Conscientious confusion

Bringing a baby to BlogHer

noreply@blogger.com (Jenny Bradford) — Wed, 15 Feb 2012 20:30:00 +0000

It's that time again -- the last days of Early Bird Pricing for BlogHer 2012. I'm hoping to attend as a volunteer, but I haven't heard yet. I know that a lot of my fellow bloggers and readers are trying to decide as well. If you are pregnant right now or have just had a baby, you might be wondering whether it's a good idea to bring your baby to the BlogHer conference in New York City in 2012. Last year I brought my 6 month old baby to BlogHer 2011 in San Diego. I traveled alone by plane from Dallas, Texas to San Diego, California with my baby and our luggage. I'm here to tell you about my experience and hopefully give you some things to consider if you are considering bringing your baby to BlogHer this year.

How was the flight and transfer to the hotel?
It was a little brutal, I'm not going to lie. But when is traveling a baby ever as enjoyable as traveling alone? If you're flying, consider whether it would be worthwhile to bring a spouse, partner, or friend with you to the conference to help with the travel aspect of the trip. Even if you pack lightly for the trip, you might have as much as an entire extra piece of luggage just for swag on the way home. I also recommend bringing your baby's car seat on the plane so that you can attach the car seat to the taxi for the ride from the airport to the hotel. I brought our infant car seat and a lightweight stroller that attached to it.

Here's what it looked like in the airports: I wore the baby in my Ergo. I assembled the empty infant car seat into its attached stroller stand and used the empty stroller/car seat to hold my carry-on luggage. My main piece of luggage was a giant roller suitcase. So I was pushing the stroller and pulling my main luggage piece.

How did you feed the baby at the conference?
I was still breastfeeding, so I fed her anywhere and everywhere. I did use the Lactation Lounge at the conference space but I also just nursed right in the sessions without covering up. At one point, Little Lady got a bit rowdy and I had to remove her from a session. I sat on the floor outside the conference
room and nursed her. Everyone who walked by either encouraged us or didn't even bat an eye that I was sitting on the floor with my boob out.

If you are breastfeeding: you must be comfortable nursing in public. The Lactation Lounge is rarely
completely empty and you won't have time to go up to your room every 3 hours or so. If you are a person who needs to be completely alone in a room to nurse, bringing a baby to BlogHer might not be for you.

If you bottle feed: you might need to be prepared to defend your decision. Formula feeding isn't exactly embraced in this environment. Little Lady was only getting one small bottle of formula as a supplement to take her medicine at night, but I was too scared to ever whip out that evil powder anywhere but the safety of our hotel room. I leave this up to your discretion, but please know that I have warned you that you might experience some pushback for formula feeding.

A mic wrangler wearing a baby

Did you attend the parties?
A few, but not many. I am a big nerd and I attend the conference to actually go to sessions and listen to the speakers. Many attendees go only to attend parties and socialize. There is nothing wrong with that, but if you are going to attend parties and socialize, you might have some challenges bringing your baby. Some of the parties are baby-friendly (I went to one sponsored by Eden's Fantasy in a hotel room that was a lot of fun and perfectly baby-friendly), but others are definitely not (i.e., very loud music and not much space). It might be difficult for you to tell ahead of time which you'll be able to attend. You don't want to be looking forward to a party only to realize last-minute that you'll have to cancel. That would also be a little unfair to the other attendees since most parties have long waitlists and other bloggers have been denied access due to size limitations.

I can almost assure you that the BlogHer-sponsored parties that occur right at the end of the conference day both days are baby-safe, and they don't go too late into the night because there are other parties starting after them. Plus, these end-of-day parties have free food! You'd almost definitely be safe going to those with your baby.

How did other attendees feel about the presence of a baby?
I cannot imagine a more baby-friendly conference than BlogHer. If your baby gets loud in a session, nobody even bats an eye. The only reason I left one of the sessions was because I was critical of the amount of noise I was making -- no one around me even cared. Several times when she got a little vocal during sessions, I had women who were complete strangers offer to take her and walk around the room. One time I actually did accept the offer, since my job was to be live-tweeting the session and the baby was causing issues for me doing my job. I exchanged several really sweet emails with the kind lady who helped me out after the conference ended.

The baby is also a great way to start conversations, since most bloggers have left children of their own at home or just enjoy seeing a cute, friendly baby. I was much more likely to start a conversation with strangers when I had my baby with me than I did the year before when I didn't.

Tips based on my personal experience:

Little Lady napping at BlogHer
with her sound machine giraffe

Babies who aren't active yet are the best age. My baby was right under 6 months, which was probably the maximum age I would bring either of my children into sessions, because they have both been extremely active after 6 months and refuse to sit still unless they are asleep. I understand that most kids are OK sitting still at older ages, and every child is different. If you've got an active (moving/crawling/walking) baby or toddler, there is on-site childcare that might be worth looking into so that you can actually attend sessions without the distraction of chasing them around.

If your baby sleeps while being worn, GREAT! That is probably the best scenario. I did wear my baby, but she has always hated being worn and won't sleep that way. There were a lot of other bloggers wearing their babies.

If your baby sleeps best in the infant carrier (car seat), bring a stand for that and use that as your main stroller for the conference. That way, the baby can nap during sessions. The conference area should be handicap accessible, which also means "stroller friendly".

If your baby loves sounds machines like both of mine have, bringing a portable sound machine is a great idea. I love the Cloud B giraffe (in the picture, right) that attaches to a stroller or car seat. It helped to soothe my baby to sleep in crowded conference areas.

Realize you may miss some sessions or lunches or other events. Sometimes the little ones just get overwhelmed and need down time in the hotel room. I found it was better to give her some quiet down time rather than push through with a fussy, upset baby and a stressed mama. If you have a sponsor, make sure they know there is a possibility that you might miss a few things and make sure that they are OK with that.

All the usual tips about flying with a baby: nursing during takeoff/landing, bringing plenty of toys for them. A personal plug for my own products: one of the ladies in my local green living discussion group suggested using Peace and Calming essential oil blend on the babies' feet helps them be more mellow on the plane. I don't know that for sure because I haven't tried it, but I do love that oil blend. I use it on my son at night (he's 2 years old & has trouble calming down for sleep). I would also recommend Lavendar as an alternative.

Accept help, if you are comfortable doing so. When someone offers to hold the baby while you eat a meal, or help soothe in a session, let them! Of course, this depends on the age of the child and whether you are concerned about germs, etc. My baby was 6 months old, so I wasn't too worried but there were also a few babies less than a month old, which is obviously a different story.

Have fun! Don't worry about how cute the baby looks or whether the baby is behaving. Make sure he/she is happy and comfortable, and then enjoy the time together!

Overall, I had a great experience. I must add that it was also extremely exhausting. I am really looking forward to BlogHer 2012, if I do indeed get to attend, because I will not have either of my children with me and I won't be pregnant (as I was in 2010). I'm looking forward to having a few drinks and going to more parties this year. If you're going, let me know! Let's meet up!

Have you attended a conference with your baby? Do you have any tips to add?

Essential Oils: why are they so expensive?

noreply@blogger.com (Jenny Bradford) — Mon, 13 Feb 2012 15:30:00 +0000

A field of Young Living melissa plants.
Melissa is the most expensive essential oil sold by Young Living.
I have no idea what it does. I hope it's not something I ever need! Gah!

If you have ever considered using essential oils for your health, for your home, or for aromatherapy, you might have a little bit of sticker shock. I know I did. I was accustomed to buying tea tree oil at our local natural foods store at something like $10 for a small bottle. Before I was pregnant with my son, I was investigating the dangers of phthalates that are used in all chemical perfumes. Phthalates are endocrine disruptors, which is obviously especially risky for pregnancy and in infancy. Instead of using traditional perfumes on my body, I decided to add essential oils to unscented lotions from Whole Foods. One of the scents I particularly liked was Amber, but unfortunately a small bottle cost around $30, so I went with some of the less expensive oils such as orange, lemon, and gardenia. More recently, I heard that chamomile oil might be good for calming my son. When I went to Sprouts to buy some, I found it was $36 for 15 ml.

