My Favorite Weird Crunchy Habits

So, you ask, what's a crunchy habit? No, I'm not talking about my love affair with potato chips or how many carrots I can eat in one sitting. Crunchy has become the word to stand in for or replace tree hugger or hippie. As in granola eating crunchy lady. I'm not sure why its assumed that all of us environmentalist types are obsessed with granola (even though it IS yummy), but I've accepted the term.

1. I haven't shampoo'd my hair in two and a half years. I'm SO gross. JK! Or at least, kinda kidding. I HAVE washed my hair recently, but I haven't used actual shampoo to do so since roughly September 2013. I have a propensity for absolutely terrible dandruff. Like cradle cap quality super thick nasty dandruff. Dandruff shampoos largely didn't work besides the expensive ones with coal tar extract in them and I was pretty sure that would be bad for me in the long run. So I did some research on alternative therapies to try. I used Dr. Bronner's Soap for a short while, but that wasn't helping me much. It did OK, but kinda left my hair feeling icky. So now I'm on a different regimen. I use a solution of baking soda and water as a shampoo, as well as an organic sulfate free, gluten free awesome conditioner, and then an apple cider vinegar and water solution for a rinse at the end. After I get out, I use a tea tree oil product as a deep conditioner, but only a couple drops. I normally only have to wash my hair once a week now - and the worst of the dandruff is gone. I still get a little tiny bit towards the end of my week or if I wear a hat and sweat too much, but it's a total night and day difference. Plus it saves me time AND money. 
   
2. I also DON'T use tampons or disposable pads for menstruation. I am pretty active and gave up on pads generally when I was 13. That being said, I did use the bus sized pads as the hospital for the first few days postpartum - when the bathroom looked like a murder scene still. After a week or so though I switched to my super awesome cloth pads. They attach to normal underwear and don't have that icky thigh chafing feeling. I also have one pair of Thinx underwear which have a built in pad. I LOVE them too - for moderate days. My normal go-to though (and soon to be again) is my Keeper menstrual cup. This device catches the flow and lets you dump it out. Truth be told, there's a learning curve, but it's not terribly difficult and to me it was totally worth it. I only have to empty it twice a day, even on a heavy day, and once can be in the shower to help with the gross out factor. It smells less that other methods and doesn't involve making garbage. Plus, because it's not disposable, you save money. It should pay for itself in about a year and it should last 5-10 years depending on use. I'm HOPING I don't have to get a new size since pregnancy, but there's a good chance I will. Oh well! Still got my money's worth. It's also something you don't have to think about or deal with at all during athletic events, even swimming. Totally awesome!
   
3. My favorite cleaning products look almost exactly like my hair care products, other than I prefer white vinegar for cleaning. Baking soda can be made into a paste to scrub surfaces, sprinkled on and vacuumed off of upholstery or carpet, or can be combined with vinegar for a deep spot clean on carpets or other textured surfaces (astroturf for instance). Vinegar can be used straight to deep clean stubborn messes, or mixed 50/50 with water for a bacteria fighting hard surface cleaner that's streak free enough for stainless steel and mirrors. Plus, you can add vinegar to your messiest laundry - like the poopy stuff. Not only is this all septic safe and environmentally friendly, but it costs a fraction of chemical cleaners. Hooray! I do still need a grill & oven cleaner and Nature's Miracle for some bodily fluid disasters, but baking soda & vinegar plus heat were enough to pull a two week old grape juice stain out of white carpet. 
   
4. I spend years getting used to the idea of this, but now I'm hooked. I clean out my nostrils with a neti pot. Now, I HATE things going into my nose, I hate even blowing my nose it makes me gag. At the same time, I'm very sensitive to too much mucous or boogers in there. I pretty much can't sleep with my mouth open, so if I can't breathe out of my nose - I'm not sleeping. At the same time, brushing my teeth makes my nose run and I do that shortly before bed. Bad cycle right? Then when I was pregnant all of my mucous was thicker and there was more of it. I was completely miserable. So after listening to people touting the virtues of these pots for years already I decided it was worth a try. It still sucks to do, I don't like the process, but it's worth the results. I thought it was all in my head until I was stuck without my pot for the week after birth. I was so stuffed up, not only at night, but first thing in the morning. So I'm back to it!
   
5. I love cloth diapers! I wasn't sure at first, and sometimes it's a bit icky, but I'm glad we're sticking with them so far. They have gotten overly complicated over the years, and we bought a few different styles: all-in-one, flats & prefolds with covers, pockets, etc. Here's a brief intro: Cloth Diapering 101. Either way, there is a bit of a learning curve and some special notes to follow when washing, but I feel that it's worth it. There was a large up front expense, but then only a few small costs to add in additional diapers and/or supplies once we got started. I learned, for instance, that we need two liners for our diaper pail so that one is being used while one is being washed/dried. I thought that in the 2.5 hours it takes to get the load done, we'd be OK waiting for the liner. I was WRONG! On the upside though, we don't have a continuous cost, we aren't throwing a bunch of disposables into the landfill (OK, we have some disposables so we are dumping SOME, but so much less!), and they're SUPER CUTE! In addition, for some reason Legan is MUCH MUCH less likely to pee on me/changing table in the middle of a diaper change if the diaper coming off is cloth. I don't know why, but I am not arguing or complaining. 
   
