Weekend Update

Austin, Jonny, and I (and Patrick) did our first 5k Saturday. It was an amazing turnout. The Dan River Autism Awareness 5k raised over $12,000 its first year. We all had a great time, especially Austin. You know it's a fun time when there are balloon animals. Next year, we'll start earlier and get in on all the festivities. Here's Team Austin, minus Jonny who was in the bathroom at the time.

I've never seen a baby eat so much or go through as many diapers as Patrick. It's a good thing we use cloth diapers. Otherwise, we'd still be buying diapers every other day. Yes, every other day. That's like $7 a day in diapers. I guess a lot of babies probably need diaper changes that often, but Patrick refuses to sit in a wet or dirty diaper, whether it's disposable or cloth. If he starts crying, the first thing we do now is check to see if he needs a diaper change as it's the most likely. He eats every two hours-some times less-and we change his diaper about every thirty minutes unless he's asleep. It's a good thing he sleeps through the night because his daytime schedule wears me out. 

I joined Bing Rewards today. I can't believe how easy it is. It's not going to make me rich, probably $5 per month, at most, but it couldn't be much easier. You get a reward limit each day and you earn 1 point for every two searches up to that limit. My limit was ten today so I searched twenty times. It took me about two minutes. They have a variety of rewards to choose from: Amazon gift cards, Xbox Live subscription, Redbox codes, Hulu Plus subscription, along with others. The $5 Amazon gift card (my go-to reward) is 525 points. If my limit is ten every day, it'll take me less than two months to earn that. I've heard that eight is the lowest limit. If you'd like to give Bing Rewards a try, click HERE. You don't lose anything by giving it a test drive.

Jingit has started a new campaign. In addition to watching video ads on their website and doing check-ins at places like Walmart, they now have ads placed around Walmart.com (with other websites to follow, I hope). You go to Walmart.com, look around their site some, find an ad with the Jingit curl, and click. You'll get a pop-up window with the Jingit homepage and a video ad will appear momentarily. Once the video is finished, money will be added to your balance. Also, if you'll notice, the weekly limits have increased. If you originally had a limit of $5, it has been increased to $10. Through the month of April, there will be three ads available each day. If you're getting $0.50 per ad, you'll meet that limit easily. That's an easy $40 per month. I'm already at $3.00 for the week and my Jingit week starts today. That's $3.00 just today. Not too shabby.

Should You Or Shouldn't You

 I haven't yet addressed the pros and cons on cloth diapering. That might have been a good topic with which to start this series. But since it's too late for that, I'll do it now. Each system has its own pros and cons, but I'm just going into the advantages and disadvantages of cloth diapering as a whole.

PROS

-:Less expensive long-term than disposables, especially as they should last through more than one child

-No middle of the night runs to the store for diapers

-Reduced occurrence of diaper rash than with disposables

-Better for the environment than disposables, especially if line- or air-drying

-Cloth-diapered children tend to be potty-trained earlier than disposable-diapered children

-Less leaks and blow-outs with some choices of cloth diapers

-Made of natural fibers so no toxic chemicals sitting against baby's skin

-Prefolds and flats can be used as rags after diapering is through; pockets, covers, fitteds, and AIOas can be sold or donated

-Less garbage than with disposables

-Much cuter than disposables

Patrick rocking a Grovia All-In-One (AIO)

CONS

-High initial cost with cloth diapers

-More laundry (although diaper services can take care of this for you, for a price)

-More energy usage with cloth-diapering

-Child care provider (or family members) may not be willing to use cloth diapers

-Cloth diapers can be more difficult in public, especially long trips and vacations where they would need to be washed

-More leaks and blow-outs with some choices of cloth diapers

-Baby will need to go up a size due to larger tushy

-There is a learning curve with using cloth diapers

-Cloth diapers have to be changed more often than disposables (But do you really want your baby sitting in waste any longer than necessary?)

-It can be addictive!

And there's no need to worry about stabbing baby with a diaper pin. Below is a picture of Patrick wearing a prefold fastened with a [white] Snappi. Just stretch it across, throw on a cover, and go.

On an unrelated note, you shouldn't wash disposable wipes. They make a giant mess. I've learned this the hard way. My husband keeps accidentally throwing the disposable wipes into the cloth diaper pail. At least every other wash cycle, I'm picking bits and pieces of a disposable wipe out of my washing machine, or worse, my dryer. If you're going to use cloth diapers, I suggest also using cloth wipes. I was hesitant at first. It seemed expensive and unnecessary. But I've changed my mind. You don't need many. I wash my diapers about every other day and I wash my cloth wipes with them. They go in the same laundry pail.