Happy St. Paddy's Day!

Happy St. Paddy's Day everyone!

Henry is enjoying his Irish heritage today and even dressed for the occasion!

Our little guy is 6 weeks old! It is hard to believe. Although it feels like he has always been a part of our family!

On an unrelated note... This article came up today on my Facebook page from the David Suzuki Foundation, about Green parenting. It mentioned the idea of diaper-free toileting, also know as "Elimination Communication". I had heard about it before but brushed it off as cray-cray! 

However, today I thought I would read a little further and was linked to this article, written by a mom following this practice. The idea sounded rather simple in some way... and I realized I already knew many of Henry's "gotta-go!" cues and timings. Of course, if you know me, you'd know that I am willing to try almost anything that helps me to reduce my environmental footprint. So... 

*Did I just publish a picture of my newborn babies' poop? Yep, I did!

Wouldn't you know it... it WORKS! Let me tell you... I was SO excited when he not only peed, but pooped too! My excitement was almost embarrassing... and the cutest part was, he was looking up at me smiling and cooeing while this all happened, as if it was the greatest thing he'd ever done. Oh the bonding.

I was so gung-ho that I kept it going... and so far today he has gone in the toilet 5 times (He is still wearing his cloth diapers, but I am just taking them off when I think he has to go. And I have changed 3 wet diapers, so it hasn't been perfect.) I calculated that if I saved 5 diapers a day, I would save about 75 loads of laundry a year. Isn't that amazing? 

The downfall so far? We don't have a main floor bathroom, so I have been sprinting up the stairs every time I think he has to go. Very tiring, especially when you also have to hold a semi-squat positions while making a "pssss" noise until he pees, which can take some time. After the fifth time, I had physically reached my max! But I can also see this as an upside... bring on the baby weight loss!

I never imagined this would be the highlight of my day...ever. 

The verdict: I love the idea of this, but we will have to see how it goes. I can see it becoming more of a hassle than it's worth. But, I'd ideally like to use it as much as possible. It doesn't hurt!