Category Archives: Uncategorized

Toxic Crayons…that would make an excellent name for a band, wouldn’t it?  This week’s Sunday Surf features a mixed bag of toxins, science, fluff and trivia.  Let’s go!

Are there toxins  in crayons?  That article suggests so, but Snopes mostly debunked that myth five years later.  This is one of those topics that I just don’t feel I have enough solid information on, so instead I’ll skip the subject entirely because there are natural alternatives available – check out soy and beeswax crayons.  I never knew such a product existed.

On a much less toxic note, I present for your enjoyment the wonderful story of a midwife who assisted in an unexpected birth on an international flight.  I actually didn’t believe it at first, but there’s a little video clip of mom and baby bonding on the plane.

In other mama news, Mama Eve hit the nail on the head with this piece about breastfeeding, which had a real gem of a point in making the comparison between formula feeding and Tofurkey.  I’ve never seen the argument for peace between formula feeding moms and breastfeeding moms made quite so succinctly.

Speaking of breastfeeding, Kelly Naturally has a great but short list of children’s books with positive depictions of breastfeeding.  Very nice find!

I loved this piece on Why Mothers Kiss their Babies.  I tell my Jack that if you can overkiss a baby, he’s doomed because I feel like all I do is kiss him.  This piece explains the biological compulsions that make us mamas so kissy.

An unsurprising list of ten countries where you won’t find a McDonald’s, and ten somewhat surprising countries where you will.

Have a good week!

I’m very fortunate to have a brick and mortar natural parenting store within thirty minutes of my house. The Bellies and Babies Boutique in Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin features cloth diapers and diapering accessories, baby carriers, a wonderful collection of resale maternity clothes, and fantastic classes on everything from natural childbirth to cloth diapering 101.

The Boutique
Don’t let the size of Bellies and Babies fool you:  it is a small shop, but you’d be hard-pressed to want anything more in a cloth diaper store.  They carry all of the major cloth diaper lines, cleaning supplies, and they even have a wonderful selection of resale diapers.  Their consignment maternity clothes shop is likewise small but fabulous:  I bought my favorite maternity clothes there and found them to be very affordable, with blouses and pants typically under ten dollars.  The boutique also has a selection of baby slings and carriers, including makes that you don’t see at the big box baby stores.

The Classes
I found Bellies and Babies when I searched for a prenatal yoga class, and the class was always small but it really was what ignited my passion for fitness that has grown over the past year.  The class list goes well beyond yoga, reaching out to subjects like natural childbirth, breastfeeding, babywearing, cloth diapering, infant CPR, and more.  My favorite part of the class offerings is that most of the classes are Saturday and evening classes, meaning that working moms get the opportunity to participate (unlike so many other child-centric classes out there).

What I Love
I love having access to a store where I can see cloth diapers and carriers hands-on.  The Internet offers a wealth of knowledge on so many topics, but even the most detailed and illustrated descriptions of the different cloth diaper systems simply don’t hold a candle to seeing the diapers up close and in person.  Further, I have always found the staff on duty at Bellies and Babies to be very helpful and knowledgeable.  I never felt like I left the shop with an unanswered question.

Less Than Impressed
My one beef with Bellies and Babies is that their posted store hours seem to be more of a suggestion than a hard and fast rule.  As a former small store owner, I totally understand that sometimes things come up and an early close is unavoidable.  However, when your store is a specialty niche, and particularly when it is the only one of its kind in the area, there is no doubt that the clientele comes from afar to shop, and it is really disappointing when you arrive an hour before the set closing time to find the shop closed.  That said, a telephone call ahead is an easy way to remedy that problem – I won’t let it mar my opinion of the Boutique.

If You Go
Bellies and Babies Boutique
N88 W16733 Main St.
Menomonee Falls, WI 5305 
262.253.6510
Hours:  Tuesday, Friday, Saturday (Learn from my error!  Call!)

Calendar of Classes

This week I decided to try sewing Jack a pair of wool longies. Now, everyone who knows me outside of this blog just had to go re-read that first sentence because I said that I was going to sew. I’m terrible at sewing. I have a brand new sewing machine that I haven’t even figured out how to set up. I’ve owned it for nearly four years now and it has never made a single stitch. But I found a pattern for converting a wool sweater into long wool baby pants, and I thought I’d try hand-sewing them. They actually turned out okay, and they are currently keeping Jack’s backside nice and warm on this cold winter night. I even got an unsolicited compliment on them when we were out tonight.  Pardon the blurry camera phone photo.

I love stuff like that. I love making home cooked meals for my family. I love gardening and canning. I love baking bread and making our own condiments. I love little arts and crafts and projects. If I stayed home with Jack, I’d give some serious consideration to home schooling.  I picture days filled with educational nature walks, classes at the YMCA, rainy afternoons at the library. 

I think I’d make a great stay at home mom.  Where do I apply?

 I know that somewhere there’s a stay at home mom rolling her eyes at my idyllic vision at SAHM-hood, and she’d kill to be able to just pop out for a latte or chill at Barnes & Noble on her lunch hour like I can.  She’d tell me about the reality of the Bad Days, where sleep is nonexistent, babies are fussy and sick, and a shower is as rare as a unicorn sighting.I admit when I know Jack is going to have a rough day, it can feel good to head out the door, battle traffic for the better part of an hour, and look ahead to a ten hour work day.  The grass is always greener on the other side isn’t it?

Part of me will always wonder what it would have been like to experience those Tuesday morning mom and baby groups and mid-afternoon playdates.  But my family is exactly as it should be, and while I wouldn’t change a thing, I’ll still allow myself the occasional SAHM fantasy as I sip my latte in my office.

I’m afraid I’m becoming one of “them.”

On Sunday I realized that I happened to have a coupon relevant to my grocery list: 50 cents off of a dozen eggs. I shoved it into my pocket, fully expecting to forget all about it by the time I got to Target later that day. Much to my surprise, I remembered both the eggs and the coupon, and as I reviewed my receipt, I realized that I got a dozen eggs for just 47 cents, thanks to my coupon.

47 cents. That’s freakin’ amazing. The power of coupons!

Some of my Facebook friends have recounted their couponing adventure. They exchange lists and graphs and flowcharts, and bust out their coupon quadratic equations and slide rules to review the Sunday paper. It is intimidating, yet intriguing.

Apparently there’s a whole world of couponers out there. I had no idea. There is an incredible number of websites, mailing lists, and books dedicated to the art and science of couponing. Everybody’s doing it, baby.

I don’t need another hobby, right? Right? Even if it is one that saves us some money?

I think I’ll take a pass on this one and just watch the coupon madness from the sidelines.

But Target did give me another coupon for fifty cents off a dozen eggs, so we’ll see. We’ll see.