I'm kinda crunchy

What's crunchy? The best response I've read to this is "You know, granola." That kind of sums it up.....granola's natural right? People aren't hippies anymore, they're crunchy and I would have never imagined that I would be traveling down this road.

I realized it when Victoria was little. Then it seemed to have maybe gone away a bit but then there was Emily and well....it's back. LOL! On my birth board people really get irritated when others are all proud of themselves for breastfeedind, making baby food, baby wearing, not vaccinating....etc., etc. It's a harder road though and you get judged more so it's good to be confident of it....scratch that....it's good to be confident of all your choices all ways not matter what you choose. If you are confident, if it weighs on you hearing other people talke about their choices, I'm going to go with you are thinking you should have made different choices. That's not the direction I meant to go.....back on topic...crunch, crunch.

When Victoria was born I had a TON of diapers! Pampers and Huggies N-3. I looked at charts to see the average size baby, I looked up the average amount of diapers babies go through, and I started buying boxes of diapers....so did my Mom. We were given the advice to start buying diapers as soon as we found out we were pregnant. It was good advice. Better advice is.....seriously consider cloth diapering. I'm not so crunchy because of the environment...that may sound bad but it's really not my motivator. My first motivator was....I think I can save us some money. Second was...I think I may be able to potty train V easier if she knows she's wet...can really feel it on her skin. Third was....no diaper rash! Fourth was after research and became...I truely do believe it's better for the environment. So I started cloth diapering when V was 4 months and I didn't really put any high expectations to it....and I LOVED it!!! I kind of touch base on cloth diaper on this post and this post. I don't *think* I have done any other blogs specifically about diapers. Anywho....cloth diapering was my first step towards crunch.

Next step was I started making all of V's baby food....primairly with fresh organic products. Yes I think there is a difference between organic and non-organic which is why I paid more for her food but it was worth it. I also never pureed her food. I mashed what I could with a fork and I chopped in a food processor but I didn't puree. I'm not much for reclining and or pouring slop into a baby and call that eating. They aren't eating like that. They aren't learning how to eat...they are having a thicker liquid poured into them. I also wouldn't let Victoria have sweets (ice cream, cake, chips, etc.) or juice (better to eat her fruit and drink her water than drink sugar)...really no fluid but breastmilk, formula (rarely), or water. I made her an apple cake with whipped icing for her first birthday and that was the closest she got to sweets. Then I started letting her have a bite of a cake at birthday parties...I seriously JUST started letting her have chips and fries like 5-6 months ago and she doesn't really like fries and doesn't eat a lot of chips. She also never even eats a whole cupcake. She stops when she's had enough. I think it's because of the eating habits she was given early on. She now has a juice/water mixture once a day at most and other than that is only allowed to drink milk and water. I still watch certain things like fake sugar. She's not supposed to have that since it's super bad for you. I'm a bit of a food Nazi and I plan on learning more about food coloring because that crap is...ummm....crap.

Well, so there are 2 steps. Then I started making my own cleaners. I have a basically all-purpose cleaner made of mostly water, some vinegar, and a teeny bit of alchol. It makes it dry quickly so I can use it on windows and such. Then I just started making my own laundry and dish detergent!!! I'm excited about it! I can't really tell you how that's going yet. I mean I have done like 4 loads of laundry with it and it went well I think. I can't tell a difference and that's the point right? I used the Duggar recipe from their website. It is looking like for $2 I will have at least 3 months but probably 5-6 months of laundry detergent!!! Score!

I also do the barefoot thing...when did going barefoot mean hippie or crunchy? I do it 'cause I'm from the country and that's just how we do:)

OOOOHHHHH....and I'm a breastfeeding champ!!! V nursed until she was 20 months and I'll let Emily nurse that long too....longer if she so chooses....not like 8...that does gross me out...but like....2. More power to you mommies that still keep providing some key nutrition to your kiddos past 2 though!

Anyway....that's how I'm crunchy...and I loves it!!

ETA: So sorry...I forgot about baby wearing! I much prefer to wear my baby than push her in a stroller. She is in a stroller sometimes, but she likes being in a carrier and it's easier for me. I like having her close and it's easier to maneuver....especially at the fair or mall or.....anywhere. I also forgot about co-sleeping and selective vaccinating. I touched on all three of these in April so go check them out....no need to rehash.