BPA, FDA, MSNBC and Me
October 29, 2008 | 4 Comments
Sadie and I had our 15 minutes of fame today (more like 15 seconds!) to talk about the dangers of BPA.
More about BPA:
- Earth Mama Angel Baby products are BPA free
- BPA free products on Amazon
- Interview with Jeremiah McNichols of ZRECS (In addition to sharing the problems with BPA, Jeremiah offers a free text messaging service for parents who want to find BPA free products. The interview and transcript appear here.)
- BPA and baby bottles – what’s the danger?
- Foogo BPA free sippy cup
- Natursutten BPA free pacifier
- Sigg Kids BPA free water bottles
Tidbits: Breastfeeding research, raw milk video
October 29, 2008 | 2 Comments
A recently published study shows that breastfeeding does not make your breasts sag. (An excuse that aristocrats have used for centuries to justify hiring wet nurses.) It’s factors like multiple pregnancies (and the hormones that go along with the condition), age and weight that are responsible.
Glad to see this research being published, although the information has been circulating in pro breastfeeding circles for years.
Another myth is that breastfeeding makes your breasts smaller. That may be true for some women but the effect is temporary and only lasts for a few cycles after weaning. Women often perceive their breasts to be smaller but that’s because their breasts got bigger during nursing.
Typically after several cycles, a woman’s breasts replace the bulk that was taken up with milk producing glands with fat, as they were before breastfeeding began. So if you’ve just weaned and feel smaller, just hang in there for several months.
Of course, for some women, their breasts stay larger after breastfeeding (like their feet?!).
Another study points to one reason by breastfed babies have less issues with overweight. Because they are better at regulating their caloric intake.
And finally here is a quick video from Australia about a family enjoying the benefits of raw milk, from Nourished magazine.
On Personal Growth – A Review of Steve Pavlina’s Book
October 28, 2008 | 2 Comments
I got a copy of Steve Pavlina’s new book, Personal Development for Smart People: The Conscious Pursuit of Personal Growth
If you’re not familiar with Steve, he is one of the most well known bloggers on the internet, and probably THE most known blogger in the genre of personal growth. I’ve read his blog for a couple of years now, and his posts are always fascinating. They always make me think. I like that.
Personal growth is one of my favorite topics to read about, although I rarely write about it, and usually not here but on my other blog in a business context.
I’ll start by saying that I don’t agree with some of the things Steve says, especially on his blog, and where I disagree, I disagree passionately. As an example, Steve’s thoughts on religion seem to come from a place of his disgruntled feelings with regards to the Catholic church, which hardly seems an enlightened place to form a philosophy on religion as a whole. Steve is also a raw food vegan. (Y’all know how I feel about that.)
But, his blog is one of the most thought provoking, intellectually stimulating places to hang out on the web. So I was happy to read his book.
One of the things that sets Steve apart is the fact that, unlike so many other authors and experts in the field of personal growth, he focuses on the value of hard work and (gasp!) discipline, two things that are practically dirty words these days. That resonates with me. All the wishing, hoping and visualizing in the world doesn’t do much good if you’re not willing to get off your butt and create some value in the world. That’s a refreshing stance, and one of the reasons I keep reading Steve’s blog. Some of the language around “The Secret” just makes me ill, and Steve’s voice is a refreshing change in the sea of nonsense surrounding the “Law of Attraction”.
Now I’m going to dig into the book and mention some of the highlights for me personally.
The book is split into two sections. Part One outlines what Steve calls “Fundamental Principles” of personal development. They are Truth, Love, Power, Oneness, Authority, Courage and Intelligence. When I first started reading the book, I couldn’t figure out how these principles were supposed to work together, but after introducing each one and defining it, it started to come together and make sense.
The second half of the book deals with the Practical Application of the principles. This is my favorite part, the juicy stuff. While learning principles is important, getting into the nitty gritty of specific things you can do to improve yourself and your life really gets my blood flowing.
