Reusable Diapers

 

Diapers are gross no matter how you go about it. I'll do what I can in this post to help you out the most I can.

Elizabeth and I tried two or three different brands of diapers. We tried out two different styles. One where the pad is snapped onto the diaper and then tucked into the cloth of the diaper, sort of like a blanket (these are called pocket diapers); and another where the pad is folded and tucked into the diaper, so that it's only being held by material at the front and back of the diaper (these are diaper covers). We purchased them through Green Baby Bargains.

Green Baby Bargains has one sale a day in regards to various children's items (educational, toys, household goods, etc.). Elizabeth has purchased all of my diapers this way and have saved quite a bit of money. Do your research on what you think will work best for your family and then watch for sales while you are expecting. We started with two dozen diapers and have recently purchased a dozen more. You can make it on 24 diapers but around the six month mark, we started having to wash daily.

 Elizabeth purchased a package of Seventh Generation disposable diapers to begin with due to the meconium issue. We have heard it is hard to get out of the reusables. This was also a blessing as we were both exhausted. The other newborn issue is that she thought the diapers would fit because Abigail weighed over 8 pounds when she was born and the diapers are for 8-35 lbs. They didn't! Abigail is very tall and slim. It took about a month for her to fit and so she will be watching for a few dozen newborn diapers to add to our collection.

I'll start with pictures of the ones I dislike.

I dislike them for more than one reason. First The pad has to go between two layers, so when it's all soaked, you have to pull it out. Eww. Secondly, because it has a snap, you also have to unsnap it, even when it may be brown, double eww. And thirdly, THEY LEAK!!!, even when you double the layers, they are still likely to leak. You never have to double the other diapers!

 

 

 

 

 

 

The only nice thing about these diapers, is that the snaps are multi-colored. You would think that it wouldn't be that big of a help in any way, but it actually is-especially when your child needs to be changed at night. The brand is called Lulabye-Baby.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The inside of this diaper is adept at collecting random hairs in it, no matter how clean your house is. If you have a hair floating around in your house, you will find it here stuck in the material.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

That yellow circle is where the pad snaps in.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

You can see the male part of the snap at the top of the pad.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here is one pad.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And here are two pads.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The pads stuffed into the diaper. The hole where you see the pad sticking out of is how you are able to tug the pad all the way through to the end of the diaper.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here is one of two kinds of pads for the other type of diaper we have. This specific one is the one that I prefer. They are called Indian Prefolds. It's not too large, is relatively hands-free once the diaper has been used, and dries a bit easier than any of the other pads of this style that we have tried. You can get organic cotton ones for around $2.50 a piece.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This kind is guaranteed to work, albeit, it's a little larger and a bit thicker. There is an absorbent side (bamboo) and a non-absorbent side (cotton). These sometimes don't dry as well as the Indian Prefolds.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Diaper Safari brand!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is what I was talking about when I said the pads were held by two pieces of material at the front and back.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fold One.

 

 

 

 

Fold Two, then flip over, and

 

 

 

 

 

 

Voila!

 

 

Abigail never gets diaper rash. We strictly don't use any chemicals/powders/lotions or any other "thing". We only use baby-wipes. Babies naturally have soft smooth skin, they don't need our help. Her skin is only rough on her knees now lately because she's crawling all over the house. Let nature work for you.

 

 If your child is crying there is a reason! Hunger, sleep, or wet diaper, or a need for love/security-this last one is frequent.

 

Many times your child will cry because they just want to be held.

 

 Don't listen to those people that tell you that you are spoiling your child because you hold them when they want to be. There is a time and an age when you have to expect them not to be in your hands all the time, but that time is no sooner than when they can walk and understand what you are saying, otherwise you are just fighting with nature. Touch is the language that children understand the quickest. To touch a child is to love them.

 

 

 

I never thought about one of the facts of a homestead: Raising babies!

It's all relevant I guess, another aspect of life on the farm.

Well, this may start a tick of writing more about Abigail. Raising her is beautiful, I love it. She makes us so happy and she really is much easier to raise than what we had been led to expect.

