Written on
April 24, 2009 by
SusanC
A giveaway courtesy of Swami Baby is a great way to end our week-long giveaway carnival, if you will, in celebration of Earth Day.
What exactly is Swami Baby?
Katie Holley, the founder and owner of this creative kiddo-centric business, is probably the best person to answer that question.
In her own words:
Swami Baby is a clothing line for infants and toddlers designed to give voice to our wise little ones.
As a yoga teacher and mother of three, I began to see that kids already possess much of what we as adults are striving to achieve; they have the innate ability to live in the present, to take time to enjoy life, to be aware of their surroundings, and to be direct.
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Written on
April 22, 2009 by
SusanC
Now that Earth Day and the spring season have officially arrived, many Americans are in their eco-conscious cleaning modes, and while spring cleaning is necessary if not a little exciting (downsizing! de-cluttering! finding everything you once thought was lost forever!), the very products used to clean and protect your living space from germs could be harmful to both your family and the environment.
According to the American Association of Poison Control Centers, more than 50% of human poison exposure victims are children younger than six-years-old, and with sixty-three hazardous chemical products in the average American household-according to the Consumer Product Safety Commission-it’s no wonder so many kids are coming into contact with harmful chemicals on a daily basis at home.
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Written on
April 17, 2009 by
SusanC
With spring finally in full force in most areas around the country, many people are tackling, or finishing up, their deep cleaning to welcome summer.
Something you may not have considered cleaning, however, is the air in your home. Did you know that most homes have much higher percentages of air pollution than anything you would find outdoors? Scary, but true!
So, what can you do to help clear the air? Well, there are a few simple steps you can take to help your family breathe easier.
-Open the windows and let the fresh air in! In our efforts to seal every nook and cranny in the summer and winter months so as to not let in (or out) any hot air, making our homes more efficient, we often don’t consider that we are trapping in the pollutants along with the temperature.
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Written on
April 13, 2009 by
SusanC
In my opinion, the word “reinvent” should absolutely be added to the “R’s” of recycling- as in Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, Reinvent!
Okay, I know, it is similar to reuse, but really, when I think of the word “reuse” it just implies to me that I should use the same thing repeatedly-such as cloth grocery bags. Recycle is also a similar term, but it always conjures images in my head of blue curb-side bins and pop cans. Reinvent, on the other hand, involves giving new spunk and life to an old, or apparently unusable, item to make it useful once more!
Recently I have come across some fun ideas that will hopefully inspire you to look for ways to reinvent items in your own home.
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Written on
March 30, 2009 by
SusanC
Over the past few weeks I have been doing a little rundown on what modern cloth diapering really looks like, and a few comments have been made with curiosity about how early my son potty trained. If you don’t recall from earlier posts, by 16 months he learned to pretty much exclusively go poo on the potty and by just over two-years-old he was fully potty trained (aside from nights).
Now, I must admit, these early results were prompted not only by our cloth diapering (which I do believe helped tremendously) but also by our elimination communication efforts.
So, what exactly is elimination communication (EC), you ask?
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Written on
March 25, 2009 by
SusanC
(This is article #3 in MacKenzie’s series What’s Up with Cloth Diapering? Read article 1 and article 2.)
So, after the last couple of posts on cloth diapering, you are probably wondering how you clean the sure to be nasty cloth, right? Do you have to dunk them in the toilet? Are they REALLY sanitary? Are they all stained? Do they stink? What do you do with them when you aren’t at home?
Well, I will tell you!
First of all, washing cloth diapers isn’t nearly as laborious or burdensome as everyone seems to think it is. Honestly, I spend as much time washing diapers as I did emptying the darn Diaper Genie!
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Written on
March 20, 2009 by
SusanC
(This is the second article in MacKenzie’s series, What’s up with Cloth Diapering?)
So, from my last diapering post you know why I decided to cloth diaper.
Today I will show you what modern cloth diapering really looks like.
My very first stash consisted of only 8 diapers! Yes, it can be done, although I don’t recommend it! I ordered 2 of 4 different kinds of diapers (from left to right- Happy Heinys, Fuzzi Bunz 1.0, DryBees, Bum Genius 1.0) to figure out what we liked the best. I subsisted on this stash of diapers for two months before I bought 12 prefolds and covers along with snappis to lighten my laundry routine- but we will get more into that later!
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It’s no secret to anyone who knows me that I LOVE to shop at thrift stores, but it wasn’t always this way.
When I was a middle-schooler, I absolutely hated it. I felt like it was embarrassing, something only poor people should do. If someone complimented a thrift store item I was wearing (which did not happen often, due to my complete non-thrift-store-related lack of stylishness) and asked where I got it, I would fib and say I didn’t remember. By high school, however, I had fully realized the awesomeness that is thrift shopping, and would gladly tell anyone who asked where I shopped.
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Going green is everywhere now and can seem pretty overwhelming at times. With so much information out there it can be hard to know where to start.
You don’t need to go green overnight; take small steps!
Recycling can be a good first step, and it’s also a great way to teach kids about waste.
There are a lot of good resources out there to help you show your kids why we recycle. One site featuring a lot of great information is Kids Recycle. It’s geared toward schools but parents will find the information helpful as well.
One good idea to help kids get involved comes from an episode of Jon & Kate Plus 8 where Sara Snow visits.
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Written on
March 11, 2009 by
SusanC
I recently received an e-mail from a fellow mama who was inquisitive about cloth diapers.
Her questions were simple and straight forward. “I see that they now have snaps, but can you tell me how it works?” “I cannot imagine cleaning a cloth diaper and I’m curious why would you do it when you could throw them away. More specifically, how do you clean those things?”
I appreciate her questions; most people don’t even bother to ask before they just assume that I must be crazy or a glutton for punishment!
Quite honestly, I completely understand that mind set though. I used to think the same way!
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