6. Exclusive breastfeeding. Enough said. I know this used to be the norm, and then for years I feel like formula was the "expected" option for feeding your babies. It does seem that in recent years breastfeeding has again become more popular. It actually concerns me that it has to be a fad. I wish that all moms could breastfeed. I am VERY grateful that formula is an option for moms that don't want to or can't nurse, for whatever reason, but I do think that breastmilk is the superior meal choice for many reasons. The idea that I can carry food and a delivery system around with me everywhere is SUPER awesome. The money saved on formula and additional bottles is also appreciated. The added immune boost as well as the likelihood of keeping his digestive system healthier is just another plus. On the downside, 3 am is a rough time, and I have to get up. We've also had some problems with latching, to say nothing of marathon feeds and his "comfort sucking" when he just wants to suck on me but not eat - I can tell because I stop hearing him swallow! All in all, it's the right choice for us right now - even though every 2-3 days I declare I'm done making him custom food and feeding it in his custom dinnerware. I always take back my wild three a.m. screaming statements. Also, yes, I do love him and don't think he's purposely making me miserable despite how it feels at the witching hour. 

Soon to come: another blog post on my exact up & down fights with breastfeeding, an update on c-section recovery, and Legan's two month old update!

Quick photo dump!

 Drama hand while he nurses!

 Adorable all in one cloth diaper!

 Wearing a handmade cloth diaper for tummy time

 Holding onto the boob for dear life!

 Hanging out in his swing, sans cloths!

Listen To Your Body

I work very hard to balance myself. I tend to swing wildly between two extremes, I go back and forth from so lazy I'm having a hard time getting off of the couch to a crazy workaholic who never sleeps.

So when I'm in workaholic mode, I have a rough time taking some time for myself and managing to relax. Furthermore, if I have any sort of health or wellness scares/concerns, I have to work very hard (depressing isn't it, to work to relax?) to take care of my self to heal through it. I have to remind myself that it's not being lazy or making excuses if you're truly listening to your body.

For instance, if you normally eat pretty but suddenly crave something deep fried or covered in chocolate - your body might be telling you that there's something in there you need. Or your hormones are crazy, it's always hard to say. But when I spend a bunch of time outside in the hot weather, maybe exercising, I have a tendency to apparently inexplicably need potato chips or ramen noodles. Then I realize that I've lost an awfully large amount of salt. Hence the craving.

In the beginning of my third trimester of pregnancy, I got a cold. Normally, my idea for dealing with a cold is to make sure I don't short myself on sleep too much. However, when I'm taking care of a horse 7 days a week, and I'm super pregnant and working out, a cold really knocks the crap out of me. In those conditions, the only thing you can do is just do the minimum to get by on horse care and doctor appointments, and otherwise sleep as much as is possible. Instead of running, walk. Instead of too much strength training, just a little yoga, and if I need a little extra sleep if for instance I am not sleeping due to a stuffed up nose, then cut out the entire workout without trying to make up for it later.

If you feel too much stress, take something else out of your day, even if it's meal prep or exercise, for the short term in order to get more sleep or take a little private "me time" to yourself.

More examples from my life: in order to honor my late pregnancy and my body changing, I stopped riding. Not because I felt unsafe, because honestly I still felt very secure, but because it made me too sore afterwards and then during, which kept me from taking care of myself enough. Also, the week of our move when I had to pack up the rest of the house and tie up our loose ends by myself, I let healthy food mostly fall to the wayside. I ate macaroni and cheese or a pasta side for pretty much every meal for those 4 days, because it was something I could do fast, without effort and with a minimum of dishes. I did add a handful of spinach and a packet of tuna to each meal, to ensure that I did receive something resembling all of my food groups. This was the compromise I reached between time, effort, and my baby's health.

Never forget to adjust your workout (or cancel altogether if need be) to honor what parts of you are sore, the parts that are strong or weak.

Definitely don't make a habit of splurging on purchases or anything else financially when you're broke. However, honor your body and if you need new shoes to continue working or exercising - or maybe a belly support band - do so. There's value in those dollars as long as you spend them wisely. Also, sometimes when you're broke but time crunches, keep in mind that 3-4 times a year of getting quick food while you're out in order to get your body through a long (maybe a double) work day is worthwhile. 

Most recently I had to cope with honoring my body during surgical recovery. They didn't want me to try anything by mouth for at least 6 hours after surgery, and no food until 12 hours. By the time surgery happened, I was about 12 hours post eating, and consequently was shaking like a leaf from low blood sugar and hunger I'm sure. So when the nurses weren't around, I allowed my body to make decisions. I slowly started on water, but I had only a few small sips and then waited a good 30 minutes to make sure that I didn't feel sick. When I still felt great (at least digestively), I started on a few small sips of Gatorade, and again waited. Then I graduated to sport beans which I had stocked up on in hopes of getting my vaginal delivery. I was planning on using marathoner fuel to get through labor - as I know what I can eat while running and hot should be fine to not make me sick during other exertion.

Then again, other aspects of surgical recovery I need to hold back. I couldn't sit up without help, I couldn't get on and off the toilet without help. Even now, nearly 5 weeks later, there are a lot of things I can't do - or at least shouldn't. And while I CAN technically scrub some dog spots off of the carpet, it's honestly not worth the time and effort of me getting up and down off the floor so many times, it's still too much work.

Primary point here is that it's SO helpful to learn to listen to your body and follow it's instructions. Or at least, don't COMPLETELY ignore them all the time.