Category Archives: Websites

Free Shipping at Tea Collection

One of my favorite clothing lines for babies and children is Tea Collection.

A friend gave me an adorable outfit before I had my baby, and I was hooked. I then borrowed her catalogs and poured over them picking out what I would buy depending on whether I had a boy or a girl. I got my baby boy a full wardrobe- my favorite being the cutest pin striped pants he wore from 3-6 months. He was such a handsome little man!

These clothes are super soft and sturdy and obviously made well because they come out of the washing machine looking new.

They are offering a one day free shipping sale TODAY- in time for back to school.

So head over to Tea Collection! If you haven’t discovered them yet, you’re in for a treat!

The Breast Crawl

Have you ever heard of it? I first read about “the breast crawl” in Dr. Greene’s bookFrom First Kicks to First Steps.  I was so intrigued!

Basically, even though babies don’t have much strength in their legs when they are born, if placed on the mother’s abdomen immediately after birth they will use the smell of the amniotic fluid on their hands to guide them to the nipples (which have a similar scent) as they use their little legs and feet to crawl to the breast!

Click here for more info, including videos of this amazing feat.

Peach Picking!

We went peach picking last weekend! We didn’t know what to expect of our 21 month old (do we ever?) and he absolutely loved it. From the moment we got to the orchard he was thrilled as he was running through the field surrounded by butterflies. He was delighted when he would find a low hanging peach, and loved picking it and putting it in the box. He even sampled some!

I can barely reach this peach...
Whew- all this picking is making me thirsty!

Check out the website Pick Your Own and find an orchard in your area. All states have something in season right now- strawberries, blackberries, tomatoes, herbs, etc. It’s a great family activity, and a great way to teach children where our food comes from.

We picked a half bushel of peaches- about 60 sweet juicy gala peaches and so far I’ve made peach butter, peach cobbler, peach smoothies, peach popsicles, peach glazed chicken, and today I had some sweet potato peach soup at lunch that I’m going to try to replicate next! PEACHES! mmmmmmm. I might turn into one.

Great Website for Traveling With Kids

I am preparing for an 8 hour flight with my toddler! Sounds daunting, doesn’t it? Well it doesn’t have to- a friend recently gave me some very good advice- “have high expectations of your children.” I had actually never thought of this before, though my husband and I have always taken our son along to everything we do with high hopes that everything will turn out well. But we hadn’t actually put words to what we were doing- having high expectations of him. Well said.   And it’s applicable in any situation, whether sitting through a restaurant meal with friends, visiting an art museum, or traveling across the pacific ocean.

My sister who has lots of experience traveling with her son (his first flight to Hawaii was at 8 weeks!) told me about a great resource:

Baby Travel Made Easy

Even though my son has already traveled by plane many many times, including two 11 hour flights, I thought I’d check it out to see if there was anything I could add to my bag of tricks.

Here is my favorite tip:

“Once the flight is under way, it’s time to play Santa Claus. (Santa flies, too, right?) Every hour or so, give your little one a gift to unwrap. The presents don’t have to be fancy or expensive; they might include books, snacks, or stickers. But it’s best to give items your child has never seen before, since these will hold his interest the longest.”

I loaded up on books, stickers, cars, and Legos yesterday.  We should be fine. Oh, and I’m counting on a 3 hour nap.  Is that too much to ask?

UPDATE: ok, so I just finished wrapping all the little gifts (like I needed one more thing to do!) and I think I might have gone a little overboard:

EcoMom Review and Giveaway!

Since becoming pregnant I discovered that wanting what’s best for my child and thereby strictly buying natural skincare, organic clothing and safe toys is definitely an expensive venture. In this world of big box stores it’s tempting to throw in the towel and just go conventional. Do you feel the same way?

Great news- you don’t have to! There is an e-commerce store that is the answer to all of our econo-woes. Eco-friendly Baby Products – EcoMom. This fabulous site is one-stop-shop for all things healthy and green, and offers everything from natural make-up and skincare to baby food, organic clothing and safe toys: It truly is what we’ve been waiting for. A place where we can find products during pregnancy and keep going back even after the toddler days are over, because they have products for school aged children too. The best part is that we don’t have to do our own research for the safety or true “green-ness” of anything they offer- all of their products go through a rigorous evaluation that is based on criteria they developed in conjunction with Healthy Child Healthy World.  EcoMom has also added to that criteria to take into consideration usefulness and price.

I encourage you to check it out!  Between now and June 30, 2010, they are offering Integrative Mom readers a 15% discount off of your first order- use discount code SBBL320 at checkout.  They also have a new program called EcoPass which is a $99 annual membership, which provides a 15% discount aon every order, as well as free shipping without the usual $75 minimum requirement.

EcoMom recently sent me a few items to review, and to give you an idea of the range of products on their site, these items made a recent visit to the playground complete.

What do we usually take when we venture to play?
Water, snacks and toys.  EcoMom sent me a Green Toys Recycle Truck, a Ecousable Stainless Steel Water Bottle, and $20 worth of organic baby food and snacks from Plum Baby and Revolution foods.

I have had a stainless steel water bottle for my son since he was 6 months old, but he’s never been that excited by the plain solid color of it and I think it might be too heavy for him. When he saw the Dino Water Bottle sitting on the table, he ran up to it saying his name over and over again desperately trying to reach it. He loves the bright orange and colorful dinos, and after I filled it with water he was so pleased and happily sipped away. It also has a hook so I can conveniently clip it to the diaper bag, and seems lighter than the other one he has. This is definitely our new favorite.

As for the green recycle truck, I can’t say enough good things about it. (I never imagined I’d get as excited as I do about toys for boys!) It feels sturdy, and proved to be as it held up when my son tried to ride around on it. I feel good knowing it’s made from recycled milk jugs, and it doesn’t look cheap, like most plastic toys do. He LOVES sorting all kinds of things in the 6 different recycling slots, and I know this is planting seeds for his green future. (He already helps his Dad bag up the recycling every night and puts it outside for the trash man to collect- playing with the truck reinforces this!)

The food and snacks are great- I  previously reviewed Plum Organics here.

GIVEAWAY!

I’m excited to announce that EcoMom has offered 2 giveaways to lucky readers of Integrative Mom.

One winner will receive the Recycle Truck and Ecousable Water Bottle, and one will receive $20 worth of baby food from Plum Organics and Revolution Foods!

HOW TO ENTER:

Simply leave a comment on this post!

For additional entries, do any of the following and then come back to this post and leave a comment telling me you did:

Just remember to come back and leave a separate comment for each one you do, and each comment will count as an entry. This giveaway is open to US shipping addresses and will close on Friday, June 4th. Random.org will choose the winners, and I will announce them on Saturday, June 5th.

Good luck, and tell your friends by using the Share This tab below!