when we first found out i was pregnant, we had to decide if we wanted to stay here or move back to the states for a more comfortable, "normal" life with her. we knew it would be a challenge, but we decided to stay here and trade easy for awesome. now that we're a few months into this adventure, i've been thinking about all the ways that we do things differently here.
the thing that really got me thinking about this is how we get diapers. originally we wanted to cloth diaper. unlike most stj residents, we do have our own washer and dryer in our apartment (well, on the patio, but still...) however it doesn't have hot water connected to it. we decided to go with disposables for the first few weeks/months until we got the hang of parenthood in general and then switch to cloth, but i'm still on the fence because of the extra effort to do cold water. in the meantime, we have to order diapers online from walmart.com far enough in advance that we don't run out. i ordered some last week and they finally arrived yesterday, but we receive our mail at a place called connections that has a community PO box. because this is an island and you can do whatever the hell you want here, connections is closed today. kitten only has enough diapers for the rest of today and connections is also closed tomorrow! the grocery store here doesn't carry newborn or size 1 diapers and no pampers, just huggies, which kitten blows out of every time she poops. they sell small packs of diapers at about twice as much as they cost at walmart.
if we lived in the real world, we could just run out to any 24 hour
kroger, walmart, walgreens, whatever any time of the day or night and get her anything we need. here, the pharmacy closes at 6:30 and the grocery store at 9, so if you need anything at night you're SOL. before she was born, i made sure to stock up on anything we might need just in case, but now that she's getting older we need to stay ahead of her changing needs. she could be teething soon, so i'll have to be prepared for that, for example.
another unique thing about life here is that we only own one car and it's really all we need. colby usually walks to work, and if we need anything in town, i just put kitten in the ergo and walk. it would take me longer and be more of a hassle to put her in the car seat, drive to cruz bay, find a parking spot, take her out of the car seat, etc. etc. instead i pop her in the ergo and we're there in 5 minutes. we can get to the clinic in 10 minutes tops! any time we feel like it, we can walk up to the resort to see colby at work, and he can come home to see us for lunch every day. we don't own one of those car seats with the carrier part that comes out because we can wear her everywhere so she just has the cheapest basic car seat we could find and she's been in the car maybe 5 times total. we also don't own a stroller. the terrain here is not very stroller friendly, and again it's so much easier to wear her.
as she gets older i'll have to remember to post about the different island challenges. for example, i haven't yet figured out how to bathe a toddler without a bath tub!
OK, so this is going to come totally out of left field, but I followed a link to your blog from BHB, and have just been reading back a bit (obviously) since I was intrigued by your experiences. We're also raising our kid in a very non-traditional environment (on a ship of the coast of West Africa), and I can totally relate to so much of what you're talking about in this post! As far as the bathing goes ... do they sell big plastic tubs in the markets there? We got one for a couple bucks, and Zoe will use it as a bathtub until she's old enough to start showering. Might be an option for you guys? :)
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