Meyer's Soap: Product Review

Another product review?  Yep!

Target had a small sample bottle for $1 & I'd always wanted to try it.  I did, and I'm hooked!

I've used the spray cleaner, dishwashing liquid, and the hand soap.  I love them all!  My favorite scent is Lemon Verbena.  Oh man... I'm just going to buy that all the time now!

Does it clean as good?
Yes!  I mean, I don't have any scientific studies coming from my kitchen, but from what I've done, I feel that it cleans great!

Does it last as long?
Yes... and no.  I don't have to use any more product than I normally would while cleaning, but I've found myself cleaning much more often, so I am going through it quicker.  I just love that smell and the glean of a clean countertop.  The scent sticks with my hands throughout the day & who doesn't love a great scent while washing dishes?

Is it worth the extra money?
It's not any extra if you're already buying name brand products, but if you're a thrifty Wal-Mart shopper like myself that jumps at anything labels $.97 then it will be more expensive.  And yes, it's worth it to me.  The products are more gentle.  I feel like I can spray the counter and then chop food on it.  When I was using bleach-type products to clean the counter, I felt like I had to clean the counter after cleaning it to get the bleach & chemicals off!  That's not what I want going into my child's tummy, or mine.

So yes, I'm a life-r now, I believe!  I got mine at Vine.com but I'm sure they sell them at a lot of places!

UNREAL: Product Review

 I've been wanting to try this product out for a little while.  On my quest to eat healthier, more wholesome foods, I've tried to stay away from more processed foods as much as possible.  But today I was craving some chocolate & was at the store & picked up a pack of these:

Chocolate coated candies (think M&Ms) made by Unreal.  I think that's their name?  They have a whole line of candy- you can get it at a lot of stores now, including Target & Michael's!

The short of it:

-they're delicious-- way tastier than M&Ms!

-they're are not as bad for you as M&Ms

Now, that being said... it's not like they're healthy.  They're not vegetables.  They are not going to make you lose weight.  BUT... they are definitely not as bad for you as M&Ms.

According to the packaging, they don't use artificial flavors, corn syrup, preservatives, or GMOs.

GMOs are huge, y'all.  They have serious health effects, and they are popping up in pretty much everything you eat!  Here's an article breaking down the only (to my knowledge) long-term research done on the effect of GMOs (with links to the original research report so you can read it for yourself).

So if something doesn't have GMOs, then that's a huge win for me!

The other biggie for me is that they don't have artificial dyes in them.  Hello Red 40 can make your kids bounce off the flippin' walls!  But these are colored with things like beetroot juice.  And the red one?  It's definitely the tastiest-- kind of tastes like a chocolate covered cherry!

And did I mention that they're delicious?  Like a mix between milk chocolate & dark chocolate.  Mmmmm...

Now, because they don't have preservatives, they expire more quickly.  I was halfway through a bag before I realized that my bag had been expired for 45 days.  It was still delicious and didn't show any signs of mold, but I'll make sure to check that next time before buying!

In the end, please remember-- it's not a health food. It's not free & clear of bad ingredients.  It's not a raw food.  But it is better for you than most of the other junk food on the market right now, and that's a step in the right direction!

Cloth Diapers: 14 month update

Fourteen months in to this cloth diaper journey... and we're loving it!  Here are a few thoughts:


When to buy cloth:

A lot of moms tell me that they're going to start using cloth as soon as their disposable diapers from their baby shower run out.  Don't wait!!

Keep a small pack of the newborn size to get you through the first little bit while you're figuring things out, but return the rest.  You'll likely get a gift card in return for the diapers, so use that on the multitude of things that you'll need for the new little one.  And the money that you're now saving from using the gift card-- use that to start your cloth diaper stash!

I'll admit it, that's what I did.  I felt just a little guilty from returning all of the disposables, but when you really think about it, why did they get me diapers to begin with?  Because it was a practical gift that they knew I would use.  And boy am I using them!


Microfiber:

Each of our diapers came with two microfiber inserts.  They worked great for awhile!  I used one insert during the day & two at night.  But then she started to leak more often & putting two on her during the day was just really bulky.  I looked at bamboo & hemp for a solution and it all the blogs that did comparisons, hemp always won by a long shot when it came to how much they would hold without leaking.  I figured if I was going to invest more in my diapers, then it was going to be something I didn't regret.  And I don't!

