Blurb Photo Book

I received the photo book I created on Blurb.com and can I say, "WOW!" Thanks Mike for recommending the site. The quality is superb, the picture prints look amazing and the photo book does not look like a cut and paste scrapbook (the cover on my first photo book from iPhoto is falling off and it is only 2 years old). My brother (the photographer) came over and saw the book and he is amazed. The baby shower book can be used as a portfolio. I am so glad that I used Blurb.com. Now I want to go back to all my old digital photos and see what other books I can create.

The gDiaper journey

My husband changed his first gDiaper yesterday. I was taking a nap and my little guy pooped, so Daddy had to do it. I don't think it was a good experience. He ended up flushing the toilet six (6) times just to get the entire thing down... counterproductive. The gDiaper needs a video tutorial to come with the starter pack so that parents, grandparents and babysitters know how to change them.

I've decided to stick to the gDiaper for myself when I'm home. But when we go out or when daddy is home, I would use the Seventh Generation diapers. Seriously, being 36 weeks pregnant with an almost 16 month old makes one prioritize the convenience with the disposable diaper in hopes that one day, somebody will invent a truly earth-friendly disposable diaper.

Test driving the gDiaper and Seventh Generation

I've written about my choice to go green on the choice of diaper since I will soon have two in diapers. My eldest (almost 16 months) is assisting me in these test drives. We tried Seventh Generation and found that it was easy to use, but Seventh Generation does not hold as much as Huggies. This is a good thing, because I routinely change diapers every 4 hours. Others change diapers every 5-6 hours, waiting for the diaper to be completely full. The Seventh Generation diaper looks better (I never liked the cartoon characters on my son's bottom) and I feel better knowing that I am using chlorine free diapers on my son's eczema-prone skin. The cost of Seventh Generation, when using a coupon, is the same as Huggies and Pampers.

The gDiaper is a whole other story. It is a hybrid between a cloth diaper & disposable. I've used the diaper for two days. The pros: it is environmentally friendly, the cloth is better against my son's skin, and he looks adorable in them. The cons: they are more costly, they require more time to change, and every time my son has had a bowel movement, it leaked into the snap-in liner. It is easy to clean off and they are machine washable, but if both gDiaper snap-in liners are soiled (which is what happened to me when my son had bowel movements back to back), then you have only one snap-in liner for each gDiaper. The other con is that the gDiaper does take much more time than a disposable diaper.

Using the gDiaper is more personal choice. If I was a stay at home mom with one child in diapers, then I would use the gDiaper. But that is not the case. My husband and I work full-time. When maternity leave is done and I have to return to work, both our children will be in daycare full-time. Our daycare will required us to have our children is disposable diapers. Plus I will have two children in diapers (a newborn and a toddler that are 16 months apart). Having to change two children in gDiapers and then flush the inserts will take a lot more effort.

What my husband and I have discussed is having our eldest use the gDiaper when he is home and starting to potty train. I've noticed that when my son is in the gDiaper, he notices his dirty diaper. When he is in the Huggies, he would go on and play without giving me a sign that he is wet or dirty. We plan to start potty training when our son is 2 years old. We are not fully switching to the gDiaper because disposable diapers are very convenient. But if we use the gDiaper at home, it still makes a huge difference in how many disposables our children will be using. For a family that is slowly going green, this is a great compromise!

Retail Me Not

After two days of creating and editing the baby shower book on Blurb.com, I finally submitted it this morning. The cost was over $40, which is less than the cost of the same type of book (20 pages, hardcover) on iPhoto. However, times are tough right now. If there is any way to save money, Americans find it. So I went to a trusty website called RetailMeNot.com. I love this website! They have coupon codes for so many online retailers. I stumbled upon this website when I was planning Jordan's 1st birthday and it has saved my family a lot of money. I was able to find a $7 off shipping for Blurb.com. If you don't have this site bookmarked on your web browser, I highly suggest you do so now.

Blurb Booksmart

As a momento of this past weekend's baby shower, I created a photo book using iPhoto with my brother, Andre's pictures. However, when I was finished with the book and went to pay for it, the total was over $50. OUTRAGEOUS!!! After Twittering if anybody knew coupon codes for iPhoto books, a friend referred me to Blurb.com.

I love it!

Blurb.com has a free downloadable application called "Booksmart" which provides more creative freedom to create a book -- any type of book. From photo books to journals, recipe books to children's book... Blurb Booksmart is a great application. I finished the photo book for the baby shower and I love it! I can't wait to share it with family and friends.

