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16 June, 2015

Cloth Diapering on (a beach) Vacation

As we planned our vacation Eric and I were debating about bringing disposable or cloth diapers to the beach. We already had a lot of stuff to transport, so did we really want to bring another bag/bin of stuff?  Then we thought, we bring them on our 3 or 4 day weekend trips, unless we're flying.  We had never gone away longer than that with our cloth diapers.  The rental house we stayed at had a washer and dryer included so that helped make our decision. Maggie has a pretty sensitive bottom so we worried about her being in disposables for 7 full days.  I told Eric that we'd take the diapers only if we had room in the car.  We made it work!

My Vacation Stash:

Travel Days:

We use disposables on travel days. It makes our potty stops a little less cumbersome and we don't have to worry about wet/stinky diapers sitting in the car all day.

Beach Time:

Because disposable swim diapers aren't  made to hold pee, just poop, it doesn't make sense to me to put the kids in swim diapers just to play around on the beach.  We put them in regular cloth diapers and a swim shirt until they actually go in the water.

When it's time to swim, the dirty cloth diaper goes into the wet bag (or plastic grocery bag is fine!) and on goes the swim diaper.  Wearing a rash guard or UV shirt instead of a bathing suit makes this so easy.  There are so many cute ruffly swim diapers to pair with rash guards for a cute look. After a good swim I put the regular cloth diaper back on.


Pool Time:

On this particular trip the pool was in our back yard.  I put the girls straight into a swim diaper and used their cute one piece suits for swimming.  Pee is inevitably going to leak out of any kind of swim diaper. They are really just there to prevent brown sharks...if you know what I mean.

Laundry:

I choose my easiest to wash and care for diapers for long trips: usually my stash of All-in-ones! Using liners helps manage poop. Even if you don't do this at home, it's good to stock up for traveling. Because it was vacation in a rainy/humid area I just threw everything in the dryer so it was ready for the next day. I also washed everything our last night and put Maggie in disposables. Again, I didn't want to drive home with stinky diapers. This way when we arrived home I already had clean diapers and could save the washer for getting our clothes washed!

Choosing a Cloth Swim Diaper:

  • Look for one with at least one side that snaps, two is ideal. Pulling down a wet poopy diaper...just no. You'll want side snaps, trust me.
  • Make sure all the elastics are tight around the legs and waist, but not so tight that they cut off circulation. 
  • Some brands are more generous in the thigh than others. If you have a chunky monkey, I recommend the Tots Bots (these come in a boy & girl print and two sizes) or SmartBottoms (two sided snaps and a dozen prints) swim diapers. They're the ONLY two that I could ever get to fit Evie (I've tried at least 8 brands)
  • A skinnier baby would do well in a My Swim Baby - the larger sizes are hard to find

Have you traveled with your cloth diapers?  What tips or tricks do you have?  Any questions?


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12 June, 2015

Our First Family Beach Trip!

Having grown up less than an hour from Florida Gulf Beaches, beach is just what you do. Having lived in Atlanta now half of my life I definitely miss the ocean....a lot!  We've done a few beach trips here and there but I was craving another trip like crazy.  Eric's parents have been planning this week for quite some time.  The treated the whole family to a week at a beach house along 30A.  The house had 4 bedrooms, full kitchen, backyard pool and a very short walk to the beach.

We did a Saturday to Saturday stay, which we LOVED. It was great to have Sunday to sort laundry and get our life organized before heading back in to the weekly grind.

With a five and half hour drive ahead of us, not counting a potty training 3 year old's bladder, I decided to stock up on a few car toy surprises. I bought this Melissa and Doug Picture Maker, a Crayola dry erase board set, a few new story books, and the scrounged for some old favorites the girls hadn't played with in a while.  The first hour of the trip was great. Everyone was so excited for our first stop, The Original Chick-fil-a in south Atlanta.

 The rest of the trip down was touch and go, but in the end it was all worth it because the girls fell in love with the beach.
 We were so thankful we left Atlanta at the crack of dawn because we could get settled and out to the beach before dinner and bed time.
 Everyone has been asking how the girls did.

Evie was SO excited to go.  She knew what the expect from the sand because she plays in it out at the lake, but she was NOT prepared for the ocean waves. They intimidated her a bit (okay, A LOT) but by the end of the week she didn't want to get out of the water.  The best line of the week was our first trip out to the beach Evie exclaimed, "This sand is perfect. It's like sugar!"   And boy was it!
Maggie didn't know what to expect.  She really didn't like the sand. And she was very unsure of the ocean water.  We ended up only taking her to the beach 2 or 3 times. However, this girl ROCKED it at the pool. She also really loved bike rides. All the family was so generous in taking her out on bike rides anytime they left the house.  Maggie and G.Daddy spent a lot of time hanging out not on the beach.
 For food each couple was responsible for two dinners: make at home or eat out, whatever you chose. We chose to make both our meals and home but the others did one of each. It was nice to save going out for the rainy days.
At night we played cards, sat on the patio, or walked the beach. One night was a Strawberry Full Moon. It happened to be the night Eric and I took a walk. It was breath taking!
One of the things we loved doing was going on bike rides. There's wide paved bike paths everywhere down 30A. We had bike seats for the kids and road to dinner, ice cream, the growler store, or just to cruise.
I looooved that our neighborhood had private beach access. It was rarely crowded and all the folks around us were on family vacations too.
We seriously had the best, most relaxing vacation.
We left at 9am and by 10am both girls were sound asleep and slept for over two hours.  They were EXHAUSTED!!!
Thanks for a wonderful vacation, Grandma and G.Daddy!!