7 Quick Takes!

-1-

Lately, a lot of the blogs I follow (and love) have been emphasizing the, erm, more difficult sides of motherhood. It's been complain week around here after Jen gave everyone permission. I dont' mind; blogs exist for people to have an outlet for their thoughts and struggles. But I do wonder: 

Is motherhood harder now than it was in the past? Is it difficult because many of us come from smaller families, so we aren't used to helping with little brothers and sisters, or maybe because we spend a longer time in independent adulthood, unused to caring for other poeples' daily needs? I'm truly curious. Were women 'back in the day' happier with their role, because they knew beforehand what was expected and had seen it modeled by their own mother, aunts, grandmothers? Will our daughters struggle like we have, or will our example give them better preparation?

Photo boothing it up...

-2-

So many tragic events lately and what startled me the most was that there as a link to images of the beheadings in London - video even! I know that we live in an age of the pornography of violence, but that's ridiculous. Honestly, I'm not sure it's necessary for anyone to see that - is that really respectful of the dead, does it serve to give that poor man greater dignity in death? I worry that our refusal to leave anything to the imagination is creating a society of callous indifference. 

-3-

If there's one thing I find ridiculous, it's those silly articles about how much children cost over the 18 years you're responsible for them. Not only are they calculating many items that some parents don't need or have to use (disposables, disposable wipes, bottles, breast pump, wipe warmer, new sew of nursery furniture, etc.), they also don't take into account others generosity. We won't have to buy Zuzu clothes until she's in 3T because of how generous people are to us; we also have never (get that? NEVER) bought her a toy! Or a book. We have received so many wonderful items from others, it's been unnecessary to purchase those things ourselves.

Also, no offense to those of you that buy her such lovely and educational toys, but her goal these days is to locate and chew on my shoe...so yeah. Not that expensive. 

Zuzu playing with her "Busy Bible" - one of the best toys ever! Hand-made here in Florida, helps with fine motorskills, and beautiful. My mom got it for her. Check them out!

-4-

Just finished reading Greg and Lisa Popcak's "Beyond the Birds and the Bees: Your Guide to Raising Sexually Whole and Holy Kids." Wow, I was very impressed - and I say that as a Popcak skeptic. Although I adored their book "Holy Sex" (we read it on our honeymoon), I had some real issues with his parenting book, "Parenting with Grace" and found several of his statements truly problematic. So it was with trepedation that I approached his one on how to talk to your kids about sex - but it seems that when it comes to sex, the Popcaks know how to get the right ideas across. Their book was full of great ways to teach your children the fullness of the Church's teaching about their bodies and sexuality from birth! They make the great point that you can't just give them 'The Talk' at 12 or whenever and expect them to follow what you say. You have to train them from the moment of their birth to see themselves as made in imago dei, and to respect that others' are made so as well. 

He has great examples of how to handle conversations with your kids on masturbation (even at a very young age), nudity, abortion, sex itself, boyfriends/girlfriends, dating, and everything else. If you're wondering how to deal with these topics, I found this book very helpful. 

-5-

I'm taking the Bar again this summer. 

I'm really hoping I can pass it and then just have it under my belt! Move on! We shall see...

-6-

We had some front landscaping done - cleaned up the Eureka palms, took out a mimosa tree that infringes upon the driveway, and took out a dead 'junk' palm. Now my front yard looks...naked!! A lot of foliage gone, but it's a nicer, cleaner look. Now I am knee-deep again in garden dreams, thinking about planting sweet potatoes, avocado and mango trees, and some alysium borders...ah, to have unlimited time - and money! 

This is not our front yard. This is clearing the lot down the street. But you can see how the foliage down here leans more towards jungle than English garden.

-7-

I love cloth diapering and all, but man, isn't it annoying when I ask "what diaper rash ointments are compatible with CDs?" and the person replies, "if you're using CDs, you shouldn't have diaper rash." ....uh, okay. But obviously that is an issue, so can you help or not?! 

Similar and even funnier story, during our birth class I asked "what tips can you give to partners on dealing with seeing their wives in pain? I know it's very hard oftentimes for men to see women in pain..." Her response? "You're not going to be in pain." (this is because the birth education class was hypnobirthing, may adherents of such claim to not feel pain during labor) Well, HAHA, lady the joke's on you - cause I was in pain during labor!! And I was all visioning and deep breathing! Still in pain! 

Well that's a good note to end on I guess... :) 

The Dirty on the Diapers

So before I tell you all about my newbie foray into cloth diapers, let me first give a huge thank you to my family. Not only did my sister Kim throw me an incredible baby shower this past weekend, but my siblings and parents went in together on our travel system stroller and carseat. I literally cried when I found out; this was such a huge gift to us and a big weight off our shoulders! Thank you for your generosity and practical gifts!

I remind myself of this when I want to get all crazy about baby gear.

Onto the dirty business. So I want to cloth diaper because I'm cheap and the idea of diapers in landfills does freak me out a little bit. But where to start? I had no clue, and all the diaper websites were super confusing. So here are my best intro tips for newbies regarding cloth diapering...and if you have any wisdom, please share!

1. Confusing Terminology: I am still figuring it all out, to say NOTHING of all the crazy abbreviations that make it way harder for me. So here's my one special tip: y'know how there are cloth diapers that you have to pin on your child and then add a cover? Okay, there are at least two types of those (pre-folds and fitteds). Fitteds have fasteners already so you don't need pins. It took me a long time to figure this out (don't judge).

