Hi Guys,

Well this week I treaded myself and finally found myself the ‘perfect’ me present! I got a Serenity Fern. Planted it in a beautiful purple pot (chosen by Miss Ruby!) and it lives on my desk.

Did you know that all the fancy electronic’s on your desk at work emit low levels of toxins? That it is recommended that you don’t spend more then 5 hours a day in front of your computer. Impossible really when most work days range from 8 -12 hours! Then you get home and have the home computer, Ipad’s, Ipod’s, Blackberry’s and Iphones!

So hence my daggy little fern – who I love by the way… I must think of a name for it! Like I said it lives in my home office. They also do great in your lounge room and love the humidity of the bathroom! They are super easy care simply needing a mist of water over the foliage and a regular water. The fern is great at keeping the air light and clean and removes formaldehyde from the air.

There are other ways to help clean the air in your homes and office. Especially in the hot summer months when we have reverse cycle air conditioner recycling the air day and night. Open your windows! Let the sunshine in and let the fresh air roll on through! Even better keep them open when it is raining. The freshest of air! Although make sure you don’t flood the house

Here is a great resource for checking out easy things you can do around the house:

Global Healing Centre

So go on treat your self to a beautiful little office fern! Your very own baby for your desk

Eco Mummy

xox

So do you know?

Well how safe is it?

Have you googled some of the ingredients and found out what all those long words really mean? Do you know many scientists believe that Sodium Laureth Sulphate and it’s cousin Sodium Lauryl Sulphate are carcinogen, meaning it may very well cause cancer. They claim that the amounts used should not affect you, however do they take into account the other toxins that are mixed with them, the fact that they are used daily or the other fact that for some people they are exposed to them all day long for work.

So what do they do ? You could probably walk into your bathroom and find them in your shampoo, conditioner and maybe even your toothpaste for starters. It’s used to “foam up” so things that you expect to foam up may contain it. This is just one thing that I am highlighting there are plenty of other toxins in the ingredients list. Once we finish our science degree and can actually read them

The sad part is you could probably find these chemicals in your baby bath wash and shampoo so little ones are exposed as soon as they are born. In the same breath I don’t want to sound like a worry wart and that everyone is going to get cancer and doom and gloom. BUT what I wish for is the people making the decisions, to the governments and the producers to make a stand and get rid of these products. At the end of the day If we don’t really know for sure what the harm may be then WHY have it in there? Can we really gamble with something like health for a dollar? So let’s err on the side of caution for the sake of our health and find a healthy option! Let’s make a stand with our shopping carts!

I have found a great little you.tube video that put’s all of this into perspective. It is a little American but the same goes for our lack luster governement! Let’s get our cosmetics industry right for everyone, I fear it could just be all about the dollars!

For those that are wondering I am currently personally using Arbonne and Aveda shampoo and conditioners, Arbonne for skin care, sunscreen and cosmetics. And for the kids we sort of switch between, Arbonne Baby Care, Milk Baby Organic, Avado Organics, Natures Child Bottom Balm and GrowVia Magic stick for bottoms.

Would love to hear what you guys love naturally Or even if you make your own!

Eco Mummy

xo

Cloth Nappy’s !

I am firstly so excited about the upcoming MASSIVE cloth nappy review that Jen from Beyond the Baby is going to be doing! Make sure you follow along here…

I thought I would kick off with my personal experience with Cloth Nappy’s or MCN. Please note that this is in no way part of the official review but my personal everyday opinion of my experience.

Ahhh is there anything better then a line full of MCN drying on the line? It’s such a pretty site…

So now my nappy journey, Some people use cloth for the environmental difference they make, which is remarkable! While other’s for the $$ that they save in the long term. I love both of these reasons, I also think that the new range of MCN make the most devine fashion statements and perfect for the hot summer weather as they can rock out a funky nappy and a singlet! I found MCN’s as I am lucky enough to call the wonderfully beautiful Sam from Booloo Babe my friend, She runs a nappy consultancy business around perth. After meeting Sam not long after I had Jasper she properly introduced me to the MCN world. I was soon to be a nappy junky! I’m simply telling you about Sam because I have come to realise just how important it is to be supported and have some expertise when you go into using cloth nappy’s after using disposables. You will probably have a million questions and probably just as many leaks at first but it all sorts itself out and soon you feel like a bit of an expert! It makes no difference if the support is online or in real life it will make make the journey stress free ! I would be lost without Sam

Now onto my growing Nappy collection. Currently I have Itti Bitti (majority) along with Bum Genius, Rumparooz, GrowVia, Twinkly Lily and Genesa Forge Customs. I love them all for completely different reasons and when speaking with friends it all depends on shape and size of your bub with what works best for you. Same as everything baby I guess.

