Thursday, April 23, 2015

CAPE (Cornwall Area Pop Event)

So last weekend my kids and I attended a mini Comic Con called CAPE in Cornwall Ontario. I wasn't sure what to expect because this was the first Comic Con like thing that  we had gone to. I knew it wasn't going to be as big as the Ottawa Comic Con but I hoped it would be fun.


Well our day began with a Captain America /Rainbow Dash kid and a My Little Dalek  and Doctor Who diaper clad baby girl. We gave her her dress we bought for her birthday from Baby Coon Designs a month early so she could wear it to CAPE. Here we are in line.












So when we got there I was overwhelmed. CAPE was amazing! We got to see so many things and do so much! It was utterly amazing! But since a picture is worth 1000 words here are some more pictures!
























I am going to do a separate write up on all the vendors and fun merch we bought but I thought just showing off our fun pics would be nice too. We just wanted to thank all the celebs and cosplayers. We also got to see Mike and Ming from Comic Book Men. I don't have any pics of them because I was geeking out too hard. They did however make a video for Hubby who couldn't be there, which I thought was the sweetest and nicest thing ever. They really were just truly nice guys! So there you have it! Our first truly geeky event!

Earth Day

So yesterday was Earth Day! So what did you do? I usually make Earth Day a huge priority every year, but the last 3 years I was still miscarrying my daughter and hemorrhaging and grieving, I was super pregnant, and then this year I was balancing starting a new career with planning my daughter's 1st birthday. So sadly Earth Day fell to the way side.
Yet as bad as I felt I started to realize that we live everyday like it is Earth Day. We pick up litter we see, we plant our organically grown veggies and flowers, we set up bird houses and this year Bug wants to do a bat box. We compost, recycle, cloth diaper, breastfeed, use Mama cloth, and upcycle as much as we can. I hand sew, knit and crochet a lot of my kids clothes and toys. We buy used clothes and toys as much as we can as well.
So really... as much as I would have loved to take my kids out and do a Green Mommy Garbage Walk or something like that, I think we live our everyday lives as though everyday was Earth Day. So I offer you a challenge... do you live everyday like it's Earth Day?

Sunday, April 19, 2015

My Journey To Breastmilk Jewelry

Last August I wrote this post on Breastmilk Jewelry. One of the companies I wrote about was Babybee Hummingbirds. I remained really interested in the idea of commemorating my children and my time as a breastfeeding mother with these unique gems. However it wasn't until Christmas that I finally decided to go ahead and do it. Hubby bought me my first Pandora bracelet. It had only 2 charms on it, a "weeping angel" and the "TARDIS". I loved it but I wanted to continue to personalize it. I realized this was the perfect time to get breastmilk gems made. Right around that time a dear friend sent me money to have one bead made from Babybee Hummingbirds. Considering they run 50$ a piece this was an incredibly generous gift. She is so wonderful! I still have to think of a way to repay her kindness. So I finally decided that with her gift I could afford two beads, one for/from each child. I along with the creator of Babybee Hummingbirds, Amy McGlade designed two beads both made from my breastmilk, each with a first curl from each kid, one tinted sapphire the other emerald. 
I decided that the best option was the Pandora style "first curl" gems. 
So I paid the 100$ for the two beads and then mailed her as per her instructions, my breastmilk and a "first curl" from each of my babies. Bug's had been saved in his baby book. Munch's I had to snip from her head since she has never had a haircut. 
I waited about 2 weeks before I checked in with Amy. She said my package had arrived. Over the next few weeks she worked on crafting my beads (along with many others I am sure). After about a total 6 weeks... approximately, she told me she had mailed them out. She was so sweet through the whole process, always working with me to answer any questions of help out in anyway she could. I was over the moon knowing my beads were finally on their way. After about another 10 days or so finally on Friday of this last week they arrived. 
They were everything I had envisioned and then some! I was in awe. I took pictures of the unboxing, so without further ado here is the long awaited end to my journey to hold a small part of my babies with me always and honor my gift to them that is breastfeeding.
Amy included this sweet note in the package. 

How beautiful is this box? So delicately and sweetly done.

And here they are! Bug and Munch immortalized in a beautiful symbol of love!

I will admit from last summer until now my opinion of breastmilk jewelry has changed a lot but now that I have crossed that line, I am simply in awe of these beautiful gems. I really can not express how lovely they truly are and how amazing it feels to hold that bit of them with me always.
Thank you sooo much Amy! and my friend "K" who paid for one of the beads. You both are amazing and I just can not express my love and gratitude.


