Baby things - and cloth diapers

Alrighty, I am now 22 weeks and 3 days pregnant and I have started gathering things for baby B. Oh, and don't expect this little bear to have a name pre-birth. I have a list, but we will not be naming him before we have a chance to meet him.

I purchased the infant car seat (figured this is not an "exciting" or "cute" gift, so the chances of us getting it from a friend or family member were slim. We are planning on getting a Bob stroller so baby bear can go running with me (and run our next 1/2 marathon once he is here) so that meant our choices were Chicco, Graco or Pegperigo. Chicco had the highest safety rating an a super cute green which can be used for a girl if that is what we have in the future (if we have more babies). So here she is, the Chicco Keyfit 30 in Medori:

My sister has 2 boys which means she has some pretty great items that I get to use. This past weekend, I came home with a swing, a pack n' play and a box of toys. 

Cloth Diapers

I have been determined to cloth diaper our baby since long before this baby was even a thought in the back of my mind. There are many reasons for wanting to cloth diaper which are as follows:

1. I don't know what is in disposable diapers. What I do know is that it is some sort of crazy gel substance that absorbs a crazy amount of liquid and waste. What I also know are several people who are allergic to whatever this magical pee soaker upper is...so I don't really trust it. I appreciate modern life, but the other day, I saw a special on the foam used in car seats and changing pads that has to be fire proof-they often use chemicals that are known neurotoxins. Given the choice, I would rather the car seat be susceptible to burning because the risk/reward  is better. I would take my chances with that rather than have my baby breathing in something and soaking up something through their skin that is known to cause brain damage - that's just me. 
2. Over the lifetime of 1 baby, the average person will spend $3,000 on disposable diapers and wipes. The investment for cloth is anywhere from $300 to $700 depending on the route you choose to go (I will get in to that later). Add in $95 for water and laundry detergent each year and that is still a savings of $2,0000. Then imagine using the same cloth for the next baby you have and that is around $5,000 in savings. Woa! All on a disposable diaper that you throw away. 
3. The earth. I am definitely not a tree hugging, stop driving, anti shower dreadlocks sort of hippie but being from Eugene, Oregon, I do have many hippie tendencies. We eat many organic foods, we compost, we grow our own garden, I use natural bath products (except deodorant, Im not crazy), I use enviro friendly detergents, I cringe when I am in a state that doesn't recycle and I have to throw away an aluminum can, I like to use organic cotton sheets and blankets, I recycle and on and on. A baby goes through 12 to 14 disposables in one day and maybe 8 changes down the road...lets just say the baby wears diapers til they are 2.5 years old so 12 months + 12 months + 6 months is 30 months or 365 days +365 days + 182.5 =912.5 days of diapering * 9 diapers (average over the diapering lifetime) 8,212 diapers for one baby. Holy what??? And if you have 2 babies then you are adding over 16,000 diapers to landfills. And do they even biodegrade? I have no idea. It makes me feel a little ill to think about adding that kind of waste to the landfills. (Don't worry friends, I won't judge your choices!! There are many reasons for diapering in disposables as I will outline later and if it is the path you go with like most people, I promise - no judgement from this granola)
4. I will be staying home with my baby/ies. This means that I have no excuse for having enough time to do the laundry associated with cloth diapering and I don't have to deal with daycare's who are probably not going to be interested in doing something special for my child when they have other kids to worry about. 
5. Have you seen the modern cloth diapers? They are cute and they are so soft!!! They are like an addition to an outfit! A pop of color!
6. Babies who are cloth diapered on average get fewer diaper rashes. 
7. Babies who are cloth diapered tend to potty train earlier (I believe this is because they can feel the wetness so they are more likely to have a greater awareness. The disposables have an amazing ability to take that wetness away from the skin and they don't really notice that they went)
8. I read this http://www.realdiaperassociation.org/diaperfacts.php 

So with that, the decision was made. I will let you in on a little secret thought, I am not a crazy cloth only type of girl. 

1. I refuse to invest in what they call infant cloth diapers. Expensive and they fit for a very small window of time. In the time it takes for my baby to fit in the smalls (generally 8 lbs or so, depending on the chunkyness of the legs), I will be using disposables - a natural, unbleached like 7th generation but a disposable none-the-less. 
2. When we travel, I will not be trying to launder cloth diapers. We will be using disposables when we travel. 
3. If family members are uninterested in learning how to cloth, then we will arm them with disposables. 

The selection process:

Who knew there were so many choices???

• All in ones (the inner part of the diaper and the waterproof part are all one piece that get laundered after each use)
• Pocket diapers  (you add absorbent pads into a pocket in the diaper)
• Diaper covers (you use a diaper and then cover it with a waterproof cover)
• Hybrids (you have a disposable portion that you throw away or flush and you have the reusable outer cover)

Then there are more choices:

• Sized (your baby wears a diaper that is sized small, medium, large, xl)
• One sized (there are snaps that change the diaper size so theoretically, you can use the same diaper from almost birth to potty training)

So what to do? I have friends who have boldly chosen a diaper pre-birth, made the investment and are sure they made the right choice. I will not be doing this. While I will end up spending a little extra in the long run, I want to test-drive the diapers and make sure they are the right ones for my baby. I will test-drive the following ones to begin with:

Rumparooz one size all in one 

Bumgenius one size all in one 

Bumgenius sized all in one

Gdiapers which I will use with trifold cotton diapers inserted

I will try each one and see which I like best, then I will make my investment. I am pulling for the gdiaper and for the rumparooz because they come in such cute color and print combos!!! 

Call me crazy but I am so excited to cloth diaper because if for no other reason, they are so CUTE!!!