bring on Monday!

Phew!

So far, I've already showered/gotten ready for the day, had some quiet prayer/reading time with God, made and eaten breakfast with my little lady, changed 2 diapers, gone grocery shopping, prepped lunch and some of dinner, washed dishes, loaded & started the dishwasher, started a load of laundry and made 24 strawberry muffins.

For some reason, Mondays are always my "Get Things Done!" day... I'm motivated and productive and I love it.

I think the afternoon will be slightly calmer, although there is another brief round of errands to run... but hopefully the Nut and I will be able to enjoy a quiet, rainy afternoon playing together.

And now, to answer a couple of questions about my post on the Cloth Diaper Whisperer (if you don't care about cloth diapers, you can stop reading now, and have a lovely Monday!):

- For the first few weeks, I used disposables on Hazel... it helped with the craziness of becoming a mama for the first time.
- Hazel did go through a growth stage or two where the cloth diapers just seemed to not fit her quite right, and were more likely to leak. We hung in there, tried using different inserts or snap adjustments, and used disposables a few days when Mama was tired of changing wet pants, and things worked out.
- Now - this time around, I'm hoping to mostly use cloth from get-go... and a couple of things that I think will help us with that are:
- Summertime - bulky newborn diapers don't have to fit under clothes - we can throw on a diaper and t-shirt and be good to go.
- Some new diapers in our stash - I've purchased Kissaluvs fitteds for the early newborn days, and am hoping to get my hands on some BG AIO (size x-small) as well. I'm hoping these fit a little bit better than the slightly bulkier one-size diapers. We've also still got a good stash of prefolds, and I've added a few other one-size fitteds (we'll see how those work on a newborn). I've been making some fleecey diaper covers (so cheap and easy!!) of my own, and have a couple of wool shorties as well. We're trying new things!
- I think it helps to have, at least in the beginning, a stash that is slightly less than complete - and that has several different brands and types of diapers. I had a pretty full stash, and only one brand (plus prefolds) and while I loved my diapers, I found myself eager to try new things and wishing I'd purchased a more eclectic beginner's stash. It can be easy to get carried away with different brands and cute colors - but having a few different ones on hand can help with those growth spurt days when things don't fit quite right, and you may find you prefer different brands/styles as your baby gets bigger.
- I'm buying diapers differently now - my BumGenius diapes are WONDERFUL - but so far, they only make the non-organic diapers with a velcro closure. And velcro is very easy and convenient - but it wears faster and your little one is more likely to be able figure out how to take it off (mine has). Now, I'm primarily buying snap diapers - since I want my diapers to last as long as possible (and who knows how many kiddos we'll have!). I've also come to really like fitted diapers with non-plastic (fleece or wool) covers - and I didn't even try those until a few months ago.

Phew (again)! Thanks for hanging in there... gotta run and get some more things done! :)