Part of homesteading is saving money everywhere we can, we figured out that it would cost about
 20$ a week to buy disposables. However our total monthly water bill for the month is only 50$ and we spend approximately 24$ a year on detergent. Recently our purchase of a dozen Diaper Safari covers and inserts cost us 118.40$ with shipping on GreenBabyBargains. If you were to three dozen, it would be around 350$. The savings are clear. Abigail will use these and so will her next sibling. I'm not sure how long they'll last after that.

 

I'm going to have to start those postings now. They're at the ends of my fingertips.
I'll space them out over the next weeks or so.

 

I pray to our heavenly Father that He bless you abundantly with peace and grace that can only come from a relationship with Yeshua our Messiah.

 

ASK QUESTIONS BELOW

Michael E McCartan



Grandparents, Be Thankful For Them

Everybody knows that parents are a necessary part of life for anyone growing up. Whether they be your birth-parents or even just legal-guardians. We've all had parental figures around us as we grew up instructing us as to what they thought we should do as life brought us a multitude of life-changing intersections.

Whether it be the decision of what occupation we should take up, or even, what do people do during their courtship years.

I grew up with two parents, my father is the quiet type and prefers to stick to his athletics and stock market interests. My mother on the other hand was a little more involved in my life. She would let me know when music I had purchased was too offensive for her to tolerate and when I should stay away from certain guys I had chosen as friends. She did what a mother was supposed to do. She made a delicious dinner every evening and we would all eat together, the entire family. She would clean the house and clean our laundry. She'd let us know if we let our room go too far and that we needed to clean it. I got my first job because of some stern encouragement from my mother. When she got a car to replace her van, she let me have the old car. I had a very fun youth because of it.

I like to think that I know my parents well. I know I don't know everything about them, or even a lot about them, but I like to think I know the things I should.

When it comes to my grandparents, I never really got to know either pair. Both grandfathers passed before I was old enough to understand who they were. By the time my mothers mother lived near us her health was so feeble that she really wasn't cognizant of who I was, she passed when I was ten or eleven. My fathers mother I knew a little better but I tried to keep quiet and keep my distance. She was unaffectionate and irritable. I tried to work around her quirks. I remember one time she took me on a small car trip around her town and showed me a sheep farm, she showed me a spring where the townspeople would fill up jugs. I cherish the few but deep memories I have of being with her. She lived about 22 hours from where we liv nowadays, so I only saw her very few times. She's passed on as well. Her house went to my aunts family, a piece of land went to my father.

I've never really been around friends that lived with or around their grandparents. But as I get older I wish more and more deeply as I go on that I had a pair of grandparents to fill that elderly niche that only grandparents can fill. They give us a deeper understanding of our heritage. They help us to understand ourselves and why some of us are writers and others of us musicians. I never really knew my grandparents, but I can truly say that I miss them. I miss them.

If all I can do is encourage you to enjoy and appreciate your grandparents, then that's what I'm trying to do. Granted you have the opportunity.

Grandparents symbolize honesty, virtue, and stability-in my opinion.

Through the years I've tried to find replacements for the grandparents I didn't know. I never really did have success. There's just no substitute for your own original grandparents.

My prayer is that in the event the Lord tarries till after I pass, that I be able to liv in a home filled with my grandchildren. I know that could be twenty-plus years from now, but it would fill my heart with joy. Every member of a home has a niche, every child, every teen, every adult. And every lesson we learn as we go through life's lessons in each of these stages, prepares us to be the grandparents that the Lord intends for us to be.

The purpose of life is to raise a better generation.
The meaning of life is to become the person it takes to raise that better generation.

Let the Lord mould you into the grandparent he needs you to be, today's and tomorrow's generation need people aware of the importance of altruism. It takes a lifetime to become that person, that's not an accident. It's his design.

I pray this posting brought peace to you and left you feeling edified. I pray God's blessings on your house, friends, and family. In the name of Yeshua, bless you.