Swaddlebee’s Econappi Review

The diaper on the right is my one Swaddlebee Econappi One Size Pocket diaper. Shown with a Blueberry Deluxe, because they are ultimately the same diaper. The difference is in the fabric choices on the interior and the insert. The Econappi has an organic velour lining and insert. (The insert is a two fabric insert with hemp, too.)

The interior fabric stains easily. That isn’t a big issue with me, since they are diapers. The inner fabric is nice a soft for the first couple hundred washes. They do feel wetter with this diaper, as the velour does not wick away moisture quite like some of the fleeces and microfibers do. It wasn’t enough of an issue to bother any of my children. Over time, the interior fabric gets rougher feeling. It doesn’t bother the children, but is not as nice and lush feeling as it once was.

I tried the Econappi as an all in two, like the company claims you can, and it didn’t work out. The liner is not wide enough to make sure there is no spill over and the interior fabric ends up soaked. I gave it several attempts on different kids and always got the same result.

The Econappi runs a bit larger than other one size diapers. Realistically, these diapers start fitting around 10 lbs on a very round baby. (If you have a long, lean child- it may be more like 12 lbs.) They do fit up to 40 lbs, I’d guess. Imogene is 38 lbs. and this diaper still easily fits her, though it is becoming a bit low rise on her. Also, with multiple kids in this diaper, the way the diaper goes together and snaps down can be a bit of a problem. I like to put all my diapers together out of the dryer. But the Econappi insert must be snapped together for the size you’re setting the diaper. So, I have to decide out of the dryer who will wear it and set it aside for that child, which is kind of a pain to me “any kid can wear any diaper” system.

I’m not sure how well you can see it in the photo, but the back seam of my Econappi is coming loose. Yes, I can fix it, but I don’t like having to. I want my most expensive diaper to hold together better than my cheaper ones. The casing around the back elastic is coming unsewn. It is still wearable, but it is a pretty obnoxious problem.

I do not like this diaper as an overnight diaper (unless it is on the smallest setting) because it just doesn’t hold enough at night. I also don’t like this diaper for trips to the park. Sounds odd, I know, but hear me out. When the older ones are running and climbing, the insert gets all pushed around inside the diaper. It leaks. Everytime I take a kid to the park in the diaper, it leaks. It is fine if they aren’t running and climbing. It does fine on trips when they are sitting still in their car seats.

Do I like this diaper? Eh, it’s alright. Would I recommend this diaper? If money is no issue and it doesn’t bother you to have issues with an expensive item, sure, go on and buy it. If you find some amazing half price deal and you can live with the small annoyances, then sure, go on and buy. Will I buy more? No, it isn’t worth it to me. There are diapers half the price that work so much better.

Great Laundry Adventure Day 20

As absolutely sad as this is, I just had to Google today’s date. That is just what kind of month this has been. Needless to say, my adventure has become a disaster! I think I am now worse off than when I started. We have traveled out of state twice in the last 2 weeks and are leaving again in a few days! What an enormously crazy month!

The sort by room is working well. I can easily look and see who needs clothes the most and prioritize my washing accordingly! Likewise, I can not waste my time washing towels very easily (since we’ve been away from home so much and don’t need towels)! Socks are still in a nit of disorder. I haven’t done anything to separate them out, other than sorting by room. So, the older two have a pile of unmatched socks. Emery has a pile of unmatched socks (most of which he has out grown). And The Pastor and I have a pile of unmatched socks. At least they are sorted by person/size and I don’t have a giant family pile of socks.

Laundry Chaos Rating Today: 8

Load Breakdown: 29 loads *all loads not washed at my house this month, but spread over our travels, too.

39 washer cycles

50 dryer cycles

Rocky Mountain Diaper Review

I had sincerely hoped to like these when I first purchased it. On the website, the colors really make you think the diaper is soft. For the price, you assume you will get a high quality product. But for $18, I got a cheap looking diaper with no insert.

