When my daughter started to outgrow her foam play mats and baby gates, I went in search of a healthy floor covering alternative (our floors are marble, and are hence very hard and cold). I was turned onto Flor modular carpet tiles, an ingenious system of square carpet tiles that fit together to make either a large area carpet or wall-to-wall carpet. They have a variety of different types of tiles, but the natural wool option was what made me fall in love. A wool carpet was a must for us since we only wanted natural fibers near our daughter's skin. FLOR squares are also one of the lowest VOC (volatile organic compounds)-emitting home carpet products out there. This is good since we don't want most of the acronyms you hear of (BPA, PVC, VOC...) anywhere near our kids.
The tile system is great since you can replace just one if (or more like
when) an accident occurs. You can mix and match colors, weaves and patterns, even as subtly as parqueting the tiles (alternating direction of the weave), which is what we did. Since we've had the carpet in our living room, we've suddenly started migrating back into our formal living room, which we haven't gone near since she was born. It makes the room feel warm and cozy, and now I don't need to hunt down a pillow to sit on every time I want to sit on the floor to play. Installation consists of laying the squares down and lining them up. Voila. They also provide corner stickers to connect the tiles, but I haven't even used those yet and the carpet seems to be sticking in place just fine.
As far as my daughter's reaction, it was like Christmas had come early. She thought it was crazy and amazing that all of this soft carpet was laid down just for her. Who knew Santa came in the form of carpet squares.
I also love that over 90% of FLOR tiles are made in the USA and that they recycle any squares that are returned to them. Check them out at www.flor.com/
These letter and number cards use sandpaper to help kids learn their ABCs and 123s. Not only can they trace the letters and numbers with their fingers, but when they're ready, they can do crayon rubbings with them. Made from natural birch wood.
My family and I just got back from a trip to South America, where the ozone layer is in even worse shape than it is here. Since my daughter is the fairest of them all, I decided to bring my Protect-a-Bub sunshade with me. I borrowed a stroller from a friend down in the lower hemisphere, but I guessed it wouldn't have as much sun protection as my stroller, so I folded up my shade (it's flexible and lightweight) and stuck it in the suitcase. We ended up using it every day and got of perplexed looks from passerbys who had never seen one or such an Obsessed Mom. I have the older model, which is a little cockeyed to one side when tied on, so looks slightly goofy, but doesn't stop this mom from trying to compensate for darn hole in the sky. There is now a newer model, which hopefully sits a little straighter.
When my daughter started to outgrow her foam play mats and baby gates, I went in search of a healthy floor covering alternative (our floors are marble, and are hence very hard and cold). I was turned onto Flor modular carpet tiles, an ingenious system of square carpet tiles that fit together to make either a large area carpet or wall-to-wall carpet. They have a variety of different types of tiles, but the natural wool option was what made me fall in love. A wool carpet was a must for us since we only wanted natural fibers near our daughter's skin. FLOR squares are also one of the lowest VOC (volatile organic compounds)-emitting home carpet products out there. This is good since we don't want most of the acronyms you hear of (BPA, PVC, VOC...) anywhere near our kids.
I love this product for keeping hands clean when soap and water just aren't an option. With all the news about hand sanitizers like Purell containing parabans that cause Endocrine disruption, CleanWell decided to come up with a paraban and alcohol-free alternative. It's made with Ingenium™, a patented formulation of essential plant oils proven to kill 99.99% of germs. Ingenium consists of citrus oil, citrus acid, aloe leaf, thyme oil and copper PCA (a skin conditioner and naturally occurring mineral found in human skin). The bonus is that is gets 4 times more uses per than alcohol gel and comes in biodegradable packaging.
I don't usually list recalls on my blog, but since this is a product that I've been using on my daughter for the past year, I felt that I needed to share this recall information. The FDA is advising to stop use of the tablets immediately due to inconsistent amounts of Belladonna. Please read and make sure to share this link with any mothers who may use it. 
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