Kids made us cut the chemicals

Since all of this sunscreen info has been going around, I figured I'd post this since it's been sitting in my drafts for over a month :)

I'll never forget the day back in November of 2011. Curly Girl was about 9 months old and she was taking a nap. I was on break [browsing Facebook before tackling my long list of chores]. A friend had posted something [http://www.forbes.com/sites/amywestervelt/2011/11/01/as-report-reveals-toxic-ingredients-in-baby-shampoo-johnson-johnson-goes-public-with-plans-to-clean-up-products/]  about the not-so-good chemicals in Johnson & Johnson baby wash. I started reading. I couldn't believe what I was reading. I was horrified. Actually, no, I was outraged. Here I was, trying to do everything I could to protect and care for this little baby girl, yet what I was using to take care for her could actually be harming her. 

Well, I then went into a Google craze. I started trying to figure out what other bad things I was putting onto her body. Then I began to think about the things Darling Daddy and I were putting on our bodies. It made me crazy. It was like everything we were using contained things that were not good for us. [http://www.davidsuzuki.org/issues/health/science/toxics/dirty-dozen-cosmetic-chemicals/]   So many chemicals! Some linked to cancer, some linked to other health problems. None of it sounded good to me.

I decided we needed to make some changes in the products we were using. To be honest, I really wanted to just throw everything out and start fresh, but the practical/frugal side of me couldn't do it. And I knew that Darling Daddy would not be on board with that either. Not only because of the budget we live on, but because he's a chemical engineer... That word 'chemical' is part of his everyday life. I knew he was going to be the hardest to convince and the toughest critic. Fortunately, God was on my side and he wasn't as difficult to convince as I had thought :)

I'm sure you're wondering what changes we have made. I will say that it's still a work in progress, but 3.5 years later, I'd say we're much better than we used to be. 

We started first with baby skin products, since that was what prompted the change. I threw out or returned every Johnson & Johnson product we had. Maybe a little extreme, but I wanted nothing to do with them after what I had learned. We've used many products over the years, but here is a sample of some of our current ones. 

Next I tackled the adult body care products. Got rid of anything and everything with parabens, phalates, triclosan and the other chemicals on the naughty list. This proved to be harder than I thought! They're in so many body care produts! Also, tearing Darling Daddy away from his antibacterial soaps was a challenge, but I did it! Here is a sample of some of our current products.

Then there were of course the cleaning products. Oh, the cleaning products! I had actually tested these waters a tiny bit before my baby body care discovery, so I jumped right in after. I wanted our home to be safe for our little crawler. It can be tricky to find safe cleaning products, depending on where you live. I've stuck mostly to Method and Seventh Generation. Both are sold at Target and as of the past year or so, Market Basket too. Yahoo! [Now if only Market Basket would start selling Target clothes and open a Starbucks, I'd be golden. We'll talk about that another time...] Here is a sample of some of our current cleaning products.

During this time as well, though I can't remember when exactly, my parents gave me a Shark steam mop for Christmas. Ten years ago I would have been quite disappointed in such a gift. Funny how time and children change things! I was pretty ecstatic about it! Cleans my floors with the power of steam! No chemicals at all! And recently I read about spraying a tea tree oil mix onto the pad or mixing it into the water to help disinfect even more. I'm going to investigate this one though. 

Now, I'd be lying if I said these were all of the body care products and cleaning products in our home. They're not. These are the main things that we use, but we still have others that I can't seem to give up. Like Resolve carpet cleaner. And spray Lysol [you better believe I was using that when we got hit with the flu, stomach bug & nasty colds this winter!] And Darling Daddy can't seem to let go of that bottle of bleach in the basement...

So we're on our way, but not completely there. We're so much better off than we were years ago though. The next step will be to start making our own cleaners using natural ingredients and essential oils. We're getting close so stay tuned for that! 

Family Fun Surprises

It's been a bit of a long week. Darling Daddy is the on-call engineer for work this week. This is something that happens about once every three months and has for as long as we've been married. Not much has changed so far this week besides his working hours. Oh, and the fact that I now have two extremely energetic and on-the-go kids who like to move-it, move-it. And the weather is beautiful [thankfully] so we're out a lot. 