My personal favorite are the GrowVia, they are a snap in with organic inserts. They fit really trim but are super absorbent. I find I get great use out of them as the cover’s dry within half an hour and I have extra inserts so I know on washing day I am grabbing them off first! Also I have heard that some mums re-use the outer shell for an extra wear just change the snap in and get a double use.

I also LOVE my itti stash. They are so trim and the colours are so cute! Even when I pop Jasper in his rocking purple or new orange with a tinge of pink – hey REAL men can carry off pink… just when Daddy’s at work I will also add to the Itti’s that I have the All In One style. I am in Perth so drying time is not an issue for the majority of the year. These are the easiest for Daddy to use all he has to do is pop in the liner and snap them on. Daddy Proof, as there has been more then once that I have realised that Jasper had just been wearing a shell with no insert and was wondering why it leaked??

I could definitely go on and on! I am a lover of all MCN’s and even have a “going out” collection of special nappy’s! They make the best presents especially if you can get them personalised with embroidery. I am so looking forward to what comes of Jen’s big Cloth Nappy Review! I would love to hear what you are all using and what is your personal favorites! And don’t forget to join us over at Facebook on the new Eco Mummy Page!

Eco Mummy

xo

“How We Treat The Child,

The Child Will Treat The World”

Pam Leo

So this is going to be a bit more of a personal post. Something that happened the other day and has sort of lingered on my mind ever since. I was super lucky enough to have been given an Ipad for Christmas from my Darling Hubby! When we loaded it all up my Itunes library was uploaded. Now if you have seen my selections you would probably think at least four people have been using my account. To say it’s a wide ranging mix is probably an understatement. I like the old style songs that remind me of what Mum used to play as a kid, good memories of my sister and I. It goes from country to a bit of everything!

Well Miss Ruby was listening to Taylor Swift and stumbled onto Yusuf Islam (Cat Stevens) Peace Train. Both Ruby and Jasper started dancing around and it’s since made it’s way onto the Iphone so that they can listen to the ‘train’ song in the car. I don’t mind it’s one of my all time favorites. And we were lucky enough to see Yusuf in concert last year and he was mindblowingly brilliant! So we were driving along and Ruby started with the questions all about what the ‘peace train’ is and what is ‘peace’. I started into the explanation and then I kind of begun digging myself into a hole. I loved the idea of telling her all about ‘peace’ and how as a Mum it’s all I wish for her future. But the knife cuts both ways and I didn’t want to break that simple innocence that somewhere out in this big bright world there is not peace.

So to get myself out of the tricky situation I just said peace is when everyone just accepts everyone else. That everyone is friendly to everyone else and well it’s just nice! To which she replied, like when I hug and kiss Jasper and not use any ‘yucky’ words, I like the sound of the peace train Mummy. Here, here my little Ruby I too like the sound of this peace train.

May you enjoy this song as much as my little people!

Peace Train – Yusuf Islam

It was a few days later when I was sorting through the Auction Inbox that I came across the quote at the top of this post. So without sounding like a flower wearing hippy, I’m not going to tell Ruby what peace is all about I’ll show her!

Peace Out

Eco Mummy

xo

Hi All!

I hope that everyone is safe and well with all these floods. It’s been so devastating and at the same time it warms your heart seeing the true Aussie Human Spirit in action! Thank god to be Australian !!

So I have been meaning to write this post for a while to start thinking about some yummy and healthy little treats that the kids just love having for an afternoon snack. Also a couple of little hints and tips on making something yourself that you might not think of and will never go back from! The first one is good old Peanut Butter. If you don’t already make your own you probably don’t realise just how simple it is! I do now have a confession to make, I have a thermomix… Cheating maybe but it’s the greatest appliance that I own and I grow more in love with it every day

However you don’t need a thermo to be able to make this! You will need a really good blender that would usually get through ice or a food processor. Then this is how simple it is, for every 100g of peanuts you will need 1 tablespoon of oil (Sunflower OR Grapeseed oil work the best!) Then simply blend/crush the nuts until you reach the desired consistency (Smooth or Crunchy) Then add oil and blend again until it’s combined, and is peanut butter!! Try to find the dry roasted  non-salted nuts, they seem to be the best! My little ones would sit and eat this all day! It’s a wholefood alternative to the store bought manufactured peanut butter. It will keep in an airtight container for a good amount of time. I have found that we are through it before we need to worry how old it is

So there is my little easy ‘wholefood’ tip and now the snack that my little ones just LOVE! All you need is a banana, peanut butter, frozen berries and a little bit of organic chocolate.

