These are just a few of the things that, while not absolutely necessary, certainly made our first year with Amethyst a little easier. Some of the things that I would consider to be necessary for us, like our homemade goat milk formula are not included on here.
1. Lifefactory bottles
We love these for the whole family!
The main thing we love about these is that they are glass which means that they are of course bpa free and just healthier in general for not being plastic. Maybe just as important is the fact that glass wins from an environmental perspective as well. They don’t deteriorate the way our previously used plastic ones did and if we are blessed with another wee one in the future we will just need to buy new nipples. Also, you can get sippy cup tops for them when your baby transitions.
Yay for reducing, reusing and recycling!!
I have one for adults, too!
2. One Size Cloth Diapers
This is a small portion of our stash and a Pound Puppy from when I was a kid!
We love the idea of one diaper that you can use for the entire process until your child is no longer in diapers. Amethyst us almost a year old now and we use the Blueberry brand. I think we started with the one size diapers at about 2 months. I like bamboo liners for the day and micro fiber for night or when we need more absorbency, like on the road . For the newborn period I recommend TotsBots, specifically for newborns. This is one of ours. When we moved to the States she was basically too big for them so most of them are still in storage in Spain.
Reusable diapers clearly do not look new after months of wearing and washing. If they are good quality diapers however, they can certainly be reused with subsequent babies. There is also a market for used cloth diapers if you want to either try some for cheaper or pass on your no longer needed nappies.
3. Amber teething necklaces
Amethyst has seven teeth now and we have exclusively used these. They are super cute when worn (especially two like Amethyst wears) and apparently effective. We haven’t needed to use ANYTHING else and she always gets complimented on her jewelry 🙂 My mom has a lot of mouth discomfort due to dental issues after radiation for throat cancer and she got an adult version of an amber teething necklace for herself!
4. Kimono style onesies
Baby leg photobomb!
Not only are these just super cute but also easier to put on than the whole onesie over the head thing. In winter a long sleeved one with footie pants is perfect and in summer short sleeved either alone or with cotton leggings is always cute and comfortable. They aren’t that easy to find ( i.e. not at any of the big box stores all over America) especially not in organic fibers but you can find them online or if you have an H&M near you, they are awesome for cool baby clothes. We got Amethyst organic kimono style onesies in really neat colors for ridiculously cheap, like 6 euros when we lived in Madrid. She has since outgrown almost all of them and I wish I would have had the foresight to buy a stash for at least up to a year!
5. Manduca baby carrier
When Amethyst was a newborn I wore her in a Moby style semi-elastic wrap and we both loved it! After a few months though, she was too heavy for it and she would sag so we started using the Manduca more. It is basically a European version of the Ergo baby or Beco Gemini.
It’s construction and look means my hubby likes to carry her in it as well, which is awesome for all of us. We discovered about a month ago that Amethyst likes to go in a stroller and it will put her right to sleep. That does have its uses but we still don’t use it if we are out and about. It is just too easy to just wear her!
I’d love to do this post in one looong entry, but alas i’ve got a baby who is WIDE awake although it is about 1 in the morning here. That sounds awful, but she is laughing and squealing with joy so I can’t complain too much, hehe.
So when we first got into Austin it was about lunch time and we were super hungry so we decided to hit up Whole Foods for some provisions, being as it is the flagship store and all. And I had also heard that they had a raw foods bar. Um, yes please.
We found this-
and this-
and this-
We ended up getting a broccoli salad with a creamy dressing, some pesto stuffed mushrooms (raw except daiya vegan cheese), and pumpkin pie
big ole kale salad
heaps of kimchi
some raw brownies
a fermented carrot drink
and I got this tasty thing here
and we also got some raw meetball things that for some reason i don’t have a picture of
Let me just say- Not impressed. I really hate to say that as I wanted to be blown away. There was such a variety of foods there, and maybe we just chose badly but I really don’t think so. The brownies were not good, tasteless and way too heavy. They were sort of indicative of the whole deal- everything looked amazing but tasted just really meh. Maybe my expectations were too high? But there was some good to come out of it.
1. The kimchi was good and I loved having loads to use as a condiment.
2. The local products we found were fucking amazing. The Pineapple Greens Buddha’s Brew Kombucha is the best booch I have ever had and I looooooved the raw brownies by New Earth (although they call them Chocolate Goddess Clusters, a name with which I am in complete approval) I showed you the other day. In fact, you get another peek as they deserve it.
Things did improve that night when we tried Beets, the raw food restaurant. That coming up tomorrow….
All in all, Whole Foods gets a 4/10 for even offering a raw food bar. I love that it is accessible, albeit pricy (as Whole Foods inevitably is). They tried really hard to offer a wide range of products freshly made but they could do with better recipes and trying a little harder with ingredients. I’m glad we went, but I probably wouldn’t eat there again. Especially not with all the other wonderful eats in Austin. I can however see myself popping in for a quick kale salad and kombucha (and probably some more Goddess Clusters!) next time I am in town.
