I've Been Showered

On January 4, I enjoyed a wonderful afternoon with family and friends at a shower held for me in Colorado Springs.

The shower was hosted by dear friends of my mother-in-law's (and dear friends of mine), Diane and Linda. It was a gorgeous Colorado Sunday. The snow was falling outside and the fireplace was burning inside. Many of my favorite people were there...including some special out-of-town guests. Brian's aunt Julie and cousins Alison and Katie Sharp were in town and were able to join us for the shower. Soon-to-be Great Grandma Sharp also made it just in time (despite a few airplane mishaps along the way). My mom, mother-in-law, sister-in-law Susie (and her sister and mother), as well as many great friends were able to join us.

I was treated like a princess and could feel so much love from all the special women who gathered there.

It was such a wonderful day and I am so thankful to everyone who came and even those who couldn't make it, but sent their love. It is amazing to spend time with women who have known Brian most of his life and to hear their stories about his youth. I am always thankful that Brian's "extended Colorado Springs family" has welcomed me so warmly and is treating us and our baby so generously.

Christmases and Chanukah

What a wonderful holiday season it was. Despite all the frantic running around and preparations leading up to Christmas, it was a joy to spend time with both our families, enjoying each other's company, and relishing a few luxurious days off of work to do nothing but read, knit, eat, talk, nap, and wear pajamas.


We spent Christmas Eve, and Christmas Day with the Petersons in Colorado Springs.




The day after Christmas, we headed up to my parents' house to celebrate with them. Dad was resplendent in his Christmas suspenders...as usual....

And I even got to see my dearest, oldest friend Angela (who was home for Christmas for the first time in years). We're going on 28 years of friendship!!!

As you can imagine, it was a very baby Christmas....

And during all the Christmas festivities, I made sure to make use of my gorgeous new menorah; a gift from my Great Aunt Sylvia.

It was a wonderful weekend with both our families. Afterwards, however, this was about all we had energy for......

Dear Placenta

Dear Placenta,

Thank you for all the hard work that you are doing and the care that you are taking of Baby Peterson. I really appreciate it, and think that you are doing a truly fantastic job.

However, I think that we need to keep our long term goal of delivering a healthy baby naturally in sight. Having said that, it would be most appreciated if you could move a little higher up in the uterus (and away from the cervix) in the next few weeks.

Thanks very much.

Your loving host,

Rachel

I'm A Holiday Behind

Probably time to talk about Thanksgiving, on the eve of Christmas Eve. Oops.

Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday of the year. Food, Florida, and family; I couldn't be happier.

We arrived to perfect November weather in Florida. Warm during the day and cool at night. Wednesday night we had dinner at my Aunt Cathy and Uncle Ray's house in Land O' Lakes and then jetted off to the store to get the ingredients for the dishes we were responsible for on the big day. All the "kids" stayed at Casey and T.C.'s house again this year.

Food assembly was a completely different experience this year....now that their kitchen is well equipped (that's what happens when you get married).

Thursday morning we finished all our cooking and headed back to Cathy and Ray's to begin the festivities. The kitchen was buzzing, and family started arriving. The Schers and Goldings always join us for Thanksgiving and it's always a pleasure to see them.

We spent plenty of time outdoors enjoying the gorgeous weather and watching Ray's masterful handling of the deep-fried turkey!

After completely stuffing our faces (of course!),

the boys played football and we played some cards.

The Armstrongs and Days (T.C.'s family) arrived after a while and joined us for a gigantic bonfire in the backyard.

Dad picked Ali's new mandolin, and we attempted to roast some marshmallows. Of course the night wouldn't be complete without a rousing game of Catchphrase!

And then we were spent....

Friday we went to our family's condo in Clearwater.

We also enjoyed one of our favorite Clearwater traditions, lunch at Crabby Bill's.

The family ventured out on the boat on Saturday, while Baby Peterson and I enjoyed some relaxing downtime. Apparently it was very bumpy, so it's a good thing we opted out. Saturday night we had dinner at Cathy and Ray's again and then went to the movies.

On Sunday we all suited up in Tampa Bay Buccaneers gear and headed to the game against the New Orleans Saints. It was great fun as always and I'm so thankful to Casey for supplying us all with tickets to the game. Although it rained for much of the game, we had lots of fun. And then we were off the airport and on our way home.

It was a wonderful wonderful weekend. Thank you to my Florida family for being such wonderful hosts! I love you so much!!!

So Much to Learn

My perspective on so many things has changed during this pregnancy. Thoughts about religion, family, community, country, the environment, and politics have all been swirling inside my mind even more than usual as I grow this baby. It's amazing how aware you become of your environment when you are pregnant.

