I Heart Faces - Week 34 Photography Challenge

This day is still one of my favorite memories of my time living in France.  We were vacationing in San Tropez and went for a beach hike a few miles down the coast from where we were staying.  

It was so beautiful and a perfect summer day to take it all in... 

the waves, the city in the distance, the people all around just enjoying life.

My favorite way to take it in was through the eyes of the 3 year old I was a nanny for.

I Heart Faces is a great website for challenging your photography skills, learning new techniques and connecting with others who love to take photos.

I Heart Faces - Week 34 Photography Challenge

This day is still one of my favorite memories of my time living in France.  We were vacationing in San Tropez and went for a beach hike a few miles down the coast from where we were staying.  

It was so beautiful and a perfect summer day to take it all in... 

the waves, the city in the distance, the people all around just enjoying life.

My favorite way to take it in was through the eyes of the 3 year old I was a nanny for.

I Heart Faces is a great website for challenging your photography skills, learning new techniques and connecting with others who love to take photos.

Cloth or Plastic? - The Diaper Controversy

When it comes to diapers I am totally set on cloth diapering.  I've got the brand I want picked out and as soon as the money comes into our bank account, we know exactly what we're ordering and even my husband is excited about it!

Unfortunately, the response I've gotten has been anything but supportive and most people just look at me like I have suddenly grown an extra eye in the middle of my forehead, asking why I'd want to deal with "the inconvenience of carrying around and washing gross cloth diapers" when I could just throw the "grossness" in the trash and move on.  There are many reasons and benefits for choosing to use cloth diapers.


The Environmental Benefit:
Based on a report from the Women's Environmental Network, The Real Diaper Association reports:

• Disposable diapers are the third most common consumer product in landfills today.
• A disposable diaper may take up to 500 years to decompose.
• One baby in disposable diapers will contribute at least 1 ton of waste to your local landfill.

Manufacturing of disposable diapers consumes energy, trees, and plastic and then can take hundreds of years to decompose. Each year, more than 80,000 pounds of plastic and 200,000 trees are consumed in making disposable diapers for American babies alone. The plastic and chemicals along with the untreated waste ends up in landfills where it can potentially contaminate ground water. 


Cloth diapers can be used 50-200 times and then gain new life when they are recycled as rags. Waste from cloth diapers is either flushed or washed into the sewer system where they can be properly treated at wastewater plants.


The Health Benefit:  
There are many health concerns associated with disposable diaper use, as these products are filled with chemicals and gels to absorb odor and moisture.  Some chemically sensitive children have allergic reactions and diaper rashes from these substances.  I have extremely sensitive skin and I can safely assume that my children may also have sensitive skin.  Protecting their skin from disposable diapers is just something I have chosen to do because it makes the most sense to me.

In fact, disposable diapers have been linked the development of asthma. The Archives of Environmental Health tested six leading cotton and disposable diaper brands for asthma effects. The emissions from one disposable diaper were high enough to produce asthma-like symptoms in mice. Tolune, xylene, ethylbenzene, styrene, and isopropylbenzene are all chemicals that outgas from disposable diapers. Not surprisingly, the study found that cloth diapers do not cause respiratory problems among the lab mice.  


The Cost Benefit:
The average parent spends $2,694.54 for 7,349 disposable, single-use diapers (source: Natural Family Online)  In contrast, my family will spend under $1,000 to purchase the name brand, top quality cloth diapers that we have chosen to be used for our daughter from birth to potty learning and reused for every additional child that we have.  There are cheaper options than what we have chosen, but this is what we feel will work the best for us.  In addition, we live in military housing so there are no energy related costs but even if we did we would STILL save money because it would cost literally pennies to run an extra 3 loads of laundry per week.   On top of that, when we are done using our cloth diapers if they are still in good condition we will be able to re-sell them to someone else, getting back some of our original investment.  The upfront cost for cloth diapers may  be higher, but the long term cost benefit is priceless!  You can use this Diaper Pin calculator to figure out how long it would take for your choice of cloth diapers to pay for themselves, and it goes on to show you how much you are saving after that!


The Cuteness Factor:

Would you rather have this on your bum?

 

or this on your bum?

