Green parenting

When I first became pregnant, I had lofty goals for "green" parenting - I would use cloth diapers, buy only organic clothes and blankets, paint the nursery with no-VOC paints, breastfeed exclusively, make my own organic baby food, etc etc.  Well, while some of that did not happen, I am proud to say that we stuck to a lot of this list!  Here is what we do to lessen our parenting carbon footprint:

1) We have used cloth diapers since the boys were about 4 weeks old.  Before that age, they were too small to fit into anything but preemie disposable diapers!  Plus, I have to admit, Eric and I were too crazed and exhausted to think about cloth diapers before that point.  But, the switch was relatively painless, and we have been very pleased with cloth diapering.  This is the biggest step toward "green" parenting for us.  Since one disposable diaper takes somewhere between 250-500 years to decompose, we couldn't imagine adding two babies' worth of diapers to the landfills for that amount of time.  For the first few months, we used unbleached Indian prefolds with cute Bummis covers.  When the babies grew out of those, we switched to the Motherease one-size diaper system and Litewrap covers, which they will stay in until they are potty-trained (which Eric hopes will be next week).  Although we bought (or received as gifts) the prefolds and Bummis covers new, we bought the Motherease diapers used from a member of my Mothers of Multiples club, so that is even more green!  Reduce and reuse people!

(Asher) Does this diaper make me look fat?

2) We bought a high-efficiency washer and dryer before the babies were born because we knew we would be increasing our laundry (by how much, we had no idea...) and wanted to save water and electricity.

3) Most of the boys' things are gently used hand-me-downs or purchases from second-hand stores or consignment shops - again, reduce and reuse!  Most of their clothes, and a lot of their gear, were once lovingly used by other little boys and girls.  This has saved us a LOT of money, but also plays a small part in reducing the manufacturing footprint.

(Asher) I love my used Exersaucer!

(Felix) Wait - someone else bounced in this seat before me?

4) Although I have been unable to breastfeed exclusively due to the high demand of twins,  working full-time, and my body saying "You expect me to do whaaaaa?," I have worked very hard to keep up breastfeeding as much as I can - mostly for the babies' health, but also to decrease how much formula we have to buy (and thus has to be manufactured, packaged, shipped, etc).  However, this particular area did not go as well as I planned, and we still have to buy a few HUGE canisters of formula from Sam's Club every month.  On the bright side, by buying large canisters instead of several small ones, I guess we are saving on packaging?  No?

5) I do make my own baby food, although I have to admit that it's not always organic.  But, so far the babies have enjoyed tasty homemade pureed bananas (their favorite), sweet potatoes, and avocados.  This is not only more nutritious for the babies, but it saves on the zillions of glass jars that we would be buying if we weren't making homemade!

(Asher, left; Felix, right) Yum - homemade avocado puree! Good thing we have that great washing machine!

6) We are avid users of our local library - we own several dozens of baby books, but I will shoot myself if I have to read any of those again!  So, we borrow 25 books at a time and have an endless supply:)  Saves my sanity, as well as paper:)

7) The babies ride in style in our Toyota Prius, which averages 50 mpg.

Of course, we are FAR from perfect (in the area of green parenting or any other area), and so these are the things we do that are not green (hm, I guess the opposite of green would be red?  Red parenting?):

1) Like I mentioned above, we used disposables exclusively for the first 4 weeks.  This amounts to hundreds of disposable diapers in the landfills.  Also, we use disposables anytime we travel with the babies, simply for convenience and not having to carry around wet or dirty diapers.  We also use disposable wipes.  There are people who use washcloths as baby wipes.  We are not that hardcore.

2) Of course, not all of the babies' things are used.  We have bought, or received as gifts and happily accepted, many a new item.

(Asher) This thing was new, right?

3) We own only two organic cotton baby items (receiving blankets).  They were received as gifts.  Organic stuff is expensive.  This goes for food as well.

4) We did not use no-VOC paint in the babies' nursery.  Again, that stuff is expensive.  (However, we painted several months before they were born in the hopes that it would off-gas before they were in there.)

5) While we do have a Toyota Prius, our other car is a Land Rover Discovery, which is like the anti-Prius.  Unfortunately, we end up using the Discovery more with the babies because I can barely squeeze between their car seats if they're fussy in the Prius, not to mention the fact that a double stroller does not fit in the cargo area.

But, we do all that we can for our earth, and for our babies!  We want their futures to be as bright as they are!

(Felix, left; Asher, right) We love being green!

Meet Felix Christopher

(Same excuse here as with Asher's post...have been meaning to do a profile of each baby, but no time, no time, no time!  These posts are taking me several days to write!)

