And Now for Something Completely Different

10 points to whoever gets that reference.

So this has nothing to do with Language School, Costa Rica, Missions, or Latin America.  Except that these are all a lot of the reasons we choose to do cloth diaper.  And as we were preparing to live outside of the US, I would scourer the internet for things about raising kids in another country, how to make ingredients you can't find easily in your host country,  how to make mosquito nets for your beds and on and on and on.  So.  Here you go.  Everything I know about cloth diapers.

I am not going to pretend that we researched this all out and thought long and hard about the benefits of cloth diapering before we had Forrest.  Truth is, one day when Forrest was about 4 months old, my sister in law emailed me and said "hey, do you want our Fuzzi Bunz?"  And I said, sure, why not.  We just sorta fell into this cloth diaper thing.  But the more we used them, the more we realized they fit very well into this missions in the global south life.  And they really weren't that hard.  And if I am being honest here, washing diapers is one of my favorite chores. 

Let's start with what type.  We use Fuzzi Bunz.  Why?  Because that's what we were given.  When it came time to enlarge of stash (yes, that is the technical cloth diapering terminology for your cloth diapers) we went with what we knew.  We have the old type, and they are mediums and larges.  If you are only going to buy one size, get the mediums.  My boys wear them from the time they were four months old through, well, Elliot is still wearing them at 2 1/2.

Fuzzi Bunz are what's known as a pocket diaper, meaning you don't need rubber pants on top, it's sort of an all in one sorta deal.  We use terry cloth liners.  Really, this aren't your grandmother's cloth diapers.  During nap times, I sometimes double the liner up.  

Someone asked me if I thought about making diapers, which I am sure work great, but that was just further down the road than I was willing to go.   So sorry, not much help on that front. 

As far as night time use, well, we have never had good luck with that.  I wrote about that here once. 

As for care...well, we just have a trash can with a lid.  We through the dirty ones in there (after dumping off whatever can be dumped) and wash ever couple of days.  In the states, I would rise in cold water, run a hot cycle with a bit of All free and clear and occasionally some oxiclean, and then another cold rinse cycle.  I have always hung then up to dry, either inside in the winter, or outside on the porch in the summer.  The sun does wonders for the stains.

Here, we don't have hot water attached to our washing machine, so we just do cold.  I am trying to run them through two full cycles now because of that.  Also, I haven't figure out a system to get them outside yet, but that is changing soon I hope.  They really do need a good sun bleaching.

As for other bits and pieces, we have two wet bags to contain dirty or wet diapers in the diaper bag (I am so glad Elliot's teacher is good with using cloth diapers!)  We tried a diaper sprayer once and well, while it worked well for about three weeks, it then exploded all over the bathroom and we had to run down to the firebarn at Barakel to turn the well pump off, and well...we just never got back around to it before we left.

I can't imagine the amount of money we have saved over the years.  Since Elliot is only 19 months younger than Forrest, we have had kids in diapers for 4 years and counting, and for a good chunk of that we had two kids in diapers.  And now that we are in Costa Rica, disposables are even more expensive, with no coupons or off bands.

Alright.  There you have it.  Everything I know about cloth. 

Oh, one more thing, I do know of a foreign missionary cloth diaper grant from  Cotton Babies.  I have a friend in Columbia who actually was the recipient of the grant and she has been so happy with her diapers!  So, if you fall into that catagory, check it out.  Also, they have ways for people to help make those grants a reality, so if you want to help, you can check it out over at Cotton Babies

Baby Wipes

So there are probably about 5 thousand sites on the web detailing how you can make your own baby wipes...ok, so more like 370,000 (yes, I did just google that).

But I thought why not add my own meager offerings to the mix.  Really, I was trying to come up with something new and exciting to tell you about today.  But since 370,000 other sites are talking about it, I guess this isn't really new.  And I am not sure how exciting baby wipes are.

Alright, moving on before I talk myself out of this post.  I have always made our baby wipes.  My sister in law gave the perfect container for them when I was pregnant with Forrest, for baby showers I was given more baby soap than I could use with 5 children and they are oh so very easy to make.   And cheap!  Maybe that's the part you would get excited about.  I can make a container of wipes for about 60 cents!

You will need some paper towel
Hot water
Baby shampoo
Plastic Container
Bread knife, hack saw, something to cut the paper towels

 Get a roll of paper towels, I use Bounty.  This is one of like 4 things I buy the brand name. I have found it to be the best, it's strong enough but not rough.

Cut the roll in half lengthwise. My bread knife works the best for that. The end will be a little fringey, but whatever....it's just wipes.  I have also started to cut my whole package of paper towels (I buy the big 8 roll pack, which makes 16 containers) at one time, cutting (heheh) down on the work I have to do later.

Then, for each container, mix about a cup and a half of hot water (hot from the tap is fine, or you can pop it in the microwave for a while), and few squirts of baby shampoo.  I also add a few drops of tea tree oil to ward off diaper rash. Stir, or better yet, add those things to your measuring cup before you add water.  I am all about less work people! Pour over the paper towel (oh, put the paper towel in the container first). The hot water will loosen the cardboard core, which you will be able to pull out. You will then be able to pull the wipes from the middle of the container.

I don't even know how much I have saved using this. Since I was given the container and the shampoo, all I really have to buy is the tea tree oil (one one ounce bottle has lasted me a year, and we are no where near the end of it) and the paper towels (those cost me $9 for a 8 pack, which like I said makes 16 containers.)  I think it's a little under 60 cents a container of 52 wipes.

Oh, and for those of you who cloth diaper, but don't use cloth wipes, you can flush these!

So there you go, big, exciting news!

The New Tool

Last night, we finally got around to installing the diaper sprayer.  For those of you who don't know what that is, it's sorta like the sprayer on your sink, but you attach it to the tank of the toilet.  It's helpful getting some of the extra, ummm,crud off the diapers.

This was quite the feat.  Our toilet's water supply was less than standard, and for some reason, the water would not shut off.  Poor Noah.  He has buckets and pots to collect what while installing the sprayer and he still ended up soaking wet by the end.

Forrest had a blast.  He loved helping Dad.  When asked what his favorite part of the day was, without skipping a beat it was, "helping Daddy fix stuff."  He was devastated when he had to stop.

So, we now have a diaper sprayer.  Hurray!  It's the little things, you know.