On cloth diapering

So, I know some of you are interested in how the hemp baby diapers are working out. In my measly two months of experience, I've learned a few things, so here you go.

As soon as I started looking in to cloth diapering I found a whole world of variety and options I didn't know existed. After looking at All-in-Ones, pre-folds, fitteds, and pocket diapers I decided to make fitted diapers to use with Thirsties covers. Fitteds are generally easy to clean and with fitteds you don't have to wash the covers very often, so they remain waterproof much longer.

I originally made 20 fitted diapers made of hemp/cotton fleece (ordered 7 yards from Hemp Basics online) on the outside and two layers of microfiber towels (bought a pack at Sam's Club) on the inside, with velcro closures. I used the sewing pattern from verybaby.com and the only adjustment I made was to cut the corners on the front flap of the diaper, rather than keeping it square. The pattern was great and really easy to use. I also ordered elastic and velcro from verybaby.com The website also has lots of helpful tutorials and tells you how much fabric, velcro, and elastic you need to make diapers.

I didn't try making covers because it is very important that you have good covers. If you have good covers, it doesn't really matter what you put on the inside.

My diaper routine is to shake off or dunk dirty diapers and put them in a nylon bag in a trash can with a lid. My wash routine is pre-wash cold (no detergent), hot wash with detergent, and an extra rinse. I usually hang the diapers to dry and fluff them in the dryer for 10 minutes. If I do dry them in the dryer they take a long cycle to dry.

Recently the diapers have developed an ammonia smell, which is rather disturbing. It's burn your nose hairs off some mornings (after he's been in a diaper all night). The diapers don't smell until they are peed in and then as they sit in the diaper pail, they develop an ammonia smell. Most people seem to have to experiment a bit to figure out what wash routine and detergent work for their diapers. I think pre-folds are the easiest to clean though. In the last couple of days I've been experimenting with washing changes - using Purex Free and Clear instead of Charlie's soap and cutting out vinegar and baking soda.

I've read a lot online and have come to the conclusion that my main problem is the microfiber. The diapers are super absorbent, which is great on one hand, but on the other, this means they absorb all the detergent in the wash too. Microfiber is also mostly polyester and if you've ever played sports in a polyester jersey, you know it retains smells quite badly. So, if you are making cloth diapers, I don't recommend sewing microfiber into the middle. I'd just use hemp in the middle.

You need to make sure that whatever detergent you use is as basic as can be and free from perfumes, enzymes, fabric softener, etc. These all build up on your diapers and make them less absorbent. Here is a great site on which detergents work well and what is in them.

I'm still quite hopeful I can make the hemp/microfiber diapers work and get rid of the ammonia smell. Cloth diapering does not have to be stinky. If it is, something isn't working right.

If you get detergent build-up, the urine can react with that to produce the ammonia. If that is the case, you need to strip your diapers. To do this, wash on hot using a tablespoon of Dawn dish detergent. Rinse until you do not see any suds in the water. This may take a LOT of rinses. Some people never have to do this, others do it about once a month.

Well, that's all rather random, but hopefully helpful. I'll keep you posted.

9 months old in June

Man, time has flown by and Tate has been home almost two months. A LOT has happened in those two months and he is making fast progress in catching up. When we picked him up in Ethiopia he could barely roll over, could not sit up on his own, did not cry (just made a stressed out scrunched up face), had no teeth, and didn't know his legs were good for anything. In the last two months we've seen massive progress.

He now is crying (or saying "oh gee") when he's sad, has two teeth, can and does eat most anything he's given, crawls, laughs, giggles, waves, blows raspberries with his lips, loves splashing in the water (this he also had to learn), laughs when we make fun of him, and about a million other wonderful things.

In the month of June, his Grandma and Grandpa came down from Wisconsin twice to see him. He loved the extra attention.

The sound that goes with this face is pretty awesome. It's him blowing raspberries and he can and does do it for minutes at a time. It's his favorite thing and he'll challenge anyone to a raspberry blowing duel. He always wins.
The first time I put Tate in water, he just sat there. The first few weeks were filled with experiences like that - everything was new and he was taking it all in. He quickly learned what to do though and now loves the water. He still hasn't learned that trying to crawl in the tub isn't a good idea. This is one of my favorite pictures. He's such a ham.

