Cloth Nappy Adventures: First Impressions

Hello everyone!

So this week my cloth nappies arrived! I really can't explain how excited I was for their arrival and to start using them! Today I am sharing with you my thoughts and first impressions on these nappies and why I was so excited to start!

One of the things that has started to bother me more and more as I grew up is the amount of rubbish a single human being produces. I remember at university reading that on average a human produces over 2kg of rubbish a day! Sounds crazy doesn't it?

When I became pregnant I was well aware of the impact nappies and wipes would make on the environment. After all my job is partly informing people of how their rubbish affects our oceans. So I started looking into cloth nappies as a way to lessen the amount of rubbish produced while raising my baby.

My cloth nappy started pack

Research, research, research. I spent about four or five months in total researching cloth nappies. To begin with my biggest concern was if the increase in use of the washing machine would outweigh the rubbish decrease. It seems to me that for the environment you are indeed better off using your machine more and reducing the waste of non biodegradable nappies and wipes.

For my research I mainly used mummy forums, amazon reviews and chatted to a few people I know that use cloth nappies. I was immediately pointed to the nappy library where you could borrow different nappies and see which ones you prefer.

I, however am crazy, or an idiot, and didn't avail of the nappy service. That's because I fell in love with the prettiness of the Bambino Mio Miosolo nappy range. All the websites, including Amazon stocked these nappies and they were just gorgeous!

I know, I know, you shouldn't judge a cloth nappy by it's cover but I did. I looked a bit further into them and all I found was amazing reviews. Not only are they super soft and durable but they are also fully adjustable. The company says they are from "birth to potty" but after reading some reviews lots of mums said that they were too big for babies under three months.

So as soon as Ema turned three months old I took the plunge and started to change our nappy routine.

Contents of my started pack

I order my Bambino Mio Miosolo starter pack, girl edition on Amazon. 

It arrived within one week all nicely packaged. I got six nappies, a small pack of miofresh which is a powdered nappy freshener to use in the washing machine or for soaking and some biodegradable liners as well as a sample biodegradable,flush-able wet wipe.

Six nappies is not quite enough to go full time cloth but I decided to spread the costs and from now on will be buying a couple more nappies a month from amazon to build up a nice stock.

The day I bought the nappies I also worked out what my routine and set up were going to be like and how I was going to avoid stinking up the house with dirty nappies waiting to be washed.

I decided on having a bucket of saltwater in the bathroom to put the used nappies and dirty cloths in while waiting for the wash. I thought saltwater would be a good idea as it disinfects and keeps smells at bay. However any dirty nappies would be rinsed through the bath to wash the solids down the drain.

Finally, so that I wouldn't have to root around for nappies in the bucket, I bought a laundry net to put in the bucket to contain the nappies.

The net came from ebay you can find it here.

Small white bin from Ikea to store used nappies. Find it here.

Inside the nappy bin

So far this system has worked well.

Wash cloths from Ikea. Find them here.

I couldn't really use cloth nappies and still throw away tonnes of wet wipes so I headed into Ikea again and bought a few packs of wash cloths. I now always have a damp one and a dry one. The damp one can be used a few times if it's just to clean a wee and the dry one is to dry her bottom afterwards to prevent nappy rash.

Modelling her pretty nappy

So far I don't have any major complaints about the nappies and about the new routine. The inside is super soft and the absorbent core flips out for quicker drying and easier cleaning of poo stains.

I have adjusted the nappy with the poppers on the front to be on the smallest size and it fits well. The large Velcro bands mean you can adjust the waist size and the leg hole size too.

We've had a couple of incidents where it leaked because I hadn't tightened it enough and I have now purchased some boosters for the night because 11 hours straight sleep is a bit of a push and she has woken up wet a couple of times.

I will be updating you guys on how it's going when I've been using them for a little longer and have enough to not have to use disposables. In the mean time would love to know your thoughts on cloth nappies! Feel free to let me know what you think in the comments!

Until next time!

Happy House Snaps : Downstairs Edition

Hello everyone,

I woke up this morning after Ema projectile vomited all over me and as I was walking down the stairs slightly grumpy, I noticed that there are some parts of this new house that just lift my spirit. So I grabbed the camera and attempted to take some photos.

Now bare in mind that I am really not good at taking house photos...

This is our entrance. The little cabinet was my mum's project. She took an old bed side table and painted it white. I think It looks really nice as a little support table. On it there are some "sea-finds" which is only fitting for the area. The mirror I bought back in Plymouth at the Futon Co. and love it!

Here is above the fireplace in the living room. That giraffe canvas was at "The Home Store" and had to be bought. The rest are things that we have had for a long while.

On to the kitchen and this is the top of the Kallax unit. There is a joke that we are addicted to Kallax from Ikea because we have three in the house... but they are such a practical piece of furniture! The little bee I crocheted on a whim while watching Batman. The little pots are from Tiger Stores and the wild plants were caught in front of the house.

Super colourful kitchen as always!

When we moved in these strawberries were almost dead but a bit of water and they are growing. Next summer we will have a pretty good crop which undoubtedly Lily (the collie in the photo) will eat before we get to it.