Now that I've joined Young Living and have access to their library of knowledge, I am starting to understand why essential oils can be so pricey, and why they are worth what they cost.

First, we have to consider how much plant matter it takes to produce true, pure essential oil.

Have you ever twisted a lemon or orange peel? The beads that pop up on the surface of the fruit's skin are the essential oils of that fruit. Now consider the leaves of tiny plants like Thyme or Lavender. How much oil can be produced by the leaves or flowers of those tiny plants? From the book Quick Reference Guide for Using Essential Oils by Connie and Alan Higley:

"Producing the purest of oils can be very costly because it may require several hundred pounds, or even several thousand pounds, of plant material to extract 1 pound of pure essential oil. For example, 1 pound of pure Melissa oil sells for $9,000-$15,000. Although this sounds quite expensive, one must realize that 3 tons of plant material are required to produce that single pounds of oil"

Then why are we able to buy much cheaper essential oils at stores like Walmart or Whole Foods?

The oils I've been buying at local food stores and cheaper prices probably are not therapeutic grade and are also pre-diluted with other carrier oils such as jojoba oil or almond oil.

"High pressure, high temperatures, rapid processing, and the use of chemical solvents are often employed during the distillation process so that a greater quantity of oil can be produced at a faster rate. These oils may smell just as good and cost much less, but they will lack most, if not all, of the chemical constituents necessary to produce the expected therapeutic results"

Why use therapeutic grade oils?

As I read more about essential oils, it does seem like the term "therapeutic grade" can be used loosely by a lot of different manufacturers to mean a lot of different things (like the label "natural" that's put on food).

My common-sense take on the label is: take a look at why you want to use the oils. If you want to use oils just to smell good, who cares if it's therapeutic grade? I think oils from Walmart or Whole Foods would be just fine for those uses.

But if you are using the oils internally (as in, you will ingest them), or as a compress, or for inhalation, or if you are using the oils to try and treat a specific health condition -- I think in those cases you probably want to make sure you are getting something that is therapeutic grade. And, in the case of ingestion, you'll need to make sure you're getting food-grade oil as well (obviously).

Why are the oils I buy at some stores diluted?

It sounds shady, but it can be practical. Even very pure, therapeutic grade oils need to be diluted with a carrier oil to keep their potency from burning the skin or other areas to which they might be applied (such as the tongue in the case of ingestion).

What's important to know is whether the oil you are using has already been diluted or not. If it's been diluted, for heaven's sake, don't go diluting it more! But if it's pure, you will need to seek instruction from the manufacturer on how much it should be diluted before use.

Of course, you can probably tell somewhat from the price, the brand, and where you are buying it whether the oil you're considering is therapeutic grade and whether it might have been diluted.

One more note on cost

As I've been starting to use my pure, therapeutic grade oils I've noticed that they are indeed MUCH more potent than any of the oils I had previously purchased. I could definitely see how they could have health benefits when used correctly. Also, I can see that it takes only a few drops of these oils, regardless of application method, to yield the benefits. So while I might be paying more, I have to use much less, and the purity makes the results much more effective.

To me, it seems like you get what you pay for, and that researching the purity of oils before purchasing is an important cost-saving measure.

I'm enjoying learning more about oils, please let me know what you think. Did you find this post helpful?

UPDATE: Food On The Table Meal Planning - FREE for life!

noreply@blogger.com (Jenny Bradford) — Sun, 12 Feb 2012 17:30:00 +0000

I have been loving my Food On The Table meal planning system lately, especially the iPhone app! So far out of 5 recipes, only one wasn't fabulous and that was my fault because I messed it up (doh). 2 of the 5 even had my husband saying I should make them again sometime - very rare!

I have great news for those of you who have not signed up yet - during the month of February you can get the unlimited recipes plan FREE for LIFE! As in, you get the Premium Plan with unlimited recipes and you don't have to pay, ever!

Here's how: you have to use this link to sign up and use the code "FEBFREE" when prompted.

A note from Food On The Table: Since it's a promo code, you may still get encouraged to upgrade, but you don't have to because you used the promo code.

So, just be aware of that.

I am so jealous of all of you who are signing up for the first time! Since this offer is only available to NEW users, I actually can't use it myself. Bummer.

Don't forget to pass this on to your friends!

Bentos: Daddy-made & Valentine's

noreply@blogger.com (Jenny Bradford) — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 15:30:00 +0000

Last week I was feeling sick, so Christian volunteered to make Little Sir's bento for Mother's Day Out. He did a great job (better than I do sometimes!):

To see all the details in the notes, be sure to click on the picture and you can hover over each item. The roll is a roll of sticky rice (Little Sir LOVES sticky rice!) wrapped in nori (LOVES nori!). Sort of like a sushi roll without the sushi! You can't see very well, but under the star shaped cheese is a fruit strip with a heart cutout, and under the fruit strip is pineapple chunks. He also gets a cookie with Daddy. Mommy never includes cookies!

I made the bento again this week, and tried to incorporate a Valentine's theme since they'll be having their Valentine's party today. It doesn't have as much food as usual since their party will include lots of food.

It includes raisins, mangoes, heart-shaped cornbread, pickles, and freeze-dried peas. For some reason, both kids are currently obsessed with freeze-dried peas! Too bad they are so expensive. But I'm glad they're eating peas nevertheless!

Writing prompt: Something students these days should know.

noreply@blogger.com (Jenny Bradford) — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 23:07:00 +0000

I do not know any students. All the children that I know are under 5 years old. Most of them cannot actually speak understandably yet. Kind of like teenagers, I guess.

What do kids in high school and junior high even do or think these days? I have no idea but let me guess.

They think about love interests. They think about their own clothing and other peoples' clothing. They learn things but they also learn how to socialize around learning things. The things they learn aren't usually academic. They have packs and cliques and there are social strata which will shift around but ultimately solidify in the next 10-15 years.

Do you think I am right? Or was that just my own experience?

Quitting "no poo"

noreply@blogger.com (Jenny Bradford) — Sun, 05 Feb 2012 15:30:00 +0000

photo by takot on Flickr

I haven't washed my hair since Christmas, and it's the beginning of February. Most of January was actually pretty good, with my routine of Aveda oil/tea tree oil and apple cider vinegar rinse. Baking soda a few times a week.

But now. My hair is consistently greasy and limp, no volume at all. At the same time, it's frizzy and mostly composed of flyaways. The hair itself doesn't feel dry, but my scalp issues (for which I've used medicated shampoos most of my life) have come back with a vengance, and much worse. Several times, I've had small sores or scabs on my scalp - GROSS! In addition, it takes more than twice as long to blow dry my hair. I rarely ever get it completely dry because I do not have 20 minutes to spend with my hair dryer while 2 kids wait for breakfast.

When I read about "no poo", the successful users say their hair immediately got much softer and easier to manage, or that their natural curl came out and started to look amazing. Most report not having to use hair products at all anymore. I was really hoping for this.

The tenet of "no poo" is that your scalp will regulate itself without assistance from chemicals. This is probably true for most peoples' scalps. It seems that mine might be an unusual case. I don't know what the situation with the sores on my scalp is, but apparently it can't regulate itself.

So, after 41 days of "no poo", I went back to good ol' Head And Shoulders original formula. It used to get acceptable scores on the EWG database, until suddenly one day they changed their rating. After one use of shampoo, my hair instantly got smoother, my scalp calmed down (still waiting for the sores to heal), and I was able to dry it in much less time.

I think my conclusion is similar to Calley's, over at The Eco Chic - "no poo" is not for me, but it has taught me that I can probably go longer without shampooing than I thought I could. And, like Calley, I'll also be on the lookout for a good scalp treatment shampoo. I'll keep you posted!

