A Green Rainbow

Happy belated Earth Day!

We decided before Norah born that we wanted to use cloth diapers. Not only would it save thousands of diapers from ending up in our local landfill, it would save us thousands of dollars too (especially if we have more than one kiddo)! Though there is a larger financial investment upfront (the kinds we got were around $18 each), after that it’s simply the cost of doing laundry.

We ended up buying 25 total diapers — about half are Bum Genius 4.0‘s, and the other half are Fuzzibunz. We chose to get the kind with snaps, because I read they would last longer than velcro.  Despite having enough diapers to last us through a couple of days, we usually do a load of diaper laundry every day.  We don’t like to run out of clean diaps, even though we do have a small emergency back-up pack of disposables.

We started using them when Norah outgrew the newborn-sized disposable diapers. We didn’t want to invest in newborn cloth diapers (it seems silly since they can only fit into them for a few weeks, plus newborns go through so many diapers each day!).  I think we switched when she was 5 or 6 weeks old.

So far, we love cloth diapering! They’re adorable and they don’t seem to leak any more than the disposables did. We were also lucky enough to find a daycare provider that allows cloth diapers!

P.S.  I wrote this whole blog entry on my iPhone, trying out the WordPress app.  My only complaint is that I couldn’t put the photo where I wanted.  =)

Dresser dress-up

Probably the easiest way to “live green” is to re-use things you already own for other purposes.  Matt and I have tried to do that from time to time — for example, we re-used the folding side table leaves from a small bistro table to make floating shelves.  Just a quick sanding, staining, and using some floating shelf brackets from Home Depot later, here’s a before and after:

 

But since we live in such a small home (733 square feet), our ability to hold on to things (“just in case”) is limited.  So we often have to craigslist items that we no longer use.  However, craigslist has also been great for finding used pieces to renovate.  When we started to put together our nursery, we decided to get a dresser to use for both storage and a changing table.  After stalking craigslist for a solid-wood piece for a while, we found one with a good amount of character for $40.  We hoped to stain it, but upon closer inspection, we realized we had purchased a dresser (well, a buffet, really) that was solid wood with a wood veneer.  Booo!  (Note to Self: always do the close inspection BEFORE buying!)  So instead of staining, we decided to paint.  I had found some fun dressers on Pinterest that had different colored drawers, so that’s what we went with.  So here’s the before and after on the dresser:

My apologies for crappy photos.  I promise I’ll get better.

Here we go…

  Here I am, at the end of maternity leave.  I had my first baby, a daughter, on February 10, 2012.  Norah.  I was one of those 32-year-olds who realized she couldn’t put off baby-making too much longer.  So my hubby, Matt, and I decided, “ok, let’s give it a shot…”  and BAM, two weeks later we were staring, dumbfounded, at two little pink lines.  Matt was relieved he wouldn’t have to give up his avid bike riding.  Fast-forward nearly a year, and tomorrow I am going back to work full-time.  I’ve spent the last ten weeks staring at and caring for this new little person.  A person everyone says looks just like me.  It’s been the hardest and most amazing work I’ve ever done… so part of me is relieved to be going back to a day job that, let’s just say it, is MUCH easier.  But another part of me is absolutely heartbroken at the fact that someone else gets to spend more time with Norah than I do.  Someone else gets to make her smile, and perhaps witness a lot of her firsts in life.  And I’ll get maybe four hours of her, awake, per day.  So I am cherishing my last weekday afternoon with her, snuggling, and hoping I never forget these moments.