Becoming a Greener Mama

Moving to Germany has changed me in a lot of ways, especially in regards to consuming less and taking better care of the environment. You can recycle almost everything here. In fact, it is looked down upon if you throw recyclables away or have too much trash.  In fact, most fast food restaurants use real plates and silverware if you are eating there.

I have been thinking about ways I can be less wasteful.  This past week it was brought to my attention how wasteful and harmful disposable diapers are. Obviously there is a big debate over whether or not disposable diapers are really more wasteful than cloths because with cloth diapers you have to wash them and that uses water. However, I had no idea that every disposable diaper takes 500 years to decompose. Also, over the years disposable diapers have incorporated even more potentially harmful chemicals that may not be the best for a baby's skin.

When I was pregnant with Caden we considered cloth diapers but after thinking about how people used to use them I thought it would be too much work with all the folding, diaper pins, etc. involved. Also I was uncertain that I'd want poopie diapers washed in my washing machine where I wash the clothes I wear. Not to mention I am not a laundry person, meaning I really do not like doing laundry. I do because I have to, I don't let it pile up, because I don't want to be overwhelmed.

This past week I have been doing a lot of research on cloth diapers and have talked with several people who use them. Cloth diapers have come a long way. In fact, besides washing them, they can be just as easy as disposable diapers. Not to mention in the long run, less expensive, thus we would be able to keep more green bills in our wallets. So economically it can be worth it too. Especially since we already use one of the most expensive disposable diapers because our little guy has such sensitive skin.

Right now I'm torn between three diapers. BumGenius One-Size Organic Cotton Diaper, BumGenius One-Size (non-organic) Cloth Diaper, and FuzziBunz One Size Pocket Diaper.

While we will still use disposable diapers sometimes, such as when we travel, I really hope that we become successful cloth diaper users.

What are your thoughts on cloth diapers? If you use cloth diapers, what do you recommend? We have not ordered any yet but hope to soon. Also does anyone have any thoughts on cloth wipes? I'm thinking about buying some of those too.

A beautiful Tuesday in Germany

Last weekend was wonderful.  The weather was great and we enjoyed time together.  Caden and I also took Collin to Luisenpark.  While we were there Collin and I decided to buy season passes.  So today during Collin's lunch hour, we all went to the park and had a picnic.  It's only about 12 minutes from Collin's office.  It was such a beautiful day and it's always nice to be outside when the weather is good.  It was in the upper 60s and sunny. 

I also have to compliment our local gas station owner.  Through Collin's job we are able to buy gasoline in Germany for a lower price.  Basically we don't pay tax for it.  In order to do this we have to prepay for our gas and pay with a debit card type thing.  It also only works at certain gas stations.  Well, this morning on Collin's way to work he stopped to get gas.  His card wouldn't work.  The owner asked him when could he come back and pay.  He then took Collin at his word that he would come back and pay the 56 Euros (which is around $75) for gas.  This happened once before.  I don't know of any gas station in America that would let someone leave, especially with that high of gas bill, and trust that they would come back if they didn't know them personally. 

I feel at times it's safer here and people still look out for each other.  Even though most Germans will not go out of their way to befriend you, they still look out for mankind.  I think I'm beginning to really like this country. 

Caden is 10 Months Old Today

I cannot believe Caden is already 10 months old.  In just two more months he'll be a year.  Everyone was right in telling us that they grow up really fast.  The infant stage is almost over as our little guy is growing and exploring more and more of the world on his own.  Soon he will be toddling around.

A few updates from this past month include a new tooth!  About a week ago another bottom tooth came through.  He now has three teeth on the bottom and four on top.  If you look closely, you can see his three teeth on bottom in the first picture.  Thankfully he loves brushing his teeth.  Thank you Dr. Millner for the wonderful tooth brush set.  We switched today to the bristles, the third tooth brush in the set.

Caden easily goes from sitting to standing and walks holding on to anything and everything.  He has mastered his walking push toy and loves walking around the living room with that.  He enjoys running in his walker.  This boy is fast!  He loves playing chase with us and laughs and laughs.  All he seems to want to do is walk, walk, walk.  He'll hold our hands and walk, he'll walk holding on with one hand.  He is on the move and loves it!  He can also stand for short periods of time by himself.  His balance is getting better everyday.

Caden has discovered he has a loud voice!  We thought he used to be loud, well, he's even louder now.  He will squeal really loud to get someones attention, a lot of times a stranger when we're out.  As soon as they look at him he starts smiling and laughing.  He does this at home too.  I also think he does a fake cry to get my attention if I put him down and he doesn't want to be put down.  It's sad and cute at the same time.  We're going to work on his patience and mine!