Fave baby/toddler item: Beaba BabyCook

noreply@blogger.com (Jenny Bradford) — Sat, 04 Feb 2012 17:30:00 +0000

There is one item that I have used pretty much nonstop since my son was around 6 months old: my Beaba BabyCook. I still use it regularly even now that my daughter (my youngest) is almost a year old. The Beaba has been around for a while, and now there are several lower-cost alternatives made by other brands such as Baby Brezza, the Baby Bullet, and The First Years BabyPro. Those could be just as good, I've just never tried them.

At first you might think these doo-hickeys are expensive. It's true that they're not cheap. And theoretically, yes, you could steam and puree baby food with just your regular pots and pans. That would be cheaper. But the beauty of one of these baby food systems is that you don't have to use 5 different pots and pans! There is just one receptacle to clean for the steaming and the pureeing.

Since my sink is constantly full of baby bottles and sippy cups waiting to be washed, I don't have room for a giant steamer, a strainer, and all the pieces of a food processor. With the Beaba, I only have one thing to wash. WORTH IT.

Do keep in mind that, in contrast to using a full-size steamer, a strainer, and a food processor, these enclosed systems often offer the ability to catch the steamed water and use it to add back into the food during the puree process, which ensures that you don't lose the foods' natural vitamins and minerals.

When it comes to pureeing, I have also noticed a difference between my Cuisinart food processor and the Beaba. For some reason, a regular food processor does not seem to puree as finely as the Beaba does. In fact, for some recipes that call for pureeing, I have actually used my Beaba instead of my regular food processor.

Once your baby grows out of the puree stage, the Beaba still remains useful. Both my kids got to the point at around 9-10 months old where they refused purees and would only eat finger foods. Also, they didn't have any teeth to speak of. At that point, I just popped various fruits and veggies into the Beaba basket to steam and cut into bite-size chunks. Apples, pears, sweet potatoes, squash... anything that we had around the house went into the Beaba and was ready to serve in about 20 minutes.

Quick tip: if you're steaming fruits or veggies last-minute for a hungry baby because you just realized there is no food for them in the house otherwise (not that I have ever done this...), you can take a small amount of tiny bit-size pieces right out of the steamer basket and pop them into the freezer for 5 minutes. Instantly cool enough to eat!

As the kids get older and pickier about foods, I am now using the Beaba to steam and puree veggies to hide inside other foods. Yes, I know I said I would never do that. But you can hide a ton of foods inside mac n' cheese. And don't forget my lentil carrot spice muffins (for which I also used the Beaba).

So, despite both my kids slowly approaching toddlerhood, I am still loving on my Beaba. I highly recommend it!

Related post: Greening your Baby

NOTE: Links are affiliate links, but I was not paid or given any product for this review. Noooo, I paid for that Beaba myself even though it was NOT cheap. I think it was worth every penny!

Check me out on CottonBabies' blog!

noreply@blogger.com (Jenny Bradford) — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 02:06:00 +0000

Unfortunately, I have acquired some kind of awesome stomach bug that comes with a fever and constantly feeling like I'm going to yarf but never actually yarfing. It's almost exactly like being pregnant! Except I can assure you that I am not. The toddler and the almost-1-year-old that beat me on the head all day yelling "Mommy! Mommy! Mommy!" when I laid down have reminded me how thankful I am that is not the case right now.

In lieu of writing anything new here, I wanted to formally announce that I'll be writing occasionally for CottonBabies' blog over the next year or so! I am super excited about this! Today my first post was published: For The Love of Pockets. If you aren't familiar with CottonBabies, they are the creators of BumGenius cloth diapers, which comprise the majority of my stash. I order from their online store regularly for things like flushable liners and most recently, a Flip potty training pant for Little Sir.

I am only one of numerous contributors to this blog, and the topics are pretty precise. It's kind of first-come, first-serve whether you get to attempt to write on a topic or not, so I can't guarantee when or how often I'll be able to write in the future. But I hope I can! I am a big fan of the company and the direction they'll be going with this blog, so be sure to subscribe.

And, if you're one of those natural remedy gurus - any suggestions on getting rid of the stomach bug ASAP?!

It's my problem-free philosophy

noreply@blogger.com (Jenny Bradford) — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 22:40:00 +0000

How to build blog traffic conscientiously without too many advertise-y promotions and without supporting companies who I do not believe to be socially responsible? It's been a challenge and a conundrum. What I need are better "numbers". Without these magical scores of readers, I supposedly cannot approach advertisers. Google AdWords won't even respond to my request to be an affiliate.

I've been around in the blogosphere long enough to know what makes the numbers soar: controversy. The Mommy Wars. Saying something inflammatory about breastfeeding, formula feeding, staying-at-home or working moms, spanking or not spanking, raising religious or non-religious kids, or making some kind of highly opinionated political statement.

I hate that stuff. I hate reading it and I refuse to respond to it. Sometimes I feel like a moron for not participating in something that would probably help my writing career, but let me explain.

We're not all coming from the same place.
Not all of us believe the same basic tenets. I believe in God and the Bible, but not everyone does. Why would I expect an atheist to follow the philosophies in my literature of faith? Some of us have personal faith in God, some of us do not. Some of us are politically liberal, and some are conservative. Some of us have kids and some don't. Some have more money than others. All of us were raised in different ways in our families of origin, and in hugely different geographical and social contexts. This means we are not looking through any issue through the same lens. So when we blast out a blanket statement detailing exactly what someone else should or should not believe, feel, or do -- we aren't even coming from the same place.

We don't all have the same kids.
And, like I said, we don't even all have children. Yet we all think we can weigh in on discipline, breastfeeding, or how someone else's kids should be educated? You don't feed your child dairy or gluten - great! But my child refuses to eat meat of any kind, so we have to use dairy and gluten to get some food into him. Your child loves co-sleeping so you feel like it's the answer to all our sleep problems, but both my kids HATE sleeping with anyone else in the room. Different kids, different solutions. Pointless to argue.

We can't use our faith to dictate others' behaviors.
While I'm at it, even those of us within the same faith are caught up in foolish arguments about things that don't matter. I am talking to you, Christians who flame each other on discussion boards. Just this week, I was reading 2 Timothy where Paul admonished Timothy three separate times not to get involved in foolish arguments with others of the same faith. Since the Bible is my literature of faith, I'm going to take that as permission (and even justification) for not getting involved in some of these ridiculous Mommy wars online.

Obviously, I am not discouraging open and honest discussion. I love it when I post a problem I'm having with my kids and I get a bunch of wildly different suggestions from my readers and friends. It's eye-opening and helpful. I think that is an example of how we should be using our online platforms. We should be supporting each other, offering helpful advice, shining a light on things that need to be changed in our society, but taking ourselves a little less seriously. If I don't take your suggestion in raising my children or I don't agree with your political opinion, that's OK. It doesn't mean I think your opinions are dumb. It doesn't mean we need to get in a huge Facebook argument.

That's my rant about... ranting. So where are we in relation to my blog? Well, I guess we're probably the same place we've always been. I won't be blasting out some kind of controversy for my 5 minutes of internet fame. We'll just keep plugging along together, learning about living more conscientiously. Are you with me?

Neti Pot Safety

noreply@blogger.com (Jenny Bradford) — Sat, 28 Jan 2012 15:30:00 +0000

If you've followed this blog long, you know I'm a huge fan of the neti pot for daily allergy prevention. I use my neti pot every night! I also wrote a post about how to use the neti pot - it should never burn or sting or inhibit your natural breathing as the water passes through.

There is one aspect of neti pot usage that I knew I should have been be doing, but basically I just didn't want to. Supposedly, only distilled or boiled water should be used in your neti pot to avoid introducing germs from the public water supply into your nasal passages.

But you see, I like my neti pot water warm. Ideally, body temperature. Which can only come from the tap. So I was ignoring what I knew I should be doing.

Then I started to see the stories about several deaths in Louisiana related to neti pot usage. I ignored that for a while thinking surely there were extenuating circumstances, but then an article about the neti pot deaths showed up in the Huffington Post. Well, I actually read that one.

Now I'm here to tell you: please boil your neti pot water or buy distilled water for use in your neti pot.

