Before Valdy had even arrived.  The Undad and I had decided to go with cloth diapers.

I had read that cloth diapers often resulted in children that potty trained earlier.  Trent embraced the opportunity to gamble on changing less diapers.

We (me) read every story I could find online about cloth diapers.  I read blogs about making, buying and trading cloth diapers.  I read reviews about diapers and diaper covers.  I agonized over wool soakers.  I reviewed our budget. I thought about our sport size washing machine. I contemplated Trent’s planned 33 weeks of parental leave.

There was no way we were going to find success with cloth diapers we had to wash and maintain ourselves.

We decided to go with Happy Nappy.  Before baby arrived they dropped off our starter package, and we ordered some adorable diaper covers online.  We set our diaper pail up in the baby’s room (our former family room), and arranged for delivery/pickup to our garage.

After baby arrived it took us awhile to get the hang of cloth diapers.  The Undad was nervous about getting the diaper covers too tight, so was a bit of a wuss about wrapping the velcro around baby’s belly.  Those less than air tight velcro wraps meant baby spent a lot of time leaking all over us, until finally we mastered perfect diapering.  We learned to “Double D” baby at night – -he’s a heavy sleeper, and two diapers means all that moisture is wicked away from sleeping baby’s skin throughout the night.

Over the last year we have been consistently reminded why we love cloth diapers and Happy Nappy. First, the service is awesome.  We can get as many or as few diapers as we need each week without leaving the house.  We are never at risk of running out.  When things get smelly, we just throw the diaper bag out in the garage where it awaits weekly pickup.  We don’t have to deal with the poop blowouts our disposable diaper wearing baby friends tell us about.  When we’re going to be out of town for two weeks or more, we can easily stop delivery and save some pennies.  Finally, each and every time we go on a trip and use disposables on our little bean he ends up with a diaper rash that breaks our hearts with all its raw red glory.  We are proud to keep baby bean rash free most of the time.

Bean is already starting to show interest in potty training at 17 months.  I’m not going to miss the diapers, but I’ll miss that huge double diapered bum wiggling as it crawls away from me at bedtime.

If you’re thinking of going the cloth diaper route, we’d definitely recommend Happy Nappy.  Check them out, and tell them Elizabeth Wilkie sent you. (They have a great referral program).