If you are looking for an inexpensive, creative application to create photo books, I highly recommend visiting Blurb.com.

Baby Shower

I was given a baby shower for our second bundle of joy by my mom and her friend Terri. I didn't choose a theme for this baby because I was afraid that the theme would be a clue on what the baby's name would be. Just like Jordan, I am keeping the name a secret until he is officially born. My mom ordered food from Alido's while my mother-in-law and brother-in-law also cooked food: all Filipino. Games, prizes & decorations were organized by Terri. I love the game where we had to hold a piece of paper behind our backs and tear out a baby. My baby ended up with an arm, two legs and a head (I forgot the other arm!). My brother took some awesome pictures (including the one above of my husband kissing the baby). While everybody that was invited were not able to attend, I was happy that most of the family and some very close friends were able to share this day with me. When I look back at my life, I realize that all the people at the shower were in my life when I met my husband, got married, and had my first son. These close friends really are a part of my family. Thank you to everybody who helped organize this baby shower! Thank you to everybody for all the gifts and good times! I am blessed to know that my children are a part of such an awesome family!!

Prenatal Care at Kaiser

I'm officially 35 weeks and 2 days and I haven't seen my regular obstetrician in a month. She's been out of town or unavailable, so I've been seeing a nurse practictioner. She's nice, but I'm 35 weeks pregnant. I'd like to see my OB to make sure that the baby and I are doing fine. During today's exam, the NP did not check if I was effaced or dilated. That worried me. When I was pregnant with Jordan my OB was checking me by this time. That's how I knew that he was coming early; because I was already 3 cm. dilated by the time I was 35 weeks. Four days later I gave birth and it was a quick delivery. My contractions started at 7am, we left the house at 9:30am, got to the hospital a little after 10am and I was 5 cm. dilated. Started active labor an hour later and at 12:27pm, my son was born.

I was upset that I was asked to come back in 2 weeks to see the nurse practitioner, so I emailed my doctor after the appointment. She's awesome! She scheduled me to see her in 5 days, which will be when I am officially 36 weeks. I know people complain about Kaiser, but what I've learned is that you really have to push for what you want in order to get the care you desire.

Farmer's Market

It has been a year since I've been back at the Thursday farmer's market in Daly City. It was last summer when Jordan was small enough for me to keep in a sling. The number of booths has increased. Instead of having two sections (forming the letter U), there are three (now forming a W). Alot of the old booths are also back, like the cheese guy, the mushroom guy, and the salami / Italian meats and specialty foods guy. I purchased a couple of things, including zucchini flowers for my husband (he saw Bobby Flay use them and he wants to try them out), a small bag of kettle corn for my son, and a dozen free range brown chicken eggs. The eggs cost $4 for a dozen. I remember when eggs were half that price! A lot of stuff that I bought at Whole Foods was cheaper at farmer's market. While it is summer vacation I should stick to the Farmer's Market. Personally, I think the quality of produce is better at the farmer's market.

Seventh Generation: UPDATE

Jordan slept with the Seventh Generation diaper last night and woke up this morning with no leaks (yeah!). The diaper was really heavy, but we had no problems with them. Jordan is a very mobile child (runnning, climbing... all the normal boy stuff). However, I still have an unopen pack of Huggies, so I will finish those first then buy a gDiaper starter pack to test out. I'm planning to put the Seventh Generation diaper on Jordan every night to see how well it can hold up.

As for the Seventh Generation fabric softener, I love it! I love the smell of the blue, eucalyptus and lavender. However, instead of diluting the fabric softener in the water before adding the clothes, I put the fabric softener in a Downy ball. I'm hesitant on using it with the baby / kids clothes. Has anybody used this product with their baby clothes? Were there any reactions to the fabric softener?

7th Generation diapers

I have decided to purchase various diaper brands before making a decision on what diaper to change to. However, after yesterday's 5 poopy diapers in a day, I've realized that there is no way I can do cloth diapers for two kids while working full-time. Today I purchased the Seventh Generation diapers for my eldest son (15 months old). So far, so good. No leaks or explosion of poop. I'm going to use them for the rest of the night and see how they hold up tomorrow morning. Although I really like the concept of the gDiaper, I have not personally used them so I don't know how effective they will be.

Cost wise -- Seventh Generation's website offers coupons for various products, including $2 of diapers when you register. The diapers are regularly $10.99 for 40 ($0.27 each diaper), but with the coupon, the cost became $0.22 each diaper. Great deal!

