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!"

Big Kid Stuff...

This should come as no surprise, but DnA have been doing some "big kid" stuff in April. It can be difficult to remember how far they've come each month because they are constantly developing mentally and physically and are ever-changing, exploring their world and language in so many new ways. Hopefully in this short post I can capture the essence of these vegan toddler/big kid extraordinaires known as Astral and Defy.

The boys are still eating really well, but now they are starting to happily accept so many foods that they once disliked, such as hummus (I know, I know... All vegan kids are supposed to like hummus!), mushrooms and broccoli. They're using yummy vegan food for fuel so that they can keep up their exercise routines. Well, they don’t really have exercise routines, but they have been stretching, sprinting around the house from room to room, doing yoga-like poses (although they've never seen yoga... it must be a natural vegan thing!), chin-ups and attempting to copy daddy’s push-ups while he works out.

DnA really love imitating us and participating in whatever we do. They love pretending to cook and are so excited when they can help us out in the kitchen. They helped us roll dough for periogies a few weeks ago and it was so fulfilling to see how simple experiences in life can make them so joyful. Afterward they used their dough to make frozen dough cubes in an ice tray in the freezer. Turns out that's not very tasty, but they were so proud, and it was all about the experience. They always want to sprinkle nooch and spices on their meals as a way for them to assert their independence.“I do it, mommy... I dooo iiiit”... Such big boys!

We often mention the new things Astral and Defy say, but they are full-time talkers now. They spend a lot of time demanding and commanding, but, hey, they’re two! They can recite the alphabet, though it’s not always in order or complete. They can count to about 15, though sometimes that gets all mixed up too. They make full sentences and can say almost whatever they want. Daddy or I can get out an animal picture book and name the animals, and DnA will remember every single one and proudly identify them when asked. They even know the difference between an Emu and a Cassowary. Do you? The transition was super fast, but all of a sudden they just seem so grown up in their use of language and in their physical presence.

Astral and Defy love shouting, "ALL ABOARD" when they ride the train!

So this is a short post, and I won’t make any excuses besides laziness. I just wanted to get this April post posted. Overall the boys are doing great and are so healthy that even Nina Planck would have to acknowledge how well they're doing being raised as vegans...

Some Things Our Vegan Toddlers Eat

(along with a big fat kale or collard smoothie)

barley crusted seitan, green beans, and cheezy noodles

brown rice and lentils

tempeh fingers

baked tofu, hummus with veg, salad

All photos are of Astral Defiance and Defy Aster at 25 months old!