We’ve been talking cloth diapers a lot around here lately. Caleb’s diapers have been leaking, and we’ve been trying to find out what exactly the problem is so we can solve it. I think I have it figured out.

I’ve seen a lot of ladies make cloth diapers using links I’ve used. I’m honored that people even read my blog! But since I’ve seen so many people sewing the same patterns I have, I wanted to share some of my observations about them, a year later. Maybe it will help other mamas not deal with a bit of the frustration we’ve dealt with.

Mama Bird Pocket Fitted - this was a great diaper because we could use it on a newborn. I stuffed it too full sometimes though so he ended up pretty bowlegged at times. I didn’t sew many because I didn’t want to keep sewing more every time he hit a growth spurt. Her sizing is pretty accurate too. Just make sure your printer is set to 100% or else you’ll have a bunch of preemie dipes.

Rita’s Rump Pocket – the one we use the most now. I love it. It’s easy to sew, goes together quickly, and is really versatile. We have 2 dozen of these. They fit well from about 10 pounds and up. When the babies are much smaller than that there’s just too much diaper.

Diapersewing.com – a great how-to site with lots of pics

I did learn a few things along the way. The first dipes I made were actually fleece covers and not the diapers themselves. I used two layers of fleece and drew my own pattern, following the instructions on diapersewing.com. They’ve held up wonderfully, and I’m actually using them for Caleb right now with his nighttime diapers. The fleece will compression wick some though, so now I add a waterproof layer and that is solved.

The RRP and MB patterns are really nice, but I would change things around the next time I make them. Made just as a diaper that needs a cover, and they’d be great.

I didn’t see that there was a pattern for the Rita’s Rump Pocket cover until I’d already sewn all of the basic pattern as fleece outer pockets. That’s ok, but one of the other patterns on her site would have probably worked better for us.

The way I made them was with an outer layer of flannel and an inner of fleece, and they wick. A lot. The problem is there’s too much of the inner flannel edges exposed to baby’s clothes – which ends up getting everything wet. I would either make the outside out of PUL the next time or find a way to keep the flannel away from the edges (I just saw a pattern on the RRP site today that looks like it would fit this description). I chose fleece for the outer because it’s water resistant, but either the fleece I used was too cheap (a possibility) or the flannel gets too close to the outside. When you sew the leg elastic area, you can pull the flannel so that the fleece rolls to the inside, but I didn’t do a good enough job of it.

The fleece outer is great because it’s pinnable, but it compression wicks too. I stuff them with two pieces – a waterproof rectangular piece (which was an old crib liner I had laying around – I needed something fast and it worked) and a microfiber shop towel. The microfiber is a lot more absorbent than the cotton I was using.

I was using cotton washcloths, sandwiched in a flannel case to stuff the diapers with. Those were ok, and I used them because I had them. Then I read about how good microfiber was, so I bought a pack of the cloths. They’re about the size of a large washcloth. Folded in thirds, and they hold just as much as the cotton did – without as much bulk. I’m a lot happier with them so far, but we’ve only had them for about a week so that opinion could change.

I’ve been reading up on diaper sewing again wanting to get ideas to make our system work better. I like the ease of the pocket diapers, but that’s useless if they leak.

I’d considered going back to diapers with covers, but don’t really want to mess with prefolds again (we probably have a good 6 dozen of varying weights).

Another thing I tried was turning the elastic edges of Caleb’s diaper in when I change diapers. That seems to be working, but I’ve not done it long enough to have much of an opinion on it yet.

All that said – I wanted to give an update. I still love cloth diapering (my blue plaid diapers are just too fun), but we’ve had just enough leaks that it’s time to revisit our system again. Having cloth diapers is useless if you end up buying disposables just to avoid leaks!

I am really disappointed. Our goat Sasha did kid overnight, but her baby was born still. She was a pretty little thing.

Then this morning, Sephina kidded too. She had two so far, and we think there’s another one in there too. Unfortunately, she went too early and her babies were born still as well.

We had noticed recently that our billy was really beating up on the girls and head butting them a lot. We’ve been trying to keep him away from the nannies more, but apparently his violent behavior cost Sephina her triplets. They were really small, and still had a couple weeks to go.

Stephen buried the babies before he left for work this morning. I’ll be in and out today, trying to keep an eye on the girls. I really don’t think Sephina is done, and I want to make sure Sasha is ok.

We really love our goats. They have such sweet personalities. It really bothers me that of three babies born this morning, we lost all of them. I know that happens sometimes, but I still don’t like it.

