Mindful Shopping

In a world where we have 50 different options of any one thing, be mindful about the way you shop!

Mindfulness, intentional living, being present - all super trendy buzzwords right now, right? The thing that cracks me up about that is that these concepts are anything but new. In fact, they embody modern folks attempting to get back to a simpler time; their roots; a calmer space. I love that people are realizing this and taking action! A great place to start the mindfulness process is during the shopping process. In this case, I'm talking grocery shopping. What you put into your body on a daily basis directly impacts your overall health as well as the health of the environment. Choosing items that are local, organic and grassfed are great keywords to look for when shopping mindfully.

I remember the day I got committed to eating locally, organically and/or grassfed (in the case of animal products). I had just finished my yoga teacher training, and had completed a daily journal of what I ate and how it made me feel, both immediately and several hours later. It turned out, eating organically had a huge impact on how I felt afterwards! In terms of immediately, the first thing I wrote in my journals was the TASTE. These items simply taste better.

One of the biggest - as in, shockingly different! - areas of taste difference was grassfed beef. In Minneapolis, I rarely ever bought beef because I just didn't care for it. After moving to Texas, where a good portion of the U.S's beef is raised, and after discovering the "grassfed" secret, it's absolutely my favorite meat. Now, I'm mostly vegetarian and I eat this way to reduce my environmental impact. But I joke with my friends that I'm a vegetarian who eats beef a handful of times a month because grassfed beef, especially locally raised here in Texas, is just so dang tasty. The difference between grass and grain fed is truly astounding.

The same goes with dairy, which isn't a surprise since it comes from a cow. Grassfed dairy has a different flavor all it's own. It's like eating you've been eating food all your life, and one day you're introduced to salt, and you're like, "What is this magical substance that just made all my food taste 100 times better?!" That's the difference between grass and grain fed dairy products: Night and day.

There are two big objections I hear regularly when I mention mindful shopping. First, is that organic is a bunch of bologna because everything is made up of chemicals and chemical compounds so it's all the same. It's true everything is made up of chemicals (we're all comprised of the periodic table!) but the way in which those chemicals form (naturally, man made, etc) have different outcomes. One of those outcomes is in the taste of the product. Want tastier food? Try organic!

The other is the cost. I always say, sure - I may spend slightly more on groceries now. But I'll save more on my medical bills later by eating healthily! Plus, I've got an Ibotta offer for you to get cash back on grassfed Horizon Organic milk, which is totally affordable at Walmart. Yes, Walmart offers affordable organic options! I challenge you to a taste test: Buy your regular milk and use this Ibotta offer to get some Horizon grassfed milk. Try them back to back. Send me an email if you don't immediately notice the taste difference!

While local, organic, mindfulness, and being present are all big buzzwords right now, they all point to a return to our simpler roots. Less technology, more togetherness. Fewer chemicals, a return to traditional farming practices. Less artificial, more taste. Practice your mindful shopping by picking up some Horizon Organic grassfed milk! Take my taste test challenge and experience the difference yourself.

What's Shifted In Blogging

Blogging has come a long way in the nearly four years since I began. It's not the same. I'm breaking down the big blogging shift that's happened in the past few years

It's so odd to me that I can start feeling a particular way about something and feel like it's "just me", that I'm on some proverbial island of thoughts and feelings, all alone. Then when I open up to friends or family about what I'm thinking and feeling, it turns out everyone (ok, or just most) looks at me like, hey! I was thinking the same thing! I feel the exact same way about that, and thought I was the only one! Recently, blogging has been "that thing" for me, where I was feeling a particular way about it and about how the year is shaping up, thinking I was alone on "Paige Island" about it but when I opened up to some blogging friends of mine, it turns out we're all on the same page (pun intended). I'll open up a little bit about those thoughts and feelings, but I really want to focus on what's shifted and how that effects all blogs and bloggers - and the readers and followers of those blogs.

I remember when I decided to be a "stay at home mom" with Henry. I thought, oh my gosh, I HAVE to have *something* to do besides kid stuff all day! I need a creative outlet. I want to keep my resume relevant in case one day I decide to go back to work for someone else. I had written a few articles for other blogs but had always wanted to start my own and do my own thing. So I did. My first week "home" from work, I started working on creating this blog. I didn't read any how-to articles (sure wish I had!), I wasn't tech savvy, I just jumped in and started DOING it. I was a writer by trade and a marketer by profession. I picked up photography along the way. I learned how to make a decent pin for Pinterest. I still outsource technology because have you ever seen HTML coding? Holy moly...

It was fun! I wrote about whatever I wanted. Mostly fitness, organic food, DIY and crafts, baby/pregnancy and random thoughts I had. Basically, the same kinds of content you see here now, with far crappier photos and no - I mean ZERO - SEO abilities. I learned what a keyword was, I learned to incorporate more photos into my posts, then I got signed up with public relations companies, and I started to earn a living blogging. "This is the best job everrrrrrr!" I thought.

