CDs and Baby Names
Back when we thought Livi was a boy, we couldn’t agree on a name.
We had a list of favorites, but nothing stood out.
(I still really love the name Remington, though!)
When we found out the baby was indeed a girl, picking a name was a lot easier.
Even though we had a few that we loved, we agreed right away.
It’s a popular name right now, but we thought it was pretty, classic and unique without being over-the-top. (I like unique names, but Tom still says that Beyonce’s baby name sounds like a Febreeze scent: Blue Ivy)
I also liked the fact that there’s a book series of the same name and the main character is fun and quirky. Growing up, I LOVED the Angelina Ballerina books because I felt I was in the story. Maybe Livi will feel the same way 🙂
This week has been our first week using cloth diapers at home –not overnight, just while I’m home with Livi during the day- and I have to say..
I feel kind of apathetic about them.
First, I washed the diapers using Rockin’ Green detergent on hot 4 times,
and put one on Livi a couple of mornings ago to see how it would go.
I have to send a huge thank you out to Andrea who let me know about the biodegradable diaper liners. They’re not as soft as the cotton itself, but I was so thankful I had put one in there when Little Miss decided to really test out the capabilities of the first diaper I put on her.
The #2 factor was one of the things that kept me from trying them out sooner, because I felt like it was gross to put all of that in the washer where our other clothes are washed, and also because I had horrible images of trying to spray the diaper off with a spray attachment and the goods flying all over the place and onto my face. How’s that for an image?
So thanks to the diaper liners, I don’t have to worry about that. You flush it away, and the diaper doesn’t need to be sprayed off.
I take out the cloth insert from the pocket diaper, put everything in the wetbag and zip it closed.
We’ve only been using them for a few days, so I’ll do a more thorough update after we’ve used them longer, but here’s what I think for now:
Pros
-They look stinkin’ adorable. After I put one of the Itti Bitti Tuttos on Livi, I had to snap a pic and text it to the fam. She looked so cute and cozy in her pink velour diaper 🙂
(We’re using a combo of BumGenius, Itti Bitti Tuttos and Swaddle Bees. I like the BumGenius and Itti Bittis A LOT, but wouldn’t invest in buying more Swaddle Bees. They were a deal on Babysteals a while ago, so that’s when I picked those up.)
-I can see why people get borderline obsessed with adding to their collection. They make SO many cute patterns and colors- almost like it’s part of the outfit.
-No leaks so far.
-A lot easier to care for than I imagined. You open the wetbag, throw everything in the washer, including the wetbag, with some cloth diaper-friendly detergent, rinse, wash on a hot cycle and rinse again. I dry the inserts and let the covers air dry. Before I started doing this, I thought to myself “Oh god. MORE laundry.” But a couple extra loads each day and a half or so isn’t bad when you’re already doing laundry anyway. And like my friend Nicole says, it kind of feels like fun laundry if there is such a thing.
-Cost savings. I can see why it’s cost effective because we go through a lot of diapers over here- thank goodness for Amazon Subscribe and Save. I don’t feel like the additional water usage will affect our water bill too much –it’s pretty low- but will be able to better determine that after a month or so of consistently using them .
-Less smell. Disposable diapers have a chemical smell to them when they’ve been used- it’s very distinct. With the cloth diapers, since the #2 liners are flushed away and the wet ones are sealed in the wet bag, I don’t smell them at all.
Cons
-They’re SUPER bulky. I had to squeeze her leggings over the diaper and it looked bumpy and like her pants were way too small. I think they’ll work better with summer dresses and bloomers.
-Speaking of summer, I wonder if they’ll be too hot. It’s blazing over here in the summer months and can’t imagine it would be comfortable to have so much heavy cloth strapped onto your body. For this reason, I don’t think we’d use the Itti Bittis in the summer- the velour outer fabric seems like it would be really warm- but the BumGenius are less bulky and lighter.
-Convenience factor. I think Tom is back on board with the diapers since I showed him the liners and the wetbag, but I don’t expect anyone else who watches Livi to deal with cloth if they don’t want to. Disposables work great, they’re easy and user-friendly, and I don’t imagine we’ll use cloth while we’re out and about or overnight.
So with all of that combined, they’re ok. I like them, but I’m not crazy about them. They work, but so do disposables and that’s the beauty of it. It really doesn’t have to be all or nothing. Over the past 3 days, we’ve used 9 cloth diapers, but over the span of a year, that would be 1,095 disposables that we didn’t use. Pretty awesome to think of it that way.
