I found this article on GOOD’s web site through DIGG. Basically, they have a chart of organic food brands like Boca and Gardenburger, and the big food companies to which they belong. I was quite surprised with some of these; for example, I had no idea Kashi, Morningstar, and Gardenburger are all owned by Kellogg. Yep, the same Kellogg who makes Rice Krispies and Frosted Flakes cereals. (It’s not that these facts were ever kept secret or anything; a quick look on Kellogg’s web site shows the brands they own. I just never really paid attention before.)

Categories: food
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Well, THIS little article basically became the deciding factor for becoming a vegetarian again.

I had been a vegetarian for a couple of years before finding out I was pregnant. During my pregnancy, I suddenly lost the taste for tofu, and decided to add meat back into my diet in order to get protein. I ate mostly chicken with the occasional beef dish.

Now that I’m two months postpartum, I’ve been slowly weaning myself off meat. I never really gave it up because I thought it was a cruel practice (though it does break my heart to think about it); I simply hated the way certain cooked meats smelled and tasted. I detested cooking chicken because it yelled to me, “COOKED FLESH!” Ew. As I was explaining to a friend, the reason why I find those fake chicken patties so tasty is because they’re like the farthest thing from “chicken.” Seriously. The fake chicken patties recreate the same patties made of supposed real chicken, which tastes and feels nothing like, say, a grilled chicken breast. They taste like something almost totally manufactured (which I guess they are), so for someone to come along and recreate the same “fake” thing in a truly meatless endeavor, well, I’m more than satisfied.

Categories: food
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I’ve been pumping milk for Baby E from the beginning (due to him being a preemie and could not breastfeed). After he came home, I tried to put him to the boob occasionally, but he would get so frustrated that I decided it was more important that he get my milk somehow than the actual method.

Anywhoo, since coming home from the NICU at around two weeks old, he’s had a little problem with having some blood in his poops. It’s been on and off, and the usual culprit is an intolerance to dairy from my diet. I’ve been trying to cut dairy out, but there have been a couple of times where the effort got screwed up (like the pizza at our belated shower at work and the salad that had shaved parmesan that my husband brought home the other night). So in six or so weeks, as much as I’ve worked to cut out dairy from m diet, something messes it up and I basically have to start over. It’s frustrating, obviously.

I’ve been pondering switching over to formula to alleviate this problem (if it is, in fact, a dairy intolerance). I keep mentioning it to my husband, and he keeps fighting me on it. I understand the financial impact of breast milk versus formula. The stuff is not cheap, especially what I would get (organic), whereas breast milk is practically free. The only cost was the breast pump. I need to ask him if this is the only reason he’s so against formula; I find it hard to believe that he believes in breast is best. Unless, of course, he’s secretly read up on all things breast milk. (Unlikely.)

While I do agree that breast is best, there’s just so much that goes into providing it for Baby E. One, I pump, so it’s not as convenient as flipping down my shirt and feeding my son. I have to prepare bottles, clean bottles, pump at all hours during the day (for 20 minutes each) … not to mention watching my diet due to the possible dairy intolerance. We’re talking taking milk, cheese, butter, and other hidden dairy ingredients in many foods out of my diet. I’m OK with taking out milk; I’ve never been a milk drinker, only using it for cooking. Butter and cheese have been hard; thankfully there are dairy-free “butter” spreads, but I’ve noticed that even soy cheeses contain casein, which is a no-no.

I’ve just been walking the line between milk and formula, and I get irritated when people push breast milk exclusively. It’s like as if millions of infants who grew up with formula are all deranged because formula is so evil. The more people do this, the more they’re pushing me toward the side of formula. Go figure, it’s the anti-authority side of me.

Categories: baby
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My (sometimes) trusty old VW Jetta has had it.

