Diaper Woes

The average cost of diapering a child for 2 1/2 years is from $1500-2000. Yeah, you heard right. Literally thousands of dollars for crap. That’s the main reason I decided last summer that I would cloth diaper instead. I spent $120 for 24 prefold diapers, 4 Thirsties diaper covers, and one stink-free wet bag to hold the dirties. So I thought I was really beating the system.

Umm, let’s just say... NO. I started using them when Ale was about 10 days old. By that point, I’d been spoiled by the convenience of disposables. But alas, I wouldn’t let myself buy more, so we proceeded with the cloth. It took a while to get down how to fold them, and fasten them while Ale was squirming (had to use plain safety pins; Italy doesn’t do cloth diapers). It wasn’t easy. But we figured it out eventually. Then I noticed that every time I changed him, he was soaking wet. I came to the conclusion that it was sweat, and poor baby got a rash. Ugh. So I changed him about twice as often as normal, which was fine except for at night. After being told by my mom that it wasn’t normal to have to change diapers all night long, we switched to disposables for nighttime. So we did actually do mostly cloth for the first six weeks.

HOWEVER. When I got back to the US, I found that I had been gifted many diapers. So I’ve gotten spoiled again. I’ve still kept cloth diapering some, but Ale grew so fast that I had to immediately use any newborn and size 1 diapers I had been given. Now it’s all good, so I’ve been trying to unspoil myself, but for real, I just hate those cloth diapers. I started researching and it seems that I picked the most complicated, cheapo method of cloth diapering, so I’ve now ordered my second batch, and this time they will be pocket diapers, which basically means they’re all one piece except an absorbent piece you stuff in the middle. But they’re not here yet, so the verdict is still out. They are super cute though! I was going to just keep on with the others until the new ones arrive, but earlier this week as I was changing an overly wet diaper, I noticed they were also really tight on Ale’s chubby thighs, so I just bought a big box of disposables. Whatever. I’m trying to be earth and budget conscious, but I’m taking a break for now. And also, I realized Target puts diapers on clearance, so I got a case of Luv's for only $12, which is great.

By the way, the laundry is not that bad. I’ve heard people complain about the laundry aspect of cloth diapering, but I don’t find it that awful. In Italy, I didn’t even have a dryer, and we still made it work. I will say that they require special care, so you should know that before you start (because I didn’t). Hopefully these new diapers will be more convenient and absorbent, because I so hate spending money on something so stupid. It’s like buying toilet paper or gas; something you have to use, but it just seems like money not going towards shoes. Or cute baby clothes.

Speaking of which, Paolo thinks I have a shopping problem. But seriously, I have been finding such great clearance lately. Alessandro better fit into each size when he’s supposed to or I’m going to have some nice clothes with no one to wear them. My proudest moment was last week in Macy’s when I bought 4 Carter’s pajamas, two outfits for him next year, and a sweater for me, all for $31!! Now that’s the kind of shopping that you’re being wasteful if you don’t buy it. Right?

In other news, Alessandro rolled over this week! And now he’s a rolling machine! I was snapping up his back buttons earlier and he rolled before I could even finish! He’s so funny now, really coming into his own. He’s grabbing everything and putting it straight in his mouth. But no, he still doesn’t sleep through the night. I don’t even care any more. I spent a while agonizing over that, but now we’ve worked out a kind of routine, and it’s working, so that’s all I can ask for. He’s sleeping now, as a matter of fact. Not in my arms! That’s quite a feat!  It’s really the little things...



Ciao for now,

Kathleen

Three Month Update

Guys, time is flying! Alessandro is three months old now! He’s almost rolling over and trying so hard to sit up.. what happened to my little baby? In the past couple days, he’s discovered how loudly he can “talk”, so that’s been really fun (something I’ll regret saying in a couple months, probably!).

We’ve been busy this week; Saturday we went to Auburn for a weekend visit, and then we came straight to Collierville, TN to stay with my grandma for a while. He did wonderfully on the car rides, as usual. He has really turned into a happy baby, and is just so much fun! I don’t know for sure, but I think it’s partly because he’s already been dragged along on so many adventures that he’s pretty flexible and easy-going. I mean, he had his first international flight at six weeks. He’s pretty adaptive! He’s also playing on his own now, which is great for me! He was having to be held all the time, but in the past couple weeks, he’s been enjoying laying out on his playmat or on his Boppy and looking at and grabbing toys, which also gives me some free time!

I’ve gotten a lot of questions about my future plans, so I thought I’d give a tentative outline in this post. I’m staying with my parents until June 19 while Paolo is out in San Francisco for his semester. He’ll be coming here in a couple weeks for a visit, and then in May when his school lets out. We (Alessandro and I) are also most likely going out there at the end of April, which I’m really excited about!  Anyways, June 19, we’re flying back to Italy to spend the summer there, at the beach. The complicated thing about an international baby is that everyone wants to see him! I wish the whole family could be in one place so it wasn’t going to be so back and forth, but it will probably never be that way. So, after the summer, probably in September, there are several courses of action we could take, but that remains to be seen! The most likely seems to be that I’ll come back to the US to find a big girl job while Paolo finishes school, so that stinks that we’ll be apart, but at some point, I guess I have to work.

Speaking of work, I’ve decided I would really like to pursue a career in writing. I’ve been floundering back and forth over the past couple years, and have considered everything from opening a restaurant to working in sales. But most of all, I would like to write. Especially since writing this blog, people have been telling me that’s what I should do, and I’m starting to think there may be something to it. But I have to find a way! And also, I don’t want to write books. I don’t have the attention span or desire to do that. That’s why I love blogging; it’s to the point, and I can do it when I feel the urge to do it, without having to have a flow with previous posts. So maybe a newspaper or magazine column would be ideal for me. If you have any advice on how to go about doing something like this, let me know, please! I think a blog is a great first step, so if you like my blog, follow me and/or share it, please, please, please!



Not only would writing be something I would enjoy, but it would give me the flexibility hopefully to stay home with my bebe more. I never thought I would want to be a stay-at-home mom, but pigs seem to be flying. I’ve been so blessed that both my parents and Paolo’s parents have given me the opportunity to spend time with Ale instead of working, but it won’t last forever, so I really want a job that still allows me the maximum time with him. I know, I want it all, right? Well, I’m going to try my best, so maybe in the next few months, I’ll have some happy future news!

Ciao for now,

Kathleen