Leaving on a Jet Plane

And I’m struggling to work out what I need to do to take my beloved Galaxy S2 with me – argh!  We’re only new to the world of smartphones but I don’t know how I can possibly survive nearly four weeks without mine now.  Anyone have any tips on using my Australian phone in the US without paying a gazillion dollars for international roaming & data packages?  :/

But, other than that, I’m very excited about this holiday.  The purpose is to introduce Kira to most of her USA family and to spend some more quality time with Nana & Pappa.  Of course I’ll also be thrilled to do a bit of shopping (please please please let the exchange rate stay in our favour!) and eating all the yummy foods I miss but can’t get in Oz.  I’m hoping to catch up with a few of my close girlfriends from high school and just to do a bit of relaxing in the town I grew up in.

The flight should be interesting, but I’m not too worried about it.  There are two of us to share the baby-holding duties and Kira isn’t a very fussy baby usually.  Getting to the airport with baby & luggage & all the baby paraphernalia should be interesting but hey – a few hours of inconvenience for a few weeks of holiday is totally worth it in my book.

On the disposable nappy front – we ended up going with the Bambo Nature nappies.  I tried each of the brands during the day and then overnight as well.  Uninterestingly enough, they all performed basically the same.  I was a bit disappointed, expecting some interesting tales of leakage or poo-splosions or something to share but nope – just boring old waste-containment.  Aesthetically, I preferred the Seventh Generation nappies.  They were much trimmer than the others, felt a bit softer and had that cool brown colour that just looks very hippy/recycled/earth-loving.  Sadly, after checking up on them online they don’t actually seem overly green though. They’re chlorine, petroleum product and fragrance-free but the Bambo Nature nappies have them beat with this:

• contain no perfumes, lotions, deodorants or antioxidants
• are made from raw materials that are certified free from harmful chemicals
• are 100 % chlorine, TBT and latex free, so they are much less likely to cause an allergic reaction
• can help to prevent and reduce nappy rash
• have been recommended by the Eczema Association of Australia, and are designed and tested by the manufacturer for skin friendliness
• are highly absorbent, perfect for using overnight
• encompass the full range from premature to training pants (see size chart)
• have an eco friendly manufacturing process which means a lower eco footprint
• are approximately 75% biodegradable as opposed to the 35% in standard nappies
• have a biodegradable core with biodegradable starch granules
• come in fully recyclable packaging
• are the first nappy to be awarded the Nordic Swan Eco Label
• are made in Denmark, and shipped to Australia. Shipping is an environmentally friendly form of mass transporting

Here's Kira testing out her Bambo Nature nappy.

So, that’s what will be wrapped around our dear one’s bum for the start of our journey.  It’s probably for the best that we don’t bother taking our cloth with us for the sake of luggage space and convenience, but I think I’m having separation anxiety lol!  I still would like to take maybe a full wash’s worth (2 days) but we’ll see what our packing situation is first.  Of course, I could just stock up on nappies while we’re there (because like everything else, they’re cheaper in the US and the exchange rate is in our favour) and use whatever we buy rather than bringing some with…now there’s an idea!  I was shocked to see how inexpensive environmentally friendly disposables can be purchased for in the US though.  Less than half the cost of what we paid!

I also bought a cool teething necklace (Jellystone Designs) with the nappies (hey – you’ve gotta make the most of the shipping fees, right?).  Kira isn’t teething yet, but she still seems to like it!

Om-nom-nom!

So, I’ve got just enough time to (hopefully) get the house cleaned up for the house-sitter, do last-minute shopping and get the packing done before we’re off!

Eco-disposable Trial

We’re very excited to be planning a holiday in the U.S. in a few weeks time.  We’ve got passports galore (five passports for three travellers!), house-sitter booked and accommodation organised.  I’ve got a list of things to buy as gifts for people there and a list of things to pack for myself and for Kira (the dear husband has to do his own packing).  I feel like we’re pretty well organised for this holiday in all regards but one – what are we going to do about our child’s bum while we’re away?

Cloth nappies take up a LOT of space and we’re limited to what we can take with us.  Also, washing & drying (mostly drying as USAers don’t tend to have clothes lines around like Aussies do) might be challenging.  Another thing, we’ll have around 20 hours of transit time from leaving our house to arriving at our hotel on that first day.  I don’t think I want to tote around 20 hours worth of heavy, wet nappies.  I don’t know if I’ve even got enough wetbag space to carry around 20 hours of dirty nappies!

So – disposables are going to come into play for at least some of our holiday.  I’m not keen on the idea of using standard off-the-shelf disposables so this means we needed to find a ‘green’ alternative.  I can’t seem to find many eco-friendly nappies in the shops around here so I’ve ordered some samples from an online vendor, Hello Charlie. For just a few dollars they will send out a pack with two nappies of whichever brand/size you want to try.  Definitely worth it in my opinion as the cartons range from around $30 to $50.  So I ordered the lot – five sample packs in total and am in the process of trying them out.  Here they are:

The Line-up

From left to right:

Seventh Generation (Size 3)

Bambo Nature (Midi)

Bambo (Midi)

Moltex (Midi)

Moltex (Maxi)

Wish me luck!

Nappies

When I’m not holding, feeding, cleaning or changing our little angel,I’m trying to turn this:

Nappy Shells

and this:

Nappy Inserts

into this:

Nappies Galore!

 

Never in my life did I imagine I’d spend quite so much time doing laundry.  That said, I’m still pleased with our decision to go cloth.  It’s green, it’s fluffy, and it’s cheap.  Now excuse me while I go hang the next batch of nappies on the line…