Fall 2012 thus far

Let me start by saying this year has been flying by much too quickly. I used to find myself kind of wishing time away before I had Emilie. Counting down till the summer, or the next big vacation. Now that I'm a mom, I find myself trying to savour every single moment. Even on the most frustrating of days I try not to wish away one second with my little girl. Life has other plans and I find that I blink and a week has passed. Okay, not really, but you get the picture.

So now we're into November, the mad dash to Christmas. The summer is over and we're trying to relish every day that it is above freezing so Emilie can spend just one more afternoon outside in the fresh air.

Here are some pictures from our Fall so far:

Emilie and her cousin Joshua helping my dad celebrate his birthday.

Pictures with her Grandpa and her Papa.

Hamming it up with her Uncle at her Great Baba's birthday party.

Emilie and Joshua in their matching Halloween PJ's. We called it "The Skeletwins".

Enjoying some reading.

I think she's seen Mama hang a bag on the back of the stroller a couple times!

Doing some fun at the Pumpkin Patch.

Off to find the perfect Pumpkin.

Our very sick little girl having a little treat after trick or treating at a few houses.

First experience with Play Doh

Having some fun in the leaves.

Some fun with her Grandpa at the park on a warmer day.

Swinging around with her Nana and Grandpa.

Cloth Diapering: How to deal with yeast

This is probably the number one asked question on cloth diapering forums. For some reason this one issue, or the rash issue in general intimidates to many that cloth diaper. The good news is that it doesn't need to. Aside from a couple extra things that you need to add to your load of diaper laundry, it's no different than if you were using disposables.

We've had to deal with cloth over the almost two years that we've been using cloth. I've tried many different wash routines, done a ton of research, and come out with a routine that I have found has killed the yeast once and for all (for us).

 First of all you are going to need this:

Yes I know what you're thinking "OMG the warranty on my diapers!". First of all if you have a stash consisting of more than one type of diaper, and have used any diaper rash cream on your diapers you've probably already voided the warranty. Secondly isn't your little ones tush more important? People are also incredibly worried about the bleach breaking down their diapers. A tiny amount of bleach a couple times a year is not going to break down your diapers.

So...yes, good old chlorine bleach. It doesn't necessarily have to be Clorox bleach, I usually use No Name stuff, it's cheaper.

Second on the must have list is:

and/or:

The bleach kills the yeast, but you need tea tree oil and/or grapefruit seed extract to kill the yeast spores.

You can find the tea tree oil and grapefruit seed extract at your local health food store, or the organic section of your grocery store.

Now this is where people have different suggestions about the order in which to use these products, I am going to share what has worked the best for me when I have had to treat Emilie's diapers.

First off you're going to add 20-30 drops of the tea tree oil and/or the grapefruit seed extract to either your rinse, or your pre wash. We do a pre wash, so that is when I add the oils.

Then after your rinse or pre wash is over you are going to do a hot wash with your detergent, and 1/4 cup of chlorine bleach. I follow this with my usual extra rinse. Some people find that they need to do a crazy amount of extra rinses to get the smell of bleach out of their diapers. I have a super sensitive nose, and find I only need one extra rinse, but do whatever you feel comfortable with.

**I will add that this wash routine should be followed for all of your cloth wipes, inserts, liners, doublers, wet bags, wash cloths and towels as well. Basically everything that has come into contact with your diapers and your little one's tush. I also clean out the plastic container that I hold my cloth wipes in with some bleach as well, followed by a good rinse.**

After all this is done I like to throw all of my inserts (ie. everything that does not contain elastics and PUL) in the dryer on HOT. Then if God willing it is a sunny day, everything with PUL and elastics goes outside in the sunshine for some extra yeast killing treatment.

If it's the dead of winter or super cloudy where you live, no need to worry, just line dry your items like you usually would.

Now comes your big decision, do you keep your little one in cloth while you treat their bottom with anti fungal cream, or do you switch to sposies? If you stay in cloth you need to follow that wash routine the entire time to make sure there is no risk of reinfection. If you switch into sposies then you do the wash once, put the diapers away, and then put your little one back into cloth once the rash has been clear for 3-4 days. On average this means about a week.

A yeast rash while in cloth is a pain, but it doesn't have to be a disaster.

The question I hate

It's a question that most mothers/parents get asked when their first child reaches a certain age. Usually sometime after their first birthday.

"So when are you thinking of having #2?"

My heart usually sinks a little bit every single time I hear this question. I keep the smile on my face though, trying not to betray my true feelings to the other person. For most people I give a glib sort of answer and then change the subject.

You see, when you have suffered with infertility in the past, and don't have the resources to go through the whole battle of treatments again, it's a complicated question. One of finances, and logistics, and emotions. You see for us it's not as easy as just throwing caution to the wind and having unprotected sex.

I often wonder what it's like to be able to take your fertility for granted like that and just know that it will happen. Maybe sooner, or later, but it will happen. I think because so many do take their fertility for granted that most just assume that once people have one baby that they will just do it all over again. Then there are others that just think that because you went through treatments once, that it's a given that you will do it again.

