Green Parenting

Many of Maggie's toys are made from organic materials, such as organic cotton and wood.

So I discovered these leggings called Baby Legs. They also come in organic fabrics, and make it very easy to change diapers. Zac doesn't care for them too much, but I think they're great! (Oh did I mention she's rolling from her stomach to her back consistently now as demonstrated by this photo!)

Auntie Sara bought Maggie this stuffed Monkey toy. It's also made from organic fabric and wool that is free of chemicals--I don't even have to worry about the potential chemicals she'd be digesting, as she does what all babies do, chews on her toy.

Right away Zac and I knew we wanted Maggie to have the healthiest start to life possible. A big part of this was choosing to become healthier and more green in our own life. Here are some of the choices we've made, and continue to make as new parents...

• The Nursery: For Maggie's nursery we started with a safer paint. Most paints contain VOCs (aka that stinky paint smell). VOCs produce poor air quality and contribute to the depletion of our ozone layer. We used a paint called Yolo, which has low and zero VOCs. We also decided to get most of Maggie's nursery furniture used. Yep, her diaper changing table and crib are both second hand. We painted the diaper changing table and covered it with cork. We also used other materials from nature such as bamboo for curtain rods.
  
• Organic Bedding: This was an important one. If you think about how much time a baby spends in their crib, it's kind of scary thinking about all the pesticides and chemicals they could be laying on---laying on, drooling on and soiling. We splurged here. We purchased an organic cotton/wool mattress, a wool mattress protector instead of a vinyl one, and organic sheets and blankets.
• Natural Products: For diapers we've decided to do chlorine free brands such as Seventh Generation and Earth's Best for now. We are planning to try the G Diapers, which are basically a spin on cloth diapers, but with a biodegradable insert. Something that's been important to me even before Maggie was born, was using safer cleaning supplies in my home. A lot of people believe that what you use to clean with has to smell bad to work. A lot of these cleaners have negative effects on people's health, causing asthma, and not to mention they are poisonous for young children. I use vinegar a lot, which I guess some people may think smells bad--I don't. There are also many other safe products on the market. Sara even purchased me the Meyer's Baby All-Purpose cleaner. This has been great for Maggie's things.
• Food: Well, the best "green food" for a baby is obviously human milk. The milk that's made exactly for the purpose of infant consumption. As for myself, since what I eat Maggie eats, I stick to a mostly organic diet, especially concerning meat and produce which take in the most hormones, pesticides, etc. We actually have all our produce delivered from a local company called Brown Box Organics. This way we make sure to eat organic and fresh!
• Being Outside: We are choosing that Maggie not suffer from Nature-Deficit Disorder. We have opted to stay in our neighborhood which makes it very easy to get outside daily--especially when your house is so small you have to move outside whenever the weather is nice, which is what we do. We are able to walk and bike safely to get groceries, go to the park, see a movie, get some dinner and more.

So these are just a few of the choices we've made to be more green for ourselves and Maggie. Why do we do this??--because Maggie deserves a future as a healthy person living on a healthy planet!