One Step Closer to Nature

I am trying. One little step at a time I am trying to bring my family closer to nature through the food we eat, the items we use, how we consume and through an ever growing appreciation and care for the world around us. A couple of weeks ago I began making homemade diaper wipes (better for baby, cheaper, and reduces the purchasing of plastics and chemicals). I have been really happy with them. I feel better using them to clean up the kid’s faces and find them far more durable and skin friendly. So, my next big step is moving to cloth diapering. Itty Bitty is super-duper interested in the potty and although she has yet to go on it, she sits on it regularly. Although, I do not think she is ready and I will forgo any formal potty training processes for a bit longer, I thought the feel of cloth diapering may help some. I had planned to cloth diaper with any future babes we may be blessed with, so starting with my 15 month old is a rather new idea. But, I figured better late than never and given we go through about 7 diapers a day and she will be in them for at least another three months, I figure we can still save the landfills roughly 630 diapers (not to mention about $300). Not bad. Well, a step anyway.
So today is the first day. I used to change the cloth diapers of my many cousins when I was young and used to sit for them, so I am familiar with the cleaning and handling process and am not worried about it. I am actually really excited. The only down side is I suspect I will have a pinch of trouble getting the hubs on board, he will no doubt be worried about the whole “pin (i.e. sharp object) near the baby” thing, so I may be the primary (okay, only) diaper changer in the house. Eh, he can take over all the butt wiping for Rock Star.

WHAAAAAT am I doing?

I have a total love/hate relationship with connection technology. I despise the idea of being connected all the time via phones, texting, email, blogs, tweeting, Facebook, television, etc. At the same time, as a SAHM I do like the ability to reach out. Obviously I enjoy my blogging, but I also battle the idea that rather than enjoying and sitting with the small moments in life we spend them sharing with the masses. People who tweet as their children are being born for example blows my mind! Put the phone down and get present in your own life already! Trust me; I get the notion of sharing the funny interesting things and thoughts in a day. All of my family lives out of state and I love that I can keep in touch with them and the push of a button. I love that my kids get to talk to and have books read to them via skype with their godparents who live in NYC. I love that I can toss jokes with my cousin mid-day who lives in the woods of Wyoming and that I can get photos of my kids in front of grandparents in Michigan within minutes of taking them. It is wonderful to have the ability to stay connected with the people who I love that are far from me. But I have set some boundaries for myself (those of you who know me and have been reading for a while know I am all about the personal boundaries!) I dropped off of FB late last year because I was just spent on all the mindlessness of it. I had a growing list of friends and friend requests that I did not really know or quite frankly care about, and an endless list of friend request from people I really, really did not know that sat there just making me feel guilty. It was time and energy totally wasted. I decided rather than spending an hour surfing FB on info I didn’t care about I would spend the hour reaching out to people with whom I wanted to foster a healthy relationships. Great move. I have recently gotten back on FB, but again with the boundaries, I am only “friending” my first cousins. As you know I love these guys and gals and since we are so scattered about and all keep odd hours between kids, happening social lives, work and school, it is a great way to keep track of each other.
Okay….I think I am rambling and digressing a bit…lets see where was I going with this??? Oh yeah, I signed up for Twitter. WTF?!?! I hate the entire concept. I loathe the idea of telling the world that I am stoked that I just got eggs for 0.49 or getting excited that Ashton Kutcher just went to CVS. Seriously I do not care. So whaaaaat am I doing???? Well as you know I write a weekly column for The Grain Valley Pointe newspaper and they tweet about local stuff. I clicked on their home page and was reading some of their tweets and given my business here in town and that the hubs is on the P&R Board I figured it would be good stuff to know. So I signed up just to get the GV news. Of course though I am now feeling the pull to tweet something. WHY? It goes against everything I believe in and yet it is calling my name…tweet…tweet….tweet…..tweeeeeeettttt! NOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!! For the love of all things good and pure, I will be strong and reject the urge.

Uh…just in case you want to check and make sure I do not start tweeting you can follow me @mamacomedy.

Monday’s 3 Quick 3’s

3 Things I think about when I watch TV…
1. Why do you think shouting at me will make we buy your product?
2. I hate you for making my children think Pop Tarts are healthy because they are made with “real fruit”.
3. When I ponder which brand of tampons to buy, I promise you I am not thinking about which one will best protect me while dancing in my stilettos and red flowy dress but rather which one will survive not having time to use a restroom for 9 ½ hours straight.

3 Things I love about myself…
1. My hands
2. My really, really loud obnoxious laugh
3. I am learning to avoid people and relationships that are void of trust and respect; and put the extra time and energy into people I can trust and respect.

3 Things that make my days a bit brighter
1. Coke-Cola (yeah, for the record – probably not giving it up)
2. My iPod
3. Art Supplies

I aspire to be …Dora?

