Still using cloth diapers?

Yep! We are about 11 months into it and still going strong.

I shall now do some estimating. Of course, I'm not doing it completely on my own, I am using a calculator, a website for estimating my washer/dryer cost, and a cloth diaper - disposable comparison spreadsheet found here.

Cloth diaper costs -- remember I got some hand-me-down clothies, some as gifts, and made some more. I have spent... somewhere between $80 and $100 on cloth diapers, not including my time spent. Generally, I wash 3 times a week, and I do use the dryer pretty regularly... (about $0.64/load, including detergent)... comes out to about $85.  I'm at just under $200 spent, so far, on diapers. Let's round this up to $300 to account for things I'm sure I've forgotten about.

According to this spreadsheet, at this point, I would have spent about $700 on sposies.

I'm feeling pretty good, being about $400 up! Woot!

Time? Yes, I wash diapers 3 times a week. Plus regular laundry. I spend about 10 minutes stuffing diapers after each washing. If one used just prefolds and covers... no folding needed.

Yuck factor? I got a diaper sprayer which makes rinsing a poopy diaper much nicer. Plus, if Peanut communicates successfully, I can get him to poop in the potty about 50% of the time -- see here for more info on that.

What else can I talk about to get you to try cloth diapers? (okay, not all readers have babies....)

Book Review: the good girl's guide to great sex

Yep, I'm gonna talk about a book that is about sex! Married sex, of course.

I have thoroughly enjoyed Sheila's blog, tolovehonorandvacuum.com; she writes about marriage, mainly, encouraging women, wives, to live how God has called us to live. This book, her second (I think), is a discussion about all that sex is -- all three sides of it: the physical, the spiritual, and the emotion.

Sheila's desire is to "see families stay together". Sex is a huge part of keeping married couples together. She says, "If Good Girls could just embrace God's idea of what sex is suppose to encompass and work on their friendship, their spiritual connection, and the physical fireworks, we'd end many of the problems families face before those problems even begin. We'd be stronger. We'd be happier. (p. 241)"

When we first got married, we read , where the author's suggest that for the first year, neither person should say "no" to the other when they initiate. We also had , which gives the nuts and bolts. But neither spend time speaking to a woman about how sex works through out her marriage, and how her view of marriage should differ from popular culture. Sheila takes the discussion of sex beyond the wedding night, and beyond the bed, into the reader's heart.

You can read a run down of the book at her blog and on amazon. I have found this book has challenged my thinking about relating to Hubby, as wife and as friend. I want to encourage every married women to read this book, and think about their role as a godly wife.

Sheila is now giving away a chance to have her at your church (or my church) to speak to women about being wives and, gulp, about sex. I have done all the entries that I can, and will be back each day to do the ones that can be done daily. I would love to meet Sheila and hear her speak! If you attend Fellowship Bible Church of Waco, will you go and do some entries, too? That will up our chances of winning! Of course, if readers who attend other churches do the same, that lowers our chances (I think), but I guess that is okay.

Stealing Food

I am a sucker when Peanut asks for something, especially food. I try hard to be strong, to be more stubborn than he is, when he wants something that I know isn't good, or won't benefit him in the long run. Of course, there are those grey areas that I wonder, is this worth the fight? I suspect this is just apart of parenthood.

And then there are times when Peanut just takes what he wants...

Woo-hoo, a table to smack!

Mommy, what do you have? It looks yummy!

I want one, too. No, I don't care that I can't chew up a mushroom, I still want one.

You are so mean, Mommy! I wanted that. See, Grampa doesn't think there was anything wrong with it. Why can't I have it?

With the Grandparents in town, we went out to eat one evening. I, being the Mommy, got to choose where we went. And even though we are picking up the largest amount of beef we've ever purchased in one go this Friday, I wanted a steak. So, off to Logan's we went.

Generally, Peanut eats from my plate, whether we are eating in or out. Just makes life easier. Of course, we are also reaching a time when Peanut can't eat half my dinner (and leave me hungry), and will happily grab what he wants. However hot or spicy it might be. He really doesn't seem to mind spicy, anyways.

I had some grilled mushrooms (yum!), and gave Peanut half of one. Apparently, unlike most other things, mushrooms can't be mushed successfully without teeth. And even though Peanut has a set of pre-molars emerging as we speak, he was not successful at eating the half of mushroom. "sorry, buddy, no more mushrooms. Here, have a grilled zucchini." He liked the zucchini, but liked the mushroom even more.

That's when he grabbed. He just reached over and snagged a mushroom off my plate.  Between Hubby and I, we were fast enough to keep him from stuffing it into his mouth (plus, it was still hot!), but it became a running battle.... keep food in front of Peanut to keep him from grabbing food off my plate.  Goodness.

The child is an eating machine. And his mother is a wuss and is willing to share her meals without hesitation. Now, I just have to learn to take more food so that I don't go hungry. :P

He is risen!

