Doing My Part to Preserve the Earth (one diaper at a time)

I'm expecting a package in the mail tomorrow. I'm very excited about it, but also a little nervous. You see, it is a package of cloth diapers. That's right, I'm converting to cloth. I had never really thought about it before, but last week I was looking up articles on how to recycle old jeans when I saw an ad on the sidebar for gdiapers. The diapers looked super cute, so I clicked on the link. The site got me thinking aobut alternatives to disposable diapers, and I spent the next three hours researching cloth diapers!
I came to realize how bad disposables are for the environment. Think about it. You take your baby's poop, wrap it up in a plastic casing, and send it to the landfill to sit for who knows how long (many suggest 500 years)!
There are so many choices out there when it comes to cloth diapers. I did a lot of research and decided that I just need to try out several different types and brands before I decide what I want to go with. My package will include some prefolds with Snappis, two different diaper covers, a BumGenious all-in-one, a pricey Gro Baby organic one-size-fits-all diaper, a FuzziBunz pocket diaper, and a few others that I don't remember. I'm excited to try them all out and will keep you posted on how it goes. Wish me luck!
By the way, if you're thinking about jumping on the cloth-diapering bandwagon, enter this contest, maybe you can try cloth diapers for FREE!

Forty Days

I haven't been doing so well spiritually. It's not that I've commited any great or malignant sins, I've just sort of let the little things fall to the wayside. Little, but important things like reading my scriptures. Life has been busy this past year, what with building a house and having a baby, and I'm sorry to say I've really lost touch with the Spirit.
I've decided many times that I'm going to "start reading the scriptures more" but I just haven't been able to get back into the habit.
So I've been praying the past week or so to know what to do; how to get the Spirit back in my life, how to get back on track, and tonight as I was rocking my baby to sleep I got my answer. I tried to brush it off, to tell myself I didn't have enough time, but the Spirit kept telling me, and I finally said, "Okay, I'm going to do it!" So, I'm starting reading the Book of Mormon tonight, and my goal is to finish it by the end of the year.
I'm the type of person who needs a day by day plan if I'm actually going to complete something, so I pulled out the calculator to see how many pages I needed to read a day. It turns out there are forty days until the end of the year! I got really exited when I realized that I'm going to read the Book of Mormon in forty days; I doubt that's a coincidence. I'll need to read 13.2 pages per day to reach my goal, but since I prefer not to stop in the middle of a chapter, I've made up a schedule of which chapters I need to read each day to keep me on track. Tonight I'm reading 1 Nephi 1-7.
I wanted to blog about this so that I'm accountable to others. If I kept it to myself, it would be easier to give up (which I know I'll be tempted to do). So please, ask me how my reading is coming! Get on my case! I need the encouraement. And if anyone wants to join me, I'd be more than happy to share my schedule with you.
I'd better get off the computer so I can start reading!

Looking Back

Does this sweater look familiar to you? If you've been reading my blog for a while, you may recognize it from the post titled "A Little Daydreaming Never Hurt Anybody". Here is an excerpt:

"I found the cutest red ribbed sweater. I couldn't resist taking it off the rack, carressing the soft cables, and imagining a baby girl in it. A sweet little bundle of cuddly softness. I could almost smell that new baby smell that I love so much. I could almost feel the warm softness of her baby skin against mine. I imagined the peacefullness of nursing her at night, the moonlight falling on her cute little face. . . I was in baby hunger heaven.
I was suddenly jolted out of my heaven with a high-pitched scream from my toddler- my boys were fighting- again!! In no time at all, my thoughts switched from cuddly softness to red-faced screaming baby. From sweet baby smell to the smell of baby puke that's been on my shoulder for two days because I haven't had a chance to shower. From peacefullness to absolute exhaustion and sleep-deprivation.
My baby hunger heaven didn't last long. I collected my now crying kids and dashed away from the baby clothes as quickly as I could without looking back! Another baby? Now? Are you kidding me!?! I made a mental note to stay away from the baby girl clothes for a while.
But sometimes I think back to that sweater . . . and once again imagine my little bundle of sweetness. Maybe not any time soon, but someday. Someday."

I find it ironic that I was pregnant when I wrote that (but of course, I didn't know it). It turns out my 'someday' came sooner than I had expected. My little bundle of sweetness is now almost five months old, and though she has been red in the face from screaming on more than one occasion, her puke has become a permanent part of my wardrobe, I've had less sleep in the past five months than I used to get in one night, and my life is generally chaotic, I wouldn't trade it for the world. It is all worth it when I see her smile. She absolutely lights up my life.

As for the sweater, it's from last year's line, so I wasn't able to buy it, but I got what I wanted: a sweet baby girl.

UP: a short review

I just watched Pixar's newest film, UP, and I must say I am disapointed. In my opinion, Pixar is going downhill. Toy Story is by far still the best film they have produced, with Toy Story 2 coming in close second. I was not too impressed with Wall-E, and am very disapointed with UP.
It had its good points, but overall just was not a good story. I think they tried to put in too many sub-plots. I absolutely hated the doberman with the high-pitched voice. I guess that was supposed to be funny, but it struck me as just stupid. I didn't like the dogs in general. I did like Dug because he was such a typical dumb dog. Some of his lines were pretty funny.
I think what bothered me the most about this film is that I thought it was supposed to be a kids' film, and it really isn't. I made the mistake of letting my kids watch it before I myself watched it (a mistake I won't make again), and there were several parts that disturbed them. At one point, my four year old yelled, "Mommy, this is not a good movie!" and ran to his room nearly in tears. Later, when my husband and I watched it, I realized it had way too much violence, peril, and mature themes in it for kids.
The idea of the house floating via helium balloons was fun, but it truly was a disapointment. I give it two stars at best.