The last few weeks have been daunting to me. There has been record numbers of natural diasaster and disaster related deaths with the tornados, volcano, monsoon, earthquake, wildfires, floods, etc. And now they are saying that most of the regions being hit are those that supply our food. The volcano erupted where our fruit comes from….the monsoon where our rice comes from (note, ALL stores are now rationing rice) and the midwest where corn is grown is under water (thus, rotting seeds). There is talk of rationing sugar and flour.

So, i have been reading up on Mrs. Survival. We have a garden in the back yard. Since we only have 5 acres we are going to use the back half for animals such as cows, milk goats, chickens. We are going to use the front half for gardening. The problem is that heirloom seeds are hard to find….

Well, i could write a mini-book on this topic. I would strongly suggest that my readers take some time to check out some survival sites. I don’t care if you put tomotoes in planters, or just stock up at the store, but I would STRONGLY advise you to start getting a stock of food - enough to last a couple of months should famine hit.

I would also suggest if you are diapering a baby that you stock up on cloth diapers.

The first “C” word I want to talk about is Chiropractor. It seems that traditional Chiropractors out there are bad words when it comes to pediatricians. I suppose I learned that a long time ago, but it was made even more clear to me the other day when my pediatrician wanted to know why/how I had managed to keep my son out of his office and off of antibiotics since November 2006. When I told him that I had been taking him to the chiropractor he nearly blew his top. I am sure you are wondering how in the world you adjust a 2 year old - i tried to find a picture on the internet of the little tool that they use, but they DO NOT lay the kid on a table and crack him. The little tool they used is placed wherever the vertebra is out and it gives a little “click.” I used it on myself before I let them touch the boys with it and I barely even felt the thing. All I know is that my kids have been healthy and don’t even get common colds, so it must be working. If you want more information, please visit the chiropractic section of the Holistic Pediatric Association

The other “C” word is Circumcision. Most of you reading this are parenting naturally, aren’t vaxing, etc. but I strongly believe that circumcision goes right along with this. I honestly would have circumcized my sons had it not been for one gal, who i believe is a member of NOCIRC coming onto the message board I was reading while i was pregnant and bringing it up. I started researching at that point and within a few days decided that I wouldn’t allow my son to be circumcized. Since then I have become somewhat of a spectacle int he family where some thought that it was part of our religion and some thought it was biblical. I also have a circ’d husband who was worried about it, but there just came a time where I had to ignore their ranting and just not do it. I prepared a birth plan that BOLDLY outlined all of my wishes, including no vaxing or circumcision so that incase I would have had a hard go of things they wouldn’t have been able to talk DH into doing it. I suppose my biggest push for not circumcising is the rights of my sons. I have the same issue with people who take their two month old girl to get her ears pierced. Since when do we as parents have the right to mutilate our children, permanently? Removing the foreskin of a baby is not only torture, but it is life changing, potentially deadly, causes permanent damage, has been known to result in amputation, may result in the ability to reproduce….oh, i could go on and on. I suppose the best illustration I ever seen that best describes my point of view was a graphic of a little boy with a nose ring and tattoos that said something along the lines of “looking like daddy” since that seems to be the biggest argument for it these days. For more information go to NoCirc.org or MothersAgainstCirc.org.

If you are up for it, you can check out a circumcision video here

Here are Penn & Teller’s videos….THEY CONTAIN BAD LANGUAGE…

ONE
TWO
THREE

I will admit that I am beginning to take the natural thing to the extreme, however, ALL of my baby bottles went in the trash this week. They have been replaced with BPA-Free bottles we are now going to be stocking on ANM. Be sure to read up on BPA in your babies bottles. Also, if you want me to get you some of these, please go to the site and call me so I can be sure to add your order to the list as I am sure the first order will sell out as soon as they are stocked.

I also have decided that the organic shampoo now listed on the site is a REALLY great product. Here is your challenge. .. go into the shower and get out your childs shampoo and read the ingrediants on the back….SCARED YET? So, I have ordered more shampoo to stock and some for myself. Being natural can be tedious, but it is SO worth it. I about dropped the shampoo bottle when I realized my Lavendar and Chamomille (sp) shampoo had CITRIC ACID in it. So maybe this isn’t totally bad, but anything that says acid scares me and half of the other ingrediants look scary. I might research the contents and post it here so everyone can look at the difference between the shampoo we are stocking versus the other stuff.

