Kiss me softly - Burt's Bees Replenishing Lip Balm

I am a lip balm addict.

I don't go for more than a few hours without reapplying. That's an issue - I know. Don't tell me I need to drink more water or cut it out for a few days so I don't need it as much.

It won't work, and I'm not quitting. I don't smoke, but apparently I have some oral fixation need that is met with the application of lip balm. Totally harmless...right?

I don't tend to watch or take Dr. Oz's recommendations too much to heart. (I would die of panic attacks just trying to employ a week's worth of his tips.)

One comment that hit home was when he said that women with breast cancer had twice the levels of hydrocarbons in their systems - which can be attributed to petroleum-based products - like standard lip balm.

I don't normally succumb to scare tactics after one mention, but between the exorbitant amount of lip balm I use - paired with my eerie premonition of breast issues in my future - I immediately pushed away from petroleum based lip balm (read: Chapstick).

While other beauty products also use petroleum jelly, I'm not putting it on my lips and inadvertently consuming it with my food like I do lip balm.

Enter Burt's Bees.

Much more accessible than just a couple of years ago, Burt's Bees lip balm is beeswax-based, and contains no petroleum jelly.

I tried it with hesitation at first - I had been a die-hard Chapstick user for as long as I can remember.

I was surprised and delighted with the change! My favorite is the replenishing lip balm with pomegranate oil.

I'm proud to say that I'm a convert -- and I'm not looking back!

Falling leaves, spiced apples, and a buzz

This summer has been brutal - hotter than hot and STICK-Y!!

But this last week has been a bit of a reprieve. The low temps have been down in the 60s, and the highs have not been quite so high.

Tulip poplars are shedding their first leaves of the season.

FALL IS AROUND THE CORNER.

My most recent trip to the liquor isle had me exploring my options. I wanted something different - something new.

Mike's hard spiced apple was calling my name.

I didn't get a chance to drink my new friend until the temperatures spiked again. This was unfortunate because the belly warming spices were not as appealing with sweat dripping down my face.

It was still very good, and I plan on giving it another shot when summer uncoils it's death-grip on the year.

The Mike's Hard website has some interesting recipes that I am certainly going to try as well.

What is better than spiked lemonade? Nothing.

On a hot, hot summer day - there is nothing more refreshing than a glass of lemonade. Nothing - except when vodka is invited to the party.

Today, I was introduced to Burnett's Pink Lemonade Flavored Vodka.

What? YES! Pink Lemonade? YES! You've got to be kidding me! NO!

ZOMG!

How, exactly, did we meet? It was ice cold added to some pre-mixed pink lemonade, it was FANTASTIC!

Of course, I had to drive home, so I was forced into hanging up my Burnett's bottle long before I was ready.

I would expand further, but that would keep you from jumping from your seat and running to try it for yourself. Unless you live in Indiana where our archaic Sunday liquor law keeps us from such Pinky goodness for one day each week. Grrr.

Get yourself a bottle and stash it in the freezer, so it's ready to add zing to your next lemonade!!

Ready....GO!

(Picture coming soon - above mentioned liquor law is preventing my purchase and subsequent pictorial documentation of this lovely product!)

Sun Chips - when it's more than the chip that is crunchy

I love Sun Chips. They are mulit-grain alternative to potato chips.

(Yes, folks, I'm from Indiana and know that there is no "e" at the end of "potato")

Dan Quayle sucks.

My new favorite flavor (relegating Harvest Cheddar to a safe #2) is Garden Salsa. The sweet tomato (also, no "e," D.Q.) flavor keeps me coming back for more and more and more...

I can eat an entire bag of Sun Chips in a sitting.

What keeps me from doing it?

The bag.

The new Sun Chips bag is 100% vegetable-based and compostable.

This is good! Go green!

But why does it keep me from eating an entire bag late in the evening as I veg out on the couch???

The bag is TERRIBLY LOUD! Like, obscenely loud!

Think tissue paper on steriods.

