Genetics

I pray that my son does not share my teeth genes, I have always had problems with my teeth since I was a little girl. I have spent countless dollars, many days in pain and have even had 5 teeth pulled (with no gas, wide awake)! Luckily my husband has fantastic teeth, not one cavity, ever.

Don't get me wrong, I brush my teeth AT LEAST twice a day, usually three times a day. I floss regularly as well as use a mouth rinse. I also try not to drink bottle water so I can get the fluoride from the tap water. But for some reason, my teeth are of poor quality. My dentist told me that because my genetics (parents did not have the best teeth also) and because we grew up on well water (no fluoride in well water), those were the main causes of my tooth problems.

Last night while I was rocking Rhyan to sleep I got a shooting pain on the right side of my mouth (usually when I have had toothaches before they are concentrated in one location). But this seems to be my entire right side of my mouth, making me think that it must be an upper AND lower toothache. Needless to say there was not much sleep last night and I have been in pain all day. The worst part is that it is Saturday, Halloween and my dentist has not yet returned my phone call to the emergency line.

You know when people always ask "If you could change one thing about yourself what would it be?". Well, for me it is my teeth. I would cry to be able not to have to worry about having another toothache ever again!

Super Baby Food

I know it has been a long time, but this blogger must be forgiven! It is hard to believe that since I last wrote I went through 10 1/2 months of a long pregnancy and had a healthy baby boy! Rhyan Scott Ford was born on 5/31 at 7:11 a.m. weighing in at a HEFTY 9lbs 7ozs! It was a long labor, but I am so glad he finally came after being 11 days late.

Rhyan will be 5 months on Halloween and I have stared to feed him solid foods. I went to Whole Foods to get organic sweet potato's for his first food. I found organic potato's from a local Georgia Farm that were $2.35 a pound. I got 3 fairly good sized potato's for a total cost of $2.39, just over a pound. When you consider the cost of 1 oz of organic baby food, which was five jars for $3.00 dollars, I got a great deal! I would have had to buy 15 jars for almost 10 dollars to equate to what I was able to get just buying the sweet potato's!

The next day I baked the potato's in the oven for 45 minutes at 400 degrees. I simply peeled off the skin and put them in the blender with enough water to make it slide off the spoon while feeding.

I ordered these super sweet food cubes, for 5 dollars a tray. They are much better than regular ice cube trays because they are BPA free and will not leech any chemicals into the food during the freezing process. I filled the cubes up at the 1 oz. mark and then froze!

All I do for his feeding is pop them out of the cube and microwave them in a BPA free feeding bowl! Food for Rhyan!

I have been very interested in organic foods and what is the best to feed not only Rhyan, but our entire family. Being a family on a budget, buying ALL organic is not within our abilities. So with a little research I have discovered that there are 12 things that you SHOULD always buy organic and it would eliminate 90% of pesticide consumption you are eating....these are called the "Dirty Dozen":

1. peaches
2. apples
3. celery
4. peppers
5. nectarines
6. strawberries
7. cherries
8. lettuce
9. grapes (imported)
10. pears
11. spinach
12. potatoes

So I am going to try to stay away from these and still buy my other produce just like I would have normally bought! I have also considered buying a share in a local organic farm, in which I would pick up our produce each week from a location in downtown Atlanta.

I will keep you informed!