Mommy and Sweet Pea

To date, Sweet Pea has never worn a disposable diaper. Before she was born, I thought I would want to use cloth most of the time, but that it would be too much of a hassle to use while traveling so she would go in disposables on the road. Thanks in part to a friend from out of town who visited us while using cloth on her baby (you're awesome, Wendy!), I started to think maybe it wouldn't be that much trouble after all. So far, Sweet Pea has worn cloth everywhere we've gone, from two-hour road trips, to ten-hour cross-country trips by airplane, to three-day camping trips, and everything in between. I have changed her on the trunk of our car, in my lap, on the floor at the airport, on the ground on a towel, and on changing tables in public restrooms. I would say it is probably a little more difficult than using disposables, but totally worth it to me not to have to spend extra money to use plastic and chemicals on my baby's bum. This is a photo of our camp-site from when...

I recently won my first giveaway since entering the blogosphere. It is so exciting! Thanks Beth, at Happily Domestic for hosting this giveaway and choosing my entry. Just yesterday, my "prize"  arrived: the Baby Dipper . We used it today and I am very pleased. It does as promised, doesn't slide around on the table, and is easy to use with one hand, with the food naturally collecting at the deeper corner of the triangular bowl. My hands were too messy while feeding Sweet Pea to take a picture of it in use, but here is a photo of the product with its package. My only complaint so far is that I wish it didn't have this type of plastic packaging. Overall, though, it seems like a neat product idea. Average had a few choice jokes about the shape and dimensions of the bowl being similar to a product for men, which I'm not going to repeat here, but the triangular shape and sloped bottom really make sense to me. Sweet Pea did more spoon and food grabbing than actual eat...

I had been thinking about this topic idea for a while, and since we got a puppy I feel like my daily life has gotten even more crazy. So here is a post about a day in the life of Mommy and Sweet Pea. Puppy Glen and baby Sweet Pea wake up a couple of times through the night; baby nurses, Average takes puppy outside to potty Glen wakes up for good in the morning and has his morning meal after potty outside Sweet Pea wakes up and has her morning meal (nursing) and then first diaper change of the day Mommy eats breakfast and does some dishes Glen goes potty outside again Mommy and Sweet Pea play together while Glen plays outside Nurse Sweet Pea Change Sweet Pea's diaper All take a walk together Mommy checks email, reads blogs, while (hopefully) Sweet Pea naps Change Sweet Pea's diaper Take Glen potty Lunch for Glen, then Mommy, then Sweet Pea Try to do some housecleaning: laundry, sweep, etc. Change Sweet Pea's diaper Take Glen potty Errands or visits to fri...

I haven't posted for a few days because we got a new puppy and I've been busy learning all about dog training. Life with a puppy and a baby will be a future post topic. Also, I had already written 3/4 of a post on this topic (changing nature of breastfeeding) but somehow erased it when I came in to edit. Unfortunately this version probably isn't as good. If you read my breastfeeding story , you'll see that we had a rough go of it to start. However, when Sweet Pea was about four months old, we seemed to achieve a peak in terms of ease of all aspects of mommyhood. My baby was sleeping through the night, was content to hang out and watch me do work around the house, sitting on her own for 20-60 minutes at a time, and best of all for me, nursing was finally what I had always hoped: relaxing, bonding time with my baby that took very little effort. We began to nurse in public with confidence, and I was pleased to find we could finally do it without too much awkwardness. I...

This is just a quick post to share an option for those looking for something to do with diapers their children have already grown out of, or for those who need financial assistance getting started using cloth diapers. Miracle Diapers is a nonprofit organization that matches donated diapers with needy families, providing a much-needed, green and healthy service. The group has provided diapers for 185 babies and toddlers , just from January to July of this year! I follow them on twitter and have considered donating some diapers myself at some point. So far, the only diapers that Sweet Pea has grown out of have been passed on to a friend of a friend, and we might eventually get them back for use with our next child. That's one thing I love about cloth diapers, some of them just last and last! I have heard of one set of diapers being used for seven children! Anyway, if you have the means, please consider donating to this great organization. Or, just follow them on facebook or twitte...

In preparation for a post I've been mentally planning about how and why we choose to make healthy lifestyle changes of one kind but not another, or at one time but not another, I am compiling a list of the things that I've chosen to do to live healthier and more environmentally friendly, versus the things that I still do that I KNOW are unhealthy. This is a more generalized follow-up to my " items in my freezer " post, which was a concrete list of things that showed foods we keep and eat that are healthy and some that are not (i.e. frozen pizza and peanut butter cup ice cream). Healthy and Green: cloth diapers cloth wipes breastfeeding home-made baby food vegetable garden home food preserving cloth mama pads cloth napkins reusable grocery bags reusable glass and metal food containers walking to the store sometimes no-pooing composting natural cleaning products automatic thermostat clothesline drying sometimes Unhealthy/Ungreen: eat fast food somet...

