Up and coming

Yes. I am still alive and kicking. I could give you a song and dance about how busy I am and all that, but it wouldn’t ring true. I don’t have a good excuse. I just haven’t been blogging much because I can’t help but believe that my life is pretty boring in a very good way.

And I’ve been really tired for the last few weeks. As much as I hate to admit it, our little kiddo just isn’t sleeping as well as she had been. Add to that the fact that I’ve been doing bits and pieces of work here and there and you have a somewhat overtired mommy.

Abby is sleeping much worse as we approach five months than she was at, say, six weeks. She never really learned to sleep through the night in the traditional sense and I didn’t balk at it because she was sleeping a good 13 hours or so with one nursing session in between. She would go to sleep at 8:30 or so and wake around 3 a.m., nurse quietly and happily, drifting off into sleep while she ate, and went back down until the morning.

Looking back, I’m not sure where things all started to go awry. I think it happened when I first got my period back and we had a nursing strike. She did start nursing just fine again, but she started going to sleep a little later. Next thing I know, she’s going to sleep at 10 – nursing at 3 a.m. – and waking for the day at 8:30. Hey, no biggie right?

I’m not quite sure how we got here.

Last week, Abby began to refuse to nurse again. I kept at it with her, thinking it was just a little fussiness. She had a few bottles here and there of pumped milk, but she was coming off of being sick and I figured it was just a reluctance to eat. After Shabbat last week, she refused to eat. Period. She finally caved in and took a bottle at 4 a.m. on Sunday morning.

At 10 a.m., I got my period, which answered a lot of questions. I pumped, she ate. We got by. I knew it would end when my cycle moved on.

Monday she had her second DTap shot (you know, the one that vaccinates against like everything under the sun). It hit her like a ton of bricks just like the first one did. She ate very little for a couple days.

To add to the fun, she got another shot (her second Prevenar) on Thursday morning. At least that one made her drowsy, but she didn’t sleep well on Thursday night and we were both completely wiped by Friday morning. We didn’t even leave the house that day and didn’t go to services that night.

Friday night, she slept well while she was asleep, but woke every three hours to nurse (the nursing strike ended Wednesday night and all was once again good in BM land).

Now it’s Saturday night. She’s asleep peacefully – I put her down at 9 p.m. and she stirred three times between 9 and 10, but I haven’t heard a peep since.

Which brings me around to the coming attraction that will have me blogging. It’s time to do some sleep training.

Right now, we’re not willing to try Ferberizing and as she is not yet five months old, it’s unlikely that would be a great deal of fun for all involved. Abby has never really been a fussy baby – yes, I nurse her to sleep, but it works. The times we’ve had to take more than half an hour to put her to sleep are rare. As such, I’ve never really had to listen to her howl for more than a minute or two. I’m not sure I have the stomach for it now.

Given that I would rather have dental work than share a bed, we’re not going to go with Dr. Sears either.

We’re going to split the difference and follow the advice of our tried, true and trusted parenting friend: the Baby Whisperer (BW).

BW advocates a middle path. Start with a nice nighttime routine, perhaps a bath and a massage (though Abby is so ticklish that a massage quickly becomes playtime – she takes after her Abba on that one). Read a book and enjoy either a bottle or some BM or both. When the baby has had some time to wind down and the signs of sleepiness are there (droopy eyelids, yawns, etc.), the baby gets put in her crib. Sweet kisses and a good night. And then you leave the room.

Thus far, this sounds like Ferberizing. Here’s where the paths divert.

With BW, you wait until the baby starts crying (assuming that the baby starts crying – if not, you take it for what it is: a gift from God). You go into their room, pick the baby up and hold her until she stops crying … and here’s the important part, I’m told … and not a second longer. The baby gets put back down. If the crying starts, you pick back up. Wash, rinse, repeat.

If the baby is fighting you – literally, arching her back, swatting at you or the like – they get put back down for a few seconds and then get picked up again if they are still crying.

