Two Years and Counting

I can hardly believe it, but I have now been cloth diapering for two years – boy has time flown by! I clearly remember researching the various types and brands of cloth diapers before deciding on the bumGenius 3.0. I also remember my first cloth diaper purchase – the bumGenius One Size Diaper Sample Pack from Kelly’s Closet. I remember my first fluffy mail and the prep I did to get the diaper ready to try for the first time on my then 11 week old. Two years and countless fluffy mail deliveries later, I never looked back and am still cloth diapering full time.

Over the past two years I’ve tried countless diapers – bumGenius!, FuzziBunz, Thirsties, Kiwi Pie, goodmamas, Rumparooz, Blueberries, flats, prefolds, as well as several WAHM brands. I found some diapers to work great on my oldest son, but not so great on my youngest son and vice versa. Every child is different and diapers fit on them differently as well. Thanks to my involvement with The Cloth Diaper Whisperer as well as on line cloth diapering forums, I took many pictures of my boys in their fluff over the past two years. I’m so glad I did this, as it is fun to look back and watch them grow.

When I first began cloth diapering I was drawn to the pocket diaper for several reasons. I liked the ease of the aplix on the bumGenius diapers, as well as the quicker drying time when compared to many All In One style diapers. I liked how easy it was to prestuff the diapers before storage so that my husband could grab the cloth as easily as he did the disposable diapers. I used bumGenius 3.0 diapers exclusively on Brendan for a good 5 months or so before branching out and trying other brands and styles of cloth diapers. I am so glad that I did branch out and experiment with different styles – it really made cloth diapering fun and amazingly made me look forward to diaper changes! It’s always fun to choose which cute diaper to put on Brendan next, now that he’s reached the ripe old age of 2, he now chooses his own diaper.

When I first began my fluff addiction two years ago my husband didn’t think I would keep it up for more than a week or so. He’s commented several times since then that he’s glad I kept it up. Of course, he then comments on if my buying so many diapers did we really save any money? The answer to that is still yes. All I have to do is show him the price of a box of disposables at the store these days and he agrees with me. I will admit that I have purchased more than we really needed over the past two years, but cloth diapering became somewhat of a hobby in addition to a necessity for our growing boys.
Looking ahead at the future, I’m quite confident that our daytime diaper days are limited. I am beginning to see signs that Brendan, now 27 months old, will be ready to potty learn later this summer. These realizations are both exciting (I’ve been changing diapers for over 4 years now) as well as sad. My babies are growing up and the excitement of fluffy mail will be nothing more than memories. I’ll always be a cloth diapering advocate, and am excited about passing on my experiences cloth diapering with the next generation of cloth diapering families.

Contributed by Katrina W.