Before Eva was born, Cade and I talked through the pros and cons to cloth diapering, and we personally decided to use them for these reasons:

• We did not want the chemicals found in disposable diapers to be next to our baby’s bottom 24/7 for 2 years (more or less).
• We wanted to be environmentally responsible. Babies go through approximately 8 diapers a day which is roughly 2920 diapers per year. That’s a lot of trash!! Did you know the average disposable diaper takes between 250-500 years to decompose?
• And last but not least: cloth diapering saves lots of money!

We began doing research to see what was available (I’ll admit that it’s a bit overwhelming). Therefore, I am thrilled to share our personal setup with you and hopefully inspire you to consider them.

• 36 Bummis Prefold Diapers (size infant) – $108 (newborns go through more diapers each day than older babies)
• 30 Bummis Prefold Diapers (size baby) – $121.50
• 6 Flip Covers – $83.70 (I got mine on sale so I only paid $41.85)
• 2 Planet Wise diaper pail liners – $33
• Large step-opening trash can

Our total setup cost: $304.35 (plus water, electric and detergent for washing a load every 3 days)

Spending $300 up front on cloth diapers sounds like a lot of money but if you divide the setup cost by the average number of diapers a baby will go through in 2 years, it comes out to approximately .05 per diaper. To put this into perspective: the “mostly chemical free” 7th Generation disposable diapers that we would have used for Eva ranged from .16 to .30 PER diaper on Amazon’s subscribe and save (the cheapest option).

Now let me explain why I chose these particular products: Admittedly we went a bit old-school in purchasing organic, unbleached prefold diapers which are simply layers of cloth prefolded and sown together. Organic, because cotton crops rely on lots of pesticides and unbleached, because that is one more step that is not necessary and can begin to weaken the threads. Plus I think the natural creamy color is beautiful!).This prefold is the absorbent cloth layer of the diaper. Once folded into 3, it lays inside a Flip Cover, which is a waterproof outer shell that keeps the wet/poop contained. We chose the Flip covers because they are One Size (they grow with your baby from newborn to toddler with their adjusting snaps on the outside) and they have flaps inside the front and back where you can tuck the prefold. There is no need for pins or snappies! (I LOVE that I will never have to worry about Eva taking off a poopy diaper and getting it everywhere… those snaps are strong!)

So when it is time for a diaper change, simply dump the prefold insert into the diaper pail, wipe out the inside of the cover so it can be reused once or twice before being washed, and assemble the next clean diaper. (Unless it’s a poopy diaper, we usually reuse the cover multiple times between washes. This is why you don’t have to buy as many Flip covers as prefolds.)

With this setup, I wash one load of diapers every 3 days. (Not bad, huh?) Because these prefolds are so durable, I can wash them as thoroughly/harshly as I need to without worrying about them falling apart and then I dry them on the hottest setting for added sanitation. Even with this “harsh” treatment they should easily last as long as we want to keep having kids and after that I’ll probably pass them on to someone else. Seriously – they’ll probably last forever! (Remember how we said cloth diapering saves you money? =)

If you are afraid that washing/folding diapers will take a lot of time, trust me: it doesn’t! After they are dry, I lay the prefolds in a basket beside the changing pad.

Now, if you are convinced like me that cloth diapering is the way to go, the deal just gets better: since you are already washing your cloth diapers, why not throw in cloth wipes? (I don’t know why it took us 6 months, lots of money and persistent diaper rashes to figure this out… but Eva’s butt has never been happier since we switched!) Here’s the setup costs for cloth wipes:

• 2 yards of flannel cotton fabric – (we bought organic which was more expensive $16.65)
• Dr. Bronner’s All Natural Castile Soap - $15.37 (32 ounces should last us over a year based on the solution recipe I am using)
• Squirt bottle – $5

To make my solution I fill the squirt bottle with water (approx. 2 cups) and add 1 Tbsp of Dr. Bronner’s All Natural Castile Soap. (Repeat as needed). As I prepare for a diaper change I give the squirt bottle a quick shake (to make sure the soap is distributed through the water) and squirt the wipe solution into 2 or 3 cloth wipes until they are as damp as I want them (you can always wet more if you need to). The dirty wipes then go straight into the diaper pail with the dirty diapers. How easy is that?

Whew. That’s a long post and I feel like I’m just getting started. =)

So… if you have any interest in seeing our setup in person, or just asking questions, I would be honored! I really AM very passionate about helping mom’s give their babies the best, and helping them save money in the process. I promise it is NOT difficult or gross or time consuming!

Eva’s pretty happy with them and I think big diaper butts are adorable!

P.S. If you are willing to give Cloth Diapers a try, I can almost guarantee that you’ll never look back. And honestly, if you change your mind, there are always mamas out there who are willing to buy used cloth diapers! I promise!!

These two brothers just keep getting cuter and cuter! Liam is now 2 years old and Nolan is 6 months. It is such an honor to photograph these fun stages of their young lives. For this session we walked around East Nashville’s very own Shelby Bottoms Park. We saw ducks, played in sand, went down the slide… it was lots of fun (especially for Liam)!

As I mentioned before, we quickly realized that Eva slept best when we swaddled her. In the beginning she did great in the Aden and Anais blankets, but around 2 months old she was too strong for them and it was difficult to keep her contained.

That’s when we began using a swaddler with velcro. WOW!

We tried using a few different kinds, but the microfleece SwaddleMe sleeper was our favorite. It has 3 places where the velcro fastens to hold the baby in tight. (The best thing about this particular velcro design is that each tab has a place to cling to before washing so that the velcro doesn’t attach itself to other laundry and destroy it. (Been there. Done that!) This SwaddleMe sleeper is also the least bulky we found and requires 2 basic steps to put it on.

I highly recommend having 2 of these in your baby’s dresser. You’ll want a clean one while the dirty one is in the wash.

At 8 months, Eva still sleeps in her cream colored SwaddleMe. Before naps during the day, we tuck the flaps under her arms so she can play with her snuggie while she falls asleep on her own (more on that later). I give this Swaddler 5 stars!!

7 months old.

In my opinion there are at least two kinds of baby/kids photography: Portrait and Lifestyle/photojournalistic/documentary. Most of the time I focus on the portrait side, getting those great images that you you could frame and display in your home. These are mostly camera aware and have a more formal feel to them, although I love to add my creative/modern touch! =)

Having said this, since Eva was born I have begun to really enjoy taking “lifestyle” photographs of everyday life with her. These images are an example of this style. I probably won’t print and frame a 20×30 of them, but I still love looking at them because they capture who she is and a typical “minute” of her life. If you are interested in having your session focus on this kind of photography, please let me know!! But just to be clear, my main focus will still be modern baby portraits so please specify which your preference is as we plan your session.