typealice

Choosing organic:

I choose to feed Ash organic food because it’s healthier for him. He’s growing so much, and you really are comprised so much of what you eat, that I believe this is a very important time to feed him pure foods.

Choosing wooden and cloth toys over plastic:

Plastic scares me. A chemical called BPA is in a lot of plastics (soothers, bottles, the lining in formula cans etc) is in the process of being banned in Canada and stores have already taken those baby products containing BPA off the shelves. BPA is also used in the lining of most cans (Eden Organics is a company that tries not to use it- it’s still used in their tinned tomatoes, but not in their tinned beans, for example). The amount of BPA is still under the “legal” limit, but it’s everywhere. Straight from wikipedia, “bisphenol A is an endocrine disruptor: it is an estrogen receptor agonist, and such agonists can act like the body’s own hormones, leading to similar physiological effects on the body. There is thus concern that long term low dose exposure to bisphenol A may induce chronic toxicity in humans.”

Some of the effects of Bisphenol A include:
-Permanent changes to genital tract
-Changes in breast tissue that predispose cells to hormones and carcinogens
-increased prostate weight 30%
-Reversed the normal sex differences in brain structure and behavior

etc etc

Here’s a great link about companies that don’t use BPA in their plastics.

I also feel that a lot of plastic toys are butt ugly. And also important: they do not decompose, therefore filling our landfills with millions of tons of old plastic.

Avoiding Melamine:

Melamine scares me. Dishes are often made from it, specifically children’s dishes because it’s difficult to break. A few years ago there was a huge pet food scare linked to food coming from China that resulted in animal’s deaths. Turns out, it was melamine that was the cause of it, it had been used as a filler.

Sure, we do not directly eat melamine, so we’re probably safe. However, that’s not good enough for me. There are lots of things that can harm us in a powdered form, but would we make dishes out of it? Take cyanide, for example. Totally fatal. But if we harden it enough, would you use it to eat off of? Doubtful. Again, right from wikipedia: “Ingestion of melamine may lead to reproductive damage, or bladder or kidney stones, which can lead to bladder cancer.”

I’d rather keep away from that stuff.

Delaying solids:

Under no circumstances do I believe that parents should give food to a baby that is under the age of six months. I believe parents are far, far, far too anxious for their babies to start eating solids and THEY are the ones who “seem ready,” rather than the babies. For some reason if parents notice their baby reaching for their food they think it’s because they want to eat when they’re forgetting that babies grab at EVERYTHING. It’s no different, they’re not ready for food- they’re just curious about what’s in the parent’s hands. From kellymom.com:

Health experts and breastfeeding experts agree that it’s best to wait until your baby is around six months old before offering solid foods. There has been a large amount of research on this in the recent past, and most health organizations have updated their recommendations to agree with current research. Unfortunately, many health care providers are not up to date in what they’re telling parents, and many, many books are not up to date.

The following organizations recommend that all babies be exclusively breastfed (no cereal, juice or any other foods) for the first 6 months of life (not the first 4-6 months):

-World Health Organization
-UNICEF
-US Department of Health & Human Services
-American Academy of Pediatrics
-American Academy of Family Physicians
-American Dietetic Association
-Australian National Health and Medical Research Council
-Royal Australian College of General Practitioners
-Health Canada

Most babies will become developmentally and physiologically ready to eat solids by 6-9 months of age. For some babies, delaying solids longer than six months can be a good thing; for example, some doctors may recommend delaying solids for 12 months if there is a family history of allergies.

Further,
-Delaying solids gives baby greater protection from illness.
-Delaying solids gives baby’s digestive system time to mature.
-Delaying solids decreases the risk of food allergies.
-Delaying solids helps to protect baby from iron-deficiency anemia.
-Delaying solids helps to protect baby from future obesity.
-Delaying solids helps mom to maintain her milk supply.
-Delaying solids helps to space babies.
-Delaying solids makes starting solids easier.

I chose to delay solids (just a little bit) because Ash had a very obvious allergy to cashmere. It doesn’t matter if people have allergies to food or pets or pollen- allergies are allergies, and it’s better for the baby to be exclusively breastfed for longer- it decreases the risk of food allergies.

I also believe that people should avoid IDIOT companies like Nestle when they do start solids. IF they start with a cereal, I recommend a company called Healthy Times, which offers organic and whole grain cereals instead of Nestle’s food which offers “rice flour” and a mixture of other stuff that I can’t pronounce and FRUIT JUICES. GARRRRRH.