Firstly we make Choc, Nut Nana – now I have seen this recipe through out the world wide web and for the life of me cannot re-find it to credit this yummy snack so if it is you then feel free to comment below and pat yourself on the back It’s sliced banana with a teaspoon of peanut butter and then I grate some organic chocolate over the top.

Grating is a great little tip because just a tiny amount gives the effect of heaps! I probably only use one square for the whole lot. Now don’t be scared by the use of chocolate. In fact a little bit of Organic chocolate has so many benefits! The Phenols in organic chocolate are known to help immune systems, heart health and some go as far as saying that it helps to reduce the risk of cancer. It is the western way to over consume and there fore all benefits are far outweighed by the negatives!

Also who can deny the fact that chocolate soothes the soul it is because chocolate boosts the serotonin and endorphins in the brain and also has another compound which is calming. So in little bits sure it’s a good thing! The way that I look at it I want to teach my babies that yes there are super yummy foods out there that are great in moderation and that satisfaction isn’t throwing the empty wrapper in the bin after eating the entire block

Ruby and Jasper love having  some frozen fruits when it’s a hot day. So we add the frozen fruit in a little bowl – it’s a race to eat all the frozen blueberries first Freezing berries is a really simple thing to do firstly give all the berries a wash, leave to drain really well for at least 15 minutes. Then freeze on a flat tray trying to have none of them touching. This will allow the berries to freeze as fast as possible. It will also mean that they won’t stick together. Once frozen you can pop them into a zip lock bag and add the date. With strawberries you will need to remove the green stalks before freezing.

So here is our super yummy full of energy arvo snack

And Jasper – Decisions, Decisions!

Would love to hear your super yummy morning / arvo snacks so feel free to comment below and remember you can now join us on Facebook!

Eco Mummy

PS – Happy Australia Day!!!

xo

Hi All!!

Sorry to my poor neglected blog, if it eases the pain I missed you. This is going to be a bit of a personal post and a catch up on why I was MIA the last week.

So all was good and I was geared up for detox day… THEN like all good plans, and probably why all mum’s feel a little neglected from time to time… in an instant our little world was thrown into temporary chaos. I’ll do the short version here… My 3 year old Ruby raced into our bedroom, turned and quickly closed the door behind her. What she didn’t realise was that Jasper 16 months was right on her tail. He put his hands up to stop the door and it jammed his little finger length ways in the hinge side of the door. All we heard was a god awful scream. It was really wedged and we had to force the door open to release it. It was flat and blue! Oh and did I mention the scream! So off to the hospital in a rush of getting Ruby looked after grabbing supplies (and a coffee to settle my nerves) and Jasper and I headed for the children’s hospital. We were warned to not eat or drink as it looked like a case for surgery with the bruising and swelling. THANKFULLY it turned out to be a dislocation and had re-aligned (Which we heard it crack back to place ) and after a few hours we were out of there with just a buddy strapping! Lucky! But it had managed to throw our entire Monday and all the plans along with it out the window. The day was spent with snuggles, cuddles and kisses! I definitely got a snuggler!

So that was the Monday, Tuesday I saw a dental surgeon about my wisdom teeth that have been massivly giving it to me of late. One had tipped and had impacted on the others so was needing to be done under a general. Thursday I had the operation with all 4 removed, which I have to say was a whole lot of NOT fun! But on the improve now and finally back to eating something that resembles food… Chicken broth is ok once, certainly not great for breaky Thanks to my brilliant In-Laws and fantastic hubby for taking good care of me

While all this has been going on I have been watching in on the devastation of the Qld, NSW and now VIC floods. My heart was breaking and all that was going on here paled into insignificance. What was truly amazing is the Australian human spirit. The way the Queenslander’s stood up, shook themselves off and went out to help others, total strangers! The other side of it was the amazing online community and the call to action of the truly amazing and inspirational people that can do extraordinary things, and make extraordinary things happen!

Now not that I can even begin to mention them all but one I do want to is the AMAZING Jen the one woman machine behind Beyond The Baby. She has been collecting donations both material and $$ and doing shopping for supplies working with two other amazing ladies Nik from Wholesale Baby and Cass from Zimmer & Jee – whose online Auction was beyond belief! With raising well over 11,000! I could go on and on and these are just three amazing ladies and QLD seems be full of them!

