Friday, May 30, 2008

I Swear I'm NOT an Environmentalist...

Well, we've taken the plunge... The Haacke's have decided to enter the fun-filled world of cloth diapering! Call us crazy (we are), but after doing lots of research & MATH, heres what I have learned...

Just a moment while I step onto my soapbox...
FIRST - Disposables are TOXIC! Dioxins - Most toxic of ALL carcinogens, banned in most countries except the U.S.. • Sodium Polyacrylate - (You know, the little "beady thingys" that absorb the peeps) Reported to cause severe skin irritations, oozing blood from perineum and scrotal tissues, fever, vomiting and staph infections in babies - not to mention that it was banned from tampons in 1985 because of its link to TSS, & it has killed children after ingesting as little as 5 grams of it - YIKES!! • TBT - Highly toxic enviro pollutant that causes sterility... Also factor in the offgassing of the plastics, perfumes & dyes - No Thanks!

SECOND - Cloth is CHEAPER! Figure this:

• Disposable diaper costs an average of $0.24 per change. • $0.24 per change X 70 changes per week = $16.80 per week • $16.80 per week X 130 weeks per diapering period (2 1/2 years) = Total Cost of Disposable Diapers $2,184.00
Cloth Diapers cost a little more to begin with (about $300-$400), BUT they at least can be used through more than one child. Now, I dont know about you, but I can't afford to spend over $2,000 a year on non-biodegradable landfill nuggets, which leads me to my last point:
(Yes you enviromnentalist nutties out there, this is for you) GARBAGE! On average, each baby/toddler uses 9100 diapers in a 2 1/2 year period! Times that by however many millions of kids wearing disposables... Imagine what that does to our groundwater...

If you want to try a little experiment, go buy a package of Depends & wear them 24 hrs a day for one week (I did postpartum)... I now have complete empathy for little Aubrey's "diaper-rashed, sweaty-sticky, crinkle-when you move, perma-plastic-imprinted" little tushie that Aubrey & millions of other kids suffer through every day.

So anyway... though cloth diapering is a little more effort & a little more laundry, its worth it for us. I'm stepping down off my little soapbox now...

Wednesday, May 21, 2008

Happy Anniversary!

Yaay! Austin & Becca have been married for 6 years! Time flies when you are with your best friend! We went to Zurmatt resort in Midway last night & had a really nice dinner at Schneider's - we highly recommend it. Austin had incredible scallops & I had a veggie dish that was so good. It was fun to be spoiled for a day - valet parking is cool! We woke up this morning & went to the pool with Aubrey. Her first swimming trip! She liked it a lot - they have a neat pool & hot tub. Ethan got to have a sleepover with Grandma Dona & then went to Auntie Barb's in the morning. We went to a neat bakery in Midway & got nummy "cigars" (a raspberry-cream filled praline cookie) & an eclair for a pre-breakfast treat... SO GOOD! If I ever get a specialty cake made, thats the place to go.

St George Trip

We have had a really busy week - hence the lack of posts for a few days. Austin went to Miton for a week to help his dad work, so to keep us busy, the kids & I went to St George with Mom & Granny Morton for five days to visit my sister Jen & her cute family. We had a great trip down - great company & the kids were so good.
It was nice to be in the warm desert again! The only bad thing about the whole trip was that I woke up sick with a bad infection on the first morning! I was SO mad! High fever in the heat of St George is not fun. Thankfully we were able to get some antibiotics & though I spent two days in bed, I had a great time visiting with Granny. Ethan was so lucky, he got to have a sleepover at Auntie Jen's house. Ethan has discovered the joy of cousins - He & Eli played for hours finding snails, lizard hunting & playing in the red sand.
On Saturday, we all went for a hike in Snow Canyon - my favorite place, to the white sand dunes. It was a long walk for little legs, but Ethan, Eli, Cassidy, Jonah & Seth all did great! Aubrey sat in the sling & was such a trooper! Thanks for the hat Jen! Later that afternoon, Mom, Jen & the little kids & I went to Enterprise to a circa 1900's Mercantile store that is going out of business. The 2 E's (Ethan & Eli) decided to spend their dollar on bubbles (I don't think Grammie has ever gotten such value out of one dollar!) Ethan played for hours making "rainbows." Jen & I spent a while picking out fabric (boring moms), but we are so excited to see what each other makes... I found some really cute ladybug fabric that is going to be a quilt.
We had a long drive home on Sunday... it was a 10 hour day in the car. We left St Geo at noon - stopping lots for Aubrey to eat & made it to Provo to meet Austin at 5pm. We started up Provo Canyon & were stopped by a really bad accident that killed two kids & closed the whole canyon. We went to a fun park so the kids could stretch, had dinner & got home at 10pm! Long, long, long day!

Monday, May 12, 2008

Food Storage

Hey - just a thought... since all the doom & gloom about the economy has the whole world freaked, i found this GREAT website about building food storage bit by bit & actually using it in daily life... not just 200 cases of 10 year old wheat in the basement (which is food hoarding by the way). Check out simplylivingsmart.com Or click on the link to your right... It's got tons of video on how to use & start acquiring more food storage. Granted, the lady in the videos is UBER CHEESY - saying words like "delicious" & "creamy" about 10 times per 3 minute segment, there is some really good info there. They have schedules & calculators to help you figure out how many pounds of each type of food for your individual family - i didnt know that we need 1300 lbs of grain food for us for a year! Yikes! Good to know so we can get started. They also have lots of emergency preparedness info & videos. We aren't making a run for the food store, but this website has given us a way to have a schedule for getting our years worth of food storage.
Good luck!

Mothers Day Madness

Its been a few days since we've posted anything new, but we've been so busy this week. I was asked to speak in my Mom's Sacrament meeting on Mother's day as a surprise spotlight for her. It went really well I thought - Mom couldn't figure out why we had to be to church 10 minutes early! Good surprise. Love you mom. It was a crazy weekend with family parties 'n all, but we had fun.

Austin is gone all this week working with his dad, so it's pretty quiet around here. I cant get used to that thought. I don't know how Dona does it each week. We woke up to SNOW this morning! Thats just not fair to tease me that way! Ethan gets mad every day that he's cooped up inside... which is getting old for me too - the garden is getting neglected on days like this.

Waiting for sun...

Thursday, May 1, 2008

For all the parents out there...


Okay, ever been sitting around watching tv at night, surfin' through the channels & come upon one of your kid's tv shows? How many of you start watching it? Austin & I have been guilty of this phenomenon on several occasions lately... The worst part is when there is something good on, & we switch to kiddo cartoons anyway! Ever seen Max & Ruby? For those searching for a genuine jewel of a show without the violence & gore of comics; ridiculous stuffed purple monstrosities singing about taking out the trash, or the over-the-top musical antics of the blue-faced "doodle-whatevers" that parents are subjected to day after day, Max & Ruby is a welcome escape from the usual 6am fodder that our kids absorb. We highly recommend you check it out! Who knew that a brother & sister bunny team could be so entertaining for college-educated, moderately intelligent people? Especially since Max only says one word throughout each episode & still outwits his older & more proper sister Ruby. Nick Jr. - Mon, Wed & Fri 1:30 & 9:30pm. Check it out!