Wednesday 8 August 2007

Cloth Diapers and Other Matters

Today was Leo's 27th birthday. My husband is getting old. Well, at least it seems that way at times. I mean, 27 is practically 30, right? It was not such a fun day, he had to fly out at noon, and Elena kept us up for an hour in the middle of the night last night. She was as happy as could be, just screeching, loud, happy screeches (same ones as when I had to take her out of Sunday School this past Sunday). When I finally decided she wasn't going to go back to sleep anytime soon, I laid her in her crib--she had been in our room for the air conditioning--and listened to her then unhappy screams for quite a while longer. Oh well. Today was also not so good because I figured out that I am actually paying more to use cloth diapers (my big money saving scheme from several months ago) because I have to use a laundromat while my brand new washing machine and dryer sit idly in my dining room. Sad, ironic twists of fate. So it's back to disposable diapers, which is somewhat of a relief to be honest. I really don't mind cloth diapers but it is a lot of laundry, that's the most time consuming part. However, here are the things I learned about cloth diapers.

1. Don't buy ones from Target, Walmart, etc. Boughten ones DO NOT work. They're way too thin and not absorbent enough.

2. Premade ones that are fitted are nice, however they do take forever to dry, and won't dry in a normal dry cycle.

3. Make your own flat fold ones using flannel, 27" x 27".

And finally, as I just realized when I was at Walmart the other day, the fancy 7x absorbency, microfiber liners I bought from an online diaper place, are actually just Walmart car washing rags, the super soft kind, and were much cheaper, so....

4. Buy microfiber, 7x the absorbency, car washing rags from Walmart for diaper liners. They work great!!!


Yesterday was a good day, besides the heat in our unconditioned kitchen. I made Leo a German chocolate cake for his birthday and frijoles con arroz y pollo y platanos frito. We also went to an international food store for fun. We had a great time! Leo poked the live blue crabs and watched them attack each other. We drooled over all the kinds of fish and made faces at the squid. I found the two things I was looking for, turmeric and soybean paste, and Leo found some guanabana juice. I also was able to see my sister Kayli and her family for a couple hours, and I read this awesome article in the National Geographic about the Mayan. It made me want to be an archaeologist again. However helping Leo with his MBA homework has somewhat dampened my desire to go back to school.
But without further ado, here's some adorable pictures of my daughter and her not so adorable favorite things to do.

2 comments:

Hanah said...

Kami I love Elena's little chunky thighs they are sooo cute!! :) I saw this baby shirt once that would be perfect for her it said, " I make chunky thighs look great!" :) That's horrible about not having air conditioning in the kitchen, so I'm sure it made the cake extra sweet to Leo to know that you literally slaved over the oven for him. :) Happy Birthday Leo!

Kayli said...

Kami, those pictures are sooo soo soo adorable of Elena--the ones of her pulling out stuff from the cupboard and the suitcase one.

And, I LOVE your quote of teh month. It rocks.