Rub A Dub Dub!

The new tub is finished:

A mere 5 weeks after announcing we were almost finished, we finally got around to tiling the new tub surround.  This was my first tile project; I figured that I could figure it out on my own, but I had a better plan in mind.  I was able to convince good friend Steve Schaefer, owner of Steve Schaefer Flooring in Jefferson City, to make the drive to Lathrop to give me a hand.  

Yeah, this was a pretty simple job for Steve.

With Steve's help, "we" were able to get all the tile onto the wall in a few hours, including fixing the major hump that was in one of the walls.  Steve did most of the work, while I was the designated tile cutter.  

The next evening, I grouted the joints and applied a sealant recommended by Steve.  Next up was caulking the inside corners and the tile perimeter.  Once that was done, I did my best to texture the new, unfinished part of the wall to match the old.  Kendra and I are very pleased with the final* product:

*Ok, it's not quite final yet, since we need to paint the wall.  But it's close enough.

I think our end result looks good, and also blends well with the character of the house.  I think the color of the tile (dubbed "lemon chiffon" by American Olean, the tile manufacturer) has an arts and crafts touch, and the radius tile we used on the built-out wall (on the right side of the picture) adds to the traditional feel of the tile.  

Overall, we are very pleased at how the new tub turned out.  It wasn't fast--and it wasn't cheap, even though we did most of the work ourselves--but the "before" and "after" difference is enormous.  The only problem?  With the new tub/shower in place, it makes us want to continue with the remodel of the bathroom, including a new vanity, countertop, and custom-built linen closet.

You know you live in the country when...

...the only short-sleeved green shirts you can find for your little boys are sporting John Deere logos.

Happy St. Patrick's Day from two of the sweetest little Leprechauns in the Midwest!

Restoring Window Trim

With Kendra's cloth diaper post pulling in 300+ visitors, as opposed to our usual 50 visitors, I have a tough act to follow here.  I get it-- people are more interested in parenting than they are in two DYI-challenged folks futzing around with a (nearly) 100-year-old house.  So consider this my effort to simultaneously yank this blog back on-topic and lose hundreds of viewers who might otherwise become regular readers.

After my last update, I was working to get the bathroom in finished shape.  Now that our bathroom is completely rebuilt and retiled, it's time that we start . . . wait, hold on.  My mistake, the bathroom is NOT done yet.  The walls are built and the joints are all taped and mortared, but there is still no tile.  The projected completion date is end of month, but, of course, I said that last month.

Let's forget about the bathroom for now.  With spring approaching, Kendra and I are contemplating what exterior work should be accomplished this year.  We've done quite a bit to the east (front) and west (back) sides of the house, but relatively little to the north and south sides.  Here's a view of the north side of the Peaches estate:

This side of the house really annoys us.  This picture actually looks more appealing than the house looks in real life, I think.  This side faces a street (I'm standing near the street in taking this picture), and we've struggled coming up with something to enhance the curb appeal.  So far, we've done a few small things -- you can see the stone wall around the AC unit.  There are also three nine bark bushes and three vibernums we planted last year (they are just sticks right now, but hopefully will be nice and bushy once spring arrives).  Otherwise, this side is just a large expanse of grungy vinyl.  Long-term the plan is to reside the entire house with new wood clapboards, but our empty piggy bank prevents us from moving on that right now.  Another part of the plan is to plant some trees on this side and let them grow, but that does nothing to help in the short term.  

Given the lack of curb appeal on this side coupled with its prominence to the street, Kendra and I discussed what small touches we could do to dress it up a bit.  We had settled on a modest plan: repaint the windows to the basement, perhaps paint the stone foundation, and paint the vinyl window trim.  That's when I got to really looking at the windows:

We often lament the vinyl siding that's on the house.  But look at that window--to me, it sure looks like we have some pretty ornate wood window trim lurking underneath that damn plastic.  You can even see that the bottom sill is not cut flush with the side trim, which makes me think that the original trim is fully intact under the vinyl.  After all, if they wanted to make the vinyl job easier, they would have squared off the windows, wouldn't they?

Taking all this into account, I think the new plan is to remove the vinyl from the windows and repaint/restore the exterior wood window trim.  This is, no doubt, a much larger project than just slapping some vinyl-friendly paint on there, but I think the finished product--if we can pull it off--will be more impressive.  Plus, I have already undertaken to restore our original wood windows, one at a time, and this will dovetail nicely with that project (more details on the window restoration in a later post).  

