Thursday, May 30, 2013

Vinnie's Summer Romper

Sweet Vinnie is sensitive to most fabrics, excluding silk and wool.  I did a trade with a sweet Canadian mama for this knit romper.  It is adorable! 

Here are some snaps from when we got it on March 14.








And here are a few more from the first day it was warm enough (and we had an occasion) to wear it out of the house. On May 22, 2013.  





Tuesday, May 28, 2013

Being a Mom! Cool Summer Fun!

After reading this blog post, from Cotton Babies owner, Jennifer Labit, I decided to make myself an organized little post with all of our summer fun plans too!




I will plan to take at least one telephone/internet/work free day & spend it with my kids. :) Obviously I'll still have to cook and clean, but hopefully I can do a lot of that the day before & we can have at least one SPECIAL fun experience each week.  This will be in addition to & on top of our typical play-dates and activities.


So far, I have just signed the boys up for "Kids Skate Free" at the Peninsula Family Skating Center in Newport News.  We will probably only do this on the weekend, since the week-day hours are late.

We have Busch Gardens season passes & do try to go at least once a week.

We can go to the beach.

There are lots of local parks we can check out:

Bennet's Creek
Windsor Castle (in Smithfield)
Oak Grove Lake
Portsmouth City Park

Portsmouth also opened a Splash Park which costs $2 per person, per day.

We can go out to Mom & Dad's house for fun in the country.  (Planning June 8-9th already...need to pick dates for July & August.)

We'll do something fun for the Fourth of July.

We'll also have Vinnie's 2nd Birthday in August, with a Geo-Trax train theme...complete with a rented cotton candy machine!

We can do a backyard camp-out.


Memorial Day Kick-Off--Family trip to Busch Gardens!







Healing Hazel Review

I have been using baltic amber on my children since my 3 1/2 year old, Lucas was about 5 months old.  He has always worn his baltic amber necklace.  I've had several, (from different sellers), because as they are designed to do, they have broken with wear.  But, I had never tried the beaked hazelwood and baltic amber combination until I was given this opportunity by Healing Hazel.


The owner of Healing Hazel discovered the benefits of hazel on necklaces back in 1982 (I wasn't even born yet!) and has been working with hazel wood ever since.  In 2004, they established their company Bienfaits Noisetier.  

I learned about hazel wood through Diaperswappers.com and other Attachment Parenting/Natural Parenting friendly websites I browse.  Until Vincent started showing signs of excema, around 6 weeks old, I didn't really have a NEED to try it out.

I bought my first 2 Healing Hazel necklaces during a Greenbaby Bargains sale in April 2012.  I noticed an immediate difference in Vinnie's excema and determined that we would keep buying the necklaces.

Within 4 months and 5 days I was ordering new necklaces, this time from EcoBaby Buys, they were still Healing Hazel brand, just being offered a discount.  I bought another two necklaces.

Another 4 months and 9 days past and those two necklaces were worn out, it was time for more.  Needing a necklace promptly, I ordered from a local work-at-home-mom run store, For Mom and Keiki.  She had Healing Hazel brand necklaces in stock and was able to quickly ship one to me.

As you can see, I BELIEVE in healing hazel.  I have seen first hand the effects it has for my son's SEVERE excema.

Vincent was in the throws of a serious outbreak, thanks to the cold and flu our family was struggling with and the necklace from For Mom & Keiki was wearing out much quicker than our previous necklaces.  The opportunity to test a hazelamber necklace from Healing Hazel came at the perfect time and our new necklaces arrived just one month after the last necklace had been purchased.

Vinnie tested out the 12" Baby/Child sized HazelAmber necklace with orange beads.


Vinnie's BEFORE  Pictures

You can see the red patches all over his hands, arms, and belly.  His entire body was covered like this the day we put the new hazelamber necklace on.



Vinnie's AFTER Pictures






Vinnie's necklace wore out after about 70 days.  We obviously noticed an almost immediate benefit and his skin cleared up dramatically.

Beaked hazelwood DEFINITELY helps to clear his excema--which is related to food allergies, fevers, and environmental allergies.

I tested out the 18" Adult HazelAmber necklace with dark blue/gunmetal beads.



I have to be honest & say I only wore the necklace for about a week.  I didn't notice it helping any with period/hormone related headaches or my excema.  But, my excema is very mild and typically only on my legs.  I tried wearing the necklace around my ankle, doubled up, but it was just a smidge too tight.

I wish it came in a longer length, because I would wear it just as beautiful jewelry if it weren't so short. I like my necklaces to be about 23-24 inches long and the 18" length was too much like a choker on me.


Here are some pictures of our hazelwood necklaces that have worn out:


So, head over to Healing Hazel and check them out!