Tuesday, April 30, 2013

Product Review

I am pretty darn excited about this new edition of product reviews! Why you may ask? Because it gives me an excuse to shop! I am actually going to be reviewing some eco-friendly websites/services. I have come across a few interesting companies that I would really like to try out! So I will be updating my experience with these services/products!

Kinderstuff- I got a little coupon in my goody bag at the Great Cloth Diaper Change. The message on the front of the little coupon states "We're starting baby fashion from scratch and solve the problem that kids grow but clothes don't". Now that sounds intriguing right? Upon further investigation, I found that this company makes organic baby clothes and asks that you send back the outgrown clothing to receive discounts on further purchases! Pretty cool huh?! I used my coupon and ordered a few items! I will update after I receive my order!

*update*

I received my order quite promptly! The clothes were super cute in person! The colors are bright and the fabric is so soft. I feel like without the coupon this stuff is pretty pricey but I do really like the fact that you can "recycle" items you have grown out of.

Kissed By the Moon Mystery Fluff of the Month Club- I am a little nervous about this one, folks! I love a good mystery but I also love a good deal! Everything I have read states that this is a great deal and you get some really great stuff each month. Fingers crossed! I like that there are different price ranges that you can choose from and I also like that you can cancel at any time. I chose the $30 option, girly stuff, and I picked surprise me for the category! We will see what the fluff fairy sends me! :) 

*update*

The first surprise fluff mail in received was a simplex AIO diaper. It's really cute. I also received some Cj's BUTTer which I am a huge fan of. Ill be interested to see what this next fluffy mail brings me! 

Okay...I think that is probably good for now! :) I will keep you all posted on how I like these products! I am really interested in revamping my beauty/skincare routine to more natural products. I need to use up my other products first but I am excited to see what's out there!

Saturday, April 27, 2013

Green Mommy Guilt

Alright so any new mama can tell you that Mommy guilt is a very real, very intense phenomenon. Your baby scratches her face. Guilt. Leaks out of her diaper. Guilt. Spits up. Guilt. Cries for an unknown amount of time and you didn't know because your monitor was off (not that this has happened....). Guilt. And as if you need anything else to feel guilty about...enter Green guilt. This form of guilt is an entirely different beast of it's own.

How many moms have you talked to that feel guilty about not doing the most "natural" thing during their pregnancy or in mommyhood? I can't even tell you how many people I have encountered. I do see a lot of preggos in my line of work so maybe I am exposed to more than most but it's really hard to see the guilt ridden faces of these moms and dads when they shamefully admit that they cleaned the bathroom with bleach, accidentally ate lunch meat, and drank flavored water with splenda during the pregnancy.

What other "natural" things are guilt producers? Are you ready for these doozies? Epidurals and breastfeeding. As a labor and delivery nurse I will tell you that the most important thing is a healthy mom and healthy baby. I got an epidural. Thank God! My labor was awesome. I wouldn't have changed it for the world. I took hypnobirthing classes. I thought maybe...just maybe I would go the natural route. So many moms come into the hospital with a plan to sit in the tub, bounce on the birthing ball, walk around, squat, sit on the toilet or rocking chair. People have taken classes, read books, done everything possible to prepare for a natural labor. But you know what....you can't prepare for labor. My lil girl didn't like contractions. She would have big decels in her heart rate that lead me to get an epidural sooner than later just in case I had to be rushed on back to the operating room for an emergency C-section. Stuff happens. It pains my heart to hear a laboring mom whisper to me that she can't do it and she thinks she wants an epidural. She looks so embarrassed, defeated, sad. I do my best to let her know that it's OKAY! I even go into my speel about you wouldn't have dental work done without medication. Why would you? There is no need to suffer needlessly. We all feel pain differently. Etc. My words may crack a smile or illicit a nod but I know that my words don't matter. The incredible guilt has set in.

