It’s official.  We’re done procreating around here.  Sad, but also relieved to be moving into a more sleep-filled future, we rounded up the baby gear (which was all handed down to us or purchased used) and gave it to a pregnant friend.

And here’s the bonus—my friend had read our book, The Eco-nomical Baby Guide, and heeded its wisdom completely!  She and her husband have made it known that they’re open to all used gear and have been loaded up with hand me downs from family and friends.

Their nursery is almost complete and the only thing they have bought thus far is the paint.  The crib, the dresser, cloth diapers, changing table, car seat, clothes and much more have all been given to them.  When they shared what they read in the book about buying used instead of spending thousands on baby’s first year alone, they became heroes in their social circles.  Baby rearing families all proclaimed that they wished they would have bought less paraphernalia and acquired more of it used.

Yahoo!  I do wish all newly pregnant families could read The Eco-nomical Baby Guide just to consider it before the baby buying pressure reaches its full potential.  We gave a book to a friend when she was five months pregnant.  She thanked us profusely a week later, but also bemoaned the fact that she had bought so much already and now regrets it.  No worries!  I just hope she kept the receipts!

How are we spending all that baby money we saved now?  I’m staying home this year with our kids, we’re sending our son to preschool, and we’re going on trips to build relationships with family.  That’s so much more valuable to us than piles of new plastic stuff! (And far more earth friendly).  How are you using the money you’ve saved on baby gear?  How are you helping to get the world out to pregnant friends about buying less, buying used, and buying green?

Do you like it?  I’m blushing a bit right now, but we are really proud of our book, The Eco-nomical Baby Guide, and are hoping that many of you find it helpful as you prepare for baby or select a gift for pregnant friends who are looking for eco-friendly, budget friendly solutions.  Please let us know if you’ve read it!  Also, if you have ideas on how to spread the word on our little gem, please let us know.  We loved writing it and editing it hundreds of times, but marketing isn’t our favorite hobby.  Still, we’d like to let expectant parents know how to save thousands of dollars while going green.  Thanks for your creative ideas!

Have you given up on peanut butter? I am so-o-o glad I didn’t read that doctors are recommending pregnant and breastfeeding women to avoid peanuts when I was pregnant five years ago.  As a vegetarian, I live off of peanut butter!

Once my daughter was eating solid foods, I waited patiently until she was two before introducing nuts. (Which was the recommendation at the time.) She was really underweight for a while there, and it was frustrating to withhold peanut butter for so long. I know I gave her almond butter first, but now I can’t remember when I introduced it.

Has anyone tried feeding babies sunflower seed butter? All the peanut butter alternatives out there are so much more expensive, but it seems like a good way to get some protein and calories into a young child’s diet. What do you think?

I see you everywhere, your bellies budging, your skin glowing, and your eyes lingering on my chubby baby.  The secret smile we exchange signifies that we both know that you’re on your way to my new native land: motherhood.

For me, in the beginning, it seemed as though my baby would never arrive. And then, it happened.  Suddenly we were hurtling forward in a free fall towards the biggest transition of our life.  My biggest maternity clothes didn’t fit, but even more immense than my belly was the feeling that I might just not be ready.

Not ready to push this person out of my body, or settle it into the incomplete nursery.  Not ready for the sleep loss, and not ready for giving up everything (and I mean everything)  I once thought was my own.  (That includes sleep, time, personal space, and clothes not covered in kid-generated goo.)

If you’re expecting a baby, you may feel the desperate need to buy more stuff to brace yourself for the shift.  Don’t. Of course, we won’t be offended if you purchase our book, The Eco-nomical Baby Guide, and give it a read, but if you’re short on time, here’s the summary.  You can do this.  You don’t need stuff.  In fact, it will just require you to take care of a whole bunch of objects in addition to your child.  All you really need is a few diapers, a place for baby to rest, a few clothes, the crook of your arm, and the croon of your voice. Welcome!  You’re going to be great at this!

Is the baby registry list making you dizzy?  Are you wondering how best to launder dirty cloth diapers?  Do you need baby food recipes? Have you had more than three hours of sleep in the last two days?   Are you trying to squeeze more organic produce into your grocery budget?   Does pumping breast milk at work seem totally overwhelming?

We’ve been there!  But now that our kids are older, we have to be reminded of just what would be helpful to our readers.  What are your latest victories and what are your biggest challenges? I’ve shared my weight loss dilemma this week, but there are bound to be issues of far greater consequence. (Like the critical goal of getting enough food and rest in those first few months!)  Please give us ideas for upcoming posts this summer and we’ll personally do our best to address your needs.

My weight loss efforts over the last postpartum year have felt largely experimental. When I’m sure I should be shedding pounds, my weight either stays the same or edges up slightly.  How could this be happening?  And how can I lose the weight without weird diet plans or gym memberships?

Luckily, I discovered Sparkpeople and Babyfit and began to unravel where I could be more effective in my eating and exercise.   Both of these sites are free online communities with tremendous support for people wanting to make a healthy lifestyle shift.  (Babyfit is specifically for pregnant and nursing mothers and Sparkpeople is for anyone wanting to lose weight.)  There are recipes, online chat rooms, videos, exercise plans and more.

In Sparkpeople, I use the “My Nutrition” option to record what I eat everyday and see my overall calorie, fat and protein intake.  Is this a bit of a pain?  It can be since it does take time to record every snack and meal.  But I am astounded to see the calorie count of foods I thought were healthy and to actually get a sense of what small changes I can make that will have a big impact on my weight loss.  You can also enter your exercise and the program will subtract those calories from your total.  Honestly, it’s tricky to search for the foods and exercises from the list and it can make me feel tied down to do it every day, but it has really affected my choices.

