baby got back

look at this cute and round behind! if you are wondering why she looks like an oompa loompa (as jesse calls her), we have officially switched gia to cloth diapers. yes, you heard us right. for the last two weeks.

when luca was born i did not even consider using cloth, for two reasons. the first being my concern that adding anything more to the mix would send my fibro into a complete downward cycle - i was already nervous about late night feedings and the recovery from the birth - and rightfully so. since it was an "option," i went the easy route. the second reason for this lack of real consideration, was my complete ignorance of modern cloth diapering systems. i kept picturing folding white cloths into ill-fitting semblances of diapers, held together with pins, ad covered by an unsightly plastic cover. was i ever wrong.

today's cloth diapers are not our mother's. they come in different varieties (yes some similar to yesterday's option). our family has chosen to use fuzzi bunz, a pocket diaper with removable inserts. they have a waterproof outer layer, a super soft fleece inner layer that wicks moisture through to the insert, gussets round the leg opening to provide a snug fit, and adjustable snaps to fit babies of different sizes while they grow. they are a bit bulkier than disposable diapers and in the above picture, gia is ready for bed with two inserts in her fuzzi bunz, for overnight leak protection - giving her all of that junk in her trunk.

so far we love our fuzzi bunz. we have had only a few leaks, but only from going to long between diaper changes. see with disposable, you can see and feel the diapers expand as they are filled. with cloth, they don't change shape - i didn't realize how much i relied on this cue. but now that i have unlearned this habit, i am completely satisfied. we have even decided to go ahead and switch luca over for his final diapering months. at first we did not want to buy the extra large size for our extra large boy, seeing as he will not be in diapers (hopefully) for too much longer and we did not know if gia would ever get to that size. but we have found that luca will almost fit in to gia's fuzzi bunz (which are size medium), so we are going to purchase the large size for him and then gia can use them in the future.

some skeptics may ask about the convenience of washing the fuzzi bunz. yes, we do more laundry than before. but there is no pre-washing (outside of the washer) and the benefits outweigh this cost. for one, we are being better stewards of our earth by choosing something reusable. secondly, we are saving so much money in the long run. if we are blessed with more children, other than purchasing the small size of diapers, we will be done buying diapers. done! that is huge!

this the beginning of the cloth diaper chapter for our family. more stories to come, i am sure.