I'd like to introduce you all to Olive Lily Norton, the newest member of the What Gives!? family and the most amazingly perfect little person these eyes have ever seen.

I'll spare you the full details from first contraction to recovery room fun. I just wanted to introduce you to the little lady I have blogged a bit about and will continue to blog about in the coming year. I also wanted to take a minute to officially swear before a public audience my commitment to raising this little girl to be green as possible, to be as understanding and compassionate as possible and to know the importance of taking care of this world and the people and animals with which we share it.

Your dad loves you little lady.

Do something and do it now.
JD

TAGS: baby, green baby, birth

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Sorry for the lack of posts recently, I've been engaged in a little "light housework".

So......we are coming down to the wire and are only 1 week out from my wife's due date. Our shower was last weekend and my wife wanted something a little different than the norm, so that is exactly what her sisters planned. All of our family and friends were invited over for a big old party/BBQ for men, women and children with plenty of ice cold beverages to keep the adults entertained and sprinklers and blow up toys (not dolls, get your minds out of the gutter) for the kids.
We loaded up on BPA free bottles and all kinds of cutesie girl clothes. I think people love shopping for babies. You can get so much for so very little.

Everything we received was brand new and I got to thinking after the shower.... Babies grow so fast and probably outgrow clothes after wearing them only a few times at most. So I jumped on the internet to see if I could find sites that sell or trade lightly used baby items. It was a bit harder than I thought, apparently most of the places are brick and mortar, but here are a few I found.
The Baby Outfitter
Cheap Kids Clothes
and after all my hunting...I discovered that the mother of all sites to shop for deals on lightly used children's items....and it's not only because I work there....but you just cannot beat eBay for selection and price.
I also found that Craigslist is quite good as well and people tend to just give stuff away if you'll just pick it up. How do you beat that?

My wife and I ended up buying many new baby items on eBay as well and got screaming deals. My wife didn't seem to like the idea of a used baby mattress or used breast pump....no idea why. We tried to do most shopping online, because something I found is that pregnant women do not like to drive around in a car all day being dragged from store to store in the middle of the summer.

Expect baby pics soon....our little green lady is on the way.

Do something and do it now,
JD

TAGS: baby, pregnant, green baby, pregnancy, eco friendly

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I've read that not having kids is probably one of the best things you can do for the environment. Not bringing into this world another little human who
creates mass amounts of new waste which in turn creates even more CO2, is something people should consider even more so these days, especially with so many orphans out there that need parents and loving homes.

My wife and I got greedy and decided to have one anyway……

As I mentioned in a previous post, my wife is pregnant and I am about to be a first time dad. I am going to do my best to make sure that having this baby does not also have a huge impact on the environment and that she grows up with values which make her a good, aware, eco-friendly little person. There is so much to consider before she even arrives however.

Here is brief list of what we have been stressing over as of late:
• Buying baby furniture made from sustainable materials
• Buying diapers that don’t sit in a landfill for 50 some-odd years
• Making sure that as we remodel and decorate her nursery we buy eco-friendly paint and building materials.
• Buying baby products from companies which have the Earth in mind and make it part of their mission.
• Her dating jerks when she gets older…..oh wait, that’s not something I need to stress about yet, but I sure as hell am.

Like I said, I’ll be keeping you up to date on this interesting journey I am embarking on and hopefully you can help keep me on the straight and narrow towards my goal of a green baby. I am sure those days will come when I think to myself….”this is too hard, I’m taking the easy route”.

Do something and do it now!
JD

TAGS: baby, pregnancy, green, eco-friendly, children, green products, diapers, strollers, nursery

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