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Sunday, July 31, 2011

6 flags

On Friday Bodey and I went to 6 flags with my family. We had a very fun and relaxing day.


The highlight of the trip was: nobody got sick on the ride there ;-)


The lowlight of the trip was: when Bodey screamed his head off on the ride home...I think I would prefer someone getting sick over listening to that for 30 minutes!!


The best comment of the day was from the train ride conductor who was looking for just 4 extra people to fill the ride in (all of us Ney's were in line) and he looks at us in amazement then says with awe, "Where do you guys stop!?"


Here are a few crappy quality pictures that I took with my phone of Mr. Bodey during the day to send to his daddy:



Bodey got some bonding time in with his Studpa...look, Matchy-Matchy hats. :)








Friday, July 29, 2011

The Green Thing

I've never been a big "go green" person, but over the past few months I've gone from the obnoxious girl who uses 2 straws in her cup--just to irritate the "green" people, to now, being the girl who's contemplating using family cloth. ;-)

Over the next few weeks, whenever I get the chance, I'll be blogging on the various things that I've changed in my "go green" quest. (no-pooing was one of those things.)

My mom posted a fun post on her blog the other day, that you should all go read." Hop over to Life's Little Moments to read up on the whole "Green Thing."

Thursday, July 28, 2011

No Poo

Here is my promised post.

I contemplated for a few days whether I should go with a controversial post or a "time to gross ya'll out" post. I decided to go with the later.

I'm sure my blog title has you intrigued, or just downright scared. Fear not!! My fair maidens...it is not as terrifying as it sounds. "No-Poo" does not mean "no more pooping" (Au Contraire! Pooping is my favorite thing to do...but that's a whole post topic on its own!)

When I say "no-poo" I'm talking about shampoo.

Shampoo, that is.

Ready for the part where I gross you all out?? Okay, here we go...I have not used any shampoo or conditioner on my hair in almost a month now. (Please don't unsubscribe to my blog. My hair is as clean as a whistle, and has never felt healthier than it does now before.)

Before I explain how I clean my hair, I'd like to give you a history lesson on shampoo.

Shampoo is basically a detergent. (Did you know one of the main ingredients in shampoo is also the main ingredient in household detergents??) None of us would use a cleaning detergent on our head or body, yet we blindly do daily in our showers.

The way shampoo works, is it strips your hair of all its natural oils. These oils that your head naturally produces are there to protect your hair and keep it strong and healthy.

Shampoo was invented in the 20th century. Before shampoos, people used good old fashioned bars of soap--which worked great--it cleaned, but didn't strip the oils from your hair. As life became more civilized and water became more alkaline filled, (bar soap doesn't do well with alkaline water) the bar soap started making people's hair weaker and rougher.

Shampoo was introduced with the selling benefits that it works in both hard and soft water.

Voila! An instant seller.

Now I'll explain why I don't use shampoo (other than the fact that it strips your hair of its natural oils).

Shampoo is full of chemicals.

Rule of thumb is: if you can't pronounce the ingredients then its probably not natural.

Our skin is our largest organ. Anything we put on our body is absorbed straight into our bloodstreams. How healthy is that?

Did you know that most of the chemicals in shampoos have never been tested for safety?

I'm not going to take the time to list all the chemicals that are in shampoos and the havoc they can wreck in our bodies (without even us knowing!) If you are interested, its so easy to find out. Just start a google search and prepare to be "awwed."

Now, how to go no-poo:

Baking soda and apple cider vinegar will become your best friend.

Baking Soda is a natural cleaner that won't damage your hair, but it gets the job done.

Generally, 1 tbsp baking soda dissolved in 1 cup water is all you would need. But, some people with curly hair or super thick hair might need a bit more of baking soda, and some might need a bit less. Play around with it and see what your hair needs.

Apple Cider Vinegar is also amazing. It's a natural conditioner, and in my opinion--it works even better than store bought conditioners. It detangles the hair follicles, seals the cuticles and balances the PH in your hair.

Again, typically its 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar to 1 cup water.

So when I take my baths, I'll mix up the BS mix, I pour it on my scalp and massage it in, just like I would regular shampoo. I let it sit for about 30 seconds and then I'll rinse it out. Then, I'll pour the ACV mix over all my hair and let that sit, just as I would conditioner. Then I rinse that out. TAda! My hair is clean and conditioned.

The one thing that I'm not fond of, is instead of the yummy smell shampoo/conditioner leaves, my hair now smells like ACV. But, I've found a remedy. After my hair is dry, I'll lightly spritz it with some lavender water (lavender oil in some water) or even drop a drop or two of a different essential oil on my hands and run my hands through my hair. Some people even put the oil on their hair brush and brush their hair afterwards.

I was a bit frightened to try it when I started. It didn't seem like it would clean enough. I was warned that I'd have a "transition" period, where my hair was trying to learn not to create as much oils. (Remember, our heads are used to producing oil in mass quantities to make up for the shampoo stripping it out day after day after day.) After a week or so, it'll realize that it doesn't have to make as much oil, and it'll slow down to just the perfect amount. But, during this "transition" period, my hair did look terribly greasy. (That's what baseball hats are for!)

