Life has been...

... a little rough lately, if I’m being honest. I’m sure you don’t remember that a few months back I   was diagnosed with postpartum anxiety. Well let’s just say the holidays and all the fun (and family crap)  that comes along with it was extremely overwhelming. I thought i was handling it all ok until I took Chipmunk for her 6months update and they gave me the postpartum screening. I don’t remember my answers but the pediatrician checked in with me told me my numbers were higher this time for postpartum depression and anxiety and wanted to make sure I was ok. You guys, my hands started to shake, my heart started to race it was bananas. I have no problem talking about my anxiety when I start the conversation, but when someone else does. That’s a completely different story.

Now to say it’s been crazy is an understatement, we have had never ending colds, and sicknesses. I was in the Er with what we thought was a TIA or a mini stroke. Don’tworry your girls ok. The holidays happened and drama along with it as stated above. That can be wrapped up with I was raised by my mother who taught me if you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say anything st all. And I’ve been EXTREMELY silent. It’s scary. Then we hit a pothole the size of a small dog which dented the passenger side tires, we needed a tow, while waiting for said tow the battery died.i ran to get bret from the gym with the kids and came home to our front door open, the police determined it was the wind because I took the lessser of two evils and just closed the door, don’t worry we make sure it’s locked st all times now.

 It’s been a little too much, that I started to lose who I was I started to get depressed. How can I tell? Well for one I broke down the other night and told Bret that I can’t anymore, that if I didn’t HAVE to get up every day I wouldn’t. That I eat only because I’m nursing but I have no real desire to, and that not to be gross but it had been a solid 2 weeks since I had showered (at the time). It’s a strange place to be when you have never been there before. I ugly cried and my husband said to me, “it’s okay for you to talk to someone. Everyone needs it sometimes” you guys he told me it was OKAY to not be okay. I’ve said it before and I said it as often as I can.  It I hear it from an outside source. Do you have ANY idea how much that helped me? He then went and ran the shower and lovingly pushed me in the bathroom and held the door closed because... well sanitary issues and all.

So this week I turned the big 29, and I unleaded all of the latest on my best friend, my sister, my person. It took me so long to say anything to her because she has her own life and her own things going on. She doesn’t need my mess but she  told me ”you take a gut punch like a champ” then proceeded to tell me to get my shit together. But was WAY nicer than that. This girl gets me in a way that my husband never will understand and he is ok with it. She is the person that knows when I hesitate to answer a text excerpt the thoughts going through my head. She just knows. Even when I don’t say anything exactly what I need. And if you have a person like this in your life don’t ever let them go. They are the most precious people you will ever have. And I miss her dearly every single day.

So where was I going with this? Well I wanted to give you an update. Life is wild, and I’m trying my hardest to navigate it. I want to grow this blog to be more I was to do product reviews and I want to be a place where other moms can come and say that’s me! I am in that same boat. I want this to be a safe place. So let’s try that for a bit, shall we? I am hoping to get a few products to here to try out with the kids and around the house to review (all on my own because... gotta start somewhere) and we will go from there. Until I can I will keep you updated on how I’m doing and check in below leave me a comment, follow me on Instagram @chrissy_g1024 and let’s be friends!

Until next time!

But what about the Poop...

.... is the biggest question I get when we tell people that we cloth diaper. That and "Oh no that will never last, you'll buy regular diapers soon". Oh, oh, and "I could never touch poop it would make me gag."

Lets be real, when you think of cloth diapers you think of the pins, and diaper services, and 1952. Cloth diapers have come such a far way from then. When Magoo was born I toyed with the idea of doing cloth diapers. But in the end we did what was "easier". I kick myself every day when I think of the money that we literally threw away, covered in poo. Instead of it being washed and reused. To be fair and honest we didn't have an apartment with laundry in the unit until I was 8.5 months pregnant with Magoo, and had already purchased "sposies" at that time. And we didn't know ANYTHING about it. My brother in law was doing cloth for his daughter at the time but we were young and didn't now any better. We do now, and would never go back.


Why did we decide to cloth Chipmunk? Well that's really easy to explain, we were trying to find any way we could save money with having 2 kids that we would be putting in daycare. Between life bills and daycare, adding an additional $200 or more a moth in diapers was not in the cards. We needed to find a way to make it all work, and that's when I really started doing my research into cloth diapers. Also they are so fa-reaking adorable!

Is it hard to Cloth diaper?
    Nope! Its just doing another load of laundry. Now of course there can be hiccups when it comes to washing your cloth diapers. For instance you need to check if you have hard water, and you need to have a good washing routine. Without a good wash routine  you will not love cloth diapers. They will stink, or they wont hold in the pee and poo anymore. You can strip your diapers, they tell you not to do it too often because it will bread down the diapers. We bought some pre-loved diapers. I did a bleach soak on them in cold water, then in HOT water I rinsed them off. Threw them in the washer on HOT and did a wash. They are basically brand new. If you really think about it, its not hard. Its just another load or two of laundry a week. I don't know about you, but Id rather pay slightly more for electricity. Instead of paying an extra 200.00 or more a month for something you're only going to throw away. I'm going to be completely honest here. We were gifted disposable diapers, and we used disposable diapers in the hospital. I was SCARED to switch from what I knew and was used to, to trying something new that no one else in my circle of family or friends used. But we weren't buying disposable diapers so I had to suck it up and use the diapers we had.
But really, what about the poop? So I breastfeed Chipmunk, because well again the price was right.(I am going to do another post all about our nursing journey soon, so stay tuned.) And EBF (Exclusively Breast Fed) poop is completely water soluble. Which means I just throw it in the washer, do a pre wash with half a cap of  laundry detergent, then a full wash with 1.5 caps of detergent in HOT water. and its all gone. We have no stinks at all. We do have one or two diapers that stain, but let me tell you the BEST stain lifer we have ever used and it was completely free.... the Sun. Yep we just pulled a diaper out of the washer and then laid it out in the sun and BOOM all the stains were gone. it was amazeballs! Once she is on solids we will plop the poop in the toilet and flush it away just like  everyone else does with their poop.

Why buy the fancy ones if you're going to cover them? Well, what do your underwear look like? Its pretty much the same thing. Only her cloth diapers can double as pants. once she is bigger ill throw on some baby legs (if you know where I can get any, leave me a comment) and a t shirt and she will be good to go. Right now if she's not in jammies or a onesie she's just in a diaper. Let me tell you, I read about the clot diaper addiction, and was like yeah... ok.... sure you are addicted to buying them. IT HAPPENS. I am currently on the hunt for Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas. She needs to have holiday diapers. I also am looking to get away from using pockets as much and want to use some AIO's (all in ones). There are different types and fabrics to use, and inserts, and then there are flats and covers. There is so much to talk about when it comes to Cloth diapers. I never would have imagined in a million years that I would be blogging about cloth dipers, but here I am. I plan to do another post on the different types that we have used and which ones are my favorites and why, so stay tuned for that as well!

Okay I think I have bored you all to death gone on long enough about why we use cloth diapers and what we do with the poop. If you are thinking about doing cloth diapers for your kids DO IT, you wont regret it. Even if your family turns their noses up to it and they tell you " you'll never be able to do it, you'll be using regular diapers within a week" keep with it just to show them they are wrong.

If you are interested in having Chipmunk as a brand rep for your diapers leave me a comment!