When I was pregnant I was so gung ho about trying the cloth diaper thing.

I remember opening the diapers up at my shower and thinking how great it was going to be. How I was going to save money. And help the environment. I was already proud of myself for just wanting to give it a shot.

I read the manufacturer instructions. Washed them the recommended 3x before baby came. Let them dry thoroughly before each additional wash cycle. Got them all folded and pretty and ready in the dresser in the nursery in preparation for the son or daughter that would be joining us.

And then Will was born.

We were sleep deprived. I seriously had NO idea what I was doing when it came to having a baby in the house. We were going through a bazillion disposable diapers a day. In other words, it was chaos. Complete and utter poop-filled chaos.

The cloth diapering idea went straight into the trash. Right along with the diapers we were throwing away every 20 minutes (or at least that's how often it felt).

The perfectly washed and folded diapers didn't have the pleasure of seeing the light of day (or really our son's cute little bum) until Will was almost 9 weeks old. Even then, I was nervous about actually using them.

That first day was a Sunday. We were heading down to IL for a family party on Erik's side and I can tell you that this was the one and only cloth diaper used that day. I was too scared that he would have a blowout. Or we wouldn't have enough cloth diapers no matter how many we brought. Or that it would smell too bad if he pooed in his diaper and we had to store it at his aunt & uncle's house. So many fears. Why did I even think I wanted to do this? Clearly I was crazy.

Oh, and while we were at Erik's aunt & uncle's house he had 2 blowouts and a wardrobe change. And we just about ran out of the the disposables we had taken with us for our short trip down to IL... How's that for irony.

I don't remember when it was exactly but within the next week I became more courageous. I started using them more often and mixing them in with the disposables.

And I started to notice that I wasn't changing Will nearly as often. That he was happier in between feedings and diaper changes. That any little bit of rashes he had started to get when in a disposable too long (which was at times no more than 30 minutes for this kid) pretty much went away. That he didn't smell instantly when he was just a little bit wet.

It was a transition, to say the least, but we are now almost exclusively a cloth diapering family. I started with 12 diapers. bumGenius Elemental Organic All in One with the snap closures. And a couple of weeks ago I ordered 6 more.

I'm into a pretty good routine with the washing and, as long as I pay attention to how many are left, I can get by with maybe only needing to do a disposable on a rare occasion. I typically wash 12 and still have 6 available. Any less than that and I'd be using disposables way more often.

So, here's my recommended list of what to have should you decide you want to take a ride on the cloth diapering train: