Humane Parenting...

****WARNING: UNAPOLOGETIC SATIRE****

Here at Our Vegan Pregnancy, we love our children a great deal. Since the day they were born, we've treated them with only the utmost love, kindness, and compassion. This stems from our belief that they deserve an extraordinary degree of attention and care.

Our enduring affection for them is central to the way we raise them. That is our guarantee to you.

We have fed them only the finest, wholesome, all-vegetarian, all-natural, mostly organic diet we could obtain, and we sure as heck haven't given them too many antibiotics or unnatural pharmaceutical products, unless they were absolutely necessary for their health, of course.

 

 

We have been steadfast in our commitment to allow them enough space to stretch their limbs, to run and play, and to roam and explore their environment, in a way that nature intended for them. 

 

 

Like our parents before us and their parents before them, we have provided our children with social environments, so that they can express their natural behaviors and fulfill their natural tendencies to develop relationships with other human children, which is what they would naturally do in nature.

 

 

 

 

 

As a small-scale family operation, we raise our children in environmentally sustainable ways, so as to work with nature and to be good stewards of the Earth. 

 

 

 

Naturally, we care deeply about the welfare of our children. Therefore, we feel that it is our responsibility -no duty!- to ensure that our children are lovingly and humanely raised and handled throughout their entire lives.

 

 

And as it turns out, this is not only good for our kids - it also guarantees the best flavor (of blog post content and super adorable pictures) for you to consume, savor, and enjoy!

Our Vegan Pregnancy: Committed to Raising Kids Sustainably and Humanely Since 2009.

Making Moves...

Hello everyone! We're still here! Well, sort of...

Six months ago, Our Vegan Pregnancy HQ packed up and moved from the DC Metro area of Northern Virginia all the way across the United States to "Silicon Valley" in Northern California. We have been so busy with the move and adjusting to life out here that we just haven't had much time to blog.

Relocating across the country is no small feat. Before the move, Lucas and I were a little (okay, A LOT) concerned with how 3 year old rowdy twin rabble rousers and two silly dogs would handle several consecutive days sitting in a car with two predictably grumped-out and exhausted parents. To our surprise, Astral, Defy, Star, and Sunny all handled the trip very well (probably much better than mommy and daddy, in fact).

Fortunately, Lucas's side of the fam lives in Southern Illinois, and we didn't have to go very far out of our way to stop there for a few days before proceeding westward. It was a nice break after the first 12 hours of driving. We were able to relax a little, visit with loved ones, enjoy some of grandma's delicious vegan food and mentally prepare ourselves for the next leg of the journey: 3 more days of driving in a cramped automobile!

As many of our long-time readers already know, the Our Vegan Pregnancy crew doesn't eat "fast food" on road trips, mostly because food joints alongside the interstate in the U.S. are not exactly known for their vegan-friendliness. As usual, we packed a lot of dry goods, fresh fruit and a cooler with other essentials. We were lucky enough to consistently find natural food stores right off of our route, so we could replenish our food supply.

 

Astral and Defy were super good on the road. They played games, played with toys, sang songs, "read" books, drew plenty of pictures and slept to pass the time. They thoroughly enjoyed staying in hotel rooms three nights in a row, as each was a new adventure for them. They also enjoyed stopping at the Grand Canyon and seeing it for like 2 minutes before they proved far too dangerous to be right at the edge of an enormous hole in the Earth...

 

To cut a long story short, we made it to CA, our new home! Astral and Defy are happy with the weather, the scenery, the libraries, and all the fantastic parks. Lucas is still their "at-home" dad, teaching them their daily lessons and exploring all the wonderful public services with them during the day.

 

Roasting pretend vegan marshmallows over a fake fire...

 

 

 

Northern California has a lot to offer vegan families. There are vegan family play groups, tons of vegan restaurants, and the most ridiculously beautiful weather for playing outside, adventuring, and observing free-living nonhuman animals. We are thankful to have had the opportunity to make the move, and we are excited to raise Astral and Defy out here in the stunningly beautiful Bay Area.

 

 

Props to The Veggie Grill in San Jose!

  

We will try to post again soon, specifically about what the vegan twin superstars of this blog are up to. We just wanted to put out a post to keep everyone updated on our transition westward, and to let you all know that we're still making moves...

  

"Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhh!!!!!"

"Respect Animals. Go Vegan!"

We've Come A Long Way...

