Eco Chic Baby

The other day I was searching around for an eco-minded baby shop in my area and stumbled across THIS little gem: Eco Chic Baby. I am always on the prowl for quality baby and kid products that are unique, eco-friendly and affordable. Why not just hit up the local Babies 'R Us you ask? I hate to break it to you if you haven't discovered this for yourself already: Babies 'R Us is more about quantity over quality. They'll carry that snazzy looking umbrella stroller that will fall apart on you 6 months later while trudging through Disneyland with a 25 lb. toddler that you now have to carry because they are tired of walking. Oh my goodness. Bet you haven't heard of too many City Mini strollers falling apart now have you? Oh and how about getting a Boba carrier for those places where strollers aren't an option like a hike by the ocean? These carriers will take baby from birth all the way through 45 lbs. or so unlike the few options at most chain baby stores which only hold babies up to 6 months. It's all about withstanding the test of time people, and that's exactly why I've found throughout my momma journey that it's really all about the off the beaten path companies like Eco Chic Baby that get me excited!

 The Eco Chic Baby store is located at 318 Main Street in downtown Vacaville and also has an awesome online store for those of us who are married to our couch lately... They also have a great variety of my favorite cloth diapers such as Bum Genius, Gro Via, Blueberry and Rockin Green laundry soap- (Bet you've never tried an all natural laundry soap that comes in scents like Smashing Watermelons have you? Well get on it! It's AMAZING stuff!)

They also carry green toys, shoes, clothes, Reese Li diaper bags and bento- style lunch boxes oh my! And get this: the store actually hosts classes such as various childbirth and pregnancy courses, newborn care and breastfeeding, prenatal and post-partum yoga, cloth diapering 101, baby wearing, baby signs, tummy time, baby-food making, and a few free groups like breastfeeding support, story time, clothing exchanges, mommy and me play date. They also show documentaries such as Vaccine Nation and The Business of Being Born and then afterwards there is a certified Midwife available for Q & A time! There's also a Maternity and Baby fashion show- (sign Aiden up!)... it just keeps on getting better! I absolutely LOVE it! If there was an organic cafe inside one could almost LIVE at this store. I will definitely be venturing out to Vacaville more often now that I know this awesome store exists! Nothing but the best for my baby!

20 Things I Wish I Had Known To Register for

Creating a baby registry for first time parents can be very overwhelming! Babies R Us is GIGANTIC and there are soooo many useful and some not very useful things to choose from. How do you know what you'll REALLY need? Well, you never really do until you establish your "baby lifestyle" which to me means: Stay at home or working momma, mall or outdoor-sy mama, breast or bottle, cloth or disposable, home-made or Gerber baby food, ect. Some of these findings do not become known until after baby is born and you figure out what works best for you and baby. For instance, my MIL was convinced that all babies need a pacifier and so I ended up with hundreds of them, ok not hundreds but you know...Well Aiden only wanted one sometimes, for a few days here and there and then...never again! Now what do I do with all those brightly colored binks? :)
Here is a list of things I wish I had put on our registry instead of all those adorable newborn clothes, some of which never got worn :)

• baby gates (2)
• cool mist humidifier- those things are expensive!
• cloth diapers
• 18 month clothing-the month where he mysteriously ran out of wardrobe!
• sleep sacks in small, medium and large
• wipe warmer
• potty
• non-slip bath mat
• hiker baby carrier
• baby cubes-babyfood storage containers
• Putamayo children's CD collection
• highchair that converts to a travel highchair and one of neutral color 
• reusable wetbag
• cloth swim diaper
• umbrella stroller
• wooden, not plastic toys :)
• The Ergo Baby carrier instead of Bijorn
• The Chariot 
• Music Together class, baby gym membership, ect.
• more 12 month onsies (Carter's 12 mo. onsies lasted from 6-15 months old!!!) 

The Hippie Kick

Ok so it is no secret that I'm on some hippie kick. It all started waaaay back in 2004, when my hippie roommate recycled EVERYTHING! And I mean everything, as in even the toothpaste box. Well, it turned out to be a big influence on me and I went from once throwing away the tiny cardboard or paper items like the toothpaste box to realizing that every bit helps and the guilt set in. I began recycling everything too. Like even the tampon wrappers to the smallest contact lens packaging. Watch out, I was a recycling Queen! If I visited someone's house I would say, "Oh I'll just go put this in your recycling bin..." and if they said they didn't have one or didn't recycle, I ended all contact with them right then and there. Just kidding. I then gave them a very guilt-inducing, "Ooohhhhhh...." but what I was really saying was: "Grab a HINT, you are murdering the EARTH!!!" :) Hippie conversion #1-check!

The next step  into my hippie existence was the year of 2006-07 when I was living in Wyoming. WOW what a bunch of Earth-loving, hippies! These were the true hippies too, the no make-up and beanies, eating spinach salad with flax-seed for lunch, brew your own beer, gut an antelope in your front yard, cross-country SKI TO WORK through the downtown main street, Wal-Mart loathing, making pie crust from scratch, camping and hiking every weekend instead of spending money at the mall and Costco (well there was no mall/Costco in this town), disc- golf fanatical, Nalgene-toting, harmonica playing...well I'm sure by now you get the idea. :) I LOVED the lifestyle! What a refreshing change after well, California-need I say more? So I taught pre-K while living there and one of my co-workers had two recycling bins set up in the classroom that the kids had decorated. One for paper and one for plastic. At the end of each week when it was time to take the recycling out,  it became very clear who's Kirkland plastic water bottles were filling up the bin....ahhh-ehhhhmmmm....My co-worker however had a handy Nalgene bottle from which she drank water everyday and it seemed much easier to get one of those then spend money every two weeks at Costco like a goofball buying all these polluting, energy-consuming plastic water bottles. Hippie conversion #2 completed. :) I had the cutest, pink Camelbak you've ever seen and have never looked back :)

