Becoming.... crunchy.

So I've been absent from this blog for a long time. Because I haven't HAD time. I've been busy chasing a little girl that grows two inches every six months (so I haven't exactly measured this, but she's changing sizes about twice a year. I don't think it's much of an exaggeration). Got a NEW job, one that lets me work completely from home 40 hours, and we bought a house. A house that needed work.

And last, but certainly not least, we have another (surprise!) baby on the way.

It's not so much that I've got so much time now, but due to complications, not only am I home all day, I spend almost ALL of my time at home. I can't be on my feet for long periods of time, and I've had about three different topics that I wanted to write about in the last week... and I don't think it's a stretch for me to squeeze this in.

So, onto the topic:

Crunchiness.

I use some green cleaning products, but I would say that until recently, I was just way too in love with bleach to be completely converted. Well, with number 2 arriving, that we were not planning for, and now that I'm home all the time (and will be able to nurse! yay!) I have delved into the world of money saving. I read an interesting article on the extreme money saving properties of cloth diapering. And it's true - you will save a solid $2000 by cloth diapering. So I kept researching, and have been completely SHOCKED by the amount of YUCK that diapers contribute to trash/environment/loading all sorts of carcinogens right next to my precious baby's skin. We know that teflon coating on our pots and pans are bad, the plastic bottling has BPA which is direclty linked to hormone issues, not all "improvements" are good across the board (they may make certain parts of life more convenient, but not healthier!) I mean, we have come full circle in saying, "breast is best" (maybe we CAN'T make something as good as Momma's!), why not cloth diapering, too?

In doing my research, I have seen so much in favor of more natural parenting - I'm already pro-breastfeeding, now I'm onto cloth diapering. Which only naturally lead to babywearing. Now I haven't worn a baby before, but if I could do two things different with my 8-weeks-too-early Anna, it would be: 1) to try harder and do whatever pumping at work necessary to keep breastfeeding and 2) I should've worn her, because that's what we ended up doing anyway! (You had to hold her nonstop! Can't blame her, she was out way too early!). Due to pregnancy complications with #2, and already having a 50% chance of all the same complications in 3rd trimester as I did with Anna, I'm somewhere in the ballpark of 75% chance of having a preemie again. (Or something like that.) Now I've got a toddler, and I'm working from home, wearing that baby is only going to be a sense of sanity for me.

So now that you know the background and development of my crunchiness, I think I've been fearful/anxious about doing any more reading/research, because I know that foods are coming next. I just KNOW. Now we're talking major lifestyle changes. And frankly, I love Doritos. And Kraft Macaroni & Cheese. I don't like to think of all the harmful/fake things in those foods because I don't want to change... yet.

Not to mention, I went out on this endeavor to SAVE money! I feel like I'm being counterproductive to my original goal if I turn to natural foods. (I already do natural cleaning products, except for laundry. The ones that aren't natural, it's just because I haven't used the old ones up yet and I'm trying to conserve money. But I replace them with better options.) So now I'm wondering... is there a way to save money and eat organic, non-processed foods? I'm almost wondering if half the solution is to start gardening. Thoughts?

I think I'll stay in my ignorance, though, until the baby comes. It's all I can do with this pregnancy to not eat Kraft Macaroni & Cheese every day.