On an on-call week Darling Daddy is gone from about 11:00-8:30 versus the usual 7:30-5:30. He also can get calls through the night. Seeing that time shift,  I think all of you moms can understand why it's a long week for me. He's home to help out in the morning. The good part of the day [usually]. It's generally the easy part of the day. And he's not home in the evenings. The looong evenings. We make it through, but it truly makes me feel for all of the single parents out there and those with a spouse who regularly works late. You're amazing. It's tough doing it alone! 

Today, however, we got a surprise. Since it's the Friday before Memorial Day weekend, Darling Daddy's office will be closing early. Since he was already going to be going in later as the on-call guy, his manager told him to just stay home and be prepared to take calls in the afternoon when the office [which was already pretty slow] was closing down. Hooray! It was like a magical surprise to end this week!

We decided to take off for a little hike at a new location. Rocky Woods in Medfield is where we went. It was a great little hike for the kids and we only did part of it! We will definitely be heading back in the future.

Our little trailblazer who is ALWAYS willing and insisting on being the leader.

A surprise swing set in the middle of the woods. This just about made Curly Girl's day, as she is all about the 'pump swings' this spring!

"Fishing" for some things in the pond.

Family pictures never seem to go so well with our two little active ones...

And then this...The biggest surprise of all...

Now, I'm not a snake person. At.All. They're the one thing I reallllllly don't like. Darling Daddy either. So this was interesting. This guy was about 3 feet long and BIG. This was not your typical garter snake. We see those on hikes all the time. No biggie. This was a big one. And he was right in the middle of the trail. And also right near the pond. So, Darling Daddy decided that me and the kids should stand back while he wrangled it with a stick into the water. Because, we figured it was a water snake. It also was moving a little differently than a land snake would. So, he wrangled...

And threw it into the water ...

And for a while he just stayed like this... And we thought we had killed him. We thought, "Oh no. This was not a water snake. We drowned a land snake." 

We just watched. And watched. Daddy was pretty happy with his skills. 

And after a lot of watching, Daddy decided to give it another poke. And it moved! And started swimming like crazy! It was, in fact, a water snake! I'll admit, I was a bit relieved. I didn't want to be those people who kill wildlife in the Department of Conservation & Recreation state park... Whew. 

So, we headed back to the car after a very eventful hike. 

And decided that lunch out at the Muffin House Cafe was in order. And it was good.

It's been a day full of so many surprises! Hopefully that snake surprise will be the last like that of the summer! 

Happy Memorial Day weekend! And thank you to all of those veterans who gave the ultimate sacrifice and fought for our freedom. God Bless America! 

Been waiting for this...

As I ran along the path today [pushing the double stroller of course] that I have run along for 4 years now, I began to think. Think about the many runs I've had along that path over the years. First with one baby, then with a toddler, then a baby and a toddler, now two toddlers. Sometimes running, sometimes walking, sometimes strolling and today running then following a scooter and an "Elmo mobile." 

My life has changed so much over the past 4 years. Definitely for the better in every way. I remember how hard I thought the runs on this path were four years ago, and how timing was everything. I had to nurse Curly Girl at home, which usually took close to an hour, then get her changed and in the car seat and drive 15 minutes to the path and hope that she would nap in the stroller while I got a little run in. Then I had very limited time for stretching because she'd want to eat again soon. Often the car ride home was filled with her screams and we'd get back home to sit on the couch and nurse for another hour. 

Then there was life after Ginger Boy was born... Life then was tough. Two in diapers, naps needing to be taken and mommy paying big time if naps were missed. Hunger cries, tired cries, terrible two year old cries... We were lucky if we got out to the path that year. But we did. Because those 30 minutes were a bit of peace in a not-so-peaceful life. Timing was everything then too.

And then today I couldn't help but think, wow, this is it. This is what I've been waiting for. Timing isn't as much of an issue these days. Sure, we have a daily schedule, but it's a little more flexible. Both kids can talk and tell me what they need. Only one in diapers. They can run and play together. They love playing together. They cooperate and let me get a 30 minute run in before we have playtime on the path.