I wish for us it was that easy, that simple a decision. But it's not. Right now we just don't have the resources to do it all again. Fertility treatments can be expensive. Not to mention time consuming, and physically and emotionally draining. I have thought lately about what if we did have the resources. Would we be in a place where we would be willing to go through it all again? I couldn't even answer the question.

So for now I guess I continue to slap on the too stiff smile and laugh it off.

A sobering morning.

It all started last week. Emilie was feeling under the weather and running a little bit of a fever. Our daycare provider would have taken her if we absolutely needed her too, but since Andre is home for the summer I called her and told her she was sick and asked Shirley if she wanted me to keep Emilie home. Since Emilie was really not herself that day Shirley asked if it was okay if we kept her home. Not a problem.

Later on that day a neighbour came outside and asked us if we had heard about a cab going through the front of a house on Cranbrook Dr. The same street as Emilie's home daycare. The news didn't mention the house number. We thought about it, but though, no, it couldn't possibly be the same house.

It was.

Sometime that afternoon a cab driver drove through the front downstairs window of the same home that houses our Emilie's daycare. It's the same room that is across the hallway from the same room that all the children play in. The room is totaled. Across the room from where the window and brick wall once was there are big holes in the drywall from flying bricks.

That same room is the tv room where the children will watch movies or hang out if one of the kids is under the weather. Emilie and the other children could have very well been in that room had she have gone to daycare that morning. The only thing that is left to remind anyone that was a tv room is the big screen tv mounted to the wall. It's the only thing left after the accident.

Thankfully all the children were outside playing in the backyard when everything happened. Seeing that room this morning confirmed my belief in God. Confirmed that miracles happen, and that there was something keeping everyone in that house safe that day.

Today I am thankful.

If you are interested there is a small article here about the accident that has a picture.

Why we chose Cloth Diapers

I am asked this a lot. I have been asked by friends, colleagues, family. If you're in the midst of cloth diapering you realize how popular it is, but if you've never been exposed to someone who does cloth diapering the idea sounds so messy, so time consuming...so hard!

I will start by saying I didn't always think that cloth was the way to go. In fact when a close friend of mine was pregnant with her daughter 4 years ago and wanted to cloth diaper I kind of thought she was nuts. I mean why cloth diaper when there are disposable diapers? Part of my thinking was that because I would never get the option of staying home for a year with my future children, would it be too much work to work and cloth diaper an infant? Even my mother who cloth diapered three babies told me that disposables would just be easier when my time came.

It was always a little thought in the back of my mind though, so I started bookmarking websites and articles, saving them into a folder for safe keeping when my time came to have a baby. When I first got pregnant that's when the real fascination with cloth started. I started lurking on a forum devoted just to cloth diapering. Fast forward to today and I don't regret using cloth at all. In fact the only regret that I have is that I didn't use cloth from day one (or at least day three when we got home from the hospital). Maybe one day if God blesses us with another baby I will be able to buy these for my baby.

There are a lot of reasons why we chose cloth. I say we because Andre has been on board 110% with cloth diapering, and if you ask him will tell you that he prefers cloth over disposables! It started with me really wanting to make this parenting choice, but I always asked him if it was okay, and if he was on board too.

If you ask a lot of people why they chose cloth they will say for the financial savings. It's one of my reasons, but not the number one reason. It's like a bonus.


My number one reason for choosing cloth diapers: It makes me physically ill to think of my child creating literally 1 TON of toxic garbage in her diapering years. To top it off this garbage will sit in a landfill for approximately 500 years! I just can't do it. Now I do use disposables sometimes, but I do make the effort to plop the poop out first, so I'm at least reducing the toxic affect of those few disposable diapers we do use.


My number two reason for choosing cloth diapers: I hate the idea of my daughter sitting in a plastic, chemical laden diaper 24 hours a day, 7 days a week for years! Disposable diapers contain dioxin, which is a known carcinogen. Cloth diapers do not contain (as many) chemicals. I'm fully aware that there are some chemicals used in the bleaching process of some of the fabrics used in cloth diapers, but they are not nearly as bad as the ones used in disposable diapers.

My number three reason for choosing cloth diapers: The potential to save money. Will I save thousands of dollars cloth diapering? Maybe, maybe not. The point is that all the money that I spend on cloth diapers, are being spent on a reusable product. I get to use that one cloth diaper countless times. Then when I'm done with it I can sell it to someone else, recoup some of that money, and it can be used on another child. To me that is money well spent.

I will add that cloth diapering is a choice that my husband and my family because we felt it was the best parenting choice for our daughter. I know that there are many people out there that use disposable diapers. They are making the best parenting choice for their child.

Here are some resources that I used for this blog entry:

http://www.cheerfulcheeks.com/Earth
http://www.realdiaperassociation.org/diaperfacts.php