What does it mean to be an organic mom? Organic is a popular buzzword these days. Everyone who is conscious and conscientious wants to be organic and live an organic lifestyle. Of course we do. Considering the state of the processed world we live in, it is only obvious that eventually we would begin to see the fallacy of our ways and want to get back to basics.

But the problem is this: Organic has become a trendy fad and a cliché. And the corporate giants are only too eager to put the organic label on things that are clearly not organic (candy, sugary.... more >>

Children are not dragons. But a good number of parenting models treat them as if they were. Okay. So there are some similarities. Like being loud and unpredictable, tendencies toward mass destruction and general chaos, supernatural abilities like shape-shifting and breathing fire, and acting as the genesis and origin of many wondrous legends.

Regardless, the popular new movie sensation, “How to Train Your Dragon,” makes a valid point that applies to both children and dragons: They are nothing more than another one of Earth's living and breathing .... more >>

You thought high school was bad? Were you shunned by the cheerleaders? Teased by the Pom Squad? Just wait. You don't even know the meaning of the word humiliation yet. No matter how many boxes of edamame and organic lollipops you buy, the Organic Mommy Cult will never let you in.

What's the deal with all the competitive mothering these days anyway? Isn't being a mom hard enough? Why do mothers feel the need to push each other down in order to pump themselves up? And furthermore, why do moms feel the need to judge their own children based on how they compare .... more >>

So, in honor of my mother and all of my wonderful mommy friends out there I would like to share a poem with you for Mother's Day. This poem is by one of my favorite writers, Louise Erdrich. She wrote this poem for herself. The advice it offers is rock solid. Here it is:

ADVICE TO MYSELF by Louise Erdrich

Leave the dishes.
Let the celery rot in the bottom drawer of the refrigerator
and earthen scum harden on the kitchen floor.
Leave the black crumbs at the bottom of the toaster.
Throw the crac.... more >>

So, you're officially knocked up. And by official, I mean that not only do you have the black and white alien sonogram pic of your baby as your current Facebook status, but you are a card-carrying stalker of Babies “R” Us, you enjoy regular wet dreams about nursery décor, you know how to skillfully puke in a trash can, the inordinate amount of time you spend on BabyCenter.com is rivaled only by time spent shopping for extra large underwear, and your marital arguments now revolve around the significant differences between eggshell yellow and lemon .... more >>

“The moment a child is born, the mother is also born. She never existed before. The woman existed, but the mother, never. A mother is something absolutely new.”
--Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh

I saw this quote on one of my favorite blogs today. If you have not visited Vegemitevix and her insightful, hilarious, and beautiful spot in cyberspace you must dash on over immediately and check it out. Her post got me thinking about motherhood and all the ways it's changed me. more >>

Because I know all you placenta-loving freaks out there are just dying to hear another story on this topic. Or maybe you are jamming your fingers into your ears and saying “lalalalalala” over and over right now. In either case I am going to offer you yet another installment in the moving and glorious saga of modern day placenta-eating.

So I have this friend. You may remember her (if not feel free to visit this link here). In any case, while she was pregnant she confessed to.... more >>

I'm cooking dinner. My toddler is playing happily with all my clean Tupperware on the floor beneath my feet. I have to use the restroom. I step carefully over my toddler and head down the hall. I am greeted by blood-curdling screams and a child who is suddenly latched onto my leg like an overgrown leech.

What am I to do?

Because I am a raging hippie and member of the unholy cult of attachment parenting, I simply lift up my wailing toddler and carry him into the restroom with me where he immediately quiets down and is delighted to sit on my lap while .... more >>

When your mother is a doula, you know things about the female reproductive system at the age of five that some women at the age of thirty-five don't even know. For example, this is a conversation my friend's five-year-old son had with a pregnant stranger while waiting for his mom in the birthing center lobby.

“So, you're pregnant, huh?” he began, his eyes focusing keenly on her large belly.

“Well, yes I am, young man.”

“Probably six, maybe seven months along?”

“That's amazing. How did you know.... more >>

Today feels empty like floating dust motes visible only in brilliant sun. I am the spaces in between, silent and illuminated with the knowledge of what I've done.

