Reading labels

Ahhh, yes, the crazy continues.

Do you pay attention to the parabens, phthalates, sulfates and other -ates in the myriad of products in your bathroom? I swear, I'm just now getting a handle on the food in our house and the sunscreen we use, and now I feel the need to tackle every other product in our house.

I don't know where I picked up the bug, but it seems there has been an article in every magazine that has entered our house in the last few months about the dangers of lurking chemicals. I have paid pretty close attention to the products we use for Girly, but you will be surprised by the 'dangerous' chemicals that are in a lot of those products if you read carefully. Just because it looks healthy or natural doesn't mean it is. I haven't thought much about what the adults in this house use, which is kind of silly. If I care about one of us, I should care about all of us.

There is certainly a lot of debate about whether these things are actually dangerous or not. I guess I am choosing to err on the side of caution ... if I can find a product that is equally good without them, why not use it?

Therein lies the problem, though, because it can be a big challenge to actually find a product that you like equally as well. I have searched a lot on the Cosmetic Safety Database, which seems to be a good resource, but it can be a challenge to find a lot of their highest rated products without going to the ends of the earth or spending my whole paycheck on internet shipping.

This is a (seemingly) balanced article from Real Simple: What are parabens and do I need to worry about them? I think it makes sense to take a logical approach to changing your products. Start with the products you use the most (hand soap, body soap, shampoo/conditioner, lotion) and those that cover a large percentage of your skin.

I've just been replacing products when they run out with a 'better' option. It seems wasteful to run out and replace everything all at once. I'm also pretty budget conscious, which can be challenging because many of these products are $pricey$. So far, I am liking the Kiss My Face lotion and Whole Foods 365 mint shampoo and conditioner. Surprisingly, Costco also has a citrus bodywash and shampoo and conditioner that are paraben and phthalate free. I really like the California Baby stuff for Girly, but Johnson and Johnson just came out with a Natural option that looks promising. I had already been using an Arbonne skin care system, which is also free of a lot of the nastiness. Sadly, our beloved Cetaphil does have some of the nastiness, which is just sad because that is a good product that is hard to replace.

I haven't tackled shaving cream yet, or make-up or hair products. You curly-haired girls know what I am talking about - it is quite the gamble to switch up the products and I hate to spend money on something that might not work. Baby steps ....

What are the good products you use?

Pride

On this Mother's Day, I'm proud of the job I've done so far (17 months and counting).

I'm proud of the little girl that lives in our house and follows me around and occasionally drives me crazy.

I'm also proud of how I handled a bad parenting moment yesterday.

We were driving home from the store, as a family, when I heard Girly choking in the backseat. She is still rear-facing in her car seat, but we have a mirror and I turned around and could see that she had shoved her barrette down her throat. I was in the passenger seat, so I yelled at Huz, he stopped the car in the middle of the road and I started to crawl backwards over my seat to get her out. Fortunately, she threw it up as I was loosening the restraint to get her out.

She was fine.

We were all scared.

I felt terrible that it even happened in the first place.

Girly was born with more hair than a lot of 1-year-olds, so she has had barrettes or rubber bands in her hair for months and months now. I know they are choking hazards, so I've always watched her very carefully. I always take them out of her hair at nap time. As she has gotten older, she pulls barrettes out, but has never put them in her mouth. The one she almost swallowed was big and had a bow on it ... if I had thought to be worried, I would have only worried about a smaller barrette.

Instead of beating myself up (which I am prone to do), I'll just have to realize that it was an accident. It could have happened to anyone (and, now, hopefully won't happen to you).

In retrospect, though, I am proud of how I responded. My mom-instinct and mom-reflexes kicked in and I think I just knew what to do. I scrambled over the back of my seat faster than you can imagine. I knew I could get her out of her car seat and do the Heimlich if I had to. (Thank god I didn't have to).

I really hope I never find myself in a similar situation again, but if I do, I feel better that I probably won't be paralyzed with fear.

And that, my friends, is the best gift I could hope for.

