december flurry

every year, i have visions of blog posts full of beautiful photographs of soft candle light, little chubby faces peering through frosted windows, christmas cookies cooling on the table, so on and so forth. but i never get around to writing and uploading and editing and publishing, or even sitting still with my thoughts for more than a few minutes. i guess it's a trend in our family to up and move around the holidays, which means there is little time and little money to do much of anything. i've been meaning, like every year, to sit down and edit our holidays pictures. this is probably the third time i've tried writing a blog about december. i thought about just uploading photos and sharing without words, but i want to remember. and part of remembering is going back and reading what i've written in the past. it's my favorite way to remember. so i am going to have to fit all of my thoughts from the past month into a long, boring post, full of the most random photos, all for the sake of memories.

two new years ago, i made the resolution to take at least one photo a day. i'm glad i did, because as i was putting river's one year book together on shutterfly, i realized i did not have a single picture of him on my digital camera when he was three months old. i had a couple cell phone pictures, and that was it. for the rest of the year though, i had tons of pictures. of course, with austen, i am much busier than i ever was with river. i get distracted and even though plenty of days i think, she looks so adorable today! i have got to get a picture... i just never get around to pulling my camera out and snapping a shot. i'm a perfectionist, and the downfall with that is that if i can't get a good photo -- not just a snapshot, but a great quality photo -- then i just won't even try. that's bad! bad, especially when you have quickly growing babies that need to photographed constantly, so you can remember all the funny faces and little moments that you would otherwise forget.

austen is a funny girl. she is so different from her brother. river was smiley, content, easy-going. he would go to anyone. if he was ever upset, all i needed to do was nurse him, and all his little baby troubles would melt away. in fact, sometimes it seemed he nursed all. day. long. i am not exaggerating when i say we hardly went twenty minutes without a nursing session! he was easy to make laugh and extremely sociable. my little ray of sunshine every day. very strong and active. a horrible, horrible sleeper. in fact, i found an old notebook in which i had written questions to ask my midwife at our six-week check up, and one of them was "is he getting enough sleep?" i laughed because i remember that... how he would be awake the majority of the day, and then wake up seven, eight, nine times in the night to nurse.

she is a pretty easy baby for the most part, but in every other way she seems to be different from river. she is very particular... you better hold her the right way, shush her the right way, bounce her the right way, and don't you dare put her down and walk out of the room. she loves being around people and starts crying almost the instant you leave her alone. she is very serious and it is a tough game trying to make her smile! forget laughing... she's chuckled twice, holding her breath and smiling her precious smile, but she refuses to laugh! it's the funniest thing and makes us laugh. i can't wait until she laughs. she is still a great sleeper. i was so afraid it was just a lucky sleepy newborn thing, but every night she only wakes up to nurse twice, and she takes long naps during the day, giving me a much needed break (or rather, better attention to make sure river isn't getting into trouble).

as expected, it is very wet here in washington. it's all very "twilight"... i feel like a werewolf is going to come out and attack me at any given moment. the trees are incredible. i was talking to my amazing stepmom the other day and mentioned how gorgeous the trees are here. she pointed out that everything else texas has is huge -- the squirrels, the burgers, the sky, the cockroaches. but the trees are just these stumpy little things! it's so true. in san antonio at least, the trees are pretty pathetic. i am amazed at the length of these things here. they shoot up into the sky, and sometimes the branches don't even start until about ten feet above a two-story building. 

it's cold, but not too cold. the weather hasn't started to depress me yet... maybe because i prepared myself for it. or maybe because in the past three summers in san antonio, two of them were record-breaking, with incredible heat and intense drought. i was soooo ready for some rain. it's funny though, i have found i am pretty excited to see the sun when it does shine through the clouds. even river yells, SUN! MAMA, SUN! kinda sad. poor kid. ;)

it's okay though, because there's a coffee shop at every corner. almost literally. the people here love their coffee, and i'm pretty sure it's because they need something warm in their hands. a small, independent coffee shop in san antonio is hard pressed to survive for long, but here, the ma and pa coffee shops survive among the starbucks' pretty well.