Oh…and one last thing before I go.

In the next week the blog will get a facelift. I will work on taking off Jenn’s personal images and change the blog to match ANM. Also, we are going to add a forum for mommies to talk about being ALL NATURAL!

Here is the article that scared me into stocking BPA free bottles:

From: http://www.chej.org/BPA_Website.htm

Baby’s Toxic Bottle:

Bisphenol A Leaching from Popular Baby Bottle

Is Your Baby’s Bottle Potentially Harmful?

A new study “Baby’s Toxic Bottle: Bisphenol A Leaching from Popular Baby Bottles,” released by environmental health groups in the U.S. and Canada demonstrates the toxic chemical bisphenol A leaches from plastic baby bottles when heated. The groups are calling for an immediate moratorium on the use of bisphenol A in baby bottles and other food and beverage containers The report was commissioned, written and released by the Work Group for Safe Markets, a coalition of environmental health NGOs. The report is based on research by the laboratory of Frederick vom Saal, PhD., at the University of Missouri-Columbia.

BPA, a synthetic sex hormone that mimics estrogen, is used to make hard polycarbonate plastic. Ninety-five percent of all baby bottles on the market are made with bisphenol A. The results of the U.S. study show that, when new bottles are heated, those manufactured by Avent, Evenflo, Dr. Brown’s and Disney/First Years leached between 4.7 – 8.3 parts per billion of bisphenol A. Recent research on animals shows that bisphenol A can be harmful by disrupting development at doses below these levels.

Results of the study contribute to a growing body of evidence that calls for immediate protective action to reduce public exposure to bisphenol A, especially for infants and children.

I came to a sudden realization last night. It was so sudden that I found myself laying in bed weeping, thinking and generally unable to fall asleep. You see, I lay on my side with my 8 month old curled up beside me. We face each other and he nurses as he needs to throughout the night. Last night was different though. I realized that my legs were curled up and because he is getting so tall, his little legs were tucked up between him and my belly - kind of like when I was pregnant for him and the sudden realization that he is growing into a little boy hit me. My baby is growing faster than I ever thought he would and here we are - he is nearly 9 months old and I am attempting to hold on to his little moments as tightly as I can and seem to be cherishing every moment as best I can but something mysterious is happening - HE JUST KEEPS GROWING. So, he will be 9 months old in another week - the age at which his brother started walking. I am wondering if he will do the same. For Ethan it was cruising and gentle let-gos before rushing back to mommy, daddy, the couch, the dog or whatever he was playing with and then one day - he just let go. Ian is much more conservative. He is taking his time with the letting go part, but who is to say he won’t just let go one of these days.

Anyway, I ran into another mom who has bad back problems. She has bought four baby carriers at the local baby store and all of them make her back hurt when she carries her 8 month old, so I retreated to my truck to grab a carrier and tied it around her while she held her sleeping baby. She was nervous that something that was fabric and wasn’t made in a factory could hold her securely and wouldn’t hurt her back, so i tied her up and told her to just let go. She did. She immediately started saying “OH My THIS is GREAT…this isn’t hurting my back at ALL!” We walked for about a mile together before she again started telling me that it wasn’t hurting her. Her baby was extremely comfortable and slept the entire walk. Her mother joined us and wanted the scoup on if it hurt her and if the baby was sleeping. They both peaked in to check her and at the same time they said….AWE!! She looks SO cute all snuggled up in there.

So, since I have acquired ANM you may have noticed that I have already started adding products that aren’t handmade by me or my MIL - such as Drybees and Earth Mama Angel Baby, but the truth of the matter is…I felt compelled the tell my customers about these products because I LOVE THEM. I want my customers to be able to come to ANM and find the things they need and I have the notion that putting the things I love in one conveinant spot will be appreciated as much as I appreciate it when I find everything in one conveinant spot, so, here it will be. As much as I love and as much as I can get my hands on to offer through ANM I will be adding so you can find the all natural products you deserve and love here too.