Here’s an example of how the principles lead to the actions you need to take. A section from the book on Truth:
“One of the most important skills to develop in the area of personal growth is the ability to admit the whole truth to yourself, even if you don’t like what you see and even if you feel powerless to change it. When you face unpleasant truths, you’ll often encounter strong internal resistance. This resistance pushes you to avoid facing the truth, running through endless cycles of distraction, escapism, denial and procrastination. Only by staring directly into these truths can you summon the strength to deal with them consciously. A simple rule of thumb is this: whatever you fear, you must eventually face.”
Wow… I can see how true this has been in my own life.
I really enjoyed the section on goal setting. For me, goal setting has been mostly an exercise in frustration. It wasn’t until reading this book that I figured out why. Here’s a quote:
“The purpose of goal setting is not to control the future. That would be senseless because the future only exists in your imagination. The point of goal setting is to improve the quality of your present-moment reality. Setting goals can give you greater clarity and focus right now. Whenever you set your sights on achieving something, always ask yourself, “How does setting this goal improve my present reality?” If it doesn’t improve your present reality, then the goal is pointless, and you may as well dump it. But if it brings greater clarity, focus and motivation to your life when you think about it, it’s a keeper.”
Love that!
I also love the sections on motivation, desire and effort. The discussion of “Triage” can help you decide what’s truly important to spend your time on, whether it’s business or personal life. And my favorite part of the book is Chapter 8, which talks about Habits. This section has dozens of suggestions on how to increase the number of good habits you have in your life, and get rid of the bad ones.
One of the things you’ll notice about Steve’s blog is how he shares his personal journey with self improvement. Instead of having a “top down” approach where he claims to be the expert teaching others how to do it, the blog is more about him sharing his experiences with different things he’s tried in his own life, from polyphasic sleep to giving up coffee to becoming an early riser. Chapter 8 is where he shares some of the things that have worked for him. Ideas like Stairstepping, 30 Day Trials, and a list of 66 other ideas.
The chapters on Career and Money have been truly refreshing and have changed how I feel about money to a certain extent.
I still haven’t finished reading the book and am looking forward to finishing up the last couple of chapters. I really appreciate Steve for writing it and for letting me have a review copy. If you would like to check it out, you can get a copy on Amazon.com. It’s available for your kindle too if you’re into that.
Personal Development for Smart People: The Conscious Pursuit of Personal Growth
Natural Moms Podcast #102
October 27, 2008 | 80 Comments
My guest this week is Lisa Fyfe. We’re talking about holistic treatments for depression.
Having suffered from depression most of her life, Lisa has been able to stay medication free for 10 years, using only holistic means such as nutrition and aromatherapy. Lisa shares solid, effective tips and techniques for moms to manage their mood naturally.
Our winner of last week’s giveaway, Birth in a Box is Ginger. (Ginger look out for an email from me!)
Today’s giveaway is a sets of two play silks from Sarah’s Silks. Leave your comment by Wednesday, October 29th to qualify!
Where Do Lead Tainted Toys End Up?
October 27, 2008 | Leave a Comment
Note: From time to time I’ll be publishing articles courtesy of E Magazine. Here is the first.
EarthTalkTM
From the Editors of E/The Environmental Magazine
Dear EarthTalk:
There has been a lot of news about lead-tainted children’s toys being recalled. Where are these toys ending up and are they creating pollution problems there?
– Michael O’Laughlin, Tigard, OR
The biggest problem with the recall of millions of lead-tainted toys over the last few years has been getting shops and consumers to comply. According to Mattel-which has issued dozens of recalls in recent years, including some 2.2 million Chinese-made toys contaminated with lead paint-historically only about six percent of recalled toys are returned. For those that do come home to roost, Mattel sells or reuses the zinc and some of the resins they contain, and then recycles as many of the other components as possible, off-loading the lead to companies that specialize in the safe disposal of hazardous materials.
