Doing Things the Natural Way

Or at least trying.  I think it all started with the birth of Cole.  One of the things I really wanted to do was nurse him.  At the time my goal was three months.  Then he was born.  I had him, nursed him throughout my hospital stay, and then was sent home.  He was a feisty little guy, all eleven plus pounds of him.  

(Cole a few days old)

Those early weeks when I was getting up in the middle of the night, having trouble getting him latched were tiresome.  But I plowed forward, and we were successful.  Until he was around 3 1/2 weeks.  After another surgery for me, and an extended hospital stay I was forced to stop, and was too tired to pump and dump.  I accepted our fate, focused on healing with the help of family, and that was the end of it.  Or so I thought.

(Cole visiting me in the hospital.  God bless my mother-in-law, she brought me a pillow from her house, and it had the smurfs on it.  I am sure it was Derek's when he was a kid, haha.)

Once I got home, started to feel like my old self again, completed my antibiotics, I realized I missed it.  I missed being able to nurse my child.  So, I decided I would try to get my supply back.  Derek was a champ through all of this getting up in the middle of the night to feed Cole, so I could rest and heal.  Once I decided to get my supply back, I started pumping when he was fed.  I met with a lactation consultant, and with the help of my mom, Cole being an awesome nurser, a ton of water, and supplements to increase my supply, I was nursing him again.  He was being exclusively breastfed by the time I returned to work, and I new at that point I would try to make it six months.  After I met that goal, I was determined to make it a full year.  And we did.  

(Cole 3 months old)

But anyway, back to doing things the natural way.  Breastfeeding led to making my own baby food.  Baby food making, turned into cloth diapering.  Cloth diapering lead to drinking organic milk.  And so on.  


Now I make our own laundry soap.  Clean with natural products.  Use chemical free soaps for the kids.  And use cloth napkins.  


Currently I am working towards improving:

1.  Eliminating all plastic kitchen items, and using all glass.   
2.  Using my own shopping bags, really trying to do this 100 %.
3.  Switching to chemical free soaps, toothpastes, etc.  We are replacing things as they run   out.
4. Buying organic food.

I just shopped for the first time today at Vitacost.  It was super easy, and I found the prices, on most items, were less than what I have paid for in stores.  Especially the organic unsweetened coconut.  

By clicking this link, you can save ten dollars on your next order.  I used a link from my sister-in-law and the redemption code was in my inbox within a minute or so.  I already used it :)

I think the next time I need to make laundry soap I will buy the castile soap from here.  

That is how we are doing things in the Dreher household.  Still lots of ways to improve, but we will take it day by day.