I think it’s fairly common for programmers to build applications to meet a personal need. When I found out I was pregnant with our third child this past May I didn’t intend to spend my pregnancy writing a Sinatra application for naming babies, but I’ve had so much fun and have really grown as a programmer by doing so.

At the beginning of the pregnancy I was using a google spreadsheet to create a list of name ideas for the baby that friends and family could add suggestions to. You can view it here. It worked ok for a couple of weeks until I realized it would be nice if people could add comments and share their opinions about each name. I also thought it would be better if people could rate each name so I could see the general popularity of the individual names. I could not find an application that already offered this service in a simple, straightforward way.

For anyone that’s ever had the experience of expecting a baby, they’ve gone through the process of trying to come up with names, receiving lots input from friends and family, and probably felt overwhelmed at trying to keep track of all the great (and not so great) ideas. Thus, I figured this must be a solved problem, yet, I couldn’t find a nice, simple solution for it. Alas, NamingTogether.com was born!

From the start I wanted this to be incredibly simple; the expectant mother or couple goes through a very minimal signup process; with just a few graces of your fingers across the keyboard you’re ready to go with your own name list and a unique link to provide to anyone that you want input from. I wanted the user’s friends and family to be able to add name ideas, leave comments, and rate names without having to login to the site or go through any nonsense.

Simple interface for adding and rating names

I decided to use Sinatra for this application. Previously, I had only coded a few small projects in Ruby and had not learned Rails or Sinatra yet. I figured that since the application was going to be rather small and succinct, Sinatra would be a good fit. As Adam and I delved deeper into the development process we discovered that using Rails would have made our lives a lot easier, but we stuck with Sinatra nonetheless. We’ll be working on a really thorough post about the development process very soon, and we’ll cover the challenges we faced using Sinatra on this project.

I spent the first several weeks learning Sinatra and DataMapper and writing some very basic functionality, and when my demands for the application far outgrew my knowledge-base I turned to Adam for assistance. He really helped to pull the application together. He hadn’t played with Sinatra before either, so he got to learn something new by working on Naming Together.

Being married to a programmer certainly has its benefits; after our two kids are put to bed in the evening, we get to sit down together on the couch with our laptops and hack away at things together. Adam has always been a great teacher, so the craftsman and apprentice relationship works out really well for us. I have great memories of late night programming sessions together during the last several months.

This experience has enlightened me on the process of working with other people on a project, creating tickets, closing tickets, and holding myself accountable to get things done when I commit to them. I also have a more thorough understanding of git, and even got to use Heroku for this project.  I would not have gained this level of understanding in Ruby and Sinatra without working on an application that truly benefited me in some way.

As a stay at home mom to two young children, at the end of the day, I often have very little energy and motivation to hack away at random projects or to push myself to learn something new. And since I don’t program professionally, I don’t get that working experience that really helps new programmers to become great programmers. Working on this application was what pushed me to keep learning new things and to become a better programmer. I was so excited for the kids to fall asleep each night just so I could implement some new functionality, or look at Adam’s commits from the night before to make sure I understood what he had implemented.

Choosing a name for the application was also a pretty fun process. I had a textmate doc filled with random words, phrases or ideas that came to me throughout the process of writing this application. One day as I was staring blankly at the document, feeling rather hopeless about coming up with the perfect name, I asked myself for the hundredth time, “What is this application really about, at its core?” All of a sudden, the name just dawned on me as I answered, “It’s about naming our babies, together.”

After months of evening coding sessions, the application is now live and ready to be hammered on. I’ve got some open issues that we’re going to be working on soon, like pagination, options for sorting names, option for parents to veto names altogether, etc. I would love feedback about the application, as this is going to be something that I’m going to maintain and support, even after a name is decided for our own baby bundle, due this December.

Cloth diapering was something I never dreamed I would be doing. In fact, 10 years ago I would have been only a mere 17 years old and I was probably spending most of my energy trying to graduate high school a year early and applying to colleges that I thought would define my role as a future writer. But alas, here I am, 27 and writing about using cloth diapers for my children. But it’s worth writing about. It’s worth doing. Why? Well, because it actually makes a difference, and a big one.

Just before my son was born in February, I told various friends and family members that I planned on starting to use cloth diapers. I hadn’t done that with my daughter who was a year and a half old at the time, simply because the thought had never occurred to me. (The thought of doing natural childbirth with my first never occurred to me either, but we’ll save the natural childbirth story for another article). People told me that I was out of my mind. How could I have the time to use cloth diapers when I would already be dealing with the added stress of having TWO children? But their refusal to accept that it was possible didn’t sway my determination to try cloth.

I also received many nonchalant comments about how I must be doing cloth diapering because it was cheaper, rudely implying that I couldn’t afford the price for the convenience of disposables. Those people seemed to feel bad for me. But I wrote off their ignorance as well and I’m glad that I persevered.