I believe baby’s first foods should be vegetables like sweet potatoes, avocado or banana. (Note: avocado and banana are also common allergens- linked to latex allergies, so parents should be aware of any allergy symptoms like rash, stuffy nose, diarrhea etc when introducing those foods.)

Ash cannot have oats (gives him diarrhea) (I can’t even eat oats) or banana (gives him a stuffy nose within a couple of hours). We’re following the Joneja food scale pretty closely, so his diet is still very limited. He eats a lot of organic rice and rice noodles, broccoli, melon, carrots, squash and sweet potato. Not much else.

Cereals can be completely skipped. Breast milk is FAR superior of an iron supply than cereals (additionally, a baby would have to eat TEN tablespoons of cereal in order to get the daily recommended intake, and frankly, Ash- at nearly 10 months- still wouldn’t be able to eat that much). More information here at kellymom.

Baby-led introduction to solids:

I found this theory quite interesting. The best link I had to it no longer works (;(), so I’ll use this one to better explain it. Basically- the parent takes a backseat roll to their eating, and allows the baby to choose what to eat and how much. This means minimal spoon feeding. I gave Ash pureed foods for about a month, and then moved on to giving him bite sized foods on his high chair table and allowing him to eat them if he wants to. I have moved up and allowed him to take bites of trees of broccoli instead of chopping it up for him and give him big pieces of melon which he bites bits off and chews it up before swallowing it.

I’m having some difficulty deciding what to serve for appetizers at my cottage-y wedding. I need something that doesn’t require plates (just napkins). I was going to do these, but then I saw these and liked them (or just have a mound of fresh veggies and different dips) too, but I don’t know if it’ll be too much since we’re having shish kabobs with our burgers a couple hours after the apps and punch.

We’re definitely having cheese ball and crackers, olives, pickles and cubed cheese, but everything else is still up in the air. Should I offer cucumber sandwiches? Hummus and pitas? I need something that can be made the day before (and likely assembled the day of), not too filling, vegetarian and delicious.

Any suggestions?

I’ve had this short entry in my drafts for a couple of months now. I wanted to write a longer explanation about each of these points, but just can’t seem to find the energy. Most of it is pretty self-explanatory, I think.

Here are things that I strongly believe in, no ifs ands or buts.

-breastfeeding
-co-sleeping
-plastic awareness
-anti-melamine
-all natural household cleaners
-eco-friendly laundry detergent
-eco-friendly, all natural bath soaps
-shared baths
-cloth diapering
-cloth wipes with all natural and organic “juice”
-organic vegetarianism
-kleen kanteens in place of plastic sippy cups
-glass bottles instead of plastic
-no sugars, wheat or cow’s milk for first year (at the minimum)
-baby led solids
-delaying solids
-baby wearing
-elimination communication
-anti cry it out (so ANTI, it’s not even funny)
-delaying and selective vaccinations

T minus one month less a day until our wedding! I have been feeling very, very relaxed lately because I’ve got most of the things done that need to be done. In a couple of weeks I’ll be getting a haircut, dying my hair and baking a couple of batches of cookies that can be easily frozen. I’m still looking for a white dress shirt for Ash that doesn’t cost $20 like the one at The Gap. Yes, I’m cheap. But I need to be because my maternity leave ends in four weeks.

The questions have started pouring in from everyone, “are you going back to work?” My answer is no. It’s definitely not the smartest decision, financially speaking, but I’m not ready and Ash isn’t ready to go to day care and I don’t think I could forgive myself if I put him in it when I still have some savings to live off of. Our spending is minimum, we really don’t do anything extra- hardly ever having fun. It’s sad, really… but it’s the way our life has to be in order to continue to stay out of going further in debt. We’re not saving, we’re just living day to day. Anyway, until I absolutely HAVE to go back to work, I’m staying home with my baby.

I know I’m blissfully biased, but my god he is beautiful!!!

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The other day at Sobeys I was turned around, forgetting something in the produce section, and at my feet a mouse ran by. YUCK. I mean, I know it’s all part of the deal- you work with that much food and you’re going to get mice, but it was still pretty gross.

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We’ve had four more people RSVP to our wedding in the past week or so, bringing the total count to 50, including seven children. That’s about 20 more people than we had originally expected. I’m thrilled that people are making the trip out here, but it also means having to change our cake plans around (this will be the second alteration to that order), add three more tables (including centerpieces and now-mismatched tablecloths) and more chairs, increasing wine glass, cutlery, plate, and cup count (bringing the total to uncountable alterations to my order from the party supply store) etc etc. It also means adding more favors to the order (this is the third increase to that order) and generally just making a big pain in the ass of myself to everyone I’m dealing with. While I was writing that paragraph I kept thinking of more and more and more things I’m going to have to change/add to fit all of these new people. Again, if it rains, oh man, we’re so totally fucked.

