So you’ve gotten over the learning curve of cloth diapering, and you’re loving the fuzzy bum on your new bundle of joy. It’s easy for you because you’ve got your washing routine down and all your supplies where you need them! But what about when it comes time to hand off your little one to a different caretaker? Whether it is a family member, a babysitter, a Mother’s Day Out program once a week, or even regular daycare – talking to someone who isn’t familiar with cloth diapers can be daunting! My Experience with Cloth Diapers at Daycare After my
Author Archives for Jenny Bradford
Author Archives for Jenny Bradford
It happened to me again the other day. I was in a store with both my preschoolers and they were in yet another argument with each other and with me. Someone was accusing someone else of doing something that “I don’t wike, Mommy!!”. One was shrieking and the other was bawling. We had reached this point after a series of the “I want”s on each aisle, followed by long and involved sessions of “what is that, Mommy?”s. Worst of all, I had run out of snack I found myself begging and pleading “Just five more minutes, guys! I know you
Author Archives for Jenny Bradford
My husband and I have put baltic amber necklaces on both our children from the age of around 4 months to almost 2 years old. I wanted to share why we use amber teething necklaces. You might have seen adorable babies, toddlers, around 4 months to almost 2 years old, and even adults sporting these darkly beaded necklaces. The beads are made of baltic amber, which is not actually a gemstone, but a resin. When this resin is warmed by the skin of the wearer, it releases a tiny amount of healing oil that is said to have analgesic properties. In
Author Archives for Jenny Bradford
If you’re anything like us, you might live near the pool, splash park, or sprinklers! As a cloth diapering mama, the thought of having to switch to disposables just for swim diapers grated against my conscience. But never fear, you don’t have to change your reusable diapering habits just because the weather is warm and you want your baby to stay cool in the pool! Here are my two favorite ways to cloth diaper for swimming season. Cloth swim diapers. The Imse Vimse brand cloth swim diaper is not only reliable, but also comes with the option of buying a
Author Archives for Jenny Bradford
This post is somewhat of a conversion story. When I first started cloth diapering, I was hook and loop all the way, baby! I’d never diapered a baby before, and hook and loop mimics the ease of disposables. You just pull the tabs tight and let go. What could be easier? My entire stash consisted of BumGenius 3.0 (now 4.0‘s) and AIO Organic (now Elementals) hook and loop diapers. A big advantage of hook and loop is the smaller learning curve for other caregivers. We had a nanny for my son’s first year of life, and it was easy for
Author Archives for Jenny Bradford
Hi! I’m Jenny, and I had two natural births at the same birth center — in two years. I get a lot of questions about my experience at a birth center, so I thought I’d write down a few thoughts for any of you moms out there who might be considering a birth center for your next baby’s birth! The room in the birth center where both my babies were born What is a birth center? First of all, a birth center is not a hospital, although many birth centers in urban areas are located right next to a hospital
Author Archives for Jenny Bradford
Just the other day I was thinking back on my cloth diapering journey of almost 4 years continuously and simultaneously diapering two babies. I thought to myself: what part of reusing diapers has made the most difference in my day-to-day life? The answer might surprise you. It’s actually cloth wipes! My washing routine for cloth diapers has changed slightly over the years by moving houses and going from top-loading machine to high efficiency front-loader. My preferences in cloth diapers has changed too — at first I was a hook-and-loop girl, and now I’m definitely a fan of snaps. But I
Author Archives for Jenny Bradford
It’s already warmed up enough here to start re-planting our garden. It wasn’t much of a success last year, but that doesn’t stop us from trying again! It’s been really fun to get outside with my kids now that they are both mobile toddlers who don’t need help walking. Their favorite activity when we’re outside is to watch what I’m doing and “help”. Fortunately, gardening is something that toddlers or preschoolers can participate in and even learn a little! Here’s how they helped me plant our garden and flowers: SeedsThe kids had a lot of fun looking at seed packets
Author Archives for Jenny Bradford
Now that the weather is warming up for most of us, you’ll notice there are a lot more opportunities to get outside and have some fun with your kids at organized events such as farmers markets, music festivals, art festivals, and other local or civic events. We are particularly blessed to live in a large urban area that offers a ton of family friendly activities. One of our favorite activities is a nearby art festival, which we can walk to from our house. Over the past few years, we’ve taken our children as babies and toddlers to various events and
Author Archives for Jenny Bradford
Adding a new child or additional children to our family has stretched us in a lot of ways, but primarily financially. One of the biggest expenses we all face is clothing. Today I’d like to share a few ways we’ve saved on clothing for our kids in the past few years. Say “yes” to hand-me-downs When you first find out the gender of your baby, whether that is before birth or after, you’ll probably get offers from family and friends to pass on their same-gendered children’s outgrown clothing. It’s easy to brush these offers off, thinking that you want to