Vitals and Realizations

Liam had his one-year checkup on Monday.  He’s perfect, of course.  Matt wanted me to post the vitals, so here they are:

Height:  30.25″ long = 50th-75th% (he’s shrinking…)

Weight:  22 lbs., 2.5 oz. = 50th% (right where he’s always been…which got me thinking…I mean — Liam is heavy to carry around all day so what are the women who have kids in the upper 50th% doing?  Are they that much stronger than I am or do all those kids walk earlier than Liam will or is it just that they don’t pick them up as much?)

Head:  18.5″ in circumference = 50th-75th% (holding steady there too)

That stuff’s interesting and all — but I spent yesterday afternoon thinking about one part of the visit:

At some point our doctor asked if Liam is “pretty much eating what you guys are eating at the table.”  My immediate thought was: Oh Goodness, NO!  I’d never feed him what we’ve been eating the last couple of weeks. 

That’s not a good sign.

This got me thinking about the food that Matt and I eat–specifically the numbers of canned things with too much sodium, veggies and fruits with too many pesticides (or pesticides at all, really…), frozen convenience meals that have enough preservatives to keep us until we’re 100 (maybe without any organs by that time as they’ll be eaten away by the same preservatives, but still…if I weren’t planning to be cremated I don’t think formaldehyde would be necessary…), meats and dairy products with harmful hormones, etc., etc., etc.

I’m certainly not saying that I’m never eating Chick-fil-A again (let’s not get rash) but I started doing some research on Organic CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) programs in the area to see how that would work for our budget while providing us with weekly local (and therefore seasonal) fruits, veggies, and nuts.  The one I’d heard about in the past that is fairly close to us says on their website that they’re full at this point and you just have to wait until openings become available.  It was pretty unclear as to how that would work — but I signed up for the newsletter anyway — I figured it wouldn’t hurt and there is a weekly open-air market attached to it in the Spring, Summer, and Fall so that would be a neat thing to take Liam along to see as well as a convenient way to get fresh veggies from local growers.  The cool thing was that I found this.  It’s not nearly as close to our house as the other one but it is very close to Matt’s work so theoretically he could pick up our baskets on most weeks and if he has a meeting or can’t make it I could do it on those weeks.  I’ll also check out how easy it would be to go to the Dekalb Farmer’s Market once per week since I already know it’s fabulous.  Matt and I are also planning to go peruse this Farmer’s Market which is closer to our house.  I already have a bias in favor of DFM but I’m trying to go in with an open mind and see what we can find.

It’s going to be a balancing act to find out which things are most important to buy organic and to see how much fresh produce we can buy through local agriculture outlets while keeping in mind our budget and the fact that it’s not exactly ecologically responsible to drive all over the known universe to find said things.  That sorta defeats the purpose a little bit, doesn’t it?  At least I drive a Civic and I’ve filled it up twice since June so I’m not exactly creating global warming on my own, now am I…?

Well–I’m off to feed Liam his homemade organic applesauce and oatmeal…

Happy New Year’s Eve!