Cristy S. is a stay-at-home mom to a fast-growing six month old daughter, Amalia and two stepsons, ages 4 1/2 and 2 years. Cristy loves spending time with her family, cooking, crafting and figuring out ways to cut down her growing family’s budget…including using cloth diapers!
Q: How have cloth diapers changed your life?There are so many ways! It of course, has been a huge money saver. We always planned on cloth, but started out with disposables because cloth was so bulky on our newborn. We saved some in the beginning with Amazon mom, but transitioning to cloth is now definitely saving us in the long run – once those tiny disposables were gone the larger sizes are so much more expensive.
Cloth diapering is also a conversation starter with other moms, whether you meet a kindred cloth spirit when they spot your baby’s cute diaper, or introduce a mom to the new and improved cloth diapering systems out there. So many women stick to disposables with prefolds and pins in mind, and are really thrilled to find out there are cloth diapers like FuzziBunz out there that are so easy to use, and fashionable to boot!
Not to mention, by way of researching cloth, I discovered attachment parenting, babywearing and so many more things that I had no idea existed that just felt instinctually right to me, and which we practice with our family.
Finally, I have met so many people, online and off, that I would never have met if not for cloth who are amazing people!
Q: If I could travel anywhere, I would go to…
Italy, hands down. My father’s family is from Northern Italy and Sicily and I have always wanted to visit. I grew up hearing the Italian language, eating my grandparents’ regional foods and hearing the comparison to the cultural differences between their generation and our Americanized Italian culture. I would love nothing more to explore it all in person, where our roots came from! And of course, eat the food!
Q: What do you think is the best invention of all time?
The internet. No seriously. It sounds cliche and silly, but the internet is an extremely valuable tool that allows us all to connect to people all over the world in real time, for minimal cost. So much of what the media portrays is the internet being this scary place where danger lurks around every corner - and you certainly do have to be careful - but there are communities and support for every single person, every issue and every cause. There is a wealth of information out there for anyone to find and educate themselves. As a new mom, I am especially thankful for the internet. Without it, I would never have discovered alternatives for prefolds, breastfeeding support, communities of women going through our pregnancies together, and so on. You get instant information on every product imaginable from reviews to recalls. The entire world is now at our fingertips and we take it for granted!
Q: If I could live in one outfit for the rest of my life, it would be….
That one pair of comfortable Gap jeans and a black v-neck fitted t-shirt. I like classics and a really nice quality T-shirt can be very versatile. That sounds so incredibly boring, but I am definitely a jeans type of girl. You can look casual, chic, trendy or bummy depending on what you add or remove from the outfit. Sneakers and a studded belt? Pumps and a dressy jacket and necklace? Boots and a flowy sweater? Yes, please.
Q: If you could offer one piece of advice to a new mom/dad, what would it be?
Be flexible, Be flexible, Be flexible! You can make all of the plans and decisions in the world when preparing for your baby, but just like life, babies are unpredictable. Some of your plans will fly right out the window! I was so black and white about everything I planned on doing, but once Amalia was born, I realized that she was a little person and some things needed to change or compromised. But also remember, if you are passionate about something that becomes difficult for you but you really want it to work, stick through it! I was determined to cloth diaper, became exhausted and intimidated by it in practice and kept falling back on disposables. But…I kept going, using diapers that I was uncomfortable with and trying new types. Once I found pocket diapers and AIO/2′s, everything finally fell into place.