One of the very first things I found myself becoming more concerned about is the chemical environment in which we all live. Our days are full of chemicals: from the air we breathe, the food we eat, the materials in our homes, to the beauty products we as women slather ourselves with every morning and evening. As soon as I knew I was pregnant I started taking a very hard look at the products in my "beauty regimen", and was frankly shocked by what I found. This is a great website that allows you to enter the name of a product and it will rate it on a "hazard scale", based on the ingredients within that product. Skin Deep: Cosmetic Safety Database (http://www.cosmeticdatabase.com/)

It's easy to get bogged down in the research and details of all of this. But I think the best advise I've heard on this idea is that if you can eat a product that you put on your skin or hair, it's probably not that harmful. Not that I'd want to start taking shots of my shampoo, but if I did, I'd be fine, as would my baby. I've been thrilled with the shampoo and facial care products I've been using from Goddess Garden, a Colorado small business. (http://www.goddessgarden.com/) I love knowing that I'm not passing on any harmful chemicals to my baby while I wash my hair and face, and that I'm treating my own body more gently by using all natural and organic ingredients.

As I examined my daily and weekly rituals and started thinking more carefully about what effect products may have on my health, I also took a hard look at the cleaning supplies I use in my home. It's been so much fun for me to start using non-toxic cleaning products. I used the guidelines on this website (http://www.care2.com/greenliving/make-your-own-non-toxic-cleaning-kit.html) to make my own cleaning kit. The only ingredients in my cleaning supplies now include: baking soda, mild soap, washing soda, white vinegar, water, and tea tree oil. Making your own cleaning supplies in reuseable bottles is so much more affordable than buying bottle after bottle of the 409 and Windex I used to use.

As I've made these small changes, and realized how easy they have been to make, I'm committed to continuing to reduce my impact through the products I use, as well as to make my home a healthier place for myself and my family. Along those lines, Brian and I have decided to cloth diaper Baby Peterson when she arrives in February.

We've conducted a lot of research and even taken some classes about the benefits of cloth diapering, and after acquiring all the available information, it was a very easy decision for us to make. Information that we considered while making this choice:

• 18 billion disposables end up in American landfills each year



• those billions of disposable diapers use 3.5 billion gallons of oil to produce
  


• by making the choice to use cotton diapers we will help to prevent one ton of non-biodegradable waste from ever reaching a landfill
  


• a single disposable diaper can take up to 500 years to decompose
  


• disposable diapers contain gel beads which absorb the urine. These gel beds are made of sodium polyacryslate which is the same material banned from women's tampons in 1985 because it caused toxic shock syndrome
  


• disposable diapers will cost us around $2,500 between birth and potty training. Cloth diapers will cost us between $600-$1,200 from birth to potty training, and we can use them for subsequent children!

And they're cute!!! Cloth diapers have come a long way. We'll no longer have to struggle with folding flat diapers and use sharp safety pins with a squiggling baby.

Thirsties (http://www.thirstiesbaby.com/) is a Colorado company that makes the cloth diapers we plan to use. I can't wait to get started!

I've also been trying very hard to be aware of what we're bringing into our baby's environment as I register for and buy toys, clothes, and bedding. This has proved to be quite an undertaking, and has taken a lot of my time, but I feel like it's time worth spending. Brian and I recognize that we have some personal decisions to make and research to do about the toys and other products we want in our baby's life from a consumption/commercialism standpoint, from an environmental standpoint, from a health standpoint, and in terms of what message the toys send.

We love the idea of having wooden and natural fiber toys, as long as those are entertaining to her. These are some great sites I've found for more "natural" toy choices:

http://www.novanatural.com/

http://www.organictoybox.com/

http://www.oompa.com/

I know that the production and transport of commercial plastic toys has a significant environmental impact.

I worry about the messages that will be sent to our daughter by commercial culture, and aim to limit her exposure to commercialism through the choices we make about what toys she plays with and by limiting her exposure to television as long as possible.

I've learned that in the past several decades, production of plastic toys has changed as manufacturing of these toys has been outsourced to overseas locations. In 2007, for instance, the Consumer Product Safety Commission issued 90 recalls affecting more than 14 million children's products containing lead.

So, it can all be rather scary, but I also recognize that we cannot overthink every single purchase we, and others, make for Baby Peterson. However, I feel that by doing some research and being aware of some of these issues, we will automatically be more inclined to make smarter, more responsible choices as parenting consumers.