These are not your mother's (or grandmother's) cloth diapers, they are better!

When I was a baby, way back in the 1960's, I wore cloth diapers. Cotton gauze things with elastic-edged plastic pants on top. My mom tells me how disposables were just coming out, and they'd use them for trips sometimes but they were very expensive and nobody used them ALL the time of course....

When I was expecting my first child 9.5 years ago, I looked into cloth diapers to see where things stood. There were still basic cotton things, ie prefolds, and covers, but now with velcro. I thought, ok, my ancestors back to the beginning of recorded time have worn cloth diapers (or rags or skins or leaves or whatever!), so why change (pun intended) now. Plus, it seemed so much more sane to have a few diapers you wash every couple of days that last you for a few years, than to buy things you throw out constantly, both economically and environmentally.

We did that, basic white diapers with basic white covers (Proraps for anyone keeping score), and we were good. Ok, not perfect, as they didn't hold up well enough to our super pee-er and we did disposables at night, but I could live with a pack of diapers lasting a month or two. Kiddo number one took a bit over 3 years to become friends with the potty, so we got our money's worth. I think there was even a pink and a mint green diaper cover in the mix, about as exotic as it got back then.

Finally, after 7+ years, we managed the second kiddo. Of course cloth diapers still made sense, even moreso with all the green initiatives and propaganda all permeating our existence of late. And Wowza, was I in for a surprise!


There were still prefolds and covers, but many brands, colors and styles. When I bought my diapers originally, it was mail-order from Born to Love in Canada since I could not even find a local store that carried them. Now there are a bunch, and even the local toy store and green products store have several kinds. I didn't even know anyone else retro enough to use cloth back then, but now there are many websites, user groups and forums on the topic and I was amazed to see how many people are really way more into all this than I could ever have imagined, buying, trying, reviewing, reselling and what not...

I dipped my toe into the water of modern diaperdom, getting a few Thirsties extra-small covers in a rainbow of colors to go with our 8-year-old prefolds, that we started as soon as the cord stump fell off. It went fine and they were very cute.

I knew there had to be more absorbent overnight solutions by now, so I did some research and ordered a couple Thirsties Duo diapers and Tiny Tush Elite, both pocket diapers where you adjust the absorbency by varying the type and quantity of inserts you stuff into them. [more on the expanding smorgasbord of booty bundling soon]

Cutey Baby "That's a Wrap!" Review

In a modern marketing miracle, a Chicago-area mom has gotten major grocery retailers in much of the country to stock her CLOTH diapers in the baby section. See http://www.cuteybaby.com/?page_id=638 to find a store near you.



I just tried their new diapering system and I'd like to compare it to some others I have used. It consists of two parts. There is the cover, which is knit polyester fabric on the outside, and waterproof on the inside; and a separate soaker pad with 4 layers of microfiber topped with stay-dry fabric. The fabric is somewhat thinner than Flip and Thisties covers, but thick enough to do its job.

They also provide disposable liners to make cleanup easier.

My 25-pound 16-month old is at the upper end of the Medium (12-30 lbs) and the lower end of Large (25-40), and I was fortunate to be able to test both sizes on her.



(Gosh, my photography skills make her look fat. Yeah, well... :) Only one pic. She liked the large so well that she gave it a good workout right away and its in the wash).


Things I like a lot:

The insert is very soft and absorbent, washes clean well, and dries quickly. It can go next to baby's skin, unlike inserts for pocket diapers, and I would use them with other covers, too.

The fabrics are very cute, with a range of girl/boy/neutral prints.

The elastic is stretchy and soft and fits snuggly to contain messes (that was quickly tested!)

I like the liners for when I need to use diaper cream, but I don't use them all the time.

I applaud Cutey Baby for tackling mass market retailers like Jewel Foods in our area, to get cloth diapers into the hands of many more parents for the first time.

Minor complaints:
The cover could really benefit from crossover velcro, to be able to overlap the front tabs for a tighter, more adjustable fit. The tabs are proportionately longer than other similarly sized covers. The large would fit my kiddo in the rise but the waist is too large.

The low-profile velcro is pretty clingy, but not as thick or strong gripping as some
brands (Blueberry, Thirsties, Ragababe). I could see a toddler undoing it pretty easily, though mine did not yet get a chance.

It's a personal preference, but I'd like if they were made in USA instead of China, as many other brands do manage within a similar price range (Amazon: $14.99 cover, $10.99 soaker 2-pack. Chicago-area Jewel: 12.99/8.99).

