What am I loving right now? Nice weather! I’m sure the streak will end soon but then hopefully it’s only a few more weeks until real summer. The last couple months we’ve been experiencing small stretches of great weather, which really helps with the cabin fever. There are a lot more things you can do for free in the warm weather too. We’ve been cooking up lots of burgers, eating on the patio, and taking walks around the neighborhood.

We’ve been trying to get Sebastian into some sunglasses for awhile now, but he would never keep them on his face. This month we bought him some cute blue wayfarers (for $1!). It was still a no-go until we took a walk on an especially sunny day. As soon as he realized those cute sunnies actually served a purpose, he kept them on and has been wearing them on most of our outings. The cutest was when we headed into a store and out of the sun – Without any prompting, Sebastian copied his dad and smoothly pushed his own glasses up onto his head.

We are very fortunate to have a few parks close to us, two of which are in easy walking distance. The “Art Park” is an area where the city hosts small concerts and other community events, and it has a lot less distractions than the park with all of the play structures, etc. We had a little picnic there recently and soaked up some sun. For snacks, I packed sliced nitrate-free hotdogs and some Cheerio’s. Typical toddler grub at its finest! I never believed Cheerio’s to be especially healthy but recently read that they actually have more sodium per serving than a bag of Dorito’s. But whatever, it’s a treat. — Right: Sebastian found this plant dumped out on the pavement and quickly went to work packing it back into the container.

Sebastian’s striped tank top is from the local kids consignment shop and is clearly getting a lot of wear! I love how big he looks there on the left, so grown up. His hair is growing like a weed – These were taken about a month ago and his hair is already noticeably longer. I sort of want to mohawk it but I’m torn! For now we are trying to let it grow long enough that it tucks easily behind his ears. I love it long but it’s a shame when it hides his face. (He doesn’t seem bothered by the length at all, and refuses any and all attempts to clip or headband it back.) — Right: I love this shot, despite the awkward way my mama-belly looks like second pair of boobs! I assure you that’s not how it looks normally. My hat is by Empyre, nursing tank by Glamourmom, peach top by Fresh Produce (review coming soon).

Last week it was actually warm enough that we had to cool down – Rare for Portland in May! Donny pulled out this (clean) IKEA trash can filled with water, which Sebastian excitedly dunked his whole head in multiple times. By dunked, I mean stood up laughing and spitting out water. Kid is a fish for sure.

Sebastian wasn’t soaked enough, so Donny had to dunk his whole body in the water bucket. — Right: VIVA LA SUMMER!

Some other fun uses for a Scout bin could include:

• Flower planting – The liner seems like it could be waterproof enough, or use it to hold potted plants on your patio.
• Garden or BBQ supplies – Outdoor storage.
• Magazine or yearbook holder – Prop it up on its side for a fun way to display your periodicals. (I bet you could even mount it on the wall for a cool floating bookshelf in your bed or bathroom.)
• Imaginative play box for kids – See our take on a play stove below.
• Craft caddy – I have a feeling our box will become kids craft supplies storage soon.

The Scout storage box I received looks similar to a kids storage box we have from IKEA, but the quality and durability is far superior. It’s also a lot cuter, with very vibrant colors. The box feels sturdy and holds quite a bit – Right now it is in our living room, housing a load of Duplos. I feel strongly that your home should be equally welcoming to everyone who lives there, meaning that Sebastian’s things are in every room of the house. An attractive box makes it more about the design – You don’t immediately notice that pretty box is full of blocks!

Here we used the Scout bin for a makeshift play stove. You can see how sturdy it is!

One Hang-10 bin costs $23, with their other size boxes at higher price points. Honestly, that seemed a little steep to me at first, but the quality is there. If you can afford it, these are definitely worth the price, and when you think that you could get three for less than $100, it doesn’t seem so expensive. (And like I said, they are much better than the cheaper ones I’ve seen elsewhere.)

The design I reviewed seems to be discontinued but I especially love this leopard-print bin from the Scout website. Some of their prints are cute enough to design a whole room around.

I received a Scout Hang-10 Bin from Scout by Bungalow for the purpose of this review. All opinions here are my own.

I used to buy all of my glasses straight from my eye doctor. What a whopping waste of money! Not only do most eye care clinics have a limited selection, especially when it comes to trendy styles, but I was seriously overpaying! Zenni Optical is one great choice for cheap prescription glasses, with the lowest prices I have seen. They have the cute retro styles I like, and I may end up shopping there for my next pair.

