Chomping At The Bit

Guess who's teething?  Yes, we have reached that milestone.  It's not as cute as say, when she started smiling and cooing.  No, definitely not as cute as that.  My normally sweet and cheerful Babydoll is a miserable drooly mess of a baby.  Some of my dear mommy friends have babies who are about the same age as my sweetness, so it's nice to have someone with whom we can weather this storm.  And oh, what a storm it is.  To put it mildly, Babydoll is *pissed* about her swollen gums.  If she could speak, I'm pretty sure a nice chunk of expletives would be spewing forth right about now.

So, what's a Groovy Mama to do when her precious babe is in pain?

I suppose, in this day and age, we should forego our parents' remedy: rubbing whisky on the baby's gums.  I believe this is why the smell of Jack Daniel's makes me gag uncontrollably.

BD and I are in the midst of exploring all the homeopathic routes.  I wish that I had made a mad dash to every store in town when Hyland's announced their teething tablet recall and stocked up on those little gems.  "But Groovy Mom!  Those teething tablets were dangerous," you're gasping.  Look, dude.  Hyland's had been using the same formula for eons.  Trust some jackass parent to overdose their kid and ruin it for the rest of us.  Millions of people take tiny doses of belladonna with no side effects other than the herb's tendency to help you chill out.  Grrrrr.  So here's what we're trying, in lieu of Hyland's:

Amber teething necklace: while I was still pregnant, several green mamas recommended an amber teething necklace for when my little sweet pea began teething.  The one I bought comes from Lithuania and is pure Baltic amber.  For safety, each bead is hand knotted, so that if the strand does break, we only lose one bead.  It has a screw-on safety clasp and is loose enough that it doesn't pose a choking hazard.  At night, or for a long nap, I take it off Babydoll's neck and wrap it around her ankle.  The theory behind amber is that it releases oils into the skin and is a natural anti-inflammatory.  She's only been wearing it for two days but the drool factor has greatly decreased.  I'm hopeful that it helps with the pain, too.  Plus, she looks cute:

Chamomile: I've found several methods for using chamomile.  My favorite, so far, is to brew a cup of chamomile tea (for me) and place the used tea bag in the freezer for about a half hour.  Then, I let Babydoll gum on it (of course, I watch her carefully to make sure the tea bag doesn't open).  You can also brew chamomile tea and soak a baby washcloth in it, then freeze, for the same effect.  I've read that infants can safely ingest chamomile in small amounts, but I haven't bought Babydoll her own tea pot yet.

For older babies, who have started solids, you can freeze chunks of fruit then place it in a mesh teething bag for baby to gnaw on.  Babydoll just recently turned four months old, so we're not rocking this method yet.  (Before you buy, please check the label and make sure the product is BPA-free)

As a last resort, we've given her Infant's Tylenol.  For myself, I try to avoid conventional medicine if at all possible, and in an ideal world, I would do the same for my child.  I can't stand to see her in pain, though, and if all else fails, we give it to her. 

Hey mamas, what natural teething rememdy has worked for you?  Let me know!

All Day, Every Day

Happy Earth Day!  I love Earth Day.  After Christmas and St. Patrick's Day, it's my favorite holiday (I also love that Hallmark hasn't ruined it the way they have every other holiday...yet).  I try to live as though every day is Earth Day, but I know that's not the case for everyone.  So I'm grateful that on this one day every year, more people are likely to recycle or otherwise reduce their consumption.  We gotta start somewhere.

I am not, by any means, the greenest person out there.  I am a full-fledged liberal hippie treehugger, but I could be greener.  You're shocked.  I can see it on your face.  But really, there are a lot of things I don't do, but could do, to make my world a deeper shade of green.  I could take public transportation, but I love my car (I do ride my bike when it's an option).  I could reduce my food waste by composting (and it's something currently on my ever-expanding to-do list).  I could threaten BD with leaving if he doesn't fully switch to cloth diapers...but I really don't want to leave.  I love our house.

I'm always exploring ways to be a more ecologically responsible citizen.  I love reading others' blogs (like this one) to gain insight and ideas on ways to green up my family even further.  Here are some of the things we do in our (mostly) happy abode:

Recycle.  Obviously.  We're extremely fortunate to live in a neighborhood that participates in the local waste management company's pilot recycling program.  Rather than sorting our recyclables, it all goes in one large bin that is collected every Saturday.  It's awesome.  This ease of use gets BD to recycle and nothing makes a Groovy Mama happier than when BD participates in the green life.  Every scrap of paper, plastic, aluminum and glass goes in that bin.  Before we bought our house, we lived in a condo with no recycling program.  It took a lot of extra effort on my part, but any plastic or aluminum we discarded went to Whole Foods or Fresh & Easy, and I took glass and paper to my parents' house or my brother's.  I get rather eco-angry when people tell me "Oh, I can't recycle.  There's no bins in my neighborhood."  Dude, make the effort.  It's easy.  Collect your recyclables in your reusable shopping bags, and when it's time to go buy groceries, take it with you.  Easy.

Park it.  How many minutes do you spend sitting in the drive-through, waiting for your coffee?  Park your car, take a stroll, and bring your reusable mug inside to Saxbys (my preference over Starbucks).  Your gas mileage will improve and the Earth will breathe a little easier.

