"Mummy, what's the point in buying ugly nappies you have to throw away, if you can buy pretty nappies you can use heaps?"
This innocent (and utterly adorable) statement made by Gaby yesterday got me thinking about the fact that in reality, those of us who use cloth diapers are raising the next generation of cloth users. I know from my own parenting choices that a lot of what I do, I do because my parents did with me & my sister... therefore what I do as a parent is going to have an impact on what my girls do as parents, or at least what their thoughts are on various aspects of being a parent.
That thought then got me thinking that by using cloth diapers - Gaby is going to think of cloth diapers as the natural choice for diapering when SHE is at the stage in her life that diapering is a reality for her (please god, make that in at least 20 years!)... and then chances are that'll be the same for a LOT of other children whose parents have used cloth diapers.
We are raising the next generation of cloth users.
But not only is it the children of parents who have used cloth diapers, it's also going to be any children who has had contact with someone who uses cloth - my cousins for instance. Jasmine (13) & Alice (10) stayed with me for a week this summer, and BOTH were fascinated by my use of cloth diapers - they showed a real interest, and loved helping me stuff them & fold them after they'd been washed... it even got to the point that they argued over who was going to be the one to change Emersyn's diaper. And before the week was up, both had told me that when they were 'ladies' they were 'so totally' going to use cloth on their babies!
2 more converts to the fluffy world of cloth!
Thinking about all this has got me thinking (I'm doing a lot of thinking right now!) that it is almost our 'repsonsibility' to make young'ens aware of the fabulosity that is cloth diapering, and to make a little impression on them, so that in 10, 15, 20, 30 years time when they are having babies themselves, they think back to how cute the diapers were, how easy they were to use, and how passionate WE were about them, so that they themselves think "hey - I might give cloth a go!".
What if for every 1 of us that uses cloth, 10 kids decide to use cloth when they are having children... in 10, 20, 30 years time there could be 10x as many parents using cloth - heck, cloth diapering could even be something that people don't screw their nose up about, and think people are 'crazy' for doing.
I can't wait to see my girls, using cloth diapers on MY grandchildren (oh god.. grandchildren... scary...)
May 23, 2011
Forever marked...
Today there is a global telethon fundraising event, to raise money for the Christchurch Earthquake Relief fund, I started watching the coverage on TV at 9am when it began - and quickly realised just how much the quake has effected me, and that I'm forever marked, forever changed by it. My family and I got off lucky, compared to a lot of people, a lot of families... But there is still a lot of grief I feel, a lot I don't understand, a lot I can't comprehend.
I am forever changed, my family is forever changed, my neighbourhood is forever changed, my city is forever changed - my country is forever changed... and to be right in the middle of such a life changing event, it really is impossible to try to describe how it makes you feel.
Watching the coverage this morning, they were showing some new footage of the CBD, and everytime you see new footage, it's like you are witnessing the whole thing for the first time... I see buildings I used to walk past everyday when I was working in the CBD - and they are destroyed, if it wasn't for a bit of signage on the ground next to it, or the colours they're painted - you just wouldn't know what building you were looking at. Areas that I used to stroll through, shops I used to wander into for an innocent look around - shops and areas I never REALLY paid attention to, that I took for granted, are just GONE...
What is really hard to see, is the businesses that look as though they've been frozen in time (and I guess in essence they have been) - cafe's and restaraunts with tables & umbrella's still outside, businesses with their 'open' signs still showing, businesses advertising a sale that was on at the time of the quake, or a sale which was starting soon after. It really is like life is frozen in time... someone pushed the 'pause' button.
Possibly the hardest buildings to look at - are the buildings that are no longer there, because you know that there is a huge likelihood people lost their lives in the buildings that once stood. I find it impossible to not cry when I see the site of the CTV building, I believe 116 people died in that paritcular building - people from our local TV station (CTV), people from an English language school, people from a doctors surgery which moved in there after damage to their original building because of a big aftershock on boxing day. That doctors surgery is the one that my Dad was a patient of. It is the one my Dad had had an appointment at, and left 20 minutes before the quake hit.