I have started doing it - I keep the neti pot water in a carafe beside our sink. It's room temperature, so it doesn't feel as nice as the warm tap water did. I kind of hate it, actually. But I guess it has to be done.

This is your public service announcement: if I can do it, you can too!

7 Quick Takes Friday #33

noreply@blogger.com (Jenny Bradford) — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 15:03:00 +0000

--- 1 ---

No poo update: Irritatingly, my dry scalp flared up again early this week and I was *thisclose* to going back to shampoo just to use medicated shampoo on it. Instead, I decided to massage tea tree oil into my scalp before bed and let it sit overnight then wash it with just water and the apple cider vinegar rinse in the morning. Much better! I used tea tree oil a few more times instead of the Aveda oil this week to continue to work on the scalp issue. I think I'll do that a few times week to ward it off. Still haven't used shampoo since Christmas!

--- 2 ---

This week's successful Pinterest find: more natural cold prevention! I've had a bit of a runny/stuffy nose since we returned from a trip to a friend's lake house this weekend and I tried this simple mixture of honey and cinnamon.

Source: healthhomehappy.com via Jenny on Pinterest

Not sure if this alone was responsible for me not getting sick, but so far I haven't got any worse! Plus: YUM!

--- 3---

You might remember that I'm testing out a new meal planning system, Food on the Table. So far I've made one of the recipes this week and it was really yummy!

I have a crockpot meal planned for one day this weekend. If you're interested, you can sign up for free any time. The Premium version costs around $5/month. I think after trying it for another week I might sign up for it!

--- 4 ---

I found the most adorable little girls' boutique here in Richardson, Little Lam Boutique. Got some really cute presents for some upcoming little girls' birthdays and Sip N See's!

--- 5 ---

But then I messed up big time and let the sweet owner talk me into spending way too much on my own little girl. In my defense, I've never actually shopped for her and never really bought her new clothes - we rely almost exclusively on hand-me-downs, which I love! So when I was surrounded by super cute new stuff I got really confused about how much I should be paying. $70 is too much to spend on a dress for an 11 month old, Jenny. I think we can all agree on that. MY dresses don't usually even cost that much.

So I will be re-selling at least one of the purchases on Craigslist or Ebay, New With Tags, since the sale stipulated I can't return them. Here's the one I think I'm going to part with:

It's a Giggle Moon brand Abby Gigi outfit set with matching bow. I'll sell it for $55. If you know anyone who is interested, pass this info on to them! I'll mail it and take PayPal!

--- 6 ---

After I spent all that money, I saved some serious money by buying Valentine-themed decorations and cupcake trimmings at Walmart for Little Lady's birthday!