From the West I am trying to do a little bit as well and holding an online auction. You can find it on the Avidiva Facebook Page Here It finishes up Thursday 20th so head on over and have  a look – still taking donations as well. Every dollar will make a difference! Please feel free to comment if you know someone that deserves a pat on the back, or someone that is doing something special to raise some dollars for the flood relief.

The human spirit is alive and well.

From one PROUD Aussie!

Eco Mummy

The Dangers of Baby Oil and Products Containing Mineral Oil.

Fear not, I am not an alarmist. Which is why I am not about to recommend that everyone leave the computer this instant and race around the house like a crazy person and throw everything that contains mineral oil in the bin! My aim of this post is to empower you guys with a little bit of knowledge! After all knowledge is power!

I don’t know about you but I am a label reader… I like to know what it all is, especially when it comes to the kids. I have personally long stayed away from products with mineral oils. To me nothing that comes of petrol could possibly be great for my skin and certainly not that of my babies, now that was simply my own conclusion! But I have since learnt there are two schools of thought on this. That’s totally fine! I am just going to err on the side of ‘why risk it?’ Here are a couple of Mineral Oil facts:

• Liquid which is produced by the distillation of petroleum
• Odourless
• Tasteless
• Inexpensive. It’s said to be more expensive to dispose of the oil then to purchase it.
• Works by coating the skin with a thin impermeable layer that inhibits the skins natural ability to breathe. This is where the two theories come into play. Some believe this is a positive as it locks the moisture in.
• Known to increase dryness of the skin.
• Can cause a skin reaction and rash.
• Linked to cancer when not refined far enough. It has naturally occuring PAHs (polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons) and these are a known carcinogen. Some labels in the US are required to carry a warning sticker. Most if not all cosmetic mineral oils are however very highly refined.

Sources : LiveStrong – SkinDeep and Drugs.Com

So onto why I felt so strongly to tell you all about this… Now my next source is Today Tonight however, please don’t hold it against me I promise there isn’t a neighbourhood dispute coming up!!! They brought forward a story regarding the dangers of Mineral Oil. The danger being ingestion. I bet a bottle of Johnson & Johnson Baby Oil is a nursery staple, i’d be surprised if there isn’t one somewhere in the house. Even those trial size ones from bounty and goody bags. It’s probably somewhere between the change table and the bathroom. Is it up high and is the lid secure? Did you know that in Australia alone there are over 3000 ingestion accidents with young children every year. I am going to quote the next bit as it’s far to important for me to put it forward.

“Toxicologist Dr Naren Gunja from NSW Poisons Information Centre at Westmead Hospital says most parents don’t realise the danger.

“Once the child has ingested it depending on how much they ingest then it could be too late. Over a period of time, the child can die,” says Dr Gunja.

“It is a gradual process that can take several days, two weeks to die.”

Source: http://au.todaytonight.yahoo.com/article/5035273/consumer/dangers-baby-oil

There were 5 deaths directly related to the ingestion of baby oil in America last year. And 7 years ago Johnson & Johnson were forced to have child proof lids on all of the baby oil products. However as they were not forced to have these world wide they obviously didn’t. So Shame on you J&J! It doesn’t take much to find that there are other options out there – Oils that don’t contain Mineral Oil. To name a few: Arbonne (feel free to email if you would like more info) Buds Cherished Organics (Organic) Milk Baby (Lavender scented / Organic) Gaia Natural (Slightly scented) these are just a couple. But if you really wanted to get creative check out google on how to mix and store your own.

As a nice end to the Today Tonight story J&J have decided that after 48 years they will be changing the child proof caps on the baby oil bottles. But until then just double check where your mineral oil products are, and importantly make yourself aware of the mineral oil products around the house. I know I have concentrated on Baby Oil but there are plenty more products!  And please tuck them out of reach of little hands!

Hope all enjoyed there weekend – I am gearing up for Detox Monday

EcoMummy

Sorry guys in all my excitement to tell you all about the detox I forgot to mention that we have set up the Eco Mummy on Beyond the Baby – Very excited!

Be sure to pop on over say g’day and if you love Eco Mummy invite your friends!

Eco Mummy is more than just ME! It’s all about the earth and how we need to look after her so that our children’s children can enjoy and marvel at her beauty! So please feel free to pop on in both here and on the FB page and let us know if there is something that should be shared!

I am just finishing off some research for a must read post for every mum!! Will be putting it together tomorrow.

So for now… Remember – We do not inherit the world from our ancestors, we borrow it from our children. Native American Proverb

Eco Mummy

xoxo

Detox (Body Cleanse) Mondays!

