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cloth diapering: my stash.

indian prefolds infant [36] – I love the unbleached infant prefolds from Green Mountain Diapers.  I didn’t use them much on Dhara, but hopefully I get to use them whenever we have our next baby.  $24/dozen

indian prefolds medium [12] – Again, Green Mountain Diapers is an awesome place to purchase good quality prefolds.  I used these with a Thirsties cover when Dhara was between 9-12 months.  Worked great.  $32/dozen

g-Diapers [6] – I would not recommend the g-Diaper.  They are adorable, but just not practical in my opinion, because the cover is made of cloth, which can easily get wet.  $17.99/each

Bum Genius 3.0 One Size Pocket [1] – We use this as one of our nighttime diapers stuffed with a hemp and sherpa doubler.  Works great for Dhara whose a heavy wetter.  $17.95/each

Bum Genius 3.0 One Size AIO [2] – Another great nighttime diaper stuffed with a hemp and sherpa doubler.

Bum Genius 4.0 One Size Pocket [1] – I like this diaper alot, but it fits a bit small/trim, so should be great for smaller babies.  Supposedly goes up to 35 pounds — we’ll see.

Bum Genius Flip One Size [1] – This is an interesting diaper, I’m just getting used to it.  Not sure how I feel about it yet.  But one thing is for sure, it’s probably a good travel diaper because you only have to carry a couple covers and a handful of inserts.

Rumpa-Rooz Pocket One Size [1] – I love this diaper, it’s great quality.  The double gussets are awesome.  It also seems better for smaller babes because it’s so trim. But I do love putting it on my girl while it fits.  It’s one of the pricier cloth diapers.

Grovia AIO One Size [2] – I love this diaper too, perfect for smaller sized babies. This diaper is different from most AIO’s because the fabric is an awesome organic soft cotton.  Plus, they come in super cute prints.  This is another pricey cloth diaper.  $22.95/each

Fuzzibunz Perfect Fit Pocket [3] – This is my absolute favorite diaper around!!! Because Dhara is on the bigger side, it’s a perfect diaper for larger babies.  And it’s sooo soft!

Fuzzibunz One Size Pocket [9]

Charlie Banana One Size Pocket [2] – A pretty small diaper, probably the smallest One Size I own — it’s a nice diaper, but not nice and big enough for me to purchase anymore for my stash — I prefer the ones listed above over the Charlie Banana.

ES Baby Fitted One Size [5] – The cutest fitted diapers around.  Plus they are handmade by a stay at home mama.  I love her taste in fabrics.

Thirsties Size 2 Covers [4] – I use this cover with my indian prefolds.  So far, so good — no leaks.  The gussets make it an awesome cover.

California Baby Diaper Rash Cream – My preferred choice of rash creams for cloth. Remember that you cannot use any diaper rash cream with cloth diapers.

Angel Baby Bottom Balm – Another great rash cream for cloth.

Mama Rose’s Sunshine Spray – Probably my most favorite accessory.  I love the scent of roses, so a quick spray of this on baby’s bottom smells great, feels refreshing and cool, soothes irritation, and is naturally anti-septic and antibacterial.

Snappis [3] – I prefer these to pins with prefolds.

hemp doublers [4] – Essential for heavywetters and nighttime.

sherpa doublers [6] – Essential for heavywetters and nighttime.  I personally don’t notice a difference using hemp or sherpa.  Sherpa is cheaper.

Gro-via disposable liners – These keep the poo from touching the diaper.  Makes it SOOO easy to pick up and throw into toilet.  Keeps messes to a minimum — a lifesaver!  However, I do prefer the Kushies liners over the Grovia liners, because they are thicker and no stains are left on the diaper like with the Gro-via liners. Kushies liners can be put through the wash, and be reused at least once.  I do want to try the rice paper liners from Green Mountain.

cloth wipes [12] – I haven’t begun using cloth wipes.  I’m hoping to use them with a homemade wipes solution in the future.
handmade wetbag – I’m working on a handmade wetbag for day trips — will post pics soon.
large pail liners [2] – A necessary item for dirty diapers.
Bac Out Spray – I love this stuff.  I spray it on a dirty diaper after I’ve washed off the poo.  It’s live enzymes kill bacteria organically.
Country Save Detergent – A great uncomplicated detergent for cloth diapers and clothes.  Unscented.

When it comes to fitteds, pockets and AIO diapers, I stick to gender neutral colors and prints so that a boy could wear them too.  Sad to say I don’t [yet] have any of the cute girly ones out there on the market.  But that’s ok, I love that in a family multiple children can wear the same diapers, which in the end saves money.  I also usually choose One Size because they fit newborn to potty training.  Except for FuzziBunz Perfect Fit, which Dhara wears all the time now.  All of my prefolds, cloth wipes, pail liners, hemp and sherpa doublers, snappis, and thirsties covers were purchased from Green Mountain Diapers.  Love Karen’s dedication + homespun approach to giving her customers the best reviews and prices.  I’ve also purchased diapers and accessories from Cloth Diaper OutletZulilyES BabyDiaper.com, and our awesome local children’s consignment store, Greenberries.