I'm participating in Fluff Talk Thursdays again and this week's topic is: a dad's perspective on cloth diapering. My husband had already had a little back-and-forth on facebook with one of our friends about his take on using cloth, so with both of their OKs, I am re-posting that here. I have edited to change names to aliases for my husband and daughter. Silas gave permission for his name to be used. Speaking of aliases, a friend recently pointed out that I should explain that my husband's is really not an insult at all, but is just a private joke. He actually chose it for himself — I think he is above average in nearly every way. Here is a photo of my husband changing Sweet Pea's diaper when she was only one week old. Silas and his wife don't have any kids yet, but are planning on it. After reading my original cloth diaper post , Silas wrote to Average asking, Silas: ....Question for you, how does the cloth diaper thing work for you (ease of use, launderi...

Why must it be SO hard to cut my baby's fingernails? Sweet Pea's nails seem impossible to keep short. They grow so fast, they are so sharp, and yet they are soft and difficult to distinguish from skin between the clipper ends. Some tips I have heard are to just bite them off, or to wait until she is sleeping and cut them then. I have tried the biting them off, but Sweet Pea doesn't have any more patience for that than she does the clippers, and it takes longer to chew through the nails than to cut them, so that doesn't help much. I can only get one or two nails done before she completely loses it because she hates to not have control of her hands. Doing it while she is sleeping has not worked for me yet because during the day I am often holding her while she sleeps, making it difficult to get a good grip, or a good angle, let alone going to find the clippers while I'm trying to keep her asleep. Doing it at night is out of the question because there is no way I'm...

Items in my freezer, in alphabetical order: beef brisket beer mugs blueberries breast milk chicken chopped tomatoes corn dogs dried peppers egg rolls grated zucchini hamburger ice ice cream juice mashed sweet potato pitted cherries pizza placenta popsicles pureed peaches strawberries Perhaps what's in a person's freezer tells you more about that person than what's in their medicine cabinet (although that's always interesting to me as well). Based on this list, I would think anyone reading it would be able to determine that we have a baby, we likely had a homebirth, we eat an omnivorous diet and are trying to eat heathy-ish but don't always succeed. Most of the assumptions you might make based on that information are probably true. Also based on this list, anyone can see that I need a bigger freezer!

So, last week I failed and didn't pack any lunches for husband. This week I only did it once, but am still feeling good about that because it's an improvement. Right? I also bought a new metal sandwich tin in the meantime, which I love, but I wish I had bought one size smaller because it takes up all of the room in his Mario Bros. lunchbox. I made a double-sized lunch, with the idea that I would bring it to Average at work and eat half of it. Without further ado, a description of the healthy lunch that I packed. Peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, jam = home-made blueberry-raspberry Finger-food raw veggies, carrots and broccoli with bleu cheese dressing for dipping Nancy's brand vanilla yogurt with a dollop of home-made apricot-orange conserve Whole apple Large handful of chocolate-covered almonds Hansen's natural soda I found this lunch to be delicious and nutritious. I definitely made it to suit my tastes more than his. We are both getting tired of PB&J though, so...

One of the green lifestyle changes I've made this year is switching to "no-pooing" instead of shampooing my hair. Hilarious name, right? I'm sure most of you thought of something else when you read the title of this post, especially in light of my confession in my post yesterday . Today I'm going to share my no-poo routine for hair washing and what I've noticed about making the change. My routine: In a small container (I started with a nice ceramic ramekin but I knocked if off the ledge into the tub and it broke, so now I'm using an empty sour cream container), I mix about one tablespoon of baking soda with some warm water (not a precise mix, just barely enough to dissolve the baking soda). I pour some onto the front hairline and massage it in. Then I do the same all around my head, but I have a hard time on the middle of the back because my hair is long and thick so it's hard to get it into my scalp. THEN I turn on the shower for the first time and th...

I've never: been a professional web designer taken professional-level photographs taken professional-level photos of two cute dogs been married to a web designer been fired from my job for my blog publicly denounced my family's religion moved back in with my parents been in a mental hospital written (nor will ever write) anything nearly as hilarious as this , or any number of her other posts used swear words so freely But I do have a few things in common with Heather Armstrong, of dooce.com. We both: had a natural birth have daughters with a cute dimple enjoy babies have constipation problems like music and movies and reading other people's blogs So, yes I am a fan and take inspiration from the fact that she can make a living from her writing, but I hope to never be in some of the situations she's been in that have made for such exciting blogging. Thanks, dooce, for keeping me so entertained on many nights while I nurse my baby to sleep, sitting at the computer!