Hi there! You know, I may not have made it this week because I know it is either extremely close to midnight or already past midnight. Oh well, better late than never. Consider it Thankful Thursday or something life that.
* Working the physical. Today I went to my first Kundalini class since moving back to Shreveport, and yeah. Just nice. Really, really nice. Also, I have Zumba again tomorrow.
* My new Prana pants. I love this brand for pants. If you know me, you will know my struggle to find pants that I love. Pricey, but where else are you going to find hemp and organic cotton yoga pants with a flared leg.
*Raw brownies in Austin. I bought these at Whole Foods when we first got into town and I went back and bought another pack. I love the slightly smoky flavor from the mesquite powder as it gives it an almost cooked taste, love that they are nut-free (not that I am against nuts, but they are heavy on the digestion and variety is awesome!) Also, the texture is chewy like a real cooked brownie!
* Pictures of my Amethyst.
Hola! I hope everything is going great in your world today. I’ve been feeling a bit blah recently, but fortunately today I felt better. I think that simply being 9 months pregnant and the subsequent aches and fatigue that come with it are partially to blame, and then the rest of it is due to feeling a bit trapped by not having a car. I’ve been living car-free for about 8 years now, well ever since I moved away from the USA. Don’t get me wrong, it has been an experience, one that I am happy to have had as my American sensibilities were entirely too comfortable with the status quo. Now that I am not as mobile as before, however, it has been increasingly difficult to get about on foot and in public transport to some places- most notably the mountains, as I am DYING to go have a dip in a cold mountain stream again before the baby comes. We’ll see how that works out, but for now I am just trying to be with my feelings and remember that nothing is permanent, even when it seems like it is.
We have been in the market for a new water filter for a while now because even though Madrid is said to have the best water in all of Spain, it smells. Some days are worse than others but you can seriously smell the chemicals they use in your drinking glass, even after having been passed through a Brita filter. As we aren’t planning to be here for much longer, we didn’t want to invest too much money in something that would be impossible to bring with us whenever we move. After much deliberation, we decided on this getup:
This is the Adya Clarity water filter system. It has a ceramic filter at the top, and then passes through another layered filter of carbon, zeolite, sand and something else that I can’t remember right now 😛
You can either use the Adya Clarity mineral solution with it, or not. We decided to give it a go, despite all the controversy with that product as at the moment the verdict is out and our water situation is so dire that we felt called to quite drastic measures!!
We ordered it from one of my favourite companies, Unlimited Health in Amsterdam. Along with our filter, I had to get a few more goodies that are impossible to get around here. I got:
A big bag of xylitol, coconut butter, mulberries, cacao paste and irish moss. I am planning on using the mulberries, irish moss and coconut in this Mulberry Mousse recipe at Sweetly Raw.
As a treat, I also bought myself this tiny little morsel:
I was honestly underwhelmed by this product. I was expecting something more, well..decadent I suppose, LOL! It was a glorified date/nut bar just like a Larabar or similar. Another peeve of mine is that it was sweetened with agave AND dates. I know that is a personal thing but I find it too much. Oh well, just more evidence that I prefer my own treats to store bought ones, which is a win!
On to my eats for the last few days…
Yesterday (Tuesday) I had:
- Breakfast- soy yogurt with sliced donut peaches and buckwheaties
- second breakfast- green smoothie with avocado, kale, frozen peaches, frozen berries, maca, health force nutritionals greener grasses powder and vanilla stevia
- that tiny Raw Decadence bar you see above 😉
- coconut oil+carob+goji+mulberry choccie . Hubby came home from work for lunch and wanted something sweet, so I whipped this up for him. Of course, I had to share! I had this with a a green tea.
- Lunch- brown basmati rice with tofu, red peppers, eggplant and kale
- watermelon gelato (like watermelon sorbet but with cashew milk instead of water mmmmm)
- small bowl of popcorn
- Dinner-corn pasta with red lentil bolognese sauce
I ate A LOT of food that day, mostly in the morning and then snacks between meals. I felt absolutely ravenous though, and I really don’t want to limit myself. I did go a bit overboard on the sweet stuff.
That looks great in comparison to today though!
So far today, I have had:
- breakfast-two rice cakes with some scrambled tofu
- soy yogurt with some oats and stevia
- lunch- three rice cakes spread with peanut butter and vegan tofutti mozzarella cheese
- coffee with soy milk and some gluten free cookies and peanut butter.
There are no veggies in there yet! I know that tonight a big salad for dinner is out of the question as we are using up all of the odds and ends from the fridge before our next organic veg delivery comes. Most likely, it will be brown basmati rice with a vegetable stir fry of sorts and a Thai peanut sauce.
Enjoy your afternoon!
xx