Tweeting!

Can't say I know much about it yet, but I've signed up on twitter as "onthefox". So, if you twitter, or are interested in twittering, come "follow" me at twitter.com. Hope to see you there and let me know if you have any good recommendations on twitter or if you twitter! -L

Clothing Give In

After we found out about being pregnant, suddenly baby clothing was looking pretty cute!  We've avoided buying any at this point, since we're sure we'll find lot of nice used stuff and have many essentials from gifting.  Well, today I gave in.  There is a store by my office called "A Better Footprint" and she has all fair trade stuff.  Since it was Earth Day today, she had 22% off of everything in store.  I decided to check it out and found the cutest shirt and onesie (with hat!).  I couldn't resist.  I got the onesie in size 6mo-12mo, and the shirt 12-18mo.  The Onesie says "Future World Explorer" and the shirt says "Peace, baby".  So cute! They are on a unbleached 100% cotton and the sale proceeds go to a group in Honduras (where Tim and I honeymooned) for treatment of women with HIV/AIDS.   Here's a photo!

Spring is in the Air!

Hi Everyone! I am happy to report that spring is here! At least for yesterday and today! It's 70 degrees outside and wonderful! I opened up all the windows in the house to get that winter stuffiness out, it's so refreshing! With spring comes blooms.  Our tulips are coming up, but no flowers yet.  Some perennials are showing their green and the garlics we planted late fall are up and rising!  Of course, so are all the weeds.  How is it that some plants will die off during a harsh winter....but not weeds!  They are persistent, year after year.  I have crab grass growing in my strawberry patch, and in random places in the garden.  This weekend, some spring cleaning is on the list.  We also have to start getting together our camping materials.  We found a cheap, retro hardtop camper for sale that we purchased and will be taking to our land next time we are up.  It's not deluxe by any means, but has what we need.  Bed, storage, stovetop, and heater.  The heater was the biggest thing since it will allow us to spend nights on the land when otherwise we would have to stay at another place about 30 minutes from the property.  We'll post some pictures once we get it up there, we are pumped to get everything together and go up for our first weekend where we can spend all day and night at the land!

Anyhow, back to spring - here's a picture of the garlic coming up and also of the dogs playing outside! 

Cloth Diapering

We've been doing some research on cloth diapering to decide which cloth diaper to get for when baby arrives.  We found a great Pocket Diaper called Bum Genius 3.0.  They are affordable, fit all sizes from infant to toddler (with out having to buy a different size for each weight group), and are environmentally friendly because they are washable and reusable.  I was reading a local blog that shares a lot of great information about "natural" parenting.  She also owns a local shop/cafe: momandpopplace.com

On the blog I found this great information advocating cloth diapering:

Reason Number 1: The Environment

            Disposable diapers are the third most common consumer product filling up our landfills today.  One baby will contribute at least a ton of waste the local landfill!  Not only do disposable diapers take over 500 years to decompose, they require toxic chemicals and vital resources to manufacture.

Reason Number 2:  Your Family’s Money

Disposable diapers cost about $1500-$2000 per child.  Yikes.  You can cloth diaper all your babies for under $500.  And you can use the same diapers for more than one child.  Even with the cost of water and detergent, you WILL save a ton of money.

Reason Number 3:  Your Baby’s Health

Disposable diapers contain polypropylene and other synthetics and chemicals, and dioxins from bleaching.   Their super-absorbency encourages caregivers to go longer between changings.  Many parents find that their babies suffer less diaper rash and irritation when diapered in cloth.  Soft cottons mean healthier bottoms!