Citrus Lane Box 2

Yesterday after me and my children came home from CAPE (yes I am going to do a write up on the insane fun that that was), I saw that Munchie's Citrus Lane box for April had arrived. Too tired to open it then we waited until this morning. The kids like to join me in opening it.  
So we opened up the box. After last month's disappointing inclusion of Johnson and Johnson products I was a tad worried. I was pleasantly surprised! 

First up was a pair of Hohner brand Maracitos. I looked up the price on these and they run about 9$. These are the same high quality ones we use in the daycare for music classes. Munchie and Bug loooved them!

Next up was an Ella's Kitchen Organic Coconut Plus Milk Nutritional Shake with Broccoli Plums Plus Pears. This costs about 20$ for a pack of 4 so roughly 5$ each. I found it yucky but the kids looooved it! They split it sip by sip and both seemed pretty full after.

Next was a board book from Barefoot Books, "Bear on a Bike", by Stella Blackstone. This I found a variety of prices for but the average seemed about 10$. Bug read it to Munchie. It was very cute.

Lastly was an item I have had on Munch's wishlist on Amazon for awhile now, ever since I first discovered the brand Green Toys. The Green Toys Stacker. It retails for about 18$. I wrote up a whole post about them this morning. You can read it here. I love this stacker! It is just such an amazing toy! I must admit I am a tad addicted to Green Toys now.

Here is Munch playing with her awesome new stacker.

Lastly was an offer for a 90$ membership to downloadable yoga classes for 30$. So I suppose you could say that is a 60$ value, though personally I am not going to jump on that offer. So I won't be including that in my value assessment of this month's box. So tallying up the 4 tangible items, the value of this month's box was approximately 42$. I think that's a good value for a 20$ a month box. 
All in all I am much happier with the box this month than last month. The kids seem happier this time too. Good job Citrus Lane!

Green Toys

So when I say Green Toys, you may think a toy that is durable, maybe made in the USA, possibly made from recycled materials? Well there is a actual brand of toys called "Green Toys" that is all of those things! Green Toys are made from recycled milk jugs in the USA and are an incredibly heavy duty durable plastic that is also very clean and safe.





I recently heard of this brand and had become a little obsessed. I wanted to try them out but did not really have a reason because all of my daughter's birthday gifts had already been bought. I had one toy in mind particularly, the "Stacker". At 15$ for such a great toy it is pretty reasonable but still until Christmas I didn't really have a reason to buy it or any other Green Toy for that matter. So as much as I wanted to write a post about them I knew it would have to wait at least a little while.

Well today I got a nice little surprise in my daughter's Citrus Lane box for April. It was the exact Stacker toy I had wanted to get her. I couldn't believe it! It was an Earth Day miracle!
She loved it! I could not get over the high quality of these toys! Thick, strong, durable plastic in bright colors. I now want to try their new line of "Green Eats" kids dishware. I would recommend these toys to anyone. Not only high quality but helping our planet too!





Wednesday, April 8, 2015

Yes Another Gender Post

So recently this picture has been circling the internet.

These are onesies! Made for babies! 
So I have so far done many posts about gender equality and not genderizing kids, but i feel I need to really put my two cents in here.
I have a daughter now. A beautiful blank slate of chubby thighs and arm rolls. I want her to love herself and always think she is beautiful. 
This is my sweet baby girl. She is beautiful just the way she is.

And yes I realize this onesie was meant as a joke, but why does the one intended for girls have such a negative message when the boys get to wear a super hero cape? It's bad enough that there are thousands of onesies out there for girls that only say things like "Daddy's Little Princess" or "I'm so pretty", or other slightly negative messages for little girls. When Bug was a baby he had onesies that had geeky messages or sea creatures or animals, and of course Sweetbaby inherited them but she also has a ton of the "Sweet and Sparkle", and "My Daddy thinks I am pretty", kind of onesies. We were given them. I have been slowly weeding them out. 
Honestly I am just ranting here and I don't really even know what to say about these messages we are sending our daughters. I guess the bottom line is do we want their self worth in their looks? And if your answer is yes... at least don't do it through negative messages like "I hate my thighs".

Whipped Coconut Oil

So a little while ago I read about making body lotion out of whipped coconut oil enriched with herbs. I decided this sounded amazingly fun and easy to make. So I started with coconut oil and dried lavender. I used a double boiler to heat the oil which pulls the lavender oil out of the dried lavender.










Then I let it cool to room temperature and then whipped it.


After whipping I put the now delicious smelling soft cream into recycled jars. 

It is lovely!!! So go ahead try it out! I am going to make more with dried dandelions, and other herbs.

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