Bringing Up Bumble: 4/1/11

easter weekend

Pictures speak thousands of words.

Leave it to me to tell you what really went down.

Enter: My step nephew (we'll just pretend that's a real relation for the purpose of labels), the most adorable 2 year old bubble blower you'll ever see.

I so wanted Carter to figure out how to blow bubbles. He just stole the wands, ate Cheetos and wouldn't let me wipe his mouth.

Carter and his Grandpa. Papa.

Or as it came out, Nappa.

Ok, so we don't know what we're calling him yet.

Meet my dad!

We got over our grass phobia. By the end of the weekend, he was running barefoot through it - only stopping occasionally to point out the "blech" on his feet.

Carter helped dye eggs.

But really, there was more nervous protection of sloshing, stainable liquids going on.

So sweet, right?

I'm only 95% sure she's not a relative.

We found one egg. Some impressive kids stopped their hunting hysteria to donate an egg or two to Carter's basket. I have to say, they're kinder kids than I would have been.

Microcynophobia: Fear of small dogs.

He ran and screamed in terror.

Aliurophile: A cat fancier.

The cat was three times bigger than that dog.

In which Almost Mommy of the Year is abruptly disqualified.

My dad's front yard.

The email account that I've used for 13 years got hacked into yesterday! I can't access anything & it's so blinding. I've tried recovering my account TWICE (it's a lengthy process), and the people at Hotmail tell me they take the privacy and security of their customers seriously, and I don't have correct info about myself, so I can't have it back. Kind of ironic that their high security allowed a hacker to get to me, and now he's snugly protected in my hotmail bubble. Grr.

It does make me feel a little better to publicly bash Hotmail for not giving my account back. So thanks for listening.

To the winners of the My Natural Baby Boutique giveaway - please email me at my new email, rMeghann@me.com, to claim your prize. My most hand-sanitized apologies for any notes you might get from me asking for dirty favors.

and this favor?

a clean one. for sure.

Top Baby, Daddy & Mommy Blogs on TopBabyBlogs.Com

my natural baby boutique giveaway winner

So sorry for the delay in posting this, we've been out of town visiting my dad since Thursday! And the winner of a $20 credit from My Natural Baby Boutique is:

May from Following up with the Newest Cloud

May said...

I would like Rock On Toddler Tee for my little man! :)

As a bonus, My Natural Baby Boutique is giving five runner ups $15 towards a purchase of $50 or more:

Natalie Muzzy

N from Surviving Motherhood

Chelsea from The Fresh Fossil

MegannT

Braxton's Mom from All the Pretty Things

Congratulations, everyone! Email me at rMeghann@hotmail.com to claim your prize.

Winners were chosen with Random.org.

notes from a former tanorexic as summer approaches

In the spirit of making this blog whatever I want it to be, today I talk tans.

I'm admittedly a former tanning addict.

And by addict, I mean I was seriously bummed if for some reason I couldn't make it to the tanning salon seven days a week. I got an eerie, satisfying bonus high if I got to lay by a pool or on the beach after a tanning bed session.

Told you.

Starting at age 17 and throughout my twenties, tanning equaled beauty to me. And it still does. The warm, buzzing beds offered relaxation and a feeling of accomplishment.

When I was 28, doctors discovered that one of my ovaries was practically - for lack of a better word - rotten, and the other one was being ridiculously stingy with its eggs. Nobody knew why. Call me dramatic, but that was when the tanning stopped. Suddenly, baking my organs in a large, microwave-like device just didn't feel like the greatest idea. I cut tanning cold turkey. I focused every part of me on trying to conceive a baby.

Carter's 18 months old now. For the past two years I lived on the Planet of Pale People (not such a bad place, Carter lives there), and I've just recently started seriously dabbling in self-tanners. I'm loving the boost the color on my skin is giving my confidence. Except the irony? When you miss spots or work too quickly, the funky marks are embarrassing.

I thought I'd share the perfect, fool proof, self-tanner concoction I created.

The first part I found by accident - I selected it off the shelf thinking it was a self-tanner. That night I was floored by how flawlessly it glided on and loved the rich, instant color its tint was giving my skin. The next morning, I showered and noticed the water running off me was super brown. After all that work, I was handed a subpoena back to Planet Pale. I grabbed the bottle, squinted at the label, and man, was I mad. I'd misread its name: L'Oreal Sublime One Day Tinted Gel.

loreal sublime bronze one day tinted gel

After I got over my fit and figured out how to sum up L'Oreal's betrayal in 180 Twitter characters, I realized that even though it wasn't an actual self-tanner, I'd really loved the stuff. My tan had been beautiful, and the pump spout on the bottle made it so simple. I envisioned it being the perfect tan fix right before a summer wedding or barbeque.

Still on a mission for an actual permanent-ish tan, I clunked the bottle back onto the bathroom counter and went to the store to pick out another product. I'm not into floofy, gradual, build-a-tan lotions. I want something with immediate, 4 hour results. I've heard that gels offer the easiest, streak-free tan, so that's what I focused on. I decided on L'Oreal's Sublime Bronze Clear Self-Tanning Spray Gel. After the tan developed, this turned out to be the perfect tanner; the color payoff is incredible. Except that during application, it lacked everything that One Day Tinted Gel had - it was thin, runny, and I couldn't tell where I was putting it because it's as clear as water. I sprayed five pumps of it into my hand at a time and had to carefully balance my cupped palm so it wouldn't drip on the floor. If only it had some color and consistency to it.

