Laundry Soap Comparison

Today was a busy household chore day...primarily laundry. I usually do laundry on Saturdays but since we were busy having a fun family beach day this past Saturday, I had to make up for the fun today (oh the life of a mom).  I had recently received some laundry samples from a friend and from Earth Baby Boutique, so I decided to do a little comparison of my laundry soaps and see how they matched up against one another for various tasks. I was very excited about the results (total mom thing) and I'm extra excited to have some hard data to help me choose what laundry detergent(s) I'm going to purchase to make sure that my families clothes and cloth diapers are as clean as they can be.

Regular Routine

 My regular laundry routine, consists of using Trader Joe's brand laundry detergent and Green Works fabric softener sheets in the dryer.  I really like the dryer sheets because they are all natural AND compostable! The laundry detergent I was undecided about, it's made of all natural ingredients, but it has a warning to induce vomiting if ingested...that freaked me out. We have really hard water so I have to add a water softener, I use Calgon, to reduce mineral build up and keep the clothes soft.  I really wanted to find a detergent where I didn't have to put a softener in with the detergent or use the dryer sheets, so I can cut down on cost and waste.

 For my cloth diapers I have been using Bum Genius laundry detergent since the beginning.  With this, I have to add Calgon as well. I have always liked this brand of detergent, I've always felt like it did a good job cleaning my diapers. However, I did notice that it sometimes took a few washes and some sunning to get any stains out. I always figured that that was just what you needed to do with cloth diapers.
For cloth diapers you are not supposed to use any fabric softeners so I use this wool dryer ball (see picture below). The way the wool dryer ball works is it helps to fluff and separate the clothes while they are in the dryer-since wet clothes stick together. By moving the clothes/diapers around it helps to speed up drying and to make the fabric softer. I have started using this for my regular clothes as well as my cloth diapers. So happy!

 Pure-tergent Soap 

 

So today was cloth diaper cleaning day! I decided to try the fresh pure-tergent soap for whites and dirty stuff to see how it worked. I am SO impressed! It did a really great job getting rid of any stink and stains that were on the diapers (even from poop)! I still had to add Calgon to the water for the hard water issues, but I did notice that the diaper liners and covers were way softer with this and the wool dryer ball than with the bum genius, so that's a plus!  I then used the Calm Pure-tergent for a load of regular laundry to see how it fared against some really dirty clothes. I used it on my husbands work clothes, so I was a little skeptical.  He's a mechanic so getting his work shirts soft and stain/grease free can take a few washes. I was pleasantly surprised! All of the clothes in this load of laundry came out of the wash just as soft as they feel with using the dryer sheets, this was BEFORE I dried them! I decided to just use the wool dryer ball when drying this load and the softness stayed! I did have to add Calgon to the water just like with the fresh pure-tergent, but the fact that I didn't need a dryer sheet made up for that a little. Overall, I was very pleased with the results.

Rock n' Green: Hard Rock Formula

I didn't use this today, as I wanted to use it for the diapers. BUT, I did use it a few days ago when I last washed a load of diapers, and I was SO happy with it. It is ALL NATURAL which is great, and this particular formula is specially formulated for hard water (they have other non-hard water formulas too) so I don't have to add any Calgon! The diapers are also very soft when I take them out of the washer before drying, and even softer after I dry with the wool ball! I was really excited to be able to find something that I don't need to add anything to my wash routine! This is especially exciting/important with cloth diapers, because the more complex your wash routine is, the more likely you are to have difficulty.  I also really like that the Rock n' Green also comes with instructions on how to use the detergent while stripping your diapers if you are having repelling issues. I really liked this because it would be nice to not have to have so many different ingredients in my stripping routine (even though it's very effective). So I am definitely leaning more towards this for our diaper stash. Oh! Another great thing is that this detergent can be used for regular clothes as well if you want to!

