Shameless Brag

This are two of my girls, Talia and Rorie along with Alana's niece Kiana, singing Song of Love with Alana Sweetwater and The Heavy Steppers.

Is Bamboo aTruly Sustainable Fabric?

My short answer is no. I wish it were, honest to God I wish it was. I love the concept and it is super soft and would be a great inner for diapers. Originally Melissa and I were all ready to create diapers out of bamboo. That was until we did some research.

Dangerous chemicals are used to transform the plant into liquid and then into fibres to be spun into fabric. These chemicals can cause a plethora of health problems and neural disorders for the manufacturing workers. A developing nation like China rarely (if at all) uses systems to help control the production and disposal of those chemicals.

From http://victoria-e.com/2007/10/04/how-green-is-bamboo-fabric/

Additionally, Chinese manufacturers to begin clearing out natural forests in order to plant more fast-growing bamboo. As of today, I could not find a domestic source for bamboo fabric. It is only made in China and in China many cultivators are starting to use fertilizers that wouldn’t meet U.S. organic standards in order to increase the yield of their plantations.

There are two ways of processing bamboo for fiber.

1.Mechanically. This is referred to as the – eco-friendly – mode, the plant is physically crushed and natural enzymes are used to break the bamboo walls into a mushy mass so that the natural fibers can be mechanically combed out and spun into yarn.

2. Chemically. This is the more cost-effective, less labor-intensive, and extremely toxic, friendly method, a process of hydrolysis-alkalization and multi-phase bleaching refines bamboo pulp from the plant, which is then processed into fiber.

You could verify that your bamboo clothing has been certified by a professional certification group such as the ÖKO-TEK STANDARD 100, which ensures that chemicals used in the production do not have any negative effects on human health and the environment. But, chemicals are chemicals, right?

Melissa and I searched and searched and could not find a source of bamboo without the chemical method of production. Another big issue for us is that there isn't any domestic bamboo fabric, which goes against our "buy local" philosophy. There is a really great bamboo farm right here in Tucson, but, they don't manufacture fiber, they build beautiful tables, chairs and other furnishings with their bamboo. They also grow and sell bamboo for shade. You can check them out at http://www.bambooranch.net/.

While the bamboo plant is remarkably sustainable, we have yet to find a way to weave it into a sustainable fabric. I hope that someone somewhere can tackle this issue so we can reap the benefits of bamboo fabric. But until then, LolliDoo® products will not be made from Bamboo.

LolliDoo® Rocked Living La Vida Verde

Rylee is so excited to be at the festival She helped set up.
Zoe in her Peace Love LolliDoo® Shirt

OK we are a little out of order, this is Talia before we left the house.

Chuck setting up our booth. Melissa-we found the banner:)

The Halloween noisemaker art project was a hit. Jordan was in charge of supervising the kids.

All set up and ready to go. Notice our matching shirts.

Jordan and Talia rocking the Peace Love LolliDoo® shirts.

There were over 5000 people there, here is a glimpse.


Jordan helping more kids do art.

LolliDoo® Diapers were a huge success. Tucson Green Times is interested in doing an article on us. Also we have some local retailers interested in carrying the LolliDoo® line. There was so much interest in LolliDoo® that I didn't get to sit down for longer then a minute or two, it was wonderful. I was asked to make a presentation at the Birth Center Mommy and Me Group, which I am all too happy to do.

I wish we took more detailed pictures, but the day flew by.

Livin La Vida Verde

Today I am getting ready for Livin LA Vida Verge (Tucson's 2nd Annual Green Festival). There will be a lot of kids there and since I have no product to sell until January, I thought that it would be fun to do an art project with them that incorporates an aspect of LolliDoo.

I was going to make bird feeders out of PET bottles. The issue was that I had to cut a perch in the bottle and I was afraid of little fingers getting cut by plastic.

