Sebastian: Four Months

I know.  I realize these monthly updates can get monotonous and boring.  It’s a picture of a cute baby and a bunch of words on how his “personality” is coming out, how he spends his days (and nights), and how much we love him to pieces.  A lot of you are moms that know what kinds of trouble four month-olds can get into…none.  Unless you count spitting up all over your clothes, their clothes, your floors and walls and surfaces and everything in between.  So, here’s the cute baby:

Now feel free-as-can-be to move along because here comes my take on his personality.

Sebastian.  A happy-spitter, as his Doc calls him.  He eats, he burps, and woop, there it is.  Like clockwork.  Needless to say, I never wear anything more than once before it gets tossed into the laundry basket.  He started giggling this month when tickled.  Super ticklish that kid.  Still hates his car seat which is great for my social life (and my sanity).  Can we say “cabin fever”?  Yes we can, we do, and we will.  What else?  Oh, he’s in the 90-95th percentile for height, the 75th for weight, and the 50th for head size.  So much different than his sisters at their age.  They were always, always, always in the teens and twenties for weight and head size but above average for height.  He weighs now what they weighed at nine months of age (around 15.5 pounds).  That is crazy to me. 

He still sleeps right next to mwah in his co-sleeper but by “sleeps” I mean notallnight…yet.  He fidgets around for food twice or thrice per night which is wonderful for my beauty sleep (and the reason I should stay far away from selfies).  However tough some nights might be though, I awake to him every morning, on his tummy, propped up on his tiny elbows with a grin the size of Texas just staring at his one true love which leads me to the fact that… 

He’s a momma’s boy.  Only wants me, me, me…and Daddy too but mostly me - also great for my social life with the girls.  I sometimes wonder what they think about this kid who’s always attached to the mom they used to know.  It’s okay though because I ward off neglect by getting in twin-time during Sebastian’s several daily naps.  :) 

Speaking of those girls, they turned 22 months old last week.  Want to know about their personalities?  They’re bursting at the seams with them, like most almost-two-year-olds.  Let’s do it acrostic style:

She’s our “good girl”.  We say “no”, she stops.  We say “go”, she goes.  We say “jump”, she jumps.  The one exception to the rule is doing her biznaz on the toilet.  We’ll not revisit that nightmare but if you want to, have at it. 

Oh Cecilia.  I love her so much I want to squeeze her and she drives me so crazy sometimes that I want to squeeze her for that too.  Everything is a game with her.  ‘You want your cell phone back, catch me if you can.’  ‘Ooh, let’s see how close I can come to jumping on Sebastian’s head without actually jumping on it.’  She lives for the chase, for real.  If she was a hashtag, she’d be #comeandgetme with #tryandstopme coming in a close second.

Our girls, our girls.  Comrades, mutual entertainment, partners in crime, all of it AND beauties to boot.   

And, as is typical with that little thing called “sisterhood”, they’re the best of friends…

…and the worst of friends.

All cute, all ours and man do we love ‘em.  :)

Potty Training: Day Tres

Oh boy.  We are done.  Done for now.  Pardon the time lapse between this post and that of Day Two, we were busy recovering/cleaning/cleaning/sanitizing/recovering.  Since the twins have graced our lives, we’ve never had a more rough few days than the three days we tried potty training them.  Tried and failed.  Yep, we’re back to diapers.

 

Anthony had three and half days off of work so we expected to use all that time training and we did, but now those days are over without the results we were hoping for and he’s back to work today which leaves me and the three tots alone and heck if I’m going to nurse a babe, cook, mother, and clean up potty all the day alone.  Not.Happening. 