Breastfeeding. Did you think getting an epidural was the guilt topper? You were wrong. Breastfeeding hands down has got to be the biggest guilt producing issue a mom faces. Breast is best right? Your body is meant to breastfeed right? It's the most "natural" thing in the world. Right? I can tell you from firsthand experience that breastfeeding felt pretty much the opposite of natural to me. Many a tear was shed during the first few weeks home. Since that time (thank GOD it's over and thank God for my lactation consultant) I have decided to be as vocal as I can be about breastfeeding issues. People are afraid to ask for help because we are supposed to just "know" how to do it. It's hard. Sometimes it's a latch issue, a production issue, a combination of issues and it sucks. The only thing harder than the actual act of breastfeeding (and the delightful cracks and sores that come along with it) is the guilt that you feel if you you aren't doing it "right". Ugh. Even thinking back to that time makes me nauseous. I will say that breastfeeding has been an amazing experience for me thus far (now that I have forgotten the first few weeks of pure hell). I am glad I stuck it out...but if I hadn't...I sure wish that I wouldn't have been filled with guilt and shame. Your baby needs to eat and you need to stay sane. Whatever you need to do to accomplish that is a-okay! Formula isn't poison! It's nourishment for your baby and if that is what works then there should be no shame in that!

Diapering, baby food, sleep habits, schedules, detergents, butt creams etc etc etc. It never stops. There is a lot of pressure to do everything perfectly as a new mom. Puree your own organic fruits and veggies.You should co-sleep. Never co-sleep! Baby needs to sleep in her crib! Put your baby on a schedule. Don't put your baby on a schedule. Use this cream. No wait...don't use that cream...use this cream. That stuff contains X and should be avoided. Actually X doesn't need to be avoided, it's Y and Z that really need to be avoided. Don't vaccinate your babies. Are you crazy? Vaccinate those kids ASAP!

Listen. You have your job cut out for you as a parent as it is. Focus on creating a loving and stable environment for you little one and things will work out just fine. I feel like as a mom I want to help create an environment of acceptance and camaraderie. We don't need MORE things to make us feel guilty. We need to know that it's okay to do what we need to do in order to raise happy healthy kids!

I have made some choices that work for my family but may not work for other families. I cloth diaper, co-sleep, breastfeed on demand, have failed several times at putting my kid on a schedule. I drink caffeine, the occasional glass of wine and while I do use baby friendly cleaning products for the most part...I still love bleach. There are days when I feel guilty for doing this or that but I remind myself that I have a happy baby and a healthy family. We all sleep well, eat well, smile a lot and enjoy life. That the most important thing!

Nap time workout!

Now I don't wanna toot my own horn here but I am on a roll today! Not only did I drink tons of water...I also did a REAL workout. This workout kicked my butt! There was a brief period where I felt nauseous. Now that means this workout gets an "A" on my wanna barf scale! Fitnessblender.com is great! Check it out! They have workouts for all levels and lasting all different lengths. I was able to fit in a workout with enough nap time left to shower afterword! Win!

Cardio Lower Body Toning - 44 Min Better Booty Tabata Workout with Yoga Cool Down & Stretch, Fitness Blender

Rockin a soak

This is a cloth diaper related post. I am obsessed with laundry routines right now. I feel like in the past four months I have tweaked my routine...oh...a million times. There are so many factors (who knew?) that can make such a difference on how your diapers turn out. Mine...were smelly. So I "rocked a soak" today. If you are not familiar with this term it is when you soak your diapers in rockin green detergent to "strip" the diapers of all the junky stink causing buildup. I was so tired of the never ending battle with ammonia on my cloth diapers. I felt my only option was to do something drastic.

I filled up the tub in the guest bathroom with super hot water and 3tbsp of rockin green. I also added in a nice big squirt of bac-out for good measure. Next I added all my diapers. All of them. I am afraid to count how many of them I have (I don't have a problem...really I don't). Let's just say the bathtub was quite full! I agitated them all a bit with my hand and just let them soak. This actually worked out really well because we had a pack of disposables from The Honest Company that Emery is growing out of. So we just used those up while the diapers were soaking.

The directions on the detergent said to soak the diapers for 30-60 minutes. I knew I would need more soaking than that. This build-up was legit and I decided I would soak the dipes for a few hours. I would head into the bathroom every 30 mins or so and give them all a little swish in the tub. I drained the tub once (um...the water was greyish/yellow! These were "clean" diapers! Eeeek!) and then refilled it again with cold water. I removed the diapers with PUL after about 4 hours and I left the inserts (mostly microfiber) to soak for a few hours more. I laundered as usual without any detergent and since it was night time by the time I was through washing I just threw them in the dryer.