Then I thought about making those water bottle tornadoes. They are very cool and what little kid doesn't like to to see the water swish and swirl around in beautiful patterns? I tried to make my own concoction using water, olive oil, rubbing alchohol and food coloring. I guess that water and oil do mix, who'd have thunk it? It made a pretty color but not the lava lamp effect I was after. So I looked up the recipe and it called for mineral spirits.

What are mineral spirits? I didn't know so I looked it up. Apparently mineral spirits are an alternative to turpentine. Uh...no thanks.

I had to be real creative. I thought maybe we'd make some pretty instrumenty things using rice and beads. So I went and bought 50lbs of rice. My wonderful husband pointed out that wasting food wasn't exactly green. Good point. Half of the rice went to a food bank and we kept the other half.

Finally I had an idea that would work. HALLOWEEN NOISEMAKERS. The parents are going to love me.

The kids are going to choose pebbles, beads, aquarium decorative rocks and bits and pieces to fill their bottles with. Then, they are going to glue the cap on the PET bottles and decorate them with Halloween decorations. I think it's brilliant and easy.

I will post pictures on Sunday.

Wish me well.

A Brief Life Lesson From Zoe

We were driving home from school a few weeks ago when I hear.

“Mom, I got a comb stuck on the top of my head”, Zoe cried from the backseat of the van.

“I’m driving Zoe, I’ll get it out when I get home.” I promised.

“OK mom, I’ll just be a helicopter then”

Lesson: Go with the flow.

Lovely Advice I was given at Tucson Medical Center

I had Talia in the hospital because I thought something was wrong, everything turned out just fine. However, I got a huge lesson on what medical professionals are telling new mothers. As if being a new mother isn't scary enough...

From the nurses:

1. As she handed me a "breastfeeding" kit which included a 6 pack of formula, formula packets, a bottle and two nursing pads, the nice nurse explained to me, "You need to have formula around so that you can have a break and let your husband feed the baby. All new moms need to sleep. Also a lot of women have supply issues, so you might have to supplement."

Grrrrrrrrrrr

Healthy women rarely have supply issues. Mother's think their supply is low because their breasts feel empty but as long as the baby is gaining weight, wetting diapers and you can hear swallowing, chances are that your supply is just fine. I think it's a travesty that medical professionals perpetuate fears in new mothers.

2. Another nurse informed me that if I didn't give my 2 hour old daughter the Hep B vaccine then she could die.

Nothing like scaring the poop out of a new mom. As a well researched mom I knew better. Hepatitis B is a viral disease associated with risky lifestyle choices such as intravenous drug use or promiscuous sex. I highly doubt that my newborn would be at risk for that. Come on people!

My favorite "words of wisdom" were given to me by a geriatric pediatrician.

3. You can't nurse your 20 month old or your body won't make newborn milk.

Seriously!

I think my body knows what just came out of it. I can't imagine why he would tell me that or worse, why he believed it. Women have been nursing babies of different ages since the beginning of time, it's a natural bodily function.

One good piece of advice I got.

Talia was in the NICU when she was 4 days old for a few days due to severe, severe jaundice. The NICU nurses coaxed me to pump some milk for her. I was exhausted and wasn't allowed to sleep in the room with her. I was afraid to go sleep because she would wake up hungry. I was also afraid that she would get nipple confusion if she had a bottle. The nurses assured me that babies go from breast to bottle with no problem. I didn't believe them. By day 3 I was so drained that I pumped some milk and took a nap. I came back and Talia had taken the bottle just fine. I popped her back on the breast and she was content to nurse.

So thank you NICU nurses for pretty much forcing me to sleep, (which I desperately needed), and thank you for proving to me that Talia would not get nipple confusion. I am happy to report that at 20 months she is still nursing.

I am concerned about all the misinformation going around. I am a well informed mom but truth be told, a lot of new moms just don't do their homework. A lot of mom's take the health care providers word as gospel and don't question it.

I am here to say ASK questions, READ about your body and your baby and NEVER, EVER do something that you know in your gut is wrong.

