Healthy Home Tips

Since my fun with the Healthy Baby Home Party is over, I'll share some of the tips we discovered at my party for all my blog guests!

• If you don't use cloth diapers, choose disposable diapers that are free of any whitening chemicals, synthetic fragrances or latex, and that are hypoallergenic, like Seventh Generation Free & Clear diapers.  When you choose products that are free from bleaching, you are helping to reduce the amount of toxins released into the environment and can help make the world a healthier place for your baby and future generations.
• According to a study at the University of Washington, it is possible to immediately and dramatically reduce the pesticide content in your child's body by switching to organic foods.  So when you can, go organic!  (Source:  Lu, C. et al.  "Organic diets significantly lower children's dietary exposure to organophosphorus pesticides."  Environmental Health Perspectives Vol. 114, No. 2:260-263.  2006.)
• Instead of using room fresheners that contain synthetic chemicals, make your house smell fresh and clean by placing orange or lemon slices, cloves, or any other herb in boiling water on the stove.  Baking soda also helps mask pesky odors!
• Household dust is laced with chemicals, and floors are a major exposure source for babies and toddlers.  Vacuum at least twice a week with a HEPA filter, and use plain water to mop up dust and allergens that vacuuming leaves behind.  Also, use a cleaner with natural essential oils for scent, or one that is free of fragrances and dyes, like Seventh Generation's "Free and Clear" products.
• Choose foods and beverages that do not contain artificial coloring or dyes (anything identified as FD&C on a label).  Artificial food colors have been linker to allergies, asthma, hyperactivity and even cancer.  Also, be wary of labels that claim "no added preservatives."  These products can still contain ingredients that were already used to preserve prior to inclusion in the final product.
• Never heat plastic in the microwave or reuse plastics that have been left in warm areas.  Most plastics have been shown to leach chemicals into food, and heat promotes it.
• Houseplants don't just brighten your home--indoor plants also help absorb impurities in the air.  In several studies, certain plants have been shown to reduce harmful VOCs like formaldehyde and xylene.  Some of the best plants for purifying air include orchids, ferns, peace lilies, philodendrons, pothos, anthuriums and palms.
• When purchasing produce, go organic!  Focus on swapping out "The Dirty Dozen"--foods that contain the most pesticide residue. These include apples, celery, sweet bell peppers, peaches, strawberries, nectarines (imported), lettuce, grapes, spinach, cucumbers, blueberries (domestic) and potatoes.  Wash all fruit and veggies with a mild soap and water before eating or use a food wash.
• Consider asking guests to remove their shoes before entering your home or place welcome mats around doors to encourage them to wipe their shoes. (Make sure to clean mats regularly!) Rough 70% of household dust, pests, pollutants and dirt (which often contains lead and chemicals) are tracked indoors on the bottom of shoes.
• When purchasing blankets or bedding for your baby, aim for certified organic and/or natural fibers that are lighter in color (less harsh dying) and avoid those marked as "permanent press," "easy care" or "no iron," which can contain formaldehyde.
• When you use soap, choose the mildest soap possible--one without synthetic fragrances or antibacterial chemicals.  Triclosan, an ingredient commonly found in antibacterial products, has been linked to negative environmental and health impacts.  Skin is a semi-permeable membrane and is the largest organ of the body, so be considerate of what you put on it.
• Use a stainless steel water bottle, or a self-filtering water bottle system like bobble's, to keep you and your baby hydrated on the go.
• Before sleeping on a new mattress, remove the plastic and lean the mattress against a wall in a well-ventilated room until the "new smell" dissipates.  The chemicals you smell when opening a new plastic toy or shower curtain are VOCs.  By airing them out near an open window, you help maintain a healthier indoor air quality instead of letting toxic chemicals concentrate indoors.
• Here is an old school pest prevention technique worth trying!  To prevent ants and fleas from entering your house, mix 4 ounces of a natural soap in 1 gallon of water and spray around your home's foundation.  Simple!
• Tackle weeds without pesticides.  Spray them with white vinegar, smother with mulch, or douse with boiling water.  Pesticides applied to your lawn leave toxic residues that can end up drifting into your home and exposing your family.
• When possible, use alternatives to plastic like glass, lead-free ceramic and stainless steel for dishes and glassware.  This helps limit exposure to the toxic chemicals that many plastics are made with, which can be absorbed by your food and beverages.
• Use more natural cleaners that are made with biodegradable, plant-based ingredients and formulated to be non-toxic.  Look for those that don't create harsh fumes or emit volatile organic compounds (VOCs) from solvent-based ingredients.
• Indoor air is often more polluted than outdoor air.  Ventilate the home by opening windows, and limit your use of air fresheners and chemical cleaning products that release potentially harmful VOCs into your indoor environment.
• Teething is a beautiful part of babyhood, but not so much fun for mom.  To soothe babies without chemicals, looks for pacifiers that are latex-free and fitted for your baby's age (a newborn should use a pacifier designed for a newborn).  Make sure it has a vented shield of at least 1.5 inches to prevent choking.
• Look for a 100% natural crib mattress made with natural materials, like organic cotton, wool, hemp, natural latex or bamboo.  Avoid traditional foam-based mattresses, which can be treated with flame retardants that have been shown to have possible negative effects on our health.
• The term "fragrance" or "parfum" on the label of baby care products can represent hundreds of unknown chemicals since manufacturers are not required to disclose the ingredients.  Whenever possible, look for products that use 100% natural fragrance for the scent or offer fragrance-free formulations to protect your baby.
• Purchase toys made from natural materials, like solid woods with non-toxic finishes and natural textiles like organic cotton or wool.  The familiar "new smell" that plastic toys often emit can be a sign that toxic softeners or finishes were used to make the product.
• Test your water.  Ask your local water supplier for a list of the chemicals they test for and check the Consumer Confidence Report to see how your water is treated.  Today, there are many professional water filters designed to filter out specific chemicals to purify your water.
• Check regularly to see if your vacuum bag is full and requires changing.  HEPA filters provide a recommended replacement date.

