Going Green

SO, anyone that knows me, knows that I love being healthy. All through highschool I ate very modestly and as healthy as I could.
The problem I am running into now is the financial aspect of eating organically and natural. Another problem is TJ-poor guy is trying to gain weight, and I am trying to loose weight. I'm sure you can see my problem!
There was a study done about the milk at walmart-something about the walmart brand containing the most hormones out of all the milk tested. shesh-and people wonder why little 9 year old girls are needing bras, and having their periods so early! Their milk is also the cheapest, so as you can imagine all of the lower income families are buying it up and giving it to their children. Obviously it's great that the kids are getting milk in the first place, but I just feel sad that they can't get quality milk for a good price, you know?
Unfortunately, we don't make very much "moolah," in fact we are eligible for WIC, which don't get me wrong is a blessing-we get a ton of milk and what not every month. BUT, we receive the cheapest milk possible, which like i said previously, means hormones and yada yada. So, every other gallon, I try to get an organic one. All the meat I buy is from a meat locker, which only uses grain fed/grass fed meat, and the cheese I buy is organic as well. I figure if I can't do everything, the things we eat the most of, and the items that have the most hormones in them-do those.
As far as cleaning products, I don't get real picky-a friend of mine, Amber, she lives in California; she gets down to the nitty gritty boy! I love Mrs. Meyers and since we have hardwood floors, i like Murphys Wood Oil soap.
I really love California Baby bath products for the kiddos-while we were visiting Dawn in Chicago, I used the soap on Gabe and LOVED it! It smells fantastic, and it does it's job, that's for sure! Speaking of Dawn, how wonderful is she! I need to pick her brain about what she buys and what not-she shops mostly at Whole Foods... *note to self*
I also have been using cloth diapers for Nolan. Very time consuming and a lot more work, but money saving in the long run. I have bamboo diapers, which were the priciest, BumGenius-which i LOVE, and the traditional pre-folds, which get a bit messy at times.
Back to my friend Amber, she reccomended a book called "Whats Safe and What's Not" it's a neat little book, about $8, it's basically a dicitionary of all the ingredients on the labels of the food we buy. If you find lets say monosodium glutamate, and you are like, "what in the heck is that?" You flip through the book, and wham-MSG-which is terrible, you can say, "alright, next item on the list." ha As you can imagine, it would be a little time consuming reading all of the labels and what not, which is why I haven't done it yet with all of the things that I need. I will most definately be attempting it when I go grocery shopping without the boys, as i'm sure it will take me double the time.
I'm excited to live on the east coast! I've already looked up Whole Foods, to see if there are some stores near where we plan on living; and there are a bunch within 30 mins of where we'll be! EXCITING!
I cannot wait until we start bringing in a little bit more money, I feel like when we do, I'll be able to cook more organic, and just live more organically.
ANYWAY...after that rant, i feel like i should talk a little bit about the boys! :)
Tonight was bath night, and I really dread giving Nolan a bath...he really loathes taking baths-except for tonight! He was kicking and splashing around, and just giggling! It's so much more fun to give him a bath when he's not screeching, and not to mention peeing because he gets so mad. haha...Of course Gabe is just a treat, he loves taking baths! There for a while it seemed as if I had beat him or something! It was terrible, the second his toes touched the water he was a different boy!
Potty training is just fantastic! Gabe has taken to going potty so well! I really thought it was going to be a task, considering what everyone says about boys, being so much more difficult than girls. The second day of training, he pooped in the potty-and from day one, we've really only had a handful of accidents. I feel so lucky! I used chocolate as a bribing tool, that boy loves chocolate! Then of course I let him pick out his own big boy "unders" and he calls them. I think we have, Batman, Star Wars, Kung Fu Panda, Hulk, and some dinosaur ones as of right now. It's funny, with as many as we have, I always feel like we never have enough. I feel like I am washing underwear everyday!
Tj and I are doing well, sometimes it feels like somedays we just go through the motions because we get so busy. At nighttime we really try to take a few breaths and just relax together and watch a movie or a show, before we sack out. It's been really nice here lately, Nolan has been going down for the night at about 8:30, and then Gabe shortly after. So, Tj and I have the whole rest of the night to ourselves...
I promise I am going to get a new charger for my camera soon! I wish I could just find mine!! Unfortunately the battery i have needs it's only special charger, so I haven't been able to take pictures, which if you know, has been KILLING me. Especially since Nolan is starting to sit up by himself and smile a ton more. So, hopefully tomorrow I can find one!
Well, i better quit here, i've practically typed a whole book. Most of which I'm sure no one is interested in, except for the last three paragraphs...haha...
Love ya!