My "Real Food" Heart Skipped a Beat Tonight

My husband calls me while he is driving home from work.  "I was just listening to a brewing podcast [My hubby brews beer], and they were discussing Alfalfa that is Genetically Modified to withstand weed killer.  How do we know that the dairy cows that provide us our milk aren't fed this stuff?  What about the beef we eat?  How do we know what they are eating isn't Genetically Modified?!"

Let me pause here for a moment.  MY husband was just asking me whether or not the food that we consume is Genetically Modified.  My heart did skip a beat, folks.  This is the same man who is always skeptical of any diet adventure I bring into the house.  This was a big moment for me.  To have my spouse on the same "Real Food" page as I am is so awesome.

Anyway, I was sure that I knew the answer to his question (no), but I decided to contact the producers directly to confirm my suspicions.  In case you are wondering, both Double Check Ranch and Save Your Dairy DO NOT feed their animals any Genetically Modified crops.  I love that I am able to actually speak with the Farmer that produces the food we buy.  Isn't that the way it should be?

I have been wanting to do a few posts on why we choose Grass Fed Beef and Raw Milk, but I need to find the time to devote to these subjects.  Having kids to keep alive and starting school suck all of my free time out of me.

Speaking of school, I can share a little tid bit that I learned in my Lactation Consultant class last week: Breastfeeding does NOT make your breasts saggy and lifeless.  We get to blame pregnancy for that one.

If you want to learn more about Genetically Modified Organisms, head on over to The True Food Network.  There is lots of good information on that site!

Steps

Last night The Peach dabbled with the idea of walking.  She thought it was hilarious!

The Differences Between Child #1 and Child #3

Child #1 had many words when he was 12 months old.  Child #3 has no words at 14 months.

Child #1 took his first steps at 13 months old.  Child #3 just barely started cruising around furniture.

I realize that all children develop at different rates and my #3 will certainly be walking and talking before I know it.  I think the main difference between Child #1 and Child #3 is that if Child #1 weren't walking and talking by 14 months, I would have had multiple appointments with doctors and specialists trying to figure out what was wrong with my child.  Poor #3, she gets a fever and a cough and if it is still around 5 days later, THEN I will call the doctor.

When my first son was born my mother said, as she dreamily gazed into the hospital isolette, "This is the hardest thing you will ever do."  All I am saying is that while I certainly don't love my #3 any less than #1 or #2, it is really nice to be a little more relaxed about parenthood.  Because, no joke, this business is hard no matter how you slice it.

On Dad's Day

Every spring, the preschool that E goes to hosts a "Dad's Day" where the preschoolers get to bring their fathers to school and do all kinds of fun stuff.  In the past activities have included, playing outside, eating a snack, and doing a project.  These projects are things like planting a flower in an old shoe or painting a picture together.  You know, stuff of that nature.  During the most recent Dad's Day, their project involved putting supplies together to create this:

Yay.  I have a fish to take care of.  E couldn't have been more excited.  He named the fish Mario and he dutifully feeds him every morning and evening.  Since it is already in my house, I figure that this is an excellent opportunity for little E to be responsible for something.  I am pretty sure that every parent wasn't exactly thrilled that a fish came home, but E thinks it is so cool.

For some odd reason, my husband and I just purchased an aquarium along with friends Luigi and Clyde.  I guess we are fish people now.  All thanks to Dad's Day.

Back to Cloth

When my first son was born, we decided to use cloth diapers.  We used them very regularly.  We still bought disposable diapers and we used those at night and when we left the house.  It is safe to say that we made our investment back with how frequently he was in cloth.

When my second son was born, we used them as well.  However, we used disposables much more frequently.  With a 2 year old and an infant, sometimes it was very easy to fall into the disposable diaper routine simply because I didn't have to do more laundry.  Still, we didn't spend as much money on diapers as we would have had we not used cloth at all.

Now we have the third baby and out of her 14 months on earth, she has been in disposables about 13 of those months.  I blame it all on my laziness.  I have the diapers.  They are even in her drawer, right at her diaper changing station.  The other day when I spent $30 on 96 diapers at Target I decided that it was time to get back to cloth.

So, here we are.  I am curious to see how long it takes me to get through the remainder of my paper diapers - 178 to be exact.  Unless she is going to bed at night (or someone other than my husband or myself is changing her diaper) she is wearing cloth.  I know I will save money, for sure, and the laundry really isn't that bad.  I wash diapers once, maybe twice, per week.

Stay tuned to find out how long it takes me to whittle down my stash of disposables.  I am hoping to provide a cost comparison as well.  It should be interesting.

Happy 5th Birthday!

Song: All About Your Heart by Mindy Gledhill

The Birds and the Bees

On the way to school one morning a few weeks ago, E stated that he wanted another baby in our family.  I was quick to assure him that we won't be having any more babies.  He expressed total disappointment and then asked, "Why?"  I explained that when The Peach came, she completed our family.  In hindsight, I have no idea why I added this: "Besides, Daddy and I made it so that I can't grow any more babies."  After some silence, my ever inquisitive B says, "I am wondering, how does the baby get in your belly to grow in the first place?"  Oh boy.  How many parents are left speechless by this question?  There is a very simple answer and while I imagined myself explaining this to my son, I also imagined his eyes popping out of his head because there were just too many questions and he didn't know where to start.

One thing about B is that he needs details.  He needs to understand.  It is his life force.  Knowing this, I tried to give him as much information as possible to quench his thirst for knowledge, but not too much to open up new questions.  Also, we were in the car on the way to school.  I only had a few minutes.  I decided to compare a growing baby to a plant.  "Where do plants come from?" I asked.  "SEEDS!" both children replied.  Sweet, this is going to be easy.  I continue with, "Well, Daddy plants a seed in my belly and then it grows into a baby!" That's it.  Plain and simple.  Please don't ask any more questions.  E was content with the answer, but I could hear B's wheels clanging from all of the spinning that was going on in his head.  B says, "Well, how does the seed get INTO your belly?"

Do you REALLY want to know?

I decided to end the conversation with, "B, this is a conversation for another time because it is a little too complicated to explain on our way to school.  Save your questions for after school and we can talk about it then."  I figured I was safe, at least for a little while.  That kid doesn't forget ANYTHING, so I knew it would be coming back to me sooner or later.  Unfortunately I forgot about the entire chat, as well the urgency to find some type of book on this topic...until last night.

"Mom, I want to see the seed that Dad plants in your belly to grow a baby."

There HAS to be a good book for him.  Interwebs, I will take any suggestion you may have.  He is seven and not getting any younger.