Monday, October 1, 2012

Finally! Here we go...

Basil sporting her (free! thanks to Aunt Erin's awesome coupon) GroVia diaper. And, also thanks to Aunt Erin, her beautiful bobby pinned hair do. Don't let this girl's minimalist look fool you... she has just a few more things that she will need for this trip, and is so kindly allowing mom and dad to carry it all on their backs!
Our original plan to head over to Thailand has changed; we decided to fly south for the winter. Right now a flight from Dallas to Costa Rica costs a whopping $140, as opposed to the $700 tickets to southeast Asia. We like cheap. Even if it leaves at 0600 and flies to Florida first for a layover. We leave tomorrow morning, hopefully I will be able to keep this blog going. I have a feeling I will be a little overwhelmed with school. Yes, school. We will be taking classes online while we travel. But since we will have Basil we wont be camping as much and will mostly be staying in hostels and rooms, which usually provide internet.
Back on the road again. We are so, so ready for this.

Saturday, June 9, 2012

The (clean) ins and outs of gDiapers

I will get off the subject of diapers. Someday. But as for now, it's what you get!
My dr(ying rack)esser
Everywhere I go I am asked how Basil's diapers work, aside from the obvious poo-catching aspect. So here are all the parts and pieces to gDiapers. When I was researching which cloth dipes I wanted to use, a breakdown like this would have been so nice to compare and get a feel for them all. Sadly, I only know g's but at least I can dish out one piece of the comparison pie.



The outside of a gDiaper
 It's just so small when it's by itself. I'd say just like a pair of your regular underoo's; not bulky in your pack at all.


The inside of a naked gDiaper


 Don't look! He has no clothes on! Next slide, please....

The waterproof snap-in pouch

This is what makes the diaper waterproof, the most important part. Easily washed and dries in five minutes. He looks kind of like a turtle flipped onto his back with little tab feet.


The pouch snapped in
There we go. We are now where I usually have them on hand. That is all the prep that you have to do.


Homemade cloth insert
I will write a short post explaining how to make these. A very short post; they are too easy. But all too necessary. There is also the more absorbant biodegradable gRefill I talked about that would take place of this cloth insert. I only use the cloth, though.



Completely assembled
And done! We are ready to rock and roll. Now he looks like a big-mouthed, poop eating monster with beady orange eyes. This is the way it will be facing you when you put it on your baby, opposite of any other diaper. The tabs wrap around from the front to the back. It's a life (or carpet) saver with my army crawler; if they were in the front the velcro would come undone every time she moved.


The "g" logo and tabs go on the backside
It's like a little package, just missing a cute bum to fill it!

Wednesday, June 6, 2012

This could actually work

So the cloth vs. disposable experiment is going even a lot smoother than I anticipated! I was a bit nervous that while traveling I would not be able to find a place to wash the liners or be able to hang them up long enough to dry. Well honestly I still cannot say for sure what it is going to be like on the road with a backpack full of poopy rags while trying to keep the rest of the pack's contents semi fresh. I do, however, know that it is not impossible here in America. Obviously- or no one would do it. And I haven't even used the washing machine for any of it (keep in mind the plastic snap-in liner pouches last longer if they are machine washed on cold, but I don't stretch and wring them out when I hand wash them so I consider myself safe). More time consuming? Positively. Worth it? Absolutely. (again, I'm sorry, kind mother earth for loading you chock full o' nuts full of diaper bombs..I'm trying to right my wrongs). So time spent changing diapers per day probably doubled. I also have to carry four inserts on me on any regular day outing, more if it will be a significant amount of time. Plus a ziplock bag for dirties and an extra snap-in, which don't take up any more room, but are just more things to remember to pack daily. Washing is not a big deal at all. I literally just hand wash each one, and usually right after it happens if I can. The other day I even quickly washed a piddle cloth in the sink at the grocery store. Don't give me that look, I'm sure that sink has seen worse.


Anyway, the liners dry in just less than 24 hours, and that is even in a dark laundry closet and not in the sun. I bet they would dry in half the time outside... I should string a clothes line on our balcony! The snap-in pouches dry in five minutes tops, again inside. And the best part is: I dont think Tony has washed one liner. Poop isn't his all time favourite thing to dig his hands into (although sparing my sweet Basil the embarrassment of me going into detail about her bowel movements, let me just say that there is not much cleanup involved in that department. Have I mentioned she is the perfect baby?) I tried to make myself a promise that I would try try try to not let the dirties pile up and get out of control so that Tony felt he had to do it or else they would start growing legs. It has been so easy that there has yet to be a backup of washing to do. And definitely no sprouting limbs.

