Crunchy Momma

It's no lie. Being a mom has definitely made me a lot crunchier than I was before. Crunchier, even, than I would have predicted I would be as a mom. But everything in life is relative, and living in Austin helps me realize I'm not nearly as crunchy as I could be.

So where do I fall on the Crunch-o-meter? I think that there are six main factors to consider when it comes to crunchy/non-crunchy parenting: birth, vaccines, sleeping, diapering, feeding, and, for lack of a better term, transporting. (Did I forget any? Let me know!)

Let's look at 'em one at a time.

Birth: Despite my crunchy endeavor to delivery vaginally with limited medical interventions, my big-headed, sunny-side-up baby girl had other plans. Emergency c-sections don't exactly fall in line with crunchy births. I get a big fat "non-crunchy" on that one.

Vaccines: I trust the AAP and modern medicine on this one. We follow the standard vaccination schedule. Another non-crunchy stamp. That's two.

Sleeping: I am way, way, WAY too paranoid to ever bed share. Ever. That and I don't want to even start down the road of creating a bad habit for my child (or myself) that would be painful to break later on. We did, however, co-sleep for baby girl's first three months before moving her to her crib in her own room. Semi-crunchy here.

Diapering: disposables, bay-bee. As a working mom, I have a fraction of the time I would like to have with my child. I am not going to spend any more time than I already have to doing laundry. That and I feel that the decision to cloth diaper should take into account where you live. Texas is a state that is constantly dealing with droughts and water shortages, and I could not in good conscience do something like increasing my family's water usage, an arguably very un-green thing to do, in the name of doing something green. Kinda cancels it out, non? I get over my minuscule guilt by recycling. Another non-crunchy mark. That's 3.5 to .5, if you're keeping up.

Feeding: We exclusively breastfed--no solids, nothing but boob--for the first six months (okay, 5.75 months), and now we are still breastfeeding and I am making my own baby food.

Love love LOVE our Beaba babyfood maker!!

Well, at least, I make all her fruits and veggies. I buy the jarred meat dishes 'cause I'm not brave enough to puree my own meats. But I do buy organic jars. And we do a quasi-baby-led-weaning approach. I let her nom on fresh fruits and veggies to get a feel for textures and flavors, but also puree a lot of her food to make it easier for her to eat.

Here's baby girl giving me the "give me the apple and nobody gets hurt" stare...

I think that amounts to several crunchy marks--breastfeeding, making my own food, kinda baby-led-weaning, and buying organic. Hey, this is my own post and I can tally however I want. We'll go with three crunchy marks here. All tied up: 3.5 to 3.5.

Transporting: I couldn't really think of a better label for this category. Basically I'm talking about how we get around when we're out and about. I'm a big, big fan of baby wearing. The moby was a lifesaver when she was an infant. Her daddy loves wearing her around in the Bjorn. And a friend lent us their baby hawk that I use most of the time now.

Heading out to the park!

If we're heading down to the park or out on a quick shopping trip, I'd much rather wear her than deal with a stroller. But if we're going for a long walk or jog, a stroller is the way to go. And I drive an SUV. That's not very crunchy, is it? Hmm. We'll go with half-crunchy on this one.

So folks, looks like I'm all tied up at 4 crunchies to 4 non-crunchies. Kinda like I thought it would be! I'm kind of a crunchy momma but not nearly as crunchy as I could be. I like that. Life is all about moderation. You start getting to the extreme of anything and you start getting into trouble.

So I'm crunchy with a little "c." Where do you fall?