When the baby is no longer crying and in the crib, you can leave a hand against her back to comfort her a bit. Or you can stay in the room. Or you can just leave and see if the crying happens again.

For nighttime sleep, you keep at it until the baby sleeps. Or until morning comes (may God have mercy on you).

To begin a nap, you keep it up for 40 minutes. Then you take a break outside the bedroom with the baby, 5 or 10 minutes. Then you try again for up to another 40 minutes. You stop when you reach the time when the baby is supposed to eat again, nap or not.

To extend a nap in progress, you go 40 minutes and then break, repeating until feeding time comes again.

If you were trying for a nap and never got one, you nurse and then look for tired cues. You start the whole process over again.

The theory on this one is that the baby learns they will not be falling asleep in your arms and that, although you are there for them, they aren’t going to get rocked to sleep, or fall asleep nursing or any other method other than learning to self soothe. For more info, you can visit the BW Web site.

Most information I’ve read says that Ferberizing works in roughly three days on average. BW suggests parents are ready to do this for all naps and night time sleeping for up to two weeks.

Jeremy is home on semester break. I’m up for it. We’re going to give it a shot starting Sunday night. I’ll let you know how it goes. Wish us much luck – it’s going to be interesting.

Best gift ever

Happy Birthday to me.

Miss Abby

Things I’ve done

I stole this from Dr Savta. You copy the list and then color the ones you’ve done.
1. Started your own blog
2. Slept under the stars (Outward Bound trip!)
3. Played in a band (how about marched in a band? I didn't play anything)
4. Visited Hawaii
5. Watched a meteor shower
6. Given more than you can afford to charity (must be very careful to add a decimal point when paying things online - learned that the hard way, though to a good cause)
7. Been to Disneyland/world
8. Climbed a mountain (on a bike - not fun)
9. Held a praying mantis (if "held" here has the meaning when it blew off my windshield, into my car and landed on my shoulder and I tried to get it off me without having a car accident)
10. Sang/played a solo
11. Bungee jumped
12. Visited Paris
13. Watched a lightning storm at sea
14. Taught yourself an art from scratch (if cooking is art)
15. Adopted a child
16. Had food poisoning (Purim last year! Good times!)
17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty
18. Grown your own vegetables.
19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France
20. Slept on an overnight train (does it count if it wasn't meant to be overnight but Amtrak sucks and you got stuck in snow?)
21. Had a pillow fight
22. Hitch hiked
23. Taken a sick day when you’re not ill (when our IVF cycle was canceled)
24. Built a snow fort
25. Held a lamb
26. Gone skinny dipping
27. Run a Marathon (hope to someday)
28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice
29. Seen a total eclipse
30. Watched a sunrise or sunset (on Masada - Jan. 1, 2003)
31. Hit a home run
32. Been on a cruise
33. Seen Niagara Falls in person
34. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors (ick – Poland or Norway – neither entices)
35. Seen an Amish community (lived just next door)
36. Taught yourself a new language (how about attempted?)
37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied (unfortunately, that time is not now)
38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person
39. Gone rock climbing
40. Seen Michelangelo’s David
41. Sung karaoke (my apologies)
42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt
43. Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant (but it was part of interviewing new work candidates)
44. Visited Africa (Israel is not in Africa)
45. Walked on a beach by moonlight
46. Been transported in an ambulance
47. Had your portrait painted
48. Gone deep sea fishing
49. Seen the Sistine Chapel in person
50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris
51. Gone scuba diving or snorkeling
52. Kissed in the rain
53. Played in the mud (this is me we're talking about)
54. Gone to a drive-in theater
55. Been in a movie
56. Visited the Great Wall of China
57. Started a business
58. Taken a martial arts class
59. Visited Russia
60. Served at a soup kitchen
61. Sold Girl Scout Cookies
62. Gone whale watching
63. Gotten flowers for no reason
64. Donated blood, platelets or plasma
65. Gone sky diving
66. Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp
67. Bounced a check (oops)
68. Flown in a helicopter (please see No. 46)
69. Saved a favorite childhood toy
70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial
71. Eaten Caviar
72. Pieced a quilt
73. Stood in Times Square
74. Toured the Everglades
75. Been fired from a job (despite some strong efforts on my part)
76. Seen the Changing of the Guards in London
77. Broken a bone (again, see No. 46)
78. Been on a speeding motorcycle
79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person
80. Published a book
81. Visited the Vatican
82. Bought a brand new car
83. Walked in Jerusalem
84. Had your picture in the newspaper
85. Read the entire Bible (umm, depends on whose Bible we're talking about here)
86. Visited the White House
87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating (okay, but not lately)
88. Had chickenpox (twice)
89. Saved someone’s life (glad to help, but it was very scary and I hope never to have to do it again)
90. Sat on a jury
91. Met someone famous
92. Joined a book club
93. Lost a loved one
94. Made a baby (had a baby - but I believe only Hashem makes babies)
95. Seen the Alamo in person
96. Swam in the Great Salt Lake (swam in a great salt lake – the Dead Sea)
97. Been involved in a law suit
98. Owned a cell phone
99. Been stung by a bee (egh - very allergic)

