This day crept up on me like WOAH so I’m scrambling to make a to-do of it because I do love a reason to celebrate! Today marks the 6th year blogiversary (blogging birthday) for Dirty Diaper Laundry. 6 years ago I published my first blog post titled “Welcome to Dirty Diaper Laundry” and declared my intentions for this website.
“The objective of this blog at this moment is to share my personal experience- raising my adorable 4.5 month old son with the intention of being “green”- and in doing so, reviewing the many products and ways I am able to do so. I knew very early in my pregnancy that I would cloth diaper. Even before I dove into the vast literature available and the never-ending choices, I knew. I knew that I could not live with myself if my child produced thousands of diapers, dirty diapers, that would sit in a landfill for 500 years!!! Yes, it takes that long for a typical disposable diaper to decompose. The more I researched I was confident that I could make it work. Now I have been cloth diapering for over 4 months, doing dirty diaper laundry every 2-3 days. It can get tedious. It can be exhausting… (note- my washer/dryer are down 2 flights of stairs. This equals 5 trips up and down for each load of diaper laundry, not to mention my household laundry) But every time I throw away a cotton ball into my son’s teeny tiny trash can and I see that cotton balls are the only thing in there, I feel amazing.”
That 4.5 month old child is now 6.5 years old and I am more than 1,200 miles away from the apartment we lived in that was the inspiration for the blog’s name. Dirty Diaper Laundry seemed to be a good phrase to describe my life- with 2 flights of stairs to climb for each and every load of laundry and factoring in the extra rinses when needed I felt that personified the time period.
SO much has changed since this website began 6 years ago and yet so much is the same. DDL is still filming and publishing video cloth diaper reviews each month and our 200th video will publish this month! My babies no longer wear diapers at all so I’ve been working with Lara and her daughters on reviews and she has been such an amazing addition to the blog.
This website began as a way to share my love of cloth diapering with the world. At the time I felt pretty original and didn’t know other cloth diaper blogs existed! Today there are dozens of blogs on the subject and even more websites and stores carrying cloth diapers. More parents are choosing to use cloth diapers and my web traffic certainly seems to reflect that choice. I’m honored to be considered a leading source of information and I’m so thankful that DDL readers have made this journey with me. Some of you reading have been here since the very first month and have stuck around as you added to your families. Some of you are completely new here and I invite you to stick around because there is always more to read!
6 years ago I was a SAHM living in Central New York and just a year out of college. Today I manage DDL as a business from my home in Florida, run a cloth diapering non-profit called Giving Diapers, Giving Hope, travel with MommyCon with the cloth diaper resource center, and teach workshops on reusable menstrual cups.
As cliche as it is, when you love your job you never work a day in your life. I have to say that most days this rings true for me and I LOVE what I do. My boys ask me when they meet a new friend of mine “Does she do cloth diapers too?” All packages addressed to me are assumed to be diapers, and my kids think it is totally normal that their mom spends her work time on the couch with a cup of coffee or in her office filming diapers in a giant white box. I know stranger jobs exist but boy are my kids screwed for career day! “Mom talks about diapers and little cups on YouTube!”
I want to celebrate with a giveaway and have a great prize package for one lucky reader! Enter to win the following prizes:
- Logan and Lenora Classic Wetbag in Earthy Owls
- Spray Pal and Wet Bag
- Smart Bottoms Smart One 3.1 and Wipes
- AppleCheeks Swim diaper and Microterry Little Bundle
- Lassig nursing scarf and muslin swaddles
- HABA Rainbow Pacifier chain and clutch toy
- The NEW Happy Bowl from EZPZ
To enter you must leave a comment! Tell me your favorite post or memory from 6 years of Dirty Diaper Laundry. If you’re brand new to the website (hopefully you stick around!) tell me where you heard about this blog! Extra entries for liking our sponsors on Facebook.
a Rafflecopter giveaway
