Posted by Sarah O. on March 10, 2010
I won a cloth diaper auction on Ebay in December, and I got the diapers the week before Christmas Eve.
No wait, I got them on Christmas Eve.
Oh. I got a double shipment of the diapers.
I emailed the woman owned company, and she asked me to send the extra diapers back, and said she’d provide a shipping label, which was fine.
After several days of emailing back and forth – my daughter was only 2 months old, so I only checked email once a day, a mailman showed up on my door at 8:45.
In the morning.
After my husband had spent half an hour trying to get my little one back to sleep.
He asked if we had a package.
We had a package, but no mailing label.
I was embarrassed, and I was mad.
Why would you do that to someone when they didn’t expect it?
Even if you were going to schedule a pick up, why not ask when it was convenient for them, instead of scheduling it for the next day.
I emailed the owner again, and told her that the mailman had come, woken everyone up, and we didn’t have the package or the label.
I also told her that I wished I’d never heard of her company, which was the truth, and which is why I am not mentioning the company’s name in this post.
I seriously didn’t use the diapers for weeks because looking at them made me angry.
I know I was being a bit unreasonable, but I’m a worrier, and all of the added stress of what to do with the diapers, where I was going to print the shipping label since my computer was on the fritz, combined with the stress of Christmas, New Year’s and other family festivities, combined with the lack of sleep ever present in the mom of a two month old made me more frustrated than normal.
The owner said I could keep the diapers, and that’s the last I’ve heard from her.
I felt a little guilty, but after I started using the diapers I got over it.
Why did I get over it?
I washed 12 diapers at a time, and two snaps on the diapers broke of in the first wash.
In the second wash one snap broke off of one of the snap in inserts.
At least one diaper (I have multiples of the same 4 patterns) has snaps that aren’t evenly spaced, they curve across the top of the diaper.
One diaper has a snap on the edge that is snapped firmly, but isn’t all the way on the diaper.
And to top it all off, one of the diapers seams came undone the last time I washed it.
I just noticed it yesterday – so with less than 3 months of use, the diaper is falling apart.
Now these are the diapers we use the most, but we also have 24 of them (we use all of the other ones, despite their flaws, since they don’t hurt the little one, or interfere with the use of the diaper).
We also only CD at home, in the daytime since we think these diapers wake her up at night when they are wet, and if she has a rash we use disposables.
I can’t believe they are falling apart already!
I hope it’s just this one.
I guess I should add that the snaps on these diapers are warranted for 6 or 12 months, but since I got 12 free ones I don’t feel comfortable using the warranty.
Is there any way to resew the seam on the diapers?
Other than all the problems I’ve mentioned the diapers are great.
They one size option only turns the diaper down an inch, so we don’t snap it down.
We aren’t doing any lasting damage by letting her wear too big diapers are we?
The patterns are cute, the fabric is comfortable, and we really love the snap in liners for their ease of use.
They are much easier to put together and take apart than the pocket diapers, although they aren’t as good for night time use.
I like the diapers themselves enough, that I could handle everything but the seams coming undone. Of course if I’d only ordered 1-2 diapers, and got 1 that was messed up I’d feel differently.
What are your favorite cloth diapers?
Have you ever had any that fell apart so quickly?
That can’t be normal, especially since so many people resell their diapers or use them on a second kid.
Posted by Sarah O. on February 16, 2010
Someone recently asked about the best place to buy houseplants, and the easiest to grow, and I started wondering what your favorite houseplants were.
My Thanksgiving cactus is my favorite.
I love it, it’s beautiful, and it doesn’t take a lot of work to keep alive.
I bought it at a craft show for local churches for $5.
It was originally $10, but after I saw it I had to find my husband to ask for some cash, and when we came back everything was half off.
I was pretty glad since it was twice as big as all the other “Christmas” cacti that I’ve seen in local stores, and it was a lot cheaper too.
I’ve been to that same craft show every year, and I’ve never seen plants again.
