Ingenue Mom

Notice the yummy papaya from Whole Foods in her mouth & then the Cocoa Puffs in the background. We definitely find ourselves somewhere in the middle... I'll admit that I've just recently heard the term " crunchy ." According to Urban Dictionary , the term refers to anyone who has "adjusted or altered their lifestyle for environmental reasons." It is a derivative of the word " granola ," which I actually have used before to describe things. A crunchy mama would then, in my mind, just be any mom who chooses to follow more environmentally conscious efforts with their children.  According to Urban Dictionary , and I guess many others, " crunchy mama " refers to a mom who "supports homebirth, breastfeeding, baby wearing, cloth diapering, co-sleeping, gentle discipline, etc. One who questions established medical authority; tends to be vegetarian and/or prepare all-organic foods." Well, I consider myself to be fairly environmenta...

This post was written by my husband, Lewis. I wanted to share his view of the cloth diapers as I know many times it's the dads who are thinking, "no way I'm doing that." At first, I was worried that Lewis may not be on board, but the more we talked about it, the more it felt like something that was right for both of us. Here's a little view of cloth diapers through his eyes: Honestly I didn’t know much about diapers in general when we first began discussing cloth diapers. Just like most people, when I thought about cloth diapers, I saw essentially big white napkins with safety pins. After Cameron showed me a few of our options I realized that we had much more modern tools to work with than I thought. I had never changed any type of diaper before, so to me, I was up for anything. Now after I have changed many months worth, I have to admit that I no longer can see us using anything else other than cloth diapers for our children. What do I love about them? The...

I have heard several of the issues with cloth diapers & I think people have valid concerns. It is definitely either something you're interested in or something you know just isn't for you. For those of you who think you may be interested, but are trying to figure out exactly how it works, I've decided to share our set-up! I've found them to be easier than I expected & even more user-friendly than I had originally thought! I thought about splitting this post into separate posts so it'd be shorter, but I've just left it all as one thing. Pick your brand First of all, we use GroBaby , although they are now re-launched as GroVia . I will refer to them from now on as GroVia since that is their new official name. We just don't have any of the new kind yet, but after this video I shared the other day, we are absolutely going to buy a couple! One of the things I really liked about GroVia is that they can be used when the babies are really small. We start...

I have posted several times about cloth diapers & I've particularly shared about how much I love our GroBaby diapers ! I have had almost no complaints with them at all. I didn't even really think about the ways they could be improved upon. They've rarely been leaky, they fit her from 7 lbs, they're cute, they are absorbent, they aren't super messy, easy to clean, etc. Just all in all, we have been incredibly happy. Well, Cloth Diaper Whisperer posted this video today comparing GroBaby with their new & improved version after their company re-launch as GroVia & I must say they are absolute geniuses over there!! The new things they added are so amazing & in my opinion they are all things that I haven't seen any other cloth diaper offer. The main things that I think set GroVia apart from other diapers are: The top part of the soaker pad is made of fleece which is what is used as a stay-dry material in cloth diapers. They added extra PUL materia...

1. PostSecret  I don't have nearly as much to say about any of the others, so that's why this one is first. I wrote about why I liked it one time & this is what I said (Feb. 14, 2008): I love people. I love their hope, their pain, their strengths and weaknesses, their love and joy, their despair and sorrow. I think that the stronger the depth of emotion, the more vulnerable and open someone has allowed themselves to be to the world. I think there is no great love without great loss, or at least the possibility of it. I think there is no great achievement without a certain amount of failure. I think our turbulent past opens the door to a future that is bright and open because we have learned the lowest we can go and we've decided to keep moving forward. I think every loss is an opportunity to appreciate and grow. I think every joy is a blessing that you can carry with you through those moments when life is not a joy. I think we beat each other down for...

(Taken with my phone - seriously, who can help me get a new camera?) First of all let me just say that I am still incredibly pleased with my cloth diapers. I feel like I have to be on the defensive sometimes when I discuss cloth diapers because so many people thought we were just crazy to make this decision. I still feel like some people are waiting with an "I told you so" on the tip of their tongue. So as a major positive to begin this post with, I've discovered something new I love about the cloth diapers! We went on a little trip last weekend to my cousin's wedding. We had a 6 hour car ride to get there. We decided to use disposable diapers on this trip because it just seemed easier on a short trip. So on the way down there, we had the most horrible, disgusting blowout we have ever had!! I noticed a faint smell of poop, so I told Lewis to pull over at the rest stop ahead so I could change her diaper. Well, as I go to get her out of the carseat I feel something we...