The outer PUL on this diaper is thin. If you purchase one of the lighter colors, you can see the insert through the diaper. I’m not sure what I was expecting, but the interior is colored suedecloth. The diaper color combinations are nice and sound so cute. (The diaper above is lemon lime!) But the quality isn’t the best.

This is a one size pocket diaper with an internal leg elastic adjustment. Some people really like these adjustments because you can set it and not worry about it again until your child moves up in the size. Well, when you have more than one in diapers, this feature is obnoxious. I must either set the leg elastic adjustments every time I use this diaper, or must set it aside for only one of the three kids. Since the elastic adjustment takes quiet some time, and I am the only person in our house capable of such a feat, I set it aside for the small one.

I had a horrible leaking experience with this diaper. I had an insert and a double in the diaper and the baby (3 months old) pooped. I’m sure moms who have had exclusively breastfed babies know how this poop looked. (For those that don’t, it was runny, yellow, and quite explosive!) The poop leaked out of this diaper! (I convey shock, because in my experience, you have far less blow outs with cloth diapers than the paper kind. You also rarely- if ever- have a poop leak!) It did not shoot out the back or down the legs. It leaked out of the seams! That’s right, the poop just oozed out of the seams of this doubled diaper on a 3 month old!

Now for the specifics on this diaper. As a one size diaper, this diaper claims to fit birth to potty training. This is one of the smallest one size diapers I have seen. Realistically, it would fit from about 6 lbs. to about 30. At 17 lbs, Emery now wears the elastic on the largest setting. And you should note, that I never really got it to work well on Emery until he was about 10 lbs. On the really small setting, there was so much excess around, I ended up with the occasional leak. BumGenius, Nicki’s Diapers, Fuzzi Bunz, and Happy Heiney inserts fit this diaper.

So when it is all said and done, do I recommend this diaper? No, I don’t. For the money you can get a much better diaper. Heck, for less money you can get a better diaper. But if you want a small one size diaper and just can’t resist the cutesy names for the color combinations (Lemon berry anyone?!), you will be able to USE the diaper. I just don’t find it worth the money. (If you find some on the super cheap- less than $12 a diaper – then by all means, go forth and work the deal. I doubt they’ll be your favorite diaper, but they’ll do.) I don’t recommend them as a night time diaper. The diaper is so small that once you double it up (or triple it up depending on the kid) it is not going to fit so well. I also don’t like to use them on trips because of their tendency to leak through the seams.

Great Laundry Adventure Day 12

I would love to report that my laundry monster is gone, however, he’s still hanging around. Last weekend we made an impromptu trip to Mississippi, so now I’m trying to get caught up on traveling laundry!

Sort by room seems to be working. I wash everything on warm (except diapers and towels) and nothing has turned pink yet, so I’m happy. It would be even better if I could fold the clothes straight from the dryer, so they never just sat around waiting to be folded. It would also help in The Pastor didn’t just pull things out of the dryer and pile them all together. It kind of defeats the presorting thing.

Laundry Chaos Rating Today: 7

Load Breakdown:            19 loads

24 washer cycles

31 dryer cycles

Haute Pockets Review

Haute Pocket One Size Pocket diapers are one of my all time favorite diaper! I have 6 of the old “breathable” version and 3 of the new “traditional” version. I’ve been using these diapers for quite some time and most of them have held up well. (I did have one diaper “melt” in the dryer. The plastic backing of the PUL melted and pulled away from the diaper, making that particular diaper completely unusable. However, this has so far only happened to the one diaper, though they are all washed the same and all washed together. Go figure. I did get a year’s use out of it, so I didn’t mourn its passing too much!)

The details. Haute Pocket claims their diaper will fit most babies from birth to potty training, specifying a fit from 8 lbs. to 35 lbs. My newborns are not 8 lbs, so that bit is out for me! However, they really do fit an 8 lb. infant! If your baby is on the rounder side, they would probably fit a 7 lb. baby! And they really do fit all the way up to 35 lbs. I have a 35 lb. 3 year old that can still fit in these diapers. They may fit a child weighing more than 35 lbs., if they child is on the tall and skinny end of things. My 3 year old has thunder thighs, and these fit her.

