How to train your Giant

Something that I find interesting about having a baby is how well she is at communicating, and how bad we are at actually understanding her. From early on she had different cries. The "I'm wet" started as an "Excuse me sir, I've seemed to have soiled myself" with reminders increasing over time. The hungry cry wasn't as fun because it was a constant "Feed me NOOOOOWWWWWWW!!!".

Now just over 8 months she's communicating physically as well. Sitting up and waving her arms when she wants to be picked up. Smiling and otherwise being cute when she's trying to get something (food usually). Different sounds / cries for different things of course. In addition to that she can anticipate what we are about to do and protest when we start to do it. Like if we are walking over to her exersaucer or crib or to play on the floor and that's not what she wants she clearly lets us know. For some reason when she wants to be changed she desperately wants to be held by her mom. Good baby.

We don't always pick up the signs right away. Sometimes because the meaning changes, sometimes because we're sleepy or just not in the right head space. Those times our baby looks frustrated. I'm sure she's thinking "How can these giants not understand me? They must be really slow!". I'm sure that's the root of "stupid giants" in old fables and not so old ones like Harry Potter. A subconscious memory from when we were babies and were having troubles training our own giants. It's funny: when you'd think that she's learning the most she's also having the most challenging time teaching.

Is cloth diapering worth it?

We bought cloth diapers. If you search around, it's supposed to be all rah rah rah cloth diapers are the best. Save money! Save the whales! etc. So, when Alice was about a month old we went out and got 24 fuzzibunz "one size". It's pretty close to a disposable diaper, but less garbage and more laundry. My feeling of cloth vs disposable is pretty neutral. I'd like to know the costs of using cloth, but most sites seem to have a bias so I don't trust them.

If you look at the cost factors, it can be pretty complicated. For disposable you've got the cost of diapers, wipes, garbage bags, any additional trips to the store... Well, it seems like it would be pretty easy to calculate it. For cloth, you've got the following factors:
- initial cost of diapers, cloth diaper bags, cloth wipes (?), additional inserts
- ongoing cost of disposable wipes (sometimes?), wipe solution, diaper liners, etc
- how much energy does your washer, dryer, hot water heater use
- cost of water
- what setting you use for the washer
- how many diapers you put in a load
- your time to wash, re-stuff (in the case of a pocket diaper), dry, adjusting and re-adjusting
- do you try on a line outside? How long does it take to put it up, take it down, etc

Blah blah blah... Lots of variables, which probably leads to no two sites stating the same cost / savings of using cloth.

So let's calculate this a different way: how many disposable diapers can I get for my cloth, and how many washes would I break even at?

The diapers we got are currently listed from 20-22 $. We ended up needing a extra bamboo insert because she was leaking out of everything (including disposables). So, let's round the cost up to 30 $. A big box of size 3 huggies seems to cost about 30 $ for 96 diapers. So, that means to me that I'd have to wash the cloth diaper 96 times before I get close to breaking even. Wow.

So how long would that take? Well, we wash her diapers every 2 days with about 18-20 in a load. Let's call it 10 diapers a day. So that would mean... uhh... the train leaves Toronto going east at 80 km/h... carry the three... the ball accelerates toward the ground at 9.8 meters per second squared... So it would take about 10 days for us to go through at box of disposables. So every 10 days we "match" the cost of 1 cloth diaper. How long would it take us to wash any individual diaper 96 times? Estimating every other day a wash that get 192 days which is about 6.3 months.

So, assuming that your energy costs, wear and tear on your washer and dryer aren't three times the purchase cost, you're going to save money compared to disposable diapers when you use cloth diapers.

Weeee... that's what every boy dreams of hearing when they grow up.

Sunrise, sunset

Yesterday was one of those rare days that I saw both the sunrise and sunset. I've seen so many, but just about every time I see them I'm blown away by the beauty of them. The colours, the lines... The implication that things will just keep on rolling along no matter what happens to you. No matter if you're having the worst day or best day of your life, you can look up and the sky can be a blaze of fire.

It makes me feel small an unimportant, but I kind of like that. I find it reassuring that my problems can't touch the beauty that has been around long before me, and will continue to be long after me. On the good days it's like nature itself has reformed itself to celebrate my triumphs in a way that all can see. And I kind of like that too.

