Please chime in: Preparing for a second child

We are now one week from being considered full-term, and I'm in full nesting mode. There is no nursery to decorate this time, and no major baby purchases to research and make aside from one or two that aren't really necessary yet. There aren't childbirth classes to attend or hospital tours to take, and I'm not obsessively reading up on every facet of birth, delivery and newborn care I can get my hands on. We've got drawers full of baby boy clothes and have purchased most of the few things we had that were girl-specific (towels, blankets, etc.). Most of the girl stuff that Elle no longer uses/wears/needs has been consigned/donated/gifted, and in the grand scheme of things, we're in pretty good shape to welcome this baby in to our home.

But I do have a few things swimming around in my head, some of which I hope to blog about before Baby Boy makes his arrival. There are a few things I'd like to solicit opinions on, though, and learn from the experiences of others (because frankly, I've found that many of our best purchases and decisions were made based on advice from others, and I'm at a point where I have enough to worry about/prepare for :))

Sooooo, as we prepare to become a two-child household (or three, depending on how I might be classifying my husband on any given day - LOVE YOU, BABE!), I ask you, my friendly, helpful readers:

1. What recommendations do you have for infant carriers/wraps? We have an Ergo that Elle never really fell in love with, and I tried a Moby-type wrap as well as a sling briefly with her, but to be honest, I was easily frustrated and probably didn't give baby-wearing as much of a try as I wanted. With one kid, too, it wasn't all that hard to hold her when needed/desired, but life with a toddler and an infant will be different, and I'd like to at least explore the option further. I'm imagining not only wear-around-the-house occasions but also "we're at the grocery store and Elle is in the cart" uses. Please keep in mind that I sweat that it's nobody's business under normal circumstances, so attaching a warm body to me in the Florida summer could be problematic (and this was part of the reason I didn't use the Ergo much with Elle until she was closer to one year old).

2. What's your favorite stroller for two for trips/errands/etc.? I've been intrigued by the Sit-N-Stand since we found out we were expecting. Elle isn't a huge stroller-rider, but there will be times when I think having the option of her being in/on a stroller will be invaluable. We have our single Snap-N-Go that I love, too. We will be using the Chicco KeyFit 30 infant carseat, too, and need a stroller that would work with that.

3. What's your favorite, affordable double jogging stroller? I'm not convinced a double jogger will be necessary, since Elle is probably nearing her threshold of "let's be outside but contained in a stroller while Mom runs" and it will be several months before Wesley will be able to ride in a jogger. We have a used Baby Trend jogger that could easily be deemed one of the best Craigslist purchases I ever made. Having the availability of the jogger, though, for the beach or more rugged terrain, would be a definite convenience.

4. Favorite nursing bras? I'm not in love with any that I used the first time, so I'm open to suggestions, as I plan to breastfeed (and pump when I return to work) again this time around, hopefully for at least the first year.

5. Recommendations on a trash can that can be used as a diaper pail for cloth diapers? I'm looking for what you've found works best to keep kids out and odors in. We had one I really liked for when Elle was in diapers, but it was thrown out and now I'm looking again. I'd prefer something white, not huge and not super pricey.

6. Easy meal recipes and food prep suggestions? As it is, I usually get Elle at daycare and am home around 5:30 p.m. On the nights that Tim is able to come home for dinner, we eat at 6:15, so I have 45 minutes or less to make dinner on my own. Elle usually winds down from daycare and plays near the kitchen or watches some videos on the iPad while I make dinner now (except for last night, when I nearly overcooked the chicken and pasta I was preparing because Elle had to poop twice while I was cooking - potty training over poor timing on that one ...), but having another kid will completely change our evening dynamic. While on maternity leave, I know that time frame won't be as rigid, but we'll be working on getting in to a flow on many levels. When I go back to work, getting a toddler and an infant from daycare and then getting home and being able to cook will be even more of a challenge, so I'm looking for quick meals that can be prepped the night/day before. I'm also a huge fan of the slow cooker and am always on the lookout for tried-and-true crock pot recipes. We're not a super picky family, although Tim doesn't like super creamy dishes or leftovers, and we try to eat fairly healthy.