A lot of things during the pregnancy and new parent experience really taught me to drop my all or nothing attitude. We’re a combo family over here: breastmilk and formula, cloth and disposable. Whatever works, eh?
<3
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I’ve read that babies who use cloth diapers are easier to potty-train. Something about how they feel when their diapers are wet make them want to use the toilet or something…
Febreze scent… LOL! So true.
We didn’t know the sex but luckily we had a girl. We found her name immediately: Emerson Rose. We argued about boy names on our way to the hospital the day she was born. Not sure our son would have a name had it been a boy. I loved Liam, Logan, and we had both sort of agreed on Samuel.
I love the name Remington, too! Actually I really like all of the names you were considering. When I was younger, I used to LOVE watching re-runs of the show Remington Steele (with Pierce Brosnan) after school. The show was actually before my time, but I couldn’t get enough of it. The name Remington just sounds so dashing 🙂 Haha, the Pilot’s remark about Blue Ivy is hilarious. I don’t know if I could personally name my future children anything that unique, but I kind of love that Gwyneth Paltrow and Chris Martin named their daughter Apple.
I think you’ve got such a great attitude towards using both cloth and disposable diapers – great idea. I tend to be an “all or nothing” kind of person, which is something I’m constantly trying to work on.
PS Love the picture with Livi’s feet – adorable! With that toe separation it looks like you could have a future dancer on your hands – taking after her mom already 🙂
Remington is adorable! I love different names too, but my hubs doesn’t! My daughter, Audriana was going to be Meadow until my hubby changed his mind in my 8th month! We agreed on Audriana because it wasnt popular, but wasnt too out there. 🙂 good luck with the cloth diapers! I planned on doing it, but was too overwelmed so we stuck with Seventh Generation diapers.
Ohh I love the name Madden- it’s top on my list for a boy. But I keep popping out girls haha 🙂 We are also part time cloth diaperers and I agree with all of your pros and cons. BumGenius are my fav by far!
Thanks for the feedback, I agree they really look bulky but are very cute at the same time, since we are planning a child in our near future I try to do as much research as possile, when I told my husband avout cloth diapers, he was like “No way we are doing that” it scared him a lot 🙂 but as I can see its not that bad! However, i agree that if I would have to travel with the baby or stay overnight somewhere I would use disposables, they have great Organic and Natural brands as well!
We have similar taste in baby names! My daughter is named Sophia Grace and I really wanted Liam or Finn for our son, but hubby wasn’t onboard so we comprimised and named our sweet boy Caden 🙂 The Olivia books were some of my daughter’s favorites when she was a wee one;)
I thought for sure one of your girl name options would be Guiliana…ha.
i seriously thought about it 🙂
I used cloth during the day and disposables at night,I found line drying the diapers keeps them pretty white too. Keep in mind once the baby is on solids, their poop becomes a solid and it gets easier to change a cloth diaper. With the Kushies liners I also found that if they just peed in the diaper, I washed those liners and reused them until they did poop in them making them last longer. Good luck!
I love your attitude, it’s refreshing! We use cloth 90% of the time but don’t stress when we use disposables. And sometimes she wears disposables just so she can wear her cute jeggings. Like you said it doesn’t have to be all or nothing, every little bit helps, for the environment and your wallet.
Aw — my son’s name is Griffin, not a common name so it was pretty cool to see on your list 🙂
I like the “it doesn’t have to be all or nothing” attitude! Did you read Caitlin’s latest post about that? I’m 17 weeks pregnant right now and feeling like I just HAVE to do all of these expected things, but that’s not really true. It doesn’t have to be all or nothing. Thank you!
no, i’ve been mia from reading my favorite blogs this week, but i’m excited to catch up!
it’s a hard lesson to learn, but be easy on yourself and do whatever works best for your fam
xoxo
So funny…I am an Olivia, and my twin sister’s name is Emma! We are almost 25, so our names were very unique when we were born. A bit more common now, but not too popular. Good names, I think 🙂
My older daughter is Natalie and younger Grneva Gabrielle (Gigi)!
Hi,
Is that a pregnancy/baby app that you used?
Thanks!
What app did you use to keep your list of names? The husb and I could use a list on the go!
babybump 🙂
Great attitude; I’ve learned to work that way too, since my 6 month old arrived:-)
FYI, you can also wash and reuse most disposable liners (if they’re not poopy of course!). I don’t really practice that, but sometimes one gets in the wash and when it does, I reuse it.