  

The "Grossness" is not really Gross:
The only extra step involved in cloth diapers is washing the cloth diaper.  If it's a wet diaper, just take it off and put it in your diaper pail (no, you don't need to soak it so your diaper pail doesn't need to have liquid in it).  If it's a poopy diaper and your baby is past the newborn stage, just take the diaper to the toilet and shake the solids off and you're done.  You don't need to dunk it or swish it - just shake and done.  If the diaper is messy and the poop is not solid, just take it to the toilet, grab your handy diaper sprayer and spray the mess away.  You don't ever have to touch any poop and no matter where you change your child's diaper, you're headed to the bathroom afterward anyway to wash your hands!


The "Inconvenience" is not really Inconvenient:
Did you know that disposable diapers say right on the packaging that you are supposed to dump the solids out before disposing of the soiled diaper?  Human feces is NOT supposed to end up in our landfills!  Check it out for yourself (source Cloth Diaper Tips)

So the only extra step is a little extra laundry! I don't know about you, but it really takes me hardly any time at all to do a load of laundry.  It takes a maximum of 2 minutes to load my washer and set the cycle, then another (max) 2 minutes to switch the load to the dryer and (max) 2 minutes to unload the dryer into a laundry basket and about 10 minutes tops to go through that basket and put the items where they belong.  That's a grand total of 16 extra minutes!  I only need to do diaper laundry every 2 days so that's a total of 48 minutes per week spent on laundering my cloth diapers.  I don't know about you... but I think I can easily handle that!

Gone are the days of using giant safety pins to pin a cloth diaper onto a squirming baby!  Now you have options - from the Snappi to velcro to snaps - choose what works for you and it's as easy as putting a disposable onto a squirming baby!  If you don't want to mess with inserts, they even make all in one diapers that are exactly like a disposable except you throw them in the wash when you're done!

What about when you're out and about?  It's still the same process, except you just throw your soiled diaper into a wet/dry bag , zip it up and tuck it in your diaper bag and throw it into your diaper pail when you get home!  


What about wipes?!  Why bother with disposable when you can use cloth?  These Gerber baby wash cloths make great cloth wipes and you can even fold them so they pop up just like disposables in a disposable container!  Make up your favorite cloth wipe solution, grab a spray bottle and you're good to go!  You just store your used cloth wipes with your used cloth diapers (at home or on the go), wash your cloth wipes with your cloth diapers and there's no extra work involved and you're keeping even more waste out of our landfills!


The Bottom Line:
The bottom line is that I'm simply choosing to do what is right for our family - cloth isn't for everyone, but it has come a long way from what cloth diapers used to be and with a little research and an open mind you'll find that it can be totally convenient and not at all gross.  There are a ton of benefits to using cloth! 

Want to learn more about the cloth diapers we've chosen for our family?  Check out the website for Rumparooz or watch the video about how the company was started below:

Cloth or Plastic? - The Diaper Controversy

When it comes to diapers I am totally set on cloth diapering.  I've got the brand I want picked out and as soon as the money comes into our bank account, we know exactly what we're ordering and even my husband is excited about it!

Unfortunately, the response I've gotten has been anything but supportive and most people just look at me like I have suddenly grown an extra eye in the middle of my forehead, asking why I'd want to deal with "the inconvenience of carrying around and washing gross cloth diapers" when I could just throw the "grossness" in the trash and move on.  There are many reasons and benefits for choosing to use cloth diapers.


The Environmental Benefit:
Based on a report from the Women's Environmental Network, The Real Diaper Association reports:

• Disposable diapers are the third most common consumer product in landfills today.
• A disposable diaper may take up to 500 years to decompose.
• One baby in disposable diapers will contribute at least 1 ton of waste to your local landfill.

Manufacturing of disposable diapers consumes energy, trees, and plastic and then can take hundreds of years to decompose. Each year, more than 80,000 pounds of plastic and 200,000 trees are consumed in making disposable diapers for American babies alone. The plastic and chemicals along with the untreated waste ends up in landfills where it can potentially contaminate ground water. 


Cloth diapers can be used 50-200 times and then gain new life when they are recycled as rags. Waste from cloth diapers is either flushed or washed into the sewer system where they can be properly treated at wastewater plants.


