Call us Crunchy - we don't care!!!

Some call it crunchy, some call it green, some call it Keepin' Austin Weird (only because they don't know what that slogan really means), some call it insanity, some call it old fashioned....we call it just another decision a parent has to make.

So, the confession here is we are cloth diapering. I always hesitate to share that with people because hardly anyone is encouraging or even just non-responsive. Instead most people passionately tell me why we are insane or make quick judgments about what we're trying to prove. We aren't trying to prove anything. We probably are insane in some people's books but not because we cloth diaper. There's plenty of other things that make the Crack house, well, Cracky. But this was just one decision, we had to choose disposables or cloth. I realize most of you chose disposables but I've never done anything because of what most people do. I promise not to judge anyone who chooses disposables for their child but in return I wish I could ask those more vocal folks not to judge us for choosing cloth.

Since I know none of you would question our decision I'm mostly venting here. But for the sake of putting it down somewhere here are a few of the things that sparked my interest in cloth diapering:

1. It is earth friendly. Even though we are using water to wash we aren't putting diapers in landfills that will be there longer than most men live.

2. It's healthy. There are chemicals in disposables that have long since been outlawed in the production of tampons and sanitary napkins but so far the FDA hasn't made that change for diapers.

3. It's cost effective. We just bought all the diapers we will need for all the children we ever choose to have. We may need a few incremental packs of the earth friendly disposables for long vacations but in general we have the bulk of diapering that we'll need. Our total was around $300. It would take lots of coupons of deal hunting to come close to that cost for disposable diapers for one child...but we've got them all covered, no extra charge!

4. It's cozy! You should feel these things. Compared to the disposables these fuzzy soft diapers are like the Cadillac of butt huggers. Not to brag here but Chloe's bum is so darn cute I absolutely think it belongs in the Cadillac :).

5. It's going to help in potty training. Since the disposables are made to chemically whisk away all dampness children don't associate their bm's and pee pees with any sensation in their diaper. With cloth, there isn't any chemical whisking so while we'll have to be way more diligent about changing our little wet one, she should learn quickly that she's causing that and using the potty will help!

6. It's come along way. Cloth diapering is no longer pins and diaper dips in the toilet. You should see the technology out there for cloth. Our diapers have velcro tabs just like the disposables so if you can do Huggies, you can do our cloth ones!

7. Finally and almost not important but always a factor when I am concerned...there is a TOTAL CUTENESS FACTOR. I haven't gotten a picture of Chloe's precious bums in a diaper yet but I will. For now, check out how precious they look drying on our clothes line (because it's more earth friendly than running the dryer and things smell yummy when dried out in the sun!) in our back yard:



There, I confessed. We're a green, crunchy, insane, weird Austin, old fashioned cloth diapering family. But, we stand behind said decision, happily :).