Local Council Meeting

Tonight I went to the Heworth Ward Committee Meeting. I've been to 3 or 4 now since moving to York, and have always found them interesting and also poorly attended. Today, as I arrived I was greeted by one of the Councillor's, who obviously didn't recognise me as having been to the last few meetings, and almost assumed that I had come as I had a particular problem with something. I realise that not many people seem to come to these meetings unless they have some problem, or have asked to present something, but to assume that I think is quite sad. I really would encourage people to get to their local meetings, and maybe we can all be more involved in where money is spent and what is being done around us.

One of the presentations tonight was about the Magistrates Court. It was really interesting, I may even look into applying to become a Magistrate. I definately hope to get to the open day that they are having here at the York Court. While looking up this information I also found out about becoming a Councillor. I can't do it all, but I really hope to find something that I can do to really make a difference in my local community. On Friday I'm attending my first Partnership Board Meeting for the local Children's Centre. Should be interesting.

Nappies on the line

Nappies on the line, originally uploaded by Hedgen.

We've been using the re-usables for a while now, so I thought I'd do a little update. I am loving them. I absolutely love that we are not filling our bin full of used nappies, or wipes. (Our bins get collected one week for waste, and the next week for recyclables - we used to fill our bin in two weeks, pretty much to the top. Now, and we have started composting and recycling more stuff too, but we have just a tenth maybe full at the end of two weeks, feels so good!)

I'm using reusable wipes too. So much easier, cos where do you put a used wipe if you're not throwing a nappy away? So use toilet roll for the mass that will be put down the loo, and then put water onto a cloth to wipe the bottom and throw it in the nappy bin with the nappy - tada. This also means no, whatever they put in those wipes that means they clean just about anything, on my baby's bottom.

It's made me think about how much toilet paper we get through.. and maybe we should be using reusable wipes too! :D Andrew's not so keen on the idea.. we have a stash to use up anyway.. but I'm definately thinking about giving it a go.. I'm doing lots of washing anyway - why not...? I'm sure I'll be posting more on other eco-friendly, cost-effective things we've been doing at some point.

My only problem with reusable nappies is when out, although lots of places these days have nappy changing facilities they don't always cater for 'real nappy 'users. We need a toilet and sink nearby please!

Luckily, Felicity tends to poo at a regular time each day at the moment so I haven't been caught too off guard. When it did happen once, I luckily had a disposable nappy bag still on me, and so I put the poo in there, in the bin... not too bad I guess..

I would highly recommend using reusables. They are a little bulkier, but not too much, and they are better for baby.. and although a big lay out to start, I haven't had to buy another pack of nappies or wipes.. yay! :D It helps having sunny weather to dry them, but these only take a couple of hours outside. I haven't had any night-time leakages (sleeping 12hrs plus) with the night-time booster which is huge.. but she's sleeping anyway, so all is good.

Andrew's Birthday

26, originally uploaded by Hedgen.

It was Andrew's birthday today, and what a fun day we had! The girls didn't get up to early, thankfully, and so after getting the cards and presents ready we all went to wake Daddy up. Cara likes to give kisses to wake people up, so it was lovely. We sang 'Happy Birthday' one of Cara's favourite songs to sing.. she always wants it to be someone's birthday.

Cara had made her own card for Daddy, which was very unique and lovely We got Daddy some lovely shorts - the ones pictured above, some walking trousers, that zip off to shorts, and some hand warmers.. not needed today.. but maybe for future hikes. We then played some games and enjoyed each others company before heading off to Grandma's. Andrew had more presents, cards and birthday wishes. Cara and Felicity spent the day with Grandma while Andrew and I headed off to Malham Tarn for a walk.

It was beautiful! We walked from the Tarn down to Malham Cove, which was my favourite. It was such a different landscape, walking over what they call the limestone pavement. It is seriously worth a visit. Seems that there is loads more that we didn't get to see. For part of our walk we were on the Pennine Way - maybe one day we'll do the whole thing together. It was just lovely to spend time with Andrew, walking in the lovely English countryside. How can you beat that. Love you Andrew!

Matt & Hannah

Matt & Hannah, originally uploaded by Hedgen.

What a great day! It was great to be able to be in the temple and witness my little brother be sealed to his wife Hannah. It is an amazing and wonderful blessing to be sealed to your spouse for time and all eternity and the blessings we are given in the temple are more than you could ever hope for. It brought back wonderful memories of my own sealing and was just such a special moment for our family. I love my family! My girls had a great time playing with their cousins too, which continued all the following week while we stayed at Nan and Grampi's house. What a lovely time we had, with great weather and wonderful company. Cara is really missing all her cousins as well as Nan, Grampi, Great Nan and Bampa, and all her aunts and uncles.. she loves looking at photos of you all, and always wants to visit again. Hopefully it wont be too long. Wish we could live close to you all! xxxxx

Pop-in Reusables

Pop-in Reusables, originally uploaded by Hedgen.

A little while ago now, I attended what was called a 'Nappuccino'. I had planned on using reusable nappies with Cara, and I although I did buy a few different ones, I never really did get into it. I thought I would go to get some advice and encouragement to use my nappies on Felicity. Actually, I ended up buying a couple of new nappies. A pop-in by close parent, and a tots bots pocket nappy. I preferred the pop-in, so decided this was to be the nappy I used.

When I first got the nappies out of the box, they looked so cute all rolled up. They are one size fits all, so fit Cara as well as Felicity. (Cara wore proper pants all day today though - there were lots of accidents, but hopefully not for too much longer). I bought the Dream Dri version as opposed to the Bamboo. They are very quick drying, especially if it's nice out, which I needed seeing as we only bought a box of 10. It'll be lots easier now Felicity is the only user - I had been doing lots of washes the last couple of weeks.

So far...

• I really like that we don't throw away a load of nappies
• that I wont have to buy disposables again
• I don't mind the bulkiness too much, and it will only get less so as Felicity grows (they didn't seem much different in size on Cara)
• I don't mind doing more washes, and I throw everything in altogether, they wash great, only problem is drying if it's wet out.
• Both girls have had quite red bottoms, though, not really nappy rash, but I guess just red from being wet a lot. I have to say I don't seem to smell a number 2 so easily through these nappies, could be a bad thing as well as a good... Overall, I'm pretty impressed with the nappies, and myself for sticking with it. Yay!

Cara Walks the Walls

Cara Walks the Walls, originally uploaded by Munzerr.

This was on the start of our long walk to church. It was such a lovely day we thought we'd make the trek, and as Steve was visiting he got to make it with us. It turns out that it takes us quite a while. I did really enjoy the walk home especially. We didn't have a timescale to get home, we were discussing all that we had heard at church and it was just a lovely day. Here's to more walking, and less traveling by car.

Why?

Why?, originally uploaded by Hedgen.

I was just looking for a photo in my flickr stream.. and came across this. It's my writing.. but I don't even remember writing it, let alone taking the photo and posting it to flickr.. Why?