I didn't realize until this week that the are only in grocery stores for a limited test period this month, to see how well they sell, so check them out while you can, especially the adorable monkey prints! They also have great wet bags available, to hold diapers before and after changes while you are out.





Sorry for the lateness of this review, which is due to a freakish malfunction of our post office and a busy work schedule. I was provided a diaper free of charge to review but the opinions are my own.

I Need to Write

I enjoy it. I always have. I started a journal when i was 12 and have more or less kept it up, to varying degrees, ever since, as it morphed from yellow lined tablets to bound blank books to files on a 486 pc, to files on a newer laptop, interspersed with this sort of thing...

The problem is that I rarely let myself make enough time for it, like depriving myself of that tasty piece of cake, or feeling guilty if I do indulge.

I often feel like a tortured artist, who can only manage to be creative while miserable and loses the desire during happier moments in life. Such irony.

Our latest home improvement

Not to be too off-topic but it seems like LOTS of folks have been posting on this
topic....

This is why we have been too busy to do anything major with the house this spring and summer.




House-related--she is sitting in a quarter-sawn oak rocker in front of our leaded glass doored built-in cabinets around our decorative fireplace in our craftsman bungalow :)

More for Christmas and definitely some projects in the New Year.

Contemplating again

As always, I haven't written on here in way too long. I got a little into the Facebook thing but not tons, like some people do. Classmates has been a useless tease ("Three people signed your guestbook! Pay for Gold membership NOW to see their names!" Not.)
Linkedin has just been a few professional contacts, nothing fun yet.

At least I am kind of involved with actual humans, knowing some of the folks running in our tiny local elections and such is kind of cool.

I don't feel quite as crappy and cynical as a few months ago. Perhaps Spring helps, though right now it's sleeting and going to snow a couple inches over night. (It better not hose all the plants just trying to sprout. The baby walnut is just about to leaf out--this happened two years ago, it's top bud froze off and it was set back all season. Then last year it grew from less than 2 to over 4 feet, way good year.)

Been getting more involved with environmental groups and causes, which helps. My rarely inspiring barely paying job goes along, but this isn't a good time to try to change that.

At least we have BUNNIES!

Endless crappy toy rant....

We get the child a Bozo punching bag for Christmas. Blow it up today with a nice gentle pump. It seems fine for a little while then I look again and it's losing air. I look it over and it seems there is a tiny hole in the bottom, where they were sealing the seams around the weighted sand and managed to burn through the vinyl just a tiny speck, but enough. Will call and try to exchange this weekend, probably bringing the pump to try it out, but that could be tricky as it's almost 4 ft. tall and would not fit in the car too well...

We get her a rather silly but highly desired Hannah Montana guitar video game thingey. It works fine yesterday and today won't talk to the TV, despite all our trouble-shooting attempts (how many parents
with computer degrees does it take...). Will call their help number tomorrow after trying yet more new batteries. (If it drains 'em in a day, well, we are gonna have issues).

New Barbie clothes from the grandma include tights, which like all current Barbie clothes must be so skin-tight that your average single-digit-aged child has a horrid time putting them on. I feel like an old person, but it's not a doll modesty thing, it's a quality thing. The stupid clothes rip the first time she tries to use them. Come on, why and how do they get away with this? I have had better luck buying old doll clothes off of eBay, that hold up better after 30 years than new ones do.

Haven't even opened half her other gifts to play with yet. Can't wait. Dunno if my liver can handle the fun....

How much they can unknowingly hurt...

I'm desperately trying to finish some work (at home) before heading to the company holiday party. The child comes to bug me again about how soon can we go. She sits on my lap and says how she wants to be a famous artist when she grows up, not slump at some computer. Yeah. So did I. Not making very much progress at it, am I, getting sucked into having a degree in something I never really liked, because I was convinced work was supposed to suck and well, it mostly has.

Am I setting a good impression for her? Hardly. I'm not rich or famous at anything and she no signs of getting there anytime before death. Good thing it's the happy family-filled holiday season so I can be miserable in front of everyone else....not....

I want my life back before it's too late....

Electronic over-inter-action...

I am not sure why, but in the last week I have joined Linkedin.com, Classmates.com and Facebook.com and already connected with various friends, relatives, former roommates and so on.Mmaybe it's the nostalgia-filled holiday season or morbid curiosity or something else, I'm not sure. Maybe I need a contrast to my college newsletter that touts all the under-40 rich and famous alumni, making me feel like a useless slacker.

