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diapertrials- November 12th, 2010
It's 10:30am and I'm in panic mode for diapers. I'll have to make those top priority or I risk not having a night time diaper ready by the time she goes to bed 12 hours from now. I would say my laundry routine is cold rinse, hot wash/cold rinse, extra rinse, dry 2 cycles.
In reality, this is actually a lot (it's a lot less than it used to be!) and given that my washer/dryer are outside and it's not really safe for my toddler to come with me given the (filthy) air conditioner on the balcony (and her ability to climb over), I either need to carry her or find something for her to do inside and hope she doesn't get into anything else while I'm outside. We've worked out a "game" where she peaks out the door under the blinds which sometimes works, but other times she get into something else or come outside, which means her feet are dirty (not a big deal until I get dirty feet in my face while nursing later). So it's doable, but laundry is a little bit stressful for me.
Anyway, this is how diaper laundry actually looked today:
10:30 Put the diapers out in the washing machine for a rinse on cold, extracting inserts and affixing velcro to tabs. Come inside to the pile of ribbons, bows, stickers and tissue paper that my daughter got into while I was outside with the laundry (approved toy, but big mess)
10:40 Throw an additional diaper that was still in the bathroom
10:42 Throw an additional dipe in from the other bathroom (and feel dumb that there were TWO diapers I missed.) Peel stickers off the couch when I come back in.
12 pm Turn on an Elmo clip on YouTube and race outside to turn the BG AIOs inside out and peel the diapers off each other (since the laundry tabs on half my bg aios are smaller than the velcro so they always end up tangled). Turn on hot cycle and leave the lid open to soak with 2 tbsp of Rockin Green. Chase my daughter back inside 3 times. Wash pee smell off my hands. Wipe her feet.
12:30 Run back out carrying the kiddo to shut the lid, let it agitate for a moment, and stop the cycle to let it soak more.
3:30 Run out to actually start the wash. Leave for grocery store.
5:45 pm Add a few towels and run laundry again with 1 tbsp rockin green. (I used to do just an extra rinse but found I could do a full load again with a few towels and those would end up clean and my diapers would dry faster in the dryer. Otherwise, 2 cycles doesn't cut it.) Chase toddler back inside and take off her socks since she ran out without shoes on.
7pm Put on a Sesame Street clip on YouTube and run out to move the laundry from the washer to the dryer.
I'm about to make dinner so I won't get to restart it until after we are done eating. The 2nd dryer cycle will probably start at about 9pm. Fortunately, since I threw in extra towels, there will be dry diapers by about 10pm. Otherwise, 2 cycles wouldn't be sufficient for the AIOs which is what we like to use with an extra hemp insert for night time. Anyway, this will work out tonight. But if I hadn't started the washer before I left for the grocery store, I might be in more of a bind. (Makes me really wonder about that argument from cloth diaper advocates that "you'll never have to run to the grocery store when you run out of diapers"... Trip to the grocery store took an hour, laundry took all day.) Anyway, this is doable, but does take a significant amount of mental energy. It doesn't take that much actual work time, but it takes up resources. I think this is a lot less logistically challenging for others, though it could also certainly be worse.
Edit: I decided to run the dryer again sooner to be sure we have a diaper ready in time so I ran out at about 8:30 with my husband yelling, "What are you doing?! We're right in the middle of dinner!" Diapers were done at 9:15. About 11 hours today. They still smell faintly of pee (if I hold it right up to my nose) which really takes an all night soak to get rid of. Ideally, I do the initial rinse at night and soak all night and that means the diapers take up laundry resources for about 24 hours, though I could do it a bit faster if I really needed to. Realistically, I don't get them going again until I'm showered and dressed (again, out on the balcony where many people can see me... not that I *can't* go out in pjs, just often don't) so that means I start the night before and don't get back to it again until about 11am which only puts it slightly ahead of today's schedule.
In reality, this is actually a lot (it's a lot less than it used to be!) and given that my washer/dryer are outside and it's not really safe for my toddler to come with me given the (filthy) air conditioner on the balcony (and her ability to climb over), I either need to carry her or find something for her to do inside and hope she doesn't get into anything else while I'm outside. We've worked out a "game" where she peaks out the door under the blinds which sometimes works, but other times she get into something else or come outside, which means her feet are dirty (not a big deal until I get dirty feet in my face while nursing later). So it's doable, but laundry is a little bit stressful for me.
Anyway, this is how diaper laundry actually looked today:
10:30 Put the diapers out in the washing machine for a rinse on cold, extracting inserts and affixing velcro to tabs. Come inside to the pile of ribbons, bows, stickers and tissue paper that my daughter got into while I was outside with the laundry (approved toy, but big mess)
10:40 Throw an additional diaper that was still in the bathroom
10:42 Throw an additional dipe in from the other bathroom (and feel dumb that there were TWO diapers I missed.) Peel stickers off the couch when I come back in.
12 pm Turn on an Elmo clip on YouTube and race outside to turn the BG AIOs inside out and peel the diapers off each other (since the laundry tabs on half my bg aios are smaller than the velcro so they always end up tangled). Turn on hot cycle and leave the lid open to soak with 2 tbsp of Rockin Green. Chase my daughter back inside 3 times. Wash pee smell off my hands. Wipe her feet.
12:30 Run back out carrying the kiddo to shut the lid, let it agitate for a moment, and stop the cycle to let it soak more.
3:30 Run out to actually start the wash. Leave for grocery store.
5:45 pm Add a few towels and run laundry again with 1 tbsp rockin green. (I used to do just an extra rinse but found I could do a full load again with a few towels and those would end up clean and my diapers would dry faster in the dryer. Otherwise, 2 cycles doesn't cut it.) Chase toddler back inside and take off her socks since she ran out without shoes on.
7pm Put on a Sesame Street clip on YouTube and run out to move the laundry from the washer to the dryer.
I'm about to make dinner so I won't get to restart it until after we are done eating. The 2nd dryer cycle will probably start at about 9pm. Fortunately, since I threw in extra towels, there will be dry diapers by about 10pm. Otherwise, 2 cycles wouldn't be sufficient for the AIOs which is what we like to use with an extra hemp insert for night time. Anyway, this will work out tonight. But if I hadn't started the washer before I left for the grocery store, I might be in more of a bind. (Makes me really wonder about that argument from cloth diaper advocates that "you'll never have to run to the grocery store when you run out of diapers"... Trip to the grocery store took an hour, laundry took all day.) Anyway, this is doable, but does take a significant amount of mental energy. It doesn't take that much actual work time, but it takes up resources. I think this is a lot less logistically challenging for others, though it could also certainly be worse.
Edit: I decided to run the dryer again sooner to be sure we have a diaper ready in time so I ran out at about 8:30 with my husband yelling, "What are you doing?! We're right in the middle of dinner!" Diapers were done at 9:15. About 11 hours today. They still smell faintly of pee (if I hold it right up to my nose) which really takes an all night soak to get rid of. Ideally, I do the initial rinse at night and soak all night and that means the diapers take up laundry resources for about 24 hours, though I could do it a bit faster if I really needed to. Realistically, I don't get them going again until I'm showered and dressed (again, out on the balcony where many people can see me... not that I *can't* go out in pjs, just often don't) so that means I start the night before and don't get back to it again until about 11am which only puts it slightly ahead of today's schedule.
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