May 8 2008

inside the box: gDiapers


gDiapers: the breathable, flushable diaper

I’m 31 weeks and starting to realize that I don’t have months and months to get ready for the baby anymore. :-) It’s strange because I feel like the deadline has crept up on me. The stroller, a mocha Orbit, has been ordered and should come tomorrow. (Pictures, I promise!) Other than that, we’re pretty low-key on the material stuff. I’m setting up the changing station in the bathroom next to the bedroom, and have the general stuff & layout planned in my head.

I’d really like to try cloth diapering as much as possible, and the spouse and I have talked about using a diaper service for the first month, at least. Our second “backup” option is to use the spiffy gDiapers, and the last backup option (for caregivers or others we’d rather not stress out) is either Tushies or Seventh Generation disposables. So to get started, I bought a starter box of gDiapers and, of course, opened it as soon as I got home to investigate the contents. :-)

Included in the starter kit:

  • 2 “little g” diaper wraps
  • 4 snap-in liners for the wraps
  • 10 flushable inserts to go in the liners
  • 1 “swish stick” to break up the insert in the toilet bowl
  • 1 hook to keep the swish stick next to the toilet
  • cute instruction booklet

So the general idea is that you start with the wrap, snap in a liner, tuck the insert into the liner and put it on the baby. You keep the second wrap ready-to-go: liner snapped in, and flushable insert tucked in already. When it’s time to change the baby, you take off the dirty one, put it aside and put the clean one on. When the baby is (reasonably) settled, you flush/toss/compost the insert, rinse out the liner and hang it to dry (drying time: approx. 1 hr) and snap a clean, dry liner into the wrap. (That’s why they give you two liners for each wrap.) Add another flushable insert and you have your next diaper ready. Neat, huh?



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Apr 8 2008

baby showers for minimalists


Photo by wickedrice

I’ve decided against having the classic baby shower. I’ve hosted a few before and I think they’re cheesy and over-the-top. :-) I don’t like the games, do not want a diaper cake (cloth diapering!!), and honestly, do not want all the presents. The spouse and I are trying to get rid of things in the house, not get more stuff and we’ve made a conscious decision to get only the absolute bare necessities for the baby. Plus, it’s a eco-style idea to re-use, rather than splurge. Here’s some of the things we’re planning:

  • Have a “baby party” rather than a “baby shower”. Set expectations right from the event title.
  • Do online invites through Evite or MyPunchBowl. Save trees and postage while gaining cool event tools like picture uploading and tracking things for guests to bring.
  • Ask guests to bring food instead of gifts, potluck-style. Again, using an online invite service helps here, as you can often specify list items like “2 entrees” on MyPunchBowl and have two separate guests each select to bring an entree and have that item disappear from the list of available items to bring. Neat!
  • Specify in detail on the invite “No gifts, please” for moms, grandmas and other types that might need a more direct approach. :-)
  • Optionally, offer a more acceptable way to give for those who just have to give something, like a link to donate to your favorite charity. Sometimes this helps cut down on the misc. gifts that people bring and whisper, “Oh, it’s just a small thing…” One idea is to have them make the donation in the baby’s name and bring a print-out of the donation with them. You can add this to the baby’s scrapbook for posterity, with a note that “Aunt Jo helped make the world a better place for you”. Personally, I’m going with Oceana; I can explain to our kid down the road that before he/she was born, our friends and family helped make things better for all the animals in the ocean.
  • Instead of those god-awful cheesy shower games, think of ways to make the event memorable for you & the baby in years to come. Set up a video camera and a chair and let guests record messages to the baby. Have a blank canvas and paints setup and let guests contribute to a communal painting that can hung in baby’s area for years to come. You can also do this with the scrapbook, letting guests write their own messages to baby in the book. Keep easy-to-use scrapbooking stickers, stamps and color pencils nearby for guests to “pretty up ” their own messages.

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