Felix Christopher was born on 10/2/09 at 2:42 PM, six minutes after his brother.  He weighed 5 lb 5 oz and was 19.5 inches long.  He had spent the entire pregnancy moving, kicking, and flipping back and forth from vertex to breech and back again.  I guess we should have expected the same activity during the birth!  After Asher was born, the OB team went to work looking for Felix to make sure he was still heading head first.  They saw him on ultrasound (he was still head first), but they could not find his heartbeat.  The attending OB instructed the resident to place a monitor on his head to search for the pulse, but they still couldn't find it.  No one was explaining anything to me - I was exhausted, shocked from the amount of pain I had just experienced giving birth to Asher, and terrified that I would have to repeat the whole thing over again!  But then the atmosphere changed drastically when they couldn't find the heartbeat, and my worry switched from focusing on pain to preserving the life of my child.  The attending OB announced to the room that all non-essential personnel must leave (there were dozens of people in there observing), I guess in case he needed to perform an emergency C-section.  He ordered another resident to perform a vacuum extraction, and I pushed with all my might.  He was out in no time, and I immediately began asking if he was OK.  They reassured me that he was fine, and told me later that he dropped too quickly into the birth canal, so his heart rate dropped.  They checked him over (APGAR scores of 9 at one and five minutes) and cleaned him off a bit.  A nurse brought him to me while the doctors were repairing me.  I remember that she commented on the fact that he had more hair on his back than on his head!  He was wrapped in a little blanket and laid on my chest, and I couldn't believe it.  Of course, he already looked like his daddy (and he becomes more of an Eric-clone everyday)!

Felix got to stay with us in our postpartum room right away.  I spent several hours just cuddling him and staring at him.  I felt so lucky that I was able to bond with him, since we didn't know whether both twins would have to go to the NICU.  I sang him a little song over and over, "Mama loves Felix Christopher, mama loves him so much!"  I tried nursing him within an hour or so of his birth, and he latched perfectly right away and was a pro - and has been ever since.  In fact, eating has never been an issue with Mr. Felix!  He would eat all day and all night if you let him!  The only issue he had in the hospital was mild jaundice, and phototherapy was not fun for us!  We chose to stay at the hospital with the boys and do the therapy in our room, which was a mistake!  They had to wear these little blindfolds to protect their eyes from the lights, which they hated, and they couldn't be swaddled!  It was miserable for all - we got so little sleep!  Felix cried and fussed a lot.  The one thing that would calm him was lying skin-to-skin on my chest while I spoke soothingly to him.  I loved that I was able to calm him so quickly, even though he just met me - I guess he knew my voice and my smell already.

Felix is a very happy little boy - he smiles wide, and his laugh is infectious.  He has very strong emotions - either he is very happy or he is very upset!  He can get upset quickly - he goes from 0-60 sometimes!  However, there is always a reason for his tears - usually it is that he is hungry!  But, he also gets tired quickly, or bored with activities, or frustrated that he can't move somewhere - for instance, he likes to roll over, and if he rolls onto his belly and wants to roll back (but can't yet) he will let us know!  This is fine, except when it's 4:00 am!

He loves to stand up with us supporting his arms, and also likes to practice sitting (in his Bumbo seat or supported by us).  He LOVES to roll over, and will now roll himself onto his side or his belly to sleep, no matter how many times I return him to his back.  He will giggle easily if I lift him high into the air, or pretend to drop him and say "Whoa!"  He will also giggle when his face is wiped after eating, or when getting his shirt changed (just like his brother)!  He loves to be read to, although he sometimes practices rolling around instead of looking at the pictures.  He likes to play with a rattle, a stuffed butterfly, or a monkey toy, and likes to pull on toys on his activity gym.  He likes to practice new skills, and is very persistent at difficult tasks.  If he is fussy, a ride in the swing or bouncing in a bouncy seat will always calm him.  He really likes movement!  Felix also loves music, and particularly likes for daddy to sing rock songs to him!

We are so lucky to have a son like Felix, and we know he will do wonderful things in the future.  He is such an amazing joy, and makes my heart swell everyday.  We love you Felix Christopher!

Meet Asher James

I have been meaning to do a profile of each of the babies for awhile now, but as usual, finding the time has been an issue!  I know they are going to keep changing, but I want to remember how wonderful they are at this age (not to mention how different they are)!

Asher James was born on 10/2/09 at 2:36 PM.  He weighed only 4 pounds 14 ounces, and was 18.5 inches long.  I did not get to officially meet him until he was about 8 hours old, because they took him away to the NICU after a brief assessment in the operating room.  He obtained APGAR scores of 8 at 1 minute and 5 minutes, but he was "retracting" and "grunting" a bit when breathing, so they wanted to make sure he was OK.  Luckily, that resolved itself, and he never required oxygen.  When I finally was wheeled up to the NICU to meet him, I remember Eric was talking to someone for (what I felt was) too long, and I sort of snapped, "Come on, I haven't even met him yet!"  Eric and some of his family had already been there to see him, but I hadn't!  We signed in, washed our hands (as best as I could from the wheelchair - I was still VERY sore) and Eric wheeled me through the hallway and past all of the nursery rooms.  I wondered which room he would be in.  We finally reached the room, and there were several babies in the room.  Some in isolettes, and some not.  I saw a little baby in an isolette that looked like it could be him, but Eric kept on wheeling.  He stopped at a non-isolette crib, and there was a tiny baby wearing just a diaper in there.  He had some monitors strapped to his chest and was under warming lights.  I expected him to be sleeping (being born is tiring!), but no - he was wide awake, just studying everything that was going on around him.  It really surprised me to see his eyes wide open!  He seemed to be just taking it all in.  To me, after studying his "little" brother for the last few hours, Asher seemed to look just like him, just a little smaller.  We didn't know they were identical at this point, and assumed they were fraternal because of the type of twins they were (Di-Di), but I started to wonder at that moment.

