Exactly one year ago today my son was born.
To say he changed my life is the understatement of the century.
He is the best thing that has ever happened to me.
This has been the best and most challenging year of my life. I've grown so much and learned a lot about myself. When I think about this year in it's totality I can feel the tears well in my eyes. I'm overwhelmed in every way a person can be.
I love my son so much. He is amazing!
Happy first birthday my beautiful baby boy! You have brought us more joy, excitement and love than we could ever have imagined! You are God's greatest gift to your parents and we love you more than words could ever say. Grow strong son, seek God, and always remember that we named you Praise, beloved. Happy birthday Judah :-)
Wednesday, August 25, 2010
Thursday, August 12, 2010
Crunchy, granola, hippie- whatever I'll outlive you all!
What if I told you that you were doing something everyday that is going to kill you. What if I could promise that you can do something very small to save your life. Would you do it? Sadly most people won't.
It boggles my mind how absolutely ignorant people are. It never ceases to amaze me. I get called names like "crunchy" "granola" "hippie" pretty frequently because I make lifestyle choices that are not only good for the planet but are health and will in fact make me live longer and better.
Our culture of fast and convenient is killing us. Not only the toll that stress is placing on our bodies but the products that we choose to indulge in daily. We are surrounded by death and passively sit by doing nothing as it steals out very lives away.
The funny thing is that I live much better than most people and yet I am probably more efficient than most too. There are very simple things you can do that will drastically change your life for the better. Not only for your health, the planet but for your wallet too.
Cleaning for example. I can clean my entire house using only naturally occurring substances. Vinegar, baking soda, water and on occasion tea tree essential oil. Distilled vinegar is a powerful cleaning agent and extremely effective at killing bacteria. Tea tree oil is a natural anti viral anti bacterial agent as well. Instead of polluting my home, body and the world with Clorox and other nasty chemicals I get my entire home sparkling clean with vinegar. The smell? I add a bit of lemon juice to my mixture and viola it's gone.
Since switching to natural cleaners my asthma has almost disappeared. I'm not having major allergenic episodes. Vacuuming doesn't bother me any more. And better yet I don't have to worry about my kid coming into contact with toxic substances and could poison him and do cause cancer.
A simple change that has saved us a lot of money and me my health.
Cloth diapers. EWWW! That's so gross!! At least that's what I'm told. Ummm you think that's nasty? Have you ever seen the mountain of diaper you create by using disposables that will never degrade. That's what is truly disgusting.
Cloth diapering has saved us an estimated cost of close to $2000 this year alone. My son has NEVER had diaper rash. I can rest well knowing that though he spends 24 hours a day in a diaper 7 days a week he is not being exposed to harsh chemicals and carcinogens. Yes, disposables diapers have TOXIC chemicals in that that no child should be exposed to. You know something else? It's easy. I wash diapers maybe twice a week. When it's poopy I rinse it in the toilet with my sprayer and flush. Done and done. Our diapers are air dried and sanitized in our high efficiency washer. It's fantastic and great for my son. But still people can't get over the convenience of disposables or the ick factor.
Here's another way to look at it: is cancer convenient? Obviously not. Yet the things we choose to expose ourselves to are leading us down a preventable path toward illness and death. Choosing convenience now means suffering later.
The products that we constantly put on our bodies are full of toxic chemicals that are KNOWN to be killers. We rub these nasty things on our skin where they are directly absorbed into our blood. We do this because we are told they will make us "pretty" "younger" "sexy." This is insanity. I got many disapproving grunts from friends and families when I announced that my son will not be doused in harmful chemicals. The damage done to my body is done but I will not allow it to continue into the next generation because they are convenient and smell good. Want proof? Visit : www.cosmeticsdatabase.com and look up your products for yourself. Prepare to be horrified.
