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Thursday, January 9, 2020

Diaper Pail Comparison | Ubbi vs Dekor Plus

Diaper Pail Comparison | Ubbi vs Dekor Plus


About two years ago, I shared all about our diapering station for a newborn and the difference of how I disposed of diapers between Sophia and baby Anthony. Since then, our diapering needs have changed dramatically. In that time, we started cloth diapering both kiddos, the eldest is now potty trained (besides nighttime) and the toddler has very stinky poop. We currently have two diaper pails for our disposable diapers: the Ubbi and the Dekor Plus. We have owned the Ubbi for about two years and the Dekor Plus for about a year or so and it dawned on me that I should share the pros and cons of both pails regarding both disposable diapering and cloth diapering (we have a third separate pail for cloth now, more on that later).

Ubbi Diaper Pail

Pros

  • Does not require special bags, you can use regular kitchen bags, cloth pail liners or their Ubbi bags. We started off using regular trash bags but once we started cloth diapering, I started using this liner but now we use the Ubbi bags.
  • Made with steel which keeps the smell contained inside the pail.
  • There is a little turn lock so you can prevent your toddler playing with dirty diapers (if you know, you know).

Cons

  • While the Ubbi could work for cloth diapering, it isn't the most efficient considering the size of cloth diapers vs disposal diapers. I was cloth diapering two at one time and could maybe fit half a day to a days worth before needing to switch out the liner (I washed my diapers every 2-3 days) which left a bag of dirty diapers sitting on the floor in my laundry room.
  • The steel construction does prevent smells from seeping through until you have to open it to put a diaper in, then you get a huge whiff of stank but I found this to be the case no matter what pail you use. I was just happy the smell wasn't constant by seeping out and I hold my breath whenever putting a dirty diaper in the pail.
  • Is not hands free, have to touch the lock to unlock and have to pull back the top to open to place a diaper in and pull back to close.

Dekor Plus Pail

Pros

  • Hands-free (as long as it's unlocked).
  • Also has a little turn lock to prevent a curious toddler from exploring dirty diapers.
  • Their specific bagging system makes it to where you only use the amount of bag you need which reduces waste and most economically efficient for disposal diapers.
  • Fits a cloth pail liner, we used this one. Before our current cloth diaper pail, we preferred this one over the Ubbi for cloth since it could fit more diapers.

Cons

  • The smell of dirty poop diapers seeps out even when its closed.

Our Current Dirty Diaper Setup

To start off, you do not need more then one diaper pail and honestly a diaper pail is NOT necessary at all for disposable diapers. For about the first 19 months of changing diapers, we did not have any pails in our house. Poop diapers went into a plastic grocery bag and straight to the dumpster in the garage while pee diapers went in a little bathroom trash can we had next to the changing table. I did not want to commit to a pail that had to have specific bags purchased. By the time Bubba was born, I heard about Ubbi and it's ability to fit standard kitchen bags so I used our monetary gifts we received for Bubba and bit the bullet. The Dekor Plus was bought shortly after starting to cloth diaper. The plan was to use Ubbi for disposables since it didn't fit many cloth diapers and to use Dekor Plus for cloth diapering. This worked great for a few months but the smell of the cloth diapers was really gross and made our room smell. After some digging and research, I found that cloth diapers need airflow in order to not start smelling. Which leads to our setup now:

Dekor Plus is in Bubbas room and is used only for pee diapers (disposable) and we use their specialty bags because it is easier to change out and more economical. This pail is only kept around because we already had it but also doesn't hurt that we have more pee diapers throughout the day so having it contained here instead of using our kitchen trash for pee diapers keeps the smell at bay.

Ubbi is in the garage and is used for poop diapers (disposable), we use their bags as well as we found it was more economical than a kitchen trash bag due to the size of the pail versus size of bag (lots of wasted bag space). This pail is great for retaining the smell besides when you open it, which is why it became our designated poop pail. We have it in the garage because when you do open it, the smell lingers for a bit.

