Goals for 2016

Hello my wonderful readers. I pretty much hate the word resolutions. I hate every year making new year's resolutions then disappointing myself by the first of February. So I decided this year to call them goals and actually make it a point to start on them around the end of December. I have decided to share those goals with you today since I have done decent on them so far and it's almost the end of January. 

1. Take care of my skin better. I have never really been one to take care of skin except when special events were coming up like prom, my wedding, etc. But I really thought I am turning 27 this year and I need to start so that way down the road I don't look like I'm 70 when I'm actually 40. Skin care post to come. 

2. Have a better attitude about myself in general. Now this is a tough one and I am working on it with baby steps. I feel like when I start having a better attitude about myself then I will start to be a better wife and mother and my daughter can also see that in the future and think good about herself. 

3. Eat better. This is on my list every year and it's the hardest to stick with. Now I will be honest I have been off and on with this one since new year's and it's hard when not everyone in your house is doing the same thing. I'm not blaming my husband but it's the treats and dinners that is hard and those are my meals that are with him haha. I did really good for a couple weeks with my snacks during the day and my breakfast and lunches. I had more energy with it too which was wonderful with my now walking 15 month old. I am going to try this next week to get back on track. 

4. Walk at least once a week. I have been walking every Friday since mid December with a walking club for moms with strollers. I have met some awesome women that aren't all super skinny and fit they are normal women who have children which is wonderful. 

5. Read my Bible more. This is another one I put every year and have been getting better at every year but not great. This year though my Bible study group started the new year with a good study about David and it's very much about looking up verses all over the Bible and reading them so I am starting out already reading more than normal. 

I would love to hear what your goals for 2016 are! Love brings happiness! 

Cloth Diaper Routine

Hello my wonderful readers. Here is my cloth diaper wash routine I said was coming in my previous post. Like I said in that post I do cloth wash every third day as we have three days worth of diapers. So I put two days worth of diapers and the large wet bag in the wash while we use the third days worth of diapers and the small wet bag. I use Up & Up Free and Clear laundry soap on all my laundry. Every washer is different so I would do some research as to what is best for your washer. We live in an apartment like I have mentioned before and have a stack-able washer and dryer, non-HE top loader washer and front loader dryer, pretty small. First I set my washing machine on cold water, light cycle and medium load size and put in a half cup of laundry soap (using the cup it comes with). I let the water fill up about a quarter of the way in the washer then add my diapers. Now a lot of people let all the inserts for their pockets agitate out of the diaper in the wash, my washer isn't good enough to do that so I pull all the inserts out and toss the shell and insert in the wash. With velcro covers and diapers you need to make sure the velcro on the tabs is fastened to itself before tossing them in the wash. After all the diapers are submerged I toss the wet bag on top and let the cycle run. After the cycle is done I set my washer to heavy cycle, hot water and still medium load and add one whole cup of soap. This is for my two days worth of diapers that fills my washer up. For my one day worth of diapers I would just set both cycles to small instead of medium and put a little less soap in each load. I put everything that doesn't have PUL on it in the dryer, this means all inserts not connected to shells and fitteds (not covers) go in the dryer. The rest, since it has been raining here a lot, get hung in my bath room to dry along with the wet bag. Now I hope to sun my diapers when the spring comes around outside on our patio, but we shall see what happens. I try to wash my diapers when we first get up in the morning so they have a good amount of time to dry, most take until the next morning and ready to use again, my all in ones take a little extra time, so does my wet bag. Hope this was helpful for some of your cloth mamas. 

Hope you have a wonderful day!

Types of Cloth Diapers

Hello my wonderful readers. Today I thought I would share our stash of cloth diapers with you and what exactly we have. We have I think a good mixture of types of cloth: pockets, hybrids, handmade and store bought all in ones and fitteds with covers. We started out with just a couple pockets, and thanks to wonderful friends, over time have gotten into other types that we love. We just tried fitted diapers with covers for nap time and they are awesome! P is a heavy wetter, especially while sleeping, so these are perfect for nap time.