But what becomes of the 94 percent or so of the recalled lead-tainted toys that don’t make it back to Mattel? Many of them no doubt have found a comfortable home with a child somewhere long before word of the recall-ignored or missed by parents-got out. Of the remaining toys, some of those that were recalled in the summer of 2007 ended up on auction website like eBay and business-to-business sites like Made-in-China.com-and then eventually into the hands of unwitting consumers, many of them overseas.
Unfortunately, there is still no federal law or regulation against reselling recalled toys, although some members of Congress are trying to change that. For its part, eBay has agreed to try to keep recalled products off its auction website, but enforcement can be a challenge.
The fact that these toys got out there for sale in the first place is the real shame, as research has shown that kids who have been exposed regularly to lead or lead paint have lower IQs and may experience learning disabilities as well as behavioral problems.
The good news might be that recalls are getting more exposure than ever, with better results. Illinois-based RC2 Corporation has already gotten back upwards of 70 percent of the 1.5 million lead-tainted Thomas & Friends wooden railway toys it recalled just last year. While there is still no nationally accepted procedure governing the disposal or recycling of such items, individual companies are bound by the laws of their respective states regarding disposal of the harmful materials. Those who worry about lead leaching out of landfills and into groundwater and soils would like the see the federal government mandate strict safety rules for dealing with lead and other hazardous materials.
Consumers unsure about whether a particular toy or other item has been part of a recall should check online at the “Recalls and Product Safety” section of the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission’s website. If a given product has been recalled, you can probably return it to the store where you bought it and let them deal with the hassle of getting it to the manufacturer. Or if you know an item was recalled for hazardous materials, you can drop it off at your local municipal hazardous waste collection facility. The website Earth911 provides a comprehensive national database of such facilities coast-to-coast.
CONTACTS: Mattel Product Recalls, service.mattel.com/us/recall.asp; RC2 Recall Information, recalls.rc2.com; U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, www.cpsc.gov; Earth911, www.earth911.org.
Anger Management – How Do You Do It?
October 24, 2008 | 2 Comments
Anger – it sounds like a dirty word, but the more we try to avoid it, the more we feel it. Is anger so bad? Is there a positive way we Moms can learn from our anger and model productive ways to express feelings?
First.
There is nothing wrong with anger. Anger, like all emotions, is merely a messenger.
Don’t add insult to injury by guilt tripping yourself when you experience anger.
Anger is there to alert you to something wrong in your environment. It often means that your personal boundaries have been disrespected.
Perhaps you’ve been ignoring your feelings of frustration, annoyance, or burden far too long. Anger is likely to be the result.
Psychologist Dr. Haim Ginott once said that “Humans can be a little nicer than they feel, but not a lot.” I totally agree with that statement!
So if you feel anger welling up, what can you do to avoid exploding, especially on someone nearby (likely, your beloved children)?
Here are some things that have worked for me. I don’t do any of these perfectly by any means. And sometimes the only thing I remember to do is take deep breaths. Perhaps these strategies will be helpful to you, and typing them out will help me remember too!
1- Leave the situation
As soon as possible, take your leave for a moment. Explain to the person you’re with that you need a moment, but don’t ask for their permission. Walk away.
If the person you’re talking to is a very small child, you might not be able to leave them alone, but you can turn around and remove your attention for a moment. It might help to go to the bathroom and lock the door for a minute, or put on head phones and listen to your favorite music.
While you’re having your “timeout”, do something productive. Practice deep breathing. When we are angry, we often stop breathing, or we breathe in a very shallow manner.
Breathing deeply helps you get into a different state instead of reacting to an old pattern, usually created due to an illusion or totally unproductive, unhelpful pattern.
Deep breathing is especially helpful when you cannot take a break from the situation, such as when you’re in the car and the kids are trying to kill each other in the backseat. Learning deep breathing, all the way from the base chakra, has transformed my entire life. I mean that!