I highly recommend shopping for eyeglasses online. I don’t have insurance for eye care and use an eye care club instead. Between that and shopping online for glasses, it really cuts down on the cost of my imperfect vision! Hopefully I can use those savings to pay for Lasik someday soon…

The Honest Company is now beginning to offer individual Honest products for sale, but it is primarily a subscription service. Sign up for one of their bundles – the Diapers or Family Essentials bundle – and every month you’ll receive a selection of awesome non-toxic items. The Family Essentials monthly price is fairly affordable (around $40 I believe), although the cost for Diapers is a little up there – But I may just be sticker-shocked because we cloth diaper. The coolest part is that you can do a free trial for just $4.95. It works like magazine sign-ups and other monthly services – You must remember to cancel on time, but really, how difficult is that. I did just the trial and it was easy peasy. That $5 is the shipping cost, nothing extra, and you get a good amount of stuff to try out.

The Honest Company have more products than I received to review, but here are the ones I tried:

laundry detergent – This laundry detergent is Free & Clear (meaning free of all dyes and perfumes) so it is probably cloth diaper safe but not confirmed. I used my sample on a load of regular clothes with no discernible difference from the All Free & Clear (or whatever brand was on sale that week) that we were using. The Honest brand is probably more environmentally-friendly than Tide, etc., so I’d recommend Honest if money isn’t an object. It’s always important to vote with your dollar, spending your money at companies whose values you support.

hand soap – The scent of Honest Hand Soap reminds me of Mrs. Meyers (a brand with amazingly fragrant natural products), and I love anything that smells like lemongrass. It’s also really gentle, so I would call this an above average hand soap. Our little bottle is almost empty, sitting on our sink, and it makes me happy every time I use it. – Ya gotta love anything that gives you that kind of boost throughout the day, especially after doing dishes!

face & body lotion – The Honest Company Lotion reminds me of Skin MD Natural, which I like a lot. I’m a fan of any lotion that works well on both face and body, and it’s really gentle. And non-toxic!

shampoo & body wash – We’ve tried a lot of baby body washes, and this one is about average although I especially love the vanilla scent. For the record, our  fave baby wash is this one, although we are currently loving BabyGanics due to the fun foaming action!

healing balm – This is my favorite product of the bunch, and probably the only one that really stands out from other similar products I’ve tried. I love this stuff. The Honest Co. Healing Balm is USDA organic. Not sure if it’s cloth diaper safe but I’m sure it would treat rashes for babies in disposables. Sebastian has never had a diaper rash but I did use the Healing Balm on some scrapes on his chest as well as a dry patch on his legs that was bugging him. It is also the best thing I’ve found to treat a particularly dry & flaky area on my face, and it doubles as GREAT lip balm. I wear it to bed, or underneath my lipstick for a really smooth finish and muted color. Also good for elbows, cuticles, pretty much anything.

We cloth diaper, but did give The Honest Company disposable diapers a try. We received the ‘boy’ bundle (I’m not a fan of having to select gender versus individual designs, but whatev), which included several diapers in fun styles. There were some anchors, skulls, and the plaid design above. Honest diapers are on par with Seventh Generation in that they have less chemicals and are better than Huggies or Pampers… but they’re still disposables. I always feel a little bit dirty when I use them, but I did fall for these a bit. Sebastian doesn’t pee overnight but they did contain a big morning pee when Mama was too lazy to get out of bed right when he woke up.

I have trouble endorsing disposable diapers – It’s scary how much these held – but if you are going to go that route (or use them for a trip or daycare or whatever) Honest is a good brand to go with. The wipes are good as well. You know, they’re baby wipes. I generally use them for makeup removal and stick to cloth wipes for butts.

Overall, I found The Honest Co. products to be pretty great. The Healing Balm is the only one that really stands out, but all of these are a huge step up from the usual crap on drugstore shelves. I do wish that these would move into stores where they could get more visibility – As of right now, moms who don’t spend much time online probably won’t even hear about the brand. And I feel like moms who research products online are more likely to already be making healthier choices. But, baby steps.

I am not affiliated with them in any way, but Cool Mom Picks is currently running an awesome Mother’s Day Giveaway featuring a $200 gift card to The Honest Co. You can enter their giveaway here – It ends on Sunday.

I’ve already received lots of positive feedback on social media, but here are a couple of photos from our hair date day:

Hair before and after. I feel that the shorter length is more flattering at this point on my slow & agonizing post-partum weight loss journey, but that’s another post for another day.