It's the same thing with food. Choosing to eat organic and vegetarian may seem inconvenient (it's not) and expensive (only slightly more) but in the end I am much healthier because of it. I am not putting GMOs in my body. I am saying no to hormone injected, corn fed, meat. I refuse to eat an animal that spent it's life unable to move and never saw light. I refuse to eat something that was coated in feces. Yet millions of Americans knowingly choose to. It's disgusting. The price I pay upfront for healthy whole foods will be more than worth it when I have far fewer doctor bills as I age.
What's worse is the machismo that goes with. "A real man eats meat." What a load of horse shit! A real man takes care of his body and his family. A real man is manly enough to not care what others think. Not 50 years ago meat was served on Sundays for one meal now we eat it 3 times a day everyday. That is NOT healthy.
Wake up people! We are killing ourselves for convenience. We are sitting back while our lives are being stolen from us. Living simply is not foolish. It is not something to be mocked. It is life saving. We don't need more drugs to save us, we need to go back to basics.
I have a feeling this will be the first of my many "green" rants :-)
It boggles my mind how absolutely ignorant people are. It never ceases to amaze me. I get called names like "crunchy" "granola" "hippie" pretty frequently because I make lifestyle choices that are not only good for the planet but are health and will in fact make me live longer and better.
Our culture of fast and convenient is killing us. Not only the toll that stress is placing on our bodies but the products that we choose to indulge in daily. We are surrounded by death and passively sit by doing nothing as it steals out very lives away.
The funny thing is that I live much better than most people and yet I am probably more efficient than most too. There are very simple things you can do that will drastically change your life for the better. Not only for your health, the planet but for your wallet too.
Cleaning for example. I can clean my entire house using only naturally occurring substances. Vinegar, baking soda, water and on occasion tea tree essential oil. Distilled vinegar is a powerful cleaning agent and extremely effective at killing bacteria. Tea tree oil is a natural anti viral anti bacterial agent as well. Instead of polluting my home, body and the world with Clorox and other nasty chemicals I get my entire home sparkling clean with vinegar. The smell? I add a bit of lemon juice to my mixture and viola it's gone.
Since switching to natural cleaners my asthma has almost disappeared. I'm not having major allergenic episodes. Vacuuming doesn't bother me any more. And better yet I don't have to worry about my kid coming into contact with toxic substances and could poison him and do cause cancer.
A simple change that has saved us a lot of money and me my health.
Cloth diapers. EWWW! That's so gross!! At least that's what I'm told. Ummm you think that's nasty? Have you ever seen the mountain of diaper you create by using disposables that will never degrade. That's what is truly disgusting.
Cloth diapering has saved us an estimated cost of close to $2000 this year alone. My son has NEVER had diaper rash. I can rest well knowing that though he spends 24 hours a day in a diaper 7 days a week he is not being exposed to harsh chemicals and carcinogens. Yes, disposables diapers have TOXIC chemicals in that that no child should be exposed to. You know something else? It's easy. I wash diapers maybe twice a week. When it's poopy I rinse it in the toilet with my sprayer and flush. Done and done. Our diapers are air dried and sanitized in our high efficiency washer. It's fantastic and great for my son. But still people can't get over the convenience of disposables or the ick factor.
Here's another way to look at it: is cancer convenient? Obviously not. Yet the things we choose to expose ourselves to are leading us down a preventable path toward illness and death. Choosing convenience now means suffering later.
The products that we constantly put on our bodies are full of toxic chemicals that are KNOWN to be killers. We rub these nasty things on our skin where they are directly absorbed into our blood. We do this because we are told they will make us "pretty" "younger" "sexy." This is insanity. I got many disapproving grunts from friends and families when I announced that my son will not be doused in harmful chemicals. The damage done to my body is done but I will not allow it to continue into the next generation because they are convenient and smell good. Want proof? Visit : www.cosmeticsdatabase.com and look up your products for yourself. Prepare to be horrified.
It's the same thing with food. Choosing to eat organic and vegetarian may seem inconvenient (it's not) and expensive (only slightly more) but in the end I am much healthier because of it. I am not putting GMOs in my body. I am saying no to hormone injected, corn fed, meat. I refuse to eat an animal that spent it's life unable to move and never saw light. I refuse to eat something that was coated in feces. Yet millions of Americans knowingly choose to. It's disgusting. The price I pay upfront for healthy whole foods will be more than worth it when I have far fewer doctor bills as I age.
