FDA lost its way?

I no longer have any faith that the Food and Drug Administration is looking out for the health and well-being of me or my family. Hearing story after story of hamburger, spinach, or jalapenos tainted with salmonella or E-coli that inspectors missed is just the beginning. Now I read that the FDA's solution to this problem is not to improve agricultural and inspection procedures but to allow the irradiation of some produce.  And to make matters even worse they are considered weakening current requirements that food products which have been exposed to radiation must be labeled as such. Apparently, food labeled as irradiated doesn't sell very well. (Imagine that!) I think it is appalling that consumers would not be aware if this has been done to their food,  a process which some experts believe can destroy nutrients, create hazardous chemicals, and even affect the taste the food. 

As if that issue wasn't enough, the FDA also released a report recently that the trace amount of Bisphenol-A (BPA) found in plastic food products are safe. BPA is a chemical used to soften plastics (including most baby bottles) and it is can leach into food and drink, especially when heated. BPA has been linked hormone problems and cancer. Many other countries have banned its use in certain products and the state of California is considering such a ban. The FDA's argument is that their is no proof that the chemical is harmful in such small quantities. I cannot comprehend this logic. It is established to be toxic at some levels why shouldn't it work the other way around. We should assume it is not safe until you prove to me it is. Especially when we are talking about anything we are exposing are children to. 

And just to add one more straw to the Camel's back. My husband's going low-carb to try and lose a few found pounds and motivate himself to exercise a little more. (I know, not the healthiest way to diet, but effective.) So I was trying to lookup recipes for him and I wanted to see if I could find any desserts. I came across a list of possible low-carb sweeteners. All of them artificial options like Splenda or Equal, except Stevia. Stevia is herb which can be an all natural sugar substitute. However, on this list is was the only item noted as "not approved by the FDA." According the FDA Stevia can only be sold as a "supplement' and cannot be labeled as or used in products as a sweetener. How does it make sense that artificial sweeteners which are allergens to many people (like my husband) and linked to cancer are approved by the FDA but a plant, an all natural product, is not approved. 

Like I said, I've lost all faith in the FDA.  

It's all fun and games...

As a new mom I am often at a loss for creative ideas about games to play with my girls. But thankfully I live in the Google generation. All I have to do is run a search for "baby games 9 to 12 months". The web site I found Games to Play with Baby had lots of fun ideas I've been trying out.

I turned the baby blanket ride into a laundry basket ride. I can fit them both in the basket and drag them around the house. Andi especially enjoys this, it always has her grinning from ear to ear. To save my back from leaning over the basket I even attached the dogs leash to the basket and pulled them around that way.

And I just love the obstacle course idea. I've been using things like towers of blocks they must knock over (Alex's favorite game) to get around, pillows to crawl over, and toys they have to roll out of the way. I'm still working on tailoring the right difficulty level for the girls to complete but be challenged.

Babies' First Airplane Ride

I've been negligent of the blog. The first of my many excuses is that we've been traveling. The husband, babies, and I flew to Montana for the family reunion for my dad's side of the family.

The reunion was great, this was the first time most of my relatives got to see the girls. The getting to and from the reunion was dramatic to say the least.

First off, if the airline says, arrive 45 minutes before your flight to check luggage, they mean exactly 45 minutes. Not 44 or 43. They will bump you to standby on the next flight the minute you are late. They don't care if you have two babies and the next flight is in 2 hours and the delay increases your layover from 1 to 3 hours.There were at least 8-9 other passengers who missed the flight like we did and all were willing to accept if they were bumped to the next flight but an exception was made for us poor fools with two babies. The airline did not see it that way. We also discovered that hot weather in Montana = turbulence. My husband and I spent almost half the 2 hour flight from Denver to Billings trying not to slam the babies in the sides of the plane or seats because the turbulence so bad one passenger kept raising his arms in the air as if on a roller coaster. Finally, after waiting 30 minutes for our rental car and listening to the girls cry on the entire 2 hour drive from Billings to Livingston we called ahead to our hotel to discover the 2 cribs we requested were not available and we had to change hotels when we arrived in Livingston. Moral of the story: always we really really early and never expect anything you request to be ready for you.

