Green Living and Baby

David and I have been moving more toward a “green” lifestyle for many years. (In fact, my siblings call us hippies.) This doesn’t come from alarmist global warming (though we do think the earth is being harmed by humans). It's really borne out of the responsibility we feel to be good stewards of the resources God has given us. That means being good stewards of the earth (reduce, reuse, recycle) and good stewards of our bodies and other resources (like finances and the house). Some of the actions we’ve taken include composting, buying organic fruits/vegetables off the dirty dozen and whenever feasible, purchasing organic milk and sustainably farmed organic meat (and eating less meat in general), driving a Prius, biking around town for errands, and having renters live with us in our 4 bedroom house.

Another wacky idea we have relates to our baby. We’ve purchased some big items (crib/dresser) used and gladly taken hand-me-downs for others like clothing or exersaucers. We don’t think that babies need that much anyway. So, the whole concept of registering for a bunch of new items, particularly when many of them are plastic, didn’t appeal to us. This isn’t a plea for gifts- but since many people have asked us what we need we thought we’d explain our reasoning here.

We chose to do the bulk of our registry at Peapods, a local, family-owned store in St. Paul that specializes in natural toys and baby care. They have a ton of really great wooden toys that help kids develop imagination as well as things like cloth diapers, baby slings, and organic cotton bedding and clothing. We also set up small registry lists at Babies ‘R Us and Target- but mostly for consumables and natural baby care products.

Our wacky idea is for people to give us used baby gear with lots of life left as shower presents- like the 0-6 month outfits that get worn a few times before baby grows out of them. We’ll post a list of wanted items, whether that is hand-me-downs of your own, Craigslist purchases, or garage sale finds.