Healthy Baby Home Party

You're asking yourself what?  What in the world is a healthy baby home party, right?  Well, in case you missed my previous post (it was a couple months ago now), it's sponsored by one of my favorite brands, Seventh Generation (and no, they're not paying me to say that, even with all the free goodies I get!).
Seventh Generation's home parties are powered by people like you who are focused on creating a healthy environment for the next generation.  Developed with input from non-profit partner, Healthy Child Healthy World, they are a great way to get together with friends, share helpful information, and make an impact!
Healthy Baby Home Party kits are provided to all selected hosts and are filled with educational info about our environment, helpful tips, a fun game, and samples and coupons from Seventh Generation and other favorite family-friendly brands like bobble, American Meadows and Zarbee's Naturals.

Before I go bragging about the awesome time we had at my party, I wanted to advertise to fellow friends and bloggers!  Seventh Generation is doing another round of Healthy Baby Home Parties and if you're interested in hosting, they are accepting applications.  The process is simple.
Sign up at Generation Good to join the Generation Good community (or log in if you're already a member).  Not only will you have this opportunity, but you'll be given the opportunity to test other products from their line!
Accept the Healthy Baby Home Party Application offer on your Generation Good dashboard and complete the application.
Applicants will be notified mid-June if they have been selected to host a party via an email to the email address assigned to their profile.
All selected applicants will then need to confirm their participation by accepting the Healthy Baby Home Party mission on Generation Good and confirm their shipping address.
This is for US residents only, however they are planning to open up Canadian parties later in the year.

Now for the excitement!  I was chosen to host a party this past round and had a great time!
The only downside of the event...Seventh Generation sent this AWESOME box that one side was made to color!  Unfortunately, it was raining the day our box was delivered, and you know how the FedEx guy never knocks?  Well, he also doesn't mind dropping boxes in puddles even though you have a covered porch that the box could have been slid under... -_- So the bottom of our box got soggy and the side for coloring was all wet from rain...but look how cute!!!

Luckily our inside goodies weren't harmed in any way!!

You would think with all the photos I take, I would have gotten some of the party, but we were having so much fun (and I had ahold of my son, who was 2 months old at the time) that I didn't get any!!

