Early September Fruit

Fall seems to have arrived slightly early in England. The sun in shining, but the air is distinctly crisp and Isabella is back to being bundled up every time we go outside. This afternoon Isabella and I headed out to the hedgerows behind our house to forage for wild, organic blackberries. If I were to buy these in the supermarket, I would easily pay $4 for a punnet half the size of the one in the photo - which I think is a lot of money for that amount. When I did this last year, my pregnant belly kept getting stung by the nettles that are woven amongst the blackberries.

We go to Minnesota on Sunday. I'm so excited finally to be taking her to meet the rest of my family and friends from back home. I haven't been to the US since I moved to the UK over two years ago! I can't wait to go walking through the dense evergreen forests by my grandma's and take her to some of my favorite State Parks. We need to spend as much time outside as we can; I have a feeling we may be in for another dreary winter.

it's harvest time

In other news, I took Isabella to the weekly baby clinic this morning to have her measured and weighed. Though her weight remains in the 50th percentile, as always, she's actually in the 98th percentile for length (weight: 16.5lbs, length: ~28"). I think there's some conditioned thought process connected to those percentiles that makes a parent's ego inflate the higher those numbers are. Never mind that's she's a healthy, happy little baby - 50th percentile just doesn't sound as impressive as 98th! Whoo-hoo! We're doing somethin' right! Actually, it just shows that she's going to be a string-bean like her mother.

Parece que el otoño llegó temprano en Inglaterra. El sol esta brillante, pero el aire esta fresco y necesito aropar bien a Isabella cada vez que salimos. Esta tarde Isabella y yo salimos a los arbustos para buscar zarzamoras detrás de la casa – las zarzamoras son naturales y orgánicas. Si hubiese comprarlas en el supermercado, hubiese pagado, fácilmente, $4 dólares o mas para un cartón pequeño. Cuando las busque el año pasado, me inqué la barriga con las muchas ortigas que estaban tejidas por las zarzamoras. Vamos a Minnesota el domingo que viene. Estoy muy exitada con la anticipación de la visita con mi familia y amigos. Hace dos años que no voy a los EEUU. Vamos a caminar por el bosque al lado de la casa de mi abuela.. Debemos pasar mucho tiempo afuera para disfrutar del otoño allá, porque creo que tendremos un invierno feo este año. En otras noticias, yo llevé Isabella a la clínica a pesarse y medirse. Ahora pesa 16.5 libras, y mide 70cm (casi 28”).

Green Mums Article

I finally was able to find the article on "Green Mums" that the Peterborough Evening Telegraph published in early July. You can find it by clicking here. Note that Hannah Gray, the interviewer, Anglicized some of the things I said; some of my Americanisms must have thrown her...

In Honor of Earth Day - Little Green Radical

Yesterday, April 22nd, was Earth Day. Isabella celebrated by donning a super stylish eco-beanie cap and going out to enjoy the sunny day with Daddy, while Mama worked a couple of hours and worried that she wouldn't take anything from the bottle (which she barely did - but still, we persevere). Thanks to Kat for the cute hat!


And here is Isabella's interpretation of Madonna's Atlas pose from this month's Green issue of Vanity Fair. As you can see, my photography skills combined with the genius of my point-and-shoot camera give Annie Leibowitz a run for her money.

The Cloth Diaper Experience

I've had a lot of people recently asking me how it's going with the cloth diapers, so I thought I'd update everyone on that. We started using them about three days or so after Isabella was born and even though we have some Pampers and Tushies on stand-by we rarely use them unless we run out of the other ones. So now that we've got two month's use under the belt, I think it's safe to say we're hooked. Pedro and I both share in diaper duty and he's said more than once that he prefers the cloth to the disposable.

We've got three types of Tots Bots brand nappies - organic cotton, bamboo, and fleece (mostly made in the UK). They're all really easy to use and fasten either with velcro or a Snappi. Now that Isabella is a bit bigger, the diapers fit her really perfectly - and her little butt looks so cute in those fluffy things! I have about 25 diapers so we only need to run a full load every other day, and they dry quickly on the line (she goes through 7-10 a day at this stage). She hasn't had any nappy rash (touch wood) and we don't have to change her any more often than with a disposable due to the fabric types and their weaves. I got all kinds of cute waterproof covers for them too, so I'm excited for summer to finally get here so that we can show them off under her little dresses.

And lastly, we've now broken even on what I spent on the cloth diapers versus what I would have spent on Pampers up until this point (fancy cloth diapers have an expensive up-front cost). By the time Isabella is potty trained, we'll have saved well over a thousand bucks on diapers. What's more - they'll last for more than one baby :).

Cloth Diapers

Cloth diapers these days are nothing like the old terry cloth towels you had to fold and pin. These days they have all-in-one diapers that work just like a disposable, that, once soiled, you dump a flushable liner into the toilet, and put the diaper into a lidded bucket. Once the bucket is full, you just dump the diapers into the washing machine. Since we don't have a clothes dryer, we'll have to remove the liner for it to dry. I've done a test run of the ones I bought and they dried easily overnight, despite it being fall/winter in England. It's a few more steps than a disposable, but we'll see how it goes. I'm very realistic about it, and plan to use disposables when necessary and possibly also in the first few weeks until we get used to the routine of taking care of the baby.

When some people first hear that Pedro and I have decided to try cloth diapering, I tend to get some raised eyebrows. I've talked with a few women here in England who have successfully used cloth diapers from birth to potty and our local council will even reimburse us $100 of what it costs to pay for the diapers themselves. After talking a lot about it, our reasons for wanting to try it out are baby health, economy, and the environment. I could paraphrase all the research I've done here, but I'm not out to preach to anyone since I have yet to try it out myself. While I'm not yet 100% certain that it will work for us, we're committed to give it a good try - a bit more than that, I think. If you're interested I will leave you with some good links at the end of the post. I also have a lot more information if anyone is more curious.

The Nappy [Diaper] Lady website: http://www.thenappylady.co.uk/

“Pocket” diapers (the kind that is probably best for us since we don't have a dryer): http://www.weecarediapercompany.com/weecart/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=7

Green parenting / diapers http://www.grizzlybird.net/labels/diapers.html

Cloth diaper care, step by step: http://www.grizzlybird.net/2006/03/how-to-wash-cloth-diapers-at-home.html#links

Natural baby wipes http://www.naturodoc.com/library/children/newborn_skin.htm

More general info: http://www.treehugger.com/files/2004/12/ecotip_nappies.php