Vaccinations: A Naturopathic Middle Ground View Point

If you live in Arizona in the greater Phoenix valley, here is a priceless opportunity that may help you in the very difficult decision of vaccinating your child. I don’t believe vaccination are necessarily  a black and white decision, nor an easy decision. A book our family has found very valuable is What You Doctor May Not Tell You About Children’s Vaccines.  It is helpful in the decision to vaccinate or not,  but maybe even more helpful to figure out what vaccines you may want your child to get and not get individually because it covers what the sickness and vaccinations risks are, what the vaccine contains, what antibiotics are available, what schedule might be preferable…I don’t feel that I did the book’s description justice, but you get the idea.  Another opportunity to learn is happening August 26th in Mesa, AZ at my OB’s office. If you happen to be in the area, please feel free to take advantage of this great view point. The information is as follows and you can check our True Harmony Wellness center’s website here Or check out the blog post about the even HERE to find out a little more info and directions….and IT’S a FREE CLASS!

East Valley Birth & Babies:
Vaccinations: A Naturopathic Middle Ground View Point
Thursday, August 26th from 6:00pm-7:30pm

There are many opinions out there about vaccinations.
Dr. Matthew Baral will provide an unbiased and informative view on this subject, addressing these important issues:

1) How likely is it that the child will get the disease?
2) If the child does get the disease, what are the possible outcomes?
3) What do we know about adverse effects of the vaccine?

Dr. Baral is Chair of the Department of Pediatrics and Associate Professor of Pediatrics at the Southwest College of Naturopathic Medicine.

Please RSVP to 480-539-6646.

Tags: baby health, vaccinations, vaccines

collective school: counting snacks and other adventures

My daughter loves crafts, games, school work…but in the morning, my tired brain just wants to turn on PBS. Yet, once you start making some educational games, you realize how easy they are to make and how much they love them.  They are also great to pull out if you want to make dinner by yourself or, uh, facebook or something. Anyways, I thought I’d just share a few ideas. They are so easy I feel a little silly giving instructions for these game, but anyways…

Mommy-baby match-up: cut note cards in half, writing the lower case and capital letter on either side. Choose whatever letters your child is working on and wha-la. Then mix them up and have your child match the mommy and the baby letter together.  For another idea, hide the ‘babies’ somewhere in a room and then give your child the ‘mommy’ letter that needs to go find her baby

Number Match-up: similar to mommy-baby match-up, cut note cards in halve or use whole note cards. One one piece write the number and on the other draw the number of items. Your child can always help with this one. Play the same as above

The Counting Game: this has been a favorite of my daughter’s since her aunt Rachel taught it to her. On a plane piece of paper placed horizontally, draw 10 sections (5 on top, 5 on bottom) and number 1 to 10. Now collect small snacks! raisins, gold fish crackers, chocolate chips, nuts, trail mix type of things.  Have your child place the correct number of one snack item in each section. After the spaces are filled, have them go back and could each section…then they get to eat that section.

Cold Counting: Write the numbers in order in each space of an ice cube tray with magic marker. Then use something small, such as raisins or beans and have your child place one in each space as they count. Then they can go back and count them as they eat!

These games are super simple. I believe I have gotten some of the ideas from 1+1+1=1. for more ideas visit the ‘for your smarty pants’ section of the links page for other educational blogs and sites!

Warning: some of these game contain small parts, such as beans and snacks, please watch your children with small items and keep them away from young children and infants.

Tags: kids crafts, craft time, collective school, match up, flash cards, educational games

true love…

Yes, I’ve been terrible at blogging. We have been crazy busy! It’s great…and some very interesting stuff is on the horizon…but I won’t tell you now. Ok, well at least its cool to us. I’ve been mentally blogging…sad, I know…but don’t tell me you don’t. Do you mentally facebook? That’s my sister’s crime. Anyways, there is a lot to come, but here is just something fun. More envi baby pictures to come too! I’ve been slacking!

Anyways, I saw this photo challenge at the paper mama and decided to enter a picture my friend Becki took of our kiddos that I think is hilarious.

