Special Earth Day Post: Raising Baby Green

Jamie and I made a joint New Years Resolution this year, one that we are actually keeping even though it’s April. We decided to become more “eco-friendly.” Here are things that we are doing so far:

1. Recycling our plastic bags
2. Replacing our light bulbs with fluorescent light bulbs
3. Bringing our lunch to work in reusable lunch bags
4. Drinking water/coffee/tea in reusable to-go cups
5. Limiting ourselves to one bag of garbage per week
6. Using a push lawn mower
7. Using inexpensive silverware instead of plastic utensils

Here are things we want to start doing:

1. Replace our household cleaners with natural cleaners
2. Purchase cloth napkins to use instead of paper napkins and towels
3. Be more consistent about purchasing organic foods, especially when it really matters
4. Our next car will be a Hybrid

I actually think it’s kind of fun to think of all the different things we can do to change our ways!

Now that we have a baby on the way, we’re looking at this as a “fresh start.” We are trying to think of ways that we can incorporate our new philosophy into our parenting style. So here are some things that we’re looking into:

1. I’m reading Raising Baby Green, Green Babies-- Sage Moms, and Growing Up Green
2. We love to accept hand me downs! Baby Milliken will be sleeping in his cousin Anna’s crib—why eventually put two cribs in a land fill? Thank you, Stef and Rachel, for all the great maternity clothes you’ve loaned me. Thank you Koos and Stef for loaning us Xander’s outgrown clothes.
3. We intend to continue the cycle of lending maternity clothes and baby things, so somebody better get pregnant soon to take advantage of this offer!
4. Breastfeeding
5. Organic clothes, sheets, baby products
6. Making our own baby food when the time comes?
7. Look into cloth diapering.

Thoughts, suggestions, ideas? The most important thing, I think, is to make this a gradual change instead of a major overhaul. Here's a little music video to inspire you!

“It’s Really Coming Up!”

Here’s a new belly shot at 23 weeks. I had a doctor's appointment this week and everything is going great.


Yesterday, we had such a good time at the reception for my good friend Erica’s photography exhibit, which was part of Brookline Open Studios. (http://magliarophotography.com) She’s a very talented up and coming photographer in the Boston area—please contact her if you’d like to purchase a print of Boston or Cape Cod—before she becomes too famous!

Now that I look noticeably pregnant (I’ve really “blossomed,” as the older ladies at school say), I heard something from quite a few people yesterday that I haven’t heard before. This comment was “it’s really coming up!” (meaning, my due date)

This comment was actually a tad frightening.

Since I found out I was pregnant, I’ve always thought of myself as “a little pregnant.” But now I realize that I’ve got about three more weeks in the second trimester bliss stage. Soon I’ll be in my third trimester, and therefore “really pregnant.”

This prompted a flurry of activity on Sunday. I signed us up for parenting classes, I started a baby registry online, I headed to Motherhood Maternity to pick up new spring clothes…and I started to think about when we would have time to check out car seats, strollers, dressers, and gliders at Babies R Us. (Good thing we already have a crib—thanks Mike and Tina!)

People who are parents—please take a look at my baby registry if you have time and let me know if I’ve made any mistakes. Also, if there is any product that you highly recommend and is not on the list, please let me know!

First Concert

Baby Milliken went to his first concert last night at Lupo's in Providence. Explosions in the Sky is one of his dad's favorite bands, and has become one my favorites as well (helped in a small part by the abundance of Explosions in the Sky tracks that appear in my favorite show Friday Night Lights).

The concert was an intense 80 minutes of building crescendos, to which Baby M kicked happily. We hear that the baby is influenced by sounds heard while in the womb, so Dad is hoping that this concert contributes to Baby M's fantastic taste in music.