This might just have been the best decision I have EVER made so far in my cloth diaper career. Okay choosing cloth was the best, actually switching to a detergent MEANT for cloth diapers was the second, and this soak was the third. All factors combined = awesome! The diapers look AMAZING. They smell like nothing (no ammonia, must, weird barnyard funk) for maybe the first time ever.  It was such a joy to put away my stash today (and of course smell them all while doing so) and feel confident that these suckers were all clean. If you are having any stink issues with your diapers I really recommend doing something like this. You don't have to use your tub! I just thought it would be easier to soak in the tub with my HE front load washer.
Clean Diapers!


Wednesday, April 24, 2013

Product Review

Okay folks...I know you have all been chomping at the bit for another round of product reviews. Well chomp no longer! Here are a few great finds that I am in love with lately!

  • The Honest Company Sunscreen. I love this stuff! I have a million different kinds of sunscreen but I was nervous about using any of them on Emery! This stuff is natural, gentle on her sensitive skin, and even states that it can be used on babies UNDER 6 months. 
  • Bumkins. I love bumkins for a few reasons. 1) It's local! The headquarters is here in Phoenix. 2) They are involved in the community. I was really impressed with how generous they were during the Great Cloth Diaper Change. 3) I love them. They are trim, soft, breathable...love love love. My favorites are their pocket diapers and they have great prefolds. I was so happy that I got a FREE snap-in-one diaper (one of their new ones!) for volunteering at the GCDC!
  • Rockin' Green Hard Rock detergent. Do not ask me why, but I hadn't tried this detergent until recently. I had been battling some stink issues. I had tried oh just about everything. We have super hard water here in Gilbert AZ. I broke down and bought some of this detergent and holy cow. such. a. huge. difference. My dipes smell amazing. It's a very soft, light scent (I got the lavender scent!). I will pretty much take any scent over pee/ammonia smell. 
  • I love applegate products! They have a handy little tool that lets you punch in your zip code to find stores that sell their products near your home!
  • Cheat sheets. I hate to play the "new mom" card again but I am freaking busy as of late. I hate having to think and plan. Blech. It helps to have cheat sheets like this that I can take to the grocery store. I check off the items I already have and stock up on stuff that I know I am out of.
  • CJ's BUTTer. Please try this on your baby's butt. Even if you don't have a baby..buy it anyway. It is amazing.

Tuesday, April 23, 2013

Round 2 of the New Mom Challenge

Round 1 of the challenge went alright. I NEVER thought I would have trouble finding the time and energy to work out. I love working out. I grade the workout on a throw up scale. The tougher...the better. Now I can barely find the energy to walk around the block ha! But I DID workout 4x this week for at least 20 minutes. I am going to keep it up!

Round 2 is going to be water. My dear friend water that has quenched my thirst for years. My goal is 10 glasses a day. I am honestly not sure how much water I drink. Maybe I already drink 10 glasses...that would be great but somehow I highly doubt it.

Monday, April 22, 2013

Happy Earth Day!

Oh Earth Day. A fun day in school when you get to plant some seeds, plant a tree, learn about recycling. But what IS Earth Day really? I didn't know. I knew the general idea but I really hadn't ever researched it before. Isn't that crazy? I then started thinking about how many other people don't really know where this day originated. I thought I should do some information and this is what I found.
Much is being written these days about the first Earth Day and the need to replicate the power of April 22, 1970, when 20 million people in the U.S. took to the streets to protest the ravages of the industrial revolution, followed quickly by landmark environmental laws and regulations, and accompanied by a shift in political fortunes of those who stood in the way of the environmental movement. The wonder of that first Earth Day, held in an era of social change and action, was that it wasn't a campus movement. Not one bit. Everybody was enlisted - from mayors to garden clubs to churches to labor groups to women's organizations. As a result, it became everybody's movement.- Kathleen Rogers (earthday.org)
20 million people? That is an extremely impressive number. If you have been reading my blog you know that I am on a journey to create a greener lifestyle for my family. I think that being green is kind of "in" right now. I don't want to just follow a fad. I want this to be the lifestyle that I pass along to my children and they can in turn pass it on to their children. It's great that it's trendy to be green, but wouldn't it be even greater if 20 million people hit the streets with the common goal of taking care of the earth? I love how the article states that this is "everybody's movement". We all have a job to do. We only have one earth and I feel like we can all do a little more to keep it a clean, safe place to live.