i feel much more at home here in olympia than in san antonio, even though this is the first time i've ever been west, and i lived in san antonio for most of my life. it's a pretty liberal state, and the hipsters here are kind of like the coffee shops. they're everywhere. i can finally wear my hipster shoes and not feel like a dork. there are also a lot of hippies and everyone knows i like to pretend i'm a kind of a hippie, while hiding my dr pepper in my pantry. but no seriously -- i'm giving up soda this year. for real this time.

christmas pictures to come! until then, enjoy this chocolate wine. oh yes.

an outing

don't let them fool you. they're not as harmless as they look.

i wanted to call this post "surviving the adventure of leaving the house for the first time with a two year old and a two-week-old by myself," but that was too long, so "an outing" is about all the info you'll get from the title. quite an adventure it was, and i think it will probably be a long time before i am forced decide to leave the house with two babies by myself again. we met friends for breakfast and took a trip to a little pumpkin patch last saturday, stopping for ice cream on the way home. here are some things i thought important to remember for next time. if there is a next time.

• with two, you'd think it would take twice as long to do something. you'd be surprised to discover it actually doesn't. it takes about ten times as long.
• so, if you are sitting on the couch unshowered and undressed, with the toddler in his highchair, covered in oatmeal and still in his stinky night-time diaper, don't tell someone you will try to leave the house in twenty minutes to meet them somewhere for breakfast. it may have been just slightly unrealistic, yet still possible, with just one. not anymore. not in the least.
• even though you were able to just grab a couple diapers and wipes and stuff them in your purse in a hurry a couple weeks ago, you can't do that now. you will need a bottomless diaper bag. unfortunately, no one makes those yet.
• while driving, you will take every mistake other drivers make as a personal offence. you will react by yelling I HAVE A NEWBORN BABY IN THE CAR DAMNIT even when people just change lanes without putting their blinker on.
• during breakfast, your state of mind will permanently be: distracted. you will be unable to hold an adult conversation. you may only be able to reply with head-nods and appropriately placed laughs. a sentence longer than three words may not leave your mouth unless that sentence is something along the lines of, "please don't throw food across the table." your thoughts will mainly be focused on the toddler and infant present and will be similar to the following: don't stick your whole hand in your mouth. please stop fussing. don't spill your water in your lap. no, you don't need another napkin. do i really need to nurse you here? you do not need to remove your shoes. stop poking your friend with your fork. shh, shh, shh, bounce, bounce, bounce. you need to nurse again? really? i just nursed you five minutes ago. crap, why are you pooping now? couldn't you have pooped at home? why does this diaper bag have to be so damn heavy. 
• you can't jiggle the infant seat to calm the upset infant and drive at the same time.
• park = good. toddler will run around, excited to be outdoors, infant will sleep in sling. it will get hot. you won't care.
• public bathroom = bad. two in diapers = also bad. don't even bother trying to use the restroom yourself. just get in and get out as quickly as possible. oh, and toddler will choose this moment to crawl on the floor. the disgusting bathroom floor.
• stopping for a shake on the way home is just an all-around bad idea. i know it sounds sweet and fun, but it won't be. just don't do it.
• at some point, when you have your wallet in one hand and loose cash in the other, the baby is crying and squirming hungrily in the sling, your cell phone is ringing, and the heavy diaper bag is falling off your shoulder, your toddler will make a mad dash to the opposite end of the restaurant.
• a lot of people will stare at you when you are carrying a newborn, because newborns are cute and tiny.
• they will stare more if the newborn is screaming her head off.
• many people staring at you are feeling sorry for you. you will feel their eyes on the back of your head like lasers.
• everything will look gross and full of germs. all you will be able to think about is your two-week-old's vulnerable immune system and wonder if you are a terrible mother for stopping for a shake and pray that she doesn't pick up some horrible disease.
• things that bothered you before... well, they still bother you, you just won't be able to do anything about it. at some point, you will just sit there and blink while your child does something horrid, like eat a french fry off the floor or puts both his hands in another child's pair of shoes. up to that point you will feel hopeless and overwhelmed, but when this event occurs, you will feel strangely accepting and slightly apathetic.
• something petty that used to matter to you, like finishing the rest of the shake (which is delicious, by the way), won't matter anymore. you will throw away the shake because you need both your hands. you will mourn your delicious shake, but again... there's really nothing you can do about it.
• don't worry, you'll make it home just before you run out of gas.
• when you open the door to your home and drop the diaper bag to the floor and sit your toddler down in front of the tv and plop in the chair in front of the computer to nurse the infant you will feel like you just achieved the greatest feat known to woman, short of giving birth.