It feels a little like we wasted three days and I’m really, really bummed that the girls didn’t train like we had hoped and thought.  However, we learned a lot and I think we definitely planted a few seeds about using the pot.  I’ve mentioned this before, but we purchased and followed the ebook, 3 Day Potty Training by Lora Jensen.  I read the book a few times before we started, made notes, and relayed everything to Anthony.  During the three days we trained we followed Lora’s instructions to a T.  We used positive reinforcement and no matter how many times we wanted to slam our fists through a wall, we flashed smiles and encouragement to the girls at all times.  They didn’t see an ounce of negativity in three days.  We followed them around everywhere, we told them to let us know when they needed to go, we caught 98% of their accidents and ran them to the toilet during those accidents (that one left a nice picture in your mind, didn’t it?)  It was misery for all but no one ever said potty training was fun, right?

Poor Sebastian was neglected (the number one reason why we should’ve gotten another person on board to help) and spent the majority of the last three days in his swing.  Besides the emotional stress of trying your darndest to nicely teach your kids that excrement belongs in the toilet, the stress of knowing that I couldn’t cuddle our three month old killed me.  I missed him so much. 

Potty training brought out the worst in me.  I’m a pretty positive person but when I wasn’t within a five foot radius of both twins at all times (a must with the three day method), so during naptimes, I was exhausted and perched next to their bedroom door while they slept listening for any signs that one needed to ‘go’ and browsing Instagram where I wanted to comment “you suck”, “you suck”, “you suck”, “you suck” on all my followee’s pictures because everyone was happily living life and I was stuck cleaning up gallons of pee (and that is probably more literal than figurative). 

Anyway, it’s over.  Life is back to normal and I love all my Instagram friends again so I’ll not focus on the misery but on what we took away from the crappy experience (more figurative than literal thank God).


[I know you’re dying to see pictures of my kids in their skivvies, so I’ll just keep on postin’.]

The girls can be potty trained.  It is possible at their age – 22 months.  They learned how to hold it.  They know how to control it.  The first day was spent cleaning up accidents because they’d just release not knowing what they hay was happening.  Day two was different.  We pumped them full of liquid that they gladly drank but they became afraid of having accidents so they held it until they couldn’t hold it anymore.  They learned to tell us when they had to go – they’d run to us and get all panicky and want to be held.  But, here’s the kicker, every time we set them on the toilet they’d throw a FIT.  Seraphia actually did pretty well on the morning of day two until she observed Cecilia throw a fit on the toilet and decided she’d do the same.  It wasn’t that they were afraid of the toilet.  If we set them on it and handed them a book, they’d be perfectly fine and would sit there reading.  For some odd reason, they just didn’t want to release into the dark abyss below.

 

In the end, we learned that not every method, not matter how many successes it touts, works for every kid.  Lora says you should never say “no” or “bad” and I agree and disagree.  Seraphia responds pretty well to “no” when we say it upon her doing something we’d like her not to.  She’ll stop and move on.  Saying “no” to her when she goes to the bathroom on the floor would probably resonate well.  Cecilia on the other hand seems to think that the word “no” signals a game.  She’ll give us a wry smile, continue doing whatever it is she’s not supposed to being doing and laugh in our faces.  You can imagine how she’d react then if we told her no peeing on the floor…actually, don’t imagine it because…yuck.  Saying “bad” to either girl however would probably make them think that peeing is bad in general, no matter what or where. 

Anyway, I know that if you haven’t already clicked off that I’m boring you to death talking about human excrement so leave the rest of my thoughts to myself.  Our goal is to have the girls potty-trained within the next few months and so, when success finds its way to us, I’ll let you know how we achieved it.  Until then, it’s back to the 20+ diaper-changes-per-day grindstone which I will gladly take over the nightmare of our first experience with potty training.  :)

If you have any tips or tricks that got your kid from diaper to pot, please leave them in the comment section or email me!!  I’m not going to say that we’re desperate but we just might be…a little bit. 

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P.S.  One little tidbit of info I did pick up – I bought size 4 toddler undies for the girls even though they’re barely in size 2T because they were literally half the price and we needed 30 pairs for training.  After washing them and drying them on high heat they shrank a little and, even though they didn’t fit tight, they worked perfectly!

