Wednesday, July 25, 2007

Cloth diapers really DO rock

So says Dave Matthews, at least... Check it out: Dave Matthews digs cloth diapers.

Though I've never been a huge fan of his music -- not since I realized that all of his songs sound exactly the same (ssssh, don't tell that to my psycho friends who go to every single concert he holds on the West Coast) -- I have to say, my opinion of him has just skyrocketed.

This even makes up for the 800 lbs of -- ahem -- human waste his tour bus driver dumped into Chicago River a couple of years ago.

After all, at least the "human waste" his baby's going to produce over the course of his diaper-wearing career is going to go into the sewer system -- where it belongs...

On a side note, I'm not sure I like the euphemism, "human waste" for excrement, poop, crap, fecal matter, sh*t, or whatever you want to call it. To me the term "human waste" is better applied to this... or this... or this.

Just sayin'...

Tuesday, July 24, 2007

Cloth diapering update: which are my favorites now?

Looking back at the all early posts I wrote about my cloth diapers makes me laugh... WOW, was I ever keen about cloth diapering. To the point of obsessive, perhaps.

I choose to blame the breast-feeding hormones.

I still use my Wonderoos -- though to be frank, they haven't held up as well as my all-time favorites.

(Which are, you ask?)

They're made by an online company you've probably never heard of -- AMP Diapers (aka diapers by Annie Marie Padorie). She's a WAHM mom based in Winnipeg, Manitoba -- which is in Canada, my home and native land, etc. etc.

(You can check out her full selection of diapers here: http://www.ampdiapers.com)

The quality of her diapers is unparalleled, in my experience. We have about 8-10 of her all-in-two diapers and pocket diapers and have been using the two oldest ones for over 1 1/2 years now.

Yes... that's right. Monkey Boy has been wearing the same cloth diapers since he was six months old, and they fit him just as well now as it did back then. And they look just as good, too.

Now THAT'S the definition of a great cloth diaper.

One of the things I really like about AMP diapers is the coloured lining Annie puts into them. You can have an orange cover with a blue lining... a red cover with a yellow lining... or green cover with a red lining (great for Christmas!) -- whatever your heart desires.

The coloured linings do a great job of hiding any faint stains (not sure if there are any, to be honest) and make the diapers look like more of a swimsuit than something you'd expect to find nasty piles of poop in.

(Although you do. Alas, you do.)

Annie's service is excellent, too. When a snap came off a year-old diaper and we told her about it, she asked us to send the diaper back and gave us a brand new one free of charge!

My only criticism is, AMP cloth diapers sure aren't as cheap as they used to be. I think our first pair cost us around $12.50 CDN. They're now selling for $16.50, which ain't exactly cheap when you probably want to have at least 12 diapers -- plus liners -- in your stash. (More if you're dealing with a newborn.)

However, these diapers HAVE lasted us more than 18 months. And they'll probably still be perfectly usable even after Monkey Boy is potty-trained and no longer needs them.

(A development that won't be happening any time soon, I fear, given his fondness for sitting in his own squishy warm poop).

So in my mind, we've definitely gotten our money's worth.

AMP diapers: Too cute to poop in. Try telling that to Monkey Boy, though...

Tuesday, July 17, 2007

Cloth diapers, revisited

Wow. When I said I was off to "join the pack" I never imagined those cloth diaper hyenas were going to take me on a tour of the world's biggest diaper pail!

It took me 1 1/2 years to crawl out of that sucker -- and the things I saw? Yeesh. You don't want to know.

I kid...

Actually, the reason why I haven't posted to this blog in so very long is simply because I could no longer find the time to do so. Other writing projects demanded my attention, and then I ended up going back to work full-time in June 2006... and before I knew it, I'd pretty much forgotten this blog altogether.

ALMOST. Because every few weeks, one of my soon-to-be-a-mom friends would email me a question, asking for advice on where to buy discount cloth diapers.

Or how to wash cloth diapers.

Or what the difference is between a pocket diaper and an all-in-one.

OR what the heck "UBCPF" means... or what the pros and cons of Chinese vs. Indian prefolds are!

And so, to keep up with the ongoing demand for information, I've decided to start up this blog again. (I even gave it a bit of a redesign. You like?)

Because now that Monkey Boy's a running and jumping two-year-old, my perspective on cloth diapers is a little different.

And for those who asked? Yep, once your baby starts eating solids the *romance* of cloth diapers is definitely, um, tarnished.

But have I ever regretted my decision to use cloth diapers for the past two years and counting?

Not for a moment.