Cloth Diapers

Many of you who know us know that we used cloth diapers almost exclusively with Mason until we moved this past Sept. Once we moved, our living expenses increased and the cost of our diaper service went up as well. The rising cost of energy caused them to have to raise their prices. With these factors in place, we switched over to the Seventh Generation disposables. We chose those diapers because they are bleach free and chlorine free, which are a little better for their skin than typical disposables. However, after 6 months of using the disposables we found that we were spending A LOT of money of diapers and Mason was getting a substantial amount of diaper rashes and his first ever yeast infection. So when a friend of ours decided to sell her cloth diapers, we began looking at the possibility of switching back to cloth. Since our washer and dryer cost about half of what they did at our old building, we were more willing to buy some "wash 'em yourself" cloth diapers. After much research and talking with others, we decided on Fuzzi Bunz pocket diapers. We have been using the Fuzzi Bunz with Mason for 2 weeks now and have loved having him back in cloth. He has not had a single rash since we have switched back. Now, I know many people chose not to use the cloth because it is not as convenient or easy as a disposable. However, we have to consider the bigger picture when we make choices even as simple as what kinds of diaper to put our children in. With landfills filling up, energy costs increasing and environmental issues at the forefront of societal debates, we can't ignore the impact of disposable diapers on the environment. Cloth diapers may take a little more effort, but they save in the long run. They save money, energy, skin and the environment. There are several websites that discuss the benefits of cloth diapers so I won't go into all the details here. I will just mention a few of the big reasons why cloth are beneficial and then refer you some websites for more information.

Some of the biggest benefits of cloth diapers are their minimal impact of the environment because they are reusable and have a long shelf life so to speak. Because of their reusable nature, they are much cheaper than buying disposables. You pay more upfront to purchase them, but in the long run the cost of washing and maintaining them is much cheaper than disposables. You can also use them with more than one child. Additionally, cloth diapers are much gentler on babies and toddlers sensitive skin. Because they are usually made of high quality cotton, they breath and wick away moisture naturally as opposed to chemically. So children are less likely to get diaper rash or other skin irritations. Additionally, who knows the long term effects of all those gels and chemicals in disposable diapers on our children's long term health. These are just a few benefits of using cloth. We certainly have found them to be accurate and are hoping that using them will also help with potty training. We urge you to look into it for yourself. Here are a few websites that may help:

www.eartheasy.com
www.dy-dee.com
www.realdiaperassociation.org

Obviously, people have opinions on both sides of the issue. As usual, we simply ask people to look into the debate for themselves and make their own educated decision. We made our choice based on what we felt was best for our family and based on our convictions.

Mason and Mud

Mason is one of the younger kids in our community. Its funny to watch him watch the older kids as they run by him and climb all over the toys in the play area. He is constantly giggling and laughing and trying so hard to imitate them. One day - after it had rained, the kids were out playing with the mud that had formed. And so Mason decided to do this as well - except that he wasn't as careful as the other kids and before you know it - he had mud all over his face and clothes. Enjoy the pictures and see if you can guess what he is doing in the picture with all the kids. (Hint - there was music playing).

brief update

this is just a quick update on baby b. i saw the doctor yesterday and i gained 4 more pounds, which is great. as of today, i am 33 weeks and have gained 14 pounds total. the baby was measuring 2 weeks ahead of schedule at my last appointment but measured right on track yesterday. the heartbeat is strong. so, everything looks good so far and we're counting down the days till be get to meet our new son or daughter. just fyi, our neighbors here are throwing a baby shower for us in may, which we are very excited about! that's that for now.

Spring Break-part three

On Friday we said goodbye to our amazing suite in Cambria and headed further north for Big Sur and Monterey. We stopped along to way to check out the famous elephant seals about 10 miles north of Cambria. The female and baby seals come ashore once a year to molt and sleep. They have been an endangered animal before and so they are pretty well protected now that they are coming back to the shores. You can see them from the boardwalk but are not allowed to go onto the beach where they rest. But Mason had fun looking at them and imitating their noises.