So next time you're commuting and worrying about what you've got to get done that day, or that week, stop and look up. Breathe. Pause. Repeat.

Now re-read this post in the voice of Stuart McLean.

Sunrise, sunset

Sunrise, sunset

Swiftly fly the years

One season following another

Laden with happiness and tears

Sunrise


Sunset

What do I do all day?

For some reason my brain has been playing the question "what do I do at home all day?", and what I'll tell people when I go back to work.

The day usually is up around 7 when Alice decides to get up. Laura feeds her, we eat breakfast, I waste time reading news sites. We play on the floor, Alice watches. Or something like that. We might sit outside on a blanket and watch the wind in the leaves from the shade. Chair feeding of Alice, stories and a nap. Lunch for the adults. Maybe throw some laundry in or put it up on the line outside. We might take turns going for a bike ride. More feeding for Alice and another story plus nap. More idle time online for us. Diaper changes, maybe a walk or sit outside. More feeding, stories, optional bath and then bedtime. Dinner for us, maybe reading a book or watch a movie. Bed. Repeat.

When I look back at what we do from day to day it's not much. I have not stripped the carpet out of 2 rooms and repainted them. I've not built that trebuchet that I've been meaning to. I might not have even done the dishes.

Honestly, I'm having the time of my life. God, I hope I'm healthy when I retire because this is awesome.

Dinner out... but in

One of the things that we can't do as easily anymore is go out for dinner. It usually feels like more trouble than it's worth. Luckily for us I like cooking. Or, at least taking a "regular" meal and trying to make it taste fancy by making it look fancy. I think that you've won half the battle just by making it look good, regardless how it actually tastes.

Here's a pork chop, sweet potato and some veggies.



Looks nice ya? But we used to go out to fancy places. Places were you had to get courses and things came on little plates for sharing, all served with a good wine. Doing this at a restaurant will easily run over a 100 $, but I can spend way less than that at the grocery store. So last night first course was antipasto with fresh bread and olive oil and balsamic vinegar for dipping. I only took a picture of the antipasto.



Then we had beef tenderloin (~ 9 $) and seared tuna (~ 11 $). We split it to have surf and turf. Some how the beef was more tender than the fish - I'm not sure how that happened but it was like heaven.



Of course you've got to have dessert, but I don't bake (other than creme brulee). So I bought a couple of sneeze guard treats from the store (3$ each).



Not exactly a cheap meal, but maybe around 20 $ / person wine included. Much cheaper than going out, especially now I'll have to work in the cost of a baby sitter.

Just because I love my creme brulee so much, here's a picture. We like mine much more than any that we've tried in a restaurant. I think that the key is keeping it simple and actually using real vanilla beans.

And that's how it's done

I'm pretty damn lucky. A large portion of my day I spend "watching" Alice. Honestly she doesn't keep 100% of my focus which allows me to waste time on the internet - reading blogs, posting to FB and other general wastes of time. Lately she's started to scooch around, but she can pretty much only turn and move backwards. Sometimes that means that she moves under the furniture.



How do I as a responsible parent prevent from losing our daughter? Simple. Think inside the box using a baby containment system - or BCS for short.

Baby Hulk

No I am not actually talking about the comic book character. I'm talking about our baby. When we are done feeding her something, she hates being wiped down. I mean really hates it. It's amusing, if loud. It's even more amusing when we've been feeding her something green. Instead of her getting angry and turning green, she turns green and then gets angry. And you won't like her when she's angry...

BABY SMASH!

Video conversions

Sometimes I have brain farts. It happens. That's why even though I've converted dozens of videos from the mts format, today I couldn't remember how to convert them to something, you know, useable. I use HandBrake for that. It's great, as long as I don't have to rotate the video. I end up just using quicktime for that.

Now my next task is to figure out how to easily convert mkv to something that will play on the ps3 - ideally without spending tens of hours of cpu time.

Capturing the moments

It's the little moments that I love so much. It feels that if I try to capture the moment on film it will destroy the magic. It's just something that I try to commit to memory and pray that my memory won't fade. Like this weekend: While on the deck at the cottage I was watching our 7 month old sitting on a blanket with rapt attention watching her mother practice her ukulele while the waves gently accompanied the music.

I'm laboring to capture that visual, that feeling, in my brain. But I don't trust my brain, so this is my backup. My trigger.

Happy.