Charlie Banana Cloth Diaper Review

Soon after I discovered that we were expecting twins, I started researching cloth diapering. I'll be honest, my number one reason for being interested in cloth diapering in the first place was because I thought they were cute. Saving money was another big factor (twins aren't two for the price of one like I had wished) and lastly, I wanted some cloth diapers to put in our emergency preparedness kits (in case of natural disaster).

I was interested in cloth diapering, but I was intimidated with the fact that I would be having twins, and wasn't sure if I'd have the time. So I put it off, and when the twins were four months old, I decided I was ready to try a few cloth diapers. I did my research (I may or may not have spent hours watching youtube videos on cloth diapering). Anyways, after all that "research" I decided I wanted to try a few Charlie Banana cloth diapers, so I bought a few!

So I dipped my toes very slowly into the cloth diaper world. (And when I say slowly, I mean slooowly. At first I would only put my cloth diapers on the twins after they had already pooped in their disposables, because I was afraid that poo in cloth would be too messy and stain hah). But the more I used them, the more I loved them, and I eventually just had to have more!

I've had several friends ask me about cloth diapering, so here is your little tutorial for the day :) There are several categories of cloth diapers. The ones I use fall into the category of "pocket diapers" meaning, they have a pocket you stuff with an insert.

You can slide one or two inserts in depending on how much absorbency you want. Charlie Banana cloth diapers are also called 2 in 1's or hybrid diapers, because you also have the option of putting a (biodegradable) disposable insert on. I haven't tried the disposable inserts yet, but it seems like a nice option for traveling (if you didn't want to use regular disposable diapers).

We now have a good stash of CB's! Charlie Banana sent me their Tutti Frutti pack of 6 (one size) cloth diapers to review here on my blog. So that is what I'm doing- however, all thoughts and opinions are my own :)

We love them! I was nervous at first that they wouldn't fit very well with the snaps (disposable velcro is very adjustable obviously). Ryan is about 2 lbs smaller than Lyla, but they still fit him very well adjusted on a smaller snap setting. We haven't had any leaks yet, and we've been using our CBs for over 2 months!

 Sometimes I'm tempted to not dress my babies for the day, because these cloth diapers are so dang cute.

Laundry was probably my biggest fear about cloth diapering.

I hate hate hate laundry, but (surprisingly to me) I don't mind doing diaper laundry... and I have twins, so double the baby laundry! I typically wash my diapers around dinner time and hang them to dry (you can put them in the dryer, but I like to hang mine) and they are ready to use again the next morning. They do take a few minutes to stuff in the inserts before they are ready to use, but with all the $$ it saves, I really can't complain.

Exclusively breastfed babies poo can go straight in the wash, and it washes out like magic! Ours still don't have any stains after over 2 months of use, and they don't have an odor at all (really- I promise). 

Once baby starts eating solids, Charlie Banana makes these liners that you place on top of the fleece, then you simply shake the diaper over the toilet (the liner is flushable), and then throw the diaper in the washer. Don't these sound so easy compared to the cloth diapers our parents had to use...safety pins and scrubbing poop with your hands? No thanks. These are completely different! My mom told me I actually swallowed a safety pin when I was a baby- yikes!

These are seriously some pampered bums. 

Oh man, and if you have never patted a cloth diaper babies bum before, you are seriously missing out! It's scrumptious.

I have found that typically around the house, one insert is enough absorbency for my babies. However, when I leave the house, or we're going to be in the car for a long time, or over night, I either use disposables, or I use two inserts to be safe. Here is a picture with my diapers stuffed with two inserts. I still think they are pretty trim (compared to other brands of cloth diapers).

The snaps on the outside and the adjustable strap on the elastic on the legs (think like a bra strap) allows growing room for baby. It does take some time to adjust the elastic on the legs, but you only have to do that once every few months as your baby grows. I love that the twins can wear these exact diapers through potty training!

I love using these cloth diapers, and would definitely recommend them to my friends that are interested in cloth diapering or already cloth diaper. They do take a little more time and effort than disposables, but I think that Charlie Banana makes some great quality cloth diapers that are easy to use. Charlie Banana also promotes a couple of charities: Operation Smile (a medical charity that provides reconstructive surgeries for children with cleft lip and other facial deformities) and Project Child Save (dedicated to help prevent kidnapping through public awareness campaigns). I love a good company that does things like this!

Overall, we give Charlie Banana an A+!

If you have any questions, feel free to ask me!

Twins' first taste of solids

I love this picture. It's actually a screen shot from the video I posted on instagram last week... I just couldn't figure out how to put the video up here. You can view it yourself (if you want) by clicking on the instagram icon to the right. Anyways, they had just woken up from naps, and I put them on their bedroom floor to play for a few minutes before running errands. The sun was shining perfectly through their window, and their skin and eyes were literally glowing. I wanted to sit there and just stare at them all day, but unfortunately the errands couldn't wait another day. So I grabbed my phone to take a picture to remember the moment by, but didn't realize it was on the video setting... so I ended up accidentally taking a video instead. Anyways, I've probably watched that video 5,000 times by now ;) I can't believe my babies are almost 6 months old!

They had their first taste of food last week! Ryan wasn't too sure of the texture...

...but Lyla loved it!

Kyler begged me at the grocery store for a bag of cupcake mix. I caved. We made them together, which was fun (and messy) but they tasted awful. Even Ky didn't like them (and he likes most anything with sugar in it).

