cloth vs. disposable diapers

So! We just ran out of diapers in Nathaniel's size. Not really; last night I ordered some on Amazon and they just got here. But we're getting to the point where I feel like if we're going to cloth diaper, we should really just buy the diapers, and get it over with so we have enough to make it worthwhile. Right now, we just have enough cloth diapers to get us through about a day.

Here are the pros and cons of disposables:

PROS
- less bulky than cloth
- you can just throw them away

CONS
- expensive (~30 - 45 cents per diaper change)
- have weird chemicals in them
- not environmentally friendly


Pros and cons of cloth:

PROS
- around 8 times less expensive per diaper change--and that's just counting one kid. But we could use them for all future kids as well.
- not filling up landfills
- no weird chemicals

CONS
- lots of laundry
- have to rinse out yucky stuff
- bulkier than disposables--although not THAT much, depending on the brand

Now, I was concerned about moving to cloth because one thing I've noticed about Nathaniel in cloth diapers is that whenever he gets wet, he freaks out. It makes him a very sad boy.

BUT, what I realized just yesterday, is that he freaks out about wetness in disposables, too. He just hates to be wet. Even if the disposable FEELS dry, because disposables are so absorbent, he seems to know when he's gone, and since the yellow stripe on his Pampers turn blue when he has, I know when he's gone even if the diaper feels dry. It seems that he is just the kind of kid who understands when it is that he should be changed. In the past, I've assumed that most of his crying came from being hungry, and he never turns down a nursing. But now I'm realizing that most of them time when he cries, it's actually because he needs a diaper change--as long I keep on top of monitoring when he sucks on his hands (a subtle cue to me that he is STARVING! At least in his own mind).

So it appears as though he will cry just as much either way. So the real issue is if we're willing to do extra laundry to save money over the long run. I think I'm into that, although I do think we should still have some extra disposables on hand just in case, or for traveling and so on. But I don't think Carl is convinced.

Any thoughts? Any cloth diaperers out there? Did you love it or hate it? Comment, please!