My Dad is alive & kicking - just as Dad-ish as ever, but I cannot for the life of me, stop wondering what would have happened had he actually been caught in the building on that day. Would he have gotten out? Chances are he wouldn't have. In the same way I think that, I can only imagine that people who did lose loved ones in the quake, spend time wondering what would have happened if their Mother/Father/Sister/Brother/friend had had a later appointment, or an earlier appointment, had an earlier or later lunch break, had plans to meet someone earlier or later.... There are so many what ifs - on both sides of the fence, those who experienced the loss of a loved one, and those who didn't.
Of course damage & devestation weren't limited to the CBD - all over the city there are buildings destroyed, lives destroyed - many such examples are in my own suburb of Avonside. The name is part of the reason why. Avon Side. the Avon is a river that runs through Christchurch - and my suburb is very close to the river, to the point that there are houses along the banks. Because we are so close to this body of water, our land is softer - and driving through my suburb there are a lot of houses which now have a big lean on. From my driveway I can see one such house, which is now leaning so far to the right, it is touching the house next door. In the other direction there are 4 houses which have also been red stickered - and those houses are leaning slightly to the left or right - but also leaning forward, so the front of the houses are sunken into their front yard. These houses are very close to the river. Driving further along the river I noticed a group of houses - I would say at least 10, closer to 15 - and ALL of those houses also have their fronts sunken into the ground, again they are right on the river. There are also a lot of streets you just cannot drive along - they've been closed for 3 months now.
I've decided I'm going to get a tattoo as a bit of a symbol of the earthquake - it made a huge mark on me & my city - so why not actually physically MAKE a mark? I am the type of person who cannot push influential events to the back of my mind - I have tattoo's for my nephew & my angels, I have a tattoo for my Grandfathers who have passed away - I have a tattoo for Gaby (and will soon have one for Emersyn)... this earthquake has made as much of an impact on my life, though in different ways - so it feels just to me, to get a tattoo. I believe a lot of people in Christchurch have done the same thing, or plan to.
When thinking about the aftermath of the earthquake, one phrase comes to mind - one phrase that has been the glue that has held our damaged community together, a phrase which as given us the strength to look forward. KIA KAHA. Kia Kaha, when translated from Maori to English means 'Be Strong' - which seems very apt when thinking about our situation. I recently took my first walk through the CBD - as far as I could anyway, and at the cordon I burst into tears, on the corner there used to stand a tattoo parlour - where I had two of my tattoo's done, on the day of the quake the building crumbled, and when running outside, one of the tattoo artists was killed, by falling masonry. All along that stretch of buildings there is nothing but devestation, however on the fence, someone had used ribbon to spell the words 'Kia Kaha'... it was so moving to see - our words of empowerment, and the backdrop of the devestation
I am forever changed, my family is forever changed, my neighbourhood is forever changed, my city is forever changed - my country is forever changed... and to be right in the middle of such a life changing event, it really is impossible to try to describe how it makes you feel.
Watching the coverage this morning, they were showing some new footage of the CBD, and everytime you see new footage, it's like you are witnessing the whole thing for the first time... I see buildings I used to walk past everyday when I was working in the CBD - and they are destroyed, if it wasn't for a bit of signage on the ground next to it, or the colours they're painted - you just wouldn't know what building you were looking at. Areas that I used to stroll through, shops I used to wander into for an innocent look around - shops and areas I never REALLY paid attention to, that I took for granted, are just GONE...
What is really hard to see, is the businesses that look as though they've been frozen in time (and I guess in essence they have been) - cafe's and restaraunts with tables & umbrella's still outside, businesses with their 'open' signs still showing, businesses advertising a sale that was on at the time of the quake, or a sale which was starting soon after. It really is like life is frozen in time... someone pushed the 'pause' button.
Possibly the hardest buildings to look at - are the buildings that are no longer there, because you know that there is a huge likelihood people lost their lives in the buildings that once stood. I find it impossible to not cry when I see the site of the CTV building, I believe 116 people died in that paritcular building - people from our local TV station (CTV), people from an English language school, people from a doctors surgery which moved in there after damage to their original building because of a big aftershock on boxing day. That doctors surgery is the one that my Dad was a patient of. It is the one my Dad had had an appointment at, and left 20 minutes before the quake hit.
My Dad is alive & kicking - just as Dad-ish as ever, but I cannot for the life of me, stop wondering what would have happened had he actually been caught in the building on that day. Would he have gotten out? Chances are he wouldn't have. In the same way I think that, I can only imagine that people who did lose loved ones in the quake, spend time wondering what would have happened if their Mother/Father/Sister/Brother/friend had had a later appointment, or an earlier appointment, had an earlier or later lunch break, had plans to meet someone earlier or later.... There are so many what ifs - on both sides of the fence, those who experienced the loss of a loved one, and those who didn't.
