Diapers anyone?

Prior to the birth of our little girl, my wife and I had great expectations for saving the Earth. We thought, so long as we used cloth diapers on our LG we'd never have to take responsibility for the mountains of trash filling up our nations landfills or that weird ever-growing island of waste out in the Pacific Ocean. Yes, cloth diapers would be a way for us to look down on all of you disposable diaper users from our high horse and scoff at your complete disregard for our environment. And then, our baby girl arrived and our world was turned upside down.

So what happened to all of those cloth diapers and our big plans for saving the world? Well, nothing. Sure we spent a small mint on a diapering kit and special detergents, but in the end we just couldn't bring ourselves to use them. Things were very stressful in those first few weeks, first the jaundice then the acid reflux, it was just too much to add cloth diapers to the mix...So in order to save face we quickly rationalized using the disposables as a means to keep our sanity, and gained a full drawer of very soft and very absorbent burp cloths.

Hey but wait, it turns out all is not completely lost. As of this week we've turned the tides on pollution and have finally found the strength within ourselves to use our expensive cloth diapers. What made us do it? Simple, we're cheap. Yep, we did the math and all the convenience of those disposables does not make up for the amount of money we'll save over the first year of our LG's life. Don't believe me check this out.

I believe everything I read on the Interwebs so I take this little nifty calculator as gospel. If that thing is right I'll save about $600 dollars this year on those cloth wonders. It's not the environment I'm worried about here, it's my wallet. I mean, sure I worry about the environment, I recycle, I don't drink bottled water, I spurn plastic bags whenever possible, and I throw out other people's trash when time and hand sanitizer allows, but let's be real, in this economy it's all about the bottom line.

In the end, we're not sure how this cloth experiment is going to work, but since we've realized that everything about parenting is a challenge we figured why not tackle this one head on for a change, rather than getting blind sided by all those wonderful little surprises a new baby provides. If you're interested we're using Bummi's brand cloth diapering system that we got in a kit. And as for that special detergent, we're using Charlie's Soap when we wash the diapers. So far (even though I don't actually do the wash, god bless my beautiful wife!) I'm very pleased with it.

Acid Reflux you fickle B*tch...

Well, here we are, 2 weeks since my last post and so much going on at work and at home that I nearly forgot about the blog entirely. Well, not entirely, but close to it. I may have mentioned before that our daughter is suffering from acid reflux. This makes feeding painful for her and her mama, and it makes our home just a touch more stressful as we try to figure out the best course of action to help our LG.

Our biggest problem is that every day is different. She'll have 2-3 great days and then on the 4th day she'll be back to the screaming uncomfortable girl she was before she was diagnosed. Before we discovered the source of her pain and found a medication that would sooth her little belly, it was non-stop crying at casa de baby. These cries were not little 'I'm Hungry' or 'I messed myself' cries, these were the cries of pain both blood curdling and heartbreaking.

And then we found medication. Prevacid to be exact and for a few days she was much better and we thought we'd cured her. Nope. 3 good days and then we started going back down that hill again not back to those ear piercing screams, but she was really fussy and agitated during her meals. It was then that I made a mistake. I assumed the Prevacid wasn't working at all so rather than medicate her aimlessly I suggested we skip a dose to see what happens. Wrong, wrong, wrong, idea. We didn't give her the evening dose and at her very next feeding those heartbreaking cries echoed through the house and down the street. It was like we were back to when she was 2-weeks old.

Back on the Prevacid she went, and improve she did...For the most part. It's not perfect, but it helps. I hope she out grows it eventually like all the doctor's say she will because no baby needs this.

If you're a constant reader you'll be happy to know that our LG, despite the reflux issues began smiling a couple weeks ago. She smiles more at mama, but I'm getting more and more everyday and she is beautiful.

Photographer's Choice this week...

Peony, originally uploaded by RSCDoug.

Ok, I know the rules state I should be running around with my camera and getting new pictures for each challenge...I did the best I could here because I got my camera the day before our LG was born. So that means that the only new pics I have are all of her, and I'm not keen on posting those...So you get a couple of the shots I've taken during her naps!

My father-in-law is a flower farmer, and his field of awesome flowers happens to back up to my yard so I grabbed this shot of an uncut Peony before the end of the season.

Through the Trees, originally uploaded by RSCDoug.

This second shot is of a Japanese Maple in my neighbors yard that leans over the driveway. I though it was cool the way the sun was going through the leaves so I tried to capture it the best I could. I think it turn out OK...What do you think?

Do you want to play along in the You Capture activity? Click the at the bottom for rules and links to more great pictures.

Will you smile already? - Fatherhood Friday

The first 7 weeks of our little girl's (to further be referred to as LG) life have been very stressful for both her and us. She's got baby reflux and we've got no experience so there hasn't been a lot of smil ing yet one either side. Fortunately, things seem to be quieting down around the house and we've finally had some time just to enjoy our new little family...So now we're playing the waiting game.

It's a fun game and I'm sure if you're a new parent or a veteran you're playing too. You know, it the game where you wait for those milestones that babies are supposed to hit in that very specific time window. Smiling is our current goal. Everyone is telling us there baby smiled at them at around 5 weeks...Here we are at week 7 and she only smiles in her sleep. So of course we stare and wait, afraid that if we turn our heads for a split second we'll miss it.

