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!"

Daddy Time and Nursery Rhymes...

Damn, I never contribute to this blog anymore. I have a valid excuse though - I'm busy as hell! Who would have thought that raising twin human beings would be so much work and take up so much time? It is and it does! In fact, it took me about thirty minutes to type those last four sentences because I had to 1.) break up a fight 2.) clean up urine on the floor 3.) clean urine out of a toy bucket full of wooden toys 4.) wipe crayon off the wall 5.) stop Astral from unlocking and opening the front door three times (yes, he can do that now!) and 6.) tickle Defy's belly and armpits. Ok, so I didn't have to tickle D, but it was oh so hard not to.

Can you believe that DnA will be turning 2 on March 3rd? I know, right? I'm going to risk annoying many of you by pulling The Parent Card and telling you that time flies when raising children, like it's all been one big dream. I had always heard that, and it's so true. What most parents won't tell you is that this is actually the result of living in somewhat of a hypnagogic delirium for many consecutive months. A beautiful and magical hypnagogic delirium of course!

Anyways, I've just recently been getting a sufficient amount of sleep to allow my brain to function somewhat normally, and the boys can chill and play without my assistance much more now, so hey, why not help Mama out with this month's posting by sharing some random vegan parenting/at-home daddy stuff?

As you've read in recent posts, Astral and Defy have come a long way in the last couple of months. They are saying more words than ever and their vocabulary expands daily. They're putting words together and forming small sentences. They seem so proud of themselves when they say something correctly. Never mind that everything they say sounds like it's coming from a cross between kung fu movie voice over actors and slightly disgruntled lollipop kids; they're still saying a lot of shit and proud of it, dammit! They've picked up one adjective in particular that they love to use to describe any and every thing. That's the word "big". Big kid, big bite, big step, big jump, big book, big trike, big tower (when they are stacking blocks), big banana, big booger, and big poop (my personal favorite), everything is BIG.

The boys are also very physically active, more so than ever. They can climb all kinds of playground apparatuses with little difficulty and enjoy jumping off really high platforms. Honestly, they scare the hell out of me on a daily basis. At home they are quite the little daredevils. They are not satisfied with simply riding their tricycles or playing their xylophones. No, they have to stand up on the middle bars of their tricycles and flip their xylophones upside down and try to ride them like skateboards (see adorable photos above). One day, I had finished doing something in the kitchen and then walked into the living room to find Defy standing on the couch readying himself to jump. I didn't realize that he had positioned his tricycle in front of the couch to try to land on it. Before I could act, he jumped and landed with both feet on the middle bar and then the trike flew out from under him! I ran to pick him up only to find that he was laughing hysterically along with Astral, who also thoroughly enjoyed the stunt. Then Defy tried to put his trike back into position!

They also enjoy much less dangerous activities such as drawing, dancing, singing, stacking blocks, knocking over stacked blocks, re-stacking blocks, fake-sleeping, watching squirrels, and pretending that they're cooking and eating. No need to have the television on because they have no problem entertaining themselves.

There really haven't been any social problems so far with Astral and Defy being raised as vegans, although I expect there to be in the near future once we start encountering more involved social situations. The only issue I've encountered is having to turn down snacks offered by other parents, guardians, or nannies when at a park or at playgroups, but that's fine because it gives me an opportunity to talk about veganism. Surprisingly, no one has ever responded negatively when I mention that the boys are being raised as vegans. I don't think I've even been asked about where the boys get protein, probably because they're so freaking huge. From what I read online, there is this idea out there that babies raised as vegans are small, weak, slow developing and listless, but that's obviously bullshit. Of course, people, babies included, come in all different shapes and sizes, all with unique personalities, and all children develop at their own pace. My point is that a vegan diet, in and of itself, clearly does not stunt growth or development no matter how many times some asshole from the Weston A. Price Foundation claims otherwise.

On many occasions I've taken the boys to story and song time at the library, and every time I feel the need to change up the lyrics of nursery rhymes and folk songs. There is a lot of animal exploitation in nursery rhymes and folk songs and, well, we can't be havin' that. For us, Old Macdonald doesn't have a farm; he has a sanctuary (sometimes it's a veganic farm). Baa Baa Black Sheep most certainly does not have any wool to give to humans. And when she comes around the mountain you can bet that she'll be riding a fucking bicycle, and we will definitely not be killing an old red rooster to eat his dead body. No, we'll happily share our chickpeas and dumplings with him! I mean, these are supposed to be children's songs, right? I met a vegan mother of two young girls at a storytime when I overheard her doing the same kind of thing over "Thanksgiving". A story about "turkey dinners" was being read and this mother kept telling her daughters that turkeys are their friends and that they love them so they don't eat them. How awesome is that?

