I need some ideas, HELP!

Melissa and I are going to have a booth at Tucson’s 2^nd Annual Green Festival. (http://tucsongreenfestival.org/) The mission of the festival is to educate, engage, encourage and empower Tucsonans towards sustainable change and to foster local communities and relationships. I am so excited about the festival and what it’s promoting and I am proud that Tucson, a relatively small city, is taking such big steps to preserve our Mother Earth.

Now the hard part.

We are going to show LolliDoo® diapers and educate parents on the chemicals in disposable diapers, the danger to our landfills, the danger to our water supplies as well as water consumption and what happens when the chemicals go into our children's bodies. BUT. What kind of fun activity can we have for the kids ? I don’t want to scare them, nor do I want to guilt the parents, but I do want to raise awareness and accountability.

I would like to possibly set up a demonstration about the EcoSpun® fabric. I was thinking about having some PET bottles and then showing the kids how they are recycled and made into fabric. But how ? I am usually so creative but I’ve drawn a blank. I’d love suggestions. I am not stuck on the EcoSpun® idea but I do somehow want to tie the project in with LolliDoo® . The one thing I know I don’t want to do is have a picture for them to color. I need something fresh. Ideas ?

Convenient” Disposable Diapers?

The Dangerous and “Inconvenient Truth” for Baby and Mother Earth

Originally touted as a convenient alternative to cloth diapers for busy working mothers, disposable diapers have proven to be a proverbial “inconvenient truth” - dangerous not only to baby, but also to Mother Earth. Considering the high cost - and widespread impact - of disposables on both health and the environment, the picture becomes even less pretty. Containing numerous chemicals that have been linked to cancer, sterility and rashes, disposables also pose a serious threat to underground water supplies, create potential airborne illnesses, and use 20 times more raw materials like crude oil and wood pulp than cloth diapers to manufacture. Over 300 pounds of wood, 50 pounds of petroleum, and 20 pounds of chlorine are used to make disposable diapers for one baby for just one year.

The high cost to health - what you can’t see can hurt you.

Disposable diapers contain traces of dioxin, an extremely toxic by-product of the paper-bleaching process. A carcinogenic chemical listed by the EPA as the most toxic of all cancer-linked chemicals, it is banned in most countries but not in the US. Disposables also contain sodium polyacrylate, a super absorbent polymer (SAP) that becomes gel-like when it “captures” urine. A similar substance had been used in tampons until the early 1980's, when it was revealed the material increased the risk of Toxic Shock Syndrome. SAP can stick to baby's genitals, causing allergic reactions such as severe skin irritations, oozing blood from perineum and scrotal tissues, fever, vomiting and staph infections in babies. Disposable diaper manufacturers claim that SAP is safe for babies even though when injected into rats it has caused hemorrhage, cardiovascular failure and death. Yet another invisible chemical found in disposables is Tributyl-tin (TBT) - a toxic pollutant known to cause hormonal problems in humans and animals and it is speculated to cause harm to a baby’s immune system.

In May 2000, the Archives for Disease in Childhood published research showing that scrotal temperature increases in boys wearing disposable diapers, and that prolonged use of disposable diapers will blunt or completely abolish the physiological testicular cooling mechanism important for normal spermatogenesis. According to the Journal of Pediatrics, 54% of one-month-old babies using disposable diapers had rashes; of those, 16% were severe. Cathy Allison, in her article, "Disposable Diapers: Potential Health Hazards," cited a study done by Procter & Gamble (manufacturers of disposables - Pampers® and Luvs®) in which it was found that the incidence of diaper rash swells from 7.1% to 61% with increased use of their diapers!

Something stinks – and it’s more than just on the surface.

According to disposablediaper.net, 96,090,000 disposable diapers are used every year in the US alone. The third largest single consumer item in landfills, they represent about 4% of solid waste. In a household with a child in disposable diapers, disposables comprise of at least 50% of the household waste. The instructions on disposable diaper packages advise depositing all fecal matter in the toilet before discarding the diapers, yet less than one-half of one percent of all waste from single-use diapers goes into an average sewage system!

Although the time it takes for a disposable diaper to decompose is still unknown (estimated to be between 250 and 500 years), one thing is for sure - it will be long after your children, grandchildren and great, great, great grandchildren are gone. Roughly 92-98% of the feces and urine-filled disposable diapers enter the household trash stream and ultimately end up in landfills, creating an immediate public health hazard. Although the dumping of human waste into landfills is illegal in most states, the laws are simply unenforced when it comes to diapers. Hence, disposable diapers can infest water leaching out of the dump, fostering the growth of bacteria and viruses - including polio, hepatitis and dysentery.

Reusables to the rescue! Cloth makes a comeback.

