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Hey, I forgot to mention…I’ve started running again! Continue reading
Tag Archives: health
Look out, Potty! Here we come!
I knew this time would come…eventually.
My 23-month-old son has shown quite an interest in the potty for a while now, peeing occasionally, and throwing lots of paper in when we aren’t looking.
But now? We have POOP!
Not every time, but often enough to know that he’s well on his way to learning how to use the potty full-time.
So, why do I feel a stinging twinge of sadness?
Because I’ll miss my FLUFF!
The stash I researched so diligently and worked so hard to build (building a community of like-minded friends along the way, I might add! Bonus!) The stash I painstakingly laundered and sunned, sniffing to make sure they were as fresh as a spring breeze for my sweet baby’s bum. They might be poop-catchers, but there’s nothing quite like a pile of freshly washed, stuffed and folded diapers in a rainbow of colors!
I surely don’t have the most impressive collection, and I’ll admit that we never did quite get to the point where we gave up our little stash of disposable inserts (GroVia rocks, by the way!) , but there’s just something about making that choice – the economical choice, the ecofriendlier choice, the healthier choice - that made me feel like I was doing my absolute best as a mom.
Ah, cloth. How I love thee! It saddens me that our time is coming to an end, but I have hope that someday I’ll unpack you and fall in love all over again!
Thanks for the memories!
Until next time…
(I just wonder if I’ll feel the same way about my mama cloth when I join the menopause community… 
)
Wow. Did I just say menopause?! Can you tell I’m feeling the clock tick away? Come on Baby #2!
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To all my cloth diapering readers: did you miss your fluff when the potty took over? Were you sad to see the transition begin?
Filed under Cloth Diapering, Green Living, Parenting & Family
My Top 5 Fall and Winter Wellness Goals
Thanks to Walgreens for sponsoring my writing. Help Walgreens help others! Visit their Facebook page here to learn about their charitable partners and decide which cause Walgreens will donate to with a quick vote.
Fall and Winter Wellness Goals
I used to love fall. The colorful landscape, the aromas of cinnamon and spice, the cool, crisp air.
But this year, fall feels a little different to me. We moved into our new house with the loftiest of goals – to garden on our new land, be more self-sufficient and sustainable, and eat the healthiest food we can while instilling a love of the earth and appreciation for all things homegrown. But, we’ve had nothing but problems since we moved in, and my beloved spring seems so far away. With my long commute to work, the impending winter seems insurmountable and I’m finding that I really just want to bury my head in a box of doughnuts.
But, for fear of emerging in the long-awaited spring actually looking like a doughnut (which I’m kind of starting to feel like already…) I’ve decided that we need to get creative, refocused, reinspired–and my husband is totally on board. We need to rededicate ourselves to a life of good health, and this is how we’re going to do it:
1. Focus more on a plant-based diet. I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it a million times over: veggie, veggie, veggie! It’s just easy to fall off the wagon after missing this year’s garden, living in limbo for months waiting to move, and then going another month without a fridge. 
I’m sad that we weren’t able to can this year’s crop, but until next year, we take advantage of what is fresh and abundant now! Pumpkins, kale, turnips, lots of bumpy, thick-skinned squash, beets, parsnips…all the good things fall and winter have to offer will remind me why the colder weather isn’t so bad after all. 
(And why I adore recipes like this one…)
2. Prioritize mealtime. As a full-time career mom, blogger, and overall “take-on-too-much-stuff” kind of personality, I’m always overwhelmed and busy. But, studies show that families that make the time to sit down to a family meal on a regular basis benefit in tons of ways, from better communication to better behavior and grades in school. I may not pull it off every day, but the goal is 4 times a week. Homecooked, at home. It’s good for the body, but even better for your family bond.
3. Speaking of family bond, we’ve got to keep our eye on the prize for next year. 2012 will be our year. The year of the big garden. The year of canning and preserving. The year of really getting our son out in the soil, digging and planting and understanding where his food comes from, what it looks like from the earth, and how it helps him grow big and strong. So we’ll spend the next few months planning and getting the whole family hyped up. Being creative and cultivating ideas will keep us motivated and sharp for when it’s time to spring into action early next year!
4. Sleep. There’s really no need to elaborate here – sleep is vital to good health, and far too many of us get far too little of it. I need to change that, and you probably do, too!
5. Move! This one is a toughy. Having no time to exercise sounds like an excuse, but sometimes it really is a valid reason. But even so, it’s a problem that needs to be fixed. So, it’s time to send these sedentary past few weeks packing and get back to business. That sleep thing I mentioned? It goes hand in hand with exercise–the more you move, the more energy you have! Since I have a nearly-2-year-old, I plan to harness that unyielding energy for good instead of evil, and get him to move with me! Some days, that will mean running with the jog stroller. Others, it may simply mean a jump jivin’ silly dance party in the living room. But hey, what good is living out in the country if you can’t make a fool out of yourself with the window wide open? 