From there we hit the road again, driving up the curvy coast line to get to Big Sur. By the time we got there, Mason was sound asleep and we didn't dare wake him. So instead of stopping there for an ocean front lunch, we just got out and stretched our legs before forging ahead to Monterey. Once we finally got into Monterey, we had some lunch and went to the Aquarium. We had heard that this is one of the best in the country. It was amazing and Mason loved the kids section. However, there were a couple things that he did not like, like the simulated waves crashing overhead on the see through roof. He clung tight to daddy and waited for it all to end. But he did like the children's tunnels, touch pools, jump and play area, penguins and the giant orca whale replicas hanging from the ceiling. After that, we were going to visit Pebble Beach golf course, but nixed the idea when we realized you had to pay $10 just to drive through the neighborhood to get to the course. We ended up eating out at CPK and then went to bed early because we had a long day of driving/entertaining Mason ahead of us.

Spring Break-part two

Disclaimer: This is Dave writing for the installment of Spring Break - part two.

Today, we woke up early because Amanda wanted to go whale watching off the coast of Santa Barbara. The humpback whale is in full migration right now, but I forget if they are headed north or south. But the important point (especially to Amanda) was that they were in the channel between Santa Barbara and the channel islands. We set out on the Condor Express and right before we left, a whole bunch of loud and . . . . annoying kids boarded the boat. Yes - it was a middle school field trip. Mason immediately wanted to follow these kids wherever they ran, which was fun to deal with because after the boat started moving, Mason started walking like he had gone wine taste testing all night beforehand. And of course, he wanted to exert his independence at the same time and did not want any help from me - so, he fell a lot. Amanda took a ton of pictures as we saw 8 humpback whales and the pictures really don't do it justice. They are huge creatures. Mason, between his periodic interest in the whales - ate an apple, tried to run away from me countless of times, and said hi to all the middle school students (who in their social awkwardness had no idea how to respond). Before I continue with the recap of the day - let me apologize to my brother and brother-in-law who work with middle school students. And may God give you both an inordinate amount of patience because I was ready to 'feed' some of them to the whales. Seriously, anyone who works with middle school students - you deserve a lot of vacation time.

After whale watching, we jumped back into the car and headed further north along Highway 101 and Highway 1. The Central Coast is beautiful during this time of the year as everything is green and there are lots of rolling hills. We stopped in Cambria, which is a favorite little town of Amanda and I. We were going to stay in the city when a helpful store owner told us that during this time of the year, the ocean side resorts have good deals. So we checked it out - and found this incredible deal. We are staying in an oceanfront suite for half the price. It is originally over $350 - but thanks to it being a weekday in the off season and that we were a walk-in - we got it at a tremendously reduced price. Later that night we ate our favorite Cambria restaurant - Robin's. It has all organic foods and Mason did a great job, as it is not exactly toddler-friendly. The older couple sitting next to us (the tables are close together) commented on how well-behaved Mason was. That was nice to hear and I think our going out to eat way too much in his young life has helped (huge weakness of mine). That's it for now and as I close this blog, sitting in our luxury suite, watching the ocean - I hope that the snow has finally left you all in the Midwest.:)

Stay tuned . . . .

Spring Break-part one

We took off Wednesday afternoon for our "spring break" vacation. One last hooray before baby #2 comes!! We made it to Santa Barbara on Wednesday and stayed there for the night. We found this nice little (and inexpensive) hotel off the beach a little ways called the Mason Beach Inn (nice name!). After getting unloaded, we hit the town. We rented a surrey bike and the three of us took off in the rain for a little coastal ride. Mason was a little apprehensive at first but once we got moving and he heard the bell ring, he loved it. And of course he looked hilarious in his helmet! We rode for about an hour until the rain started coming down heavier. We went for some pizza at a local place where Mason played arcade games and then called it a night. Took Mason a while to go to sleep as he was pretty excited by all the novelty of the day. That's it for now...stay tuned for more installments!