She's a Toddler

Over the last weeks, my baby turned into a toddler. She is walking everywhere and can go from sitting to standing without pulling up on anything, and she turned one year old. I think that makes it official. We will have to start attending "toddler story time" instead of the baby story time at the public library. Even with the frequent bumps and falls, walking has been tremendously fun and exciting for all of us, and we can't wait for the next steps (running, jumping, riding bikes?)

I have mentioned this before, but I just can't quite believe sometimes that the baby that I birthed a year ago is really going to turn into a CHILD, and then a teenager, and then an adult! It blows my mind. That's how life works, so it shouldn't be a surprise, right? Am I the only one who is regularly shocked by the passage of time?

A few photos from the birthday party:

With the giraffe that Grandma made.

The carrot cake: I made it, Average decorated.

In her pretty new tutu.

Congratulations to us! We made it through one year of breastfeeding, cloth diapering, night-time waking, baby-proofing, laundry for 3 people, and learning to travel as a family, among other things. We are looking forward to more learning and adventure in the year ahead!

Top Three Reasons Cloth Is Best

The majority of new parents are not aware of the many benefits and the ease of use of modern cloth diapers. For this post, I've tried to condense my ideas down into three main points about the differences between cloth and disposables: cost, disposal of wastes, and the environment/health. Warning: this post is one-sided because I have never used disposables and they are not appealing to me to try out. But, I have done my research!

1. Cost: For $350-$450, you can get set up with a great stash of enough cloth diapers to last you from birth until potty training. Yes, you can spend more than that, but you can also spend less. I have read of some people who went as simple as possible and bought mostly used and diapered a baby for around $100. Compare that to disposables, where you'll be typically spending at least $1000 (based on buying store brand and only changing 6-8 diapers per day), some estimate as high as $3000, depending on how many you use in a day and what kind you buy. AND, you can re-use or re-sell the cloth diapers your baby is done with them, leading to more money savings. Yes, you do need to spend the money up-front, whereas with disposables it is a monthly shopping expense. There are a few ways to get around shelling out the entire cost for your diaper stash at one time, though: 1 - register for cloth diapers for your baby shower, 2 - buy them a few at a time throughout your pregnancy, 3 - buy them a few at a time after your baby's birth, while using up any disposables you were gifted.
2. Ease of use: Modern cloth diapers can be as simple to put on your baby as disposables. Pins are no longer necessary, and most diapers now go on with velcro or aplix, or snaps. Cloth diaper washing routine is generally the same as for regular clothes, plus one extra rinse cycle, which you can probably set automatically on your washer. Breastfed poo can go straight into the washer, as can the wet bags that you can use to hold the dirty diapers. The more absorbent microfleece and microfiber diapers might need an extra cycle with bleach or peroxide once every couple of months to avoid stinky build-up, but that's it. Once your baby starts eating solids, you can shake the poo into the toilet before putting the diaper in the dirty bag. With cloth diapers, there is an average increase of 3 loads of laundry per week. Some people only wash once a week, others wash every day. It depends on your preferences and how many diapers you have. Also, I have heard time and again that people experience fewer "blow-outs" with cloth (we only have had 2-3 ever) so that means fewer outfit changes and less clothing to wash. In addition, you never have to run to the store late at night because you ran out of diapers!
3. Health and the environment: Cloth diapers are better for the environment and for your baby. With cloth diapers, you are disposing of your baby's wastes by putting them into a water treatment system designed to handle such things. With disposables, you are typically putting the waste into landfills where it can seep into the ground. Disposable diapers are the number 3 single item in landfills, with each (disposable-diapered) baby creating about 1 ton of waste during the diapering years. Disposables are typically made of bleached paper and plastics that include traces of dioxins, and the sodium polyacrylate gel that creates the absorbency of disposables can get onto the baby's skin. Some babies are allergic to the materials in disposables, and if you feel the differences between a disposable and a cloth diaper you will easily see which one would be more comfortable for your baby. There has also been some research done on the increase in temperature around babies' genitals with disposable diapers, due to the plastic not allowing air flow, and some possible negative effects of that.

Lastly, cloth diapers are cute and soft and make diaper changes so much more enjoyable!

What are your reasons for using or not using cloth diapers?

Buying More to Spend Less

I just got back from a few days on vacation, and am about to start a couple of weeks of substitute teaching, so my blog has and probably will continue to suffer from my current non-Stay-at-Home-Mom status. It's not that I don't have ideas for things to write about, but I am having a hard time finding the time to write new posts, beyond a paragraph or so. One idea that I have had for a while I am going to actually crank out tonight! Blogging on a Friday night -- my life is so exciting.

Buying in bulk is a great way to save money and to be green. Greater quantities usually are cheaper by unit (although check the price tags to be sure), and use less packaging. Some items that we have bought in bulk recently include:

• Hand soap for the kitchen, where I really like to have a hand-pump style soap dispenser. We bought a large bag of it to re-fill the dispenser that had run out. We got five times the amount of soap for only twice the cost of a regular container of soap. 
• Trail mix fixings. These were really fun for me because they were much cheaper in the bulk section of my grocery store than these items normally cost, and definitely cheaper than a pre-mixed bag. Also, I was able to add the raisins and banana chips that I made (dehydrated) myself this fall. I blended almonds, sunflower seeds, and chocolate chips with my dried fruit, and stored it in small jam jars, which are a great size for a travel snack.
• Yogurt. Sweet Pea has started to enjoy yogurt, and I love it too, for breakfast, lunch, or dessert. I typically buy Nancy's, which is a local natural brand, and available in sizes ranging from a single serving up to 32 or 64 ounce containers. I usually buy the Honey or Plain flavors, and then add my own fruit, either fresh, canned, or jammed. Not only am I saving money by buying a larger quantity, I am creating less waste from packaging, and I typically re-use the containers a few times before recycling them. We have used them for everything from storing leftovers, to bath toys for Sweet Pea, to transporting dog food. The makers of Nancy's even left a blank spot on the container for the user to write what's inside in these future uses.

