I am well into my week long challenge of avoiding bottled drinks. So far so good. Must say have had to have a couple of slips, on the airoplane and one when i couldn’t find a ‘trustworthy tap’. Got me thinking Shopping Centers should have a drink refill station! Nice cold water to fill up your drink bottles (and kids sippy cups!)  Imagine the bottles we would save. Not to mention our dollars! I swear the prices go through the roof when you walk into a food court! That is a whole new subject! This is definitely going to create a long term change in my behavior. Now how do i get drinking stations…

Onto another subject which I just have to share… We are toilet training Miss Ruby. It was my intention to have her all trained up before we left for holidays so that it would be a nappy free zone, for one little person at least. Little did I know how your life changes, well stops once you hear those words ‘I need to Wee’ you turn into James Bond, partly because you have approximately 007 seconds before it’s just too late, and partly because the moves you pull to make it to a toilet resemble some scenes from a James Bond movie!

We had the most helpful and lovely flight attendant on our flight out. She didn’t mind that Miss Ruby was up and down to the toilet most of the flight and she imparted me some of her wisdom for which i shall be forever grateful and feel duty bound to impart on the sisterhood!  Okay here is her toilet training hint… For each time no.2′s happens we paint one toe nail with nail polish. I took Miss Ruby to the chemist and got a bargain nail polish. She chose pink, purple and green. Then each time we have a ‘successful trip’ she gets a toe nail painted. We have had so much success and she is so proud of her freshly painted toe nails! It requires no food bribery and it doesn’t feel like i am negotiating someone down from the top of a building for the FBI.  Sure this is probably a massive success with a little girly girl who thinks of herself as a princess but I am sure boys will get in for there blue nails!

ENVIROWEEK

12-18 SEPTEMBER 2010

http://www.enviroweek.org

We are on the eve of ‘Enviroweek’ 2010 and if you haven’t already heard about it then it’s a fantastic concept! It all begun last year with 200 people taking the pledge. I have only recently stumbled accross it and plan to register and ‘do it properly’ next year. So what is it? It’s a fun way to change your habits for the week (or hopefully longer!) and raise money for a fantastic cause! The idea is you register online and then get people to sponsor you through the website. You set yourself a challenge for the week, to be a ‘green warrior’. All moneys raised go towards the Cool Australia initiative. Which aims to educate students across the country about the environment and the importance of our actions. The websites are full of useful info for teachers. It’s a brilliant concept as who better to be educating then our future generations!

Obviously a little late to register now but I am planning to still join in! Without the fundraising side this year. Will pledge a donation to the cause instead. I am pledging $50 which will plant 12 trees to restore native bushland. (Feel free to jump onto there site and do the same!)  Along with my pledge I will be setting myself a challenge for the week…

There are so many fun idea’s on the website, Brad Sewell from the Hawks is pledging to ‘carpool’ for the week, you could pledge to ride your bike, plant tree’s, start a veggie patch, shower with the family your imagination is the only barrier! So here is my pledge – I am getting myself a BPA Free drink bottle and I am pledging to buy ZERO bottled water or juice this week! I understand the footprint one bottle has and I have been conscious recently in cutting down on the amount of bottled drinks consumed by myself and family. This week we are off to Melbourne for a family holiday so I am going to be super organised and have my drink bottle in toe all week! It really is the little things that make the difference! I will be checking in with you all and will let you know how easy it is whilst travelling to stay away from the bottled drinks!!

Feel free to make your pledge here by commenting and go and check out the website and see the good work that this group is doing! I honestly believe this is one concept that will soon take off!

Phew what a week!!! Everything turned out so fantastic and my little man had a wonderful time, which really is the important part!

Thought I should give a little follow up – I tried to have as much whole foods as possible at the party, mixed of course with some special treats! To follow on a little I thought I would just pop down a couple of healthy fun options:

Frozen Yogurt Pops – spoon yogurt into a paper baking cup pop in a paddle pop stick and freeze! I had the little ones asking for more ice cream all arvo Even some of the bigger kids (Dads)!