2. Special care: You can't just treat cloth diapers like regular laundry. When you buy new ones, you have to prep them - usually by washing them a few times without detergent, but just follow the directions that come with them. You also have to use special detergent, apparently, but there are several mainstream brands that are okay - just google it. Also, you can't use a lot of regular diaper rash creams with them because they'll hurt the absorbency of the diaper. And lastly, if they're starting to be less absorbent or hold a bad smell, you'll need to "strip" them - which I gathered is sort of like prepping them again? Again, google is your friend.

3. Newborns are special: So most diapers are sized by weight but some are OS (one size). But even one sized diapers only fit when babies are 8 pounds usually - so if you're planning on cloth diapering from day 1 and you tend to have babies under 8 pounds, this might leave you needing to buy some NB (newborn) diapers anyway. The advantages to NB diapers are apparently pretty sweet - the little legs fit tighter, so there's less leakage (especially of explosive poos). While buying special diapers for a short period of time might seem aggravating, some people have small babies that don't gain weight quickly so may get better life out of these. If it's your first babe and you're shooting in the dark, good luck. We're going to use the disposables that have been gifted to us at first, and we'll see if she's small enough for NB sizes or if she can go straight to our OS diapers.

4. There are 10 billion ways to do this. The brands are endless as are the places from which to purchase them. Some are cheaper ($8) and from China; others use organic bamboo cotton and are made in America but pricier ($30). So make choices depending on what's important to you and buy several different brands. If you don't like one brand, then either wait to see if it works for the next baby or sell it on a site like Diaper Swappers. Most families who CD (cloth diaper) have tons of different kinds of diapers and like different ones for different times of life (bedtime, newborns, toddlers, skinny babies, chunksters, etc.); don't think there's one perfect diaper company you need to find and stick with forever.

5. Internet knows all. I have no idea how anyone CD before the internet! Any questions you have, just google and you'll get ten million blogs and sites that have good information. The only problem can be that a lot of it is opinion (as in, what's the best diaper for NBs? everyone has a different idea) and that there's not a whole lot of places that have all the info in one place. I haven't found a cure for that yet. For what it's worth, I have found All About Cloth Diapers to be a very helpful site.

6. You can register for them! At two of the major baby registry sites, Target and Babies R' Us, you can register for cloth diapers from several reputable companies (BumGenius, Thirsties, gDiapers). That means that even if no one chooses to buy them for you, you get a discount at the end of your registry (10% off at Target, 15% off at BRU) and you can of course use those handy gift cards.

I doubt many of my readers will find this helpful since most of you know far more about this than I do, but in case you were curious, here it is. Standby for part II of this post, which will be in two months, after baby has come and I have some experience wrangling my poop-covered offspring.

7 Quick Takes

-1- 

Sooo took the car to get an alignment, rotation yadda yadda today...and Mr. Mechanic Man tells me I need new tires. "Oh that's impossible," I sweetly explain while concentrating on not crying, "because we just got new tires last year - here, as a matter of fact." He proceeds to tell me that our type of car just 'goes through tires fast' and there is 'no wear left on the front or back.' I am staring at him thinking something like this, "LOOK, buddy, I'm not going to be the one to tell my husband we need new tires and I'm NOT going to be the one whose tires blow out on the way to the birthing center, so I don't care what you're trying to sell me, you better change your tune and tell me those tires are FINE." 

-2-

We are going to get a second opinion about the tires.

Blackacre is grateful for that. He doesn't like being stranded in cars, with or without laboring women.

-3- 

I ruined someone's funeral yesterday with  my singing. It was so bad Mr. O hasn't even brought it up since it happened; we just let it go untalked about, so the horror would not be relived. I would like to take this opportunity to apologize to the deceased's family; I promise I did my best, but that was not very good on that particular day. If it's any consolation, I offered up my total and complete humiliation for your loved one's soul. 

-4-

Do you cloth diaper? Do you love giveaways? OF COURSE YOU DO! (or maybe you don't, that's okay too - really, I just want to do it for the savings - I actually don't care about the earth) But if you do AND if you're interested, check out this cloth diaper giveaway at the Boho Mama! May the best (wo)man win! 

-5-

Also, while searching around for cute and affordable cloth diapers, I found this giveaway by the Cuckoo's Nest. Let me just say the pictures brought back GREAT memories - I too used to go topless at the beach wearing only tie die and ruffles on my bottom half. Thankfully, I was also the same age as the adorable gal in that post! 

Liturgy of the Hours Blackacre asks you be mindful of modesty, especially at the beach. 

-6-

It's very true that the same 10 people volunteer for everything at church. Trying to get volunteers to replace me in all of my volunteer positions is really exhausting and stressful. It makes me think about what our Bishop Dewane said recently at a Theology on Tap: "Americans aren't joiners." He was commenting on the lack of flourishing of lay movements like Opus Dei or the Neocatechumenal Way - movements that are growing by leaps and bounds in other parts of the world. By and large, Americans are too independent - they don't want more obligations. I think being an American Catholic is actually a handicap at times; we're just bred to be more individualistic, so it's harder for us to be self-donative. 

-7-

I'm having Braxton-Hicks every day and it's pretty exciting. It's a new kind of pain/uncomfortable, but I kind of like it - Baby is on her waaaaay. 

Obviously, she will be even cuter than the Gerber Baby