Don’t forget to flush.  And put the seat down.

My beloved safemama.com has come out with a new site called lovelysafemama.com and it’s all about US girls!!  I love froofy and smelly good beauty stuff but am always freaked out by the list of ingredients.  Like I always say, “if I can’t pronounce it, I’m certainly not going to eat it.”  OR slather it all over my Mama-licious baw-de.  (Be sure to say this with a sexy voice or it will just sound stupid.)  This site is an awesome resource for uncoding all that jive talk they put on those bottles.  Happy resesarching!

Lovely Safe Mama

Naturally yours, Dallas

Happy 2009 everyone!

Poor guy.

First thing in the morning too.

Made for difficult paci sucking which just pissed him off even more.

I just read this story and had to post to share with my fellow Nuggets.  It’s sad but it does have a beautiful message.

Naturally Yours,  Dallas

Please read Lactation and Loss and share.

When you become a parent for the first time - you say to yourself  that you’re not going to do this with your child and you’re not going to do that.  Either you loved your own parents and thought they hung the moon and you want to be just like them OR you’re like me and your parents serve as instruction manuals on what NOT to do.  I love my parents but they put the F-U-N in dysfunction and I’m running in the opposite direction with my own kid.  There are no hard and fast rules for raising kids, but I know what I don’t want to do and I just felt like I needed a little guidance on what tactics or theories might work best for us.  There are several different parenting styles and all come with their own list of supporters, naysayers and the like.  Some are love driven, some are fear driven and all seem to work in their own ways with their success being based on what the parent is striving for.   For me, well, I grew up in a very authoritarian home.  Punishment was handed out on the regular either physically, mentally or emotionally.  My father was not afraid to dish it out…trust me.  And because of that I lived in fear of my father.  To one extent that “fear” is what kept me in line all the time.  No trouble at school, no trouble out of school, yes sir, no sir, no drinking, no sex, no drugs…nothing.  I was one straight laced kid solely out of the fear of the wrath that would be handed down by my dad. Sometimes I hated him, most times I loved him - I always respected him.  But looking back on my childhood I do remember the feeling of loneliness and isolation.  I felt invisible and not a part of the family.  “Kids should be seen and not heard”, my dad would say.  My curfews were set, my grade expectations were set, my groups of friends were set, what I wore,  where I went, who I talked to on the phone and for how long…..all closely monitored by my father.  He wasn’t mean per say,  just very controlling.  So now as I begin my parenting journey with my own son, the one thing I know is that I never want him to feel the way that I did.  I’ve been searching for a different set of tools than what was handed down to me by my own parents.  I want my son to feel included, loved and respected.  I want to show him that his voice matters and that his opinions have value and merit.  I want to give him control over his own life and help him understand the responsibility and consequences that come with free will.  Oh yeah…did I mention he’s only one? Read the rest of this entry »

Babywearing is one of the things that I have done with Kiki that has always felt right.  Even from the very beginning we’ve both enjoyed the closeness that babywearing offers Mom and babe.  I can remember when he was a newborn I’d put him in in his sling and off we’d go.  I even used it a lot at home and it allowed me to have two free hands to sort laundry, go to the bathroom (wash after of course!), make a sandwhich, whatever I needed to get done.  And anytime he was fussy I would put him in his sling and he would calm right down.  Even now that he is a year old, I still toss him in his sling if we’re grocery shopping, going on a walk or if he’s just fussy in the early evening.  I love babywearing and I know I’m going to miss it when he’s no longer interested…and that time is fast approaching!

As a new Mom, I know there are all sorts of things you try when you bring home a new baby. Some things work out and some do not.  There’s  co-sleeping, breastfeeding or formula, crying it out, cloth diapering…the list goes on.  You always want to do what’s best for your new baby BUT you should also do what is best for your family.  So as you go down the list of things that you want to try with your new bundle of joy - please put babywearing at the top of that list.  There are a lot benefits to babywearing for  both you and your baby and it will help you create a bond with your infant that will stay with you forever.  Babywearing is easy (if done correctly) and you have several types of wraps out there to try.  Hey - you could even ask a friend if they have one you could just check out before you commit and purchase.

Then again - babywearing may not be for you! But you owe it to yourself and your little one to put it on the list of “things to try” when you’re bringing that new little one home.  You just might be surprised!

Side Nugget - A friend sent me a comment regarding this post mentioning the fact that some of us Mamas find it hard to babywear due to our increased “fluffiness” after delivery!  I, myself, topped the scales at 240 with Kiki and I was still about 230lbs when I left the hospital.  I  had a tough time finding a sling to work but I did eventually settle with the Maya Wrap.  The Maya Wrap has tons of extra fabric and I was able to position is right above my belly.  If you don’t want to buy something online because you’re not sure it will work for you, ask other Moms, hit the web or make a trip to the local baby super store where they have several different styles in stock - and just try them all.  But remember - don’t let this make you crazy!!!  You’ve probably got enough going on with a new baby so don’t let this add to the insanity!  You can still have a beautiful bonding experience with your newborn while nursing or kangaroo care.  The most important thing is that your little one needs to be close to you AND daddy.  Lots of skin to skin contact trumps any old sling, any day!

Here is a link to great article on parentingweb.com on the benefits of babywearing.

Benefits of Babywearing

My fellow babywearing Mamas are going to lllooovvveee this one.  Motrin (as in pain reliever) put out a video basically trash talking babywearing and implying that Moms who wear their babes in slings are doing it to “totally look like an official Mom”.   This stupid video completely discredits the benefit of babywearing for both baby and Mom OR DAD and suggests that babywearing causes back pain, headaches and makes us cry, “what about me?”  UUGGGHH!  So the Prez of the Babywearing International wrote a little letter giving them the facts and telling them where to stick those facts.  Ok - the letter wasn’t quite so nasty but you know the lady that wrote it was completely going off the hinges on Motrin behind closed doors.  Anyways - here is the link to the video.

PS  Guess what internet social networking group got the vid removed from Motrin’s site……TWITTER.  Yeah bitches.

Motrin’s Stupid Video Against Babywearing

For more info on the benefits of babywearing go to Babywearing International.

i’ve come across a cool  video on the eco argument of real or fake Christmas trees.  We always buy local and real trees.  But I can see where people would think that buying a fake tree means that you get to keep using it year after year.  Fake trees have a HUGE carbon footprint and typically come from China.  Plus you can’t recycle them once you’re done with it.  Fake trees go to landfills and sit there for all eternity.  Just kidding on the eternity..but I’m sure it’s only like a million years or something.  Check out this video and decide for yourself.

Real vs fake

PS Don’t forget to skip the tinsel too.   If you use tinsel on a real tree…you can’t recycle it.

Naturally yours, Dallas

Hey everyone!  We celebrated Kiki’s first birthday this past Saturday with a huge party and loads of family and friends.  It was my intention to make this party as eco friendly as possible and believe me, twas not easy!  I’ll go down the list of what I bought with regards to partyware, what we recycled from other parties and what I skipped out on completely.  It’s really hard to fight the urge to go completely overboard with your kid’s first birthday.  You want to spoil, overindulge and just make everything over the top!  But just keep in mind that the first party is really for you, the parents and not as much for the little one.  My only goal was to really make memories to share with him when he got older.  I wanted him to know that even though he would never remember the first year, we would.  And I wanted to make sure he could see through pictures and hear through stories, how happy and complete our lives were because of him.  That’s what this celebration was for us.  Ok - enough of the sap and back to the good stuff. Read the rest of this entry »