Basement Update: Plumbing take 2

July 14th, 2011: Thursday

They got the main incoming water line moved over to an area that will be hidden between the wall and the cement blocks

Here's the main line running over to the other part of the house

Friday July 15th, 2011

They poured concrete back in where they had busted up to lay the plumbing pipes

My Cloth Diaper Stash (so far)

I had posted a while ago when I updated my Project 52 status that I was working on sewing a few cloth diapers. Well the mega obsession continues. I had bought some cheapie 'somewhat waterproof' material to practice on until we found out the sex. Now that we know it's a boy, I'm able to buy cute prints!!!!





I might need to do a little explaining here, or my terminology will just confuse everyone. Cloth diapers have come a LONG way from the flats and pins of the olden days. There are so many KINDS of diapers out there now, prefolds & covers (the old fashion style of flats and a waterproof cover), fitteds, AIO, AI2, pockets, and even ones I haven't cared to dive into: wool, contours, hybrids....


So let me break it down.

Prefolds are the flat cloths that get wrapped around baby, they can be pinned, but now they make these cool things called snappi's

Fitteds are kinda like prefolds in that they need a cover because they are not waterproof and are just the soaker fabric, but they have built in elastic and sometimes snaps to hold themselves onto the baby

Covers are just what they say, water proof covers for the above two.

AIO (All In One) is really just like a sposie (disposable) it has the soaker part built in and has velcro or snaps to fasten it to the baby. The downside to AIOs is that they take a while to dry since they are all built into one diaper.

AI2 (All In Two) is much like the AIO but the soaker inside part just sits in the outer shell so that it can dry faster. Sometimes the soaker pads snap in and sometimes they are sewn in but are loose so they dry faster.

Pockets are a more popular kind these days. It has the shell and inner lining (the part that touches the baby's bum - usually a stay dry fabric) then there is a pocket where you can stuff the soaker pads, so they do not actually 'attach' to the diaper, more so just fit in the pocket - hence the name :-)

Another term: OS stands for One-Size, meaning the diaper isn't a size (small, medium, large) instead it has adjustable snaps to make it a 'one size fits most' kinda diaper.

WetBag is like a diaper bag, but the inside is water proof and you just throw it in the wash with your diapers.

Since I'm sewing some I have a little more vocab for you!

PUL is the polyester outer shell that stands for Poly Urethane Laminate. It's polyester that has a waterproof laminate on the back. If cotton was used it'd attract moisture and there for most likely leak.

Aplix & Touch Tape are two brands of velcro, just better than velcro because they are softer and withstand the multiple washings. Aplix I heard is good for newborn diapers is softer and Touch Tape is a little stronger and better for toddler diapers.

FOE or fold over elastic is mainly used in making covers, which I just got in the mail yesterday so I haven't had a chance to make my newborn cover.

So here is MY stash thus far:


starting with the right side (sorry I didn't think about this when I took the picture). Top I have the prefolds or flats. They haven't been washed yet so they look a little flat and thin. They have to get washed 4-6 times before use which will cause them to fluff up and shrink down. In the bottom right bin I have my newborn covers and newborn AIOs, with one fitted there to the left of the bin that I was practicing my serging skills on before I made one with the PUL fabric. I am doing the prefolds for newborn because it's the easiest, as you can reuse the cover after many changes and just toss the prefold into the wetbag, since that's pretty much all he'll be doing those first weeks, pee and poop, poop and pee, repeat!

On the left side I have pockets and AI2s. The bottom left are the sized pockets, mainly mediums. Since I'm doing newborn and some of my covers run a little big, I will probably be able to skip the size small diapers. On the top left are all OS (one-size) pockets and AI2s so technically I should be able to use these for newborns through potty training, but they run way big on newborns. You might notice the white cloths to the left of the top left bin, these are just my soaker stuffers for the pockets, or AI2s and some have snaps on them, but you can use them in either.

So with my sewing addiction I made a lot of DIFFERENT diapers. There are a lot of free patterns out there and I wanted to make quite a few to find which ones I like sewing best. Then when baby gets here, I'll figure out which ones I like using best. Same with the diapers I purchased. I didn't get any of the same brand as I'm not sure if I'll like that particular brand or not. I got one of each of the following brands: Fuzzi Bunz, Happy Heinies, Bum Genious 4.0, Rumparooz, Best Bottom, Bummis covers (3 different sub brands), Thirsty Due Cover, and one more I can't remember the name of.

Here is the practice stash I made. Who knows if this fabric (which I think is part gortex) will hold up in multiple washings or not. But I made them with that in mind so I'm okay if they are crap, they were my practice ones.


Then Monday I made these two with my new PUL fabric! Aren't they cute!!!!