Fruit Dippers – Cut up banana and strawberry and push onto the paddle pop sticks – set out little serves of yogurt in the paper baking cups to dip the fruit in. These were a massive hit at the party and the first thing we run out of!

Instead of Fizzy drinks we offered fresh squeezed juice and chilled water.

I stayed away from having any lollies out on the food table, but had home made muslie bars, choc brownies, biscuit pops (flatten cookie dough onto baking tray and push in a paddle pop stick into the mix before baking!) choc moose tarts, sandwiches, quices, handmade sausage rolls and meatballs. There was so much choice and the kids wouldn’t even know they were missing the lollies! I may not have so much luck when they grow up but for now victory I discovered that there is heaps of fun things to do with food to jazz it up – use your imagination and have some fun!!!

Here is our party table…

This was half way through once i realised that i forgot to take pics before people arrived!!!

And here is my magic ‘healthy’ cake

I had about 3 people comment on how good my ‘caramel’ cake was – hehehe if only they knew  :) I did tell them that in fact it was sultana and plum puree into the vanilla cake mix, most were shocked but all went back for more, and there was no cake left, so it must have been a hit!

Ahh I do love a good party and there a few things I love more then cooking up a feast but I have to admit – glad that is over for another year… poor mummy was in bed VERY early after the party

xoxo

Well this day last year i was meeting my new little man. And now what seems like within a blink of an eye my baby boy is turning one. So firstly Happy Birthday to my spunky little man. It seems like life pre-baby simply didn’t exist. I mean how could i ever go a day with out every thought being about them??

I just wanted to pop by and put in a little post about our birthday cake… Well soon to be birthday cake (once i bake it!) some how i always seem to manage to find an excuse to be making 3 or 4 birthday cakes for the kids… So today begins our week of cake and birthdays I thought I might suggest a couple of not so naughty birthday cakes that will leave the kids loving the cake but not end as a sugar high crash!

Tonight we have my mum flying in and well a birthday is not a birthday with out cake!!! So I am doing up a banana bread. I have the best ever banana bread recipe – funny enough it is called the best ever banana bread recipe  I usually add an extra banana and reduce the amount of sugar. Also i just cook it till i think it’s ready – could just be my oven but i seem to think the time is wrong on the recipe. I GUARANTEE that if you were to cook this people WILL ask for the recipe!!

Then roll on ‘cake’ number two! Tomorrow night we have a bit more extended family heading over – we have Grandparents, Aunty’s and Cousins i am going to do something a wee bit different – I have some meringue’s and I am going to make a messy nest. It’s a glass layered with meringue, banana, strawberry, kiwi fruit and passionfruit pulp – hehe sneaking the fruit into the desert again I will form these into a number one and pop a candle in one of the glasses.

Then comes the big one!!! We have a party for about 50+ people all coming to our house – it’s now that i have stopped counting… possibly because i am scared too Anyway I have a cowboy themed party and I am baking a cake out of the good old women’s weekly children’s birthday cake book. We have chosen the Sheriff’s Badge and I am now going to let you in on a little secret… I cheated and bought a Vanilla cake mix. HOWEVER… now for the fun bit, Cook up a tin of plums and a really good handful of sultana’s. Cook on the stove until they kind of combine into a compote and then push the fruit through a strainer into a bowl. Add this to the cake mix and it makes beautiful smooth and moist cake with a hint of the fruit compote. The kids (and you) will love it!

I know this is a little of the ‘Eco Subject’ but i just wanted to write a little about little ways to encorporate whole foods into ‘naughty foods’ I am on the whole foods wagon for 95% of the party! There will be some treats but i am loving good wholesome foods and not a sugar high in sight (hopefully). These little idea’s are proof that it doesn’t have to be boring I shall post up a few pics later – now back to the kitchen

xo

The other day I was taking out the recycling and just happened to see the little notice on the empty box from the latest pencils for my Miss Ruby, it stated that they only used reforested wood and ensured no rainforest wood was used.  I thought that was interesting, I don’t think I ever stopped to think about the wood going into little things like pencils.  So it got me thinking and I jumped onto the website and I must say I was shocked. Shocked in a good way, they are a great ‘green company’, and a fantastic global citizen!