7. Suggestions on winning lottery numbers and/or nannies/maids/cooks that might work full-time and for free? Hey, can't blame me for trying :)

I'm sure there are many other things I could be (and maybe should be) thinking about at this point, but this is what is on my mind right now. Please chime in via the comments or shoot me an e-mail at seacowcircus@gmail.com - and let me know if there is anything else I need to learn/consider while preparing to expand our family. Muchas gracias!

Revisiting cloth diapering

Although I would love it if Elle would show interest in potty training, I've got to say I'm still in love with our cloth diapers.

It's been a while since I last blogged about cloth diapers, and while cloth diapering can seem overwhelming in the beginning, I feel like it's super easy now and I'm so, so glad we've done it.

Elle is in daycare about 22 hours a week. She's in disposables during that time, but at home, we're still cloth diapering. Two of our sitters (for date nights, meetings, etc.) cloth diaper Elle, too.

Over the last two years, I've learned a lot about cloth diapering. I know for a fact that I prefer snaps to aplix. Hemp inserts are pretty much the bomb. I have been fortunate to have had a good washing routine for the majority of the time. Any stink and build up I've encountered seems to have been fixed fairly easily in the grand scheme of things. I've learned about diaper creams and CD detergents. I've added to my stash slowly as well as sold some of the diapers that just didn't work for us. I've got a washing and drying routine down, I have favorite brands and styles, I've got a night-time diaper perfected for us.

While some cloth diaperers continue to add to their stash because the diapers are super cute and there are frequent sales, I think I'm finally at a point where our arsenal is complete. Many people say this is where the cost effectiveness of cloth diapering is negated, but I tried not to go overboard, and I haven't purchased new diapers in months. I've been mindful to buy gender neutral colors and patterns (except the pink polka dots below because they were the right price and too cute to pass up) so that if we ever have a boy he won't be stuck in pink and purple diapers, too.

Now that Elle is older, we prefer pocket diapers to our initial prefold+cover system - Tim actually refuses to use the prefolds now, but I'll often grab them because they're super easy, and because they are so affordable, we have the most of them.

This photo of Elle is from when she was about 7? 8? months old.
She's wearing a prefold with a cow cover.

It's pretty cool to be part of the "fluff" community - there are so many resources online for parents who cloth diaper. When I have questions (like "why do my diapers suddenly smell like they're not clean even though I just took them out of the washer?"), there is a forum waiting to help me. The responses are not one-size-fit-all, but the options and suggestions have led me to answers that work for us. I've been introduced to products that have worked miracles for our diapers and been alerted to issues to avoid as well as sales to take advantage of. Really, I can't say enough about the cloth diapering community - there are some amazing and valuable resources out there, and trust me, I take full advantage of them!

One other thing I adore is the versatility. Here is Elle in the same diaper:

I think this was circa December 2010 - Elle was about four months old.

July 2012 - almost two years old and it still fits great!

I know cloth diapering isn't for everyone, but I'm glad we did it and look forward to using the diapers on future kidlet(s) to make a good investment even better - after more than two years using many of the same diapers, they're in great shape. There are definitely some days or times when we grab a disposable just because it is convenient, and when we travel we definitely use disposables because I don't want to deal with diaper laundry on the road. I don't beat myself up for the times that she's got a disposable on, but I do love knowing that each time we use a cloth diaper we're saving cash, saving landfill space and it is good for Elle's bum, too.

