Stella (pushing) is sporting the classic cloth diapered bum look.

By Valerie Terry

Our hard-working New and Expecting Parents organizers are hosting an upcoming parent meeting about Going Green with Baby(s). They are going to showcase several green diaper options, including cloth. I've met several MOM's who expressed an interest in cloth diapering but were put off by the perceived work of covering two sweet (stinky, messy, constantly wet) bums with cloth. I thought I would share my experience with two (and at one point THREE) children in cloth diapers. If you're looking at diapers (and anyone who's expecting twins, or has infants is looking at diapers) I highly encourage you to attend the next NEP meeting and think about giving cloth a chance.

It's pretty amazing to me how far diapering has come. In my baby-hood, moms didn't have much of a choice. It was cloth, rubber pants and washing you own. When disposables became a real option, I understand why just about every mom made the switch. I think my brother, born 4 years after I was was the last of my siblings to use cloth. Both of my sisters were in disposables, because they were easier (and finally worked) as opposed to cloth.

But as things stand now, everything old is new again, and with 30+ years worth of plastic diapers piling up in landfills, and the stronger and stronger chemicals used in disposables the modern mom is looking back to cloth as an improved option. And today's diaper aren't your grandmas. With easy to use options like pocket diapers and all-in-ones and inexpensive options such as easy-to-home wash diapers and cute breatheable covers cloth has made a viable comeback in many households. Not to mention that we are lucky enough to live in a diaper service area--and that there are also compostable and flushable diapers on the market now.

No matter how diapers change, what's inside stays the same...

So with al of these options avaiable to modern parents, how does one family choose? Especially when expecting twins?

My decison to go with cloth started with my first pregnancy. I had quit my job and gone back to school while pregnant--giving me an unhealthly amount of time to agonize over every baby-related decision. I actually set up a spread-sheet of sorts (check out this wonderful cost chart of all diapering options) running the costs of disposable vs. the array of cloth options. I was looking at cost and ease of use. Ultimately cloth won out on the cost end. The average baby will go through about 6,000 dipers in the fisrt two years of life. With disposables costing and average of .25 a piece, you're looking at roughly $1,500 in diaper costs alone. Per child. A very reasonable basic cloth system can be purchased for about $300. Of course, cloth diapers are bought up front, where disposables are a weekly or monthly purchase. Many parents balk at the "cost" of cloth, while not totaling up the weekly cost of each disposable package they buy. Now one can spend a whole lot more than $300 buying cloth--but you'd still be hard pressed to reach the total cost of disposable diapering over the years of use. And--cloth can be used with more than one child. Or in my case, with three children.

I picked the very economic rectangles of cloth that get folded, "pinned" (I used Snappies--love them!) and then have a waterproof cover placed over them. I had 4 dozen diapers and some inserts for night-time diapering. I had an awesome Simple Human garbage can used as a diaper pail and I washed 1-2 loads of diapers a week. I made my own wipes and had wash water in an air pot. I loved my diapers and used them everywhere. When my husband and I decided to have baby #2, we knew that diapers would be taken care of.

But baby #2 turned into babies A & B. Undeterred, I didn't even order (very more) diapers. I set myself up for bringing the babies home from the hospital in cloth and turned down the NICU nurse's offer of premie diapers. I started with clth as soon as I had my little girls home with me. Of course, my oldest decided that potty training was not for her, and that left me with three in cloth at once. The only "hard" part was sorting out whose diaper was whose--and good thing the various cloth sizes come with color coded stiching.

And I'm off to change that (cloth) diaper.

It wasn't perfect. There are leaks sometimes, and blow-outs, and the oh-shoot-I-forgot-to-put-the-diapers-in-the-washing-machine moments. Carrying wet and soiled diapers home form play-dates can be no fun. But I loved my sweet cloth-diapered baby bums, and in reality, no system is perfect. Even potty training has it's draw backs. ;) But I never found cloth diapers to be hard or daunting. I made my decision, tweaked it at times to suit my family's needs and never looked back.

Ultimately, every family has differing needs. And cloth might not be for everyone. It does take a bit of a commitment and a little more time. But it's worth thinking about, especially for twins. And with so many ways to make it work, I think evryone can give it a chance.

We're taking one from the archives today, as mom Amy M. talks about having her twins in two preschools. Don't forget to join us tonight at the Cambrain Library for a parent panel discussion about all kinds of preschool options. Everyone is welcome!

~The Mad About Multiples Team

I am one of the few crazy people who signed up at two parent participation schools.  Both kids in both schools.  Yes, I know.  CRAZY.  Let me explain.