On the upside, almost all of the flight attendants and passengers on our flights to and from Montana were very understanding and helpful. They fetched things from the overhead bin, held babies on a couple of occasions, and even tried to help entertain them. And the girls were good sports, they were only fussy on the very last flight on the way back. The airline was also very good about the stroller and baby carriers. They were checked at the gate on the all the flights and returned to us when we landed. All for no extra charge.

On a final note, although we did have to resort to some jarred food; bananas, cheese, tofu, and avocado were fairly easy "homemade" food options while traveling.

Gaming & Crocheting

I made a pretty new dice bag for myself during our D&D game last night. Well..I didn't quite finish it, I'm still working on the drawstrings.

I got turned onto the idea of crocheting while gaming by a friend of mine who games with us on Fridays. She made her husband the coolest dice bag shaped like a d4. She also told me about www.raverly.com. The website is a community of crochets and knitters. You can get free patterns, post your projects, see other projects, and post in an amazing number of forum groups . So far I've joined groups. rpg gamers, cloth diaper moms. And I got the pattern for the dice bag form the website to.

As soon as I finish up my bag, I'll be moving on to a bag for my husband.

Think Outside the Jar

Today I've been making baby food.

The baby food industry has been very successful at creating a cultural expectation of using commercially prepared baby food. When I first got pregnant, like most people, I envisioned buying lots of those cute little jar of things like  peas and carrots or turkey dinner. But when I started reading about what foods to feed baby when, I also started to read about cooking those foods yourself. I was surprised to discover that it was really easy to do and just as safe if not safer for baby  Safer because you control exactly what ingredients (and the washing of those ingredients and the washing of the pans and spoons and things you use to prepare those ingredients) go into your baby's food.. And when I stopped to think about it made sense. Cooking my own food is healthier and more cost effective, why wouldn't the same be true for a baby? And now I get to brag to people that my eight month old babies have already eaten (and like) things like rutabaga and parsnips.

For the most part cooking baby food is just like any other cooking you just put it into the blender, food processor or mill when your done. And you can freeze prepared food so all you have to do is thaw and feed. I've found silicon ice cube trays or silicon mini muffin tins are the easiest to use because they just peel right off the frozen food.

If your interested have found the following resources helpful:

wholesomebabyfood.com

Healthy Baby Meal Planner by Annabel Karmel

The Petit Appetit Cookbook by Lisa Barnes

So what was cooking today? zucchini, yellow squash, sweet potatoes, cauliflower, and some "teething biscuits". The biscuits are just all natural wheat bread which I baked in the oven for 15 minutes at 350. (The one is from the Annabel Karmel book.) I also figured out a new trick today for my zucchini and yellow squash. Both are high in liquid, so after I steamed them I mashed them lightly in a bowl with a potato masher and drained the liquid before I pureed then. Saving the liquid in case I drained too much.

Podiobook Review: Heaven

I just (started and) finished listening to the podiobook Heaven by Mur Lafferty. Since I started and finished it today I am sure it is obvious that I enjoyed this story. It is the story of two friends who die and after discovering they are not happy with "their heaven" take a journey to other heavens. I thought it was well written with charters you could related to, an  intriguing story, and good pacing. I thought most scenes were described vividly enough to see them with the mind's eye, although there were couple most intense action sequences that I didn't keep up with as well.

Overall, I would defiantly recommend taking the time to listen. You can find it for free (or a voluntary donation) at podiobooks.com.

New D&D Group

I went to my first D&D game (yes, Dungeons & Dragons, I said I was a geek) last night with a group my husband hooked up with at work. The husband and I played in high school and decided a few weeks it would be a fun hobby to pickup again, since then we've been playing with some friends who had never played before. Since my experience is minimal and from a long time and 2 editions ago it was nice to play with guys who really know how the system works.