It's Earth Day! Let's cloth diaper

I'm borrowing my friend Sarah's soapbox to bring a little public service announcement to my blog in honor of Earth Day. (I sit here with my free cup of coffee from Starbucks, also in honor of Earth Day :)) Please, join me on a journey through what I like to call "Timeline of Kristin's Environmental Awareness":

Elementary school Kristin: Played in creek in backyard in an area nicknamed "Mother Nature's Island;" participated in recycling club at school (the name "Earth Club" rings a bell), where we promoted awareness of saving the earth (singlehandedly, of course) and volunteered our weekends to bundle donated newspaper so it could be recycled.

Middle school Kristin: Recycled newsprint, aluminum cans and glass because parents did; turned lights/TV off whenever not in use because of reminders from parents that 'twas not I paying the electric bill.

High school Kristin: More of the same; this time, with attitude!

College Kristin: Recycled, recycled, recycled; encouraged suite mates to recycle (namely, beer and wine bottles).

Post-graduation Kristin: Recycled, recycled, recycled; turned off lights/TV when not in use because I 'twas paying the electric bill.

Employee Kristin: Brought bins in to work to collect cans and bottles (we, uh, drink a LOT of caffeine); bundle up and take recyclables home; provided bin to collect cardboard (we, uh, eat a lot of frozen meals).

Engaged and married Kristin: Works with Tim to be mindful of recyclables (we recycle newsprint, aluminum, glass, plastic and cardboard), use canvas bags at the grocery store, turn off lights/TV when not in use, turn off water while brushing teeth, etc.

Tim and I went on a date night a few months ago, and one of the commercials during the movie previews had a line that stuck with us. It was something along the lines of "We do not inherit the earth from our ancestors; we are borrowing it from our children." Movie-goers were urged to thank their children for letting us borrow from them. Tim and I joked at the time, saying we needed to make sure we thanked Elle.

But in all seriousness, sometimes it scares me to think what the world will be like, environmentally, by the time she's my age. I got freaked out by the movie trailers that night - it seemed to be nothing but "the end of the world is coming!" movies coming out in the next year or so. Normally, I can handle those kind of "natural disasters overtake the planet" or "creatures from another planet conquer the human race" kind of movie plots. But post-Elle, I started to see the fear factor side of them, and I began to wonder what kind of world it'll be in 30 years.

I'm doing little bits to help protect the planet I'm borrowing from Elle. One way is by using cloth diapers. Yes, I use water and energy to wash and dry them. But in all honesty, I'm using less energy in general now that she's here - I don't have the TV on when she's awake, I rarely have time to watch TV when she's asleep, and ditto with the computer. And disposables take a lot of energy to manufacture and distribute ... and then just sit in a landfill for 500 years to decompose. I wash the cloth diapers 2-3 times a week - that's one extra cold rinse, one extra hot wash and two cycles on the dryer (I would LOVE to have a yard to hang these outside!) a few times a week. We use disposables occasionally, including the eight years three weeks it took for Elle's cord to fall off or for trips. When Elle wears disposables, I often end up doing extra loads of baby clothes, sheets, blankets, etc. anyway. If she has a pooplosion, the disposables just don't hold it in like cloth does.

Elle's adorable fluffy butt.

Cloth diapers can be nearly as convenient as disposables and are so stinking cute. These aren't the cloth diapers of our parents' era - there are snaps, there is velcro, there aren't pins. (Well, unless you want pins.) I have to tell you that when Elle is wearing a disposable, I can smell it the minute she pees. As we've introduced solids, Elle's bum has gotten a little irritated as she, uh, processes things, and cloth is good for baby's skin. No chemicals on baby's butt= generally a better thing. With the cloth diapers, things are much more contained. We haven't had a blowout diaper in months, and really, we had very few blowouts in cloth during Elle's intestine's infant stage. They are super absorbent and breathable - every time I imagine Elle sitting in a plastic-y disposable diaper for a long period of time in the Florida heat, I want to cry. With the cloth diapers, we're not throwing away our money with each change (in fact, the more we use them, the more our investment pays off), so I can change Elle as often as I want/need without a second of guilt. We also use cloth wipes a lot, so I can easily toss the wipes in with my cloth diaper laundry and don't have to worry about how many I need to go through.