He is risen, indeed!

From Luke 24 --

"But on the first day of the week, at early dawn, they went to the tomb, taking the spices they had prepared. And they found the stone rolled away from the tomb, but when they went int hey did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. While they were perplexed about this, behold, two men stood by them in dazzling apparel. And as they were frightened and bowed their faces to the ground, the men said to them, "Why do you seek the living among the dead? He is not here, but has risen. Remember how he told you, while he was still in Galilee, that the Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men and be crucified and on the third day rise." And they remembered his words, and returning from the tomb they told all these things to the eleven and to all the rest." ESV

May you be filled with the same amazement and wonder today, as we celebrate the resurrection of our Messiah, our Christ, our Savior.

Book Review: the world of Pern

When we were cleaning out for the garage sale, Hubby found he didn't want to get rid of these books, by Anne  McCaffery. I'd read most of the series that I love, so I started in on these that Hubby loved. Since you can find the basic story run down on amazon (follow links in the pictures), I'll just offer my opinions here.

First, I read The Harper Hall Trilogy -- , , and .  Yes, it was a fairly standard story line... young person being persecuted for a gift/talent he/she has, young person struggles and then escapes, then is rescued, and finally triumphs. Nonetheless, I really enjoyed the books. McCaffery creates characters with enough depth that I got quite involved in the story. The story is clean, as in no over violence or sex, and endearing. I'd be happy to hand this triology to any young teenager or, perhaps, tween.

From there, I ventured into the main series -- , , and .  This trilogy is geared more towards older teens and adults. Though there aren't any overt sex scenes, its certainly behind there off screen and plenty of minor violence.

Finished off this round of fiction reading with . Again, geared towards adults -- plenty of sex (if all off screen) and minor violence, plus a dose of social commentary! That was unexpected, but got me thinking. Its the traditional "we thing advancing technology is bad" versus "advancing technology is good", but made for a good story.

Overall, if you enjoy fantasy/sci fi style stories, these are fun ones to read. Be prepared to get swept up into a set of characters that you will follow through most of the books, and you will find you feel as if you actually know them. I found myself a bit repulsed by some of the assumptions made about sex, but that is fairly normal as I read popular fiction. There isn't any gratuitous violence for the sake of violence. I wouldn't give the main series, or any out side of the Harper Hall series, to anyone less than 15 or 16. And if characters being loosy-goosy about sex bothers you more than a little, you might not enjoy the books.

We have three more Pern books that I'll read, but first I need some non-fiction in me.

Defending Life, two ways

I love life, and truly believe life, human life, is worth defending. There are two things that I do with this aim in mind.

First, I support pro-life movements. Yep, I believe that life begins at conception (not implantation, not birth), and that from that very, very small beginning life is worth defending. And for the first time here in Waco, I'm going to do CareNet's Walk for Life! I'm hoping to at least earn a tee-shirt by raising $150. If you, my dear reader, would be up for sponsoring me, please let me know in the comments or via email (which you can find in the side bar).

Second, I donated breast milk. I didn't do as well with this as I had originally hoped, as it seems that pumping and nursing are two very different things and just because one works well for you doesn't mean the other one will. Anyhoo, I donated what I could, and hope to do so again someday.

Today, I got this email:

We have said it before, and there is no doubt we will say it again. We absolutely cannot do our crucial work if it weren’t for the generous women who choose to share their milk.
We will say it over and over, but the bottom line is that we still need more. 

The babies need more milk. We are desperate and need your help.   

The requests from hospitals for safe, pasteurized, donor human milk have almost doubled in the last year and a half. We can’t keep up with the demand. Last week we were short by 2,200 ounces on our hospital orders; this week it is 3,000 ounces. Every ounce short is a fragile infant who will not receive life-promoting human milk, but cow's milk formula instead, raising risks of disease and even death.
We have approved 119 extraordinary donors so far this year, but it’s just not enough.   

EVERY healthy lactating mom with a baby under one year of age is eligible to be a donor.  

Unfortunately, not all of them know that milk donation is an option, or how easy it can be. Which is where you, our friends and supporters, come in. 

Between now and Mother’s Day, we are challenging you to spread the word about the Mothers’ Milk Bank at Austin. Start the conversation with a pregnant or new mom, click on the "tell-a-friend" button, share it on your facebook page, blanket your community with brochures. Tell them they could save a life!   

The first ten people to refer a brand new donor* to the Milk Bank will receive a $10 Starbuck’s gift card as a small token of our thanks. Yes, we know you’re not doing it for a cup of coffee, but we want you to know how grateful we are. 

The real gift will be to know you had a hand in the health of the next generation.
What are you waiting for? Get out there and spread the word!

So, yeah, I'd love to win a gift card to Starbuck's, but more importantly, I'd love to hear that another nursing mother is donating excess milk.

And there is my sweet Peanut waking from his nap! What timing!