It's a lot of pressure on her and on us, so over the past few days I've decided to just step back a little. I'm tossing out the milestone chart and I'm going to let her smile when she wants to. And while I'm not paying such close attention, I will say she seems to be getting closer. She's opening her mouth more (like she's test driving it) so I think it's only a matter of time at this point. I mean, not that I'm obsessing, but it could literally happen at any minute...Did I mention I'm just going to let her do her own thing?

I haven't blinked in 4 days...but whose counting. She'll be 8 weeks next Thursday, will she make it in time? Who cares...I'm not worried, wait, there's the phone...Maybe it's my wife, maybe she smiled this morning. Gotta go, I'll keep you posted...Or not, I'm not really stressing about it.

Thousand Words Thursday....I love Summer

sunset_on_the_gulf, originally uploaded by RSCDoug.

I've decided to add two photos this week that really capture summer for me. The first is this shot of a sunset over the Gulf of Mexico in Florida. My wife and I live in New Jersey, but we love Florida and sights like this are the reason. Hopefully, our little girl will grow to love it as much as we do!

Nothing says summer like the beach, and on a trip last year just after a storm my wife and I found a bunch of starfish that were washing up on the sand. I had to grab this fun little shot before I helped them back into the water.

starfish, originally uploaded by RSCDoug.

If you want to play along with the Thousand Words Thursday or the You Capture challenges check these links below!

Talk about you Tuesdays....

OK, so we've all got parenting blogs. We love to talk about our kids and all the great and interesting things they are doing, all the mess and the drool, and all the love and adventures. But, what about us? Occasionally, it's fun to talk about yourself. Selfish? Maybe, but it's your blog, you can write what you want. So I'm starting a new activity/carnival/Mr. Linky party...It's Talk about You Tuesdays.

Use your Tuesday blog space to tell us a story about you. It probably won't be completely void of your children, but instead of them being the soul focus take some time for you...Here I'll start us off with a story I was recently reminded of:

"The Day I Fell Out of the Boat"

Since we brought our daughter home, I find myself thinking about all the wacky things I got myself into growing up, and one of my misadventures came fluttering back to the surface and made me laugh.

I am an avid angler, and winter really puts a damper on my fishing. So every year when the lakes thaw I throw the boat in the back of the truck and head to the closest lake to see what's swimming around. In the winter of my 17th year, I didn't have a truck. I had my mom's car and a precarious system of knots that kept the boat firmly (or not-so-firmly attached).

The trip to the newly thawed lake was uneventful. Once I was unloaded and tooting around the lake with my electric trolling motor and more fishing rods than one person needs for a few hours on the water I was finally at peace. That is until I felt the 'call of nature.' Now I've been fishing with people who will readily answer 'nature's call' over the side of the boat, but I'm a little more modest. So I head for the closest shoreline.

I get the boat as close as possible to land, but this shoreline was far from suitable for exiting a boat in February. At this point I had no choice, I was running out of time and had to get out of the boat. So I did what any safe boater would. I threw my anchor up on shore, climbed to the front of the boat and grabbed a small tree that would aide in my exit. Unfortunately, the tree was too small and when I attempted to pull my self away from the boat, the tree bent. From here everything slowed down.

I felt the tree giving in to my weight and my balance fading...It continued to fade until I was in the water. The water was only about eight inches deep, but it was enough to soak me through. It was cold, very, very cold. At this point (thankfully), 'nature' stopped calling. I shot out of the water and over the side of the boat. I gunned my tiny motor back to the ramp at little more than a snails pace. Losing feeling in my hands and feeling my clothes starting to freeze I dragged the boat ashore and did my best to lash it to the car. Tying knots with no feeling in your hands is difficult but tying a good knot with no feeling in your hands and the weight of the lake in your frozen clothes is just about impossible.

When I finally got in the car I did what any pre-hypothermic angler would do I stripped to my underwear and drove home. Amazingly, the boat stayed on the car and I didn't get pulled over...Oh, and I guess it was good that I survived, too.

I hope I can teach my daughter to avoid the mistakes I've made. Sure she'll make her own, but if I teach her one thing it'll be to make sure she's uses the bathroom before she leaves the house because you never know what can happen when you close the door behind to leave.

Do you have a story? Add your link here:

OK for real this time...Father's Day.

OK, since I half celebrated Father's Day last week I should only get another half this week. This will be my first Father's day and I approach it with a mix of mostly shock and awe.

Shock- because while I am thirty this year, I still have the maturity level of an 18 year old. I still laugh at the same stupid things I did when I was a kid, I still like the same music, the same movies...The only thing different is that now I am a happily married father of one beautiful baby girl.

Awe- because everyone morning that I wake up (or get woken up by her little cries) I am awe-struck. I asked my wife just yesterday (and almost every other day) can you believe she's ours? It's mind blowing that I am a father. She's a bit too young to do a whole lot just yet, but I have got some big plans!

Back on the subject of how beautiful she is: I know everyone thinks that they have the cutest kid. That is sweet and really shows how much you care about your children, but you're wrong. Yep, I'm sorry, this Father's day I get to spend time with the MOST beautiful baby girl. I know, you're hurting a little, because deep down you know I'm right. It's OK, when you're around your friends you can still claim you have the cutest baby just so long as you and I know that mine is cuter.

My one simple request for this and every Father's day, NO TIES...If she's half as smart as she is cute she'll know better. Anyway, I look forward to my first Father's Day and I hope all of you look forward to spending Father's Day with your families!