Being a mama certainly teaches you that not being “all or nothing” isn’t a bad thing! I wish somebody would have told me that before I had the baby 🙂 That wasn’t an easy lesson to learn.
I love this post! I am pregnant and really, really, really want to cloth diaper but our little one will be in daycare full time and we are having a really difficult time finding a daycare that will allow cloth. I have been so bummed about it because it almost didn’t seem worth it to just use cloth at night and on weekends. But, your attitude on it has made me think about it differently. Thanks!!
Hi Jessica~
I just wanted to comment because my son goes to daycare and thankfully they do support cloth diapers…i just bought a small trash can w/a lid at BBB and put a wet bag in there, so all the ladies have to do is throw the entire diaper (i use the pocket type) into the bag and that is it, there are not smells or anything.
Maybe if you explain how easy it is they may do it. I figure i am paying them enough $$$$, they should support whatever we want, ha ha. Good luck!
April, Thanks!!! The daycare we are looking at is considering letting us use them so I am keeping my fingers crossed that they end up deciding to let us do it. You are right – we are paying soooooo much money they should put my kid in whatever diaper I want!!
Check out this link, might help! http://www.realdiaperassociation.org/daycare/Daycare-tip-sheet.pdf
I will definitely check it out! Thanks!!
If you decide to keep using cloth, check out sunbaby diapers. They are super cheap but work great and come in so many awesome colors and patterns! Boy names
are tough for us over here too. Good thing we have a girl!
My husband and I picked out our girl name pretty easily, Lucy Grace. We both just loved it right away. When we found out we were pregnant it took awhile for us to agree on a boy name, we just had two different tastes. It all has seemed to work out though since our little one on the way is a girl, so we have our Lucy 🙂
Great post about cloth diapers and I love the perspective. I’ve had a lot of people tell me I’m crazy for doing cloth diapers but I have to admit it just makes me want it to work more to show them I’m in fact not crazy! I plan on going with disposables in the very beginning while we are trying to get a hang of things and then transitioning over. I’m sure we will always have some disposables in the house for emergencies or days when I just can’t convince myself to do the wash again.
I am 38 weeks and our son still does not have a name. We picked a girls name when I was 5 weeks pregnant, but have the same sort of feelings you do about boys names. We have a list of “likes” that we agree on, but none that stick out as a “love.”
I feel the exact same way about CD – well, looking at it from a “what we *want* to do” perspective haha. I don’t expect Nanas and babysitters to deal with cloth if they are grossed out by it, and travelling with cloth diapers might not be so fun. We’re definitely planning on going the combination route. Thanks for the update – super helpful, as always!
We have no idea what we’re having (in 7 weeks!) – but I really wanted to name a girl Olivia since the beginning. My husband vetoed though because when we first started dating, my car’s name was Olivia (because its my favorite name!) so he told me I can’t reuse it. I think its a boy anyway so its okay. 😉
I love your outlook. Things definitely aren’t cut and dry with babies and you often have to adapt to whatever works best for each one and it seems like you’re doing that very well. Happy baby, happy mom! 🙂
That’s so funny. My cousin named her son Remington, and I had never heard it before! He’s 4 now, and we just crack up, because the name just fits him perfectly… super serious, intellectual little guy with glasses! He reminds me of the kid from Jerry Maguire 😉
When we found out we were having another girl last week, I thought naming her would be as easy as it was the first time. Ummmm… nope! I wish my hubby were as good at coming up with names as he is at shooting them down!!
hahah, same here! every boy name tom hated! i was like “well do you have any ideas?”
nope
😉
and remington sounds like he is so cute!
omg. love love love baby toes!! i really like the nixing of the “all or nothing attitude.” it makes life so much easier. i definitely need to work on that!
love the names. olivia and sofia are both at the top of our girl list of names. but i kind of would love to have all boys but i can’t for the life of me think of another boy name i want to use.
i’m glad you are sort of liking the cloth diapers. i think that after using cloth since the very beginning, the smell of disposables is what keeps me from using them unless i have to. bleh! night time is the one time i refuse to compromise and use disposables because of leak issues so if you ever start having that issue with disposables, i highly recommend using cloth. we use a bum genius with the large insert and two small inserts (only one small when he was younger; he’s 18 months now) and it works awesome!
good to know!
and yes, the disposable smell is horrible
Well, I’m partial for Griffin- I have a son with that name.
love that name!