Babies "R" Us currently has a sale: buy Seventh Generation diapers and get 50% off a Seventh Generation cleaning product. I used this as an opportunity to try out to Seventh Generation products. So on top of the diapers, I also bought the fabric softener. (We ran out anyways, so I thought now would be a good time to test something more eco-friendly and safe for the kids clothing.) Tomorrow I will report on the effectiveness of the diapers and the fabric softener.

Termites Pt. II

The termite problem has a solution, although it is not a solution we like. My husband had to take the leg off our dining room table. He then took it to his uncle (who is the family handy-man) and he said the termites were in the table leg the entire time. The reason they were starting to venture out of the leg was because they have eaten up the inside of the leg. So right now the dining room table is 3-legged and laying on its side. A replacement leg is being made by my husband's uncle. In the mean time, I have sent a complaint email to Cost Plus World Market, since the table was purchased in November 2005 at their Daly City location. So far the customer service representative at Cost Plus has been nice, but no resolution has been made. I just want a replacement leg, in the event that my husband's uncle cannot match the table. I love the dining room table. It was the first piece of furniture that my husband and I purchased as an engaged couple (our original IKEA table broke when we moved. It was a leg that couldn't stay on during transport.) I'm hoping that a replacement leg can be made or given to us. I don't want to buy a new dining room table. It took forever for my husband and I to agree on this one.

Termites

Happy 4th of July! This morning my husband & I woke up to find termites in our dining room table. We live in a condo on the 2nd story, so how did termites get into our place? Furthermore, how did the termites decide to pick one of our more expensive piece of furniture and not touch any of the IKEA stuff? We don't want to throw our dining table out since we used money from our wedding to pay for it, but how do we get rid of the termites? Any suggestions?

Phil & Ted Inline Sport with Doubles Kit

In a past blog I told everybody that Jay & I found a double stroller that we liked. Well, we ended up not getting that stroller. I fell in love with a different type of double stroller: a stroller that didn't create extra length or width. It is the Phil & Ted Sport. It is a stroller for one, but with an attachment creates a second seat for another child. I saw it in San Francisco a few weeks ago and asked Jay if we could register for it.

Then last weekend Lullaby Lane had a trunk show and the Phil & Ted Sport was on sale for $369.99! Can you believe it? I know it sounds like a lot of money, but this stroller will be with us for all the children we decide to have. We don't have to keep switching between a single and double stroller. With an easy attachment, we can just convert it. My parents purchased the stroller & the double kit for our baby shower present, along with a gift card from my 1st grade class (thank you!). Since the purchase of the stroller, I have used it everyday to go walking around the neighborhood, an afternoon in the Marina, at the San Francisco Zoo, and baby shopping. This stroller is easy to use & so versatile. It does not fold up like the Combi (which Jay loved), but the handle is so much easier. I can push the stroller with one hand and walk over sand covered sidewalks. With the Combi, I always had to push with two hands and had to watch out for debris that could stop the stroller.

Thank you Phil & Ted for such an innovative product! I love the stroller and recommend it to any parent who is planning to have two children back to back.

Going green with gDiapers

I was thinking of going with cloth diapers, since in the end it will be more cost efficient. I read a TIME magazine article that a family can spend $300 on cloth diapers, but over $3000 on disposable. The difference is the cloth diapers can be used from birth until the child is potty trained. I found this great cloth diaper called "Bum Genius" from Cotton Babies. They cost $17.95 each at Lullaby Lane. The only problem is that you have to wash it three times: once with detergent, then the other two times without. It may save the environment in terms of disposal, but it requires so much water to be used for washing that it is a major downside for us.

So I've registered for this “hybrid” diaper called the gDiaper. It is a flushable diaper. Carley introduced it to Jay and I because she is planning to go green with her little one and after doing all this research, I thought it was a great idea. It costs more than the Huggies we get from Costco ($0.18 for Huggies size 3 vs. $0.32 for gDiapers all sizes) but is more water conservative than going to cloth. I want to try them out because it is environmentally friendly. I'm also hoping for the disappearance of eczema and less diaper rashes because of the switch.

Going green is a conscious effort that our family is trying to make. We see how much garbage people accumulate and we don’t want to be that family. We drive a hybrid. Jay commutes to work using public transportation. We try to buy organic or local products when we can. We’re trying to keep Earth healthy because Jordan loves nature and we don’t want to destroy it.