Cecilia is really pretty sure she can walk.  Or at least stand on her own.

She is pulling up on EVERYTHING.  There is no longer a single location in the house where she is safe - I have to keep an eye on her every moment or else she crawls away, pulls up on something, and stands there with a sassy little, "Hey Mom, check ME out!" look.

If it were just that it wouldn't be a big deal, but she's starting to LET GO as if she thinks she can stand on her own.

She can't.

So I'm there with my arms poised to catch her.  I think it's time to get an ottoman or something because I can tell she's dying to get cruising.

Is it possible that we'll have an even earlier walker than John Paul?  He was only *just* starting to pull up at this age, but Cecilia won't do anything BUT.

A new raincoat

I could resist this adorable raincoat when I found it at our favorite consignment store...

John Paul found it on the couch downstairs and was SO excited.  He decided to model it with nothing on underneath and couldn't be happier!

Okay, maybe he could be.  He freaked out when I wouldn't give him the camera.  But I let him have it once I got a decent picture :P

His masterpieces:

Luckily I got him out of it without a fuss in order to get dressed.  First order of business?  Put it back on!

I was a little worried he was going to insist on wearing it on our walk to a friend's house.  Thankfully, he realized that it's a little too warm outside (and sunny) to need a raincoat!

Random things

1.  John Paul's (completely out of nowhere) new verse to "Old MacDonald" - "On this farm he had some...  edamame!  E-I-E-I-O.   Wif a yum yum here and a yum yum there..." etc.

2.  We have entered the stage in which Cecilia is fascinated by tiny pieces of anything.  This does not bode well for us - John Paul tends to shove his mouth full of food and then spray little bits all over the carpet because he...  doesn't feel like swallowing?  I don't even understand it.  I wrestled tiny pieces of peanut out of Cecilia's hands several times today.  Looks like it's time to vacuum 2x/day and limit possible allergens to the table only.  I'm okay with her eating the tiny pieces of apple, but peanuts are probably not the best call...

3.  Cecilia's also very interested in climbing under various things, particularly the table and chairs.

4.  We were walking this morning (my goodness I love this double stroller...) and an old man stopped his car, got out, and wanted to talk to me about how cute the kids were.  If he hadn't looked like Santa it probably would have been creepy, but the kids were obliging and I was happy for a rest (I chose the hilly path this morning and didn't think to plan on a playground stop halfway through, so 2 straight miles of hills was a little rough for my out of shape self!). 



How cloth diapers made us a "greener" family

I decided to cloth diaper before I was even pregnant (or at least before I knew I was!). 

I was babysitting a 4-year-old, and we spent a fair amount of time at the library.  She would spend long periods of time having the library computer read Stellaluna (it was interactive, I'm not negligent!) to her, and I would read whatever magazines they had in stock.  At some point I started leafing through Mothering Magazine (no longer in print, which makes me so sad!) and saw an ad for bumGenius diapers and thought, "Wow, those are CUTE!" 

Okay, I admit it.  The number one reason I decided to cloth diaper?  Because cloth diapers are cute.

Instead of a white paper diaper, I can dress my kid in a diaper with CARS!  Or spaceships!  Or balls!  Or...  Heck, the possibilities are limitless.  And this is before "designer" disposable diapers, which there's no way I would have wasted money on anyway...

And how else could I pay homage to Andrew's ultimate boyhood obsession?

So the cuteness factor is #1.  Plus I think disposable diapers smell pretty nasty, but that might just be me.

Then I saw a comparison of cloth diapering costs vs. disposable diapers.  The average child costs over $2000 to diaper (in disposables) assuming he or she potty trains by the age of 2.  I think we may have spent $700 MAX on cloth diapers, and that's partly because I spend a little more money on the "cute" diapers.  It's possible to spend TONS less.  Anyway, since I knew we'd be having more than one kid, the cost savings are even more dramatic. 

So money was the #2 factor.

I have to admit, at this point in my life I was rather ignorant of environmental issues.  I steered clear of things like that, saying things like organic foods were just a hype to get us to spend more money, and that the environment is doing fine and people are just skewing statistics to scare us (I do still think that a fair amount of climate change is cyclical, but that's another issue).  So the environmental impact was really just an added benefit of cloth diapering.

Then I discovered Google Reader and the world of blogs!  I started subscribing to cooking blogs, and branched out into cloth diapering blogs once we found out we were having a baby.  I found out it was a MUCH bigger world out there than I thought - gone were the days of prefolds and plastic pants, new diapers resembled disposables in their ease of use and were cute, to boot!  And it seemed as though cloth diapering went hand in hand with all sorts of other natural practices.  As I read up on cloth diapers, I began to realize that we could decrease our dependence on paper products a lot more.  We hardly use any paper towels now, having bought wash cloths and dish towels to take care of what we used to use paper towels for.  And I'll admit it, I've even contemplated using cloth toilet paper!   Not quite ready for that step, though...

My cooking blogs and cloth diapering blogs started intersecting, and I found that a lot of moms who cloth diaper and cook are into natural and organic foods.  As I read up on these I began to realize that the difference between "organic" and regular foods has really changed drastically over the years - sure, when my grandparents were kids pretty much EVERYTHING was organic.  But reading about the sheer amount of pesticides that are used to produce the fruits and veggies that we buy in the grocery store (not to mention the fuel that's used to ship them from Mexico and California, which is so often the case) made me much more inclined to buy organic produce whenever possible, despite the cost difference.  And I buy as much produce as I can from the farmer's market when it's in season.

My latest endeavor is trying to purchase and consume less meat, and make what we do eat "good" meat, meaning organic or humanely raised.  To be honest, it's not because I feel bad for the cows or chickens who are living in terrible conditions.  I'm a little heartless, I apologize.  But when I found out that factory-farmed animals produce products that are nutritionally inferior and less tasty?  That sold me!  Plus I don't want to be eating (or feeding my children) animals that have been pumped full of hormones and antibiotics. 

To think, this all started because I wanted to be able to use pretty cloth diapers!

Just a picture

I don't think this needs explanation...