Posted by Inexplicable Ways on June 22, 2010
You’ve heard me sing her praises. You’ve seen her amazing photos on my blog. You witnessed how she made this frizzed out frazzled postpartum mama look gorgeous.
Want to win a photo session AND the full image CD of said session for yourself?
Go here to find out more!
Posted in Friends, Products and Gear | Leave a Comment »
Posted by Inexplicable Ways on June 15, 2010
A disposable diaper’s story would be a short one indeed.
Today I retired my first cloth diaper. The waterproof layer was done. This diaper served at least 4 babies. The mother who gave it to me bought it at a yard sale…so who knows its history from there. I used it on both my girls. It was an imse vimse cover with frogs on it.
Think about that. One diaper cover serving at least four babies for less than 15.00.
Do cloth diapers and disposables come out the same in terms of environmental impact? No way. I don’t care which study (subsidized by pampers) you look at, look closer and you’ll see the flaws.
And I’ve compared month for month my water and electric bills since Cedar was born. No significant change. My natural gas bill (we have a gas dryer) has increased by about 2.00/month. I have bought zero diapers. I purchased 2 containers of Charlies Soap, a 7.00 laundry bag, and a 6.00 bottle of woolwash. That is less than 50.00 in 10 months of diapering. How much is a package of disposables?
Today I also timed how long it takes me to fold and put away Cedar’s diapers. It took 11 minutes.
Does cloth diapering make you a better parent? Certainly not.
Does it save you some money? Heck yeah. Unless you buy designer diapers and throw/give them away after one child. Sell those things!
Does it keep poop, plastic, and chemicals out of landfills? You betcha.
I’m not writing this post to sound smug. I was simply feeling super proud of the little imse-vimse-that-could which we retired today. Your work is done tiny diaper.
Check my cloth diaper page for more info on choosing cloth.
Posted in Green Living, Products and Gear | Tagged: cloth diapers, imse vimse | 4 Comments »
Posted by Inexplicable Ways on June 14, 2010
Natural and organic baby products can be expensive! Here are a few ways to save some money. Please add your tips and recipes!
Baby Wipes
Using cloth baby wipes can save as much as 800.00. Still, the initial purchase can be pricey for a bum wipe. If you don’t have the funds, you can cut up old t-shirts or flannel blankets. For Norah, I bought the 1.00 “bag o rags” from Goodwill. It was a huge lot of t-shirts already cut into rectangles. I washed them on hot a few times to make sure they wouldn’t bleed on the dipes. Good to go. They weren’t pretty but hey, they were for wiping butts.
Baby Wipe Solution
You can simply wet your cloth wipes in water. There are many solutions that are easy to make and smell yummers. I like to use a few drops of lavender essential oil, a few drops of almond oil, water, and a squirt of Dr. Bronner’s castille soap. There are lots of additional great ideas here. I keep my solution in a spray bottle (one for the diaper bag and one for the changing station).
Cradle Cap
When your babe gets the scalp funk, use some olive oil to loosen it. Use a fingernail or a toothbrush to gently exfoliate the area.
Shampoo or Baby Wash
A tiny bit of castille soap goes a long way. I often find Dr. Bronner’s on Amazon for a great price with free shipping. A 32 oz bottle retails for 14.99 and lasts a long time. One important point: this soap is not “tear-free” so keep it out of baby’s eyes. And pick a mild kind like the baby unscented or lavendar. The peppermint might be a bit strong for baby bums.
Baby Oil
I prefer baby oil to lotion. My favorite is calendula. Calendula flowers are so healing. To make this oil, heat 8 oz of oil (I like almond but you can use other vegetable oils) and 1 oz of calendula flowers on low heat or in a crockpot for several hours. Strain and cool. You also can make a simple oil by adding a few drops of essential oil to a quality veggie oil. Try lavendar, orange, rose, chamomile or a combination.
Oatmeal/Milk Bath
Grind oatmeal in food processor or coffee grinder. Mix with dry milk. Pour in the bath. You can also add some epsom salt for a calming bath. My friend, Ellen, gave me a variation that was ground oatmeal with lavender from her garden.
Diaper Pail Deodorizer
Simply put 10 drops of orange, lemon, peppermint, or lavender essential oil on a cotton round and attach to your diaper pail. I love the diaper pail liners that have a built in pocket for such a deo-disk. Mine doesn’t.
Diaper Rash Treatment
Coconut oil is fantastic! Combine coconut oil with nakey time and say bye-bye to diaper rash. Or use the calendula oil you made earlier.
