Paperless Kitchen, Candles, and a Health Tip

• A friend of mine linked to this post and I thought it was inspiring. Truth be told, we have already done this to a certain extent, but I don’t know that we’re as organized or purposeful about it. We started trying to buy paper towels less quite a while ago with more or less success over time. Finally we bought some utilitarian-type cloths to use in place of paper towels to reinforce our efforts. They aren’t pretty, but are very functional. I use them to wipe counters, clean kid messes, dry dishes, and just about anything else you might use a paper towel for. They are very handy to have around! We need more of them, but every time I do a load of laundry I throw in whichever ones have been used and then take them straight out of the clean laundry and put them back in the clean basket in the kitchen so the turn-around is pretty fast and simple. It works so far and we haven’t bought disposable paper towels (or thrown away paper towels!) in many moons. That’s always a good thing!
• Another slow and gradual change for the better: beeswax candles. I think we only have one or two so far and still have mostly paraffin candles. Eventually I’d like to replace all paraffin candles with beeswax. It will take a while! They smell wonderful, last longer, drip less, and are healthier for us and for the environment. Instead of polluting the air, beeswax candles actually purify the air. Those who suffer from allergies can burn beeswax candles in their homes purely for this purpose. Pretty cool, huh?
• Health tip: Coconut Water is a healthy substitute for Gatorade or Pedialyte for staying hydrated. I have never understood the advice to drink corn syrup/sugar and artificial dyes for health! Coconut water has just the right balance of everything, so you don't need to dilute it or add anything to it; it's perfect the way it is. It might be hard to find but it's worth it if you are in need. It has a very mild coconutty taste.

Ephraim's "Nursery"

As is tradition with our babies, Ephraim sleeps in the co-sleeper in our room. However, in our new place, we aren't nearly as close to the kids room and therefore- the changing table and cloth diapers! This has made life a little bit difficult when it comes to those middle-of-the-night diaper changes. We also had no place to store Ephraim's clothes! We were in a bit of a fix.

So here is our solution! We turned half of our room into a nursery basically. hehe (But I don't mind. :)

The View as you come in. Right side of the room is empty. Left side is the nursery area.

Ephraim's nursery!


The co-sleeper. We recently bought the Deluxe Snuggle Nest which you can see there in the co-sleeper. I had wanted it for a long time and I love it! You can move it around anywhere-- in the bed or in a crib or in a bassinet- anywhere!


We bought a cheap and small changing table for our room so we could change diapers and have space to store his clothes and diapers. It's working really well so far! Fun huh?

Baby Projects

I've been washing the newborn-sized diapers so that they'll be ready for use and we also got the beds (both the baby bed and our bed) ready.

Here are pictures.

You saw the nursery already, but here is where 'baby boy brother' will actually be sleeping. This is also where Claire slept for her first year.

Steven just set it up today and I got it all made up and ready for baby.
It is an Arm's Reach Co-Sleeper and we loved how it worked for Claire. It is secured to the bed for safety and is perfect for keeping the baby very close and also kept either of us from having to get in and out of bed every 2 hours for night feedings during that first year.