In addition to re-using my yogurt containers, I have found it incredibly useful to keep most of the glass jars that I buy with pickles, peanut butter, or jam in them, and once they are empty, re-use them for storing smaller amounts of the bulk items I buy. Of course I also save all of the empty jars I used for canning last year. This helps with transport (like for a snack to keep in the diaper bag) and with portion control. I've been keeping them in the cupboard above my dryer, and look forward to filling even more this summer with more home-made jams and dried fruit from my garden.

What else do you like to buy in bulk? How do you store it? Share your tips!

Baby's First Birthday Is Coming Soon!

You may have noticed that my About Me section over on the side mentions my 11-month-old baby. Eleven months old is almost a year. So, we have a first birthday party to plan. I need ideas.

Should we do games?
Should I ask people to write a letter to Sweet Pea?
What kind of food should I have?

All that I have planned so far is for carrot cake cupcakes and only used, hand-made, or re-gifted presents. I want this to be a fun event for our family, low-pressure for me, and have some nice pictures for Sweet Pea to look back on. Which reminds me, I am also debating about doing professional 1-year-old photos, like from a real professional photographer, not a department store. I am talking art quality photos for us to blow up large and hang on the wall. This seems to be quite expensive. Ideas? Please?

Kreativ Blogger Award

I got my first blog award! Thanks for passing this on to me, Abby!

When you get the award, you’re supposed to reveal seven things about yourself, then pass it on to seven other bloggers.

Seven things you might not know about me:

1. I played volleyball in high school and I still love it
2. My biggest weaknesses are dessert and TV
3. I gave birth in my dining room
4. I don't like tomatoes
5. I graduated from the "Honors College" at my university
6. My husband and I met when we were 18
7. I spent 6 months living in Spain and traveling in Europe

And the seven creative, informing, inspiring, and entertaining bloggers I am choosing to share this award with are:

Samantha at Mama Notes
Kim Rosas at Dirty Diaper Laundry
Emi at the Cloth Diaper Report
Carly at The Less Than Domestic Goddess
Melissa at Ethan's Page
Hellcat Betty
Andréa

Amber Teething Necklace

I have been reading about amber teething necklaces for months, and finally decided to buy one this past week when Sweet Pea started drooling gallons again. She already has 8 teeth, and teething pains and symptoms seem to come and go for her, so I thought I might as well go ahead and get her a necklace, and whether it helps or not, it will be pretty! Oh boy, first piece of jewelry for my little girl!

Amber is supposed to have a natural soothing effect, through the tiny amounts of succinic acid in the oil from the amber that get absorbed by your skin -- not by the child actually chewing on it. The Baltic amber is supposed to be best for this, and the lighter the color the better. You can read more about it on one of the many websites dedicated to information and sales of these necklaces. I'm not sure if I believe in it yet, but I am willing to give it a try. I got this twelve-inch strand from Inspired by Finn on Hyenacart. It's is a European traditional teething soother that is catching on around the U.S. I love the look of the necklace but will have to wait and see if I feel it has any efficacy.
Note: Most retailers will tell you that jewelry is not recommended for children under age 3, and that you should always supervise your child if you do decide to put a necklace on him or her. The clasp on this one will pull apart if put under strain and the beads are individually knotted on the strand, so I feel comfortable with this on Sweet Pea's neck during the day, but take it off for bedtime. You can also get bracelets and anklets of amber beads.

What do you think? Could it really help? Have you ever used amber and felt like it worked? Share your experience!

Woolybottoms Winner!

Random.org chose the number 19, so Maura, with comment number 19, is the winner of the blue Woollybottoms! Congratulations!

Maura said... "I'd love to win these. We're adopting an infant in the next few months (universe willing, of course) and I'm trying to start a collection of natural baby things!"

Thanks to everyone who participated in this giveaway. I have another one with a different product tentatively planned for a few weeks from now, so stay tuned!

New Fireplace Doors

When we bought our home last year, one of the items on the inspection that we didn't request for the previous home-owner to complete was screening the fireplace. The chimney also needed to be cleaned and a new topper put on the top. We are now one step closer to being able to use our fireplace, and we also have a barrier to keep Sweet Pea from climbing into it! I am so glad that it no longer looks like a big sooty hole in our living room. We also recently installed a wall mount for our TV so our living room is definitely looking more put-together these days.

We decided on a glass door system after browsing around and deciding that Sweet Pea would just pull down any screen that wasn't fully attached to the fireplace, and we have a smallish living room so we didn't want to totally baby-gate off the fireplace area. A door seemed the safest and most attractive way to go. However, doors can cost as much as $1400, which was not really in our budget for the month. We asked a sales-person for some ideas and she showed us a hidden upstairs area with returned and floor-model fireplaces and doors. The one she showed us that would fit our fireplace opening was not what I had in mind in terms of looks, but the price was right: reduced from $600 to $299. We went home to think about it, and a week later we were back to buy. While the door set we got is not exactly my style, I do think that it goes with the era of our home, and the style of the rest of the fireplace. It is a light gold/bronze color, and I prefer black or silver usually, but looking at it in our house I think it is really the best choice.

Average installed it himself with a borrowed hammer drill, a screwdriver, hammer, tape measure, 5/16 pin punch, and button-head concrete fasteners.

I was surprised that the fireplace store didn't send us home with any instructions at all, but am lucky to be married to a very handy man. He only broke one brick in the installation process, and it's hidden inside.

Before:

After: