This week I’m in Nashville, TN, at the amazing Grand Opryland Hotel for the 2010 Blissdom Conference.  Last year I attended Blissdom and it was an amazing experience.  It was the first trip I had ever taken by myself, and it was my first conference.  I had come to Blissdom ‘09 on a whim.  I had never heard of a blogging conference before, and I thought I’d take a chance.  The experience was nerve racking and scary, but so wonderful.  It opened up this whole huge world to me, and I’m really thankful for that.

Being here this year is exciting.  I’m so ready to see the friends that I made a year ago and to meet new ones.  I’ve already had a talk with Carmen, spent some time with our amazing Blissdom hosts, Alli and Barbara, and had dinner with the wonderful Esther.  I’d say this conference is off to a great start!  I’m really looking forward to attending the panels and learning some new things, and I’m excited to explore this crazy humongous hotel that looks like the set of “Lost”.

Are you attending?  Be sure to say hi!  I’d love to meet all of you, and I can’t wait to spread some Zwaggle love!  But now?  Sleep.

(Can’t make it to the conference but want to know what’s happening?  Follow along on our Twitter account, or follow the Blissdom hashtag.)

Thanksgiving is this week, and that sentence alone freaks me out just a little bit.  I mean, where did 2009 go?

Thanksgiving makes people think of a lot of things.  Family, traditions, FOOD.  (When else are you allowed to eat marshmallows on your vegetables without people judging you?)

It can also mean Stress with a capital S (sometimes for the very same reasons: family, traditions, food).

It also marks that time of year that we cannot continue to deny one simple fact - and I apologize to any of you who are trying your best to deny this fact for as long as possible.  When Thanksgiving is over, we cannot be angry that the neighbors have little twinkling lights all over their house.  We cannot groan when we walk into the mall and there are giant ornaments hanging everywhere.  We cannot be annoyed that the grocery store is playing THOSE SONGS over and over (and over) again.  (Well… in theory.)

It’s time for those next holidays.  The ones that involve singing and cheer and gifts.

So now is the time to start planning.  Why not take the first step and post those books, toys, and clothes that you’ve been meaning to put on Zwaggle?  Not only will you have a chance to increase the amount of Zoints in your account to use for your own holiday shopping, but you’ll be giving other families the opportunity to give those items to someone they love.

And that can help with the whole Stress thing.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!!

Today we have a great post about eco-friendly parenting from Zwaggle user, Holly.  Holly has her own blog, The Cloth Diaper Experiment, where she writes about her journey to be a green mom.  Be sure to check it out!

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Holly from “The Cloth Diaper Experiment” here!  I have recently taken a huge interest in becoming more eco-conscious.  The reason for this recent obsession?  My 7-month-old son, Jackson.  Jackson means the world to me and I want to do my part to leave him with a better, cleaner planet.  By making small changes, I feel like I’m doing something huge.

One thing that I’ve done recently is joined Zwaggle!  Zwaggle fits in perfectly with my goals to be an eco-conscious parent.  I love how the site focuses on reusing and recycling, and I also love the sense of community here, because being green is all about community!

So, what else have I done over the past 7 months to become the best eco-friendly mom I can be?

1) I do not buy bottled water anymore.  While water will always be my beverage of choice, I refuse to buy cases of water, which I used to do all the time.  Instead, I got a BPA free, reusable water bottle a years ago and fill it with filtered water from the fridge.  It seems so simple but it’s making a huge difference.  I think that individual bottles of water should be saved and used for emergencies, not everyday use.

2) I take reusable bags to the store with me.  I have about 15 and I try to keep them in my car at all times.  If I forget them and end up with plastic bags, I feel pretty guilty.  If everyone would switch to using reusable bags most of the time instead of plastic, it would cut way down on unneeded garbage.

3) I make Jackson’s baby food.  I am not throwing away several jars or plastic containers everyday and I know EXACTLY what he is getting to eat!  Making your own baby food is so simple and easy:

Cook the food until it is soft (steaming works the best and retains the most nutrients), puree, blend or mash to the desired consistency, and then freeze (I use BPA-free trays, ice cube trays with lids also work great).  After the food is frozen, I pop the cubes out of the tray and into a freezer bag!  When it’s time for Jackson to eat, I just thaw a cube or two.  That’s it!

It’s really easy to make big batches of baby food at one time and store them in the freezer.  The last time I made it was over a month ago and I still have 3 bags of cubes in the freezer!  By doing bigger batches once a month, it’s really not time consuming at all!

4) My biggest (and scariest) change so far has been switching from disposable diapers to cloth diapers.  Did you know that it takes a disposable diaper 500 YEARS to break down in a landfill?  Yes, you read that right, FIVE HUNDRED YEARS!  The average family will use 5,000-7,000 disposable diapers PER CHILD.  That’s A LOT of unneeded garbage stinking up our landfills for A LONG time.

Not many people know about the cloth diapers of today.  They are not like they used to be!  Prefolds (the kind of cloth diapers that you are probably picturing) are still around, but there are so many new varieties that are just as easy to use as disposables!  Sure, you might worry about how to deal with dirty diapers (I know I was), but you know what?  It’s not a big deal with the right products!  I don’t know what I would do without my diaper sprayer; it makes messy diapers so easy to deal with!  For the extra squeamish, there are flushable liners.  They resemble dryer sheets and you lay them on the inside of the cloth diaper.  When it’s messy, just flush it down the toilet.  It’s that easy!

Switching to cloth diapers has a HUGE impact on the environment and it also saves you money.  They’re also ADORABLE and are so much more healthy and comfortable for your baby.

Another great thing about them?  They last, so I can use the same diapers on any future brothers or sisters that Jackson has!  When I’m done with them for good, I can post them here on Zwaggle so that other families can do their part for the environment too!

As you can probably tell, I’m very passionate about cloth diapers.  I started my blog to show that it can be done and that it’s not complicated at all.  If you have any questions about cloth diapers or making your own baby food, I would be happy to answer them.  Just visit my blog and leave me a comment there or here on the Zwaggle blog, and I’ll be sure to get back to you!

Making little changes today makes a big difference for tomorrow.  I want to be able to tell my children that I did whatever I could to leave our planet in the best shape possible for them.  Don’t you?

* Be sure to follow Holly on Twitter: @TheCDExperiment