So what do you think, Peaches readers?  Does this have a shot of working?  Have any of you done this type of thing before and have any tips for us?  One of my biggest worries is flashing/waterproofing, but I think the siding and some caulk should take care of that for us.  Or is there something I'm overlooking?

Cloth Love

First off, Peaches readers, I know this is supposed to be a "house blog."  But it is also the closest thing to we have to a family blog, and every once in a while I dream about being a professional Mommy blogger when I grow up.    So I hope you will indulge me today, as I Mommy-blog my reflections on 6 months of cloth-diapering little Charlie (and my apologies in advance if you clicked over from Houseblogs.net, but please read on if one of your upcoming DIY projects is to install a diaper sprayer on your toilet).

Charlie's first cloth diaper: an unbleached Chinese prefold with an extra-small Thirsties cover.

This is Charlie in his very first cloth diaper.  He was just 3 days old and weighed in at 7 pounds, 8 ounces.  Why did we decide to cloth diaper him?  I don't really know.  We talked about cloth diapering Max, but never took the plunge.  It just seemed so overwhelming at the time.  But, over the 2 1/2 years or so that Max wore disposable diapers, I grew to dislike them.  First of all, they were expensive.  Like all babies, Max went through diapers like crazy, and seemed like we were always out of diapers, running to the store to buy more for home or daycare.  We always had a diaper pail full of stinky diapers, waiting to be taken to the trash.  I couldn't even think about the cubic feet of landfill space we were filling up with Max's Pampers.  And all those chemicals up against his skin 24 hours a day?  Ick!  The chemical-y smell of a fresh disposable diaper wasn't much better than the smell of a dirty one if you asked me.  So, when we were expecting Charlie, I knew I wanted to give cloth diapering a try and I convinced Joe - who was understandably skeptical - to join me in my cloth diaper experiment.  Once I started researching and reading, I quickly realized that - while cloth diapering is certainly cheaper than disposable diapering - there is quite an up-front investment (especially if you want to use some of the new-fangled fancy-pants diapers).  So we committed to trying cloth diapers for at least 6 months, both to make sure we recouped our initial costs but also to make sure we gave it a fair shot.  And today, Peaches readers, I will share our cloth diaper experience with you.

So what did it take to cloth diaper for 6 months?

This is our entire cloth diaper "stash," including almost everything we've used to diaper Charlie for the last 6 months.  It includes items we've used almost every day from the beginning of cloth diapering, items we used at different stages, and things we haven't used at all.

The primary cloth diaper "system" we decided to use with Charlie was GroVia (more on that later).  But their one-size diapers were just too bulky to use during those first few weeks, when Charlie was still so very tiny.  Luckily, we also had 22 unbleached Chinese prefold diapers (infant size) and found those worked best for about the first month of cloth diapering.  These old-school prefolds are what usually come to mind when you hear "cloth diaper."  But don't worry, folks - these aren't your Momma's cloth diapers.  Plastic pants have been replaced by breathable waterproof covers and there are lots of styles and cute patterns to choose from.  During the newborn phase, we adored our 3 extra-small Thirsties covers.  Not only did they fit Charlie's tiny body, but the double-gusseted design contained all the wetness - including runny newborn poo.  I don't think we ever had a single leak using prefolds and Thirsties covers!  We also had 2 small Bummis covers, but because they were more bulky and plastic-y than the Thirsties covers, we really only used them when the Thirsties covers were dirty.  Using prefold diapers and covers is easy.  Most of the time, we just lay the diaper in the cover, like so...

Regular (premium) infant prefold with one-size Blueberry Coverall.

...then secure the diaper and cover around Charlie, like so.

It will be just as easy for you to use a prefold and cover, but - unfortunately - your baby won't be as cute.  Sorry.

If we ever want to fasten the diaper before securing the cover (which I like to do but Joe doesn't), we use one of our 4 Snappis.

Diaper pins are a thing of the past!  I just fold the diaper into thirds (see picture above), give it a twist to reduce bulkiness between the legs, and fasten it in front with a Snappi.

The covers were wipeable and reusable (unless they got poo on them, of course), so we usually just alternated between two covers every day.