I bought my first supply of cloth diapers at Butterfly Baby in Portland, Maine, just a couple of weeks before Sébastien was born. The store itself felt great to be in. The carefully hung clothes on the racks were organic. The toys were handmade of wood. The owner was giving me advice on all of the different options for diapering while her 9 month old daughter crawled through the store. Her giggles filled the small space with warmth and cheer. The experience of cloth was just beginning and it felt right. It felt… natural.

It’s not actually impossible to use cloth diapers. In fact, it’s not even weird. It’s not that much work. It’s not gross. It doesn’t turn you into a vegan if you love meat, or a tofu lover if you already have a livid hatred for the weird boingy cube of GROSS. It might start you down a path of social and environmental consciousness. It might open doors to ideas like attachment parenting, breastfeeding, making your own baby food, Montessori education or home based education. I say this because using cloth tends to go hand in hand with the knack for finding ways to do small things that make a difference to your family. But I promise that if you want to try cloth diapering it won’t turn you into something that you’re already not. People might think you’re a dirty hippy, but that won’t mean that you are one!

Contrary to what others might claim using cloth diapers is not much cheaper than using disposables. I knew before getting into this that I would be paying a premium for quality prefolds and covers and that I would be buying new rounds of supplies as my child outgrew each size range. I pay anywhere from $2-4 for each prefold and $12-30 for a single diaper cover. I buy a high quality detergent free of chemicals and dyes to wash the diapers with, and I pay to use hot water to do all of the washing to keep them free of stains.

Regardless of the cost though, you’ll feel good about your choice. The first time I felt really good for using cloth diapers was when I took my son to his 2 week checkup at his pediatrician’s office. When his doctor went to examine him, he noticed that Sébastien was wearing a cloth diaper. He halted, and a bit bemusedly exclaimed, “Wow, you are using cloth diapers! Thank you for being so responsible. I’ve worked here for 2 years and I have seen thousands of patients; I’ve never seen one of them using cloth diapers.” I was surprised at this revelation. This was a pediatrician. Someone that sees babies and lots of them every day. Surely cloth diapering couldn’t be that uncommon?

Although there is definitely a solid community of cloth diapering families, we are a stark minority. In our society I think we tend to fall in love with things that are void of emotion and value: from television and other meaningless forms of entertainment, to frozen dinners and prepared foods, and to weird chemically filled plastic diapers. We don’t make decisions that are good for us. Instead we make decisions that are easy and we don’t spend much time thinking about our decisions beforehand.

There are benefits to cloth that are unmatched by the disposable experience. The best part of cloth diapering is the feeling I get each time I put Sébastien in them. The process itself of diapering feels more sacred and thoughtful. I feel as though I am dressing him in garments that are loving, and safe and comfortable. And when I do use a disposable for those last minute out the door crunches I know there is a difference. I know that when I’m pulling this rough and scratchy material across his new little belly and wedging it between his plump baby thighs that he knows the difference in comfort. To Sébastien, it matters; so I do it.

And of course, there is the environmental aspect. No rally for the cloth diaper could  be complete without the reminder of how awful disposables are for the earth and thus for the survival chances of mankind. Think about how many times you change a child’s diaper in just one day. How about a week? Over 27 BILLION diapers are thrown out annually just in the United States. And then it takes hundreds and hundreds of years for the disposable diaper to decompose in the landfill. And while it’s decomposing in a happy little rot hill, bacteria is growing within the feces, which then rots into the soil, and can seep into water supplies. In addition, 3.5 billion gallons of oil are used to create disposable diapers each year. The waste associated with the convenience of the disposable is obnoxious. The environmental negatives against using cloth (water supply for cleaning, and the cotton grown to produce the diaper) is far less impactful on our precious earth. And no I’m not a hippie. Why is it that whenever anyone sticks up for the earth that we are deemed to be a crazy hippie? Can’t we stick up for the soil we live on and regard it as sacred without being looney as well? It makes a difference to the earth. Which makes a difference to you. So do it.

If you are thinking about using cloth diapers, please go forth and embrace it. Get rid of all of the “convenient” disposable in the house so you don’t fall back on them. Give it a go. Prefolds with covers are really the easiest option for cloth diapering. The soft, unbleached indian prefolds are great. And the Thirsties covers work great, as do the Eco fleece and wool covers. Just throw the wet and soiled prefold into a dry bucket and wash them all together every couple of days. Run them through a hot rinse cycle with no soap. Then run them through a hot wash cycle with just a little bit of detergent. Dry in the dryer or out in the sun for that omg I’m in heaven scent and continue the cycle. The covers only need to be washed every few days unless they were soiled with poop! Once you get into a rhythm with the process, you’ll begin to notice the wonderment of caring for your baby in the most natural and conscious way that you can! So do it!

Soon enough your pudgy lump of baby love will be buying prom dresses and demanding money for friday night movies with their friends. While they are still in diapers you can make this time meaningful and sacred. Take that extra time to think about their soft skin. Cherish the feeling of doing something natural for your child as you wrap a soft unbleached and all natural indian prefold over their squishy bottom. Look into their deep eyes and say you love them, in oh so many ways.

Sébastien in his cloth diaper