Wednesday, April 14, 2010

News and a Rant

Alright, so I guess I haven't told everyone here yet, but I am expecting a baby. It's growing and supposedly this week developed reflexes, which is pretty amazing. Here is a run down of the typical things I'm getting asked:
* I'm due at the end of October (which is perfect, as Halloween is a big deal for our family)
* I'm NOT finding out the sex of the baby
* I'm planning on breast feeding and cloth diapering my child (because I am super hippy like that... and because I am also super frugal... I don't think I could afford to NOT do this)
* No, I don't think washing diapers will be gross. And, no, I'm not getting a separate washer for them. (Have you seen my house, where would it go? The baby is living in the corner of my room for goodness sakes!)
* I'm not painting any portion of my house for the baby. I hate painting. I also don't really get into "themes" for babies... my theme is handmade. :)
* I'm having my baby at a birthing center (if all goes well, and I really hope it does because I went on the tour the other day and it was AMAZING!) which means no drugs...
* No, I'm not concerned that a doctor will not be there... I actually kind of like that.

So, if you have any questions, feel free to ask!

On to one of my rants... both are pretty short. I get weekly emails from babycenter.com about how my baby is growing and how I can prepare, etc... this week one of the emails talked about the 7 things that cost the most $$ with a baby and how to combat that. One of the 7 in the list was diapers... and the line said something to the effect of "besides cloth diapering.... you can buy diapers at Costco" BESIDES cloth diapering?!? Like it is the worst thing in the world. It's like they said "besides stabbing yourself in the eye...." I'm sure it wasn't meant in this manner, and I'm just being overly sensitive, but I think that people should really be more open to the idea... you don't wear paper underwear, that would be uncomfortable, so why should your baby? And there are a lot of pros (besides $$) to cloth diapering... but I won't get into that now. I'm sure I'll do a whole post on why I think it is a great idea later when I order my diapers.

The other one has to do with the way my city chooses to spend $$. If you are in debt, do you think you should spend $$ to find out why you are in debt? Or just look at how much money you have to spend, and make sure you only spend that much?? Hopefully, you picked the second option, because that is the one that makes sense. Maybe the Anchorage Assembly should take note....

I'm almost done knitting my felted bag. I should probably have it done by tonight. Just have to do the handles. :) I love a quick knit. Next up, a shawl for myself. I haven't decided on the pattern quite yet, but I have plenty of yarn to choose from...

2 comments:

Jess said...

Wow! Congratulations!

I've not experienced it personally, but it pretty much seems like every mother is subjected to questions about her choices, no matter what they are. If you were planning to use disposable diapers, I'm sure someone would want to know why you weren't being more eco-friendly! Here's to hoping you don't have to deal with too much more of that.

Anonymous said...

About cloth diapers: I used them for all 3 of my daughters. The times I didn't was when going to church. I wasn't going to ask other people to do cloth and of course to store them for me.
A couple of hints: for the diaper pins keep a bar of bath soap nearby to stab the pin into to make it smooth going back into a fresh diaper. You can also just run the pin through your hair. It isn't as gross as it sound. Ammonia builds up on the pins and makes them sticky.
Always put YOUR hand between the baby and the diaper so if you stick any body it is you and not your precious little girl.
The Diaper Pail: you need to have the pail have some kind of fluid that diapers waiting for the wash sit in. If you think you are going to line dry - a good thing ever once and a while - don't use bleach. Well in your case it won't matter, but if you do use bleach, the diapers might come out a light shade of pink. My mother told me that when it first happened to me.
Pre-folded diapers are worth the extra money. You will be doing so much laundry and folding that the little extras will make your life happier.
Enjoy your new little one and cloth diapers.
Vicki