London: I love him. Asa: Oh, crap

have a picture of you baby and their best buddies? You can head on over to the paper mama if you’d like to enter. Its always fun to show off your cuties!

envibum is the new black

yes, for every outfit their is an envibum.

Michael's lil

Hey, a baby has to have a way to accessorize.  My daddy wouldn’t give me beads, because he said they weren’t safe, but with my cute bum…and hat, who need anything else.

envibabies

lil Grayson

yeah, envibabies are just that cute.

Grayson’s mommy said:
The design is so easy to use and clean – it really is no more work than disposables.

Thanks, Grayson’s Mommy!

Surprise envibum Bumbags Winners!!!

polka dot and floral bumbag

Yes, the contest was as such, you send a picture of your envibaby in their envibum (or 2 for a second entry) and you will have a chance to win our new summer bumbag by random selection…but, we decided today, that we have been so blessed by all the cute pictures…that YOU are ALL winners! Thank you to all the parents who sent us your pictures. You can view the cutie pies on our review page or our blog.

Haven’t seen your envibaby on the blog yet? oh, they are coming! I believe all the envibabies will all be on the blog by the next week or so…and when I get around to updating the blog gallery, then, the envibabies will display their cuteness their too~

All who entered will receive a congratulatory email very shortly. Please hit reply to tell us if you would like the polka dot or floral design and give us your address where your bumbag will be shipped. We are so happy we get to give each envibaby a bumbag!

Thanks to all the envibabies out there!

Come back soon as we will be having another contest…don’t have any envibums yet or want to add to your stash…this next one will be for you!

Tags: bumbag giveaway, envibaby, giveaways, wet bag giveaway

Don’t forget the Summer Bumbag giveaway!

Thank you to all the envibabies for emailing us their adorable pictures! Keep them coming until June 30th…just a few days away, to win an out and about bumbag. Our version of a wet bag, is not only functional, but super-duper cute. ..ok, maybe not as cute as little Gideon, here.

Jamie, Gideon’s mommy writes: I love the convenience of the dipes, not having to think about if it’s time to let snaps out or having to stuff inserts every time I wash! And they are so absorbent too, my son is 6 months, and I’m just now starting to use an insert. This is the first diaper I reach for in my stash when they are clean! I would recommend them to anyone.

ah, shucks, thanks, Jamie!

Tags: bum bag, bumbag giveaway, envibaby, envibum giveaway, Gideon, wet bag giveaway, wet bags

Me & My Boys Envibum Review & Giveaway!

Thanks, Abby, over at Me & My Boys Blog for hosting a great envibum review and giveaway. Her little girl, Carlie, modeled for some super cute pictures…my fave are her matching headbands!

Here’s what Abby had to say, which I loved!, “I LOVE how soft this diaper is. I must admit that I like to rub it against my cheeks from time to time (when it is clean of course). This diapers seems like it would be so comfortable to wear. It is also really cute. I love the little sun applique and the yellow color is different than most of Carlie’s other diapers.”

Thank you so much, Abby for your review and giveaway. If you haven’t already, head on over to Me and My Boys Blog to enter the envibum giveaway for the Summer of Fluff event! Don’t forget, it ends July 12th, 2010!

Tags: envibum, T shaped liner, envibum review, envibum giveaway, cloth diaper giveaway, cloth diaper review

Newborns & cloth diapers

When I was introducing cloth diapering into my (and my baby’s life), I decided to wait a couple weeks after he was born to start. Yes, the truth was I was overwhelmed by the idea of cloth diapering, and as with everything I made it a bigger “project” in my head than it really was. It’s not just the kind of thing you just jump into, you know. Ok, it totally is. ha! Anyways, many people make the decision to wait to cloth diaper. I absolutely respect that decision. But if I had it to do over again, I would change my mind. After all, that little baby has just entered the world, it just feels right to put something as natural as cotton and cuddly minke on their little bottom.