Somewhere in late 2015, Instagram became the "it" girl of blogging. Some bloggers completely ditched their blogs all together to focus on their Instagram feeds, making thousands of dollars off affiliate sales from schleping the clothes they were wearing in their perfectly staged photos. And hey, good for them! But it became THE thing you had to be good at to be a monetized blogger. If you didn't have a "k" after your follower amount (meaning, 10k, 20k, more more more followers) brands didn't want to work with you. They specifically started looking for influencers with 10k-100k followers because some market research company said that was the sweet spot for the biggest influence.

A post shared by Boymom Blogger | Paige (@anuncomplicatedlifeblog) on Aug 7, 2017 at 5:24pm PDT

One of the candid shots on my Instagram feed

Instagram became a game. Your feed had to be consistent in color, but it had to have a variety of angles and patterns. White bright light everything became the norm. Staging everything became the norm. Then not only was it on Instagram, it was on blogs too. "How to host the perfect tailgate party!" would be a blog post title, filled with pictures of a catered (likely professionally) party, balloons, party favors, perfectly dressed bloggers and their perfectly dressed kids in their perfectly white house. Suddenly this perfection was on Instagram infiltrated blogs, it polluted Facebook feeds, you couldn't find a non-perfect pin. 

Here's the thing: Real people don't live like that. Sure, those balloons make a cute photo, but who the hell goes and spends $150 on balloons for an effing TAILGATING party?! Yeah, nobody, that's who. Unless you're a blogger and need a good photo-op. You know how we throw a tailgating party? Like the rest of America: Oh hey, that game is on! I'll make a dip and pick up some beer at the grocery store. You figure out who's coming and order the pizza. Sound good? Cool. Yeah, I'll try to remember napkins... Oh wait, we still have some Christmas ones, those will work!

No balloons. No catering. No color-coordinated outfit with perfectly curled hair and a cute hat. And if I had a white sofa, which I don't, it would have a sheet on it, because you already know that dip is going to get everywhere.

A post shared by Boymom Blogger | Paige (@anuncomplicatedlifeblog) on Feb 28, 2018 at 4:06pm PST

Still posting iPhone selfies, with my less than ideal mirror #reallife

I miss when blogging was for the AVERAGE person. Now it only seems like the wealthy can become bloggers. You've gotta get the DSLR camera, and buy the catering, and paint your house, and get a full length mirror, and have the perfect outfit, and the perfect hair, and buy the damn balloons. And affiliate link it all so that everyone else will buy those things in their perfection envy! It didn't used to be like that... Blogging has shifted. It used to be a bunch of creative people sharing their ideas, recipes, thoughts. You didn't need a white marble kitchen to get hired to by a food delivery service to take pictures of you cooking their pre-planned menu. You didn't HAVE to post an Instagram photo that perfectly matched your feed. You wrote about what ideas you had, and if your kitchen wasn't idea for filming, you shot there anyway. Do you think the Pioneer Woman started with a $200,000 kitchen?! Nope.

Blogging has shifted from idea and thought sharing to simply telling people what to buy so they look as perfect as the blogger. 

There was a whole lot of criticism going around about bloggers lately that I wrote this post about. I think this post is just in continuation of the second part of my argument. I miss the old days of blogging that weren't focused on perfection and materialism. We shared our ideas and focused on great content, but didn't stress if we didn't spend $150 on balloons to "get the best shot." We didn't only ramble off crap for people to buy so they *could* look as pretty as us. We made pretty photos with what we had, not going out of our way to buy the crap that everyone else was/is using for a photo prop. Man, those were the days. 

I started blogging to share ideas and have a creative outlet. Not to be competitive or perfect or portray a life I don't actually live and try to sell you on it. Literally, make you believe it and make you buy it. I wish more bloggers would get back to their "why" and stop focusing on what everyone else is doing, what's trending, and how they can make an extra buck off Instagram. It'd make blogs a heck of a lot more fun to read! The shift in blogging is making it a lot less fun to be a blogger, and a lot less fun to read blogs. 

What You REALLY Need For A Newborn

There's so much on the market geared towards newborns; here's what you REALLY need when you have a new baby

I was helping my sister out with her baby registry a few weeks ago, as she sent me a "HELP ME!" email from all the choices, products, and frankly - baby crap that exists out there. It's been two years since I've had a newborn, but oh how I still remember those days. Breast feeding, running on an hour or two of sleep a night, dealing with an infant who sleeps all day and is awake all night... They tell you you'll miss those days when they're gone, but I'm here to tell you NOPE. I sure don't! The newborn stage is the worst. Parenting actually gets fun after the baby is about 6 months old, but that newborn stage is for the birds. In light of that, here's what you REALLY need to survive those first few months with a newborn. *affiliate links used*

When I was coming up with this list, thinking back on my newborn baby days, I realized that there were things that you absolutely NEED, and then things that I found to be a lifesaver but weren't a universal need. I personally needed them, and if I ever have more children I'll be sure to stock up on them again, but calling it a need is a stretch. But, ahem, I know the difference between need and want. So. I'm going to create two sections: A need section and a want section, although I'm sure most other bloggers would tell you all these things are dire needs!

