Ask Momma Wednesday #7

I find it hard to believe that the last time I posted was for LAST week's Ask Momma Wednesday...but ok, here goes!

My question is also about money (see Nomie's post). Health insurance - When I had our son, I was working full time and had my own insurance, which had fantastic coverage. We didn't pay a dime for the actual care or delivery. Once that business closed, and I became self employed, i went on my husband's insurance. Right from the get-go, it was WAY more expensive and covered less! Now we're thinking of #2, and the rates have gone up once again, leaving us with a tough decision. I can't get insurance elsewhere, I've looked & searched & tried. So, we've decided to go for a high deductible plan for the birthing year because the overall costs will be less...but my question is how to save for the upfront costs? We have enough trouble month to month getting by as it is, I don't know how do deal with this new loop.

What ways do you cut back on expenses or save on current ones?

Ask Momma Wednesday #6

It's that time of the week again! Welcome to all of you who are checking out my blog!

Here's the button link: (please go check Nomie's page for details)



And here's my question: How much juice do/did you allow your toddler to drink?

I try to limit it, especially after this summer's scare of lead in many popular juices (organic & non organic). Being as my boy's fave wasn't on the list, I ended up getting some again at some point and we're back in the rotation of having juice each day. I don't give it to him straight, he has it watered down, and he definitely tends to drink more when there's even the slightest flavor in his cup. At his 18 month appt in june, we saw a different doctor, who wrote juice up as a "stupid thing parents give their kids to fatten them up", which is not at all my point, but it made me feel awful! What do you parents of toddlers do with juice, and if your kids are older, what did you do when they were little?

Thanks as always!

One Lovely Blog award

I received the One Lovely Blog award from Life of this SAHM Thank you Tracy!



On to the rules for accepting this award...


1. Accept the award. Post it on your blog with the name of the person who has granted the award and his or her blog link.

2. Pay it forward to 15 other bloggers that you have newly discovered.

3. Contact those blog owners and let them know they've been chosen.

So, onward!

1. Nomies 3 Monsters

2. Only the Curious

3. Bird in a Tree Creations

4. Forever and Yesterday

5. humboldt cherry

6. Mommy Katie

7. Randomness of a Cloth Diaper Addict

8. Simply Bug

9. Mommy Made Green

10. Lolly Jane Boutique

11. Eclectic Effervescence

12. This Beach Town Family

13. Traci66

14. Sueberry Lane

15. Take it From Me

Ask Momma Wednesday #5

Please go check out Nomie's 3 Monsters for the details of this hop!

Ok, so here is my third week of this hop - and I'm honestly having trouble finding a question! But here we go:

We're trying for number two now - and while I'm extremely excited and ready to be pregnant again (not yet, just looking toward the future), I'm also nervous about how to handle a toddler while going through the possible sickness I went through with him. Just as a bit of background, I was sick for 24 weeks, as in the all day/all night kind of sick. My middle of the night bathroom trips were double duty pee/puke.

Now that I've got your attention, for those of you who have 2 kids or more, and experienced any kind of sickness though pregnancy, how did you deal with the subsequent pregnancies while caring for a little one???

Reiki giveaway!

Well! Now that I've reached & surpassed the 25 followers I asked for earlier this summer, it's time to start the Reiki giveaway!

What is Reiki? You can check my earlier post here to see a little bit. As I have noted on that post, even if you aren't near me you can still enter, as Reiki works regardless of time & space. If you live in the Catskill mountain region and are willing/able to travel to Woodstock, the winner will receive a free one hour Reiki session with me at Woodstock Integrative Health. If you are not able to come to Woodstock, the winner will receive 4 fifteen minute distance sessions, scheduled between us ahead of time. Winner must be 18 or older and will be chosen at random.

To enter: just follow me and leave a comment below that you do follow - be sure to leave your email if it's not easy to find in your blogger account.

Extra entries? (1 entry per comment)

~ spread the word! tell your friends via facebook, blog, etc. and leave the link in a comment.

~ send a friend directly & have them say you sent them in a comment.

~ comment on another post in this blog.

~ grab my button & place it on your blog. leave the link in a comment. :)


This giveaway will run until September 25th at 11:59pm.

Thanks!!!

Greenish Me Mama

Frustrated at the fact I needed to use mama cloth this month, I quickly realized I didn't even have enough to get through the first few days without washing laundry every day as I have in the past. So, I sat down and created a couple of patterns and voila! I'm so happy with what I've made! Definitely going to get these up on etsy, though I know there is an abundance of mama cloth out there already. Can't help it!

Joining in on some blog hops!

