And now for something

...completely different!

So before Naomi got here, Daniel and I talked about a lot of things, as most parents-to-be do. Some things we had an easy time deciding, and other things were, of course, more of a sticking point.

For example, I was dead-set on cloth diapering, if only to prevent another contribution to nasty little poop-bombs taking up so much space in our landfills (and eventually leaking into our groundwater--ew!). He, however, was initially of the mind that there was just *no* way he'd be able to handle it. There'd be pins, and a big mess of fabric to somehow fold and wad up to absorb all the yuck, and then we'd have to wash them! I did a ton of research, and there's plenty of options these days. It took me a bit to convince him, and even longer to convince our parents, that cloth diapers these days can be a lot easier than they used to be.

To start with, forget pins! There's a nifty invention, called a Snappi, that's basically like a 3-way rubber pin, without the sharp pointy bits. Prefolds (the large squares that you fold into triangles to tuck up/pin) come in the traditional cotton, as well as bamboo and hemp. And those gigantic plastic covers that never really held anything in are a thing of the past! PUL, short for polyurethane laminate, has a soft knit fabric on one side and a flexible layer of waterproofing painted on the other; when sewn with a bit of elastic, you get a little fitted pair of undies that go on just as easily as a diaper or pants, but no mess!

But that might still be too much for some people, and understandably so. Since Daniel wanted something even closer to a disposable diaper, we opted for a pocket-diaper, though we briefly considered all-in-ones. All-in-ones have an outer layer of PUL, a middle layer of absorbent fabric, and an inner layer of wicking fabric to help pull the moisture from the baby's skin. With a pocket diaper, there is an outer waterproof layer of PUL, and an inner layer of some kind of soft wicking fabric, with a slit to insert a liner (which soaks up the moisture and locks it in). Many pocket diapers have the pocket opening in the back, which makes plenty of sense until you realize that that's where most of the poop will be and that you're going to get pretty dirty removing the liner. We found these diapers on Etsy, and the seller, MonkeySnugglesDiaper (known in the real world as Renee), is very friendly, helpful, and great at getting things to you fast! Machine washable, dryer friendly (on the lowest heat setting, don't ruin the waterproofing!), and easy to use. We've got one pretty happy kiddo in these, and they appear to have her seal of approval:

More regarding some of our other non-mainstream baby-care choices later!