Finally a picture of the shed at the back of the garden. The solar powered lights look really pretty from the kitchen window at night and the hammock is a really comfy place to be even in the rain as it's sheltered. Also the sunken trampoline is pretty fun!

So that is it from the Happy House Snaps: Downstairs Edition. I think I'll do an upstairs edition soon and eventually will do a series of before/after pictures of the house. 

Thank you to http://mariatangled.blogspot.ie/ for all her hard work into making the house so pretty and cozy!

Until the next time!

Newbridge house and farm day out

Hello everyone,

This week we have had our cousin visiting and as it's her last day here with us we thought we would go explore the Newbridge Estate. It's only five minutes down the road and I knew there would be goats, so I was all up for it. I was not disappointed!

Newbridge Demesne is an early 18th century Georgia estate and mansion. It is set on 400 acres of woodland, pasture and watercourses.

The whole area is stunning. We didn't visit the actual house but this is what it looked like from the outside:

This is only the front but the building extend quite a lot to the back!

Anywho, we went in mainly to check out the farm animals. We were greeted by tonnes of friendly chickens, goats, horses, cows, sheep, peacocks and water fowl. The animal part was so much bigger than I expected!

Five day old goat.

All chilled out...

Oh yes, they have a famous pig..

Daniel casually making a goat friend

This spotty guy had such an adorable-ugly face

We got quite close and personal with a pregnant cow...

I have a tone more photos but sadly I didn't take a camera so they are all phone quality.

All in all we really enjoyed the afternoon and had we been more prepared we would have taken a picnic and enjoyed the grounds around the house a lot more. I really can't wait until Ema is able to enjoy these outings instead of spending the afternoon napping in the sling!

If you are around the Dublin area and want to have a look at the house here's the website: http://www.newbridgehouseandfarm.com/joomla/

Thank you for reading and I hope you enjoy this quick post. I would love to hear about your favourite days out, feel free to leave links to your posts.

Until the next time!

Blanket update

Hello everyone!

So a while back I posted about the blanket I am making with my mum (she blogs at http://mariatangled.blogspot.ie/) for Ema.

The idea is that every month on the day she was born we take a picture of her next to the crochet number corresponding to her age. I explain it better in this post: http://afewseasidestories.blogspot.ie/2015/06/new-blanket-month-by-month-blanket.html

Ema is now three months old and the blanket is growing. I have also adjusted the pattern slightly since the last post and now have all the three colours together so you can see the contrast.

Here are some pictures:

I'm actually crocheting in one continuous strip instead of individual squares so I don't have to join as much.

So here you go! A little update on the giant blanket project! I know I am not being very specific but any questions leave them in the comments and I will try my best to answer.

I will do another update on this in a couple of months when more is done!

Thanks for reading!

Linky Party

Hello everyone,

So I thought I'd get on the band wagon and host my own linky party. I really want to get to know some new bloggers and thought this was the perfect way to do it!

An InLinkz Link-up

Warm Welcome

Hello everyone,

If you read my last post you know that we have not only moved house but we have also moved to the other side of the city. We left our uniform suburban housing estate to join a small rural community by the seaside.

Well as soon as we moved in we were given a warm welcome by everyone. We are renting a cottage on a huge farm owned and run by a large family. Everyone around here knows each other and most of them are family.

Instead of seeing us as the strangers that we are, the family has been super welcoming. Everyone from the children, to the adults to the dogs and even the farm animals have said hello! So welcoming in fact that our landlady dropped by with some yummy cupcakes made by her!

I'm going to keep this post short but I have lots of posts planned and things I want to share with you! Now I just need to find the time for it...

In the mean time enjoy soome pictures of these amazing cupcakes!

Almost too good to eat

Almost... nothing like a coffee and a cupcake to start the day

If you are in the North Dublin area, I definitely recommend

My little absence

Hello everyone!

This is just a quick post to keep you all updated. I am sorry I have stopped blogging regularly specially because it coincided exactly with an increase on blog views! 

Anyway these past few weeks we have been organizing a pretty big move which we have been executing over the weekend.

We have been living in south Dublin since moving to Ireland (apart from the years I have spent in England) but as the family has now merged it was pretty obvious a bigger house was needed. So we decided to go crazy and completely change our lifestyle.

Here in south Dublin we have been living in a typical state in a typical suburb living typical lives. Now we have up and moved to the other side of the city, and even though we are much closer to the city center, it is a different world.

This is the 4 bedroom cottage that will be our home for at least the next year. To the back and side is a big farm with horses and chickens. And to the front water! Here is a picture of the cottage in yellow in perspective to the water:

So like I was saying, even though we are much closer to the city center, the feel is utterly different. It feels like we are n the countryside yet we are so close to the estuary and the beach that we can walk from home to the water in our wet suits!

This is just a short update on what's been happening. I will be posting lots about this move as we have done quite a lot of decorating on the inside, however I will be again not posting anything for a while as we are having issues getting internet access to the cottage. As soon as everything is back up and running regular posting will resume!

Until the next time!

P.S. that's the sunset from the front door!