The woman I'm becoming

Warning - this post may make some of you (particularly men if there are any readying this) uncomfortable.  Womanly topics are discussed.

I am becoming a woman I never thought I'd be.  For as long as I can remember I have enjoyed the "luxuries" of the modern world - things like tampons, shampoo & conditioner, household cleaners - etc, etc....  I have used these things without any thought to them possibly causing harm.

And now I find myself changing.  It started, slowly, when I was pregnant with Maddison.  We were a bit tighter in the financial department, so I chose to use cloth diapers.  Purely for the cost benefits.  Now I use them for the enjoyment and the fact that I don't have to use disposables (full-time) on my kids! 

Then I started looking more into my groceries and what I bought.  I started making my own buns & bread.  That spread to making my own butter, tortilla's, noodles for my chicken noodle soup, bagels, and peanut butter (at least once we are done our current jar).  I also make all my own baked goods.  I honestly don't remember the last time I bought a baked good.  The sugar consumption in our home has reduced drastically - although we still eat probably way to much of it!

I remember as a kid hating the garden through the summer.  Now I can't wait to get into my garden and I even started seedlings early this year!  Seedlings for peppers, broccoli, asparagus, & celery.  And all because it's natural, doesn't have pesticides and is that much healthier for my family.  These are, of course, in addition to the cost savings! 

Household cleaners were next to be changed.  I started thinking more and more about what kind of chemicals I was using to clean with.  And so now I use Pink Solution for my bathrooms and floors and Norwex cloths for my windows and the wet/dry mop instead of a swiffer.  And after I have finished my current bottle of Tide I will be using Pink for laundry too.

Most recently, I have cut shampoo out of my life.  About a year ago a friend of mine switched from shampoo to baking soda/vinegar.  And again I thought I could never do that.  I loved the smell of my shampoo and the feeling of cleanliness it gave my hair.  But just in the last couple of weeks I have made the switch.  It started when I began using smaller amounts of shampoo in my hair because I needed to make it last until my next shopping trip.  But I began to notice that my hair was less greasy and responded better throughout the day.  So I talked to my friend and got the down low on the baking soda/vinegar method of washing hair.  And have been using it for a week.  And I love it. 

This is where any men reading may want to stop.... or skip this particular paragraph as it deals with womanly matters.  This is the one that really, really surprised me.  Before I got married I decided I didn't want to use hormonal birth control.  I have nothing against it, but I just didn't feel comfortable using it.  That lead to researching different types of birth control.  After Maddison was born I came across natural family planning and have been using that since a few months after she was born.  And a few months after Brooklyn was born I was introduced (via a cloth diaper facebook group) to the idea of reusable menstrual products.  At first the idea really weirded me out.  I was comfortable with the products I used and really didn't see any harm in them. Then I read this blog and it challenged my way of thinking.  So I began to research.  And while I am still weirded out by reusable pads, a few months ago I purchased a reusable menstrual cup and have been using it every month since.

So why did I make these changes?  Some of them started out because of cost.  Mainly the diapers for that one.  The garden (in addition to tasting better and the cost benefits), cleaners, and womanly products were because of chemicals, with cost being a minor factor in those.  The shampoo was purely because I liked my hair better without it.  Shampoo never cost me much and I don't have an issue with chemicals in there, but I just liked that I won't (in a couple weeks) have to wash my hair daily, so maybe that's laziness too ;) 

But mostly I just felt that this was the way God wanted me to live.  It's not that using diapers, cleaning products, birth control or store bought veggies are bad, it's just that for me I felt God leading me to remove or semi-remove them from my life.  For the most part it makes thing less complicated.  I feel healthier and therefore I feel like I am better able to serve my family because of these choices.  But I also love that while I may feel that this is a great way to live, God does not want, call or need everybody to live this way.  Our God is so personal that way and I love it.