gDiapers

Thanks to a suggestion from some friends, we've made a mini-revolution of diapering in our family! They're called gDiapers, and they're.....wait for it..... flushable!!! No more stinky poopy diapers in our trash cans, and no more filling up landfills with disposable diapers that will take at least 500 years to decompose! Apparently, conventional disposable diapers are the third largest contributors to landfills in the world and yet only five percent of the world's population uses them. Even though we were only using 30-40 disposable diapers per month (because we use cloth diapers during the day), that was still at least 360-400 diapers we as a family put out there in the last year alone. And to think that most diapering families use on average 2500 disposable diapers a year!

At any rate, after much consideration and research, we decided that the best thing for our family was to switch to gDiapers for at night and while travelling. And they really work well! They're kind of a hybrid between our cloth diapering technique and regular disposable diapers. They have cloth covers (gPants) with velcro fasteners, water-proof polyester snap-in liners, and environmentally-safe "pads" that get pressed into the liners, which are then either flushed or composted when dirty or wet. We've even been able to switch from using pins and plastic pants with our cloth diapers to using the gPants with a cloth liner instead of the flushable liner. This also makes potty training much easier since we can much more easily take off Ian's cloth diaper right at the toilet, without having to mess with pins and whatnot.
We've been fairly happy with the results, too. The gDiapers are really an ingenius invention that could possibly change diapering as we know it. They certainly changed our lives, and in the process, also made us more aware of our waste in general. I was reading in the book of Genesis some time ago, and in chapter 2, verse 15, it says, "The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it." In the original Hebrew language, "work" has more of a meaning of "serve" and "take care" has more of a meaning of "protect." Adam's first job was to serve and protect the land that God gave him! How does this not apply to us, as well? This earth is a gift from God, and we are responsible for serving and protecting it as best as we are able. Therefore, we've become really convicted in this area about making sure we're not polluting the land with our trash, and have stepped up our recycling habits. Our next step will be working on a good compositing system so we can throw away even less waste. It's all a process, and I'm sure God has more steps to take us through!

October Update

As you can probably tell by the long blog hiatus, life has been pretty uneventful. We've been busy, of course, but nothing really exciting or interesting has happened lately.

Eric is plugging away at his dissertation and was able to run the first two subjects of Experiment Three for his thesis this past week. He feels really good about how things are going and thinks that, at this rate, he'll be able to accomplish his goal of finishing up by next spring. He's been working really hard at searching out potential job opportunities for us for when we leave Bloomington next summer and has found some intriguing possibilities.

I'm wrapping up the first fall session at the IEP, and the second session starts the week after next. Next week is our big "Week Seven", which is full of exams and whatnot, which means that my schedule gets upended and, hence, so does our family routine. Flexibility is the key!

Eric and I have been running a lot lately, getting our bodies ready to compete in the Bethel College Homecoming 5K race, which we also did last year. I think we'll both beat our times from last year, and hopefully make a dent in the standings. We've been enjoying this warmer weather -- it makes for nicer running in the morning -- but we're also ready for it to cool down so we can turn off our air conditioner and leave it off for awhile! 88 degress in October is ridiculous!

Ian is suffering from a nasty chest cold, which I think I contracted today. (Fun, fun!) He's got all four of his first molars in, and is working on a fifth. He's eating everything in sight and having a lot of fun being independantly mobile. Playing outside and "going bye-bye" are some of his favorite activities. He's also graduated to a "big boy" bed -- we took off the front of his crib and turned it into a daybed, with a little guard rail to keep him from falling out. He loves getting in and out of bed by himself, and does really well with going to sleep when he's supposed to. That kid loves his sleep -- thank goodness!

All in all, things are well with us.

Ian tells a story

Here's a video of Ian from the other night. He's gotten into "telling stories" at the end of the day. We can only make out a few words here and there, but it's fairly entertaining (for us, at least). In this video, there's a little speech at the beginning, followed by some playing around, and then a concluding speech at the end. Enjoy, Grandmas and Grandpas and Aunts and Uncles!

Fall is here

Summer has finally decided to let loose its grip and allow fall to bless us with its presence. My fall crocuses are in full bloom, the weather is a sunny and crisp low 70's, football season is in full swing, and our fridge is stocked with apple cider. After almost seven years of marriage, my husband has persuaded me that it really is a wonderful time of year. And I truly believe it is. While I used to view fall merely as the precursor to winter (my least favorite time of year), I now see it as a time of reflection and repose. It's the time of year when it's so incredibly pleasant to both sit outside and have a hot drink at the same time. Yes, summer is passing, the fields and my flower beds are beginning to surrender themselves to the earth, and the winds are beginning to be a bit more blustery, but it's also a time of new beginnings, especially since we're in academia, where the "new year" essentially begins at the end of August. It's a time to look ahead at the work to be done and revel at the fact that we have so many interesting things to look forward to in the year ahead! Let's just say that, this year at least, I'm enjoying the wonderfulness of autumn just as much as my husband.

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Here are some pictures of Ian and Eric enjoying our morning excursion to Apple Works, a somewhat local apple orchard with a cute petting zoo and all kinds of wonderful apple-y goodness!

Indiana vs. Indiana St.

To me, this is one of the most beautiful pictures I've seen in a long time (I pieced this together using multiple shots from my humble little Nikon COOLPIX 2500):

There is something special about a nighttime college football game. This one was particularly meaningful given the passing of Hep this past June, as well as ongoing construction of the North endzone enclosure. It was nice to see the team come out and destroy Indiana State 55-7 on a day when #5 Michigan lost to 1-AA Appalachian State.

