What's in your make up?
If you read your face cream's ingredient list you'd be surprised what they put in there! To take a look at what your make up ingredients actually do to you and your body click here! So Anita sent me a few products to try out and I have to say I'm so impressed with the quality of the products! She sent me the Jaffa lip balm and the Mineral foundation powder.
The lip balm smells like oranges and exfoliates your lips as you put it on, it's got little beads to take away the dry skin and then once it's done doing that, the beads disappear. SO many lip balms stay grainy this one does not! This product retails for $9.95 USD, and when you think about how much you pay for products that aren't half as good, you can afford to splurge a little bit, this product is totally worth it!
The mineral powder smells like roses! It gives you a nice soft finish so that you do not shine up the place with your face. It's a great finishing product to help your skin appear very silky smooth. It's very light and does not look like you are wearing a tonne of make up. This product retails for $30.95 USD. When you consider how much powder's cost from professional lines such as Elizabeth Arden powder at $30.00 USD, just think of this.. all of these ingredients are all natural and safe. So no matter how much my son sucks on my face (yes I know gross), at least I know that he's not ingesting any chemicals.
The bottom Line
Anita also has many other products besides the make up, such as baby care, house hold products, body care, skin care, hair care and more! If you are looking for a great product that is natural and that works without breaking the bank definitely check out MiEssence products! Want to know what skin type you have, check out Anita's guide here! So why shop organic? the bottom line, because it's healthier for you and your family. Most of these products you could eat-not that I would eat them, but you could! There is even a point program! Below are the details, so if you shop more you save more!Customer Discount RatesNow if you excuse me I'm going to go on a mini shopping spree, there are so many cool products I want to try! Humm what should I get next? Many thanks to Anita for introducing these wonderful products to me and my family! If you want to learn more about her please check out her blog!*Please note, Loyalty Points (PV) are not assigned to the 20% discount order. ** Each product has a Point (PV) value noted on each product listing.
- Initial order any value - No Discount *
- Subsequent orders any value - Retail less 10% *
- Loyalty Program - accumulate 150 Points (PV) ** & your NEXT order receives a 20% discount (retail less 20% *)
- After the 20% discount order, your Loyalty Points will return to zero and your discount will continue at 10% until you reach 150 Points (PV) again.
The Motherisk Program at The Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto, Ontario, Canada is a clinical, research and teaching program dedicated to antenatal drug, chemical, and disease risk counselling. It is affiliated with the University of Toronto. Created in 1985, Motherisk provides evidence-based information and guidance about the safety or risk to the developing fetus or infant, of maternal exposure to drugs, chemicals, diseases, radiation and environmental agentsRecently they had conducted an study to determine just how long women should wait before resuming breastfeeding after having an alcoholic beverage. We've all read online that it's 2 hours for one drink, and one drink being a beer, a 5 oz glass of wine, and 1oz of hard alcohol. But how much you weigh determines how quickly your body metabolizes the alcohol. Below what MotherRisk found in reference to drinking alcohol and breastfeeding:
Question:
I recently delivered a healthy, full-term baby and am now breastfeeding exclusively. I abstained form drinking alcohol during my entire pregnancy and am wondering if drinking alcohol now would harm my nursing baby.
Answer:
Nursing mothers who choose to drink alcohol during the postpartum period should carefully plan a breastfeeding schedule by storing milk before drinking and waiting for complete elimination of alcohol from their breast milk after drinking. Mother risk has created an algorithm to estimate how long it takes to eliminate alcohol from breast milk.
Below is their algorithm:
*1 drink = 340 g (12 oz) of 5% beer, or 141.75 g (5 oz) of 11% wine, or 42.53 g (1.5 oz) of 40% liquor.
Here are two of their examples:
Example no. 1:
For a 40.8-kg (90-lb) woman who consumed three drinks in 1 hour, it would take 8 hours, 30 minutes for there to be no alcohol in her breast milk, but for a 95.3-kg (210-lb) woman drinking the same amount, it would take 5 hours, 33 minutes.
Example no. 2:
For a 63.5-kg (140-lb) woman drinking four beers starting at 8:00 pm, it would take 9 hours, 17 minutes for there to be no alcohol in her breast milk (ie, until 5:17 am)
They also note the following:
Because alcohol elimination follows zero-order kinetics, drinking water, resting, or 'pumping and dumping" breast milk will not accelerate elimination. Unlike urine, which stores substances in the bladder, alcohol is not trapped in breast milk, but is constantly removed as it diffuses back into the bloodstream.