I always love to read the ‘About Us’ section of any website – it’s a bit of the face behind the company!  This is the first couple of lines of their ‘about’ page :

“At Crayola we believe being “responsible” means doing what is right. It is being a good citizen in the communities and countries where we operate and our products are found.”

And they back this up with some amazing green initiatives along with the reforested wood initiative. For starters you may have realised that the traditional Crayola texta barrel has changed from White to Black – this is because they are now using recycled bottle tops in the production. They use over 1 million pounds of recycled plastic.

But wait it gets better ! Crayola have set up a 15 acre solar farm with more than 26,000 solar panels. This means that they have enough solar energy to produce 1 billion of the 3 billion crayons produced annually!

WOW – so that’s how Crayola are making a difference in 3 ways ! You can read more from the Crayola Website which is where I got all the stats and figures! Also check out the Crayola website as there are HEAPS of activities for the kids ! I know that next time a pack of Crayola hits my shopping basket i am supporting a responsible green company – again Kudos to you Crayola and thanks !

Very excited to say that I have stumbled across a fabulous new little product ! We are in the bleary eyed midst of the terrible teething monster ! Master 1 is on his way to setting some sort of teething record and I think at last count there were 5 big bulging lumps in his little mouth ! I am not sure about you guys but along with teeth for my little man comes a big red bottom and a nasty nappy rash . Now I know that there are myths and old wive’s tales and many will tell you that there is no link to nappy rash and teeth but in my house and for my little man it always seems to co-incide. Anyway I digress, back to the product !

GrowVia Magic Stick – write it down, imprint it to your memory bank because it really is a MAGIC stick !! It is a nappy rash balm in a stick, so when you need it you just wind it up and apply directly to the area. No more dipping your fingers into the pot of cream ! It is all natural and organic and better still cloth nappy friendly ! It’s made from grapeseed oil, beeswax, meadowfoam oil, organic jojoba,  shea, organic rosehip plus essential oils. The smell is so yummy (as yummy as a bum cream could possibly be !)

Saturday afternoon we were starting to get the nasty teething rash and then I bought the stick and applied it after bath time for the first time. I usually find that a nasty rash can take a couple of days to work through. I always try the whole draw’ of remedies. This time it was a good run over with the magic stick and then by morning it was all gone ! Seriously ! Magic ! Plus it could not have been easier to use (imagine a glue stick – you roll it up and apply !) So I’m hooked! One thing to note is that they recommend one stick per child so no cross contamination.

I got mine from the wonderful ladies at Booloo Babe the website is currently undergoing a re-vamp and will soon offer a shopping cart but you can contact Sam sam@booloobabe.com.au or linda – linda@booloobabe.com.au for more info.

Hi Guys,

I just wanted to introduce myself as the new ‘Eco Mummy’ blogger. My name is Cassie, I am a mother of two beautiful little people Miss 3 and Master 1. I am a wife to my Darling Hubby (DH) who I adore and enjoy sharing my life with. Right so that is the formalities done! Now about me

I grew up in a small Gippsland town in country Victoria. Possibly one of the most beautiful places in the world ! I could just be slightly biased but I have the fondest memories of the seemingly endless green rolling hills dotted with cattle and little old farm houses. When 5 acres was a small block. When everyone had a dam not a pool and when the best days where the ones where you put the black tarp all the way down the slope of the back yard covered it with good old morning fresh and left the hose at the top for your very own slippery dip. The closest thing we knew to a water restriction was Mum turning off the water after realising that we had now removed any resemblance of grass down the middle of the yard. When you would head off in the morning with your bike and the only restriction was to be back by dark, AND you could buy 3 choc buds for 5 cents!!!

Ah the good old days, it’s such a stark contrast to the world in which we now live. The world in which our little ones are growing up in. I guess this childhood is the foundation for why I now feel so strongly to live as eco-friendly as possible. To ‘first do no harm’ and to raise my babes with a good social and eco conscious.  I now reside in Perth, it’s the complete opposite to my childhood. Gone are the green rolling hills switched for the red dirt and sand. But it is a whole new kind of beauty, the beaches (oh the BEAUTIFUL beaches !) and the seemingly endless ocean, and the many wineries on my back door step – now that’s a bonus! Oh and not to mention the sunshine!