Potty Training: Day Dos

Let me tell you what I am.  Too physically, emotionally, and mentally exhausted to write.  So, hopefully this moment in time fills you in on how potty training went today – day two:


Let’s just say that there are three people here who are at medium to high risk of getting their pants wet.

If you’re interested – Day One.

Pray for us.  Please.

Potty Training: Day Uno

Well, we started the day off with a bang…rather, the twins did.  I’m guessing they were uber excited after the last ditch effort to infuse toilet knowledge into their noggins…

…because at 4 am Cecilia wanted out of her confines.  We let her whine it out, which she did until around 6, when I finally went in to find both her and her sister awake and in the most miserable moods (they usually sleep until 8).  And, even though we’re no pros and very much first-timers, we thought about it and made the executive decision to delay the training until after the girls first nap when rosy cheeks and dispositions were a lot more likely and therefore, a couple of doses of semi-cooperation in making friends with the toilet (the initial plan was to start after breakfast).

Naptime came and went and we started the process around 11ish and it’s been accident after accident ever since.  I’m not going to go much into the process because I don’t want to rob Lora of monetary support but let’s just say I thought maybe I’d be able to tell a tad if one girl or the other was about to let go.  Nope, nada, your guess is as good as mine.  The best way to describe to you the difference in the girls expressions when they’re about to pee vs. not about to pee is that it’s the same difference in expression they’d have as a miniscule gnat wizzed three feet above their head vs. no gnat.  No help whatsoever. 

Needless to say, we’ve got the rewards at our sides, ready to be doled out…waiting, waiting, waiting…

Nary a lid has been twisted yet but I’ll let you guess which have been longingly touched and untouched for the sake of patience and bedtime (cough-the alcohol-cough).

I’ll let you know how the rest of the day fares in the rest of this story tonight.  At this moment, I’m perched with the laptop atop my legs outside the girls door as they take a second nap, waiting for a wimpering beg for the bathroom.  I’m hoping and waiting for a cue but most likely I’ll go in after the deeds been done with a clean sheet and out with a wet one…

>>> Six Hours Later <<<

Well.  I suppose the stats will give you the best glimpse into how day one of potty training two kids at once went.

Number of sheets washed:  2 (there will more than likely be more as the night rolls forward)
Number of wee undies soiled:  36
Number of M&Ms doled out as rewards:  2
Number of times we told the girls to tell us when they had to ‘go’:  403
Number of sprints to the bathroom holding a flailing, dripping child:  36
Number of sprints to the bathroom holding a flailing child we thought for sure had to release:  25

On a positive note, towards the very end of the day Cecilia started being bothered by having wet undies and I’m calling it a milestone. 

Anyway, you might get the point and if you don’t, lucky you.  I have high hopes that people who live through potty training twins can, afterward, live through anything.

Smirnoff Ice, come to mama.

To Infinity…

And technically there is no such thing as beyond that because, well, it’s infinity.  So, sorry Buzz.  Better luck next sequel.

Sorry, was that a bad intro?  I tried as hard as I could to think of some pun with the word plaid but the only thing I could come up with was something like “They Got Plaid” (you know, like “They Got Played”), but considering I’m pulling the two tots into this post, it seemed a little off kilter.  Toy Story seemed the right road to travel.  :) 

“Let’s get to the point here, Bean, Legume…whatever you call yourself”.  Right.  Specifically, this: 

I was at our local Hancock Fabrics a couple of weeks ago getting something or other that I needed when I strolled past their remnants basket and spotted this plaid, flannel remnant:

It was nice and soft and I had been wanting to make some scarves for the girls (and plaid is “in”, right?), so I snatched it up.  It was marked down at $2 a yard and the remnant was a smidge over half a yard; the perfect amount for two little scarves. 

So first things first, I cut it in half so that I had two pieces measuring 20 in. x 29 in. each.  

