green poop!

that's right I said it...
poop around here just got a lot more GREEN!
Four reasons why!?
1.)green veggies, which are in fact making poop literally green. I would apologize for the inspection of poop comment but my fellow parent friends will understand :)
2.)green colored diapers
3.)green to the planet
4.)green in our wallet!
So after MUCH talk & MUCH research we are officially cloth diapering parents! yah!
It was actually a good time for us to make this switch as we were just getting low on our LAST order of disposables, and as we had found out through the grape-vine-of CD (cloth diapering) parents/users. They have the best fit on babies from 10-12 lbs. So now was a great time as our petite almost 6 month old peanut is somewhere just over 12 lbs.
(Official weigh in yesterday @ the doctors 14 lbs! @ 6 and half months (still 10th percentile)

We are loving the transition! Which is great because the hardest part of making the decision was that once the diapers were ordered we were committed as they are pricey upfront but will save us TON of money in the long run, as well as giving the earth a big 'ol hug!

First and foremost we looked at cost which then also helped us determine exactly what type and brand of diapers to go with. With what we were currently spending on disposables and our 'forecast' of the future, we would be spending at LEAST $1000 more dollars (oy!) in diapers until Noel is potty trained.
These will also last for more baby bottoms in the future. So really we just spent nearly the last bit of money on diapers...EVER!!
Plus we were going through about 220 diapers/1.5 months..so think of how many diapers we would be throwing into the landfills!
So green reason #1..less landfill waste. Now some may say, what about the energy to wash them?
Being that we have a high efficiency (HE) front loading washing machine & do most of the drying by air & do the last little bit in the dryer this energy factor became a void point.
We do however do a full hot dryer run on occasion because the waterproof outer layer actually needs this at least once a week for the material to continue to last a LONG time!

So here's what we bought:

We decided to go with the Bum Genius all-in-one Elemental Organic dipe.

We decided against the insert options because then we would be having to pull out a disposable piece and discard after, since we have an older home (built in the 20's) we thought not so hot idea to try to flush these either. If we're going to have to wash the diaper, we may as well wash the whole thing!

They are super absorbent (we did have to pre-wash them 5 times to build up their absorbency prior to use)

They have snaps vs. velcro (longer lasting, as the velcro gets less sticky over time) and have size adjustments to fit baby from birth to potty training..yah! 

We got mostly neutral colors for future bambinos and we bought 12. This has been a perfect number for the amount of diapers we use in a day and a half. We may invest in 6 more in the future as a newborn goes through more diapers quickly.

They are cheaper to buy in larger quantities & even scored a 12% discount on the site we used! 

We will still use disposables when we travel for longer than overnight & for the time Noel spends @ childcare-which is only 10 hrs/week or diaper wise only 2-4 diapers/week.

We also had to change up our change ups! Because we were using a diaper genie to dispose & just putting the used wipes in the diaper we had to make some adjustments with that method.

So I bought one of these: 

It's a wet bag! you can find them here: Planet Wise Wet Bags. LOTS of sizes & prints available.
We bought the large one that hangs on the bag of the door. Machine washable & doesn't leak a single drop! Plus when we're done with diaper duty here @ the Veldhuis home it can be used for transporting wet towels or bathing suits or muddy shoes. I love items that multi-task!
To dispose of the dirty wipes. I simply saved an old wipes container to put on the shelf next to the box full of clean ones. So it was FREE and it's an easy to wipe out plastic container that we just empty like a trash can. Also here's a small peek @ Noel's room too :)

the baskets below the changing table hold these

white container=clean/green container=used

Washing the actual diapers is also a breeze. If it's just wet it goes directly in the 'wet' bag. If it's soiled we take it over the the toilet drop the contents in a give it a quick rinse with this!

you can barely see it to the left

Super easy installation (as mentioned by Keith). Just open the toilet & one quick spray rinses it clean for later laundering.
Every other day we toss the whole lot..diapers, wet bag in the washer...one 'quick wash' on cold followed by a hot wash & presto..soft clean, never stained diapers!
We use bum genius cloth diaper detergent (to keep up with the manufacturers recommendations for warranty purposes).
Plus there is NEVER a yucky diaper smell in the house! and now not in the landfill either!
So in closing here is Noel enjoying her new comfy & super cute CLOTH DIAPERS! (AND she's standing all by herself..big girl!) [Thought I should add here, that we have been using these for several weeks now, but just waited to post this until we had a bit of use under our belts]