For cloth diapers, we use a standard kitchen trash can that has a swing lid (similar) which provides sufficient airflow and there is never a smell from our cloth diapers anymore (we rinse off all poop in the toilet before placing in the pail). We now use this cloth liner as the other one has a ripped seam and I am not a seamstress. I love that this liner has a snap closure so if you go longer between washes and need to use another liner, you can close this one off to prevent littles from playing with dirty diapers. I wash every 2-3 days and this liner fits all my diapers for one load.

Final thoughts, unless you live in an apartment I wouldn't classify a diaper pail as a necessity to add to your registry if your planning to use disposable diapers. Walking them to the garbage bin in your garage or wherever you store your large bin doesn't take any extra effort especially if you are like I was in not wanting to worry about buying specialty bags. Just use those plastic grocery bags (I always doubled up bags for poop to try to contain the smell a bit more). If you plan to cloth diaper, don't waste money on these name brand pails - buy a standard kitchen trash can that allows airflow such as one with a swing lid or no lid at all. I know it seems like the smell will linger in the air but it won't with cloth. Trying to keep the smell in, creates a smell. Trust me. If you are having a smell regardless on your cloth that may be a washing routine issue in which case I would refer you to Fluff Love University.

Do you have a diaper pail? If so, which one did you use? Do you use cloth diapers or disposables or somewhere in between like us?

If you found this post helpful or know someone who would, please share it! I have made this pinnable image below to make it easier to pin and share!!


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stormieariel
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Thursday, February 7, 2019

Let’s Chat! | Growth During Struggles

Let’s Chat! | Growth During Struggles


If your new around here, you probably don’t know this but I’m not the typical blogger. I randomly take breaks from blogging because, well life happens. Real life. Don’t get me wrong I love blogging. I love writing. I love forming the connections I have made through this digital life but I have priorities. Or at least I try to because let’s me honest we all get sucked into the scrolling mindlessly through social media while life happens around you. However, I’m breaking that cycle. I won’t allow it to hold power over me anymore of having to see every single post ever posted by this person or that person or needing to know who is doing what at this moment in time.

Now hear me out, there is absolutely nothing wrong with checking in on your favorite blogger or social media influencer but when that profile or person gets the best of you instead of the people in your real life, in your home. There’s a problem. And that’s me. Hi, my name is Stormie and I am a social mediaholic. I love catching up with people on Instagram but I hate having phone conversations. I love posting and watching instastories but I’m actually an introvert and don’t like talking in person unless we are already close friends.

So this social media break has happened for quite a few reasons. The main reason was the Lord was speaking to me. I have always wondered when people would say “The Lord spoke to me” or I’m following the Lord’s command and I always wondered like how? Did you hear a big booming voice “Stormie get off social media” with an echo? Well no. It was subtle and over time. The Lord spoke to me through books I was reading, through people I was following on social media, conversations I was having in my bible study group, etc. There was a common theme being brought to my attention across all areas of my life and it felt so strong that I knew it was coming from the Lord.

Short back story, my husband was laid off (I spoke about it some here and here) and we were dealing with unemployment for 6+ months and now underemployment. Around the same time I’m hearing the Lord speak to me, Anthony and I both also feel the Lord telling us it was finally time to say goodbye to our house. In hindsight, we were wrestling with the Lord for months and months before this without realizing it (or wanting to realize) so when we did make the decision to list our house for sell, we were at such peace because we knew it was the Lord’s will.

So the time-frame for us to be out of the house lined up with the holidays which I thought taking the whole month of December off would be the best because one it would give us time to get all moved in and settled and secondly what perfect time to create a new rhythm and routine with my children. I was also planning to use this time to intentionally plan what my life would look like on social media and how I needed to create boundaries and balance my priorities on my spiritual life and my family life first.


But alas, the Lord had other plans and other familial obligations popped up that took majority of my attention in December and half of January. Now that things have slowed down on that front, I have been trying to find my way back to my initial mission. Getting the fire back in me of being intentional with my spiritual life and my kids. Creating a new rhythm and routine with a purpose. And eventually get back to blogging with a game plan.

As of right now, I have been checking in on Facebook and Instagram every so often but not being active much other then selling stuff on marketplace. I have felt I wanted to wait until I was in a good place in my spiritual life and my family life. It’s not to say my faith has been wavering, in fact it’s quiet the opposite.