Then I sewed it into a circle/tube.  If you make your own, here’s where to sew (iron-on tape would work too!):

To get a seamless-looking connection where the two sides would be sewn together I first lined up the edges, folded one over the other, folded once more, and pinned the seam in place before sewing together.  Here’s a step-by-step guide: 
Make sure you only pin the seam though!  You might have to put your hand in between the two layers of fabric (down the tube) to make sure you’re only getting the seam and not the seam plus the other side of your tube of fabric.

Last, stitch down the seam, cut the excess strings, and you’ve got yourself an infinity scarf in a matter of minutes.  Just a few side notes:  I didn’t measure the girls’ heads or necks to figure out how big around I wanted the scarves before I started so they’re a little on the loose side.  I probably could’ve made them a little shorter around for a more snug fit by cutting the initial rectangle to 22-3 in. x 20 in. instead).  Also, if you make your own tot an infinity scarf, I’d play it safe and make it so that it just fits right over their little noggin’ once without looping it over again.  If you make it loose enough to be doubled up, I’d be afraid they’d either pull on or get one loop stuck on something and risk the other getting too tight around their neck.  On the bright side however, this is the first article of clothing/accessory I can share with my girls because the scarves fit me perfectly.  :) 

And that’s that.  But what would any tutorial be without some cute after shots?  Get a load of these two:       

They LOVE being outside and this southern weather is perfect for granting them that wish.  Sun, leaves, dirt, sand…they’ll take it. 

[Unbuttoned onesies >> Carters, Jeggings >> thrifted Garanimals (C) & Carters (S), Boots >> Target, Headbands >> homemade]

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Stay tuned though for there is more plaid to come and it involves one growing baby bump.  AND for all of you that know via Instagram that the ottoman is DONE (finally!), I’m working on getting that very detailed tutorial worded and up but it probably won’t be until next Monday.  If you haven’t seen the sneak peek, you can catch a glimpse here.

Have a good Monday folks!

Things 1 & 2 + A Tutu-rial

We went cliche for Halloween this year, donning the girls in Thing 1 and Thing 2 costumes.  Who better to pull that one off than twins though, right?  And then, as pregnancy would have it, I got sick halfway through trick or treating/walking around a friend’s neighborhood so we didn’t get to take any pictures on that night, plus it was dark and Thing 1 just wanted to walk it out while her counterpart was happy in the stroller much of the time.  So, the other day I dressed them back up and we went out back for a little Halloween photo shoot.

The wigs go with two red, flannel Thing 1 and Thing 2 jumpsuits (thank you Cindi!) but giving that it was 70 degrees on Halloween night down here in LA (Lower Alabama as I’ve come to find out), we skipped out on those and went with tees my mom found for the girls at a consignment store and some leggings.

I think we got close enough to the real mischief-makers, don’t you?
 
(Image from here.)

Except I added the tutus and headbands - I forgot the headbands on Halloween but I thought both were a cute feminine touch, no?

As for the tutus, I made them in the few days before Halloween and they’re seriously the easiest dress-up item to make…no sewing required.  (You might remember I made this little tutu last year, but these are even easier than that one!)  I got the instructions off the vortex we all know as Pinterest from a few different sources, all the same idea.  Here’s how to do it:

First, you’ll need a ribbon to tie around the waist.  I used some cotton twill ribbon I had laying around.  I cut each 12 inches longer (six inches on each end) than the girls waist measurements to allow for tying and adding to later, however, I should’ve cut them even longer – 24 inches + – because I feel like the end strings are too short now to be added to.   I also used some OK To Wash It fabric adhesive (found at Walmart or any craft store) on the ends to make sure they didn’t fray and let them dry overnight.

