You're Not Going To Believe This

First, let me say that Sam has greatly improved regarding his virus. We have an appointment with his cardiologist next Thursday and will learn then what really happened to his heart during the 103F fever. Of course, I will post an update at that time.

We are wilting over here with no air conditioning! It's been in the low 90's, which isn't THAT hot (I know I know, at least we're not in Thailand, right, Mom?). But, it's pretty stifling inside the house. We have two fans and it was still a hot week. Sam and I played with plenty of water on our back deck.

In other news, I have bought cloth diapers for Sam. I have wanted to do this for a long time, but Bill couldn't get on-board. He was very concerned with my work-load already, since I have to care for Sam AND do housing and mortgage business AND adoption work. It has genuinely filled my days from the moment I wake up until the moment I go to sleep (and, with Sam, up to two times during the night!).


But, I know that we are on one salary now and I need to be careful with how I spend our money. I did the math and it really doesn't add up to keep using disposables. I used a calculator online to determine how much we were spending and saving. Here's the breakdown:

I will break even in 4.25 weeks or 0.98 months.
I will save $287.27 in 6 months.
I will save $516.12 in 10 months.
I will save $630.55 in 1 year.
I will save $973.82 in 1 1/2 years.

Now, add TWO babies to that, and I figured we have to do something different. Hopefully, Sam will potty train within the next year and those numbers won't be accurate. But, with Carolina (our adopted baby), the numbers are going to stay the same for one baby. Numbers don't lie and once I convinced Bill that I won't pressure myself and that we can do this, he agreed. I did not nag, FYI, I just brought him the facts and laid it out for him in logical terms.

Most of our housing issues are settling down now. I'm not spending all day on the phone with different people trying to set up appointments and making sure I have the right documents in. I made only three phone calls today to that end. Adoption issues are sporadic too. I got our homestudy via email today and we should be having the actual updated homestudy at our home within the next couple weeks.

So, I thought I would give cloth diapering a try and see how we do. Now, we are only on day two, but I am already in love with it. I can see immediately which ones Sam prefers (I got three different kinds in order to test them out).


I wanted to add that cloth diapering is nothing like it used to be. Even ten years ago, when I was a nanny and the little girl's family cloth diapered, things were different. The only real difficulty that I see is the washing and I believe that I have a good system now.

I took some photos of Sam in his snug-to-fit diaper today. This is one of his least favorites, which I was disappointed about. But, I believe they are a bit bulky for him. He really prefers the "prefolds," which are just a normal rectangular cloth diaper that I fold in third lengthwise and put inside a waterproof cover. Super simple, super cheap.



Oh, and I want to add that I am not being very strict about the cloth diapering. He wears disposables to bed for naptime and evenings. And, if I have a bad day or he has a bad day, we're switching back to disposables. Thanks to all the advice I've gotten from my many CDing friends - Shannon, Holly, Missy and Amelia - to name a few.