I searched around online for about a month to find a great deal.  A friend gave me a gift certificate for Hazelnut's birthday that I used towards some hemp inserts, and then I found a lady selling a ton online & got them for less than 50% of the original price, which was amazing!  Hemp is pricey, but well worth the money, and still cheaper overall than disposables.

Another bonus about hemp?  They can be put in direct contact with baby bottoms!


Diaper Routine:

At first it's super confusing, I'll admit.  But after about a month, it was second nature.  And now?  Easy peasy.  I could do it in my sleep!  Here's my routine:

Pee diapers go straight into the wet bag (I pull the insert halfway out because hemp inserts don't come out as easy in the wash).
Poop diapers go into the small step trashcan in our private bathroom & I rinse them out as soon as I have a few minutes.  Sometimes I forget & do it right before laundry but I always regret it because they're tougher to rinse out then!  Once they're rinsed out I pull the insert halfway out & put it all in the wetbag.

When I'm running low,  dump the wetbag in the washer:
Cold rinse, extra-large load size (Every now & then I'll throw in about half a cup of white vinegar to keep them from not smelling, but I haven't had to do that since using hemp inserts!)
Hot Wash with 2 tablespoons of Original Tide, Extra-large load size
Cold rinse, extra-large load size
Inserts go in the dryer, wetbags & diapers are laid out to dry.


I'll write more on another day, but those are my thoughts for right now!

Cloth Diaper Reviews: Kawaii

I wrote a review awhile back about the gDiapers.  Now that Hazelnut is bigger, we're using the Kawaii pocket diapers, as well as some Thirsties covers and inserts.  I'll write a review on the Thirsties later, but we've been using Kawaii for awhile now & I feel it's time to review them for you!

Kawaii diapers are cheap.  The first time I went to their website I thought it was some random mom's website where they bought diapers and resold them because it's not Kawaiidiapers.com or anything... it's www.theluvyourbaby.com .  So yeah, it seems sketch, but it's not.

They are pocket diapers.  Basically, there is the diaper with the waterproof outer part, and the inside is all nice and soft for the little baby bottom.  Between the layers is a place for the insert-- there is an opening in the front or back and you slide the insert in.  These are super easy and when you go to change the diaper, it's just like changing a disposable diaper!  Very user friendly.

Most of the diapers on their website are one size (OS) which means they snap to be larger or smaller and can be used theoretically from birth to potty training.  Realistically, they can be used from 10 lbs on.  So I got some of the Pure & Natural style which is a little bit smaller and started fitting Hazelnut around 8 lbs.

Hazelnut in a one size diaper-- a bit big now, but we use it for nighttime.

In short, I really like these diapers.  You can get them for $6.25 each.  I got them on a sale where I bought 12 for a discount.

Here's a little math for you:

$6.25 each- 24 diapers to last about 2 days = $150  (with the discount we got we spent around $120)
At 7 weeks old, Hazelnut would have gone through about 500 disposable diapers.  The cheapest deal I could find on Pampers online shows that if we got the biggest boxes each time (140 ct), and used coupons, we would have spent $100 already.

It's not hard to see how quickly it adds up.  I've saved money already in the first 2 months... and then each month after that is just straight savings!

Yes, it's more laundry.  Yes, it's more time.  But yes, it's definitely worth it!

The Doula Experience

A few years back I had a good friend who used a doula at her birth.  She raved on & on about her doula & the experience, so when I was pregnant, I started checking out this whole doula thing.  Here's some FAQ that I get-- keep in mind, this is based off of my experience, and each doula is different to some degree.

What is a doula, anyway?
In ancient greek, doula means 'female slave.'  In today's world it means a non-medical support for the mother & family.  'Mothering the mother' is a phrase I hear often to describe it.  Basically, back in the day 100+ years ago, women knew all about childbirth, so they helped each other through it.  But today?  Not so much.  Even going through it myself I don't know enough about the ins & outs to help someone else through their labor.  So that's where a doula comes in... she's a support to the mother in labor & the entire family.

I have a husband... I don't want him to feel replaced.
It's exactly the opposite!  Josh & I were both thankful that our doula, Peggy, was there.  Before she got there, Josh would try to talk to me through contractions, which is the exact opposite of what I wanted.  Because of her skilled knowledge, Peggy was able to guide him to help me through contractions.  So instead of wanting to kill Josh, she taught us how to work together through labor.  She also did a lot of the back rubbing, etc.  While she was rubbing my back, I could look into Josh's eyes, which made me feel better.  And finally, when Josh was exhausted or needed to leave the room for a bit, he could take a break without feeling guilty because he knew I still had a great support there to help me through everything.  Otherwise I would have made him stay by my bed the whole time & it would have worn both of us out much quicker.

