Choosing Battles

I remember the moment when everything changed and my fairly straightforward way of thinking became so much more complicated.  I had moved from Savannah, GA, home to azalea lined streets and massive oaks dripping in Spanish moss, back to the northeast where I had grown up to be with my husband.  I'd been back up above the Mason-Dixon line for about 6 months when we found ourselves expecting our first child.  Naturally, we were excited and once the first trimester had passed it felt safe to start amassing baby "stuff" a little at a time.  That moment I mentioned?  It happened in the baby section of Target.  We casually turned down an aisle and were surrounded by far too many choices.  It didn't seem possible that such a tiny person who would weigh in at a whopping 6 pounds could actually need so much just to survive each day in our care.  We slowly backed away from the baby section and being the logical people we are, made the decision to do some research first.  Little did we know how much more complicated things could get with just a tiny bit of research! Vaccinations, GMO, processed food, cloth or disposable, cleaning products, plastic toys, and so on until eternity.

Fast forwarding a bit (since I don't want to bore you to death by going into minute detail on every little decision) we realized that, like most parents, we wanted to start changing our lifestyle a bit and working toward being more natural, healthy, and holistic.  Easier said than done.  We both work full time.  In my case, I juggle full time work with an online graduate school program and the beginnings of a freelance career while still being on call 24/7 as MOM.  Our toddler is busy, our life gets crazy, and things get messy.  Navigating the last two years has become a minefield of doing some research, evaluating the options, and ultimately, deciding what worked for us.

We can't live in an impermeable bubble that will block out each and every thing that has the ability to cause cancer or hyperactivity or this or that.  Let's face it - once you start reading you'll find that few things are truly safe.  Burt's Bees is owned by Clorox and a tobacco company (Philip Morris) owns that smiling Kraft Macaroni & Cheese which falls under the whole processed foods category with toxic cheese powder slowly poisoning our kids who also happen to L-O-V-E it!  And have you heard the latest on Fall's favorite flavor?  Yes - even the beloved Pumpkin Spice Latte from Starbucks is a ticking time bomb to your health! See what I mean?  It's tough.  I've been learning as I go, making smaller, more palatable changes, and choosing my battles in trying to be as natural as possible.  I am all for natural living but for me, it is in a way that doesn't break the bank or keep me up into the wee hours of the morning mixing up a 5 gallon bucket of laundry detergent or better yet, off at the grocery store on a beautiful day reading every single label and cross referencing an ever expanding Mr. Yuck list for 6 hours when I could of flown through there in 2 hours and been home to hunt for bugs and frogs with the kiddo.