Bug Repellent
Lemon Balm grows in my herb garden and anywhere else it escapes to. I grab a leaf and rub it on arms/legs. You can also make a spritzer by boiling the leaves.
Tummy-ache and Gas Medicine
Fennel tea. Fennel is inexpensive. I grind mine just a bit in the coffee grinder and make the tea in a french press. Let it cool. You can give with a medicine dropper, make into popsicles, add to a bottle, or for older babies, put in a sippy. You can also combine with chamomile or catnip for a sleepy tea. When Norah has a tummy-ache, I add peppermint.
Certainly with all of the above concoctions, be smart. Try out a tiny bit on your baby’s skin first to make sure there are no allergic reactions.
The item I don’t try to make frugally or find inexpensive alternatives is sunscreen. I’m still a big fan of Jason’s Mineral Sunbrellas. You can find a fantastic cheat sheet from safemama on sunscreens here.
What do you have to add?
Posted in Green Living, Natural Living, Products and Gear | Tagged: dr. bronner's, natural baby products, baby wipes, cradle cap | 3 Comments »
Posted by Inexplicable Ways on June 8, 2010
I was searching for a parenting book through my local libray’s online catalog. Couldn’t find it so I did a general “parenting” search. Here are a few of the notable books that are available:
Now I know why tigers eat their young : surviving a new generation of teenagersI’ll just let these titles stand alone. There were also 12 million books on depression/anxiety in children and raising children after divorce.
I have a funny story about The Epidemic: rot of American culture book. Scott was in a wedding and the bride had arranged for us to stay in the home of a family member. We’d never met these folks. They were concerned that we were co-sleeping with Norah. Even if we didn’t routinely co-sleep, I would not have put my one year old in a room by herself (especially next door to an adult man I’d never met). And before we retired for the evening, these kind folks asked many pointed questions about our parenting. The next morning, after the family left for the day, we found a copy of this book left on the breakfast table. The book had much to say about attachment parenting. You know, basically, attachment parenting is responsible for the rot of American culture.
Posted in Parenting, Products and Gear | 2 Comments »
Posted by Inexplicable Ways on May 18, 2010
Adoring: Alba Kukui Nut Cream
Still Listening To: Midlake
Proud of: my husband’s latest woodturning art
Never Leaving Home Without: Jason’s Mineral Sunbrella
Appreciating: Dr. Polo Shirt
Nostalgic: my dad cooking breakfast for me–the same breakfast he always made on Saturday mornings when I was a kid
Re-reading: The Joys of Motherhood by Buchi Emecheta (don’t let the title fool ya–it is not joyful)
Buying: Baby legwarmers
Drinking: Zhena’s Gypsy Earl Green Tea
Working on: prenatals, classes, and a new birth project soon to be revealed
Wishing: that I could make a salad as yummy as my mom’s
Giddy About: my sister’s growing belly
Feeling: nervous about the grace-based discipline study group I’m facilitating (what was I thinking??)
Missing Terribly: dear friends who have returned to the north lands
Posted in Family, Friends, Products and Gear | Tagged: alba, Cornerstone Family Medicine, Dr. Keith Stafford, jason's sunbrella, midlake | 1 Comment »
Posted by Inexplicable Ways on May 11, 2010
I’m terrible at tie-dye. My friend, Hippie, is fantastic at tie-dye. A real live professional tie-dyest (?). And he is currently dyeing for a cause. Yeah, I know, that sentence is awkward. I’m sorry, it is late and I’m so very tired.
Let me put it this way.
Buy his stuff. Money will go to people who need stuff.
Here is Cedar sporting Hippie’s threads (why yes, she is enjoying her first taste of Barley’s pizza):
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Posted by Inexplicable Ways on May 9, 2010
My sister and brother-in-law gave Norah a fantastic little book. It is called Praying With Our Feet by Lisa Weaver. Ingrid Hess is the illustrator. Both women are Mennonites.
I’ll start with the fun things I love about the book:
The serious things I love about the book:
It is a message of peace. And action. And love. Praying with our feet, in this book, means walking for peace. “While we walk, I remember that my minister often says the voice of Jesus is love. Every person is our neighbor, not just the people who live right beside us.”
I thought of this book tonight because I’ve been listening to a sermon podcast series on Jonah. I know, I know, when we think of Jonah, many of us immediately flashback to Sunday School pictures of a whale. And that is really all we remember about this short book.
Norah recently asked me to read the entire book straight from the Bible. She had read a children’s version and I suppose she wanted to know more. After reading the entire book to her, I suppose I wanted to know more.
