know I was thinking of you.

                                                               Love,
                                                                    Paige.