It's my Party and I'll.....

So it's my birthday! Hooray! I really don't feel bad about getting older.  Perhaps it has to do with liking where I'm at in life.  It's pretty much where I saw myself, I think.  Of course things can always go up/be better/more wonderful, but I've got it pretty damn good right now.  "How so Rachel?" (you might ask) Well, let me tell you.

(Prepare for some bragging, but really it's just appreciation for what I'm surrounded with)

First, I am married to my Jacob (yep, that's a Twilight reference, get over it if you don't like the books, I read them in one week while I was 8 months pregnant with Jack, I was obsessed. Perhaps my emotions were SLIGHTLY hightened, but who's counting) (and I say Jacob because Edward love does not exist, that is a fairytale people, come on, get with the program), we go up and we go down, but in the end, we are doing it all together and getting closer by the second. (*tear* right? i know, I'm just too much!) And then there are my beautiful babies!  My mom said she knew I wanted to be a mom when I was two.  I believe it.  Super bonus plus, I get to stay home with them every day of every week of every month of every year.  Wouldn't have it any other way. (another tear, I know, I'm killing myself!)  My mom, she's pretty freakin fantastic. (she's here right now reading Ms. Moo a book before bed, love)  As far as families go, mine's crazy.  Who's isn't?  There awesome though.  So is my in-law fam.  I know what you're thinking: "Really Rach? You are just saying that because they read this." No, I swear!  They are great! And friends, wow, my friends are amazing.  This one friend, she just brought me a present (against my wishes) and it was the #1 vegan cook book on my list! Again with the love!  I am living in the neighboorhood I've always wanted to come back to in a house that I really like. 

Sure, there is always more that we want and more that we "need", but when it comes down to it, I've got everything and more.  Sometimes it's hard to take a step back and look at what we have and appreciate it all (good and bad), but if we do, we see that it's pretty amazing.  At least I do, I hope it for all of you too.




Ok ok..enough with the sappy stuff.  Let me tell you what Mother Nature brought me for my birthday: cramps, bloating, longing for icky foods...yep, you guessed it. (I won't say it for the men that read my blog, Dad.)  Wah.  Heating pad here I come!


Let me update you on what I did this weekend!  I planted a bag garden!  I'll take pictures soon so you can see what I mean.  I have all kinds of things planted from pumpkin to cantalope to pickeling cucumber! (shout out to Lindsay!!)  I'm really excited about it.  Oooo! I have strawberries too!  I made a stirfry tonight and used green onions from my garden! I can't wait for more to grow.


Oh, if anyone is wondering about the Gdiapers, I am still using them.  Usually just around the house and not for bed time.  The reason for just around the house is that the poops can kind of be a mess and hassle to clean up.  There is ALWAYS poop on the liner that has to be hosed off and then the liner needs to be soaked or it will stain.  So I still love them and use them, and if Jack has had his morning poop, I'll take him out in a g, I just don't want to have to deal with that somewhere in public.  The con.

My "lifestyle diet change" is still going good.  My stomach is loads better.  It acts up everyonce in a while, but for the most part, it's good.  I still try to take at least one acidophilis pill, but I've been doing pretty good.  I think my body is getting it, which is good because I was begining to wonder.

Time for some Idol folks, GO LEE!

Peace love and birthdays!

G pause

Two days ago I stopped using the g's.  Jack was getting a rash on his bum and I wanted to see if it was from the g's or something else.  I started using the 7th Gen dipes again and it still hasn't totally gone away.  So, perhaps it's not the g's.  However, then we ran out of the 7's and had some Huggies Pure and Natural left over....the second we put one on he starts scratching his butt.  So, I went to the store and got some 7's and some G's in a medium.  I still haven't called them to ask about the fit, but after looking at the sizing criteria again, I think the mediums might be the answer (ps. the dual pack of G covers has a $5 off coupon if anyone is interested in trying!)...update coming soon.

gDiapers: Day #2

I was going to wait until tonight to post the second update, you know, a FULL day in the gdipes.  However, we had a good incident and so I wanted to make sure I shared all the gory details while they were fresh (pun).

So, like I said, I didn't try the overnight yet.  This morning (6:30) I put a new g on Jack.  Around 10, we were going to Costco so I gave a quick change before we headed out.  Well, guess who fell asleep on the way to Costco, all the way through Costco and would've happily stayed asleep had I been putting him in his comfy bed and not the car seat.  Anyway, no real nap test yet.  I still wanted to give it a real test.   I was planning to leave it on for the full 4 hours to really get it soaked.  Well, right around the witching hour, I smelled something funky...you guessed it! We had an even better test on our hands! Super full pee diaper, plus gooey poo (sorry if I'm too graphic for you, but I just call it like I see it, in everything, including poo)!