With Sparkpeople you can skip those gym fees, artificial weight loss foods, and make your way towards healthier living on a daily basis.  And if you’re still battling those last few pounds, you’re not alone!  Please share your weight loss stories (victorious or otherwise) with the rest of us!

For the last year, my body has doggedly clung to ten pounds of baby weight.  I could blame it on nursing, but more likely it was caused by the stress induced eating habits and lack of exercise.  Now that it’s summer and I’m officially a SAHM, I have the time to make some major shifts toward a healthier lifestyle. This week’s posts are dedicated to the pursuit of green, budget weight loss!

1. Eat whole foods.
   

Isn’t this totally obvious?   Maybe, but I seem to have to relearn this tip when life becomes hectic.  Food processing requires energy, packaging, and preservatives—adding a huge carbon load and calorie count to our meals and making our grocery bills far more expensive.  If we stick to foods fresh from our gardens, farmer’s markets or the produce aisle, we can slim down our bodies and our budgets.

2.Don’t wait until you’re hungry.

I keep crisp celery soaked in cold water on hand and load up with carrots or nuts when I know I’m going to be out of the house.  My body is designed to avoid starvation and if I wait until I have no reserves left, I can’t make great decisions about what to eat.  (Also, my parenting skills tend to suffer…)  Furthermore, packing food for myself also leads me to remember to have snacks with me at all times for my children.  We can then victoriously cruise past fast food joints without being lured in by desperate hunger.

3. Plan your indulgences.

In my green pursuits, my thrifty lifestyle or my weight loss, when I decide to strictly limit anything, there is an inner backlash.  Instead I plan some rewards into my grocery list so that I won’t feel tempted to scarf down a half bag of chocolate chips at 11pm.  Also I find that spending money on fresh fruit or fantastic yogurt tends to feel like a treat when I pull it out of the fridge.

In the one week that I’ve been working on eating better and moving more, I’ve lost one pound!  To be honest, I’ve lost a few pounds during the course of this year but they’ve crept back every time.  I’ll keep you posted on my fledgling progress!

Our new book, The Eco-nomical Baby Guide, costs $13.57 on Amazon.  Is it truly worth that much when you can read our tantalizing posts for free?

Only if you want to save thousands on baby’s first few years.  Thousands?  Seriously?  How can that be?  Here’s a quick outline:

Nursery Gear.  If you use our tips for scoring quality, safe secondhand gear or repurposing what you already have, you’ll save several hundred dollars on nursery furnishings alone.  Plus there’s a directory of quality green products for your eco-splurges.

Diapering. Want to avoid spending nearly two thousand dollars on diapering per child?  Check out our tips on using cloth!  It’s easier than ever and your savings will accumulate without regular runs to the store to stock up on pampers.  When your second or even third baby arrives, you won’t need to spend a dime on new supplies. Plus you’ll keep several tons of waste out of our landfills!

Clothing. Secondhand clothing is hip, cute, and infinitely better for the planet.  Prepare to dress your baby in the best brands for seventy to ninety percent less than retail!

Food. Packed with tips on breastfeeding, using organic formulas, and making your own baby food, The Eco-nomical Baby Guide will help you nourish your child with healthy foods for hundreds less.

Still not convinced?  You can request that your local library purchase our book and then check it out for free!  You just might find that it’s worth having on hand for as a trusty resource for eco-friendly, budget friendly living in baby’s first few years.

You love your baby with your whole soul, right?  Well that is how Rebecca and I feel about our new book, The Eco-nomical Baby Guide: Down-To-Earth Ways for Parents to Save Money and The Planet. (We love our actual children more, but this creative work is a close second…)   It has taken us years to write this gem and it may take us years to celebrate its arrival.  So bear with me for today’s adventure in substandard poetry….

Ode to The Eco-nomical Baby Guide

Oh manifesto of glorious green thriftiness
How I love perusing your pages
And deeply understanding
Every cloth diaper in existence.
Oh treatise of eco-frugality,
Your creativity and humor
Fill my life with laughter,
my wallet with cash,
and the nursery with adorable
secondhand baby gear.

Oh green gift of practicality,
You help new and expectant
parents with your kind wisdom,  and tips
from the trenches.  You make
eco-friendly, budget friendly parenting
a spine-tingling adventure.

Thank you, humble guidebook,
for your emphasis on progress, not
perfection, as we seek to go green
despite our lack of sleep and the spit-up
smudged perpetually on our shoulders.

It’s hard to quantify just how much I love the Nurse Midwifery Birth Center here in Eugene, Oregon.  Their supportive and empowering staff helped my family welcome our two children into the world. Throughout my entire pregnancy and birth we never felt rushed but enjoyed long leisurely appointments that educated us and allowed us to make our own choices. 

I gave birth in the above room filled with antique furniture in a beautiful old craftsman home that had been converted to a birthing center.  What could be better? This!

The new Midwifery Birth Center opened its doors today on May 1^st.   It’s situated close to the new hospital, in a stand of old trees, and is built to support ongoing natural birth.  It’s complete with a birthing tub for water births, a nature path among the old pines, and a classic interior.

The best part of all is that our entire community came together to support the clinic and did tremendous fundraising to be able to build and open the center.  Nurses and midwives were flexible as they moved to the hospital for the year while the center was built. Many of the moms who helped fundraise were due during the construction and so weren’t able to have their babies at the clinic.  Still they put in time and energy so that new birth center would open their doors to new families in time for Mother’s Day.

Want to be inspired?  Visit the Lane County Friends of the Birth Center’s blog or Facebook page to see how this vision has come to pass.  What a gift to our community!