Halfway through my makeup job. Definitely not an everyday look! But it is really fun to look flawless even for one evening. (Even if that evening is just going back home with your husband and toddler.)

My sister & Ginger, while new chocolatey hair color sets.

Who looks older? – My lovely sister “Aunt Nattie” lives about an hour away and we don’t see her often enough. Sebastian adores her and we look at her photo often.

A quick photo before saying goodbye. (Excuse the redeye.) Superman on the left with the mismatched socks is Ginger’s daughter Ophelia. The kiddos are about a year and a half apart.

On my actual birthday day, we had homemade burgers and store-bought red velvet cake. I have to confess, I think that watching Sebastian tear into the cake was my favorite part! Donny also bought me flowers. A simple & perfect day.

If you are in the Portland area and need your hair done, please check out the Devil’s Haircuts Facebook page or contact me directly for help setting up an appointment. Ginger also provides hair and makeup for events. This summer I believe she will be offering waxing and lash extensions as well.

I recently reviewed the Bravado Sublime Nursing Bra. The Sublime is a sexier bra, with elegant satin and gorgeous lace detailing, but still offers easy, full nursing access. Equally beautiful and functional, the Sublime Nursing Bra would make a fabulous Mother’s Day gift.

The Sublime isn’t as quite supportive as the Body Silk Seamless nursing bra I reviewed before, but it isn’t designed to be. I would choose to wear the Sublime underneath a slinky tank top or blouse, whereas the Silk Seamless would be better under a t-shirt. I’d recommend the Sublime for a mama who has established breastfeeding, doesn’t leak much and is ready to feel sexy again. It would also be a great maternity bra. Honest to blog, I love Bravado bras enough to wear even when not pregnant or nursing. So comfortable!

Sizing for Bravado nursing bras is really easy and customer service will assist you if needed – I’ve reviewed two Bravado nursing bras now and they both fit perfectly. For a new or busy mom especially, being able to simply place an order online confidently is a big deal.

(I reviewed the matching Sublime bikini panties as well, and for those I would recommend sizing down! I am definitely not lacking in the butt department, so given as the options are S/M or L/XL, I assumed the largest size was a no-brainer. Unfortunately I was wrong and they are too big for me. If you’re on the fence for Bravado undies, definitely go smaller.)

Bravado offers a variety of perfect bras for breastfeeding, nursing tanks in a variety of fun colors, and reusable breast pads.

Bravado 20th Anniversary Giveaway

This year, Bravado is celebrating their 20th anniversary of helping moms with breastfeeding tips and superior nursingwear! To celebrate, they are giving away two nursing bras (of your choice!) and a tank – Choose from three super easy entry options and enter here.

Win a Sublime Nursing Bra from Alternative Housewife

Enter here (on this post) to win a Sublime Nursing Bra from Alternative Housewife! Leave a comment for each entry below – Be sure to leave a separate comment for each entry.
Entry Options:

* Mandatory entry: Either follow Bravado on Twitter or like Bravado on Facebook (You may do both for one entry each.)

* Sign up for the Bravado newsletter

* Follow Alternative Housewife via RSS feed

* Like Alternative Housewife on Facebook

* Tweet about this giveaway (Include a link to this post. You may tweet once per day.)

* Share a link to this post on Google+

* Share a link to this post on Facebook

This giveaway is hosted by Bravado and is only open to CA/US residents (Quebec/Florida excluded, sorry).

Giveaway ends Mother’s Day, May 13th, at midnight PST. Winner will be chosen randomly and contacted by me, so be sure to leave a valid email address with your comments. (Email addresses will not be published.) I have received products from Bravado for the purpose of this review but all opinions here are my own – I genuinely love this brand!

The items featured on G&L Clothing are primarily high quality work and outdoor gear. We camp at least once a year and I’m loving on the Carhartt hats and other accessories for kids and keeping warm. Outdoor events are really popular here in Oregon, but much of the state is very cold at night even during the summer months. I am particularly sensitive to cold and looking cute (and ideally not too bundled) while staying warm is beyond important to me. My guys love cool weather but I simply cannot have a good time if I am not warm!

G&L offers easy product tracking and returns, and shipping is free for orders over $100.

