Having a new baby to introduce to friends and family is so much fun. Everyone wants to hold him and marvels at his sweet face

and his new skill, smiling.  One thing they usually notice is his "cloth diaper booty."  Cloth diapers are a little thicker than disposable diapers and our Thirsties come in lots of fun colors and patterns. When I mention that we're using cloth, most people seems impressed. They say things like "Wow, you're so good!" and they usually wonder if using cloth is a lot more work than disposables. I tell them the truth--it is more work--but not much and the benefits far outweigh the extra loads of laundry that I do, not to mention the money we've saved and the diapers we haven't taken to the landfill. Speaking of the money we're saving, many friends wonder about the up-front investment that cloth diaper users have to make.  Yes, it's true. You pay for the diapers up front--you can buy them new, at an outlet or even used.  The average package of diapers at the grocery store is about ten dollars for 40 diapers.  If you change an average of six diapers a day for one year (that is a low estimate) that means you are going through approximately 2,190 diapers. Wow.  Let's say you buy your diapers in packs of 40 and pay $10 per package (not including taxes). That means you are spending around $550 a year on diapers.  You can easily get a great starter set (around 24 cloth diapers) for less than that. Another thing that many friends and family have said is "I couldn't deal with the smell of the dirty diapers." Here's what I tell them.  Whether you are changing disposable diapers or cloth, you are going to be dealing with poo.  With cloth diapers,  you dump the solid waste into the toilet and flush it away.  Most people who use disposables just wrap up the waste in the diaper and throw the whole thing in the trash. Therefore, cloth diapers  smell less and besides, we use a wet bag in our diaper pail which keeps in wetness and odor.  Flushing the solid waste is also better for the environment. Putting human waste into landfills is actually illegal because of the dangerous pathogens and bacteria that could potentially leach into the soil--but it is not enforced when it comes to diapers. The kinds of reactions to our cloth diapers that I like best, are the following two: "We use cloth diapers too!" and "Wow, it seems a lot easier than I thought it would be. I'm going to look into getting some!"  Most people are surprised at how easy using cloth  diapers is--and I'm more than happy to volunteer my son to any friends or family who are interested in learning exactly how easy they are to use--by changing his diaper!