 

After the ribbon was set, I grabbed the tulle.  I bought eight yards of tulle in Peacock at Hancock Fabrics, four yards for each tutu ($1 per yard on sale).  The tulle was folded into fourths off the bolt so I slipped a scissors down each fold to make four large sheets.  Then I cut those sheets into smaller strips about 2 – 3 inches wide.  No measuring needed, just wing it.  :)  (Update:  My household (kinda like a sorority) sista Jerilyn told me you can buy tulle ribbon which would make this part a little easier by eliminating most of the tedious cutting!)

 

Next up, tying the tulle to the waist ribbon.  I found that tying each end of your ribbon to something stationary helped the process rather than trying to tie tulle to a limp ribbon,  hence the kitchen cabinet photo bomb.  So, I grabbed two strips together,
 

made a V shape/folded them in half behind the ribbon,
 

and pulled the two ends up over the front of the ribbon and through the hole made by the tulle at the top, making a knot.

 

Then, while the tulle knot was still a little loose, I slid it over to where I had made the other tulle knots,

and pulled to tighten it.  (Be careful when pulling tight!  Tulle is tough but can rip if you pull too hard!)

Fold, loop, slide, and tighten over and over and you’ve got yourself a bonified tutu!  So easy!  It probably took me 10 minutes to get the tulle on each.

Awhile back I used the same process to make the girls some pink tutus for a photo shoot we never got around to (still on the list).  Here’s C modeling one right after I finished it (plus a matching tulle flower to be attached to a headband – get that tutorial here):
 

I mentioned above that you can add to these tutus.  All you have to do is buy matching tulle (or use extra if you have it) and add to the allowance you left on the ribbon ends as baby girl grows.  And the tulle options are ENDLESS!  You can do multi-colored by alternating different colored strips, sparkled…heck, you can even do this with some awesome patterned fabric cut into strips!  Pretty much anything goes!  Make them short or make a huge ball gown tutu if you fancy it!  So, so fun! 

Per the usual, if I didn’t explain something well enough, give me a holler or leave a comment and I’ll get right back at cha!  Otherwise, I leave you with some more outtakes of the Things themselves.  Have a great week!

   

Cloth Diapering One-Oh-One

Cloth diapering.  It’s how we do.  One of the books I read while the twins were still in utero on how to breastfeed twins, even though it gave some amazing advice and encouragement on nursing two at once, also said, and I quote “Cloth diapers – are you kidding?  Breastfeeding and caring for twins makes life busy enough!  There is no need for another job…”.  Well, I guess the joke’s on us but the money’s in our pocket too cause we’re crazy enough to try…and succeed!  I know it’s not for everyone but I will tell you that we’ve saved somewhere in the vicinity of $2000 so far by breastfeeding (up until three weeks before the girls turned 1) and cloth diapering.  Cha-ching.

This post is all about the latter though and it’s all you need to know and everything I wish I would’ve had at my fingertips while I was preparing to put cloth on our girls bums. 

>>> The Supplies <<<

1 – A diaper pail.  When you’re talking cloth diapering, a diaper pail is just a fancy word for “garbage can”.  Almost any garbage can will work but you will want one with a foot step that opens the lid so you’re not having to use hands you don’t have while holding a dirty diaper to open the lid.  We have this one from Target but my cloth-diapering sis bought a similar one from Bed, Bath, & Beyond.  You can find them almost anywhere.  Just make sure your wet bag (#6) fits inside it.  Update:  Don’t buy the Target pail.  After one year of use, the plastic ring the held the lid to the pail snapped off and let us pail-less until we bought this Simple Human one that’s still going strong.

