GroVia Cloth Diaper Review

I have mentioned the GroVia diapers a in a previous post about using cloth diapers at daycare. We are now 6 months in of cloth diapering and GroVia are by far my favorites! I love them so much!

They are an All in Two product which means they have a cover and an insert that snaps in (awesome!). I like these systems the best as you can reuse the covers multiple times! I have used their covers, prefolds, biosoakers, stay dry soaker pads, and organic cotton soaker pads. So, a lot of their products! Here is a breakdown of each item:

Covers: These are my favorite covers (ok I will stop saying favorite as it will get redundant!). I love the prints they have as they are so adorable. Drift and Poppy are probably the cutest of a very cute bunch! I don't have the older prints and really want to find some to add to my stash. I also like how easy they fit on A. One of the fastest covers I have to put on. And as A has hit her very wriggly, I want to roll all over the place, phase, having a cover that I can easily close (aplix) is fantastic. I also like the mesh lining covering the TPU. I find that they breathe better than my covers that have exposed PUL or TPU. I usually only need 1-2 covers a day as well!

Poppy, Drift, and Pudge Prints!

Stay dry soaker pads:  The stay dry part is super soft! I find that these also hold a lot and are very trim. The fact that they just snap right into the covers is so amazing and again make those changes much faster and easier. These also tend to dry a bit faster than the organic cotton soaker pads. And they do not seem to stain as easily.

Organic Cotton Soaker Pads: I love these one the best. Just like the stay dry they fit right into the covers. I like that they are organic cotton against her skin. They do stain easiest out of all my diapers but I just put them in the sun to dry and like magic, the stains are gone! They do also take longer than others to dry but again the sun helps with that. I also feel that these hold a lot more in them than other inserts that i have. The gussets also help keep any of her poos from getting out (stay dry also has gussets).

Bamboo Prefolds: I had a service for the beginning of our cloth diaper adventure (where I fell in love with the GroVia covers) so when we decided to go it ourselves I wanted to try GroVia prefolds, too. I only have a handful as we only use at home (daycare does not like prefolds) but they are so great! They are softer than the cotton prefolds we used with the service. They seem to hold a TON! I can padfold them into the covers when I need to do a quick change, or do the jelly roll fold and snappi it shut when she is calmer and will sit still enough for that! I got size 3 (Infant Long) which was just above her weight but wanted to use them longer and haven't had any issues with them being a bit bigger. I just fold the back down a bit and we are good to go!

Biosoakers: These are the disposable inserts that you can use in a cover when needed. We don't use these often as it is so easy to just use an actual soaker pad but when we have used them they worked great. My only suggestion is to not pull the sticky part off and just lay it in the cover. I  didn't have any issues with it moving around by not be attached and the sticky part was too sticky in my opinion. We are taking a vacation this summer where we will be flying across country so planning to use these for our trip!

Thoughts:

Cost: The covers are around $17 and the soaker pads are between $17-19 for two of them. So, they are a bit pricey but the covers can last for more than one change which helps with the cost. The ease of use also makes it worth while for me!

Trimness: I find these to be very trim! The only item that I would consider bulky would be the prefolds and that is because I got the bigger size. If I am using either of the Soaker Pads, they are one of my trimmest diapers. She is able to fit in clothes no problem and I have not had to go up a size because of these diapers.

Ease of Use: I feel I covered this already, but these are super easy to use! Snap in the Soaker Pad, and put on baby! I can do this one even with all her flipping and wriggling!

Overall: I think the GroVia system is the best one. My daycare also loves them which just adds to my love for them. In fact, the first day I brought the soaker pads in rather than prefolds, when I picked up A, they sought me out to say how much they LOVE the new diapers. And then another day, I overheard them telling a mom whose son has bad diaper rash to consider my diapers! Such a big change from our first days diapering with them! I would highly recommend this diapering system!

Update 1.10.15 - Now 16 months into cloth diapering and GroVia is still our number one go to diaper! I have also added Grovia's Kiwi Pie fitted and wool to my stash and they are also amazing! And my daycare still enjoys them as well :) End Update

28 Weeks! (and a slight rant...)

Wow, I have been a serious blog slacker! Being a working mom has been WAY more difficult than I ever thought it would be. I mean, you hear that it is tough, but man, is it TOUGH! And it makes a huge difference on childcare as well. I am now very envious of those who have family that can watch their kids. I have heard people who complain about family watching and I realize there are probably some issues with that but to me, they seem very LUCKY and should feel blessed to have family watching their children. Don't get me wrong, I am happy with the daycare we have and am very happy that she got in where she did. But, it is expensive (and that is with my discount) and she gets sent home a lot for being sick! And part of me can never fully concentrate on my work because I am always checking my phone in case the daycare texts. Now, the two days my Mom was here to watch her were so amazing! I didn't worry about her (well I worry always as I am a worrywort but not to the level of daycare worry), I was super productive at work, I could stay at work a bit later than normal, it was just an great two days. But, this is not what we have, so we move forward and find the positive in what we do have! Which IS a good daycare, that is close by, with teachers who do care about her!