My kids (and I) were in the Together Time program at Explorer Preschool and one of the added bonuses (which I didn't initially realize) is that we had priority placement in the 2's class.  Yippee!  At the same time, I felt responsible for checking out other programs and schools in the area and had always heard rave reviews for the Los Gatos Saratoga Observation Nursery School (aka the Mountain School) so we attended the family open house and submitted an application.

This is where I should insert my rant:  it truly annoyed me to be making pre-school decisions for my children when they were ~20 months old.  Both Explorer and Mountain School are difficult to get in to for the 3's class (I was told 'virtually impossible' at Mountain School) so I felt like wherever we ended up for our 2's class would most likely be where the kids would be going to pre-school for the next 3 years.  I abhor the rat race mentality and here I was, embarking down a road that felt very, very rat-race-ish.  Mostly, I felt like I had so much more to learn about each of my children's very different personalities and learning styles and it was difficult to make a decision for them.  What kind of environment would they best thrive in?  

Long story short, we were accepted to Explorer, which was no surprise.  Mountain School told us we were at the bottom of the wait list (it's a lottery system for non-legacy families).  Great!  No gut-wrenching decision to make!  Woohoo!  We love it and we're familiar with Explorer.  It will be great.  Would I take the Class Rep role for my 2's class at Explorer?  Sure!  Why not?  We're in!

Then, in July, LGSONS called to say that there were two spots for us in the Saturday class if we wanted them.  Really?  Oh no.  I thought I had gotten out of having to make a choice between the two schools.  After some discussion though, my husband and I decided it would be a great opportunity for HIM to join the kids for some great pre-school experiences (and for me to have time for a pedicure or two) and that if we attended both schools, we'd have the opportunity to compare them side-by-side and have our choice in schools next year.  It's only one day at each school per week after all.

Grand plan, right?  I hope so.  I've been anxious about the amount of time I'll be spending at meetings for each school.  Not to mention the time (and money) spent on fund raising for each school.  So I've spent the summer wondering if I'm making the wrong decision.  If it will be worth it? 

So far so good.  Last Friday, the kids and I had a Meet the Teacher day at Explorer and it took me at least 30 minutes to get them to leave the school.  We were slated for 15-20 minutes there, with some time overlapping with other families and my kids were just having too much fun.  I've never had such a hard time getting them to leave a place.  GREAT sign. 

And this past Saturday was our first day of class at the Mountain School.  The kids had a BLAST.  There was some initial hesitation in picking out their name tags, but as soon as I carried my sometimes-a-spider-monkey son into the classroom, he wanted down and yelled, "Animals!"  "Truck!"  "CHOO CHOO TRAIN!!!!!" in progressively more excited tones as his eyes scanned the room.  He played with the train for at least a half an hour.  My daughter did the same, except the animal figurines was her Achilles Heel.  Sucked right in to play immediately.  Then puzzles, sensory play outside, and PAINT!  They both painted the entire lengths of their arms purple and they were so happy.  I loved it (even though there is always a small voice inside of me screaming).  Cooking time (snack time) was beyond adorable with all the kids and their teachers sitting around a large table...kids trying to pour themselves water, parents at-the-ready with absorbent kitchen towels.  After wards, it was down to the garden where Z. ate at least 30 cherry tomatoes, if not more, and A. played in water (aka mud).  Circle time sitting on tree stumps under the oak trees was so peaceful and divine and perfect. 

Yes, we had made the right decision.  I think we're going to love our time at both schools, which makes the time commitments worth it.  Call me crazy. 

Original post to Mad About Multiples. Crazy Amy M. is the 2009/10 co-President of Gemini Crickets Parents of Multiples of Silicon Valley and mom to boy/girl twins. She is one busy mom!

*names have been changed to protect the guilty (but adorable)

What happened here?  Was it a localized tornado?  A wild animal attack?  No, Dear Readers, it was two angelic 2-year-old girls, hereafter referred to as "Dis" and "Aster". 

On the morning of the incident, "Daddy" sent "Mommy" a link to a video of a baby monitor capturing a pair of twins climbing out of their crib.  Daddy thought it was funny, since his twin girls always slept securely in their cribs.  Mommy recalls thinking at the time, "Thank god we don't have that problem."  Little did she know what awaited her that very afternoon.

Naptime had seemed to go well.  Yet, when Mommy opened the door, she was stunned to see this --

Our perpetrators, Dis and Aster, had figured out how to escape their cribs. Using their newly discovered climbing skills, Dis and Aster had then scaled the changing table and opened the closet door - its latch unbabyproofed since it had appeared unreachable.  The intrepid duo then pulled every item of clothing out of the closet, every piece of tissue paper out of the box, every baby wipe out of the containers, and every single diaper out of the bag.

One can only imagine the smiles that must have been on those cherubic faces as they reveled in their new freedom.  Yet, even in their glee, they managed to stay quiet enough not to alert Mommy!