November 23, 2011 by crystal
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For the past year or so, canned foods have been on my list of foods we try to avoid. Aside from the sodium and diminished nutrients, most canned foods contain BPA. I kept meaning to write about what I’ve learned about BPA, and it kept getting pushed to the back burner. Then, I received an email from 7th Generation, with an article titled BPA in Thanksgiving Canned Food. (more…)
Category Health & Safety | Tags: Baby Food,BPA,dog food,health,Organic,safety,Things my kid ate | 5 Comments
November 7, 2011 by crystal
The grocery store can be a super confusing place. When you’re trying to make the right decisions for your family, the array of claims on food labels can be overwhelming. I have learned that just because someone says something – or prints it on a label – that does not make it true. So what’s a savvy shopper to do? I’ve done some digging, and decoded a few commonly used food labels to help guide you through your next shopping trip. Enjoy! (more…)
Category Health & Safety | Tags: Antibiotics,Food Labels,health,Hormones,Natural,Organic,safety | No Comments
October 28, 2011 by crystal
Tonight, as I was putting Charlotte to sleep, I couldn’t stop thinking about how lucky we are. My heart ached for the parents out there who haven’t been so lucky. For those mommies and daddies who have to watch their children go through test after test. Procedure after procedure. Surgery after surgery.
This is Audric. Just like Charlotte, he’s 14 months old. I met his mom almost two years ago, through a mommy message board, as we were both beginning our pregnancies.
Audric was born with biliary atresia, which is a rare liver disease. There is a problem with his bile duct, and so bile can’t pass from his liver to his intestines. This means that, without help, Audric’s body can’t excrete waste, and he could end up with cirrhosis of the liver.
When little Audric was just two months old, he underwent surgery to connect his small intestines straight to his liver to help drain bile. I cannot imagine how scary it must have been for Audric’s parents to watch their tiny baby go through surgery. Audric’s doctors told his parents that this surgery could last 30 years or fail immediately – There was no way to predict the outcome. This surgery was a bridge to transplant.
Audric was hospitalized six times during before he was a year old with gastrointestinal bleeding and infections. His doctors decided that it was time for a new liver. Audric turned one in August. He received a transplant on October 6, 2011, after only twelve days on the waiting list! Audric is holding strong, but he still has a long way to go.
Please consider donating to a special fund for Audric that has been set up through the Children’s Organ Transplant Association. As I write this, this blog has 378 followers. If each of them donates $5, we can raise $1890 for Audric. The medical expenses are projected to be around $50,000. That’s a lot of money. At the same time, it’s a big, big world, and I am constantly surprised by the kindness of others. So, please give what can, and please share this link with as many people as you can. Every little bit counts.
Category My Life | Tags: Donate!,health | No Comments
September 29, 2011 by crystal
First, I baked Chewy Granola Cookies. Then, I decided to make some Chocolate Peanut Butter Granola Bars. They are AMAZING. I can’t stop eating them, and my husband has already requested another batch so that he can take some into work. (more…)
Category Reviews & Giveaways, Yummy Stuff | Tags: Granola,health,Recipes | No Comments
September 28, 2011 by crystal
I was recently asked by Nature’s Hand to try out some of their granola. The good people at Nature’s Hand sent me two packages of French Vanilla Almond Granola. That’s a lot of granola! So, I decided to pop over to their website and try out some of Nature’s Hand’s recipes. I tried two recipes, and they were both delicious!
Category Reviews & Giveaways, Yummy Stuff | Tags: Granola,health,Recipes | 4 Comments
September 9, 2011 by crystal
Charlotte normally ignores the television entirely. She doesn’t seem to be interested in ESPN, Lifetime, or sitcoms. Which I think is awesome. However, flipping on kids’ shows definitely gets her attention. She will drop everything that she is doing, and stare at the television. In moments like that, it’s really tempting to think, “She loves it so much – It can’t be that bad for her!” Often, the characters are singing sweet songs, practicing their letters, and modeling positive social behaviors like sharing. How can that be bad? (more…)
Category Health & Safety | Tags: health,Psychology,Research,safety,Television,The Brain | 10 Comments
September 6, 2011 by crystal
The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends breastfeeding for at least a year. The World Health Organization recommends it for “up to two years of age or beyond.”
And yet, most people in America don’t seem to have received this message. Have you seen (more…)
Category Breastfeeding | Tags: Breastfeeding,h,health | 3 Comments
September 2, 2011 by crystal
I spend a lot of time in the grocery store, staring at labels and trying to make decisions. Luckily, my daughter is still fascinated by the store, and she waits patiently in the cart while I decide what to buy. I prefer to buy organic foods. That being said, just because a food is organic, that does not mean (more…)
Category Health & Safety | Tags: Clean 15,Dirty Dozen,health,Labels,locally grown,Organic | 5 Comments
August 15, 2011 by crystal
Category Reviews & Giveaways | Tags: Cleaning,ecomom,Giveaway,health,safety | 16 Comments
July 11, 2011 by crystal
I have been slathering up in a Banana Boat since I was a little kid. And as a baby, my mom slathered me up in Water Babies. Who doesn’t love that little girl and dog on the bottle? I know that many of your first reactions to this article will be, “I’ve always used (insert favorite sunscreen here), and I turned out just fine!” Well, I’m here to tell you that (more…)
Category Health & Safety | Tags: EWG,FDA,health,safety,Sunscreen | 1 Comment
Mother. Wife. Daughter. Friend.
School psychologist.
Cook. Crafter. Homemaker.
I am a working momma, doing the best that I can!
