Flats & Handwashing Challenge Day 4

So I didn't blog yesterday - there were several reasons for that. Yesterday was our 3rd anniversary. Since we had kids here, and no babysitter, we just went out to a little local place we like -nothing fancy. But the main reason I didn't blog was that my right shoulder was hurting so badly. Jaxon was fussy and wanting me to hold him which means I was one finger typing. That normally isn't so bad. But when I moved my right arm certain ways, like to the left so I could type on the left side of the keyboard, my shoulder was hurting so bad. I gave up.

But this morning I went to the chiropractor who fixed my back, which was causing my shoulder to lean funny. He also pulled a loose tendon back into place. It felt weird while he was doing it, but afterwards I felt about 75% better. Still some pain, but not anything like it was yesterday.

Ok, so flats challenge. For those who don't already know, I'm participating in the Flats & Handwashing Challenge with Dirty Diaper Laundry. You can see a full listing of the rules and requirements of the challenge here. Yesterday was Day 3. Nothing exciting happened. No washing, no leaks. Just a plain old day.

Today, we had our first leak. My fault, I believe. Jaxon took a nap and when he woke up, I didn't change him like I should have. I was in the middle of making lunch and then I nursed him once I got the big kids settled in to eat. I never even thought to change him until after he finished and by then the flat was soaked. But his outfit was only a little wet, so it wasn't a bad leak. Anyway, my fault. Morning is already his wettest time and I had waited about 4 hours to change him. I'm going to pretend I meant to do that...that I was testing out how much a single flat will hold!

So here is what he is wearing now: flat, pad folded, inside an Applecheeks. I realized this morning I've been alternating between only 3 covers so I decided to try out two more since I can have up to 5. Since I love Applecheeks and since they are so versatile, I decided to try it out. Very cute! I'll let you know tomorrow how it held up to leaks (he's sleeping right now).

I didn't wash yesterday because of my shoulder. I did soak the diapers in a water & Bac Out solution. There were two poopy  diapers yesterday, so they needed soaking! Woke up in the middle of the night and we had no power. Two thoughts went through my head: first, we're going to lose all our food AGAIN. Since we moved in at the beginning of April, we've had all the food in the freezer/fridge go bad twice due to power outages. And my second thought was that I would have no hot water to wash my flats with if the power stayed out. Thankfully, we woke up this morning and it was back on!

So I washed this morning and found I had too many flats for the drying rack. Set 8 out to dry, plus covers and wipes and liners, and left the other four in the sink. A few hours later half were dry, so I brought those in and put the 4 wet ones out. I've been hearing thunder all day so I was hoping the storms would hold off long enough for those to dry. But it was not to be! Just heard the rain start while I was blogging and had to go get the flats in. They're under the ceiling fan in our bedroom now. I woke Jaxon up running to bring them in from the deck. So I'm now happy to report he soaked that flat and the Applecheeks did not leak.

Right now, I'm trying the alternative kite fold shown on Knocked Up and Nursing.

I'm also going to try a different cover a little later. I'm realizing that almost diaper can function as a cover for a flat, so I'm trying to decide what diaper to use next. I think I'm going to try my itti bitti bitti tutto. He's not due for a poop today, so today is the day to experiment with covers. I'll be sticking with my Thirsties covers for the poop days because I know they will not leak!

I noticed others complaining about their flats being stiff. Mine have not been. Another blog mentioned that if they blow up against each other while drying, they won't dry stiff. That may be why mine are not drying stiff - it's been very windy this week and so the wind whipped them all against each other while they were drying.

I also noticed that others are complaining that their hands hurt, are raw, red, or burned from the washing. Mine are not. It makes me wonder if I'm doing something wrong. Honestly, the first time I handwashed, my hands felt softer. I thought it was the Rockin' Green. It seemed to make the water feel almost silky to me. But I know I'm not using scalding hot water, so that makes me a little concerned that my diapers aren't clean enough. But they smell fine, and the water is clear when I rinse them. So I feel like they are clean. How much does water temperature matter? I know at the end of the week I can go back to my washing machine and be able to know they are clean. But if I was handwashing full time I think I would boil them every week or so to ensure they were getting clean. Do you feel like your diapers are getting clean?

***Special thanks to Cotton Babies for providing Ozocozy flats and Econobum covers***