cookie, the simple description of elimination communication is that you try to be aware of signs that your baby needs the toilet and take them when they need it so that they retain awareness of rather than learning to ignore it and then having to retrain after being trained to use a nappy for however many years. Wikipedia gives a longer description: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elimination_communication It's not for everyone but it suits us.
Magpie, yes I do think you can have "half a routine" in that you don't have to go to either the extreme of a very rigid inflexible routine or no routine whatsoever (though either is fine if that's what you want). Without wishing to sound hippyish, I would describe our routine as more of a rhythm to the day than a timetable in the same way that you probably routinely get up and go to bed and eat three meals a day etc in a similar pattern and with roughly similar timings but not exact timings and with variation according to what you are doing ona given day.
PS, Magpie was it you who was worried about birth due to a traumatic witnessing of a sibling's birth as a child? If so, did you mention it to your MW and was she helpful? (And if it wasn't you, please excuse me - I'm not great at tying things to names.)
cookie, no your house doesn't automatically end up looking like a day nursery. Currently our living room floor has seven books, a 70's fisher price xylophone and a few letter cards on it. Plus two of those rattan style boxes are in front of the expedit unit as they've been pulled out for toy access - bottom shelf is toys in those boxes, next shelf is DD2 books, next is DD1 books (in theory out of reach of DD2 but she can do impressive acrobatics to reach them!) and then the top row is mainly boxed board games and the like which either need adult supervision or to be done on a table out of reach of DD2. There's no room here for plastic toys in the hallway as it's full of all our junk. The kitchen has a basket of outdoor toys, a basket of stuff for DD2 to play with in the high chair, a shelf for home-ed stuff and the play doh is on the top of the kitchen cupboards. Aside from that there are toys in the children's bedroom, a handful of bathroom toys and a playpen in our room (which was acquired when I found out I was pregnant so that DD2 could be contained to play while I lay down to rest). I think the key to not having a house overrun with plastic toys is to be vigilant at decluttering and not keep everything you are given but I sense that you are not the kind of person to keep things just because someone gave them to you so doubt you will have a problem with that.
We have some relative who are hoarders and have a three year old and their house is seriously an explosion of electronic plastic toys. You sit in the living room on your own and toys keep going off all the time and some do not even have an off switch. I felt like I was in some kind of bizarre creepy toys nightmare.
Hot, I would probably say, "Why don't we make a list of pros/cons of each job" and then it means you're not giving a skewed one sided view but you still get to give/discuss your thoughts on it.
LOL at stuff out of skips Magpie - our Moses basket really did come out of a skip. 