Eat organic.  Organic farming is better for all of the Earth's organisms.  No chemicals are used in organic farming, which translates to fewer chemicals in the soil, the air, the water, and your food.

Cloth diaper your precious baby.  I'm still new to the cloth diapering game, but I can't express how much I love it.  I really love that I've reduced our disposable diaper consumption by a little over 50%.  I don't know if BD will ever work with me on that.  Every so often, I catch a glimmer of hope.  Last week, he put Babydoll in cloth without any prompt from me.  Then he went and bought more Seventh Generation disposables.  Sigh.

Shut it down.  When you're not using your laptop, turn it off.  After your toaster has perfectly browned your Pop Tarts, unplug it.  Not only will you save on your power bill, you'll extend the life of your appliances.

Stay hydrated while staying green.  We bought an Energy Star rated refrigerator with a built-in water filter that only has to be changed once a year.  Life changing!  I drink a LOT of water, and after I kicked the plastic bottle habit, I bought a Pur pitcher (cheaper than Brita, just as effective).  I hated throwing away those filters every couple of months, though.  I still think the Pur pitcher is a better alternative to disposable plastic water bottles.  Skip any plastic reusable bottles, please.  Stainless steel and glass are safer options.

Clean your home the toxin-free way by using only vinegar and baking soda.  Until you've tried this powerful combo, you have no idea how effective they are at cleaning EVERYTHING in your home.  In addition to how awesomely clean your cottage will be, your wallet will be heftier too.  White distilled vinegar and baking soda are CHEAP.  So cheap.  And did I mention effective?

These are just some of the many things I do on a daily basis, but it's just the tip of the (melting) iceberg.  The thing about green living is that if you make a change here and there, and stick with it, you make a huge global impact.  Reducing your carbon footprint is not just another clever and trendy advertising idea.  When someone asks me "What do you do to be green?", it kind of stumps me.  So much of what I do or practice is just part of my normal, everday existence.  My advice is to make one change per week, or per month - stick with it and it becomes a habit.  Your habits become your children's habits.  What better way to influence your kids than by example?

I'd love to hear what you do to be green.  Leave me a comment or send me an email.

A Baby Well-Preserved

My friend Christine (who has an impossibly adorable 8-month-old daughter) asked me a couple weeks ago if I would look into jarred baby food.  You betcha!  Then I started thinking about that task, and it scared me.  Not the research.  Psshh.  Me and research = BFF.  What scared the piss out of me was that I KNEW I wasn't going to find anything good.  It's like watching a horror movie and you know the bad guy is coming, but the stupid whiny girl who is about to get axed just stands around in the kitchen in her underwear...I digress.

So between work and home and being scared stupid, I haven't posted a new blog in a couple weeks.  I tend to be an ostrich that way.  If I don't want to deal with something, I stick my head in the sand and hope that when I pop up, whatever it is that I'm avoiding has gone on about its merry way.  No such luck.  Jarred baby food, consider thyself tackled.

From the beginning of gestation, there was no doubt that we would make Babydoll's food.  We cook our food most nights, so why wouldn't we do the same for her?  Having been schooled on the art of baby food-making by two awesome ladies (Hi J!  Hi A!), I'm even more convinced that she will grow up eating organically as often as possible.  After all, if I don't make her food myself, how am I going to know exactly what she's getting in her little belly?

*Here's a little tidbit not really related to this post, but I found it interesting all the same.  The first baby formula was manufactured in 1867 and was marketed as superior to breast milk.  Oh yeah, they started that nonsense a loooong time ago.

Daniel Gerber kicked things off in 1928 with strained peas, prunes, carrots and spinach in a can (not all in the same can - gross) and mass-marketed the product across America.  Suddenly, mothers were able to pop into the market, buy six cans of baby food for $1, and save themselves hours in the kitchen.  Prior to Gerber on the shelves, baby food was available from pharmacies and was (as you can imagine) expensive.  Dorothy Hope Smith drew the iconic Gerber Baby, Ann Turner Cook, and a label was born.  (Sidenote: Ms. Cook was cute and all, but she's no Babydoll.  Just sayin'.)

Since then, the process has evolved greatly.  Huge manufacturing plants turn out millions of jars of baby food a day.  And, according to various sources, most baby food on the shelves of American grocery stores contain no artificial preservatives.  Whew.  Maybe the panty girl won't get axed.

Most jarred baby foods, even the organic brands, do contain natural preservatives, like ascorbic acid, which is essentially a form of vitamin C.  That's not so bad.  But some brands contain sodium and that's a no-no for babies and toddlers.  Just check the sodium content before you buy or feed your baby from a jar.  Babies under a year old need less than a gram of salt per day.

I feel relieved.  I know a lot of mamas who feed their babies pre-made food and I worry almost as much about their babies, as I do my own.  When Babydoll is ready for solids, I will make her food.  I want to know exactly what she's getting.  I'm extremely picky about produce.  If I make her food, I know the quality she's getting.  And by making her food at home, we can give her a greater variety of flavors.

Want some baby food recipes?  I'm starting to experiment.  Holler.