Cloth Diapering Twins: Laundry Routine

Now that we have established my love for fluffy diaper butts, lets talk laundry. Honestly, the laundry element of this whole process is just not a big deal. I kind of enjoy it. Weird I know. I accept my own particular brand of baby induced crazy. Just go with me.

 

1. Every night I take my "wet bag" full of cloth diapers out of my Ubbi Diaper pail and throw the whole thing, bag and all into the washer. I add a scoop of OxiClean and set my washer to "rinse and spin", no spin, and push start.
2. This step is the hardest: I have to remember to go pause my washer within 7 minutes of starting. This keeps the basin of my front loading washer full of water so the diapers can soak in the OxiClean overnight. If I forgot to start the diaper laundry at night, which happens, I try and let them soak 20-30 minutes.
3. In the morning I finish the rinse and spin cycle. When it is finished, the diapers LOOK clean. Their is no poop and no weird smell, but they aren't actually clean yet.
4. I add a scoop of Rockin' Green Detergent and a wee bit of vinegar and set the washer to sanitary with the following options: prewash (for the vinegar), extra hot wash, cold rinse, and then extra rinse (x3). I don't know if all three extra rinses are necessary, but my machine lets me do three additional rinses as one setting so I go with it. The extra rinses are actually very important because bubbles mean the diapers still have detergent residue which will limit the absorbency. So yeah, I rinse three times.
5. I throw them all in the dryer to dry. Or hang them to dry. Depends how I'm feeling. The best bottoms say to dry the inserts and not shells so I try to do that every day.
6. As needed I strip the diapers with RLR or Rockin' Green Funk Rock. The RLR helps bring back the absorbency and I did to all of my preloaded diapers before I used them. I intend to do it every month or so to keep my diapers fresh. The Funk Rock is an add needed soak to fight the ammonia smell that can sometimes develop. I haven't had any ammonia issues yet, but I have my bag of Funk Rock and I'm ready to "rock a soak" when the time comes.

Seriously, so easy. And I have to do baby laundry every day anyway to keep up with burp cloths and blankets and my shirts they spit up on and their clothes and pajamas and sleep sacks. This diaper load first thing in the morning is easy!

 

Twindom: Three Months

Tripp

Davy

 

Dear Pip and Pop,

Our third month together has been really amazing. You are both such little personalities. Every morning we sing songs and have a dance party and you both just laugh and smile. You boys are so loveable and so perfect. We all really do belong together.

Our Perfect Family

At McKinley's Baptism

Easter Sunday

You are certainly not my tiny infants anymore. I might have cried big alligator tears when I packed up your newborn clothes. You aren't my tiny preemies. You aren't my little newborns. Now you are infants. Perfect babies with big personalities. The first two months were hard. This month has been fun.

Melt my heart cute. Holding hands in the crib.

 

You have both developed so much and now notice everything around you. You are so alert and love to lay (or even better be held) and take it all in. You like to watch the ceiling fan spin, look out the window and see the world, be carried around the house and hear the names of all the things. You love to talk and be talked to. You are much more active this month and enjoy looking at toys, holding your "things", and watching lights. You are both "always up for a good game of peekaboo" but like playing with Daddy a lot more than with Mommy. You are still not big fans of tummy time, although Davy did manage to scoot his way across the room during tummy time this month. Maybe you'll be an early crawler. You both smile. You both coo. You both bring such joy to everyone you meet.

Playing together

Checking each other out.

Playtime with Rory.

 

You are both champion nighttime sleepers. We start bedtime around 9:00 and have you tucked into your RockNPlays by 9:45ish. You both will sleep until between 4 and 5! We wake up, eat, and go back to sleep from 6:30-9:30. Your daytime sleep isn't as impressive, but that's okay! You boys keep being my awesome nighttime sleepers.

Last nap together in the crib before you got too big to share it.

 

You had a big month this month with two birthday parties for your cousins, your first trip to church to see your cousins baptism, your first trip to the mall (and your second), your first big holiday (Easter), meeting your great-grandparents, meeting your great-aunt and uncle, visiting the arboreteum and continuing to grow and be awesome.

 

 

Tripp,

Three Months Old

You are a content and happy boy. You always look so serious in photos and have one photo face you give every time the camera comes out, but in real life you are expressive and smiling and so alert and engaged. You look right into my eyes when I hold you and love nothing more than to be held and talked to.

 

You are still my peaceful guy. I wonder if you get jealous of the attention your brother demands, but you seem so content to sit and ponder the world. You are an independent guy though, so I know that even when you are laying in a Boppy or in the BabyBjorn Bouncer you are okay. You are a patient thinker, like your daddy. Your intelligence and thoughtfulness are things I admire in you and hope I can learn from you. You inspire me everyday to be a better more patient mommy.

Your Photo Face

Holding all your "things"

Serious Little Man

Growing as big as a Dinosaur

 

 

 

 

Davy,

Three Months Old

This month Mommy spent a lot of time worrying about you. You are still generally a cheerful happy guy and have the biggest, brightest, open mouth smile when you choose to share it, but your reflux is causing you a lot of pain. We received a referral to a specialist this month and I am looking forward to getting it all under control so we can have our Davy back. There is nothing I wouldn't do to make you feel better. I love you with all of my heart and seeing you suffer truly hurts my heart. Many of our photos of you this month have you crying, but we do have some great big smiles captured too!

 

You are still an opinionated guy who knows what he wants. You are vocal and demanding and will never settle for less than exactly what you wanted. I love this about you. I love your strong will and your stubborn determination. It will serve you well throughout your life. Your mama is strong willed too.