What's worse is the machismo that goes with. "A real man eats meat." What a load of horse shit! A real man takes care of his body and his family. A real man is manly enough to not care what others think. Not 50 years ago meat was served on Sundays for one meal now we eat it 3 times a day everyday. That is NOT healthy.
Wake up people! We are killing ourselves for convenience. We are sitting back while our lives are being stolen from us. Living simply is not foolish. It is not something to be mocked. It is life saving. We don't need more drugs to save us, we need to go back to basics.
I have a feeling this will be the first of my many "green" rants :-)
Wednesday, August 4, 2010
Family Expansion
My little baby boy will be one year old in 3 weeks. I cannot believe how fast this year has gone. I've learned so much and grown tremendously. I've been stretched to my limits and found I can stretch even farther. Everyday I my heart grows bigger in size. I fill maxed out on love but every morning there's more in me. Being a mommy has taught me more in one year than all my years of education, marriage and life combined. I'm so amazed by my son.
Lately I've been pondering the future again. It seems life has finally calmed down, or rather I've gained enough balance now, enough to think beyond today. Specifically about family expansion. It seems soon but realistically it takes 10 months to bake a baby and probably several before it to even conceive so I'm not a head of the game at all in thinking of it now. I don't feel as though I'm rushing into anything either (note: we are NOT trying yet).
Jeff and I both want more children. We want a fairly large family. We both love kids and the fulfillment they bring to our lives. We know many families with 4+ kids and admire then tremendously. They have so much love and joy. And even if they don't always have the material things in life, they are happy and delightful. It's such a blessing to see. For us, we would like to adopt and potentially foster kids as well as having our own. To us life is not about having stuff, it's about making a difference and living for Christ.
In the more selfish aspects of it, I would like to be done bearing kids before I'm 30. I would also like to go to nursing school eventually, though that is off the table for the time being.
The tricky part of all this is figuring out the "ideal" age gap between kids. I've heard 2 years is great, most experts say 3 years is better, most families think that what ever age gap they have is the best one. The reasons are usually anecdotal: i.e. my sis and I are 18 months apart and are super close or my brother and I are 18 months apart and hate each other... so I can't put much stock in any of it.
And even as I write this I have to laugh at myself. "Ideal" and "plans" are very funny concepts to a God-fearing woman. Ultimately it comes down to the Father's will and discerning it. I'm just not confident on something this big as I have a lot of reasons to be fearful about the outcomes.
The biggest issue we have is Jeff's busy season at work. Realistically if I want any support and help from my husband I cannot have a kid from January-mid April. He works insane hours and I would be mostly alone with a toddler and newborn. Well, that's not entirely true. I'm sure I'd have support from the people who love me, it's still a thought in my mind though.
Then there's the issue of the gap as I said before. My mom tells me that 19 months apart was brutal and to steer clear (as have most moms I've talked to) but what about 21 months apart? Or 26? Do those 5 months make a big difference? How much so? And how would I know since Judah is an individual after all. Oy vey!
Summer time pregnancy also sucked big time. I would love to avoid it if at all possible the next time around. I would love a April/May or September/October baby but the window of opportunity for that is slim and it seems silly to have preferences like that anyway. Regardless of when it does happen I would be thrilled. But this goes back to the gap issue again (21 month old Judah vs 26 month old Judah, hmmmm).
To a lesser extent there is my recurring loneliness that pops up. I love being a mommy more than anything but being the only mommy in my immediate peer group is tough and lonely at times. I have great mommy friends, but none of my super close friends are near that point yet. I don't want to base my life on other people but honestly it's difficult not to. I would love a friend to take our kids to the park with. I would love someone to talk to about all my baby stuff that wouldn't glaze over after 5 minutes. I LOVE my single/engaged/married friends soo much and most of you are great about being supportive, I'm thankful for that. It would just be nice to have someone fully in the boat too. A nice thought but again, I'm not going to stop living my life so ya'll can catch up ;-)
Bottom line is I need to quit analyzing everything and trust that God will show us when. Jeff is already itching for another baby (he LOVES being a father), so really it's me that is hesitant. Sigh. We shall see. Maybe the Lord will be gracious to me and just give me an "oops" baby. I love surprises...