The Bottom Line
If any type of alcohol consumption makes you uncomfortable do not feel that you have to drink, or feel pressured to have a drink. If you are at a party and want to avoid pressure, you can drink soda with lime, or 7-up and add a lime wedge! If you do decide to drink, the above information is a guideline only and does not replace a medical practitioner's advice. Alcohol is never good for a baby no matter in what quantities. An even though an infant is exposed to a fraction of the amount of alcohol the mother ingests, infants detoxify alcohol in their first weeks of life at only half the rate of adults. One thing to mention is that, you are now responsible for another life, if you choose to drink make sure that someone is sober enough to take care of your baby should baby get ill. Now after this is all said and done, I do enjoy beverages every now and again, my baby sleeps through the nigh (knocks on wood) so I do not have to feed him during the night. If for some reason I needed too, I always have milk stored in the fridge and freezer. I don't feel there is anything wrong with enjoying a few drinks responsibly! For more information on this article please click here, the references to the research articles are on that page as well! Many thanks to Christy for this wonderful information! For More information on the services that Mother Risk provides: Motherisk counselors talk to hundreds of women and their healthcare providers each day providing guidance, support and peace of mind. So if you don't find the information you are looking for on this website, try calling one of our Helplines. Motherisk counselors are available Monday through Friday, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. EST. 1-877-327-4636 - Alcohol and Substance 1-800-436-8477 - Morning Sickness 1-888-246-5840 - HIV and HIV Treatment (416) 813-6780 - Motherisk's Home LineWhile I've been recently very busy on the Internet, well mostly on Twittermoms.com, I've come across some really neat blogs! There are so many interesting women out there, and if I needed another reason to be obsessed with the Internet, I've found one.
While browsing Twittermoms.com I came across Cheryl Hill's recent blog posting about something mysteriously-but aptly called the black box.
Basically this black box will ask you to decide between two options, each choice you make brings you closer to a "mystery" website of a blog you've probably never read before.
The Creator of this little black box widget is Caroline Smailes, she is an author who has recently written another book titled black boxes. The following is a synopsis of her latest book:
Ana Lewis is a woman trapped and ruined by her own expectations. Her intense relationship with fellow student Alex cracks beyond repair when she falls pregnant, and his subsequent withdrawals, both emotional and sexual are hard for her to bear. Eventually, following the births of their children Pip and Davie, Alex leaves Ana to a life of question and blame.
Basically, this book is about how every little decision you make shapes and changes your life forever. I now have to add this to my "must read" pile!
Oh and if you land on someone's blog via the box, let them know how you got there! It's always nice to have some new visitors and comments!!! Happy searching!
Warning: this tool is highly addictive!
Ok, so recently I was chatting with a friend asking them if they liked cats, because my husband had come across this awesome you tube video of a hilarious cat. I personally have never got into searching You Tube, but the reason he sent this to me was that our first cat actually used to do something similar to this when she was young. She actually used to play hide and seek with us, no word of a lie. She'd come and find us, and tap us on the head and then go and hide (even if it was with her head under a pillow-therefore concealing herself, and her butt sticking out).
But I digress, I suppose if I had never met my husband I would be like the cat lady on the Simpsons. I would have at least 10 cats. Thank God Miguel saved me LOL And without further ado, here is the video:
"Anything you can do, I can do better. I can do anything Better than you."
Is what Megan Calhoun was singing the night she launched Twittermoms.com---OK probably not, but that's what she should have been singing.
When I was first introduced to twitter, my husband had just come back from a Microsoft Influencer conference and was on his crack blackberry even more (I didn't think it was possible-but it was) then he usually was. I asked him what on earth he was doing, so he told me he was tweeting. I LMAO at him, telling him he'd gone off the deep end. What on earth was tweeting?
When I first checked out twitter, I thought, who on earth has time for this. But then again, you make time for things you' become obsessed with. *ahem-facebook sound familiar?*
New to twitter? Check out my first posting on twitter
I thought, are there any mom's who are tweeting? Because as it stood, the only people who I knew that were tweeting were my husbands' work colleagues, people who were working outside the home and people with blackberries. Was I the only Internet obsessed mom? Certainly not.
While surfing twitter a couple days ago, I noticed that sittercity had tweeted that if you were a mom you had to check out www.twittermoms.com, so off I went. And what did I discover? A wonderfully addictive website that has me hooked.
So What is Twittermoms.com?
According to Megan's site:
Twittermoms is an online version of the three martini playdate. Chat about the adventures of being a mom. It's always happy hour here!
Megan (the creator of this highly addictive site) is a mommy of two, founder of Twittermoms.com and a children's book author.
When I joined this site, she personally messaged me to welcome me to the group,she followed me on twitter, she read AND commented about my latest blog posting and added that if I needed anything to just message her!
What a wonderfully personal touch, when's the last time you were welcomed to a site you joined by a personal message from the founder of the site? ---I should mention that TotSpot was also very personal when I joined.
So what can you do on Twittermoms.com?
- Meet and tweet with other moms! This means that you can now have other moms follow you on twitter, find other moms on twitter and check out each other's blogs!
- Advertise your blog! I'm sure we're all searching for those wonderful things we call visitor's to up our traffic on our blogs, well ladies this is a great place to do that! Gain exposure and ideas for your latest blog postings.
- Post pictures of your friends, family, and yes the kiddies! You can even upload videos!
- Start Discussions about topics you may want a little advice or input in.
- Start a group to find like minded mommies you may want to chat with!
The Bottom Line
I could probably wax poetic about Twittermoms.com all night, but I think all you social moms should really check this website out. I know as moms we don't have very much "me" time, but if you do tweet on twitter, or you are a mommy blogger looking to meet some other mommy blogger friends this is the place for you.
