If you thought I was granola before...

Then hear this! I finally made the plunge:

*Disclaimer: if you don't want to read a lengthy, detailed monologue about diapers, this post will not be your favorite.

I have always felt a little guilty that I have personally contributed probably 8,000+ diapers to landfills. Not super guilty, but a little guilty. And I have always felt a little uneasy about the amount of money we spend on diapers and wipes. It's probably up in the thousands by now. And hey, sometimes I even feel a little bit cruel when I put a disposable diaper on my baby's poor, bleeding bottom and know that that little bottom would heal much more quickly if it were in a breathable fabric instead of a plastic diaper.

But I have always felt a little bit not good about scraping poop off of fabric and changing twice as many diapers during the day and having huge diapers that my kids' clothes won't fit over and having more leaks and more laundry and less time yada yada yada.

Okay, so you want the full story? I know you're dying to hear it.

I bought some cloth diapers when Beth was a baby. Actually, when Beth was an older baby and Josh was a few months old. We were going through insane amounts of diapers. So I went off of a recommendation of one mom who used some cloth diapers.

And they were awful. First of all, they were HUUUUUUUUUUUGE. I literally could not fit her clothes on over them. And if I could squeeze her into her larges pair of pants, she couldn't bend at the hips. And then the whole keeping-rubber-gloves-by-the-toilet-and-dunking-soiled-diapers-in-the-toilet-and-splashing-them-around-while-flushing-and-then-wringing-out-poopy-sopping-cloth-and-throwing-them-all-in-a-wet-stinky-bucket-which-my-toddler-was-always-trying-to-play-with thing just wasn't working out. Yeah, that whole thing. It just wasn't.... me. Add to that the fact that they leaked more than disposable diapers, and the deal was, well, off.

So I had a bunch of cloth diapers that I had wasted$150 on and felt guilty for not using, and then going out and spending MORE money on disposables.

Needless to say, I was reluctant to make that plunge again, unless I knew I was absolutely committed. And I knew I had to find a system that worked. And I was probably not going to find that system for less than about, say, $17.95 per diaper.

But, since I know you are really dying to know the deets here, let me tell you about this system. Because I think it really will work.

And I failed to mention that when I bought all those other diapers, I bought one--just one--Fuzzi Bunz diaper, just to try it out. And that thing is a quality piece of workmanship.

So I bought 12 more Fuzzi Bunz diapers.

And 18 cloth wipes, which I will spray with a homemade solution made of:

2 cups distilled water
2 Tbsp. olive oil
2 Tbsp. baby wash
A few drops tea tree oil

which I will wipe that sweet bottom with.

Then I will take soiled diaper, once change is complete, and I will spray it off with my sink sprayer which James is going to attach to the plumbing on our toilet, as seen here (don't watch unless you are actually interested, because it's kind of boring):

Then I will simply throw the diaper into this, which will be hanging on the back of my bathroom door on a hook:

And when it comes time for washing, I simply take the whole bag, dump the diapers out into the washer, bag in too, and run the load.

And guess what? My one Fuzzi Bunz cloth diaper that I already own is awesome. It prevents leaks at least as well as a disposable, it has like 300 different snaps so that you can get an exact custom fit every time (fuzzi bunz even carries a diaper that they say will fit your kid from birth to potty training), and they are not bulky at all. You can't even tell they are wearing cloth when their clothes are on. And when you put them to bed, you can just stick an extra insert into the diaper for overnight absorbency. And when I take a wet diaper off (provided it's not sopping) my baby's skin still feels dry. Suppposedly you don't need diaper rash cream at all when you use cloth diapers.

So, we are in. And I told myself, as long as I use them until I have recouped the cost of the initial purchase compared to what I would have spent on disposable diapers anyway, it's sixes financially. And I will have done the environment a little favor. But I have a feeling I'm really going to like these.