Note to my BFF: Your wedding date is also a factor my dear. Like I've said I don't want to be a whale in your pictures or in labor on your day. It's too important to risk missing. Love ya! No pressure though. I'm sure it will all work out :-)
Lately I've been pondering the future again. It seems life has finally calmed down, or rather I've gained enough balance now, enough to think beyond today. Specifically about family expansion. It seems soon but realistically it takes 10 months to bake a baby and probably several before it to even conceive so I'm not a head of the game at all in thinking of it now. I don't feel as though I'm rushing into anything either (note: we are NOT trying yet).
Jeff and I both want more children. We want a fairly large family. We both love kids and the fulfillment they bring to our lives. We know many families with 4+ kids and admire then tremendously. They have so much love and joy. And even if they don't always have the material things in life, they are happy and delightful. It's such a blessing to see. For us, we would like to adopt and potentially foster kids as well as having our own. To us life is not about having stuff, it's about making a difference and living for Christ.
In the more selfish aspects of it, I would like to be done bearing kids before I'm 30. I would also like to go to nursing school eventually, though that is off the table for the time being.
The tricky part of all this is figuring out the "ideal" age gap between kids. I've heard 2 years is great, most experts say 3 years is better, most families think that what ever age gap they have is the best one. The reasons are usually anecdotal: i.e. my sis and I are 18 months apart and are super close or my brother and I are 18 months apart and hate each other... so I can't put much stock in any of it.
And even as I write this I have to laugh at myself. "Ideal" and "plans" are very funny concepts to a God-fearing woman. Ultimately it comes down to the Father's will and discerning it. I'm just not confident on something this big as I have a lot of reasons to be fearful about the outcomes.
The biggest issue we have is Jeff's busy season at work. Realistically if I want any support and help from my husband I cannot have a kid from January-mid April. He works insane hours and I would be mostly alone with a toddler and newborn. Well, that's not entirely true. I'm sure I'd have support from the people who love me, it's still a thought in my mind though.
Then there's the issue of the gap as I said before. My mom tells me that 19 months apart was brutal and to steer clear (as have most moms I've talked to) but what about 21 months apart? Or 26? Do those 5 months make a big difference? How much so? And how would I know since Judah is an individual after all. Oy vey!
Summer time pregnancy also sucked big time. I would love to avoid it if at all possible the next time around. I would love a April/May or September/October baby but the window of opportunity for that is slim and it seems silly to have preferences like that anyway. Regardless of when it does happen I would be thrilled. But this goes back to the gap issue again (21 month old Judah vs 26 month old Judah, hmmmm).
To a lesser extent there is my recurring loneliness that pops up. I love being a mommy more than anything but being the only mommy in my immediate peer group is tough and lonely at times. I have great mommy friends, but none of my super close friends are near that point yet. I don't want to base my life on other people but honestly it's difficult not to. I would love a friend to take our kids to the park with. I would love someone to talk to about all my baby stuff that wouldn't glaze over after 5 minutes. I LOVE my single/engaged/married friends soo much and most of you are great about being supportive, I'm thankful for that. It would just be nice to have someone fully in the boat too. A nice thought but again, I'm not going to stop living my life so ya'll can catch up ;-)
Bottom line is I need to quit analyzing everything and trust that God will show us when. Jeff is already itching for another baby (he LOVES being a father), so really it's me that is hesitant. Sigh. We shall see. Maybe the Lord will be gracious to me and just give me an "oops" baby. I love surprises...
Note to my BFF: Your wedding date is also a factor my dear. Like I've said I don't want to be a whale in your pictures or in labor on your day. It's too important to risk missing. Love ya! No pressure though. I'm sure it will all work out :-)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)