So she's just like a cheerleader for labor?
Yes, but there's so much more, too!  One of my biggest fears in labor was that the medical staff would push me into doing interventions that I wasn't comfortable with.  Problem was, I didn't have the slightest clue what goes on in a hospital or delivery room, so it was hard to do my research.  Peggy is at births all the time so she knows the lingo, what goes on, and is trained in knowing how to avoid unnecessary medical interventions.  So when our nurse would suggest something to me & I was clueless or wanted a 2nd opinion, I could ask the nurse to leave the room while we Josh & I discussed it.  More often than not, we'd look straight at Peggy & say, "What do you think?"  :)

How to pick a doula.
I emailed several doulas in the area to interview them.  I had a few criteria for how I wanted to choose.  I wanted it to be someone I generally liked-- someone that I could imagine hanging out with during childbirth.  I have to admit, I was also going for a certain 'look.'  I didn't want a sweet old lady type- I wanted someone younger and with a lot of character.  Someone who also had a strong personality-- Josh & I both have strong personalities & we needed someone who was kind, but that knew how to work with two strong personalities.  We got very lucky because the first person we met with was a perfect combination of all of those things!  Walking into the meeting we weren't even entirely sure if we were going to hire a doula, but by the time we got back in the car, Josh said, "So can we go ahead and pay her in full now?
The awesome thing about a doula is you have a choice.  Pick someone that you feel 100% comfortable with.  Some other fabulous traits Peggy had: she would never insert her opinion.  Her input was always based off of medical knowledge mixed with what she knew we believed.  There are many things I wonder her opinion on, but I'm thankful she put her views aside so that we always felt 100% comfortable.
Trust is also a big factor.  From the very first meeting we trusted her with anything and everything.  I knew she did her research, and if I asked her opinion on something, I didn't need to go do my own research behind her back.  I trusted her.

If you live in the Hampton Roads area, then I highly suggest using Peggy Caister as your doula.  She was absolutely amazing & helpful beyond belief.  She made my birth experience wonderful & I cringe to think of what it may have been like without her there.  It terrifies me to think about, honestly!

But most of all, find someone you are comfortable with!

Product Review: gDiapers

Hi!  If you're visiting from Pinterest or another site, you might be interested in these posts, also about cloth diapering, our routine, etc!  Since writing this post, we've gone to using mostly pocket diapers-- they were a little cheaper & easier for us.  :)

Cloth Diaper Reviews: Kawaii

Cloth Diapers: Our Laundry Routine

The Quick & Cheap Way to Start Cloth Diapering for only $200

Pockets & Prefolds Explained (with pictures!)

Three Reasons I Cloth Diaper

Erin's Story: $75 Cloth Diaper Stash!

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I have to admit, I never saw it coming.  I'd bought up cloth diapers on sale & was super excited to start using them.  I knew that it would be a trial & error experience, but I never saw myself falling totally in love with gDiapers.  Never saw that one coming!

I'd bought this package 2nd hand from a mom on Craigslist who'd used them for approximately 3 hours.  I know that because 2 of them had stains on them, and the rest hadn't been used.  It had 12 tinypants (newborn size) & 6 gPants in size small.

The downside is that Hazelnut outgrew the newborn size in less than a week, with her weighing barely over 7 lbs.  The good news is, 12 was plenty.  And now we're in the size small gPants... and guess what??  6 is plenty!!  Yes, you heard that right, I'm using 6 diapers for my child, and I'm not doing laundry twice a day.

How?

Most of the time, the actual diaper doesn't get wet or dirty.  Maybe once or twice a day one will get messed up.  I'll rinse it in the toilet & throw it in the wetbag for the next batch of laundry.  I'm doing diaper laundry about every other day.

Let me rephrase that... my mom has been doing diaper laundry about every other day.  But she's back in the real world now, so I'm going to have to start actually doing stuff myself now!  :)

So if you're considering cloth diapers, I absolutely recommend gDiapers.  I'm considering selling my brand new never-been-used stash of one size diapers so that I can go buy more gPants!  If I can recoup most of my costs (which I should be able to, considering they've never been used & have pretty good resale value), then I think I might just do it!