Once Charlie was back up to his birth weight of 8 pounds (about 2-3 weeks old), we were able to start using our one-size GroVia all-in-two diapers.  These GroVia diapers are a two-piece system consisting of an outer shell (we have 9 of them) and snap-in insert (we have 15).

The inside of a GroVia shell

GroVia shell with snap-in organic cotton insert.

Like the Thirsties covers, the GroVia shells can be reused throughout the day (until they get dirty).  We typically use 2-3 shells per day.  Early on, we struggled with occasional leaks with our GroVia diapers, but I discovered that they need to be washed and dried REPEATEDLY before reaching full absorbency.  I also discovered that the tags would occasionally slip out of the shell and wick out the moisture, so I cut out all the tags.  Since then, we rarely have leaks and we LOVE our GroVia diapers!  They are trim, made of organic cotton, and the 3 rows of snaps make the shell "one-size" so they have grown with Charlie from 8 to almost 20 pounds now.

One week old, about 7 pounds.  The GroVia diaper was still a bit too big.

2 weeks old, 8 pounds.  The GroVia diaper was a bit bulky, was was workable.

2 1/2 months old and about 14-15 pounds.  He is pictured wearing a GroVia snap shell here.

6 months old, just shy of 20 pounds, and happy as a clam in his GroVia diaper!  Compare to the newborn shots and note that we are now on the second row of snaps.  There are 3 rows of snaps to grow the diaper covers from newborn to infant to toddler sizes.  Genius!

One thing I really appreciate about the GroVia system is the versatility.  We can use the shell and insert together, or can use the shell as a cover for a prefold diaper (which we did quite often early on, when prefolds seemed to do a better job containing the runny breastfed baby poo).  They also sell BioSoakers, which are biodegradable, disposable inserts you can use to make GroVia a "hybrid" diapering system.  We have a 50-pack of BioSoakers, but haven't really used them.  I imagine they would be great for traveling, sitters who are uncomfortable dealing with cloth, or if you were someone who wasn't ready to totally take the cloth diaper plunge.

2 months old.  Wearing a GroVia cover over an infant prefold fastened with a Snappi (take my word for it).

In addition to our GroVia diapers, we also have 9 regular (premium)-size prefold diapers in our current rotation with 2 Blueberry one-size covers.  The prefold/cover combo isn't as trim as GroVia, but they work very well and we probably use them every 2-3 days, when all the GroVia diapers are in the wash.

5 months old and about 17-18 pounds, wearing a regular size prefold with a one-size Blueberry Coverall.  

Although GroVia and prefolds with covers have been our "go-to" cloth diapers, we also dabbled in a variety of pocket diapers.  Pocket diapers are just as they sound - they are cloth diapers with a pocket that you stuff with inserts.  They allow you to customize your absorbancy by stuffing as much or little as you want, and cut down drying time because the inserts are separate from the rest of the diaper.  Charlie has always been a very heavy wetter, and the problem I had with pocket diapers, across the board, was that they seemed to leak after about an hour, no matter how much I stuffed them. So none of them worked well for us.  Luckily, Joe's cousin Tamera (who I refer to as the cloth diaper fairy) gave us a lot of hand-me-down pocket diapers the she used with her daughter, so we were able to try most of these risk-free.  I'm glad we did, because I would have been very disappointed if we would have purchased a bunch of these right off the bat.  Of the pocket diapers we tried, my favorite were Swaddlebees.

Small Swaddlebees stuffed with two inserts.  2 months old, approximately 14-15 pounds.

They were trim, soft, and usually didn't leak as long as I stuffed them with at least two inserts and made sure to change them every 2 hours or so.

Also included in our "stash" of pocket diapers were 5 extra small Fuzzibunz.

Wearing an x-small Fuzzibunz at 3 weeks old, approximately 9-10 pounds.

The Fuzzibunz were cute and very trim, but leaked every time.  Didn't matter how much I stuffed them (and I stuffed them as much as I could), Charlie would wear them an hour and then be covered in pee (but they did contain the poo).

We also had 6 Happy Heiny's (4 size small, 2 size x-small).  We absolutely hated these.  The legs weren't gusseted and did not contain runny newborn poo.  And it seemed like my breastfed baby was pooing about every 10 minutes, so that's exactly how long one of these diapers would last.  Maybe they would've worked better for an older baby.  We never used our two Very Baby pocket diapers, but they looked almost exactly like the Happy Heiny's so I imagine I would have hated them too.