Seven things about me

I’ve been tagged for a meme by Trilcat

Here are the rules:
1. Link to your tagger and list these rules on your blog.
2. Share 7 facts about yourself, some random, some weird.
3. Tag 7 people (if possible) at the end of your post by leaving their names as well as links to their blogs.
4. Let them know they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their blogs.

=======
Seven things about me (wow – it’s going to be a stretch to find anything interesting):

1. I am almost certain I am the only religiously observant woman I know who does triathlons or plays ice hockey. Admittedly, I haven’t done much of either recently, but I am looking at some tris next summer and am working out a way to get to Metulla to play ice hockey once a month or so. No, I don’t play hockey in a skirt. But despite the swimming portion of tris, I do ride a bike and run in a skirt.
2. I am intensely competitive. While it serves to motivate me in many ways, I let it spoil some of life’s greatest moments for me. Case in point: Though I was insanely happy to finally get pregnant, there was that underlying sense of “I won.” This sense of competition is almost certainly the main reason I am still breastfeeding, which is probably not on the short list of good reasons to nurse your child. I spend a lot of time trying to find a balance.
3. I am converting to orthodox Judaism after converting to reform Judaism. And so is my husband. And our baby girl. And we live in Israel. Okay, so that should really count as at least two.
4. My life’s goal is to be a stay at home mom to a large family. I would have a better chance of making this a reality were it also my husband’s life’s goal.*
5. I live for structure. I like nothing more than to be told exactly how something is to be done and do it correctly. No doubt, this is a huge part of the appeal of orthodoxy for me. I believe there is a one best way to do everything (I didn’t say this was a good thing – just ask my husband) and consider it my MO in life to find that one way to do it. It would be fair to say that this is a good way to anger many of the people around you, albeit unintentionally.
6. I took grad-school level classes in nutrition, exercise physiology and kinesiology because I was too cheap to hire a personal trainer (amazingly, the classes were cheaper in the long run). Subsequently, I became a personal trainer and charged exorbitant fees for my services. It was awesome.
7. I have a very high threshold for pain. I once rode 42 miles during a triathlon with broken ribs, a dislocated shoulder and a pebble stuck in my arm just below my elbow** because I really wanted to finish the race. That said, I cannot remember ever having been in more pain (labor included) than when I did yoga. I am almost certain downward dog is prohibited in the US Army Field Manual on Interrogation as a form of torture.

* Meaning were it his goal for me to be a SAHM. If it were his goal to be a SAHM, that would raise all kinds of new challenges, what with him being a man and all.
** In all honesty, I would have removed the pebble if I realized it was there. My arm was a bit torn up. I wasn’t trying to be all cool, like “hey look at me and my pebble. We’re hot.”

