a post about health.

*disclaimer* this is long but hopefully not too preachy.

health is something i've always been interested in, but you could say i was lazy about it. i'm skinny/healthy enough so why work at something that isn't a dire need. well. now that i have a lil one growing inside me it's a dire need. and let me tell you the things i'm learning have the full potential to freak me out, and have on more than one occasion. i've had to limit reading about it to under an hour a day.

i'm talking about chemicals. they are pretty hard to avoid & it's expensive once you've made the jump. bryan is still spasming over my decision to eat more organic, change our shampoo's, toothpaste, cleaning products, EVERYTHING.

but, with the recent discovery of a very close relative of mine being diagnosed with cancer... it's even more inspiration that not only do i do this for the baby, but we do this for us too. i'm reading a fantastic book that my friend sarah-anne lent me: raising baby green, by dr. alan greene.

i'm going to list a few things that have really affected me, in hopes they affect you too:

1st. he talks about a an umbilical cord blood study conducted by the environmental working group that he participated in, in 2004.

"(they) examined the umbilical cord blood of ten babies born in august and september in u.s. hospitals & found 287 different industrial chemicals circulating through the body of newborns. on average each baby carried around 200 (including fire retardants and pesticides.) Of the 287 chemicals, they know 180 cause cancer in humans or animals, 217 are toxic to the brain and nervous system & 208 cause birth defects or abnormal development in animals."

"we are the environment; there is no separation."

no wonder cancer among children & adults is on the rise. how freaky is that!!!!!! everything we do from rubbing lotion to eating fruits & vegetables is ingesting chemicals.

so, instead of being overwhelmed and angry at our fda and epa and usda and whoever else is supposed to be watching out for people because it's THEIR JOB... we are switching the foods that we eat that tend to have the highest levels of pesticides. damned economy-n-all.

these all scored a 40 or higher on the "report card" found at www.foodnews.org:

fish & meat, *APPLES*, peaches, sweet bell peppers, celery, strawberries, pears, grapes, spinach, lettuce, carrots, potatoes, cucumbers, raspberries & oranges. (i'm also using organic milk & yogurt, bryan is not)

(apples are one of the most pesticide-contaminated fruits tested by the usda. they are a major source of exposure to organophosphate pesticide, a chemical linked to decreased intelligence and increased attention problem in kids & hormone problems in kids)

foods that we're choosing to buy cheaper because they contain less:

tomatoes, watermelon, blueberries, broccoli, bananas, kiwi, mango, pineapples & onions.

the exciting thing about all of this scary stuff is that if enough of us switch it will force the stores to carry more organic products & more affordably. as of now only 3 to 10% of food sold is organic. so go ahead and support your local farmer's market & tell your giant, super, grocery store to stick it where the sun don't shine!

another exciting lil tidbit : a study published in the national institutes of health collected urine samples daily, morning & night from typical suburban children. pesticide breakdown products appeared routinely in the samples. then the researchers made a simple change: the kids began eating organic versions of whatever they were eating before. they didn't have to learn any new foods, if they ate an apple, now it was an organic apple. within 24 hours the concentration of pesticide breakdown products in the urine plummeted! and after 5 days they had clean urine samples morning & night.

we have also swapped several other things:
-our bedding (to an organic line from target) love em!
-we are slowly purchasing glass containers to use instead of tupperware
(most of these products we've switched to the brand 365 sold at whole foods)
-non-bleached, recycled toilet paper
-soap that is not anti-bacterial
-laundry & dish detergents
-shampoo
-deodarant (tom's lavender scent. yum.)
-toothpaste (tom's)

i'm almost done. i promise.

another thing we're doing in an effort to be earth friendly is we're asking friends & family that feel inclined to give us gifts -to buy recycled & sustainable (like cloth or wood toys instead of plastic, or organic clothing).

we're borrowing: a crib, bouncy chair, nursing chair & most of our clothes will be hammy downs from the triplets :) & our older baby friends.

we'll be using cloth diapers (only 4% of u.s. families use cloth diapers) & g diapers for when we're on the go. (those are amazing, by the way)