Now on to the update :)

28 Weeks 3.18.14

Sleep: Sleep is still all over the place. She did have two nights where she slept 11 hours (AMAZING!) but that was right after her shots and then she went right back to waking 2 times a night.

Clothing Size: This is all over the place as well! Anything from 3-12 months seems to be in rotation at the moment!

Favorite Toys/Activity: Basically anything in front of her she sees as a potential toy and item she can chew on!

Milestones: So many things! She is crawled for the first time on March 10 (a day after daddy's birthday). She had been doing army crawling but that was the first time we saw a real crawl using hands and knees! March 15th she started to clap her hands. It is so adorable to watch her clap her hands! She is also starting to pass objects from one hand to the other. She is starting to really pull herself up to a standing position as well. She has mostly only done this on the couch but I have seen her try other areas as well so I bet she will have this down pretty soon!

She started solid foods! Her first food was avocado on March 8th. The next day she broke out in a rash so we stopped and waited 4 days. I don't think it was actually related but to be safe we will wait a bit on that. The next thing we have given her is apples. She REALLY likes eating the apples. But we then realized it was making her a bit constipated so have stopped that as well! Will be trying peaches and sweet potato next! We have been making the food ourselves as well which has been really great and easy too (at least according to my husband who does the actual making!).

Favorite Mommy Moment: 
There have been so many! She is starting to do little hugs and has started to (I feel) purposefully grab onto me. She will also now crawl to me if I am anywhere in the room and then put her hand on my foot and look up at me! It is adorable! I just really love watching her figure out everything going on around her though. The expressions she makes and her curious nature are fascinating to watch!  She is really becoming a little person now, I can't believe how quickly it is all happening! 

6 Months!!

A,

A very, merry, half birthday to you! Wow, half a year already. I do not know how that is possible. It cannot have been only 6 months ago that you came into this world. Some days it feels like you have always been here and other days it feels like it was just yesterday that you were born.

This past month was a bit of a rough one has you got a really bad cold. I don’t think you made one full week at daycare this past month. So, that just meant lots of extra snuggles with mommy and daddy as we tried to make you better!

You just keep amazing me each and every day. I feel so proud of you when I get my updates on where you should be development wise and you are already way ahead of where they say you should be! You are for sure a mover girl! You want to see what is going on and be a part of it. You roll, crawl, sit up, giggle, stand (with help from mommy and daddy!), feed yourself, the list goes on and on! I was looking back at pictures from your other monthly photos and it is amazing to see how much you have changed already! Thursday will be your official weigh in and measure day but we did it at home and it looks like you have grown an inch in a month which puts you just over 26 inches! That means in the past 6 months you have grown 5 inches. Such a tall girl! Your hair has come in now on all sides, no more balding man look! And it seems to be getting a darker red which just makes your blue eyes stand out even more! I know I am biased but you really are the most beautiful baby girl I have ever seen. And you are such a happy girl, too. I love to see you laugh and smile and you get this light in your eyes as you figure things out. My favorite moments are when I pick you up for daycare and you look up and see that it is me, and then give me the biggest grin! It doesn’t matter how bad my day was, as soon as I see that, it instantly makes me day amazing. You are “talking” more and more now as well. Your babbling is so cute. Daddy loves it as you have started to say da, you haven’t quite gotten ma out but I am hoping soon! It is not associated with us yet, but I know that is around the corner! You do say ba, da, la, ha, and a squealy hi type noise. We say hi to you all the time so we will see if that is your first official word! I know you will love when we start to give you food this weekend. You love your oatmeal and so I feel you will love to get some real food as well. We may even start a sippy or straw cup as you keep pulling at our cups and try and drink from it! So many new exciting adventures to come!

These past 6 months have probably been the most stressful, busy, make me feel I am going crazy time of my life but I wouldn’t change one day of it because you also have made it the most amazing, better than I could imagine time of my life as well. Watching you grow and learn and stealing little baby hugs and cuddles truly is one of the best things in my life. I know it goes the same for daddy as we “steal” you from one another for extra baby time! You are such a light and joy in our lives and it is hard to imagine any time before you! We love you so much our little biddle!