Newborn Fingernails

These are the fingernails of my 6th right after she was born. They are so long!

Anemia (Iron Deficiency) in Pregnancy

I found out today that I am iron deficient! I'm actually relieved to know that with the start of some supplements, I'll probably be less exhausted and irritable. Did you know those are symptoms of iron deficiency? 

Apparently, it is common for a person to develop anemia during pregnancy. The baby is, of course, taking his share of iron. Plus, the blood in a woman's body increases in pregnancy to "almost 50 percent more than usual." (source) Sometimes, the iron nutrients in her diet just can't keep up with that. Besides that, having 2 or more pregnancies close together can make it more likely. (This will be my fourth baby in a row.) That all makes me a very likely candidate. 

I also developed anemia when I was pregnant with my third. Hopefully with the start of some iron supplements, I'll get a good portion of my energy back and be a much happier person to be around. :)

One other thing I learned is that calcium hinders iron absorption while Vitamin C supports it. So I'll be avoiding drinking milk with my supplement and maybe go for a fruit smoothie instead. 

Walk Away the Pounds

I've blogged about the Walk Away the Pounds DVD that I have before. But I wanted to add this new one that I got last summer because I love it!

Canadian Milk?

I've heard lots of things about milk. And lots of it, I think, is probably true- but is it true in Canada?

Are Non GMO Project Verified products really non GMO?

I happened upon this article on Natural News about how Non GMO Project cereals may still contain GMOs (genetically modified organisms).

I was pretty skeptical about that, but the article explained that products can be enrolled in the Non GMO Project verification program if they are heading in the direction of being non GMO even though they aren't currently non GMO.

I wanted to see for myself. So I got our box of Kashi Go Lean Crunch! cereal to check it out. (Kashi was one of the brands the article says contains high levels of GMOs.) There was the label on the front:

Genetically Modified Plants List

After watching this documentary by BBC and Fed Up we've decided to make an effort to be more careful about eating genetically modified foods.  I don't want to debate here about whether or not GMOs (Genetically Modified Organisms) are safe. But I did want to share my findings with you about what foods are or contain GMOs.

I researched the different foods and here are my findings on the GM plants. I'm not an expert and welcome any comments, corrections and additions.

Bug Repellant

We used to use Muskol for bug repellant. It is 23.5% Deet and has lots of warnings on the label about only applying it every 8 hours and to use it sparingly and not to spray it in enclosed spaces. The one that really made us not be able to use it anymore were the instructions: "Do not use on children under 12 years of age."

So my husband put together this spray for me to use with the kids with tea tree oil. He got a spray bottle from the dollar store and put 15 drops of tea tree oil with 32 oz of water. We used it some, but were still getting bit.

We added more tea tree oil, but even if it might have helped some, it wasn't enough to keep away the misquitos while blueberry picking. They were too much so I went back to the Muskol.

And here I was picking all natural, organically grown wild blueberries and spraying myself with pesticides! How ironic!

I welcome any suggestions for a less toxic bug repellant. What do you use, how do you make it and how well do you find it works?

Drinking Water

Recommendations say you should drink 8 glasses of water each day, but I have never been a person to drink much water. I would rather have milk or juice than try to drink a glass of water. I have a cup or two of coffee everyday and usually a glass of milk and a smoothie and maybe some juice or tea, but I probably only drink a half glass of water in a day. And that totals my liquid intake. That's pretty sad especially considering I'm breastfeeding. 

Schleich

We love to buy Schleich toys for our son. They are made by a German company and are hand crafted and hand painted. The detail and likeness to real life animals is incredible.

When we were first looking into these toys we weren't too sure about them because many toys are made with plastics that have toxic softeners in them. We wrote to the company to ask them what they use to make their toys out of.

Growing Sprouts: What Seeds Can I Use?

My friend was showing me this site where they sell seeds for sprouting. They also have information about the health benefits for the different types of sprouted seeds and specific directions for sprouting. I was surprised to learn that you can sprout almost any kind of seed it seems and even more surprised when I realized that I already had a variety of seeds in my pantry ready for sprouting.

 My husband got in on the fun and tried out a few too. The one above is a 9 Bean Soup Mix bought at Cosco.  I didn't think it would work, but surprisingly most of them are sprouting. I had read that split peas won't sprout and sure enough it doesn't look like they are sprouting in this mix.

Growing Sprouts: First Attempt

I'm so excited to share with you my first attempt at growing sprouts! I can't believe how easy it is! 

Walk Away the Pounds

I'm 30 weeks pregnant and my midwife told me I ought to be exercising at least 30 minutes, 3 times a week. I'm finding it harder to get motivated to go out for a walk as it gets colder since that means I also have to bundle up my one-year- old.

I was first introduced to Leslie Sansone's Walk Away the Pounds when my mom bought be one of her DVDs for my 18th birthday. Since then, I've used it a lot for in home walking. A couple days ago I discovered that on part of her site, she has a program called Walk Social where you can track how many miles you've walked in home and also watch a bunch of her walking videos. So I've been enjoying being able to walk in home with some different videos to get exercise and it's great because my son can play on the floor or take his nap and still be able to be in his routine.

Good Food Box

Every month (for the past two months) I pick up my Good Food Box order. It's a great way to get a variety of fruits of vegetables at a below market price. The contents are different every month depending on what's in season so I also enjoy the surprise of what I'll get.

Where I live, I can buy the small box for $7 or the large for $15. I get the large.

This was my Good Food Box this month: a bag of carrots, a bag of onions, a bag of potatoes, a bunch of bananas, a cabbage, an eggplant, 2 zucchini, a cucumber, 2 tomatoes, a bunch of radishes, 4 pears, and 3 apples.

Google the Good Food Box and find out if it's in your region.