..and we're back!

Remember that virus that was going around? Sure you do; the one that crippled [humans] for a few days rather than technology? Well, BabyJ was hit by it. Hard. One day he was fine and the next he was vomiting 180° all around him (the other 180° didn't happen as a mere result of the foresight he had to sit up with his back against the wall at 4am). For days (and days and days and days and daaaaaaaaaaays) that was his routine. Wake-up in the wee hours before dawn, whimper, vomit all over mama's bed, heart-rending little cries, have his clothing gently taken off, wrapped in a big, soft towel to finish vomiting episode, then [still with lights off so he wouldn't fully awaken and cry even more] be wiped with warm, wet washcloth till all vestiges of that acidic stuff were gone. Put back into fresh pjs (both him and mama), cuddle in papa's bed while mama's bedding was peeled off and changed, vomit on papa's bed. Wash, rinse, repeat. We went through 30 huge towels in about 4 days. We were just about hip-deep in BVL or baby-vomit-laundry as we affectionately called it (how original of a name, right?). Each morning the pink-tinged fingers of sun that parted our vertical blinds landed first on the mountain laundry that had had accumulated from the nights' adventures. Each day it was hauled to the washing machine.



Nights were the easy part really. We kept a giant pile of towels on hand by the bedside for the inevitable gurgle-then-completely-empty his toddler-sized stomach. They weren't enough. I'm serious. The 2nd day in he learned to vomit in a directions at once with a 360° 5 ftoot-splatter-radius. I kid you not. You were within 4-5 feet; you were fair game. The stroller wheels, my tall suede boots, dining room table's legs. In your hair, down your shirt, in your socks; he didn't discriminate. I swear I didn't think it ever would end. One night we had used up every single last one of our towels that we had to call my in-laws [well past midnight mind you] to drive over with some of their towels to rescue us from the vomit pool. Crazy I tell ya (they did it happily, only wanting the baby to feel better. Thank Gd for the loving, sweet people they are. They took my laundry and washed it and brought it back. I stayed home with the baby and held him for days on end while he purged the contents of his stomach too many times to count per day. He cried as he sat there dry-heaving long after the liquid had come up. I sit there too, arms wrapped gently around him, every fiber of my being crying along with him. We'd sit and rock together; him in my arms, as the tears gradually subsided and the vomit dried where it had fallen from its trajectory. I didn't care. All I wanted was for him to feel better. Heck, I'd give anythign for it to be me who was sick. But it didn't happen. The poor little guy had it for longer than I thought it possible for a baby to vomit. The doctor said to let it run its course, there was nothing to do other than keep him hydrated (easier said than done. He nursed exclusively and wouldn't so much as take a bottle or sippy cup. Trust me, we've been trying for months! He'll take a look, shake it, then chuck it over our shoulders). After each vomit episode, I'd wearly gather him up and go back to feeding him. I think I got out of the house 3x in 2-weeks. I knew he was losing electrolytes too and Pedialyte seemed to be the way to go..but on closer inspection of the ingredients..guess what I found?! Acesulfame potassium (an artificial sweetener. It's used in dietetic foods to mask the unpleasant aftertaste of other artificial sweeteners like sucralose and saccharin). Yuck! I understand that they couldn't add regualr sugar to sweeten the electrolyte-balance that it had in order to make kids want to drink it [bec. in some cases it would exacerbate dierrhea], but plying my child with laboratory-made chemicals made me want to vomit. Back to trust 'ol google and after a half hour I found that coconut water (not the milk), has a natural electrolyte-balance and is natural/no added sugar to boot! Woot! I emptied the supermarket shelves (by this time my husband was feeling the nausea too, so I bought extra for him) and bought apple juice to mix the coconut wtaer with to give it some taste.

TBC..

Jumping on the Swagbucks bandwagon..

I know this has been all over the blogosphere and back; I'm beginning to see why.. In a nutshell, instead of using google/yahoo/lycos (hah. Remember that??) as your search engine, you use swagbucks.com to type your search query. You then get awarded a swagbuck (or 2, 5 or even 10!). You don't get them with every search though and when you do get it (don't worry, you'll see a picture of a swagbuck dollar bill pop up nice and large), you'll be asked to type in a short confirmation code. I've heard you have 3 minutes before the 'buck disappears. Rack up those 'bucks and redeem them for everything from amazon gift cards to computers!

Easiest way to remember to search with them is to download their toolbar and search through that. Beware though, as of a few months ago, it would randomly crash Safari with no rhyme or reason.

