Flip diapers.

Another of the diapers that I use are Flip Diapers.  These diapers are similar to the G-diapers because they have an insert and a cover, but they only have two parts instead of three.  The cover of the flips are cloth on the outside and PUL on the inside.  I have two covers and 6 inserts, the inserts are microfiber terry and a stay dry side. 

The flip diapers are a one size diaper which means that they can fit from approximately 8-35 lbs.  They have three snaps across the front and you can snap them down so the length of the diaper is shorter and the rise won't come up as high on a smaller baby, there are 3 different settings.

You just fold the insert to match the rise (there are lines on the insert) and set it in the cover, then you put the diaper on the baby.

The diaper closes uses snaps and the tabs are stretchy so you can get a good fit.

Rylee is wearing her diaper on the 2nd rise setting.

These diapers are pretty trim.  I really like the colors that I have but I don't think that they make these colors any more.

I like that these diapers are snap closures because Rylee can't undo them.  I also like how easy they are you just lay the insert in and your ready to go! 

I haven't really had any leaks with these, the only times have been because I had left the diaper on to long and the insert was fully saturated, not the diapers fault, mommy's fault.  These diapers have a disposable insert option to but I've never used them so I can't say if they are any good or not.  These diapers seem to absorb more moisture that the g-diapers but they are longer and thicker so that isn't to surprising.  I've also used a pre-fold in the flip cover and it worked great too.  All in all I really like the flip diapers.

Our kitchen is done!!!

Our kitchen has been done for a while now but here are some pictures.  We have so much counter space, a dishwasher, a ton of cupboard space and it's all fresh and new!  I love it, thank you Bobby, Terry, and LBCR for my beautiful kitchen!

The remodel

So I found out today that the camp is buying a new dishwasher, stove, and microwave hood vent for our house!!!!!  This is so exciting, I've lived in a house with a dishwasher for about 1 second of my life so the fact that soon I will have a brand new one is enough but then I also get to experience a new oven and a microwave hood (which I've never used before either!) and I'm over the moon!!!!!

So if you can't tell we are having our kitchen remodeled, we moved into this house at the beginning of summer knowing that at the end of summer we were going to remodel the kitchen.  Before this house was a staff house it was the VIP cottage/nurses station so there wasn't really a need for a full kitchen.  When we moved in it only had a fridge, and a sink,  and a very small counter top with enough cupboard space to frustrate a leprechaun, and we brought our microwave.  Like I said we moved in knowing that we were going to get a new kitchen at the end of summer and it wasn't a big deal because it was summer and living at a youth camp with my husband as the food service manager we were always welcome at the dinning hall to eat and there were meals all summer long so no big deal.
Here are some pics of the house as a work in progress.

 

Right where Bobby is standing is where there use to be a wall, and on the left is our tiny tiny kitchen, jam packed, that's even with all of our dishes, pots, pans, tupperware, cooking utensils, and most of out canned goods packed away!

That is all of the counter space, and our sink, they have torn out some walls at this point, and our cabinets.

These are our new cabinets pretty close to where they are actually going to go.

Behind where the sink is where the new cabinets are is where the washer and dryer use to be.

This is how I kept Rylee out from underfoot, this is looking from the kitchen into the living room.

The new diswasher!

The new stove and microwave!

Getting close!  Just waiting on counter tops and flooring, and staining the cabinets and paint!

G-diapers our first cloth diaper!

The first cloth diaper that we bought were g-diapers, they are a hybrid cloth diaper, meaning that you can put a g-cloth insert or a g-refill insert in the diaper.  The g-refills are biodegradable, compostable (only pee ones) and flushable, and at only a couple cents more per insert are a not bad green option if you don't want to dive all the way into cloth!  We have some g-refills but use the g-cloth inserts 90% of the time.

Rylee was "helping" me!  On the left is the g-refill, then the cloth, then the snap in nylon liner and finally the cloth g-pant.

 

This is what it looks like with the nylon liner snapped in the g-pant

This is what it looks like with the g-cloth in the liner, this is ready to go, just grab baby and put it on!