Having evolved considerably from the days of pins and plastic pants, reusable cloth diapers provide a healthy, economical and environmentally-friendly alternative. A variety of options now include pocket diapers- stuffed with a liner; all in ones - which resemble a disposable; and fitted diapers - which use a diaper cover. Organic diapers also abound: Ecobaby, Under the Nile and BumGenius are a few brands. LolliDoo diapers solely utilize a recycled Ecospun® fabric (PET) made from water bottles – bottles that would normally end up in landfills. The amount of water used to launder cloth diapers at home is about 50 to 70 gallons every two to three days – about the same as a toilet-trained child or adult flushing the toilet five to six times a day. One study has found that home-washing cloth diapers has only 53% of the ecological footprint of disposables.

According to Dawn Michelle in her article, “Cost of Cloth Diapers-a Real Savings,” the average baby uses about 8 disposable diapers per day at a cost of approximately $0.30 each – for an annual cost of $876. Extended over 3 years – the average length of time a baby is in diapers - the total cost jumps to $2,628! In contrast, the cost of 20 sizable, reusable cloth diapers is only about $400. And the additional laundering cost? With an average of 3 washes (or less) per week at around $1.50/wash, the total laundering cost over three years is $702. Adding the $400 brings the total to $1,102 - a savings of $1,526 over disposables!

As parents begin to become more informed about the true cost of so-called “convenient” disposable diapers, they realize there’s much more than money at stake. While cloth diapers add an extra load or two of laundry to households every week, the benefits to your baby’s health, our environment and your wallet are well worth it.

Be part of the solution, right from the very beginning!

I'm a mom song-funny

Confessions of a cloth diaper addict

With my oldest child quite a few years ago, ahem, I had the old safety pin/folded diaper with a diaper cover. We had a diaper service and that lasted for exactly three months. It lasted three months because my daughter had such severe diaper rashes all the time that I thought it was the cloth and I switched to disposables. I now know that it was most likely the detergent that the service was using to launder and bleach the diapers.

When Rylee came along I decided to try cloth again. My good friend sold these prefolds with wool covers. Again, severe rash and we switched to disposables. I didn't know at the time that my baby girl, as do a lot of young children, had a lanolin allergy.

Even though by the time Zoe was born in 2005 I was a natural parenting fanatic, I still refused to use cloth. I did not want to put another baby through that rash. My friends kept telling me that diapers had evolved in the 5 years since Rylee was in them. I wasn't having it. Until I went to visit my good friend Nicole in Minnesota. Her baby was in Kushies. I fell in love. I went home and ordered my first pack of Kushies from Melissa, of all people. My good friend Lisa also mailed me a box full of gently used Kushies. Zoe did not get a rash, I felt so much better about not throwing diapers in the landfills and then I discovered EBay.

On EBay I could get a myriad of cloth diapers new and used. I think I bought at least one of every kind. Work at home mom diapers, Fuzzi Bunz, Swaddlebees, Wonder Alls, Sweat Pea, Just Ducky- the list could go on for ages. I would wait for Zoe to pee just so I could put a new adorable diaper on her. I loved, and still love, washing diapers. I know it's weird. My, (follow me here), ex husband's grandmother once told me that she loved hanging diapers on the line. Why we find happiness as women by cleaning poo, I don't know...

At the time I was managing a Curves for my mother and I took Zoe to work with me. It was amazing how many women asked me how to get cloth diapers. I had suggestions but no brick and mortar store to send them to. It seems like a lot of them didn't have computer access.

I began fantasising about walking into Safeway and being able to pick up some cloth diapers. IN my vision, they were prominent on the shelves next to the major disposable diaper brands. I could not stop thinking about it but all I had was a vision and I had no idea how to make it happen.

Little by little I started telling people in my family, (I come from a family of entrepreneurs). I got a lot of encouragement and a lot of interest. I decided to try and make a prototype. Knowing nothing about sewing, I hired someone to make a few diapers.

That didn't work out so I called Melissa at the advice of our friend Chanda. Chanda changed my life that day she suggested I call Mel and ask her to do a little sewing. For the first time, I really believed that my dream of mainstreaming cloth diapers, could become a reality.

Anyways, I am off topic, Mel took my idea and ran with it and changed the whole purpose of our company. It was because of Melissa that I learned about the danger of PUL, the nasty processing of "organic" bamboo and so much, so much more I can't even begin to try and write in 2000 words or less.

So here I am, a cloth diaper addict, feeding my addiction while saving the Earth and our babies, one butt at a time.