Take a walk. Pray. Rehearse what your next words will be so you have more control over your response.
No matter what, don’t dwell on your negative thoughts and feelings, find something positive you can do to restore your emotional balance. Ruminating is NOT helpful and will only keep you stuck in your negative patterns.
2- Use laughter
Humor can diffuse a situation like nothing else. So if you are steaming, think of something amusing. Your favorite line from a funny movie, something silly your child did, whatever it is. Laughter helps put things into perspective and can turn around your mood quickly.
I can’t count the number of times I’ve been blessing out my oldest son and suddenly I realize how utterly stupid I sound and look, and I burst out laughing. It’s incredibly helpful!
Parenting is serious work but it doesn’t have to be serious all the time!
And don’t fall into the trap of thinking that if you laugh at yourself, your child won’t respect you or take you seriously. Nothing could be further from the truth. Your child won’t respect you when you’re raising your voice and flailing your arms and spinning ’round on your eyebrows. On the other hand, seeing you model healthy communication skills engenders respect.
3- Decide on your response ahead of time
It’s helpful to decide ahead of time what you’ll do when you feel yourself getting angry. If you’re a yeller, make a pact with yourself that you’ll whisper when you get angry. If your kids are accustomed to you raising your voice when you get angry, they will stand up and pay attention like nobody’s business if you whisper. I’ll never forget the last time I had laryngitis. I think my parenting skills went up a huge notch because I was forced to communicate effectively. Try it!
If you’re dealing with a manipulative or verbally abusive person, rehearse a phrase like this: “That deserves consideration. I’ll think about it and get back to you on that.” to put yourself back in control.
Or write your feelings in a note. This works really well with children.
For example, if your teen promised to clean the kitchen but never got around to it, tape a note to the fridge that says:
A Dirty Kitchen Makes Mom Start Witchin’
Signed,
The Management
Be determined to focus on the behavior that triggers your anger, not the person, and inform them what they can do to make things right with you.
Instead of saying: “You are so lazy!” say things like
“I am so angry that you decided to play video games instead of clean up your room. In the future, I expect you to keep your promises to me. When will you be starting on this room?”
4- Analyze your anger
If you lose it and blow up, try to explore what led to it. It might be helpful to write down what was happening in the hours leading up to the explosion. Was someone really pushing your buttons and instead of setting a boundary, you let them continue? Has it been way too long since you’ve had some time to yourself? Had it been many hours since you and everyone else had eaten? What could you do differently next time? Is there an area where you could change your routine for everyone’s benefit?
Every parent loses their temper from time to time. It’s not helpful to wallow in guilt or beat yourself up. Anger isn’t an unacceptable emotion. What’s unacceptable is how it’s sometimes expressed.
It’s also helpful to keep in mind that anger is what psychologists refer to as a “secondary emotion”. Meaning you often feel something else underneath the anger but anger is safer to express somehow.
Here is an example.
Your 5 year old runs into the street to chase after a ball.
You feel your heart start to beat out of your chest, your blood pressure soar and your face get red. So, you start yelling at them and chastising them.
What’s really behind this anger?
Fear.
You were terrified for a split second that your child could have been in grave danger, and the first thought that automatically popped into your head was
“Some idiot could come around that corner too fast and take my baby away from me forever.”
Get in touch with THAT feeling. And then express THAT feeling to your child. It will have far more impact on your child’s future behavior if you do.
Notice that nowhere in this article did I say trying to vent your anger. Decades ago psychologists thought that “letting it out” was healthier than keeping it in. You know what?
They were wrong.
And they have been admitting it in recent years after years and years of study. “Expressing” your anger is bad for your physical health and leads to increased heart disease and other ailments. Not to mention the damage to your relationships!
So, what are you tips for controlling your anger so you can parent effectively?
Nature’s Inventory Wellness Oils
October 23, 2008 | 1 Comment
The makers of Nature’s Inventory All Natural Wellness Oils
I’ve been a fan of essential oils for a long time. I first started using them over ten years ago, but it was especially after becoming a mom that I really loved aromatherapy.