Eco-Nuts Organic

 Next I used the Eco Nuts Organic Laundry Soap for my next load of regular laundry.  This soap can be used for cloth diapers and regular laundry too.  These are pretty cool because they are dried berries that you put into a special bag and throw into your laundry! They are all organic and pretty cool if you ask me. You put 4-5 berries in the bag and then tie the bag up and you're good to go! This was by far the best out of all of the detergents I tried in softness before drying, cleanliness, and overall effectiveness. I REALLY liked these! The only thing that I was a little bummed about was that the berries are only good for approximately 10 washes until they begin to break apart. When they start to break apart you

need to get more berries and switch out the old ones out of the bag. The barrios are compostable so  you can put them in your garden for fertilizer but I feel when you do as much laundry as I do, I would go through the 10 washes half way through the month, so it may not be the most financially responsible detergent, FOR MY HOUSEHOLD. However, I was thinking that these would be really good for washing the kids clothes! My kids have tons of clothes so they could easily go two weeks between washing clothes (which I do anyway to save water). If I use these for the kids clothes then that would work wonderfully, especially since they are organic.  Technically I do have to add Calgon for the hard water with this soap, but for the kids I don't add as much so I'm not too worried about it.

Eco-Nuts All Natural Liquid

For my final load of laundry I focused on some of my daughters heavily stained shits and dresses.  I swear, this kid gets more stains on her clothes than a little boy! I first scrubbed the stains with my DIY stain remover and let them sit for about 30 minutes.  Then I put them in the wash and put in the Eco Nuts all natural liquid laundry soap.  While this isn't organic like the Eco Nuts berries (above) it is all natural so that was exciting.  I have a small 4 oz bottle so I was a little nervous about how far this would get me, but you use the cap as a measuring device, and the cap is pretty small so you actually get a lot out of it. If you are only doing a hand wash (which most kids clothes need to be washed on) then you can get up to 98 loads from this little bottle!!! AMAZING!!! I do have to add Calgon to this as well, but once again I don't put as much in with the kids clothes so I don't worry about it all that much.  Like the Eco-Nuts Organic, this laundry soap was by far the best, equal to the Eco-Nuts Organic. Her clothes came out of the wash SO SOFT, and only got softer after drying with the wool ball.  I also think it helped with the effectiveness of my stain remover, because these were set in stains, and I usually have to wash them at least twice to get set in stains removed and I didn't have to do that this time! I really like this product for the use of cloth diapers and for kids clothes.  Even though I wasn't able to try it with my cloth diapers, I feel like it did such a good job cleaning our heavily

soiled regular laundry, while keeping them soft, that it would do the same for cloth diapers. I'm just not sure how many washes you will get out of the bottle because you would need to use at least one cap load per wash.  But there is a larger bottle as well so this isn't the only size out there.

Conclusion

I was overall very happy with my samples, although I was a little bummed that I couldn't find one that filled all of my criteria (although the Rock n' Green came very close).  The only reason why I don't think I will use the Rock n' Green for all of my laundry is because it would use a lot and the bags are relatively expensive at about $16 a bag that I feel like I would be ordering it every other month. But I did REALLY like it for my cloth diapers, so that would be where I would use it.  Below you can find my choices of laundry detergent and what I plan to use them each with, and then at the bottom of the blog I created a spread sheet for all of you guys to use so you can compare all of the different laundry detergents I used and see what works best for you guys!

My Choices

1) Cloth diapers: Rock n' Green: Hard Rock Formula

2) Regular laundry (mom & dad): Pure-tergent (either formula)

3) Kids Clothes: Eco Nuts (either formula)

Family Day at the Beach

After our fun day at Kid-Co on Friday, we decided to go to the beach on Saturday and visit family. The three of us loaded into the car and drove down the Hermosa Beach, very close to where my hubby and I celebrated our 5th wedding anniversary.  It was so nice to be able to spend some quality family time together, and visit family that we don't usually get to see.  We visited my husbands aunt and uncle and spent the day with them. We spent a good amount of time just lounging at their house relaxing and catching up. Isabella was so excited to see her great aunt and uncle she could barely contain herself! Her aunt is always so nice, and bought her the cutest "big sister" baseball hat, a glitter coloring book, and a really cool dry erase board with special dry erase crayons...needless to say, Isabella was in heaven!

