Cloth Diaper Rookie

This is from a brand new customer (who happens to be a great writer)!  It was a joy to help her on her journey!

I’m a cloth diaper rookie… like a less than a week cloth diaper rookie!  Granted, I have been thinking about the cloth diaper thing for well over a year, but the whole idea of it just seemed so daunting, so over-whelming, so...different. How would I handle major poop blow-outs at Target?  What about the church nursery?  Would they think I’m “that” high maintenance momma, roll their eyes and just stick my kid in the church stash of disposable diapers? And what about all that washing? How do I even know what cloth diapers to get? Which ones work? Which ones would only lead to a poop-aclysmic mess that left me and baby knee deep in stink and regretting the day we ever switched to cloth?  Okay, yes, I lean toward the dramatic on a fairly regular basis, but honestly this decision was BIG, and if you’ve ever had to undress and bathe a completely poop covered baby, you get me. So I gritted my teeth and I typed “cloth diaper” into pinterest and I lasted, no lie, 4 minutes before I slammed down my laptop lid and sighed, “Geez, I don’t even know where to start! I can’t do this.”  And I buried the idea in the back of my head, drove to the store and bought 2 big boxes of ‘sposie diapers at $22 a pop.

Then, last week, I went home to Lake Charles to visit my folks for a week with my 2 kiddos (2 years and 8 months) and yes, I do deserve some kind of medal or sainthood for making that 8 hour drive by myself with them.  I was super excited about visiting my friend Sasha at the new store where she was working, eLeMeNO-Pee.  I had been following the store online since it opened and from pictures, it was so cute and had great finds for babies, kids and mamas!   We blew into the store like the tornadic mess that tends to be my family, (no concept of “inside voices”, little hands that want to touch EVERYTHING like we own the place, kiddos trying to climb shelves to get “THAT” toy…yes, we are ridiculous) I chatted with Allison the owner and my pal, Sasha, as I held my children at bay, but all the while, I was eyeing the wall of cloth diapers….So many different kinds, but seriously, all so cute.  Finally, I gathered enough gumption to look at them and say, “Okay, girls.  IF I was going to do the cloth diaper thing, what would I need?  How do I do this?” 

And THAT began my real education on cloth diapering.  Allison and Sasha walked me through all the different types of cloth diapers, from All-in-ones to cloth inserts.  They showed me everything from the “cost is a big issue” brands to the “if I had a money tree” brands, and all the in-betweens.  They worked up a cost for what a “fresh from start, never done this before, rookie” (like me) would need to get going.  They talked to me about diaper care: washing, wipes, liners, stripping.  They answered all my questions, even the super stupid ones and even a few I hadn’t thought of. 

And suddenly, I wasn’t so over-whelmed.  I was excited! I had touched the products, practiced putting them together, seen all the options, and then I knew…I….COULD…DO…THIS!

So I bought a gDiaper starter kit and took it home.  I was going to do this!  I was going to cloth diaper my baby.  No more paying $44 dollars a month for the STORE BRAND diapers! No more adding 1,344 pieces of non-biodegradable, poop-filled trash to our local land fill each year. And seriously, my kid was now going to have the cutest booty in the church nursery!  This was it.  New page.  Look out cloth diapering world, my family is coming, tornados and all.