2008 came along and now it was time to get pregnant. Then I began reading all the alternative birthing literature like, Birthing From Within and watching the movie The Business of Being Born and after that decided right then and there I would be birthing drug-free as it is the safest route for your baby. Once I had decided that I was going au natural, I thought that I should be incorporating this ideal into my diet, (eating as organically as possible). I began drinking my hippie prego tea which I proudly displayed on the kitchen counter as if to say, "There IS a pregnant princess in the house!" Then I thought about all the other chemicals we ingest on a daily basis through our skin and I promptly switched my skin care regimen as I read all the natural pregnancy books which stated that the chemicals in some products can be harmful to the fetus. I love the Belli Skin Care line which had something to suit all my needs. I also began listening to my hypno-birthing CD so that I could maintain a calm and confident mindset throughout the pregnancy and birthing process. (And boy did that work!) See, the hippies are on to something. They eat better, take care of the Earth better and are calmer happier people all around. Hippie conversion #3-check, check!

Now that my little angel had arrived, I wanted to continue to do what I thought was best for him. Cloth diapering, baby-wearing, making my own baby-food, the canvas grocery bag is a given ect. Having Aiden around has definitely inspired a new set of hippie conversions which I swear started with the whole cloth-diapering kick. It's like once you do this, than why not do that? Like switching my household cleaners to biodegradable, earth-friendly options like Method and Seventh Generation- (Which I might add I've even switched to Seventh Generation maxi pads so that I don't have to wonder about all the harmful chemicals my whoo-ha is ingesting when that time of the month rolls around) 

Last week I started a compost pile. My husband is all for it except the concern of the smell and bugs but there are neither so far. I'll let you know how that goes. My goal now is to only have one bag of trash a week for the garbage man to pick up. With recycling, composting, and cloth diapers I'd say this is a reasonable goal. (The recycling trash bin is always overflowing!) Last conversion, (for now) are paper towels. Oh how I HATE buying them! What an expensive waste of money! They can't be recycled and they are chemically treated, bleached, and could cost well up to $400 a year! My new plan is to buy these paperless paper towels. Scroll down and read the Top 10 Reasons to Use Reusable Paper Towels article-good one! They are machine washable and dishwasher safe. They have high absorbency and hold up much better when used for scrubbing than regular paper towels. Check 'em out! Hopefully I will never be buying paper towels again! 

That's all for now on the hippie kick! I'll leave you with a picture of an adorable, 4 month old hippie baby and this earthy quote: We do not inherit the earth from our ancestors, we borrow it from our children. ~ Native American Proverb

The Greener the Better :)

I LOVE Seventh Generation products! They are safe to use around children, you can't eat them but 

they're safe! :) They smell delicious and are earth-friendly! I'm glad I watched this video because I wasn't aware that they also make a bleach which is chlorine-free and safer for our homes than the traditional  

Clorox brand.

Another good brand of biodegradable and VERY yummy smelling cleaning products are the Method 

line which can be found at Target. Method comes in lovely, designer-worthy scents such as cucumber, french lavender, sea minerals, sweet water, grapefruit and unscented. They clean wonderfully and after 

you are done your house smells fantastic! (Scents are HUGE for me) I must have yummy scents all 

throughghout my home which are fresh, light and clean smelling. No heavy, old-lady berry scents for me. :)

One of my favorite Method products are their Stainless Steel wipes. Just like the Clorox ones but 

specially made for your stainless steel appliances. Gives them a lovely shine and light, clean scent.

Happy Green Cleaning everyone!


p.s. Yes, I know my text alignment is all messed up in this post. Sorry, I think it has to do with posting a video. If anyone knows how to fix this please let me know! Thanks!

The Nest

When I was pregnant with Aiden, one of my most prized possessions was my pregnancy pillow which I named, "My nest." It is the greatest invention since waterproof mascara. Seriously. Having to sleep on your side can get pretty uncomfortable, but sleeping on your side while you have a gigantic belli is even worse. Tipping over from side to side, back pain, and having your belli feel so heavy that you can actually feel your surrounding skin stretch with each breath you take. I remember feeling like I was 300lbs and I was going to sink right down into the mattress creating a permanent impression on our bed.
Then, I found my pregnancy pillow on Craigslist! And way cheaper than it retails for! We rushed out in the pouring rain to get it that night in Emeryville.
That night, I had the best pregnant sleep ever! I sank into the pillow's fluffy softness and for the first time in a long time felt almost weightless, like I was sleeping in the clouds. It had great back support and kept me from teetering back and forth, fighting to find a comfy sleeping position. My enormous belli was elevated and well-supported so that I didn't have to actually FEEL the dreaded stretch marks forming, (which, ok you're gonna hate me now but too bad-I didn't get ONE stretch mark AT ALL!!!!) Just talking about it right now makes me want to go dig it out of the guest closet and give it another try just for old time's sake. :) The only drawback is your poor hubby wont get to cuddle you but the good sleep is worth the temporary loss of his strong arms around you :)
I think I started using my nest around my 25th week of pregnancy so I was not huge yet but it sure made a difference from the start! And, just a thought but maybe it actually helped to prevent stretch marks because my belli was well-elevated while I slept causing my skin to stay in tact instead of being stretched even more from the weight of it sinking into the bed. I got so attached to my nest that I never spent the night anywhere without it. Once I forgot it on a weekend trip and I barely slept the entire weekend. It was horrible. A fluffy, U-shaped pillow sure made all the difference in my pregnancy just as your waterproof Maybelline does during your secret viewing of those Lifetime Original movies :)