So there you have it. My top 5 goals for how I’m going to focus on family wellness over the coming months. How will you keep wellness top of mind in your household? I’d love to know!
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Don’t forget to help Walgreens help others! Visit their Facebook page here to learn about their charitable partners and decide which cause Walgreens will donate to with a quick vote. I was selected for this sponsorship by the Clever Girls Collective, which endorses Blog With Integrity, as I do.
Filed under Green Living, Parenting & Family, The Everyday, Uncategorized
Sleep deprived and dreaming of doughnuts…
Oh dear. I’m craving doughnuts.
In most cases, I consider myself an advocate for cravings. If you really want it, eat it (within reason), and enjoy it, right?
Not in this case.
That’s because I’ve grown to recognize this specific craving as a symptom….of sleep deprivation.
Any time I find myself really, really wanting to sink my teeth into a big, puffy chocolate covered doughnut first thing in the morning, I know I’ve been treating my body badly and missing too much sleep.
And with the sleep I haven’t been getting lately, I could do some real damage in here right about now…
I’m really, really tired. In fact, I think that’s putting it mildly. My eyes are so dry this morning, I feel like they might fall out. (It probably doesn’t help that I’m always dehydrated, too.) I’ve been plagued with writer’s block, headaches, and sluggishness.
But I’m not just talking about today. It’s been a chronic problem for…maybe 15 years (?), off and on. I honestly can’t remember the last time I wasn’t tired. All through college, I worked 4am – noon, then went to class all day. My jobs have always required the alarm to go off at 3 or 4am. The last few months of my pregnancy were spent awake because my lungs were so compacted by baby that I developed horrible claustrophobia. I shot straight up in bed several times a night because I couldn’t breathe. And when I could, wiggly little arms and legs kept me awake. Although I do kind of miss that…
The last 6 months have been pretty darned sleep-free, too, as you might imagine. For months, I had to get up to nurse every 3 hours, and now, the longest stretch I ever get is 6. Even then I’m up quite a few times to go in and lay my hand on my tiny boy’s back and feel for steady, even breath. I guess I’ll get over that someday, but I’m sure it won’t be soon.
Shane has taken a night or two here and there, but I still have to get up every so often to pump or I spring a geyser in the middle of the night. Then, I have to strip the bed, and that’s a real pain, so it’s worth getting up no matter how tired I am.
Common advice: “You have to sleep when the baby sleeps.” Great in theory. In reality, not so much. Caring for a baby requires every second of waking time, so when he sleeps, I switch into Hurricane Mommy mode, trying to accomplish something, anything. Despite my efforts, it usually doesn’t amount to much beyond making sure I have clean clothes and a clean plate for dinner.
So, it’s going on 9 months or so since I’ve had more than 4 or 5 hours of uninterrupted sleep on a regular basis. And nearly 2 years since I’ve given up caffeine. Ugh. And now, I’m back at work, and training for another job.
I wonder how long a person can survive on mere snippets of sleep? Seriously. I’m thinking I have to start getting serious about scheduling in enough ZZZs.
It’s pretty common knowledge that lack of sleep can cause weight gain (hormone and blood sugar levels get erratic and out of whack, causing your body to crave sugar and carbs = doughnuts!) but there are a lot of other health concerns that can be linked to not sawing enough logs…diabetes, headaches, obesity, hypertension…the list goes on (and I just happen to have or be at risk for all of them.) A simple Google search or trip to WebMD can provide more details than you would probably want.
As new moms, we have to prioritize, and sleep seems to be the one thing that falls way, way down the list. It’s hard–there are people, both big and small, that need us whether we’re tired or not. I think it all comes down to the Superwoman mentality so many of us adopt. We can do it all, right?
Sure, I can. But not all at once. And not every day.
I’m not complaining, just explaining. I take full responsibility, as I am the one who has structured my life this way, and many of the things that cost me some sleep are the same things that have made me endlessly happy. But it’s a problem that plagues an alarming number of women in our nation, and there has to be a better way. We can exercise and eat all the healthy, energizing food we want, but if we don’t allow our bodies the proper time to rest and rejuvenate, we’re never operating at 100%.
So that’s my new goal. More sleep. The go-go-go girl in me feels lazy even saying it.
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Moms and non-moms: Where is sleep on your priority list? Do you make sure you get enough? If not, why? Do you, like me, feel guilty or lazy if you take the time you need for sleep?
Filed under Parenting & Family, Recipes & Food