Head on over to Graphic Design by Tara & check out her Weekend Blog Hop! Have fun & good night!

:)

Just adding another [few] links here -

New button!

Thanks to Tara from Graphic Design by Tara, I've got a new button to show & share. I've got to give her a plug, too, because she was great! So easy to work with and completed the job very quickly (as in today). Furthermore, I really had no idea what I was doing & she managed to get it right. So, thanks Tara!

Welcome Wednesday

Now participating in:

Ask Momma Wednesdays

It's Wednesday again & time for a blog hop! This hop is hosted by three lovely ladies now! Please go to all of their blogs and check out what they have to say. Remember to follow them, too! Also - you can check the rules (please!) at nomie's blog by following the button below.



Nomies 3 Monsters
Traci66
Perfectly Imperfect


As for me, For those of you who stay home or work part time, how often do you get your kids together with friends?

When T was smaller, it was a lot easier to find time to gather with buddies and enjoy time to play, but now that he's nearing two, and NEEDS more of that, I just can't seem to get myself together to find many play dates! I feel like my life has gotten so hectic and when there is spare time, he needs a nap. Some weeks seem to be better than others, and we can get together with buds a couple of times during that week. Other times, he's stuck with me!

(adding this part a little later - thought I'd mention that I teach most mornings & evenings, so we're often left with little awake time in the middle of the day.)

What do you do to ensure your little ones get good friend time in?

Cloth Diaper Awareness

This post is part of Cloth Diapering Bloggers’ and Dirty Diaper Laundry’s Cloth Diaper Carnival VIII: Cloth Diaper Awareness. Please visit the other bloggers participating by following the links at the end of this post.




What to do to expand cloth diapering awareness? For a while, I didn't do much in this area at all. While I have been CDing my son since he was a week old, I didn't think to push it or even talk about it with other mamas. As I left the diaper service we started out with, and began washing my own stash, I felt my love for cloth begin to grow. Then the questions started around me: Is it hard to keep up with? Doesn't the pail stink something terrible? Wow, those diapers are different, what are they? and I felt myself wanting to talk about cloth more & more.

Fast forward 19 months...a friend admitted to me she wanted to CD her second child, who was due shortly after that, but didn't think she could afford the start up costs. She hadn't used cloth with her first because her family rents a small apartment without a washer & dryer, and it was enough to tote their clothing to the laundromat each week. Soon, they will be moving into a small house - laundry equipped. Right before her daughter was born, she put out the question of whether anyone had ever made their own diapers, and was it worth the work?

That was all I needed to hear to get myself behind my own sewing machine. I've been wanting to make my own diapers for a while, but needed the real incentive. After all, my boy has quite a stash already! This put me on a mission, which I found to be extremely fun & satisfying!!! Then I started posing my creations on facebook & had a bunch of recognition, and a few people asking me for specifics as well as some telling me that somewhere along the lines of T's life, I had already convinced them to use cloth should they ever have a child. All of that said - I think we should be doing nothing short of putting up billboards advertising the savings of cloth! There are so many advantages to cloth, I see no reason not to use them. Well, the only one I do see is if you HAVE to use a laundromat. I had several issues with my diapers after washing them in a shared machine a few times. Those icky detergents & fabric softeners just don't rinse out of machines they way they should!

Another idea I briefly looked into was to host cloth diaper parties. I received some info on the matter, but couldn't afford those start-up costs at this point in our lives, so it's been put to the side for the time being. Maybe I'll get something of my own together like that someday in the not too distant future.

I am really interested to see what others have to say on this matter, and I hope you do too! Please check out the other links at the bottom of this post, and feel free to post any comments below!

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From scratch

I've read it and heard it in so many places, but to watch my boy time & time again enjoy something so much as a home grown fruit or veggie, well, it just makes me giggle with delight! It started with our strawberries - he wouldn't touch them earlier this year, made a face at the sight of one. But the moment he saw me pick one from the vine and put it in my own mouth, he turned from no way to every day. Each morning those glorious last weeks of May, we would go outside & he would ask for "oash"- which vaguely translates to strawberry, of course. Now, as soon as he sees anything remotely close to a berry in the store or at home he exclaims, "shhhrabewy!"

Now that we're nearing autumn, there's a different crop. He's grown accustomed to picking tomatoes and cucumbers. While he's still not fond of raw tomatoes, he loves to hold them and tell me all about them. Cucumbers, on the other hand, are another of his delights. This afternoon we picked one and he immediately took it from my hands and walked for the next hour munching on it. Dinner is served.

