Cloth Diapering! The Beginning of my Journey!

We received our batch of cloth diapers in the mail about a week or two ago. I am really excited, but very nervous!

Right now I am going to do a quick pros and cons list about my diapers:

Pros:

• Adooooorable! It is pretty silly how much I gush over something my baby is going defecate. 
• They appear to have everything advertised about them. Mainly what I am referring to here is the sizing. They are "one size"- meaning they should fit Ezzie until she is ready to potty train. The snaps look like they will definitely allow that!
• Very soft! And well, they aren't crinkly crunkle plastic with God knows what chemicals. I have a feeling my baby's tooshie will enjoy these!

Red- Smallest setting, Yellow- Medium setting, Green- Largest Setting

Cons:

• I am worried about the "bulk". Mainly- am I going to have to get her a size up in the pants to accommodate the diapers due to the bulk in the "smaller sizes"? Hmmm... We'll see!
• Snaps! I knew there were going to be a lot of snaps- this is a given with one size diapers, but every diaper change will have 12 snaps involved (six off, six on)! Eek! Of course, this is better than the archaic safety pins and still even better than pre-folds. I will just be raising a patient baby. We've been practicing with a teddy bear.
• I don't know why, but one of the prints I chose I really wish I hadn't! Its a pale pink with a black lace pattern overlay with bows. Everytime I look at it I think, "why am I putting my baby in sexy lingerie?" I am sure it isn't as bad as I am describing, but I am such a prude anyway.

And yes! They are washing right now. I am doing a warm wash/cold rinse with a squirt of Dawn dish soap (yeah, you read that right) to strip any extra chemicals that  may be on there. I mean, these diapers did come from China (insert winky face). After this I will do an extra rinse or two (to insure the Dawn is out) and then wash them with my 1 tablespoon of my homemade detergent on a warm/cold and then cold/cold cycle. Finally they will go in the dryer to seal the PUL, I will put in the inserts, snap them to the smallest setting, and toss them in the bucket for when Esme is ready for them. For those of my cloth diaper skeptics out there laughing at this insane laundry routine I have ahead of me- fear not! This is only a "prepping" stage that you do once for your cloth diapers. Every other wash day will be much more simple!

Also- homemade laundry detergent you ask? Yes. It took me all of 10 minutes to make (if that) and about ten bucks. I used a 2:2:1 ratio of Arm & Hammer Washing Soda, 20 Mule Team Borax, and Oxyclean.

I poured it into a plastic snap container ($1 at Dollar Tree) and mixed with an old wooden spoon that was falling apart.

With cloth diapers you have to be super cautious with the laundry detergent you use so the diapers do not get coated. What better way to ensure that then to make your own? Each load will use one tablespoon of this detergent, which is half a scoop of the scooper that came in our Oxyclean.

Aaaand just for fun: A Hello Kitty printed diaper that is in our "stash". More pics to come!

All opened up

Closed on the absolute smallest size (sitting on top of my disgusting dryer)