If I so much as reach past a bag of Sun Chips while my baby is asleep in her room, she's shaken awake by the noise.

Pick a bag up the next time you're in the chip isle, and you'll see exactly what I mean (then put that baby in your cart!!).

Don't get me wrong - I need food that screams (literally) DON'T EAT ME LATE AT NIGHT!!

I have plenty of other times during the day to stuff my face. For now, I will stare longingly at the bag perched safely on the top shelf of my pantry.

Boob diapers (aka Breast Pads)

An unfortunate to breastfeeding is that there are times when the breasts are ready when the baby is not.

I chose disposable boob diapers, er, nursing pads because I suck at getting laundry done in a timely manner. The idea of sour milk laden pads in the hamper is not pretty.

SO.

I chose disposable.

My favorite - bar none - were Lansinoh nursing pads.

Granted, Lansinoh failed me when it came to nipple cream, but I tried several brands of breast pad - and Lansinoh beat the competition.

I was given half-used boxes of several brands to try.

Lansinoh pads were the largest, least lumpy, flattest laying, most absorbent, pads that actually stayed put.

These are the only pads I went to the store and bought.

Nipple Butter (heh) Nipple Butter

Sweet heavens! Pregnancy (and now motherhood) is an endless investigation of what's the best product for every need EVER.

I had ONE product recommended to me to purchase BY NAME to have before I had my baby.

ONE.

Now, I'll share it with you.

Earth Mama Angel Baby Natural Nipple Butter

nipplebutternipplebutternipplebutternipplebutternipplebutter!

It's so fun to say! I would post things on Facebook like "Purchased nipple butter today...never thought I'd say that."

The men with whom I graduated high school were intrigued and deeply disappointed (and cringed) when I told them it was to prevent my nipples from cracking when I breastfeed.

This stuff is fantastic.

It exceeds - by leaps and bounds - the Lansinoh product the hospital had given me (and probably charged me an arm and a leg to bring home to never use). I didn't appreciate the water that would bead up on my boobs when I showered. The water-repulsion just didn't seem right. PLUS, applying the thick, gluey stuff was painful on tender, newly commissioned boobs.

Rather than being sticky and thick (and made from lanolin), nipple butter is smooth, cocoa-scented, lanolin-free, and water-based. I was SO happy to come home to use the nipple butter I had purchased during pregnancy (and forgotten to pack in my hospital bag).

The nipple butter was great. Soft, easily applied. No need to wash it off before nursing.

I recommend purchasing a single 2 oz jar. It is kind of pricey for the size jar you'll receive - but I only used half of my one jar for 10 months of breastfeeding.

Buy it. Love it. Recommend it.

Mustela newborn shampoo - for cradle cap

Last October, I brought home the cutest, sweetest, cooiest baby in the world of babydom. She was perfect in all ways tangible and intangible.

Except her bellybutton.

I wanted to badly to WANT to kiss her belly...but *double gag* the belly *gag* button was too much.

Anyway, perfection.

About a month into our love affair, her head started to get this peely, crusty ick on it.

Cradle cap.

I'd never even heard the term, and my baby's barely-there blonde hair was mired in scales!

Gaaahh!!

Commence internet search.

I read review after review. I wanted to not use something oily or greasy OR have to chip and scrape at her poor, tender scalp.

Ok, her fontanel creeped me out, and I thought by innocently chipping away scalp flakes - I might accidentally touch/swipe/puncture her head and give her brain damage.

I purchased the positively reviewed Mustela Foam Shampoo for Newborns.

The fragrance of this shampoo was a tad overwhelming (for momma and baby) the first few times we used it.

But it worked. It worked WELL.

It took a few applications, but the cradle cap subsided.

I would use it about once a week to keep the scales at bay.

Now, I long for the smell I associate with my little newborn. I must admit, although the cradle cap is long gone, I still use the shampoo every now and then just to give her that fresh new-baby smell.

She doesn't like me sniffing her head repeatedly. I have to bribe her with a bottle or a snack, so she'll cuddle in my lap to grab a whiff of babiness.