I was able to visit Asher a few times over the next two days.  I had to coordinate someone to wheel me down to the NICU as well as someone to stay with Felix in our room.  Luckily, Eric's mom, the new grandma, was always there to help.  I loved being with him, but I hated that he had to be in that place.  I was so overtaken by hormones at that point, that I just cried every time I saw him with all those monitors on him.  I knew I was being ridiculous - he was by FAR the least sick baby in that room.  Right next to him was a set of boy/girl twins who had been there for months and were still quite sick.  Their parents seemed so well-adjusted somehow, and yet here I was blubbering about my pretty healthy boy.  I hated to spend time in there, but at the same time I hated that he was by himself a lot of the time.  Luckily, Eric went to the NICU for every scheduled feeding at least, and my father-in-law spent a lot of time with him, because he too couldn't stand for Asher to be alone.  I couldn't wait for him to be released.  The day the boys were born, the NICU staff told us that he should be released from their care that night.  Then, it was the next morning.  Then, that afternoon.  And so on.  Although he was breathing perfectly on his own, they were trying to feed him a bottle and he was not eating well.  I tried to nurse him once, and although he latched well, it tired him out so much that they placed a nasogastric tube for the next feeding to make sure he got enough calories.  He didn't need it for more than one feeding, thank goodness.  However, he remained a slow eater (little did we know that was a trait that would continue!), but eventually they felt comfortable enough releasing him to the care of the regular newborn nursery staff.  I was so happy to hear that news.  It was two days after the boys were born, and I was hanging out with Asher, just holding him in my wheelchair and staring at his tiny features (and probably crying).  The doctor came over and said that all he needed was phototherapy for jaundice, and they could do that in the regular nursery.  We had just been told that Felix would also need phototherapy, so they could do it together.  Even though I had been expecting him to be released on the day he was born, I was getting used to not having a straight answer about when he would be OK to join his brother, so I was so overjoyed and surprised to hear this news out of the blue!  When he was wheeled into our room, after finally being cleared to leave, it was almost exactly 48 hours after they were born.  It was such a beautiful moment, finally having both boys together!  I don't think Eric and I could have been any happier.

As Asher has grown, he has changed a lot, but at the same time he has held on to a lot of his initial traits.  He is still so observant of everything around him - to the point of distraction!  If he is eating, and someone talks behind him, he will stop and twist his head as far as he can to see what happened.  And, like when he was a newborn, he has continued to not show a lot of interest in eating.  We have had to watch carefully how many ounces he eats everyday to make sure he gets enough.  He would just rather be doing other things - looking around, smiling, babbling.  This is cute, but it causes mommy and daddy constant worry and stress about how well he is growing.  We are looking forward to the day when he finds some food that he loves and actually wants to eat!

Perhaps because of his short stint in the NICU, where he had to wait for attention from the nurses or family members, Asher is the most patient and easy-going baby I have ever seen.  Everyone comments on this when they meet him.  He is rarely fussy, and if he cries, we know something is really wrong.  If his brother is crying for attention in his crib, Asher will undoubtedly be wide awake in his crib too - but just lying there chewing on his hands or his monkey toy, babbling, or squealing with delight (we call it his dinosaur noise).  He smiles brightly as soon as he sees mommy or daddy, and usually also gives us a little "dinosaur" noise for good measure.  He laughs easily and often, and loves to fly on the "airplane" of mommy's legs when she's on the floor, or to be held high in the air.  He even laughs when we wipe his face after eating (since he usually lets a lot of milk dribble down his chin), or when changing his clothes!  It is somehow the funniest thing on earth to have his arms go through his sleeves!

Asher loves books - whether to be read to, or to chew on his crinkly soft book (which is his current favorite toy). He also loves to hold rattles, and shakes them and of course chews on them.  He is very adept at reaching for toys, grasping them, and bringing them to his mouth.  Sometimes, when he's hanging out in the playpen with dangling toys, he will grab a toy and just examine it from all angles.  Asher was the first to roll over (from his tummy to his back), and he is able to roll from his back to his tummy, but he chooses not to most of the time.  While his brother was struggling and struggling to learn this skill, Asher just sat back and watched, and one day decided to try it and did it perfectly.  He loves to hang out on his tummy, supported by his elbows, with his head held high so he can see the whole room.  He kicks his little legs while he's in this position, and this sight always reminds me of a pre-teen at a slumber party gossiping with her friends!  He also enjoys standing up with us supporting him, and is learning to sit now too.

Asher is always talking away to himself or to us, and has started making syllable sounds like "Ya" and "La."  He thinks it's hilarious to hear me say, "Ma ma ma, da da da!"  He loves to stick out his tongue, and will imitate us if we do this too.

Asher may be our little guy, but he has a big presence and we couldn't possibly love him more.  He will undoubtedly do great things in his life, and we cannot wait to see how he continues to grow and change.  We love you Asher James!