2 – Diaper covers.  Diaper covers go over prefolds (#3), the actual absorbent material that catches all of your baby’s waste.  If you opt to use all-in-one diapers, like these by Bum Genius, you won’t need these.  However, they’re cheaper than the all-in-ones.  Our first thought was actually to use all-in-one diapers but after reading a few reviewers saying that tiny particles of poop can get stuck in between the layers, we decided to go with prefolds and covers (OCD ova here).  I’ve heard more good than bad reviews for both types though.  But back to the covers, we use Flip diaper covers and LOVE them.  They’re adjustable so that they’ll fit from newborn to potty-training (but I might mention that we did purchase some “newborn” sized covers that were smaller because our girls were so tiny and used them until the girls were three months old).  They come with either snaps (which we prefer) or velcro and you use one cover all day, unless you have a leak into it from an abnormally large load…that’s always fun.  We give them a quick wipe every time we change diapers and we’re good to go.  There are varying opinions on how many you really need but we have 12 – six for each girl – and we’ve found that that’s plenty.  Also, we made sure to purchase some “boyish” colors so in case we ever had a boy (whadda know?!…we do!), he wouldn’t have to sport the pinks.  :)  Update:  We still love our Flip covers but we’ve had an issue with the laminated lining of a couple of them ripping and therefore leaking.  I’m planning on letting Flip know and so I’ll check back after I do.    

3 – Prefolds.  As mentioned above, these go inside your diaper covers (unless you’re using all-in-ones) and do all the dirty work.  We use Bummis organic cotton prefolds but have some non-organic prefolds and some Flip Stay Dry inserts that we’re going to try when the girls move up in sizes…soon.  We also have some disposable inserts to use when the girls are a little bigger as well.  They serve the same purpose as cloth prefolds but, as the name declares, are tossed like a regular diaper when they’re dirty.  We’ll use them for travel and that’s about it.  As far as how many you’ll need, we have 30 prefolds – 15 per girl – and have to wash diapers pretty much every other day.  That number has worked perfect for us.  Update:  Unless you really want organic, we purchased several of these Chinese prefolds and have found that they work just as well as the Organic Bummis prefolds for half the price.  We also have a few Indian prefolds but have found that they don’t hold as much even though they’re a tad softer.  Also, we’re sorry to say that we’ve been really disappointed with the Flip Stay Dry inserts and the Flip disposable inserts.  The girls have wet through them in an hour or less and, because we’d rather not change diapers every hour, we’ve been exclusively using prefolds.

4 – Snappis.  Out with the big, dangerous safety pins and in with the Snappis!  They hold the prefold on with claws of sort, that grip each side of the diaper and the middle.  They’re super easy to use and semi-elastic so they stretch with growing baby and you use them until they wear out (the package says to switch out the old for a new one at least every six months but we’ve been using the same ones for a year now.)

5 – A diaper sprayer.  This is optional but for us it was a surefire way to remove runny newborn poop but as the girls started eating solids, which as you might know, come out as “solids”, it’s not in as much use.  We  have this bumGenius Diaper Sprayer.  It attaches to your toilet and is similar to the sprayer on a sink.  I’ve heard a few reviewers quoting their dislike for these due to the fact that they spray poop everywhere.  We, however, love it and don’t have poop sprayed everywhere.    The keys to not adorning surrounding areas with excrement is 1) spraying down and into the diaper (duh?), 2) setting the water pressure high enough so that it gets the poop off and low enough that it doesn’t hit the stuff and fly in every direction, 3) having your toilet water level low which allows you to… 4) hold the diaper as deep as possible into the toilet bowl.  The diaper might be soaking wet once you’re finished cleaning it so you can either do the Anthony – wring it out with your bare hands (one of the reasons I know he REALLY loves our girls) and carry it damp to the diaper can, hold it over the nearby bathroom trash can, letting it drip into there while you carry it to the can (my preferred mode), or you can buy a small wet bag just for getting it from toilet to can.  This is probably the worst part of cloth diapering buutttt, did you know that it’s illegal to dispose of human excrement into your trash…a.k.a. you’re supposed to empty disposable diapers of solids before throwing them out.  Read your diaper box, I swear it’s true!  Who does it though?  I wouldn’t know…

6 – Two large wet bags/diaper pail liners.  These fit into your diaper pail and hold all dirty/wet diapers until laundry time.  They’re lined with a flexible plastic sort of material (technical term…I have no clue) so they’re water-proof.  You’ll need two because while one is in the wash with your diapers, you’ll need the other in your diaper pail.  We have these by Planet Wise. 