My suggestion to the mom interested in using these:

Buy 6 size small (or medium, or large, if you don't have a newborn).  You can choose either the cloth inserts or the disposable inserts.  The disposable inserts are awesome, but for longevity & cost savings (over disposable), I'd go for cloth.

Spring for the extra snap-in liners-- they will get dirty before the covers will, and it's worth the $20.

Extra cloth inserts: these are the things that will get dirty, so you'll want enough to do laundry about every other day (another 2 packs should do).

Yup... that's my review!  And in case you need to be tipped over the edge, I'm pretty sure there's nothing cuter than this!

Schick Intuition

Every now and then I use a product that really makes me go, "Wow!"  It rarely happens, especially with all the commercials these days where companies promise you the world if you would just use their product.

Schick Intuition is a totally awesome product though.  It's a razor that already has the shaving cream with it.  You don't have to put the shaving cream on... it's on a solid stick that turns to... umm.... a non-solid... after it hits the water.  And it's so smooth that you can't even feel the razor.  I had to check to make sure it was actually making contact with my skin!

I don't know, but all I have to say is, pregnant lady shaving is possible thanks to this handy little product!

Schick sends me some sort of razor in the mail every year saying "Happy Birthday."  It's kind of confusing, but who am I to turn down a free razor?  I'd forgotten about it for, oh, 3 months, and found it the other day.  After using it, I was pretty confident that it was going to be a more expensive product.    While it's totally awesome, I doubt it would last more than 2 shaves... if that.  It looks like it's around $8-$9 at Wal-Mart, with a 6 count of refills being almost $19.  That's about $4 for the first 2 shaves, and $1.60 per shave after that.

So yes, definitely more expensive than the average razor (at least for me), but it does include the shaving cream.  All I have to say is, if you're pregnant and the thought of juggling a razor and shaving cream in the shower is just a bit too much to handle... this product was made for you!  :)

Raw Review: Bare Minerals

Another review post!  There are so many items I've bought lately that I wanted to review and just haven't taken the time to do it.  This is a product I've been wanting for years.  I remember when Josh & I were first married and I would see infomercials for Bare Minerals.  I'm pretty sure there was drool coming out of the corners of my mouth.  I wanted it so bad.  But the cost just wasn't in our budget.

And truthfully, the cost still isn't in our budget.  But they had a $20 trial pack at Ulta a few months ago and I couldn't resist!

In the trial pack I got:

Maximum Coverage Concealer Brush

SPF 20 Concealer

Original SPF 15 Foundation

Matte SPF 15 Foundation

Mineral Veil

Flawless Face Brush

Let me tell you-- $20 is a killer deal.  It claimed it was a one month trial, but it's lasted much longer-- I think I'm going on 2 months now.  And guess what?  When I run out, I'm going to buy some more.  Heck, I've already got the brushes!

So here's a before and after comparison for you, with explanations of where I was in the process below.

The picture above is the 'before' picture.  I have eye makeup on, but nothing on the rest of my face.  Sadly, I wish I had a big zit on my face-- I swear it would cover it up!  That is my favorite part!

Slightly hard to see in this image, but I have a lot of red/pink areas that bother me.  I hate that ruddiness.

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Here I put on the concealer.  I put it underneath my eyes, around the bottom of my nose (red lines, anyone?) and on my chin.  I have uneven coloring on my chin due to a pigment issue, so I like to touch it up a bit.  :)

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Aha- now we're making progress.  Look very closely-- the right side of my face (your left as you are reading this) has the foundation covering it.  The left side of my face (your right as you are reading this) still just has the concealer.  I especially love how it takes away the pink ruddiness in my cheeks and really smooths out underneath my eyes.

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And here we are-- finished!  This is with the concealer, matte foundation, and mineral veil.  Sorry for the scary eyes... I think this is the point where Josh was saying, "Susan, are you ready yet?"

And while we're on the topic, all my eye makeup is also from Ulta.  I just checked their site and they totally have a sale going on right now!  Sadly, it's because they're changing the brand, but that's okay, I stocked up last time I was in the store!

Automatic Eyeliner in Black- $2 each right now! Oh this eyeliner is so creamy and awesome!  It doesn't hurt my eyes and I never need a sharpener!  I've tried them in Olive & Raisin as well, but I'm just not a fan-- I love my black eyeliner!

Ulta Eyeshadow in Sage- $4 each right now.  I think this is the color I have.  I also used an old yellow-gold eyeshadow I got from Avon as the light color I use all the way up to my browbone.