Newborn Levi in an envibum

But how do they fit a newborn you may ask. Well, we were waiting for little Levi to make his appearance so we could give you some cute pictures. We know parents have already been using them on their newborns before this, but there is nothing like a cute picture to make it more understandable. Now little Levi was not as little as many babies come out. He was 8 lb 10 oz.  We really, truly want to give you an honest idea here, of what an envibum and mom4mom cover would fit like. My sister, Rachel, made sure not to tuck or pin or whatever marketing photographers may do to make the product look the smallest in this case.  Its important to us…well, because of integrity sake, but also, so that we know parents will be happy and envibum and mom4mom’s will reach (or soar) to their expectations. So you can see here, little Levi, 3 days old, in his mom4mom cover and envibum.

newborn Levi in mom4mom

Now to be perfectly honest, We were considering making a newborn mom4mom set just because it sounded so cute and it would be easy for parents…these were our thoughts before Levi was born. We were just waiting for our baby model. But when we used the envibums and mom4mom covers we really didn’t think their was a need to have parent spent the extra money when the diapers already fit so well. On a day to day basis, I actually think that the mom4mom looks smaller on Levi than in the picture..yes, he has grown some, but even then.  I was so happy seeing the comfy, little diapers on Levi. He told me he loved them as well.

In In’s and Out’s- and I’m not talking digestive system here…

-So here’s how it goes, with the envibums, a newborn baby does not need a pad. Just use the envibum as you would a disposable and wha la!…then, when you change, toss in a laundry basket or bumbag and wash when they pile up.

-with a mom4mom cover, you can use a t-shaped liner or whatever you want really. We actually suggest, especially those who would like to mostly cloth diaper with envibums as they grow a little older, purchasing the envibums you want, then purchase 1 or 2 mom4mom covers and as many absorbency pads without stay-put fixtures.  Then use the mom4mom cover and keep changing out the absorbency pad as the insert to the mom4mom…then later, you may use that absorbency pad inside the envibum, when your baby grows older and needs that extra absorbency. (plus you can be using the envibums at the same time, so extra diaperage) Ok, its really simple, I just hope I actually explained it that way. Anyways, I’m sure there will be a video to come! We will have to update our videos soon.

Have you cloth diapered your newborn?

Tags: cloth diaper covers, envibum diapers, envibums, mom4mom covers, newborn diapers, newborns in cloth diapers

envibum Giveaway!

Just want to let you know about another review and giveaway at reviews @another teen mom. Now, I know what you may think when you hear teen mom. You might think that a teen mom may not be as educated, well spoken, or as detail oriented as, say, a review from another cloth diaper website or blog. Actually, Samantha, now in her early 20′s is absolutely all the above.  On her blog, Samantha states, “It is my intention to provide accurate, honest, and candid reviews of products. I take pride in giving honest, accurate reviews, and will never write anything in a review that I do not truly believe in. When you read my reviews, you can be assured that what I have said is how I truly feel about that particular product.” (yeah, you really aren’t suppose to end a paragraph with a quote…or a sentence in parentheses, I’m sure.)

For some reason I feel this loyalty to her and while I’ve love blogs reviewing our product, I think I may have like her’s the best, right up there with Lindsey’s at Passionate Homemaking (probably because I love Lindsey so).  Her review and giveaway is complete with a video, pictures, her own review and ranking system, and information on our giving back. I felt her video was candid and somehow offered a little bit different perspective than other cloth diaper review blogs do. Plus, she’s witty…might I say that she said she could take a nap on her envibum. I do believed my loyalty grew as I took a look around her blog and website.

I did find out a lot of interesting information on Samatha’s about me page on her anotherteenmom website, such as she is continuing her certifications in breastfeeding, childbirth, and to become a doula…haha, my spell check doesn’t know what a doula is.  They are priceless I tell you. She has also suffered the lose of a child due to a miscarriage. She writes candidly and from her heart on anotherteenmom blog. My heart goes out to her and I’m proud of her for writing about it.

Go ahead, check out her envibum giveaway at reviews@ anotherteenmom and check out her other great giveaways while you are there. Also, check out her other blog at anotherteenmom.

Tags: another teen mom, envibum giveaway, envibum review, envibum videos