MamAnomolie

When you are pregnant, you'll find that friends, acquaintances and even complete strangers will offer you advice on pregnancy and parenting. People seem to feel comfortable saying things that they would not normally think is appropriate. Like when a woman who works in my building told me that I was becoming "S-shaped."

As for the advice, a good friend of mine and mother of a one-year-old told me that it's best to just say, "Thanks, I'll keep that in mind," even if you vehemently disagree. I have found this to be a very useful phrase, and have even used it on her from time to time. Overall, I have been enjoying hearing people's perspectives and ideas.

So, for you pregnant ladies out there, although I know you're being bombarded with advice, I thought I would share a few resources that I found recently and thought were helpful. The first is from the folks at the Environmental Working Group. They actually sent it to me in a comment to one of my previous blogs about their work. I was (a) flabbergasted that someone else was reading this and (b) impressed that they took the time to write and share more resources. I thought their 10 Healthy Pregnancy Tips were great. Sometimes I feel overwhelmed by the number of things you have to worry about when you're pregnant, but this list seemed manageable. It also provided a lot of resources to help you act should you so choose. Thanks, EWG!

The second resource comes from Rachel Wolf of LuSa Organics and her blog, Clean. I met Rachel once a LONG time ago when I was in graduate school in Stevens Point, Wisconsin. She is one of those amazing people who live a life that I admire but know I could never emulate. I love reading her blog, and figure if I can take away just a smidgen of the organic, handmade, non-consumeristic vibe and apply it to my own life I'm doing well.

A friend of mine who introduced me to her blog told me about the New Baby Checklist that had been posted and said it had a good list of what newborns and new mamas really needed. I must admit, the first thing out of my mouth was, "It doesn't tell me to grow and collect almonds to grind into my own homemade postpartum belly paste, does it?" She promised that it did not. I checked out the checklist, and I suggest all you pregnant people out there check it out as well. It was created for a wide audience. It may lack some things that you think are must-haves, but when you are overwhelmed by the amount of stuff that is out there for new babies and new parents, it's great to see a scaled down list of what you really need. It's worth taking a look, and the Clean blog is definitely a great source of inspiration for anyone!