The Cloth Diaper Verdict Is In

and I can say with certainty that these are not at all like our mother's cloth diapers.

It has taken a couple weeks to work out the kinks in our effort to use cloth diapers on the kids. I wanted to wait until I'd given it a fair try before posting my comments. To reduce the number of items I needed to return I ordered the bare minimum at first to determine what worked best for us. This made it impossible to go cold-turkey on disposables because I ran out of wraps very quickly. The other complication was that Sam started potty training the week my first order arrived from thanksmama.com. I chose to rethink ordering diapering supplies for him and instead focused on training pants. The last of the four orders I placed arrived today so we are set - at least for now.

My overall thoughts:
I don't mind washing diapers every few days. In fact it helps me to stay on top of our other laundry that needs tending to. I think it's worth $8 for a hundred sheets of liners so I don't have to scrape poop. Sam is starting to tell me when he's wet, not just when he's poopy. Now that I've been at it for a few weeks diaper changes go much faster. I am thankful that Julia isn't squirmy at all or I might be in trouble. The majority of the leaks in the first two weeks I know I can chalk up to operator error - not the diaper. Julia had already outgrown her entire wardrobe before switching diapers so I was going to need to shop for her anyway. There really wasn't any going back to disposables because we invested all this money in cloth. I don't think I'd want to anyway. I have never experienced customer service like I did with the work-at-home-mom companies I purchased from. I know that whenever I need to add to my arsenal my orders will arrive very quickly. For example: I placed a thanksmama.com order at noon on Monday and it was at my door by Wednesday mid-day. Now that's service!!! Diaperware.com has also been a great company to work with.
 
Here are my lovely models sporting the Bummis Super Whisper Wrap over Kissaluv diapers. It turned out that neither of these wraps fit the kids well so I don't use the fun jungle print much and the one Sam has on will fit Julia sooner rather than later. I had many, many leaks with these so I didn't order any more. That was ok by me since these were more expensive than the Kushies wrap in the next picture.
 
Julia does really well in this Kushies wrap. So far I've never had a blow out. These wraps are much cheaper and the prints are adorable. I have two this color and a red one (see slide show)
 
Sam has really taken off in the potty training department. Good thing I hadn't invested much in diapers for him. These Imse Vimse (That's Swedish for Itsy Bitsy) are wonderful!!!! They aren't too bulky and are really soft. I'll be ordering more in the very near future.
 

This is the calendar that we use to record Sam's silly sayings, accomplishments, and where he puts stickers after he pees in the potty. He's doing so well!!!!!

Kissaluvs Diapers
 

This is the part of the diaper that soaks up stuff. They are really easy to use and wash up well. I tried to be a savvy shopper and ordered enough to receive free stuff and free shipping. One of the free things I received was this next diaper. You'll never guess what it's made out of!
 
Bamboo! Crazy huh? It is my absolute favorite diaper - too bad they cost $20 each

 

This is Julia's swim diaper. It will be so nice not to spend $2 on disposables every time we go swimming this summer. Sam's is blue with tugboats and lighthouses.

There were so many diaper brands to choose from that it would have been too overwhelming to choose if it weren't for the advice of my friend Jennifer. She walked me through everything including the bags you need to put the diapers in until laundry day. She even shared some essential oil with me to keep my dry bags smelling nice. Thanks Jennifer!