Nicki's January Mom of the Month

Name: Katie S. Hometown: Suburban Denver, CO Occupation: home health occupational therapist Children: Violet, 16 months How did you decide to cloth diaper? The biggest reason was environmental. When I read about how long diapers will sit in landfills, I didn't want to contribute to the problem. Of course we do use disposables at times, but it's pretty infrequently. The other issue was cost. I couldn't see spending even $14 on a box of diapers (store brand) and just throwing them away after one use. True, we've spent a pretty penny on our cloth diapers because I love the extra cute ones, but if we do decide to have a second child, we'll still be able to use them on that child too. What types of cloth diapers do you use? We use BumGenius 3.0's for daycare at grandma's because of the velcro. We have about 10 of them. We have one of each color of SmartiPants, a few Blueberry, and then one each of Knickernappies, FuzziBunz OS, Rocky Mountain Diapers, and Haute pockets. I also have fitteds and wool covers that we use overnight. What is your favorite cloth diaper and why? If I had to just pick one, I'd pick SmartiPants. I love snaps, I love that they're very trim, and I especially love that the insert doesn't have to be removed before washing. They are really economical too. What is your favorite non-mommy related activity or hobby? I'm a HUGE baseball fan. My favorite team is the Oakland Athletics and I also love the Colorado Rockies. When I lived in the Oakland area, I had season tickets and often went to over 100 baseball games a year (including road games). Now we only get to 10-15 games a year, but I still watch baseball every night on TV in the summer. What type of music do you play in the car when you don't have your children? I listen to a lot of country music, and bands like Dave Matthews Band, Rob Thomas, One Republic, Jason Mraz, etc. I also listen to a lot of sports talk radio when I drive around all day for work. What would you tell someone who is just starting out? I'd highly suggest trying a few different types of diapers. You don't want to spend a lot of money on one brand because everyone says they're great and then find out that they just don't work for your baby. Don't be afraid of trying prefolds, especially on a newborn. You can do it. I work full time and still manage to have plenty of time for diaper laundry! Anything else we should know about you? I'm a proud kitty owner to 3 cats, Ellis, Helton & Vinny. I'm really active in animal welfare causes and volunteer at a shelter when time permits. I am a native Minnesotan & wish we could move back there, but for now it's not a possibility. I also run a mommy blog called thinkPINK in my spare (haha!) time - http://katieandscotts.blogspot.com