Done with cloth.

(I wish I could have come up with a more witty title for this post.)

Are you surprised?

It was a snap decision, really.  I texted Casey last Monday and said, "I think I want to switch to disposables.  Discuss tonight?"  And he replied immediately, "No need to discuss.  We're doing it.  I've been waiting almost 2 years for you to say that."  And that was that.  We created an Amazon Mom account and the kids have been in disposables ever since. 

Our decision to cloth diaper was financially driven (the planet saving and cute prints were an added bonus); but, we have decided that, sometimes, it's worth it to spend a little extra money.

I don't want to bash cloth, because I know there are so many benefits to be had from it; but I do want to share why we are no longer cloth diapering...  

1.  LEAKS.  (The catalyst for this whole thing.)  The pocket diapers (which account for approximately half of our stash) have been leaking, and I cannot for the life of me figure out why.  I have tried everything (stripping, adjusting fit, different inserts) to correct the problem!  Nothing pisses me off more than when Parker wakes early from a nap because his diaper has leaked and his clothes are soaked, or when Lucy gets up from the couch and there's a huge wet spot where she was sitting.  Keep in mind, since we have so many pockets, incidents like these happened several times each day. 

2.  Laundry is a bitch.  Washing for one isn't so bad, but washing for two is practically a full-time job!  Between diapers and clothing, I wash 2-4 loads of laundry each day; but, since we've been so busy, there have been days that I didn't get to the laundry...and we've had to make an extra trip to the store to buy disposables.  It was such a ridiculous thing to be stressed about.

3.  Poopy diapers.  I literally contemplated throwing the diaper away (rather than rinsing it) every single time.  I cannot adequately describe how disgusting this task is-- even with a diaper sprayer and liner.  Add to that that I don't always have the opportunity to spray the diaper immediately after each change (hello, two kids)...so that smelly diaper would sit in the bathroom until I could get to it.

4.  My kids can't button their pants.  Kind of trivial, I suppose, but it matters to me.  We grow big babies, and they already have a hard enough time wearing age appropriate sizes; when you add a huge cloth diaper into the equation, there is no hope whatsoever.

I know that we are trading leaks for blowouts, and I know that those blowouts will lead to laundry.  But having a blowout once every few months is so much more manageable than 4-6 leaks per day.  And I know that I could have theoretically purchased new cloth diapers that don't leak, and still spent less money than we will on disposables; but then I'm still stuck with laundry and poop duty, and clothes that don't fit.  (Having just bought their winter wardrobes, I was not eager to buy replacement cloth diapers AND larger clothing.)  Our decision to switch to disposables has lifted such a weight off of my shoulders.  I could probably run through various scenarios of how we could have been more successful with cloth, but what's the point?  We are all so much happier this way.