People I tag:
1. Happyduck1979 at Moving on Up (that’ll learn you for commenting – but thanks! )
2. Cantor Jacquie at Bringing Xiao-Ling Home
3. Carino at RoamingChile
4. Chris at DewaldFam.com
5. Alissa at Altman Aliyah
6. Sorry but I…
7. Ran out of people to tag.

Crisis averted

And, just like that, she started nursing again.

We went to the doc to get the once over just in case. Doc says she’s fine, that I should trust my instincts and that I did exactly the right thing about everything – from the eczema to the pumping and fenugreek to the luring her into nursing while she was asleep.

Which made me feel a little better. Now, I’m just exhausted from the upswing in nursing. And the apparent growth spurt.

And I finally started ulpan! And then I promptly got kicked out of one class and enrolled in another, but hey, you gotta start somewhere. My somewhere is a class full of retirees, but they are all nice to me.

AUGHH!

Just aughh. Thanks. I feel better now.

Not even going to try and get a real post in right now. Just needed to vent. Going through a rough patch. Sometimes you feel like you just want to curl up in a little ball in private and sob. But instead, you curl up on your own bed with your 3 mo who will not nurse for love or money in your arms. And you sob. Great heavy sobs while she sleeps. And she wakes up and looks up at you and smiles and then you feel a little hand reach up to stroke the side of your face while the tears tumble down. And strangely, it just makes you cry harder. Cause you would do anything in the world just to make it all work alright.

Funnily enough, did you know that zaatar, a very popular Middle Eastern herb, is very similar to mint and sage? You know, as in the mint and sage that dry up breast milk?

Yeah. Me either.

Oh and PS – I smell like a friggin pancake topping.

And I didn’t realize how much I would come to love breastfeeding. And I only pray to G-d I get the chance to enjoy it again. Preferably with this baby.

“Johnny, rosin up your bow…”

Have I ever told you that one of my not-so-realistic goals is to be able to play the violin part of “The Devil Went Down to Georgia” by the Charlie Daniels Band? No? Okay, so now I have.

Among those unrealstic goals appear to be blogging on a regular basis. That said, I haven’t given up my fiddle dream and I might just get back to posting regularly.

Here’s to hoping.

Some cheese with my whine

I haven’t posted in awhile, but promise to start posting again soon. It’s the holidays in Israel and we’ve been crazy busy. Not to mention that when nearly every other day is a day we don’t use the computer, well, one can fall a bit behind.

And now, on to my pathetic whine.

Abba and Abby before lunch at Cafe Hillel

Next week, Jeremy goes back to grad school. And I’m really going to miss him, both from a “OMG I have to care for her myself?” and a “I wish these last few weeks – even before the baby – could last forever” standpoint. I was going to write about how it’s been so nice to have him home full time for the last few weeks of the pregnancy when I was so uncomfortable and things were a bit touch and go. And how it was amazing to have him here for the first two months with Abby, when we were both learning about how to be parents (okay, not that we’ve stopped learning – got a ways to go there).

Basically, I wish this time could last forever. But since that wish translates to roughly “I wish we could both live a rather posh life without either of us working at all and just staying home with the baby and eating in restaurants though neither of us was blessed with a trust fund,” I think I’ll shut up now. I know that’s not feasible and to hope for it is a bit greedy. It might even get a bit boring after awhile. I know we both lucked out and had more time together without work or school than most folks can dream of – let alone to have it without having to take a pay cut.