I put him up on the changing table and carefully undid the velcro...it came off great! There was a little poo on the liner (which they say can happen and you just rinse/wash it off and/or throw it in the wash!).  I let the little squish run around bare for a few while I demonstrated the flush for Mr. AP.  I was so proud showing him how you rip the sides and the top to let the insides fall out (it wasn't as smooth as I had hoped, but we got it done).  Then, I flushed!




It didn't go down.






It backed up.





The toilet filled with water.




Oi.

My proud moment had turned disasterous.  I was standing there with a poopy, wet outer section dripping with poo water.  Mr. AP walked away.. I thought surely he is going to get me a plastic bag and the plunger....




nope.





2 minutes later, I shout (still standing over the toilet holding poo) "What are you doing?" "

"Why?"

"Because I'm standing over the toilet holding poo paper and am unable to move."

"What do you want me to do about it?"

"I don't know, maybe use your head and bring me a plastic bag and the plunger?" (perhaps a little mean, but come on)

So, now I have the tools.  I start plunging all the while trying to keep little grabby hands (not big grabby hands) away from the plunger (it's a stick playing in water, can you blame him?)  I get it free and realize the culprit is a wipe! I had left one in there!  I remove said wipe and flush, goes down with ease.

Moral:  Don't flush wipes.  Only poo and pee and G!!



Still loving the g's! We only have two with 3 liners and it's working just fine.  As for the pooy liner, I hosed it off in the kitchen sink and it was stained a little, so I soaked it in some gentle cleanser and it's good as new!

Peace, love and G

Second New Adventure: Day 1

It's no secret, Jack is a high maintenance kid.  He's allergic to a few things, he has excema and sensitive skin, he needs his mama, he doesn't talk quite yet (more of a uh uh followed by a whine and then a cry if you don't get what he's trying to tell you in a speedy manner), but we couldn't love him more!

Somewhere during all of this, we came to the conlusion that his skin does not like his diapers (Huggies).  He is constantly scratching his hind end which did lead to a bactierial infection (come one, open wounds on your butt + poop = bactieral infection).  So, we started thinking about changing the diapers.  We started with Huggies pure and natural.  I really liked them, but there was still behind scratching and rough patches.  So I bought some Seventh Generation chlorine free diapers (after research and finding they were the best "natural" disposable).  So far, we really like them.  No leaks, and scratching has decreased.  But then I thought, why not take it a step further?  Now, I'm not going to pretend that I am ambitious enough to go cloth, no I couldn't keep that up, I just know it.  So I decided to check out Gdiapers.  I looked at these when I was prego with Jack, but at the time, it just seemed too expensive. 

Either I was wrong, or the price has come down.  I researched and they compare to disposables after you get the outer shells, which aren't bad either ($14ish individually, but bought in packs, they are cheaper).  I went to their site to find out what it was really about.  http://www.gdiapers.com/

This is what they look like, super cute.  They come in tons of colors and fasten in the back, as you can see, so baby  has a more difficult time undoing and smearing poo everywhere.  Inside, there is a snap in liner and then a disposable or cloth insert.

The disposable inserts can be thrown away, flushed (yes, down the toilet!) or composted (not for me).  They are totally biodegradable and only take about 100 days to totally decompose!  Compared to a disposable diaper, chlorine free or not, which takes up to 500 years to fully decompose! Are you shocked? I was.  Also, we Americans send 52 MILLION disposable diapers to landfills everyday! That's insane!

So, I decided to get two covers and a pack of disposable liners and give it a whirl!  This is literally day one.
Jack has had on his Gdiaper since about 2:30 and we've changed a pee, no problem, flushed with ease.  I so wanted him to poop so I could see that how that all played out (crazy I know, willing your child to poo so you can play with your new toy) and he did! Hooray!  I changed him and it was a breeze, threw the poo and liner in the toilet (you rip open the liner and let the inner part come out first) and flushed away! I am still doing the beginer flushing, two seperate flushes, one for the inner liner and one for the outer.  It's a little hard to explain, but the website has a video, awesome.

So far, so good!  It does take a little bit more time and it's possible that if we were to go out and about to somewhere other than a house or something, I would take along some Seventh Generation...but we'll see.  I am a little hesitant to try them at night.  I think I'll wait a couple of days and make sure I really like them and have the fit right.  The thing I hate most in the middle of the night is a diaper/pj change, it always equals bad sleep for all!

Anyway, this is my other new adventure! I'll keep you updated

Peace and flushable diapers