The Flats and Handwashing Challenge 2011 was an idea that came about after numerous articles referenced the practice of reusing disposable diapers.  Families with no money for new diapers were scraping out the solid contents or using a hair dryer to dry the diapers for reuse.  Not only is this unsanitary but it is also extremely dangerous.  The media neglected offering the suggestion that families use cloth diapers.  Why?  Who knows.  {read the original article} It was my personal mission to educate others that, although not ideal, hand washing the inexpensive flat cloth diapers was an option to families who had no other way to diaper.  No baby should have to suffer when there are ways to diaper for less than $50.00.

We usually use pocket diapers, they are convenient, but they are more expensive than flat diapers.  My first purchase for the challenge was a package of 10 Gerber Flat Birdseye Cloth Diapers for $12 at Walmart.  I may have to double up on these for Teagan who is now 20 months old but one flat could be workable. (Total spent $12, $1.20 per diaper). Then I pulled out some old 30×30 flannel receiving blankets.  I am guessing most people have extra receiving blankets laying around but if you had to buy a package, I estimate a pack of 4 flannel receiving blankets would cost $10. Here is a pack of  5 receiving blankets for approximately $12-13 including shipping.  I like those prices.

I paid nothing for the receiving blankets that I will be using since I had them already but I will estimate $2.5 per flannel receiving blanket turned cloth diaper.  I like the receiving blankets, they are a little thicker than the birdseye gauze and alot softer.  The birdseye flats took all morning to hang dry in the laundry room and I am sure the flannel receiving blankets will take a bit longer.  I will be using 3 receiving blankets in addition to the 10 birdseye flats which I will be doubling so that brings me to 8 diapers.  I’d say that’s enough for one day of diapering.

I will be handwashing and hang drying everyday so I needed a few more flats to bridge the gap. I bought two 4 packs of the Target Flour Sack Towels (in the kitchen section).  Each 4 pack is $4 and they are 30×30 just like the receiving blankets and the birdseye flats.  They seem to be a tiny bit thicker than the Gerber and maybe even a little bit softer.  I may or may not have to double them on Teagan.  Since she is now more of a toddler than a baby, she needs the extra cloth around the hips.  Otherwise, the Snappis feel like they are going to poke through to her skin.  (Total spent $8, $1 per flour sack towel flat diaper)

Other than the flats, I only purchased another two pack of Snappi Cloth Diaper Fasteners. I had size one already but needed size two now that Teagan is bigger. (Total spent $7.25, a little over $3.50 per Snappi which should be more than enough – I will probably only use the neon yellow Dayglo Snappi anyway.

I will be using covers that I already have in my cloth diaper stash with the exception of a new Thirsties Duo Wrap Size 2.  I need to destash my size 1 Duo Wraps.  If I ever need a size 1 again I will just buy them used from someone.  I’ve seen cheap one size cloth diaper covers for $5 to $6 per cover that could easily last from birth to potty training.  These covers can be rinsed and air dried between uses.  I could very easily survive with 3 if I had too.  So I would say I am all set for the challenge.  $20 spend on flats, $7 spent on Snappis, $13 spent on cover – $40 dollars.

Many participants will be using homemade camp style wash buckets using 5 gallon buckets with lids and a new plunger with holes drilled through it to agitate the diapers but I will just be washing them for the week in the bathtub.  I have no use for a camp style washing machine at this point and can’t justify the expense to make my life easier for the week.

Disclosure: I purchased all the items needed for the Flats and Handwashing Challenge.  Post contains affiliate links.

I am sitting here very tired today, burning discs for clients, loading image galleries, responding to emails, diapering children, yawning, stomach grumbling…  This weekend was not very restful for me.  I was pretty much on the go the entire time, communions to photograph, birthday parties to attend, dishes to do, floors to clean.  I slipped up on my diet big time, carbohydrates and comfort foods are extra tasty in times of exhaustion although they just make things worse.  So in anticipation of getting back on track eating healthier foods this morning, I binged on Oreo’s last night.  And Teagan hasn’t been feeling well, irritable and now coughing.  I wish my kids would sleep more, both at night and naps during the day.  The near constant whining, crying, and overtired behavior is killing me.

But dang, Pediasure is expensive.  After receiving some coupons from a nearby friends I thought maybe I could ask on facebook if anyone else would save coupons for me.  I posed this question just two days ago and I’ve already received at least 10 coupons in the mail from facebook friends across the country and have other friends sending more (one friend found 28 coupons for me!).  I have also been blessed with some surprise cases of pediasure at my doorstep.  We have been blessed with many supportive people in our lives and let me tell you, as soon as we are able, we have a lot of paying it forward to do because that’s what we are all about – helping people near and far when in need.  So to my friends and famliy (and friends of friends, friends of family, family of friends – confused yet?), whether I know you in real life or whether I’ve met you through cyberspace, I want to say thank you for being a part of my life and for your support.

