7 Quick Takes, Vol. 26: Shock, Sadness, Goals, and Six Months!

Thanks to Jen for hosting!

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As I'm sure is the case for everyone, the shootings in Newtown, Connecticut, have been on my heart and my mind this week. I can't fathom the amount of pain the families of the victims must be in right now. Most of all, I am saddened by the disrespect with which the issues raised have been treated by the media and the public. Mental health care and better gun regulation need to be priorities in our country - no matter where you stand on these issues, you can agree they need to be discussed. We owe it to the memory of the children and adults who were shot last Friday to do it in a rational manner; recognizing that while we may not all get exactly what we want, the best answer most likely lies somewhere in the middle.

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Emily and Erin turned six months old yesterday! They got quite the celebration, since it also happened to be my birthday. Actually, as far as the celebrating went, we didn't do a ton with them - Dan and I went out to dinner and the girls stayed home with a couple of friends of ours. The real treat for Emily and Erin came today, when they got to go get their six-month shots. It was quite the appointment. I think we were there for almost an hour and a half. Everything looked good, apparently, and both girls are still growing as they are supposed to be. We're going to start working on feeding them more food, but I was relieved to hear that it's not really necessary for them to eat a lot of real food until they are a little older.

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Our cloth diapers arrived! I washed them on Tuesday, the day they arrived, but I haven't actually used them yet because I realized they need liners. I went and bought fleece to cut up and make into liners, and I think that will be the easiest way to go. We have covers and inserts - basically a two-piece diaper - that go together. The liner is to protect the baby's skin from the microfiber insert, and also to protect the diaper from any diaper cream, which hinders absorbency. I'm pretty excited to try them out tomorrow and write a review!

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Along with the cloth diapers, I'm making a concerted effort to really focus on eating less processed food and more vegetables. I know I don't have a chance of getting Emily and Erin to love vegetables if we don't include them as a matter of course - I love vegetables, but I sometimes forget to include them when we're eating in a hurry. I need to make sure they are a more constant part of our diet. Creating as healthy a diet as possible for our family is one of the best gifts I can give them, because lifelong eating habits are formed at a young age and are very hard to change.

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Another thing we've been doing for a while now is trying to use fewer toxic cleaners. There are so many great green cleaners out there these days, so this isn't really that hard - there are a few things that need the heavy duty cleaners, but for the most part, it's easy to find a nontoxic option. I have been using Method cleaners for a few years now, and I really love the variety of scents. Anybody else use nontoxic cleaners? What are your favorites?

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Now that Emily and Erin are six months old, I can say that I've met one of my major goals for the second half of this year: we're still nursing! I honestly didn't think that we would make it past two months, then I figured it'd be three months, and then I fixated on six months. Around three months, I realized that this was the easy way of feeding and that it was much simpler than bottle-feeding, especially when I figured out that nursing actually helped put the girls back to sleep at night. Now I feel pretty confident that we'll be able to make it the full year, and maybe even a bit beyond - we're still supplementing a bottle or two a day, but at least 80 percent of their nutrition comes from me, and that's the best possible start they can have. There are so many things that my body has done this year that amaze me, but this is one of the most amazing.

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Christmas is coming! In honor of the season, I thought I'd share this cute video with you. The images to go with the song are just beautiful, and gave me a sense of peace in the midst of this chaotic, sorrowful week. I hope it can do the same for you.

I hope all of you have a very blessed Christmas!

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