Griffin is cute AND there’s a cute mythological creature called that! Score!
Summer is coming up…now she doesn’t need shorts; just more cute diaper covers 🙂
I agree that Bum Genius are awesome. I never had any luck with Swaddlebee’s or Happy Heiney’s (they ran too big in the leg holes and we’d have leaks)
So happy your trying your hand at CDing. If it works, great; if it doesn’t, you tried. And get a diaper sprayer. It’s like a sink sprayer that hooks up to your toilet. Life saver! They like 29.99 and it will take Tom 3 seconds to install it.
Hey Gina,
I hope we meet someday, because we have similiar tastes in everything. Dogs (if you remember Chubby was a bichon and looks like Bella), movie oldies (Pretty Woman, Dirty Dancing!), and baby names!
I, too, have Finn, Quinn, Emma, Sophia, and Gabriella on my future baby name list. Except I have Quinn as a girl’s name. I’ve always liked the named Mirebella as well.
Livi’s little feet are so scrumptious! )
I thought the same thing about Livi’s feet! I love baby feet! Adorable!
i hope so, too! 🙂
omg they totally are! i kiss them all day <3
xoxo
Cloth diapers are super cute, but I was never ambitious enough to use them, disposable all the way for me!
I never understood cloth diapers so can some of you moms help me out? What is the difference between the liners and the inserts? With biodegradable liners, why don’t you flush all of them and then you only have to wash the actual diaper part and not the liners?
THe insert is made of cloth and is stuffed into the pocket of the diaper cover sort of like a big cloth pad to absorb the wetness. The liners, if flushable/biodegradable, go on top of the fleece lining right next to the baby’s skin. THis catches the poop so you can just toss the whole thing in the toilet and flush. It’s especially helpful to have a liner when you travel or when your baby has transition poop. Normally though, breastfed poop is so easy you don’t even rinse. Just throw it in the wash. Older baby poop usually just pops right off, it’s the inbetween or allergy poop that’ll get ya! 😉 There are liners that are made of cloth as well and they are mostly to act as a barrier between the baby’s but and the cloth diaper. Some diapers do not wick moisture away from the baby’s but so a fleece liner can be used, overnight for instance, to keep the baby from feeling the wetness. It can also help by acting as a barrier for butt cream. Traditional butt creams with zinc oxide, and other such ingredients, can’t be used on cloth diapers because they ‘stick’ to the cloth which makes them leak. If your baby needs butt cream, you could use a cloth liner and it won’t ruin your diaper. THere are cloth safe creams as well though. Most diaper sites sell them, just beware of the gluten ingredients if gluten is an issue for you.
Hey Gina~
Can you tell me which disposable liners you use? I am thinking of getting some for our cloth diapers when Jack starts getting ‘solid’ poop:= I agree, they look SO stinkin’ cute in the diapers…you are lucky, there are much more cuter prints for girls:)
Thanks in advance!
here ya go! http://www.amazon.com/Kushies-Flushable-Biodegradable-Diaper-Liners/dp/B000V0QTMC
Awesome! So glad you haven’t had to deal with leaks! The dipes can be super bulky on the smaller babies but as they get older it’s not so bad. Plus, they start to have more of a pattern on their eliminations and you can tell how much stuffing you’ll need for each change and for outings. Microfiber is twice as bulky as hemp or bamboo so if you ever feel like you’re going to stick with it full time, you should invest in some hemp. THey absorb twice as much and are less bulky ~aaaaand antibacterial which we loooooved! Dresses are a lot easier especially with girls. I had to buy adjustable waist pants for my daughter so they would fit over the diaper but for my son, it hasn’t been an issue. They are cute though, aren’t they? We love it! Have fun!
I’m partial to the name Natalie, my youngest daughter is Natalie Grace 🙂 And I love Olivia, my mom said that is what she was going to name me.
We have three daughters and cloth diapered them all. LOVE the cuteness factor and cost savings. I’m glad you are giving it a try! I live in Iowa and it is super humid here in the summer, and none of my kids seemed bothered by the cloth diaper.
You should look into gDipers!!!! They’re fantastic 🙂
I’m 22 weeks pregnant and we are naming our boy Quinn! I love the name so much. I always thought I’d have a hard time with boys’ names and that’s really the only one that stood out to me so it must be the one.