The interior fabric is a microfleece. It is very soft. It does pill a bit over time, but continues to remain nice and soft. The inserts are oddly shaped, but work really well! The doublers snap onto the insert, so they don’t slide around inside the diaper.

I’m not sure if you can tell in the picture above, but the blue diaper on the right is the old version and the yellow diaper on the left is the new version. The old version is slightly smaller than the new version (and is a very tight fit on my 35 lb. child). The old version is “breathable.” I like them, but they are not good overnight or traveling diapers. They don’t leak, but if left on for a long time (like over night) the water vapor will “breath” out of the diaper and cause pjs to feel damp when they wake up. The very good thing about the “breathable” version is that they let their little bums breath a bit. I like this feature a lot for daytime diapers. If your child has a slightly red bottom, put them in a breathable diaper and the redness clears up! I actually try to make it a point to put this diaper on first thing after they wake up. Seems nice to have a little air flow after a full night in one diaper. The inserts on the newer version are also a little wider. They will still work with the old version and the old version inserts still work in the new version.

The 15ish lb. Emery modeling a new version Haute Pocket for you.

This picture shows you my one and only complaint against Haute Pockets. The pocket opening gapes. It doesn’t effect wear or use, but it looks bad in my diaper basket. Like most pocket diapers, you have to make sure the interior is tucked into the diaper in the back. The opening is wider than most pocket diapers, which makes stuffing very simple (especially with the larger insert) but it creates this problem.

I really like Haute Pockets. I have never used the hook & loop version, just snaps. These are fabulous little diapers.

Who would I recommend these diapers to? Anyone, really! If you like the fit of bumGenius one size diapers, you would like these diapers. Or if you are looking for an alternative to bumGenius one size diapers, these diapers are for you! If you need a nice pocket diaper, you’ll like these diapers.

SmartiPants Review

I bought 4 of these diapers because I just HAD to try them out. They are cheaper than most cloth diapers ($39.95 for 3). They boast that you can leave the insert in once it is dirty! I wasn’t quite sure how that claim would work out, I mean, if you have ever forgotten to unstuff a pocket diaper, you know how well that turns out. But for the price, I figured I would give them a shot!

So, here are all the diaper details! Smartipants are made in the USA, with decent quality materials and workmanship, in my opinion. Smartipants claims to fit from newborn to toddler years; 7 pounds to 35 pounds. Well, my newborns are smaller than 7 lbs, so that wouldn’t exactly be true for my children. Realistically, they would fit a 7 lb. infant, provided that infant was not very long and skinny. They do fit my 35 lb. 3 year old, though they wouldn’t fit her too much longer. (Luckily, they won’t need to.) I doubt you’d get them on a toddler much over 35 lbs, unless that toddler was tall and skinny. The interior of smartipants is suedecloth, with a PUL exterior. Unlike many pocket diapers, you don’t actually see the inside of the PUL because of the “smart sleeve” design. Unlike most pocket diapers with an opening between the PUL and the interior layer, Smartipants has the PUL layer completely covered and has another rectangle of suedecloth sewn on top, creating a “sleeve” for inserts.

Smartipants on my 2 year old, Aidan. Aidan is about 25 lbs.

Smartipants on my 3 month old, Emery. Emery is somewhere around 15 lbs.

At first, I had leaking issues with my Smartipants. I contacted the company and they quickly responded to my inquiry. I have to use two inserts in my Smartipants. No leaking now with doubled inserts.

I am pretty happy with Smartipants. Once you double (or triple for nighttime) up the inserts, they work well. And the inserts do indeed come out of the sleeve on their own in the wash. (This is a super big plus when you take these diapers out on the town and return home with a wetbag full of dirty diapers. No need to touch cold, wet insert- just put them fully stuffed and dirty into the diaper pail! Nice, right?) Smartipants work with Smartipants inserts, Nicki’s diapers inserts, bumGenius inserts, Fuzzi Bunz inserts, and any other rectangular insert you happen to have. I have not tried it, but I’m sure you could get a prefold in there as well.