During this last year and a half, this is the most dependent and closest I have felt to the Lord. I feel like when everything was going great, it was so easy to put God on the back burner and say a prayer here and there. Head to church on Sunday’s, attend bible study and go through the motions all while neglecting to ever open up my Bible. My God has shown me so much and has taught me so much in trusting in Him, leaning not on my own understanding when things aren’t going the way I planned. I try so hard to control so much out of fear and I have learned that’s not okay.

I’m not saying you should never make plans or goals, it’s great to plan but it’s also very important to remain flexible because we don’t have the whole picture. God does. And guess what. His plans are so far better for our lives then we could have ever imagined. The good and the bad.

Side story about the “bad”: I do not know the reason I had to grow up without my biological parents (in case your unaware, my parents died when I was really young and my aunt who I call mom raised me) but what I do know is I would not be the mother I am today to my children if it wasn’t for that significant lost in my life as a child. For that I am thankful that I am more in tune to the needs of my children. I am far from the perfect mother but I am proud of the mother I am. No one could ever take that confidence away from me. That confidence comes from the “bad hand” I was dealt and honestly, looking my children in their faces the way I do, there is not one thing I would change in my life that lead me to this point and that is thanks to God.

“And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.” -Romans 8:28 ESV

What is something you have felt the Lord speak to you lately? Do you try to plan or control your life out of fear? How has your childhood shaped you into the parent you are (or plan to be)?
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stormieariel
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Monday, September 3, 2018

DockATot Deluxe vs. DockATot Grand

DockATot Deluxe vs. DockATot Grand


This post was created in partnership with DockATot but all thoughts and opinions are of my own.

If you don’t know my love for DockATot yet, where have you been? Haha, since we discovered it and started using the DockATot Grand with Sophia at 9 months we saw a night and day difference in her sleeping habits (read more here). We were determined to start our next baby with the DockATot right after birth and were so impressed with the multiple uses we were able to use our DockATot Deluxe for besides co-sleeping (read more here).
Obviously we are now DockATot pros and we are constantly getting questions from those considering if they should invest in one (yes you should and you’ll thank me later).

The question I wanted to dedicate a blog post to is:

Can I just buy the Grand from the start?

I mean you can do whatever you want to do at the end of the day BUT I would not recommend it. When babies come out into the world, they came from this snugly secure environment (your womb) to this big opened world. The sensory overload is typically why it’s a hard adjustment for the baby the first few days or weeks. The DockATot Deluxe is created smaller to recreate a womb like environment by being cozy and snugly.

Side note: the things we had to do to get Sophia to sleep those first few months was insane. No one was getting any sleep. Using the DockATot Deluxe with Baby Anthony as soon as we got home from the hospital was amazing. We actually slept. All of us. Yes there were middle of the night feedings because that comes with the territory of having a newborn but we didn’t have to do anything extravagant to get him to sleep at night. He just did and that is because of the DockATot Deluxe.
The design of the DockATot Deluxe is for babies from 0-8 months old. Before you ask, yes that includes big babies as well. Baby Anthony was born at 10 pounds 8 ounces and has consistently been at the top of the charts measuring ahead and the DockATot Deluxe still worked perfectly for him. At 9.5 months, we finally decided to upgrade to the DockATot Grand. We have had our DockATot Grand for about two weeks now and the transition from the DockATot Deluxe to the DockATot Grand has been a very smooth transition, in fact I think baby Anthony has enjoyed the extra room to wiggle. We always start any sleep transitions with nap times first for a month before implementing those changes to bedtime as well. This has been a fool-proof method for our family and has made all transitions easier (this is also how we transitioned Sophia off the bottle).

Side note: see my other sleep tips here.
Therefore, I highly recommend starting with the DockATot Deluxe from the beginning as it was created to mimic the womb’s coziness. Your little one will feel snug and secure and sleep better and in turn you will sleep better.

Do you already use the DockATot? Have you been considering the DockATot for your family?

If you found this post helpful or know someone who would, please share it! I have made this pinnable image below to make it easier to pin and share!!

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stormieariel
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