Bumper Madness

Aside from Melba's total confusion about not being able to get into the baby's room we're having a bit of a crisis around decor. Or I am. Dima is experiencing it a bit differently. But he's going ahead and letting me have my crisis, which is a sign of a good husband.

My mom has offered to make the bedding set for the baby: crib bumper and skirt and a quilt, like the ones she made for my nephews. I've been on a mad search for just the right fabrics for, sadly, what is going on months. I found them...

But one of the final four keeps eluding purchase. I need a coordinating stripe and cannot find one I like that I can actually buy at the same time. Frustrating in the extreme. So far I've liked Amy Butler's Sunbloom Stripe in turquoise which is nowhere to be found and then Robert Kaufman's Mary Rose Mod Stripe which is found, but out of stock.

To top it off I finally got the third of the three I've been able to buy and the company I bought from sent the wrong yardage. They were short by 1.5 yards! AND they're office is closed for a week while the host a quilters convention. Oy!

I'm taking what I have to Mom today and she's going to get started on the most important thing, which is the bumper. Can't have Baby E. knocking his/her noggin' on a hard crib. When we find more fabric she'll move on to the other stuff.

love this no. 1

Designer David Trubridge of Unless from New Zealand, created this lamp of sustainably grown birch. Gorgeous!

g... what a cool idea

So I discovered something. Or a freelance client of mine put me on to something. And now that I've shown Dima, we've decided to give it a try. This may be a classic case of new parents syndrome just waiting to happen but in all of our efforts to make lifestyle changes that are better for the planet we're going to give it a try.

gDiapers! Green-diapers without too much hassle. I'm intrigued and, quite frankly, more excited about these diapers than I ever though I could get about diapers. We wanted to make an effort and not send a ton of crap, pardon the pun, into landfills. So yes, we have been discussing the options...

Ultimately, I just couldn't go the route of cloth diapers, though some friends have had great success. Since we'll be sending Baby E. to daycare after I go back to work, we couldn't realistically consider cloth as an option. And even though the washing is supposedly better for the environment than the tossing, I just couldn't deal with the idea of using them. Additionally, my mother, who used them with me, looked horrified at the mention of it.

So when I cam across gDiapers I thought what a great happy medium. They have a gDiapers 101 on their Web site for more information, but essentially they're flushable (as well as compostable and biodegradable within months) diaper inserts in a reusable cloth "pant." Really.

We're going to get a starter kit and try it out after Baby E. arrives. And even if our post-World War II plumbing can't handle it we can always throw them in the garden (ha!) or at least feel less guilty about putting them in the trash because they degrade so quickly. Who knows we may look back and laugh at ourselves for being so first-time baby, greenie trend followers, but I hope it works out. For a little extra expense we'll be doing better for the planet and our kid in the longrun.

save the plastic, save the world

I'm very excited about my new purchase. Through a series of links through a couple of other blogs (http://www.whisperingpine.org/>>> http://www.notmartha.com/>>>) I ended up at http://www.delight.com/ and found: Envirosax Delightfully Pretty Reusable Grocery Bags. I can't wait for them to come in. (Though it will be quite a wait. End of May.) We are overrun by excess plastic grocery bags. They have their purpose for sure—namely as receptacles for the contents of Melba's litter box—but they will no longer be the main way we tote groceries home!

the biggest adventure

The biggest adventure of late is the baking of a baby E. We're learning something new every day. One big ah-ha moment was when I figured out that the weeks that the doctor was measuring our progress in reality translated to a full 10, yes TEN, months.

So now as I enter the 6th of my 10th month, we're getting down to business. We've built a crib last week. And from what we can tell, the biggest adventure for Melba lately is that she is no longer allowed in what was the guest room and is now the baby's room. Total confusion on that front.

more later...