--- 7 ---

I am currently interested in essential oils and thinking of signing up with a company that sells them just so I can take advantage of their educational information on how to use the oils most effectively. Would you readers be interested in hearing about what I learn?

~~~

Well that's all for this week, be sure to visit Conversion Diary for links to more 7 Quick Takes Fridays.

WAHM to SAHM

noreply@blogger.com (Jenny Bradford) — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 14:30:00 +0000

As of right now, I'm officially a Stay At Home Mom, not a Work At Home Mom. I have tried to be careful how much I mention about losing my part time social media job. I know I wasn't able to work enough hours to make my employment worth the company's time. It turns out that since my children don't sleep simultaneously more than an hour or so each day/night, and the company wasn't paying me enough to hire a sitter or pay for additional days of Mother's Day Out, I was only able to work around 6-7 hours each week. I'm sure it wasn't worth their administrative costs to retain me. I do feel like I did the best I could while working for them and the parting was not performance related, so that's good.

We definitely miss the income, and haven't figured out how to replace it yet. In another way, I was relieved to have the obligation lifted. It was just another form of Mommy guilt. When I was playing with my kids I'd realize I hadn't checked our clients' Twitter or Facebook all day and I'd have to be on the iPhone checking. The kids would get jealous of the iPhone or the laptop and try to take it from me or throw their bodies in front of it. I'd feel guilty because they were completely justified in their action and I'd rather be playing with them anyway! So I'd play with my kids but feel guilty that I was being a bad employee.

Going from checking multiple social networks and email accounts constantly to just my own personal account has been a little weird. At first I found myself checking my personal accounts just as frequently as I used to check our clients'. Unfortunately, my own personal network can get a little slow (cause, uh, we're all moms!), and oftentimes there was nothing to see when I was refreshing EVERY 10 MINUTES. Then I went through a period where I kind of didn't check anything for a while and got totally out of the loop. Thank goodness I don't have to monitor my Klout anymore, because I am sure it took a hit.

Somehow I also started dropping the ball on other things like making dinner, planning meals, and blogging. I guess my carefully constructed schedule is off. I think what happened is that I started to assume that I would have more time than I actually do, and I wasted those precious extra hours on things that should have been much lower priority. Where do those mysterious hours go, SAHM's?

Do any of you SAHM's have suggestions for me? Would love to hear them!

Review of Food On The Table

noreply@blogger.com (Jenny Bradford) — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 21:35:00 +0000

I'll be writing more later this week about my transition from Work-At-Home-Mom to Stay-At-Home-Mom after losing my part-time job, but suffice it to say that for some reason this change has thrown me off a bit. You'd think that having more time when the kids are napping or playing would mean that I get more blogging done, but the reverse has been true!

I feel like I'm really not organized when it comes to planning the household chores. OK, I don't plan at all, really. One thing I've been the most terrible at since having my second child (uh, 11 months ago) is meal planning. I did a post on how I've done my meal planning in the past. You might have noticed it was fairly labor-intensive. I have enjoyed E-Mealz in many ways and I've got some really good recipes from that site. However, they seem to focus mainly on Mexican food, salads, and white sauces for vegetarians. I like Mexican food as much as the next person, but vegetarians DO eat things other than Mexican, E-Mealz! And no one in my house will eat white sauce or salad of any kind except me. It also seemed that most of their recipes were actually meat recipes with fake-meat substitutes thrown in. Have you ever tasted fake meat products? They are disgusting. So we had to avoid most of those recipes too. Ultimately, I could only use about 1-2 recipes from each 5-day meal plan.

Through the new ad network I've signed up with, I have just learned about Food on the Table, another meal-planning program that also has a corresponding iPhone app. I think this might be what I am missing! Having a dedicated app saves me several steps in my previous process in migrating the meal plan to my iPhone so I can take the shopping list to the store.

I tried Food on the Table this week and here are the pros and cons:

Pros:

When they say it's a 60-second signup, they're not kidding!
The limited version of the service is free (I was paying $5/month for E-Mealz). To get access to more recipes, you can pay to upgrade to Premium which is $5/month for the first 3 months and $9.95/month for the future. Less if you pay quarterly or for a whole year.
Online or iPhone app interface is convenient
When you select the stores you shop at, it automatically finds the sales and you can pick recipes based on the items on sale at the store you are going to!
You can restrict recipes by prep time, by what kind of meat or Meatless
You can add additional non-menu items to the grocery list in the iPhone app. It even has a voice recognition option so you can add items without typing. When I spoke "organic milk" it not only added it correctly, and in the correct category on the list, but also suggested the item was on sale at the Tom Thumb I selected as my favorite store. OMG LOVE!!

Cons:

Side items are chosen separately from the main dish so it's up to you to figure out how to pair things. This is actually just fine with me, because I rarely used the side item recommendations with E-Mealz. (side note: vegetarians don't eat coleslaw for side-dishes at every meal, E-Mealz)

Yet to see whether the recipes this system provides are any good taste-wise. I will be making two of them this week and I'll let you know! So far I am in love with it and I am seriously considering purchasing the Premium version.

NOTE: As an ad network affiliate, I get something like $1 if you actually buy the Premium version by clicking one of my links.

Green living: swapping kids' clothes

noreply@blogger.com (Jenny Bradford) — Sat, 21 Jan 2012 15:30:00 +0000

You might remember that one of my 2012 To Do's was to move toward monetizing this blog. Of course, this can't happen without advertisers. I'd like to point you today toward an excellent service that several of my friends have tried and recommended to me, and who just happen to be advertising through one of the networks I've recently discovered! Please note that I do get something like $1 if you choose to use this service for your own family through my link. However, I would not feature any service on this blog that I do not feel that I could conscientiously recommend. Thanks for your support!

thredUP - Kids Clothing Swap

The thredUP community - where moms swap kids clothes and toys. It’s easier than ever to hand-down outgrown children’s items and earn cashback. Use FREE USPS boxes or Concierge bags to de-clutter without leaving the house. Earn up to $10 for each great box you sell and up to $20 for each bag you stuff and return to us. Pick new boxes that start at just $9 and come full of great kids stuff. The average thredUP box has more than 15 items. It’s the best kids clothing deal anywhere!

How does it work?

Gather all the clothing or books your child no longer reads, and list them by the boxful on thredUP.
Sign-up for free and thredUP will send you complimentary empty USPS boxes (if you don’t want to wait, go grab them for free at your local post office).
When another mom picks your box, thredUP lets you know. thredUP generates the shipping label and scheduldes home pick-up, so you can send without leaving the house.

Green take: reuse

It’s even easier than Goodwill and you’ll send your family’s once loved clothing and books directly to another child who wants them, and you'll earn credits for boxes of gently used items that will be sent directly to you in the sizes and gender you specify.

What I've heard: several of my mom friends have done this and been very happy with the amount of clothing they get in exchange for sending theirs in. One mom said the box she received was "packed completely full" and that she was surprised how many clothes fit into it!

Sign up today!

Barnes & Noble: I'm sorry your Nook sucks, I still love you!

noreply@blogger.com (Jenny Bradford) — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 19:54:00 +0000

Lately I've found myself at Barnes &' Noble a lot. For one thing, it's the closest, least crowded place with fast, free Wifi near my house. Plus, they don't seem to mind if I bring my own coffee into their store. I've found myself there on most of my Mother's Day Out days when I need to do some focused writing.

They also have a great kids' area. Yesterday when I forgot it was a state holiday, we couldn't go to the library so we headed to Barnes &' Noble where Little Sir played with their Thomas the Tank Engine train table for at least 20 minutes straight (which is a record for him).

This past weekend, Christian and I were blessed with an overnight date night getaway by my parents, who came into town to stay with the kids. After we had an early sushi dinner, we found ourselves at Barnes &' Noble looking at books and reading things to each other. We used to love to do this while we were dating.

While we were there, I got to try out several of the demo Nook reader options. I have a Kindle and Christian has an iPad, so I guess I expected the Nooks to work similarly. At least, that's what I thought I'd heard.

Boy, was I disappointed! From what I could gather without the help of anyone at the store (the first time there was no one around and the second time there was an employee there who made it clear that she had no idea how these things worked, and couldn't actually make a sale either, even though another customer was trying to buy one. I guess that employee was just required to stand beside the Nooks?), there appear to be three levels of Nook: the SimpleTouch, the Color, and the Tablet. I could not tell the difference between the Color and the Tablet by playing with them. Apparently the difference is the memory and the additional capabilities of the Tablet.

The touchscreen response of the Nook Color and Tablet both seemed seriously under par in comparison to iPad and iPhones. Half the time, no matter how hard you tapped on something, the screen didn't respond or it responded by overcompensating. Christian and I both tested this poor response on multiple demos by attempting to play the Ms PacMan game that came on the machine. It was literally impossible to play the game with such a poor touch response.

In all 3 of the models, the usability of the menu navigation was terrible. At least with the SimpleTouch, the navigation was a lot like the Kindle so I was able to figure out how to least read a book. But with the Color and the Tablet, I never could figure out how to close an app that I was using. There was no "X" inside the app and the "home" button only took you to different parts of the app itself, never to the home screen or a menu.

I would like to give you a more in-depth analysis of the Nook models but honestly, I gave up after about 10 minutes. If I have to spend more than 10 minutes figuring out how something works, or if it requires me to take a class or read a manual, that is not a well designed device. I'm afraid that owning Apple products has spoiled me in that regard. I know that easy-to-use, flexible products are possible so I am not willing to waste my time learning more confusing products.

If you have a Nook, feel free to defend it but for me, I'm happy with my Kindle, even if it is a 1st generation model.

And Barnes &' Noble: I still love you, despite your inability to create a good e-reader. I will see you again on Thursday!

7 Quick Takes Friday #32

noreply@blogger.com (Jenny Bradford) — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 17:30:00 +0000

--- 1 ---

Have I mentioned that we are addicted to Downton Abbey here at our house? When my husband and his brother (who stayed with us from Christmas to New Year's) first started watching a 19th-century period drama on PBS Masterpiece I made fun of them (nicely) because it seemed funny that two adult men were watching that genre nonstop. Then I started watching it and it sucked me in. It is amazing! I love how complex the characters are. The acting is fantastic and the storylines are compelling. I started following the #DowntonPBS hashtag and found this hilarious but true tweet:

--- 2 ---

I've been debating whether it is OK to share the information that I lost my part-time job on the internets, since my part time job was in social media. But there you go. No more part-time job. The company I was working for was bought by a larger company and in the expansion they aren't wanting to retain any part-time employees. I couldn't take on any more hours because I got paid so little that if I hired childcare for the times I would be working more, the babysitter would get paid more than I would make. No way am I paying someone to work! I already work here at home for free!

--- 3---

My parents are coming to watch the kids on Saturday night! I am so excited. We are going to pay all kinds of money for some really nice room where I will hopefully sleep more than 4 consecutive hours. I might also have a bath! Woo hoo! So exciting!

--- 4 ---

I am very much enjoying the space at the new house and so are the kids. Sometimes we don't even go somewhere during the day like we used to EVERY SINGLE DAY because there is room for them to run around and burn off their energy here upstairs, downstairs, and in the back yard.

--- 5 ---

This week BlogHer announced their Call For Volunteers and I applied, like, 5 minutes after it was announced. This is the only way I'm getting to BlogHer this year - if I can mic wrangle or be a reg desk or liveblogger volunteer. No way can I pay for it, and since my part-time job is gone, they won't be paying like they did last year, either. Now, who wants to be my roommate?!

--- 6 ---

Still poo-free and now my hair feels completely normal. It's soft and manageable again. Every morning I just look at it and determine if I need to use any Aveda oil or a tad of baking soda or just rinse with apple cider vinegar. That's all I ever use on it!

--- 7 ---

Seriously, only 4 people have taken my Facebook poll? Please let me know if this blog has influenced you in any way, as I continue to use the data to work on monetizing in an inconspicuous way!

~~~

Well that's all for this week, be sure to visit Conversion Diary for links to more 7 Quick Takes Fridays.

My fave kids natural cold remedies

noreply@blogger.com (Jenny Bradford) — Wed, 11 Jan 2012 15:30:00 +0000

So many of my mom friends have Tweeted and posted Facebook updates about sick kids lately! We had our share of it for sure, fortunately before Christmas. There are few things sadder than a snotty, sad baby.

I've been recommending a few of my favorite kids' natural cold prevention and healing remedies to friends and thought I'd share them here as well.

Elderberry syrup - there are lots of forms of elderberry, a friend gave me a syrup made with local honey and dried elderberries (which you can buy loose at a food market). There's a video online that shows you how to make syrup from dried elderberries. It's tastes really good so my toddler loves it. For the baby, since she cannot have honey yet, I bought some straight elderberry syrup online. Elderberry can work as a preventative and a cough treatment. I give it to the kids in the morning if I heard them cough overnight. You can give 1 tsp/hour if needed, but usually by the second teaspoon they're better!

Wish Garden's Kids Kick-It Immunity drops - I get this at our local health food store, but you can also get it at Sprouts or order it online. One of the main ingredients is elderflower as well, but it also contains echinacea and other herbs. The toddler gets two droppers and the baby gets half a dropper. I have put it into the toddler's sippy cup before when he refuses to take it. I give this to them during cold/flu season before they go to Mother's Day Out or hang out with a lot of other kids, to boost their immunity. I also think that it significantly reduced the amount of time they were sick last time.

