summing up yesterday, and more about cloth diapers

Now I have a cold! Or at least, the cold segment of my illness, because it's so nice to drag it all out for days and days. M is fretting that I did too much yesterday to make myself feel so much worse today, but I'm guessing that it would have happened regardless. I don't think I fully wrote about yesterday. My parents came down, I know I mentioned that. They also brought my niece and her best friend, and we met them for lunch across town. Then when we were all back at the house, M and my dad were off in the bathroom most of the time, and us girls played Scattergories most of the afternoon (after the niece's best friend scared the living daylights out of my mom and me by falling during their jumping around.. flat on her stomach on our hardwood floors.) Then, my aunt and uncle called and were on their way down. They had been invited originally but declined on the basis of there not being much room in the car. My uncle had never been down here, so they ended up shopping halfway here and decided to come on. After the menfolk finished on the bathroom, we watched the ultrasound video and then went out to eat. Didn't really want to go out to eat because it was just after I started feeling sick again, and we had already eaten out once that day and I wasn't that hungry and we don't like to wait half an hour or more to get a table, plus slow service (Saturday night) and issues of time, but I also didn't want to not go because here is my family, eating in my town after driving all the way down here to see us, so we went, of course.

I woke up thinking that I would be able to help M with the cleanup and work on the bedroom today, since there is no longer a toxic chemical smell in there. He won't let me, though, since I'm still sick, and worse than yesterday. So, since I'm sitting here doing nothing much, I've spent most of the morning on the cloth diaper question. I have been researching this frequently for short periods of time since before I mentioned it the first time, but today, I finally realized that I now know enough that it is time to start writing things down, making notes and creating a list. To me, the biggest problem with cloth diapers is not the prospect of nasty laundry or the added inconvenience. The biggest problem is that it's completely overwhelming and I am starting from ground zero, having no baby yet to figure out what kind would likely work for us, and having no previous babies to even help me guess at what it will be like. Also, there are a blue million moms selling cloth diapers in order to work form home, and you can also buy them used, too, at various prices. Disposables? I have no qualms about choosing disposable diapers. You go to WalMart, you buy a package. If there's a problem, next time you buy something different. I am a good consumer. I am familiar with that process. I am not familiar with this terminology, and I have a low tolerance for cutesy--which is kind of a problem with many of these sites.

I have, however, decided that we will giving it a shot, because I have realized that we will not be satisfied if we don't at least try it. It suits us, as a concept. It may very well NOT suit us as a lifestyle, but the concept does. I mean, M makes his own stringed instruments and my big (dormant, sadly) hobby is creating lace from bits of string. We're just not people who must do things because they're easy. We're also cheap (I believe the PC term is "frugal" but let's just be honest about it, okay?) and buying things that we can reuse with a potential second baby is completely our sort of thing. There's an initial cost investment but that's not really an issue--even if we actually spent the same amount of money on cloth as disposables, we would then have them for any future kids, and they can also be sold if we decide we don't like it. I can't foresee whether we will stick with it or not. Random internet reading leads me to believe that once people try it, they love it--but you know, the problem with those sites is that the people who try it and hate it just don't stick around and post glowing reviews, and it's going to be a certain type of person who tries it to begin with. It's terribly one-sided information, so I can't make any predictions. I have also given myself permission to not be too upset about it if it doesn't work out. I don't believe disposable diapers are evil or bad, after all, and to be honest, I think they're kinda cute. So, it will work out. I even have some ideas on what I might need to get started. I got a little bored with it for now, but I think I will make an order fairly soon. The other nice thing about this is that there isn't a single person who will want to buy us cloth diapers, so they're perfectly safe for ordering before the shower. :) Well, unless I change my mind again, but I'm not planning to. I am beginning to feel weirder about having not bought anything than I previously felt weird about buying things, so I guess that answers my question of when I'll be ready to buy stuff for the baby. Speaking of which, I'm 25 weeks now--about two thirds of the way there!