I go back and forth on our primary reasoning for using cloth diapers, and really, most of the time, the cost savings are the primary reason. I've blogged about cloth diapers before, and money was the basic focus of that post. But lately, I keep coming back to the mounds of disposable diapers that we're not contributing to on a regular basis. (And I shudder to think about how many disposables we'd go through if we had more than one child in diapers at the same time.) There are eco-friendly disposable alternatives that are chlorine and bleach free and made with recycled and renewable resources, and they typically are a bit pricier than Huggies and Pampers. But I love knowing that we're pretty much set for future children when it comes to diapering needs. We have neutral diapers and covers, and the investments we've made for Elle's diapers are pretty much the only ones we'll need to make - ever. The hard part is stopping myself from shopping for more cute diapers :) If I try a diaper that I'm not quite sold on, the resale value is extremely high, so there is virtually no money lost.

Rockin' a cow diaper cover.

There's a movement right now called "Change 3 Things" - you can search for it on Facebook for more information or go here. But to boil it down - using cloth diapers for just three diaper changes a day can make a huge difference. Many families cloth diaper part-time, and this campaign asks for something reasonable in the crazy-busy world we live in - just three changes a day with cloth instead of disposables for one year.

Fellow blogger Jodie breaks down many common myths and misgivings about cloth diapering here. (Including dealing with poop! Did you know you're supposed to throw the poop in the toilet, even if you're using disposables? Landfills are not equipped to deal with human waste.) We don't have a diaper sprayer like Jodie, Sarah or many of my cloth diapering friends, but we use a specifically designated spatula-type thingie (that's the technical term) to scrape off the majority of Elle's solid poo in to the toilet. Lately, though, (for lack of a more subtle description), it just plops in to the toilet.

And like Jodie says in this post, cloth diapering does take some getting used to. It took me several months to figure out what type of diaper worked best for our lifestyle, what nighttime diaper options I wanted to explore, what accessories we needed and to get a good washing routine down. Tim picked up on how to use them quickly. Our babysitters have learned. My sister has learned. And there are many, many kinds to choose from, from super inexpensive to much pricier options. Fellow blogger Katie presents one of the most thorough breakdowns I have seen on types and brands in this post.

I implore you, if you're considering cloth diapering for even a nanosecond, give yourself a week or two, as well as several types of diapers, to really try things out before you make a decision. There are several companies that offer trial programs for you to figure out what works best for you without making a huge, up-front investment. If you're interested in cloth diapering but still have some questions, feel free to ask! I might not know the answer, but I might have a friend or resource that could help you out.

And if you consider automatically dismissing the idea of cloth diapering, I urge you to remember: "We do not inherit the earth from our ancestors; we are borrowing it from our children." 

Things learned in the last 24 weeks and 1 day

This crazy ride called parenthood (especially as an anxious, obsessive, thrifty, money-conscious breastfeeding and cloth diapering parent) has taught me a lot, and I've been intrigued (and/or shocked/annoyed/stressed) by some of the information I've garnered and lessons I've learned. May this serve as a reminder to me for when we have future children or when people ask me questions and I, in my permanent state of mommy brain, cannot remember, or as a reference to expectant or new mommies who might be curious about the following:


Sleep: 

Around four months old,
passed out in her swing.

Babies often experience disrupted or require more sleep before some developmental milestones like rolling, walking and talking.