I’m so excited to see the people who are coming. I’ve been living this mama life for so long I really hope to feel like a 20-something woman again.

My mother came to my house today and my sister came over and we made rhubarb relish and rhubarb jam. My kitchen was a disaster! But mmmmmmmmmmmmmm, rhubarb relish! And even more mmmmmmmmmmmm, rhubarb jam!

Ambera and I are going to do more canning this summer. I haven’t done any since 2004. It’s something I really love to do, but don’t do often enough. This summer is going far too quickly and the weather has been miserable. There have only been two days this June that I’ve been able to go outside in just a t-shirt and been comfortable.

—

You know? I really, really love being a mom. It goes beyond the fact that Ash is amazing… it’s the absolute joy and love that he brings to me without even trying. I’ve never laughed or smiled so much in my life. I don’t mind the early wakeup calls (between 4-5am), breastfeeding is going strong, he’s very close to walking (he took his first step the other day, but it was an accident), he’s starting to laugh at things besides being tickled which is great because it brings on us being silly. He got four teeth in the past couple of weeks and didn’t complain. I think being a mother brings out the best in me. I love who I am right now. I never want it to stop.

I’ve been spending a lot of time in front of the television in the past few days making these crepe paper flowers for our centrepieces. I think they’re turning out beautifully, and I’m really excited to see the final product. I plan on fully assembling them in a couple of weeks when I take a trip to my mom’s house.

The cost so far:

$2 on crepe paper
$2 on crepe paper that I didn’t use because the colours weren’t right
$2 on the inside stemy things (peach and white)
$2.50 on brown floral tape
$1.50 (on average) for each vase
$0 for sand I’ll take from the beach (and will return)
$0 for the branches I’ll take from my mom’s property

Score!

Our least favorite part of wedding receptions is the sit down dinner part of it- it makes both Clive and I feel uncomfortable and clique-y, so we really wanted to avoid having the formal dinner at our wedding. Originally we weren’t even going to offer tables, but Clive’s family was adament about having somewhere for people to sit if they wanted to. We met in the middle: Clive’s mom paid for the rentals and I only booked enough tables for 30 people to sit down at once when there are close to 40 people attending. We’re having a barbecue anyway, and well, barbecues are not equipped to feed 40 people all at once, so I don’t think we really have to worry about people not having anywhere to sit.

I finally found a solution to my tablecloth dilemma. It kept me awake for days, I’m not even joking. I’d just lay in bed thinking: “Do I rent? Do I buy second hand mismatched tablecloths? Do I make them myself?” I got a price quote for renting and it was close to $70 (plus tax). I went around to second hand stores and saw nothing I liked. I decided to take a look at fabric at my local fabric store and LO! The discount fabric that I love to buy (at $2/m) was 50% off! I could not say no to $1/m fabric, so I bought 15.3m of one kind of gray for all of the eating tables and then another grey (they didn’t have any more) for the cookie station/snow kone/guestbook/wedding license signing tables. A couple of days later I found an older pale yellow lace tablecloth for $1 at a second hand shop.

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I’m almost embarrassed to admit this, but I rented two of these pop up tents and four sidewalls (at $25 per wall there was no way I was going to get eight of them) totalling $175 per tent. $350!! But I wanted something that would be easy to set up in case of rain. I didn’t know there was any other option until I walked by an ivory polyester and mosquito net gazebo in front of a grocery store the other day and it was only $150! $25 cheaper than my super ugly tents and they were the same size and very, very pretty. I did some more research and found similar popup gazebos at Wal*Mart (sigh) for a mere $59 each. Sold!

Delivery and pickup of a snow kone machine, forty chairs and seven tables? A whopping $400. But the good thing is, is that I don’t have to worry about the stuff getting there and getting back AND the price quotes I got for cargo vans or a pickup truck rental (plus the gas cost) is almost identical to what the courier company will charge me.

It’s all coming together.

Tomorrow I’m buying the wedding license. I had to wait for Clive’s mom to send me his divorce papers, otherwise I would have got it last week.

I found shoes that make my dress a nearly perfect length, and they’re second hand and only cost me $7, which is great because I will never wear them again. We got the wedding bands back and they’re perfect. People are STILL RSVPing, even though there’s only a month left and it’s pretty obnoxious, but oh well.