I used oils during my pregnancies to help ease the nausea. Peppermint and lemon oil were especially helpful. I kept a drop on a cotton ball under my pillow and in the morning when nausea hit, I would sniff it. The lemon oil I sometimes kept in my purse and I would take a whiff whenever I was out and about and smelled cigarette smoke or someone’s skanky perfume.
Lavender was my best friend once the babies came. It was helpful as an analgesic during labor, to calm fussy babies and teething toddlers, and help overstimulated kids settle down into bed. I didn’t suffer from PPD, but even the milder blues I got postpartum would probably have been easier to manage if I had known about this oil blend.
What I like about these oils is that they are already blended with the carrier oil. If you want to start using aromatherapy and you go out and buy a book on the subject, you’ll find that most of the recipes call for several oils plus the carrier oil. These oil blends make things easier and more affordable because you can simply shop according to your current need and for around $10 you can get exactly what you need all in one bottle.
My Grandmother now has the Night Time Leg Calm Wellness Oil
I’ve been using the Happy Wellness Oil
In all, Nature’s Inventory offers over 100 formulas for adults, babies, pregnancy, emotional wellbeing, beauty and even pets. They are made from organic, therapeutic grade (not cheap oils) essential oils and can be used “straight up” out of the bottle. They are vegan.
You can go directly to the Natures Inventory site to learn more.
How Do You Homeschool Multiple Children?
October 22, 2008 | 2 Comments
One of the questions people ask when they come across homeschooling parents is how they manage to teach their kids when they have more than one. Since so many homeschooling families seem to have larger families, it can certainly be done and it’s not as difficult as some might think. In fact, there are certain advantages to homeschooling when you have several kids.
For parents making the decision to homeschool, the fact that they have more than one child may concern them. They might fear that they won’t have enough time to focus on each child’s education enough.
Here are some tips to help you juggle your various children’s needs while you teach your kids at home.
Homeschooling With Babies and Toddlers 
Homeschooling the older kids when you have babies and toddlers in the house is probably the most challenging time. With a baby or tot small enough to be held a lot, you can use a sling to keep your youngest close and happy and meet his needs while you read to or work with older children.
Use feeding times for study periods and read aloud time.
Since you’ll likely be sitting down to feed your baby anyway, have your other child(ren) read to you or sit them on your other side and read aloud to them. Your baby will benefit too from hearing words read aloud. They will learn that reading is a pleasurable activity, and hearing all those words spoken will improve their own vocabulary and reading skills later on.
Create and enforce quiet time/nap time.
When your baby or toddler is napping is an ideal time for more focused attention on the schoolwork, but what if nobody is still napping? Create and enforce quiet time. This is a good time for you to regroup and rest or catch up a struggling reader or child who needs some extra attention with school.
Keep little ones busy.
Toddlers and preschoolers can “do school” in the same area when older children are doing seatwork. Keep them stocked with appropriate arts and crafts activities to do. Likely they’ll pick up on much of the discussion going on during school time.
If this doesn’t work well for your kids and you need to separate them, try moving around the house a little. Perhaps the older child(ren) can sit at the dining room table for a bit and the younger ones use the floor or coffee table in the living room. Or an older child can do schoolwork at a desk in their room or a parent’s office.
If you have older children, let them take turns taking care of the baby/toddler in the house for short periods. This allows you to spend some one on one time with each child during the day.
Older Kids
If your children are older (and certainly once they’re all reading well!), things are a little easier. They no longer need much supervision. Most older homeschooled kids are pretty accustomed to figuring things out on their own and coming to you when they get stuck and need some help or to get more information. And for trips to the library!
With older kids, you can definitely use their size and maturity to help you get things done around the house, increasing the time you have available for homeschooling projects and field trips.
Get your kids involved in chores and meal preparation.