Check out how LolliDoo was created

Want to read all the juicy details of how Melissa designed our LolliDoo® Diaper with EcoSpun® and Laundry Loops? If so, check her blog out at: http://earthlovindiapermama.blogspot.com

Our Water Conservation Efforts

I am trying to teach my kids that it is vital to conserve water. Water consumption is a HUGE issue, especially here in the desert. We have a 10 minute shower rule. Rylee, a former 45 minute showerer, is now down to about 4 minutes. It helped that I got her a 2in1 shampoo/conditioner. She is a little anal about making sure the conditioner is out.

I found this water consumption calculator at http://www.csgnetwork.com/waterusagecalc.html. After plugging in our numbers I was pleasantly surprised to see the results : Every year, your household uses 60955 gallons per capita LESS than the Desert Water Agency per capita water useage. NICE ! But we can do more.

We have a low-water use plants in our backyard and although they do need water, we only water about once a week and it’s on a drip system. It also helps that our backyard ground cover is dirt or mud depending on the time of year. Chuck has been trying to install a gutter system that catches and stores rainwater. He then wants to hook up an irrigation system to it. So far, it seems like it is going to cost us around $2000, so it’s earmarked for the future, hopefully soon.

Zoe on her raft in the dirt. You can see what I mean, we have nothing but dirt.


You get a peek off to the left of our low water bush. Naked Tali butt is a bonus :)

Other ways we save water is by teaching the kids to turn off the faucet in between wetting the toothbrush and rinsing. We do not follow the rule, If it’s yellow let is settle, if it’s brown, flush it down. It is too confusing for the little kids who don’t want to use the potty if someone else left a present in it. Then we have the pee pee dance while they wait for it to flush and more times then not, pee on the floor for me to clean up. Maybe when they are older...

Our toilets are also low flush (use 1.5 gallons as opposed to 5), however, when there is poo, sometimes it takes more then one flush. It still saves a ton of water. Out showers have a little piece in the head that lessens the water usage. I’ve had it for almost 5 years and I don’t notice that we have less pressure.

I know we are doing a somewhat good job of conserving our precious water, but I can’t help but feel like it’s not enough. My mother has a gray water system where the water from one side of the kitchen sink goes to her lemon tree. She also has 4 ponds, (quite astounding in the desert), that are actually rainwater collection receptacles. They are pretty cool.

Melissa and I are about to go to Las Vegas for our big LolliDoo launch and the waste there is hard for me to swallow. I am sure I am going to be a blogging fool telling you all of Vegas’s dirty little waste secrets.

My kids are so funny

These stories always make me smile.

Look mommy, I peed on the potty!

Zoe began potty training at age 16 months. By 18 months, she was using the potty occasionally. On one such occasion she peed in her little potty without me prompting her. She was so proud that she brought the potty to me and dumped it on the floor to show me what a big girl she was.

We were eating peanut butter at midnight

Jordan and Ashton were quite the pair. They were a year apart but acted more like twins. When Jordan was 3 and Ashton was 4 they used to get in all sorts of trouble. One morning at the butt crack of dawn, Chuck rolls over and asks me what I am cooking. Suddenly I bolted upright thinking the kids were attempting to cook.

I turn to see two very little people butt naked and covered head to toe in peanut butter. On closer inspection, they didn’t just use the peanut butter as body paint. They smeared in on the walls, the couch, the light fixtures and the toilet, (don’t ask). Needless to say it was the last time Chuck and I left peanut butter out overnight.

Mommy Has a Potty Mouth

When I was pregnant with Zoe, I took the older kids to a sibling class. The instructor asked the kids what they were going to teach their new siblings. Jordan, age 11, volunteers, "I am going to teach her how to talk because my mom did a bad job with Rylee and her first words were, Oh Shit". Thanks Jor. For the record, little Talia now runs around yelling, "Shit".

Clown Makeup

Rylee, age 6, came into the living room one evening all dolled up for new years eve. She had on a fancy dress, pretty shoes and lots of makeup and much to my dismay, she looked like a clown. Alex was due to pick her up momentarily, so I told her to hurry and go wash her face because she’s not allowed out of the house with makeup on.

She comes back into the living room a few minutes later claiming to have washed. When I pointed out all the makeup left on her face, she says, “What should I take it off with, tape?”

Things I never thought I’d hear myself saying

~Don’t stick your fingers in your vagina and then in your sister’s mouth!

~Do not open your butt hole by your sister’s nose!

~Do not open your vagina to show your friends!

~If you are going to stick fingers in your butt hole, you have to wash your hands right after

~Don't put my hair in your vagina!

~Don't stick the bookmark in your vagina!

~Zoe! Don't spread Tali's butt cheeks open and please stop sticking your face her by butt hole!

~And my all time favorite was when Jordan yelled: "Mooooooooooooooooom, Rylee is getting giney juice on my bed!”

I'm in a weird mood and felt like laughing.