7 – A medium (or small) wet bag for travel.  This is similar to the large wet bags you’ll need only a lot smaller and usually they zipper shut so you can stash it in your diaper bag for outside-the-home excursions…not that we mothers get a ton of those.  ;)  You really only need one.  We have one similar to this one from Planet Wise.

Not pictured – Wipes.  We use disposable Target brand wipes but I know lots of cloth-diapering parents who use cloth wipes and homemade cleaning solution as well.  Click here for a great tutorial on those from Simple Homemade.  Last, when I sent my must-have list to my sis so she could double check me to make sure I my supposed “pregnancy brain” wasn’t forgetting anything, she told me to add a hazmat suit.  ;)  Disposable or cloth, I’m sure we’ve all had those diaper changes in which we wish we had one of those close by, am I right or am I right?!

>Nighttime<  We don’t cloth diaper at night.  We use Target disposables.  There are overnight cloth diapers you can get that we haven’t tried but we had a run-in with some bad smelling diapers after being left on all night in the beginning of our cloth diaper journey and opted for disposables instead.

There are links to all the products mentioned above within their individual explanations but I didn’t do any research and find where each product is the cheapest at the moment.  We purchased or were gifted most of our cloth diaper paraphernalia by family from cottonbabies.com.  You can register with them which is awesome and they often have some sort of sale going on.  They also have diapers for sale that are marked down due to slight imperfections in construction but perfectly usable.  Most if not all of the stuff can be purchased on Amazon too and a few of the links above are affiliate links that will lead you there!  If you have any secrets on where to purchase cloth-diapering loot, let us know in the comments section!  :)

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>>> Folding & Clothing <<<

It took us two diaper changes (hence the different outfits and lack of a changing pad cover in a few) to get all the shots we needed to explain without photo-bombing baby extremities but I think we got every step.  And just an FYI, I’m going to be really thorough with this part of cloth diapering because it’s the one that intimidated me the most and that which I couldn’t find enough info on when I was seeking it.  Sorry in advance if it’s annoying…I’m happy if it’s helpful!

There are a few different ways to fold a prefold diaper.  Our favorite is the angel/angel wing fold; the one you’ll see below.  You can see some other ways here.

First, lay your prefold out flat >>

Then fold it into thirds >>

 

Holding it down around the halfway mark, fold one corner out >>

And then the other >>

Then slip the side with the open corners under baby’s bottom >>
 

Now pull the other end up over baby >>
 

Then grab the top corners and pull them around toward baby’s sides >>

(Side note:  If the prefold is a little big, like ours were when the girls were newborns, you can just fold the front down a little bit at this point.  I meant to take a picture to show this step but forgot…)

Grab the corners at the back and pull them up and over the front of the diaper >>
 

Then grab your snappi and attach it to each side and, while holding the middle-top of the prefold, pull it down and attach it at the bottom >>
 

Snap on a cover and you’re…errr, baby…is good to go!
 

At this point you’ll either be making a fun trip to the diaper sprayer…

or with one little press of the foot, you’ll be done.

Easy.  A few diaper changes and you’ll be able to slap on a cloth diaper faster than you can put on your own pants.

Here’s a little cheat sheet/image you can right-click save in case you want all the folding in one place:
 

I know some people fold differently for boys but I haven’t yet had time to research that.  I’ll get back to you on it in T-minus four months though!  :)

Update:  So, turns out there’s not much of a difference between diapering boys vs. girls.  We use the same folding process only we make sure that our little man’s you-know is nice and tucked.  After a couple of inquiries, I whipped up this little pictorial to explain:

Another thing worth mentioning, you CANNOT use Desitin/regular diaper cream with cloth diapers.  Apparently the wax they’re made with will never come out of your cloths.  I know there are cloth diaper approved diaper rash creams out there (anybody have specifics?) and I’ve also heard maybe coconut oil works (?) but we take the lazy way out and put the rash victim (usually from a reaction to a certain food) in a disposable after slathering on some Desitin.  Update:  Thanks to some awesome readers I can now tell you that Burt’s Bees rash cream and GroVia diaper sticks are cloth diaper and mother/father approved!  

