A little bit of background may be helpful as this is my first post!

I am the mom of a 3 year old daughter. She was born July 2011 and I am now expecting my second baby in August. My husband Ben and I moved from New York City to Charleston, SC to give our kids and the dog, Scarlett a more outdoorsy life.

I am a birth doula and childbirth educator. I also own and operate I'm An Organic Mom and I'm An Organic Baby. We have busy lives and we like it this way!

Being an organic mom can mean a lot of different things for a lot of different women. The following is what it means for me. When I started thinking about this post, ideas kept flowing and it became clear that it would need to be several blog posts :)

My journey as an organic mom started before I even had my daughter. I recycled, turned off lights when I left a room, controlled the A/C and my water consumption, tried to walk instead of taking the car and I also purchased some organic food. I suppose my green mind was somehow passed down from my parents, but I became even more aware of all that can be done after I had my daughter and became a mom.

I had a natural water birth at home. My daughter started her journey into this life drug free. Can this be considered an organic birth? I wonder...

We also used cloth diapers. I had a lot to learn and a lot to teach my husband but it was all worth it. We cloth diapered for 2 years, until she became potty trained. I am also thrilled to know that I am going to reuse my cloth diaper stash with our new baby in a couple of months.

Savannah wore an amber teething necklace for much of her teething months (3 years on, and we are still waiting on 1 molar). We tried to minimize the amount of medicine we would need to give her. We also researched vaccines and decided to delay vaccinations for as long as possible. We bought BPA free plates and cups for her, and we are going to try glass containers and bottles for the next baby. Mind you, we don't use bottles much in our household. Being at home allowed me to exclusively breastfeed Savannah for 7 months and she kept on nursing for 2 years and 10 months. She has been a very healthy baby and I credit extended, on-demand breastfeeding. Isn't breastmilk the ultimate organic food?

Savannah's skin has always been a concern of mine. She has beautiful, soft baby skin but I am prone to eczema and I want to make sure that she uses organic bath products and creams. I want to protect her skin as long as possible. The area where I am still conflicted is with suncream. I actually very rarely put it on her or me for that matter. I did when the sun became very strong back in April and then I let her skin tan slowly. Of course, I don't expose her to the sun in the middle of the day. We go out early mornings and late afternoons to avoid the most harmful sun rays.

We also favor wooden toys or recycled toys. They are more durable and are great for my daughter's imagination. Most of our operated battery toys just don't work anymore or need to have the batteries constantly changed which creates a lot of frustration for the whole family. We are going to reuse a lot of our wooden toys for the new baby. Some were already passed down from other families.

I am now very proud when my daughter uses both sides of her paper to color or knows to throw away her yogurt after she rinses it into the blue recycling "poubelle" (the French word for trash can). Being an organic mom means that I need to teach her how to be green. I can lead by example but a lot of explanation may be necessary too. We tell Savannah not to let the water run when she brushes her teeth or to turn off lights when she leaves a room. It is definitely a work in progress.

There is a lot more than could be done. We could ditch the cloth diapers entirely and only practice elimination communication. We could tell our generous family and friends that we only want organic products for our children when a birthday comes up. We could feed our daughter only organic food, and only from local sources - eating with the seasons. No sugar, no processed food ever and so much more! But we aren't there yet!

This is how my journey as an organic mom started. It started by being a woman who cared about the environment and then a mom who wanted to keep her baby safe.

Some of my and my husband's choices can seem radical or extreme but we discussed them at length and this is what works for our family. Being an organic mom may mean something very different for you and that is okay. There is never a hint of judgement in what I write or say - I can only talk for myself.

I consider myself an organic mom because I try to make organic choices for my children. But I am also an organic mom because I make organic choices for my household and myself! You can read more about it at https://imanorganicmom.blogspot.com in the next 2 posts coming soon!