I'm Not Crunchy

What's the deal with this "crunchy" label that alternative moms like to bestow upon themselves? I never heard of moms calling themselves crunchy until I joined the MotheringDotCom (MDC) forum. MDC is the online community of Mothering magazine that's centered around alternative parenting, natural birthing, etc. Nearly of the moms call themselves crunchy in some point in time and list all their attachment parenting (AP) credentials.

[Hey, you aren't the #1 mom! That isn't even an organic stuffed animal!]

For example, "I'm a crunchy, babywearing, non-vaxing, non-circ'ing, homebirthing, organic food growing, breastfeeding, no TV watching, unschooling, radical mama of three."

Well, okay then.

I made up that example but I'm sure you could find many signatures on MDC just like this.

How did natural parenting become a list of actions (bling) to flash into other people's eyes? It's been reduced to a bunch of labels to strive for just to be more AP/natural than anyone else. I mean, I do many of those things (breastfeed, non-circ) and I like to tell people my stances on these issues, but I don't want to do these things just to do them. I don't want to be an AP perfectionist. I want to be the mom who makes the best choices for my family based on the circumstances that we're in.

Does that make sense?

And, if that's crunchy, can I be smooth?

An Intro (Of Sorts)

Since I've been such a transient blogger, it's only proper that I introduce myself to my newest (and now only) blog. Here's a bit about what my family and I stand for and some decisions we have made:

1 - We're all about veganism and animal rights. Both my boyfriend and I are vegan (you may be thinking "duh" at the moment) and we're raising a vegan son in a meat-eating world. He's only 11 months so his diet basically consists of breast milk, but there will be a day when he realizes his diet is at odds with the world. We're not saying "you're not allowed to eat this;" instead we're going to let him know the specifics about animal products and hope he chooses a vegan lifestyle (odds are that he will).

2- We're anarchists at heart. When I say our family is liberal, I don't mean we're Democrats. Hell no. Think anticapitalist socialist anarchists. (And try saying that five times fast.)

3- We hug trees, but don't call us hippies! We're enviromentalists who prefer to bike and walk (well, at least I do...). I try to conserve resources wherever possible (breastfeeding, using cloth diapers, cloth baby wipes, and other reusable products).

4- We questions doctors' orders. We've chosen not to vaccinate or circumsize our son. Vaccines are full of scary ingredients that shouldn't be injected into the human body (fetal cow serum, anyone?). As for circumcision, if you can't explain why you're doing it--don't do it. There was no reason for our son to be cut--none whatsoever--and I have no clue why this practice is still in place.

5- We're weird. We wear a baby in a sling, we plan on homeschooling (unschooling) our child, and I did everything in my power to have a birth without medication.

6- But we ain't hatin'. Even though I just listed some topics we're passionate about, we don't expect everyone to make the same decisions as us. We're not always right, but we make decisions that are right for us. I'd like to think we're not snobs who think we're better than everyone else. I tend to hate overly judgmental and pretentious people so I try to avoid being like one.

So there you have it. Nice to meet you.

How We Love a Sleeping Baby...

...Oh, let me count the ways.

Right now it's about 7:30 p.m.--prime time for getting Little Man to sleep. That is, if he weren't asleep already. I took him into work today and he passed out an hour earlier than his usual time of 7:30ish. No problem with that except he'll most likely wake up at 6 a.m. We co-sleep with Milo--meaning he sleeps in a crib with one side removed that's attached to our bed. Co-sleeping is great. I know, I know, it's become taboo to get in the discussion of where babies should sleep, BUT I just want to say that co-sleeping has been a god-send for me. Milo nurses at night but he doesn't necessarily wake up to do it. I can feed him before he fusses, he eats and then it's back to sleep.

Milo sleep = Mommy sleep. I dig it.

Watching Seinfeld:
"Is it possible they're just having babies so people will visit them?" and "YOU GOTTA SEE THE BABY!"