But I have to say I’m going to miss it. And yet, strangely, I’m kind of looking forward to getting back into a routine. When we’re both home with little or nothing that needs to be done, it’s easy for the days to slip by in a haze. The whole chag-Shabbat-chag cycle of the last few weeks doesn’t really help. Instead, I’m going to approach next week with a glass-half-full type of attitude. Here’s what I hope to do in my first few days alone with Abby:

• Have her calm and fed when Jeremy gets home so that I can go running (more on getting back to training later).
• Have a dinner in the works so that we can start eating at home more often.
• Keep up on the laundry and house cleaning.
• Get caught up on my blogging.
• Schedule the next barrage of doctors’ appointments – both for me, Jeremy and Abby.
• Get my maternity leave and other baby benefits sorted out so that the money is finally deposited in my account (okay, this is actually priority No. 1).

For the love of food

Okay, so this is completely not within the realm of this blog per se, but I wanted to share a couple of my favorite recipes. This is what we’ve been living off of in the Brown family home as of late. They are tried and true and yummy and I hope you like them.

Easy Quiche

I am way too damn lazy busy to make a quiche with crust these days. Especially since I’m one of those make-your-crust-from-scratch type of people. And I don’t have a food processor. Or Crisco. This is one of those recipes that you don’t think can possibly work, but you try it anyway and can’t believe how cool it is. When the quiche bakes, the biscuit mix sinks to the bottom and makes a crust. The cheese goes to the top and makes a lovely golden top and the broccoli and eggy goodness cook right in the center to make a filling middle layer. It’s especially nice since, without the crust mess, you can make them in muffin tins – they microwave or oven reheat really well and are convenient in single-size servings. This recipe is very forgiving with ingredients, so feel free to improvise.

2 cups milk

4 eggs

3/4 cup biscuit baking mix, a la Bisquick (to make your own biscuit baking mix, see this link)

1/4 butter, melted

1 cup Parmesan cheese

10 oz. package of frozen broccoli, thawed, drained and cut into edible pieces

1 cup shredded cheese of your choice

Optional: 1 cup cooked cubed meat of your choice

In a large bowl, beat the eggs. Add milk, baking mix, butter and parmesan cheese. Stir in remaining ingredients. To make individual muffin-size quiches, spray a muffin tin with non-stick baking spray. Add the mix using a 1/4 cup measuring cup until the mix nearly fills each cup. Cook in the oven at 375 degrees F (190 degrees C) for about 20 minutes, checking to see that the egg has set before you remove them.

Chicken Breasts with Balsamic Mushroom Gravy

Very yummy when served with rice. To make the chicken go a bit further, cut up the breasts and serve them over the rice in slices instead of serving a whole breast.

One large onion, diced

2 cloves of garlic, minced or pressed

Olive oil

1 cup sliced mushrooms (you can use fresh, frozen or canned)

4 split chicken breasts (aka what you would get from two whole chickens)

Flour, salt and pepper

1/4 cup balsamic vinegar

3/4 water

Saute the diced onion and garlic in the olive oil in a big skillet with a lid. Season the chicken breasts with salt and pepper. In a plastic baggie with 1/4 flour, dredge the chicken breasts to coat them lightly with the flour. When the onions have become translucent, add the chicken breasts to the pan. Cook for four minutes or until the chicken begins to brown. Turn the chicken over; add the mushrooms over the chicken. Allow to cook for 7-8 minutes or until the chicken has browned on both sides. Mix the balsamic vinegar and water in a cup and add, pouring over the mushrooms and chicken breasts to coat. Put the lid on and simmer, bubbling gently, for 15 minutes or until the chicken is cooked through and the gravy begins to thicken. Serve with rice or noodles.

Chai (Masala Tea)

I love, love, love Indian food! But my favorite Indian restaurant in Israel is meat, so they don’t serve chai. As a result, I learned how to make it myself at home.