As the weather warms up, I’ve been turning my efforts toward making the outside of our home pretty as well. We rent, but are lucky enough to have a sizable patio space. Along with planning for a container garden with a mix of flowers and edibles, I’ve been bookmarking cute and clever ideas for displaying house numbers, such as personalized address plaques. In our case, I’d like to display our apartment number more prominently, like we own the place. Along with lots of DIY options, there is a website that sells just residential address plaques. Especially when renting, every little bit of personalization counts, and custom address plaques are a great (and very affordable) way to embrace your space.

Fragrance for body

A Perfume Organic are hand-poured perfumes out of Manhattan. The scents themselves are certified USDA organic, and the packaging is not only recyclable, but is embedded with flower seeds for you to plant and enjoy. A Perfume Organic products are also fair trade, vegan and cruelty-free. The brand offers five scents to choose from, or select the sampler pack to mix and match your own signature scent. Prices are comparable to department store fragrances but much better for your family and the environment. — If you act within the next 24 hours or so, you can pick up these fragrances at a great discount through my affiliate LovingEco.

Harvey Prince is my favorite fragrance brand right now. I was lucky enough to review their line of non-toxic scents and I am a legit fan. My favorite scents are Ageless, Eau De Lite, and Coupling, which are rich enough to wear alone and also smell amazing layered. You can read my Harvey Prince review here.

Essential oils are another healthy way to wear fragrance. Pure oils should always be diluted in neutral carrier oil such as coconut oil or organic body oil, and can be applied to pressure points (I like wrists, neck, and on my hip bones) for a highly therapeutic fragrance. Grapefruit and other citrus oils can offer an uplifting effect while scents like lavender are known for their calming properties.

Scents for the home

Those home air “fresheners” you see advertised on television? Toxic toxic toxic! I refuse to review brands like Glade on this blog for a reason – Because they’re disgusting! There are healthier brands you can try – Method and Mrs. Meyers offer home fragrance – and DIY is also a fun, cheap and easy route.

Adding plants to your home will improve air quality and flowers will give your home a natural, fresh scent. Avoid naturally toxic plants (duh) and keep even safe botanicals out of  reach of small children – It only takes a few minutes of boredom before they’ve ripped off every leaf and petal in classic “loves me, loves me not”  fashion.

Create your own home spray. This Freshen Up spray from The Well Daily uses white vinegar and essential oils. If you’d rather shop than DIY, scroll down on their page for some healthy aromatherapy options you can buy, including these aromatherapy diffusers. Oil burners are a personal favorite of mine, with a surprisingly potent fragrance – You can even find the burner pots at the dollar store, but be sure to shell out for 100% pure essential oil elsewhere.

- – The Well Daily is a website and daily email I discovered recently. Browse the site or sign up to have a fun wellness tip delivered to your inbox each day. I highly recommend it!

Brew fragrance on your stove top. Boil orange peels in a large pot along with a handful of cinnamon and cloves for an aroma that will fill your entire home.

Burn non-toxic candles. I am obsessed with candles, but they are not necessarily a safe fragrance option. When shopping candles, high-end versions are typically safer – Definitely avoid the dollar store for candles, although you can find some cute glass candle holders for cheap! Candles that produce soot around the rim are actually releasing that carcinogenic soot into the air.

If you are a candle lover like me, don’t fret – Inform yourself with this great post on avoiding toxins in candles and go on enjoying your scented candles guilt-free! Your best option is 100% soy or beeswax candles, which are safe and clean-burning. I personally love-love-love Bluecorn Naturals soy candles.

It was when we first brought home our puppy (now three years old) that I started really thinking about the chemicals we were using to clean our home. I always disliked the smell of cleaning products, but having a teeny puppy down there on the ground really made me look hard at what we were using to “clean” our carpets and floors. The truth was, those surfaces may have looked spotless, but the chemicals residing there were far worse than any visible grime. With the addition of our son, we stepped up our efforts towards green cleaning even more.

It’s easy enough to to give your home a ‘green clean’ when you’re choosing and buying your own products, but working with an outside company can complicate things. With all of the current focus on the environment, more and more healthy cleaning options are popping up… but there is also a lot of “greenwashing.” Greenwashing is when companies throw around words that sound good but don’t carry much (or any) actual weight in terms of what’s good for the environment.

Fortunately, it is possible to find truly eco-friendly carpet and rug cleaning. Green Choice offers green area rug cleaning Manhattan, and you can find similar services across the nation. When deciding who to hire, do your research and collect as much information as you need to feel comfortable – A legit business won’t mind answering all of your questions.