I should be writing Christmas cards and doing work (at home) but no, I'm obsessively trying to think of names of folks from grade school, just to see if they are virtually out there. Strange. But kind of fun, or there would not be millions of folks doing it, I guess. Still not sure how it's better than email or a blog but I guess it is the coordination and networking they do for you.

Soon to update my woefully ignored houseblog, too.

My Obama (non)moment

No, I haven't met him. I now regret not going to D.C. when he was a new junior senator and
requesting to have brunch with Dick Durbin (who is a very good senator) and him. A bit
late now...

Anyway, my behind the scenes (non) moment happened several years ago. I have
always been on donor lists for the Democrats and would get phone calls for polls,
money requests, and so on. Way before the Senate race in Illinois, there was a very
detailed survey call, asking about a bunch of potential candidates, mostly nothing
special local office-holders, and this guy with a weird name about whom no one had
heard much. They were very into it, with things like "What if we told you he was
the first African-American president of the Harvard Law Review", and lots of things
on his positions, and so on. It all seemed quite promising and I said I'd be willing to
learn more and perhaps consider voting for him. I guess a lot of other survey respondents
said so, too, since all of a sudden he was the leading contender in the U.S. Senate race
in Illinois.

Seems very much like there were folks behind the scenes planning and grooming and
scheming for quite some time there. And Now look where it's gone. Wow. I feel
better about national politics than I have since 1992...Woo-hoo and here's hoping....

Mother rant, 1? of infinity...

Does everyone's mother say how they have failed at raising their child because said child does not keep its house as clean as said child's mother? Do they ever have anything positive to say? Do they harp on things like faded shear curtains, that came with the house and are being replaced soon by blinds and don't rate washing, yet, somehow, they chisel away at most of said child's capabilities as an adult human being, or so she would believe? I've been told to just ignore such things, the rantings of a crazy old woman. This was from someone whose crazy old mother was safely in another country, not a couple miles away. It's hard when your mother is so perfect, you can never measure up, even if you wanted to, which you don't.....not in that way, at least....

Not ranting enough....

I keep feeling so screwed up and less-than-profound, that I am reluctant to write, but I think that is what makes me therefore NEED to write, if only to calm my troubled brain. If anyone is actually reading this, you have been warned.

So, can he do it? The Obama thing, that is. We've already had one massive hellish let-down for the year with the Cubs giant tease and crash. Do we need another? I have been actively ignoring national politics since 2000 when I volunteered for a campaign for the first time and got too crushed for my own good. I recall being thrilled in 1992 but far less since.....

I never thought the world would seem this screwed up by the time I was 40. Is it me or is it just that the longer you live, the more perspective you acquire and the cynicism multiplies....

The inescapable sucking ooze...

...that is JP Morgan Chase and so many others. I awoke to hear that yesterday the bank that has our mortgage and savings, Washington Mutual, was bought by Chase. Just last year, I had closed my accounts at Chase and switched to WaMu as they like to be called, gag, since I was sick of their impersonal fee-laden New York intrusive dumbness. This was after they bought Bank One who'd combined with NBD Bank, after taking over First Chicago, which had been around since roughtly 1864 and is no more.

And don't even get me started on the Marshall Field's demise...

How big can these Jabba the Hut corporate things get and why is there no escape? It's like the whole AT&T (sorry, they like lower case now) thing, gosh, it used to be Illinois Bell and then Ameritech and then SBC and now at&t again, just like we used to have for long distance. And their fees, too, keep going up. Text messaging on prepaid cellular went from 5cents/msg last year to 15cents in one go! Gosh, that's a 300% increase. Now it's going up another 5cents. All of this may seem petty to folks with unlimited plans, but I, and many others like me, don't make $100+ of cell calls a month to need such plans. Anyway.

Back to work and a nice cup of healthy green tea. END RANT...

A safe, fun, high-tech way to meet people!

Hey, check out Crush or Flush, a great new way to meet people.

You upload a photo of yourself and a name, or nickname, but not other personal info gets posted. You add whatever personal descriptions of yourself you want, and can browse for others based on their descriptive info. You enter your cell phone number and use the site to text message folks on whom you might have a "crush" or you can "flush" those on whom you don't. Pretty nifty and safer than the bars.

and more irony..

I recently saw little red painted wooden 4th of July pins, with American flags on them. They had a tiny plaque linked on, that said "This Land Is My Land". I had to check, and of course the usual "Made In China" sticker was on the back. Yes, this land IS theirs, isn't it, at least trade-deficit-wise... The patriotic shirts from Old Navy piss me off, too. Try American Apparel , made in Los Angeles t-shirts, for an example of actual American clothing...