river's room makeover

i have finally finished river's room!

just kidding. actually, this is how river's room looked a couple months ago after a few little friends came to visit, and then before i cleaned it up about three weeks later. yes, three weeks. i took this picture for a friend because we were comparing messy houses to make each other feel better. the following pictures are two days later, when i decided it might be a good idea to make it a livable, sleepable space.

the yellow dresser got a makeover! remember how it looked before? i love it! it's really a gift from my friend irene, because she actually bought the handles and paint to redo it. thanks to her, it looks adorable and modern.

i've been wanting this ikea moose since i saw it three years ago. found it at a thrift store for $18. river loves it and now thinks horses and cows are moose, too. (for instance, last night at the halloween church party? forget pony rides. that was a moose, y'all.)

from left to right -- vintage books, a giant R for guesswhat, stacking cubes, adorable elephant bank river got from a dear friend before he was born, a book wagon and a couple handmade stuffed animals (the red chicken was made by my friend amy over at maker mama), and my mom's fischer price school house from when she was itty bitty.

the dresser was plain black before. way too dark for the space, especially after we painted the walls. rather than sanding it down and painting it, i just bought scrapbook paper and mod-podged it up. it cost about $20 total (i went through an entire tub of mod podge) and i love how it turned out! it's easy to wipe down and so far it has held up wonderfully to river and his fellow toddlers.

this has got to be the cheapest, cutest art to put together. i love how hoop art looks. for the fabric and hoops (some of which i already had on hand), this cost about $10 total.

a tiny shelf John made a few years ago which was actually a "soap box" prop for something we did. perfect for all his prefolds.

you may remember the before pictures... there definitely wasn't much to this room before i started. i love it now... i'm so happy with how it turned out! it really is too bad that we are now moving and therefore, i won't be able to enjoy it anymore. this is the closest i've ever come to completely decorating a room in our house before. the only thing left to do is the baseboards. yep, we've been living here for eleven months and the baseboards aren't done. that's how we roll. and i still wish i had a little white rug in the center -- i think that would make it more cozy and add some brightness in contrast to the dark walls and floors. of course, once we move i can remake his room. and then maybe i'll get a white rug.

ready

the past few days, as i have been steadily nearing my due date, i've gone through various emotional phases of preparing to give birth.

the first stage was can we just get this over with? physically, it just sort of hit me. i had to go through two, three, maybe even four more weeks of this? my ribs feel bruised, my back hurts, my abdomen is heavy, achy, tight, and stretched to the max, i can't breathe... i could go on. i just don't remember being this uncomfortable toward the end of my pregnancy with river. i wished desperately to curl up in a ball and touch my knees to my chest to offer my back some relief, but um... i couldn't. because there is a watermelon separating my knees from my chest. all i could do to try and help the nagging pain is the cat yoga pose (you can only arch your back so much with an attached watermelon). oh, what would i give for an hour-long massage session. yesyesyes, that's all i want! gimme, and i will never complain again!