Six black tea bags (like Lipton)

Five whole cardamon pods, crushed to open the pod

One cinnamon stick

4 cups of water

1/4 cup sugar (optional – and to taste)

1 liter of milk (sorry – not sure how much this works out to stateside)

Bring the water to a boil. Add the cardamon pods, cinnamon and tea bags. Allow this to steep – your choice how long, based on how strong you want the tea. Remember you’re going to mix it with a lot of milk, so stronger is better. I usually wait at least 20 minutes. Pour the tea mixture into a heat-proof pitcher that will fit in your fridge, straining out the cardamon and cinnamon. Add the sugar and stir to dissolve. Finally, add the milk. Serve warm or over ice.

As we say here in Israel, b’teyavon!

Cloth Diapering 101

Still catching up on back posts. As promised, here’s one on cloth diapering.

Since the night Abby came home from the hospital, she’s been wearing cloth diapers. As with breastfeeding, this has less to do with us being crunchy granola (indeed, we’re two of the least crunchy granola people I know – we’re more like Frosted Flakes) and more to do with our pocketbooks. I’m not in it to save the Earth as much as I am to save some moolah.

And thus far, it’s going really well. Of the two major decisions we made based on finances (breastfeeding and cloth diapering), I can honestly tell you that the cloth diapering part is by far the easier of the two (at least, so far – check back with me when Abby starts solid foods). Here’s how we’re doing it:

• We are using FuzziBunz pocket diapers with Chinese prefold liners. Basically, the pocket diaper works just like a disposable diaper except that it has adjustable snaps instead of velcro-ish tabs like disposables. The outside is made of a waterproof material (think GoreTex) and the inside is a soft, fuzzy liner (think PolarFleece). That makes a pocket. Then you insert the absorbant layer (Chinese prefolds – aka the cloth diapers of yesteryear) and you have an absorbant reusable diaper that is highly adjustable for size (our diapers fit 6-17 pounds).
• We have 13 pocket diapers and 60 or so liners. I’m not sure exactly what I was thinking when I planned that out, but I had a plan, and if I ever remember what it was, you’ll be the first ones to know. Suffice it to say that you only need one liner for each diaper (or two if you have a heavy wetter) so we really didn’t need five dozen prefolds. Oops. They make good burp cloths.
• We aren’t using cloth wipes. Baby wipes are cheap; I know they are worse for the environment, but they are fine on our budget, and that was the determining factor for us.
• Basically we use the diapers like any other diapers. We use them at home and when we are out of the house.
• When Abby has a dirty diaper at home, we change her and then remove the prefold from the pocket. The prefold goes directly into the washer (no rinsing, soaking, etc.). For the pocket, it’s into the washer directly if it’s just wet. If it’s dirty, we use our shower head (the type on a hose) to spray the poo out (most folks do this into the toilet, we just do it into the shower and rinse it down the drain – it all goes to the same place and right now, it doesn’t smell). Then the pocket goes into the washer. Our washer is a European front-loading type with a big rubber gasket around the front opening. As a result, it is completely odor proof and serves as our diaper pail. We wait until we are running low on diapers (usually down to two, but sometimes we press our luck) and then we wash a load.
• Before I wash a load (which, if it were only diapers, wouldn’t come close to filling the machine) I usually throw in other dirty laundry until I reach a full load, following the same priority list (dirty baby accessories – such as the towels we cover the changing table with, etc., dirty baby clothes, our whites and finally our colored laundry). We wash the diapers (and whatever goes with them) at 50 degrees Celsius on a rapid wash cycle (not sure exactly what that means, but it’s the only setting I’ve ever used and it works really well and is shorter than the normal cycle) with about half as much detergent as we would normally use in the wash.
• When the wash is done, we either hang the diapers and liners out to dry (sun is supposed to be very good at killing any remaining bacteria and bleaching them nice and white) or pitch them in the dryer. They take very little time to dry. In all honesty, because our diapers never get dried poo on them (they stay damp until they are washed), they get very clean and white every time we wash them. As a result, we haven’t fussed much about how white they are.
• The diaper liners are a little less white. I can’t say it really bothers me – they are still nice and soft and they smell like clean detergent, not urine. As for the color, well, given that their only role in life is for my daughter to soil them, I’m not so worried about how sparkling they are.
• When we’re not at home and Abby has a dirty diaper, we change her and wrap up the diaper. When all grossness is adequately contained, the diaper gets put in a Ziploc sandwich bag and sealed until we get home. We also keep a few extra bags in the diaper bag in case we have a major blowout and have to change her (and put the soiled outfit in a bag). That’s only happened once. We reuse the Ziploc bags unless they actually get something dirty inside them (again, that’s only happened once).
• We aren’t militant about not using disposable diapers. When we’ve run out of diapers (which has happened a couple times – some times because we didn’t do the wash soon enough, others because we weren’t able to do laundry on Shabbat and Rosh Hashanah), we just put her in a disposable diaper. She gets a little fussy about it because they fit differently and feel different, but she soils those just as happily.