Who would I recommend these diapers to? Well, I think any bumGenius lover that wants to move to snaps would like these diapers. I think anyone wanting a cheap, but functional one size pocket diaper would be happy with these diapers. I think anyone that likes the fit of a Haute Pocket would like these. If you like the idea of a pocket, but can’t stand the thought of touching and pulling out dirty inserts (or have a sitter or husband who refuses to pull our dirty inserts), you’ll like these diapers! Just make sure you buy extra inserts, since most likely a single stuffing won’t be sufficient.

 

The Adventure Begins

It really was a bad start to an adventure. I compiled my tips, but I failed to completely organize before beginning. So, I am playing catch up at the moment. We implemented the wash by room sorting method. It seems to be going well. I now have my laundry sorted by the following: The Pastor’s stuff, my stuff, Emery’s stuff, towels and household stuff, and Imogene and Aidan’s stuff. To be honest (and why shouldn’t I?), I only combined Imogene and Aidan’s stuff because I didn’t have another hamper and I didn’t feel like pitching a 15 minute sales pitch on just why I had to buy yet another hamper. I figured I would try it this way first (always go easy first) and then if it doesn’t work out, I’ll deal with the sales pitch then.

Laundry Chaos Rating: A made up scale from 0 to 10 to describe how my laundry system is at the moment of my posts. 0 would be perfectly controlled like in Martha Stewart’s house. 10 is absolute chaos where one cannot think of the acts of living because of the clothes everywhere (think teenage boy’s room). We started this process at an 8 on this scale. Today, we are about a 5.

Load Breakdown: A monthly running total of how many actual loads of laundry have been washed, how many cycles I’ve run my washing machine, and how many cycles I’ve run my dryer.

Loads: 12

Wash cycles: 15

Dryer cycles: 19 (why is my dryer so inadequate?)

Corn Puns Abound!

The Pastor planned a fall outing for the gaggle of youths that he’s been ministering to. I decided to tag along with my kids, since I thought they would enjoy it. About half the youth (actually a litle less than half) we able (or desired) to make it. We went and wandered about corn “maize” for a while, then refreshed at the “corncession” stand. We headed back home for a bonfire and cook out at David & Christie Chandler’s home.  There were 14 of us at the farm. And, I think, 19 at the cookout/bonfire.

The youths and I, we spotted quit an interesting site. A site that really begged to bed shared with the world. Just take a gander at the gentleman with the platinum skullet ponytail. Yeah, I just made your day, didn’t I?

“Vintage” Smock

Ah, the power of quotation marks! There is really nothing vintage about this smock. Unless fabric that has been sitting in my stash for a year counts as being vintage. I guess the only vintage thing about it is that the pattern is modeled after a vintage pattern. So, it is like, 5% vintage.

I found this adorable smock pattern a very long time ago. I printed out the 5 page free pdf intending to make it then, but just now got around to it. You can make one too, just visit Mayfly for the info! I made mine a little bigger than the actual pattern and you can see it fits Miss Imogene perfectly!

Here the diva models side A! I made my smock reversible. The diva here hates to be dirty or out of sorts, but doesn’t resist getting dirty. With a reversible smock, she can get one side dirty, then with a flip over she can look fresh and ready for more photos!

And here she poses to let you see side B. This smock adds pizazz to a plain tee and jeans. It was incredibly quick & easy to make. In fact, I’ve got 3 more cut out and waiting for me to sew ‘em up! (I’m sure The Pastor will be stoked to see my using some of my beloved fabric stash!)

For Lotte

My cousin, Jennifer, had a new baby girl (her second daughter). I decided that since she had two girls, I would make them matching twirly skirts! I also made her a couple burp cloths, because you can never have too many of those! Since the package has now safely arrived in California, I can now post pictures!

A couple tattoo print burp cloths

Matching skull & bandana skirts for big sister and new baby sister.

Imogene was jealous and wanted a skull skirt for herself. So, I made her one with the scraps. Then she decided she would not model her skirt for me. Luckily, Aidan volunteered. Such a sweet boy!