"What's your parenting style?"

Um, it's called trial and error?

Seriously, what a weird question. Not that anyone actually asks this in real life. The internet has been a wonderful resource, especially as a new mom, but you also get silly questions like "What is your parenting style?" What the heck does that mean?

I've been described as "All Earth Momma" or "La Leche Woman" by friends - childless friends. Yes we:
1. Breastfeed (still,at 19 months)
2. Co-sleep
3. Made our own baby food (no jarred stuff, Angelina was already a food snob and wouldn't eat it anyway)
4. Homebirth (or at least try to)
5. Didn't do Scream-It-Out (ahem, "self-soothe") - well, at least in the early days.... Ok so I did in desperation and it didn't work.
6. Cloth diaper (at least at home, we use 7th Generation disposables for daycare and travel)
7. Carry her in a sling (don't you dare call it 'babywearing' - she's not an accessory like earings! I figured the Karen women did it, I could too.)

Some would take all that and give us a label. No thank you. I don't do labels, and I'm pretty sure Angelina has made it clear she does not fit neatly into a box. We've done all that because it's what worked (or at least tried to) and felt right, not because it was part of some parenting checklist.

Does it make me a better mom? No. Just a mom trying to figure out what's best for my daughter (and the environment).

More on being Cheap: Cloth Diapers

Long before Angelina was born, I told Fredo I wanted to use cloth diapers. He was a little hesitant at first, not being familiar with them, but he was easily swayed. The morning I went into labor, he was online for awhile. He stopped and said "Ok, I found out how to fold cloth diapers, now we can have a baby!" Not only are they great for the cost savings, but the environmental savings. Yes, you use more water and energy to wash, but since we have a high efficiency washing machine (8 loads in ours = 1 load in a standard US washer) and we hang dry all our clothes (no dryer), we use very little water or energy. After a year I have yet to see any change in our water/electric/gas consumption.

Compare Disposables:
0-3 Months:
8-10 diapers/day = 60+ diapers/week (I'll round down for ease).
Pack of 60 Size 1 diapers = ~$16
$16/week x 12 weeks = $196

4-6-12 Months:
6-8 diapers/day
50 diapers/week x 32 weeks = 1600 diapers = 40 packs
$16/pack of 40 Size 2 or 3 Diapers
40 packs for 32 weeks diapers @$16/pack = $640

Minimum $836 for the first year. We won't even start with the second year.

Cloth Diapers
One time expense of cloth diapers: ~$300
Can be done for much less, I bought a few different types to see what worked best. With what we have, we're set at least until she's 2 yrs old. And we have diapers for kid #2. And we can use the pre-folds for many many things.

We were using prefolds with Bummis or Prowrap covers (which ones depends on her size, at different times d ifferent wraps worked better). I scoffed at the fancy new All-In-One (AIO) diapers. Ridiculously expensive and did we really need them? For the unintiated, AIOs are just like disposables only they're not - they have an absorbent inner layer and a waterproof outer layer, so no wrap/cover needed.

Then our friend came over and showed us the AIO diapers she made herself. Hmmm, I can sew. Sort of. Well enough for a diaper, right? So I found a website that sells the fabric pre-cut (since I can't cut to save my life) for a fraction of the cost. Then I can sew them myself. I decided to try just a few to see how we liked them. Now we're sold. I still love our prefolds and they're useful, but the AIOs - hand sewn by yours truly - are great!

We're trendy and old fashioned at the same time

Apparently it's all the rage now to use cloth diapers. Who'd have thought?! We're just cheap (and try to be ecologically minded at the same time). It's pretty funny to read about all the 'hip' parents using cloth diapers. Nanny - you hear that? You were "hip!"

But here's the twist, the old flat or prefold diapers are old fashioned. The hip mommas use 'pocket' diapers. At $15-25 a piece, however, that's sooooo not worth it. Prefolds aren't just your mother's prefold nappies though. Yes, cloth diapering has come a long way. No more pins. You can use snappis - elasticy thingies with 'teeth' to hold the diaper in place, but we don't bother. We just put a wrap around the diaper and that holds it in place.

Our friends are always so impressed, but really it's no big deal. You get past the ick factor super fast. I mean, it's icky no matter how you look at it, so it doesn't matter. Just rinse, toss in the bucket, toss in our super duper energy/water efficient front loading washer. Line dry. Presto. And what's best: cloth diapers rarely leak. We've had super blowouts with disposables (we use them sometimes when we take her out): Poop all the way up her back, all over her clothes. But with cloth? Hardly ever happens.

Who knew it could be so easy?
And if you don't know what I'm talking about, check out http://www.diaperpin.com