Cloth Confessions

1. When I change my little girl's diapers, I just drop them over the baby gate on the bathroom floor, and then I go set her down with her brother and toys and go back to wash the diaper out and put it away. But sometimes, I let the dirty diapers sit right where I drop them on the bathroom floor. All. Day. Long. And I just go in and wash them all out and put them in their respective hanging pails or wet pails after everyone is in bed. And the days that I do this, yes, my whole (small, ranch) house smells kind of gross.

2. More often than not, I don't fold the clean diaper laundry anymore. It just sits in a laundry basket in the living room or my daughter's room, and when it's time to change a dipey I fish through the basket and find what I need. This is kind of a pain because I can't really keep track of what I have to pull from for her, but for some reason, a lot of times I just don't want to take 20 minutes to fold up a basket of laundry. (Wow, that's embarrassing.) So then what ends up happening is that 2 or 3 times a month, I have an over-flowing basket of inserts, microfiber towels, cloth wipes, plus all the fitteds and pockets, and it takes me 45 minutes to fold it all.

3. It's really hard for me to remember that cloth is still the exception and not the rule when women hang over my shoulder in public restrooms while I'm changing a diaper. It's hard to give a patient and graceful answer to all the same questions that I hear time and time again!

4. But, at the same time, I secretly hope every time we're out and a diaper is visible or a change is needed that I'll get a chance to share some cloth love with a stranger. :o)

5. I get really frustrated that our church nursery won't change a cloth diaper, but our gym nursery will. (Yes, I use sposies for church, because at this time we don't feel led to pursue family corporate worship during the services, and 1 or 2 diapers per 3 services a week doesn't break us, but it's still more than I would be going through if our church would permit cloth.)

6. I don't really have a fluff addiction like a lot of CD parents do. Once I get comfortable with my stash, I don't even think about ordering more diapers. In fact, I'm so practical about things that it's hard for me to buy super cute, gender specific diapers. I have bought hardly any pink and purple little diapers and covers for my sweet little girl!


Okay, this last one is hard for me to share with you...


7. I love cloth diapering. I do, I really do. I mean, I write an entire blog about it. I have shared, educated, encouraged, and done multiple cloth demos just to get other parents to see the manifold wisdom of cloth. I love it. Except sometimes...

I hate it.

Sometimes, the laundry seems to multiply. And I can't get - or stay - caught up with the diapers, let alone our clothing, sheets, and towels. Sometimes I don't feel like folding, stuffing, snappi-ing, wrapping, covering, and finding clothes big enough to fit over a bulky bottom. Sometimes I dread washing out a nasty poopy diaper. Or getting ready to run errands, and taking up half the diaper bag with spare fluffies.

Sometimes, I keep the baby in sposies all day on Sunday, even after we get home from church. And when there's a stomach bug involved, you better believe I'm using sposies. Sometimes if I'm headed somewhere that would require a trip to the laundromat to wash the diapers, well then...you guessed it.

And the thing is, I don't really feel bad about it. I think it's okay - and I think it's important that I tell you guys that it's okay - to NOT love using cloth diapers 100% of the time. And there's no need to get all legalistic about it. If I'm having a rotten, no good, very bad day, and I feel like using fluffs - and washing them - is just more than I can handle that day, then I have given myself permission to not use them. Yes, it costs a little bit of money. But seriously, $4 worth of paper diapers for me to keep my sanity, and love and care for my family and home without a sense of grudge and drudgery? Totally worth it. And really, having given myself the freedom to do this every once in a while when I feel like I need to makes me feel like I want to FAR less frequently. So then, the 1 or 2 days a month that I just feel like stripping all my diapers and listing them on Craigslist, it's easy for me to just kind of buckle down and suck it up and push on with the cloth dipeys, knowing that if and when I have a really rough day, the fluffs can stay on the shelf and I can stay "Happy Mama."

Because besides - 99% of the time, I love it!

So what about you guys? Let me hear your cloth confessions!