I'm very excited that we talked the group into meeting at our place from now on. There was no way we could afford to pay a babysitter for 6-7 hours once a week. I included a promise of some home cooked dinners on game night, I think that helped. 

ObamaMAMA

My ObamaMAMA shirt finally arrived. It, like everything else on Obama's website was on backorder. Like many other voters (at least according to CNN) this presedential election is the first to ever get me excited and involved. (Granted this only the third presidential election I've been old enough vote in.) My husband and I even went to our county Democratic convention as delegates for Obama. The babies were sooo good even though the convention ran long and we there for something like 10 hours (and we didn't even stay until the end...)

I truly believe in Barack Obama's sincerity, his passion, and his ability to lead our country. I don't agree with all of his positions but he's got the most important ones right. Especially foreign policy, I think it is idiotic that the childish notion of "I don't like you, I won't talk to you" is thought of a reasonble basis for foreign policy.

I love Craigslist!

I've been selling stuff all day and I didn't have to go anywhere or sit outside in the Texas heat, that is why I love Craig's list. And now I have less baby stuff in my house that I am not using and money in my pocket (to buy more baby stuff that hopefully we will be using).

Now if I could just get someone on Craig's list to sell me their Evenflo 3-in-1 Pond ExerSaucer I would be estatic. The girls and I had our first play date on Tuesday with a fellow twin mom, Amanda, and her two adorable six month old girls. (She even wrote about us on her blog) They had on of these and Andi really loved it. But I was iffy about buying a toy they could spend so little time, beucase I' ve read several places that babies can injure their hips if they play to long in toys that supsend them by their hips. Anways I found out that this exersaucer is also an activity table, which I have also been looking at becuase both girls are eager to try and prop themselves up on everthing, including the other babies at our play date.

My Least and Most Favorite Mommy Duties

Although there are plenty of responsibilities as a new mom that aren't exactly fun. Things like all the extra laundry or changing diapers, most of these don't really bother me that much. The two things that are my least favorite are changing crib sheets and cutting baby nails. I know that sounds weird but changing crib sheet is all the worse parts of changing the fitted shits on my bed plus all those pesky bars. And with two babies I have to play musical cribs, movin babies back and forth. And those baby nails are so tiny and they grow so fast and I'm constantly afraid of hurting their poor little fingers.

Enough of the negative. Of course some of the best things are the ones hear about all the time, cuddling and playing. But some of my favorite jobs are also some of the most challenging. That's probably what makes them the most rewarding. This is how I feel about breastfeeding and solid food feedings. There were times in the early days of breastfeeding the girls that I was so tired I couldn't think straight or see straight. But there are wonderful moments when I look down at both of girls feeding and cuddled up next to me and moments after they finish when I they have the biggest smiles I've ever seen that make it so worth it. (Before I get too long winded I'll stop and share more on breastfeeding in another post.) Finally, solid feedings. I've been making food for the girls, so it's a bit more work -- mostly more dishes. But it is so much fun, I get to carefully plan out their introduction to so many foods and come up with an infinite number of combinations. (This another topic I could go on and on about, so I'll save it for later.) Not to mention there is nothing cuter than a baby with food all over her face.

If your parent who comes across this, I'd love to hear about your most and least favorites. And I'll try to remember to update my list as the girls get older.

The Obligatory First Entry

I've tried starting a blog a couple of times before but it never stuck. We'll see what happes this time. I've always liked the idea of blogging, an oppurtunity for anyone to share their thoughts and opinions with the world. (Yes, I'm a bit of a romantic.)

My intention is to make this blog about everything I'm about. My expierences with my kids. A book or show or game that cathes my interest. My dedication to finding a balance between modern living and living in harmony with nature. My politics, my passions, my pleasures...

So here's to sticking to it. (3rd times a charm, right?)