Being eco friendly doesn't mean being a hippie. You don't have to have a compost in your back yard, although having a compost is a wonderful thing to do! Creates good soil to grow veggies with, but that's not the point. Luckily for us, being eco friendly is so easy today. Let's take cloth diapering for example. When our parents or Grandparents cloth diapered, it was all about pins flying every where, plastic diaper covers, and honestly, one big stinky mess. So when I first heard of cloth diapering when my baby came along, I thought I don't want to use pins and handle stinky poop. But then I saw the new and improved diapers and fell in love! No more pins, just snaps. No more plastic liners, just fleece on the inside and a waterproof outer layer of PUL. O and did I mention the super cute prints and designs?! That's right, cloth diapering as we know it has changed completely and is somewhat a fashion statement in the baby world. But I'll talk more about the wonders of cloth diapering later.
Next eco friendly act we can do as mothers, make our own baby food. Not only is it super easy with a food processor, it's healthier for our babies. How easy is it to go to your local produce store, pick out colorful food, put it in the blender, and feed your baby?! Ok well picking up a food jar that has processed foods, a percentage of non-baby food product, and adds unnecessary additives to the food. Easy but yummy and safe? Not so much. And why is making your own baby eco friendly?! Because you are using reusable storage instead or waisting the plastic or glass containers Gerber baby food come in.
One last thing that I can think of being eco friendly, breast feeding!!!! Seriously the best decision, aside from cloth diapering that I made for my daughter. No bottles, no water, no formula, no warming it up, just super easy, on demand feeding...to go! How easy and eco friendly is that?! No lie, it can be hard for a first time momma but it's so rewarding. There are so many benefits to breast feeding it's pretty ridiculous! But we will save that ridiculousness for another time!
Tuesday, April 10, 2012
Not as Easy as We Think
When I found out I was pregnant, I knew how I wanted to raise my baby; in the church. I was raised in the church, so was my husband so we thought it would be a piece of cake but we soon learned different.
Waking up at 9am to get ready and be at church by 10:45 by ourselves was easy. Then we added our daughter into the mix. We were too tired to get up at 9am because of the late night, early mornings feedings. So when we finally did get up, we would be ready to leave and then she does a blow out. Great! Now we are going to be late. Then, with a clean diaper on, she decides she wants to snack. Ok, so now we will come in after worship. After a good feeding, we finally make it to the church. But my daughter decides she doesn't want to listen to the preacher and makes a scene. So I take her out to hall, not able to listen to the sermon. This last a couple months for us. As she got older, being on time got harder and harder and eventually, we stopped going. So now what do you do?
We pray, we read our Bible, and don't conform to the secular world. Easier said than done right. Well praying is easy. Pray over meals, pray at night, and pray every where in between. Reading our Bibles can be more complicated for the active momma. We try to read at night but by the time the babies are sleeping, its time for momma to get sleep. The hardest part is breaking away from the secular world. I admit, I'm not perfect so I struggle too. But hey, we are only human right. We listen to the music that's in, where clothes too small or too low, and throw out the occasional curse word. And of course, not being in the church makes overcoming all those bumps hard!
As parents, we want the best for our children. We want them to have good morals, live a great life, and have all the blessings possible. We need to set examples for them and it can be hard with all these distractions. We can talk about how good it is to have a relationship with God but if we don't show our kids how wonderful it is, how can they believe us? We can go to church every Sunday but do we put a fake face in front of other believers? We can't expect our children to believe if we don't. How can we raise our children as if Sunday was everyday?
I think a big part of going down the Christian path is removing the mainstream music, movies, and shows. That can be such a hard step for a lot of us because it may be all we know. The transition can be easy. Start with listening to the Christian radio station in your car then watch family friendly shows. I am to tell you how much of an impact listening to Christian music can be! When I started listening to it, I liked the beats, Then I started actually listening to the words. Before you know it, I was worshiping my Lord and Savior in the car! Driving started to be time where I could connect with God and ask Him for guidance on raising my daughter. I also started having a more positive outlook on life. I was happier because I knew that while I wasn't in church, my relationship with Christ was growing and I wasn't listening to music that could interfere with that time. While we may think how much music impacts our life, it truly does. Think about it, if your older son listened to the music where woman are called horrible names and said doing dirty things, what do you think women are put on Earth to do?! Just saying! Watching family friendly shows doesn't mean watching the Disney Channel 24/7. Pick shows that don't drop the "F" bomb or think it's ok to say "A" words. Let's be real, it can be hard to find those types of channels. Heck, every Thursday night you will see me glued to the TV watching Grey's Anatomy. No one said cutting out the secular world would be easy. It's far from easy but the rewards are AMAZING!
Waking up at 9am to get ready and be at church by 10:45 by ourselves was easy. Then we added our daughter into the mix. We were too tired to get up at 9am because of the late night, early mornings feedings. So when we finally did get up, we would be ready to leave and then she does a blow out. Great! Now we are going to be late. Then, with a clean diaper on, she decides she wants to snack. Ok, so now we will come in after worship. After a good feeding, we finally make it to the church. But my daughter decides she doesn't want to listen to the preacher and makes a scene. So I take her out to hall, not able to listen to the sermon. This last a couple months for us. As she got older, being on time got harder and harder and eventually, we stopped going. So now what do you do?
We pray, we read our Bible, and don't conform to the secular world. Easier said than done right. Well praying is easy. Pray over meals, pray at night, and pray every where in between. Reading our Bibles can be more complicated for the active momma. We try to read at night but by the time the babies are sleeping, its time for momma to get sleep. The hardest part is breaking away from the secular world. I admit, I'm not perfect so I struggle too. But hey, we are only human right. We listen to the music that's in, where clothes too small or too low, and throw out the occasional curse word. And of course, not being in the church makes overcoming all those bumps hard!
As parents, we want the best for our children. We want them to have good morals, live a great life, and have all the blessings possible. We need to set examples for them and it can be hard with all these distractions. We can talk about how good it is to have a relationship with God but if we don't show our kids how wonderful it is, how can they believe us? We can go to church every Sunday but do we put a fake face in front of other believers? We can't expect our children to believe if we don't. How can we raise our children as if Sunday was everyday?
I think a big part of going down the Christian path is removing the mainstream music, movies, and shows. That can be such a hard step for a lot of us because it may be all we know. The transition can be easy. Start with listening to the Christian radio station in your car then watch family friendly shows. I am to tell you how much of an impact listening to Christian music can be! When I started listening to it, I liked the beats, Then I started actually listening to the words. Before you know it, I was worshiping my Lord and Savior in the car! Driving started to be time where I could connect with God and ask Him for guidance on raising my daughter. I also started having a more positive outlook on life. I was happier because I knew that while I wasn't in church, my relationship with Christ was growing and I wasn't listening to music that could interfere with that time. While we may think how much music impacts our life, it truly does. Think about it, if your older son listened to the music where woman are called horrible names and said doing dirty things, what do you think women are put on Earth to do?! Just saying! Watching family friendly shows doesn't mean watching the Disney Channel 24/7. Pick shows that don't drop the "F" bomb or think it's ok to say "A" words. Let's be real, it can be hard to find those types of channels. Heck, every Thursday night you will see me glued to the TV watching Grey's Anatomy. No one said cutting out the secular world would be easy. It's far from easy but the rewards are AMAZING!
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