It’s so disappointing!
So what’s your favorite houseplant?
Where did you get it?
Why do you love it?
Posted by Sarah O. on February 9, 2010
The dogs are loving the snow – they don’t have to jump the fence to get into the garden any more, they can walk right over it!
The fence is only about 3 feet hight, but the snow is within an inch of the top in some places.
All of the smaller trees are completely covered, and I’m going to have to dig out the fence around the apple tree to make sure that the rabbits don’t hop over the fence and start nibbling on the apple tree.
How’s your garden growing?
Mine’s pretty white 
.
I dreamed that I saw grass the other night, but I think it will be a long, long time before that dream comes true.
Posted by Sarah O. on January 22, 2010
I’m really not sure how or why I started looking at cloth diapers, but one thing that I’ll be eternally grateful to the cloth diaper community for is introducing me to cloth nursing pads.
I’d never really given much though to nursing pads before I got pregnant.
I’d actually never given much thought to nursing period.
But I started reading, and I decided to get some cloth nursing pads to try.
I wasn’t really sure if I’d like them, or if they’d work, so after what seemed like hours and hours of browsing Etsy, I ordered 3 pairs of flannel nursing pads, $1.50 each, from Rock Mama Punk Baby.
I also bought a box of Lasinoh nursing pads, just in case.
One fateful day, when all of the nice, soft, flannel nursing pads were dirty, I tried on the Lasinoh pads for the first time.
I was kind of confused when I realized that each pad was individually sealed. I kept looking for the second pad in the package! I guess individual pads make sense for some people, but I would think that most people would use two at a time.
I had trouble getting the Lasinoh pads to lie flat, since the adhesive was only on one half of the back of the pad.
I finally got them adhered, and flat, and then I left the house – in the middle of winter.
In Minnesota.
It was cold.
It was not pleasant.
I do not ever want to have to wear those nursing pads again.
I really don’t know what I would have done if the disposable nursing pads were the only ones that I knew about after I had my baby.
I really don’t think I would have been able to leave the house without another option, because they were so painful that I really don’t think I could have dealt with wearing them on an occasional basis, much less a regular one.
After that experience, I impatiently waited for Rock Mama Punk Baby’s store to open again (she recently moved), so I could buy more nursing pads.
It is so nice to have the soft flannel against my skin, instead of the rough disposable pads.
Even though there isn’t any adhesive on the cloth nursing pads, the pads are easier to adjust, and get to lay straight, although the outline of them (and the disposable pads) can be seen when I wear certain clothes.
The only thing that I don’t like about the pads is that they absorb so well I can’t really tell if I actually need them or not.
I love that the pads are machine washable and dryable, and that the ones that I’ve had the longest still aren’t showing any signs of wear and tear, or fading, even thought I’ve been using them for 2 1/2 months.
I also love the cute designs of Rock Mama Punk Baby’s nursing pads.
I especially love the pink and gray Scotty Dog Argle nursing pads, with tiny black Scotties.
It’s so preppy, and totally not me and that’s what makes me love it.
Have you tried cloth nursing pads?
Leave a comment and tell me about your experience!
Posted by Sarah O. on December 30, 2009
The seed catalogs are here – it’s so much fun to look, but at the same time, since we had a bad garden year last year due to me being pregnant and not feeling like doing anything, and I can’t forget that I probably started the seeds inside to early, then neglected them so that most of them died before they got planted outside, and then the weather turned cold before we got many tomatoes, or any melons…
Well, I don’t think I’ll be buying any new seeds this year.
I’m not exactly sure how gardening will work with a baby, and I still want to try all of the stuff that we wanted to try last year, and never got to taste.
I still haven’t managed to get a black tomato, even though I’ve planted seeds or plants for the past 3 summers.
Isn’t that pathetic?
What are your garden plans?
Have you started planning yet, or are you waiting until it’s closer to time?
I have a love/hate relationship with my cloth diapers