I haven't been doing it long enough to know if this is true or not, but everyone who has been doing the no-poo method for a few months tells me that once your hair truly adapts, you can even go up to a week between washings. (That's just gross to me... lol)

Since I've started no-pooing, my hair feels super soft. And I've noticed its gotten more curly as well.

I will admit that I do miss the lovely suds that shampoo offers, but the truth is...the suds don't help clean or anything! They are only there to enhance our love affairs with shampoo products. Other than the suds, I'm really enjoying no-pooing.

I dare ya'll to give it a try... :-)

So, that's my no-poo post. Did I lose any of my readers?

Tuesday, July 19, 2011

Time for a real blog post

I've had major writers block recently, and its really ticking me off. I hate writers block. It makes me cranky.

But today, I'm in the mood to rant a bit. So here I go...

The next time I hear some dumb person tell me that they "could never have a home birth because their contractions were so strong and labor hurt so bad and blah...blah...blah...blah" I'm going to scream! I have heard this stupid line more times than I can even begin to count.

I'd like to clear something up: Just because I had a home birth does not mean that my contractions tickled or pushing a baby out was like pooping glitter. Ok? Home birth...hospital birth...on the freeway in a car birth = same pain. Doesn't matter where it happens, it hurts just the same. The only difference is with a home birth pain meds were not an option for me!!

I'm getting so tired of how many comments women make along the lines of, "Oh it just hurt so bad, I had to get pain medication." Yea, well guess what? If I had had a hospital birth and had the option of pain meds, I'd probably have asked for them! Why?? because it stinkin' hurt!!! And, furthermore, if these people who had hospital births have had a home birth (where pain meds aren't an option) they wouldn't have had any...and guess what? They would have survived.

Grrr. Geez people. Not to toot my horn or anything, but its not like labor is a piece of cherry pie.
And I'm getting pretty tired of people just assuming it was all easy peasy and then dramatizing their labor stories and "oh poor me, blah blah blah."

So, next time someone finds out I had a home birth, if they aren't on board with my crunchy ways, I am a-o-kay with that. But instead of being all dramatic and crying about how awful their labor was, I sure hope for their sakes they instead just admit they aren't all granola like me.

(Post script on that subject: I personally don't care where you have your babies...or whether you have pain meds or not. I just don't like hearing people be all dramatic about their labor stories and act like their labor hurt worse or something, because lol, in a weird way it makes me feel like people think of me as less of a woman. And it makes me mad, because I feel all "Grrr" to have done it med-free and on my own turf. I am a woman, hear me roar.)

While I'm on a roll here, my next source of venting is on the subject of cloth diapers.

I think I will scream next time I hear someone say, "Oh, I could never do cloth diapers!! My baby's poop is so gross! I could never do it!" They look at me like I'm insane for using cloth and then shudder (as they run to the bathroom to wash up) after they hug me goodbye.

*Sigh* Where do I even start with my complaining on this subject?

Well, for starters...Just because I use cloth diapers doesn't mean Bodey is pooping out rainbows and jelly beans. Nooooo, Bodey poops just like every other baby. And yes, his poop does stink and yes it is gross.

But its not like I'm rolling around in his dirty diapers or anything. Geez people, I don't go around kissing his dirty dipes or sniffing them. Honestly!!!! What kind of weirdo do you think I am?!

Let me attempt to put a new vision of cloth diapers in your mind, and hopefully replace whatever wacko thoughts you have already planted up in there...

Here is our cloth diapering routine:

1. Bodey poops in his diaper.
2. Mama (me) using a cloth wipe, wipes him up...
3. leaves the wipe in the diaper...
4. rolls it up just like a sposie'
5. and puts the dirty rolled up diaper in his diaper pail or my wet bag.

(And no, the pail/wet bag doesn't stink.)

Now, on laundry day... (only one or two extra loads a week--VERY small loads)

1. Fill washing machine with cold water and no soap.
2. dump diaper pail contents in the washer...no need to touch anything
3. wash in cold water and no soap.
4. after cold wash w/no soap, run HOT water and add soap.
5. dry and then fold.

Easier and faster than all the time you spend making excuses for why you can't use cloth diapers. ;-)

There. I think I'm done. I blew off my steam and once again the sun is shining in my little world.

Hopefully soon I will be able to sit down and blog again. I'm feeling rather contentious lately, so I'm sure I'll be back with a controversial blog topic.

Oh, yes, you know you can't wait...


(I think I'm cured of my writers block!)

Friday, July 15, 2011

Bodey's new trick

I'm sure I'm the only one who is so tickled pink about this, but I'm going to share the news anyways. Bodey has now learned how to lay on his belly and push up to look around. I think its just about the cutest thing everrrrr!!!



















Thursday, July 7, 2011

Bath time for Bodey

bodey's bath 001    bodey's bath 003bodey's bath 005bodey's bath 004bodey's bath 007bodey's bath 002bodey's bath 008bodey's bath 009

(He’s bathing in a Wash Pod…which is an off brand of the Tummy Tub. We ♥  it!)