Baby Stuff

I had a wonderful email conversation with someone yesterday and finally prompted me to go out and buy the rest of the essentials needed for Mari. We've made the decision to try to be health and environmentally conscious, but realistic at the same time. If we had an infinite source of income, as well as availability of products, then life would be really great. But, we're going to try at least and here are some things that we've researched and what we're gonna do:

G Diapers

First, we decided to go with G Diapers. We will still use Pampers Swaddlers for her when we travel, but we are really going to try to stick to the G Diapering system as our primary source. I first read about these diapers on Pink Ric Rac's blog and became instantly intrigued. We received a diaper cake from the hostesses from one of our showers made solely from the small and medium diapers. Last night I finally bought the starter kit and demonstrated to Don how to use them. I seriously need to bring my baby doll around so he can practice. He felt confident enough b/c he'd watch the video online, but never having changed an actual diaper, he didn't know how a wiggling baby would be. I guess we'll find out soon enough, huh? The only place I've been able to find these locally are at Whole Foods. I haven't compared the Whole Foods price to the online price yet, but I did compare the online price to Huggies brand diapers and they were actually cheaper and you got more diapers. Oh and Don said he's going to attempt to compost the pee diapers. So, we'll see if they really go away after 50 - 150 days. (Starter kit was $24.99...$2 less than online)

Born Free Bottles

I'd heard of these bottles before and had them on the back burner in my brain because I'd not seen them anywhere. I was actually going to place an order on Amazon for them to be in by the end of January. Well, yesterday when I was at Whole Foods, they had a two pack of these bottles and I thought, how great is that??? I went ahead and bought those as well. We are going to use the Avent bottling system, but try and use the Born Free bottles as much as possible, though. They are relatively the same size, so I think we'll be able to use a lot of the same sterilizing equipment and traveling pieces. I plan to get more than two, but for now that's a good start. Especially since I hope to nurse her for those 3 months that I'm home with her. Of course I'll pump some so Don can experience the joy of late night feedings as well. (about $10.99, I think)

California Baby Products

Like us, the baby will probably have some extremely sensitive skin and won't take kindly to scented soaps and soothers. All natural products free from harsh chemicals and dyes. Even when I was a kid, the Johnson & Johnson brand irritated my skin. I had to use this special soap that I later learned was all natural and prescribed by my doctor. It was on OTC soap, but still, I remember my mom having to go to a specific grocery store to get it. With that said, we're going to try the California Baby products to see how he likes them. I hope her skin reacts favorably to them and isn't has reactive like mine was. Man, I totally remember how uncomfortable life was every time I took a bath or if Mom changed laundry detergents. (the sample kit was about $13)

Burt's Bees Diaper Ointment

All babies get a diaper rash at some point in their lives. It is just inevitable. I'd read about Boudreaux's Butt Paste and seemed intrigued enough by it, but wondered if Burt's Bees made something too. Sure enough, they had a small sample pack of the diaper ointment, soothing apricot oil, and lotion. It smelled pretty good and I tried it on my own skin and there wasn't any irritation. (the sample pack was about $6)

Zoya Nail Polish

Well, this last one is for me. I came across this nail polish while in Whole Foods and wish I would've found it earlier in my pregnancy. Maybe I actually would've been painting my fingernails this whole time. I've missed looking at color on my hands! So I treated myself to a lovely shade of indigo. I'll paint my nails tonight and for the first time in 8 months, my hands will look familiar again. I liked that it didn't smell like most nail polishes since it is Toluene, Formaldehyde, and DBP free. I'm excited, almost to the point to where I want to go and get a manicure, but I'll wait until my mother-in-law is in town. We'll get all dolled up and fancy for the new year. (about $6)

So that's it. That was my adventure to Whole Foods (except the Burt's Bee's stuff was purchased at Target). I know we still have a long way to go to get to a really healthy lifestyle free of the random chemicals and stuff, but this is definitely a start. I'm of similar mentality to John Mayer: Another Kind of Green a mix of being green, but more like green light, I guess like a diet green. Hey, baby steps, right?

Have a Merry Christmas!