Baby Adidas GroVia Diaper in Kiwi Liberty of London Romper Gap Romper Children's Place Overalls Circo Onesie

I post these pictures on Facebook all the time, but I decided I wanted to add it to my blog. Since I don't want to give you like 18 posts of separate outfits I haven't posted already, I'm going to do just 2 or 3 posts & then I'll do one at a time from here on out! Enjoy! GroVia Diaper in Wildflowers GroVia Diaper in Seaside Stripe Tea Collection outfit Hairblooms Etsy Headband Ralph Lauren Dress Gap Romper

I get asked a lot about how cloth diapering is going! I thought I'd post a little update! In short - we LOVE it! We knew it wouldn't be easy and it definitely isn't, but I can't imagine that it's too much harder than using disposables! I do more laundry now anyway, so it just adds one extra load every 2-3 days. We are using all GroBaby diapers . She's pooping less now, so we can reuse the shells a lot more. She's also sleeping through the night, so I bought some of the GroBaby stay-dry boosters . I haven't started using them yet because I need to pre-wash them. We had to buy some disposables, though, to use when she goes to the nursery at church now! So we'll use 2 disposables a week because they have to change them once during the service. We've been really happy with the GroBaby! She's on the infant setting now because she's 13 pounds. It has fit well around her legs the entire time. We've had a couple of leaks, but no more than I t...

We all know that I was very excited about cloth diapers when I was pregnant! We used disposables for the first 2 weeks until her umbilical cord stump fell off because I was afraid the cloth diapers would tear off the stump before it was ready. After 2 weeks (and $40) in disposable diapers, we were very excited about using cloth! It took a couple of days for us & Isis to get used to the cloth diapers, but now, we all are very happy!! It's definitely not for everybody. We are having to use our diaper sprayer to spray off the poo everytime, but we don't actually ever touch the poo. And once I'm putting the diapers into the washing machine, there isn't even any poo on them! So it's not any messier than the disposables were. If you were on the fence about it, I highly recommend the cloth diapers! And our GroBaby diapers are the absolute best!! We love how they work - with the velcro rather than buttons & they fit great! Even when she was just like 7 1/2 pounds! W...

Look what I got in the mail today!!!! Yay!!!!!

I'm so excited about using Gro Baby Diapers!!!! They now have super cute prints, too!!

Diana & I went to Babies R Us yesterday and registered!!! I'm excited!!! I am still working on the registry a little bit! There were a couple of things that I knew I really wanted that they didn't have in the store, so I'm going to find them and add them online! And I'm still working on the travel system thing. Yes, there are like 3 travel systems on my registry right now. Only because I'm still lowering it down to my favorite! Check it out if you're interested! So far I have these 2 registries: Babies R Us Kelly's Closet (password: grobaby) I think I'll also do one at Target. Not to be super high maintenance or anything. I would have just done the 2 (Babies R Us & Target), but all my cloth diaper stuff is on the Kelly's Closet one!

I'm so excited, Diana & I are going to register at Babies R Us tomorrow night!! Yay!!!! I've already registered at KellysCloset for my cloth diapering items! Feel free to check it out if you're interested! You can search using my name & the password is "grobaby." I'll let you know how the registering goes!!!

Lewis and I had discussed cloth diapers before and we'd both thought they seemed like a good idea, but we didn't know anyone who used them and we just didn't have enough information on them in general. I recently read a discussion board about cloth diapers that a friend of mine posted on Facebook. Suddenly I found 8 or 9 different people who had used cloth diapers and loved them! They had brands and specific items they had used! It completely recharged my interest in cloth diapers! They are more expensive to begin with than regular diapers, like 1 diaper is about $11 - $25 depending on the brand while a pack of disposable diapers can be about that much. BUT, you wash and reuse the cloth diapers where you only need about 2 dozen for a year - until they grow out of them - and then you can use the same diapers for your next baby. From what I could tell after reading the information from the people on the discussion board, it costs less than half what disposable diapers cost in...