I recently joined a local at-home dads’ group that has weekly play dates at one of the members' homes. The boys and I have been going and it's really cool. It's important to talk to other adults during the day, and every dad I've met shared this sentiment. Also, the boys get to hang out with other kids, so that matters too!

It's difficult to cram twenty-one months of at-home daddy moments into one blog so I'll just have to leave it at that. Since I take the boys out into the non-vegan world every day, I'll try to post about being put in more non-vegan situations and how we handle them. That is, if/when I can find the time...

all photos are of Astral Defiance and Defy Aster @ 23 months

Happy 15 Months to Astral and Defy…

Today Astral Defiance and Defy Aster turn 15 months old. They’ve come a long way since they were born at 5lbs 13oz (D) and 6lbs 8oz (A). We have their big 15 month check up next week. We can’t wait to see how much they’ve grown in the past 3 months.

After reading my last post I started remembering things that I failed to mention about the guys, so I thought I’d do an additional quick post. Wow…I know, 2 posts in 1 week!!!!!

I stopped pumping about 2 weeks ago. I started it off with a trial run the first week to see if I could get through the day without too much pain, pressure or leaking and it all went very smoothly. I nurse the boys in the morning, right after I get home from work, at bed time and during any times they wake up in the middle of the night. Thank goodness everything seems to be working fine. I love the connection I share with Astral and Defy when nursing and I don’t intend on stopping any time soon, but I am so glad that I don’t have to carry that bulky pump around with me anymore. They also get plant milk, water and green juices throughout the day. Their favorite plant milk is fortified coconut milk and their favorite juice mix would probably be a toss up between kale/strawberry and broccoli/peach. I can’t ever imagine giving them cow’s milk or sugary processed juices.

We introduced the potty to the boys at 10 months shortly after they both started walking. After 4 months of them using the potty on and off when we put them on it, they both went to their potties at the same exact time and peed in them on their own. We were beyond thrilled, though after they stood up from their potties they both simultaneously peed on the floor. We sometimes let them run around in just a t-shirt to air out and see if they will take the initiative to use the potty. I know we still have a long way to go, but the fact that they did it on their own was stellar and brings us one step closer to not having to clean their cloth diapers…

As far as other milestones go during month 14 they perfected the art of self feeding with a spoon and learned how to get down the stairs on their own fairly safely. Climbing up the stairs was easy and mastered quite early on, but getting back down safely was a little harder. They are also getting really good at removing their own shirts and almost able to put them on as well.

We are so proud of our twin tots and all of their accomplishments. I love when people ask us if we are raising them vegan as they are living proof that vegans of all ages can be happy, healthy and vibrant...

Hello World...

Our 4 Babies

Defy, Astral, Star and Sunny

Blueberry Snack Time

Astral Defiance - 1 Year Old

Defy Aster - 1 Year Old

12 month old photos

We have toddlers! Two toddlers!! Two healthy beautiful VEGAN toddlers!!! Their immense love of discovery and learning has rejuvenated our fascination with the world and life. Everything is new and amazing to them and getting down on the ground and viewing the world from their level is such a truly inspiring second chance at the most wonderful thing about childhood; ENDLESS POSSIBILITIES.

Astral and Defy turned 1 on March 3rd. We aren’t traditional people. We will never be traditional people. For some traditions like birthday and “holidays” we will do our own version of what we feel is important on those days. At other times will we just act like that “holiday” or whatever doesn’t exist, because honestly it doesn’t for us. But hey, birthdays are GREAT in many ways, they celebrate your birth and there is nothing wrong with that. We do find problems with the commercial aspect of birthdays and other holidays, but as the boys grow older we will teach them that on your birthday you should also spend time helping others and giving of yourself and that is the best gift!

