u/SpaceInvaderKitty

Hey all! I am expecting a baby in January and just starting to figure out this whole cloth diapering thing. A family friend just recently gifted us their used cloth diapers, which we are so grateful for! However, the diapers ended up being 100% polyester pocket diapers with polyester inserts.

One of my main motivations for using cloth diapers was to reduce the amount of plastic that is coming into contact with my baby's skin, especially in their genital/bum area. However, my other motivation was reducing plastic waste, so I'd love to figure out how to use these diapers we were gifted and not letting them go to waste!

In my (brief) research, it looks like it might work for me to use prefold cotton inserts (looks like GMD has been recommended a lot for these) and just place them on top of the pocket instead of inside of it. Has anyone done this before and had it work? I'm concerned that since the pocket isn’t meant to absorb liquid, but rather let it pass through to the polyester insert underneath it, would this system cause a lot of leaking through the cover diaper on to the clothes? I'm also assuming I would have to wash the cover diaper as well as the prefold for each change? (This isn't a huge deal to me, she gave me a TON of covers.)

I can provide pictures to show examples of what I received if need be. There are many different brands and it looks like maybe different sizes that she gave me, so I can't give any definitive answers on the specifics of what the diapers are like. I'm also open to any other suggestions for how I could make these diapers work while reducing plastic/synthetic fibers!

Also, quick laundry question that should probably be its own post lol. I currently use homemade laundry detergent for washing clothes. Will this be sufficient for washing cloth diapers or do I need to start researching new detergent options?

Hey everyone! So my husband and I decided to do an Alaskan cruise on Princess in late August/early September for a babymoon as we are expecting our first! It's not our first cruise, but it is our first one with Princess and in Alaska. Our three ports are Skagway, Juneau, and Ketchikan.

We booked sort of last minute (last week), so I'm just now looking into options for excursions. We're struggling on deciding what to do for a couple reasons. One, I'm pregnant and not sure how I'll be feeling at 19 weeks and what level of activity I'll be up for. Two, we're open to doing both specific excursions or DIYing something, which gives us lots of options. Third, Alaska is expensive and we don't want to completely break the bank lol.

For Skagway, we're nearly positive we want to do the White Pass Railway. The only thing I'm wondering is if we should book directly through Princess or just buy a ticket ourselves?

For Juneau, one option we're considering is doing whale watching. I've read Harv & Marv's is a great company to go with, but will early September be a good time to see whales? The Mendenhall Glacier area and Nugget Falls looks cool, but will this be underwhelming if our itinerary includes Glacier Bay and Hubbard Glacier? We love hiking, nature, and wildlife. Is there anything we could DIY like a hike, a park, or a drive near Juneau that's worth it?

For Ketchikan, I couldn't find anything specific with Princess that sounded interesting to us. What options do we have in Ketchikan outside of ship excursions do people recommend? What does the town/port have to offer? Any hikes, wildlife viewing, or nature to see?

Ultimately we're open to any recommendations that you all have done that's been your favorites! The only thing we can't do is any activities that would be dangerous during pregnancy (ATVs, ziplining, rafting, etc.). Thanks for all the help!!

So, my husband and I just acquired a total of $5000 in travel vouchers from Southwest. Definitely made our travel day more inconvenient, but figured it was worth it for that amount of free flights lol.

I'm currently pregnant, so we know we will definitely be using some of that this year to fly somewhere for an awesome babymoon, but we're not sure what to do with the rest of it. It says on the voucher that all travel must be completed within a year of the date the voucher was issued. Since I'll be giving birth around the end of January next year, we know we won't be able to do another big trip next year after I give birth and before June. We talked about taking a trip down to my family so they can meet the baby, but I doubt both of those trips will take up the whole $5000.

What's our options with what to do with the vouchers? Are you able to book a flight and then cancel it for points? Or can you not use that as a loop hole in the system? Is it a better idea to try to find a reputable way to sell on voucher? I'm thinking that could be more helpful because we could take the cash and use it to pay for the rest of our babymoon expenses (hotels, food, etc). I'm just not sure how to sell them in a reputable way.

We've just never used these before so any helpful information would be much appreciated!

Hey all! My husband and I are traveling to RMNP on June 6-11. There's a lot of different hikes to choose from, so looking for some recommendations! We'd consider ourselves moderately experienced. We live near the AT, so we frequently do day hikes on it. We are not backpackers, so we're looking for day hikes only. I'd say we'd do max 7-9 miles for one hike, so anything below that threshold we're open to!

We personally seem to be more interested in hikes with great views of the surrounding areas/mountains as compared to the lake hikes. I'm not sure if the All Trails pictures aren't doing the lakes justice or what, but they don't seem as appealing to us compared to hikes with more of a lookout, but if they truly are spectacular please let us know!

We're specifically looking for some hike recommendations on the west/north side of the park. We booked the trip in a hurry and didn't realize the most popular hikes were on the east/north side of the park. We're staying down in Granby, so it's not logical for us to get all the way to the other side of the park every day we're there. However, we still want to get out that way so throw out recommendations for the east/north side as well!

We're also considering taking a day to go up to State Forest State Park, so any recommendations for there would be appreciated as well. If there is anything else to do besides hiking, especially closer to Granby or south of there, that's worth it let us know. Thanks for the help and input!