Ask Momma Wednesdays

Hi everyone! This is my first Ask Momma Wednesday - I'm glad to join up in this hop.

This hop is hosted by nomies3monsters & here are her playing rules:

I do have a few simple requests:

1. Follow me, your hostess and #2 spot!!

(Just let us know you follow us so we can answer your question and follow you back!)

2. Please only link up the post on where you have the questions and/or comments (that you have posted within the week: Wednesday-Wednesday) you’d like other Mommas to answer/comment.
3. NO giveaway links! There are plenty of giveaway links out there. If you need help finding some great ones, just ask and I'll help ya out!

4. No spam please. These will be removed.

5. It would be wonderful if you are linking up this week if you could add this button to your sidebar or in a post to help spread the word! :) The more people that join, the more fun it will be!

6. When you follow someone, please answer the questions or comment on the post they have linked up. In other words, a relevant comment(s) :o) But also let them know you follow them!

7. Please keep the sites and posts PG-13. I know I have kids that like to hover sometimes and well, they just don't need to see that kind of stuff! (If you don't know what I'm talking about, no worries!)

This hop is not meant to break anyone down! The rule your momma taught you:
“If you don’t have anything nice/helpful to say, don’t say it at all”
applies here.

This is a new list every Wednesday, so please remember to come back and link up!

Spread the word and help other Mommas out!

MOST IMPORTANT:

Have fun!!

As for today - WAHM's - How do you manage to do your work with little ones around?

I'm new to the work at home scene - and while I've attempted to do bits & pieces of this in the past, I've never truly succeeded because of the nature of life with a kid - and I only have one! So, it's sewing at naptime & bedtime for me. Does anyone else have a suggestion for helping keep my son happy while I'm at the machine - even if it's just for an hour?

Follow me & let me know so I can go answer your question! Thanks and happy blogging!!!

And back again.

I stood in the store this afternoon gazing at the diaper shelves. I whole heartedly debated the difference between one more pack of Seventh Generation diapers and the cost of washing an extra load of prefolds, which I can bleach again to be sure the impetigo is completely eradicated. My mind scrunched up and my heart was pulled...I just couldn't justify purchasing another package of these diapers, despite the convenience of disposable material.

My husband, the head buyer for this particular store, walked up to me and smirked. I told him my thoughts and he just said, "it's been a long time since I used a prefold, I'm not sure I remember." I told him I'd take care of it until Sunday, when the medication will come to it's end. Then we can use the pocket diapers he's come to know so well. "Whatever you think!" he said.

I walked out without a new pack of 'sposies. As soon as we walked in the door to our house I happily changed T into a prefold with the Flip cover that I love so much. He exclaimed, "poo poo!" with enthusiasm, as he loves to do while walking around with a diaper in hand. He wasn't quite sure what to make of the Seventh Gen diapers we've been using for the last few days. He never picked one up & told me it was a diaper, the way he does with any of the ones in our stash. But the moment that cloth hit his bum...he knew. And he smiled as big as me.

Disposable Diapers

I am not a fan. Let me emphasize that. I am NOT a fan.

That said, of course, I am a cloth diaper enthusiast. I have been cloth diapering my son since he was a week old, starting with a diaper service and moving on to washing our own by the time he was 3 months. Yes, it takes some getting used to, but so does parenting. It has pretty much always been a part of my routine as a mom. I love my son with a fluffy butt - how else would his skinny little bottom hold up his pants?

A couple of weeks ago, he managed to get a terrible rash. Ever since solid foods were introduced, his bowel movements have been detrimental to his delicate skin, unless it's removed promptly from his behind. I wasn't able to get to him fast enough this one time (he was in child care as I taught a class), and that spurred a whole chain of ick leading to impetigo. Not fun. Poor guy couldn't even sit down in the bath. I didn't know that was what had happened, but once we took him to the doctor, it was evident he'd need a prescription to heal it up.

That was Friday - and since cloth really shouldn't have any kind of creams on it, and impetigo happens to be highly contagious and can get into the cloth itself - well, we decided to get a pack of Seventh Generation diapers to use instead. Lesser of the evils in my opinion!

I can say this: disposable diapers take up a lot less space in the diaper bag. I don't have to carry them home again, either. Plus, my husband actually said to me, "Disposables are a lot easier, huh?" Which meant to me that snaps are harder to change than sticky tabs. Since T learned how to open aplix, I converted all of our cloth over to snaps.

Here's negative number one for me: I can't stand the smell of a disposable filled with urine. At all. It hits me as soon as a child walks past me with a gel soaked urine filled sposie. It is truly gross!!! I can normally (partially) ignore it, since these disposable wearing children I speak of are not my own, but when it's T who is sporting such diapers, I cringe and hold my nose as I catch him to change him.