After spending time at the house we all got in the car and drove to Tony's on the Pier. The food was SO GOOD! I had some delicious fish and chips, and my hubby had this seafood pasta that he practically inhaled! Oh, and the calamari is amazing, if you ever go, you should get it.  Buy by far the best part of our lunch was when the seagulls started landing on the perch outside our window. Isabella was so excited and just enamored with them. I quickly gave her a piece of bread and her aunt helped her feed the seagulls.  This went on for at least 15 minutes! It got to the point where we had seagulls perched next to the window, a bunch in the water below catching the bread that was thrown too far, and we even had one that was on the railing right next to the window, and I swear we thought this bird was going to fly into the restaurant!!!  When the bird started to really look like he was considering flying in, we quickly shut the window so we didn't cause an incident.  After lunch we strolled along the pier looking at all of the cute little shops.  Isabella quickly found a kite shop where her aunt graciously bought her a little pinwheel, which she absolutely LOVED. After window-shopping we decided to head to the beach, because Isabella had been asking to go since we got in the car to drive to Hermosa! I tried to walk on the sand but my swollen prego feet and 8.5 month belly just weren't having it. So I stayed on the pier and watched Isabella and her daddy play in the water. I tell you there is nothing more beautiful than watching a father with his child...especially with his little girl. They spent a good 15-20 minutes chasing after the waves, and then quickly turning and running when the waves chased them back. He threw Isabella in the air and caught her before she touched the water, I could honestly hear her giggling from the pier! My husband works so hard, I truly cherish all of these special moments when he can just relax and be a big kid with his children.  We are truly blessed to call such an amazing man husband and daddy.  Once they rinsed off their feet we began walking the pier again, we passed by a gelato shop and of course I HAD to have some. It was SO delicious! I don't know what it is, but to me something about the beach makes gelato and ice-cream so much better.  It was such a wonderful weekend where we were able to create some amazing family memories together. I have never felt more blessed!

Kid-Co Fun

Our weekend started on Friday this week, while the hubby had to work (boo) I decided to ditch the housework and have some fun quality time with my little love bug.  She had been asking for several weeks to go to this local play place called Kid-Co. We went there a few months ago and she fell in love with the place.  Unfortunately, with all of the baby prepping and all the other summer activities we had going on we never went for another visit. Out of nowhere Isabella decided that she was going to save up her money to go, my hubby and I wanted to promote her understanding of money and the importance of saving so we agreed that if she was able to save half of the admission price ($5) we would give her the other half ($5). She was so excited. We gave her coins here and there for completing simple chores, or whenever we had some spare change and saw her displaying appropriate behavior.  We practiced putting her money in one location, and then periodically counting her money and see how much she saved.  I really liked all of the learning opportunities we were able to build into this simple task: savings, money management, coin denomination, counting, adding and subtracting. To make it even better Isabella LOVED it! On Friday she asked for us to count her money again, when we did we found that she had $5.56! She was so excited to have enough money, and when I asked her what she was going to do with the extra .56 she replied "I'm going to put it in my piggy bank to save for college!" I love that we have instilled the importance of savings and education so early! I then gave her my half of the admission cost, and off we went!

She was SO excited and proud to give the lady at the counter her money. She stood up nice and straight and said "I saved my money so I could come and play!" I was very proud of her, and the woman at the counter was quite impressed. Once we got our socks on and entered the play area, she ran right to the cars and open play space...her favorite. This play place is so amazing, I will make it a point to come her more often! I really like how it's made to look like a small town with different city locations. They include a pizzeria, a market, Library, school, grocery store, post office, house, and workshop; each with their corresponding furniture, decorations, and play items.  It really helps to foster your child's imagination while at least somewhat controlling the chaos of all the children running around playing!

They also have some play items that go throughout the "city" and keep with the city theme.  There are pay phones all over so kids can go and make calls while they play. There are also mailboxes at various points of the city with the post office having real mail boxes, plastic letter envelopes, and a postman's uniform for some fun dress up play-this was by far Isabella's favorite part. I think we played postman for a good 30-45 minutes!
The envelopes were all addressed to different people such as "my president", "my best friend", "my grandma" etc. Isabella has a blast getting the mail from the mailboxes and taking them to the post office, sorting the envelopes and then delivering them again. On top of that she looked absolutely adorable in her postman's costume, if I do say so myself!  After we played post office for a while, we moved on to the market.  They have the CUTEST set up at Kid-co for their market. It includes a cash register station with money, multiple grocery carts, an extensive produce stand with various plastic fruits and vegetables, grocery shelves, and even  pretend freezer section that lights up when the kids open the refrigerator doors!!! SO CUTE!