To start, everyone who came received a sample bag.  In the bag, it contained:  single serving of Seventh Generation laundry detergent, single serving of Seventh Generation dish soap, one helping of Plum Organics Mighty Mealtime meals, one serving of Zarbee's Baby grape cough syrup, 2 unscented Seventh Generation wipes, a packet of American Meadows "bee happy" flower seeds, free shipping codes for a bobble purchase, and a BINGO card.
Some of the moms who came to my party have older children, some are still pregnant, so the products didn't "fit" everyone...it was nice to watch my friends chat and swap samples so that everyone got the best out of the party!
Bingo was where all the fun was.  We had 4 prizes up for grabs...the "hot item" being a bag of Seventh Generation size 4 diapers (I would have greedily kept those, but my little man is just now going into size 3...he was still in 2's at the time of the party), a full-size pack of SG wipes, a full-sized bottle of SG dish soap, and a bobble water infuser bottle!
The Bingo game had cards for me which contained cleaning tips and interesting facts, and each had a picture on it relating to the information.  The tots loved being able to play because they could match the pictures (a lot easier than finding those numbers on a normal bingo card!).  The first winner snatched up those diapers, and then some of the "old moms" (toddler and school aged children) won the next two rounds so they grabbed the dish soap and water infuser.  I was "left" with the wipes as my hosting prize, which I will never complain about.  My son is breastfed and poops A LOT (seriously, at least 6 times in the last 24 hours...only once while daddy was home from work -_- lol).

I will post some additional info (and a major deal for you, at that!).

There is a subscription service available to have SG diapers and wipes delivered to you (and you can purchase all sorts of other earth-friendly products).  They're sold by the Grove Company.  You can sign up here using my link, and you'll receive $10 towards your first purchase!!  Once you're all signed up, head here to receive a free trial of their diapers and wipes!  The only out-of-pocket expense is $1,99 shipping and handling fee.  That was my free sample shown above!  31 size 3 diapers and a 30-pack of wipes.  Really, who could complain?!
Being honest here, I haven't busted open that pack of size 3's yet, we're finishing up the bags of size 2 that he has...but I LOVE their diapers.  When I was pregnant, I was all about Huggies because that's what I'd used with all three of my daughters.  Apparently, a lot has changed in five years...but I'll do a diaper review on another review posting maybe later in the week!
With SG, I haven't had any blow outs.  They don't puff out like some other diapers do.  And the wipes, OMG.  What it takes two Huggies wipes to clean, I can do in one!!
The only thing I will alert you, with the free sample of diapers, it does automatically enroll you in the monthly subscription.  As long as you cancel within the 7 day window, you will not be billed.  Cancelling is so easy too, just log back onto the website and go to your account.  No emails, no phone calls, just a couple clicks on your computer screen.
If you do choose to enroll, it's $69.99 per month and you receive 256 wipes and...
Newborn (under 9 lbs):  216 diapers
Stage 1 (10-12 lbs):  240 diapers
Stage 2 (13-15 lbs):  216 diapers
Stage 3 (16-22 lbs):  186 diapers
Stage 4 (23-27 lbs):  162 diapers
Stage 5 (28-35 lbs):  138 diapers
Stage 6 (over 35 lbs):  120 diapers.

That's my little man rocking his size 2 SG diapers.  He's 15.5 lbs at 3 months old, so we're making the switch to the next size up.

