No Gender Disappointment Here

People always ask when you first get pregnant "Do you want a boy or a girl?" Its like they are asking if you like cats or dogs. Before we got pregnant with our first child my husband wanted a boy. The conversation came up with some friends at a dinner party and I asked him why. "So, I can play catch with him and things like that." I have been an athlete most of my life, playing soccer and basketball all through high school and running cross country and track through college. So, I took this comment as somewhat of a slap in the face. One of my long time friends seemed to be reading my mind. "You think a daughter of Liesl's is going to have any problem catching and throwing?" she asked him. "It's just always what I envisioned in my head." he answered.

A few months later we were pregnant. We decided not to find out the sex and for it to be a surprise. For me it was because I didn't want my husband to find out we were having a girl and be disappointed for the next 20 weeks. I knew once he was holding that baby he would be in love no matter what it was, that's just how he is. So for 34 weeks I listened to my mother in law tell everyone how she just knew it was going to be a boy. People at work tell me how they thought it was a boy too. This actually started to make me very upset (hormones did not help anything). I told my dad how everyone thought it was a boy and what was so wrong with a girl! "Well, I think its a girl, but then I thought your brother was going to be a girl too." he said. I laughed and this somehow put me at ease. Whatever it was it simply didn't matter. 

January 2012 our little girl was born. Just as I expected my husband didn't even care that it was a girl. He was so excited to be a dad. She is now two and puts on her Seahawk shirt and grabs her football every Sunday and watches football with her dad and papa. 

When we got pregnant with our second my mother in law started in with the "this one is going to be a boy." My husband was a whole different guy this time around "I don't care either way but I sort of hope its another girl so Lyra can have a sister. Also, we won't have to buy more clothes!" I decided to find out the sex at 20 weeks this time just so people would just stop telling me what they thought. I wasn't worried about the sex at all with this one after I saw how the whole family had feel in love with Lyra.

We now have two beautiful daughters and people still ask us "Are you going to try for a boy?" And our answer "Nope." We have decided our two girls is all we need to feel complete and content with our family and my husband went ahead with a vasectomy last week. "I thought we were going to get a boy" my grandmother said when she found out. "Sorry, talk to my brother about that one." I answered.      

Lyra, Etta and Daddy watching the Superbowl

Going Plastic Free for Safety!

In light of new studies going BPA free just isn't enough anymore. Mother Jones just released an article uncovering that many replacements for plastic containing BPA are more toxic than the plastics they are replacing. Instead of sifting through all the different plastic formulas to figure out what is currently considered safe we are getting rid of plastic all together. Before you write me off for being completely crazy I will just say I know too may people under the age of thirty to battle cancer not to be concerned. The task of eliminating plastic is easier said then done in today's world. There are many non plastic options out there, however they can be pricey.

Baby bottles are the easiest. Most all bottle manufactures carry a glass product line. You may have to get on Amazon.com to find them but they can be found in almost any brand for a very reasonable price. However, the nipples and lids are still made of plastic. Luckily the liquid is spending its time sitting in the glass portion of the bottle and to limit the leaching of plastic chemicals hand wash in warm water and soap and never expose plastic to high heat.

Same rule for sippy cups. However, non plastic sippy cups are harder to find and usually are pricey. Stainless steal and glass are the most common replacements. For my toddler I chose stainless steal for all the dropping and knocking over it is going to have to take. I purchased a Safe Sippy 2 and my toddler adores that cup! I highly recommend purchasing an extra parts kit too! I have heard good things from folks that have taken the glass route. A popular glass option for baby bottles and sippy cups is LifeFactory.

Lyra with her stylish Safe Sippy 2

For utensils there is always the good old fashion stainless steal which never really ever goes out of style. Stainless steal toddler utensils can be found anywhere and cheaply at your nearest Target or Ikea. If you are just introducing food for the first time you may want to use something softer that the baby can gum on while learning to eat like bamboo. Bambu makes a bamboo organic baby spoon. The down side of bamboo is that you don't want to put it in the dishwasher. I have seen corn starch baby spoons and plates on the market as well, however unless they are made from organic corn I would avoid them. Non organic corn is grown with very high levels of pesticides, atrazine in particular. Atrazine is a known carcinogenic.

While your child is in the throw the whole bowl on the floor stage it is good to have some non breakable plates and bowls. For this there is bamboo, stainless, potato starch, glass with silicon and much more! A simple google and amazon search will blow your mind what's out there. We chose to go with bamboo wear from Green Sprout. These can be found through many local Co Ops and Amazon.com.

For food storage there are many glass tupperwares and cloth zipper snack bags out there. I purchased my glass tupperware at Costco and I love it. For baby food I turn to a good old reliable mason jar. There are many options out there. Happy hunting!