For the first time, I put my son Nino in Kindergarten today. He was happy. He pulled on his starched uniform with gusto and posed for pictures armed with a backpack as big as he is. He marched with the other children down the hall and hung up his things on the classroom wall like he'd done it a million times already.

He was prepared.

I wasn't.

As a member of the unholy cult .... more >>

Ever since I posted a couple weeks ago about my midwife friend who is entertaining plans of eating her own placenta, placenta-eaters everywhere have been climbing out of the woodwork. I think I might just open a 1-800 hotline called “Placenta Confessions Anonymous” so I can collect a little cash on the side for my services, considering the number of folks who have come to me to share their riveting placental stories.

First off, I'd like to share with you a few things I have.... more >>

When my husband was growing up, Vicks VapoRub was the cure-all in his family. Got a cold? Rub on some Vicks. Got a cough? More Vicks. Got pneumonia? Make sure you get those feet too. Broken arm? Hangnail? Toe fungus? Smelly underarms? Undescended testicles? Behold the miracle healing powers of—you guessed it—Vicks VapoRub.

Personally, I'm one of those hippy dippy alternative medicine people. You know … the ones you meet in the health food store who are perseverating over which brand of colloidal silver and acidophilus to buy. “Aci-wh.... more >>

If you secretly enjoy an occasional shameless, unprincipled, indefensible Cool Whip-style pleasure (i.e. outing to Chuck E. Cheese's, purchase of clearly non-educational plastic crap toys such as Polly Pockets, excessive household viewing of Sponge Bob Square Pants, regular shopping trips to conventional grocery stores like Wal-Mart, secret consumption of poisonous non-organic snacks such as Ritz Crackers and tiny marshmallows, etc.) know when to own up to your depravity and know when to keep your mouth shut.

For example, your weekly Vegan Macrobiotic Raw Fo.... more >>

A good friend of mine who is currently pregnant called me on the phone today. “Naomi,” she said. “I want to tell you a secret.”

A secret? I love secrets! “Tell me. What is it?” I asked.

She lowered her voice and whispered, “I'm going to eat my placenta.”

“WHAT?” I practically screamed into the phone. My mind was spinning. Did people really eat placentas? I had never heard of this before. “Are you kidding me? Doesn't that make you some kind of cannibal … or something.... more >>

My friend Breanna is a model organic citizen. She deserves some kind of award for her vast achievements in organic living. For example, in addition to all her average daily triumphs such as starting her own organic food co-op, grinding her own wheat to make bread, growing an awesome organic garden, making all her own baby food, giving birth naturally, and thoughtfully reusing and recycling tons of household items—she recently agreed to babysit a bucket of compost worms for a relative stranger.

You see, a woman in Breanna's organic f.... more >>

Even if you are a parent that ascribes to the organic model (like myself), that doesn't mean that your parenting style is going to perfectly coalesce with all other parents that revere organics. Within my own close circle of organic-minded girlfriends, all of whom I respect and admire, we have families that spank and don't spank, families that Ferberize and families that co-sleep, families that wear their babies constantly and families that love the stroller, families that don't even own a TV and families that use the TV liberally as a virtual babysitter.... more >>

Overparenting is quite common in our society these days. It goes by many names—helicopter parenting, death grip parenting, invasive parenting—you get the idea. But the results are the same. Parents spend inordinate amounts of time feeling guilty and anxious while they overanalyze and micromanage their children's development. Why?

What is the reason behind the current generation's need to be overly involved in our children's lives? Is it a backlash against the latch-key era in which we grew up? Is it simply a by-product of the overly anxious cultu.... more >>

When kids are potty training and learning about their own equipment, it can spark some amusing conversations. A young friend of ours named Noah became completely fascinated with his penis during the potty training era. He was inquisitive and bright and asked numerous questions about the differences between men and women, how the penis itself worked, where the pee came from, etc. He was proud of his new knowledge and wanted to talk about it whenever the chance arose.

One day, Noah and his mother were at the Post Office standing in line to mail a pac.... more >>

When my son Nino was two-and-a-half, I was several months into my pregnancy with Diego and my milk began to dry up. I had not planned to wean Nino. I had hoped to tandem nurse both boys after Diego was born because I thought it might help to decrease feelings of jealousy and also allow Nino and I to continue to enjoy our own special nursing relationship.