Once again, the pretend money allowed us to work on basic math and counting skills as well as Isabella's basic understanding of money and its purpose.  I was also very pleased to see that she only chose a couple of the "sweet treat" boxes from the shelves and stuck more to the fruits, vegetables, eggs, etc (yay for me-parenting win!).  Once we had gone to the grocery store we went to the house section where, after organizing everything, Isabella made the baby some baby food and then we all sat down at the kitchen table and ate a nice family meal together. After that we relaxed in the living room while Isabella put the baby to sleep. Then we put the baby in her stroller and took her for a walk.  Honestly, it was really cute to see her incorporate our daily routines and how we run our household (i.e., family meals at the table, and then family time in the living room) into her play routines.  It just goes to show you how much information little ones are taking in as you go about your everyday routine. It really makes you aware of your actions around your little ones, for sure!

After we were done at the house, we took our little baby in the stroller, diaper bag and all, to the workshop where Isabella got to practice all of the skills she has observed her daddy use around the house. He's a mechanic by profession and a chronic handyman, so she has seen him work a lot! The workshop has one wall full of magnetic gears that we had a lot of fun arranging and rearranging and then spinning one to see if we put them in the right order to get them all to spin.  A great visual-perceptual skill exercise.  They also had a large plastic block in the corner that had larger gears on it.  Isabella decided to use the "power tools" from the work bench to cut and screw them on. It was just awesome to see all that she had learned while watching her daddy work around the house...all the way down to the protective eye wear!!!! Once we were done wight he gears and power tools we moved on to the massive box of large legos that were in the workshop.  We built an ocean and boat and then a sea monster!  There were so many opportunities for Isabella to let her imagination run wild, and I loved watching, and being a part of every second of it!!

I was so excited to see how much my daughter LOVED playing at Kid-Co.  It was such a fun experience I truly don't know why it took us so long to go back! It's a wonderful place that is full of learning opportunities, and they're the best kind, the learning opportunities where your child is learning tons but thinking they're just playing!!! The employees there were so nice, and all of the toys were clean and organized well, however a couple items were missing batteries, but that's to be expected.  I also noticed that there were employees going from room to room and removing toys that were not being played with that didn't go with the theme of that room and putting them in their appropriate place.  It kept the overall play area clean and organized and it was very easy to find toys which made our experience so much more enjoyable.  I am definitely thinking about getting a play pace for unlimited visits.  Do any of you have a play pass? Would you recommend it?

Sloomb Baby Blanket-Product Review

A couple days ago I made another stop at Earth Baby Boutique for a cloth diaper sell, trade, buy event and of course I had to go shopping!!!  While I was there I got a Sloomb baby blanket from the store manager. I instantly knew this was a different kind of baby blanket.  It was packaged in a sealed plastic bag and I could still smell this amazing smell coming from the blanket.  I was instantly excited and couldn't wait to get home to open up my new treat!

Oh my gosh you guys!!! The moment I opened the packaging I was hit with the most wonderfully amazing smell of peppermint!!!! I instantly fell in love with this blanket. I quickly took it out of the bag, and it is seriously the SOFTEST BLANKET I HAVE EVER FELT!  I'm not even joking, I literally sat in the babies room in the rocking chair holding and smelling this blanket. And I know baby Charlie likes it as well because he was wiggling and kicking up a storm!! The peppermint smell isn't on top of the fabric but infused in the fabric, because even after washing the blanket, the smell is still there! The blanket is also pretty cool because it's not super 

thick, but it's not as thin as a receiving blanket, so it is perfect for use on evening outings, during transitional seasons (spring/fall), or for play time. I plan to especially use this for play time because it's thick enough to give him comfort during play but not so thick that I have to worry about suffocation or fibers getting in his mouth. This would also make a really great nursing cover as well, because it's really breathable on top of it.  You guys, I can't even explain to you how much I love this blanket. I actually took one of the blankets that I had packed for the baby's hospital bag and put this Sloomb blanket in it's place because it's so awesome! Another thing that I like is that it's made of all natural fibers! It's made of 70% viscose from bamboo and 30% organic cotton, so you don't have to worry about man made fibers, chemicals, etc, perfect for baby! Oh, and it comes in three adorable colors: Montauk (mint)-that's the one I have, Rail (grey), and sunshine (yellow). The colors are not too loud but aren't the regular "dull" color you see when dealing with most organic cotton fibers, so I really like that. I always want to use organic fibers, but the colors are always so bland, no here!!!