Kickoff for the IU-ISU game was after 8:00 pm, and it didn't finish until nearly midnight (curse you TV timeouts). Ian tailgated with us until 5:00pm. At that time, some friends from church picked him up and watched him until church the next day. Lisa and I took advantage of being Ian-less and went to BW3 for some hot wings after the game (mmmmm.....wings at 1:00am...it is wonderful).

Speaking of Ian, much to Lisa's dismay it appears that he is already showing signs of wanting to be a QB. I can imagine Lisa wanting to charge on the field and slug anybody who tries to sack her son.

We Believe

We thought some of you might find this interesting. Jane Hoeppner had a 2007 media guide sent to us this week, and look what we found on the first page.Recognize anyone?

Camp fires, cabins, and long drives

Wow, it's been forever since we've updated this thing, and over a month and a half since I've contributed. I got super busy during the last teaching session since I ended up teaching a full load of four classes due to a shortage of teachers. I had two weeks off afterwards, but we spent those going camping at Lake Monroe with our good friends Cary and David, and then taking a trip down to Kentucky and Tennessee to see some family and good friends.

While we were camping, we had the awesome experience of viewing a meteor shower at midnight. Cary asked Eric a bunch of space questions that I had never thought of before, and I ended up being reminded how smart and cool my husband is. It's amazing to even try to fathom how vast our universe really is and very humbling to realize that our lives really are just a "blip" in time.

During our Kentucky trip, we had the pleasure of spending some time at Eric's brother's family's house. Rob and Anne have two kids who are just the cutest and coolest niece and nephew I can imagine. Ian had a lot of fun playing with them, and us adults had a lot of fun watching them all.

From there, we went to Tennessee to meet up with some of our best friends who now live very far away. We stayed in a cabin in the Smoky Mountains and pretty much just played a lot of games and ate a lot of homemade food. On our way back, we stopped again in Kentucky to see my uncle's family and spend the night at the Long's, some very good friends of ours who used to be at Bethel College, but now are located at Asbury Seminary. We always go away from their house encouraged and challenged to be good parents. The Long's certainly are a good example to us.

I guess the biggest thing I'm feeling right now is supreme thankfulness for the wonderful friends and family we have. The past two weeks, while busy, were incredibly relaxing and rejuvenating simply because we were always in such good company. How fortunate we are to know so many quality people and to be able to spend time with them.

Loud...very loud

For my birthday, Lisa, Adam, and Sherri went together and bought me concert tickets for the Collective Soul/Counting Crows/Live concert in Indianapolis. When we got into Victory Field (the concert was in a minor league baseball park) we found out that all of the seating was general admission. As a sign of our age, we immediately bypassed the "standing area" in front of the stage and made a bee line for the bucket seats on the upper level.

When we got to our seats, we were comforted by the fact that we were surrounded by other 20+ year olds (and actually quite a few 30, 40, and 50+).

The show started with Collective Soul; they played a lot of songs off of their greatest hits album. Apparently, about a 1/3 the way through their set a fight/scuffle broke out among some fans in front of the stage, and Ed (lead singer of Collective Soul) called out, "Hey, stop that s***! Don't be interfering with my show!" When security went to throw the guy out, Ed then said, "Don't throw him out...just separate him...we'll all have a good time."

Next, Live performed. I haven't heard a lot of their music, but I really liked it. They put on a great, energetic show.

Finally, Counting Crows performed. Overall, I was kind of disappointed with them. Whereas Collective Soul and Live performed as if they actually wanted to be there, Counting Crows seemed like they were just phoning it in. One neat part of their concert though was that it started pouring the rain while they sang "December." Lisa and I sat in a section by ourselves (nearly everyone else left) getting drenched while we enjoyed "December".

On our way home, we had a major case of the munchies, so we hit Burger King for some cheeseburgers and onion rings.

Going to a concert like that was something I wouldn't want to do very often (based on my work in the Speech and Hearing Sciences department at IU, I have a pretty good idea of the permanent damage I probably did to my hearing), but it was definitely a blast. Who needs those upper couple thousand Hz of frequency response anyway.....

iLove

Many of you know that I finally ordered the replacement for my computer this week. Well, because I'm (still) a student, I was able to purchase a new 30 GB iPod for only $50. It arrived today. I'm in iLove.

Also, as of 7:07 pm Eastern Daylight time, my customized Macbook is in Anchorage, Alaska (say 'hi' to it for me, Adam and Sherri!)...I hope hope hope it arrives tomorrow. :)

Growing Up

Sometimes things happen which make me realize that Ian is growing up right in front of me. I was making supper this evening when I saw Ian go crawling down the hall to his room. A minute or so later, he came crawling back to the living room dragging something. When I reached a stopping point in my work, I went into the living room to see what he was up to. The first thing I saw was this:
Ian had arranged these pieces from his toolbox in a symmetrical pattern. This is actually quite impressive given that there are two of each color. I haven't sat down to figure out the probability of randomly generating a sequence like this, but the odds aren't actually that good.

Second, I looked up to see him sitting in one of the living room chairs with his face buried in a book, and he was talking to himself. It turns out that the thing he drug back to the living room was one of his books. The kid had gone to his room, picked out a book, brought it back to the living room, climbed into a chair, and started "reading" to himself. I just quietly walked back into the kitchen and resumed working...he didn't need me to entertain him.

P.S. Look how old he looks in this picture of him and Lisa...and how much he looks like Rob.