Most of all, I’m getting really, really excited to see all of my favorite people. The ones that will be there are amazing and I love that they’re going out of their way to visit us and share in our celebration. It means so much that so many people are coming. I can’t wait to party!!!

Dear Ash,

You’re 3/4 of a year old! This month has been great. You’ve slept better than you ever have before, you took your first plane ride (or six) and you did phenomenally, and you cut FOUR teeth in the last half of the month. But wait, I’m getting ahead of myself…

We took a trip to Georgia a few days after you turned eight months old. Your father left a couple of days before us, which meant that you and I had to travel together, alone, our first flight leaving at 6am and not ending for eight hours and three plane rides. I was extremely nervous. I’ve been on flights with crying babies, and boy, they are annoying as hell. I did not want to be responsible for other people’s discomfort and I didn’t want you to be upset. You surprised the crap out of me by being everything I needed you to be- friendly and calm, curious and overall a wonderful travelling companion. You even nursed when I needed you to (during takeover and landing), something which doesn’t happen very often- especially when there are new and exciting things to see. You loved looking out the window and the people in the seats behind us.

I must say that the sling made it so much easier to travel. If I had to haul around a stroller, even a small one, I’d have been screwed. I don’t have that many arms. That’s my biggest piece of travel advice for parents: invest in a sling. They’re cheap and yet PRICELESS>

We had a great ten days hanging out, going to restaurants and lounging around the pool. I was glad to go home though because one can only stand reading the same five books and spending days in one little room. It was nice to get away from home though, because the past eight months have been… well, the same, and it was nice to have some change. The weather was great, the food was greasy, and everyone FREAKING LOVED YOU.

I thought Canadians were friendly, but they’re nothing compared to the people down South. Every waitress in Denny’s would come over and say hello to you, coaxing many smiles out of you. I even had a guy yell out of his big pickup truck that you were beautiful! Everyone, and I mean EVERYONE, commented on your eyes.

The highlight of our trip was going to the Georgia Aquarium, a trip which you really enjoyed. I’m glad that you’re such an observant baby, because I think a lot of other children your age would have just been there along for the ride- but you have always paid close attention to your surroundings, even as a newborn. So being able to see the fish and other sea-life was really easy for you.

It was your first time playing in the sand, too. You were more interested in eating it, and well, you pooped quite a lot of sand the day after the trip. Oopsie.

Your father and I are so happy that you enjoy the water. You’ve always liked the bath and have been taking swimming “lessons” since you were seven months old. We went in the pool quite a lot during our trip, but it was pretty chilly so you never really wanted to stay in the water for very long. It was the very first time you ever expressed that you were cold to us, even after this past horrible winter. You’d raise your knees and try not to let your feet touch the water, or worse- your bum. But once you got used to it, you were happy.

Another big milestone that you reached this month was the ability to clap. You really like clapping, and can clap on command. Yay for you!

I must admit something… during a channel-flipping episode while we were vacationing I came across the Teletubbies. I haven’t allowed you to watch children’s television shows yet, but was curious about how you’d react. And… you freaking loved it. You spent the entire 20 minutes glued to the tv, bouncing up and down on the bed and reaching out for them.

And then, your laugh. It still takes quite a lot of effort to make you laugh- me often looking like an idiot, but damn, I love to hear your giggle.

On the trip home, everything was going smoothly until we hit the last flight home. We were able to fly with your father, this in itself made everything much easier. We boarded the plane in Boston, headed for Halifax and ended up staying on the tarmac for nearly FOUR HOURS due to plane troubles. Four hours we sat in the same seats, only being offered a mint and a glass of water and we kept expecting you to suddenly break down from fatigue (it was prime bedtime) or boredom, but instead you stayed extremely happy and a model baby. We were so proud of you. We sang, we clapped, we let you look out the window, we entertained you the best we could and as long as we were paying lots of attention to you, you behaved. When we were waiting in the customs lineup and for our luggage we got several compliments from other passengers about you. You were magnificant!

This month we had a little event at your grandmother’s house. She and Dee have been planning to plant an Ash tree basically since they found out your name, and this was the month that we planted it. It’ll be nice to look back at the pictures when this tree is much bigger. Maybe someday you’ll sit under it and play with cars or read library books. Maybe, a long time in the future, you’ll even be able to climb the tree.