 Lastly, another great thing about this blanket is that it is relatively large. I laid it out in the nursery and it took up the main center part of his nursery. I REALLY like this because this will allow my daughter to lay next to her brother while he's hanging out during play time. It's also great for when he starts to roll, because it will take him a good few attempts to get off the blanket and onto the hard floor. And when I say the blanket is decent size it is, its about 35' X 37' so there is substantial room for toys, siblings, and plenty of rolling!

 Oh! It's also affordable (I know this keeps getting better and better). It's $25, which when you look at other good quality blankets this size, it's WAY on the affordable side. Especially when you take into consideration that amazing smell that is in the fibers that will add to your baby's already wonderful baby smell.  I really hope I was able to express how happy I am with this blanket. I am probably going to go and get the grey one next time I'm at Earth Baby Boutique, because I am just that obsessed with it! My daughter has even told me she wants one for her bed!

Family Weekend and Anniversary Fun

For a tutorial on my anniversary makeup click HERE.

It's been pretty quiet around this blog these past couple of days, I know it's pretty uncommon for me not to post at least every other day, but this was a busy weekend! This past Friday August 15th was my hubby and my five year wedding anniversary! We have been together for a total of 11 years this October and have celebrated five wonderful years of marriage. My husband is a closet romantic so he took it upon himself to plan our entire anniversary date...I didn't know anything about it! All I knew was that we were leaving at 2:30 in the afternoon and wouldn't be home until about midnight! So I got ready for this surprise date, my mother-in-law came to watch our daughter, and off we went! I had no idea where we were going so I was quiet surprised when we approached LAX.  My hubby told me we were going on a plane trip...I didn't believe him, and I was right not to since we drove passed the airport. He thought he tricked me. So we kept on driving for a total of an hour and forty-five minutes, all the while I had no idea where we were going! Eventually we parked in the Laguna Beach Harbor, and I was SO confused. We walked onto the doc and came to a boat that was tide up. It turns out it was a glass bottom boat that my hubby had completely rented out!! We had our own private tour of the Laguna Beach harbor, and got to see all the fish and seals that live in the harbor, we even got to feed some of the fish! After our hour tour on the boat, we eventually went back to the pier. We then got back into the car and drove some more. We eventually came to The Chart House, the exact restaurant we ate at on the night he proposed!! It is a beautiful restaurant that is right on the beach! We had a quiet corner table right next to the window, not too far from the table we ate at on the night he proposed. We had an amazing dinner right on the beach and where able to watch the sun set behind the ocean while we had our dessert...so romantic. Once we were done eating I thought our night was over, but my amazing hubby had one more surprise in store for me. We drove for another fifteen minutes or so until we made it to the Long Beach Laugh Factory! I was SO excited, the Laugh Factory in LA is one of our favorite date night locations so I was so excited to try a new location.  We had a blast! The comics were hilarious and it was a perfect end to our amazing night! I am simply amazed at what a wonderful date my love put together completely by himself, and he kept it a complete surprise! 

The rest of the weekend was full of family time. It was really nice to be able to have some down time with just the three of us. We hung out at home, went shopping, Charles and Isabella had some great father daughter time, and we just spent the weekend building wonderful family memories. One of the things we did this weekend was some shopping!! We made a quick stop at our local Lush store (as quick as you can make a Lush stop) and got some great goodies. One of the things I bought was the Lush H'Suan Wen Hua hair treatment. It is my FAVORITE hair treatment ever! It's so moisturizing but doesn't leave your hair feeling heavy. The main reason why I got it was because Isabella has been taking swimming lessons all summer, and the chlorine from the pool has dried out her hair a little bit. We have never cut her hair in her entire 3 1/2 years and my husband is dead set on not doing it, so I wanted to try this out to help repair her hair. Her hair isn't too bad, you can't tell it's dry from looking and barely from touching it, but since I do her hair every day, I can definitely tell there is a change. So on Sunday night we had a little mommy/daughter spa time and put our hair masks in. Isabella was SO excited to be able to do a "mommy thing" and she loved the hair mask so much, she said it "tickled" as I put it on. I really soaked her hair, especially her ends and then put her hair up in a clip and then wrapped her hair in a plastic shopping bag (ghetto I know, but you gotta do what you gotta do). I then let the mask sit in her hair for about half an hour, and then washed it out during her regular bath and let it air dry as she slept. Oh my goodness you guys, I already see such a difference! I can barely feel the dryness in her ends any more. I think I need to do another treatment this weekend and then her hair will be back to normal! I am so thankful it worked because I didn't want to cut off her baby hair, and I REALLY didn't want to break it to her daddy that we needed to trim her hair. I think he would have cried, she has him wrapped around her finger I swear!!