DnA's lovely cribs that we hope they sleep in again!

Nice organic bedding, what baby wouldn't want to sleep here?? OURS!!

35 weeks

33 weeks

The boys are 37 weeks now (8 months old). They seem to be getting prepared to walk. Astral is standing unassisted for 30 seconds and has taken a step followed by falling! Defy can stand unassisted for about 10 seconds before falling!!! They both like holding on to their baby gate and cruising around. A & D love music and will dance to any beat.

The twinsies are also in love with our furry companions, Star and Sunny! They follow them around and love playing with and petting them. The relationship is beautiful. They are just amazing and joyful little guys!

They each have the same exact 8 teeth, 4 on top and 4 on bottom. They enjoy getting their teeth brushed with their tiny little baby toothbrushes. They are just too freaking cute!

Astral and Defy have eaten several more foods including; yams, peas, mangoes, peaches, pears, lentils and quinoa (all organic of course). I can’t say they all were a big hit, but you are supposed to keep trying. They both can drink out of their sippy cups now. I only put a small amount of water in them so that they can practice drinking without filling up and spoiling their appetites.

The boys love bath time and splash and play like crazy. We have tried giving them baths together, but that seems to still be a little too dangerous and chaotic. We will try again when they are a little bigger.

Since the weather has been getting colder, I've been shopping for warm, VEGAN and organic winter coats or bunting. I can't find anything that actually looks like it would keep them warm. They are in 12 month clothes already. Bundling up will probably work while they aren't walking, but I have a feeling they will walk this winter. If any one has any suggestions please let us know!

Last week Astral had Roseola, the exact same virus Defy had in October (fever with no other symptoms followed by a rash lasting 3 days). I guess we should just be thankful that it wasn’t anything more serious and 1 virus for each baby in 8 months isn’t nearly as bad as it could be. Once a child gets the virus they are usually immune and won’t get it again. Astral weighed 21 lbs 5 oz. when we took him to the pediatrician because of the fever. They are both so big for their age and so advanced in their milestones! WE love proving all the negative vegan myths WRONG! Can't wait to get both of their stats at their big 9 month check up in December.

About 2 months ago we brought the boys in our bed while they were teething and had stopped sleeping through the night. It was easier for me because they both wanted to comfort nurse and I wanted them to feel secure during their tough time. I originally wanted to follow the attachment parenting style and co-sleep before I found out we were having twins. Now that the boys are bigger we aren’t as scared to have them sleep with us. We really like having the family bed (dogs included), but now that the boys are waking less during the night we really want to try to get them back in their nursery in their own cribs. It is lovely to wake up to their smiling faces and have the comfort of feeling them breathing next to us, but honestly it is very hard to get sound sleep with them in bed. We plan on beginning the transition (yes…again) this weekend. Wish us luck…

It is so strange to think that last year around this time I was prepping to leave my office and go on full time bed rest at 24 weeks pregnant and now I have 2 healthy and rapidly growing baby boys. I practically missed all winter last year being hospitalized from December 28th until March 5th. The seasonal transition has brought back a lot of memories from our pregnancy. I would do it all again to get Astral Defiance and Defy Aster…

Astral And Defy Are Here...

7 Days Old Photo Shoot In Their Nursery

Astral Defiance Hayes and Defy Aster Hayes were born on 3/03/10 via cesarean at 9:44 and 9:45AM. Astral (baby A) weighed in at 6.8 oz and Defy (baby B) weighed in at 5.13 oz, very good weights for twins born at 37 weeks, 3 days. Vegan since conception, they are both very happy and healthy babies that have met all their milestones so far.

Astral is defined as "of, relating to, or proceeding from the stars" and "visionary". Defy is defined as "to challenge to do something considered impossible" and "to resist attempts at: withstand".

The babies were born on a Wednesday and we were discharged from the hospital that Friday. Since the babies were perfectly healthy the doctors left it up to me and my recovery to decide when I would leave. After being in the hospital on bed rest since December I wanted out right away so Friday was the big day. We were elated to have the babies go home with us and no NICU time at all.

Every day the babies amaze us and we fall deeper and deeper in love. It is hard to believe that we are so lucky to have two beautiful little people to guide through life. Though we are sleep deprived and constantly busy being first time parents we are cherishing every single moment. We have so much more to share about the birth and the first 3 weeks of Astral and Defy's lives and will be back soon with the details.

Oldest (bottom) Newest (top)