Or, for those who like play-on-words: "Eggs"periment, perhaps.

To this point, we have been buying regular, "barn" eggs that cost ₤1.86 for 18. This is by far the best deal and frankly, we haven't had the money to choose otherwise. Now, with my husband finally getting paid for his work, we have the ability to make a choice. But what to choose??

Organic, Free-Range, Local, Barn, Sustainable, Woodland... all with various shocking price tags. Can the labels be trusted? What do they REALLY mean in practice? What is the healthy choice for my family? If you've read my summary of The Omnivore's Dilemma, then you know this question isn't easily answered.

When we were at the grocery store a couple of days ago, we decided to try a couple different kinds of eggs. We bought a local, free-range version and a store brand, organic free-range. I still had some of the "barn" eggs at home, so the next morning I decided to boil up one of each. I used a sharpie to mark the eggs and boiled them together for 10 minutes. We were rather surprised at the difference when we cut them open, so I had to take a picture. Can you guess which is which (the picture doesn't do justice to reality)?

Obviously the first, pale version is the "barn" eggs while the second and third are free-range and organic respectively. As far as taste goes, the latter two definitely tasted more "eggy" - if that makes sense. We couldn't really tell a difference between them both, though I found them to be a bit more firm in texture compared to the "barn" version. Clearly, by the color I know which was more beneficial nutritiously. We were just amazed at how pale the "barn" eggs were in contrast to the other two.

They say "ignorance is bliss" and I can definitely not eat "barn" eggs blissfully anymore. I don't know which path we'll choose. There are still quite a few options out there that we haven't tried or compared price-wise. I wish we could have our own chickens. Maybe someday...

With a new baby in the house, it was time to put my Tummy Tub to the test. Mei Li's first bath was in the sink and she cried the whole time (probably because there wasn't enough water to keep her warm). Here is a video of her enjoying either her first or second time in the Tummy Tub (I can't remember which).

After several more bathes under our belts, we are learning how to make it work. My impressions?...

Plusses:

In our cold climate, it is really nice to have the baby in enough water to keep her warm (I've added more water since the video). She loves it as well. Again, it is extremely economical in water usage compared to other bathing methods. The rounded bottom makes it comfortable for the baby, and by placing it in the sink, comfortable for mom (or grandma) to do the bathing.

Minuses:

As in most cases with a baby this age, it is awkward to keep her head up until she develops more muscle control. As you can see, washing her lower regions can be difficult though I've found that pulling her up out of the water, turning her face-down and supporting her chest with my arm allows me to get a fairly good clean down there - she isn't keen on this because it's cold out of the water.

Overall, I'm not sold-out enough to say that it is worth the $30-45.00 you would have to spend in the states. I look forward to seeing how my experience changes as Mei Li develops and requires less support.

I love the philosophy of "Simple Mom".  She has many great tips for simplifying life, saving money, managing time, etc...   It totally appeals to my minimalistic self. 

This week she is focusing on cloth diapers. Part of the week is a cloth diaper give-away.  In unashamedly trying to boost my chances for a win, I am sharing the news here so that you can track back to her website. =)  I've collected pieces here and there to try cloth on baby number two, but everything is used and not necessarily matching. Some good quality, new diapers would be amazing!

Seriously... if there is any chance you might be in the cloth diaper world sometime, she and guest posters have shared very clear explanations of what it entails, the products out there, videos for us visual learners, and some excellent give-aways.

Enjoy!

It is supposed to be much more economical with water, keep it warmer longer and to help calm tummy-aches and colicky babies. It is made with an anti-skid base and a low center of gravity. Below is their demo video. I watched a couple other videos of young babies quieting when they got in the water and older babies splashing around.

These bath tubs have many positive and negative reviews, but generally from what I was reading, the negative reviews came from people who were mocking the product as a gimmick. Others, who had actually used these tubs, seemed to like them quite a bit, particularly after their baby was a few weeks old. I love the economy of them, but my biggest problem would be the price tag. I have seen three versions offered in the US:

Spa Baby -

From my limited research, this seemed to be the priciest option ($50+) and didn't have as good of reviews as TummyTub did.

Tummy Tub - This one also runs around $45 dollars (new), but probably can be found for a bit less with researching. For an additional price, it has a stand that the bucket can fit on to make it higher if desired.

You can get these Tummy Tubs for 20 Euros on the German Amazon. I don't know the cost of shipping, and you would probably need some help putting in your order. I couldn't find an "English" option anywhere on their website.

Wash Pod (Prince Lionheart) - This is definitely the cheapest option ($25ish). The reviews were not bad either. A few mothers mentioned that it was hard to bath their baby's lower regions, but other mothers addressed this issue by saying they just lift their babies up a bit or prop them on the edge to do that part of washing. Some also mentioned that they felt like it was more stable in design.

What do I think? Well, for $5, I would buy one in a heart-beat, but at 5-10x that much - I need to be convinced that it is worth it. I wonder if using a bucket wouldn't work just as well. It might not be as stable or comfortable for the baby since that is not its purpose. Some people mentioned concerns about exposing their children to harmful chemicals in regular buckets (though one woman did say she has been washing her children in a trash can for years). I don't think I would worry about that too much since you only use warm, not hot, water for bathing babies (or does that reveal my ignorance about how chemicals leach into water?)

I don't know... I'm going to think about it more. I have German in-laws that I could request one from as a baby gift, but I also have a pretty deep kitchen sink that would work too.