Washer & Dryer - Merry Christmas to Us!

Tonight I went to Sears for their VIP late night event and got a great deal on a new high efficiency Washer and Dryer, using 70% less energy and 69% less water than our current set, and since we pay the city for water and the electric company for our energy this should be helpful! Plus these washers are known for being nicer to your clothes which I like. Anyway, other than the fact I got line jumped by someone who obviously had an "in" with the lady I was waiting in line for (And here I thought a line was a line...silly me) the sale was worth the extra trip out. The set is a Kenmore and was on sale for 20% off and then an additional 10% off, which for the size washer and dryer I got was by far the best price I had seen, and I have been looking for a while. This is our Christmas gift to each other, exciting huh :-) We are donating our old set to a charity center who sells used home goods and/or puts them in low income homes, besides that someone else gets to use them without us having to try and sell them, and the fact that we can get a tax write off, the best part is that they come and pick them up!

Confession

I have to confess, I am a registry snooper....I check my baby registries to see what has been fulfilled, and then I get all excited about the adorable baby things that we will get to put our baby boy in and that he can play with etc. The funny thing is I was intimidated by the whole registry process, all I could think was this is too much stuff, and where am I going to put it all?!? But I got a lot of really great advice from other new moms on what I needed, and that helped a lot. Thanks Teri, Jane, Christie & Bethany! The "Grandma's to Be" are hosting a shower for us the Saturday after Thanksgiving, although all of the baby mania could be a little overwhelming I am getting really excited for it.

The Diaper Debate

So even though I still have give or take 16 weeks left before I will actually have to change a diaper, I am stressing over what kind of diaper I want to change. Cloth, Disposable, Hybrid?!?! I want to be "green" but I also know that with both of us working full time I also need to be realistic about what will work for our lives. And then there is all the data on whats better/worse for the baby, for the environment, for cost, for day care, it goes on and on. I have read everything from disposables and cloth being equally impactful on the environment (manufacturing of disposables vs. water usage of washing a cloth) to factoring in that disposables have to be manufactured, using all sorts of chemicals, and then after use and discard they fill our landfills for up to 500 years before they go away. And of course I am also interested in penny pinching if I can, so what truly saves in the long run?? My struggle is that the Gdiapers and the AIO cloth diapers are more of an investment than just going out and trying out varieties of disposables. I will feel bad if I get cloth diapers and then don't end up liking them!

Anyway, this week I was excited to see that Target now carries AIO diapers by BumGenius that adjust to baby's changing size and that I can register for! Yea! So I did register for a few, I figure I can start slowly and see what happens. I can buy the G-diapers that I like at the local grocery store so that is good (although same level of up front investment as a AIO cloth diaper) and of course I can go anywhere to pick up a pack of Pampers... Overall, I know that I will end up using both to some extent, maybe cloth on weekends and at night and then either the hybrid's or disposables during day care hours. Who knows....I wish I wasn't so obsessed with planning.....I am sure I sound like a crazy person :-)

Other than my diaper "worries" things are going great. Baby boy is doing all kinds of acrobatics in there and keeping me on my toes. We registered for a bunch of classes offered by our hospital for January:
Childbirth Preparation
Infant CPR
Baby Care Class
an Intro to your Pediatrician thing
and a Hospital/Labor & Delivery Tour

I figure after January is over I will feel either really prepared or completely freaked out....we will see....