Diapering

There are definitely days when I question why I am cloth diapering two boys. Mind you, most days, I'm pretty happy with the whole thing. As I place another clean prefold on a smooth bum I happily think to myself of the few cents I'm saving in the process. Perhaps sadly, I don't think about the reduction in the landfills because of it, but I guess somewhere deep in me I know that, too.

This afternoon I had my moment of extreme frustration with the whole process. It actually started early this morning when I discovered that my diaper load came out of the laundry nice and fluffy clean, but one of my micro terry inserts smelled of ... stink. Laundering diapers is truly an art form. It has been a big challenge at my house anyway. I've wasted a bit those "few cents" that I've saved on various detergents and experiments with baking soda, vinegar and bleach.

I'll have to deal with the micro terry later, I'm all out of ideas for it (other than burning it). Back to this afternoon...Liam was smelly so we climbed the stairs to get freshened up before playing in the backyard. I've described his poo-poo to enough of you, so I'll spare the rest of you. Suffice it say, it is the worst kind to deal with - especially if you launder you own diapers. There we are, Dimple chattering happily on Chirpee's bed while Chirps and I are lingering over the bathroom toilet in a sort of team huddle.

"Stand back Chirpee, don't touch that!"

"Flush? Flush?"

"No, Chirpee, not yet. Just let mommy get the ickies off." (My vocabulary has grown leaps and bounds since having children.) Chirpee has ignored the request and flushed. After scraping off what I can, I reach for the handy diaper sprayer (handy little sprayer attached to your water source on toilet). Since the toilet is refilling the water pressure is low in the sprayer, I turn it up and it works so well I now have particles of ... ah-hem sprayed into my sandals and on the bathroom floor. Diaper dripping, sopping wet, I fold it inside out, give it a little squeeze (grosssssss) and drop it into the sink in exchange for the diaper cover. Normally I just ignore the little that gets on the cover, but it was quite a pastey mess so I try to give it a rinse, too.

More spraying with too much water pressure (hindsight - I have no idea why I didn't turn it back down), more of the water spraying all over the toilet with a little misting on the floor. This whole procedure is done with Dimple starting to get mad at being left by himself and me trying to keep Chirpee away from the messes. I get the diaper put into the pail all the while making faces, "ewwww" sounds and running over in my head, "now why did I start this? why do I diaper????"

All of my tension slowly drains away as I wipe up the last of the toilet mess and see my fresh toilet bowl and nicely cleaned sink. Ahhhhhhhh. At least it gets me to clean my bathroom....