Sorry for the super long post folks!  I’ll share about my daily system after I return from a church retreat I’m off to for the rest of the week!  Have a lovely July 4th weekend!

cloth diapering: my experience.

It’s been sometime since I last posted about cloth diapers.  Many of you have asked and some are probably wondering what’s going on with that.  So I thought it necessary to divulge the whole truth and nothing but the truth.  The truth of the matter is that I absolutely LOVE cloth diapers.  Just ask the hubby — he’d probably tell you that I’ve spent hours watching the Cloth Diapering Channel on YouTube [so informative!].

You could probably call me an addict.  I love putting them on Dhara — they are oh, so cute, and so soft, and so comfortable.  I love hanging them outside to dry in the sun.  I love folding and stuffing them too.  I just love the whole process, [except maybe washing off poo, but hey, it’s not the end of the world].  But my love for cloth diapering wasn’t always like this.

I mentioned in my initial cloth diapering post that I wanted to cloth diaper right off the bat when Dhara was a newborn.  This never happened.  We started with disposables in the hospital, and continued using them at home majority of the time.  They are just so darn easy!  But every time I looked at my stash of cloth diapers on the changing table, my heart still yearned to use cloth; and it didn’t help that Greg would remind me every so often that I should use cloth since we invested in them.  Our cloth diapers were used in bouts — a few weeks here, and few week there, and when we ran out of disposables.

Thank the good Lord He gave me a cloth diapering buddy to talk with about my struggles with cloth diapering, systems, detergents, what worked and what didn’t work, and more.  You’d be surprised about how long one could converse about diapers!  I must say Tina was a huge help.  I needed someone to talk to and show me that it was truly possible.  I realize how silly this may all sound — me needing someone to talk to, and needing the encouragement, but I really had a deep desire within me to cloth diaper, and not just cloth diaper some of the time, but 100% of the time.

So to make a long story short, I’ve been exclusively cloth diapering for 4 months now, and I so enjoy it.  My issue was that I needed to stop dreaming about it, get off my lazy bum and just do it!  I needed a system that worked for me, and the discipline to stick to it.  Once all that was figured out, it was a breeze.  It feels really good to conquer this, and it feels amazing not throwing away a ton of disposables anymore.  We’ve found a system that works for us throughout the day, and at night; however I’m still working on when we travel.

More tomorrow on my ever growing stash of cloth diapers, what diapers and accessories I love, and my daily system.  If you can’t tell already, I am super duper excited I get to talk about this!  : )

a quaint picnic.

Last year around this time, I hosted a half birthday for my daughter.  The reason — to celebrate her 6 months of life, and because it was a great way to get some moms and daughters together for a summery girly party — hence the Summer Garden Party for Dhara.

This year I wanted to do something super simple, but nice, like a picnic.  So Greg and I decided we would invite a couple college friends and have just that — a quaint little picnic.  A picnic in celebration of 18 months, and to spend time with some old friends.  We [Greg, Susan, Sony, Sue] knew each other in college before anyone was in any sort of relationship.  It’s so neat to see where we are now…with families.  So we threw down a quilt under a cove of very large trees and had a lovely afternoon of catching up, and smiling at our baby girls.  Boy does time fly. Oh, and we devoured a blueberry buckle — anything with “buckle” in the name has gotta be good!

the spread

tall jars of freshly squeezed blueberry lemonade + izze sparkling juice

josh, sue, zoey, sini, sony, megan, greg, dhara

homemade blueberry buckle — oh my gosh, this was so good.

homemade kale chips

a platter of grapes, cheese + homemade multigrain peasant bread

strawberry cupcakes

zoey feeding dhara

aunty sini and dhara chatting

dhara and uncle sony

and the three little kittens who lost their mittens

18 months old.

It feels really odd to have a toddler running around our home.  It was just recently that she joined our family, and she’s already a year and a half.  After a year of monthly updates, I stopped doing them every month because updating after 12 months seemed too much.  So I decided to focus on the next big milestone, 18 months.

So much has happened since Dhara’s 12 month update.  She’s learned the word “no.”  She uses it frequently, but in the sweetest voice possible as she shakes her head and her eyebrows go into a frown.  It’s hard not to scoop her up and hold her tight when she says “no” in that voice.  In addition to “no”, she’s picked up many other words along the way, like: cute, stinky, credit, heavy, and cupcake.  She talks in mini sentences, like, “Dhara sit it”, or a question like, “he’s gone?”  She’s also learning her ABC’s and 123’s.  If you ask her to count something, this is usually what it sounds like, “2,8,2,8.”  We are working on this.  : )

She is super lovable.  She loves to hug and kiss and tickle people.  And don’t worry if you aren’t ticklish, she will laugh for you.  She’s definitely a people person.  My mom tells me I was the exact same way as a toddler.  Dhara loves talking on the phone to her Grandma and Grandpa (Greg’s parents), as well as her Papa and Grammy (my grandparents).  She has so much to say, most of which is unintelligible, but with real words stuck in here and there.  She loves little kids especially and usually finds someway to hug them.