The Health Benefit:  
There are many health concerns associated with disposable diaper use, as these products are filled with chemicals and gels to absorb odor and moisture.  Some chemically sensitive children have allergic reactions and diaper rashes from these substances.  I have extremely sensitive skin and I can safely assume that my children may also have sensitive skin.  Protecting their skin from disposable diapers is just something I have chosen to do because it makes the most sense to me.

In fact, disposable diapers have been linked the development of asthma. The Archives of Environmental Health tested six leading cotton and disposable diaper brands for asthma effects. The emissions from one disposable diaper were high enough to produce asthma-like symptoms in mice. Tolune, xylene, ethylbenzene, styrene, and isopropylbenzene are all chemicals that outgas from disposable diapers. Not surprisingly, the study found that cloth diapers do not cause respiratory problems among the lab mice.  


The Cost Benefit:
The average parent spends $2,694.54 for 7,349 disposable, single-use diapers (source: Natural Family Online)  In contrast, my family will spend under $1,000 to purchase the name brand, top quality cloth diapers that we have chosen to be used for our daughter from birth to potty learning and reused for every additional child that we have.  There are cheaper options than what we have chosen, but this is what we feel will work the best for us.  In addition, we live in military housing so there are no energy related costs but even if we did we would STILL save money because it would cost literally pennies to run an extra 3 loads of laundry per week.   On top of that, when we are done using our cloth diapers if they are still in good condition we will be able to re-sell them to someone else, getting back some of our original investment.  The upfront cost for cloth diapers may  be higher, but the long term cost benefit is priceless!  You can use this Diaper Pin calculator to figure out how long it would take for your choice of cloth diapers to pay for themselves, and it goes on to show you how much you are saving after that!


The Cuteness Factor:

Would you rather have this on your bum?

 

or this on your bum?

  

The "Grossness" is not really Gross:
The only extra step involved in cloth diapers is washing the cloth diaper.  If it's a wet diaper, just take it off and put it in your diaper pail (no, you don't need to soak it so your diaper pail doesn't need to have liquid in it).  If it's a poopy diaper and your baby is past the newborn stage, just take the diaper to the toilet and shake the solids off and you're done.  You don't need to dunk it or swish it - just shake and done.  If the diaper is messy and the poop is not solid, just take it to the toilet, grab your handy diaper sprayer and spray the mess away.  You don't ever have to touch any poop and no matter where you change your child's diaper, you're headed to the bathroom afterward anyway to wash your hands!


The "Inconvenience" is not really Inconvenient:
Did you know that disposable diapers say right on the packaging that you are supposed to dump the solids out before disposing of the soiled diaper?  Human feces is NOT supposed to end up in our landfills!  Check it out for yourself (source Cloth Diaper Tips)

So the only extra step is a little extra laundry! I don't know about you, but it really takes me hardly any time at all to do a load of laundry.  It takes a maximum of 2 minutes to load my washer and set the cycle, then another (max) 2 minutes to switch the load to the dryer and (max) 2 minutes to unload the dryer into a laundry basket and about 10 minutes tops to go through that basket and put the items where they belong.  That's a grand total of 16 extra minutes!  I only need to do diaper laundry every 2 days so that's a total of 48 minutes per week spent on laundering my cloth diapers.  I don't know about you... but I think I can easily handle that!

Gone are the days of using giant safety pins to pin a cloth diaper onto a squirming baby!  Now you have options - from the Snappi to velcro to snaps - choose what works for you and it's as easy as putting a disposable onto a squirming baby!  If you don't want to mess with inserts, they even make all in one diapers that are exactly like a disposable except you throw them in the wash when you're done!

What about when you're out and about?  It's still the same process, except you just throw your soiled diaper into a wet/dry bag , zip it up and tuck it in your diaper bag and throw it into your diaper pail when you get home!  


What about wipes?!  Why bother with disposable when you can use cloth?  These Gerber baby wash cloths make great cloth wipes and you can even fold them so they pop up just like disposables in a disposable container!  Make up your favorite cloth wipe solution, grab a spray bottle and you're good to go!  You just store your used cloth wipes with your used cloth diapers (at home or on the go), wash your cloth wipes with your cloth diapers and there's no extra work involved and you're keeping even more waste out of our landfills!


The Bottom Line:
The bottom line is that I'm simply choosing to do what is right for our family - cloth isn't for everyone, but it has come a long way from what cloth diapers used to be and with a little research and an open mind you'll find that it can be totally convenient and not at all gross.  There are a ton of benefits to using cloth! 