Babies need a LOT of sleep. And they need help and encouragement to get that sleep. The better a baby naps, the better a baby will usually sleep at night. An overtired baby will be TOO tired to sleep or sleep well, and we've learned quite a bit about baby sleep patterns over the last few months. I was first introduced to the 90-minute sleep cycle and the N.A.P.S. approach at one of my breastfeeding group meetings, and as she's gotten older, we've watched Elle's 90-minute cycles extend to 100- or 120-minute cycles. Basically, if we're watching and paying attention, we can see Elle's sleep cues about an hour to two hours after she last woke, and she needs to go back to sleep during that time. One of my friends has a daughter who fluctuated between 60- and 90-minute "90-minute" sleep cycles. Every baby is different, but the awareness of these patterns has helped us infinitely.

Sleep regressions are real, frustrating and sometimes unexplainable. We had that period of a few weeks when Elle had a hard time going to and staying asleep, and then it passed. I'm not sure if she grew out of it or if it was Tim's suggestion to reintroduce (and strongly enforce) a late afternoon/early evening nap that prevents her from getting too tired before bed. When she gets a short nap late in the day, she typically sleeps better at night.

Breastfeeding:

The content of the milk changes with baby's age. So that means that the "bigger" bottles I registered for way back when I was pregnant? Totally unnecessary. In retrospect, I guess I would have used them if breastfeeding hadn't worked out for us, but since the quality of my milk changes as Elle ages, the quantity doesn't need to, which I find wayyyy cool. We've slightly adjusted the number of ounces in her bottles, but she's going to top out around 5-5.5 ounces. When I was getting ready to head back to work, I used this site to figure out about how many ounces to start with, and we've adjusted based on Elle - if she drains it and seems hungry in a short amount of time, we've increased it by a half ounce until she seems satisfied and can go longer, typical stretches without eating. A friend of mine told me to leave one ounce of milk for every hour I'd be away from the baby, which worked for an estimate, and we modified from that based on the rest of Elle's daily schedule.

The majority of my freezer stash.

Related: I have a lot of frozen milk (between 250 and 300 ounces). But some of that milk is from October, when Elle was three months old. So if I would stop breastfeeding when Elle is say, 11 months old, and then just give her frozen milk from my stash until she turned a year old, she'd possibly be getting milk that was designed for a baby with the nutritional needs of a three-month-old. Even though it would stay good in our deep freezer much longer than three months, I've been trying to rotate one bottle of frozen milk in to her 2-3 daily bottles, so usually the oldest milk she'll get is three months old, and then the other bottles are fresh milk. I had no idea about this when I started breastfeeding and pumping.

There are many positives to breastfeeding, for both mother and baby. Various studies cite lowered risks of certain kinds of cancers for women who have breastfed and increased IQs in breastfed babies. I wasn't aware, however, of studies that show lower childhood obesity rates in breastfed babies. They also have a better ability to self-regulate their intake.

Breastfed babies are sometimes less picky eaters because they've been exposed, through their mother's milk,  to many different flavors. We wanted to delay introducing solids until at least six months, which gives Elle's digestive system time to mature as well as decreases her risk for food allergies. She's been exclusively breastfed, and we plan to make the transition to solids with baby-led weaning, and a friend of mine sent me an awesome article about it. Based on the way Elle reaches for and grips
everything in her pathvarious toys, I'm eager to see how she reacts to solid foods :)

Cloth diapering:

Not nearly as clear-cut as I first thought. For the first 20 days until Elle's cord fell off, we used newborn-sized disposables. We began our cloth diapering journey with a stash of infant prefolds and covers.

Then Elle grew out of the infant prefolds. I realized, though, that I really didn't mind the typically more-involved prefold/cover method, and I wanted to stick with it as our primary diapering system, as opposed to the all-in-one diapers I had previously planned on using after she grew in to them. The prefolds and covers dry fast and are cheaper, so I purchased some new, higher-quality and larger prefolds and the other size of covers to replace the infant ones. I thought my diaper stash was set until Elle grew out of those prefolds. I was wrong, because ...

In the all-in-one diaper.

