TOXIC! Horrible smelling and ineffective Fever Reducer.

I was very excited about the opportunity to review this product. I have a preemie infant son who at almost 4 months is still under 7 lbs. With his general vulnerability and small stature, his father and I are uncomfortable giving him medications like Tylenol, etc, especially with the recent studies linking their use to asthma, along with the recalls.

 So I received this product, and I opened the package, and the first thing that I noticed was that it smelled. Horrible. Very plastic-y and chemical. Overwhelmingly so. I washed the product per the instructions on the label, which had several mis-spellings and poor grammar on it, and left it to air out overnight. The smell persisted, so I put it outside to try to diminish it. Sometimes things like this just need time to correct themselves.

The smell never diminished, but I'm supposed to be reviewing it, beyond just the initial impression, so I opened up the pillowcase that came with it. It also had a slight smell to it, but it came out when I tossed it in the washing machine though. It is not particularly soft, and has a rather gritty feel to it though. Definitely poor quality.

Now came time to freeze it. The catch here is that it had to be COMPLETELY flat. Its not exactly small, maybe about half the size of an average pillow. Laying it completely flat without taking everything out of my freezer was impossible. I got it mostly flat. Unfortunately, because it was not completely flat, there is now a permanent kink in the product where it will not LAY flat anymore, despite everything I've done (including large textbooks) to try to flatten it back out.

 Here are the creases from it being frozen not perfectly flat:

I cannot speak to whether or not it will actually reduce a fever, or help a child remain comfortable because I did not want to let me children lay on it due to the smell, however I figured I could at least test it out as an oversized ice-pack. Except that once it is frozen, it becomes EXTREMELY hard and inflexible. It was like putting a board on my back. I can't imagine how its supposed to be comfortable for a child to sleep on.

Thankfully this only lasted for about 30 minutes, at which point it completely lost its coolness. 1-2 hours of freezer time for 20-30 minutes of coolness. A cool wet cloth would be more effective. This is, by far, the worst product I have ever been asked to review, and while I might have had more positive things to say about it if it were not a product meant to be used by children, because it is, I can only say that I wholeheartedly do NOT recommend the purchase or use of this.

A purple dinosaur I actually like!

Elder child is more like me than I care to admit some times, and one thing she has inherited from me appears to be an EXTREME sensitivity to pretty much every earring I wear.  I have two holes now, but have historically tried repeatedly to pierce the cartilage of my upper ear. With a combined 13 attempts at piercing it without a reaction, I finally gave up. I hate that she's inherited that, but she is determined to wear earrings.

I was given the opportunity to review these gorgeous earrings from #KataraDecor for a discounted price in exchange for an honest review, but was still a little hesitant to let her wear them due to her proneness for allergic reactions to earrings.  They were made of a Zinc Alloy and hypoallergenic though, so I figured it was worth a shot.

I didn't tell her they were coming, but when the package came she opened up the perfect little white gift box that they came in, she opened it up and freaked! They are absolutely beautiful.  A deep, eggplant purple lined in silver, they are sophisticated with just enough whimsy to be fun.  I particularly loved the variety of earring BACKERS that these came with, both rubber and metal.

She absolutely loves them and hasn't taken them off yet, now almost 2 weeks later.  Want your own Purple Apatosaurus Earrings? Get them here.

New year, new me?

I've been in this spot before. We all have. Its a new year, its time to get back into shape, drop the holiday pounds, resolutions blah blah...

Same S*t different day right?

Not so much this time.

I left you all last time almost TWO YEARS ago (sorry about that) on the heels of an awful injury to my wrists.  It took about 6 months before multiple doctors were able to find the problem, which was essentially overuse combined with a mineral deficiency.  By the time it resolved, my entire life was in the process of complete upheaval.

Short story - I'm MARRIED now! And I have a SON! Crazy right? Has all that really happened in the last year?  But yes.  And in that process, I nearly died. Its still difficult for me to think about, when I realize how close it came. I developed preeclampsia - otherwise known as VERY high blood pressure - too early on in my pregnancy. My kidneys and liver were shutting down, and my blood pressure was over 240. I gained 35 lbs in less than two weeks from fluid retention. I was in a medically induced coma for a few days, all with a goal of trying to stay pregnant long enough to give my son a fighting chance to live. We finally hit a point of induce the pregnancy or die, so my beautiful boy was delivered 10 weeks early, weighing in at 3 lbs and 7 oz.

I am thankful to say that we both recovered beautifully, and Little Dude is now a thriving almost three month old (though still very small).

This was my wake up call. I almost left my children without a mother. I almost lost my son. I don't just desperately want to improve my health, I NEED to improve my health, and I have never been more serious.

This time is going to be a little different due fear of re-injuring my wrist, and also because I have gained a lot of weight and am starting quite a bit behind where I was previously. Insanity is out of the question for now. I did love the results I got with Beach Body (no I am not a coach, I just genuinely like their programs), so I am going in a new direction.

My plan this time is to jump start with a 3-Day refresh which is a cleanse of sorts, and then jump into 21-day Fix. This is with the goal of teaching me how to eat appropriately.

I've been meal planning tonight, tomorrow I'll grocery shop.  Friday? It begins......