I cannot believe I’m saying this…but if you had to label me
as a parent..I would be considered “crunchy.” I guess I would be crunchy
because we cloth diaper, babywear, exclusively breastfeed, attempt to recycle
and reuse whenever possible. I did not set out to join this group of mommies,
not that there is anything wrong with being a crunchy mommy, I just set out to do
what was best and most natural for us. I cloth diaper because it saves us money
and Alice’s bum seems to do better using cloth diapers and wipes. I wear her
because I want her close and she seems happier in her carrier than the carseat.
I breastfeed her because it is the most nutritious and cost-effective way to
feed her. I haven’t started solids because she is not ready (I know…I know…I
could keep trying and eventually get her to eat..but why? She has her entire
life to eat solids). I wanted to be selective and knowledgeable about her shots
because, well, she is a little bitty individual and the drugs are made to
protect the masses.
All of these things are good, but I have had to face the
reality that even if I want to be as true to myself and do what comes most
natural to us—I might not be able too. For instance, I was planning on studying
the vaccines and delaying the some of the shots when we went in for her 2 month
check-up. Unfortunately, the reality was we had spent a week in the hospital
and I was scared. I did not know what was next for my baby and I wanted her
covered for as much as possible as quickly as possible if we were going to be
in and out of doctors’ offices (where the sick babies go).
Now that we are on antibiotics I am once again facing
reality. Antibiotics have a tendency to give Alice a yeast infection which has
to be treated with a cream, which you are not supposed to use on cloth diapers.
Ugh. That same yeast infection appears in mouth in the form of thrush, which
makes breastfeeding difficult. Alice hates to take the medicine—hates, hates,
hates it. She oozes it out, she gags it out, she pukes it out, basically she will
do anything/everything possible to get it out.
Because of this, I might have to try to give her some cereal with the
medicine mixed in…which means she will not be exclusively breastfed for six
months like I had hoped she would be.
In the end, she will be fine. If my ideas about parenting
are not always compatible with our reality, it will be fine. After all, my goal
is to do and be as natural as possible for the three of us. Sometimes what is
natural for us changes from day to day. These antibiotics are now a part of our
lives and we have to find a way to make it work for us.
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| Alice is thinking about this cloth diaper thing...how cute is that blue diaper?! |
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| Who says that Alice won't put anything in her mouth but Mama?! I had to document her deciding to put her teether in her mouth because up to this point she was rejecting everything that wasn't Mom. |
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| Alice thinks that tummy time is a lot better when you get to stare at a pretty little girl in a mirror. |
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| Look at that talent!! |
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