Flying Solo: This Non-Post Will Be Replaced With Real Content Later.

i know this is your blog but since this comment here was so broad...

1) i got fuzzibunz. these are cool cloth diapers. highly recommended.

2) went to paris, france last week. picked up a maxi-cosi cabrio and adapters for the bugaboo. even got a VAT refund. no ISOFIX yet so i guess i'll be using seat belts. still not sure if this was a good move compared to just getting a graco snugride.

3) yes to circumcision.

4) yes to breasts.

5) my company family leave policy is full pay for 2 months.

oh yeah...i went a little nuts over in paris with baby clothes. jacadi, agnes b, petit bateau, cadelle rouselle, etc...so much good stuff out there.

I also say Yes to breasts!

What was the question again?

Maybe it is me, but what is wrong with the Graco snugride. I've got a serious case of stroller-inferiority complex from this website (which I love), but whenever I take my Snugride travel system out, I am perfectly content.

I will admit, some air-filled tires and nice aftermarket shocks for the snugride would be welcome (there's gotta be a market there), but all in all, who needs an $800 stroller with add-on bag holders?

1) Yes to pocket diapers.

2) No to male genital mutilation.

3) Yes to breast milk, or pumped into glass bottles.

4) Yes to family leave.

5) I'm happy with our Phil & Ted E3 stroller, though our next purchase will be a $15 umbrella stroller because there will never be a nice stroller that folds compactly in my car.

Disposable, I mean cloth, no wait... Arrgh!!

No to female circumcision!

Breasts please!

12 weeks of daddy FMLA, here I come!

Insecurities? I don't need no stinkin' insecurities, I've got a Quinny Zapp & Freestyle 3xl, and a Maxi-Cosi Cabrio to pop onto them!

My 1st is coming in January
My unexperienced opinion says...
"yes" to disposable
after seeing link to circumcision all I can say is "GOOD LORD"...but "yes" to circumcision
family leave is a must
My Cameleon...as we speak is having new rims installed, being lowered, bull horns (Boss Hogg style) and velvet/suede interior...just playin' playa'

For our 2 week old daughter:

-Disposables at the moment - they're composted in Toronto, relieving us of the environmental guilt. Maybe cloth later.

-I'm glad we had a girl.

-Breastmilk all the way, even if sometimes it has to come from a finger tube or bottle. (Our little Rebecca spat out the bit of formula she was given at the hospital last week. Smart girl.)

-The more the better. (Why don't believers is "family values" actually value families?)
We get a total of 1 year parental leave that can be divided; the job has to held open until at least 3 months after returning, with 'employment' insurance paid during that time. (up to 25% or so of original salary.) My wife's company is progressive, and tops up the EI for 17 weeks. My company doesn't have any policy in place, and my boss would laugh if I asked for more than a week off.
Our Swedish friends get a couple of years, at 80% of their salary.

-Imported a cameleon and accessories for less than what they would cost in Canada. Not to be trendy, but because it best met our requirements.
(2nd choice: Valco Runabout)

Family leave policy is a joke in the U.S. I took my time off; we each have flexible bosses and were able to cover child care for almost a year, so I have no complaints. But folks with non-flexible schedules are so screwed.

12 weeks? OK, if you've hoarded your vacation & sick time (I had, phew), but if it's kid #2, then parents have probably used up all available leave because kids kinda do that to ya. They get sick, they have events that you take time off work to attend...

I don't know about the euro policies of paid leave for months & years--somebody's gotta pay for that and not everyone is eligible. Low paid workers don't always get these perks.

I don't have a preferred leave policy, but I do believe that a more concerted effort to provide taxpayer subsidized childcare would be a terrific bonus for all parents. I'd happily take a hit on the mortage interest break, e.g., to help pay for universal childcare.

The benefits would be so widereaching--all parents low and high income alike could go to work (or run errands, whatever) knowing kiddo was cared for; all kids could get a somewhat equal start in those areas where daycares excel--playing and sharing with other kids; group reading, circle time, field trips, etc.

If we can funnel federal money to "faith-based" services for drug treatment, etc., why not for childcare?

JJ and DT--you are so right. I was wrong to put Tom Cruise into the same category as JJ.

After all, Tom Cruise has a known affiliation with a religion that espouses a particular set of beliefs. While I question the validity of his diatribe against the use of drugs to treat PPD, he was being consistent with his church's teachings. I don't know anything about JJ, so I don't know his excuse.

I have to wonder where you guys get your impressions of AP and all the other approaches to parenting that you ridicule.

[... -ed.]

I justified disposable vs. cloth by vowing not to have another child -- simple.

That answers question two since I had a girl. If I had a boy, I'd be torn. It's completely unneccessary, but foreskins are nasty looking.

We tried breast, and it didn't work out. Now, all I can say is, back off frigging La Leche league cultists, you irritate me to death. I'm already paying buttloads for formula and having to carry an extra bag for long trips, so stop acting like we're the worst people in the world. Of course, we've been sleeping through the night since 8 weeks, so I can forgive a bit.

Family leave? This country sucks, big surprise.

And you know how insecure I am about my stroller, and yet I keep coming back for more details about your phase two metro-dad-sexual fetish for European imports. As I mentioned before, even my single, childless, twenty-something coworkers know what a Bugaboo is, which is really, really, wrong.

Here's the thing, I love kids, I have one of my own and hope to have more. But as a woman, and I am totally not kidding here, there are issues with having this many kids. Your uterus, literally, can FALL out. I have heard about this happening to a woman with 6 kids, I can't imagine what happens if you have 16. Also, how much folding back of her tummy skin does she have to do before she puts on a piar of pants? You can strech your body into full pregnancy 16 times without some damage being done...

ugggg...

it boggles the mind.