I have extra of the tool fabric to make two more diapers and one newborn cover! The elephant print was only enough fabric for one diaper. Both of these above are pocket diapers size mediums. One has an elastic casing and one was made with the elastic rolling in.

I purchased snap pliers and snaps on ebay from KAMsnaps.com I choose to go the snap route for my pockets because I had read that when babies get older they get the hang of unhooking the velcro and also the velcro can get worn out faster through all the washings. I will use the Aplix velcro on my newborn covers though, just because you can get a better fit.

As you can tell this blog is the result of about 3 months of research :-P Kyle no longer wants to hear me talk about diapers so I have resorted to blogging, hahaha, now you have to hear about it. No, no, just kidding, I wanted to get this post in.

OH I ALMOST FORGOT!!! In the process of me practicing my sergering skills (Mom let me take her serger when we were down there in June) I've made lots of cloth wipes. This was my project today and actually what prompted this whole post to begin with, heehee.


I must say cloth wipes are so much fun!!! It doesn't matter if I use cotton and lets be honest there is a LOT of cute cotton fabric out there! These wipes are two sided. The fun side you see if flannel, the white side is soft velour. The good thing about wipes is if you're washing the diapers might as well just use cloth wipes as you just throw them right in your wet bag. And they can also be used for much more than wiping bums, washcloths, nose rags, umm probably more that I can't really think of right now. I had so much fun buying all these cute boy patterns of flannel! My wipes are 8x8 so all I needed to buy was a quarter of a yard and I got five wipes out of that for only about $.80! Not counting the velour, which I bought with the intention of using as the inner layer of the pockets, but after learning that it is not as stay dry as suede cloth I have decided to only do my inners with suede cloth (I also learned that poo doesn't stick to suede cloth) and read that velour makes great cloth wipes, which is another reason I made lots of them.

Here is a helpful list of fabrics for outside, inside, and soakers (the things that go inside pockets)
Fabrics ok to use on outside: PUL, blizzard/no pill/antipill fleece/premium fleece are waterproof for AIO, AI2, and pocket diapers. Fitted diapers require a cover and can be made of any cotton or flannel.
Fabrics ok to go on baby’s butt: buttersuede, alova, bamboo fleece, flannel, cotton velour, microfleece (very thin), suedecloth, flannel, knit, cotton interlock, sport mesh
Fabrics for inserts/nappies/soakers: hemp, bamboo cotton, mircofiber towel, sherpa, velour, zorb (must be sandwiched between two other fabrics), obf, bamboo velour and microfleece

That list was a GREAT place for me to start, but with more research and reading forums I think I found my own preference. I do want to figure out the waterproofness of the fleece, I don't quite get how that will be waterproof. That's my next task on the 'to research' list.

Here is a good chart for HOW MANY cloth diapers are needed at various age groups:
I couldn't get the chart to load, so I'll just type it out.
These amounts are for washing every 2 days (less if you do everyday, more if you wash every 3)
Up to 6 months: 20-24
6-12 months: 16-20
12-24 months: 12-16
Potty learning: 4-8

Here are some of the resources I have used:

• I think my favorite place to purchase diapers is http://www.nickisdiapers.com/


• And my favorite place to purchase PUL print fabric (which is hard to come by!) is http://kidsinthegarden.com/shop/


• My support and Q&A's has come from the Baby Center community board: Cloth Diapering and Cloth Diapering Sewing 101


• I have also had great input from my friend who is currently cloth diapering and my sister-in-law who cloth diapered some as well.


• I did just learn that http://www.greenmountaindiapers.com/ has amazingly fast shipping!!! I got a dozen of my newborn prefolds and one cover from there. Although I like nickis diapers better, I was impressed that when ordered from both on the same day, my greenmountain order came a few days before the nickis diaper order.


• Last but not least GOOGLE! my go to for questions :-)

Basement Update: Plumbing

They worked on the plumbing a lot today. I had posted earlier where they busted up the concrete in preparation, well the plumber was actually here working today, laying some pipes and getting it ready. From what I understand they can't cover the floor back up until the inspector comes out which I think is tomorrow (?? or did he say Friday) I can't remember.

Here is a wide view of our basement now:

They busted up more concrete today to lay this line, you see here against the wall coming towards where I'm standing. They are moving the incoming line and shut off valve to hide here in the wall. We are going to have the wall come straight across there where you see the concrete jot in a bit, so it makes a perfect spot for a hidden pipe. We'll just have an access panel in the wall, which we were planning to put furniture up against this wall anyway.

This next one is the bathroom. Back (up) against the wall is the where the toilet will set, then the other black capped pipe is the new main drain. He is moving over our main drain access into the side bathroom wall, you can see the old access, black circle cap, there in the lower right hand side of the photo.