We have a heavy-wetter. It is no surprise, considering she sleeps 9-12 hours between her nighttime diaper change and her morning change. And now she's sometimes soaking through her naptime diapers. There are easy, fairly inexpensive remedies to these issues (like inserts made of absorbent materials like hemp, or moisture-repellent wool covers), but I hadn't anticipated them. I'm still experimenting with solutions, but I think I'm close, including using those previously mentioned all-in-one diapers with extra inserts at night.

Also unknown prior to starting this journey: Cloth diapers and most diaper creams don't mix. If Elle shows signs of diaper rash, we slather on the diaper cream and use disposables for a bit. We could buy liners to use in the cloth diaper (to act as a barrier for cloth from the cream) or buy special "cloth-safe" cream, but we don't at this point. It happens so infrequently that it hasn't been worth it. We keep disposables on-hand at all times in the diaper bag (so far, we don't cloth diaper on-the-go) and for the first change of the morning, which has to be fast because Little Miss is hangry like whoa.

I'm sure I'll face new challenges as Elle starts solids, too ... oy.

Cloth wipes are cool, too! Tim and our sitter don't use them (I never really said anything to the sitter, and Tim is just taking this process one step at a time), but I bought some small, cheap washclothes on clearance and spray them with plain water when I change Elle. Then I throw them in our pail with the cloth diapers, so they get washed together and it doesn't create extra waste or laundry. If she has a poopy diaper, I use store-bought wipes, although I don't have to - I just feel more comfortable cleaning her up with those.

General:

There is very little rhyme or reason when it comes to baby. Flexibility and patience are essentially, and trying to figure things out? It will drive you mad.

Babies - even babies who are fairly low maintenance and only a few weeks old (i.e. not mobile) - require a lot of time. I had fairytale dreams of redesigning my Web site during my maternity leave and catching up on some scrapbooks, among other things. Did. Not. Happen. There were days when I barely managed to shower between diaper changes, feedings, naps, laundry, dishes, cooking, etc. I knew having a baby would change my life, but I don't think I was fully accepting of how immediately and completely that would happen.

That infant car seat that touts a 30-pound weight limit? Welllllll ... I knew that most kids reach the height limit on it (30 inches) first, but I didn't realize how fast these babies grow! Many moms in my mommy/baby group expressed the same surprise I did when we realized that we'd be car seat shopping again much sooner than expected. We've probably got a couple of inches to go on Elle (will find out more at her six-month well-baby visit!), but I've started the preliminary research on our next step.

There are approximately 1.2 million different books on infant sleep available to stress new parents out.

Everything is controversial, everyone has an opinion, and all of the baby books contradict each other. You do what feels right for your family and your baby ... and just when you get accustomed to something, it will change.

Any other moms discovering things that they never knew? Or any advice for curve balls that lie ahead for us? :)

Saving money: Cloth diapers

Sooooo ... a lot of my friends are pregnant, and I have collected a lot of the information below in different places, so to help myself and possibly others, I wanted to blog about cloth diapers. (Above is a stack of some of the cloth diapers/diaper accessories shipments I've received and some of the diaper covers we'll be using with Elle.)

I have been reading about cloth diapers for quite some time - for several months before we were even trying to have a baby, I bookmarked blog posts, scribbled down Web sites, etc. I was intrigued by them for several reasons:

1. In the long run, they are cheaper than disposable diapers, especially if you have more than one kid and keep the diapers to use for future children.
2. They are better for the environment than disposable diapers.
3. They are better for the baby just because there are less chemicals and they're more natural.
4. They've come a long way and are (by all accounts) easy to use.

Cloth diapers do come with some tradeoffs - you'll end up doing more laundry (although with a baby, you'll be doing more laundry, anyway), the initial investment is greater, you'll get lots of rude comments and looks when you say you're going to cloth diaper, etc. But after we found out we were expecting, I discussed things with Tim, and after hearing reason number 1 (and refusing to acknowledge that he WILL have to change diapers), he was on board. I started researching in earnest and bought a substantial amount of one brand (the bumGenius 3.0 All-in-Ones) from two craigslist sellers. After doing some more reading and realizing that the baby likely won't fit in those right away, I decided to try a different type and bought a few prefolds and diaper covers that will work better for a smaller baby.

