Fluffymailaholic

I have a confession to make: my name is Erin and I'm a fluffymailaholic.

At first, cloth diapering was an exercise in saving money, and containing blowouts. But now... I'm also totally in it for the cute diapers. It's true. Better for the budget, better for the environment... sure, ok, whatevs. But they're stinkin' cute, people.

I started cloth diapering six months ago with a stash of BumGenius one-size and all-in-one diapers for my daughter Anneliese (now 9 months old), and liked it so much that soon after, I started using cloth on my son Nathan (now almost 3 and potty-trained). Little did I know that in six short months it would become so... fun.

I might even admit (... I'm scared to put this on the internet but here goes...) that I secretly might maybe actually kind of enjoy changing diapers now. I get some kind of weird rush from choosing a diaper from the stash, feeling how soft it is, and putting the wet one in a bag (where I get to use it again and again and again... yes, being frugal is definitely part of the rush). Dorky but true.

So in recent months, I have spent a lot of time and energy in the cloth diapering online community (yes, there is one, and it's surprisingly huge) hunting down new colors and patterns and kinds of diapers I want to try. I have been buying and trading online like it's going out of style. I have been stalking websites and facebook fan pages and chatting with other moms online who want to buy/sell/trade like I do. It's like some kind of weird non-hobby. And by non-hobby I mean addiction. But a fun one!

Every time I have new diapers on the way, I get a little antsy watching for the mailman. I'm pretty sure he knows we're stalking him. When he pulls into our street, we all pile out of the house (mommy, puppies, babies) and gather 'round the end of the driveway to see if he has anything fun (fluffy mail!) for us. I'm letting him believe that the stalking is completely about Nathan's obsession with his mail truck, even though that's only about 50% true. Really I am just crazy excited (way more excited than is normal or appropriate, I'll admit it) that he might have a package for me with some super soft fabric in pretty colors or patterns for my kids to poop on. I feel very sure I should not admit to our mailman what's really going on every day at our mailbox -- that I'm a fluffymailaholic, and he's an enabler.

So what kinds of diaper bliss has my fluffy mail addiction brought into our lives beyond our original BumGenius stash? Well I'm glad you asked. (Because I am an addict and I have diaper mentionitis and I really really want to tell you.)
A friend recommended trying Rumparooz, so I did. My original motivation was just to get a lavendar diaper, since at that point, BumGenius didn't come in purple. Anyway I love love love love the Rumparooz -- and now I have not only the lavendar one, but also a brown one, and a bright yellow one. And two minky ones I bought secondhand. (I might or might not have put Anneliese in one of them, laid her on a picnic blanket at Daddy's softball game last week, and then gotten slightly drunk of all the compliments. Like any good addict would.

Also I got a got a couple of secondhand Goodmamas. I can see these diapers being dangerous for me. Since their designer and creator, Suzanne, only makes a certain amount in any one fabric, I find myself saying "oooh, I want that one! And that one! And that one too!" And I just need to stop it very very soon like right now. I love how squishy the Goodmamas are, and all the fun colors and designs, and how luxurious they feel (my bum is jealous of Anneliese's). I have to limit these, though, because Daddy isn't a fan of snaps. (I admit it's not my favorite either, but come on. It's not that complicated. If you can snap baby PJs, you can snap a diaper. I promise.)

I was in a good groove with cloth diapering and I had added things to our cloth diapering supply, like cloth wipes, swim diapers, and Rockin' Green detergent (we battled some stinkies when Anneliese first started solids, but they're gone now!)... but I still wanted to add just a couple more diapers to our stash so that I could comfortably go one more day between washings. So I kept shopping.

I got very very excited about the idea of a turquoise diaper when a friend came for a pool playdate and her baby was wearing the prettiest cloth swim diaper I have seen in a long time, in a sweet and bright turquoise. (Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's cutie diapers? What's that now? Huh?) I just couldn't get that color out of my head. I explored lots of options, did lots of hunting, and eventually decided on ordering a Tots Bots EasyFit from Kelly's Closet -- it's relatively new to the market and I had been wanting to try it anyway. It's similar to the other pocket diapers in our stash, but on this one, the insert stays attached to the diaper (it agitates out on its own in the wash). And it has bamboo in the absorbent layers, which makes it really soft, and a little trimmer than our other pockets. And, more importantly, it comes in a gorgeous shade of turquoise. It arrived last Saturday (after several days of mailman-stalking) and so far I can say yes, it's everything I hoped and dreamed it would be. {happysigh}

And of course I got very excited last week when CottonBabies announced they were upgrading our beloved BumGenius 3.0 to a 4.0. I just saw that pretty light green sage and that pretty lavender and then I got this funny bubbly feeling in my tummy that kept welling up and welling up until I hit the preorder! button. Yes, I ordered them before they're even technically available... addicted what? (Hey, one man's iphone is another's awesome cloth diaper. Don't judge.)

I do take some comfort knowing that I am not the only mom going through this addiction. I do still recognize that the whole point really is to save money, despite what the dangerous half of my brain tells the logical part of my brain about how Anneliese needs to have the cutest fluffiest bum in town.

And I am officially one of Those Moms who I mocked just a few short months ago. You can now mock me now; I know I deserve it. But I can totally take it, and it's totally worth it. Long live the bum fluff rainbow!

Contributed by Erin G.