diaper shipment

If you are a faithful reader of this blog you will already know that I tend to focus on the good things about our life here in the Philippines. Contrary to what you read on here, it's not all tropical beaches and afternoons poolside. The beach trips are few and far between and while at the pool we are listening to the constant roar of construction sites, horns honking, parking garage bells, all while we smell either the diesel exhaust or the sewer. We have gotten used to this "background noise" in Makati. Our noses are still offended but if we didn't learn to live with it we'd be holed up in our condo all day every day and that's no way to live life. There are plenty of things in this country that we have created "filters" for. Justin and I joke about how putting up filters is the only way to live life in this country. The only way we have been able to truly come to like (dare I say love) it here in Manila. Buying baby necessities in this country is one thing that generally needs a filter and low expectations.

The week or two ago I realized we had finally gone through the supply of diapers we had shipped here after Arabella's birth. We used most of the size four diapers for Adelaide so I am pretty pleased that we got to 10.5 months with Bella before needing to buy diapers again. A box of U.S. imported diapers (200 count Huggies) is about $75 here (atrocious). I ordered through CVS Pampers for much cheaper. While waiting for the diapers to arrive in the mail I had to get some local diapers. The brand name is still Huggies and Pampers but they are not the same diapers. If I were executives at either company I'd be ashamed to put my name on these cheap, poor quality version of the originals. To obtain these local diapers I had to go to the atm to get cash, then choose to sit in traffic for 30 minutes and leave the girls at home or send my driver to pick them up. Not knowing the size she'd need I just let Garry wing it and buy big. I would have given anything to be in the States so I could plop the girls in their car seats and just drive to Target and pick up a pack of good quality diapers at a reasonable price with my debit card. No third party driver would have been needed. Filters, filters, filters.

No more crummy rough diapers for my baby! CVS.com is amazing and the diapers arrived very fast! I think Bella knew the boxes were for her. (I promise my eldest daughter owns clothing).