Going Green

It's earth day, or it was anyway! I've been working at this computer WAY too long today, and thought I should probably say "hi" to the world for a while. Everyone's doing Earth Day give-away's and promotions, but we just want to ask everyone
"Are YOU doing your part?"

We sure are trying here, that's for sure. We didn't really do any "resolutions" this year for New Years, but we did make a pact to work on reducing our carbon footprint.
Maggie is SERIOUSLY worried about those Polar Bears, ya'll!
So here's what we are doing at OUR house(and no there is no judging you, this is just what works for us) We now always try to take our own bags when we grocery shop, go to the mall, you name it. If it's small enough, we just say "no bag please" I mean honestly people, my purse is big enough to hold lots of goodies! Maggie is very proud of her "Little Miss Green" bag and loves to take it places with her...for Earth Day she even used it for her book bag for school!I know it's not the usual high quality photo that you expect, but hey we got new i-phones and it's a whole lot easier to document the "little things" that catch my eye though out the day!

We also are working on Energy Conservation IN our house i.e. lights off when we leave a room, faucets off when we're not using the water, tv off when no one's watching it, and unplugging appliances when we're not using them. I'm really bad at leaving my phone charger plugged in, and don't get me started on when I EVER shut the computer down. But like I said, one step at a time. The biggest change so far is switching to cloth diapers last week. Yep, we did it, and Fionn loves it! Seriously, he does people! We find that our pre-folds and Bummi Covers work great for everyday use, but we really like our one Fuzzi-Bunz too. Speaking of Fuzzi-Bunz, there is a great giveaway going on for a set of them right now over at Kelly's Blog, so go check it out. She is also giving away a new Boppy, and a set of Re-usable Lunch Bags as well this week. There are also LOTS of great links from her blog for Great Earth Day Give-Aways from other companies!
Okay, now back to cloth diapering. The following pictures were from our first day in cloth.
Step one: the prefold with the snappi

Step two: the ADORABLE Bummi diaper cover

See how stinkin cute it is!
He likes to just run around in his diaper now, we're going to be in trouble this summer when it's hot!

So there you have it, that was day one last week. I know some of you have already seen these pictures on Facebook, but bear with me for a post while I share with the rest of the world. We also have purchased Kushi's and liners and bought a wet bag from Blue Penguin so there is A LOT out there now. Also one of our new favorite store's here in Pittsburgh is Pittsburgh Cloth Diapers. Lilli is GREAT and took the time to show me how to fold a pre-fold, and explained all I need to know about the different brands that she carries!
There are also other great online places that you can customize your diapers to your hearts content! We LOVE Etsy and shop on there all the time! Today the mailman brought our newest Etsy purchase! Fionn's new wool "soaker" These are great for night time, and they are antimicobial, so they do not need washed everyday, just if they are "soiled"

(I purchased this at Etsy from Catchick6 Creations)

So here's Fionn's newest possesion. I don't "do" skull and cross-bones(AT ALL) Don't even get me started on that, but I thought this woolie was just the cutest thing!! So i guess it's time for some "baby legs" and t-shirts to wear with his soakers at night! What a fashion statement he's going to become! LOL
So that's about it for Earth Day! I know we fed you LOTS of infomation tonight, but i sandwhiched it between pictures of the kids, so I know it didn't seem that long!!

One last note: One of Maggie's best friends, Grace, had another major surgery today. Please keep her in your prayers as she's older now and more aware of what's going on. She was pretty nervous last night when we went down to see her! We've yet to hear how it went, so we are hoping that they have her pain controlled so she could come back home tonight. She was born with two club feet, and has had multiple, extensive surgery on both feet to correct it, but this one is a doozy folks. She'll be in thigh-high casts (on both legs) for pretty much the whole summer. She will be confined to a wheel-chair for a while until she moves into her walking casts, but her house is multi-level and not going to be easy for her to get around. Just going to the bathroom is going to require her parents help. They have had to completly re-do their house, so that Grace can have a bedroom on the first floor, and on top of that their entire basement flooded two weeks ago and is destroyed. So please keep Grace and the rest of her family in your prayers, as they have a LONG road ahead of them this summer!!
Here's a some picture(s) of Maggie and Grace taken over the last year. Grace lives right down the street, and they do all they can together. dance recital 2008

grace came over with her baby sister in the fall for a shoot with her little sister, this is what we ended up with...the two big girls goofing around

trick or treating 2008