 The first thing is having a couple wet bags. Now I do laundry (routine to come in future post) every 3rd day. So that means I need a wet bag that holds two days worth of diapers and one that holds one day worth. The big one I bought off someone for pretty cheap is a medium size Planet Wise wet bag, the smaller one is off Amazon it's a Large Travel wet bag from Diaper for a Change brand.

 Next would be how I store my diapers. I put what I can in the drawer of our changing table/dresser, with wipes and a little basket of baby things, the rest go neatly on the floor next to the dresser for easy restocking. On the other side of the dresser I have a small trash can ($2.88 at Target) with a bag in it for used wipes and hanging from the side of her hamper is the wet bag for dirty diapers. I do use baby powder (corn starch with lavender) on her since the day she was born and love it so I have to use wipes, even though some moms don't use wipes if its just pee. 

 First type of diaper we have are these, they are GroVia hybrid shells with a Sustainablebabyish brand bamboo terry flat in them folded in threes. We got these from a friend and she didn't have the inserts but she had these and they are wonderful for sleeping or first diaper of the day since those are her heaviest wetting times. 

 Next up a GroVia all in one. These are good for a normal day for a couple hours, we have no problems with these at all, they work wonderfully. 

 Third we have fitteds and covers. This is a new style for us but we love them. They are amazing for first diaper of the day or for naps. If I was to diaper her at night I would for sure try one of these with an extra insert and it would be perfect I think. 

Fourth is our GroVia hybrids. These are good everyday diapers but P does tend to soak through these pretty fast, in about an hour tops compared to normal two hours. 

 The fifth type we own came from a friend and she said they are handmade all in ones. I think they are awesome everyday diapers, we tried them for a nap once and did ok but were pretty full by then end of the nap. They are made exceptionally well! They however are only one size, unlike the rest of our diapers that can be sized to whatever size is needed, which is ok but when she grows she wont be able to wear them anymore. They do take awhile to dry with it being all one piece. 

Last but not least our pocket diapers. All of them but the blue monkey one were our first diapers, I bought off a buy/sell/trade page on Facebook and went through all the bleaching and sanitizing to try them out, they are my favorite prints. 

I hope this was somewhat helpful to someone out there. I know when I started with the idea of cloth diapering to save money in the future I read so many blogs, pages and watched YouTube videos like crazy just for all the information I could get. If you have any questions feel free to ask. 

Hope you all have love in your life today!

My Cloth Diapering Experience So Far

Hello my wonderful readers. I thought I would start out the "new" blog with a mommy topic. I have gone over in my mind since around the time Penelope was born the idea of cloth diapering her. The topic kind of got put on the back burner since we were so very blessed at both of our showers and by our parents over time to have only ever had to buy one case of diapers in 14 months. Over time I have tried to build up a little stash cheaply of different kinds of cloth to use. I have gotten some through a buy sell trade page on Facebook, and the rest we have gotten from friends that no longer cloth diaper their kids. I have gone through all the steps to prep them to go on her so don't worry they are sanitized completely. I started cloth diapering her part time when she was about 11 months old, I think, and we have both loved it. She does really good, even though we had some leaking at first we got our fit corrected and now its just figuring out the time length of the different diapers with her. I really only cloth diaper her when we are at home for majority of the day because I have yet to take the plunge to traveling with her in cloth. This week, since we are home from traveling for the holidays, I have been cloth diapering her all day for four days now and we have done really well. I will do a separate post on what diapers we have later when majority are clean. You can also look forward to a couple more cloth diapering posts in the future as we hopefully get into it full time. Hope your getting lots of Love in the new year!  K

New Year, New Blog!

Hello my wonderful readers. I have decided to change the name of my blog and not positive about the content yet but one step at a time right. Life, Mife and Mom is the new name!! I hope to keep sharing about my life as a wife and mom and maybe even some other stuff in between too. Hope you decide to stick with me on this adventure! I appreciate each and every one of you who read about my life. Your awesome, beautiful and amazing! Lots of love and see you soon with a new post!