And that's when it clicked. The girliest mad-scientist character you can imagine unscrewed, poured, and combined part of the One Day bottle with the Spray Gel bottle. I stared gloatingly into my bathroom mirror.

My combo's been working great. The self-tanner scent seems really faint; it's possible my nose is immune to it because I've been slathering it on twice a week. The other day Matt even told me I looked hot.

Some tips:

♥ You're not going to find a self tanner that doesn't - at some point - smell like a self-tanner on your skin. They all use the same active ingredient. Apply before bedtime and shower in the morning. I try to do it the night before I'm going to wash my sheets.

♥ Work in large, circular motions with your wrists and palms. Be really meticulous.

♥ Your butt is reachable. Therefore it is tannable.

♥ I work a nice facial soap over my palms and between my fingers when I'm done. Be especially conscious of washing the lower part of your thumb, my application method almost always causes buildup there. Then I dollop some tanner onto a cotton ball and work it on the tops of my hands, fingers, in between my knuckles and out towards the tops of my wrists.

♥ Wearing lotion every day is like a tanning insurance policy. It makes the color last longer, look prettier and saves self-tanner money so you don't have to repurchase as often. Although, you'll burn through a big lotion bill. Hmph.

♥ When I was pregnant, every doctor I asked advised against self-tanners. And believe me, I batted some hopeful, desperate eyes at them.

♥ A white face with a tan body makes you look a lot less put together. A little tanner on your face looks great, but it's mostly pointless if you wear foundation. I use Nars Laguna Bronzer to match my face to my body.

♥ Method for hard to reach back application? One persuadable husband.

The Top Baby Blogs icon has a nice tan.

Bet you it gets darker when you vote.

follow me around

Scroll to the bottom and pause the music player before you click Play.

also a part of our daily routine?

watching your votes!

meet kate from cinnamon ink!

I have a major soft spot for artwork.

Kate emailed me about sponsoring Bringing up Bumble; I robotically clicked on to check out Cinnamon Ink, only to be stunned by the classic simplicity intricately wound in cleverness. After that, I was fighting a creepy urge to take my computer back to the computer store and ask them why they haven't invented an option on keyboards that screams, Yes, Please!

She's a special education teacher who's dabbled in drawing throughout childhood and into her adult years. Last year she became a Mrs., and a few months later created her very own etsy shop to share her art pieces.

I'm picky about sponsors for this page. I lean towards products I know you'll revel in. But this one? I'm gonna say her drawings are for my own self-indulgence.

Her prints are so cute, they're downright huggable.

I know.

You want one.

Me, too.

steppin' out

Meghann

Dress - Francesca's Colletions

Belt - Target

Wedges - Kenneth Cole

Carter

Shirt - Old Navy

Overalls - Talbots' Kids

Shoes - Stride Rite (Keds)

a vote for little boys with flowers?

opt organic? and a my natural baby boutique giveaway!

I want Carter to turn out - I dunno - perfect?

A huge part of being a new mom is choosing which advice you're going take and to weave into your priorities. Put them to sleep on their backs. Have a ceiling fan on over the crib. Sanitize surfaces. Read books. Avoid TV. Try not to give them medications. Buy organic products.

Lovely advice, but nobody ever offers the second half of their sentence. You know, that because part. Please, people of harping, tell me what happens if I faux pas it up?

At risk of sounding completely naive - honestly, the organic thing didn't have me sold. I don't eat/wear/live organic, and look at me, I'm doing just fine. Won't Carter be just as fine?

But it's organic! Yes, nature-person, it is. Please pass the cheap cheerios.

There was a lot I didn't know.

From the second they're conceived until age three, babies' brains and bodies grow super fast. Obviously. Since they're so small, they absorb more pesticides per pound of body weight than adults do. The toxins stay in their systems longer and have an impact on their growth.

Toxins can play into so many different products - plastic bottles, toys, soaps, food, milk and clothes.

I get the food and bottles part, we slop them to our mouths and practically inject toxins into our bloodstreams. (If you're Carter, you're also into avid soap consumption.) But clothes? Paranoid much? How could non-organic clothes really hurt anyone?

Our bodies actually absorb what touches our skin, and guess what? A baby's skin is a lot thinner than ours.

Cotton crops are a crazy toxin offender; they're heavily ridden with insecticides that cause cancer. To put it more ~~simply~~ scarily: A study found that children whose parents used pesticides in their personal gardens were seven times more likely to have leukemia than other children.

Let's finish that blank-slated sentence. Opt organic because Carter will be at a lower risk for cancer, disease and his flawless growth won't be stunted. --- Well ok then.

Now that I'm feeling a little less blonde and fairly freaked out, I give. I'll opt for some safe, scratchy, earthy, organic clothing. But I couldn't believe my fingers when Carter got his first two organic T-shirts the other day from My Natural Baby Boutique. The organic cotton is surprisingly so much softer and thicker than any shirt I've ever come across.

Holding Carter felt like grabbing a brand new, snuggly teddy bear right off a toy store shelf. And it figures. Organic cotton is treated less, so the fibers aren't weak and broken down.