My little in her ghetto shower cap-we DIY everything here! LOL

First Day of School

So yesterday was Isabella's first day of preschool, granted it's only two days a week and she went there last year, but it was still hard on me.  I remember the first time I held her in my arms and cried because I couldn't believe the miracle I had made, and now she's 3 1/2 and going to preschool! The entire way their we talked about what was going to happen at school, how she needed to be a good listener, raise her hand before speaking (I have a chatter box), and all of her friends that she would get to see.  I was so excited to see her so pumped for school and so happy that we had found such an amazing school and wonderful teacher, that would make her truly love learning. However, I was also preparing myself for the inevitable tears when I dropped her off, the tears from not wanting to leave me...you know the ego stroking stuff. You know what!?!?! She didn't shed one tear! All I got was a simple hug and a kiss, which I had to hunt her down for, and then she was off to play! Now, I'm excited that she feels so comfortable at her school but I wanted to see a LITTLE emotion about not seeing me for six hours! When my mom brought her home for me I got the biggest hug in the world!! We spent the next 15 minutes or so talking about her school day and all of the fun things she did. I am so excited for this year and to see how much she learns and grows!

The decorations were amazing!! It's the 75th anniversary of The Wizard of OZ so the entrance was all decked out! The theme this year is: "follow the yellow brick road to knowledge"

The kids had a yummy OZ inspired breakfast of Cowardly Lion waffles.

There was dress up time too!

And of course they HAD to paint a cowardly lion.

My big girl1 I can't believe how time has flown by!! This is surreal!!

How was your little one's first day of school? Anything super amazing happen? It's truly astonishing how quickly these little ones grow up...but they will always be our babies.

Summer Lovin'

This has been such a fun and eventful summer! This is the first summer since my daughter was 6 months old, that I have been able to be home with her the entire summer, and it was glorious!  I have treasured every moment with my little love bug, especially since this will be her last summer as an only child.  It has been such a blessing being able to stay home with her and share these memories, memories we will have forever! Now on the eve of her going back to school (preschool but still, she'll be gone two days out of the week) I wan to look back on all the amazing memories we made as a family. I hope you enjoy, and feel free to let me know what where some of your most memorable family moments this summer.

We went to some community events, where Isabella got to pet a snake!

We went to the Santa Monica Pier

And rode on the Ferris wheel!

She played in the sand and water with her daddy!

She had her first swim class!

Where she became very comfortable, very quickly!

And graduated into the next swim level AND went down the big slide by herself!

 Went to her first birthday party at Chuck-E-Cheese!

We pretended to be astronauts.

We played in shaving cream, and also relaxed with the iPad.

We found this great new kids play space!

Where she practiced being a big sister.

 She had her first dance recital, and she was amazing!!

Went to her first birthday party at a trampoline house, where she bounced herself silly!

 She helped set up mommy's baby shower.

 

She went to a 4th of July parade AND got to use her first firework!

 And of course, got some quality play time in with daddy.

These are just the activities I took pictures of! We also went to a balloon animal show, a music show, story time at our local library, countless trips to the park, played with cousins, and of course quality snuggle time watching morning cartoons in bed together.  This has truly been an amazing summer and I am so grateful to be able to do this. I am so grateful to my husband for working so hard, that I am not only staying home, but that we are able to do all of these wonderful activities. I am truly blessed and I am in awe as I look back at what a wonderful summer we had. I hope everyone else had an amazing summer, and that your kids have a wonderful school year! Now I have to go and get Isabella's outfit ready for tomorrow!