I was talking with my husband today telling him that most of the successful blogging women I have come in contact with all happen to be women who at one point or another have been successful career women. These career women-who have become mommies, are now looking for an outlet to stay creative, to remain in touch with the real world, and hell just be normal for 30 minutes during the day. Even if the blog does revolve around puking, spitting, peeing or poop.
Above all else, these are funny, intelligent women (who happen to be mommies) are singing at the world, "Anything you can do, I can do better, I can do anything better then you."
So if you are reading this blog and know of some wonderfully smart women who would benefit from something like Twittermoms.com, tell her to log on and get started! I promise you, she won't be disappointed!
And if you're not tweeting yet, why not?
Now I had forgotten about this email until someone recently posted it on BBC (Thanks LIZ) but I'm sure all you parents and non parents will get a chuckle out of this, enjoy!
Thinking of Having Kids? Do this 11 step program first!
Lesson 1
1. Go to the grocery store.
2. Arrange to have your salary paid directly to their head office.
3. Go home.
4. Pick up the newspaper.
5. Read it for the last time.
Lesson 2
Before you finally go ahead and have children, find a couple who already are parents and berate them about their.
1. Methods of discipline.
2. Lack of patience.
3. Appallingly low tolerance levels.
4. Allowing their children to run wild.
5. Suggest ways in which they might improve their child's breast feeding,sleep habits, toilet training, table manners, and overall behaviour. Enjoy it because it will be the last time in your life you will have all the answers.
Lesson 3
A really good way to discover how the nights might feel.
1. Get home from work and immediately begin walking around the living room from5PM to 10PM carrying a wet bag weighing approximately 8-12 pounds, with a radio turned to static (or some other obnoxious sound) playing loudly. (Eat cold food with one hand for dinner)
2. At 10PM, put the bag gently down, set the alarm for midnight, and go to sleep.
3. Get up at 12 and walk around the living room again, with the bag, until 1AM.
4. Set the alarm for 3AM.
5. As you can't get back to sleep, get up at 2AM and make a drink and watch an infomercial.
6. Go to bed at 2:45AM.
7. Get up at 3AM when the alarm goes off.
8. Sing songs quietly in the dark until 4AM.
9. Get up. Make breakfast. Get ready for work and go to work (work hard and be productive)
Repeat steps 1-9 each night. Keep this up for 3-5 years. Look cheerful and together.
Lesson 4
Can you stand the mess children make? To find out.
1. Smear peanut butter onto the sofa and jam onto the curtains.
2. Hide a piece of raw chicken behind the stereo and leave it there all summer.
3. Stick your fingers in the flower bed.
4. Then rub them on the clean walls.
5. Take your favourite book, photo album, etc. Wreck it.
6. Spill milk on your new pillows. Cover the stains with crayons. How does that look?
Lesson 5
Dressing small children is not as easy as it seems.
1. Buy an octopus and a small bag made out of loose mesh.
2. Attempt to put the octopus into the bag so that none of the arms hang out.
Time allowed for this - all morning.
Lesson 6
Forget the BMW and buy a mini-van. And don't think that you can leave it out in the driveway spotless and shining. Family cars don't look like that.
1. Buy a chocolate ice cream cone and put it in the glove compartment. Leave it there.
2. Get a dime. Stick it in the CD player.
3. Take a family size package of chocolate cookies. Mash them into the backseat. Sprinkle cheerios all over the floor, then smash them with your foot.
4. Run a garden rake along both sides of the car.
Lesson 7
Go to the local grocery store. Take with you the closest thing you can find to a pre-school child. (A full-grown goat is an excellent choice). If you intend to have more than one child, then definitely take more than one goat. Buy your week's groceries without letting the goats out of your sight. Pay for everything the goat eats or destroys.
Until you can easily accomplish this, do not even contemplate having children.
Lesson 8
1. Hollow out a melon.
2. Make a small hole in the side.
3. Suspend it from the ceiling and swing it from side to side.
4. Now get a bowl of soggy Cheerios and attempt to spoon them into the swaying melon by pretending to be an airplane.
5. Continue until half the Cheerios are gone.
6. Tip half into your lap. The other half, just throw up in the air.
You are now ready to feed a nine- month-old baby.
Lesson 9
Learn the names of every character from Sesame Street , Barney, Disney, the Teletubbies, and Pokemon. Watch nothing else on TV but PBS, the Disney channel or Noggin for at least five years. (I know, you're thinking What's'Noggin'?) Exactly the point.
Lesson 10
Make a recording of Fran Drescher saying 'mommy' repeatedly.(Important: no more than a four second delay between each 'mommy';occasional crescendo to the level of a supersonic jet is required). Play this
tape in your car everywhere you go for the next four years. You are now readyto take a long trip with a toddler.
Lesson 11
Start talking to an adult of your choice. Have someone else continually tug on your skirt hem, shirt- sleeve, or elbow while playing the 'mommy' tape made from Lesson 10 above. You are now ready to have a conversation with an adult while there is a child in the room.
The Bottom Line
Well, I definitely love number 3 and am in the process of number 8, OH the joys! But seemingly it's all worth it, it's a wonder that we create these little people to "torment'" us