I made the mass purchase of the bumGenius diapers because I have faith that they will work and work well for our baby. Overall, they get excellent reviews (the main complaint is that they are a bit bulkier than most disposable diapers, but that is par for the course with cloth diapers). However, there are a lot of other diapers (all-in-ones and prefolds/covers) that seem to work well for some babies and not well for others, so I wouldn't jump in to a massive investment with one brand or type of diaper unless you are confident that you'll like them and they'll work for the baby. (There are several levels of cloth diaper economic investment, too, so you can choose a type of diapering that fits your budget and your baby.) The ones I've bought for the first few months of Elle's life (before she fits well in to the bumGenius diapers) came highly recommended and were a good price - and I don't need a ton of them. If one brand doesn't work out for you (or us!), there is always the opportunity to resell the diapers, and many companies offer trial packs so you can try out several kinds and brands of diapers to find out what works best for you before purchasing a mass quantity or deciding on a type.

Some parents opt to use a diaper service instead of buying and laundering the diapers. Cloth diaper registries are also available on many Web sites to help offset the cost of the diapers. (Certain brands and sizes of cloth diapers are also available to add to a Target registry.) As I've researched all of the options, it's reassuring to see how big the cloth diaper movement is and how many options there really are for both novice and experienced cloth diaperers.

Through all of this researching and buying, I still feel like I have little clue what I'm doing, but I have been able to watch for good deals and valuable information that I figure will make more sense after I'm actually "in the field" on the cloth diaper front. I *do* feel like I know a lot more than I did a few months ago and that I'm more prepared to go forward and learn from my successes and failures - and more importantly, know where and who to go to with questions. And I will definitely be updating this post as I find more sites and social networking avenues to feed my need to save money :)

So, without further ado, here is some of the suggestions I have/information I've accumulated:

* Search for used or new diapers on craigslist.

* Check out amazon.com and eBay for new and used diapers.

* If you have diapers or are looking for used diapers, join some of the discussion groups/trade forums on the sites below to trade and sell diapers.

* Become a fan of these businesses on Facebook (the first three have helped me find my best deals so far):
DiaperShops.com
Wee Little Changes
Organic Girl Giveaways and Reviews
Best Baby Organics
Cloth Diaper Outlet
Bumkins Finer Baby Products

* Follow the following people/businesses on Twitter (this is where I get a lot of my coupon codes, and the first two especially have helped me save money):
http://twitter.com/diapershops
http://twitter.com/WeeLittleChange
http://twitter.com/happyheinys
http://twitter.com/bumkins
http://twitter.com/CrunchyBabe
http://twitter.com/DiaperDaisy
http://twitter.com/sugardipes
http://twitter.com/snootybdiapers
http://twitter.com/BumEssentials
http://twitter.com/googoogaia
http://twitter.com/GlobalEnfant
http://twitter.com/sweetcamobaby
http://twitter.com/bestbabyorganic

* Check out these sites/resources and join the rewards programs offered by some and sign up for whatever newsletters/e-mails possible - a bit of junk e-mail can save you money!:
www.diapers.com
http://www.kellyscloset.com/
http://clothdiaperclearance.com/
http://www.jilliansdrawers.com/
http://www.theclothdiaperwhisperer.com/
http://hyenacart.com/Spots_corner/
http://www.clothplanet.com/index.html
http://www.cottonbabies.com/
http://www.diaperpin.com/home.asp
http://clothdiapernation.com/vbforums/index.php
http://diaperswappers.com/
http://www.theecofriendlyfamily.com/

And not all cloth diaper purchases have to be made online. There are a lot of smaller stores or boutiques that sell locally - you can usually Google for them.