Leaky Cloth Diapers

Over the past month I've had to deal with leaky cloth diapers. It's NOT fun when you hold your child and pee gets on your hip! It never happened until now (and still never happens with #2). I did trial and error on a lot of different things! I got some great help and advice from some friends, but the best ever came from a store/website called Jillian's drawers. Their customer service is phenomenal and their advice is spot-on!

So I thought I'd write for the record what I did on here so that I can refer to it later, and maybe help anyone else if they have the same issues and is as ignorant as I was going into this.

Things I had to change to get my pocket diapers to stop leaking in chronological order:

1) My detergent. All Free and Clear is NOT good for cloth diapers. It only has about a 25% success rate in cleaning cloth diapers without stink or buildup. Here is the detergent guide that aided me in my search for a new detergent. The first one I tried was Rockin' Green Hard Rock, but as the detergent guide says, I definitely definitely had some major stink issues with this detergent. I got a refund :) Next I tried Charlie's Soap along with Charlie's hard water treatment. This has worked great so far, but only when I use both.

2) Soften my water. Hard water also causes stink and leak issues with cloth diapers, and as our water softener is broken beyond repair, I had to order water treatments to put in each load. The difference in my cloth diapers is very noticable!

3) Strip the diapers. Since I'd been using the wrong detergent with hard water for so long, it was time for all that buildup to go. RLR Laundry treatment did an awesome job, and the diapers were as soft as if they were new when I was done! Actually, you're supposed to strip your diapers once a month! Bumgenius just said to bleach them once a month, but this did not help with absorbancy.

4) Put the diaper shells (I have pockets) in the dryer. Both the PUL (polyurethane liner) and the elastic in the diapers were starting to go. The PUL was not repelling liquid, allowing it to go straight through the cover! YUCK! Sticking it in the dryer (again, not in the bumgenius washing routine instructions) reseals the PUL dots (or beads, or something). But apparently most cloth diaper manufacturers use the same kind of polyurethane for their PULs. Drying also tightens up the elastic. The elastic around the legs always needs to be snug.

5) Bought new diapers. The one year warranty is up, so I tried another brand, Fuzzibunz, using some Christmas money (that's how much I love cloth diapers, haha!). They work great!!! Plus, they have adjustable elastic even though I got the one-size, which helps it last longer by not over-stretching it.

I'm still learning and maybe some of what I typed above isn't accurate. But it sure has helped for me, and I hope it helps anyone else! If you, reader, have any further ideas, comment on this so I know! Thanks

Homemade Meatballs

I almost fainted last night. When I put my first ever homemade meatball into my mouth, that is! 

blurry cell phone picture and marred the beauty of the meatballs

Recipe picture... you just smash it all by hand!

I found it here on Pinterest. It looked to me like one those trashy, fake recipes that never really work or tastes really odd (for some reason Pinterest has a lot of those). But not this one, oh no! Not only did it make only 1 pound of ground beef go really far, but it was relatively quick to prepare as long as the ingredients are on hand!

I had one problem though. Either 30 minutes on 350 is too long, or I need to cook them on parchment paper or spray the tray. I had to pry them off with a fork and scrape the pan. I should know better, right? (oh look, the recipe picture has parchment paper in it...) What would you do? 

Here it is:

Incredible Baked Meatballs. 
1lb hamburger, 2 eggs, beaten with 1/2 cup milk, 1/2 cup grated Parmesan , 1 cup panko or bread crumbs, 1 small onion, minced, 2 cloves garlic, minced, 1/2 teaspoon oregano, 1 teaspoon salt, freshly ground pepper to taste, 1/4 cup minced fresh basil.

 Mix all ingredients with hands. Form into golfball sized meatballs. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes.

Lost Bible

the squiggles are frilly flower patterns

It's been 10 days since I lost my Bible and journal! This really impedes my New Years resolution to be in the Word (aka study the Bible and pray) more. I think I took it downstairs because I was really excited about the past post about Genesis 34. Maybe not. Whatever happened, I moved them and can't find them! I've looked everywhere! 

I really feel the need to be in the Word today because some days are harder than others, you know? Some days you wake up on the wrong side of the bed of contentment, and you have to be reminded of what's true and ground yourself in who God is. And you have to renew your mind and free it from being conformed to this world. 

Joke

This is a hipster zombie! two trends combined.

I saw this on Pinterest and couldn't pass it up.

Some recent pics

My son was 13 mos old Jan 14!

David assembled our wheelbarrow and put Carson in it :)

We got a compost bin for our garden. David doesn't like getting photographed, but he'll be thankful someday :)

We borrowed a friend's truck to pick up some mulch for the garden

Aunt Sue and Carson doing the mouth punch (new years)

My parents and Carson

Carson and the popper I got for my first bday

bathtime, of course

this is the only recent picture with me in it! haha

Love the face, not so much the boogers

This past week

Stomach bug germs

Well I really hope this week is better than last! Last week I got what Carson had twice. First on Sunday and then it returned on Wednesday. I thought Wednesday's was indigestion from something I cooked, but now David has it too as of last night (Sunday). So it must have been contagious. Last week I didn't get any housework done, so it's a mess. I just laid around getting better. And I'm sorry to say this, but I have never been so glad to see solid stools! And to actually be hungry! For a whole week I didn't want to eat but made myself. Appetites and normal stools are something to be thankful for :) 

Anyhoo, a highlight of this week was doing the emceeing for a friend's baby shower at church on saturday, when I was all better. I was asked to because the other lady who usually does them for church showers didn't want to. I wasn't really brave enough to volunteer to and I was honestly pretty nervous, but wanted them to have a good shower. I got more confidence though when I found some funny games online, and laughing at the thought of people I know at church doing those things really helped. I also prayed about it. I think it turned out ok, though honestly I don't think emceeing celebrations is for me! Is 'emcee' even the right word for that?

But while feeling bad I also spent time online (surprise) and I've always loved the funny pictures and memes on pinterest. But they are filled with bad words and I have to weed through the immoral ones. Anyway, I've always thought the one below was really funny, so I edited out the bad word! :)

 

Carson's face-punching

I don't know what Carson is thinking behind his latest 'trick'. He takes his fist, opens his mouth into a gigantic smile, and hits his fist on the roof of his mouth and top teeth. His hand is actually getting red from it. 

Carson loves to show off, and I'm trying to tell him that this is not impressive. But knowing him, he'll keep doing it anyway. He doesn't really understand what I'm saying, and probably not what he's doing either!