Now at the same time, I’ve been working tirelessly to negotiate between the appropriate parties on getting Nathan’s Pediasure covered by insurance and today I made a little progress.  I left a message for his health insurance case manager on Monday morning but did not hear back.  I emailed the social worker at his respiratory clinic to enlist more help because I’m feeling particularly overwhelmed.  She forwarded my message to the nutritionist and the nurse.  The nurse emailed me asking to find out some informatioin from case manager, the person whom I was waiting to hear back from.  Road block.  Initially I thought I would just wait but then I thought it would be better to just become annoying.  I called again, this time the case manager answered!!!  So now I have the Durable Medical Equipment (DME) company, the information the pulmonologist needs to send (prescription and letter of medical necessity)!  This entire process may take 3-4 weeks apparently so again I REALLY appreciate the coupons and pediasure donations.  Thank you so much and of course I will keep you all updated on any progress I make.

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Photo Dump!

So for the challenge, I picked up a 10 pack of Gerber prefolds and will cut some old flannel receiving blankets to a square.

Because if life isn’t interesting enough.

Life is pretty busy lately, in a good way.  Although I’m feeling exhausted, it is all for good things…working for my kids, working for my business.  At the same time, I am feeling alot of anxiety but I am trying not to worry about tomorrow.

Ever since Nathan’s last clinic visit, when he lost a little weight, I switched him back to Pediasure from whole milk.  This expense is killing us, and I finally found the phone number to Nathan’s case manager so I reached out to her this morning and hopefully I will reach some sort of solution by tomorrow.  I feel terrible limited him to 3 bottles, or $5 worth, of Pediasure a day.

Also, my dad is hosting a golf outing to benefit Nathan.  It is the 1st Annual Golf Outing and will be June 13th, so if you are in the area and would like to golf, attend dinner, or contribute/help out I would love to see you there!

I’ve been told that the full moon tonight will be a supermoon, appearing unusually large and bright. I’m blaming my children’s behavior on this occurrence. Although there may be no correlation between lunacy and lunar phases, my mother in law, a psychiatric nurse begs to differ. I’m praying with the passing of this full moon, so passes the craziness I’ve seen in my children all day today.

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Keeping track of Nathan’s medications and treatments – my mind is overloaded with things I need to do as a homemaker, things I need to do for my business, things I need to do to keep Nathan healthy.

All CF parents do what works for them. Most would say administer airway clearance treatments upon rising in the morning and in the evening. Well on preschool days, that does not work for me. I normally do treatments on these days as soon as I pick Nathan up from preschool.

Preschools starts at 9 am literally one mile from our house. There is no way I would ever make it on time. I have no clue how it will work once he goes to school everyday. But I’m not going to worry about that now. For the time being, I do treatments after preschool two days a week. He still gets the airway clearance twice a day…except for yesterday.

Yesterday, Nathan’s aunt and uncle were in town and asked if they could surprise the kids by picking them up from preschool. It didn’t even occur to me that I had yet to give Nathan his morning dose of antibiotic or airway clearance.

Things happen, I’m human.

Once I realized, still not home, I called Jay and asked him to grab his equipment and medications on his way over from work. Jay’s brother and sister in law live in Virginia so it’s not often they visit.

After dinner we gave Nathan his two evening antibiotics, his antacid, his Zyrtec, and went straight into nebs and vest. He took his two puffs of xopenex and after starting the vest, Jay realized he forgot the hypertonic saline for the nebulizer. Nathan was very upset, yelling “I’m supposed to hold my neb!”. He did not like his routine changing and he just does not want to do his vest without his neb.

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We forgave ourselves and then come morning we could not find his puffer or his Bactrim. A terrible start to the day. We proceeded with treatments minus those two.

Now even with the super moon seemingly against us, he will get an entire airway treatment tonight, soup to nuts.

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What really gets to me is how much responsibility is on our shoulders. My number one responsibility is taking caring of Nathan’s medical needs. It’s the reason I resigned from teaching but as you know the one income wasn’t cutting it, hence the birth of CMS Creative Photography. Along with my business came more responsibility and needless to say I’m still learning how to keep it all together.

Who knows how long this patio set will last, but I don’t care, I can always sew new covers for the cushions.

Having fun on these outdoor pillows makes them happy and therefore I am happy.

Nathan also likes turning the chairs on their sides, setting up an obstacle course of some sort.

His sidekick follows his lead.

Getting Nathan to love on his baby sister is getting much easier.  I love watching their relationship grow.

Most importantly I have clients orders to place, photos to finish editing, new clients on the horizon. This comes first! Well my kids come first but this is right behind me caring for them.

I will not begin teeny tiny quits for those doll beds, I will not begin teeny tiny quilts for doll beds….

I will not try to improve my knitting skills by attempting to knit a new hat, I will not begin any new projects until I finish the old!

Basically I’ve got a lot of loose ends to tie up.

Nathan and Teagan’s Aunt and Uncle had these Easter goodie buckets personalized and shipped to us.  Aren’t they adorable?

You can tell by the look on Nathan’s face that he was all business, his job was to fill his basket before Teagan.  But it’s all good, Teagan was just enjoying the idea of “clean up” with her basket and grandma helped her get some goodies.

Nathan was in overdrive, racing from egg to egg.  When I mentioned for Teagan to hurry up before there were no eggs left, Nathan started packing his basket even faster.

He did leave her one little box of peeps.  And wouldn’t you know that she took her time getting to the peeps and then when she was right in front of them, she bent over and went to pick one single peep up out of the box to eat.

The miniature loves of my life, adorable, barefooted, dirty faced little beings of love!