But when my milk began to dry up, nursing became uncomfortable. I realized that I was not going to be able to continue to nurse Nino throughout the rest of my pregnancy as I had intended. I began to search f.... more >>

Remember when Motrin made the fatal mistake of posting that patronizing online commercial which suggested that babywearing was nothing more than a ridiculous, crazy fad that caused horrific back pain to new moms? In the advertisement, which aired on Motrin's website in November 2008, a young mom who supposedly had tried babywearing said the following:

Wearing your baby seems to be in fashion. I mean, in theory it's a great idea. There's the front baby carrier, sling, schwing, wrap, pouch. And who knows what else they've come up .... more >>

If the concept of the family bed conjures up images of aging hippies nursing pre-teenagers while sleeping on all-hemp, tie-dyed mattress in incense-filled vegan communes, you are probably not alone. Even I, who practice the family bed in my own home, find it exotic when I manage to meet another normal-looking mother who admits to using the family bed. I can't help but ask, “Why?” I am always curious to know what makes other people in our society choose to sleep with their children. In the United States, where independence is one of the founding values of.... more >>

Have you ever wondered why normal people who become mothers suddenly begin referring to themselves in the third person? Before I was a mother, I never went around saying things like, “Now, Naomi is going to need some time to herself in the potty, so please detach yourself from her leg and find something else to do.” Or, “Naomi wants you to come out from under the drapes and finish your breakfast at the table, okaaaay?”

But now, I blurt out things like this on a daily, if not, hourly basis. What is it all about? Is it a way of softenin.... more >>

We all want to live an organic, green lifestyle. But we might find ourselves discouraged sometimes because the price of organic food, cleaners and other household items can seem costly and prohibitive. It's true. If you switch from shopping at Wal-Mart to Whole Foods, your grocery bill will skyrocket and your spending money may disappear. That's why Whole Foods has received the nickname, “Whole Paycheck.”

But, there are some tricks to living organic on a budget. The tips on the list below can help you keep your bills from ballooning, whil.... more >>

Although I have strong personal convictions about breastfeeding for my own family, I would never judge another mom for her decision on whether or not to breastfeed. This is a very personal decision and everyone has the right to make it on her own. If you have decided not to breastfeed your baby, don't be sad. Your breasts are still magical and you should plan to enjoy them regardless.

If asked, I would be more than thrilled to explain the many benefits of nursing, for both mom and baby. But it is equally important to respect the parenting choices of others. .... more >>

I would love to tell you that nursing is all ponies and rainbows. But it isn't. Don't get me wrong. I am a huge breastfeeding advocate, but that doesn't mean I'm going to lie to you. Breastfeeding can be hard work, just like the rest of parenting. When people say that nursing is natural, they don't mean easy. They mean natural in the sense of hemorrhoids and labor pains and PMS. All these things are natural too, but you won't find them in a Hallmark card.

When my second son Diego was born, I was sure I was going to have a magical and uncomplicated breastfeed.... more >>

I was the weird kid. You know what I'm talking about. I was the kid who wore homemade clothes and ate strange, unrecognizable foods that emerged out of dark containers, while the rest of the kids pulled up the collars on their Izod polos and ate fluffy white bread sandwiches. While the other girls in my class were at Brownie meetings, I was attending socialist freedom rallies or making up fable skits for the viewing pleasure of my sister because we weren't allowed to watch television.

Don't get me wrong. With all my heart, I wanted to be a Girl Scout. But wh.... more >>

On September 4th, a breastfeeding rally was held in a Giddings Plaza on the North Side of Chicago in support of Lauren Trost who was harassed for nursing her seven-month-old baby Hank in the same plaza. The month before, Trost was in the plaza helping her sister to open a jewelry store. During the course of the day, Trost sat down to nurse her infant son in the public plaza and was approached by a woman who accused of doing something illegal and indecent by publicly breastfeeding her son.

Approximately 15 moms nursed their babies simultaneously to show suppo.... more >>