Of course damage & devestation weren't limited to the CBD - all over the city there are buildings destroyed, lives destroyed - many such examples are in my own suburb of Avonside. The name is part of the reason why. Avon Side. the Avon is a river that runs through Christchurch - and my suburb is very close to the river, to the point that there are houses along the banks. Because we are so close to this body of water, our land is softer - and driving through my suburb there are a lot of houses which now have a big lean on. From my driveway I can see one such house, which is now leaning so far to the right, it is touching the house next door. In the other direction there are 4 houses which have also been red stickered - and those houses are leaning slightly to the left or right - but also leaning forward, so the front of the houses are sunken into their front yard. These houses are very close to the river. Driving further along the river I noticed a group of houses - I would say at least 10, closer to 15 - and ALL of those houses also have their fronts sunken into the ground, again they are right on the river. There are also a lot of streets you just cannot drive along - they've been closed for 3 months now.
I've decided I'm going to get a tattoo as a bit of a symbol of the earthquake - it made a huge mark on me & my city - so why not actually physically MAKE a mark? I am the type of person who cannot push influential events to the back of my mind - I have tattoo's for my nephew & my angels, I have a tattoo for my Grandfathers who have passed away - I have a tattoo for Gaby (and will soon have one for Emersyn)... this earthquake has made as much of an impact on my life, though in different ways - so it feels just to me, to get a tattoo. I believe a lot of people in Christchurch have done the same thing, or plan to.
When thinking about the aftermath of the earthquake, one phrase comes to mind - one phrase that has been the glue that has held our damaged community together, a phrase which as given us the strength to look forward. KIA KAHA. Kia Kaha, when translated from Maori to English means 'Be Strong' - which seems very apt when thinking about our situation. I recently took my first walk through the CBD - as far as I could anyway, and at the cordon I burst into tears, on the corner there used to stand a tattoo parlour - where I had two of my tattoo's done, on the day of the quake the building crumbled, and when running outside, one of the tattoo artists was killed, by falling masonry. All along that stretch of buildings there is nothing but devestation, however on the fence, someone had used ribbon to spell the words 'Kia Kaha'... it was so moving to see - our words of empowerment, and the backdrop of the devestation
 |
| Kia Kaha Christchurch, we will Rise Up |
May 17, 2011
11 months old!
Emersyn is 11 months old today! I honestly do not know where the past almost-a-year has gone - I know that all parents say that, but I really truly mean it! I sincerely thought that time with Emersyn would go a bit slower, because it was my second time around & I know what I'm doing - and am not quite so impatient about her hitting all the milestones.But no.... The first month or so went slowly, but each month since has gone faster and faster and faster - and I have a feeling it'll continue to do so. I guess I kind of 'lost' two months after the February earthquake, where our routine was thrown totally out the window, it was somewhat like living in limbo, for those two months we spent living with my parents... Emersyn had just turned 8mo when the quake hit - and we moved home after she'd turned 10mo.
I am amazed at how quickly she is starting to reach milestones now, it felt for a long time that she wasn't meeting any new milestones, and I was actually pretty worried about her. I guess it started when we'd been at my parents for about 2 weeks, all of a sudden she started commando crawling, she began sitting herself up, she began saying Mama & becoming more vocal. Just before we left she crawled 'properly' for the first time - though she still preferred commando crawling, and just within the last week has begun crawling 'full time', rather than doing the commando crawl, she's started making a lot of new sounds & saying 'bubba' - which she seemed to know was a word for my 11w/o niece when they were up over the weekend - and she also said 'Gabba' for the first time, which was an obvious form of 'Gaby'.... Just yesterday she started getting on her knees and trying to pull herself up on EVERYTHING, not just the couch & TV cabinet like she's been doing up until now.
My baby is leaving her baby days behind & is gearing up for those amazing 2 years that are toddlerdom... Part of me isn't ready for my baby to become a toddler, but the other part of me is so excited for the firsts & the changes that are ahead for her. I remember I loved the 1st year with Gaby, but each year after that seemed to be more and more exciting and awe-inspiring, because she changed from a baby/toddler to a 'real' person & really became her own person...
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