Our Little Mango

My days have been so busy of scheduling and rescheduling that it's been pretty crazy. Our good friends are leaving for their next adventure in Korea. We are planning to visit them in their new home some day in the future baby in tow.

I was looking at my old "favorites" preserved in my link tab and came across this one: http://www.hooilohouse.com/?source=overture

This has been saved for years. I look at it every once and a while and dream of my one day fantasy vacation there. I've been to Hawaii but this hotel is so much like a small little B & B that it really does remind me of paradise. Someday we'll go. For now, we have dreams of Asia still awaiting us and we'd like to get to it before the little mango starts walking.

Yes, right now he's called our little mango. I read my most recent pregnancy update from babycenter.com and they informed me that my baby measures about 11 inches long, weighs about a pound and is about the shape of a mango.

Mike is headed to Singapore soon and hopefully will check out the place for us. We hear that it's a good place to take children although a little pricier than many of the other surrounding destinations. Probably not as bad as Japan but not Thailand either. So, for now we are saving for baby and hoping that we'll have some money in the first year to do a little traveling too.

One of the things that we've learned is making a check off list to prepare for baby. The one thing that we learned the first go round is to review our insurance policy. Also, to pick out a pediatrician before delivery. Because of all the trouble I had nursing last time, I'll also pursue a good lactation consultant. Also, we learned not to wait until the 3rd trimester to start getting everything that we need. Joshua didn't even have furniture in his nursery upon his arrival. In fact, the Saturday that I went into labor was the Saturday that we were supposed to go shopping for nursery stuff. I guess he didn't want to wait.

I am going to try and integrate clothe diapers in as well this time around. The average baby goes through about 5000 diapers before being potty trained. Disposable diapers are not very biodegradable and there is more and more evidence that it's leading to children who don't potty train as quickly. The United States has one of the latest potty training ages. One theory is that disposables work so well that children don't feel wet when they have an accident. I know that these are all theories but hey, I figure if I save a few diapers from going into a landfill than I'm doing my part. Unfortunately, I haven't been able to find a diaper service here in Japan period much less one that will come onto base. From what I've heard they are little behind the curb on that. Which surprises me because in every Japanese neighborhood there is an army of deliveries happening during the day. Milk men, black cat, groceries, dry cleaning, etc. etc. While I'm in the states, I'm hoping to use Tidee Didee Diaper service. While I'm here, my girlfriend suggested using Fuzzi Bunz. Her husband is a pediatrician and they've used them for both their daughters....so it's a pretty good source! After checking out all the reviews they look like there about the best out there. I may start out just buying about 5 of them (they are an investment) and then using disposable at night and during travel. Again, it's not perfect but it is a step in minimizing waste. I'll have to keep the status on that updated.