Before D was born, I ordered the gdiapers starter kit and refills. I was so excited. Then she was born and we got home and I had no room in my head for anything other than putting one foot in front of the other every day and just surviving. We never opened the gdiapers. I did make sure to buy all natural household cleaners, but other than that my head was not in a very earth-friendly space. I totally succumbed to convenience.
After almost 9 months of mommyhood, I finally feel like we're in a groove, at long last. We have a schedule for Delma, our days and nights are pretty predictable, and with that new level of comfort is coming the freeing up of some mental space and energy. I went back to the gdiapers site and re-read all the alarming statistics regarding disposable diapers. D is too big for the newborn-sized stuff I bought last year, so I stocked up on all the goods for her current size. They arrived last week, and so far so good. We even have the people at daycare using them during the day too, which I am so pleased about. They aren't flushing, they're throwing the diaper inserts out. But that's fine with me, at least it's all biodegradable! It definitely requires a bit more planning and work than just using disposables, but both Josh and I are happy to put in the extra work since it means being kinder to the planet. I wish we'd done this from Day 1 -- I think the key is to be completely committed to it, and prepared and ready to go before the baby is born, so that when you get home you can just start using them and don't have to feel like you're figuring out some new project. We just weren't prepared and we obviously were not 100% committed. We took a sort of wait and see approach, and if you do that you will never just decide to start doing something that requires more effort. You need to acknowledge the extra effort and accept it and commit to it.
I also ordered BioBags from drugstore.com... Our local natural foods market carries Seventh Generation, which is better than regular trash bags since it's mostly post-consumer plastic, but I really want to try the biodegradable ones. Far more expensive than getting a big ol' box from Target or Walmart, but since we won't be using a diaper pail anymore we'll hopefully be using less garbage bags. We'll see how they work.
AND I ordered these super-cute shopping bags. I even got a discount using a code from Cool Mom Picks. I have forgotten them in the car every single time I've gone shopping since I got them, so they're not working out too great yet, but I'm sure they will once I get myself into the habit!
All of this more earth-conscious living is making Josh think about going back to veganism. We're vegetarian and are raising D vegetarian. When it comes to dairy products, especially for D, I'm trying to be more conscientious about organics etc. I appreciate and respect veganism, but I just don't think it's a committment I'm willing to make right now, and it seems to me like that's something we would need to do together as a family. If one person is vegan, we'd have to cook vegan for the whole family. Our restaurant options would be severely restricted. I know these are all manageable issues, people make it work all the time, I just don't think that's where my head is right now. Right now I need to get used to flushing Delma's poo and to using garbage bags made from corn. Baby steps!
