blessings!

One thing I have noticed since becoming a mother is just how judgmental mothers can be. Well, women in general, but especially mothers! They have so much more to be judgmental about, I guess. The way we rear our children, the choices we make. Face it - every mommy looks at every other mommy when they pass in the store. I'm guilty. I am not proud of it. Every time I look at another mommy I have to remind myself that we are not all the same and never will be. We do not make the same choices. But I have no right to judge the mommy who pushes her baby around in a stroller (like I do) or carries her baby in a carrier (as I also do). I have no right to judge the mommy who takes her baby out in public and doesn't even put shoes on him (I don't), or the mommy who somehow convinces her baby to keep the shoes on (I can't). I admit it - sometimes I cringe when I see other mommies with their babies who wear disposable diapers. And then I kick myself because I used to use disposable. I even put off switching to cloth until we were out of disposables. At that point I didn't know about all the chemicals in disposable diapers. But the fact is, not everybody can do it. I understand that. Now, if you bring the subject up, I will spout off facts right and left. But I am not going to think any less of the disposable-diapering mama. It just isn't right.

So here are a few things about myself. I'm going to tell you about why I do certain things or plan to do certain things. I know there are some judgmental mommies out there and perhaps they are even reading this blog... I just want to back myself up.

I am a cloth diapering mama. I love it. I'm addicted to cloth diapers. As I said earlier, I haven't been doing this all Benjamin's life but I really wish we had. Yeah, it is expensive to start out with for most. For us, most of our diapers (all but 2) were hand-me-downs. It's actually made the experience a little bit worse for us than people who buy brand-new because the leg elastic was stretched and for some reason I can't fix it correctly. Anyway. It's expensive to start out with but we haven't bought disposable diapers since March. How awesome is that? We haven't had to buy a $20 pack of diapers since March. I'd probably guess that we'd go through 2.5 in a month of those... That is 5 months, times $60. $300 already saved. $300 smackaroos. Now, unlike a lot of mamas out there, my main reason is not the environment. I do not believe in man-made global warming. I do not believe the earth will be destroyed because of this so-called global warming. God has told us how the earth will be destroyed. However, this doesn't change the fact that we are to be good stewards of what the Lord has blessed us with, and He has definitely blessed us with this earth to live on. If I can keep one more ton of trash out of the landfills for 75 years, then great! I don't throw trash out of my window, either! But not because of "global warming".

I want to make healthy choices for Benjamin. I don't always make healthy choices for myself, although I am trying to change that, but I want to make healthy choices for my son. That's why I breast feed. That's why Benjamin doesn't get pumped with all these foods he isn't supposed to have. He's had tastes of things like ice cream or whipped cream, but for the most part, he will not have sugary things until he is 1 year old. I believe a lot of our health problems today come from the introduction of sugars and salts into our diet way too early. Someone at church said "He'll be eating cookies now that he's getting teeth!". Noo, Ben doesn't even know what a cookie is and we will keep it that way.

I could go on with my choices. I started this post last night and had to stop because my browser wouldn't let me continue. I could go on, but I'm feeling tired. Benjamin is on the floor, surrounded by toys. He likes to go for the ones far-off and he tries to crawl by pushing up on his toes. Every second with him makes me feel so blessed, and so thankful that God has blessed us with this little child to raise and to love.



I hope everyone has a lovely Tuesday!