Ah, the irony...

Ok, the last post was just slaving for mturk again. Still catching up since the holidays. The title of this post refers to my in-laws. They got me the book A Year Without Made in China, which was a surprisingly appropriate and thoughtful gift, considering my Buy American leanings (are liberals allowed to have those? Ah, another topic entirely. Anyway.) and my complaints about how so many things today are such junk, and so on.

Then they gave my daughter a doll, whose leg broke off with very little prompting right on Christmas Eve. There was an amazing trauma and they promised to take her to the doll hospital and get her fixed (ie secretly replaced). Apparently they mucked with it so much, rather than just return it, that they figured the store would blame them and they, amazingly, bought a whole new one instead. THEN, the day they gave it to us, right after we got home, gosh, what do you know, its leg broke off, just like the first one. More child traumas. I wanted to break some legs and I don't mean the doll's...This was beyond ridiculous, so we promised to get her crutches or some such and taped her leg back on and she has mostly laid in the doll bed since then, ignored.
At least stuffed animals don't break so easily but people could really lay off giving those, too.

Time to break out that sewing machine and make the memorable sort of toys and clothes that my grandmother made us....

Great new job listing site

Hey, check it out--SellingCrossing aka Employment Crossing. They have over a million sales-related and other job listings free for the browsing. The search options seem pretty helpful, too.

Christmas Eve and missing my Dad...

He was the fun one to buy for, detective novels, the latest Craftsman tool gadget...
We lost him to cancer 7 years ago, a year before his granddaughter was born. I so much regret that he could not be a big part of her life. These are those supposedly magical years for her and it feels so lacking in so many ways. We can hope she doesn't notice I guess...

Everyone else must like this more than I do...

Sending Christmas/holiday cards, that is. It was far easier when I was just the name after the ampersand on my parents' cards. I have been sending my own since, I guess, living on my own before getting married. I think I enjoy it less every year but keep it up because it's expected and seems Scrooge-like not to. Some aunts are more thrilled by getting our child's picture than we are, I think.

Mostly it reminds me how so many people who used to be classmates/friends/drinking buddies are reduced to a yearly piece of paper and no personal contact at all. We mean to call, but everyone gets so wrapped up in their own lives I guess...

It depresses me how it's still just the three of us while everyone else seems to have another rugrat on their card every year. We are still hoping that will change before it's too late, but who can say.

It makes sad how many cards I don't send, but used to, to all the now-departed relatives. And how many of the cards are to just 'Mrs' instead of both now.

"Happy" holidays...?

Alcohol Acquisition Interlude

A bout of Christmas shopping brought to my notice Bundaberg Ginger Beer at Cost Plus. Yes, the non-alcoholic kind, like strong ginger ale. We first had Bundaberg Rum in Australia in '94 and still have a few precious drops from the bottles we brought back. (Mix those two beverages for a Dark and Stormy, yum). I hadn't recalled that they are Australia's biggest sugar producer.

I have wondered on occasion if/when they'd ever export to the U.S.. No rum so far, but anything is a start. That required one of our occasional pitstops at Sam's. No rum yet. But we did find Tooheys Beer, another Aussie product we hadn't had since being there.

And also two newly available offerings from Abita Brewing, just on the other side of Lake Pontchartrain from New Orleans (which merits endless blogging on its own)--Christmas Ale and Jockamo IPA.

And since the spouse dude has a cool Belgian beer glass for our quality tastings, I picked up a gift pack of Tripel Karmeliet, which I really like, with a really cool glass in it. (They have a website registered in with an ISP in Belgium but not active yet. That's ok, you can make beer for a couple centuries and don't have to be on the cutting edge of technology, too. :)) Again, much yum.

Fish First Aid

After the recent bunny crisis, I am even more paranoid than usual about our remaining pets (Rascal the rabbit and Nemo and Donkey th goldfish; yes, you can guess who named the latter two). We are watching the neighbor's two goldfish, also, while they are away and the one was having trouble staying away from the top of the water and swimming hard. I suspected swim bladder problems and reminded myself of the the suggested remedies. That consisted of adding some salt to the water, raising its temperature a little bit and feeding non-flake food. I did all that and went to bed with fingers crossed. This morning Brownie is fine, and trailing a poop as long as his body. Yes, constipation can also cause those problems. Another minor crisis averted. Now back to our regularly scheduled life. No wait, this IS that, I forget...