adventures of a wannabe earth mama..deodorant

last week you read my sordid tale about oil cleansing .. i am still fighting the battle against what that did to my poor face in case you were wondering .. i will keep you posted

another product full of weirdo chemicals that i have chucked in the trash in an effort to do better by my body is my antiperspirant/deodorant

the wellness mama {check her out .. she has great info and recipes for all kinds of stuff} gives a very brief insight into why you might want to do the same in this how to detoxify your armpits post {sorry to front you out audge but .. my sister did this detox and was really happy with the results}
you can also just search the internet for info because there is lots

anyway .. back in januaryish my mom was telling me about the natural deodorant she had been using called meow meow tweet
i am a sucker for a cute name so i decided to try it

full disclosure and also maybe a little tmi .. i am a sweater and i am ashamed
ok maybe that's a little dramatic
i am not actually ashamed per say but lets get real here people .. pitting out a shirt is embarrassing!!
so i was very skeptical about using only a natural deodorant and giving up on antiperspirants all together

i used my mom's deodorant one day and was happy with it so i decided to buy some and try it out

yall!!
this stuff is great!!

i have been using it for about six months now and have had no issues with odor at all!!
and honestly the sweating hasn't been crazy either
i am using nothing as far as an antiperspirant and have not had issues in this area
that is pretty sweet considering it is the middle of summer in the blazing TX

i would absolutely recommend meow meow tweet to anyone interested in a natural deodorant option!!
it comes in two scents and i have liked them both
lavender is my favorite but tea tree is great too

happy weekend!!

a real love affair

as soon as the littlest was born we started swaddling her

she absolutely loved being swaddled up as tight as possible

once she started trying to roll over i began to get nervous about how hard it would be to transition her out of the swaddle but several people assured me it would be no big deal

my sister said that with all four of her kids she just stopped swaddling them at some point and none of them seemed to care

one night i woke up in the middle of the night because i could hear the littlest grunting and groaning 

i must have been in a super deep sleep because i looked over at the monitor but couldn't figure out what i was seeing 

i went into her room and she had rolled over in her swaddle .. terrifying!!

i told RT the swaddle had to go 

sadly..at our house losing the swaddle was an absolute tragedy

the littlest cried every time we put her down to bed for two days straight

we were tempted many times to just swaddle her back up but it was obviously more important that she be safe so we didn't

during those sad days my mom told me about this wearable blanket she had seen on shark tank called the Zipadeezip 

she said it was supposed to help babies transition out of their swaddle easier

i got online and ordered one immediately

absolute live saver!!

the littlest is obsessed with her Zipadeezip!!

when she sees it she gets so excited and as soon as i put her arms in she puts her hand in her mouth and gets really calm

her first one started to get pretty dingy in the hands where she puts it in her mouth and did finally get holes 

so i have gotten her a couple of new ones that she of course loves equally as much

if your little one is ready to transition out of the swaddle i highly recommend the Zipadeezip!!

it is littlest approved :)

happy wednesday!!

adventures of a wannabe earth mama..oil cleansing

this photo is cute but completely irrelevant to this post {ha!}

about a year ago .. i started learning about all of the stuff that is in our food

the more i read the more determined i became to eat and feed my family only what i believe is real food

food the way God made it .. not the way most of the food manufacturers make it

but the thing is .. it doesn't stop there

once you start reading all about what is in our food .. that quickly and seamlessly leads you to what is in everything else you use 

so .. one night .. i looked on the back of my much loved facial cleanser and gasped at the number of ingredients .. most of which i couldn't pronounce 

that simply would not do so .. after throwing my face wash away .. i began to research natural face cleanser and stumbled upon oil cleansing

lots of people swear by this 

instead of using soap .. simply slather a mixture of oils {i used castor and coconut} on your face .. lay a warm damp cloth over your face for thirty seconds or so to allow some steam then wipe off

the posts i read did say to expect some break outs at first but not to be alarmed .. that it is simply your face getting rid of all of the built up mumbo jumbo in your pores and that the break outs would subside {after up to four weeks!!} leaving you with the healthiest most awesome skin of your life

lies!!

i feel like i have pretty normal skin .. little breakouts here and there but i have been lucky to have never struggled with acne or constant breakouts

until oil cleansing came into my life that is

i had the yuckiest breakouts all over my face for a good solid six weeks until i threw in that stupid warm damp cloth and gave up on oil cleansing FOREVER

i believe it works for some people

it absolutely did not work for me

so then i did some amazon searching for a facial cleanser that is more natural than what i was using before 

it smelled nice but did not help

so now i am back to old faithful and working through the aftermath of my battle with oil cleansing

so far .. this is the only time i have found that natural might not be best

better for me i am 100% positive but i am not willing to have fifteen year old first going through puberty pimples over it

call me vain .. i just can't handle it

happy tuesday!!

for every month

in honor of RT and the precious daddy that he is to the littlest .. a picture for every month that he has been her daddy ..

i hope you all had a fabulous weekend and enjoyed celebrating all of the father's in your life :)

happy monday!!

kick kick kick your feet

we have had so much rain here in tx {praise God} that it hasn't really been great lake weather yet
even on the days when it hasn't been raining, the water is still pretty cold and the lake is murky and has lots of debris
so this past weekend was the first time i have actually gotten the littlest down to kick her little feet in the water

i didn't do it exactly right
she had already been down playing on the dock for several hours and was tired and ready to take a nap and i realized she hadn't even touched the water yet
so i took her down and let her kick her feet for a couple of minutes
she really liked it at first but quickly remembered her grumbling tummy and tired eyes so it didn't last very long
but I know she will love the lake just as much as all of her cousins some day very very soon

happy thursday!!

busy busy

top: soft joie
shorts: mcginn
shoes: jeffrey campbell

true confession .. i don't wear shoes like this much anymore
you see .. my daughter is not one to sit back and take things in

she is a mover

always has been

i mean when she was a newborn she would snuggle and what not but as soon as she realized she could move she has never stopped

she crawls EVERYWHERE at lightning speed now a day

i mean seriously if i look away from her for half of a second she is off in another room most likely getting into something dangerous or disgusting

we have to keep doors closed now because if i get up to go make coffee or something she will crawl into the bathroom and pull up on the toilet to chew on the seat

sorry if that made you gag

this whole parenting thing isn't always extra glamorous {ha!} but it is always pretty dang fun

i spend my days running around after her and laughing at all that she can get into

she even moves in her sleep

between her bed time and mine i have to move the camera of her monitor continuously because one second she will be all balled up with her little legs tucked up under her in the corner of the bed and the next she will be down at the other end sprawled out on her tummy

and she never wakes up

she just rolls around all over the place 

she is a fun one the littlest 

and she has just woken up from a nap so i am off to swoop her out of her crib for some more play time :)

happy weekend!!

my life as a human jungle gym

the littlest has learned that using mommy as her own personal human jungle gym is pretty much the best game EVER

and i will be honest .. i lay down on the floor and totally let her smoosh my face and pull my hair and crawl back and forth all over me because she likes to and i like for her to be happy and to have fun

maybe i am a push over .. who knows .. we will see {ha!}

eight months has proven to be a really fun age

i have loved every age so far

but now she is super mobile crawling all over the place and pulling up on everything

she makes tons of noise and is learning and trying out new sounds almost everyday

she is crazy curious about everything that goes on around her

she reaches for remotes and phones and anything else that looks enticing

and has an uncanny ability to desperately want to play with all things dangerous and disgusting like cords and dog toys

i love how interactive and reactive she is becoming

she's my little preshy presh!!

happy tuesday!!