Naming a Product Line is Harder Then You'd Think

Originally our diapers were called, Go Green Baby! All our lines were going to follow the Go Green, for example, Go Green Mama!

Go Green is apparently a buzz word now and it was impossible to trademark. So Melissa and I spent days brainstorming names for our diapers. After giving up, we were discussing our childhood security objects. Hers was a Lolly, I had a DiDoo. LolliDoo® flowed from there.

Melissa and I discussed our children's apparel line; LolliDuds and our mama line; LadyDoo.

I trademarked both names and we thought that we were in business.

Today I went to register the domains and uh oh.

LolliDuds is already in business. It's an eco-friendly t-shirt line, Lolliduds.com is a really cool site by the way. Our lawyer said we could sue them for the name and win, but Melissa and I want to conduct our business with integrity, and pushing out other businesses is not in integrity.

Likewise, LadyDoo has been registered, and in France of all places. It's not published yet and we have no idea what LadyDoo.com is going to be. We certainly don't want to risk it being less then upstanding website. So, we need a new name.

Melissa and I have been brainstorming all day on names. We decided to go with LolliDoo® Duds for the children's line.

The mama line is tougher to name. We decided not to go cutesy like LolliDoo since it is for moms. We want a name that is simple but describes our earth friendly, exceptional, handcrafted in the USA products.

I tried combining our names, would you believe that Morgali.com and Meli.com are already taken? We tried simple words like panache, splendid and hipmama; all taken.

Truthfully I am glad LadyDoo is already registered because I am not in love with the name anymore, but, it's frustrating that we are having creative block in finding a new name.

Our mama line has a product called, RagTime Panties®. We could just use, Go Green Sustainable Industries, which is our parent company. But it doesn't seem to flow.

Oy vey, I am off to do some more brainstorming.

Vegan Pumpkin Soup

Rylee, my 8 year old has decided to become a vegan. We make pumpkin soup every year but this year I tailored it to her.

Rylee's Vegan Pumpkin Soup

1 med pumpkin
5 carrots
1 large onion
about a gallon of veggie broth
1 pint soy milk


Cut the pumpkin, soak the seeds to toast later-not part of this recipe

Steam pumpkin, carrots and onions until soft

Put the veggies in a blender and puree-add the broth and soy milk as needed


Once pureed, put all the ingredients in a HUGE pot and boil.

Turn the stove down to med-low and simmer for 30 minutes.

Garnish with soy bacon bits and sour cream if desired (I don't know if there is a vegan sour cream)

It's a yummy hearty soup.

Zoe Was Accepted Into Kindergarten

My Zoe Ellen will be 4 in May and she was accepted into kindergarten at the Montessori school that some of my older kids attend. I am not one of those moms who push kids to skip grades or to work above their grade level, it's simply that Zoe is ready. I thought about putting her in preschool a few days a week this year, but truthfully she would have been so bored. She is starting to read and she's doing basic math.

It must have been all the fish oil I took while I was pregnant :)

Ode To My Work Wife

Mel oh Mel, inventor extraordinaire.
Without you, LolliDoo would be just a prayer.
Mel oh Mel, you really came through.
When I asked you to sew a diaper or two.

Melissa you absolutely ooze with style.
I expected an inch and you ran the whole mile.
You sew, plan, proofread and write patents too.
Dig on what a phenomenal woman are you!

Thank you, thank you Mel, for all your hard work.
And for dealing with me when I’ve been a jerk.
I feel so blessed to have you in my life,
And I’m not embarrassed to say it, “I love you Work Wife”.

Part 2 of the GreatDad.com article is up

http://blogs.greatdad.com/2008/10/02/cloth-diapers-and-health-risks-by-alison-manes.html/

And the Mom of the Year Award goes to...

ME!

For not catching Talia before this happened...

We are teaming up with greatdad.com

To educate parents on diapering options. Here is a link to the blog I wrote http://blogs.greatdad.com/


He has invited my friends to comment, so comment away.