I like your “doesn’t have to be all or nothing” attitude and when you look at it over a year, even though you’re not using cloth 100% of the time, it really does help!!
I’m not really interested in cloth at all but I feel like I’m just too lazy to add more work lol
I was really worried about using cloth diapers in the summer and this video sort of blew my mind:
http://dirtydiaperlaundry.com/proof-pul-cloth-diapers-are-more-breathable-than-disposable-diapers/
I would think the minky diapers would be hotter than something like BumGenius but either way it seems like there would be more air flow with cloth than with disposables.
i’m so glad you sent that!! we prob wont use the itti bittis in the summer, but the bumgenius are pretty light
We just found out yesterday we’re having a boy and we’re totally screwed, name-wise. Girl would have been MUCH easier! We’ll be lucky if this kid has a name before he’s born.
If you have a boy named Remington, will you call him Remy? Cute! That’s the rat in Ratatouille. It’s also a female character on House, but they always call her Thirteen so few people probably even know that. And of course Remy Martin is a cognac most bars carry.
I like Madden but then again John Madden springs to mind. But Madden reminds me of Maddox, and isn’t that a Jolie kid?
That’s one bad thing about cloth diapers – most pants are not cut big enough in the bum for cloth diapers. We have to really search for pants that will go over his diapers. Fortunately, I’m not really into dressing my son so having him wear older hand-me-downs that are more generously cut doesn’t bother me. I can see how if you want your kids to look really cute all the time it would be a challenge to find clothes that fit over CDs.
Our go to staple is leggings (i make them myself out of knee socks) so he was always wearing a shirt, leggings, and his cloth diaper, which I think looks cute. Or in the summer, just his diaper. Now since he’s older I don’t do it as much if we are going out of the house, but at home, leggings rule!
What formula did you first try? We have a huge cross country move (ga to Cali) coming up, and I want to be prepared if the BF thing is too much. But I have no idea which one to try! We’re military and my son’s doctor didn’t give us a lot of guidance.
first we went with similac organic, then regular similac, then alimentum
It’s great to remember that it doesn’t have to be all or nothing!
Oh, and you shouldn’t have to remove the insert before you throw it into the wet bag! They usually come out in the wash no problem 🙂
We love CDing!
before you announced the name i was convinced it would be Gabriella! but i do like Olivia more, plus I like the abbreviation of liv and livi
We struggled with our boy names. We had lots of girls names picked! We are both teachers, so there were certain names that were off our list 😉 One friend named her baby Olivia, and another friend named hers Emma. Popular names now!
Maximilian is not super popular here in Ottawa, but Max is because in Quebec ,Maxime is. I did meet another Mom whose kid is named Maximilian yesterday though!
We use cloth diapers during the day, but disposables when I go on a trip longer than an hour and at night. We tried at night, but my son loves to pee and he would be soaked after only a few hours. I’m not going to force him up just to change his nappy, so disposables it is!
Our baby boy is named Huntley. It’s kinda stressful picking a name. I mean, it’s with them their whole life and if it’s a “bad” name, the kid will hate the parents. Haha
great info on cloth diapers! ive been kinda curious about them…whether or not they’re just gonna be a huge pain…they sound pretty good though!
I am pretty sure there is nothing on earth cuter than baby toes!!! And your little Liv just proved it!
right?! i kiss her tiny feet all the time
Whatever works for sure! Parenting IMO is more of a “what works for your family” and not a militant thing. Though mamas can be quite judgmental…
That said, I always think the math is way off for disposables. 2 years of disposables ordered on Amazon with all discounts lands me at roughly $40 a month (usually 37 or less, since we don’t use a whole 222 pack, but I’m adding a few dollars since we’ll eventually upgrade to 4s/5s), and if you multiply $40 (as said, already generous, usually more like 33) by 24 months (I was potty trained before 2 years, but we’ll see.. just an estimate), that lands at 960, not the 1600 usually quoted.
i noticed that, too, which is so strange to me because other mamas know first hand how crazy hard it is.
and you’re so right about the cost of disposables. we thought they’d be wicked expensive (especially with how much we go through) but amazon saves us
I love all those names! especially liam, remi, and madden. My all time favorite name since I played with dolls is Macklin, boy or girl. I love Olivia too…kind of similar, my dog’s name is Olive : ).
I think that’s such a great point. The Diaper Decision (2012) doesn’t have to be all or nothing. Do what you can without stressing out, right?
amen!