We didn’t have a traditional birthday party for the boys on their actual birthday, but the following weekend my parents threw them a birthday celebration when Lucas’ parents flew in from IL. It was a double set of grandparents extravaganza! We wouldn’t have picked the gender specific decorations or any of the character specific balloons (sometimes grandmothers forget on purpose), but the boys won’t remember any of that stuff. The most important part was both sides of the family coming together to celebrate the birth of these two amazingly bright little boys.

We are abhorred by many because we did not let Astral and Defy tuck into neon frosted, artificially colored, sugar infested pieces of cake. That may have made a cute photo op, but we are not ruining the palate of our 1 year olds for the sake of a photo. These boys eat the best food and are so vibrant and healthy, so I just went with that and made these sweet little fruit face cakes. They were cakes made of all organic fruit: pineapple, mango, blueberries, kiwis, strawberries and raspberries. The boys each enthusiastically ate their entire fruit cake piece by piece (except the pineapple, because it wasn’t ripe enough). They didn’t know the difference and certainly didn’t feel like they were missing out on anything, BECAUSE they weren’t. Only the best for our guys…

The boys are little vegan eating machines. We’ve introduced a bunch of new vegan and organic foods that are listed below. The pediatrician still recommends spacing introductions and holding off on nuts and nut milks. Feeding them is super fun and we love making random mixtures of healthy foods for them. Watching them eat is so special, messy but special nonetheless. Each bite receives such great expression (sometimes good, sometimes bad), their eyes sometimes describe what their little taste buds must be experiencing. They’re still picky and for instance one day will love oven roasted seasoned potatoes with olive oil and then the next day they will chew them up and spit them out in disgust on the floor or try to feed them to the doggies. You just never know, so we just move on, but try again at a later date when they’ll most likely be into that particular food again.

New Foods:

Coconut Milk

Soy Milk

Tempeh

Raspberries

Kiwi

Sprouted Grain Bread

Whole Wheat Seed Bread

Whole Wheat Tortilla

Durum Wheat Semolina Pasta

Quinoa Pasta

Coconut Butter

Spinach

Seasonings/Spices

Kelp

Olive Oil

Orange Juice (only oranges)

Apple Juice (only apples)

Oat Milk

Blueberry Jam

I was reading about identical and fraternal twins and found out that identical twins usually follow right behind the other with milestones and progress at the same speed, while fraternal twins have similarities that are merely comparable to siblings born at different times and tend to have milestones at significantly different times. It is really interesting because from their teeth, to crawling, to walking and to talking these boys have done everything just days after the other. Even their hair grows at the same speed. They sometimes sleep in the same exact position and then move to adjust positions at the same exact time as well. While they don’t look exactly alike their mannerisms and physical characteristics are shockingly identical.

The boys are getting some of their back molars and their gums have been so swollen lately. Last week for this first time since they were born Defy was inconsolable one night because of the teething. I tried everything and nothing worked, he eventually cried himself to sleep in my arms, it was just awful. I hope not to experience this with Astral or Defy ever again. Talk about heart breaking…

At their 1 year well baby check up Astral weighed 24 lbs 4 oz and Defy weighed 23 lbs 12 oz. They are both in the 75th to 90th percentile for height and weight. Everything was perfect. Astral still has the hemangioma on the back of his neck, but it hasn’t gotten any bigger which hopefully means it will begin involution if it already hasn’t. Their next appointment isn’t until they are 15th months.

DnA are really intrigued with books right now. They destroy these board books we get them in no time, they are really rough on them and love breaking the bindings. Though most of their time is spent figuring out the quickest way to destroy these “toddler proof” books they do spend a lot of time looking and pointing at the pictures and "reading" them while they are turned upside down. They have also started coloring with these great non-toxic vegan friendly crayons we found and they are getting pretty good at it. At first they didn’t really get the concept of crayon to paper but now they’re becoming pros. We still have to remind them constantly that the crayons are for drawing and coloring and not for eating.

The boys have learned even more body parts and objects around the house. They are mimicking us and one another. Astral and Defy have watched Lucas every morning open up blinds around the house. As he opens them he looks out the window and animatedly greets the day with “HELLO WORLD”, the boys just love it, so now they both say it ("hehwo wohd")! Astral started saying it first and then a week later Defy started saying it. It is absolutely the sweetest and cutest thing ever! Just hearing the sound of their little voice is just heart melting. They are ready for major exploration this spring and to start making their mark on this wohd…