This is Grandpa Staveness and Ed. I tried to get Tate to smile, but my dad said, "What you don't want any pictures of him crying? Take the picture while he's crying!" I love dad. I also love this picture.
Yeah, so the playground wasn't such a happy time for Tate :-)

Glory Ethiopia

Now that I've finally finished blogging about our trip, I'll post some more recent updates, but before I do, I wanted to highly recommend our guide to anyone and everyone who has the opportunity to travel to Ethiopia. Our guide, Daniel was amazing. He is very knowledgeable about his country, reads a lot, is open to talking about most anything, and is all around very good at what he does. We paid up front and from then on, we didn't have to worry about where to eat, where to stay, what to do. He planned a great itinerary for us and was flexible when needed.

If you want to know more about our trip feel free to email me. Also, do check our Glory Ethiopia's website http://gloryethiopia.com/ and start to want to visit Ethiopia :-)

Gotcha Day (& Week) Video

Here is a video that we put together that shares some of the special moments we captured in the first week that we had Tate. It includes a video of us meeting Tate for the first time, as well as some pictures from while we were still in Ethiopia with him. We hope you like it.

Back to Addis

Sunday we said farewell to beautiful Lalibela and the mountains and flew back to Addis. It was quite exciting to know that we wouldn't leave the city again until we had our son in our arms. Being back in the city didn't fail to provide lack of adventures and we spent our final day as a family of two exploring the city.

We walked out our hotel in the late morning, intending to just go on a short stroll. (Thus the absence of pictures). About two minutes after we left the hotel, an Ethiopian man, headed our same direction, greeted us. When we kindly said hello back, he asked if we didn't recognize him from the MK Hotel. We said no, but we weren't really paying attention. He told us he was on a lunch break and began telling us all about Ethiopia's rich history. Not having anywhere in particular to be, we decided to just go with it.

We talked with him, asking where the museum. He insisted on walking us there and told us about some music and dancing happening in the same area. Upon arriving at the museum, we discovered it was closed for lunch, but never fear, something else is always near.

We followed him to the music and dancing (actually right across the street from Metro Pizza). Upon entering the house/restaurant, we were greeted by about 10 VERY energetic college women who were very happy to have company. They turned the music on up, began dancing and singing, and pulled us up off the couch to dance with them. Traditional Ethiopian dance mostly consists of shaking your shoulders as fast as possible, which, for an unpracticed Westerner is not very fast. However, we had tons of fun and they were very encouraging.

Sometime in there one girl asked Joseph if he would buy a round of a traditional drink. He asked the price and it seemed reasonable, so he said sure. (We later found out that 15 and 50 sound remarkably similar). We sampled the fermented fruit juice and while Joseph liked it, I didn't so much.

The girls had fun doing my hair and asking us about America and talking about what they were studying. Eventually the power went out, so the club music got toned down to drums and singing.

We got a bit hungry and asked for some food, so they brought out injera and a meat dish. It was actually some of the best tasting Ethiopian food we had had all week. However, to show hospitality, Ethiopians take delight in feeding their guests, and, as they don't use utensils, this means eating off of their hand. We are both pretty comfortable with germs and not really grossed out by much, but by the end of the HUGE platter, we were watching them slosh their hands in the sauce and bring a drippy mess to our mouths, saying "one more bite," while we were saying "no, no we are too full"...gulp. So, thus began my first bout with stomach yuckiness and worsened Joseph's already unhappy insides.

We left feeling fine, but when we returned to the hotel, we lay on the bed feeling like we had rocks in our gut and fearing the traditional Ethiopian meal our guide was taking us to that evening.

Dinner time came around a bit too fast and we were off to an Ethiopian feast. In good spirits and determined to have willpower, we let him order the sampler platter for us. Afterall, how often are you in Ethiopia to eat Ethiopian food?! We tried everything, but at the end it looked like we had not eaten much. We did, however, enjoy the honey wine, and I did, indeed dance with a man wearing a goat skin.

That night we were too sick to get a good night's sleep and began splitting the prescription drugs we brought to fight bacterial infection. So, thus ended our time as a family of two. It was a rather sad ending to the amazing week we had had, but once we saw our son, we had distraction and joy enough!

