Baby steps to being greener

First, an update on baby Squishy - I love hearing Squishy's heartbeat. It was good and strong and in the 150's today. One reason that I haven't been able to feel Squishy moving as much is because my placenta is right on the front of my uterus, so Squishy has to kick pretty darn hard for me to be able to feel it. I still haven't gained weight (I've lost weight actually), but Squishy is growing fine, so all is well! Our ultrasound is scheduled for Monday, and we're very excited.

Second, I've been thinking almost nonstop about "greener" living since blogging about it last night. One thing that is really bugging me is how much fruit/vegetable waste that we are throwing out. We used to have a compost pile, but it wasn't very sturdy, and it just sort of fell apart. My goal for January is to get a usable compost pile out in my yard. Being vegetarians we eat a lot of fruits and vegetables, but we throw away a lot of peels, stems, leaves, etc. Now that we are eating even more living foods, we'll have even more fresh fruit and vegetable waste. There is absolutely no excuse for putting fruit and vegetable waste in the landfill. Trey wants us to build a compost bin. I told him that was great, but it HAS to be done by the end of January! He's already sent me links to two different plans. After Christmas, we'll get to work on one.

I'm already a pretty compulsive label reader, but I find myself getting more obsessive about it! LOL. Today, on the way home from my midwife appointment, the kids and I checked out a "health" food store called Sunflower Market. Color me NOT impressed. Having been a vegetarian for 16 years, the thought of eating decomposing flesh grosses me out beyond all belief. However, many people eat dead animals and therefore most stores sell them - even health food stores. I think most people can agree though that Hormel's precooked bacon in a bag is not even close to being healthy! Yuck. The icing on the irresponsible cake was when I found Nestle chocolate chips right beside the Sunspire ones. Nestle?!?! Give me a freaking break. One thing I like about Vitamin Cottage is they have ethical standards. Sunflower could take lessons. They did have some cool products though. The kids were out of toothpaste, so I was on the hunt for toothpaste that I was okay with them using. I'm really irritated that Tom's of Maine sold out to a major corporation, but they do still sell good products. Their children's toothpaste only contains: glycerin (vegetable oil), water, calcium carbonate, hydrated silica, fruit extracts, carrageenan (seaweed), and sodium lauryl sulfate (comes from coconut oil). I also found some really wonderful smelling patchouli soap that only contains, water, olive oil, coconut oil, palm kernel oil, soybean oil, essential oils, and cocoa powder. Cool, huh? That's something I don't mind putting on the delicate skin of my children. It's kind of expensive, so I guess they just won't get to bathe often! LOL. It's made by Plantlife, a company in San Clemente, CA.

So, there are a few baby steps! Another way we help keep our footprint small is that Trey works from home. One of the perks of working from home is that he gets to sneak in some cuddle time in the middle of the day sometimes!