then i realized, yes, i am very close... and as tired of being pregnant as i am, these are the last days i have with my kid as just river and mommy. i even took a little computer break, because i felt that i was way too preoccupied and lazy, and i kept thinking that my sweet boy was going to be thrown into this new world of mommy and river and baby, and i felt like he really deserved my time and full attention during these last few weeks. i was off of the internet for two days, completely, and then slowly allowed myself to peek into facebook and my email and such. i found that with less of my time spent reading articles, browsing pinterest and commenting on friends' facebook statuses, my house stayed neater as well... because at 10:30 when i would normally be sitting with my ass glued to the chair and my eyes glued to the screen, i was actually washing dishes. and vacuuming. and retrieving toys and such out from under the coffee table. it might also have to do with the fact that i am nesting like crazy, something that definitely did not happen late in my pregnancy with river. i am a much nicer mommy when i am off the computer and my house is clean. and river is a much nicer toddler when i am a nice mommy. who knew the presence of a comfortable distraction could cause so much stress? i need another computer break, ideally until the baby arrives.

and then one day, it was of pure annoyance. i was in a bad mood and simply did not feel like going into labor. i was having lots of contractions, and kept saying to myself, i BETTER not go into labor because i just do NOT want to have to deal with that today and i don't FEEL like taking care of a newborn right now because i am just TOO STRESSED. the mere thought of having to be calm and loose and create a serene environment was awful. i didn't want to breathe through contractions. i wanted to punch a pillow.

the next stage was fear. i can't really wrap my mind around how close i am to giving birth to this baby, and it was sort of freaking me out. when i say i was never nervous or afraid of giving birth to river, i'm 100% for serious. if ever i felt a little twinge of fear, i'd just go watch youtube homebirth videos or read some ina may, and my confidence was renewed. when people asked me if i was scared or nervous, i truthfully told them nope. this time, not so much. it seems silly too, since i had a great birth with river and twenty minutes after giving birth i was saying, "i'd much rather do that again than go through morning sickness." but for some reason, last week, i'd start to think of giving birth, i'd remember how tough it was, to say the least, how painful and how much work it was, and i'd get butterflies in my baby-squished stomach. i started wondering if i could handle it again.

but i'm past that. the final stage is readiness. at least, i hope this is the final stage. a few nights ago, contractions woke me up multiple times. crampy, but not too painful, yet more intense than the regular (still intense) braxton hicks. at around seven in the morning, on four hours of sleep, i woke up and couldn't fall back to sleep because the contractions were that strong. after an hour of this, i texted two out-of-town friends who are planning on coming to the birth and gave them a heads up, saying i didn't really think it was time, but just in case. i was feeling excited and completely at peace. i could feel the pressure deep down, and i prayed that god would help my body open, and that today would be the day. i decided if i really was going into labor, i might as well get up and make myself a good breakfast, since i'd need the energy later. but after i got up, i only had two more contractions before they stopped completely.

so, that's where i stand now. i still freak out a little bit, but that's only when i look around the house and see how messy it is and tell myself i need to finish cleaning it before the baby arrives. but other than that... i'm ready. tomorrow i will be 40 weeks along. this morning i had an appointment with my midwife, and i'm hoping the next time i see her is when she arrives at our home to help welcome our little girl to the world.

alisa and me.

screw being a housewife

last week i boiled a chicken for dinner and had about a gallon of beautiful, golden chicken broth left over. oh, i had plans. i could put it in our rice for yummy flavor, i could saute veggies in it, i could make delicious soup. it was the reason i bought a whole chicken in the first place. i carefully poured the broth in a couple of containers, closed the lids, and let the steaming liquid cool before putting in the freezer. then i went to bed. i woke up the next morning and one of my first thoughts was, CRAP. i forgot to put the $&#% broth away! that night as i was pouring out rotten, nasty-smelling chicken broth down the drain (yes, i waited all day), i told my husband, i HATE being a housewife! (not true.) i am a horrible wife and mother! (arguable.) i suck at it! (true.)