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>>> Washing & Drying <<<

Like I mentioned above, having 12 covers and 15 prefolds, we wash diapers once every other day at least.  It’s as simple as removing the entire diaper pail liner/wet bag full of diapers and emptying it into the washer, throwing the liner in empty and inside-out too. 

We follow the washing instructions on a pamphlet that came with our diapers.  First we run them through a cold cycle without any detergent.  Then we add a half capful of detergent (we use Seventh Generation from Target) and set the washer on a hot cycle with an extra rinse.  You don’t need to use as much detergent on cloth diapers as you would in a normal load of clothes.  Remember that if you’re diapering one baby, you’d use even less than we do diapering two.  Using fabric softener and/or dryer sheets isn’t recommended.  To strip the diapers lest they start smelling from detergent/waste build-up, we add about a 1/8-1/4 cup of white vinegar in every four or five loads. 

After the diapers are clean, we hang-dry the covers and pail liner and throw the prefolds into the dryer.

Once in awhile, if we think of it or have some time on our hands, we’ll hang the diapers outside to dry, letting the sun bleach out any stains.  Works like a charm!

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>>> Storage <<<

To keep the diapers close at hand, we have a little “changing station” next to the changing pad in the girls’ room.  It’s just a decorative tray I found at Dirt Cheap (originally from Target) that I load their clean prefolds on, a pack of wipes, and a little vase filled with various creams/teething gel/whatever.

Extra covers, the spare pail liner, and our trusty overnight disposables are stored in a drawer underneath…

And the next-size-up prefolds, some Flip Stay-Dry inserts, and a couple of all-in-ones we were given and are going to try are stored in a basket on a shelf below.

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Whew!!  Did I miss anything?  Longest post ever!  :)

But after all that let me type it again, we love cloth diapers!  Not only because we’ve saved enough to equal a nice down payment on a minivan (yes…yes we are going there) but because they’re good for the environment and we can count the number of leaks we’ve had on two hands.  In the span of one year, diapering two babies, that’s pretty darn good.  However, I can’t even tell you how many leaks we’ve had using disposables – on trips in car seats usually.  Fun. Fun.  A huge plus is that we’re set for baby #3 and following because we won’t need to buy more!  And, on a totally superficial level, they’re cute!  Who needs bloomers when you have cute diaper covers?  I love pairing them with coordinating dresses and baby legwarmers in the cooler months to make changing a snap.  :) 

I know the thought of cloth diapering can be really intimidating but I promise it’s really not!  It takes maybe 30 seconds longer for me to change a cloth diaper vs. a disposable, but in this case time is not money but just the opposite!  Plus, once you give it a try and stick with it, it becomes normal and just another part of daily life.

If you have any questions or have anything at all to add, leave a comment or shoot me an email at beaninlove@gmail.com!  I’d love to hear more tricks of the dirty trade!  :)

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P.S.  I’m sorry if I’m a little delayed in getting back to your comments/emails this week/weekend!  My sister is flying in from Dallas tomorrow and we’re driving with the girls over to St. Augustine, Florida to see my mom and other sister!  On Saturday we’re heading to Disney World for Night of Joy and letting the twins get their first taste of the Princesses, Mickey and Minnie, and everybody else who’s there.  Chances are they’ll have no clue what’s going on but it’s okay because all I really care about is taking them on “It’s a Small World”.  Aaaah!  Can’t wait!!  :)

Have a Magical rest of the week!  :)