When I was young I thought of being something great in life. You know an aerobics instructor, a department make-up counter lady, the next Tiffany or Debbie Gibson …you get the idea. But never, oh never did I think on any given day of my life my true aspiration would be to be Dora the *Freaking* Explorer. My kids, and yes I sorrowfully say kids as Itty Bitty is much aware of the mind grating “I’m a Maaaaaap!” song, are obsessed. So much so that Rock Star requests I play Diego and Dora with him daily. Multiple times a day in fact. I find it interesting that he continues to ask me being as I apparently suck at being the almighty Dora.
No Mooom! Not like that!” Argh! So here I am day in and day out try to be the best little Dora I can, only to achieve tremendous failure and have myself esteem shaken-again. I mean really, I already had to give up on being the next hot teen pop star, now this!? Life is so unfair.

Oh Dora, what a love –hate relationship we have evolved into.

Update to below...

Just for kicks I posted my blog on Bullies on the Dr. Phil website:
http://community.drphil.com/profile.blog/mamacomedy/

Battle of the Bulge

Ugh. I have been seriously fighting the battle of the bulge since giving birth to my daughter 15 months ago (who was only a mere 6lbs btw). I actually gained very little during the pregnancy but have had totally out of whack hormones since and have gained more since her birth than I did during. And, in the interest of full discloser I was carrying extra weight before I got pregnant with her. So I have started a few natural things to help stabilize the hormones and increase my energy, but now I must commit to hitting the gym and being extra vigilant in healthful eating and lifestyle habits. Now I tend to be fairly conscientious of what I feed my family as a whole. We eat primarily organic, lots of fruits, veggies, whole grains and beans but I also have a few really, really bad habits.

So let me confess:

1. I drink coke (regular, not diet) daily. Usually 2-3 cans a day.
2. We eat dinner pretty late (usually during the 7-8pm hour). By this time I am tired and starving and greatly overeat.
3. I am not formally exercising. I am in constant movement with the kids, but I am not getting any serious cardio or strength training.
4. I will tell you I do yoga but I do it in my living room with my children climbing on top of me like I am their personal jungle-gym. Thus it really is not that effective.
5. I do not sleep well, and am therefore tired all the time. This is extra bad for me because I am a fatigue eater. I eat mindlessly when I am tired. I will find myself perusing the kitchen with no direction just munching on anything I can find when I am not the slightest bit hungry, just tired. The few times I have forced myself (and had the opportunity) to take a power-nap, the munchies magically go away.
6. I reward myself with food.
7. I am a social eater. It is hard for me to imagine a social situation without something to nosh on. I think this is the equivalent to an alcoholic not being able converse with a group of people without booze.

I have joked for awhile now that I am a reverse-anorexic (no I do not think anorexia is funny). I think of myself, and even see in the mirror, the skinny me. But pictures…oh the pictures do not lie. So, today I begin the journey. I am going to the gym tonight for my first (alone) workout in a long time. I am starting the menu planning and will slowly and steadily work on the list above. I am thinking of starting another blog just to chronicle the process. I would use actual numbers (YIKES!). Other than to be nosy to see what my fat bootie actually weighs in at, would you read it?

Honestly Me

How well are you at being alone? Sitting in a room with no TV, books, cell phone, magazine or other people; just being? Not many years ago this was close impossible for me. Not so much because I couldn’t, as much as I simply never tried. I now love being with the inner me. I can spend hours contemplating my own thoughts and feelings, daydreaming about the future of my family, thinking about ways to reap greater joy and connectedness out of the world around me. However, one of the many things I have learned while taking myself through this process, is how critical it is to be honest with myself. Honest with how I feel about events in my life, people I am connected to, how aligned my practices are with my ideals. When you keep yourself perpetually moving and busy it is easy to lie to yourself. It is easy to ignore not caring for your mind and spirit. When I am still, I have to fully acknowledge my thoughts and behaviors and how they are impacting me, and others. I think this is where most people get hung up with being alone. I know people who are constantly going, doing, moving and/or are always with other people. Personally I find this type of behavior exhausting and I quickly begin to feel like I am drowning. What I find so interesting is these are also people who are hiding from themselves; ignoring and trying to pretend they are not struggling and hurting. When I stop and just sit with myself it forces me to evaluate what is going on inside. It forces me to look at things that are hurting, worrying or intimidating me; I like doing this because I cannot overcome what I do not acknowledge. This statement is of course psychology 101 which makes it all the more fascinating more people don’t acknowledge it themselves.

Give it a shot. Just commit to 30min today to sit in the still and quiet. Think about your day. What you did, what you put in your body, the tone and words you used with others. What made you happy, overwhelmed and what will you repeat tomorrow? Just take the time to really think about what you did and how you lived one day.

Reflect. Breath. Contemplate. Breath.