So, we are going through a lot of these things - because of my distaste for the smell but also because he shouldn't be sitting in the same dipe for too long with the impetigo. And I feel guilty at the sheer number of diapers we're throwing away in such a short time! It's no wonder so many disposables go to the dump every day.

Thankfully, once his 10 day antibiotic usage is over, I'll be getting him back into cloth. But these next 7 days can't go by fast enough!

Cloth Diaper Maker?

I have a new obsession - I've been wanting to apply my sewing skills to diaper making for a while now, but just couldn't get past the researching stage. I searched & googled and looked at all kinds of fabrics and notions and just couldn't get myself to make a purchase...until a local friend who is due with #2 in a week told me she wanted to cloth her second, but just couldn't afford the start up costs. I put myself to work and made the first diaper out of recycled materials...and I'm hooked! I have been cutting patterns for the last two days while I wait for my newly ordered PUL lining to arrive. I can see how much fun this will be, and I hope to keep it fun!

Here's a pic of #1 -

I can see this blog quickly turning over to a mommy blog....but hey, who will notice at this stage of the game? :)

Clean B review

Now that I've tried & finished my bag of Clean B, I've got to tell you all about it:

I sit here with a clean basket of clean diaper laundry sitting next to me - and I'm enjoying the wafting scent of honey almond that is rising up to my nose. I love love love this stuff! I haven't had such a tantalizing washing experience since I began washing our own diapers when T was 3 months old. Before that I only smelled the bleach in the diaper services' prefolds, so I can't say that was much nicer! This stuff is truly amazing, though. Not only do I feel my boy's diapers are coming out super clean, but they smell sooo nice! I have been hogging this bag of Clean B just for our diaper laundry, so I haven't had the pleasure of smelling it on my clothing, but when my new bag, just ordered today, arrives, I very well may put it to use in all areas of laundering.

Update - I began writing this on Friday, and since I received my new bag of Clean B in scent Baby Fresh yesterday, I have soaked and washed two loads of dirty clothes in this fantastic stuff. One load included the unfortunate exercise clothes of my brother's - which I have thrown into our laundry before and only had my clean clothes come out smelling like feet. (Sorry Eric, but they did!) This time, I soaked all of our clothes, his and my family's in one, with a generous scoop of Clean B, for an hour. Then I washed as normal and dried as normal...and guess what? No foot smell! In fact, I just sniff the lovely scent of the detergent and that's all. Thanks, Clean B!!!

So - right now, they are running a giveaway when they reach 1000 fans on facebook. If you aren't already a fan (press like) go on over to Clean B and like them! Let's get the momentum going here...

I won!!!

Yes, I won something! I won a bag of Clean B detergent! This is exceptionally exciting to me, because I have been looking into a new detergent for my diapers again. I tried & love Rockin Green, but I managed to get a (mild) stink again that just won't go away. Having recently read many reviews of Clean B, I visited the website to read & learn more about the work at home mom & maker of Clean B, Melissa. I decided I really wanted to try it out. So, here's my chance!

Clean B was born out of the desire to have a great natural detergent that cleans well and leaves a scent behind when all is said & done. I love this idea, as most natural detergents are scentless by the time the wash is being folded, and while the heavy perfumes of regular detergent really bother me...to the point of getting a headache...a little scent would be nice. And wow - do they offer a LOT of scents!!! It's boggling to think of the process creating these detergents! I'm quite curious to see which scent will arrive at my door.

Just HOW did I win such a prize? you may ask. Well, a while back, I joined up as a seeker on Green Quiz Quest. It's easy to join, just go to their site and enter your email on the upper left corner of the home page. I have been checking and answering riddles on their facebook page. This time, not only did I answer correctly, but my name was chosen along with three other lucky people. I guess it was a few days ago because I was about to be outed if I didn't answer them soon!

Fortunately, they contacted me again (I found out later the original email they sent didn't go thru) and here I am! Quite excited about this one.

Reiki sessions & giveaway!

After a couple of years hiatus from offering Reiki sessions, I've now signed on with Woodstock Integrative Health as a Reiki Master. I'm very excited to be offering sessions again, as I have seen tremendous results with clients in the past, and I just enjoy sharing the love!

What is Reiki? It's a non-invasive energy therapy which supports the body's natural ability to heal itself. It works on all levels of our being: mental, spiritual, emotional and physical. Reiki enables the mind to fully relax, giving you an opportunity to reconnect with your inner self and re- establish a sense of wholeness and well being. Every individual experience is different as each body responds in different ways to Reiki energy.