Making my life easier

Our girl has skills. (Or is it skillz? I'm pretty sure I shouldn't be using words that end in Z).

She has achieved quite a few new things in just the last 2 weeks or so ... some of which I am loving, and some of which I am tolerating until they pass.

Under the "why didn't I think of this sooner?" category ... Girly will now lay on the floor, propped in her Boppy, and feed herself her entire bottle. I had seen a triplet mother I know (can you even imagine?!) do this with her trio, but it never occurred to me to do it with my singleton. I just attempted it one morning out of desperation - Dad out of town, Mom has to be somewhere, Baby won't nurse and now Mom has to pump. I sat by her on the floor pumping while she was thrilled to be feeding herself. I sat her up to burp half-way through, then she finished. I am telling you - this is GREAT.

She is also on the move. Not full-on crawling yet, but definitely scooting backwards, rolling all directions, up and down to sit, and more than anything else, totally motivated to get to things. Like hangers and remotes and plastic bags. Literally, on a Monday morning we sat her in the middle of our bed with toys while we got ready for work, as we had for months, and by Friday this was no longer a safe option. So, now we have the Pack n'Play in our room (Dad calls it "her house") so she can play with toys. While confined. Plus, it is so cute when she scratches her fingers on the mesh siding and presses her face into it to see us better. Maybe not so much "house" and more like "jail". Whatever.

While all the moving has taken some getting used to (I know, I know - it only gets more challenging), it has also affected her sleeping in good and bad ways. On the bad side, she practices moving in her crib. So, she'll be quiet for a while, then scream out because she is stuck on all fours, or crammed into the bars at the bottom of her bed. She settles quickly once we move her and I know that soon she will be fine on her own. I am certainly willing to tolerate this because of one SUPER unexpected side effect of all the moving. Our former "I'll-start-crying-at-5:15am-until-they-get-me" daughter has slept late for the last FIVE mornings. Before you get too excited, by late I mean somewhere between 6:15-6:50am, but this is still a major accomplishment. I can only conclude that she much prefers sleeping on her side or belly. The lovey also helps, which she now truly cuddles in the most adorable way. I can also conclude that I am happy.

Finally, a new entry into the "clearly I am a Mom now" category: scraping off cradle cap with oil and a comb. Eeewww. Our Gal has had cradle cap pretty much since birth. She was born with a mop of hair, though, so it was kind of hard to see and even harder to get at to remove. When she was brand new, she had it in her eyebrows and it looked sad, but as she got older, it just didn't seem to matter. While I still don't think it matters or bothers her, fast forward to 8 months when you pick up your daughter at daycare and they have been playing beauty parlor and her hair is up in a pony. AND she has yellow waxy scales all over her head and looks like a creature from some alien movie.

I had read that baby oil or olive oil would do the trick, but it just seemed to be a Challenge with a FULL head of hair. I bit the bullet today, though, because it was driving me crazy. I loaded the Girl in her highchair with graham crackers, poured grapeseed oil (so she doesn't smell like a salad) on her head and scratched away with a comb until she wouldn't tolerate it anymore. Then, I took the greaser straight to the tub and, while The Fonz look was cute, I am happy to report that her scalp is MUCH improved.

Parenting - It's Hairy!

Along with all the water you retain during pregnancy, you also retain all of your hair. Probably one of the nicer side effects of pregnancy is that you have thick, shiny hair that grows really fast.

What is less predictable, however, is how your hair will react to all of the post-partum changes. If you have hair of the curly variety, like mine, you may find coarse, black, corkscrew curly hairs sticking out all over your head. Or hairs that are black at the root and white at the tip. Or hairs that are tiger striped. (What?)

Then, your hair starts to all fall out at about 12 weeks after delivery. And, I mean ALL fall out.

I also have my suspicions that your body goes into shut down mode when you have a c-section and hair stops growing, then re-starts, resulting in 1 inch hairs sticking out all over your head. I have also been told that this happens when you stop breastfeeding.

Awesome.