My First Foray

When I was pregnant, it wasn't exactly timed- that is to say, it was a wonderful surprise! We were looking for ways to save money and I remember saying to my husband, "I will breastfeed and cloth diaper. We will save thousands." At this time I wasn't crunchy... green.... natural.... any of those things, at all! I was merely trying to save us money in the only ways I knew how. Staying home with my baby was essential, so we put these practices into play.

First picture I have of her wearing a cloth diaper :-)

Well. as it turns out, I ended up liking cloth diapering so much, I started my own online cloth diaper boutique a couple months after my daughter was born. I ran the business from home, often having people over for Cloth Diaper 101 consultations. I also went to various fairs and vendor events to spread the love of cloth.

 Having a CD store, I was constantly browsing natural parenting catalogs for new additions to the store and I suppose that is where I really started branching out into a broader range of natural parenting (for myself). I found that as a cloth diapering, breastfeeding mom I was shunted into groups on social media sites like the Bump and Facebook- and that suited me just fine. I learned an immense amount of things in a very short time from absolute strangers from all over the world- and found some really close friends as well.One friend actually taught me to babywear at a playdate at her house!!

Our First Foray into Babywearing... using a Moby Wrap

 

Baby Led Weaning: Exploring Avocado! To this day, avocado (well, guacamole) is one of her favorite foods!

After breastfeeding came baby led weaning, with teething came amber teething necklaces, with little sicknesses came opportunities to try new all natural remedies on the market. I ran the store from November 2011 through January 2013, at which time my little family and I decided we needed to focus on more important things (Sophia's therapy schedule and details on that can be viewed at www.youmeandsophia.blogspot.com) Although my store is no longer active, I still dream of opening it up again one day- it was one of the most amazing things I have ever done and met so many interesting people!

One of three shelving units used to house my in home CD store