The Great Cloth Diaper Change 2012

At 12:30 today, over 200 Tampa Bay moms (and dads) and many others around the world all changed their babies into cloth diapers at once. We had to carefully plan what fluff we would be showing off to all the other cloth moms. Here we are getting ready to head out the door:

Before the change, though, we wandered around the Tampa Bay Baby Expo. There were a lot of great vendors like Green Mommy Diapers, Growing Up, Bippy Diapers, and more! I wore the Vegta Baby in the Boba:

I even figured out how to nurse in it by the end of the day. He was passed out from the time we got in line until I took him out to change his diaper.

He was in surprisingly good spirits as we waited for the change. He even made a little friend who kept saying how cute he was and kissing his forehead. It was sweet.

We changed into the diaper we got at a discount from Lotus Bumz after their cyber Easter egg hunt. It was the first time we got to wear it! There weren't a lot of dads there, but we had one!

Unfortunately, we didn't win either of the super nice stollers or diapers they raffled off, but here is what we did walk away with between raffles, samples, and door prizes:

BYO Rambler Lunch Bag; Gift Basket with Blankie, PJ's, and Socks; Small Wetbag,
Eco Nuts Sample, Rockin Green Sample, Eco Sprouts Sample,
Notepad, Magnets, and Hand Sanitizer

I'm excited to have some samples to try of detergent, and that lunch bag is worth $20! All in all, it was a pretty great experience. I loved seeing all those cloth using, babywearing, breastfeeding mamas!

On a related note, I got a package from my Gramma yesterday:

She sent me 40 cloth wipes! It's just cut up fleece, so it's super easy to add reusable wipes to your diaper regimen. I have about 50 now, so if anyone is in need, I can probably spare a few :)

On an unrelated note, I also won $10 from My Debt Free Road, a blog I found through the Ultimate Blog Party 12! Thank you! 

Well, it's time to finish cleaning up. The wife and her husband are coming over tonight. It's been too long!

Ultimate Blog Party 2012

Welcome to my blog!

I'm a 26 year old new mama to Baby Jonah.

I blog about various aspects of motherhood, but I often emphasize our vegan lifestyle and other crunchy parenting topics like babywearing, cloth diapering, and so forth.

I love discovering other like-minded bloggers, so let me know you're there with a comment or a like!

Vegan Pregnancy

I started blogging because I had a lot of trouble finding any blogs on vegan pregnancy.  So, let's talk about it!

First of all, it's not as though my pregnancy is that much different than any other.  But I did notice that nutrients I don't typically worry about for myself are a little harder to come by at the levels I need now.

Let's take protein.  In pregnancy, you need 60-70g of it every day.  There are a lot of options, but they do usually have less protein than a typical serving of "meat."  Beans, nuts, and tofu are all good, but you need more than you may want to eat.  Most vegan meats come just short of what you would reasonably want as well.  We discovered, however, that the Field Roast products are actually full of protein.  Sausages, frankfurters, roasts, etc. all have more than 20g per serving which is great for a vegan source.

How about calcium?  Well, first of all, I hated milk long before I was vegan, so I never would have been drinking that stuff.  Luckily, almost all dairy substitutes are fortified (just like cow's milk).  I used to drink a lot of Silk, but I found out a couple years ago that they are owned by a dairy company.  So what would be the point of that?  Plus, there is some concern over the effects of soy on baby girls.

I switched to Almond Breeze (follow the link, they usually have coupons), and I love it.  I used to love the Vanilla, but the baby doesn't.  I drink Chocolate now, and it only has 3g of fat and 45% of your daily calcium needs.  So Delicious Coconut Yogurt is also fantastic.  It tastes great, and it has 25% of your daily calcium needs!

Luna Bars are another great snack.  They come in a variety of flavors, and they're power-packed.  For example, the Lemon Zest has 9g of protein, 35% of your calcium, 30% of your iron, Vitamin D, B Vitamins, and Folate (plus a lot more).  Steer clear of the protein bars, though, because they are unfortunately not vegan.

My husband has also been increasing our fruit intake by about a billion with delicious smoothies in the morning.  We use bananas, blueberries, strawberries, and raspberries in different rotations.  The secret to adding nutrients and flavor?  Vanilla Hemp Milk.  It has great for you things like calcium and B12, but it also has Omegas!  Not to mention, it adds that tang a good smoothie needs (trust me, he tried it with almond milk one day, and I took one sip).

Then, of course, there are the vitamins.  If you're trying to get pregnant you should start taking pre-natals long before there's a baby.  We special-ordered mine from Whole Foods, but you can probably get a vegan version at many natural food stores.

So, that's what I've discovered in my first trimester of vegan pregnancy.  I'm sure I'll learn more over the next six months.  Most importantly, educate yourself because your OB probably does not know much about the topic.  If you know what you're talking about, they'll likely be more confident that veganism is ok for your baby.