This is what it looks like with the flushable insert in the liner, again this is ready to go!  I usually have all of my diapers ready to go so I can just grab and go.  The g-cloth are made of 4 layers,  two layers are 100% polyester microfleece and two layers of hemp/cotton.  The snap in liner is nylon which is breathable, and the g-pants are a breathable cotton.  You can reuse the g-pant and the nylon snap in liner as long as they don't get poop on them, you can just take the dirty insert out and replace it with a clean one,  so in theory you can use the same cover all day long!

As Rylee has gotten older she now has solid poop and it hardly ever gets on the liner and it never gets on the g-pant.  A younger baby with runnier poop you would have to change the liner after every poop.  I have found that the g-cloth is only good for a couple hours at the most, they are probably hold the least amount of liquid of all of my diapers but they are the most trim so you do compromise absorbency for fit but that is true of all diapers.  

The g-pants fasten using velcro and they fasten in the back (to make it harder for little hands to undo the diaper between diaper changes)  They also have laundry tabs which is what keeps the velcro from attaching to other things in the dryer. 

The snap in liners have a shelf life of about 6 months and after 6 months they lose their water proofness so you do have to replace them after 6 months

These diapers are sized, Rylee is in the medium which fit 13 pounds-28 pounds she has been in this size since we started and she is currently 22 pounds so she has quite a while left in them.  We get a great fit with this diaper and always have.

I really like these diapers I like that Rylee can wear most of her smaller sized clothes (the ones she can't wear with any of her other diapers)with these diapers, I don't like that I have to changer her more often when she wears these diapers.

The g-refills are more absorbant and more trim than any cloth diaper out there, but they are also more expensive in the long run.  I like to use the g-refills when Rylee has a diaper rash that requires using diaper cream, you shouldn't put diaper cream on cloth diapers because it causes the cloth to not absorb and smell and the diaper cream stains also.  

One of my new passions!

So I've been exploring the vast new world that has been opened up to me since having a baby!  Do you want to know what it is?  It's cloth diapering!  I really enjoy it, at first I have to say I was scared, I didn't know how I would react to the poop, and the laundry, but I have to say those are now non-issues.  In fact I now look forward to diaper laundry day because I get to use this great smelling fun laundry soap called Rockin Green.  Yes poop is gross but she only poops once a day, and for the most part it just flops into the toilet so its easy, and Bobby is going to make me a diaper sprayer which is just a kitchen sink sprayer thingy hooked up to the toilet and you use it to spray the poops off the diaper into the toilet.  I also love how her little tushie looks in a cloth diaper, and they have so many styles!

These ones are the cutest ones we have!  What?  You expected rubber pants and square cotton cloths with nasty pins?  No no no, the modern world has figured out a much better way, actually several ways, I will be posting more in the future to enlighten you and expressing my opinions on what we use/what works for us.

My baby is walking

So I guess I have to call her a toddler now because she is toddling around the house, but I think I'll be calling her a baby for a little while longer. I look at her now and I see a little girl, not a baby her arms and legs have gotten so much longer (when did that happen?) her hair is thicker, she is really thinning out. I love seeing her change and grow!

What a year!

Well Rylee is almost 13 months! I can't believe it, she can do so many things, she takes steps without falling, she babbles and I know she is saying "hi", "dada", and probably many more things if I only understood gibberish! She is such a sweet baby, (do I have to call her a toddler now?) she has such a fun personality and she is very loving. She has gotten so loving towards her daddy which is so neat to see. It's been so much fun watching her this past year. I can't even describe how much I love her.

She has been sleeping through the night since she was 11 weeks old (thank you baby-wise) she is into anything and everything, she loves to eat and will try anything, she started out in the 95th percentile for height and weight but she is now she is in the 50th percentile. She has been learning sign language so far she can say "more", "eat", and "all done". She picks things up quickly sometimes she only has to see something once or twice before she mimics it, we have to be careful because she is always watching!

I find it interesting to look at pictures of Rylee right after she was born and compare them to what she look like now, such a huge difference, she looks like a different baby.

I have to say this has been the best year of my life, thank you God for making me a mamma! I love you Rylee!