Wow!  What a year it has been for me.  Now that I have older kids my life works in school years instead of calendar years, so in another couple weeks I get to count this year as O-V-E-R. 

This year has included:

• Children in four different schools, none of which have their own transportation.  We had a preschool, a grade school, and two different high schools.  This meant not only a lot of driving but also a lot of getting in and out of the car since start/end times don’t always line up.
• A new baby, and all the loveliness and turmoil that a baby brings along. Oh, and she doesn’t like the car.  Figures.
• A car accident.  We are all alright, but it has been a very traumatic ride.
• A college daughter moving back in and rearranging the household to fit one more person again.
• Piano lessons, tutoring, school band, meetings, doctor appointments, and all the usual family schedules.
• Next week we will have our second high school graduate!

Through all of this, Molly (now 6 months) has been cloth diapered.  She had to be.  Her skin really couldn’t tolerate anything else. She just seems to have one of those sensitive personalities and bodies.  Cloth diapering can really be done when you are on the move all the time and super busy.  Like anything else, you do what needs to be done and it falls more or less into the pattern of your life and is really no longer a big deal or something you have to think about.

Just to address some common misconceptions about cloth diapering –

• Cloth diaper changes take a lot of time. – Diaper changes might take me a few more seconds than if I was using a disposable diaper, but I am using prefolds and snap covers like (Flip and Econobum) so I have to line things up, and this is face time with my baby.  We talk and play.  Aside from cleaning up poo, I love diaper changes.  They are our happy times.  And we are talking a few extra seconds here.
• Washing cloth diapers is a lot of trouble. – I posted about my laundry routine a while back, but here Is the Cliff Notes version: I do laundry for 8 out of the 10 people who live in this house, plus cloth diapers.  There is no shortage of laundry to be washed around here. There are times when I am backed up on laundry and the diapers need to be done.  It happens.  Usually when that is the case I wash one load of regular laundry (the emergency stuff – school uniforms and underwear) and then the diapers go next.  But most of the time, it flows smoothly enough and the diapers get washed every second or sometimes third day without a whole lot of hoopla. Loading them into the washer is the most time consuming part of the whole deal.  And really, how long does that take?
• Cloth diapers are a lot to carry around. – Maybe.  But only because I like to have everything I might possibly need in my diaper bag.  I estimate that if I was carrying around disposable diapers instead, my diaper bag would weigh 20% less.
• Cloth diapering makes me a good mom. – No.  I am a good mom, because I care about my children and want what is best for them and do everything in my power to raise them to be good, responsible people.  But those things have very little to do with what I choose to catch my baby’s excrement in.

We have been more on the move this year than every before.  While I was tempted at the start to toss out the cloth diapering, it really has become a non-issue.  Molly’s skin forced me to stick with it, but I am glad I did and will continue now even though she can handle disposables better.  But now it is more because I have better things to spend my money on.

Next year should be a little calmer, only two schools to drive to, no Senioritis and no new baby. (And let’s hope no car accidents!)  So I should be able to be around more.