i joke around about being messy and unorganized, but it really does bother me. when i make an effort to be organized, i almost always fail. the thing is, i love organization. i will spend hours cleaning out and sorting through stuff in a closet and actually enjoy it. why can't i translate this insanity to other parts of my life?!

a few days ago a friend of mine asked this question on facebook:

SAHM's: Please describe your house to me. Is it clean? A total wreck? Who does the cleaning and when/how?

we are in similar situations, as we both practice a lot of the same parenting philosophies, and she has a two year old and just had a baby. i figured we are probably in the same boat in a lot of ways. i took the plunge and replied with total honesty.

right at this moment? the kitchen counters and dishes are clean because we finally gave in and cleaned them last night. there is still random junk everywhere, though. papers, toys, and whatnot. 

the living room is messy... there's a pee diaper under the coffee table, a few of rivers toys strewn around and some random junk on the floor -- a piece of paper, a sprayer from a spray bottle (?), my shoes, the couch throw pillows, john's socks, river's little suitcase he plays with, a wipe container, some alphabet cards, a couple blankets and pillows from our bed are on the couch, the vacuum cleaner in the corner.

our bedroom? a total mess of clothes, everywhere. clothes that are in giveaway bags, clothes that need to be folded, clothes that need to be washed. our bed is unmade, and the pile of crap on top of the dresser grows every day.

the bathroom needs to be scrubbed. the bathtub in clean but i need to clean the toilet, sink, and mop the floors. there's a pile of clothes in the corner. for the most part, everything is picked up though.

river's room is messy as anything right now. last month it was perfectly clean because he hardly ever plays in there and i had a place for everything. but now, we are still trying to organize all these new diapers and baby clothes we have, and there is just no room. i just finished bagging clothes we are getting rid of and reorganizing the diaper dresser, but there are still diapers and clothes all over his bed that have no home. his toys are all over the place because we had a little friend come over last week and together they dumped out about every toy he owns, and with everything being so unorganized in there as it is, i haven't found the motivation to clean it up.

the second living area/computer/craft area is ridiculous, mostly river's doing. books off the bookshelf, toys and shoes and sippy cups and more toys and mail and piles everywhere and just mess.

piles of laundry in the laundry closet. just finishing a load of diapers now.

all this, plus we have tile all throughout the house and it needs to be swept and mopped desperately. we have a dog who sheds like crazy and a toddler who leaves crumbs everywhere... so you can imagine.

who cleans? me. or, i don't clean, rather. LOL. i finally understand why my mom always got so pissed off when we kids made little messes... because we figured it was no big deal and she knew SHE was the one who would have to clean it up. when i was a teen, my room was almost always picked up. now, i just leave my crap wherever it is, instead of taking the effort to put it back where it goes. if everything else is just left lying around, i get overwhelmed and don't even bother picking up as i go. i know it's part of being a perfectionist. the "if i can't have everything perfect, then it's not even worth trying" mentality. on days when i do try to keep things clean and picked up, i feel like i am working my ass off ALL DAY LONG.

thanks for asking this question, it feels good to honest and blow off steam! the state of my house bothers me everyday and i just lack the motivation to do something about it. these are the resounding thoughts i have: wanting perfection, lacking motivation, and feeling completely overwhelmed. i feel like i just sat through a session with a therapist! bahaha..

i saw a video house tour from young house love a couple weeks ago and in the video she kept apologizing for the mess. i was all, "omg, that's your messy?! that's my CLEAN." so if you read that and thought, "ew." please refrain from telling me. i thought "ew" too. if you read this and thought, there IS someone out there just like me! then i'm happy to have helped you with your confidence level as a housewife. now tell me about your house so i don't feel so bad. we gotta stick together.

changed

i'm not writing about this like i'm the only person this happens to. i'm sure it happens to all moms, which is why moms "lose" themselves (the person the were before they had children, when the only person you have to really answer to is... you). who am i beneath the title "mother"?

