I’m Maria of Fitteds and Pockets and Snappis, oh my!  I live in Maryland with my husband, my daughter (almost 6) and my son (19 months).

Though I’m not a new Mom, I haven’t always used cloth diapers.  When I was expecting my daughter, there wasn’t the fluffy selection that there is now.  In fact, that was pre-bumGenius!

An acquaintance gave me some information on cloth diapers, and I looked into it, a little reluctantly.  I really liked the Fuzzibunz perfect size, but I didn’t entirely understand them.  I thought I was going to have to buy extra-small, small, medium, large and maybe even toddler size diapers.  I did the math and almost had a coronary.  5 sizes times 24 diapers each, times around 18 bucks each=gulp.

I didn’t give cloth much more thought and I didn’t feel too guilty about it.  I had enough on my mind with the idea of being a new mom and a first time breast feeder, I was just totally overwhelmed by cloth diapers.

Luckily, we only used diapers for about 2 1/2 years, I bargain shopped for disposables, and we never really had trouble with diaper rash.  Even so, that $1,000 I spent on garbage could have bought a nice cloth stash, not to mention a good $350 spent on wipes!

About 4 years later, I was expecting my son and I was determined to use cloth.  I was able to find a lot more information online this time around, and I settled on bumGenius 3.0 one-size pocket diapers, after reading tons of reviews.  That is, until I tripped on the detergent issue!  If I was spending all this time and money on cloth, I wanted a “safe” detergent to wash them with.  Unfortunately, I couldn’t buy any locally, and I balked at the prices online.  Remember, I’m a bargain shopper, so I wasn’t used to paying more than $2.50-$2.99 for detergent.

We used disposables for four and a half months, until I couldn’t stand to look at my son’s awful rashes anymore.  In October 2009, I bit the bullet and ordered three bumGenius 3.0s online, and as soon as I received them, I was totally sold.  My son’s rash would clear up when he was wearing cloth, and we’d have to slather him with diaper rash cream to try to keep the rash at bay in disposables.  In the beginning, I washed those three twice per day while I was waiting to get another three in the mail.  Little by little I built up my stash and before I knew it, we were in cloth full time.

We were going through some tough times, and I was feeling like I needed something to do for myself, so I opened up a blog-spot account and started writing about cloth diapers.  That first day in November 2009, I sat down and wrote 11 posts!  Even though no one was reading then, I enjoyed it so much, I decided to keep writing.

Over the next few months, I took photos and wrote about diapers and accessories that I bought.  Initially, my posts were very different than they are now!  As a cloth newbie, I didn’t really know what I was looking for, and my posts were very basic.  Now, I take tons of photos, and I think I’m able to really evaluate a product.  In April 2010, I bought the change-diapers.com domain, celebrated my 6-month “clothiversary” and really got going.

To date, I’ve reviewed over 50 diapers, plus covers, soakers, rash creams, wipes and solutions and more.  I’ve expanded a bit into other green and natural products as well.  I have been so blessed to receive products from companies to review, often with another to give away to a reader.  I try to provide the information I’d want to have prior to choosing a product, and I take lots of photos!

When I began my cloth diapering journey, I applied my organized, analytical approach, and looked at it as though I was choosing which diaper I would want to buy a whole stash of.  I’ve learned so much along the way, and now I know that a diverse stash is always a good thing, that different diapers are best for different babies and that your favorites will change!  I still have half of my first 6 diapers; 3 were replaced under Cottonbabies’ amazing warranty.  I was actually sad to package up that first twilight diaper and send it away!

Most of all, I’ve become a bona-fide, certifiable cloth diaper addict!  I only wish I could go back in time and tell my 2004 self that cloth diapers are easier and more fun than I thought!!