He is still a very happy baby.  He loves smiling and laughing.  He still doesn't say "Mama" but tries.  He makes a lot of other sounds.  He loves singing songs and clapping his hands.  When I get him in the morning he claps and smiles when he sees me.

He loves books!  I've been reading to him since he was born.  He now has his favorite books and enjoys turning the pages and knows when to turn them.  He also laughs during the stories.  Caden will also go and pick up the book he wants read to him and hand it to me.  He's a smart little guy!  At least once per day he'll go on a rage of wanting the same book read over and over again.  We could read it to him 10 times and he would still want to hear it again.

I've been making more of his baby food.  He can eat stage 3 foods and the food I make him.  I bought a baby food mill and tonight we made brown rice and beans.  We put the food in the mill and it wasn't his favorite but he ate it.  He also can pick up cooked peas, carrots, cheese, deli meat, and cooked chicken and feed himself.  He loves fresh apples and cheerios as well as whole grain baby snacks.

We tried measuring him but could not get his length.  He now weighs 22.8 lbs and seems to have lost a little weight since last month.  I was surprised because he's eating more.  Maybe he's burning it all off.

One of his favorite ways to get around - Daddy's shoulders

Weekend in Prague

This past weekend we decided to go to Prague. David and Olivia Nelson, our friends who are missionaries in the Ukraine, were vacationing in Prague last week, so we decided to meet them there this past weekend. We had been wanting to visit Prague and are so glad we did. It was especially nice getting to hang out with David and Olivia. They are an awesome couple and we are so glad we got to see them.

The trip down went pretty well. It's a bit more challenging when traveling with a baby and now that Caden is more mobile he doesn't want to stay seated very long. At least on the way we let him play for a while in the morning before heading out and he took a morning nap in the car, we stopped when he woke up, ate lunch, let him play, then in the afternoon he took an afternoon nap. We got to Prague in 6 hours. On the way home last night it was a different story. We went to church yesterday morning to a Czech service with David and Olivia and their teammates who were traveling with them. The preacher translated the service to English for us which was really nice. It was neat singing songs in Czech and worshipping with some Czech brothers and sisters in Christ. After church we ate lunch with some of them and then headed back to Germany around 2pm. Caden had already taken a morning nap in which I had to wake him up for church so he was kind of cranky and tired. When we got in the car it wasn't too long before he started crying and then screaming. Needless to say I sat in the back seat most of the way home. He did take one nap for about an hour but we had to stop and get gas and that woke him up. We have decided plane trips are much easier than car trips but we can do it.

Prague was a beautiful city. Their public transportation is very good and they have a metro, buses, and trams. We liked the trams the best because we could see the city as we road to our next destination. We didn't take a bus.

Caden fell asleep on our way back to our B&B so we ended up just staying on the tram until he woke up

We stayed at a cheap bed and breakfast. Collin is thankful I found the place so I couldn't be upset with him for finding it. The best thing about it was it was clean, non-smoking, and cheap. The shower was a nighmare, I think the shower in the Domincan Republic was better than this one, except we did have hot water here. The bed was old and lumpy, our backs were really sore. It was basically someone's house. Our bathroom was down the hall. We would have had to share it with another room but thankfully no one was staying in the room next to us. We actually got two rooms because some people had to cancel so Caden had his own room to sleep in. The breakfast was typical European: bread, cheese, and yogurt.  When the owner told us he might have people staying in the room next to us that second night Collin and I were a little worried.  The room next to ours was connected to ours with the only way out being through our room.  Thankfully nobody else showed up.

We are trying to spend less on vacations since there are several places we'd like to travel to before returning to the States and like everyone we have limited funds. We took this weekend trip for around $350 which is really good and one of the cheapest trips we've taken. We were able to travel for this rate because we stayed at a cheap B&B (around $40 a night), packed our lunch going down, breakfast was included in our room, we drove, and we didn't do anything expensive in Prague. We bought the all day public transportation pass for around $5 and tried to eat somewhat in expensively.

David and Olivia, we are so glad we got to see you guys. Your team will be in our prayers and so will your baby. Olivia is pregnant and is doing great!

Here are a few more pictures from our trip.

Group picture after lunch on Sunday

Old town

To read my review of our B&B visit my Lady Expat blog.

Fun at Luisenpark

Yesterday some of my friends from MOPS had a play date at Luisenpark in Mannheim. It's this really big beautiful park not too far from where most of us live. There were about 9 moms and probably 14 kids or so. Most kids are a little older than Caden so I invited my friend Courtney and her son William to come along. Caden and William are about one month apart in age so they play a lot together.

The first animal we saw when we arrived was a friendly duck.  I think he was hungry.

They even had penguins.

And a beautiful peacock that roamed free.

Caden wanted to play with him.