i would have never thought to describe my relationship with my baby as this, but i think all mothers become "obsessed" with their children. i don't mean like everything in my world revolves around him, or he is the main joy of my day, or everything i do is based on his part in my life, or he's changed me or made me a different person, or that i find it hard to do things for myself because he comes first, before everything including myself, sometimes including my husband, including god. oh... that's exactly what i mean.





a few weeks ago at a visit with my dear midwife, she asked, "how are you? not whitney the mother, or whitney the wife, but how is whitney the woman?" and being the complete emotional wreck that i have been during this entire pregnancy, i almost wanted to cry. i don't know why i wanted to cry. it wasn't like i was mourning, or sad at all. i guess it was... overwhelmed. almost like, there's whitney the woman? i am someone outside of a mother and wife? i'm sure you can relate.

how can a mother find herself again when she is faced with such passion? how can her life ever mean anything else when her child becomes her very world? what i mean is, practically every decision i make is weighed first on how it will affect my child. most of the time it's really not a big deal. i love everything about being a mother and making a few sacrifices doesn't mean much to me. but then i don't think about how it has affected me. in small ways that i have to really think about to discover. like... i don't wear a million bracelets anymore because it's kind of inconvenient when you're trying to deal with a kid. and before i weaned river, i hadn't worn a dress in over a year because i couldn't breastfeed in one -- and i love dresses. and i don't draw anymore, because i'm afraid my toddler will grab my paper, and it's hard to keep an eye on him when i'm concentrating on a drawing. and i'm not going back to school yet because i'm pregnant and i have a hard time pumping milk and therefore can't store milk for a baby to drink while i'm at a class. maybe that sounds really selfish, but it's something you don't realize is even happening. at least i didn't. they change your life in a sneaky, unnoticeable way.

i'm not complaining. just observing. i love, love, love being a mommy. it's the one thing i've always known i wanted to be. i wouldn't trade it for anything. who knew a small person could have such an enormous impact on your complete being? it's the most beautiful thing in the world, and i'm honored that god trusts me with these little souls.

our diaper stash: pockets & all-in-ones

I love stash posts... it's the cloth diaper addict in me. I've been wanting to do a diaper stash post for some time, to share what we have and a brief description of each diaper and how it works for us. With the addition of a new baby who happens to be a girl, our diaper stash has grown considerably and now is full of adorable prints and pinks and purples! Some of these I obviously have yet to try, but I am so excited and can't wait to cloth diaper this baby from birth. I bought River's first cloth diapers when he was four months old, and we weren't exclusively cloth diapering for a couple months, so this will be entirely new to me! I will have the joy of simply plopping the poopy diapers into the wash without rinsing them... because EBF poop is water soluble. ;)

River has been bare-butt potty trained for about two months. At home, he walks around stark naked, and is great at going pee and poop in his little froggy potty. It never gets old -- "Look, mama! See? River potty!" He is always so proud of himself. I figured since he has been doing so well using the potty at home when he's naked, I should tackle the rest of potty training -- get him used to wearing undies and going on the big potty when we are out and about. But we also need to tackle another thing, much bigger in my opinion, and that is moving him to his own bed. I don't want to do both at the same time, in the short remaining weeks before the baby arrives. I think it would end up being really stressful for both of us, and I'd rather just be a lazy mom and put a diaper on him at night and keep him naked during the day. I'm not ready to deal with morning after morning of wet sheets and the thought of sitting his little booty on a nasty public toilet grosses me out. Plus, he's barely two years old, so I think we're doing okay! With just a couple months left of summer weather, I know he won't be able to run around naked forever, and he doesn't like taking his diaper off to pee anyway, so I'm pretty sure we'll go back to diapering full-time. I'm okay with having two in diapers, and I think our stash is now big enough to do so!

So, with that long, entirely unnecessary introduction behind us, here's what you'll find in our diaper stash, as far as pockets and all-in-ones. I'll share about prefolds and covers in the next post. (Just to clarify, OS means one-size.)