Peaceful Sleeping Davy

My Other Growing Dinosaur

Crying Boy

Mommy Trying to Comfort You for the Picture

 

 

 

My boys,

 

You bring me so much joy every day. You are my boys. You amaze me. You fascinate me. You always keep things interesting. I love you unconditionally. I love you forever. I love you with no strings. I love you with no boundaries. I love the babies you are. I love the men you will become. You are my boys.

 

I'll love you forever,

I'll like you for always,

as long as I'm living

my babies you'll be.

Loving you forever,

Mom

My Big Guys!

Three Month Stats

Tripp:

Weight**: 10.6lbs (10lbs 10oz) -- this is a 27.5% increase since two months!

Height: unknown

Diaper Size: Best Bottom Cloth on the smallest rise with one button showing in the center

Clothing Size: NB; 0-3 months

Davy:

Weight**: 10.4lbs (10lbs 6oz) -- up 19.7% in the past month!

Height: unknown

Diaper Size: Best Bottom Cloth on the smallest rise with one button showing in the center

Clothing Size: NB; 0-3 months

 

**no pediatrician appointment so these are very official weigh myself holding the baby calculations

 

 

Two Month Milestones

First Birthday Party: March 17 for Ryan

First trip to the Mall: March 23

First time in Church: March 24 for McKinley's Baptism at First Baptist Midlothian

First Bible Study: March 27 at Kitchen Group

Meeting Grandma and Grandpa Parker: March 29

Meeting Uncle Chad, Landry, and Cooper: March 29

Switch to 0-3 month clothes: March 28-31 (gradual change)

First Time Hosting Friends: March 30 when friends came for dinner

First Easter: March 31

Meeting Aunt Ellen and Uncle John: April 2

First Trip to the Arboreteum: April 5

First Concert: April 12 an outdoor Concert in the Park in Grand Prairie

 

Cloth Diapering Twins: The First Month

Or the post where I smugly declare success.

 

We have been cloth diapering for about a month now and it is safe to say that I LOVE it. I might be obsessed with these two fluffy butts. How could anyone not be?!? They are just too cute!

 

 

 

I received so many snide comments and underhanded remarks while I was pregnant and told people I planned to use cloth diapers on twins. Well let's just say that I want to smugly declare my success to every one of them.

 

I admit, I wasn't as positive that cloth diapering two would work as I appeared in my posts, but I REALLY wanted it to. And it does.

 

We started with cloth diapers when the little guys hit 8lbs and began using Best Bottoms Diapers and FuzzyBunz Diapers. Since then we have also tried Grovia, Sweet Peas, and Happy Heiny. We still have swaddlebees, blueberry, trend labs, bummis, and little monsters to try. The Best Bottoms are BY FAR my favorites. Sadly, no local DFW stores carry them but ordering online is SO easy!

 

A run-down of the brands we have tried from least favorite to favorite:

 

Grovia: I really like that these are AI2s (which means they have a liner and an insert that snaps in). This is an advantage because for a damp but not soiled diaper you can pop out the insert, replace it with a clean one and reuse the outer shell. I love that this means less to carry with me when we go out and less laundry. However, I don't care for the liners that Grovia sells. They also use a proprietary snap so I can't use their shell with any other brand of liner. Annoying. These diapers also don't fit my guys right. We have tried them three times (twice on Davy who is bigger and once on Tripp) and I have had one blowout and two leaky diapers. Not impressed. My four Grovia's and 10 liners will be listed for sale soon.

 

Happy Heiny: These diapers are pocket diapers which means the absorbent insert stuffs into the diaper. This means the whole diaper (shell and insert) needs changed with each diaper change. I thought I would like pocket diapers the best because touching the insert that had been peed on or soiled sounded pretty gross, but it isn't gross at all. And so these are just more work because you have to stuff them after doing laundry. These don't fit the little guys well, but since they aren't awful I will keep them and try them again when the boys have a bit more meat on their bones.

 

Sweet Pea in a Pod AI3s: Like an AI2, an AI3 has a snap in insert, but the insert is in two pieces for extra absorbency. The inserts in these diapers are very nice and very absorbent, but the actual diaper doesn't fit on my small guys. I think I will like these diapers better when the boys are bigger, but for now they gap around their little thighs. These diapers have a single gusset so that little gap means they leak every time.

 

FuzziBunz: FuzziBunz is a big dog in the cloth diaper world and has a great design. I love that the legs are a separate piece of sizable elastic so you get a really good snug fit. I dislike that they are pocket diapers. I just really prefer the AI2s!

 

Best Bottom: These are my favorites BY FAR. They fit great. They have a number of adjustments for fit. The inserts snap in and out really easily. They have a double gusset around the leg opening to contain any messes. My husband also likes these ones best, so they are our go to for diapering the boys.

 

We have enough of these that we are using them almost exclusively, which is the reason I haven't gotten around to trying all of the other brands in my stash. Best Bottoms always have snaps for the rise, but the waist can be either snaps or velcro. I only purchased snaps originally because I had heard that older babies will take the velcro off themselves, resulting in diaper catastrophes. After trying a velcro diaper (my grovias were velcro) I have ordered five velcro Best Bottoms to add to our stash. The velcro are so easy to use in the middle of the night when I am trying not to turn the lights on.

Same diaper. Snaps vs Velcro

In summary: I'm seriously loving cloth. Like giddy about the fluffy butts. Don't mind the laundry**. Smug satisfaction with each diaper. Loving cloth diapering. Even for twins!

 

Or maybe especially for twins. Who can resist this!

 

 

Fascinated by the dog.

Sometimes we wear clothes with our fluff and BabyLegs

 

 

** A full post of my laundry routine is being written, but the boys don't let me blog frequently so it might be a few days!