[and suddenly a strange sense of relief overcomes him, as he realizes he only has to worry about foreskins. -ed.]

paul from the big T.dot is right, we have an organics disposal garbage system up here in Canada so disposible is fantastic. We do alternate from 7th generation and huggies-there is that 'which one doesn't leak and which is chemical free?'thing we keep trying to wrestle with.
circumcision - well went on line 2.5yrs ago - big mistake! so he is au natural, just like the rest of his euro family.
breast vs formula, well my milk never really came in so it was formula for the little guy. you can't lose sleep over that one, kids gotts be nourished.
family leave - same as paul. longer would be great - i'm not into daycare, we keep it in the family [off to grandmas house by day].
the size? for the first time in my life i'd have to say .....compact is essential, bugga boos don't fit in mini's. but the volo does, and we love love the minimal volo. love it, he's been in it since 7.5 months, we had a graco system before that but it was too bulky so we gave it to grandma. besides we weren't able to get the bugaboo when he was born and i'm not sure that i'd buy it today, i'm tiny so its big for me.

1.Disposable - From T.O. so it's not an issue. We compost.
2.Glad I had a girl and didn't have to deal with it. Told my DH to make the decision if we had a boy. In Ontario, since it's not medically required, you have to pay for it.
3. Breast all the way.
4. Family leave here is good. We can split a full year between the parents at 55% of your salary (capped at a max of $413/week). It makes the money a bit tight for the year but I think it benefits the child. I feel really badly for all of you in the States who get a couple of weeks at most...I wasn't even thinking about work 6 weeks after giving birth!
5. Stroller insecurity is something I struggle with daily. I had a EuroGraco which SUCKED!!!! I was glad to be rid of it. The jogger I replaced it with gives Munchkin a smooth ride but it's HUGE! I have a Silver Cross Micro for those quick trips and for public transit but I really, truly, with every fibre of my being, want a Bugaboo or a Buzz. Maybe for Kid #2...

1. Disposable. No time to do that much laundry, and that would take resources, too.
2. Have a girl. But for a boy, no. Unnecessary.
3. Only breast.
4. Up to 2,5 years, then optional part-time until kid is 6.
5. We're happy with our Hartan Racer XLS and Eddie Bauer Sport.

Cloth all the way! We live in the boonies (told you I'm a hick) and it's an hour's drive to WalMart. We have to haul our own garbage and I'm lazy. Have you smelled 2 weeks of disposables?

The Monster is intact, just didn't see a point in snipping bits. 80% of boys here are intact so the whole "looking like everyone else" excuse is nil.

The boob is nice if you can make it work, and I strongly suggest everyone try. But hey, sometimes it just won't work out.

Like all other Canadians, I say Family Leave is awesome. I pity my US friends who go back to work at 6 weeks.
There are people who miss out. Namely, if you have not had 400 hours of work in the past year, if you are self employed or if you work for a direct family member.

I have no concerns about the size of my strollers. Surely, with 6 of them I should have one available for any opportunity.

Oh, wait. I forgot. That wasn't nearly controversial enough:
I use cloth and all of you people make me sick polluting the environment with your wasteful plastic bags of poo! How dare you mutilate your poor boy's genitals? Formula is poison foisted on an unsuspecting public! What kind of monster mother would put their newborn in daycare while they went off and worked to afford stupid vacations? *

And my strollers are still nicer than yours.

*I don't believe any of this. Do whatever the hell you want.

cloth vs. disposable? both. cloth at home and disposies at daycare.

circ? yup. and he slept right through.. hardly the traumatic event everyone told us it would be.

breast vs formula? both. breastfed for 6 months, then had to switch to formula when i went back to work.

family leave? more please! my work gave me 6 weeks paid, but thankfully i work for a cool boss who let me work from home most of the time until my boy was 6 months old.

stroller? i am perfectly happy with my graco quattro tour. it has to be upside down to fit in my trunk, but it works.

We'll use disposables. They are incinerated as bio-fuel here (in Norway) and create energy.

We will have a boy in January and circumcision is a non-issue for us.

There is a big push for breast in this country, so I suppose that will be it unless I can't feed that way. Whoever said "baby has to be nourished" really got the point.

Poor US sods: We get 1 year off with 80% pay! I take 7 months, hubby takes 5 months. And to someone who doubted whether everyone gets the benefits: Yes, as long as you've had paid work for 6 out of the last 10 months before birth. The state pays up to a salary limit of app USD 45 000 per year, if you earn more than that you depend on your employer to top up. Most big employers do, there is a lot of social pressure to do so. And after one year you apply for kindergarden and hope to get a place there... Our new socialistic government is boosting construction of new kindergardens and has introduced a max price of app USD 350 per month. That is not expensive when you consider the cost levels of Norway...

As for strollers, we just got out today and bought a Quinny Speedi SX. I read all the postings about strollers and concluded that the cons against Quinny Buzz have sort of been dealt with with the Speedi - the front wheel is large and inflated and doesn't squeak, there is a storage space underneath and it folds small enough to fit into hubby's convertible boot, even with the roof down if you take off the wheels! OK, with a January baby that is not of immediate concern to us, really.

Butting in as a mom who loves high-end strollers, like BebeConfort (Loola), Quinny (Zapp and Freestyle 4 XL). The Cabrio carseat is NOT approved for US use. Just an FYI
A :)

[True, momof, true. But considering that the EU carseat safety regulations are more expansive than the US ones--with the exception of LATCH/ISOFIX mandates, which only hit the EU recently--it was a choice I felt comfortable making. -ed.]