Tuesday, March 25, 2008

8 mo pics

Sorry it has taken so long, life is crazy busy. We put a contingent offer in on a house and they accepted so we have until next Tuesday to get this house ready to list. We had a bunch of painting done (window trim and floorboards from natural wood tone to white) and a new roof put on and we are waiting on granite countertops. Calgon, take me away!!!!


Anyway, here are some updated pics.






As you can see from the pic above, his clogged tear duct has cleared itself up! We are so unbelievably excited about this because we were really starting to get worried that he would need surgery to open it up. Whew!

He also got his first two teeth in the last few weeks. He is such a cutie pie I could eat him up with a spoon.

Hoping to have some videos uploaded soon too.

Finally, here is video from 8mo.

Video: Tristan at 8 months old


ETA: In response to Alli's question in the comments, yes those are dachshunds, but it isn't a diaper cover, that is the diaper itself. My friend Dana makes them over at Little Luxe Organics. They are awesome! This is the very first dachshund diaper she sold!! Here is another cute picture of Tristan in it.

Sunday, March 16, 2008

Cloth Diapering gets a bad rap - again.

Parents Magazine recently published a piece on one father's limited experience with the world of cloth diapering. To say that it was incomplete is an understatement.

The article can be found here.

This is what I posted in the comments:

This perspective is unfortunate. It is unfortunate that this tale is probably what many 'new to cloth' parents have experienced. Cloth diapering has become so unusual in recent decades that the knowledge base has been significantly diminished. Until you seek out information from reputable sources, you might think that this is what a typical cloth diapering experience is like. That cannot be farther from the reality for many cloth diapering parents, myself included.
With my first son, I used 'sposies' because I didn't know any differently. I did give CDing a try when he was about the same age as the child in this article. The diapers I got at the baby boutique were the same basic style and I too was turned off from them pretty quickly and gave up. I wanted so badly to 'do the right thing' by the planet, but it was just not working out.
While pregnant with my second son, I started investigating the vast array of choices in the CD world and felt overwhelmed and said "Forget it!" more than once. But I kept coming back to it because I just didn't understand how anyone could actually WANT to use CDs. Then I started using them - the good kinds - and yes, there are several "good kinds" out there. CDing is fun. Yes, I said it - fun!
I touched WAY more poo in my years of sposies than I have using cloth. I don't do ANY dunking in the toilet. I wash 2 extra loads of laundry a week. When I used sposies, they leaked a LOT and I was washing baby clothes a lot more often than I do now. I also use a HE front loader that uses way less water to get the diapers clean. It takes me just as long to get a diaper on my squirmy baby using a sposie as it does with a CD.
In short, if this article was meant to be anything other than a fluff piece (no pun intended) based in humor then it failed in its objective. This article should not purport to be any sort of factual resource for what the reality of cloth diapering is and it would be a good idea for Parents magazine to do more than publish a few contrary opinions in the front of a future issue. Go to the real cloth diaper users and find out what we experience every day and I bet you would find that many Parents out there would be grateful for the effort.