Kid's Cold Care tea - I make this tea, refrigerate it to make it cold, and put it into the toddler's sippy cup. Theoretically, I could also put it into the baby's sippy but she doesn't drink anything but water at the moment. I usually give this only to treat a cold that is starting, not as a preventative. My toddler also likes this, he calls it "juice". I also buy this locally, it is at most health food stores such as Whole Paycheck and also Sprouts. I have seen it online in huge quantities as well.

Other bloggers' remedies:

Ashleigh of Thankfully Thrifty on natural cold remedies has a few others that I haven't tried yet but have heard a lot of good things about, like briar rose.
I have tried this homemade cough syrup recipe from Red and Honey and found it to be easy to make and not bad tasting. It really smells gross, but you can ignore that pretty easily.

Any that I have missed that you love?

No poo: color treated hair and hair cuts

noreply@blogger.com (Jenny Bradford) — Sun, 08 Jan 2012 17:30:00 +0000

I've been "no poo" (without shampoo) for over a week now! I've got some helpful new information for those of you who have asked questions, so I'm going to have to combine two topics in this post: getting a "no poo" haircut and "no poo" for color treated hair.

How do you do "no poo" when going to get your hair cut?
When I started this experiment, I knew that I'd need a haircut soon. It was almost enough to make me delay the whole thing. The friend who originally inspired me to try "no poo" tried convincing her regular hairstylist not to use 'poo at her last cut, but the stylist wouldn't do it. I've heard that others have had the same issue. Of course, a stylist makes a great markup on selling hair product, so they're going to be reluctant to skip the products. Based on my own experience and the experiences of others, plus a little "guessing", here are my suggestions on how to get a "no poo" hair cut.

Best case scenario: ask your stylist if you can arrive at the appointment "already shampooed". Then, of course, you'd only just wet your hair or use your baking soda/apple cider vinegar as you usually would when you shower, and go immediately to the appointment without drying or using any products. I think this would work best if you have an ongoing relationship with your stylist. I used to come "already shampooed" all the time when I was in college to save on the shampooing charge.
Tell them the truth about "no poo". I think this method would work best if you've been doing "no poo" for a long time (several months) and are satisfied with the results - you've got your mixtures set and everything is working great. That way your beautiful hair can speak for itself and you might not get much pushback. It's hard to argue with great hair!
Tell them you're doing a detox or an experiment. Since I was only 8 days into my "no poo" journey, I didn't have great hair to show off. My hair still looked and felt a little wonky so I had to admit what I was up to, but I didn't want them to try and talk me out of it before my experiment was completed. Letting them know that it might be only a short-term experiment helped them understand the condition of my hair was only temporary (I hope?). I actually told them about you guys (my readers) and said that I could not possibly use shampoo right now since so many people online were reading about this experiment!
Be prepared to compromise. My compromise was allowing them to use conditioner. So yes, I used conditioner one day, 8 days into the "no poo"! But, conditioner was only used on the ends of the hair, not the scalp, which is what should supposedly be regulating the oil production in my hair during the "no poo" experiment. Also, half the ends that were conditioned were then cut off!
Be open to their suggestions. My hair has been feeling much drier than everyone online reported at this point in their "no poo" journey. My stylist's advisor was able to suggest a few tweaks and a solution to this dryness that did not require shampoo. So even though you may get some pushback, and your stylist may be horrified by "no poo", keep listening! They have a great deal of knowledge to share!

Can I do "no poo" with color treated hair?
I am embarrassed to say that it did not even occur to me that my hair might react differently because I highlight it semi-regularly. I will say that my hair was much drier than everyone online said theirs was. Most people seemed to struggle with too much oil, but not me! I'd also noticed that when I blow dried my hair, it took much longer than usual. It used to take me 10 minutes or so to blow dry, but since I've been doing "no poo", I'd dry it for 15 minutes and still find wet spots.

I have the answers to these problems and hopefully some solutions, thanks to Brittany and Sue and the Aveda Institute of Dallas, where I get my hair cut. Brittany is the student who cuts my hair, and Sue was her advisor/teacher. Sue knew all kinds of things! These are the things she told me:

Problem: Color treated hair is more porous. Baking soda is a substance that makes things more porous. So you can imagine how fragile the baking soda can make color treated hair. This is also why it started taking so long to dry - my hair was just sucking up all the water and holding it in like a sponge.

Solution 1: If you have color treated hair, you don't want to use baking soda every day (like I was doing... oops!). Not even every-other-day. Probably more like once a week, at the most.

Solution 2: Keep up with the apple cider vinegar! Sue even suggested the ACV before she knew that was part of the "no poo" routine. So what I'm doing now is wetting my hair in the shower but only rinsing with the ACV. I haven't used baking soda at all since last week.

Solution 3: Use some kind of moisturizing oil on the scalp. Since I have a flaky scalp and the baking soda wasn't helping, Sue suggested that I massage Aveda's Balancing Infusion for Dry Skin into my scalp regularly. Because it's typically used on the face it doesn't block pores, and it won't lay heavily on top of hair to make it greasy. There are also a lot of other oils you could try, such as argan oil. I have also read about a lot of "no poo" folks using coconut oil, which is much cheaper, I'm sure. Whatever you use, just put a few drops in your palms and work it into your scalp before getting into the shower. I like to let the steam from the shower help the oil soak in for a while before rinsing with the apple cider vinegar.

So there you have it - my tweaked "no poo" routine for color-treated hair!
I started using the Balancing Infusion oil on my scalp and haven't used baking soda since last week. I rinse with apple cider vinegar at a ratio of 1/4 cup ACV to 1 cup water almost every day. I immediately saw an improvement in my hair. It's not nearly as dry!

How's your "no poo" going?

7 Quick Takes Friday #31

noreply@blogger.com (Jenny Bradford) — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 16:00:00 +0000

--- 1 ---

I was originally going to postpone today's 7 Quick Takes in lieu of a "no poo" update, but after going to Aveda Institute for a haircut yesterday I have more tweaking to do, and more findings to write about. There will be a full update either this weekend or Monday.

--- 2 ---

Yesterday I finally bought this laundry tote, and it is going to change my life.

It can hold 3 LOADS OF LAUNDRY at once, which is perfect for taking clean folded clothes up and down the stairs. I love Real Simple magazine and also this tote. If someone told me that magazine clubbed baby seals on the head to publish it, I would probably still buy it.

--- 3---

We recently discovered that we need a full size box spring for our guest bed but I refuse to pay $200 for just box springs. That seems ridiculous. I have been looking on Craigslist but we don't have a vehicle big enough to transport it if we found one. So there is nowhere that delivers used box springs for less than $200?! Maybe we should just buy a cheap platform bed instead.

Related: I would like to apologize to our recent houseguests who found themselves falling downward through our guest bed mattress in the middle of the night.

--- 4 ---

Possibly because I've been pregnant so much of the last few years, I keep forgetting about Happy Fun Week until it surprises me. This time I only had a few disposable pads in the house. When those were gone, I just never got to the store. I'm most of the way through using only organic tampons, the Softcup, and the cloth pads I got from Lunapads or made myself. I didn't realize I could do this without using any disposable pads! It does take some getting used to.

--- 5 ---

My in-laws gave me the Otterbox Defender iPhone case for Christmas. It promises to make my phone invincible. Which I need, considering I have dropped two previous phones in the toilet and the bathtub. This destruction has got to stop!

Unfortunately, the Otterbox makes the phone as bulky as a brick. I can no longer fit it in my jeans back pocket while I chase the kids around the house. For the first week I just set my phone nearby wherever I was, but I kept leaving it upstairs or downstairs and I'd hear it ring and not get there in time, or it just wasn't nearby when I needed to jot something down or look something up or text someone.

