Cloth diapering advice needed!

I apologize for the silence on this blog. I've been having an internal struggle with whether or not I should continue blogging. My life is decidedly less glamourous since moving back to the US. Throw a baby into the mix and all glamour goes out the window. Hence this post about cloth diapering. God I wish it was a post about a trip to (insert awesome place here).

I'm hoping the title on this post will generate some traffic of some folks in the know about cloth diapering. We have been using BumGenius 4.0s and Fuzzibunz (both OS and sized) since A was 8 weeks old. I thought it would be difficult to get my husband on the bandwagon, but we both really like cloth diapering (as much as one can like dealing with their child's poo). He's always been prone to diaper rash, but we've typically been able to nip them in the bud after a few days. However, it feels like once we came back from our trip to Ireland in June (where he was exclusively in disposables) we just can't kick it. He had what was probably the worst diaper rash of his life on the flight back to the US. That was in disposables with Burt's Bees ointment.

I try to change him every 2-3 hours. We use Angel Baby Bottom Balm and while it has always worked a treat, even that doesn't work well any longer. In his wipes water, I just add some calendula oil and lavender oil. I switched to Ecover laundry detergent from Tide Free. That change showed some benefit, but now it's back to the same old rash. We give him occasional baths in baking soda. The doctor gave us some anti-fungal ointment, so we used that along with Boudreaux's Buttpaste and disposables for about a week. That worked okay, but it never went away altogether. My wash routine is: cold rinse with Bac-Out; long, hot wash with Ecover; short, cold wash with no detergent; 2 cold rinses. I typically dry the inserts/wipes in the dryer and hang the covers on the rack. I've stripped the diapers using Blue Dawn. I've added Grapefruit Seed Extract to kill yeast. I've dried everything in the sun. He's in disposables at night with the buttpaste. The diapers will start to smell like ammonia in the wet bag, but once they're washed (which is about every 3 days) they're fine. Even when he pees in them, they don't smell. If they do, I strip them with Dawn. What's left? Any ideas??

Does anyone know if it's possible for a baby to be allergic to the white material in BumGenius diapers? I know they can be allergic to the colored PUL on the outside, but that doesn't seem to bother him. The rash isn't around his legs where the diaper touches. He's actually starting to protest when I go to put the BG diapers on him. I bought him some size large Fuzzibunz and just started him in those. He's fine when I put those on him. But, I don't know if that's just because they're new and aren't 'tainted' in the way the BG are or if they're genuinely better. I'm thinking about selling my BG stash and just replacing it with Fuzzibunz (not OS, but the Perfectly Sized-style). But, as you know, these things aren't cheap, so if there's anyway I can salvage the BGs (which we've always loved), I'd rather do that as they're in excellent shape. I considered replacing the inserts, but I'm not even sure if that would be worth it.I think I'd rather spend my money on new Fuzzibunz.

So, Internets, what do you think?? We don't really want to switch to disposables, especially as it doesn't seem to make anything much better, but I'm just about at my wit's end here.  

No excuses

I'm not going to give you any excuses why I haven't been blogging. There's really only one and he's currently napping.

In my absence my blog hasn't been far from my mind. I'm trying to work out what I want to blog about. My day to day life is super boring. It makes me remember my time in Dublin as super kick ass. And England?? I was living the life of a superstar! I'm not sure the people reading my blog (aka my parents) want to hear about napping cycles, starting solids, and weaning off the pump. Crikey, that's boring. Maybe I just hate how lame I've become and trying to write about it just makes it all hit home.

Here's a list of some of the not-so-boring-to-me things that are in the works:

1. Adam is awesome. He is really a good baby and I have to remind my husband how easy we have it. Sure, he has his not awesome moments, but all in all, we're very lucky. He just turned 6 months old yesterday! He started eating solids a couple of weeks ago. Everything has been a hit (avocado, oatmeal, bananas, carrots, and peas) except apples. He was only lukewarm on those. Of course they're my favorite thing to give him because he makes hilarious faces. He's sitting up on his own. He still won't roll over from back to front, but quick to go front to back. And just today his first two teeth have started poking through!

2. I've finally convinced my husband to do some upgrades to the house. Living in the city and having a child can cause quite some parental stress. We don't have a yard (well, grass), will he hate us? We don't have a McMansion, will he hate us? We can't afford private school, will he hate us? Crime! No parking! Actually, the last two don't really bother us. It bothers other people who like to project their worries onto us. My husband's coworkers think we live in the middle of Islamabad. But, those first three things are real stresses that we have had, particularly schools. No yard? We live a half block away from a huge park. McMansion? We're not McMansion people, although I'd like a place a bit bigger. Living in this house, however, means I can stay home from work. I'm fine with living here (i.e. too lazy to get the house ready to sell), but there are some things that need to change if we're going to stay a few more years (minimum) and they're the biggies - bathroom and kitchen upgrades. Both need full remodels and this week people are coming to give us quotes! Squeee!!!

3. Schools - see number 2. My son is 6 months old and I need to start putting him on wait lists. I've done a tiny bit of research and I've learned that A.) Baltimore city elementary schools are not as bad as people think. Some actually out perform county schools. B.) You do not have to resign yourself to putting your kid in private school if you live in the city. and C.) I need to start getting him waiting lists pronto if I want to get him into one of these schools. We can't afford private school, plus, I'm not convinced my child would get a better education because we pay $20,000 per year to send him to a preschool. This means I'm going to have to do a bit of leg work and do some research. I grew up in a town where you went to this school for elementary school, then this school for junior high, then the local high school, so this is a whole new world for me. A good piece of advice I received was that since I clearly have no idea what type of learning style he'll do best in, we should put him on the wait lists for a variety of different schools so when it's time for him to go we'll have a choice. So, that's what I'll be doing this summer after we get back from number 4!

4. We're planning a trip to Ireland in a couple of months. CAN. NOT. WAIT!!! We haven't had a real vacation in way too long. Flying with a baby will be interesting, so I'm open to tips!