Stephen went outside today to check on our animals, and came inside to tell me that one of our nannies is kidding. We’ve known she was due soon, but she sure did pick an awfully cold day to go into labor!

I’m sure they’ll be ok. Sasha is a good mama goat. Her last one is a real sweetie – and actually, Sephina is pregnant and due soon too. How fun!

I am a little bit nervous for her though. The last kid she had was too large for her (she’s a pygmy goat and had been bred to a full-size goat when we got her. That baby today is bigger than she is). Even though we know the daddy this time is a pygmy, we’re really hoping for a trouble-free labor. But we remember how it was last time and it’s hard not to worry a little bit.

We won’t be keeping these babies though. We only have room for 3 goats we do have. As much as we’d love to keep them, we can’t.

Hopefully I’ll be posting soon with pictures!

The other day when I was grocery shopping at Walmart, I noticed that the Nestle chocolate chips were marked 2 for $2. I grabbed a few bags. The cheapest I’ve seen them lately has been $1.48, so I was happy to find some for $1. They rang up $.56 each. I don’t know why, but I’ll take it.

We went back to Walmart today to return a few things and get the rest of the groceries I didn’t have a chance to get last week. The chocolate chips were still $.56 a bag. We bought half a dozen more.

Now my freezer has a good 10 bags of chocolate chips in there. I’m so happy! We use them sometimes to calm a chocolate craving without eating too much chocolate in one sitting. We’re set for a while now.

That was really fun to find chocolate chips so cheap – and to find a name brand that cheap was even better.

Stephen and I went out on a date Friday night for his birthday. We left the boys with Grandma and went out to a Japanese Hibachi grill.

The date was a lot of fun, and was well worth every penny we spent (which was actually under what I had budgeted. GREAT!).

The boys, well, I had to laugh. When we walked in the house, Stephen’s folks started apologizing to us for the amount of sugar that Samuel had eaten. While we were gone, he had a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, 3 slices of birthday cake, a gingerbread man, and a chocolate dipped granola bar. And that was besides the pizza that he ate for supper!

I wasn’t upset about it – after all – isn’t that part of going to Grandma’s house? Samuel is a crafty little guy – he kept going to Mom and Dad separately so he could get more food. They didn’t realize how much he’d eaten until they told us later.

I declare. That boy is going to eat me out of house and home. Or Grandma, at least!

And people wonder why I don’t keep sweets in MY house???

Last night we went to a nearby church for one of their revival services. We’ve never been to the church before, but we do know several of the people that attend there.

But – I got to meet Old Paths Mom last night! It was so fun! We talked for a long time after church. I think I talked more than she did though. . . (probably something I need to work on!)

It is so neat to be able to meet other bloggers, and last night was a real blessing.

Now, to just coordinate a time when we can get together again. . .

We found out recently that Stephen’s dad has cancer. This is a big blow to our family, but especially to his mom. She just lost her brother to lymphoma, and now Dad was diagnosed with it one month (almost to the day) after Uncle William passed away.

Dad started his chemo last week. He had a reaction to it, but seems to be doing well now. Other than being tired, of course.

With the boys and I having colds, I’ve missed being over there spending time with them. I just can’t justify exposing Dad to it though, so we’ve stayed away.

Hopefully we’ll be able to go over there this weekend. Dad’s birthday is Thursday, and Stephen’s is Friday. Guess we’ll see!

The other day, Samuel was rubbing my back while we were talking.

“I’m sorry you’re sick, Mommy, but you’re just going to have to make the best of it.”

I know he’s trying to be compassionate, but it was all I could do not to laugh at him! Silly boy!

I think we have more work to do. . .

We’ve done really well lately, sticking to South Beach. I’ve lost all of the weight I gained during all the December craziness and while we were at my mom’s.

I have a chest cold, so Stephen went out tonight to get me some more cough medicine. He stopped at the grocery store after getting my meds and came home with ice cream as well. Chocolate Moose Tracks, to be exact. My FAVORITE. It is simply the BEST ice cream, ever.

Not South Beach friendly. But I sacrificed and ate some anyway. And the best part was the HUGE chunk of fudge that he left for me.

I hope I didn’t negate all the healthy eating I did this week, but I don’t feel good, and that stuff is what comfort food is made of.

Unfortunately for me, everyone else in the house likes it too. I give it 3 days. It would be a shock if it lasted any longer than that around here.

Yum.

These two boys sure do melt this mama’s heart!

Aren’t they handsome?