We WILL NOT be using a diaper geenie! they are the devil. wrapping a plastic diaper in more plastic. argh. guaranteed to never, ever decompose & sit in our landfills FOREVER. in this book i read that the plastic diapers that are recycled (very few of them) are used to make plastic fences.

i love this book. it makes the scary things less scary by giving good advice to overcome.

i hope, if you're still here & reading, you'll make a few moves today to be less chemically involved. it's not only for us, but our environment too.

i hope you have a great weekend! we're busy doing things around the house; cleaning out the car & closets & i'm cleaning up the garden, getting it ready for new plants. i love doing that.

another family portrait...

my mom's best friend bev, & her family sign up for family portraits every couple of years. while at home for christmas we were able to meet up.

her husband, lynn, her daughter, rebecca & her son, ben are so much fun to photograph. they are so goofy together & love making each other laugh -i'm surprised i get any pictures of them all looking at the camera :)

here are a few of my favorites.

together laughing.






the boys.


the girls.


becca & ben.


the very handsome ben, is a senior this year so we took a few senior portrait shots.



thanks guys... i had a blast!

proudest day of my life...

i say that knowing my soon-to-be-born child hasn't scored the winning soccer goal or won the national spelling bee... BUT, so far this is the proudest day of my life.

I am proud, oh so proud, of what this day represents.

Thank you Mr. President Obama for being who you are, standing for what you stand for & giving me this overwhelming feeling that has been so distant for 8 years. HOPE. freaken hope, who knew it would feel this good. i was driving to the gallery this morning while the vice president & president were sworn in & i balled while listening to it on npr. tears. intense tears of happiness.

at last, you are my president. at last you are mine. at last i am proud to say that!

i hope you have a wonderful day, night & next four years :)

more baby...

or at least more baby bump! melissa & stoli are friends of ours from the frisbee world. they are due to meet their lil girl come feb 18th. so we did a lil session so she can always remember her beautiful self with her first born in utero. i love doing belly sessions!

the happy expecting parents!




more kissee.


my favorite!




my other favorite :)








so sweeeeeet!


thanks guys... i had a lot of fun! goodluck with the next few weeks :)

anne geddes & some news.

last night i was able to listen to a very famous photographer, anne geddes, talk about her work. i've always respected her work... it's beautiful & of sweet babies... so how can you go wrong. BUT. tonight i have a new found respect for her & her vision & what she's done (finding a market that was so untouched & created powerful work that was & is so easily recognized as her work). she's pretty fantastic.

one quote she said really struck me:

because of babies... we have a future.

i'm a bit of a softee, but you will see soon why this got to me more than normal.



with great pleasure i'm announcing to the blogosphere that bryan & i are expecting a lil peanut in early june. we've created a future and that's pretty awesome. we ARE SO EXCITED about what that means. this lil guy or gal can be anything it dreams of: a poet, a professional mountain biker or a storm chaser (like it's daddy).

this has already been a very wonderful journey... the past 4 months have been strange & bazaar & something i have dreamed about for forever. one of the reasons i fell in love with bryan was i knew he would make an amazing father one day. his kindness, soft voice, calm demeanor & unending patience were all qualities i wanted my children to be raised with.

i want to wish this soon-to-be father a very happy birthday today. HaPPy BirtHdaY!

i'm so excited to share this with you, bryan. i love you very mucho.

oh goodness.

the holiday has come & gone & it was wonderful. but i was very ready to be back in phx... i think being away for the holidays is way more stressful than i give it credit for :)

thanks to all my clients as i was slower than normal to respond to you while on holiday. i hope you had a very merry christmas & a fun new years eve. did you get anything or give anything fantastic?

i had an off year with giving presents... i didn't find anything that just shouted any particular friend or family member, but guiltily enough i had a great christmas... i got the mandolin i'd been wanting :) & bryan(& his parents) surprised me with an ipod touch! i feel a much more inspired christmas for next year!

there wasn't really too much purpose for this post... just felt like i'd been mia lately. i have several things in the works that i'll be able to post this week since the blog is fixed :) thanks jeff & happy birthday today!

have a great first week of 2009. crazy!