Lash Icon Mascara- $4 each right now.  Not too big of a fan of this stuff-- I feel like I have to put on 90 layers to get volume and length!  But at least it's not goopy or too thin-- that would be much worse.

Best. Hairspray. Ever.

Hair products are no joke in my household.  I'm a perfectionist and every single strand of my hair must be in the right place before I leave the house.  If it's not, you'll see me wearing a hat.

And I'm the type of person that really truly appreciates when others tell me my hair is out of whack.  I politely let them fix it, then rush to the bathroom to see what can be done.  I appreciate public restrooms that have hairspray in them.  Nice restaurants & hotels are pretty much the only ones, but it's really awesome!

My husband isn't quite such a diva with his hair, but when he fixes it in the morning, he expects it to stay exactly like that until his head hits the pillow that night.

I used to use this gem and actually used it until every last drop was gone.  Ladies, is that an accomplishment or what?!

I also used the Big Sexy Hair hairspray, but finally got tired of paying $20 for one can.  But I needed something to do the job, so after perusing the aisles at Ulta (One of my fave stores- mix and matching cheap and expensive beauty products?  Yes, please!), I found this little gem for $6.99

It's kind of ironic because when I had long hair I wouldn't pay over $2 for a can of hairspray.  But times have changed.

Let me tell you, this hairspray by Samy is uh-mayz-ing!!!!  It will make my hair do whatever I want-- tease it, shape it, sculpt it.  Especially with my thin, limp hair, this stuff makes it look like I have thick, voluptuous hair.  When I get everything perfect, I do an all over spritz and it stays there all day.

Josh even started using it because it's all we had in the house he could spray in the morning and rain or shine, his hair wouldn't move all day.

But last week I went to get some more (since I seem to be going through a bottle a month now??) and *gasp*

It was all gone!!  I was a little lost, but decided that maybe this was my chance to find another great product.

I looked and looked and didn't find anything I was interested in under $20.  So I went for cheap and got some volumizing foam & volumizing hairspray for $6 total.

Samy?  I miss you.  I don't even know why this other 'hairspray' calls itself hairspray.  It's nothing more than glorified Suave wanting to be all cool holding my hair in place.  But it doesn't.

Now if you'll excuse me, I'm off to buy my Samy hairspray!

First Book Review & Giveaway!

A few weeks ago I got a wild hair and ended up at Barnes & Noble.  After spending about 2 hours reading the back or inside cover of every book I saw, I finally landed on two books.  The goal?  To start reading!

Okay, I know that sounds funny, but after college, something inside me said there's so much more to do than read.  And as bad as it sounds, I don't regret it.  Life is happening every minute of every day and I don't really want to pass it up with my nose stuck in a book!

Don't get me wrong, I read, just not a ton.  It may take me months to go through a book.  But when we moved to Virginia, I have a bit more free time (it is nice!) and I figure it's not going to hurt my intelligence to read, so why not?  It may even help with with the whole slow-down-and-be-still thing.  I'm a bit rusty on that as well.

The first book I chose to read was 'Thin is the New Happy' by Valerie Frankel.  It's her memoir related to body image issues she's had since a kid.

I was always that kid- not overly fat or anything, but always seeing a distorted body image.  And honestly, I still struggle with it today.  So that's why I picked this book up.

In short, she's a chronic dieter and it's her journey to being happy with herself.  I was pleasantly surprised that the things she did to overcome her body image issues were out of the norm.  It's a breath of fresh air from the "I talked to my counselor and started writing my feelings down."  No, it's way deeper than that.

She's a very imaginative writer, but doesn't lose you in her creative add-in stories.  Humorous.  And she uses a lot of big words.  Like, BIG words.  As in, I was a professional writing major and I didn't even know these words existed.  But it doesn't get in the way of the flow of the book, and you won't be running to your dictionary for the definition because you'll just want to keep on reading.

Bonus: She has lived a pretty cool life- cool jobs (for the wanna-be writer in me) and a dynamic home life, to say the least.

Overall, I'd give it an A.  I read through it quickly, loved her intelligence level, and was able to relate to her even though our stories aren't identical.  It was a good read.

And now here's your chance to read it!  Leave a comment on this post (make sure there's a way I can get in touch with you- whether it links up to your blog or however you want to handle that).  On Friday, February 4th I'll pick a winner at random and mail it out to you!  Good luck!