In addition to searching through them, you can earn swagbucks by shopping through 'em, inviting friends to join via your referral link (hint, hint- click my referral for you here!) and when they win, you also do. In addition, you can send in your old cell phone, complete special offers and find special hints as to what else may allow you some 'magical swag points' (detailed list with links here).

Happy searching!

I've been dreaming of starting a 'mom reviews' sort of blog for ages. Yes, ages! The baby is finally 1, so I've had a bit more time to settle in and create this long-anticipated project of mine. Templates are still as boring as when I first started my personal blogs back in '06, and major tweaking needs to be done to personalize this; but hey-- it's fast, frugal and easy. I'm happy.

Bear with us as we tweak and redesign the generic background and header here..

Hope we're around long-term and looking forward to sharing many honest and great reviews of the products around me with you all!

With love,

Mama Nava

Banana Spike Hair Glop Molding Putty

Whee! The Banana Spike Hair Glop Molding Putty from glop & glam Hair Products that we won from Mamaista arrived yesterday! Even hubby was excited (and hair products don't usually interest him :rolls eyes:). Anyway, he scooped up BabyJ and brought him over to me for a test run. BabyJ is 1. BabyJ still has ultra-fine baby-soft hair that's getting too long to spike with a dab water+baby shampoo (the trick I used to use before we dashed out of the house on errands) and we won't be cutting for a few years. I was getting sad that his hair didn't match his ginormously-fun personality anymore; it just fell flat on his head (in all honesty, the back is starting to curl but the top-- forget about it doing anything. I think it thinks its on vacation and just lays there..). I'm loathe to use regular hair gel as there's all sorts of nasty chemicals I don't want on my precious baby's head or being absorbed into his body. glop & glam uses natural ingredients and takes away all the nasty ones! Way to a mothers heart g&g people!

According to their website: "Unlike most children’s detanglers and other finishing products, every Glop & Glam product is free of harmful alcohol, paraben and formaldehyde [hydantoin dmdm]. Glop & Glam combines organic ingredients like aspalathus linearis leaf extract, euterpeoleracea fruit extract, glycine soja (soybean) protein and punica grantatum extract with amazing natural nutrients such as aloe, camellia leaf extract [green tea] and echinacea derived from purpurea extract. These combinations protect kid’s hair from damaging environmental toxins. Beware!"

Me? I'm so happy I'm not the only one who thought kids needed hair products made specifically for them!

I take the yellow orb in my hands, untwist the cap, pluck off the white plastic, keep-contents-from-accidentally-spilling-out-safety-thingy, inhale the not-too-banana-y scent and swirl two fingers inside the 'jar.' Hmm..not much comes off in my fingers, but I attribute that to the cold-ish temps outside (that's relative you understand. We do live in the south, but it was a cold, rainy day..). I try again, and manage to get a bit more onto my fingertips. I deftly start to coax BabyJ's hair into a vertical updo of some sort. Getting there..getting there..I add more product to my fingers and work my mommy-magic. Success! His hair is actually starting to spike AND it looks cute AND hubby is happy! Best of all, I feel no gunky residue on my fingers (trust me, after years and years of all kinds of products I glopped into my own hair, this is definitely a plus!), which means I can apply when we're out and about and not have to search frantically for a sink so I don't get goo on my stroller's handles. Yippee!

Off to the park now to take pictures of the glorious new 'do. Will post when we get back..

Two [non-sticky] thumbs up on this product!

I've been dreaming of starting a 'mom reviews' sort of blog for ages. Yes, ages! The baby is finally 1, so I've had a bit more time to settle in and create this long-anticipated project of mine. Templates are still as boring as when I first started my personal blogs back in '06, and major tweaking needs to be done to personalize this; but hey-- it's fast, frugal and easy. I'm happy.

Bear with us as we tweak and redesign the generic background and header here..

Hope we're around long-term and looking forward to sharing many honest and great reviews of the products around me with you all!

With love,

Mama Nava

Yeah, ya know, the obligatory 'Hello World' post..

I've been dreaming of starting a 'mom reviews' sort of blog for ages. Yes, ages! The baby is finally 1, so I've had a bit more time to settle in and create this long-anticipated project of mine. Templates are still as boring as when I first started my personal blogs back in '06, and major tweaking needs to be done to personalize this; but hey-- it's fast, frugal and easy. I'm happy.

Bear with us as we tweak and redesign the generic background and header here..

Hope we're around long-term and looking forward to sharing many honest and great reviews of the products around me with you all!

With love,

Mama Nava