This spring has been amazing so far. After the long, cold, snowy, sick winter that we had, we have been soaking up this spring. We've been out enjoying the beautiful weather and the wonderful ages that our kids are at. They love life and love each other. Watching them find joy in simple things is simply amazing. Life is by no means easy, but in many ways it has gotten much easier. I am thoroughly enjoying this spring and these two little gingers that God blessed me with. I so love being their momma and am thankful and surprised every day by how much they have blessed my life. 

The Basement is Finshed!

That's right, it's done! This almost-two-year project and all of the hours of hard work by my father and Darling Daddy [and sometimes me] have finally come to an end. An end to the work, but just the beginning to many of my 'mom dreams' coming true. More space! Play dates! Camp outs! Sleepovers! The possibilities abound!

Most of you know how excited I have been about this project and how much space it is adding to our current living space. 400 square feet to be exact. That may not sound like much, but when you're adding it to your current living space of 990 square feet, it makes a big difference! A huge difference! A life changing difference. Ok, maybe not too life changing, but making everyday life in this house nicer for sure.

The day the carpeting was being installed was a day I had dreamed about for so long. Sooooo long. And then sadly, on that happiest of happy days, I was in bed feeling absolutely horrible because I'd been hit with the stomach bug. [Just another way God was trying to teach me some patience, I'm sure!] But, that was about a month ago. Now that a month has passed, we've been filling up the room and enjoying it as much as we can.

So, I know most of you don't really care about what I have to  say about the project. You just want to see pictures. I'm going to give you pictures. Before, during and after pictures. Lots of them. So get ready!

What the basement looked like when we bought the house 5 years ago!

After a little bit of framing by my AWESOME dad...

And some drywall, mudding and primer...

 

The area under the stairs, which used to house only the hot water heater.

Now being turned into a storage closet.

And a laundry room.

The 25 year old washer and dryer that came with the house have since been replaced [but to be honest I wish we had NEVER replaced that amazing beast of a washer... the new one just can't compete]

 

This shelf at the bottom of the stairs [on left] was my 'pantry' for a while.

Until we took it down and started work. Notice the open stairs. My dad took those all apart and leveled and rebuilt them when we were in Maine for Thanksgiving week in 2013.

Dad built the railing and attached it to the new wall and stairs.

The wall enclosing the stairs had to be added, as well as the railing.

 

This is the best picture that I have of the back corner of the basement. The sliding door is to the right.

Dad working. See how happy he was to do it?!?! [Bet he's even happier now that it's done!]

And this Darling Daddy is the happiest of all - he had just finished painting the entire room when I took this picture! Happy Valentine's Day to me! 

The most empty the room will ever be. On the day of the carpeting.

  

A big pipe runs across the entire front wall of the house. In order to utilize as much space as possible, we chose to have some built in shelves above the pipe.

 

The water main is also right in the front corner of the house. To protect this and also utilize some space, we had a closet built around it. We are able to store a giant window unit air conditioner in there, as well as hang snowsuits and winter jackets.

 

Darling Daddy hard at mudding. You can see the shelves and closet on their way.

This picture was taken on the first kid-free weekend this house (or us for that matter) had EVER had. My AMAZING parents took the kids for an ENTIRE weekend (Friday night to Sunday night!) so we could get lots of work done. And we did! [As well as going out on a date!]  The stairway wall is behind us.

 

Wall in progress...

Almost there...

Finished!

Ok, so now that you've seen all of the before and work-in-progress pictures, I'll share the good stuff. 

My 'closet' at the top of the stairs right off the kitchen. We make the most out of the space we have.

Looking down the stairs into the basement. 

First look as you come down the stairs.

The spacious playroom and workout area. Hooray! [Note: No, I have never tried to run on the treadmill while the kids are playing. And I can guess that it will never happen. Ever. I'm lucky if I can fold a basket of laundry when they're around. Very much attention-seeking kids :)]

My favorite organization parts!

Looking into the room from the sliding door that leads out to the patio. 

Measuring heights and displaying art work. The storage/laundry closet is behind this wall. 

My toy organization dreams came true! 

And the last look at the bottom of the stairs.

Whew! Feels good to actually get this written and posted within the first month of having it done! 

Thanks to the hard work and dedication of my dad and Darling Daddy, we have an awesome addition to our home!