Want to learn more about the cloth diapers we've chosen for our family?  Check out the website for Rumparooz or watch the video about how the company was started below:

Homecoming 2010

It was everything I imagined it would be and more.  Homecoming day has come and gone and I can truly say I am just so thankful to have him home again.  Home... where I can hug him, kiss him, and just spend time with him whenever I want, with no one interrupting us and no waiting in line for his time!

I was extremely nervous to see him on the day he came home.  It was so much like the anticipation I felt going on our first date, after having only talked to him online -  I knew we hit it off online, but I couldn't help but wonder how things would be in person.  This time, I knew he loved me and I loved him but I couldn't help but wonder how we each had changed in person and how we would react to each other's changes.  The day had finally come and despite all the nerves, I was just excited that my husband was finally coming home to me!!

I got to the airport plenty early, so nervous his plane would land early and he would be waiting for me rather than me waiting for him.  I was relieved and then instantly even more anxious when I got there and his plane hadn't come in. The flight number on the screen was different than what he had told me. He had called me when he landed in DC early in the morning, but I hadn't heard from him once he got to Chicago so I was worried he never made it or something had happened with his flights and he wouldn't be arriving on time.

I didn't have to wait too long before I saw him coming through the security doors.  I felt myself instantly light up and it was as if a thousand pounds of weight had been lifted from my shoulders as I ran to him and was wrapped up tight in his arms.  If the people in the airport noticed, I had no clue because in that moment it was if everything else just faded away and we were the only two people on the planet.  I was finally in his arms and there was absolutely no better place to be!  So far, there is nothing in life that has compared to this moment... it was amazing!  The next hour passed in a blur of hugging, kissing, holding hands and eventually getting his baggage from baggage claim and heading to the car to finally head home again... together.  After 8 crazy months, our first deployment journey is finally over!

Deployment Video from The Highleys on Vimeo.

Just to clarify - it was not our decision for my husband to come home from deployment early. The Chief of the Unit determined it to be in the best interest of the military and our family, after doctors discovered a potentially life threatening pregnancy complication. We are extremely lucky and thankful that God placed us in a position to have a Chain of Command who truly puts family first

Homecoming 2010

It was everything I imagined it would be and more.  Homecoming day has come and gone and I can truly say I am just so thankful to have him home again.  Home... where I can hug him, kiss him, and just spend time with him whenever I want, with no one interrupting us and no waiting in line for his time!

I was extremely nervous to see him on the day he came home.  It was so much like the anticipation I felt going on our first date, after having only talked to him online -  I knew we hit it off online, but I couldn't help but wonder how things would be in person.  This time, I knew he loved me and I loved him but I couldn't help but wonder how we each had changed in person and how we would react to each other's changes.  The day had finally come and despite all the nerves, I was just excited that my husband was finally coming home to me!!

I got to the airport plenty early, so nervous his plane would land early and he would be waiting for me rather than me waiting for him.  I was relieved and then instantly even more anxious when I got there and his plane hadn't come in. The flight number on the screen was different than what he had told me. He had called me when he landed in DC early in the morning, but I hadn't heard from him once he got to Chicago so I was worried he never made it or something had happened with his flights and he wouldn't be arriving on time.

I didn't have to wait too long before I saw him coming through the security doors.  I felt myself instantly light up and it was as if a thousand pounds of weight had been lifted from my shoulders as I ran to him and was wrapped up tight in his arms.  If the people in the airport noticed, I had no clue because in that moment it was if everything else just faded away and we were the only two people on the planet.  I was finally in his arms and there was absolutely no better place to be!  So far, there is nothing in life that has compared to this moment... it was amazing!  The next hour passed in a blur of hugging, kissing, holding hands and eventually getting his baggage from baggage claim and heading to the car to finally head home again... together.  After 8 crazy months, our first deployment journey is finally over!

Deployment Video from The Highleys on Vimeo.

Just to clarify - it was not our decision for my husband to come home from deployment early. The Chief of the Unit determined it to be in the best interest of the military and our family, after doctors discovered a potentially life threatening pregnancy complication. We are extremely lucky and thankful that God placed us in a position to have a Chain of Command who truly puts family first