Howdy!

I have done it – I completed my first day of the detox. It however didn’t go exactly as planned… I guess with two little ones nothing ever does. I will run through what the day turned out like. Firstly this was our beautiful haul from the local farmers market and organic deli…

Our Detox Day:

7:30am Green Tea

9:00am Green Juice. It was 2 green apples, Stick of celery, handful of baby spinach, handful of green grapes and two cups of water. This is my first confession!! I have a wizz bang Thermomix so I threw everything in there and blended it up. However I just could NOT stomach the juice with all the pulp in it! I just couldn’t drink it – something I think I might have to train myself onto! So I ran it through a siv and It was sooo yummy!

10:15am Banana, small amount of walnuts and a few strawberries.

12:30pm Lunch – Large glass water with slice of lemon. Salad consisting of chickpeans, corn, lettuce, tomato, cucumber, walnuts, pine nuts. Dressing of organic olive oil and lemon juice.

1:00pm NAP – boy oh boy this whole detoxing thing sure does take it out of you!!

3:30pm Green Tea and small amount of fruit and nuts.

5:30pm Lentils and Lightly steamed vegetables.

So that is the basics of our detox day UNTIL…. this is where it all fell apart for me! My poor little bloke had the onset of a gastro type bug on Sunday… Little did I know I was feeling so off all day because come 7pm I had the gastro bug get me! On the bright side – boy oh boy did I flush any toxins right on out!!

I have to admit. The bug left as quick as it hit. And by Tuesday morning I was back up and at it. All be it a little ginger from the nights events! I think the good hit of nutrients from the fruits and veg definitely helped with this. I will admit I definitely have to drink more water next Monday! Oh and pray that I don’t get hit with the dreaded caffine head ache!! I think the other addition I will make is to figure out a detox soup or something that I can pop into the slow cooker on Monday morning and have a nice bowl of soup for dinner.

I made my Darling Hubby (DH) embark on my Detox Challenge with me and these are his thoughts – “Never again will I go without at least one morning coffee (serious headache). Soup sounds good from now on but I will be having at least one morning coffee until the day I drop.”

*However this has kicked him into gear with getting his diet and exercise back on track!!!

Eco Mummy

Detox Me Baby!

I have officially done it! I have just set my first ever new year resolution! It’s something that I have been researching for the last few months and also something that I am SOOOOO passionate about! That is eating right, detoxing my body and teaching my babes (and family) about the benefits of the foods around us! The ‘simple’ foods, raw foods and GREEN foods!

So here it is I will put it out for the universe to keep me accountable! My new year resolution is to ‘detox’ my body one day a week every week of the year. I am passionate about eating organic, I’m also very careful with the ‘toxins’ around in every day life. I love to keep it as natural as I can around the house. I have dabbled with the thought of detoxing but to be honest have never taken it seriously! Now is the time! Now I am going to put my health and families health at the forefront of 2011!

Why a day a week? I have set myself a task of one day a week because I think for me it’s realistic. I couldn’t do it for a week at a time and a three day detox could seem a little daunting.  I am if nothing a realist. I want to make it fit around our life so that it works for us.

So here are my rough guidelines. But I am going to be updating a bit of a ‘Diary of a Detox’ I will have a diet of the following:

• Water (LOTS of water!)- With a slice of lemon or cucumber to mix it up.
• Herbal Tea
• Green Juice
• Raw fruit and veg
• Cooked grains, Lentils or beans
• Raw nuts / seeds

As a rule of thumb I am eliminating all dairy, fish, meat, gluten, sugar, caffeine (ahhhh) and alcohol. I’ll also add in a multivitamin. Will have to take a visit to the health food store to find a goody! A detox shouldn’t be so complicated if you ask me. I don’t want to take 15 tablets a day, I’m planning on getting good healthy diet of about 80% raw foods to 20% cooked foods. And then just water, water and water to wash all the toxins through!

To make it clear my sole intentions of the detox are for the pure health benefits of getting rid of the toxins from my body. I am not doing it to lose any weight or ‘drop a dress size’ as so much media attention would have you believe. Simply to bring on a healthy new year! I’m also going to detox my hair and skin using Arbonne Seasource Detox Spa range (Contact me if you want to know more about this! Cassie@avidiva.com.au)

I am looking forward to my journey and sharing it with you guys! Would love feedback from anyone who has or does a regular detox, and of course if anyone would like to join me on the Detox Monday Challenge for 2011!

Have a safe and happy new year and may all your dreams come true for 2011

EcoMummy

xoxo