I cannot emphasize this enough. Learning how to clean up, complete simple handy projects around the house, do laundry and cook is very important real life preparation. In the old days, they called this stuff home economics!
If you have a child who is old enough, teach them how to prepare simple meals on their own without your assistance. A child as young as 7 can be taught how to make toast, eggs, oatmeal, sandwiches, cut vegetables and fruits, etc. After my youngest was born, my oldest son was a huge help to me because he could make snacks and easy meals for me. He was only 7 but he could do a lot around the kitchen. Now at ten, he loves to bake snacks and desserts, bake bread from scratch (no bread machine, he kneads the dough by hand), and help with dinner.
Meal prep isn’t just about eating and helping mom, but also reinforces reading, math and science skills.
A child as young as 3 can take their folded laundry to be put away in their dresser. Older kids can bring you dirty laundry, help fold and put things away when they’re done. Children can operate a vacuum properly from the time they’re around 6. A 5 year old can sweep small messes (like crumbs under the table) with a hand held broom and dustpan.
The reason I mention this is because as a homeschooling family, your house will likely get messier simply due to the fact that the kids are in it more hours of the day!
Forego summer and other lengthy vacations and do school year round.
Teaching through the summer can make up for lost time you experience during the year due to having a baby or illness or other family challenges that come up. Some parents even do a little schoolwork on the weekends. Why should learning be limited to 5 days a week?
One of the best things about homeschooling is the fact that learning can take place anytime, anywhere. Sometimes I even have to urge my kids to stop reading or building or creating and Go.To.Bed. My oldest can often be found reading his Science book at 10 PM (past his bedtime!).
Use your support network.
Can your husband, grandparents, or babysitters help the kids with schoolwork in the evenings and on weekends? Or are their other experiences your family and friends can expose your child to? Does your local homeschool support group offer a co-op? You don’t have to go it alone. Your children will benefit from different people’s perspective.
Avoid the “school at home” mentality.
Contrary to popular belief, homeschooling doesn’t involve sitting across the table from your child for several hours a day doing schoolwork. Most homeschoolers do not follow this model and the ones that do, burn out really quickly and either quit entirely or change their methods. Usually everyone is much happier!
Use curriculum that isn’t instructor intensive.
This means that you won’t have to spend a lot of time in prep work each day/week. The kids will be able to dig right in to their work, saving time. If the curriculum you’ve chosen requires you to spend a lot of time preparing lesson plans, it might not work for your family situation. That’s ok. Choose another!
On the other hand, unit studies, which do require more advance planning on the part of the parent, can allow children of different ages to learn together since everyone can do activities on their skill level. Try it out and see what works best for your situation. You don’t have to find the “perfect” solution right away.
Encourage working together.
Older kids can help younger kids with their schoolwork when you can’t be available. This reinforces the older child’s skills – the best way to learn something is to teach it! It can also increase goodwill among children.
You might want to forgo a traditional preschool curriculum for 3 to 5 year olds and let the younger kids learn alongside the older ones.
Encourage independence.
Allow older kids leeway in their school schedule. You may even want to let them choose their own curriculum or how they learn various subjects.
And finally, don’t set yourself up for failure with a rigid schedule. Adding pregnancy, a new baby, toddlers, and preschoolers to the mix can be challenging for any parent, and if you’re homeschooling, you especially need to be realistic about what you can accomplish. You might want to adopt an eclectic homeschooling style or even unschool for a period (or permanently).
If you ever doubt that your children are getting a good education because of homeschooling during their various ages and stages, think about what school was like for many people in this country a hundred years ago. Schoolkids of all ages were put in one room together with one teacher and this system produced a generation of Americans that were far more literate than modern generations!
photo credit: Small Town OK
Finally here is a book recommendation. Homeschooling More Than One Child: A Practical Guide for Families
The Difference Between Boys and Girls, #1285
October 22, 2008 | Leave a Comment
This morning at breakfast one of my children asked me what an “Amish Paradise” is. (For the uninitiated, you may click on the link to see the video.) When I was a teenager singing along to “I Lost On Jeopardy”, did I have any idea that I would be hearing my own small children sing it? Not so much. 
photo credit: Chiara&Marco
So we start explaining to my son what it means to be Amish. When I mentioned that the women dressed very modestly and wore no makeup, he said, “Good“.
