Category Archives: planet parenthood

Mama’s milk

I can hardly believe that it’s been a year since I weaned Girly. I wrote before about the many health and financial benefits of breastfeeding . I also feel strongly that breastfeeding helps with the bonding process, which you can’t put a price tag on.

Truthfully, I kind of miss the closeness and the down time that nursing demands. It’s important to take pauses in your day, especially since I’m so apt to go-go-go. But i t is truly awesome to have such portable and free “food.”

I know not all moms can breastfeed, but that why I also love the idea of breast-milk banks. There’s a formal bank (by a friend of Hubby’s) called NW Mother’s Milk Bank. In Portland there is also a Facebook group started by another friend of mine called Local Breast Milk to connect moms with/without milk.

I found this video awhile ago, and I love seeing moms nurse their babies. We are nursing our future…

Did you breastfeed?
Do you miss it at all?

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Sustainable Family Finances
The story of a family creating an abundant and sustainable life.

Babysitting Co-op

Will & Testament: Make it your family priority

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At the new year I talked about how updating our wills and creating new “last wishes” documents were a family goal , and about a month ago I wrote about questions for estate planning . I may be stating the obvious, but given the recent death of my father, I realize how essential documenting your last wishes really is for your family. I encourage you to make setting up your estate affairs a top priority for your entire family.

Ironically, Hubby and I signed our wills, advanced directives, and power of attorney when my father had already passed away and we just didn’t know yet. I was planning to have the tough talk with my father the next time we met, and I was already discussing the need for estate planning with my mother. My Twin Sis had tried to broach the subject of writing a will the last time they saw each other in January, but he kind of scoffed at her asking “Why would I need a will?!” She pressed further and told him that writing a will is the responsible thing to do, especially for someone 65 with a heart fibrillation. She insisted that it wasn’t about inheriting money, but it was more about his last wishes. Where did he want his ashes scattered? Did he have any causes he wanted to donate to? What about giving money to his “best-ex” who who was partners with for 14 years and still best friends with? How would we know anything about handling his finances? We knew that we didn’t want to be kept on life support, but that doesn’t matter without an advanced directive…

As in turns out, these questions were forced upon us much early than we anticipated. Please, I urge you to get your estate affairs in order, I promise you’ll breath a sigh of relief when they are done and your family will thank you when you are gone.

Not to keep this post entirely depressing, I want to share Brett Dennen’s new song Dancing At a Funeral from his new Loverboy album.

Do you have a will and testament?
Does your spouse? Do your parents?

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Sustainable Family Finances
The story of a family creating an abundant and sustainable life.

Happy Mama’s Day!

Cloth Diaper Tips

2 Replies

I’ve been feeling a bit naked lately…without schlepping cloth diapers to/from the office/childcare. You see, once we got serious about potty training and having Girly visit the Toddler room for potty visits, it became challenging for staff to tote clean/dirty diapers between classrooms with up to four Wobblers. I can only imagine the feet of patience that would require, so in an effort to support their effort, I agreed to no longer using cloth diapers at “school”… naturally hoping that this will speed the process toward no diapers altogether!

Not that I want to brag about our effort to use cloth diapers almost full time, but it is pretty rare. I was lucky that the first few months after Girly was in childcare she attended a place that provided cloth service (at no extra charge!), so when we transitioned, I didn’t really want to give that up. But I also knew that it would require quite a bit of effort on my part. Beyond doing two extra loads of diapers per week , one of my initial tests was getting full support of staff to use cloth. They were open to it, but still needed some support on the learning curve…some of these tips should be helpful to new parents too!

Note, most critical factor to hauling dirty diapers is a smell proof container. I bought snapping boxes with handles at Storables, and they truly keep the smell out. I skipped expensive diaper pails in our laundry area for a large snap close tub.

Here is the personal tip sheet that I made for staff to help with using cloth diapers:

Cloth Diaper Tips

Thank you for making the extra effort to use our cloth diapers!

I try to set them up in advance so you don’t have much prep work. Here are a few tips to help make both our lives a bit easier:

Before:

There are a variety of style diapers – all of Makenna’s fasten in front (G’s are in back)
Please use the thin liners whenever possible – helps remove solids easily
Pocket diapers or All-in-ones: These can only be used once.
Wraps can be used multiple times with fresh folding cloth inserts. They are designed to be very repellent and only need to be washed when poop gets on the wrap itself.

After:

Please fasten the tabs to the inside Velcro squares – see photos below, this step doesn’t take any extra time really, but it does save me from fastening before washing.
Using one bag to line the box daily is sufficient – saves time on both sides.

Thanks!!
Darcy and family

Here’s a review of the new Bum Genius diapers, which happen to be one favorite brand

Do you use cloth diapers in a childcare setting…any tips?

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Sustainable Family Finances
The story of a family creating an abundant and sustainable life.