Somehow, I’d nearly forgotten:

~The click-clack of onesies in the dryer.

~The sweet smell of breastmilk breath.

~The calm, patient stare of a baby waiting for me to look. And then the smile.

~The entertaining side effects of extreme sleep deprivation.

~The smell and the feel of her palm on my nose.

~Teething.

~Just how soft, just how smooth, just how sweet…

I am not all about shoulds. I don’t even like buying birthday gifts “because I have to.” Doing something out of obligation or guilt or fear is extremely difficult for me, and is not a frequent occurence in my happy little world.

So it’s important for me to speak gently to that volatile little side of myself. Self, I say, it’s Earth Day! I should do something… (no. not should.) ahem. What I mean is, this day is a nice reminder to be fully present, fully aware of our situation here as the children of Mother Earth… (Yeah. I’m a sucker for that kind of stuff.)

I’m quite happy to hop on the Green bandwagon. Sure, much of it is either a marketing ploy “greenwashing,” or simply people doing essentially pointless, but public, “eco-friendly” things to make themselves feel better about their overall eco-destructive lives. But still, cynicism aside, I suppose doing something is better than doing nothing. It really is ridiculous how ugly a human footprint we each will leave.

Because a good majority of my day is spent changing diapers, diapers naturally became the focus of my recent environmental guilt–I mean, erm, awareness. I did initially try to use cloth diapers with Belle, and gave up on that quickly. I absolutely could not justify all the laundry/stench/mess they created. That was that. Three disposable-diapered children later, I have without a doubt contributed my share to this statistic (from gDiapers.com): 50 million disposable diapers enter the landfill every day, where they sit for up to 500 years.

yuk. Talk about leaving a footprint. Or, hardy-har-har, a buttprint!

Then I came across the idea of a hybrid diaper: reusable covers/liners with flushable, tossable, or compostable inserts that break down in 50-100 days. A little less yuk. So, I’m going to try this gDiaper thing out. Baby steps: they have a cheap starter kit. We’ll see how it goes.

And every now and then, when I remember, I bring my own bright green bags to the grocery store, and feel terribly eco-chic. Better yet, when things actually start growing in this frozen tundra, I’ll skip the grocery store and go to the local farmer’s market again.

Well, Whoopety-Freakin’-Doo for me, right? OK, if it makes you feel better:

-I refuse to give up my almost-daily CAN of Diet Coke. (but I do at least recycle it.)
-We own and drive two gas-guzzler vehicles.
-We make an outrageous amount of trash and do a riduculous amount of laundry.
-I currently have some negatives under a 20-minute rinse to wash their hazardous waste down the drain.
-I have never purchased one of those swirly light bulbs.
-There are several non-swirly light bulbs turned on in our house right now, not even in use.

…Hmmm. I should do something about that.

I had an Earth Day post I was writing, but it will have to wait until tomorrow. Yes, I know it will be the day after Earth Day tomorrow. We will call it fashionably late, as usual.

I’m interrupting your regularly (ha!) scheduled blog because I just saw on my iTunes Store that the free single of the week is Melody Gardot, “Worrisome Heart.” I’m mildly angry about this, because just last week I purchased the same single for my iPod. I heard her on an NPR program a few weeks ago, and although I’m generally apathetic about jazz music, I loved her stuff.

Anyway, go get it. It’s free.

Shoo!