Categories
Curious

Quoting

“If there is magic on this planet, it is contained in water…Its substance reaches everywhere; it touches the past and prepares for the future; it moves under the poles and wanders thinly in the heights of air. It can assume forms of exquisite perfection in a snowflake, or strip the living to a single shining bone cast up by the sea.”

Categories
Mothering

Child Honouring

I am reading Child Honouring – How to Turn This World Around by Raffi Cavoukian (Yep, that Raffi) and Sharna Olfman. Although I do not typically blog about what I am reading, I feel that this is oh so worthy.”

“We find these joys to be self evident: That all children are created whole, endowed with innate intelligence, with dignity and wonder, worthy of respect.”

Please check out the beautiful and compelling Covenant and Principles.

Categories
Uncategorized

Thinner

I made a goal to get more fit. Since January 6, I have lost 21 pounds. Nothing drastic or unhealthy. I actually joined Weight Watchers online.

Keeping a food tracker has been a great help and learning the “points” of foods. I was never interested in a diet or a program like Weight Watchers before, because the thought of weigh-in meetings, cheesy branded gear (sport bottles and jump ropes), and artificial sweeteners galore just didn’t appeal to me on any level.

I was in for a surprise. I do not attend meetings, I have bought nothing, and  don’t eat frightening artificial ingredients. I found that the Momentum program is well-suited to me, as a nursing mother. So for, so good. I am half way to my big weight goal.

Categories
Mothering

Crawling and Chewing

To our great surprise, M is classically crawling! He does not crawl as fast as he scoots, but he is trying it out. He began day before yesterday, as he was heading over through the connecting hallway to visit his Grammy and Grampy.

What a wonderful mouth of teeth he has now, too. Six are fully in (all four top incisors and the two bottom primary incisors). What a dazzling smile. His bottom right secondary incisor is beginning to poke through. It seems to be more uncomfortable that the others for some reason.

Categories
Mothering

Cloth Diapering

We are committed to cloth diapering the babe, until he is completely ready to use the potty. Since coming home from the hospital, he has worn cotton prefolds with PUL or wool covers (we prefer wool, now). We decided to use cloth diapers for many reasons including our desire to lessen our impact on the planet by reducing our waste contribution.

Dioxin, which in various forms has been shown to cause cancer, birth defects, liver damage, and skin diseases, is a by-product of the paper-bleaching process used in manufacturing disposable diapers, and trace quantities may exist in the diapers themselves.

Disposable diaper manufacturers would like us to believe that their diapers prevent diaper rash, because the “pull the wetness away from the skin”. The reality is that a variety of factors cause diapers rash; reactions to chemicals in the diapers, wipes, detergents, foods, etc…Frequent changes and plenty of air with careful attention to chemical exposure greatly reduce the risk of rashes. Babes diapered in disposables typically are changed less because the diapers feel dry. The outer plastic shell of a disposable diaper prevents the little bum from being able to “breathe”.

Super absorbent disposable diapers contain sodium polyacrylate gel, which absorbs up to 100 times its weight in water. Sodium polyacrylate is the same substance that was removed from tampons in 1985 because of its link to toxic shock syndrome. No studies have been done on the long-term effects of this chemical being in contact with a baby’s reproductive organs 24 hours a day for upwards of two years.

If water usage is a concern, consider that 18 billion disposable diapers are thrown in landfills each year, taking as many as 500 years to decompose. Disposable diapers make up the third largest source of solid waste in landfills. It takes upwards of 82,000 tons of plastic and 1.3 million tons of wood pulp, or a quarter-million trees, to manufacture the disposable diapers that cover the bottoms of 90 percent of the babies born in the US.

Many people question whether or not cloth diapers are sanitary. It is the handling of diapers and the diaper changing process that requires attention, in the area of sanitation. Hand washing and proper storage of dirty diapers (both cloth and disposable) are paramount in maintaining a safe diaper changing process. The disposal of human waste in public landfills is prohibited, so the instructions provided by the disposable diaper manufacturers is to scrape any solid waste into the toilet, before disposing of the diaper. Have you ever seen anyone do that?

Another concern that people are express is that a cloth diaper pail smells. Ours does not. We keep the pails clean, and experience no foul odors. The smell of waste in a disposable diaper is truly nasty.

What about the time that it takes? It takes less time to dump a load of cloth diapers into the washing machine and transfer them to the dryer than it does to shop for disposables, load them into the car, unload them at home, and take garbage out to the transfer station (stinking all the way).

We have tried many different washing methods and combinations of soaps. What currently works for us is to keep two pails. One dry with a reusable dry bag and on wet. All wet diapers go straight into the dry pail. All poopy diapers get the poop sprayed off into the toilet then put into a pail of cold water and either Bi-O-Kleen Bac-Out or borax. This pail is kept right in the bathroom, in the cabinet under the sink. Then, every other day all dirty diapers go into the washer. I rinse them with old water. Then wash with hot water, adding soapnuts and oxygen bleach. One warm rinse it usually enough, but sometimes an additional cold or warm rinse is necessary. Then, I sniff test the diapers, they should smell fresh and clean and kind of spicy. Then they get dried. My preference is to dry on the line, in the sun. But, since the sun is hard to come but in the winter in New England, the dryer is sufficing.

That’s it. We had trouble finding the right soap to work with our hard water. We used everything from Charlie’s Soap (which we loved before moving to this house and well) to Sun and Earth to Arm and Hammer Essentials. The step to soapnuts has been a great move, so far. With the other soaps, I was having to boil the diapers on a regular basis to remove soap build up and the post-pee stinkiness that is causes. For our water conidtions it is best for us to not use white vinegar or baking soda, although they work great for many people. If some disinfection is required, we use grapefruit seed extract.

The babe has that classic baby look about him, with a sweet, padded, white bottom. He loves to help  fold his diapers and wipes. He climbs in and out of the laundry basket, “helping”.

There are many more expensive (really cute and tempting) cloth diapering options (All-In-Ones, fitteds, minkies, etc…) but, like so many things, I find the simpler I keep it, the better. So, it remains all cotton diaper service quality prefolds, fastened with a snappi and a cover. We are not buying any more PUL covers, we are going all wool. But that is a subject for another post!