The Otterbox came with one of those "phone holsters". You know, the ones that clip onto your belt that the IT guys wear and look like complete geeks?

I am now wearing that holster. I have been wearing it all day. I look like a complete moron, but I can always find my phone.

--- 6 ---

Another thing we want to do: get some chickens. We found out recently that chickens are actually allowed in Richardson. We can put a bunch of chickens in our backyard. I cannot imagine what could go wrong with this idea!

--- 7 ---

I need to stop staying up so late, it makes getting up at our usual time horrible.

~~~

Well that's all for this week, be sure to visit Conversion Diary for links to more 7 Quick Takes Fridays.

Cloth diaper Thurs: Thirsties Duo

noreply@blogger.com (Jenny Bradford) — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 15:42:00 +0000

I started Cloth Diaper Thursday to review all the diapers I received at BlogHer 2011. The Thirsties Duo is the last diaper in this series!
~~~~
My daughter, Little Lady, has finally reached the weight she needs to be to help me test out the Thirsties Duo* I received from Kelly Wels at BlogHer 2011 last year! I was excited about this because the diaper is sooo pretty.

We have been having some issues with Little Lady leaking through ALL of our stash. I've been scouring cloth diaper sites and emailing friends, but all I can think is that right now her legs are so thin compare to her tubby tummy that I can't get most of our diapers' legs to close tightly enough to prevent side leaks.

We've had to resort to using only our snaps diapers, which hold the legs more tightly. The one exception: the Thirsties Duo! Because it has double leg gussets and extra elastic in the front under the tummy, it's one of the only velcro-closure diapers in our stash right now that doesn't leak. Bonus that it's one of the cutest, too!

The Thirsties Duo is unique because it is a pocket diaper that could also be used as a cover. Either stuff the pocket with an insert or... don't! You could just use a prefold and use the Duo as a cover.

One note about sizing: although this diaper comes with snaps that adjust the rise, it is also a sized diaper. Usually diapers with snapped rises are one-size, but the Thirsties Duo comes in two sizes. Size 1 is for 6-18 lbs and Size 2 is 18-40 lbs. I received a Size 2, which is why I had to wait until Little Lady was about 9 months old to start using it.

Pros:

Two sizes of diaper means your toddler won't outgrow the Size 2 diaper until potty training
Love the double leg gussets!
Inside of the diaper is super-soft cotton, not polyester like most of our pocket dipes
Comes in so many cute prints!
Adjustable rise
Extra elastic in the front of the diaper holds it flush to the baby's tummy even if the baby is tubby, like Little Lady
The pocket opens on both the front and back of the diaper, so the insert is certain to come out in the wash, meaning you won't have to touch it to pull it out before washing!
Can be used as a pocket diaper or a cover only

Cons:

The sizing does mean that you'd have to buy the diaper twice as your baby grows
Not sure how you would go about replacing the leg elastic if it gets worn

Overall, I have been very impressed with this diaper! I would love to have been able to use it earlier, but now I know we'll be using it until Little Lady is potty trained for sure. Thank you so much, Thirsties!

Rating: 5 out of 5

NOTE: I was given the Thirsties Duo for free at BlogHer 2011 by a blogger sponsored by Thirsties. All opinions are my own, I'm the one who has to clean up the poop, people!
* Links to Kelly's Closet are affiliate links. I get, like, 10 cents if you order from them. Oooo.

Please take my poll!

noreply@blogger.com (Jenny Bradford) — Tue, 03 Jan 2012 15:45:00 +0000

As part of #4 in my To Do List for 2012, I need to collect more information from my current regular readers. This one is easy, it's a Yes/No question on a poll on this blog's Facebook page! If you are on Facebook (I KNOW, some of you actually aren't! WHAT?!), all you have to do is click this link to my poll. I'll even give you a preview of the question:

Have you ever made a purchase or avoided a product based on recommendation/information from Conscientious Confusion blog?

Yes
No

Take the poll now

Thanks, readers!

To Do List 2012

noreply@blogger.com (Jenny Bradford) — Mon, 02 Jan 2012 22:09:00 +0000

Here it is, my To Do List for 2012
One day late, but since today is a holiday for most folks, it counts.

1. Eat better.
I always used to be such a healthy eater. Even moreso when I was pregnant with Little Sir. But during my pregnancy with Little Lady, I started to slip. I just craved sugar and carbs nonstop! After I gave birth, having to keep up with both kids has resulted in just grabbing whatever I can find that neither of the kids has finished. Very rarely do I have the opportunity to fix lunch for myself or remain seated during a meal that everyone else is eating. And since my meal planning has been in the toilet since we moved, what's there to grab is NOT healthy. I need to be consistent with healthy snacks.

To make this a little more measurable, I'll just say that I want to get back to eating at least 5-7 whole fruits and veggies per day.

2. Resume meal planning.
We save money and we eat more healthfully when I do my meal planning. I need to get back on this bandwagon. This one is pretty measurable too - I'm either doing it or I'm not.

3. Regular exercise.
I want to aim for 3 days a week. In my dream world, I would figure out how to attend classes at a yoga studio again. My second best would be to join the YMCA because I hear they have great childcare. But it costs $60/month to join the YMCA. There are a lot of workout-at-home options but my kids don't always nap at the same time and when they do, I have 1 hour of part-time work per day that I have to complete for pay. So this is going to take some figuring-out.

4. Attempt monetization of this blog
This item is a blog post in itself. I've talked to a few people about the possibility of joining an ad network or two. Unfortunately, there are just not enough of you sweet readers for me to make much income off of that. In fact, most networks won't even take someone with numbers as low as mine. Every time I go to BlogHer, my readership increases, but I don't think I'll be going this year since it's not paid for. We'll see. But I need to start aiming for income here.

"Attempt monetization" is not a very measurable goal, but let's just say I'll research and apply for some ad networks and work on ways that I could increase my readership. Such as participating in blogger link-ups.

5. Start potty learning with my son
Well this is self-explanatory. Don't worry, I won't blog too much about it. I have heard it is a special kind of hell that only lasts about a year. Just in time to start all over with my daughter. Whee!!

6. Decorate the kids' rooms
They are pretty nearly empty right now since they've never had this much space before. We're working on an almost-zero budget, so this has got to be creative. Thank goodness for Pinterest.

7. Plant a garden
I am so excited that we have the space to plant things this year. I might not be very good at this since I seem to have a black thumb when it comes to indoor plants, at least. But I want to try.

I've run out of inspiration or motivation, so we'll just stick with these 7 for now.
What are your "To Do's"? Are there any I've left off?

2011 Question Meme

noreply@blogger.com (Jenny Bradford) — Sun, 01 Jan 2012 15:00:00 +0000

Everybody's doing it: the year-in-review questionnaire!
Links to other bloggers who have inspired this post: A'Dell, Jennie, and Lauren.

1. What did you do in 2011 that you’d never done before?
Quit a full-time job without plans to find another full-time job.

2. Did you keep your new year’s resolutions, and will you make more for next year?
I did a post on my To Do List from 2011. I'm planning on organizing a To Do List for 2012 at some point.

3. Did anyone close to you give birth?
I did, Sandra, Olga, my friend Rebecca, and half LS's playgroup. Everyone is having second children. But I beat most of them too it with my children who are one day short of 16 months apart. Yay me.

4. Did anyone close to you die?
We weren't personally close, but Christian's paternal grandmother died the day that Little Lady was born. We were not able to travel to her funeral in Arkansas due to the birth of Little Lady. I am sad about that and I feel like it was my fault even though I was unable to control the fact that I went into labor.

Also our cat died, which is in no way similar to a grandparent dying but it was sad and I am sorry she was in so much pain and we did not know how to help her.

5. What countries did you visit?
With two children under the age of 2? Are you freaking kidding?

6. What would you like to have in 2012 that you lacked in 2011?
More sleep. Yes, that would be the most awesome thing ever.

7. What dates from 2011 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?
My daughter's birth. Cause you just don't go around forgetting unmedicated childbirth.

