So, when's the next one?

There are a ton of common questions people get once they get to certain ages, and they are mostly super annoying after a while. There's the "when are you guys going to get married?", then once that happens, it becomes, "so... when are you having kids?" And now I'm finding out that once your baby turns one, I'm fully expected to pop another baby out.

DH and I went to his former place of employment last week, and pretty much everyone asked this question. Okay, yes, I'll let you, a virtual stranger to me, know that DH & I are planning on having sex... lots and lots of sex. Because you know, you have to have sex to make a baby, and since we're working with PCOS here, it pretty much means that it'll take a while again. I realize that when people ask this question, they're not really thinking about the sex part. But it feels like everyone is nosy about our sex life... from my perspective anyway. And yes, I realize the irony from complaining about this nosiness and then writing about it for all to see. But we're all friends here, right? Right.

Anyway, the whole point of this post is just to get it out there, officially.

No, we are not "trying" for another baby yet. Maybe some time soon-ish, but at this point, I'm not so eager for another c-section so soon after the first one. It sucked, yo. I wouldn't classify it as a traumatic experience, but until I want another baby super badly, which I don't yet, then it can wait. That, and I am really enjoying my solo time with Matthew. Yes, I'm sure he'd love a sibling to pick on.... I mean, play with. He'll probably get one. Just not right now, and that is okay.

Cloth diaper total costs after 1 year

Probably the main reason why I wanted to cloth diaper in the first place, was saving money. I mean, who doesn't like saving money? But little did I know, was that buying cloth diapers can easily become addictive. There are so many companies, so many color and prints, so many different kinds of diapers to try, that it can get out of hand if you're not paying attention. It's kind of like this for me, but I try to keep my diaper purchases limited to only co-ops and Black Friday. I've talked about Black Friday before, but co-ops are a true revelation. For real.

When I was first researching the best brands to get, I'd heard the brand "Alva" mentioned quite a bit. Alva is a diaper made in China, and sold ultra cheap... about $5 a diaper, which is amazing. But I assumed the quality was lower and didn't want the hassle of cheap diapers. However, we were gifted an Alva, and once it started fitting Matthew, it quickly became one of my favorites. Don't get me wrong, it is a lower quality diaper when compared to one that was made in the US, but it works and has held up great so far. So I started looking in to buying more of them, and came across a co-op group on Facebook. The hosts regularly hold a buy where the members can order diapers/inserts/wetbags, and the more items purchased, the prices drop. On some of the bigger buys, the diapers get as cheap as $2.50! Insane!

And how it works, is once the buy is closed, every person who ordered sends money through Paypal to the host, and then the host orders everything. The diaper company then sends all the packages (usually about a dozen big packages) to the host, where then they sort, package, invoice for shipping, and then ship all the individual orders. The whole process takes a month or two, so you can't go in with an immediate need and expect it on your door in 3 days. I haven't bought any Alvas yet, but I have bought 2 other kinds of cheap Chinese diapers... JC Trade (aka Cartoons) and Happy Flute. The Cartoons have mostly been a flop, as they leak through the rise snaps, which should NOT happen. The Happy Flutes are awesome though, so I might look into buying more at some point. But next up on my list are the Alvas. There will be a buy coming up in the next few weeks, so I'm making my list!

Anyway... I've been lax in keeping up with my total cost list, but I've finally finished my inventory sheet and came up with how much I've spent so far. The number is about where I expected it to be, and while cd'ing could have been cheaper had I done things a bit differently, I'm fairly happy with my stash.

The total was $781.66. But I'm at the point now where I'm starting to sell off the ones I don't like enough to use constantly, so within the past week or two, I've gotten back about $80 of that. So the total is right around $700 now. I'm pleased with the rate of return on the diapers... averaging about 80% return, which is pretty good for used diapers. I have more waiting to be listed, too, so that total number should drop even more, although when I buy the Alvas, what I make back might be mostly negated. We'll see.

I'm here

So in true Jaime fashion, I've fallen off the blogging bandwagon again. A lot of stuff has been going on, but that's life, right? And then, every once in a while, I'll think of something fun to write about, but when I get the time to sit down and write it all out.... poof!... there goes my motivation.

I can't guarantee a timeline of my return, but I do promise to try to write when I have things to say. :)