Petit à petit, l'oiseau fait son nid

A while ago, I browsed through a book called Gorgeously Green by Sophie Uliano (a book I do not recommend because of it's girly, edgy, new-agedness). I also flipped through a book called Easy Green Living by Renee Loux (a book that I do recommend for it's thoroughness). These ladies went on and on about the presence of nasty ingredients in bodycare products. Things like parabens, phthalates, sodium lauryle sulfate, and propylene glycol were residing in the products that I used every day: shampoo, soap, toothpaste, lotion. Our family had already made huge changes in our house-cleaning supplies because of offending industrial chemicals. It was time to change our bodycare lineup as well.

To pass the time during one of our last extended stays at the hospital with Graeme, I picked up a book from the gift shop called Organic Body Care Recipes by Stephane Tourles. It combines two things that I love: natural and organic ingredients and hand-made concoctions. Not being a beauty queen, I had never really taken the time to reasearch how to consistently care for my skin. Honestly, I still don't know much, but Tourles's book gave me some information and recipes that I have found to be very useful.


Being a fairly low-maintenance girl, I use just a handful of products each day, some of which I make by hand. Using Tourles's book, I have come up with a recipe for facial cleanser that I really like. It contains powdered lavender buds, bentonite clay, oat flour, and lavender essential oil--ingredients that I can buy within a few blocks of home.


I also make my own facial astringent and moisturizer, which I use every day. These are made with very basic ingredients, most of which are edible. In the past I have made lip balm (which tasted really yummy) and lotion (though now I just use unrefined coconut oil). I was surprised to learn how simple these products are to make in the kitchen and how easy it has been to assume more control over the dangerous substances that I am exposed to. Little by little, I'm moving toward my goal of a more healthy, sustainable life.

Inspiring Self Discipline: Cloth Diapers

I love watching Ian run around in nothing but a diaper. It gives me that irrationally proud mommy feeling - like he's the most handsome baby to hit the planet and also an exceptional child for trotting in such a comical fashion. I feel especially fuzzy when he's running around in one of his cloth diapers. They are so soft and blue and cushy. He's adorable and (water consumption argument aside) I feel like a friend of the earth for reducing the number of disposable diapers (not) decomposing in the landfills.

Ian is the only of my children that I've put in cloth diapers. For the most part, I have loved them. I don't enjoy cleaning them, but I have definitely grown in my tolerance of 'messy'. I have always admired my grandmother's ability and willingness to tackle any mess she happened upon, regardless of it's source or size. Cloth diapers have helped me step a little closer to that ideal. It also feels good to have conquered the idol of 'convenience', at least in this small part of my life. I can do a little extra (sometimes yucky) work to align my life with my thoughts and convictions. Very inspiring.

This is Ian in his cloth diaper when he was just one week old.

This is Ian in that same cloth diaper at 16 months.