All Stuffed with Fluff!

I strongly dislike the word "nesting" - I am not a bird, I did not lay an egg, and I do not live in a nest...but I can't think of a better word to describe my insatiable urge to organize the changing table, neatly stack diapers, and fold an re-fold the receiving blankets!  The thing is - the changing table is waaaaaay organized, the diapers are washed and neatly put away in their little diaper bin, and the receiving blankets DO NOT NEED TO BE FOLDED!!  But in this waiting game...no baby, no new house...I am running out of things to do (besides clean - you'd think there wouldn't be much to clean when the house is 90% packed but that is just not the case).

So today I whipped out the newborn diapers (again) and decided to take some pictures of them because they are so damn cute (also, I wanted to send a picture to my Dad to show him what the money he sent us paid for - so I texted him a picture of all the diapers and apparently he couldn't see it clearly on his ancient phone and didn't know to scroll down and read the message I attached so he called all excited thinking it was a picture of the baby...).

But anyway.  What really prompted this post was the fact that once again, I have surprised myself and reminded myself that you just never know what's going to happen and what direction your interests will turn.

If you had asked me a couple of years ago if I'd be a cloth diapering (fluff) addict, I would have laughed at you.  Cloth diapers.  What a pain, right??  More laundry to do.  More work to clean up.  One more thing to keep track of in an already chaotic house. 

But then I tried my first cloth diaper on Jack and it was like heroine (or so I am told...I have never actually tried heroine but supposedly once you try it you are instantly addicted, or at least that's what the DARE program would like you to believe, right?).  I wanted more.  They were SO DARN CUTE.  His little butt all wrapped up in fluffy cloth as opposed to the plastic-y, chemical-filled contraptions we have been led to believe we all need.  Just SO cute, I tell you!

So...I went online and found the website for the bumGenius brand diapers I had received as a shower gift and purchased a few more. Then I started doing some research and added a few more to my stash.  And so it continued until recently escalating into a full-blown addiction that now includes pink, flower-prints, leaopard, purple and more...and I can tell you with certainty there is no end in sight and you can never (NEVER, I tell you!!) have too many cloth diapers.

The actual added "work" is minimal.  I do an extra load of laundry every other day or so (for one kid - that might change when I have two, one of which I am guessing will be going through diapers like they are going out of style).  I actually like folding them and seeing the diaper bin all stocked with fresh, fluffy diapers so I don't consider that work.  And I realllly like not having to buy diapers all the time (we do still use disposables for overnight or when I *know* Jack is about to poop, so we're not completely disposable-free, but I am hoping we will be for Baby Claire).  I also like that when Jack poops in a cloth diaper, it gets tossed down the toilet rather than wrapped up in a 'sposie and tossed in the trash.

I will say that as much as I love them I wouldn't cloth diaper if I didn't have access to a washing machine (I have friends in apartments and condos without their own personal washing machine and I can't imagine the logistics...I generally soak mine, wash them in hot and then rinse in cold...so I can imagine the pain it would be if I had to do this at a community washing machine - and some diapers take longer to dry than others).

I am afraid I have just broached the tip of the iceberg as far as this addiction is concerned.  Maybe I will hit rock bottom...maybe I will continue on my Fluff High and have another baby just so I can keep using these cute diapers (ha!).  Time will tell (and speaking of time, it takes, like, HUNDREDS of years for a disposable diaper to biodegrade so I am not only promoting fluffy baby bottoms everywhere but also saving the earth while I'm at it).