So far, so good. Here’s what we’ve learned so far:

• It’s not that hard. Especially if you start right at the beginning before you get use to something else.
• It isn’t that much more laundry. When you have a baby, your laundry increases more than you can fathom given that pretty much your entire baby’s wardrobe would only make one load. You see, it’s not their clothes that are the problem. It’s everything else that gets dirty: your clothes, when the baby spits up; her bath towel, when she conveniently waits until you remove her diaper to proceed to pee; your pillowcases, when you realize that it took 30 minutes to breastfeed her only because 1/3 of all that milk was leaking out the side of her mouth and onto your pillow. Before we had a baby, we did about three loads of laundry a week. Now we do five or six, give or take, and diapers are only a small part of that.
• We figure it won’t ever be more laundry than it is right now. Abby is already beginning to have fewer diapers everyday as she begins to sleep for longer periods (which is not to say that she isn’t doing her business as often – she just combines one and two in the same diaper more often, which is quite thoughtful of her, really). And likewise, we’re learning how not to be the canvas for her art, which means fewer items of laundry based on mishaps of feeding and diapering.
• Our startup costs were about $150 for the Fuzzi Bunz and $25 for the Chinese prefolds. Abby has been averaging about 10 diapers a day, and she is a month old tomorrow. That’s 300 or so diapers. A pack of 60 diapers costs about 50 shekels when you can get them on sale (which isn’t that hard if you shop smart and we would). That means she has used about 250 shekels, or $72, worth of diapers so far. This doesn’t take into account the increase in our water and electric bills (which isn’t trivial), but it’s clear that the diapers will likely pay for themselves in the next month or so.
• In addition, assuming that the diapers handle wear and tear well (which they have so far), we won’t have to repurchase the diapers should we be blessed with more children. Which means we’ll be saving money from day one with any other kids.
• The only spot of diaper rash we’ve seen came when Abby used a couple of disposables back to back. It cleared up within a day when we got her back in her cloth diapers – and we haven’t seen a bit of it since.

And finally, an odd note about something that happened to me:

We took Abby in for a medical visit, just the routine checkup, not long ago. The person examining her didn’t really say much about the cloth diaper (though be prepared as they usually become a conversation starter) and went on to ask if we had gotten her any vaccinations in the hospital. I said yes, she had been vaccinated for everything that was recommended and the lady was a bit taken aback. What she said next somewhat surprised and hurt me: “I thought since you were using cloth diapers you wouldn’t want her to have the vaccinations.” She went on to tell me about two other vaccines that weren’t covered by state healthcare, but that were recommended, and would I like her to receive those too?

It’s interesting that you are presumed to buy into a whole platform of child rearing when you choose one facet of it. Just because I’m breastfeeding doesn’t mean I’m co-sleeping, or attachment parenting. Just because I’m using cloth diapers doesn’t mean I’m anti-vaccination (quite the opposite). And moreover, regardless of what parental camp I’m a part of, shouldn’t medical professionals be obligated to provide information on what’s available to protect my daughter’s health even if they think I might not be interested?

A little scary, that’s all.