I spent a lot of money on you this month, specifically on a new toy. You’ve been pulling yourself up into standing position since you were seven months old and have developed into a wonderful crawler, but you seem to really want to walk around. So, I found this walking tool by Plan Toys and you really like it. You figured it out so quickly! Your father and I are constantly amazed at just how smart you are.

You are a character.

You make us so proud.

I love you so much.

Love,
Mama

When Clive and I decided on a cottage wedding, we basically signed up for barbecue and all the fixin’s as our menu. Outside of breakfast food, barbecue is my favorite thing to eat. I LOVE veggie dogs with all the toppings (ketchup, mustard, green relish, rhubarb relish and cheeze whiz). I love shish kabob’d vegetables with lots of garlic butter. I still lust after the smell of barbecued chicken even though it’s been nearly ten years since I’ve eaten chicken (and even longer since I’ve actually had barbecued chicken).

My family and I are going to prepare the food on the Friday and Saturday before the wedding (being held on Sunday, July 27). For the meal, there will be a potato salad, a curry pasta salad, a carrot/raisin salad, mixed green salad, hamburgers and marinated portabella burgers with goat cheese. Yum, yum, yum.

Immediately after the ceremony, we’re bringing everyone together to do a champagne and/or punch toast. Because we’re not doing a formal sitdown dinner, this will be when people have the chance to speak if they want to. It also allows us to tell our guests what the rest of the day holds (hopefully they’ve brought their swimsuits!). Along with the punch we’ll offer a few aps, cheese ball and crackers, olives & pickles, and these, if they’re any good. I first saw these in my Spring 2005 issue of Martha Stewart Weddings and liked how fancy and delicious they looked for the one fancy part of our wedding. I also wonder if these would be delicious… but I may be getting in over my head because I have to bake six different kinds of cookies before the wedding as well for our “cookie bar”.

Oh, and we’re having a formal wedding cake too.

The ceremony is at 1pm, appetizers, punch and champagne at 1:30ish, meal at 3, cake at 5ish and if people want to stick around into the evening they can. We’re having a bon fire and will offer even MORE food- hot dogs (hopefully we can find some higher quality locally made weiners) and marshmallows.

I doubt our guests will go hungry.

Got this from AllStarMe and I’m intrigued.

The rules:
a. Type your answer to each of the questions below into Flickr Search.
b. Using only the first page, pick an image.
c. Copy and paste each of the URLs for the images into fd’s mosaic maker.

The questions that inspired the photos:
1. What is your first name?
2. What is your favorite food?
3. What high school did you go to?
4. What is your favorite color?
5. Who is your celebrity crush?
6. Favorite drink?
7. Dream vacation?
8. Favorite dessert?
9. What you want to be when you grow up?
10. What do you love most in life?
11. One word to describe you.
12. Your flickr name.

The photos:

My sister and I have been doing Kathy Freston’s (as seen on Oprah) 21-day cleanse since last Monday.

It’s going surprisingly well. Outside of an accidental cheat (I didn’t read the packaging closely enough), I haven’t broken down at all and actually haven’t come close, either. I don’t really feel any different, but I have lost three pounds and my sugar intake (outside of fruit) is nil, which is the first time ever, I think, that I’ve gone this long without sugar. I didn’t think I’d be able to do it. Prior to this cleanse I’d be in grocery store lineups with bags of candy thinking, “I really shouldn’t be buying this” and do it anyway. Every night I’d go to sleep feeling guilty for what I’d consumed. I’d eat candy (any kind of candy) every single day, sometimes in excess of 1000 calories. I’m not joking.

For those of you who can’t tell from Oprah’s website, the cleanse is this:

-Completely vegan
-No alcohol
-No caffeine
-No sugar
-No wheat

The wheat thing is the hardest to overcome because so many things have wheat in them, so meal choices are limited. It’s forced me to get really creative with cooking (which I’m normally not) and Clive’s even complimented me saying that in the past week we’ve had better food than we have in years. That’s a pretty nice thing to hear.

Instead of regular noodles, I’ve switched to the (gooier) rice noodles. Instead of bread it’s rice cakes (which Ash loves to eat too). Sugar-free jam, sugar-free almond butter (which is nothing new- I haven’t eaten peanut butter for over a year due to pregnancy and nursing), rice chips, lots of vegetables and fruit.

(Mid-entry my sister and I went for lunch and we both got a Diet Coke forgetting that caffeine is forbidden… er. Oh well.)

Tonight’s meal was soy ground chicken, sweet potato and peas. For dessert, organic mango, organic strawberry and cherry fruit salad. Yum.