The bathroom started out being 6 foot long, after looking at it and where the pocket door would line up I asked if we could extend it a little so the sink wasn't sticking out and to have more room between the toilet and the pedestal sink. So we pushed it out to 7 feet long. Well to get the pipe hidden in the wall like the plumber was wanting to do, it would mean to push the wall a little in, making our space now about 6 foot 7 inches or so. Which is fine, it's not like the bathroom was planned to be a glamorous anyway. Just another place to relieve ourselves :-P

Here is the piping laid out to go over to our wetbar area:

Here is a zoomed out view where you can see the bathroom drains on the right and the pipe going over for the wetbar toward the left of the photo

Oh I also wanted to add that with this whole plumbing project, we are paying to have him change all our galvanization pipes throughout the house to the plex or whatever it's called. Anyway back when we had that sink issue (way back when, here's the blog post from August of 2008) and had a plumber out he tried to convince us we would get much better drainage and water flow if our pipes were the old rusty galvanized for a mere $4K or so he could change out the pipes. Um it wasn't really worth that to us, so we never really thought about it again. Well fast forward to now, when our contractor told us the plumbers quote included this change out upgrade, even though we didn't ask, we asked how much less would the quote be without the upgrade... only $1K less.... so really we thought it's probably worth it since he's already here working to just keep that extra $1K expense and having better plumbing. Just like the first plumber had told us 3 years ago, the main cost is getting the plumber IN THE house, once they're in working on something it's best to just get all that you need done instead of having them make multiple trips.

Yesterday they just confirmed the layout and nailed some of the stud walls into the concrete. That's about it for the updates, sounds like lots is going to be happening soon, electrical to start either Friday or Monday. Bathroom walls will get put back up when concrete is laid. The cabinet guy came out yesterday to get a final measurement as he is to begin building the wet bar. It's coming together!! I also think windows are suppose to be installed maybe this week or early next week, Andy (our contractor) brought them in today so they're just sitting downstairs. I can't wait to see how the Egress window turns out!!! And most of all I can't WAIT to get all this crap that is cramming our dining room and guest room downstairs. And with that I am signing off to get some organizing done in the old office/new baby's room. :-)

Mark curtains off my list

A while ago... probably over two months ago I FINALLY purchased some curtains for the dining room and also upstairs. I got them at Ikea, which they come unfinished at the bottom so you can make them any length you want. So instead of just using the iron tape that comes with them, I sewed the hems on to make it pretty. Wow, what a PITA that was!!! Well I did the dining room windows first.

You can see here I even made some little cloth & velcro rings (with the left overs I cut off the bottom) to hold back the curtains for when we have the windows open. I made these little things just a week ago when I wanted the breeze to come in :-)

(I hope this isn't a double post, I don't think I posted about my curtains yet)

Like I said this was a while ago that I finished these, shortly after we got our windows installed. What prompted me to get on it was that upstairs we took down the blinds to get the windows installed and after the new windows were in the street light was shining in my eyes at night, so I also made sure to hem up the ones hanging by our bed:

You can also see the lovely painted trim there we did a few weekends ago :-)

Well all six of those curtains really pissed me off one day, well not so much the blue dotted ones, but when I sewed the brown striped ones in the bedroom it was rather difficult. I poked myself numerous times with the needles holding the hem in place and since there are metal rings at the top the SOB was so heavy it was VERY hard to work with, that and being a huge piece of fabric. So I put off the other set of curtains until well TODAY! I'm trying to get the baby's room organized and prepared for moving down to the basement and one thing that has been sitting in the middle of the room was that unopened package of curtains for the other upstairs window. So I decided today was enough of the dreadful thought of finishing them and I was just going to do it! Of course within 2 minutes of pinning the hem up I stick myself. AND GOOD, I had to take a break so I didn't get blood on the curtains. I didn't measure this time, I just jumped in there and hemmed, pinned, and hemmed (a double hem so the edge is nice and pretty. You can even see that the hem's aren't even, but I DON'T CARE at this point, lol!

That is the last time I will attempt heavy, large, curtains. Well and if it wasn't for me being picky about what fabric I wanted I probably could have just bought some already hemmed, :-P

Basement Update: Window Well

Last friday: July 8th, they began the egress window installation by digging out the well and placing the galvanized thing in there.

Here is the guy digging it (this isn't our contractor, but him and our contractor are the ones that dug it out) he even smiled for the camera :)

And here it is with the well placed in the hole:

They only had to dig up one of my hosta's, which is sitting by the front curb now hoping for someone to come give it a new home. I even posted a curb alert on craigslist today (it's been sitting there for two days now and I just posted craigslist today, so maybe someone will come get it this evening.