There were a lot of birds. Caden really enjoyed watching and talking to this one. He started crying when it was time to move on.

Courtney and William enjoying the beautiful weather and scenery.

 

I wish I would have known about this park sooner. There is so much to do there: play grounds, even one that is built like a castle (we do live in Germany), lots of grass to run and play on, lots of beautiful gardens including a Chinese Garden and restaurant, bumper cars, boat rides, bounce houses, a petting zoo and more. We spent about 5 hours there and still didn't see everything. Once Caden is walking on his own I plan on going back. I think Collin would really like it too. Here are a few more pictures from our fun outing.

 

William and Caden enjoying the wooden train

 

Just call me Baba

These past few weeks Caden has been saying Baba a whole lot. We kept wondering what he was referring to, was it his toy ball or his word for baby? Several days ago we realized he's calling me, his mom, Baba. He looks at me and says, "Hi Baba." We also did the test. I sit across the room and Collin, while holding him facing away from me asks, "Where's Mommy?" Caden will turn to me, smile, and usually crawl to me. So Collin asked, "Where's Baba?" Caden got really excited and looked at me and crawled across the room to me. I then ask him, "Where's Daddy?" And he looks and crawls to Collin. It's so cute. When I hold him and ask him "Where's Baba?" He looks at me and smiles, laughs, and claps his hands. He's known our names for a long time and has been able to say Dada for several months. Even though he isn't able to say, "Mama" or "Mommy" yet, I'm glad he has a name to call me. Just yesterday his Baba started sounding more like Bahmah. And no, he's not talking about the president.

I think Caden is going through a growth spurt. He seems to be eating more. He also has woken up in the middle of the night every night this past week. Which is odd because he usually sleeps through the night. Every night but last night he woke up crying. Last night, however, I woke up to laughter and lots of squeals and I heard a banging noise. I got up and looked in his room and he was holding onto his crib rails and jumping on his bed having a lot of fun. I thought it was so cute and funny I woke up Collin so he could see him. He likes to jump on his bed during the day but he's never woken up in the middle of the night and done it. At 2:30 I was afraid I wouldn't be able to get him back to sleep. But thankfully God made breast milk.

This past week, my sister, Michelle, got engaged. Her fiancé proposed to her on her birthday. We are super excited for them and are looking forward to welcoming Kyle into our family. Congratulations!!

Lastly, we just paid off our 2008 Subaru Forester. When we bought it we were hesitant to buy a new vehicle because cars lose so much value and we didn't want to pay interest. Well, they had a deal that if you financed for 2 years you could get 0% interest. It was hard, especially going down to one salary, but we did it. Now we own two vehicles free and clear. We both hate having car payments or any other kind of debt for that matter.

 Our paid off SUV!

Happy Easter from Deutschland!

Caden's first Easter was great.  Collin gave the sermon at church this morning on the prophesies and resurrection of Christ.  He did a wonderful job.  We went to lunch with some friends after church and have had a great day.

Today is also my precious Grandmother Dot's birthday.  She is 86 years old today.  I wish we were in Texas to celebrate with her.  Happy Birthday Grandmother Dot!

Because this is Caden's first Easter, I decided to do some research to see how Germans celebrate this day, particularly in regards to their children.  I wanted to know if the Easter Bunny visits Germany.  In the States children line up at the mall to talk to the Easter Bunny much like they do Santa Claus. They also have Easter egg hunts and parades. In Deutschland you will find neither the Easter Bunny or Santa Claus at the mall. However, many children decorate eggs, have Easter egg hunts, and get a visit from the Easter Bunny.

Interestingly, the tradition of the Easter Bunny or Easter Hare originated in Germany. Der Osterhase or Oschter Haws was the first white Easter Hare and was first recorded in Germany in the 1500s. Der Osterhase didn't come to the United States until the 1700s. It wasn't until the 20th century that the Easter Hare became known as the Easter Rabbit and then later the Easter Bunny.

Children traditionally made nests the night before Easter for der Osterhase from their caps and bonnets and left them outside in a safe place. Der Osterhase would leave colorful eggs inside their nests while the children were sleeping.

We helped Caden make a nest for der Osterhase (the Easter Bunny) out of shredded paper.  We also left a little Easter basket out for him.  This morning the nest was filled with some colorful eggs and his basket was filled with a stuffed bunny, baby carrots, some baby treats, and three books.  Caden also went on an Easter egg hunt in our living room and found some eggs.  He had a great time.

 

Caden's first Easter nest and basket

What is this?

I think I'd rather play with this paper

Or maybe we can read this book

I'm loving this!

Caden hunting Easter eggs

Our neighbor's Easter tree.  Many Germans hang Easter eggs from their trees like you see here.