More On Cloth Diapering

I love Joey-Bunz!

We were having leaking issues with some of our cloth diapers, and rather than ditch those diapers, I wanted to see if an additional insert would help. We were using just one microfiber insert in the diaper and Nolan would leak through after about an hour. I'm not sure if it's just because the insert's ability to absorb was limited or if Nolan is a really heavy wetter. Either way, we were getting a little frustrated about this. I did some research, again with the help of the Diaper Jungle forum, and heard all good things about the Joey-Bunz inserts. They are hemp/cotton jersey inserts made by Baby Kicks. After using the medium size Joey-Bunz now for about two weeks, the verdict is in. They are great! I still use the microfiber insert that came with the diaper, but layer it with the Joey-Bunz. We can now go at least three hours, some times longer, without any leaking. I also love that they are so trim. They add hardly any bulk to my diapers. Next I'd like to try layering two Joey-Bunz to see if this is even more effective.

Joey-Bunz Cloth Diaper Insert

Happy, Healthy 6 Month Old

Our Silly Little Boy

Can You See Those 2 Front Teeth?!


On the 21st, Nolan turned 6 months old! We can hardly believe it. He has his two bottom teeth coming in now and he's a pro at sitting...he only topples over when he's reaching for some distant toy. We went to the doctor last week for a check up and his next round of vaccines, and the doctor told us everything looks great. He's gaining weight fine and his length is good, although he's no longer in the 90th percentile for length like last visit. He weighs 16 pounds, 7 ounces now...no wonder everyone keeps commenting on how heavy he is!! Dr. Williams said that we can start giving him some finger foods like Cheerios and that we can offer more of a variety with the fruits and veggies. Next up is sweet potatoes. Yum! The only bad news for me is that Dr. Williams suggests letting Nolan fuss some at bedtime to teach him to fall asleep on his own. We usually have to bounce or nurse him to sleep. I know, I've read that that's a no-no before, but I'm really a wimp when it comes to letting him cry. Maybe I could sleep over somewhere else and Ryan can do the whole cry it out thing?! (Update: We've since tried letting him cry some the last two nights and it's gone fairly well...I only cried a little, and Nolan went to sleep after 50 minutes the first night and 30 minutes the second night) Nolie also makes a new sound...buh, buh, buh. He really puts a lot of effort into bringing his lips together and getting that sound out. He's so entertaining!

I haven't been very prompt on posting pictures here lately, so here are a few from the last couple weeks of Nolie and the people in his life.

A Proud Grandma Teri

G-Papi and Nolan

These Cups are the Coolest!

Why I Love Cloth Diapering

We've been using cloth diapers on my son since he was about three weeks old, and so far we've had a great experience with them. We have about half of our diapers from Diapers by Deb. Her diapers are so cute and you can get them personalized in so many ways! Our other diapers are Bum Genius, which are great for overnight. We also use cloth wipes and a natural wipe solution. We love it! My son hasn't had any diaper rash since we started him on cloth. I like that his skin isn't coming into contact with harmful chemicals that do who knows what to him. I love that we throw away so little as a result of diapering. Finally, we will save so much money by using reusable diapers instead of disposables. This weekend I found this great article, entitled "3 Great Reasons to Choose Cloth Diapers," through Simple Mom's blog. This is just a great summary of the three main reasons to choose cloth diapers over disposables. I find it to be very convincing.

Of all the other families we know personally, only one other uses cloth diapers. I definitely feel like I'm in the minority in my circle of family and friends. I've had so many people ask me questions about cloth diapering...how it works, whether I have to dunk poopy diapers in the toilet, how expensive they are and so on. While I don't have a lot of fellow cloth diapering mom's to talk to in person, I do get to communicate with several other women who cloth diaper their children online though on the Diaper Jungle forum. Just the other morning, my husband pointed out that they were doing a big feature on cloth diapering in the Minneapolis Star Tribune, our local paper. To check out the article, click here. What a surprise to see this! Apparently cloth diapering is really getting popular.

Do you cloth diaper your children? Do you think that cloth diapering will continue to grow in popularity?

Training Walks

Grandma Jayne, Kristen, Chayton, Grandpa Ken and Nolan

This year I got the idea to participate in the Breast Cancer 3 Day, which is 3 day, 60 mile fundraising walk for breast cancer research, treatment and education. Kirstin, Jayne and Kristen are all walking with me (there are ten of us in total), and we've gotten a good start on our training already. The reason I mention this in my blog is that Ryan and Nolan have gone on just about every walk with us! For a couple of the walks, Ryan met us halfway with Nolan in the stroller. Last week we walked about 5 miles (no GPS, so we can't be sure of the actual distance) with Grandpa Ken, Grandma Jayne, Jake, Kristen, Reggie, Ryan, Chayton, Nolan and a pack of dogs. What a fun time! I wonder what the other bikers on the trail thought of such a big group of people and animals.

Nolan sat in the stroller for the first hour, just looking around and chewing on his pacifier attacher. Then he got a little antsy and we all took turns carrying him back. He looked so cute in his little sun hat :)

Grandpa Ken and Nolan

Another funny incident was when Pika, Kristen's pug, started to get tired. She was a little trooper and kept up for quite a while, but eventually she just started to lay down in every patch of shade along the pavement. Someone got the idea to put her in the carrying basket below the Chayton's stroller, but Pika just wouldn't have it. She'd jump out every time we put her in there. Finally, because she was so tired and really just needed a rest, Grandpa Ken took Pika's leash and tied it so that she couldn't get out of the basket. She looked so funny just sitting there and panting. It got the job done though because soon her breathing returned to normal and she found a way to hop out and jog along with us again.

Pika Hitching A Ride

Visiting with Grandpa Garth

Wow, that was almost a week ago already! We had a fabulous time with Grandpa Garth (I know, it still sounds weird to say that) last week. His plane was a little delayed on Monday, so we had to get going right away to the Progressive building to pick up my car. By the way, I think my car looks even better now than it did before the accident! After that we headed back home and had just a little time before Kirstin and Ryan got home. Ryan, Nolan and I left for the Twins game with G-papi and Grandma Teri (if you get me pics of this I'll post them) while Kirstin, Irene and Grandpa Garth took Frank to the dog park. Irene was the brave one who picked up the poo...but Grandpa Garth had to do it later in the week! After the game, we spent another few hours chatting at our place. It's so great having family all in one spot and catching up!

Tuesday and Wednesday I worked and Grandpa found things to keep him busy (tennis with Wilk and lunch with Diedrich). Wednesday night Grandpa went to salsa, which has become a regular activity for him when he visits us. Thursday Grandpa, Nolan, Frank and I went to the dog park again. Later that night we all went over to G'ma Sara's and G'pa Mario's for chili and Nintendo Wii. It was fun seeing everyone get up there and trying out the Wii...Kirstin is a natural snowboarder and stepper. Diedrich and Grandpa Garth picked up tennis pretty quickly too! All in all this was a great visit because it gave me a chance to really talk to my dad and he got to see how much Nolan has changed these last few months. Here two pictures from his time here:

Proud Grandpa

Future Guitar Player?