Hot Cocoa

Perhaps this next idea isn't so much a socially responsible idea as it is a money saver. My coworkers are wonderful gift givers and they really bring the holiday spirit to the office. Unfortunately, I'm not great with gifts. Nate and I haven't given gifts to each other for a birthday or Christmas in years. I know it seems sad, but we both often buy what we want when we want it, and therefore don't see the need to buy more stuff on top of the stuff we just bought.

This year though, I had a fun idea, compliments of The Motherload. I made flavored hot cocoa mix as my gift. All I did is substitute flavored cream for the regular cream in the "gourmet hot cocoa" recipe. It turned out okay, but I think I'd use real cocoa instead of the chocolate drink mix to give it a bit more cocoa flavor.

The eco benefits of this would be reduced packaging, since I bought everything in bulk and packaged it myself. In addition, I could've bought all organic ingredients, but since this was a budget-based project, I had to pass on organics this time.

BPA in Cans

I think most people have heard about the perils of BPA in our water bottles, baby bottles, etc. Bisphenal A (BPA) is a synthetic estrogen that has been linked to breast cancer, ADHD, immune system disruption and other health issues. Research supports it's negative effects enough that many companies have taken action to remove BPA from our drinking vessils. However, BPA still sneaks into various places. One place we still see BPA is in the lining of canned foods.

The 10 worst canned items in regard to BPA content include:

1. Coconut milk
2. Soup
3. Meat
4. Vegetables
5. Meals (e.g. ravioli in sauce)
6. Juice
7. Fish
8. Beans
9. Meal replacement drinks
10. Fruit

Source: Safer Chemicals

Torn about Tearing into giftwrap

Nate was reading his blogs the other day and quoted the following:

"Half of the paper America consumes each year is used to wrap and decorate consumer products. (Source: The Recycler's Handbook, 1990) In the US, the annual trash from gift wrap and shopping bags totals over 4 million tons. In Canada, the annual waste from gift wrap and shopping bags equals about 545,00 tons. If everyone wrapped just three gifts in reused paper or fabric gift bags, it would save enough paper to cover 45,000 hockey rinks. (Source: eartheasy)"

"Great idea!" I said, "But it's A's first Christmas, and I already bought wrapping paper..." 

To which he replied, "So?"

"So, I want to take pictures..."

"An even better reason why we should demonstrate our eco-lifestyle early in A's life."

I don't know what my deal is. My birthday gifts growing up were wrapped in the bag they were purchased in (if we were lucky, a reused bow was taped to the top). My grandma flattened out all of her gift wrap to reuse. I am not the type to be overly concerned about what a gift looks like on the outside (or inside, for that matter).

I have no doubt that we'll wrap gifts in reused paper next year, but this year, I'm still having trouble letting go of the fact that it's A's first Christmas. I'll get there, but in the mean time, the gifts will sit in the basement unwrapped as I practice letting go of my frivolous decorating needs.

A Calls it Quits

Picture Source: almightydad.com

Four weeks ago yesterday, A quit nursing cold turkey. I thought maybe I wouldn't blog about this because this really isn't applicable for most of my readers, but for the few for whom this is relevant, I wanted  to share my experience in the hopes that it is helpful for you.

Since I started enjoying nursing (it took about 3 weeks) I had planned to nurse until A was 12 months old, the AAP recommendation.

A nursed as usual when we woke up on November 12 (his 9 month birthday), and then refused to nurse for his second morning feeding. I didn't think anything of it and gave him some bananas and cereal. Then at lunch, he refused again. At that point, I had to give him a bottle because he needed the nutrients. When he refused again that afternoon, I started looking online. I'll tell you right now, in the 4 weeks I've been trying to figure this out, I haven't found anything helpful, and this blog won't offer you any new insights either. Everything I read said "a majority of infants don't quit nursing on their own until around 18 months of age." This, of course, makes me feel like a failure. My research told me this was most likely a nursing strike, perhaps due to teething or just a growing independence. I was under the impression it might last 2-7 days.

When 7 days came and went (at this point we had stocked up on formula to supplement the bottles of frozen breast milk), I researched the longest nursing strike: 18 days. So I figured I'd give it 18 days and then figure out what I'd do. I pumped and got enough milk to give him a bottle of breast milk a day. The rest of the day he'd get formula.

I called the Health Partners Lactation consultants and got no help from the nurse with whom I spoke. She told me that when her little one went on a nursing strike, she simply told him "this is where your milk comes from. You get it here, or not at all." Um, not going to work for me. My son goes to day care, so he already knows that's not true. She told me to not offer him an alternative, but I'm not going to refuse to give my son nutrients to teach him where milk should come from. And she told me the reason most babies quit nursing this young is not their choice, but because the mother gives up. Thanks for making me feel like crap, and not helping me find a real solution to the problem.

If you experience the same situation, do not feel bad. You can grieve the change in your relationship with your child, but then move on. Trust that you've done all you can and trust that you will make the best choices for yourself and for your child.

When the 18 days passed, I decided I'd pump enough milk to have a bottle a day for him until he's 12 months old. Ufda, that is 100 times harder than nursing exclusively. I'm not going to make it. And quite frankly, my supply won't either.

I woke up this morning with A, and I just didn't have it in me to pump. So I guess without really making a decision, I've made the choice to call it quits.

It took me 4 weeks to come to terms with this, but as Nate reminded me a few weeks ago, if I continue to set my heart on fulfilling all my plans, I will continue to be disappointed. I don't get to make such detailed plans as a parent. I'm okay with my decision. A had 9 months of breastfeeding and then made his own decision to exert his independence. His favorite way to take a bottle is standing up, holding on to the table. Not really an option with a breast. I hope it's a sign of good parenting to recognize what he needs and allow him to fulfill those needs in a healthy way.

This post has been linked up to:

My Post Black Friday Walk of Shame

I am probably at my worst social responsibility-wise on Black Friday. Growing up, my parents and I stayed in and decorated for Christmas on Black Friday, or what I used to call simply the Day after Thanksgiving. Then, I started dating Nate. In order to prove my mettle to his bargain hunting family, I had to get up at 3 am to line up at Best Buy 7 years ago. I held my own, holding the line to check out while the rest of the family scrounged up the best bargains. 7 years later, I find myself in the line at Shopko, taking the lead on pulling coveted items off the shelves and politely telling 13-year-old girls to go to the back of the line (and yes, I really was polite).

This Black Friday was a milestone for me because it's the first (of many, I'm sure) hunting for the best deals for my son's Christmas presents. 

However, my shopping spree gives me nothing to blog about. In fact, I'm so consumerist that I'm ashamed to blog about the experience at all. I didn't even bother to bring our reusable bags!! 

The dark side of my shopping hit me when I opened my new, much needed memory foam contour pillow to find a warning that I should air out the pillow for 48 hours because it's a petroleum-based product with natural chemical odors. What was I thinking? I can't sleep on this for the next 5 years! (Which is how long I've been sleeping on my old pillow, thus the permanent crick in my neck.) But oh, I laid my head on my new pillow and it is sooo comfortable! 

I'll be doing some further research to decide if I need to give up my own bargain in lieu of something more eco friendly (and that I feel good about breathing in every night) or if I can keep it because it's not as bad as the warning suggests.

Between that and the pound of tissue paper and cardboard Nate pulled out of his 7 new work shirts, I'm feeling the post-Black Friday shame.