Cloth diapers = the AWESOME

I am just loving them on Rouena, they are so EASY.  I never run out of diapers!  They are so soft and fluffy!  Even the VELCRO is soft and fluffy!  The only problem is suddenly when we line dry them, it makes the lair smell like wet dog.  The diapers don't smell, just the air in which they dry.  I don't get it.

On a side note, we just found out we have to move, but we have a place to move to now unless they find toxic mold or something in the inspection tomorrow.  Everybody please pray that they don't find toxic mold.

Rouena is a pudge

At her two week check (a week and a half ago, I know, lemme alone), she was shown to have gained a pound and a half.  ALREADY.  She is getting to be quite the little butter ball.  On another note, I finally have all the new pics on flickr tagged and titled and everything, so you will know what you are looking at.  Also, Mark started his new term this last Monday, which is why I didn't post sooner... calculus sucks.

Baby and pictures

IMG_1062.JPG
Originally uploaded by Driggs family

Had the baby on June 3, she was 7 lbs, 4 oz, and her name is Rouena Mary Driggs. I have pictures up on Flickr. No titles or tags or anything, but the pictures are there so you can see them. Now I am going to go sleep while the sleeping is good, there will be more later.

Yes, I am still pregnant.

Three seperate people have IMed me today, certain that I must have had the baby by now.  So I'm just letting everybody know, the baby is still firmly inside me, doing well, and not even due until Saturday, gosh darn it, so please don't ask because I also have a toddler with a terrible cold that she so kindly shared with me and I'm a little cranky right now.  >.<  I think somebody has been spreading rumors that I'm due sooner than I am...

I like sardines.

We got some the other day at Walmart because, frankly, I was curious.  I wanted to know what the heck the difference between a sardine and an anchovy is, because as far as I could tell they are both just tiny fish in a can, except the anchovies cost about twice as much as the sardines.  So, I decided to crack open the sardines with lunch.  Nothing fancy, just put a bit in the sauce for my ravioli.  THERE WERE WHOLE FISH IN THERE.  No heads or tails, or I think I would have thrown them away immediately, but otherwise whole, intact little fish with bones and skin and everything.  I stared at them for a minute.  I put one on top of my ravioli, and stared at it some more.  Then I figured, if I put a little piece behind a ravioli, maybe it wouldn't be so bad.

And you know what?  They are delicious.  Better than canned tuna.  I have two more from that can still in the fridge, and I think I'm going to try them as a sandwich later tonight.  Well, if I'm not too full from the anchovy pizza I'm making for dinner.

Hidden benefits of cloth diapers

I have to admit, I'm a little surprised at how well this is working out.  We even just got back from our mini vacation in Midway, and didn't use a single disposable diaper!  There are some things that never occured to me about cloth.

1.  Fewer leaks.  We have had exactly three leaky diapers since we started with cloth, and they have been caused by not putting the diaper on correctly, diarrhea, and forgetting to change Elspeth for way too long, respectively.  With the disposables, we had small leaks more mornings than not.

2.  Less smell.  We do not use the lid on our diaper bin.  Because it does not smell.  We aren't doing anything special either -- it's just a five gallon bucked, with a trash bag in it, and a little baking soda sprinkled in the bottom.  I guess if you stuck your face in it, it might be smelly, but just being in the room with it, you don't even notice.  Our disposable diaper trash, on the other hand, REEKED.  Even with the special sealing mechanism that was supposed to keep odors in, when that thing started to get full, you could tell by just smelling, and when you opened the lid, hoo boy!

3.  Have I mentioned the incredible amount of money we're saving?  We're talking, like, thirty dollars a month, and I was buying the cheapest diapers I could find.  The initial investment seems like a lot of money, but seriously, by this time next month the things will have paid for themselves.  And I never run out of diapers.  Goodbye emergency Sam's runs!

4.  Fewer rashes.  Aside from the hives Elspeth was getting because of her allergy, she is getting a lot less of the regular kind of diaper rashes too.  I've come to discover this is pretty usual... more than half of babies in disposables have chronic rashes, while only about 10% of babies in cloth do.

5.  The laundry is oddly satisfying.  I have been line drying, and it feels really useful to put those diapers up there.  Maybe I am the only person on the planet who feels this way, but that big fluffy stack of freshly washed prefolds just says "good job mom!" to me.

So seriously, I think that everybody should consider cloth diapers.  Of course they aren't right for every situation (disposables are wonderfully convenient things), but if more people knew how easy cloth is, I think a lot more babies would wear cloth diapers, at least some of the time.

Allergists are nice, but you never want to need one.

Elspeth is officially allergic to soy now.  And milk.  And eggs.  And we have an epipen in case she accidentally eats some peanuts, so she doesn't die.  T_T  Fortunately, since we have a letter from a real allergist, the WIC program will give us goat milk for Elspeth, which she should tollerate much better.  Which is weird, because I had actually not noticed any allergic symptoms when she has milk or milk products.  But hey, live and learn I suppose.  The big problem of course being that grocery store goat milk is not so great... any milk you buy is a MINIMUM of two weeks old, and goat milk doesn't have as long a shelf life as cow milk, it starts to taste goaty at about the week and a half point.  We are going to have to get some goats some day.