Cades Cove

Last weekend we went to Cades Cove to drive through and have a picnic.

We didn't see very many animals unfortunately, but the scenery was beautiful!

I did get this one good picture of a bear :)

This was when we stopped for our picnic. I love this picture of Cooper!

This is in front of a very old cabin.

But not this cabin.

We had a great day and will definately be taking Cooper back. He loved riding in the Jeep all day with the top down.

Wordless Wednesday

Somebody Pinch Me!

** Did you notice that the previous post was my 100th?? I'm so excited about it!

Ok, on to the actual post..

Money is often a source of conflict in my marriage. My husband is an impulse buyer, although he has improved this since we first got married. (He demonstrated this by buying a dixie horn for his Jeep last week) I am not an impulse buyer. I do my research, make sure that I get the exact product I want and then research to find the best price. I demonstrated this last night my making an Excel spreadsheet of all of the things I will need to cloth diaper full time, along with the store to get it at and its price. This gave me the total amount of money I will need for the purchase. Before telling my husband said total, I told him to remember that I had cut this down to what I thought was the bare minimum to be able to do this conveniently. I then added up an estimate of what we had already spent on diapers. I was generous and said about $30 a month for diapers and wipes. $30 a month for 16 months comes out to $480!! Well my list total (including an Ergo carrier and the matching backpack as a present to myself) was about $440. And it will last until potty training!! I did include a diaper sprayer, pail liner, and a few other things that might not be completely "necessary" but will make the transition more convenient for me. MY HUSBAND SAID OK! I was in shock! I was bracing for an argument big time. I figure when he heard the total his head would explode, but he actually said that was FINE with him! He may be up to something and just trying to distract me from it, but for right now I am blissfully unaware :)

The Scoop on the Poop

I hope you are interested in my adventure into cloth diapering, because I like sharing about it. If it doesn't interest you, feel free to not read these posts. You won't hurt my feelings a bit :)


If you are still reading, I must warn you this post is about poop and may contain some TMI. If you have a weak stomach regarding poop, please look away now.


Now, on to the poop. Last night I had to change my first poopy cloth diaper. It was EASY! Just as easy as disposables for sure! I removed the diaper just as usual. Wiped his wee bottom, just as usual. (We are still using disposable wipes for the moment. I plan to get some cloth wipes when I get more diapers.) I put a clean diaper on his bottom and threw the wipes in the trash. As Cooper went on his marry way, no doubt to go find something to make a mess of, I took the dirty diaper to the bathroom. I plan on getting a diaper sprayer soon, but right now I'm making due with what we have. What we have is one of those shower heads that you can move around because they are attached to a flexible hose. Something like this. So since our toilet is right by the bath tub, I sprayed off the poop into the toilet with the shower head. Cooper's poop resembles clay is sorta stubborn about sticking to the diaper so the help of the water was very useful. After I sprayed off the poop, I took the diaper to the pail. It just so happens that diaper was the last clean we had so it was time to do laundry!

I took pail liner (also known as a pillow case for now) full of diapers to the laundry room, dumped the diapers into the washer and threw in the pillow case pail liner after them. I did a cold rinse with no spin cycle so the diapers would be heavier during the next cycle and trick my HE washer into using more water. Since I don't have that many diapers, I also threw in a couple towels for the same reason. Next I put in a scoop of my Rockin Green into the place for the soap and did a warm/cold wash cycle with an extra rinse to avoid any build up that might cause irritation. The diapers came out spotless! And smelled so good! Because we were expecting rain last night, I hang the diapers and liners on several hangers to dry overnight in the laundry room. This morning the were waiting on me to stuff them with the liners!

I'm definitely addicted. This is way easier than I thought. I HATE laundry, but this laundry was NOTHING! If you are on the edge about trying cloth, just buy a few and give a shot! You will be surprised how much you like it :)

ETA:: This is my 100th post!!! Personally I love that I celebrated this milestone by writing about poop ;)