What I learned:
And here it is (Jonah 4:9-11):
But God said to Jonah, “Do you have a right to be angry about the vine?”
“I do,” he said. “I am angry enough to die.”
But the LORD said, “You have been concerned about this vine, though you did not tend it or make it grow. It sprang up overnight and died overnight. But Nineveh has more than a hundred and twenty thousand people who cannot tell their right hand from their left, and many cattle as well. Should I not be concerned about that great city?”
Ahhh, God tended these people and made them grow. These are his children, too. It is offensive, is it not? These people who easily rivaled Hitler simply said they were sorry and they received grace.
May God ”guide our feet into the path of peace.” (Luke 1:79)
For more on Christianity and nonviolence, may I recommend Jesus for President by Shane Claiborne or The Politics of Jesus by John Howard Yoder? Amazing books, these two.
Posted in Prayer, Products and Gear, Social Justice | Tagged: christianity, jonah, nonviolence, peace, shane claiborne | 1 Comment »
Posted by Inexplicable Ways on March 17, 2010
The amazing Tracie Birch is doing Spring Mini-Sessions at the Clemson Botanical Gardens. Have I mentioned how much I love her photography? And her way with children? And altogether how much I love Tracie? Here are the details. I bet the slots will fill extraordinarily quickly…
Whatcha waiting for?
Posted in Friends, Products and Gear | Tagged: life prints by tracie, tracie birch | Leave a Comment »
Posted by Inexplicable Ways on March 12, 2010
I attended the Greenville Cloth Diaper Group yesterday. I could not believe how many mamas were there! Even a first time pregnant mama with her mother came to learn about cloth diapering. I think there were around 15 women there!
I love cloth diapering. There are so many choices available. Really the sky is the limit on creative options for different lifestyles. My “go-to” diaper is still the bumGenius one-size. But around the house, I do love a simple prefold with a snappi. I love the simple look of it. It makes me think of summer and clothes-lines. It is close to the way my grandmothers diapered. Of course, I’m clumsy and would never attempt to use a safety pin anywhere near a wiggly baby so the snappi it will be!
It isn’t waterproof which is great because I am trying to learn Cedar’s elimination cues. And sometimes the snappi comes undone and snags on a towel or bedspread. I remember Norah crawling across our bed and getting stuck by her snappi. According to the snappi instructions, they are not meant to be used without a cover. Call me a rulebreaker.
The prefolds I use were given to me before Norah was born and were purchased by another mom (who also used them) at a yard sale from a family (who also used them)! Needless to say, a quality prefold holds up well!
When your baby grows out of prefolds, they make wonderful cleaning rags.
They are also an inexpensive option. A good prefold costs 1.50 (you’ll want a dozen) . And a snappi costs 3.95 (you only need one). To make them waterproof, you can add a 10.00 cover (you’ll need at least two).
As I think about my sister and her husband diapering in a developing country without hot water, I think prefolds might hold up the best. Of course, where they are going, the babies don’t wear diapers at all and they might find that practice suits.
Posted in Green Living, Products and Gear | Tagged: bumgenius, cloth diapers, diapers, prefolds, snappi | 4 Comments »
Posted by Inexplicable Ways on January 31, 2010
So what is the deal with those necklaces all the babies are wearing these days?
They are baltic amber teething necklaces. And no, they are not meant for tots to gnaw on. The necklace isn’t a teething toy.
Amber contains succinic acid which is an analgesic and purported healing agent. As the amber rubs against the baby’s warm skin, it releases oil rich with succinic acid. Used more commonly in Europe, this homeopathic remedy is non-invasive and, well, stylish.
Does it work? I don’t know. It doesn’t hurt. And the necklaces are sweet. Teething bites and frankly, I’ll try anything. Except orajel. I tried that with Norah and managed to get her in her eye. Bad mama moment.
When looking for a safe amber necklace for your baby, select one that is knotted between each bead. If the necklace should break, the bead won’t be an immediate choking hazard. It is recommended that the necklace be removed when children sleep. If children are chewing on the beads, the necklace should be removed as the amber may chip.
I have purchased several products from Inspired by Finn and have been very pleased with their quick shipping, frequent discounts, and quality. Plus, it is a work-at-home-mama outfit. Pick up a pair of babylegs while you’re there. No, I didn’t receive anything to promote her store!
Posted in Natural Living, Products and Gear | Tagged: baltic amber teething necklace, teething | 12 Comments »