Children's Village

Back to blogging about our trip and only have a couple of posts left! I took a brief break while my mom was visiting. We were busy playing with Tate and going on walks.

To pick up on our trip, we spent the last afternoon in Lalibela with our guide Yosef. Yosef grew up in the town of Lalibela, in a well-respected family. His grandfather was a local legend, being a famous Orthodox priest who translated the History of the Kings and the Bible from the old language of Ge'es (which no one but priests can read) to the Amharic language of the day. This meant that laymen could now read the Bible and the History of the Kings on their own - something that for the western world happened centuries ago. Joseph smiled and said, not only did he and Yosef have the same name, but Joseph's grandfather did a similar thing; a paraphrase of the Bible to modern language (the Living Bible).

Yosef had studied to be a deacon and spent his childhood in much the same way as the boys we saw hanging about the churches. All the boys knew who he was and he spent most of the time we were exploring Yemrehane Christos, talking to the local deacon boys.

Yosef received a good education, went to college to study computer science (also like Joseph), but then after living in the city and sitting in front of a computer day after day, yearned to be back in his small mountain village. He began working with tour companies and receives, for an Ethiopian, a good living. He uses his money not to save up for himself, but to care for street children. As he walked the streets he knew so well, he saw many children sleeping on the streets, begging, and hungry. He and his family decided they needed to do something to care for the orphans. So, a few years ago he began working with the government to run an orphanage for these children. He now spends most of his time caring for these children and works for tour companies for financial support.

The Children's Village currently houses 12 elementary aged kids. They attend school, receive tutoring, play soccer, sell things at market, and study hard. Above is a picture of Joseph, Yosef, a young man who is a house dad, and one of the boys. Yosef employs a couple men to tutor the children and some young women to cook and do laundry for them.

All 12 of the children had both of their parents die and walked to Lalibela looking for food and shelter. When Yosef knows a street child, he will find out where they are from and take the child to their hometown. There, he asks everyone what happened to his parents and if anyone knows this child and can care for him. If found to be a true orphan, not a runaway, Yosef takes them in.

They currently live in a rented, small compound, made of cement, with metal doors and roofs. Each room holds 2-4 children. Above every bed is a handwritten paper in English saying the child's name, favorite activities, favorite subject in school, and vision (what they want to be).

Yosef knows there are many, many more children in need of love and care. He has bought a small parcel of land in Lalibela where he plans to build a modern house that can hold 80 children. The children will go to school and those who want and are able will attend college. Those who get jobs will send money back to help continue the work that made their life possible. Those who do not go to college can stay and be employed by the Children's Village, helping tutor and care for the orphans and the house. He has had Americans ask about adopting a child, but he has no knowledge about how to make that happen and is not inclined to go that route. If he is able to care for the children (most of whom are older), then they can be raised to care for others in Ethiopia.Yosef has been trying to fundraise among businessmen in Addis, but like all of Ethiopia, is still very much in need of money and resources. Construction is very expensive in Ethiopia, especially in someplace as remote as Lalibela. Just finding modern equipment is very difficult. To pay for the land and building (which is built well, will last for years and years), he needs 1 - 1.5 million dollars. He does not have any official liaisons in the western world, only people who have visited, seen his work, and tell other people. As such, he receives occasional donations, but he never knows when or how much he will have. He needs regular supporters, so he can budget and make consistent payments to the work of building.

We have nothing to prove his legitimacy other than our word that we saw his work, saw the land, saw how respected he is in the area and we trust him. Because he works with the government and not a western NGO, getting money to him is a bit tricky. However, if you would like to support him in any way, please do let us know and we can put you in contact with him by email and answer any more questions you may have. (my email is heidibayly at gmail)

I keep thinking about the new, amazing hotel we stayed at in Lalibela, which must have cost a fortune to build. It was built because some Americans came to Lalibela and asked their guide (a friend of Daniel Damtew's) what the town needed. He said a good hotel, as there was nowhere comfortable for westerners to stay. The Americans said, "How much do you need?" and it was done.

How much more does the town of Lalibela need a house for their parentless children to sleep, eat and live in?! We're hoping some American will ask Yosef, "How much do you need?" and it will be done.