Pocket Diapers:
2 BumGenius 4.0 OS
2 Rumparooz OS
1 Thirsties Duo Diaper, size 1
2 Happy Heinies OS
3 Fuzzibunz OS
1 Dinkledooz OS
7 GoGreen OS
1 Knickernappies

- I like our BumGenius pockets okay... enough to register for another one for the little girl. I might get a couple more if they had more colors or prints to choose from. That's not saying it isn't a great diaper, because plenty of people love BGs!

- I haven't tried our Rumparooz yet. We registered for them for the baby, but I can't wait to use them! My friend Elise is using them on her 2 month old with success. He's a small baby and they aren't too bulky on him, nor do they leak -- two great signs! Check out her blog to read more about her experience with the Rumparooz pocket diaper.

- The Thirsties is unused as well, but I love our Thirsties covers, so I'm hoping the pocket diaper I got serves us just as well! I like how there are two openings -- apparently, you don't have to remove the insert when it goes in the wash. I got the smaller of the two sizes which is supposed to last up to 18 lbs. River fit into the 2nd size at 4 months and 16 lbs, but he was barely 20 lbs when he turned a year old, so I really hope this diaper fits our little girl for an entire year!

- I had a used Happy Heinies for River that I loved, but I was only able to use it for a few months because it is one of the things our front-loader went to town on -- shortly after I bought it, the elastic gave out, and I'm pretty sure it was a machine issue and not a diaper issue. I can't wait to use these girly prints on the new baby.

- Fuzzibunz is one of the classics and are usually one of the first ones I pick out of the stash. They work well for River, so I'm hoping they work well for the baby. I am interested to see how they fit a newborn, because while it's easy to change the rise on the diaper, I'm not sure if I'll be able to get a snug fit around her waist. Anyone have experience with a newborn in a Fuzzibunz?

- I love my Dinkledooz. You know that. I am waiting to order more for the teeny one! This is another that Elise is trying out, and in her experience, they aren't working as well for a newborn. That's fine though, since the baby will have tons of infant prefolds I want to put to good use before we start using our pocket diapers.

- I have more GoGreens than any other pocket. I like them, but I'm hoping to trade a couple for another type of pocket diaper, because I love variety in my stash! The ones I have are the older version and about as basic as you get, but they work pretty well, as long as they are stuffed properly. The inserts they came with are a little thin, so I have to double-stuff if I use those inserts (which really isn't all that uncommon with pocket diapers when diaper a toddler -- I've been double-stuffing most of River's pockets lately, unless I'm using a super thick insert).

- There is only one Knickernappies in our stash, because they didn't work out at all for River. I've heard this could be a boy problem -- since boys pee in the front and this diaper has side-snaps, which means the flaps are inside the diaper, blocking the top of the insert. River has always been a heavy wetter, so this makes sense. I bought one for the girl, hoping maybe they will work for her. (...because I like variety :)

All-In-Ones:
1 BumGenius 4.0 OS-AIO
2 Grovia OS-AIO
2 TotsBots Easy Fit OS-AIO


- I don't really like all-in-ones and I would not get another BumGenius AIO. I lucked out in getting this one barely used for just $7 and I'm glad I did... but the time it takes for it to dry isn't worth it to me. Sometimes even hanging on the line all day in the sun isn't enough to get it dry! I definitely wouldn't purchase this diaper new. Not that it's a bad diaper, I just prefer my pockets.

- The Grovia AIOs, however, are different -- instead of the absorbency being sewn in between the layers, it is sewn as a flap. It also comes with an extra insert that you can snap into the diaper. This makes for very fast drying time. This is a side-snapping diaper as well, but the difference between these and the Knickernappies is that the wings are actually stretchy, which I think will result in a better fit.

- The TotsBots is very similar, in that the absorbency isn't sewn in, but is still attached. And oh em gee, look at these prints. I think they are the cutest in existence right now in the world of cloth diapering. I think the pink flowery one is my favorite print in all of the baby's stash. It is too stinkin' cute.

There you have it! Next up: prefolds and covers.