Friday, June 1, 2012

A Name Brand Bum

I have been researching and researching. Which is the best cloth diaper, you say? Well the answer is... drum roll please... every baby is different! Of course. So no matter the amount of hours spent looking for the cutest, sturdiest, leak proofest diaper, you finally get that answer you were dreading. Apparently you have to go out and buy one of every type of diaper to see if it works for your baby's chicken/chub legs, skinny/round belly and massive piles/mini piddles. So here's to my most recent $82 investment (and let's just hope it is an investment and not an experiment) gDiapers! http://www.gdiapers.com/ I have always had my eye on gDiapers. What I love: They are not bulky and fit under pants. They have the velcro on the back so you are less likely to find a wandering nakey baby. They have a breathable plastic snap-in liner that is very easy to clean and dry. And best of all the innards are completely biodegradable; you can flush them down the toilet or throw them in your compost pile and they decompose in 50-150 days! (Sure beats 500 years!) Plus, let's face it, the little "g" logo on the bum? Way too adorable.
Basil rockin' her new gDipes with the dolphins at SeaWorld

What I don't love: The gRefills are eeexpensive, costing about .46 cents per refill as opposed to .18 cents per disposable dipe. But! gDiapers have a new deal; gCloth inserts. Also very expensive ($4.16 each) but reusable, of course. And after buying (and hastily opening...whoops) a six pack of these gCloth inserts I decided I need manymany more (what with having to change them every 1-2 hours!) but that I can definitely make my own.

I found out that at both Target and Walmart the whole gDiapering system would cost way more than BabiesR'us (whoda though!?) And that BabiesR'us will price match anything from their online store.

Price Breakdown
2 Little gPants (Medium) - $27
6 gCloth Inserts - $25
6 Snap-in Liners - $18
gTotal - $70

And here is where I brag about my money saving abilities. I found the Little gPants on Craigslist, four of them instead of two for $2 less. So I was able to return the new ones and get $27 back in my pocket! Then I went to out and bought the fleece, flannel and microfiber (car washing rags) to make my own inserts.
Basil can't wait to piddle on her new liners!

New Price Breakdown
4 Little gPants (Medium) - $25
6 gCloth Inserts - $25
6 Snap-in Liners - $18
8 Homemade Cloth Inserts - $8
New gTotal - $76

And let us just keep in mind that one box of 144 generic size 3 dipes cost $27.00. I would have had my money's worth less than 3 boxes of diapers ago, and saved mother nature from 432 wadded plastic abominations. I'm grateful that I have the means and determination to start now with baby #1.

Tuesday, May 29, 2012

To cloth or not to cloth?

Of all things I could be doing to be getting ready for our journeys, I seem to tackle the, what one might call "trivial" tasks. While undergoing such endeavors may look to others as if I have done nothing to prepare for my family's adventures, to me it feels like no small means. Tonight I spent the past five hours figuring out and sewing a cloth diaper. One. But as made evident by the title of our blog: "Around the World in Diapers" it is a pretty substantial aspect of our lives at present, and I am assuming will continue to be for a while. Meaning years. 8-10, to be precise. So! Diapers. To cloth or not to cloth? Let me fill you in on some important background information. First and foremost, I am bound and determined to save the world. Every drop of water raises the ship in the harbor, right? My goal is to not have my childrens poopy diapers fill up the worlds landfills. Or the harbors. Upon my reasearch, America, just America, tosses 50 million disposable diapers every day. That is 20 BILLION a year. Can you wrap your head around 20 billion diapers? So sad. And what's worse, they take up to 500 years to decompose.Disposables have only been around since the 40's so I'm not sure how they manage to come up with that number. But either way, there is no denying the guilt I feel as I throw yet another ball of plastic and cellulose into the trash ::sigh:: we are ready for a diaper change. Literally.

Back to the story about the five hour love affair with my sewing machine and a cloth dipe pattern. My mind is made up. I will make the switch. It has only taken me 9 months. That's somewhere around ::deep breath:: 1,650 diapers just from one tiny human. Heart breaking. But don't worry! Remember my mind is made up. Can I also just say, though we did not buy all of those diapers for ourselves (most were gifts, for which we are very grateful) that's a whopping total of $313.50! What could I do with $313.50? I'm getting a bit off track. So I went out to Hobby Lobby and bought plenty of elastic and velcro for $3.00 and I chose a cute old sundress that was in my donation pile. Hours later I have my first cloth pocket dipe and soaker liner. So cute I can hardly stand it. And it only cost me about 20 cents to boot. I can now do diapering so cheap! Cloth diapers online are anywhere between $4 and $25. I would love to buy the $25 dipes, and maybe I could have justified such a purchase had I done this in the very begining and not spent arms and legs for disposables. But I am happy with my adorable pink patchwork dipe and I almost wanted to wake Basil up just to put it on her. Next scene: Basil bum is clad in cloth. Love! Next next scene: my shirt is wet. Homemade dipe = failed.
But at least I got a cute picture out of it.