Dr. Bronner's for Baby- New HG for my kids

okay y'all, in my search for products that are better for my family and cost effective, I have rediscovered Dr. Bronner's Castile Soaps. I had read abot them from the raveson the HHWC forums and a few other blogs. However, at the time, with only one kid, the expense was just not right for my family at the time. now with the second kiddo almost here (typing this as i'm having contractions), now is abetter time to further reduce the family spending budget and use products that are better for my family.
I remember the pain for the Johnson's "Tear-free" shampoo causing me pain and tears. The same occurred to my daughter and i had to switch. Burt's Bees was no much help either though tipping my daughter's head back to lessen the amount of shampoo hitting her face improved things.

Okay, enter Dr.Bronner's into my mind. Castile soap that is mild and has rave reviews. Went to the Vitamin Shoppe and got the Organic Unscented Baby-Mild Pure Castile Soap.
Got the 8oz bottle for $5.49 and have diluted it with water into a travel shampoo bottle for my daughter. I know with Dr. Bronner's it's not tear free, but it's sulfate and harsh chemical free. My daughter has no incidents with me administered with the tilt back method and her curls have improved.

The ingredients fro Dr. Bronner's Baby-Mild formula are:
Water, saponified organic coconut & organic olive oils (w/ retained glycerin), organic hemp oil, organic jojoba oil, sea salt, citric acid, vitamin E.

All great stuff. In case you are wondering what saponified means, according to dictionary.com: "to convert (a fat) into soap by treating with an alkali."

I remember on Dirty Jobs a soap maker saying saponification is when the soapmaker adds something like lye to the fat, the chemical reaction results in soap.

Results so far are:
Skin is soft and no need for lotion. Hair, like i said curls are great and i don't have to use as much EV Coconut Oil to detangle. YAY!

glitter-graphics.com

Thinking about fitness

I have my Yummy Mummy Fitness plan and the Get Ripped Series by Jari love. Also have a few other videos to help me get me to shed pounds and get the heart rate up. But i love variety so I've been looking for other exercises to pack into my routines for the coming months.

Found this video on Self.com that uses resistance bands, i love resistance tubes and band they are wonderful. I can take them into any room and do what i need to do and get a great workout.



Also like this one:



Going to be journaling online and i think i have a separate blog just for that. Yes I do! here is the link: Journey to Fit Yummy Mumminess.

I stopped in October 2009. Pretty much right before hubby came home from deployment and before second baby was on the way, so a few changes will have to be made to the layout. Done! It's still pink but a lil fresher looking.

I am committed to making this fitness thing work and i may even be brave and post a food journal. that for me is the hardest thing to do. We'll see.

My workouts will all be at home until i add Zumba classes on base. It'll take me a while though until i fully recover. I hate going to the gym, so i have made my office a quazi gym. Free weights an adjustable bench and step, resistance bands, weighted bar, weighted ball ( do plan to get some more, but have yet to see them at a price i like.) yoga band and yoga mat. I might want a new peice of equipment but we'll see as i go along. Oh yeah i also have an elliptical i will use for cardio in addition to Leslie Sansone and Jari Love's interval training. HIIT (High Intensity Interval Training) is great stuff especially now that I will have two little ones- a 3 yr- old and an infant, it's important that i can get the max out of my cardio in a short amount of time.

Prayers and positive thoughts are needed.
So want to make my goal size and goal weight of 140-150 (will decide on a definite number later).

I'm excited!

Exhale: Core Fusion Lean & Toned DVD and Amazon VOD

I borrowed the Exhale: Core Fusion Lean & Toned DVD from the library because i have been curious about this workout series. The library is always a good place to borrow videos and materials! My beautiful tax dollars hard at work! Always a great thing.

The series is supposed to be yoga, pilates, barre work and other ballet inspired toning workouts. The reviews on Collagevideo and Amazon were all very good. Not really having to use weights or a pro ballet barre was another perk to this series. I had a mat, lite hand weights and chair so i was good to go.

The video is 55 minutes long including the intro. You can further break it up to 5, 10 minute workout sections which are great for this prego woman who can only do at most on a really really good day 20 minutes of working out (with a break in between to hydrate). This video is great. the thighs and butt portion really work the lower body intensely. I also find my core working and that is good so i can have some more strength for delivery. My legs were sore the next day, but it felt great. In between sets there is stretching and i find that really helps to calm and center before getting into another couple of intense movements.

So having previewwed the DVD thanks to my Public Library, i wanted to add it to my exercise collection for my postpartum getting my body back plan. To Amazon i went. Looking at the used versions of the video i came across the Amazon Video on Demand downloadable video. At $9.99 is looks like a good deal. It would DL straight to my computer and i can even transfer it to my Sansa or portable device to play anywhere. Also as long as i can access amazon.com I could also access the video via their Amazon player. This sounds really good.

At first glance this was great. Then after purchasing i realized it would only play on the Amazon Player so then i had to DL the Amazon Unbox which would allow it to DL to my computer and allow me to access it via Windows media player and other players i have on my computer. The down load took and hour...it reminded me of AOL in the 1990's when downloads took forever. You could walk away, have dinner, take a bath and then check on the download and it would still remain in the act of downloading ever so slowly. Finally after the long DL, i could open it in windows Media player, however much to my dismay, the chapter selections were not aviabale as they were on DVD. This is not to my liking because I only wanted two workouts, Thighs and Buns. I had to scroll through and look for the workout by sight. Very annoying. Went back to Amazon VOD FAQ and it did say that chapter selections were not avaiable on all videos. Which really bites because if in the main menu of the original DVD it's there it should transfer over to the VOD. My next thought was can i return the item and get a refund to purchase the DVD? Also in the FAQ the answer was no. Frustrating.

I am keeping in mind that Amazon VOD is a new concept for the site and they are still working out the kinks. However, i still feel disappointed with the lack of chapters and the fact that one cannot simply play a video on the default player installed on a computer and the Amazon brand of players and stuff has to be downloaded. It's like the kindle, where you are locked to amazon purchases and can't even borrow electronic items from the library. Very upsetting. I can't tell you how many kindle owners are upset when they find out they can't DL materials from the Library to their Kindle. Amazon needs to let go and realize customers just want to purchase and borrow from the library. Also tight budgets prohibit tons of book purchases. Also sometimes readers just want to preview the book before buying and the library is a great place to check out books and see if the book you are interested in is really something you can get into.

Ugh. Just makes me mad. So the result is I may have to purchase the DVD anyways and Amazon will get more of my money.

New Look To my Artfire Store

So the look to my blog has changed and now so has the look to my Artfire.com store. I have renamed my Shoppe and called it Encantada Creations by Christina. I really love the look and found an artist on Artfire who could supply me with a fabulous banner and avatar. Really looking forward t relaunching and getting the word out. I have a few more earrings i want to add to my store offerings and am very excited about.

If you click on the box that has an "EC" on the right hand bar it will take you to my shoppe. On the left hand bar is my Rapid Cart where you can click and purchase straight from my blog. No sign-up to artfire needed. yay! so excited!