If you're forming a registry, click the image below to get one started on Amazon and then all the links below will transfer to it. Easy!

What you REALLY need for a newborn:

Swaddles and swaddle blankets - Swaddling the baby at night is a lifesaver, and velcro swaddles make it so that your baby can't wiggle out of it. Trust me, no matter how many lessons you've taken, you'll never be able to swaddle like the nurses at the hospital and your baby will escape, wake up, and scream about it. The swaddles are great at night, and during the day we used the muslin swaddle blankets for naps or to lay on the ground for tummy time. We still use the swaddle blankets to transition Otto out of a sleep sack and to a blanket and pillow sleeping situation.

Onesies - when the baby is brand new and you're figuring it all out, don't bother dressing your baby in a full outfit. Trust me, they'll just spit up on or poop in it. We only dressed Henry in a onesie for about the first 3 months of his life. Get short sleeved onesies for spring and summer babies and long sleeved oneises for fall and winter babies (then use the swaddle blankets to cover their legs). It results in less laundry and less work when you're changing a diaper every hour or two! Which brings me to...

Diapers - you can cloth diaper, or you can go traditional. I tell every future new mom to NOT register for a lot of one brand or one size! You never know how big your baby will be and s/he could grow out of the newborn size in a week. Each diaper brand has a different cut/shape too, and you never know what brand will work best with your baby. Henry wore Babyganics but was such a big baby, by 12 months he was out of their size 6 (Babyganics runs super small, BTW). Then he switched to Pampers. Otto got chemical burns from Pampers, so he wears (to this day) Honest Co. We tried an Honest Co overnight diaper on Henry and it leaked (multiple nights in a row!). See what I mean about different diapers for different babies?! Even if this isn't your first baby, this one won't be the same as your last. I recommend buying a small batch of each brand to see what works best for your baby.

Burp cloths - Oh, how I want to link some of the adorable burp cloths that are out there! There are so many beautiful trendy ones. But guys, when fabric has a print on it, it tends to not absorb well. These plain white cloths absorb everything as it comes out, which means less will end up on you. Pretty they are not, but practical and useful they are indeed. And when it comes to vomit, you want to be practical.

Bottles - Even if you're breastfeeding, you'll come to a time when you'll need to be away from your baby for a few hours and you won't want to leave whomever the caregiver is without a pumped bottle. Bottles, in my experience, are like diapers, and every baby has a preference. Henry used the Philip Avent glass bottles (he was only breastfed for 3 months). Otto took to the Medela bottles as he was breastfed/I pumped for him for a long time. Once I tried to get him to take one of Henry's glass bottles and he spit the nipple out and looked at me like I was crazy. So just like you want a mini-sample of diapers, you'll want a mini sample of all the major bottles. I'd register for 3-4 different brands, figure out which one baby takes, and then buy 6+ of them. (These are also super popular but we never used them.)

Pacifier - even if you don't introduce one right away (I'm still not sure if nipple confusion is a real thing as both my kids got pacis in their first week and both nursed with vigor) a pacifier is a life saver for better sleep. True, your child may form an attachment to it that you'll later have to break (neither of my kids had this happen. Both gave up their pacifiers about the exact same time they were done nursing) but whatever habit is formed is worth the extra sleep you'll get in those first few months. These cute contraptions keep the paci in your baby's mouth.

Bassinet - even if you want to do crib sleeping or co-sleeping immediately, having a bassinet is a must for naps. Newborns sleep a lot and having a bassinet you can move from room to room is essential so you can keep an eye on the baby while you go about your day. Rock n Plays are great because they're easily transportable and have an incline if your baby has acid reflux. There are Moses baskets that are flat-lying (better for baby's soft head) and have handles for transportation. And the Halo looks amazing for night sleeping in the same room as you.

What's NICE to have for a newborn:

A swing or a bouncer - I feel like babies either like to swing or bounce, but rarely both. Both my kids were swingers (ha!) I'm linking the one we actually have because it's amazing. You can swing side to side or front to back, there's a mobile and there's music. There's also an infant insert so it's not too big, and everything is easily washable (hello, vomit!). This is a bouncer by the same brand, and the bonus to it is that it's far cheaper than a swing. It's also more easily movable so the baby can stay with you as you move about the house. Full disclosure, we never had one of these because my kids took to the swing right away.

Pack n Play - we set this up in our master suite so that we'd have a changing table in our room, making those frequent night feeds easier. This is also great for naps and essential for travel. It is SO nice to have more than one changing station in the house!

Nursing pillow - I SWEAR by this brand! It has back support, headrest for baby in the actual nursing position, a washable cover, pockets to keep nipple cream and other things in and a belt around you so that it's secure. There's even a version for twins - how cool is that?! The Bobby was crap - because it's round the baby rolls around and is hard to keep stable while nursing.

Get the need list and you'll be all set for that new baby! Get the needs and nice to have items, and you'll be fully prepared. We didn't get the swing until Henry was a few months old and I was SO glad when we did! We got the pack n play shipped to us before Otto was born, and having those multiple changing stations turned out to be essential with two kids on two different nap schedules and all the night feeds.