I’ve had this car since 1999. It was my very first car, actually. One that I paid for all by myself, and got when I moved from the east coast to Los Angeles. She’s been with me through a lot … moving up to the bay area, driving back and forth to Orange County while I was going through the admission process of a teaching program at UC Irvine, then finally moving back down to SoCal, and a few road trips back north for weddings and concerts.

However, it always seems like there’s a problem with her. Last week, after a belated baby shower thrown by my coworkers, she died on my way home. Thankfully, I managed to coast off the freeway and onto much safer ground. Her battery was dead, and the alternator was kaput, so $344 later, she (supposedly) got new parts.

Well, the other day she died again, this time on my way home from a medical appointment for the baby, when we stopped by CVS to pick up a prescription for him. Desperate, I decided to put the baby in the stroller and hike up to our house, which is about a mile and a half away from where the car died. A mile and a half is nothing, except when you’re going uphill with a stroller that’s carrying a car seat, an 8+ pound baby, a diaper bag, an apnea monitor, and a bag of things purchased from CVS. There were moments when I wanted to cry, and I found myself trying to tell the (crying) baby that we’ll be home soon, and that I had to just make it.

The car is back in the shop, and they tell me that they had no problems starting it. I swear I didn’t imagine the damn thing stall on me, but whatever. They’re continuing to look for what could be wrong, but at this point, if it’s anything major, I’m ready to just trash it. Well, even if it isn’t major, I just don’t feel safe and comfortable driving her anymore. Not now, especially when I have the baby with me. We need something reliable.

So I’ve been looking for replacements. My family is a big Honda fan, and we’re fond of Toyota (mostly because of our Prius). My husband wants to go big(ger) with a Pilot, but I think we could do with something like a CR-V or a RAV 4. While I dislike the idea of going for bigger, to be honest, it’s not like the Jetta was all that fuel efficient. It sucked, actually, and probably gets the sale mileage as the current models of CR-Vs. The reason to go bigger is we need to fit the stroller AND other things in the car. Currently, the Jetta will hold the stroller and a few things in the trunk, but that’s it. I can’t really use it to go grocery shopping if I have the stroller in there. My husband wants a bigger car so he can fit his model airplanes in there, and when we’ve occasionally needed to lug home large purchases to avoid ridiculous shipping costs.

If only Honda made a hybrid CR-V …

Categories: transportation, cars
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I took out some dipes from the dryer today and was taking stock of the current stash:

• 3 goodmama organic bamboo velour fitteds
• 1 goodmama print fitted
• 16 bumGenius 2.0s (one-size)
• 10 Fuzzi Bunz (S)
• 12 unbleached Indian prefolds (infant)
• 24 unbleached Indian prefolds (preemie)
• 2 Bummis Super Whisper Wrap covers (newborn)
• 2 Imse Vimse organic cotton covers (newborn)
• 1 Thirsties cover (XS)
• 1 Thirsties cover (S)
• 6 Prorap covers (preemie)

The bumGenius dipes still fit little big for Baby E (who is 8 1/2 pounds), so he’s mostly in the Fuzzi Bunz and infant prefolds with covers. He’s outgrown the preemie prefolds and Prorap covers, but we now use the prefolds as burp cloths. Hopefully, he’ll fit into the Fuzzi Bunz for a while, so by the time he’s outgrown it, the bumGenius will be in heavy rotation. I’ll probably end up getting a few medium Fuzzi Bunz, just because I’m liking them so much.

Categories: diapers, baby
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I have to take Baby E to his apnea clinic today. He’s been doing well for a while now, but to be honest, we’ve stopped using the monitor on him a few weeks ago. It was just a pain to keep the probes on him, especially since the placement would get wonky in the middle of night because he’s squirmy, and we end up running into his room to turn off the alarm (then readjusting the probes, which he hates). Before we stopped using the monitor, he hadn’t had a spell for a good week or so, and now that he’s actually full-term, I’m more confident that he’s got the whole breathing thing down pat.

Categories: baby, health
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