Read the shirt ^^ He seriously is.  That's my healthy happy baby...post yours :D

Splat! Arctic Fox & Manic Panic Review

Picking up my oldest daughter from school the other day, I laughed when someone asked me if I was going through a mid-life crisis.  Me?  At 27 years old?  What on earth would make you think that?  Ohhh, possibly because I finally got bored of the standard "mom" look of blonde and red highlights so I bleached my entire head and turned it into, as my best friend calls it, mermaid hair?  Nope, that's just me being me, but thanks for thinking I'm having a mental breakdown!!
I actually decided to use my boredom with my hair as an opportunity to experiment with different non-traditional brands of hair color.  I got my inspiration browsing through Pinterest, and my initial goal was to do pink on top, a layer of purple, and then blue underneath.  I've dyed my hair more times then I can count, including rainbow colors, but this was a first for layering (I hate roots growing out, to be honest).  After searching Youtube, found some videos to give me an idea on how to successfully do it.
So the first step was collecting all the dye.  Like I said, I wanted to try the top 3 brands that are sold locally.  The first one, a brand I steadily follow on Facebook to see others' beautiful creations, is Arctic Fox.  Their site says their dye "is vibrant, long-lasting, semi-permanent hair dye that is made in the USA.  We are vegan, cruelty-free and contain added conditioners."  A brand I definitely feel good using.  I have actually used them on my 5 year old's hair before because of it being a "healthier" brand of hair dye and didn't require her hair to be pre-treated in order for color to show.  I chose the color Wrath, which is a reddish-pink according to their site.  You can purchase through their site directly and through Amazon; I picked my bottle up from our local mall at Hot Topic.
The next shade I wanted was a purple shade, and while I was at Hot Topic picking up the first bottle, I noticed they also sold Manic Panic.  They are also a semi-permanent dye that is vegan and has additional conditioners.  Now, I've used Manic Panic previously, and have a love hate relationship with them.  I've had multiple successes with their dyes...but also multiple failures.  In my experience, the dye is definitely not close to the shade they say it will be (your hair apparently has to be white in order to get those).  I've had pink not show up at all, a red that stayed red for two days and then turned pink (shortly after the initial pink fail, so I was happy with this outcome), a black that was actually blue, and I've had a purple that was a beautiful shade of purple.  One thing I noticed with EVERY experience with Manic Panic was the lack of staying power.  I could keep the dye in my hair for 6+ hours and it still would be faded or all out by the end of the second week.  But to be fair, I chose to get their Velvety Violet since I'd had success with their purple before.  They have limited colors on their site, but Amazon has many, and they are also carried at Sally Beauty Supply (where I had normally purchased it).
My last color of choice required a trip to Walmart.  The third brand I chose was Splat, who claims to be the longest-lasting and most vibrant colors on the market.  I wanted blue, but not dark, so their Aqua Rush was my go-to color.  Now, their brand comes with instructions and bleach to pre-lighten your hair.  The others do not.  My hair is thick and long, and I'm happy I had a second box to finish up with because that mix was nowhere near enough to lighten my entire head...it was enough to do the roots area, that was it!

So, time to dye.  I started off by sectioning my hair.  The top I pulled up for pink.  Then I pulled up the part that I wanted purple, wrapped each side up separately around the top part.  Then I separated my hair into smaller sections and started doing the blue around the bottom.  Once I was satisfied with that, moved on to the purple, then finally the pink.  (Sorry, no picture of the in-progress...didn't want dye all over my Iphone.)

I let it in for an hour from the completion time, which is what the Splat recommended.  Technically blue and purple had longer to set, but the pink was in for an hour.  Then came rinsing.  I don't have a second set of hands to help me (husband was taking care of our 2-month-old son while I was doing my hair).  So I got to take the most miserable shower ever, because rinsing with warm water is a big no-no (rinses out the color faster).  Cue cold shower to rinse.  I felt like I was going to freeze to death, I swear.  And after 20 minutes, even though the water still wasn't rinsing clear, it was diluted enough that I was no longer concerned about ruining my towels or bed sheets.
Took a picture of the "wet" fresh out of the shower look, and noticed something right away.  My hair didn't look purple.  Gave it the benefit of the doubt...it was a pastel purple after all.  When my hair was completely dry, I checked again.  Nope, no purple [Manic Panic] AT ALL.  It was still completely blonde.
The blue [Splat] was very bright and vibrant, as was the Pink [Arctic Fox].  I was actually really pleased with the pink.  Expected it to be more of a red based off the bottle and the "sample" in store, but it is a beautiful hot pink.

Next day, I ended up redoing the section that was supposed to be done with Manic Panic, I mixed a bit of the Splat and Arctic Fox that I had left and created my own purple.  My brother says it reminds him of how a fish's scales change color (in a good way, he says).  Apparently, my hair is very aquatic...but I was quite happy with how that turned out.

So for color and vibrancy, I give Arctic Fox a 10/10 (and definitely recommend them...the dye alone smells SO GOOD!!!).
Manic Panic gets a 0/10 (seriously, I used the entire tub on a small section of hair and NOTHING).
Splat will get a 7/10.  You can still see the blonde shining through the blue tint from close up, but the color worked great and is very bright.

Staying power will be the next competition?  As of right now, we're a week in.  Honestly, parts of the blue have started to fade away already, but I'm giving it the benefit of the doubt and letting time pass without re-coloring it.