8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?
Keeping two children alive on my own during the day. I kind of think I should get some kind of prize for how much laundry I do as well.

9. What was your biggest failure?
Not realizing that our lease was unbreakable before we bought this house.

10. Did you suffer illness or injury?
Not really. I am thankful for that!

11. What was the best thing you bought?
A house.

12. Whose behavior merited celebration?
Our Secret Santas. Thank you.

13. Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed?
The highly-paid, giant children we call our political figures.

14. Where did most of your money go?
This house, our former landlord, and the new renter to get out of this lease.

15. What did you get really, really, really excited about?
Um? I don't get all that excited about things.

16. What song will always remind you of 2011?
Lady Gaga's "The Edge of Glory" because the ladies at BlogHer 2011 did a flash mob to it!

17. Compared to this time last year, are you:
a) Happier or sadder? Probably happier overall, striving to work on contentment.
b) Thinner or fatter? Thinner. But not on purpose. I need to gain muscle mass and lose the pooch.
c) Richer or poorer? Poorer. Oh dear, sooooo much poorer. But still happy, SO THERE!

18. What do you wish you’d done more of?
Sleep, work out, read. These are unrealistic wishes because my kids don't let me do any of these things. But still, I can wish!

19. What do you wish you’d done less of?
Freakin' laundry. But since we cloth diaper it's kind of a given, so I realize that is unrealistic.

20. How did you spend Christmas?
With my little family, here in our new house. Then we hosted both sides of our family and some extended family for post-Christmas get-togethers. At one point 10 adults and 3 kids ate here, and we had 3 adults and 1 child overnight. It was so awesome to be able to fit that many people comfortably in our house!

21. Did you fall in love in 2011?
With my new Little Lady!

22. What was your favorite TV program?
We started watching Parks and Recreation on NetFlix and we really love it! I think we like it more than Community now. We are fickle that way.

23. Do you hate anyone now that you didn’t hate this time last year?
I don't really hate people, it's not in my nature. I do get really annoyed at the behavior of certain people, but I don't take it personally. I got really annoyed at the landlord situation. There is one other person I have been annoyed with off and on, but if it goes further I will talk to that person directly.

24. What was the best book you read?
I haven't had the chance to read much but I did get to read Water For Elephants and I really enjoyed it. Also, Tina Fey's book Bossypants. That was the funniest book!

25. What was your greatest musical discovery?
That I no longer have the time or ability to listen to music. I only bought one album and I don't even think I listened to the whole thing. I listen to nothing but children's music in the car and I can't listen to music anywhere outside the car.

26. What did you want and get?
A peaceful birth and a place to live that has more room for the kids.

27. What did you want and not get?
I would have loved to have some dates with my husband without the kids this year, but babysitters are so expensive. Oh well. Maybe we will have a few in 2012.

28. What was your favorite film of this year?
I have only seen 2 movies in the theater since my children were born (babysitters being so expensive...) but we saw lots of things on NetFlix. I can't remember if there were any that were particularly great.

29. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?
I turned 33. I can't remember what we did, I was 9 months pregnant. I had Little Lady one week later.

30. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?
If I had been able to take care of myself more - had more than one pedicure, kept up with waxing, etc.

31. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2011?
1. Pregnant. Again.
2. Post-pregnant
3. Having lost too much weight so that nothing fits but too broke to buy new clothes.

32. What kept you sane?
Probably my husband and God, because it's definitely a fine line sometimes!

33. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?
I don't really follow celebrities and I definitely don't get crushes on them.

34. What political issue stirred you the most?
I was glad that Don't Ask Don't Tell was repealed, and also that we are out of Iraq. I really never thought we would end that war.

35. Who did you miss?
I guess I missed our cat somewhat.

36. Who was the best new person you met?
The two new families in our community group and a friend of a friend I met at a playdate.

37. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2011.
Money or lack of money does not provide security or take it away.

38. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year.
"Itsy bitsy spider climbed up the water spout.
Down came the rain and washed the spider out!
Out came the sun and dried up all the rain
and the itsy bitsy spider went up the spout again."
(see #25... this is Little Sir's favorite song besides "The Rainbow Connection")

Going "no poo"

noreply@blogger.com (Jenny Bradford) — Thu, 29 Dec 2011 21:22:00 +0000

I've been thinking about it for a while now: I am going to stop washing my hair with shampoo.

I have read a lot about the "no poo" method for hair, where you stop using traditional shampoo and conditioner and instead "wash" with baking soda and "condition" with apple cider vinegar (not white vinegar, as pictured above). As I read about it over the years, I saw a lot of people complain that it doesn't work unless you have fairly curly hair. Since my hair is pretty much stick straight, I had assumed it would not work for me.

Then my friend Rebecca (who is, like, my medicine woman!) tried it. She has hair that is straight, just like mine. Her hair looks great! You can't tell at all. She said that sometimes it takes up to 3 months for the hair to regulate, but that's OK with me. Her point is that we can always just start washing with shampoo again any time we feel like it.

So, I am on Day 2 of Not Shampooing My Hair! Day 1 (yesterday) I think I used too much baking soda and it got super crunchy in the back. Christian said it looked completely normal but the crunchiness drove me a little crazy. Today I used less baking soda and a ton of vinegar, and that seem to balance it out. It's much softer than Day 1, although still kinda crunchy-ish. I don't have any greasiness yet. My hair looks and smells normal.

I'll keep you updated on the progress!

Looking back on 2011 To Do List

noreply@blogger.com (Jenny Bradford) — Mon, 26 Dec 2011 15:30:00 +0000

Thanks to Jennie at She Likes Purple, you might remember that I made a 2011 To Do List in lieu of resolutions. Frankly, I forgotten about most of it until I saw her post on how hers faired.
Let's see how I did on my list this year:

2011 To Do List

Complete redesign of this blog (already in the works), including logo and business cards. I am basing the design on the work of an awesome sculptor who has graciously given me his permission to use his work as inspiration for a graphic designer to build on. I can't wait for you all to see it! Not sure yet if I'll have to convert to Wordpress DONE! Did not convert to WordPress. I love what my husband did!
Get all the cross-stitch pieces people have given me re-framed into corresponding/compatible frames that also mesh with our modern-ish decor, giving them the ability to be displayed in main rooms of the house rather than stored away somewhere. Um, nope. Still have not done this. 2012?
Rebuild my wardrobe once I return to my pre-pregnancy size. I've been pregnant or post-pregnant for over 2 years straight now, so I own hardly any non-maternity clothing - and what I have is 2 years behind. Time to start from scratch! No again. We kind of ran out of money, what with going to one income and buying a house.
Keep growing out my hair. ~~Nobody let me cut it all off again, I don't care what I say!!! What was I thinking?? It's pretty long by now!~~ Not wanting to cut it off - Little Lady loves to play with it!
Continue blog posting and Twittering regularly, despite whatever life changes we are going through. Long silences are bad for traffic! Plus, having this non-mommy blog forces me to think about non-mommy things when the mommy-ing gets overwhelming. I think I have done pretty well, especially NaBloPoMo!
Keep myself open to alternative part-time career opportunities that do NOT involve sales. ~~Maybe social media? Maybe an off-shoot of something blogging related? I am open to ideas and suggestions!~~ Well, I did get a part-time social media job this year. Not sure how good of a fit it is for me right now, but it works. Will have a to-do related to blogging in 2012.
Consider entering into sponsorship partnerships with companies I love, to further the blogging thing. I don't know much about this stuff. I am not promising anything. Um, no. I am still to chicken to do this. My numbers are so low that I am embarrassed to share them with advertisers for fear of being laughed at.
~~Figure out how to babyproof our cabinets which have no handles.~~ Did that and then moved.
Turn all my blog posts on the family blog from 2009 and 2010 into physical books using Blog2Print.com - this is the only way our family will ever own a "scrapbook" and it's so much easier because I've already done the work! Did it! Love my books! Will be doing a 2011 book too!

So, that's where last year stands. Stay tuned for next year's "To Do" list!
What's yours?