Dhara, you are an amazing little girl and we love you to pieces.  Happy 18 months to my Dhara Dear!  More tomorrow on a quaint celebration we had to celebrate her 18 months.

fruits + veggies from our garden. vintage inspired dress from My Sweet Muffin.

blueberry fields.

blueberry summer

She was super busy picking and eating the unripe green blueberries.  This is the very reason I love blogging — because it documents our life as it unfolds.  The day to day outings, milestones, experiences and hopes.  My trusty camera is usually always by my side — it’s been through alot.  With all the beatings it’s gotten over the past years, it’s stayed true to my love of watching and documenting my daughter taste life one blueberry, or strawberry, or tart cherry at a time.

This afternoon I took Dhara and Hannah [my little cousin] to a blueberry field so we could pick enough berries for a quaint little celebration I’m hosting this Sunday. We went picking this same time last year with Zuma.  I just adore Dhara’s little blueberry top she’s wearing in these photos — she wore it as a dress last summer when she was a wee one.  [I actually purchased it a year before I got pregnant, something I would do here and there.] Wish I had one like it.

[gifty, she’s wearing a camp lighthouse for the blind t-shirt]

until next year

itching.

To knit.  I’ve been sewing so much these days that I’ve been longing for those cool fall days of deciphering new patterns and knitting baby sweaters.  I’m hoping to expand my project list this fall and delve into projects with more than one color, and hopefully work in some socks and a few hats.  I’ve also been considering joining some sort of knitting guild — perhaps like the one below?  But thank goodness for my knitting buddy, Diana.  We share patterns, talk about our likes and dislikes, and share our hopes and dreams as knitters.  Yes, we probably sound like huge dorks, but really, it’s alot of fun.  : )

knitting guild

appacha + ahmana.

my parents wedding, india, 1980.

It’s Dhara’s Appacha + Ahmana’s [her grandparents] wedding anniversary tomorrow, and she wants to wish them a very, very happy anniversary!  They’ve spent 31 beautiful years together thus far.  Dhara says she’s grateful for the love and cheer that envelopes their home everyday.  She couldn’t imagine living anywhere else!  She loves you both dearly, along with the rest of us!!!

dhara at 8 months

dhara at 16 months

my parents after their ceremony. in order of appearance: chinamama, my pretty grandmother, my mom, my dad back from the States stylin’ in a linen 3 piece suit, my grandfather, and little 14 year old joji uncle — even though all these people look pretty stoic, they are all very happy inside, I promise.

a beach weekend.

We spent time at the beach this past weekend visiting with Greg’s family.  Had a lovely time outdoors on their new stone patio just chatting, enjoying mom’s beautiful garden, and watching Dhara do all her fun little antics.  I spent any free time knitting a shop order and cutting fabric for bibs.  I also couldn’t help but stop at the local yarn store and my favorite antique shop.  Scored some pretty wooden buttons, a lovely vintage leather travelers bag, and a 1961 quilt top (thanks mom!).

Dhara was a water baby all weekend — she loved it! She especially loves having Aunt Beth in the water with her.  Also had a nice father’s day dinner by the grill master himself, Greg’s dad — he loves to cook.  And what an amazing cook — he makes everything taste great.


nightly walk on the beach enjoying an outdoor band

also enjoyed a scoop of coconut (my favorite) gelato + a scoop of hazelnut

greg and mom, a father’s day brunch

happy father’s day to greg and dad!

blowing bubbles with aunt beth

someone’s ready to get back in the water

papa day 2011.

father’s day 2011, in grandma’s garden, bethany beach, DE

To Dhara’s Daddy,

Happy second father’s day to my great love.  You are an amazing daddy who loves with all your heart.  I love watching you with our little girl.  I love how patient and kind you are with her.  I love how you teach and train her in the way she should go.  I appreciate how you wake up in the middle of the night to bring her warm milk.  I love how hard you work so that I can stay home with our little one.  I love making up silly songs with you for her — they are fantastic and should be made public.  I love how you tickle her and chase her around the house on your hands and knees.  I love how you take her down the road to see the rabbit den filled with baby bunnies and a mama rabbit.  I like how you both tend the vegetable garden together.  I love how you pray for her because the effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much — and I didn’t make that up.  I love how special you think she is.  And, I love how special you are.

love, Dhara’s Mama