America Unchained

Last night I finished reading America Unchained by Dave Gorman. A Londoner decides to road trip coast to coast across America without giving any money to The Man (i.e. he has to find independent gas, food, and accommodation). As one proprietor expresses when Gorman explains the nature of their journey "I don't know how it's become part of American culture, this homogenization of us" (pg. 154). And it's the truth that resounds throughout the book. Why has America become so insistent that everything be the same and familiar throughout the 50 states? It's not something that Gorman can answer, but I respect that his journey is attempt not to answer, but show how apparent it has actually become. It's something that is impossible to not be guilty of, no matter how difficult you may try. By the end of the book Gorman points out "Twenty years ago a journey like ours would have been easy. I can't help thinking that in 20 years' time it might just be impossible" (pg. 376). I find that sad and terrifying.

Holy Cloth Diapers, Batman!

I don't usually bang on about the fact that we use cloth, but I really want to share this experience from the past weekend:

We use Fuzzibunz and Grovia and have 20 of each. It's a pretty good stash and I love them both pretty much equally. In the evenings we use 1 'sposie (Huggies) because I haven't been able to use a cloth that doesn't irritate or leak during the evening. Oscar is a pretty heavy wetter during the nighttime, and I can only hope Mother Nature will forgive our nighttime 'sposie use.

ANYWAYS...

The past weekend we went to Brighton. I originally wanted to use cloth for a weekend away, but I was midway stripping our stash and couldn't justify bringing half of what I needed. So we opted to use 'sposies the whole weekend.

(sidenote: I actually finished this post and then it deleted it. Now I have to re-write from here on and I'm really irked about this. Doesn't the internet know I only have so much time available while my baby naps?!?!)

We reach our destination and cannot find the Huggies I usually buy anywhere. I opt for the Natural Fit with cotton and all we could find were either Huggies Super Dry or Pampers Super Dry. We steer clear of Pampers because of Dry-Max and I wasn't thrilled about anything that says "Super Dry" on the packaging. But we were out of options and so we bought some.

On late Sunday afternoon I took Oz to a bathroom to change his diaper and I was absolutely slack-jawed surprised. A weekend of wearing Super-Dry nappies resulted in my son's bottom literally having the moisture sucked from his skin. It was all dry and cracked and well on it's way to being red. Because I use cloth I never carry around diaper ointment and I felt so horrible for him. For me tho, it was proof positive that cloth diapers aren't just good for the environment; they're good for his skin.

When we got home I slathered some coconut oil on his butt and got him in a Fuzzibunz. I'm still going to continue with our 1 'sposie at night, but I am now 100% sure that I am doing the right thing by keeping my baby in cloth. Amazing.