In addition to the diapers themselves, there are several cloth diapering accessories that have made cloth diapering possible (and, dare I say, easy).  Here are all the extras we've used along the way:

Three rolls of liners.  We've used Imse Vimse and Kushies.  These flushable, biodegradable liners lay right on top of the cloth diaper and are great for catching poo so you don't have to dunk, scrape, or spray it off in the toilet.

GroVia shell and insert with a Kushies liner on top.

Incidentally, breastfed baby poo is totally water soluble, so you can just toss poopy breastfed diapers in the washing machine without any rinsing.  So these liners are only necessary when you have to start getting rid of the poo before you wash.  Since Charlie is an exclusively breastfed baby, we didn't start using liners until he started solid food at about 4 1/2 months.  And we don't use the liners all the time since we installed a diaper sprayer on our toilet, which is an easy and pretty clean way to wash the poo off the diapers and into the toilet.  Sure beats the old dunk-flush-repeat method our mothers used.

Our Bumgenius diaper sprayer mounts right to our toilet.

One diaper pail.  A cheapie Safety First model from Babies R Us.  It is the same one we used with Max's disposable diapers, and is basically just a glorified trash can.  You certainly don't need any special diaper pail for cloth diapers.  You do, however, need...

Two Planet Wise diaper pail liners.  Gone are the days of the "wet pail," where you throw dirty diapers in a solution of water and cleaners to soak until laundry day.  We use the "dry pail" method, and just throw our dirty diapers in the pail lined with these washable liners.  They make diaper laundry (which we do every other day) oh-so-easy - just throw the bag in the washer with the diapers and wash away!  Which brings me to...

Front-loader washing machine and Rockin Green laundry soap.  Cloth diapers and front-loader washing machines are both environmentally friendly, so you'd think they'd work well together.  The irony, however, is that a front-loader washer generally does a pretty crappy (no pun intended) job of washing cloth diapers.  You see, cloth diapers need water - lots and lots of water - to get really clean, and front-loader washers use less water.  This can lead to unclean, stinky diapers.  There is no "best" wash routine for cloth diapers.  It really depends on your washing machine and water quality.  It has taken a little bit of experimentation and problem-solving, but we seem to have figured out the best routine for washing our diapers ( cold short cycle with no soap & extra rinse + hot long cycle with soap & extra rinse).  Occasionally, if the diapers start to get that not-so-fresh smell, I run another cold short cycle with no soap & extra rinse and that takes care of it.  We've also experimented with soap.  I've had the best luck with Rockin' Green, regular Tide, and Charlie's Soap (in that order).  But the Rockin' Green is far and away my favorite.

Two medium-sized zip-top wet bags.  We have one made by Planet Wise and one made by Wahmies.  These waterproof bags are essential for keeping dirty diapers and all their wetness and smells contained while you're out-and-about or on days when baby is with Grandma or the sitter.  Wet bags are handy even if you don't cloth diaper - I've used them to keep wet/dirty clothes and bibs from floating around the diaper bag.

A few packages of Pampers.  Charlie is a heavy wetter and gets really upset when he's wearing a wet cloth diaper.  We just haven't quite figured out how to keep him cloth-diapered at night without leaks or fussiness.  There are special overnight cloth diapers out there, but I haven't explored them.  So he wears one disposable diaper overnight every night, and I think we've purchased about one package a month since his birth.  I'm only human.

So there you have it.  Am I glad we took the cloth diaper plunge?  Yep.  Do I plan to continue?  Absolutely.  My plan is to keep little Charlie in cloth diapers until he potty trains (which may not be long since research shows that cloth-diapered babies potty train earlier).  If (and that's a BIG IF) we have another child, they'll be cloth-diapered, too.  Cloth diapers are cheap.  All told, I think we've spent just under $300 on cloth diapers that will carry us through potty training, so they've been a very good economical choice.  They're good for the environment and - after I got over the initial shock of all the options and accessories - it has been surprisingly easy to cloth diaper, even as a working Mom (thanks to our sitter, Pam, for being open-minded and trying cloth diapers with us).

And, besides, what's cuter than a chubby baby in a cloth diaper?

Nothing!