put introductions [here]

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Permalink Reply by Enviromama on November 3, 2007 at 1:47pm

Hi, I'm Jenny and we are a natural living family (um, obviously). I had a wonderful homebirth with my second child who was a whopping 10 lbs (and 1 oz). I'm tandem nursing my 2 kids (4.5 years and 1.5 years) and am a self-professed baby carrier addict. We cosleep and use gentle discipline/consensual living as much as possible. We try our best to eat healthy, whole foods and raise our kids to be environmentally conscious. Anyway, that's us in the proverbial nutshell!

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Permalink Reply by amanda on November 3, 2007 at 2:31pm

Hi, I'm Amanda, a mom to two boys, 2 and 3 years. One Homemade and one Adopted from Taiwan last year.
We do what we can to be conscious of our choices and their impact on each other and the environment. I bake our bread, Thrift for most of our needs and we make everything else. I also have an Etsy shop where I sell my handmade goods.

Nice to meet everyone.
Amanda

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Permalink Reply by Courtney on November 4, 2007 at 3:39pm

Hi, I'm Courtney, slightly crunchy mom to two girls - Taylor, who is 2, and Chloe, who passed away at 7 weeks old earlier this year. I am pregnant with baby #3, a boy to be named Blake, who is due at the end of February.

I am a breastfeeding, cloth diapering, babywearing, cosleeping mommy. We try to be environmentally conscious and frugal. (I am a thrift store JUNKIE; I ride the fine line between being thrifty and having too much "stuff".)

I am hoping to have a drug-free delivery with my next baby in a birthing center, and want to experience what it's like to go into labor all by myself. (My girls were both induced, I had an epidural with both; two full-on mainstream hospital births.)

Nice to "meet" everyone. :)

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Permalink Reply by Enviromama on November 4, 2007 at 3:57pm

I'm so sorry for your loss Courtney. I wish you well with your birth center birth and hope it is everything you are hoping for.

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Permalink Reply by Adriana on November 4, 2007 at 7:37pm

Hello everyone. My name is Adriana. I can't say I am a full NFLer but I can say I would like to be more so than I am. I am hoping all of you can help me get there! I need a little inspiration and support being that no one around me is or supports much NFLing. One of my big concerns right now are vaccines. My daughter is going to be getting her vaccines first. She is my frist and I am not sure I know what to do. Thanks for this great group and I look forward to getting to know all of you!

Adriana

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Permalink Reply by Enviromama on November 4, 2007 at 8:14pm

Hi Adriana! We fully vaxed my daughter (now 4.5) since I had no idea you could even decline them until she was either 18 or 24 months; I can't remember exactly when we stopped. My son (now 1.5) has not received any vaccines.

Something my midwife told me while pregnant when I was researching them really stuck with me. She said that you can always vaccinate them later, but once you put it in their little bodies, you can't take it back out. So until I'm sure I want to vaccinate, he will remain completely unvaccinated. I have no need to vaccinate him at this moment and will only reconsider if we end up traveling to Korea at some point with my in-laws as planned. I will then do more research on that particular area and decide what I'm comfortable with.

i hope that helps some and that I didn't ramble on too long. ;)

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Permalink Reply by Adriana on November 4, 2007 at 8:26pm

Thanks so much for your answer Enviromama. You have no idea how much I appreciate it! I was worried. I heard they can't start school without vaccination and that they will get very ill, etc. etc. I am glad to know it is up to me. Thank you!

Adriana

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Permalink Reply by Enviromama on November 4, 2007 at 8:30pm

Different states have different rules about this, but your child absolutely can go to school without being vaccinated. Here in CA you can exempt them for personal beliefs, but in some states it is only either religious or medical exemption. They can't ask you about your religion though so that is a way out if need be. Here there is a place on the back of the vaccination form to sign if you are not vaxing. Hope that helps a bit!

Oh, and yes there is a chance your child could get measles or pertussis or. . . That is a part of the risk of not vaxing. But vaxed kids can still get it too; vaccinations do not provide 100% immunity, ever.

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Permalink Reply by Courtney on November 4, 2007 at 9:03pm

Depending on your pediatrician, you may get the "big push" to do the vaccines, or you might be guilted into it. I can't stand it when the doctor looks at me and says, "You NEED to give her the XYZ shot." No, actually I don't NEED to do anything.

I also agree that you can always get them later, but you can't ever take them back.

In our state, you can only opt out based on a religious exemption, but I believe that they can't ask your particular religion. (I could be wrong about that.) I have opted out of MMR based on religion (the vaccine contains human diploid cells and was cultured from aborted fetuses, which is something I just don't agree with religiously.)

There is a great book out there about this subject, that goes in depth into every vaccine and the pros/cons. Check your library - it's called The Vaccine Guide, by Randall Neustaedter. Very eye-opening.

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Permalink Reply by Adriana on November 4, 2007 at 9:09pm

FANTASTIC! Thanks for the name of the book. I am most definitely going to read it. I'm sure it will help clear up a lot of things.

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Permalink Reply by Sara on November 5, 2007 at 8:52am

Hi, everyone. My name is Sara, and before getting pregnant this year, I never considered myself much of a "natural living" type. But now that I have my newborn son to consider, I've become very conscious of how my actions and choices effect his fragile little life. We decided to cloth diaper mainly because of the cost savings, but when I looked into it more, I realized all the other benefits. So far, it's going great, even my husband thinks it's really easy.

We had a natural birth with a midwife in a hospital, using Hypnobirthing, and it went really well. It was a lot of work, but I never considered any of the sensations painful at all, which was amazing.

We co-sleep, though we didn't originally think that we would, we all sleep better in a family bed so far. I have a Maya ring sling, but I have yet to get a minute to figure out how to use it. Also, we are working on breastfeeding. We had some jaundice issues and a pediatrician who immediately told us we needed to supplement with formula when he didn't seem to be gaining weight properly last week. We're switching peds, and working hard on getting the latch and supply going smoothly. It's hard to remember sometimes that even though it seems like this baby has been in our lives awhile, we are still all very new at this and there is a learning curve.

Thanks for this group and for sharing your experiences.

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Permalink Reply by Crystal R. on November 5, 2007 at 11:34am

Hi, I'm Crystal and we are slowly becoming more and more of a natural living family. AP, cosleeping, breastfeeding, baby wearing, and cloth diapering were all no brainers for us. It has taken more time to switch over fully to organics and composting, and we are currently focusing on eliminating chemicals and plastics from our lives.

This is my first time participating in NaBloPoMo! I'm looking forward to reading others' blogs.

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