I have recently launched my business Avidiva it is an online baby boutique stocking beautiful hand made, eco-friendly and organic baby products. My aim is to continually grow and add to the business so that it becomes a one stop shop for all things earth friendly and of course super funky for your little ones. Every now and then if I come across something really unique and eco savvy. I will let you all know and blog about it, I have no intention of this becoming a self promotion blog I am aiming to tackle all things ‘Eco and Organic’ be it around the house, for your little ones, for those mum’s to be and for anything that affects our world and our communities. If there is something i should know about, then please let me know !!!

I am looking forward to getting stuck in and joining the Beyond the Baby team!

Cass

British Petroleum have a lot to answer for. Every day I see new images of the devastation caused by the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico …. I can’t say anymore than the pictures can and this video makes me so sad ….

Shame on you BP! I will never ever support BP or any of their affiliate companies and I honestly hope this brings their company to it’s knees, maybe then they will feel half the devastation the animals and people have felt from this devastating disaster. Animals lots, businesses are closed and people are set to lose everything in affected areas. That part of the world will never be the same.

Here is a photo taken at a BP fuel station in the USA …. They said it best themselves …

Eco Mummy xxx

Yesterday I took my baby boy to the hairdresser! I love our local kids salon Snippetty – Haircuts For Kids

it is a funky kids salon with a fun little play area and tv screens at each hair cutting station playing kids shows. They also have kid sized chairs so rather than boosting up their normal chairs with phonebooks or a step, the chairs are the perfect size for the little ones and move up to the height needed! I love it!

When I was there yesterday I decided to see what products they sell and was pleasantly surprised to find they only sell an eco brand called Eco.Kid. All products are organic (different levels from 45%-95% organic depending on the product). They promise there are no nasty chemicals, synthetics etc. Best of all the packaging is super funny! I love creative marketing minds and love that they “pinky swear” rather than promise and they also don’t include spinach in any of their products! So cute!

I haven’t used them yet but I was so impressed with the packaging I had to share straight away, so expect and update from me in a few days.

Eco Mummy xx

In a few days our beautiful earth will be celebrated with its own day. Earth Day is commemorating its 40th year and I would love to share some ideas to make your Earth Day count!

Over the past few days we have seen what a large impact grounding planes worldwide can do for our earth. Grounding 63,000 flights over 4 days has saved over 1.3 million tonnes of carbon dioxide! Just 4 days! This is a great lesson to show that only a day off change can make a difference.

Here are a few ways to make a difference on Earth Day:

* Give yourself and energy audit!
- Check your light globes and change them to more energy efficient globes.
- Check your power points to see if you have unnecessary appliances plugged in and switched on. For example: Is your mobile phone charger plugged in, switched on and no mobile is attached?
- Check what setting your air conditioner or heater is set on. Can this be adjusted to make it more energy efficient? Raise your aircon temperature by a few degree’s and turn your heater down.

* Go over your current recycling process and see if you can make it easier to recycle more. Buy a larger bin; make a sign showing what can be recycled for your family to see.

* Plant a small organic vegetable garden or even start really small and grow your own herbs.

* Switch one cleaning product to a natural cleaning product and see how amazingly they work and how much safer they are for your family.

* Enjoy your local neighbourhood. Rather than driving somewhere, spend Earth Day walking and exploring your local area. Have a picnic in a local park, walk the dogs and even take photos along the way of your local area to remember where you lived.

* Have a meat free day! Red meat is a large contributor to carbon emissions – waste from the cow, production and transport. Why not have a meat free day and enjoy a vegetarian dish?

* Live 100% organic for one day! Buy some organic bread, milk and free range eggs. Make an organic dinner such as chicken and salad. Enjoy the wonderful world of organic food for one day and see the difference.

* Gather your old unused home wares and freecycle them or have a garage sale.

These are only a few ideas, any change no matter how small will make a difference to our future. Use Earth Day as your “New Year’s Resolution Day” for ways you can save the planet.

Eco Mummy xx