...but he did enjoy the sprinkles. I'm convinced that sprinkles make everything taste better.

Last weekend we went out to dinner with some friends, and then went to a movie at the park- so fun! I can't wait until these babes can start walking on their own (not really, I love this view).

They are getting heavy, but they love these carriers! I wanted to see if wearing them both at the same time would work (so Jared can wear them both from now on haha). It worked! ...and I had room in my shopping cart for my food for the first time in months! :D

While I was putting laundry away the other day, I looked over to check on the twins (mostly to make sure Kyler was being soft with them---he likes to play a little too rough sometimes) but I was pleasantly surprised that he was being so sweet, soft and cuddly with them and had given them stuffed animals to play with :)

Man, I love these three little kids. There is absolutely no other job in the world I'd rather do than be their mother. 

Vacation part 2

Spending 2 weeks in Utah was so much fun, but even in 2 weeks time, we still didn't get to see everybody that we wanted to see, or do everything we wanted to do. I guess we'll have to plan another trip soon! It's good to be back home, although, it has been rough getting back into our normal schedule. Kyler loved staying up late and camping out with his cousins for 2 weeks. They were all so cute together. Whenever we spied on them, they would whisper to each other words like "toilet" and "toot" and then all three would burst into giggling fits. It was adorable. Oh little boys.

We also did the Dinosaur Museum and a movie night with the Schramm cousins!

Jared and I snuck a date night in at the Jordan River LDS temple. How could we not, with so many wonderful teenage cousins and aunties around to babysit?  It was gorgeous! 

We also got to walk around the Salt Lake City Temple (where Jared and I were married). There were several couples taking their wedding pictures outside when we were there, and Kyler threw a legit fit when it was time to go, because he "wanted to go inside and get married." Our sad attempt at a selfie:

We did some shopping at City Creek Mall.

...and ate WAY too much good food.

We spent our last night there at the family cabin.

It was so incredibly beautiful up there.

It was supposed to rain the majority of the time, but we lucked out and it didn't, so we got to go 4wheeling!

The twins got smothered with attention!

...and we had way too much fun spending time with family, and playing games.

It's good to be home, but we already can't wait to go back :)

Vacations part 1

All three kids are down napping, so I thought I'd clean up my phone, and post some pictures up here! Let's back up to before vacation.

Jared benched 300 lbs before we left! Don't worry, I snuck a stalker pic ;)

 We went with Jared to a work conference in Atlanta. Lyla screamed pretty much the entire 4 hour drive. The Shufords were there as well, and Kyler and Ashlynn loved playing together!

Hotel elevator:

An old friend from GA, is dog sitting for us:

No Atalanta trip is complete without a visit to the Varsity:

The twins had a few baths in the hotel sink haha

Our friend's had an upgraded room, and it had a giant living room in it!

with amazing views:

We loved the ferris wheel ride:

...and ate way too much good food. Lyla passed out at breakfast one morning:

Ashlynn and Kyler had fun at the Children's Museum:

Centennial Olympic Park was gorgeous and the weather was amazing that evening!

As seen on instagram... all three kiddies slept in the same bed one night...

The twins staring at each other before falling asleep in the hotel crib the next night... you can see here how completely different their head shapes are!

We use those blankets purple and blue blankets (with Halo sleep sacs underneath) pretty much every time they sleep. The blankets are Aden and Anais knock offs I bought off ETSY. I love them, because they aren't very stretchy and it's harder for the twins to break out of being swaddled. We love the Aden blankets too though! I wish they had those around when Kyler was a baby!

The last night we were in Atlanta, we went to the hotel pool. It was outdoors and FREEZING. It had a nice view of Atlanta though:

I was just sitting on the edge with my feet in (not planning on getting in) but Kyler accidentally slipped and fell into the pool right next to me (he doesn't know how to swim yet) so I had to jump in and grab him. He was completely fine (lucky I was right next to him!). 

After Atlanta, we hopped on a plane to Utah! It was a somewhat last minute decision, but everything seemed to work out, and we're able to stay here for 2 weeks! Flying with twins was challenging, but they did pretty good overall- it could've been a lot worse! Hopefully the flight back home is similar. The hardest part was getting on and off the plane with so much stuff and carrying the twins. 

Nursing in the airport was just awkward. I haven't had to nurse in public at all since the twins were born, so this was a first! We didn't have enough time for me to nurse them individually, so I just did what I had to do...and nursed them at the same time. It was just awkward because people were staring, and my nursing cover doesn't completely cover (it's only meant for one baby apparently haha) and the twins are at that grabby stage and kept pulling the cover down. Oh well, nobody said anything to me... like I said, just stared. hah.

The twins are already 5 months- I can't believe it!

As seen on instagram, we surprised Jared's mom for Mother's day! We were excited to introduce the twins to Jared's side of the family.

We went to Jared's parents' church on Mother's Day, and Kyler marched right up on stage with all the other kids and sang the mother's day song! I love that he is so outgoing! 

I had been thinking about getting Lyla's ears pierced for a while, and we finally did it! She did so good! Hopefully now people will be able to get Ryan and Lyla's genders right haha, wearing pink wasn't enough!

Baby Cousin, Wendi, is home!

So much fun cousin time!

Good thing we have another week here, because we are nowhere near done playing!