Oh the diapers!

   

Cloth diapering adventure- major cost savings!

We invested in cloth diapers before our first, Annabelle, was born and they have been a MAJOR cost savings through all 3 kiddos.  At first we were sold on the natural cotton and no chlorine and it did not seem like much of a cost savings since we had to spend around $250 to make the initial investment.  Looking back though, 3 kids later, we have had many more benefits than keeping chemicals off our babies bottoms! (which to many, including us, was a great reason in and of itself)

We invested in Bum Genius diapers which are made in our home town of St. Louis, MO, but they are available easily online too.  We looked at many brands and we picked Bum Genius because of their growth adjust-ability, dry protection and ease of washing at home.

Our next step in decision making, which has TOTALLY paid off, was how to store and clean our diapers.  We went with the Diaper Decor diaper pail which works with reusable pail liners (we like planet wise) as well as any garbage bag.  Planet wise also has great wet bags for on the go cloth diapering!

 

You also have to think about wipes.  You want wipes you can wash so you can just dump everything from the wet bag into the washer and not mess with separating anything.  We went with the Prince Lionheart wipe warmer and wipes, which have held up great over the past 4 years!

It is important to not put anything on your babies bottom that will build up a water barrier on your diapers, so traditional diaper creams are a no go.  Instead using natural remedies without zinc oxide work great for baby and the cloth diapers.  We use mother love diaper ointment, but there are many options out there.
 
You do have to buy ever fresh pillows for the bottom of the warmer to keep everything wet and sanitized while warm too, but I bought a few packs and I am still going through them and am on kiddo number 3.

So, that is pretty much the set up!  Now for the LOADS of fun ;)  It is very important which detergent you use.  You never want to use regular detergent on your cloth diapers.  They actually take very little detergent to keep them clean.  Here is a list of detergents that work really well with cloth diapers. My advice is to wash them at least every three days.  Rinse them on warm, then wash with detergent on hot and then do another hot rinse.  The inserts can go in the dryer (you do not need softener sheets) and you can line dry the covers, pail liners and wet bags.

If your diapers begin to smell not so fresh or start to leak here are easy instructions of how to strip them.

And that's the basics of cloth diapering.  There are many more things you learn from trial and error and honestly every kiddo has been a bit different, but overall we have saved lots with our investment and we sleep better knowing chemicals are not on our babies bottoms.

Our Adoption Story

We had always talked about adoption as an option of growing our family, and after two rough pregnancies it was our natural choice.  We started the process first with just searches on the differences between domestic and international adoption.  We decided on domestic adoption and began calling around to different types of agencies: religious agencies, small local non-profit agencies and large mulit-state agencies.  We ended up choosing American Adoptions, but there are lots of amazing agencies out there to help in the adoption journey.

We went to an informational seminar in August of 2013.  The info session was lead by an adoption specialist and there was a couple at the front of the room at a "panelist" table who had recently adopted a baby boy.  They shared their story and answered questions which was amazing to hear directly from them how the process went.  

They explained how they found the agency, what they had to do to complete their profile and become active and what their interactions were with the birth parents before and after their son was born.

After we left the seminar we both knew we were ready to start on our journey for baby number 3.  Our first step was filling out the application with our basic information, then requesting a home study by a local social worker.  Our social worker was amazing and we now truly view her as a friend.  There was nothing intimidating about the home study, just basic questions about our intentions, our childhood, our parenting styles and a quick look around our home to ensure it was safe.  I did joke with Matt about how they might take our first 2 kids if we failed, but in reality it wasn't stressful or invasive at all.

Our next step was creating our adoption profile for birth mothers to learn a little more about us.  We submitted photos and a video profile as well.  Here is how it turned out -

The process of creating our profile while still being parents to our first two kiddos took us a bit of time, so we finished everything by November of 2013.  After we submitted everything we got an enthusiastic call from the agency that we were ACTIVE for our profile to be shown to birth mothers on our way to work and no joke at 4pm we got a call that we had been chosen. I was called first and they asked if they could conference in Matt because they wanted to discuss a possible match.  Of course I said to call him, and we all talked through why the birth mom was interested in us, her medical history and what we would need to do to take the next steps toward adopting our baby girl.

We did not have much contact with the agency or birth mom after that first "match" day, so we floundered a bit on whether we should get her room ready and make travel plans.  Eventually we did connect and were informed that we could be in the state she was born for 7-16 days until the judge decided everything was settled between the birth state and Missouri. 

We lucked out and only had to wait two days after Julia was discharged from the hospital to return home!   From what we hear this is super lucky and we count our blessings that we got to unite our family as soon as we did.  The pictures of us meeting our moms, Annabelle and Patrick at the airport say the rest :)

So I bought 10 pounds of carrots...

Yes, 10 pounds of carrots!

My husband looked at me like I had 2 heads when he opened the fridge.  What is my plan for so many carrots you ask?  Good question!

About two years ago my doctor recommended that I buy Joel Fuhrman's Eat to Live book to help with stabilizing my hormones and shedding the baby weight from Patrick.  To use the plan for weight loss recommended in the book it starts out with cutting out all meat, which was definitely the hardest part for this steak loving chica.  My doc explained that eating meat brings more hormones into the equation and for someone who is struggling with metabolic issues that is just more stress on your system.  It starts you out with a 7 day meal guide with recipes and honestly I lost 11 pounds that first week eating these veggie focused meals, and within 6 weeks I had lost 18.  Here is a crash course diagram of his recommendations-



So fast forward 2 years and I am now trying to bring the veggies back into my life...which lead me to buying 10 pounds of carrots.  I used 4 pounds of them to make baby food for Baby J, Annabelle (my veggie lover) probably ate a pound herself and the other half I used to make the most amazing veggie soup ever!  Here's the recipe-

Ingredients:
1/2 cup dried split peas
1/2 cup dried adzuki or cannellini beans
4 cups water
6-10 medium zucchini
5 pounds large organic carrots, freshly juiced (5-6 cups juice; see note)*
2 bunches celery, freshly juiced (2 cups juice; see note)*
2 tablespoons Dr. Fuhrman's VegiZest (or other no-salt seasoning blend, adjusted to taste)
1 teaspoon Mrs. Dash no-salt seasoning
4 medium onions, chopped
3 leek stalks, cut lengthwise and cleaned carefully, then coarsely chopped
2 bunches kale, collard greens or other greens, tough stems and center ribs removed and leaves chopped
1 cup raw cashews
2 1/2 cups chopped fresh mushrooms (shiitake, cremini and/o white)

Instructions:
Place the beans and water in a very large pot over low heat. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer. Add the zucchini whole to the pot. Add the carrot juice, celery juice, VegiZest and Mrs. Dash.
Put the onions, leeks and kale in a blender and blend with a little bit of the soup liquid. Pour this mixture into the soup pot.
Remove the softened zucchini with tongs and blend them in the blender with the cashews until creamy. Pour this mixture back into the soup pot. Add the mushrooms and continue to simmer the beans until soft, about 2 hours total cooking time.

An awesome recipe I used to make baby food for Julia with Apples and Carrots is-

1/4 apple
2 carrots
2 tablespoons water

Peel, core and chop apple.  Cut carrots in half lengthwise, then in half.  Put apple, carrots and water in a pot and cook until they soften.  Allow to cool slightly, then puree in a blender or mash with a fork.  Add apple juice, breast milk or formula if needed to achieve desired consistency.

Is my point of this post really about carrots, nope.  I have realized that way too often we loose focus on our health.  Between working, cleaning, laundry, dishes and sleep...I find myself forgetting about things that work for...well...2 years.  Enjoy the soup!