To which I replied, “What do you mean, good?”
“I don’t like makeup.”
“You don’t think makeup makes mommy look prettier?”
“No! It just makes you look weirder.” (10 year old son pipes in in agreement.)
Then 5 year old daughter speaks up:
“I DO!”.
LOL
I guess that’s why she’s a girl.
Work at Home Wednesday: Little Alouette
October 21, 2008 | Leave a Comment
This week for work at home Wednesday I wanted to feature a family who started a cottage business making handcrafted wooden toys.
Meet Amy Sharp, and be sure to read all the way to the end for a special discount code. It will be available for one week from today.
What got you interested in wooden toys and why did you decide to launch a business around them?
My husband is a classically trained master carpenter from the UK and he has made me become interested in wood over the last decade. We have rehabbed three old homes together and that started my love affair with power tools and lumber yards. I become interested in custom woodwork and trim and then just started learning about wood. We also have some land in the country and my husband would teach me the different types of tress and such.
When our first son was born I slowly started learning that wooden toys were the best.
They were the toys that got played with most, had less issues with recalls, and were the most aesthetically pleasing.
We would buy wooden toys and always think that we should make them!!!
So we just started- Joe always made wooden blocks and simple toys, so we just thought others might like them too.
We then after the last round of recalls (Thomas the Tank Engine) got tired of it all and decided to make some and then we branched out into maple teethers for our second son after becoming more and more informed of the dangers of BPA and such. I just started an etsy shop thinking we would just sell blocks and then it organically grew into many toys and teethers.
Why are wooden toys great for kids and for the environment?
Wooden toys are safe- no BPA to worry about and NO batteries!!! I think simple equals creativity. I like the Montessori and Waldorf way of life- I like watching a child decide what they want to play instead of being told by a battery voice ya know? I think blocks and figures and such make for wonderful creative play!
The eco side of wooden toys are that they are used for a long time and can be passed down! They are not plastics that will eventually fill a landfill. As much as we love wood we still have other plastic toys in our home (it is so hard to say no to grandparents and such!) We do, but we try very hard to pass them on or give them away instead of throwing away. But often- they break before they can even be loved a second time around.
It makes me sad. We use Ohio maple and recycled materials to package and ship- we want to become as green as possible!
How do you market your business?
I have been so lucky to have some amazing folks talk about and review our products on the web. It is seriously gorgeous the way the blog world has helped us get noticed. I use twitter and I also blog about Little Alouette on my personal blog and the shop blog. I am an editor for Kirtsy.com and that has been wonderful for folks coming over to my personal site and taking a look at the shop.
Etsy is a beautiful thing too. I have been blown away by the kindness of my fellow Etsy shop owners. I love that I have a community. I am looking into some advertising for 2009, but word of mouth has been an incredible thing for us.
These cool folks have chatted about us lately:
Design Mom, {frolic!}, Celebrity Baby Blog, babycenter, petit elfant, kirtsy.com, skimbaco, resadesign, SimpleLovely, Decor8 blog, We Covet, SMALL magazine, and Australian magazine LMNOP.
We are also thrilled to be in select Whole Foods Markets in the Mid Atlantic region and this gives me goosebumps! I can’t stop smiling when I think about little wee one’s getting some wood in their stockings this holiday!
Now for the discount code:
Get 10% off with promo code LA10% – just leave it in message to seller. Coupon code expires Wed, Oct 28th.
Thanks Amy for sharing your story
Are you thinking about launching an online business marketing to green and natural parents?