Some benefits of Reiki include:

*Reduces stress and tension

*Pleasant means of achieving a state of total relaxation

*Supports the body's natural ability to heal itself

*Can be used effectively in combination with other methods of healing

*Promotes a state of well being for attaining higher consciousness

NOTE**Reiki is not a substitute for medical care.

If you are interested in having a Reiki session or having more questions please contact me! Find my info in the sidebar.

**In honor of this new addition in my life, I'll be giving away a free one hour Reiki session once I hit 25 followers! That's right - only 25...

Don't live in the area? That's ok. Reiki works regardless of where you live. If you live outside of the Woodstock region, I will honor the winner with 4 distance sessions of 15 minutes each. So....let's get started, tell your friends! :)**

Eco-Fashion Giveaway

Ok, of course, I would love to win this giveaway, but I just had to share it with you all since it's just too fun not to share! First of all, just check out this bag made of recycled seat belts. Seriously...it's awesome!

So, for your chance to win - not just this bag, but a whole bunch of other goodies - go to http://www.shefinds.com/2010/itsrecycled and follow their directions. Click on this post title or copy/paste the address into your browser. Contest ends on Wednesday the 17th! Good luck!

Crispy Kale

Try this! A friend made it for the superbowl last night & both my 14 month old & I couldn't keep our hands off it!

1 bunch kale

olive oil to coat

garlic powder and salt to taste

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Using a knife you're comfortable with, cut kale leaves away from the stalk. Chop into small pieces, no larger than 1 square inch.

Place kale in a large bowl and pour olive oil overtop. Using your hands, blend oil and kale until the kale is coated evenly. Add salt and garlic powder, and mix again.

Place kale mixture onto baking sheets in one thin layer and put in oven for 10 minutes. Check on it every minute or so after that to see if it is crispy. Once kale is crispy so it falls apart in your mouth, remove from oven & serve hot.

Yum!!!

Cloth Diapers on Ellen?

I've *ahem* neglected this blog for quite a while...and while I'm not the best blogger in general, I feel pretty ridiculous seeing that my last post was in August! Since I've made my other blog private, I decided to join up with the Cloth Diapering Bloggers Carnival on this blog instead. I'll just be linking up with them through Dirty Diaper Laundry's site, since I'm not a tweeting person & don't plan on starting before this week ends!

So...the question is Why should cloth be featured on Ellen? They are simply the best option, and just so much fun for our little ones!

Here are my thoughts: 1) The obvious...Cloth diapering is the best option for the planet. While we do use water (and in most cases, quite a bit of it) to wash our diapers, we're preventing a lot of added waste to landfills both in the case of the actual diaper and the human waste within. Cloth diapers can only be washed in clean detergents, bleach is rarely used, and the sun becomes even more of a friend than it was before (oh how I can't wait for the sunny days to return and take away the stains in my son's diapers!!!).

2) Leaks are sooooo much easier to prevent! I used sposies for the first week of T's life and then one week while on vacation in April of last year, when he was 4 months old. The first week was no problem, but mostly because my poor guy was dehydrated and not peeing much. But that's another story! While on vaca, however, my purely breastfed baby couldn't keep a poop in his diaper at all. I spent each day rinsing out his clothes to prevent major stains before I could get to a washing machine! I'm not the only one with issues here...I have read and talked to many a mom who has similar stories of leaky babies in disposables. I am not committed enough to sposies to try & find the "right"fit for him - I simply went with the best option in that world and tried to stick with it. Ugh...what a waste.

3) Speaking of waste - there's the financial savings that cloth provides. Over the lifetime of several children, or even one child who is in cloth from birth to potty, you can save hundreds or even thousands! I'll spare the mathematics...they can be found at nearly every cloth diaper site. This is only true if you can keep yourself under control...which brings me to the next point -

4) Cloth is addictive! There are so many awesome options out there, it's amazing. From big companies to work at home moms, the patterns and styles, from prefolds to AIOs, the choices are never-ending. It's overwhelming at first, but time consuming and fun once joining the world of cloth diapers. Plus they're super cute! Disposables don't offer so much in the fun department. Too bad we ran out of funds...our stash would be much bigger by now! Still, we've got a nice stash of bumGenius, Tiny Tush Elite, Fuzzibunz, GroBaby, Smartipants, prefolds and covers, wool and natural fibers and man-made materials. We've only just begun...

We'd love to see cloth diapers featured on Ellen to get more exposure out there! Let the world know that cloth is the way to go.