What are you going to be doing to honor Earth Day today? Need some ideas? Take action here! They have some great opportunities for you and your family to get involved. And hey...maybe shopping is your strong suit (ha! It's totally mine...). Check out Zulily, ecobuybaby, and The Honest Company for some awesome earth friendly products!

I thought it might be nice to take a look at the changes my own family has made this year on our journey to be mean and green.

  • We have switched to Green cleaning products! We definitely have room for improvement but we are about 70% there! 
  • Cloth Diapers! Best decision EVER! 
  • We bought an HE frontload washer and use a clothesline
  • We buy free range eggs, poultry, and meat. 
  • We make an effort to have a few meat free meals throughout the week
  • We paid a little extra for a few "green" additions to our home. Added insulation, double paned windows etc to reduce our energy usage. 
  • We are recycling more! Now that we own our own home it's so much easier to recycle
What are some ways that you have become more green this year? I know that there are many areas that I can improve but hey...it's a start right? 


Monday, April 15, 2013

New Mom Weekly Challenge

How long can I use the "new mom" excuse? I find myself using it a lot. I am not eating very well, not really working out, barely drinking water, not sleeping etc. I chalk it all up to being a new mom but how long can I stretch out that excuse? I realize that my baby is 4 months old so I am still very much a new mom and that is definitely challenging. I just don't want my excuses to grow as my little one grows.

I have decided that I need to challenge myself a bit. I need to make my health and well-being a priority. I am not going to be out there marathon training. That is just not in the cards right now. But there are lots of things I can do. I can drink water. I used to drink water! I can eat veggies, more fruit, cut out the processed junk.

I feel like I have a problem with all or nothing. If I want to make changes I want to make all the changes at once. That isn't working for me. I need to start small and work my way up. I am going to challenge myself to do one thing a week. This week I am going to workout. Really workout. That doesn't count walking to the mailbox with the baby. I am going to workout 4 days this week for at least 20 minutes. I can do 20 minutes. In the past I would force myself to workout 45 minutes. If I didn't make it 45 minutes I felt like a failure and the workout didn't count. Well folks I don't have the time nor energy to devote 45 minutes to working out right now. I DO have 20 minutes. I can do that.

One thing I have learned is that you have to be a little inventive when it comes to working out with a baby. I used to be able to throw on my shoes and hit the gym. Now I don't just have that option all the time. My workout might be throwing the kiddo in a carrier and walking around the neighborhood for 30 minutes. It might be using little miss as my weight for squats, lunges, dips etc. I just need to commit to being active!

Sunday, April 14, 2013

Cloth...my guilty (but not so guilty) plessure.

Anyone who knows me will tell you that with the birth of my daughter, two great loves entered my life. My daughter, of course, being number one, but coming in at second...cloth diapers. I LOVE cloth diapers. I felt like a student, diligently hitting the books throughout my entire pregnancy. I fact checked this and compared that. There are so many options for parents these days. It was definitely overwhelming. I still feel like a student, only now instead of pouring over books, blogs, google, and every mommy group on the web, I have been thrust into a real life learning environment.

I am so very happy that my sweet husband agreed to use cloth diapers with our daughter. I do feel like I presented a pretty strong case. 1. Money saving! 2. Eco friendly 3. Money saving 4. I will do the laundry!
5. SO CUTE and soft on the little bum. 6. Did I mention we will save money AND I will do the laundry?

I call cloth diapers my guilty pleasure because...well...I could probably spend a billion dollars on all the adorable diapers out there. I want to try them all...just in case my favorite diaper really isn't my favorite...what if there are diapers out there that I like even MORE!? I refer to cloth as my "not so guilty pleasure" because I feel really good about using cloth. I feel like I am being environmentally responsible and I also feel like I am doing a good thing for my daughter's little bum.

I will definitely be posting cloth updates on this blog! Stay tuned...:)